39. Rabbit and the Old Man

39. RABBIT AND THE OLD MAN ¹

A man had two daughters whom Rabbit wanted. At that time the old man's many hogs were disappearing and he did not know what caused it. Then Rabbit shouted from a place near the house and the old man started out. When he got there Rabbit sat holding a hog's tail, and Rabbit said, "You have been saying 'My hogs are disappearing.' I found them going under the ground, seized this one by the tail, and sat herewith it while I called you." "Well, I will hold it while you go and bring a grubbing hoe and shovel," he said to Rabbit. So Rabbit went to the house, and when he got there he said to the old man's two daughters whom he wanted, "I have come because your father told me rem habere cum ambabus and come back." When he told the girls this, they said, "You might lie." When they said this to Rabbit, he called out to that old man, "Did you say both?" Then he answered back, "Yes, I said both," and Rabbit said, "You hear what he says," so they agreed and rem habebat cum ambabus.

After he had gone off, that old man waited, holding the hog tail. After he had sat there for a while he gave a hard pull and pulled it out, because it was only fastened to the ground. He threw it away and came back. When he got to the house Rabbit had left and when he asked for him, they said, "He is gone. He said you told him rem habere cum ambabus, and we said, 'You may be lying.'

p. 115

[paragraph continues] He called out to you if you meant both and you answered, 'Yes.' So rem habebat cum ambabus and went off." When they told the old man that he was very angry. "I did not mean that. I told him to get the grubbing hoe and shovel, and he came for them, and I thought he meant those when I called back to him, 'I said both.' But when he did not come while I was waiting for him I pulled hard and pulled out the hog tail, which was just stuck to the ground, and I threw it away and came back. If I see Rabbit I will knock him down and throw him away," the old man said, he was so angry.

That is how it is told.

Footnotes

114:1 Stith Thompson, European Tales among the North American Indian, pp. 419-426, Story XIX G.