Myths and Legends of British North America/86
BEAVER AND PORCUPINE
BEAVER and Porcupine lived together. They used to eat together, but their food was different and Porcupine was always eating Beaver's food. He would leave his own food and eat Beaver's.
One day Beaver said, " Hereafter we shall eat apart." So he took his own food and went some distance away, leaving Porcupine to eat his own. But even so, Porcupine left his own food, and came around to Beaver, and ate his.
One day Beaver said to Porcupine, "Tomorrow we will travel into the mountains where there is much food." They packed their blankets and boxes and all their things and traveled into the mountains, where they camped. The next morning Beaver said, "There is much food here in the mountains. I am going hunting."
When Beaver had gone some distance, he stopped and called to Porcupine far, far away:
"Hereafter you shall be a common porcupine. You shall always live in the mountains. You shall never again live with Beaver nor eat his food. Neither shall you ever live in a good country."
That is why porcupines live in the mountains, while beavers live in low, flat lands, where there is plenty of water. Because when Beaver left Porcupine, he traveled on to a flat country, with many lakes and streams.