How Rabbit Brought Fire to the People – A First Nations Folk Tale

Rally Against Racism, 2010
Truro Elementary School, Truro Jr High, Cobequid Educational Centre
How Rabbit Brought Fire to the People – A First Nations Folk Tale
Grades: 1 2
Objectives:
To expose the children to folk tales of the First Nations culture
Visualization and artistic expression
Recognizing selfishness and sharing
LEARNING OUTCOMES
English Language Arts
GCO 1: Students will be expected to speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify
and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences.
GCO 2: Students will be expected to communicate information and ideas
effectively and clearly and to respond personally and critically.
GCO 3: Students will be expected to interact with sensitivity and respect,
considering the situation, audience and purpose.
GCO 7: Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts,
applying their knowledge of language form and genre.
Social Studies
GCO: Culture and Diversity: Students will be expected to demonstrate an
understanding of the concept of culture, the diversity of culture and views of the
world, recognizing the similarities and differences resulting in various cultural
perspectives.
GCO: People, Place and the Environment: Students will be expected to
demonstrate an understanding of the interactions among people, places and the
environment.
GCO: Citizenship, Power, and Governance: Students will be expected to
demonstrate an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship
and the origins, functions and sources of power, authority and governance.
GCO: Time, Continuity, and Change: Students will be expected to demonstrate an
understanding of what the past was like and how it affects the present and the
future.
Materials required:
Copy of How Rabbit Brought Fire to the People – A First Nations Folktale (attached)
Question sheet (attached)
Paper for drawing
Crayons, markers, colour pencils

Duration: 1 hour
Rally Against Racism, 2010
Truro Elementary School, Truro Jr High, Cobequid Educational Centre
Reading Comprehension Strategies:
Schema – using prior knowledge to identify the animals
Visualization – drawing a part of the story
Inference – i.e. Sky Spirit
Questioning – asking the students if they have any questions regarding the text
Determining Importance – fiction or nonfiction?
Synthesis – students retell the story with discussion
Procedure:
Advise the children we will be reading a folk tale from the First Nations’ culture
Read the story
Ask the students if they have any questions
Ask the questions from the sheet and other questions
Ask the students to retell the story
Do the Fire dance, as described in the story
Pass out the paper and ask the children to draw a part of the story (if time)
Teacher follow-up:
Discuss selfishness and sharing, as to how it relates to the story and to life
Assessment:
Observe the children during the telling of the story for listening
Observe children’s contributions to the overall discussion and participation

Rally Against Racism, 2010
Truro Elementary School, Truro Jr High, Cobequid Educational Centre
How Rabbit Brought Fire to the People – A First Nations Folk Tale
Question Sheet
1) Who has seen a Maple tree? What do the leaves look like? Do we have them here in
Truro? Where have you seen a Maple leaf?
2) What is a council? Who goes to the council?
3) What does a weasel look like? Where do weasels live?
4) Are they really mean and greedy?
5) Since it was so cold without the fire, what do you think the people wore for clothes?
What did they live in? What did they eat?
6) What is pine tar? Why did Rabbit put it on his head?
7) Why did the Weasels let Rabbit dance with them?
8) How did Rabbit become such a good dancer?
9) Why didn’t Rabbit burn his head?
10) Why didn’t the Weasels want the People to have the fire?
11) Why did Rabbit help the People and get the fire for them?
12) How did Rabbit save the fire when it rained?
13) Who has seen a birch tree? What do the leaves look like? Do we have them here in
Truro?
14) Do you think the People were happy and said thank you to rabbit for getting them the
fire?
15) What is a wigwam?
16) What is a Thunderbird?
17) What would life be like today if people had not discovered Fire?

Rally Against Racism, 2010
Truro Elementary School, Truro Jr High, Cobequid Educational Centre
How Rabbit Brought Fire to the People – A First Nations Folk Tale
In the beginning, there was no Fire and the Earth was very cold. The People asked
the Sky Spirit to give them warmth. So, the Thunderbirds sent their lightning to a
Maple tree on an island where the Weasels lived. The Weasels were the only ones
who had Fire and they would not give any of it away.
The People knew that there was Fire on the island because they could see smoke
coming from the Maple tree. They couldn’t get it though because the water around
the island was too deep for anyone to cross. When winter came, the People
suffered so much from the cold that they called a council to find some way of
getting Fire from the Weasels. They invited all the animals who could swim.
“How shall we get the Fire?” the People asked.
Most of the animals were afraid of the Weasels because they were mean and
greedy and ate mice and moles and fish and birds. Rabbit was the only one who
was brave enough to try to take Fire from them. “I can run and swim faster than
the Weasels,” he said. “I am also a good dancer. Every night the Weasels build a
big Fire and dance around it and give thanks to the Sky Spirit. Tonight I will swim
across and join in the dancing, then, I will run away will some of the Fire.”
He had to think about it for a long time while he decided how he would do it.
Then he made his plan. Before the sun set, he rubbed his head with pine tar to
make his hair stand straight up. Then, as darkness was falling, he swam to the
island with the Weasels and the burning Maple tree.
The Weasels liked to see Rabbit come over because he was well known as a great
dancer and the Weasels loved to dance. Soon, they had a big Fire blazing and all
began to dance around it. As the Weasels danced, they approached nearer and
nearer to the Fire in the centre of the circle. They would bow to the Fire and then
dance backwards away from it.
When Rabbit entered the dancing circle, the Weasels shouted to him: “Lead us,
Rabbit! Lead us in the great Fire dance and give thanks to the Sky Spirit!” He
danced ahead of them, coming closer and closer to the Fire. He bowed to the Fire,
bringing his head lower and lower each time. Rabbit was dancing faster and faster.

Rally Against Racism, 2010
Truro Elementary School, Truro Jr High, Cobequid Educational Centre
While the Weasels were dancing faster and faster, trying to keep up with him,
Rabbit suddenly bowed so very low that the pine tar in his hair caught on Fire in a
flash of flame!
He ran off with his head ablaze and the angry Weasels chased after him, crying,
“Catch him! Catch him! He has taken our sacred Fire! Catch him and throw him
down!”
But Rabbit outran the Weasels and plunged into the water, leaving the Weasels on
the shore, screaming after him angrily. He swam across the water with the flames
still blazing on his hair.
The Weasels now called on the Thunderbirds to make it rain to put out the Fire
Rabbit had taken. They were very mad at him and they did not want him to have
any Fire. For three days the rain poured down upon the Earth and the Weasels
were sure that no Fire was left burning, except in their Maple tree.
Rabbit, however, had built a Fire in the hollow of a Birch tree and when the rain
stopped and the sun shone, he came out and gave Fire to all the People. After that,
whenever it rained, the People kept the Fires in their wigwams.
And that is how Rabbit brought Fire to the People.