R ACC HOW THE
A Folktale Illustrated by Peter Grupico
N
MASK
GOT ITS
O
nce upon a time, there were two blind bears who lived in a small for-
est. They were very unhappy with life
and it was difficult for them to do any-
thing. They felt useless to themselves and to those around them. So, one day, the two of them decided
to sit on a log in the middle of the forest. One day the wise owl came across them sitting on the log. “What is wrong?” He asked. “Nobody wants us around. We can’t take care of ourselves and we can’t help anybody else, so we are just going to stay here in the woods,” They replied. After hearing the two bears complain about their lives, the wise owl made a wigwam for them. Then, he gave them a long rope and said, “Take this rope down to the river. When you want to drink, just throw the pail into the water and pull it back onto the land.”
N
ow the raccoon saw
pail and threw it into
what was going on
the water. The raccoon
with the two blind bears. had the perfect plan to Being the trickster she
cause a ruckus between
was, she had an urge to
the two bears. She was
mess with them.
a very quiet creature.
“Oh am I going to have fun with these two bears,� she said.
She sneaked down to the end of the river and proceeded to fill the pail with sand. When the
One of the bears went
blind bear pulled the
for water at the edge of
rope, there was no water
the river, he took the
in his pail, only sand!
T
he sad blind bear went
The other bear wanted to prove
back to his friend and said
his friend wrong.
to him, “It seems that our river has gone dry. There is only sand and no water for us to drink.” But the other bear did not believe what he
was saying. He said, “I think
By this time, Raccoon had come back and put the pail back in the water. When
“ See, I have
brought water for us to drink! You are just lazy!
”
you are just lazy. You prob-
ably did not even go for water at He was all. You just pretended to go get angry and water”. But his friend said, “I’m not lazy! I’m telling you the truth!”
the bears started to fight.
the second blind bear went down to the river, he came back with a pail filled with water.
L
ater that night, the raccoon
“It is bad enough how you are lazy
noticed that they were cook-
and you don’t want to get water,
ing supper. There were four sand-
but now you even steal my supper!
wiches all prepped and sitting on
There are no more sandwiches for
the log. The Raccoon decided to
me to eat here!” he yelled.
steal two of the sandwiches and afterwards she went and hid herself. When the first bear went to sit on the log, he grabbed the two sandwiches and began to eat.
“I only took two sandwiches! There should’ve still been two sandwiches left”, the other bear exclaimed.
When the second bear went to
“Then why aren’t there?”
serve himself, there were no more
the bear asked angrily.
sandwiches left for him.Once again, he became very angry at his friend.
S
o raccoon got the two
want to go get water. He said
bears to fight while she
there was no water, but when
sat back and laughed at them. I went down to the river, there
The wise owl came along and asked them, “Why are you fighting?” “Oh,” said the second bear, “He is so lazy that he doesn’t
was lots of water. Not only that, but he took my supper. Now I have nothing to eat.”
T
he wise owl looked around
He said, “This is for the two
and saw the raccoon roll-
sandwiches you stole from the
ing around on the ground and
two blind bears. You will always
laughing. He knew then, what
have that mark to show you are
was going on. The wise owl went
a thief. You will be known as a
to the camp where the fire was
thief wherever you go.”
and he took out a coal. He took the coal and marked a black circle around raccoon’s eyes.
Next, the wise owl took the coal and drew three rings around raccoon’s tail.
“This is for all the times you made the bears fight. You will remember, because these marks will stay with you, wherever you go,� said the wise owl.
T
H
D N ! E E