“That is true,” the huge frog croaked, still trying to escape. “That is true. Can you help me? Can you help me?”

Rabbit Foot had been taught by his elders not to interfere with the natural course of things. It was natural for one animal to eat another. So he did not try to free the frog from the snake’s jaws.

But he did notice that the snake was lying on the ground in something very close to a circle. Its tail was right in front of the big frog’s mouth. Offering advice would not really be interfering, would it?

“My friend,” Rabbit Foot said to the frog. “Perhaps you could do to your enemy what your enemy is doing to you?”

“Good idea, good idea,” the frog said. It reached out with its front legs and grabbed the snake’s tail and stuffed it into its mouth. Then it began to swallow.

As the frog swallowed and the snake continued swallowing, that circle they formed got smaller and smaller.

This is getting interesting, Rabbit Foot thought.

The snake swallowed and the frog swallowed, the snake swallowed and the frog swallowed. And the circle got smaller and smaller until . . .

The Peacemaker clapped his hands together. “Pop!” he said. “They both disappeared. They had eaten each other.”

•   •   •

Carries smiled so broadly that it seemed as if the fish tattoo was going to swim off his face. “At first, some of us laughed. Others shook their heads. It was the sort of funny story that you might tell to a child. But then the story’s deeper meaning began to sink in. Like all of our stories, what the Peacemaker had related to us was meant to entertain and teach. Whether we were the frog or the snake, always fighting with each other would end up in both being wiped out. From that point on, everyone in our village began to listen to what the Peacemaker was saying. And in the end, it was agreed by all of us. We would join in his plan to bring the Great Peace.”