So Rabbit stretched a larger grapevine across the trail but without
gnawing it in the center. Deer ran back as he had seen Rabbit do, made
a spring, and struck the grapevine right in the center. It only flew
back and threw him over.
Deer tried again and again, but he was only bruised and hurt.
"Let me see your teeth," said Rabbit. They were long like a wolf's
teeth but not very sharp.
"No wonder you cannot do it," said Rabbit. "Your teeth are too blunt
to bite anything. Let me sharpen them for you so they are like mine.
My teeth are so sharp I can cut through a stick just like a knife."
And Rabbit showed Deer a black locust twig, of which rabbits gnaw the
young shoots, which he had shaved off as well as a knife could do it.
So Deer let Rabbit sharpen his teeth. But Rabbit got a hard stone with
rough edges and ground down the Deer's teeth until they were blunt.
"Now try it," said Rabbit to Deer. So Deer tried it again, but he
could not bite at all.
"Now you've paid for your horns," said Rabbit as he sprang through the
underbrush. That is why the Deer's teeth are blunt.