reading notes: sious part A
The wisest turtle of them all
a rabbit tricked a bunch of birds into a bag and took them home to be cooked by grandma. they tricked her into letting them go. she was able to catch one, but when the rabbit got home she explained what happened and said but she caught two. he told her that was only one, and it was small.
a mother lost her daughter and was very sad. she refused to leave the body and was threatening to kill herself. nobody could get the knife away from her, so they asked the help of the village idiot. he went to the tent and sat outside. he slowly broke out into song and dance and did he gosh darned best to cheer up the woman and respect the dead, and he waived his arms over the body in some manner. the mother laughed at this and decided she most live for her husband and gave up the knife. the village elders were confused by the whole thing but decided that it was good. the motive is better than the deed and it is better to live for the living, than die for the dead.
there was once a wise turtle who solved the problems of the tribe. two tribes members got into a heated argument and they would have fought if it had not been for the turtle. they told him each their sides and he decided who was right. he said they both were. both were right about some things and wrong about others, thus they were equally right.
Story source: Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie McLaughlin (1916).
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