BASS GUITAR SHEET

You are the rose
I am the thorn.

A native legend of the rose and the thorns from the folklore is that of Nanabush. Nanabush was the son of the West Wind and the great grandson of the Moon. This unusual ancestry gave him rather unusual powers.

Nanabush's mother died at his birth, and he was raised by his grandmother, Nokomis. Throughout his life he did many good things, and sometimes rather naughty things. In this respect he was quite human! Being part human, Nanabush behaved as humans do -- sometimes good and sometimes bad.

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Wild rose bushes are very beautiful, but they are covered from top to bottom with very sharp thorns and prickles. If you were to pick wild roses, you would probably have to spend quite a while trying to pull the thorns and prickles out of your hands.

At one time many years ago, rose bushes did not have any thorns. They had long smooth stems. Even the smallest child could pick them without injury. This story explains how and why rose bushes became covered with thorns and prickles.

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ONE day great fat Rabbit was talking to his animal friends. I'm hungry," he said. "How about you?"

"Yes, we're hungry too!" the animals shouted. "What should we eat today?"

"Let's try something different," Rabbit said. "I'm tired of eating grass and clover all the time."

"But we've tasted just about everything," replied the animals.

"No, not everything," replied Rabbit. "We've never tried to eat rose bushes."

"That's right!" the other animals agreed.

"I wonder if rose bushes taste good," said Bear.

"One way is to find out," replied Rabbit. "Let's find some rose bushes."

So away the animals scampered, looking everywhere for rose bushes.

Suddenly, Rabbit stopped and shouted excitedly, "I just remembered where there is a great big garden full of rose bushes! Follow me!"

The animals ran after Rabbit, their leader, and were huffing and puffing when they arrived at the rose garden. Sweet-smelling pink flowers covered the bushes as far as their eyes could see.

"What part do we eat -- the petals, or the leaves?" shouted the animals.

"Let's try both," replied the Rabbit. "I like the petals best, but even the leaves taste good!" All the animals agreed, and they nibbled and nibbled and nibbled, until every petal and almost every leaf had disappeared into their big fat tummies.

"I wonder who owns this rose garden," asked Raccoon.

"Who cares," answered Rabbit. "Whoever owns it had better watch out, or we'll eat him too!"

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the animals. Soon their bellies were full and they agreed to have an afternoon nap.

"See you later!" they shouted to each other as they disappeared into the forest.

As time went by, there were very few rose bushes left on earth. The few that had been left were very worried that soon they would be discovered and eaten too.

"What can we do to protect ourselves?" they asked each other.

"There is nothing we can do except wait to be eaten," they decided.

But one older rose bush suddenly had an idea. "Nanabush loves flowers. Why don't we try to find him and ask him to help us out?"

"Good idea!" cried the other bushes.

Now Wind heard the rose bushes talking, and swept up to them. "I am your friend, Wind. I am also friendly with Nanabush, for I have helped him any times."

With these words, Wind swept up the bushes and carried them on his back. Now Wind knew that Nanabush, the Spirit, had just returned from a long journey, and he blew these rose bushes toward Nanabush's flower garden.

As they drew near the flower garden, they heard Nanabush shouting, "Who has destroyed my lovely hedge of rose bushes?"

Just then, Wind blew the rose bushes straight to Nanabush's feet.

"Rabbit and some of his friends ate your rose bush hedge, Nanabush," said the rose bushes. "Soon there will be none of us left on earth!"

Nanabush was overjoyed to see the rose bushes and asked, "How did you escape the animals, my friends?"

"We were hidden," replied the rose bushes, "but soon we will be eaten too, unless you can save us from that naughty rabbit and his friends."

"I will help you," replied Nanabush. "I am going to give you thousands of small thorn-like needles to cover your branches and stems. The thorns will not spoil your great beauty, but they will make anyone who tried to eat you wish they hadn't!"

Just then Nanabush spotted Rabbit and his friends running toward them.

"I am going to hide," Nanabush told the rose bushes. "You stand up straight and tall and wait for them to spot you. I promise they won't eat you."

Happy Monday Flickr!

"Chocolate Hills"

Taken last September 19
@ Bohol Philippines, Nikon D90 Nikkor 18-200/3.5-5.6

by: Mark Olazo
Digital Karma Project '09

Legends...

Fourmug explain the formation of the Chocolate Hills.

The first tells the story of two feuding giants who hurled rocks, boulders, and sand at each other. The fighting lasted for days, and exhausted the two giants. In their exhaustion, they forgot about their feud and became friends, but when they left they forgot to clean up the mess they had made during their battle, hence the Chocolate Hills.

A more romantic legend tells of a giant named Arogo who was extremely powerful and youthful. Arogo fell in love with Aloya, who was a simple mortal. Aloya's death caused Arogo much pain and misery, and in his sorrow he could not stop crying. When his tears dried, the Chocolate Hills were formed.

The third legend tells of a town being plagued by a giant carabao, who ate all of their crops. Finally having had enough, the townsfolk took all of their spoiled food and placed it in such a way that the carabao would not miss it. Sure enough, the carabao ate it, but his stomach couldn't handle the spoiled food, so he defecated, leaving behind him a mound of feces, until he had emptied his stomach of the food. The feces then dried, forming the Chocolate Hills.

The last legend is about a Gluttonous giant named Dano that eats everything in his path. One day he came to a plain. He saw a beautiful young woman named Eng. To win her affection, he needed to lose weight. So he excreted everything he ate. In the end, his fecal matter covered the land and he won Eng's affection. -W

Cheers!