53. Rabbit Engineers a Tug of War Between Two Bison

53. RABBIT ENGINEERS A TUG OF WAR BETWEEN TWO BISON (70)

One time Rabbit met two Bison lying on opposite sides of a hill. He went to one of them and said, "Let us see which is stronger. Let us pull against each other. People always extol your strength. I am small but I believe I am stronger than you." At first the Bison said, "I don't bother with little things like you," but finally he agreed

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to pull against him. Then Rabbit went to the other Bison and made similar arrangements with him. He procured a grapevine, extended it across the hill to the two Bison, and stationed himself at the center. When he was ready he gave a whoop and the Bison began to pull against each other. First one Bison would pull his opponent nearly to the top of the hill and then the other would do the same to him, Rabbit whooping in the middle every little while.

But after a time the Bison began to think that something was wrong, so they walked around the hill and met. They said, "Rabbit has made sport of us. We will not let him drink any water out of our tank." After a while, of course, Rabbit got very thirsty. Then he met a very pretty Deer and asked him for the loan of his shoes. He put them on and went down to the tank where the Bison were. He said to them, "I learn that you have forbidden the Rabbit to drink water here but I suppose you will let me." They looked at his tracks and, seeing they were not those of a rabbit, said, "It is only Rabbit whom we have forbidden to drink here. He played us a trick. You may drink." So Rabbit drank and, coming on back to the Deer, he pulled off his shoes, saying, "That is the way to deceive them."