Oban's Myths & Legends
Why The Owl Has Big Eyes (continued)
Native American - Iroquois story
retold by Oban
Raweno became very angry. Forgetting Rabbit’s front legs, he ran to the tree, grabbed Owl from the branch and shook him.
Owl’s eyes grew big and wide from fright.
Raweno put his hand on the top of Owl’s head and pushed it down onto his shoulders. Then he reached into his feathers and pulled out his ears until they stood up, one on each side of his head.
“There!” said Raweno. “Now you have big ears so you can listen when someone asks you to do something. You have a short neck that won’t let you move your head to watch things you shouldn’t see. And you have big eyes, but you will only be able to see properly at night, when I’m not working.”
Owl was so surprised he just stared.
Then Raweno scooped up a handful of squishy mud. “You are very rude and disobedient” he said. “As punishment you will not have red feathers like Cardinal’s. You will look grey, like this.” And he rubbed the mud all over Owl’s feathers.
“Whoo, whoo, whoo” cried Owl as he flow off, sulking.
Then Raweno turned back to finish Rabbit’s front legs. But Rabbit wasn’t there. He had been so frightened by Raweno and Owl shouting at each other, that he had hopped away unfinished.
This is why Rabbit has to hop around on uneven legs instead of running like Deer, and he is frightened of most things because he never got the fangs and claws he wanted.
And Owl still looks the way Raweno shaped him, after he made Raweno so angry.
The End
