The story of how the bat and the flying squirrel got their wings, also known as “The Animal Ball Game,” is an Appalachian tale originating from the Cherokee people who lived in the southeastern mountains of the United States before the arrival of Europeans settlers. Subsequent contact with these settlers eventually drove many of the Cherokee people away, but their stories still thrive in the greater Appalachian narrative and still further west, where Cherokee people are now established.
The story of “How the Bat and Flying Squirrel Got Their Wings” is closely associated with a game called stickball played by the Cherokee people. This game, later developed as lacrosse, is played with deerskin balls and sticks with a little basket at the end. More than a recreational activity, this game was used to settle conflicts and would sometimes replace actual battles with its large groups of players and trained warriors. The stories told today emphasize the important role played by the game within its social context, a function that Johan Huizinga’s book Homo Ludens (1971) says is fundamental in maintaining order. Through a game, life’s confusion and difficulties are temporarily suspended.
The story of how the bat and squirrel got their wings also provides an important lesson to the Cherokee people, teaching that strength and appearances are not necessarily the only assets required to win battles. Sometimes, the smallest and most insignificant player of the team can help win a victory. Many versions of this tale have been recorded and it is still evolving, being retold today in books for children and adults as well as by storytellers. The general core of the tale remains the same, with secondary characters changing names and being modified in regard to specific contexts.
According to the standard version of the story, an important game of stickball is about to be played between two teams of animal people. On one side are the four-legged animal peoples of the earth like Wildcat, Rabbit, Deer, Terrapin, and their captain Bear. Confident in their superiority and in Bear’s strength and Deer’s quickness, they refuse to allow the little mouse-looking players to take part in the game.
On the other side are the bird peoples, with players like Eagle, Kingfisher, Hawk, and Raven. Both teams are confident in their eventual victory and begin to brag. When Bat and Squirrel ask to be part of the bird team, despite their evident mammal characteristics, Eagle, the captain, feels sorry for them and answers that anyone with wings is welcome. He asks Kingfisher to make wings from an old drum for Bat. (Other versions explain that Bat’s wings were made from groundhog skin spread on river cane splints.)
Hawk and Raven proceed to tug on the skin of the other creature’s body until he becomes Flying Squirrel. (In other versions they pull its loose skin over its feet.) These two new members of the team wait a whole day until the birds are exhausted from playing the game. At that point, the birds let them into the game, which also coincides with nightfall. This explains why bats and flying squirrels are nocturnal creatures.
As the game progresses, the animals and birds meet on a plain by the river. The winning team is determined by whichever player first hits the ball against the poles at opposite ends of the playing field. In the climactic stage of the game, and in the story, Flying Squirrel catches the ball and throws it to Blue Jay, who drops it. Bear comes running, hoping to get the ball, but Bat swoops near the ground, grasps the ball, and throws it against the pole, winning the game for the birds.
The moral of the story is that a person’s size or stature isn’t as important as quickness, alertness, or a special talent. Even the newest and smallest players can help the team claim victory, proving that everyone can play a crucial role in the team’s success. The story of how bats and flying squirrels can fly also illustrates the importance of narratives within Native American societies as a means to make sense of and explain observed phenomena in nature and in the universe. Its survival into the present suggests the importance of traditional folktales in sustaining Native American culture and identity amid pressures for assimilation.
Geneviève Pigeon
See also Animal Tales; Pourquoi Tales; Storytelling
Further Reading
Arneach, Lloyd. 1992. The Animals’ Ballgame: A Cherokee Story from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. Chicago: Children’s Press.
Duncan, Barbara R., ed. 1998. Living Stories of the Cherokee. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Duvall, Deborah L. 2002. The Great Ball Game of the Birds and Animals (Grandmother Stories). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Huizinga, Johan. 1971. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Boston: Beacon Press.
Judson, Katharine Berry, ed. 2000. Native American Legends of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.