Native American Legends
How Chipmunks got their stripes
An Iroquois Legend
A grandmother and granddaughter were living together. They had
a skin blanket, ut it was old and a good deal of the hair was worn
off.
The two women went to the forest to camp and cut wood, and they
carried the blanket to cover themselves with at night. They had
been in the forest only a few days when they found hat their skin
blanket was alive and was angry. They threw the blanket down and
ran toward home as fast as they could go. Soon they heard the skin
following them.
When it seemed very near the grandmother began to sing and her
song said, "My granddaughter and I are running for our lives."
When the song ended, the women could scarcely hear the skin following
them, but not long afterward they heard it again. When they reached
home, the skin, now a bear, was so near that as they pushed open
the door it clawed at them and scratched their backs, but they got
in.
The old woman and her granddaughter were chipmunks. Since that
time chipmunks have stripes on their backs, the result of the scratches
given by the bear.
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