Long ago when grass was yellow and the sky was purple, there lived a fox whose name was Indago. He had beautiful blue fur and was so proud of it.
One day he decided he would go and show off his fur. He slipped through the palisades of the Iroquois village and thought about whether he wanted to go and show off in the Turtle clan, Bear clan, or Wolf clan. Finally he decided he would show off in the Turtle clan. He went into the open door of the long house.Inside, the people were preparing corn, beans, and squash. They had all these crops because the women had chosen a new leader for crops. Over the fire they had all kinds of animals including squirrels and deer. After all they were the best hunters. Actually, this was pretty rare though, because in this season they had to tap trees and eat maple syrup for food. But, none of the delicious smells were taking Indago's mind off his beautiful fur.
He was disgusted at the color of the people's brown skin. After all he thought blue was the only color for skin and fur. In fact the only resemblance to fur was the animal pelts they were wearing. Indago left in disgust.
A couple days later, he went down to the watering hole to admire his luscious blue coat. There he saw the most ugly black crow he had ever seen.
Indago laughed, " You are the ugliest bird on earth ".
The bird paid no attention and jumped in the water. When he came back up, all his feathers fell off. Indago howled with laughter. Then the bird jumped back in. This time when the bird came out she had a beautiful green coat. Indago was shocked. He now became jealous and thought to himself, "I need a green coat like that."
He said to the bird, " Little Green Bird, will you please teach me how to get a beautiful green coat like yours? "
" I'd be glad to," replied the bird.
The bird said " Okay, you come down to the watering hole and jump in the water once everyday until the fourth day, only on the first day you sing any song you'd like, then you jump in the water. The next three days you just jump in the water. Then on the fourth day after you jump in, all your fur will fall off. Then you jump in one last time, and you shall have bright green fur.
So Indago did all of this and on the
fourth day all of his fur fell off. He jumped back in and came
out with green fur. Being the blowhard Indago was, he went and
showed off to all the other animals. While he was walking with
his chin up and talking, he wasn't looking where he was going.
All of a sudden he tripped and rolled down a dirt-covered hill.
He tumbled and tumbled down the hill picking up so much dirt on
his fur, that he looked like his fur was naturally dirt
covered. When he got up he felt dizzy, ashamed, and all his pride
was lost.
So the moral of the story is don't brag and accept the way you are.
