Crawfish one evening was wandering along a river bank, looking for something dead to feast upon. Raccoon was also out looking for something to eat.  Raccoon spied Crawfish and formed a plan to catch him. Raccoon lay down on the bank and feigned to be dead.  By and by Crawfish came near.  "Ho",  he thought, "here is a feast indeed; but is Raccoon really dead.  I will go near and pinch him with my claws and find out". So Crawfish went near and pinched Raccoon on the nose and then on his soft paws.  Raccoon never moved. Then Crawfish pinched Raccoon on the ribs and tickled him so that Raccoon could hardly keep from laughing.  Crawfish at last left him.  "Raccoon is surely dead",  he thought, and he hurried back to the Crawfish village to report his find to the Chief.  All the villagers were called to go down to the feast.  The Chief bade the warriors and young men to paint their faces and dress in their gayest for a dance.  So they marched in a long line,  first the warriors with their weapons in hand, then the women with their babies and children to the place where Raccoon lay.  They formed a great circle about him and danced, singing:  "We shall have a great feast on the spotted-faced beast with soft smooth paws.  He is dead !  He is dead !  We shall dance !  We shall have a good time.  We shall feast on his flesh".  But as they danced, Raccoon suddenly sprang to his feet.  "Who is that you say you are going to eat ?  He has a spotted face,  has he ?  He has soft smooth paws, has he ?  I'll break your ugly backs,  I'll break your rough bones.  I'll crunch your ugly, rough paws".  And Raccoon rushed among the Crawfish, killing them by scores.  The Crawfish warriors fought bravely and the women ran screaming, all to no purpose.  They did not feast on Raccoon,   Raccoon feasted on them.
The lesson is that all is not always as it seems.

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