~ Conversation With Tsisdu ~
On a fine summer day Grandfather and I
Sat under an oak and looked up at the sky.
"That cloud seems a fox and that one tsisdu.
Be quiet.", he said, "Here's a story for you."
He sat by the trail like a brown furry fixture,
Tsisdu the Rabbit, well known as a trickster.
"Have you seen the Fox ?", he then asked of me,
"He's been hunting all day for dinner, you see,
And I've been here by this thick briar patch
Trying to think of a way I can hatch
A scheme to foil his murderous plans
And keep me away from those hard grasping hands."
"I'm sorry tsisdu.", I said with a smile,
I haven't seen the Fox for quite a long while.
He was hunting this morning down by the lake,
Creeping along like a long russet snake."
Tsisdu seemed to be thinking and soon
His eyes would have shamed a new harvest moon.
They twinkled like stars on a clear summer night.
In them was mischief, not a measure of fright.
"Oh Man", he said, "Come along, watch the fun."
And he headed for the lake at a calm steady run.
When we got there, he asked of me, "Man,
Can you see the Fox from where you now stand ?"
"Yes, he comes from the left.", I replied,
"You better be quick, find a place you can hide."
Instead he climbed up a broad nearby tree,
Then out on a limb (with difficulty).
I hid to see what would happen when
The Fox came by on his way to his den.
Did tsisdu really have some clever scheme ?
Things aren't always the way that they seem.
The Fox stopped still as a statue of stone
For there on the water stood tsisdu, alone,
Making rude gestures in the Fox's red face.
Without hesitation he leapt for the place.
The reflection shattered when the
angry Fox hit
The water's smooth surface and after a bit,
A twelve foot "Gator slid into the lake
And swam to the Fox, conversation to make.
Tsisdu jumped from out of the tree
And laughingly said as he looked up at me,
"Look before you leap, appearances can fool you.
Don't jump into something you later may rue."
He hopped away home with a song in his heart
Proving once more that it pays to be smart.
The Fox and the 'Gator were conversing away
But that is a story for another fine day.
Dragonfly
©
2004 used with permission
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