Ooh whatcha got up your sleeves that's Lakota?

Oho, appealing to my Nebraskaness, eh? Though technically my neck of the woods was more Pawnee territory I'm sure we've got something.

I'm also part Lakota xD

Cherokee and Lakota

Awesome. I'm super white, but being a Nebraska native means that to at least a small extent, knowing about the Natives of Nebraska (Lakota Sioux, Oto, Pawnee, Ponca, etc.) is kinda mandatory.

But, I have a folktale here about rabbits! How the Rabbit Lost His Tail.

Once upon a time, there were two brothers. The elder was a shapeshifting genie who could take the shape of any animal, the younger was a rabbit who, at the time, had a long tail.

Rabbit was very mischievous and always getting into trouble, and his big brother was forever getting him back out of it.

When Rabbit was fully grown, he decided he wanted to see the world. His brother, knowing his penchant for trouble, was all, "OK, have fun, be careful, call me if you need me, 'k?"

And off Rabbit went.

On his first day, he came across an enormous house with a huge pine tree, and right outside it, curled up was a giant of a man.

The giant was asleep. Rabbit was like, "I wanna see how big this guy really is, so I'mma wake him up."

So, he shot the giant in the nose with an arrow, which stung like crazy, and yup, the giant woke up asking "Who did that?" and Rabbit was all, "Hi, it was me."

And the giant was all, "I'mma eat you, even though you're tiny." And Rabbit was all, "Nah, bruh. I'm little, sure, but I'm as strong as you are." And the giant was all, "WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT."

And the giant gets this enormous hammer that weighs many tons and says whoever can throw it farthest wins, and if the giant wins, he gets to eat Rabbit. Rabbit's like, "Pshaw, ain't no thing."

But then he's, "Oh, but I always sing to my brother before I do something like this," and he calls out, "Cinye, Cinye" (Brother Brother).

Soon, what looks like a cloud appeared in the distance, and the giant was all, "What is that?" And Rabbit was all, "That's my big brother, and he can totes destroy you, your house and tree in one breath."

And the giant was "Make him go away, and you can go free." So Rabbit waved his paws, showing he was fine, and the cloud disappeared, and so did Rabbit.

Next day, Rabbit was heading west through a forest, and he heard this strange groaning. At first he thought it was just the wind, but eventually he found a tree with a naked dude high up in it.

Every time the wind blew, the branches would squeeze the guy where he was stuck and make him moan.

(Yeah, yeah, get it out of your system now, perverts)

Now, Naked Guy had actually been put there by Rabbit's big brother as punishment, and he couldn't get down unless someone volunteered to take his place. Rabbit, of course, had no idea about that.

So, he's laughing at Naked Guy and saying, "Wow, that looks like fun."
And Naked Guy was all, "Hey, you wanna try it, get undressed and come up here and switch with me."

And Rabbit was all "LOL OKAY." And did just that. Of course, Naked Guy wasn't dumb at all and quickly put on Rabbit's discarded clothes, and right about then, Rabbit realized it wasn't fun at all.

So, he cried out "Cinye, Cinye" and Naked Guy was all, "Call him as much as you like, your bro ain't gonna find me." But Rabbit's brother came and was all, "OK, which way did he go?"

And Rabbit pointed, and his brother tracked Naked Guy back down and got him back into his spot and got his little brother down and dressed again.

And Rabbit's big brother was all, "Hey, you be more careful. I'm very busy and can't just drop everything to come save you all the time, OK?" And Rabbit was all, "Sure, bro."

Several days later, Rabbit came across another house by a river, and he watched as an old man got water from it, following a string attached to his house. So, he followed him, curious.

Now, this old man was also cursed by Rabbit's brother for killing his wife, and was to be old and blind unless someone chose to switch places with him. But Rabbit didn't know that.

When he got to the man's house, he was cooking dinner, and Rabbit was all, "Wow, sweet crib you have here, Grandpa."

And the man was all, "Well, the wolves bring me meat and mice bring me rice and the birds bring me leaves for my tea, but otherwise it's pretty lonely, since I'm old and blind and no one comes to visit."

But Rabbit was all, "Eh, sounds like a sweet setup to me. I think I'd like to live here."

And the man was like, "Well, if you want we can switch, but you'd be old and blind too, and I'd get your youth" And Rabbit was all, "Eh, I don't care so much about being young. Deal."

So, they swapped, and the dude ran off, and soon Rabbit realized this was not as cool as he thought it would be and started crying out "Cinye, Cinye!"

And his brother came and asked which way the guy went, and Rabbit was all, "I dunno, I was blind so I couldn't see." So, his brother called all the birds in the woods and asked if they knew anything.

None did, until the owl mentioned he'd seen a guy sleeping under a plum tree the night before, but thought it had been Rabbit, so he didn't bother him.

And Rabbit's brother was like, "Good to hear. From now on, you fly only at night, Owl, and I'll fix your eyes so you can see better in the dark. Everyone else has to hunt during the hot day."

And that's also bonus of how the Owl became a night bird.

Anyway, the guy was found and the guide strings shortened, and Rabbit was saved once again.

And Rabbit's brother was, "Dude, you're nuts for trading places with him. I probably shouldn't have helped you. I'm getting pretty sick of your shit, so do this again, and I won't help you."

Rabbit promised he'd be good, and scampered off.

Rabbit figured maybe he'd had enough of adventuring, and started to head home. But along the way, as he stopped to drink at a creek, he heard a weird noise.

Following the noise, he found 4 wolves with their tails intertwined, all pulling. As Rabbit approached, one pulled loose, and Rabbit noticed his tail was broken.

And Rabbit was all, "Hey, I can help you guys pull tails if you want!" They agreed, and Rabbit knotted his long tail in with the others.

And the wolves pulled so hard they broke Rabbit's tail off at the second joint. Clean. Off.

Rabbit cried out, "Cinye, Cinye!" But when his brother arrived, he just shrugged and said, "You look better without a long tail anyway." And since then, rabbits have had short little tails.

THE END