So this next piece is a contemporary rabbit story.
Rabbit is our trickster-- like out here,
a coyote's a trickster.
I think you're familiar with trickster,
and they're always running along the edge.
They're kind of like the penultimate human being.
And I wonder, it seems like tricksters running between--
how do you reconcile?
How do you find conflict resolution between maybe one
side that believes all resources were
given to them by their creator for use and the world is dead.
It's a scientific thing that you can explain.
And then, over here, people who understand
that the Earth is a living being, and that there
is a consciousness between all--
how do you find a way there?
In a world long before this one, there was enough for everyone
until somebody got out of line.
We heard it was Rabbit.
Fooling around with clay in the wind,
everybody was tired of his tricks
and no one would play with him, and he
was lonely in this world.
So Rabbit thought to make a person.
And when he blew into the mouth of that crude figure
to see what would happen, the clay man stood up.
Rabbit showed the clay man how to steal a chicken.
The clay man obeyed.
Then he showed him how to steal corn.
The clay man obeyed.
Then he showed him how to steal someone else's wife,
and that clay man obeyed.
Rabbit felt important and powerful,
and clay man felt important and powerful.
And once that clay man started, he could not stop.
Once he took those chickens, he wanted all the chickens.
Once he took that corn, he wanted all the corn.
And once he took that wife-- well, he wanted all the wives.
He was insatiable.
Then he had a taste of gold.
He wanted all the gold.
Soon, it was land or anything else he could see.
His wanting only made him want more.
Soon, it was countries, then it was trade.
The wanting infected the Earth.
We lost track of the purpose and meaning for life.
We began to forget our songs, our stories.
We could no longer see or hear our ancestors,
or talk with each other across the kitchen table.
Forests were being mowed down all
over the world to make more.
And Rabbit had no place to play.
Rabbit's trick had backfired.
Rabbit tried to call the clay man back,
but when that clay man wouldn't listen,
Rabbit realized he'd made a clay man with no ears.