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Show 82 The Southern Utes his daughters, the eagle certainly did have beautiful white hands. They were very white, long, and delicately beautiful. The frog became increasingly jealous and began to plot, silently of course, to kill the eagle. He told the eagle he had to show him a scenic area near the lake which would appeal to him. The eagle agreed to go with the frog to the lake. Of course, the eagle was unaware of the danger the frog had planned. The frog invited the eagle to jump on his back and he would give him a ride to the lake, but he made the eagle promise not to open his eyes until the frog told him to do so. The eagle agreed to do this, and off they set for the trip to the lake. As they neared the lake area, the eagle opened one eye and saw a large jagged, pointed rock in the lake. He closed his eye again and suddenly he felt himself falling. Because the eagle is a bird and has wings, he started to fly. He flew high into the air and made circular motions in the sky. The frog became afraid of what he had tried to do to the eagle and wondered what the eagle would do to him now; after all, he had tried to kill him at his favorite killing place. The eagle soared down in the direction of the frog and with his great claws picked up the frog, and took him high into the air and circled the jagged rock and dropped him directly over the rock. When the frog fell, the eagle said, "As of this day, because of your misconduct (killing animals whom his daughters thought were more handsome than he), all frogs will not talk as other animals talk, but will make the sound croak, croak, croak." This is the sound that was heard that day at the lake and to this day it is still heard. Na mee se's Tale One time a man named Na mee se told this story. When he was walking along the river bank, suddenly he heard a drum beat coming from somewhere near the river bank, so he crept along to find out where it was coming from, and then he stopped. He saw an old cow head. The sound seemed to come from where the old cow head was lying, so he crept up to it, turned it over slowly, and found some field mice. Some were with red heads or black or brown, and they were the ones that were singing. He heard a very nice song which he had never heard before, so he asked one of them if they could sing a song for him. One spoke up and said, "yes" they would, and they started to sing. When they did, he saw they all closed their eyes when they were singing. So they went on and on singing. He heard enough of their |