Contact us at: whispernthunder1@gmail.comPOSSUM'S BIG DANCE
How Possum Learned About Respect
~ Dawn Karima
“Wow! We won! We won!” Yona shouted as
he ran into his house. “We won! We won
and I scored more points than anybody
on the whole basketball team!”
“Very good,” said Grandpa. Then, he looked at Yona’s younger brother, Unole, Wind and asked him, “How did your team do, Grandson?”
“We lost, Grandpa,” Unole sighed, looking down at his sneakers.
“But we won!” Yona jumped up and down. “We won! We won! We won!”
Grandpa nodded. “I heard you say that and I am very happy for you. But I wonder since your name means, ‘Bear”, Yona, would you like to hear a story about our animal friends?”
Yona sat down on the couch next to Grandpa. Grandpa always told good stories, like how the Milky Way came to be, or the story of the first strawberries. So, Yona decided to listen.
Grandpa began, “This is a story about learning to respect others. This is the way the Elders told it to me...
In the beginning of days, the Aniyunwiya or Cherokee People say, the possum, or si-qua--u-tse-tsa-s-di, had a magnificent tail. His tail was so full of beautiful, silky hair, that he carefully brushed and styled it every day. He was always late to every dinner, late to every meeting and always late to the dances, because he took so much time to comb his furry tail.
All the animals could talk in those days, the Cherokee People say, and they gathered around the fire to sing and dance at night.
The Wolf, or waya , told the story of his hunting for food in his dance.
The Rabbit, or tsisdu , told the story of his running very fast to tell all the news to all the animals all over the woods.
The Beaver, or doya, told the story of his hard work building his home and dam on the river in his dance.
The Eagle, or awohali , told the story of all the glorious sights he saw as he soared above the clouds.
Yet, when it was Possum's turn to dance, he sang songs about his tail. “See my handsome tail?” He 1asked each of the animals. “How pretty it is! Are you feeling jealous?”
When the other animals felt sad and cried, Possum would laugh at them, instead of being kind.
Every night, all the nights, Possum sang the same song at the Dance. “See my handsome tail? How pretty it is! Are you feeling jealous?”
After many, many nights and many, many dances, the other animals began to feel angry at Possum.
Rabbit made a plan to teach Possum not to brag and not to boast and not to hurt other animals feelings.
Rabbit invited Possum to dance at a very special celebration. Possum said that he would only come if he could have the very best seat. “I want all the other animals to see my fine tail and to feel jealous that I am the most fabulous of all the animals.”
“Yes,” Rabbit acted as if he agreed,” you will sit in the most important seat. All the animals will see your tail. I will even send Cricket over to help you to brush your tail before the party.”
The day of the Big Dance, Cricket, or ta-la-du knocked on Possum's door. “Come in Cricket,” said Possum, “Make my tail look even more wonderful than it aready does. I want all the other animals to look at my tail and feel sad inside that they do not have such a lovely tail.” Cricket nodded, but inside, he felt disappointed that Possum did not care about hurting the other animals' feelings.
Possum practiced his new song while Cricket brushed his tail. “My tail is so pretty it will make you cry,” he sang, “Are there tears in your eyes because your tail is not as shiny as mine?” Possum sang so loudly that he did not notice that Cricket was cutting the hair on Possum's tail. Cricket wrapped Possum's tail in a bright red strip of leather to hide the haircut before he left.
Finally, the sun left the sky and the moon rose bright above the woods. All of the animals gathered near the fire for the Big Dance. Possum arrived and walked boldly to the biggest and best seat.
Possum stood in front of all the other animals and began to sing.
“My tail is so pretty it will make you cry,” he sang, “Are there tears in your eyes because your tail is not as shiny as mine?”
All the other animals began to laugh, not cry. Possum stopped dancing and singing. “You should be jealous,” Possum shouted, “See my most beautiful tail???”
All of the animals laughed even louder. Possum turned to look at his tail. When he saw his tail, it was completely bare! No more hair! No more fur! No more shiny, silky tail!
All the animals laughed at Possum. Possum wanted to make others feel ashamed, but now he was the one who was embarrassed. He fell down on the floor and pretended to be asleep. Even now, when a possum senses trouble, it will fall down and be still in the same way, just like the very first Possum.
And that is the way the Elders told the story to me.”
Yona sat and thought for a while. He looked at Unole, who was feeling sad about losing his basketball game. He looked at Grandpa, who was smiling at him.
“I guess I was kind of acting like Possum just now,” Yona told Grandpa. “I was so happy that I won that I forgot how my brother might feel because he lost.”
Grandpa smiled, “It’s good that you won. I’m happy for you. Each of us has been given gifts and talents and things we do well. We have to remember to be thankful and when we win, we must be kind and humble.”
“I’m sorry, Grandpa,” agreed Yona, “I’m sorry little brother. Would you like to go outside and work on your defense for awhile?”
Unole grinned and grabbed his basketball. The two brothers practiced until the sun went down. The next game, they both won.