Hangs Upside Down
Once, long ago, Coyote thought he would take a wife, but did not know whom to
choose.
"Why not take the wife of Hawk Chief?" Bat said, for Hawk Chief was missing,
and had not been seen for many days.
But Hawk Chief returned and became angry with Bat for giving such ill-considered
advice. He picked Bat up and slung him with full force into a juniper bush.
Bat hung upside down in the bush, caught by his long, pointy-toed moccasins.
He twisted and he turned, but however much he struggled, he could not get free.
And from that time on bats hang upside down - even when they sleep.
In ancient Anasazi tales it is said this legendary, well traveled, footloose
figure was a god to some, a nuisance to others and a bearer of good luck and health
to many.
Well-known for his gift of fertility, childless wives begged for his company
while unmarried women fled from him with fear.
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