Atondido Stories
string snare with his teeth, and the Man in the Moon hurried on
his way, for he could already see the dawn in the East. But Rab-
bit was almost blinded while he was about it, and his shoulders
were badly scorched. And ever since that time Rabbit blinks and
his eyelids are pink, and water runs from his eyes when he looks
at a bright light; and his lip always quivers; and his shoulders
are yellow, even when he wears his white winter coat, because of
the great light and heat on the winter night long ago when he
loosed the Man in the Moon from the snare. And since that night
the Man in the Moon has never come back to earth. He stays at
his task in the sky, lighting the forest by night; but he still bears
on his face the marks of the black mud which Rabbit threw at
him. And sometimes for several nights he goes away to a quiet
place, where he tries to wash off the mud; and then the land is
dark. But he never succeeds in cleaning himself, and when he
comes back to his work the marks of Rabbit's mud-balls are still
upon his shining face.
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