"Nature is not what you think!... She has a soul, she has freedom, she has love and she can speak."

- Fyodor Tyuchev

"Everything in nature is alive and influences your thoughts whether you know it or not. Whose to say the rock doesn�t hear your thoughts? Nor the river? Or the mountain ranges?

We all belong to this living world and there is nothing that does not belong."

- Tony Ten Fingers, Oglala Lakota

"You have to look deeper,
way below the anger,
the hurt, the hate,
the jealousy, the self pity,
way down deeper
where the dreams lie.
Find your dream.
It's the pursuit of the dream
that heals you"

- Lakota Prayer

"I cannot think that we are useless or God would not have created us. There is one God looking down on us all.We are all the children of one God. The sun, the darkness, the winds are all listening to what we have to say."

- Geronimo, Apache chief

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so strong as real strength."

- Sitting Bull

mistake:


"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."

- Sitting Bull

As I was surching through internet I�ve found a lot of material which describe position of the women in Native American societies. I couldn�t help myself not to have a thought that European men might have been a little intimidated by thought what would happen if their women would find out how it can be, lol.

One of those articles is here:

"Normal perceptions regarding Women’s History Month revolve around the struggle for women�s political equality in the United States. Yet, many citizens in the U.S. would not suspect that within some American Indian culture, long before Columbus ventured across the Atlantic Ocean, native women enjoyed an equality only dreamed of by the women of European descent. One prominent American Indian tribe which genuinely manifested an attitude of respect and trust toward women existed within the Iroquois League,�� later known as the Iroquois Confederation.

The name ��Iroquois�� is believed to be a French derivative of a derogatory name attached to the native peoples by an enemy tribe. The Iroquois called themselves the Haudenosaunee meaning the people of the longhouse. The concept of the longhouse, which was core to the people�s identity and their union, referred to the large elongated homes, literally long houses, where many families (up to 20 or more) lived together. The Haudenosaunee based their concept of unity upon an understanding that their people were all from the same family, or clan, and they should all live, or be welcomed under the same roof.

The Haudenosaunee called their league the Kanonsionni which means ��extended house.�� This term demonstrates that the longhouse became more than just a dwelling place; it was extended to the eventual union of the five northeastern American Indian nations as practically implemented in the way the tribes lived in harmony side by side on their respective stretches of land to the south and east of Lake Ontario. It ultimately became the symbol of unity among these Indian peoples. The culture or way of life within the Kanonsionni, coupled with other unique cultural traits, developed the inner strength of the union. It grew into an expansive and powerful organization of Indian nations bound by their loyalty to the clan and to the Confederation.

Such an extended family oriented society allowed women many individual and community ��rights,� and women often took leadership positions within the clan or tribal organization. Iroquois women enjoyed many rights not normally permitted to women in European society. The Iroquois women participated fully in helping to maintain the economic, political, social, and spiritual well-being of their communities and clans. The women served as the keepers of their people�s culture, and served as clan leaders. Tribal leadership was matrilineal, as the sister of the sachems (chiefs or leaders) chose the male successor once her brother no longer held a leadership position.

Certainly, the Iroquois women did not fit into the mold that European women were expected to accept in that day and age. Iroquois women not only nominated the men for positions of leadership, but could also insist that specific leaders be removed from power if they did not fulfill their responsibilities to the clan or tribe. In a similar manner, but on a more personal level, if a woman felt that her husband was not being a good husband to her, or a good father for her children, she could ask him to leave their dwelling and essentially divorce the man. The woman�s husband would normally live in the home of the wife�s clan, and if the husband was asked to leave the family, the children remained with their mother.

Iroquois women were primarily responsible for raising the children, and since the children were considered members of the mother�s clan, the mother�s family took their responsibility seriously in educating the young. In training the future generations, the Iroquois women assured the survival of their people and their culture. Overall, even though women had much authority within such a society, it was not a female-dominated matriarchy. Women were respected for their spiritual and practical wisdom, and men and women lived within a realm where there was a more clear or well-defined sense of specialized responsibilities.

In the Iroquois society, women participated in many activities and held responsibilities that were primarily reserved only for men in the European-based culture -�� no matter what nation of origin. Iroquois women could own property and were the ones who actually maintained the ownership of the land. It seemed natural to these indigenous people that the land was under the control of the women since they were the ones who tended the crops, and as the Iroquois were an agricultural-based society, women were fundamentally the ones responsible for nourishing the community in more than one way.

Benjamin Franklin discovered the Iroquois when he was a printer in Philadelphia early in his professional life. Because he was printing contracts between these native peoples and local colonists, he became curious, and these Indians became an object of his inquiring mind. After studying the Iroquois political and social organization, which had been around long before Columbus sailed into the Caribbean, Franklin was genuinely impressed by their tribal organization and way of life. Other colonial people also had extensive interaction, and in some instances intimate contact with the Iroquois. Sir William Johnson and Conrad Weisner, having full citizenship in the Iroquois Confederation, were known for their part in interactions between colonials and the Six Nations.

Each group, the Indians and the Anglo-Americans, learned from the other through these official and personal connections. To Benjamin Franklin and others in New England, the Iroquois demonstrated a system of political organization that seemed free of oppression and class, as well as free of gender stratification. Within the center of the Iroquois culture was the daily demonstration in practical organization that had eluded the Europeans and their transplanted descendants: a very obvious application of gender equality and a more genuine balance of the roles and responsibilities within male - female relationships.

When other Americans started to study the Iroquois peoples in the 18th and 19th centuries, they also came to the realization that the Iroquois women held equal status to men and held leadership positions within the clan structure. It was not by accident that the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, which is recognized as the foundation for the feminist movement in the United States, took place within the stomping grounds of the Iroquois nations. The early leaders of the women’s rights movement were also quite impressed with the equality established between men and women in the Iroquois culture."


--- http://www.commdiginews.com/history-and-holidays/iroquois-women-enjoyed-equality-long-before-1492-11484/#dPr9xvre6GpPb2bg.99

"I am what I am.
In having faith in the beauty within me,
I develop trust.
In softness I have strength.
In silence I walk the higher realms.
In peace I understand myself and the world.
In conflict I stay calm, cool, collected.
In detachment I am free.
In respecting all living things I respect myself.
In dedication I honour the courage within me.
In eternity I have compassion for the nature of all things.
In love I unconditionally accept the evolution of others.
In freedom I have power.
In my individuality, I express the God-Force within me.
In service I give what I have become.
I am what I am:
Eternal, immortal, universal and infinite."

- A Warrior�s Prayer

I am so very grateful! For all my successes and failures. For all my good deeds and all my mistakes. For dear people who became part of my life, enriching my life, who lift me up but also evoke my defiance, showing me how much vanity is still inside me, when I have need to prove myself instead of humble acceptance of their opinions. For moments when I hear words of praise just as for the moments when I have to ask forgiveness for mistakes I�ve done. For ability to laugh to myself when realizing how small I am when trying to be big. For my imperfection that keeps me humble inspite of my vanity... Thank you, God!


"Creator of all we are! All we have! All we shall ever be!
I give to you my most humble gratitude.
I thank you for life and allthat pertains to life about me.
I thank you for giving me this opportunity of life in this form so that I may walk among your wonders with knowledge and given the option to be considerate and to care.

I give you gratitutde for those untold billions of lives that graciously gave themselves over to maintain this life over these many years humbling me by their unselfish sacrifice just to keep me walking here. So much so as to realize the sacredness of life upon this earth I share. Doubly grateful with each day, just knowing you place them there.

I ask your forgiveness, oh Great Mystery, for all the petty things I�ve done. Cursing, griping and groaning over pains and shames that�s done, with so little consideration for all the wisdom won.

With gratitude for all that was given and all that may yet to come I give myself unto Your keeping to let Your will be done. Humbly asking and beseeching to use this aged parchment to face Your drum. Strech it to its limit until under Your slightest touch it gives its loudest strum. Your drum signals given to all about and all that�s yet to come.

Forgive me if I sound selfish, oh, Mystery, after all you have already done. But for myself I have but one wish, perhaps a foolish one. That on that day when the mystery unfolds before me, when the work of this flesh is done, that I may utter with my final breath: "I did all I should have done."

___________________________________________

Thus I pause in this unending prayer, ending as was begun, with undying gratitude for everything You have given and for all that You have done."

- Native American prayer

Well, a bit contradictory comment, lol?

"Legend of the Wolf

Many years ago along the eastern shores of Tsla-a-wat Inlet (now known as Indian Arm) a terrible plague came into villages and destroyed the people. One woman and her tiny infant son were now alone in her cabin for all the other had died. Knowing that soon she, too, would join the others, she gathered her last remaining strength to do what she coud for her infant.

Carefully she wrapped him in a squo-quith (cedar bark cloth) so at least the chill of night would not come to his tiny body so soon. And with this, her last earthly task complete, she laid wearily down on her bed of boughs and sometime through the dark night the Spirit of peace came to her calling her on into the land beyond.

The dawn broke grey and cold for this was early spring. The tiny baby boy slept quietly in his warm wrapped blanket. But soon there was movement outside. Wolves, drawn by the scent of death, were beginning to prowl through the village of the dead.

Coming to the cabin were the baby lay, an old she wolf went up to the bundle and sniffed at it in curiosity. It had a warm baby scent, and having pups of her own, she picked the tiny boy up in her mouth and carefully carried him to her den in the woods. Putting him gently down with her own litter she laid down for a nap while the puppies fed on her milk.

Hunting together, he and the she wolf would stalk a deer and when she saw the quarry she would look at him and wait. Then he would bring it down with his arrow. How anyone could kill a deer without touching it was too much for the she wolf to understand, but to her this foster son was the greatest of all hunters and how he performed these miracles was just his special kind of magic, and that was good enough.

As the years passed by he became lonely for his own kind and one day he sat by the shore with his wolf mother and tried in his own way to tell her he must go and search for his own mate. Somehow the she wolf understood, for she knew that it had to be, for the law of nature is to each his own kind. And the sad day of parting had come.

The boy stroked her head gently and said: My dearest friend, you have devoted your life to me and now I will go. For a time we will be lonely, but it will get better and you and all your kind will be honoured by my people. And all the tribes in this inlet will keep your likeness and name as their crest for all time.

With a last fond look of understanding he turned and walked quickly into the forest. The she wolf watched him go and then slowly turned and trotted along the shore, remembering so well the happy days the two had spent together along the game trails of the Tsla-a-wat.

The boy travelled many weeks back over the mountains to the east, finally coming to Indian bands far inland. And from one of these he took a wife and returned to the waters of Tsla-a-wat. From these two people centuries ago the tribes, as we know them today, began. They are the Wolf tribe of Tsla-a-wat and the wolf packs of the head water river are the ancestors of the she wolf of long ago. Little wander the warm bond that still exists today between these people and the grey silent wolves of the Valley."

- Tsla-a-wat legend

"I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their enviroment and fellow man."

- Chippewa

I wish you healing... "Mo"...

Video about making bannock --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAy99X8M2qU

RELEASING THE BUFFALO - AN APACHE LEGEND

Long ago, they were camping about over on the plain without food. They were playing the hoop and pole game. Raven came from nobody knew where and took off his quiver. Inside of the quiver were intestines.

Magpie took them out. They watched Raven to see which way he would start home. When it was evening he started off flying up toward the sky-hole. "You must all watch him," they said to each other. Everyone was looking at him. He kept circling about until he became very small and few could see him.

When he was so far off that no one else could see him, Rattlesnake and Bat still could make him out. When he was at the top of the sky and out of sight, he flew across this way to the east where the Black Mountains range from north to south. When he reached them he went to the junction of canyons. Only the two could see him.

The people moved their camp four times before they came to him. They found he had very much meat there which he (Raven) distributed to the people. They asked him about the buffalo but he would not tell them. Then they changed an Apache into a puppy, making eyes for him of black obsidian. They hid him under a brush bed and moved their camp away.

The children of Raven came around the deserted camp and finding the dog, took him up. Raven's smallest child folded his arms about him and carried him home. His father said to the children, "He was lying there to find out something." The child did not want to give up the dog. The father put the poker in the fire and when it was burning brought it near the dog's eyes. After a while he cried, Wau." "You may keep it, it’s only a dog. It does not know anything," the father said "Its name will be" inoldi"(choke)," said the child.

Raven had the buffalo all shut up. He opened the door when he wanted to kill some of them. That was the way he secured the meat. The dog went along with them and they fed it. When it was dark and they had all gone to bed, the dog went over there and opened the door. The buffalo started out. They had nearly all gone out before Raven noticed it. He ran over there with his quiver, shooting at them as they rail past. When all his arrows were gone but one, he looked at the door for the man who had become a dog. There was an old buffalo going out which could hardly get to its feet. The man caught hold of this buffalo and went out with it clinging to the opposite side. Raven paid no attention to it and stood there holding his bow with the one arrow looking for the man in vain.

The man overtook the others who had moved their camp away, "I turned the buffalo all loose," he told them. They turned back, moving their camp to the buffalo, where they killed many of them and were no longer hungry.

Raven told his children, "You will live on the meat that is left on the backbone and on the eyeballs."

Long ago they were hungry but he let the buffalo out and then they had plenty to eat. That way he did.

---- Kathy Weiser - From: Legends of America.

THE MAN WHO HELPED THE EAGLES - APACHE MYTH

An Apache was very poor and went about among the Pueblo Indians picking up the food they threw away. That was all he had to eat.

Over by the river there was an eagle nest on top of a sheer cliff. The Pueblo Indians treated the Apache well giving him plenty of food. He went with them to the eagle's nest. They tied a rope to him and lowered him down where the two little eagles were sitting. He took off the rope and stayed there with the eagles. Those above pulled up the rope just by itself. In vain, they let down the rope to him. He remained with the eagles. The others left him and went away. They came back again and let down the rope in vain. Again they left him.

He was very thirsty. He heard someone laugh here below. He jumped up to him. The person said to him, "You have been taking care of the children. Drink this," and gave him a piece of ice about so large (forefinger). "This will not be enough to satisfy me," he thought. He drank it and was satisfied. He lay down beside the little eagles.

The father of the eagles came home. "Dag�nadeL, you are staying with my children. I thank you," he said. Then he opened the house and they went in. (His house was behind the solid rock.) He gave him some food in a very small clay dish. "That is not enough for me," he thought. The man took off his coat and hung it on the wall. Then he was like any other man. He gave his coat to the man. "Run around with my children for me," he said. He flew across to a stone standing on the other side and back again. He flew way off and came back. He was strong.

The man who lived there called and from the center of the sky a large number of them came down. Some of them wished to carry him on their interwoven wings while some of them wished him to fly and others did not want him to. They put wings on him that were stretched out long and started out with him, up into the sky. The eagles flew under him carrying him up. When he was near the sky hole he began to fall he was so tired. The others got under him carrying him up. Then Panther let down his tail through the sky hole. The man seized it and he was pulled up. Panther had his home there.

They had enemies there with whom they fought. The hornets were their enemies. Some of them were black, some of them were yellow. The yellow ones had yellow houses; the black ones had black houses. Panther had much buckskin from which he made him shirts of many thicknesses. There were holes just for the eyes. The man went with the eagles to find the enemy. They camped close by them. He was carrying a quirt in his hand. Early the next morning when they went after wood they met the enemy and began to fight with them. The hornets were killing them. The man put on the shirt Panther had made for him and began whipping around with the quirt. He strung the bodies of those he had killed on a stick. He had two sticks of them. The eagles came back to their home. One of them said, "Dag�nadeL was killed first of all." Panther said, "My grandchild is very brave. Watch for the men he has killed." When he came back there from fighting the enemy, they commenced dancing around in a circle. Meadowlark danced around sunrise. "You had better go down, you say bad words against the people," they told him.

---- Pliny Earle Goddard - 1911

MEDICINE: ACCORDING TO CHEROKEE LEGEND

The Old Ones say that at one time all of Creation spoke the same language. The plants could communicate with the finned ones, the four-leggeds could speak with the trees, the stones could talk with the wind, and even the most dependent, most pitiful part of creation, the two-leggeds, or as we have come to call ourselves, the humans, could also speak with the other parts of creation. All existed in harmony. The plants, the animals, and the elements of the Four Directions (all existence) all knew that if the two-leggeds were to survive, they would need help.

The animals gave of themselves, willingly sacrificing, so that the humans could have food. They knew that their skins were much better suited to survival than that of the humans, so they allowed their skins to be taken and used for clothing and shelter. The Finned ones, The Fliers, and the Crawlers also allowed themselves to be used by the humans, to insure their survival.

The Plant people, the Standing people (trees), and the Stone People (rocks) freely gave of themselves so that the humans had what they needed for food, clothing, and shelter. An agreement was forged that the two-leggeds would ask permission for these gifts, give thanks for the sacrifice, and take no more than they needed. And so, it was good.

But then, the two-leggeds started growing in numbers, and began to feel themselves more important than the rest of creation. They began to believe that the Web of Life revolved around them, ignoring the fact that they were just one small part of the Circle. The two-leggeds began to kill without asking for permission. They began to take more than they needed. They ceased to give thanks. All parts of the agreement were broken.

The great Animal Councils banded together to determine what they should do to right these wrongs. They needed to protect themselves from destruction and eradication. And so, it was decreed by the council, if one of their clan was killed by the two-leggeds and thanks was not given for the sacrifice, the Chief Animal Spirit would afflict the disrespectful killer with a devastating disease.

The plants were distressed and said to the animals, "They wrong us, too. They dig us up, trample us, burn us out, and don't even listen when we try to tell them what we can do to help them. Yet, we feel compassion for the two-leggeds. Man struggles to realize his place in the web of creation and he cannot learn if he is wiped out by disease. Man needs our help, so for every disease you animals bring to them, we, the Plant People will give them a cure. All the two-leggeds have to do is ' listen' when we talk to them."

---- A'yun'ini (also known as "Swimmer") - Cherokee Medicine Man

LITTLE BRAVE & THE MEDICINE WOMAN - SIOUX LEGEND


A village of Indians moved out of winter camp and pitched their tents in a circle on high land overlooking a lake. A little way down the declivity was a grave. Choke cherries had grown up, hiding the grave from view. But as the ground had sunk somewhat, the grave was marked by a slight hollow.

One of the villagers going out to hunt took a short cut through the choke cherry bushes. As he pushed them aside he saw the hollow grave, but thought it was a washout made by the rains. But as he essayed to step over it, to his great surprise he stumbled and fell. Made curious by his mishap, he drew back and tried again; but again he fell. When he came back to the village he told the old men what had happened to him. They remembered then that a long time before there had been buried there a medicine woman or conjurer. Doubtless it was her medicine that made him stumble.

The story of the villager's adventure spread thru the camp and made many curious to see the grave. Among others were six little boys who were, however, rather timid, for they were in great awe of the dead medicine woman. But they had a little playmate named Brave, a mischievous little rogue, whose hair was always unkempt and tossed about and who was never quiet for a moment.
"Let us ask Brave to go with us," they said; and they went in a body to see him.

"All right," said Brave; "I will go with you. But I have something to do first. You go on around the hill that way, and I will hasten around this way, and meet you a little later near the grave."

So the six little boys went on as bidden until they came to a place near the grave. There they halted.

"Where is Brave?" they asked.

Now Brave, full of mischief, had thought to play a jest on his little friends. As soon as they were well out of sight he had sped around the hill to the shore of the lake and sticking his hands in the mud had rubbed it over his face, plastered it in his hair, and soiled his hands until he looked like a new risen corpse with the flesh rotting from his bones. He then went and lay down in the grave and awaited the boys.

When the six little boys came they were more timid than ever when they did not find Brave; but they feared to go back to the village without seeing the grave, for fear the old men would call them cowards.

So they slowly approached the grave and one of them timidly called out:

"Please, grandmother, we won't disturb your grave. We only want to see where you lie. Don't be angry."
At once a thin quavering voice, like an old woman's, called out:

"Han, han, takoja, hechetuya, hechetuya! Yes, yes, that's right, that's right."

The boys were frightened out of their senses, believing the old woman had come to life.
"Oh, grandmother," they gasped, "don't hurt us; please don't, we'll go."

Just then Brave raised his muddy face and hands up thru the choke cherry bushes. With the oozy mud dripping from his features he looked like some very witch just raised from the grave. The boys screamed outright. One fainted. The rest ran yelling up the hill to the village, where each broke at once for his mother's tepee.

As all the tents in a Dakota camping circle face the center, the boys as they came tearing into camp were in plain view from the tepees. Hearing the screaming, every woman in camp ran to her tepee door to see what had happened. Just then little Brave, as badly scared as the rest, came rushing in after them, his hair on end and covered with mud and crying out, all forgetful of his appearance:

"It's me, it's me!"

The women yelped and bolted in terror from the village. Brave dashed into his mother's tepee, scaring her out of her wits. Dropping pots and kettles, she tumbled out of the tent to run screaming with the rest. Nor would a single villager come near poor little Brave until he had gone down to the lake and washed himself.

---- Marie L. McLaughlin - 1916

THE FIRST MEDICINE LODGE: BLACKFOOT LEGEND

The chief god of the Blackfoot is the Sun. He made the world and rules it, and to him the people pray. One of his names is Napi—old man; but there is another Napi who is very different from the Sun, and instead of being great, wise, and wonderful, is foolish, mean, and contemptible. We shall hear about him further on.

Every year in summer, about the time the berries ripen, the Blackfoot used to hold the great festival and sacrifice which we call the ceremony of the Medicine Lodge. This was a time of happy meetings, of feasting, of giving presents; but besides this rejoicing, those men who wished to have good-luck in whatever they might undertake tried to prove their prayers sincere by sacrificing their bodies, torturing themselves in ways that caused great suffering. In ancient times, as we are told in books of history, things like that used to happen among many peoples all over the world.

Soon after, the Raven Bearers held a dance. They all painted themselves nicely and wore their finest ornaments and each one tried to dance the best. Afterward some of them asked for this girl, but she said, "No." After that the Bulls, the Kit-Foxes, and others of the All Comrades held their dances, and many men who were rich and some great warriors asked this man for his daughter, but to every one she said, "No."

Then her father was angry, and he said, "Why is this? All the best men have asked for you, and still you say 'No.'" Then the girl said, "Father, listen to me. That Above Person, the Sun, said to me,

'Do not marry any of these men, for you belong to me. Listen to what I say, and you shall be happy and live to a great age.' And again he said to me, 'Take heed, you must not marry; you are mine.'"

"Ah!" replied her father; "it must always be as he says"; and they spoke no more about it.

There was a poor young man. He was very poor. His father, his mother, and all his relations were dead. He had no lodge, no wife to tan his robes or make his moccasins. His clothes were always old and worn. He had no home. To-day he stopped in one lodge; then to-morrow he ate and slept in another. Thus he lived. He had a good face, but on his cheek was a bad scar.

After they had held those dances, some of the young men met this poor Scarface, and they laughed at him and said, "Why do not you ask that girl to marry you? You are so rich and handsome." Scarface did not laugh. He looked at them and said, "I will do as you say; I will go and ask her."

All the young men thought this was funny; they laughed a good deal at Scarface as he was walking away.

Scarface went down by the river and waited there, near the place where the women went to get water. By and by the girl came there. Scarface spoke to her, and said, "Girl, stop; I want to speak with you. I do not wish to do anything secretly, but I speak to you here openly, where the Sun looks down and all may see."

"Speak, then," said the girl.

"I have seen the days," said Scarface. "I have seen how you have refused all those men, who are young and rich and brave. To-day some of these young men laughed and said to me, 'Why do not you ask her?' I am poor. I have no lodge, no food, no clothes, no robes. I have no relations. All of them have died. Yet now to-day I say to you, take pity. Be my wife."
The girl hid her face in her robe and brushed the ground with the point of her moccasin, back and forth, back and forth, for she was thinking.

After a time she spoke and said, "It is true I have refused all those rich young men; yet now a poor one asks me, and I am glad. I will be your wife, and my people will be glad. You are poor, but that does not matter. My father will give you dogs; my mother will make us a lodge; my relations will give us robes and furs; you will no longer be poor."

Then the young man was glad, and he started forward to kiss her, but she put out her hand and held him back, and said, "Wait; the Sun has spoken to me. He said I may not marry; that I belong to him; that if I listen to him I shall live to great age. So now I say, go to the

Sun; say to him, 'She whom you spoke with has listened to your words; she has never done wrong, but now she wants to marry. I want her for my wife.' Ask him to take that scar from your face; that will be his sign, and I shall know he is pleased. But if he refuses, or if you cannot find his lodge, then do not return to me."

"Oh!" cried Scarface; "at first your words were good. I was glad. But now it is dark. My heart is dead. Where is that far-off lodge? Where is the trail that no one yet has traveled?"

"Take courage, take courage," said the girl softly, and she went on to her lodge.

Scarface was very unhappy. He did not know what to do. He sat down and covered his face with his robe, and tried to think. At length he stood up and went to an old woman who had been kind to him, and said to her, "Pity me. I am very poor. I am going away, on a long journey. Make me some moccasins."

"Where are you going--far from the camp?" asked the old woman.

"I do not know where I am going," he replied; "I am in trouble, but I cannot talk about it."

This old woman had a kind heart. She made him moccasins—seven pairs; and gave him also a sack of food.... pemican, dried meat, and back fat.

All alone, and with a sad heart, Scarface climbed the bluff that overlooked the valley, and when he had reached the top, turned to look back at the camp. He wondered if he should ever see it again; if he should return to the girl and to the people.

"Pity me, O Sun!" he prayed; and turning away, he set off to look for the trail to the Sun's lodge.

For many days he went on. He crossed great prairies and followed up timbered rivers, and crossed the mountains. Every day his sack of food grew lighter, but as he went along he looked for berries and roots, and sometimes he killed an animal. These things gave him food.

One night he came to the home of a wolf. "Hah!" said the wolf; "what are you doing so far from your home?"

"I am looking for the place where the Sun lives," replied Scarface. "I have been sent to speak with him."

"I have traveled over much country," said the wolf; "I know all the prairies, the valleys, and the mountains; but I have never seen the Sun's home. But wait a moment. I know a person who is very wise, and who may be able to tell you the road. Ask the bear."

The next day Scarface went on again, stopping now and then to rest and to pick berries, and when night came he was at the bear's lodge.

"Where is your home?" asked the bear. "Why are you travelling so far alone?"

"Ah," replied the man, "I have come to you for help. Pity me. Because of what that girl said to me, I am looking for the Sun. I wish to ask him for her."

"I do not know where he lives," said the bear. "I have travelled by many rivers and I know the mountains, yet I have not seen his lodge. Farther on there is some one--that striped face--who knows a great deal; ask him."

When the young man got there, the badger was in his hole. But Scarface called to him, "Oh, cunning striped face! I wish to speak with you."

The badger put his head out of the hole and said, "What do you want, my brother?"

"I wish to find the Sun's home," said Scarface. "I wish to speak with him."

"I do not know where he lives," answered the badger. "I never travel very far. Over there in the timber is the wolverene. He is always travelling about, and knows many things. Perhaps he can tell you."

Scarface went over to the forest and looked all about for the wolverine, but could not see him; so he sat down on a log to rest. "Alas, alas!" he cried; "wolverine, take pity on me. My food is gone, my moccasins are worn out; I fear I shall die."

Some one close to him said, "What is it, my brother?" and looking around, he saw the wolverine sitting there.

"She whom I wish to marry belongs to the Sun," said Scarface; "I am trying to find where he lives, so that I may ask him for her."

"Ah," said the wolverine, "I know where he lives. It is nearly night now, but to-morrow I will show you the trail to the big water. He lives on the other side of it."

Early in the morning they set out, and the wolverine showed Scarface the trail, and he followed it until he came to the water's edge. When he looked out over it, his heart almost stopped. Never before had any one seen such a great water. The other side could not be seen and there was no end to it. Scarface sat down on the shore. This seemed the end. His food was gone; his moccasins were worn out; he had no longer strength, no longer courage; his heart was sick. "I cannot cross this great water," he said. "I cannot return to the people. Here by this water I shall die."

Yet, even as he thought this, helpers were near. Two swans came swimming up to the shore and said to him, "Why have you come here?

What are you doing? It is very far to the place where your people live."

"I have come here to die," replied Scarface. "Far away in my country is a beautiful girl. I want to marry her, but she belongs to the Sun; so I set out to find him and ask him for her. I have traveled many days. My food is gone. I cannot go back; I cannot cross this great water; so I must die."

"No," said the swans; "it shall not be so. Across this water is the home of that Above Person. Get on our backs, and we will take you there."

Scarface stood up. Now he felt strong and full of courage. He waded out into the water and lay down on the swans' backs, and they swam away. It was a fearful journey, for that water was deep and black, and in it live strange people and great animals which might reach up and seize a person and pull him down under the water; yet the swans carried Scarface safely to the other side. There was seen a broad, hard trail leading back from the water's edge.

"There," said the swans; "you are now close to the Sun's lodge. Follow that trail, and soon you will see it."

Scarface started to walk along the trail, and after he had gone a little way he came to some beautiful things lying in the trail. There was a war shirt, a shield, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. He had never seen such fine weapons. He looked at them, but he did not touch them, and at last walked around them and went on. A little farther along he met a young man, a very handsome person. His hair was long; his clothing was made of strange skins, and his moccasins were sewed with bright feathers.

The young man spoke to him and asked, "Did you see some weapons lying in the trail?"

"Yes," replied Scarface, "I saw them."

"Did you touch them?" said the young man.

"No," said Scarface; "I supposed some one had left them there, and I did not touch them."

"You do not meddle with the property of others," said the young man. "What is your name, and where are you going?" Scarface told him. Then said the young man, "My name is Early Riser (the morning star). The Sun is my father. Come, I will take you to our lodge. My father is not at home now, but he will return at night."

At length they came to the lodge. It was large and handsome, and on it were painted strange medicine animals. On a tripod behind the lodge were the Sun's weapons and his war clothing. Scarface was ashamed to go into the lodge, but Morning Star said, "Friend, do not be afraid; we are glad you have come."

When they went in a woman was sitting there, the Moon, the Sun's wife and the mother of Morning Star. She spoke to Scarface kindly and gave him food to eat, and when he had eaten she asked, "Why have you come so far from your people?"

So Scarface told her about the beautiful girl that he wished to marry and said, "She belongs to the Sun. I have come to ask him for her."

When it was almost night, and time for the Sun to come home, the Moon hid Scarface under a pile of robes. As soon as the Sun got to the doorway he said, "A strange person is here."

"Yes, father," said Morning Star, "a young man has come to see you. He is a good young man, for he found some of my things in the trail and did not touch them."

Scarface came out from under the robes and the Sun entered the lodge and sat down. He spoke to Scarface and said, "I am glad you have come to our lodge. Stay with us as long as you like. Sometimes my son is lonely. Be his friend."

The next day the two young men were talking about going hunting and the Moon spoke to Scarface and said, "Go with my son where you like, but do not hunt near that big water. Do not let him go there. That is the home of great birds with long, sharp bills. They kill people. I have had many sons, but these birds have killed them all. Only Morning Star is left."

Scarface stayed a long time in the Sun's lodge, and every day went hunting with Morning Star. One day they came near the water and saw the big birds.

"Come on," said Morning Star, "let us go and kill those birds."

"No, no," said Scarface, "we must not go there. Those are terrible birds; they will kill us."

Morning Star would not listen. He ran toward the water and Scarface ran after him, for he knew that he must kill the birds and save the boy's life. He ran ahead of Morning Star and met the birds, which were coming to fight, and killed every one of them with his spear; not one was left. The young men cut off the heads of the birds and carried them home, and when Morning Star's mother heard what they had done, and they showed her the birds' heads, she was glad. She cried over the two young men and called Scarface "My son," and when the Sun came home at night she told him about it, and he too was glad. "My son," he said to Scarface, "I will not forget what you have this day done for me. Tell me now what I can do for you; what is your trouble?"

"Alas, alas!" replied Scarface, "Pity me. I came here to ask you for that girl. I want to marry her. I asked her and she was glad, but she says that she belongs to you, and that you told her not to marry."

"What you say is true," replied the Sun. "I have seen the days and all that she has done. Now I give her to you. She is yours. I am glad that she has been wise, and I know that she has never done wrong. The Sun takes care of good women; they shall live a long time, and so shall their husbands and children.

"Now, soon you will go home. I wish to tell you something and you must be wise and listen. I am the only chief; everything is mine; I made the earth, the mountains, the prairies, the rivers, and the forests; I made the people and all the animals. This is why I say that I alone am chief. I can never die. It is true the winter makes me old and weak, but every summer I grow young again.

"What one of all the animals is the smartest?" the Sun went on. "It is the raven, for he always finds food; he is never hungry. Which one of all the animals is the most to be reverenced? It is the buffalo; of all the animals I like him best. He is for the people; he is your food and your shelter. What part of his body is sacred? It is the tongue; that belongs to me. What else is sacred? Berries. They too are mine. Come with me now and see the world."

The Sun took Scarface to the edge of the sky and they looked down and saw the world. It is flat and round, and all around the edge it goes straight down. Then said the Sun, "If any man is sick or in danger his wife may promise to build me a lodge if he recovers. If the woman is good, then I shall be pleased and help the man; but if she is not good, or if she lies, then I shall be angry. You shall build the lodge like the world, round, with walls, but first you must build a sweat-lodge of one hundred sticks. It shall be arched like the sky, and one-half of it shall be painted red for me, the other half you shall paint black for the night." He told Scarface all about making the Medicine Lodge, and when he had finished

speaking, he rubbed some medicine on the young man's face and the scar that had been there disappeared. He gave him two raven feathers, saying: "These are a sign for the girl that I give her to you. They must always be worn by the husband of the woman who builds a Medicine Lodge."

Now Scarface was ready to return home. The Sun and Morning Star gave him many good presents; the Moon cried and kissed him and was sorry to see him go. Then the Sun showed him the short trail. It was the Wolf Road--the Milky Way. He followed it and soon reached the ground.

It was a very hot day. All the lodge skins were raised and the people sat in the shade. There was a chief, a very generous man, who all day long was calling out for feasts, and people kept coming to his lodge to eat and smoke with him. Early in the morning this chief saw sitting on a butte near by a person close-wrapped in his robe. All day long this person sat there and did not move. When it was almost night the chief said, "That person has sat there all day in the strong heat, and he has not eaten nor drunk. Perhaps he is a stranger. Go and ask him to come to my lodge."

Some young men ran up to the person and said to him, "Why have you sat here all day in the great heat? Come to the shade of the lodges.

The chief asks you to eat with him." The person rose and threw off his robe and the young men were surprised. He wore fine clothing; his bow, shield, and other weapons were of strange make; but they knew his face, although the scar was gone, and they ran ahead, shouting, "The Scarface poor young man has come. He is poor no longer. The scar on his face is gone."

All the people hurried out to see him and to ask him questions. "Where did you get all these fine things?" He did not answer. There in the crowd stood that young woman, and, taking the two raven feathers from his head, he gave them to her and said, "The trail was long and I nearly died, but by those helpers I found his lodge. He is glad. He sends these feathers to you. They are the sign."
Great was her gladness then. They were married and made the first Medicine Lodge, as the Sun had said. The Sun was glad. He gave them great age. They were never sick. When they were very old, one morning their children called to them, "Awake, rise and eat." They did not move.

In the night, together, in sleep, without pain, their shadows had departed to the Sandhills.

---- George Bird Grinnell

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SIDENOTE: If you haven't guessed it already.., this isn't the same Scarface, that Al Pacino portrayed in the movie...

Blessings & hugs to you all...

- Jag