several informants, east and west. In one variant the hair clipping
was done by the Moth, and in another by the spells of the Snail, who is
represented as a magician. The version here given is the most common,
and agrees best with the Cherokee folklore concerning the Cricket
(see number 59, "The Smaller Reptiles, Fishes, and Insects").
In the Creek myth, as given in the Tuggle collection, the Opossum
burned the hair from his tail in trying to put rings upon it like
those of the Raccoon's tail, and grins from chewing a bitter oak ball
which he mistook for a ripened fruit.
The anatomical peculiarities of the opossum, of both sexes, have
occasioned much speculation among the Indians, many of whom believe
that the female produces her young without any help from the male. The
Creeks, according to the Tuggle manuscript, believe that the young
are born in the pouch, from the breathing of the female against it
when curled up, and even Lawson and Timberlake assert that they are
born at the teat, from which they afterward drop off into the pouch.
A council and a dance--In the old days, as to-day among the remote
Western tribes, every great council gathering was made the occasion
of a series of dances, accompanied always by feasting and a general
good time.