C: I asked him [Billy Osceola] to tell me the story of the turtle
and the oppossum.
O: The turtle had a family. They lived in a village. The men
of the village went on a hunt; the turtle trailed along.
After killing a deer, the hunters asked the turtle what part
of the deer he wanted. "Which part do you want?" they asked
him. Still he did not say a word. They kept waiting until
they grew impatient with him. They asked him if he wanted the
forelegs. His reply was, "If you broke my forelegs, it would
kill me." So the hunters asked him if he wanted the thighs
of the deer. Again, he replied by saying, "If you broke my
thighs, it would kill me." The hunters were no longer tolerant
of his behavior. They took all the deer meat and left.
The only thing left of the deer was the blood clot.
The lesson of the story is: If you are slow to make
up your mind, you must also be able to face the consequences.
C: I truly enjoy hearing these tales. My father, who is now
deceased, used to tell me so many stories about our people.
O: Many of the stories are basically the same, but they do vary.
C: How about the story about a panther which almost ate the rabbit?
The rabbit was in fear, and pleaded with the panther not to
eat him. In desperation he told the panther where he could
get a lot of turkeys that would be more than happy to be eaten.
The panther asked where he could find these turkeys.
The story continues as follows: The rabbit told the
panther, "If you would lie down and pretend that you are dead,
I will bring the turkeys to you."
The panther replied, "All right, I will lie down and wait."
Meanwhile the panther was pretending to be dead. The rabbit
took off, and returned with some worms and threw them on the
panther.
The rabbit went to the turkey and said, "Hurry and come
with me. There is a dead animal which you might eat." The
turkeys followed the rabbit. The panther saw the turkeys
approach, and he jumped on the turkeys and devoured all of
them.
Have you heard this story?
O: I have heard it, but...
C: A little different?