THE NEST OF THE TLANUWA
The Tlanuwa were about the size of a man. These birds lived at the same time the other powerful birds and insects lived. These powerful birds could carry off a baby for their food. This was a very long time ago.
A grandmother was taking care of a baby. A Tlanuwa came and carried it off. The grandmother thought, "What can we do?"
She decided that she would make a rope of linen withes (thin branches). She gathered some of them, stripped them, and made a rope.
She went to the top of the cliff in which the Tlanuwa lived. She tied pine limbs into the rope every now and again to rest her feet upon as she climbed down.
In the Tlanuwa's nest were two young birds. The grandmoter had with her a hatchet of stone, and with it she killed the fledglings. The she threw the rope into the ground and said, "This rope must become Uketena." (the great serpent)
She saw the two big parent birds come back. When they found the nest empty, they hovered about it in order to find out who had killed their young ones. Then they saw Uktena, and one bird seized it in its claws and flew up into the air with it while the other bird kept striking pieces off the Uktena. As these pieces fell to the ground, all of them became standing pillars of rock.
This is why we have pillars of rock.
Why the Opossum's Tail is Bare
© 1997 skyfeather1
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