How The Kangaroo Got It’s Tail

(Story taken from:

A long time ago, some animals looked different to the way they look now. Kangaroos had no tails and wombats had high, round heads.

Mirram the Kangaroo and Warreen the Wombat were good friends. They lived together in a hut that Warreen had built from tree bark.

They liked being with each other, but Mirram liked to sleep outside at night and he made fun of Warreen who always wanted to sleep inside.

"Come, Warreen, sleep outside with me" said Mirram. "It's much better to look up at the stars at night and listen to the fresh wind in the trees."

"It's too cold outside" snuffled Warreen, "and sometimes it rains. I might get wet! I like sleeping in my hut with a nice fire to keep me warm."

Mirram the Kangaroo would not accept this. "Your bark hut is dark and smelly. It is much better to sleep out in the clean air under the bright stars!" "No, thank you" said Warreen. "I will stay in my hut where I am comfortable."

Mirram was impatient. "You are too scared to sleep outside with me. You are frightened to feel a little wind." "I'm not frightened" snuffled Warreen. "I just like sleeping in my bark hut!"

Mirram kept on taunting Warreen, until one night the wombat agreed to sleep outside. During the night he got really cold and waddled back inside the hut. Kangaroo laughed at him.

All summer they played together as friends, but Mirram sometimes still made fun of Warreen's hut.

Things changed when winter came. The wind became colder at night while Mirram slept outside. At first he didn't mind. He snuggled up to a tree to protect himself, and laughed at the thought of Warreen in his smelly hut. "Wombat would not brave the wind like me" he said to himself.

The wind became stronger and colder. Mirram curled himself into a tight ball, hugging his tree.

He told himself that the wind couldn't hurt him - he wasn't afraid. When it began to rain, he muttered "a little wind and rain won't hurt me. I'm not afraid."

One night, blasts of wind lashed the kangaroo with raindrops that felt like icy needles. Mirram was so wet and cold, he couldn't take it any longer. He struggled onto his hind legs and blown by the wind, hopped slowly towards the bark hut.

"It is me!" screamed Mirram, banging on the door. "Now, let me in!" "No!" yelled Wombat. "There isn't enough room."

Mirram's teeth were chattering. He became very angry and pushed hard at the door until it opened. "I'm inside now - and you aren't big enough to throw me out!"

"H'mmph" snorted Warreen. "Well, sleep over there - in the corner. You're all wet and I don't want cold rainwater dripping on me." Wombat stretched out near the fire again and went back to sleep.

Mirram lay down in the corner, but there was a hole in the wall of the hut and the wind and rain came in. He couldn't dry himself or get warm. The fire went out, but Warreen didn't notice. He snored as he slept and laughed every now and again, enjoying a nice dream. This made Mirram more angry.

In the morning his body was stiff and sore. He hobbled outside and picked up a large rock. When he came back, Warreen was stretching and yawning as he woke up. Mirram dropped the rock on Warreen's head, flattening his forehead and making his nose curl around.

"This is for not helping me get warm and dry" said Mirram. "And from now on, you will always live in a damp hole. Your flattened forehead and cold home will remind you of last night."

After that, Warreen and Mirram didn't speak to each other or play together and Warreen planned revenge.

He made a big spear and waited until Mirram was busy washing himself.

Then he threw the spear with all his strength and it hit the kangaroo at the base of his spine. Mirram yelled in pain and tried to pull the spear out, but it was stuck.

"From now on, that will be your long tail" yelled Warreen, "and you'll never have a home to live in!"

That is why wombats now have flat foreheads and live in dark, damp burrows underground and why kangaroos have long tails and always sleep outside, under the stars.

The End

How Butterflies Came To Be

(Story taken from:

In Papago creation stories, Earth-Maker created the world and Elder Brother created people. Elder Brother is I’itoi, spirit of goodness. He watches over the Papago from his home on top of a cloud-covered mountain.

A long time ago, Elder Brother was out walking. The summer rains had finished and everywhere he saw the colors of autumn, brightly colored flowers and trees and the blue sky.

He heard birds singing. He came to a village where young women were grinding corn and children were playing. They ran around, noisy and happy, and he felt happy too. “The world is beautiful,” he thought, and he sat down to enjoy it.

Suddenly he was sad. “It will be winter soon. The leaves will shrivel and fall and the flowers will fade. The beautiful colors will be gone and it will be cold.”

As he watched the children playing, he decided the summer colors should be kept somehow so that he and everyone else could enjoy them longer. He would make something to hold them.

Elder Brother always had a special bag with him, his creation bag. It was big enough to hold whatever he needed to carry.

He opened it up, looked around and began to collect colors from things: gold from a ray of sunlight, blue from the sky, shiny black from a woman’s hair, white from the cornmeal, green from pine needles, yellow from leaves, and purple, red and orange from flowers.

All the colors went into the bag.

He thought he was finished, but then he heard the birds singing again and he added their songs to the colors in the bag.

Then Elder Brother called to the children. “Come here. I have something for you.” Several of the children ran over and he held out his large bag to them. “Take this and open it,” he said. “There’s a surprise in there for you all.”

The children took the bag and opened it.

Hundreds of colored butterflies fluttered out. They flew up around the children’s heads, landing on their hair and arms.

The children laughed with joy. The women stopped grinding corn and came over and men joined their families from the fields.

Everyone watched the butterflies and stretched out their hands for them to land on. They had never seen such beautiful colors.

And then the butterflies began to sing as they flew around.

The people were very happy, but the birds were not.

One bird perched on Elder Brother’s shoulder and tapped him with its beak.

“You’ve given our songs to these new creatures and we don’t think that’s fair. When we were made, we were given a song each – our own song. Now you’ve given all our songs away. And to creatures that already have more beautiful colors than we do.”

“You’re right,” said Elder Brother. "The songs belonged to you and I shouldn’t have given them away. I’m sorry.” He reached out to the butterflies, took away the songs gently and gave them back to the birds. This made the birds happy again.

This is how butterflies came to be, and why they are silent.

Their colors are a gift of beauty for everyone to share, whenever they appear.

Just as Elder Brother wanted.

The End

Name:______Period:______

Origin Myth Sheet

How The Kangaroo Got It’s Tail

  1. What kind of animal is Mirram?______
  2. What kind of animal is Warreen?______
  3. According to the story, how were Kangaroos and wombats different than they are today?______
  4. Why did Mirram make fun of Warreen?______

______

  1. What does Mirram say is wrong with Warreen’s bark hut?______

______

  1. Why does Mirram want to be let into Warreen’s hut?______

______

  1. Why doesn’t Warreen want Mirram sleeping by him?______

______

  1. What did Mirram do to Warreen because of his anger?______

______

  1. What did Warreen do to Mirram to get revenge?______

______

10. What was your favorite part of the story & why?______

______

How Butterflies Came To Be

  1. In the first paragraph of the story, what was Elder Brother doing?______
  2. What were the young women doing in the village?______
  3. Why was Elder Brother suddenly sad in the third paragraph?______

______

  1. Where was the color gold collected from?______
  2. Where was the color blue collected from?______
  3. Where was the color white collected from?______
  4. Where was the color green collected from?______
  5. Where was the color orange collected from?______
  6. Where was the color yellow collected from?______
  7. Where was the color purple collected from?______
  8. Where was the color shiny black collected from?______
  9. Where were the colors placed once they were collected?______
  10. What came out of the bag when the children opened it?______
  11. Why were the birds jealous of the butterflies?______

______

  1. What did Elder Brother take away from the butterflies?______