Charley's Blog

 Iktomi the spider Link a spider found some plums and decided to use them to trick a couple of women with babies. he told them where they could find more and offered to watch their kids while they were gone. he made the kids into soup and fed it to the hungry women when they returned. they realized what happened and so he ran away into a hole. he climbed out the other side much later and returned looking like a stranger and offered to help the women. he then went and "killed" the spider and told the women to go into the hole and get a piece of them for themselves. they obliged, and when down there, he filled the hole trapping and killing them. a spider did not share his food with the muskrat, which sharing is customary. after a while, the spider challenged him to a race, he gets half if he wins. the muskrat declares the race unfair, so the spider carries a giant boulder to even the odds. the muskrat swims very quickly and wins with ease and eats the entire pot, only ...

 The wisest turtle of them all Link 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 ...