The origin of this tale is not precise. Ella Clark only notes that it comes from a Western Rocky Mountain tribe.
 

Once there was a rabbit with only three legs, but he made a wooden leg for himself so that he could move fast.

At the time the sun was very hot, and Rabbit said to himself, "I'll go and see what the problem is." As he hopped toward Sun, he found it getting hotter every day.

"The only thing on earth that doesn't burn," said Rabbit, "is cactus." So he made a house of cactus to stay in during the day, and he travelled only at night.

When he came to the east, he rose early in the morning and ran toward the place where Sun should appear. He saw the ground boiling and knew that Sun was ready to come up. Rabbit stopped, sat down, and took out his bow and arrows.

When Sun was about halfway out of the earth, Rabbit shot. His first arrow hit the heart and killed Sun. Rabbit stood over the corpse and cried: "The white part of your eye will be clouds." And it was.

"The black part of your eye will be the sky."

And it was.

"Your kidney will be a star, your liver the moon, and your heart the dark."

And they were.

Then Rabbit said to Sun, "You will never be too hot again, for now you are only a big star."

Sun has never been too hot since, and after that day, rabbits have had brown spots behind their ears and on their legs. Their rabbits' fur was scorched during their journey, long, long ago, to see why Sun was so hot.
 
 

* Told by Ella Clark in 1966