Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/172

 all men were created originally with tails, tail long-haired, sleek, and comely. These tails were their delight, and they adorned them with paint, beads and wampum. Then the world was at peace, discord and wars were unknown. Men became proud and forgot their Maker, and He found it necessary to disturb their serenity by sending them a scourge which might teach them humility, and make them realize their dependence on the Great Spirit. Then He amputated their tails, and out of these dejecta membra fashioned women—who, say the Kikapoos, retain traces of their origin, for we find them ever trailing after the men, frisky and impulsive.

Yet, notwithstanding all this testimony in favor of tailed men and women, I profess myself dubious; and shall yield only when a homo caudatus has been caught and shown to me.