One day, Porcupine (he didn’t have thorns back then) was walking through the forest, when suddenly he met a Bear.
- I'll eat you! - said the Bear.
But Porcupine climbed to the very top of the tree and thereby escaped.
The next day, making his way along the edge of the forest, Porcupine came across a hawthorn bush. A hawthorn thorn pricked him painfully.
“Eh,” thought Porcupine, pulling a thorn from his side, “if only I had such thorns... Why shouldn’t I arm myself with such thorns?..”
The porcupine broke off several thorns and attached them to his back.
The Porcupine Bear saw and jumped out of the thicket:
- I’ll eat now!..
And the Porcupine curled up and put out its spines.
The Bear hit Porcupine, but only injured his paw.
He roared in pain and ran into the forest.
The son of the heavenly spirit Nanabozo saw all this and laughed for a long time at the Porcupine’s witty invention.
-Who taught you how to attach needles? asked Nanabozo.
“Life,” sighed the Porcupine.
Then Nanabozo plucked another handful of thorns from the hawthorn bush, attached them to the skin of the Porcupine and said:
- So be it.
This is how the Porcupine got spines, which all animals know well.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru