The Animal who would Eat Men

One day Elk boldly declared to Hare that he had tired of his constant diet of vegetables, and that it was time that he had some meat; and not just any meat would do, but only the flesh of humans. So Hare went out and gathered the most sour berries he could find and squeezed the juice out of them to make a blood-red drink. "Here, try this," Hare said. "It's the blood of humans. See how you like it!" Elk grabbed the cup and greedily poured the drink through his lips. Its sourness was so powerful that it knocked out Elk's front teeth, which is why the elk has no front teeth even to this day. After that, Elk decided that he wanted nothing to do with human flesh, as even the blood was too offensive to drink. [1]

(137) At first Eel asked him, "What would I suck?" said Eel. "Could I eat humans?" he said. And so Hare said, "After you eat a piece with your teeth," he said. He showed him his teeth. The teeth were very long. He was also afraid. (138) And he asked this one to go and eat one of the people. "As you advised, I took some portion from him as he lay there, but quickly gave it back." By means of the great force of its sourness after he took it, his teeth fell out. At some places he had teeth remaining. Very tiny ones, small ones, remained. Eel cried there. Hare did not like it. He (Eel) said, "How could it not be? Your little uncles have this to work with. I will be meant for eating," he said. (139) And little Hare began thanking himself, "It is good, is it not?" [2]

Commentary: "the elk has no front teeth" -- the dental formula of an elk is, I 0-0/3-3, C 1-1/1-1, P 3-3/3-3, M 3-3/3-3 = 34. [3] So the elk has no upper front teeth.

Comparative Material. The Cherokee have a similar story about deer. Rabbit was jealous of Deer because Deer had won horns for his superior speed. So he gnawed on the middle of a vine and stretched it across a path. Then he rushed at it, biting it as he struck. Deer came along and saw this, and when he asked what was going on, Rabbit told him that his teeth were so sharp that he could bite through a vine. He then successfully demonstrated this. Then he challenged Deer to do the same, only this time the vine was not gnawed in the middle. Deer completely failed. So Rabbit offered to sharpen Deer's teeth. He went to work with a file, but instead of sharpening them, he filed them down nearly to the gum. Ever after