Ever wonder why moles live under your lawn? This Tsalagi tale will explain it.

There once was a man who loved a woman who did not return his affections. Every gambit he tried to attract her favorable attention met with cold rebuttal. This sad state of affairs brought his spirit quite low, and while he was sitting around feeling sorry for himself, Mole stepped up and asked what was bothering him. The man explained his problem and Mole kindly offered to help.

This is what Mole did. That night, while the woman was asleep, Mole tunneled underground and emerged beside her. He took out her heart and brought it back to the frustrated lover and instructed him to swallow it, explaining that such an action would draw the woman to him. Out of desperation, he did as Mole asked.

In the morning the woman awoke, thinking of this man whom she had previously spurned and found she could not help but to go and seek him out. Though she had always disliked him, her compulsion grew until she went to him and told him that she loved him and wished to marry him.

After they were married, the magicians of the tribe whom the young man had consulted previously in this matter were puzzled as to how this had all come about. When they discovered Mole's part in the romance, they became jealous and angry that such an insignificant creature as Mole could succeed where they had failed. They talked seriously of killing Mole and that is why Mole hid underground and to this day doesn't often show his head above the ground.


source: American Indian Myths and Legends, edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz (Pantheon, 1984)