CREEK STORIES

1. HOW DAY AND NIGHT WERE DIVIDED

(Tuggle collection)

The animals held a meeting and No-koos-see (Nokosi), the Bear, presided.

The question was, how to divide day and night.

Some desired the day to last all the time; others wished it all night. After much talk, Chew-thlock-chew (Tciloktco), the ground squirrel, said:

"I see that Woot-Kew (Wotko), the Coon, has rings on his tail divided equally, first a dark color then a light color. I think day and night ought to be divided like the rings on Woot-Kew's tail."

The animals were surprised at the wisdom of Chew-thlock-chew. The adopted his plan and divided day and night like the rings on Woot-Kew's tail, succeeding each other in regular order.

No-koos-see from envy scratched the back of Chew-thlock-chew and thus caused the stripes on the back of all his descendants, the ground squirrels.