THE RABBIT ESCAPES FROM THE WOLVES

THE RABBIT ESCAPES FROM THE WOLVES
Some Wolves once caught the Rabbit and were going to eat him when he asked
leave to show them a new dance he was practicing. They knew that the Rabbit
was a great song leader, and they wanted to learn the latest dance, so they agreed
and made a ring about him while he got ready. He patted his feet and began to
dance around in a circle, singing:
Tlâge′sitûñ′ găli′sgi′sidâ′hă—
Ha′nia lĭl! lĭl! Ha′nia lĭl! lĭl!
On the edge of the field I dance about—
Ha′nia lĭl! lĭl! Ha′nia lĭl! lĭl!
“Now,” said the Rabbit, “when I sing ‘on the edge of the field,’ I dance that
way”—and he danced over in that direction—“and when I sing ‘lĭl! lĭl!’ you
must all stamp your feet hard.” The Wolves thought it fine. He began another
round singing the same song, and danced a little nearer to the field, while the
Wolves all stamped their feet. He sang louder and louder and danced nearer and
nearer to the field until at the fourth song, when the Wolves were stamping as
hard as they could and thinking only of the song, he made one jump and was off
through the long grass. They were after him at once, but he ran for a hollowstump and climbed up on the inside. When the the Wolves got there one of them
put his head inside to look up, but the Rabbit spit into his eye, so that he had to
pull his head out again. The others were afraid to try, and they went away, with
the Rabbit still in the stump.

 

Source:
Myths of the Cherokee, James Mooney