How Bats Came To Be
http://www.aaanativearts.com/article586.htmlAUTHOR: Ojibwa Oral Story
Early one morning while he was on his way to his home in the sky, Father Sun got caught in the branches of a tall tree. He tried and tried to free himself, but only managed to entangle himself more firmly. Soon Father Sun could not move at all.
That morning all the animals waited in vain for Father Sun. When he did not appear, they went quietly back to their beds. They thought that they had not slept long enough and it was still night.
The bear went back to his cave. The rabbit returned to his nest under a bush at the edge of a field of sweet clover.
The chipmunk went into his hole in the roots of an oak tree. Only the owl, the wolf, and the fox were happy, for they could hunt a little longer than usual in the dark.
When Father Sun did not appear the next day, the animals began to suspect that he had gotten lost on the way home. They searched through most of the forest, but they could not find him.
One little squirrel always looked at the treetops because he liked to jump from branch to branch. He discovered Father Sun stuck in the topmost branches of a tall tree. By this time Father Sun was very pale and week.
"Little squirrel, little squirrel," he rasped in a low voice, "little squirrel, set me free."
"Certainly, Father Sun," replied the little squirrel, and he ran up the trunk of the tree towards the topmost branches, but Father Sun's heat drove him back to the ground at once.
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