e antlers to Deer, saying that he was the
better runner. That is why deer have antlers. And because Rabbit cut
the bushes down, he is obliged to keep cutting them down, as he does
to this day.

[Illustration: KANSA CHIEF

_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]

[Illustration: BIG GOOSE

(Omaha)

_Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution_]

WHY THE DEER HAS BLUNT TEETH

_Cherokee_

One day after the race which they did not run, Rabbit stretched a
large grapevine across the trail, gnawing it nearly in two in the
middle. Then he went back on the trail, took a run, and jumped up at
the vine. He did this again and again. At last Deer came along and
asked him to tell what he was doing.

"Don't you see?" said Rabbit. "I'm so strong I can bite through that
grapevine at one jump."

Deer said, "Do it." Rabbit ran back, made a long leap, and bit through
the vine where he had gnawed it before.

Deer said, "Well, I can do it if you can."

So Rabbit stretched a larger grapevine across the trail but without
gnawing it in the center. Deer ran back as he had seen Rabbit do, made
a spring, and struck the grapevine right in the center. It only flew
back and threw him over.

Deer tried again and again, but he was only bruised and hurt.

"Let me see your teeth," said Rabbit. They were long like a wolf's
teeth but not very sharp.

"No wonder you cannot do it," said Rabbit. "Your teeth are too blunt
to bite anything. Let me sharpen them for you so they are like mine.
My teeth are so sharp I can cut through a stick just like a knife."

And Rabbit showed Deer a black locust twig, of which rabbits gnaw the
young shoots, which he had shaved off as well as a knife could do it.

So Deer let Rabbit sharpen his teeth. But Rabbit got a hard stone with
rough edges and ground down the Deer's teeth until they were blunt.

"Now try it," said Rabbit to Deer. So Deer tried it again, but he
could not bite at all.

"Now you've paid for your horns," said Rabbit as he sprang through the
underbrush. That is why the Deer's teeth are blunt.

LEGEND OF THE HEAD OF GOLD

_Dakota_

A man had four children. And they were all young men, but they were
poor and it seemed as if they would die of laziness. The old man said,
"Behold! old woman. I have the greatest pity for my youngest child,
and I do not wish him to die of poverty. See here; let us seek the
Great Mystery, Wakantanka. If we find him, behold! I will giv