WHY THE SNAKES
CHANGE THEIR SKINS
NE day as the children were passing Klayukat's shop, they saw him oiling a rattlesnake's skin.
"Oh, what a big snake!" and Juanita shuddered.
"Did you kill it? How many rattles did it have?" questioned Antonio.
"Twelve rattles. Yes, I killed it last evening over near the quarry."
"My! I'll never go near there any more"; and Juanita puckered up her face into a hundred wrinkles.
"Oh, rattlers will not hurt you!" Antonio assured her. "They always ring their rattles in time for you to get out of their way. What are you going to do with the skin, Klayukat?"
"It is to hold medicine. I shall oil it many times, and then it will always keep soft and whole. It will not crumble like the skins the snakes have cast off and you find on the ground."
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