15. How the Alligator's Nose Was Broken

15. HOW THE ALLIGATOR'S NOSE WAS BROKEN

(Tuggle collection)

"In the old days," said Fixco, the Seminole, "all the animals determined upon a big ball play. The four-footed animals, with the Alligator for their chief, challenged the fowls, with the Eagle at their head, for a game. Sides were chosen, the poles put up, the ground measured off, and the medicine men conjured the balls.

"The day came and they all met on the ground. The animals ran around their poles, all painted and dressed up, while the birds flew and screamed around their poles.

"At last the ball was tossed into the air and the game began. The Alligator caught the ball as it came down and, grasping it in his teeth, ran toward the poles. The birds in vain attempted to snatch it from him and at last gave it up in utter despair. The Eagle, however, soared aloft and circled in the air till almost out of sight, and then like an arrow he swooped to the earth and struck the Alligator on the nose and broke it. The Alligator's wife had run along with her old man and was shouting at the top of her voice: 'Look at the little striped alligator's daddy, just look at him,' while all the animals shouted in triumph.

"But when the Eagle struck the Alligator all was changed. The Alligator's teeth opened on the ball and the Turkey poked his head in

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among the teeth, pulled it out, and ran to the poles of the birds and threw the ball between them.

"The fowls won the game and ever since that time the Alligator has had a sunken place on his nose where the Eagle broke it."