How Porcupine Got His Quills

I'm going to follow David's lead and put up my creative project too. My kids thought it was clever, so I hope you enjoy it too.

How Porcupine Got His Quills

A long, long time ago, Porcupine didn’t have quills. He only had a thick coat of fur, but that didn’t keep him safe like Skunk’s stink. To protect himself, porcupine hid in holes that he would dig, but this made it hard for Porcupine to see his friends, Skunk and Rabbit.

One day Porcupine was out looking for food when Bear came along. Bear said, “I’m sorry Porcupine but I am hungry. I haven’t come across food for a while. I need to fatten up for the winter, so I am going to have to eat you.”

Porcupine was too smart to just let Bear eat him, so he thought he would try to trick him. “I just came from over there, Bear. There are some berries, and they are Mmm Mmm good. So juicy,” Porcupine said, rubbing his furry tummy. “The best berries all season.”

Bear looked toward where Porcupine was pointing. He knew that berry season was over. “I don’t see a patch of berries,” he said.

“Over there behind that tree,” said Porcupine.

Bear trotted over to get a better look, and Porcupine ran and hid in a hollow log that was close by. Bear looked around the tree, but there were no berries there. Porcupine had tricked him. He turned around and Porcupine was gone. “That ol’ Porcupine,” Bear said. “He’s a tricky one. I should never listen to him.”

Porcupine thought he was safe in the log, and he started laughing at Bear. “Bear is so gullible,” Porcupine said.

Well, that old hollow log carried the sound of Porcupine’s giggles, and Bear heard him. Bear used his ears and his powerful nose to find Porcupine. “Come out of there, Porcupine,” said Bear. “I need to fatten up for my winter sleep.”

“No,” said Porcupine. “I don’t want you to eat me.”

“Alright,” said Bear. “I’ll just sit here and wait. You have to come out sometime.”

Porcupine settled down in the middle of the log. Bear will fall asleep after a while, he thought. And then I’ll tiptoe around him and run home.

Bear sat right beside that log and kept one eye on one hole and the other eye on the other hole. He was determined to eat Porcupine. Once Porcupine tried to sneak a peek out of one side of the log, and Bear was right there. With his powerful claws, he pounced but he missed Porcupine, so Porcupine went back to the center of the log and tried to wait for Bear to fall asleep.

But Bear didn’t fall asleep. In fact, Bear was becoming impatient, and he was looking around trying to figure out how to get Porcupine out of that log. He used his long arms to reach into one end of the log, but Porcupine just went to the other end where Bear couldn’t reach him. Bear also tried to use his powerful claws to scratch a hole in the middle of the log, but that gave him splinters in his paws.

Behind the log, there was big hill. If Bear could roll the log down that hill, maybe Porcupine would fly out. Then Bear would have his supper. Bear began to rock the log back and forth to free it from its resting place. He pushed, and he pulled. He pushed, and he pulled.

Porcupine was inside the log laughing. What did Bear think he was doing? Bear was strong, but there was no way he could move that log.

The log rocked back and forth, back and forth. Bear almost had it over the hump. He gave one, big, long push, and the log broke free. It started rolling down the hill, slowly at first, but then it picked up speed.

Porcupine stopped laughing. He was scared. He tumbled over and over inside the log as it got faster. He didn’t know where he was going. All he could do was hold on.

Bear chased the log down the hill. He was going to grab Porcupine as soon as he fell out of that log, but the log hit a tree at the bottom of the hill. It split open, and Porcupine was thrown into the air. Bear stopped and watched as Porcupine flew in the air and then landed in a patch of thistles. There was no way he was going into that patch of thorns. Thistles hurt. He would just wait until Porcupine came out.

When Porcupine landed he rolled several times through that big thistle patch. Thorns stuck to his thick fur, but they didn’t go into his skin. Porcupine stood up slowly. He was dizzy from his ride in the log down the hill, and he felt sick. He just wanted to go home. Surly, Bear had gone away, he thought. He wouldn’t have followed him into the thistle patch. So, Porcupine waddled out of the thistle patch and headed toward home, but he couldn’t see very well. He was still dizzy.

Bear jumped out at Porcupine and grabbed him with his paws, but Bear threw him back down quickly and ran off crying. Poor Bear. He had many thorns in his paws. Porcupine saw this and laughed. He now had protection. He decided to keep his quills. He didn’t have to hide in holes any longer, and he could come out anytime he wanted to see his friends, Skunk and Rabbit.

On April 6, 2012, I went with my American Indian Literature class to the Qualla Boundary or the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina. While there we visited the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the Kituwah Mound, and the Casino. Each of these places represented history, spirituality, and survival. Representation of all of these things in the museum is not easy, for the Cherokee have such a long history. Without a written language until Sequoyah created a writing system in 1821, much has been lost, but the Indians have found a way to record their history and their culture. Much is found in the museum.

            The museum begins at the beginning. We are led into a small room with bench seats and three screens in the front. This introductory film tells story of how the Earth was created. The story has been passed from generation to generation. The art of oral storytelling was very important to the Cherokee, for earlier, they didn’t have a written language to record their history. Accounts were passed through storytelling.

The lights were dimmed and the film began. Several members of the Cherokee tribe talked about how important oral language is to their history. The myth of creation was displayed on the screen in the form of digital cartoon, and soft white lights lit up at our feet and displayed specked shapes around the room. The next myth was how the first flute was made. Music was added to the surround sound system, and it stayed with us as we walked through the museum and looked at the displays. After we received instructions to walk through the open doors at the rear of the room, we stepped into the display area.

The lighting was very soft in order to highlight the displays behind Plexiglas on the walls and in clear cases on the floor. Still soft lighting was used to highlight the cases as well. I was a little disappointed in the lack of lighting. One had to get up really close to see details, but even then, sometimes that wasn’t even enough. The mood was warm, and the lights invited one to stay and linger a while. The flute played gently and was very calming. Those things were both a plus, but it still hard to see.

The first displays were at the beginning of time, or for as far back as archeologists have found evidence of human existence by excavation and carbon dating. In the display cases were spearheads dating back to the Paleo period (before 8,000 BC). These were from hunters living in the southern Appalachians. The spearheads are lined up neatly, but the directional chart at the bottom was hard to read, for it was close to the ground and was typed in small letters. The elderly would have a hard time ciphering the chart’s meaning.

Beautiful murals were painted on the walls. Some brightly depicted daily life in a Cherokee
camp. One display held Sequoyah’s symbols for the Cherokee language. It would light up and a
recorded voice would say the sound.

Another massive mural showed how one fall turned into a harsh winter on the journey to the Oklahoma territory. The mural came out of the wall with snow covered stone fences and wagons. The wall painting of the Trail of Tears was heart breaking. One display held a gorgeous turkey feather mantle for a ritual dance. Again the low lighting made it hard to see the details of the cape, but I understand that lighting had to be low in order to preserve the artifacts.

Wax figures stood in welcoming poses against the harsh stance of the English. Tension from over 200 years ago still hung in the room. Other wax figures wore traditional Cherokee dress, and wall plaques told of their meaning. There were lots of wall signs in which one could read about this and that, so many in fact; it was hard to read them all. I believe that I would have enjoyed a personal tour of the museum with a guide to tell me about important events in Cherokee history and to tell me how they used to live. That may have given a more homely feel to match the warm lights.

There was so much information that I will have to revisit and spend more time. Going with a class and having an agenda with other things to accomplish that day, one has to follow the crowd. These people are proud. I even met the man who was the model of a statue that stood in the middle of one of the rooms. His name was Jerry Wolf, and he autographed a pamphlet for me. The man was happy to share his time and his culture, and welcomed me to come back.