The story of old possum's slick tail

It's said that the Old Possum got his slick tail this way: The Old Possum was in the woods one day and he came upon Old Raccoon. He was admiring Old Raccoon's pretty striped tail. He asked Old Raccoon how he made his tail look the way it did. Old Raccoon told Old Possum he had wrapped strips of bark around his tail and put it in the fire. The fire only burned the parts of his fur that didn't have the wood on it then he unwrapped his tail and it was so. Old Possum told Old Raccoon he was going to do this too so HE could have a striped tail. They parted ways as friends, each going their own way. Old Possum went straight home so he could try this. He got some good green bark strips and wrapped his tail in stripes of it. He stuck his tail in the fire and was so tired he fell asleep. He work up and his tail was hurting so he took it out of the fire. When he unwrapped the bark from his tail all of the fur all over his tail fell off!!! He was very upset but he put his tail in the water to cool it off thinking the hair would come back and he would never try this again. Over time he realized his tail was not going to grow hair back upon it because it was TOO burned. He even went to the Healer and the Healer was unable to help him. So, from that time on, all of his descendants had no fur on their tails. So, that's how come modern day possum don't have any hair on their tails.
 
Top