Selfish Weasel

 For my english class, we recently had to read many Native American trickster tales. A trickster tale is a story that has a meaning or message that is infered by a character’s mistakes or achievments. We then had to mimic the set-up and write our own. This is the story of Weasel:

            At the start of the world there was a creature called Weasel.  Weasel was friends with everyone, including Buffalo and Fox, and got along with everyone fine, except for one small problem.  Weasel was very petulant and when he was not pleased, he would make sure everyone knew.

            One day Weasel was woken up from his peaceful sleep by a loud and strange sniffing noise. Curious and angry, Weasel stormed out of his home and found Fox sniffing the ground.

            “What, may I ask, are you doing above my home?!” yelled Weasel.

            “Why looking for food of course,” replied Fox in a calm manner. He then abruptly went back to work pressing his nose to the ground and smelling for little scraps of food.

            “Did it ever occur to you that you were disrupting me?” yelled Weasel. “How dare you come on my property and disrupt me for your own needs. Now get off my land!”

Fox got mad and was about to reply but stopped himself and obeyed and slowly walked off. Soon after Weasel went back into his home, however, he was jarred and shaken by loud rumbling and earth-moving vibrations. Again, in a flurry, Weasel stormed out of his home. This time he found Buffalo and his family walking across the field to get to the lake beyond the hills.

            “Why must everyone bother me today? Buffalo, why are you walking across my land? Can’t you see that I am trying to live here, but cannot do so with you constantly shaking my house? Now get off my land!” screamed Weasel. Buffalo, too, obeyed, but not without a large obnoxious snort in Weasel’s face and kicking dust into his eyes.

            This had pushed Weasel too far. He climbed into his hole, but soon returned with fencing materials. He made a great fence around his home, stretching for miles in either direction. He also made signs warning others of what he might do if they were caught on his land.

            “From now on,” hollered Weasel to anyone who may hear. “No one is allowed on my land. No one is able to cross it without my permission!”

            Pleased with his work, Weasel went back into his home and enjoyed a long and uninterrupted slumber. When he awoke, he felt the need to eat and converse with friends. Weasel got up out of his hole in the ground to the land above. He was shocked to see when he came up, that there was nothing in sight. It was the middle of the day and there were no plants, no bugs, and none of his friends. All that remained was dry sand and dust.

            “At least they learned their lesson,” Weasel thought as he went back into his home to enjoy the quiet and loneliness.

            Day went on, however, and Weasel had seen none of his friends. Again, he came up to see that nothing but dry sand was visible in any direction. Sad, he went back into his hole. He then tried to decide what was more valuable, friends or land.

            Days later, Weasel climbed out of his hole and walked miles to the edge of his great fence. He peaked over the fence and saw grass growing high, flowers bathing in the sunlight, and all his friends playing and laughing amongst the growth. It was then that Weasel made his decision on what he would rather have. He spent a long time going around all his property and taking the fence and signs down.

            After, Weasel apologized to all his friends and all the flowers and all the grass and welcomed them all back into the land that they should all share. Days went by and nothing changed.  Then one day, Weasel was woken up by Buffalo’s loud thunderous walking and Fox’s sniffing and bugs chirping. He laid there, smiled to himself, and went back to sleep.