Those
who say that there is nothing on earth so beautiful as a woman did not
live in the time when tails were invented. Nothing could surpass the
pride their owners took in them, nor the scorn that was heaped upon
the hapless creature whose tail was short or scanty.
"But, as often happens to people who have all and more than they need,
so it was with our ancestors. From being simply proud of their tails
they began to grow vain and useless, caring for nothing but their own
ease and adornment, neglecting to harvest the maize, feeble in the
chase, sleeping sometimes for the space of nearly a moon, and unable
to take more than a woman's journey of six suns at a time. Then the
Manito reflected and said to himself: 'This will never do. Man was not
made to be a mere groundling. His greatest luxury must be taken from
him, and in its place there must be given him something to tax his
patience and strengthen his powers.' So one fine morning every man in
the world woke up to find his tail missing. Great was the surprise and
lamentation, and this was not lessened by the sudden appearance of the
women, who came in number like that of the flight of pigeons in the
moon before the snow moon.
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