Pine Needle Whiskers

By Noelle

One day Seal was sunning himself on a rock and singing because he was very happy that he didn’t have ugly whiskers like Walrus. Raven saw Seal on the rock. He flew down and asked Seal why he was singing. Seal said to him, "Why, Raven, can’t you see? I sing because I have no whiskers like old Walrus."

Raven could see that Seal really had no sympathy for Walrus, who had grown long tusks and whiskers. All of the animals respected Walrus except for Seal, who just made fun of him. Raven thought Seal needed to be punished for his disrespectfulness. He thought for awhile, and then he thought some more, and then, finally, he had the perfect plan.

The next day, Raven collected spruce sap in an old woven basket, but found when the basket was full it was too heavy to fly with. So he dumped out some next to the tree. Then Raven found he had poured out too much, so he went over to the same tree and filled the basket a little more. When it was half full he felt something under his feet. He looked down and saw that he was standing right in the middle of the sap he had poured on the ground. He was not happy. Raven pulled and pulled at his feet, trying to get them free. He found a willow branch and pulled himself out of the sap.

Raven, feeling even more determined, put pine needles into one of his small pouches.

When Raven approached, Seal was still happily singing to himself. Raven got irritated with Seal’s singing and said, "What are you making that racket for?"

"What are you talking about Raven? I’m singing."

"By why are you making fun of Walrus? He is much older and wiser than you are. You don’t even have enough sense to look out for the Orcas," said Raven. "Anybody could come out and attack you."

"I’m not worried about that. Who would do such a thing?"

And with that, Raven flew high into the sky and said to Seal, "Watch me, Seal. I can do tricks." Seal looked up and Raven dumped the bucket of sap onto Seal’s nose. Then he emptied the pouch of pine needles onto the sap and said, "Now you look like Walrus. You now have many whiskers."

Ever since that day, Northern Fur Seals have had whiskers.

Writing Myths