How the Alligator Met Trouble

How the Alligator Met Trouble

By Robert Winter Owl Vann

A couple of years ago I went to Oklahoma to help my wife find her ancestors’ records. We stopped in Sulphur, OK., where I found a Chickasaw newspaper in the library. In it was a two-paragraph story about Alligator. The story I am going to tell comes from that idea. You might wonder how people living on the dry plains of central Oklahoma ever knew anything about Alligator. I discovered that before the Trail of Tears, the Chickasha People lived in southern Louisiana, and knew the swamps well.

Many seasons ago when the world was young and all of the animals spoke to each other in the same language, there was peace throughout the land. Alligator lived on the banks of the swamp. He lived a life of swimming, eating and lying in the sun. He was in peace except for one thing. He wanted to know everybody in the swamp, but he had never met Trouble.

One morning he was pacing back and forth along the bank of the swamp, worrying about never having met Trouble. Then he stopped and made himself a promise.

“Why should I stand here worrying? If I am going to meet Trouble, I am going to have to get busy. Now who can I find to introduce us?”

Before long he thought of Rabbit. Rabbit knew everybody. Rabbit was able to get around the country easily, and probably knew where Trouble was at this very minute. So Alligator went wading out of the swamp to find Rabbit and ask him for his help.

After a while he came to the edge of the big meadow, where the tall grass grows. He spotted a big hole in the ground that was Rabbit’s front door. He walked up to it and stuck his long nose down the hole and yelled, “RAAAABIT!”

“Aieeeeeeee!” shouted Rabbit, as he jumped out of his hole and shot into the air. “What is wrong with you, Alligator? You have scared me out of a year’s life, and I think I’m going to be deaf. What do you want?”

“Well”, said Alligator, “I really want to meet Trouble, and I figured that you would be the best creature to help.”

“Well did you have to turn my poor ears inside out by screaming at me?”

“I’m sorry, Rabbit, but I am really in a hurry.”

“Well, Alligator, I’m not sure that you will be happy when you meet Trouble. He is everything his name says.”

“I don’t care,” said Rabbit. I know everybody else around here and I’m determined to meet Trouble, and right away!”

Rabbit said, “Well, you come back here tomorrow when Grandmother Sun is at the top of the sky, and I’ll take you to meet Trouble.”

“Oh, thank you, Rabbit!” answered Alligator. “That will make me very happy.” And with that, Alligator wobbled his way back to his home in the swamp.

Later, Alligator started to worry. Was Rabbit the best choice to take him to meet Trouble? Rabbit was a trickster and played jokes on everybody. Sometimes these jokes were cruel and hurt the feelings of that creature. Alligator knew this because Rabbit had probably played as many jokes on him as anyone else. Had he been wise to trust his long-eared friend?

And Alligator worried all the rest of the day. He tossed and turned in his watery bed all night. He woke up the next morning tired and grumpy, and he worried some more. But it was too late to back out. So at the middle of the day, he left the swamp.

He walked back to the edge of the meadow, where the tall grass grows, until he got to Rabbit’s hole. He again stuck his snout far down into Rabbit’s hole, and called for him.

“Raaaaaabit!”, he shouted.

The terrified Rabbit again flew out of his hole, as if he had been shot from a bow. His whiskers were curled, the fur on top of his head had turned white, and he had bits of lettuce and carrots all over his face.

“Must you scare me like that every time you come to visit me? My lunch is all over my house now, and …”

“I’m sorry for that, but you know that I’m really anxious to meet that fellow, Trouble. Can we start now?”

“We might as well.” Grumbled Rabbit. “You have ruined my lunch and there’s no telling what else might happen if I put off the trip any longer.”

So Rabbit started off, hopping through the meadow, where the tall grass grows, while Alligator did his best to keep up with his faster friend. Soon they were in the middle of the meadow, where the grass was so tall that it hid the animals from the sight of anybody. In fact, Alligator was having trouble moving at all, so Rabbit stopped.

“Alligator, my friend, why don’t you just sit here and wait. When I find Trouble, I’ll bring him to you.”

So Alligator got comfortable in the long, tall grass while Rabbit left to track down the creature known as Trouble. It was the middle of summer and Grandmother Sun was shining down as fiercely as she could. Alligator was glad the grass was so tall, because it gave him some shade. But the heat was drying out the meadow, where the tall grass grows. The tops of the stalks soon turned brown and brittle as the grass withered and died. As the heat grew stronger, smoke started to form on the tips of the dead grass.

Alligator smelled smoke with his long snout, and he burrowed deeper in the grass for protection. The smoke of the smoldering grass soon covered the meadow. Then small, bright tongues of fire formed on the tips of the grass. Soon the meadow was burning brightly. Alligator was trapped and didn’t know what to do. Ash and hot embers started to fall all around him, and then it fell on his back.

If you didn’t know it already, Alligator’s back was once very beautiful. It was as soft and smooth as fine silk. It was a soft pink in color, and it was covered with white hair as fine and delicate as thistle down. As the embers landed on his back, the hair caught on fire and began to burn with great heat.

“I can’t take this any more!” shouted Alligator. He ran out of the big meadow, where the tall grass grows, just as hard as his stubby little legs would carry him, heading for the swamp. He gave a great leap when he reached the edge of the water, and landed with a loud “KERSPLAT”! Then all that could be heard was a loud “Hissssss” as the water put out the fire. He sank slowly into the water until only his two eyes and nostrils could be seen. He lay there until most of the pain was gone.

“Now I’ll get out and cover my back with mud. That will take the rest of the pain away, and protect it while it heals.” So he crawled to his favorite wallow and rolled around in the muck until his back was completely smeared with the black gumbo mud. Then he crawled out into the clearing and took a nap. The mud baked hard and solid while he was sleeping. It was black, broken up and scaly, and had ridges all across it where the mud had cracked.

We have learned two important things about Mr. Alligator. The first thing is that his back still looks the same today, all black, hard and cracked, even after all the years that have passed. The other thing we know is that Alligator has never looked for Trouble since that day.
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