Why Epossumondas Has No Hair on His Tail

When Epossumondas asks Mama why he has no hair on his tail, she tells him the story of his great-great-grandpa, in the time when all possums had little powder puff tails. Papapossum had developed a craving for persimmons. When he shared this with his wily friend, Hare, the rabbit came up with a typical trickster idea: Papapossum should climb Bear's persimmon tree, something Hare could not do himself, and throw down half of what he could pick. That way Hare could do no work whatsoever and still get his fill of persimmons.

Once hungry Papapossum was up in the tree, however, he became, so enthralled with the taste of the sweet persimmons that he soon forgot his deal with Hare. No one hates to be tricked more than a trickster, so Hare went directly to Bear to tell him that Papapossum was eating all of his persimmons. Ultimately Papapossum's little puff of a tail was radically transformed by the teeth of the angry bear, and thus the long, hairless pink tails that possums have to this day.

Ever the optimist, however, the resourceful possum ancestor discovered several practical uses for this long skinny tail, among which, of course, was hanging upside down from tree branches.