HOW THE MOLE BECAME BLIND
(North American Indian)
Once a squirrel was being chased by an Indian, and in order to escape, the squirrel ran all the way up a tree into the sky. The Indian set a snare for the squirrel at the top of the tree and then came down, but he found the next day that the sun was caught in the snare, and this brought on night. He saw at once how much harm he had caused, and being an Indian of very good intentions he was anxious to do what he could to remedy the mischief. So he sent up great numbers of animals in the hope that they might cut the noose and release the sun, but the intense heat burned them all to ashes. At length the slow mole succeeded; he burrowed under the road in the sky till he reached the place of the sun, gnawed in twain the cords, and released the captive. But the sun’s flash put his eyes out and this is the reason why the mole is blind. The effect of the burning is still to be seen on the nose and the teeth of the mole, for they are brown as if burnt. From that time on, however, the gait of the sun has been more deliberate and slow.