Once there was such a long spell of dry weather that there was no more
water in the creeks and springs, and the animals held a council to
see what to do about it. They decided to dig a well, and all agreed to
help except the Rabbit, who was a lazy fellow, and said, "I don't need
to dig for water. The dew on the grass is enough for me." The others
did not like this, but they went to work together and dug their well.
They noticed that the Rabbit kept sleek and lively, although it was
still dry weather and the water was getting low in the well. They said,
"That tricky Rabbit steals our water at night," so they made a wolf of
pine gum and tar and set it up by the well to scare the thief. That
night the Rabbit came, as he had been coming every night, to drink
enough to last him all next day. He saw the queer black thing by
the well and said, "Who's there?" but the tar wolf said nothing. He
came nearer, but the wolf never moved, so he grew braver and said,
"Get out of my way or I'll strike you." Still the wolf never moved
and the Rabbit came up and struck it with his paw, but the gum held
his foot and it stuck fast. Now he was angry and said, "Let me go or
I'll kick you." Still the wolf said nothing. Then the Rabbit struck
again with his hind foot, so hard that it was caught in the gum and he
could not move, and there he stuck until the animals came for water in
the morning. When they found who the thief was they had great sport
over him for a while and then got ready to kill him, but as soon as
he was unfastened from the tar wolf he managed to get away.--Wafford.