Avigiatsiak - Inuit Avigiatsiak was the name of a young woman who, while grinding her knife on the beach, was taken by a whale. After living for a time with the whales, she fled and was transformed into a seal, living with the seals. As such she was caught by a man, hauled upon the ice, and cut to pieces, all excepting the head, which was thrown beneath the bench. From thence she slipped into the womb of the man's wife who had harpooned her, and was afterwards born anew, and called Avigiatsiak. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, by Henry Rink; London [1875] and is now in the public domain. [Greenland] Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Atanarjuat (the Fast Runner) - Inuit Igloolik, "place of houses," in the eastern arctic wilderness at the dawn of the first millenium. Evil in the form of a mysterious, unknown shaman enters a small community of nomadic Inuit and upsets its balance and spirit of cooperation. The stranger leaves behind a lingering curse of bitterness and discord: after the camp leader Kumaglak is murdered, the new leader Sauri drives his old rival Tulimaq down through mistreatment and ridicule. Years pass. Power begins to change when the resentful Tulimaq has two sons - Amaqjuaq, the Strong One, and Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner. As the camp's best hunters they provoke jealousy and rage in their rival, Oki, the leader's ill-tempered son. When Atanarjuat wins away Oki's promised wife-to-be, the beautiful Atuat, in a head punching competition, Oki vows to get even. Egged on by his intimidating father, Oki and his friends plot to murder both brothers while they sleep. Amaqjuaq is speared through their tent and killed, but Atanarjuat miraculously escapes, running naked for his life across the spring sea ice. Eluding his pursuers with supernatural help, Atanarjuat is hidden and nursed back to health by an old couple who themselves fled the evil camp years before. After an inner struggle to reclaim his spiritual path, and with the guidance of his elder advisor, Atanarjuat learns to face both natural and supernatural enemies, and heads home to rescue his family. Will he continue the bloody cycle of revenge, or restore harmony to the community? Atanarjuat - The Fast Runner is based on an ancient Inuit legend, which takes place in the area around Igloolik. Follow the detailed story of the film in Legend on the Land Atanarjuat (2001), aka The Fast Runner, is an Inuit production telling the myth of Atanarjuat, a story which includes adultery, evil spirits, murder, jealousy, and caries the important message for that culture that the family unit has to get along and live for the good of the group to survive in the tundra. As the Inuit had no written language, the story was handed down in oral tradition. When they decided to make the film, that had several elders recount their version of the myth, then wrote the story based on all the versions. Like many indigenous people, the Inuit are largely unemployed, and have a suicide rate ten times the rate in the general population. Most of them have not learned their cultural heritage, and have lost the sense of community. This production crew is solving several problems at once. They brought in experienced film makers to train an Inuit crew, cast nothing but Inuit people, and shot the entire film in Inuit land. They carefully researched the tools, clothes, canoes and dwellings of the ancient Inuit people, taught the skills to the props and set folks, and all costumes, props and locations were created using traditional methods and materials. They made a real point to be as accurate as possible, as they were preserving Inuit cultural heritage for their own people, and educating the world. As an example, igloos in "southern Inuit movies" not made by Inuit, are lit by a huge torch or fire in the middle of the Styrofoam igloo. Here, they used the traditional seal oil lighting, which is carefully tended small flame, in real ice igloos. In other words, everything about the production is as authentic as possible. Cast and crew lived on the tundra in harsh conditions during shooting, in traditional dwellings -- igloos in winter, and hide tents in summer. Spoilers The myth, briefly, starts with an evil shaman arriving amid the clan, killing the good ruler, and leaving a creep in his place. The father of Atanarjuat and his older brother, The Strong One, is a good man, but beset by bad luck and scorn from the leader. His two sons, however, are the hope of the clan. Atanarjuat and Atuat are in love, but Atuat has been promised to the evil son of the evil leader, Oki. Atanarjuat and his brother are better hunters than Oki, and much better liked, so Oki and his two friends have a vendetta against them. Oki's sister, Puja, decides to marry Atanarjuat, both because she is in lust with him, and because she hopes it will break up the romance between Atuat and Atanarjuat. That doesn't work, and Oki finally challenges Atanarjuat to a fight, the winner getting Atuat. Atanarjuat wins, and Oki swears to kill him. Early one morning, Puja screws Atanarjuat's brother, starting world war three. Atanarjuat is furious at his brother, the brother's wife is furious at her, and Puja runs home to daddy, claiming that her husband tried to kill her for no reason. Oki and his friends ambush the two brothers while they are asleep, and kill the older brother. Atanarjuat escapes naked on foot, outrunning them. He recovers, and, with the help of the dead former clan head's spirit, restores order to the clan. http://www.atanarjuat.com/legend/legend_film.php Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Arikara corn: the first to know maize - Arikara A young Arikara man was the first to discover maize. While hunting atop a high hill he scouted a large bull buffalo standing at the confluence of two rivers. While deciding how to best approach the buffalo the young man was forced to look around him closely, and was taken with the beauty of his surroundings. Though the banks of the river were nice and timbered, the buffalo was facing north, so the young man could not take a shot from either side. He decided he would wait until the buffalo moved nearer the timbered banks or wandered into the hills or ravines where the young man could hide in shrubs. By sundown, the buffalo had not moved at all, so the young man returned to camp disappointed. His night was not easy. He spent it thinking about how scarce food was among the people, and how much good he could have done if he had taken the buffalo. Just before dawn the young man got up and went back to the place he left the buffalo to see if it was still nearby; had it moved at all. As the sun rose, from his spot on the high hill, the young man saw the buffalo was still in the same spot but now it faced the east. And so it stood again, all day. Disappointed again, the young man spent another sleepless night wondering why the buffalo would stand so steadfastly in one spot without eating, drinking or lying down to rest. The next day was the same, except the buffalo faced south and the next day west. Now the young man was determined to know why the buffalo acted in this way. He settled in to watch, and told himself the buffalo was behaving this way for some mysterious purpose, and that he, too now, was under the same mystery. He went home to sleep and yet again spent the entire night wondering. The next day he rose before dawn and ran to his mysterious scene. The buffalo was gone! Where it had stood there was a small bush. The young man approached with disappointment, but also curiosity and awe. The plant was nothing familiar to him, surrounded by buffalo tracks, north to east and south to west. In the center was a single buffalo track from which this strange plant grew. No buffalo tracks led away from the plant. He ran back to camp and told the chiefs and elders of his strange experience. They all traveled to the spot and found what he told them to be true. They saw the tracks of the buffalo at the spot, but no tracks coming or going from the site of the strange plant. Now while all these men believed this plant had been given to the people by Wakanda for their use, they were not sure what that use might be. Thinking it might need time to ripen like other plants they knew, they posted a guard to wait and see if more information would come. Soon a spike of flowers appeared, but they knew from other plants this was a flower and not the fruit. Soon a new growth appeared. First it appeared as if it had hair at its top, soon turning from green to brown. They determined this growth was the fruit of the plant, and approached with caution and although they wanted to know what it would provided no one dared touch it. The young man finally spoke: "Everyone knows how my life since childhood has been useless, that my deeds among you more evil than good. So, since no one would regret should any evil befall me, I will be first to touch the plant and taste its fruit." The young man gave thanks and prayer and grasped the plant. He told the people it was firm and ripe and inside the husk it was red. He took a few kernels, showed them to the people and then carefully replaced the husks. When the youth suffered no ill effects, the people were then convinced the plant was given to them as food so they would never be hungry. The kernels were dispersed among the people and a great, fruitful harvest was gathered in the fall. The Arikaras decided to hold a feast and they invited many tribes and six came. The Arikaras shared the kernels with their guests, and so the knowledge of maize was spread among all. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Anansi, White-belly and Fish - Jamaica Mrs. Ramtalli, Maggotty. Anansi is accustomed to lie in the sun every morning watching the birds going to feed. One day he said to White-belly, "Brar White-belly, whe' you go to feed eb'ry day? tek me wid you." So White-belly promised on condition that he would behave himself. He fitted him out with a pair of wings to fly, and they went to the feeding-trees. These overhung a river. Every tree White-belly went on, Anansi said, "A fe me tree dat!" and White-belly went away to another. Anansi eat so much that he fell fast asleep. White-belly got annoyed. When Anansi was sleeping, he went and took off the false wings. Anansi turned in his sleep and fell into the river. The Fish picked him up and took him to their home. He said, "Cousin Fish, no eat me!"--"If we are 'cousin' we wi' see!" Fish boiled some hot rice-pop. Anansi said, "It no hot enough! putee in the sun mekee hot more!" When he thought is was quite cooled off, put it to his head, never stopped drinking until it was finished. Then Fish say, "Yes, me cousin fe trew!" [1. A shallow flaring bowl. 2. "I thought you were dead."] It was getting night and Fish told him to remain over until next day. Fish had a barrel of eggs in the kitchen. Anansi wanted to eat them off, asked Fish to make his bed in the kitchen for the night. He poached all the eggs in the ashes, left one, and they went 'pop!' The pickney say, "A wha' stranger man a do deh?" The Fish mother said, "Have manners, pickney! Let you cousin prosper." Morning dawn, the mother sent the children to bring the eggs to her to count them. Anansi said, "Mek the child'ren keep quiet; me wi' work!" and he took the one egg, took it to the mother Fish. Each time she marked it he would wipe it off, take back the same egg, until he had taken the whole barrel full. After that, he said he wanted to go. Fish said to two of the children, "Me son, get the canoe an' tek you cousin over the river." It was looking very breezy and rainy. When they got half way across, Fish bawled out at the top of her voice, "Bring stranger man back he-e-ah! fe he eat off all me eggs; only one is heah!" The children say, "Wha' ma say?" Anansi said, "You ma say you mus' row quickly, squall ahead!" The children rowed across. Anansi took them up, put them in his bag and took them home, eat them. And from that day, fishes are eaten! NOTE: Anansi, White-belly and Fish. Jekyll, 129-131, and Milne-Home, 35-39, have excellent versions of this very popular Jamaica story, which, in its full form, is made up of four episodes. (1) The birds take Anansi across the water to their feeding-place where; because of his bad behavior, they abandon him. (2) Anansi visits Fish and claims relationship. Fish tests him with a cup of hot pop, which he cools in the sun under pretence of heating it hotter. (3) He is lodged for the night with a box of eggs, all of which he eats but one; and when called upon to count the eggs, brings Fish the same one every time, after wiping off the mark. (4) Fish sends her children to row him home. He fools them out of heeding her call when she discovers the loss of the eggs. Once on shore, he fries and eats the children. Compare Tremearne, 265-266; Head-hunters, 324-326; Rattray, 2: 88-104; Parsons, Portuguese negroes, JAFL 30:231-235; Andros Island, 2-3. (1) The episode of the birds' feeding-place is to be compared with that of Fire-fly and the egg-hunt, number 7, and with the visit "inside the cow," number 22. In the Portuguese version, the birds take Lob to a dance and he sings insulting songs because there is no least. (2) The test of relationship occurs in Jekyll and in Tremearne, Head-hunters. It belongs to the same class of boasts as those of the Clever Tailor in Grimm 20 and 183. (3) In Milne-Home, the scorpion trick is employed to guard the eggs, as in number 7, and Anansi complains of "fleas" biting him. The episode is lacking in Jekyll. In Tremearne, Head-hunters, when Spider breaks the eggshells, the children cry out to know what is the matter and Spider says he is hiccoughing. The egg-counting trick generally occurs in a different connection. The trickster visits Tiger's house, eats all the cubs but one, and counts that one many times. Compare Callaway, 24-27; MacDonald 1:55-56; Theal 111; Jacottet, 40-45; Rattray, Chinyanje, 137-138; Harris, Nights, 346-348. (4) In Jekyll, Anansi visits "Sea-mahmy," who is a mermaid, and. her son, "Trapong," or tarpon, takes him home. In Milne-Home, "Alligator" is host; a "boat-man" the ferryman. Lob gets "aunt" sea-horse to carry him to shore. In my Jamaica versions, the sons are the ferrymen and are generally cooked and eaten at the other end. The misinterpreted call occurs in all Jamaica versions and in Tremearne, Head-hunters. In the Lob story, Lob mutters an insult; when asked to repeat his words, he declares that he has merely praised the sea-horse's swimming; compare Parsons, Sea Islands, 54-56. For the fate of the ferryman, see also note to number 38 and compare Anansi's treatment of Rat in the note to number 7. Jamaica Anansi Stories ,Martha Warren Beckwith, New York, Published By The American Folk-Lore Society, G. E. Stechert & Co., Agents. [1924] and is now in the public domain. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Arrow Boy's Son - Cochiti Arrow Boy was hunting in the north. He found two girls sitting together. Arrow Boy said, "Are you sitting here, girls?" "Yes; we are sitting. Where do you come from?" "I am hunting around here, and I happened to come in this direction." The girls said, "Come and sit beside us." "Where is your home?" "Up on a cliff." Arrow Boy said, "But I can't climb a cliff. How will I get up there?" "Oh, you will get up some way." "But I don't see how I can climb." "We will take you up" "What if you should drop me?" "No, Arrow Boy, we won't drop you." The elder sister said to Arrow Boy, "Sit on my shoulder." He sat and she tried to fly. She wasn't able to lift him. She said to her younger sister, "Hold Arrow Boy on my shoulder and help me." "You are not strong enough to carry him." "Yes; I am strong enough." They got ready. They said, "Shut your eyes, Arrow Boy." He shut his eyes and they flew up. They got to the top of the cliff. "Open your eyes." He looked and he was sitting under a porch. The elder sister said, "We are all alone. Our father and mother are off hunting buffalo." Pretty soon the girls heard a noise. "I think our father and mother are getting back." They told Arrow Boy to be careful and they hid him. They saw their father coming carrying a buffalo. The girls set out the food. As they were eating the younger sister said, "Father! father!" The elder sister poked her with her elbow and she stopped eating. Again the younger sister said, "Father! father." The elder sister poked her and she stopped talking. The father noticed. "What has happened while we were gone?" he said. "What wrong did you do?" At last the younger said, "It wasn't I. It was my elder sister. She brought Arrow Boy to our cliff." The father said, "How is it you got him up safely?" "She brought him up on her shoulder." The father said, "Bring him out. Do not be afraid." As soon as the father called him he came out from under the buffalo skin lying on the floor. They gave him a stool and told him: "Eat with us." The father said, "My daughters are mischievous and they might have hurt you bringing you up the cliff. Do not be afraid of any danger here in our house. You are welcome to stay with us. Where were you when they found you?" "I was hunting in this country. I came across your daughters sitting under a tree. They invited me to come to their house, and brought me up." "You are welcome as long as you wish to stay. You may hunt in any direction from here." Arrow Boy was happy that they had received him with all their hearts. Whenever he wished to hunt they took him down the cliff and brought him back. He married the two girls and he never went back to the pueblo. At last the elder sister was about to have a child. A little boy was born to Arrow Boy. Arrow Boy went hunting big game, antelope and elk, in order to provide for his child. At last Arrow Boy said to his wife, "Grind meal very fine, finer than anyone has ever ground it. If you grind it very fine we shall be married forever." So, when Arrow Boy went out hunting, his wife got the flour ready. Her younger sister said, "Shall I help you?" They ground together. "Is this fine enough?" she asked. The elder answered, "Throw it against the side of the grinding stone and if it sticks we will call it fine enough." They threw it against the sides and at last it began to stick. They said, "Now it is as Arrow Boy wanted it ground." The elder girl said, "We have ground the meal very fine. I think it is as fine as you wanted." Arrow Boy said, "I will tell my father and mother (in-law) that we are returning to my home. Take this meal for us to eat on our journey." So, Arrow Boy was going to take his wife and child back to the pueblo. Arrow Boy told his father-in-law and mother-in-law, "I am going to take my wife and child to my house." The father said, "It is your family. You are the head. Take them where you wish, but we shall always wait for you here, and if at any time you wish to return you are welcome. Always provide for your family as wen as you can." They started off. They came to the pueblo and lived there happily and the boy grew to be a man and had the power of the eagles. The girl joined the pueblo people and lived there all her life. Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict; U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin no. 98; US Government Printing Office; [1931] and is now in the public domain. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Arrow Boy Recovers His Wife - Cochiti Arrow Boy lived in Potsherd Place (east of Cochiti). His wife was Yellow Woman. They had an eagle, and Arrow Boy hunted to provide it with food and his wife stayed home to feed the eagle. When he came back with deer, he always saved the back strip of the deer (the best part of the animal) for his eagle. His wife got tired of always feeding the eagle, and one day she did not feed it any more. She scolded it. The Eagle said, "My mother is tired of feeding me; when my father is away my mother will not give me food any more." He tried to escape. He got loose and went off, and the wife ran after him. She took a white manta to catch him, but whenever she got close to him, he flew away. When Eagle got to Whirlpool Place, he lit on the top of the rocks, and she climbed after him. Eagle said, "You are having a hard time. Fold the white manta and put it on my shoulders. Sit down on it and shut your eyes tight. Are you ready?" "Yes." "Keep your eyes shut." He flew up high until he came to the sky. He went through and came to the next world. When they got up they came to the great rock where all eagles alight in the sky. He left his mother there. "Now open your eyes," he said. She opened them, and found herself in the other world. "Now go where you please," he told her. "You were unkind to me then, and now I shall act in the same way toward you. There is a road; take it and you will come to a village." Eagle came back to this world. He found Arrow Boy at Potsherd Place. He asked, "Where is my wife?" Day after day he kept looking for her tracks, but he could only trace them as far as Whirlpool Place. He mourned all the time. One day while he was looking he heard some one calling him, "Grandson, what are you doing down here? This is not the place to find her. She is up in the next world. It was your child Eagle who carried her up there. If you wait, I will take you after her to the same place." It was Spider Grandmother. Arrow Boy asked, "How can you take me?" "I can take you." "All right; I am lonesome for my wife. What shall I do?" "Get on my back." Spider Grandmother stretched her back and he got on. "Don't open your eyes," she told him. When they were way up he opened them and exclaimed, "O grandmother, what a red light I see!" "Grandson, you are opening your eyes!" She came down to earth again. "We will try again," she said, and she put Arrow Boy on her back and went straight up till she came through the sky and arrived at the great rock. When they were on the rock she said, "Open your eyes." Two great snakes were beside him and two hawks were flying above. Spider Grandmother said, "Take this middle road and you will get to a village. You will come. to the house where my sister lives. She knows that you are coming and she will meet you." He went on, and Spider's sister met him. She said to him, "Are you coming?" "Yes; your sister brought me up." "Your wife passed by on this road." "Yes; that is the one I am looking for." "Come with me and I will tell you where your wife is." They went along and she said to him, "In that village your wife is staying. Go up one ladder and you will come to the upper house where she is. Don't worry too much about your wife; she is living here." He went on to the village and went up into a house. He stayed there. The next day he went hunting and killed three turkeys and brought them in. The mother who lived in that house said, "Thank you, we shall need turkeys in the morning for our feast. We shall get your wife so that she may eat the feast with us. She lives next door." She went for his wife. She did not know that her husband was there. They hid him under a sheepskin. When she came in they brought out flat breads, and paper bread with pepper relish, and a bowl of turkey soup, and set them before her. While she was eating, she remembered all about her life with Arrow Boy in the other world. She said, "Oh how often I used to eat turkey soup when I lived in the other world with Arrow Boy." Arrow Boy was listening under the sheepskin. He said, "Would you like to have that life over again now?" She looked in every direction. There was nobody in the room. She got up and looked, then she said, "I wonder who was speaking." She went to the pile of sheepskin. There she found Arrow Boy. She pulled him out and hugged him and cried for joy. So they met again. Arrow Boy found his wife, and she her husband. They went out and in the middle of the plaza was Gawi'ma who began to dance and sing-- Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Arrow Boy has met his wife again, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, The people who lived in that village said, "What is he singing about? Who has gotten his wife back?" But he kept on singing-- Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma. Arrow Boy has met his wife again, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma, Gawi'ma. The mother of that house said to Arrow Boy, "Take these two turkeys that we saved from those you brought to us, and go to Gawi'ma and pay him for finding your wife." So he took the turkeys and paid them to Gawi'ma for finding his wife, and he went off carrying the two turkeys on his back and jumping and singing the same song. Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict; U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin no. 98; US Government Printing Office; [1931] and is now in the public domain. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Arrow Boy, Child Of The Witch Man - Cochiti In the beginning there was a woman all of whose children had died one after another. She said to herself, "Why is it that I can not bring up a child?" She prayed and said, "Kopishtaya, what can I do so that my children shall not die?" The kopishtaya came to her and said, "My poor child, do not cry. I will tell you what you can do. Fast for four days and at the end of that time go to the Flint Society and ask them for their help." She was happy and fasted for four days. At the end of the four days she went to the Flint Society and asked them to make prayer sticks for her. They met in the morning and cut the sticks and tied the feathers. When they had finished she said to herself, "I must go and take dinner to them." She brought dinner into their room and they thanked her. The chief of the Flint Society said to her, "If you believe, you shall have children and they will live." She took the prayer sticks and early in the morning, before sunrise, she planted them to the kopishtaya. As she was planting she heard singing. The kopishtaya came near and stood before her. He gave her a root for medicine. He said to her, "The reason why your children have died is because your husband is a witch man. He is killing his own children. You will have a child. Rub his body with this root for medicine, and he will live. Keep watch of your husband. He is trying to offer your baby to the witches. Watch at night. It will not be your husband beside you. It will be the Corn Mother he has left beside you in his place. He will be away at the meeting of the witches. Take hold of the Corn Mother and throw it against the wall so that it breaks in pieces. Go to the niche (where the prayer meal is kept). You will find his human eyes laid on the shelf covered with wool. Drop them into the pot of urine. When your husband comes home he will be in the shape of an owl. Lie still as if you were asleep, and in the morning you will discover that I have told you the truth." His wife watched at night. She threw the Corn Mother against the wall and dropped her husband's eyes in the chamber pot. When he came in he went to the niche to get his eyes. He found they were in the pot of urine and he had to keep his owl's eyes. He went to the Corn Mother and spoke to it, but it could not answer. He spoke to his wife, "Are you asleep?" "Yes; I was sound asleep. Lie down and I will spread your blanket." "No; I can't go into that room. Something is the matter with me." The kopishtaya had told that woman, "Do not tell your husband what I have told you, but send for the chief of the Flint Society to cure him." She told her husband he must send for the chief of the Flint Society. Her husband was not willing, but she took sacred meal and went to get him. He came in. The man was lying on his face with his eyes buried in his hands. He tried to turn him on his back. "What is the matter with you?" "I don't know." The Flint chief said to the wife, "Go and bring his sisters so that they will see what is the matter with him and there will be no blame for you." She brought his sisters. Her husband would not take his hands from his face. At last the medicine man took them away from his eyes. They were owl's eyes. He died and his wife wept and said, "What shall I do? I have a little baby and my husband is dead." They buried him and at night the witches had a meeting for him on the top of the mountain. The kopishtaya came to the young woman that night and he told her, "I have come to tell you to offer sacred meal every day to the kopishtaya. Send for your brother to stay with you in the house for these four days until you send away the soul of your husband. At the end of that time send for the chief of the Flint Society. Tell him to cut the earth with the obsidian knife." She did as he had told her and at the end of four days the Flint medicine man came to the house. He cut the ground four times with the large flint knife. Arrow Boy grew up. Every morning his mother offered prayer meal and he grew very fast. She never let him go out alone. When he was a little boy his mother said, "Let us go into the hills to hunt wood rats or rabbits. I will cook corn dodgers." She made the corn dodgers and wrapped them in corn husks. She filled the canteen and tied it on her back. They came to a rabbit hole and the mother and Arrow Boy took turns in digging it out. They heard the kopishtaya coming. He said to her, "What happened to your husband?" "He is dead." "That is better for him to die than for you to lose another baby. If he had lived it would not have been safe for your little boy. He will take care of you. Now your husband's people are trying to harm you because of his death. It is dangerous for you to stay in the village. Go outside and live with your son." They went to White Bank and lived there in a cave. The boy came to his mother and said, "There is going to be a dance in Potsherd Village." His mother said, "Let us go together." Next morning they went to Potsherd Village. Arrow Boy said to his mother, "Watch carefully (for danger)." They came to Potsherd Village. On the north side the houses were built in two tiers and on the top story a man stood and saw them coming. He said to his family, "Look, who is that who is coming? She is wearing a black manta." The woman and the child came into the plaza. They came to the house on the second story and they received them there and the mother of that family gave them something to eat. She brought bread and stew and said, "Eat." There were two daughters in that family and they sat on either side of the boy. They loved him, but the boy was bashful and ran away. Another young man came in. He loved the mother of the boy, but his mother said, "No; I have my son. He is my only son and he takes good care of me and I do not need a husband." "If you come with me you will always eat venison for I am a great hunter. It is not far and you can see your son often." "Let me tell my son. If he wants me to go with you, we will both go; but I will not go alone." She spoke to her son. He said, "My dear mother, you have told me that all your children died and I am the only one that is left. How can you leave me now that I have grown a man? I want to stay with you always." The father of the house came into the room. He said, "Are you in the house?" and the women answered, "Yes, we are in the house." The older of the two girls came to the father and said, "Father, I want to marry this boy." The younger came to him and said, "No, I want to marry him." The boy's mother said, "If my son wants to marry one of these girls, he may, if not, not. Let him say." Immediately the boy said, "I think I should like to stay here and marry one of these girls. Let us live in this house. Perhaps the kopishtaya meant us to live here always." The boy married the elder of the two girls and lived there all his life. The younger sister loved him also. Whenever they could be alone together they played with each other and talked. The elder sister knew that they were together and she said, "I am going to die." She went into the inner room and placed a large basket in the center of the floor. She sat down in the basket crying. Her feet began to turn into the tail of a snake. She was crying and the tears were running down her checks. She was already a snake. The boy's mother came to look for her, but she could not find her. She went into the inner room and she found that her daughter-in-law had become a great snake. She took sacred meal in her hand and went to the chief of the Flint Society. She said to him, "My daughter-in-law has become a snake. Come and restore her." He came and set up his altar in the inner room. He put the snake in the basket in front of the altar and covered it with an embroidered ceremonial blanket. He sang all the curing songs of the Flint Society but he could not restore her. She was a snake. He called all the men of his society and they took her to Gaskunkotcinako ("the girl's cave"). They left her there and people still take little pots to this place to offer to her. Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict; U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin no. 98; US Government Printing Office; [1931] and is now in the public domain. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Arikara History - Arikara Arikara (Skidi: ariki 'horn,' referring to the former custom of wearing the hair with two pieces of bone standing up like horns on each side of the crest; ra, pl. ending). A tribe forming the northern group of the Caddoan linguistic fancily. In language they differ only dialectically from the Pawnee. When the Arikara left the body of their kindred in the southwest they were associated with the Skidi, one of the tribes of the Pawnee confederacy. Tradition and history indicate that at some point in the broad Missouri valley the Skidi and Arikara parted, the former settling on Loup river, Neb., the latter continuing north east, building on the bluffs of the Missouri the villages of which traces have been noted nearly as far south as Omaha. In their northward movement they encountered members of the Siouan family making their way westward. Wars ensued, with intervals of peace and even of alliance between the tribes. When the white race reached the Missouri they found the region inhabited by Siouan tribes, who said that the old village sites had once been occupied by the Arikara. In 1770 French traders established relations with the Arikara, below Cheyenne River, on the Missouri. Lewis and Clark met the tribe 35 years later, reduced in numbers and living in three villages between Grand and Cannonball Rivers, Dak. By 1851 they had moved up to the vicinity of Heart River. It is not probable that this rapid rate of movement obtained during migrations prior to the settlement of the Atlantic coast by the English. The steady westward pressure of the colonists, together with their policy of fomenting intertribal wars, caused the continual displacement of many native communities, a condition that bore heavily on the semi sedentary tribes, like the Arikara, who lived in villages and cultivated the soil. Almost continuous warfare with aggressive tribes, together with the ravages of smallpox during the latter half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, nearly exterminated some of their villages. The weakened survivors consolidated to form new, necessarily composite villages, so that much of their ancient organization was greatly modified or ceased to exist. It was during this period of stress that the Arikara became close neighbors and, finally, allies of the Mandan and Hidatsa. In 1804, when Lewis and Clark visited the Arikara, they were disposed to be friendly to the United States, but, owing to intrigues incident to the rivalry between trading companies, which brought suffering to the Indians, they became hostile. In 1823 the Arikara attacked an American trader's boats, killing 13 men and wounding others. This led to a conflict with the United States, but peace was finally concluded. In consequence of these troubles and the failure of crops for 2 successive years the tribe abandoned their villages on the Missouri and joined the Skidi on Loup river, Neb., where they remained 2 years; but the animosity which the Arikara displayed toward the white race made them dangerous and unwelcome neighbors, so that they were requested to go back to the Missouri. They did so, and there they have remained ever since. Under their first treaty, in 1825, they acknowledged the supremacy of the National Government over the land and the people, agreed to trade only with American citizens, whose life and property they were pledged to protect, and to refer all difficulties for final settlement to the United Mates. After the close of the Mexican war a commission was sent by the Government to define the territories claimed by the tribes living north of Mexico, between the Missouri and the Rocky mountains. In the treaty made at Ft Laramie, in 1851, with the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa, the land claimed by these tribes is described as lying west of the Missouri, from Heart river, N. Dak., to the Yellowstone, and up the latter to the mouth of Powder river, Mont.; thence south east to the headwaters of the Little Missouri in Wyoming, and skirting the Black hills to the head of Heart river and down that stream to its junction with the Missouri. Owing to the non-ratification of this treaty, the landed rights of the Arikara remained unsettled until 1880, when, by Executive order, their present reservation was set apart; this includes the trading post, established in 1845, and named for Bartholomew Berthold, a Tyrolese, one of the founders of the American Fur Company. The Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa together share this land, and are frequently spoken of, from the name of their reservation, as Ft Berthold Indians. In accordance with the act of Feb. 8, 1887, the Arikara received allotments of land in severalty, and, on approval of the allotments by the Secretary of the Interior, Jul-10, 1900, they became citizens of the united States and subject to the laws of North Dakota. An industrial hoarding school and 3 day schools are maintained by the Government on Ft Berthold reservation. A mission boarding school and a church are supported by the Congregational Board of Missions. In 1804 Lewis and Clark gave the population of the Arikara as 2,600, of whom more than 600 were warriors. In 1871 the tribe numbered 1,650; by 1888 they were reduced to 500, and the census of 1904 gives the population as 380. As far back as their traditions go the Arikara have cultivated the soil, depending for their staple food supply on crops of corn, beans, squashes, and pumpkins. In the sign language the Arikara are designated as "corn eaters," the movement of the band simulating the act of gnawing the kernels of corn from the cob. They preserved the seed of a peculiar kind of small eared corn, said to be very nutritious and much liked. It is also said that the seed corn was kept tied in a skin and hung up in the lodge near the fireplace, and when the time for planting carne only those kernels showing signs of germination were used. The Arikara bartered corn with the Cheyenne and other tribes for buffalo robes, skins, and meat, and exchanged these with the traders for cloth, cooking utensils, guns, etc. Early dealings with the traders were carried on by the women. The Arikara hunted the buffalo in winter, returning to their village in the early spring, where they spent the time before planting in dressing the pelts. Their fish supply was obtained by means of basket traps. They were expert swimmers, and ventured to capture buffaloes that were disabled in the water as the herd was crossing the river. Their wood supply was obtained from the river; when the ice broke up in the spring the Indians leaped on the cakes, attached cords to the trees that were whirling down the rapid current, and hauled them ashore. Men, women, and the older children engaged in this exciting work, and although they sometimes fell and were swept downstream, their dexterity and courage generally prevented serious accident. Their boats were made of a single buffalo skin stretched, hair side in, over a frame of willows bent round like a basket and tied to a hoop 3 or 4 feet in diameter. The boat could easily be transported by a woman and, according to Hayden, "would carry 3 men across the Missouri with tolerable safety." Before the coming of traders the Arikara made their cooking utensils of pottery; mortars for pounding corn were made with much labor from stone; hoes were fashioned from the shoulder-blades of the buffalo and the elk; spoons were shaped from the horns of the buffalo and the mountain sheep; brooms and brushes were made of stiff, coarse grass; knives were chipped from flint, and spears and arrowheads from horn and flint; for splitting wood, wedges of horn were used. Whistles were constructed to imitate the bleat of the antelope or the call of the elk, and served as decoys; popguns and other toys were contrived for the children and flageolets for the amusement of young men. Garments were embroidered with dyed porcupine quills; dentalium shells from the pacific were prized as ornaments. Matthews and others mention the skill of the Arikara in melting glass amid pouring it into molds to form ornaments; they disposed of the highly colored heads furnished by the traders in this manner. They have preserved in their basketry a weave that has been identified with one practiced by former tribes in Louisiana, a probable survival of the method learned when with their kindred in the far south west. The Arikara were equally tenacious of their language, although next-door neighbors of Siouan tribes for more than a century, living on terms of intimacy and intermarrying to a great extent. Matthews says that almost every member of each tribe understands the language of the other tribes, yet speaks his own most fluently, hence it is not uncommon to hear a dialogue carried on in two tongues. Until recently the Arikara adhered to their ancient form of dwellings, erecting, at the cost of great labor, earth lodges that were generally grouped about an open space in the center of the village, often quite close together, and usually occupied by 2 or 3 families. Each village generally contained a lodge of unusual size, in which ceremonies, dances, and other festivities took place. The religious ceremonies, in which each subtribe or village had its special part, bound the people together by common beliefs, traditions, teachings, and supplications that centered around the desire for long life, food, and safety. In 1835 Maximilian of Wied noticed that the hunters did not load on their horses the meat obtained by the chase. but carried it on their heads and backs, often so transporting it from a great distance. The man who could carry the heaviest burden sometimes gave his meat to the poor, in deference to their traditional teaching that "the Lord of life told the Arikara that if they gave to the poor in this manner, and laid burdens on themselves, they would be successful in all their undertakings." In the series of rites, which began in the early spring when the thunder first sounded, corn held a prominent place. The ear was used as an emblem and was addressed as "Mother." Some of these ceremonial ears of corn had been preserved for generations and were treasured with reverent care. Offerings were made, rituals sung, and feasts held when the ceremonies took place. Rites were observed when the maize was planted, at certain stages of its growth, and when it was harvested. Ceremonially associated with maize were other sacred objects, which were kept in a special case or shrine. Among these were the skins of certain birds of cosmic significance, also 7 gourd rattles that marked the movements of the seasons. Elaborate rituals and ceremonies attended the opening of this shrine and the exhibition of its contents, which were symbolic of the forces that make and keep all things alive and fruitful. Aside from these ceremonies there were other quasi religious gatherings in which feats of jugglery were performed, for the Arikara, like their kindred the Pawnee, were noted for their skill in legerdemain. The dead were placed in a sitting posture, wrapped in skins, and buried in mound graves. The property, except such personal belongings as were interred with the body, was distributed among the kindred, the family tracing descent through the mother. A collection of Arikara traditions, by G. A. Dorsey, has been published by the Carnegie Institution (1903). The Arikara were a loosely organized confederacy of subtribes, each of which had its separate village and distinctive name. Few of these names have been preserved. Lewis and Clark (Exped., I, 97, 1814) mention Lahoocat, a village occupied in 1797, but abandoned about 1800. How many subtribes were included in the confederacy can not now be determined. Lewis and Clark speak of the Arikara as the remnant of 10 powerful Pawnee tribes, living in 1804 in 3 villages. The inroads of disease and war have so reduced the tribe that little now remains of their former divisions. The following names were noted during the middle of the last century: Hachepiriinu ('young dogs'), Hia (`band of Cree'), Hosukhaunu ('foolish dogs'), Hosukhaunukare rihn ('little foolish dogs'), Sukhutit ('black mouths' ) , Kaka ('band of Crows'), Okos ('band of bulls'), Paushuk ('band of cut-throats'). Some of these may refer to military and other societies; others seem to be nicknames, as "Cut-throats." Handbook of American Indians, 1906 Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

An Old Man Lost His Only Son - Inuit An old man lost his only son when they were both reindeer-hunting up the country. After returning home he often used to visit his son's grave. Kayaking up the firth with this view, he once right before him saw an inlander pulling himself through the water without any kayak ("using the fog as kayak"), and after some angry words, he killed the inlander. Another time, when he was again visiting the grave, he was surprised at the sight of an inlander, who questioned him as to the cause of his grief. "Yonder wretched heap of stones is the only object of my distress," he answered. The inlander then told him how he also had, some time ago, lost a son who had been seal-hunting. The old man made out that it must have been the one he had killed; on which he pretended to be expected home, pushed off in his skiff, and never more visited the grave of his son. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, by Henry Rink; London [1875] and is now in the public domain. [Greenland] Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

An Old Bachelor - Inuit An old bachelor, being a very successful hunter, was always worried by his place-fellows about taking to himself a wife. At last he consented; but when about to make a choice, none of the women at the place appeared good enough for him. Starting in his boat for the neighbouring hamlet, he declared he was going to fetch the only sister of some men living there. On his way thither he met with another kayaker, and addressed him, "Art not thou one of the many brothers?" "Yes, I am the middle one of them." "I come to demand thy only sister in marriage, and if I may have her I will give thee my boat and a new tent." "We will allow no one to get her, because she is the only woman in our house." Having got this information the old bachelor instantly made about, went home, and gave up all thoughts of marrying. Being once in his kayak, and suffering from thirst, he observed a small stream of water running down a rock. Remaining in his kayak, he merely turned his face upwards, so as to let the water run into his open mouth. When his thirst had been quenched, and he wanted to push off, his mouth clung to the rock, being at the same time gradually prolonged, because the tide was falling; and thus he had to remain hanging until the next tide should float him off again. NOTE.-A number of stories are found ridiculing bachelors, and all more or less trifling, like this one. Generally their passions are represented as being excited at the sight of a fine woman; but on approaching her, and perhaps even getting hold of her, she proves to be a gull, or perhaps a stone. Others will marry none but a dwarf, or a woman without breasts. One of them out of a piece of ice makes a little island to live upon by himself. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, by Henry Rink; London [1875] and is now in the public domain. [Greenland] Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

An Indian Boy That Almost Turned Into A Bear - Passamaquoddy [3] A Passamaquoddy boy was lost in the woods. He was hungry and scared. He goes into a hole; a bear was in there. He is scared and he comes out. The big bear was a female; she had little cubs with her, and when boy come out big bear come close to him, [and] now and then touch him but not want to hurt him, like make [i.e. like she was making] some motion [for] him [to] do something, but young fellow wouldn't move so bear went around him and started on ahead walkin. Then at last young fellow think, "I will go with it," and starts out with bear. Bear take him where she have cubs. Night time come, [and to] keep little fellow from freezin she put him together with cubs, and they don't eat nothing but berries that summer. When little fellow saw got to [i.e. that he'd have to] eat all winter he put stuff he gathered into den so [he] could eat, and so big bear know he want to eat and help him and got enough [for him] to eat all winter. So they went into den and stay all winter. Bear don't eat nothin. Spring time they come out and the bear would leave young fellow; course, young fellow go out, but too cold for him; he go back. Big bear would not leave her friend; he played with cub. In two years time the Indians discovered this big bear and the young feller, the young man, . . . . and he told them not to kill his mother. When they found him his breast had begun grow hair like a bear. Well, on account of this young man, bear got away; this young man tell her he seen them coming. Young man was wild, didn't want come home, tried to get away. When came to settlement they looked after him but he wanted [to] go back into the woods. [It] was about a year before he got civilized, and when he got civilized every bit of hair come out. And old people thinks, `If he stay one year more with bear he turn into a bear.' At last young man got married and his wife wanted some bear meat. They had deer, raccoon; he will kill any kind of meat. He kin tell [from a] den without digging it whether a female or a male bear inside how much smoke (steam) [rises from it; it is] more strong from female. He told them, "If you see that, keep away from it; that will (may) be my mother," and he wouldn't kill any female bear. And this young man he kill so many bear, this woman ask husband, "Why you not kill female? Might taste different." He didn't pay attention. Wife don't know his story; he keep that secret himself. And she coaxed him to kill female bear. At last wife got troubled he not kill female. "If you don't bring she bear, I won't live with you any longer." So he went out and kill female bear and brought her home and said, "Here it is. That will be last bear you eat. No more bear meat." And it was the last one, too. That young man didn't live much longer. He died. It worried him till he died. He couldn't think of nothin else but how he had killed his mother that had saved him in the woods. [3] Adney Mss. Adney's note: "Neptune 1942." This tale appears to be very well known amongst Wabanaki groups and it is also found north of the St. Lawrence, though it seems to be of less importance there. It does not always involve a tabu or its violation, the core of the story obviously being the bear foster-parent and the child's acquiring the bear's characteristics. Among the Penobscot, according to Speck (IX, 218-220), it became an origin legend for the Bear (Mitchell) family. For the Malecite version, see Mechling II, 199-201. Penobscot: Leland and Prince, 239-241; Speck VIII, 85-86. Micmac; Rand, 259-262; Parsons, 96-97; Wallis I, 431. Montagnais-Naskapi: Speck V, 27 (see also Speck VII, 108-109). Compare Michelson, 33-35 (Micmac). Motifs B535 Animals nourish abandoned child; C841.7 Tabu: killing totem animal; C933.1 Luck in hunting lost for breaking tabu; D113.2 Transformation; man to bear; F521.1 Man covered with hair like animal. NORTHEAST FOLKLORE Volume VI: 1964 MALECITE AND PASSAMAQUODDY TALES Permission given to use given by Maine Folklife Center, University of Maine. This does not convey the right to republish them in any other form or for profit. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

An Expedition To The Adobe Walls With Kit Carson - Jicarilla Apache It was at Cimarron also that they started off with Gidi (Kit Carson) after the enemy. There were Ute, Apache, soldiers, and Mexicans. Four different nations went with him after the enemy. They went down the Canadian River to HweLdibade (Mexican name?) where they found the enemy. There were many tipis there. At evening, when they were approaching the camp of the enemy, men were sent out to observe. There their camp was lying some way off. The party moved on until nearly day when they saw the campfires. The horsemen, leaving the others, rode forward. There were two camps of the enemy, one above the other. All the Apache rode together and commenced to fight. They drove them from the upper camp and pursued them to the lower camp where they fought with them. Taking away their horses they fought with them until night. Many of the soldiers were killed. One Apache was killed and one was wounded in the foot. A spent ball entered his foot but did not pass through it. Another Apache received an arrow under his arm through his clothing. Many of the enemy were killed and all their tents and goods were brought home on wagons. The enemy drove them away from their lower camp. They came back to Cimarron where they danced until they were tired. (1) Footnotes (1) This account was given after an inquiry had been made of Casa Maria whether he went on the expedition. He said that he did not go but that his brother went. An extended account of this affair is given by Lieut. G. H. Pettis, "Kit Carson's Fight with the Comanche and Kiowa Indians at the Adobe Walls on the Canadian River, Nov. 25, 1864." See also, Mooney, (b), p. 314-17. Jicarilla Apache Texts, by Pliny Earle Goddard; New York: Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. VIII; (1911) and is now in the public domain. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

An Apache Medicine Dance -Jicarilla Apache This published story was found by his daughter, Kay F. Nordquist, in the effects of the late Dr. E. R. Fouts, M.D. It was a reminiscence of his 1898 internship among ,the Jicarilla-Apache tribes. While stationed as an intern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he met the white anthropologist/writer Frank Russell who published this legend in December 1898. At that time white men were not allowed to witness tribal ceremonies, but an Apache friend, Gunsi, arranged to smuggle the two white men into the celebration. Gunsi, a powerful leader, provided a hiding place and explained that as long as they "played a pretend game of not being seen," they would be overlooked. Besides, Gunsi had great confidence in the doctor of white man's medicine. At present there are no men or women among the Jicarillas who have the power to heal the sick and perform other miracles that entitle them to rank as medicine men or medicine women-at least none who are in active practice and are popular. This being the case, medicine feasts have not been held for several years on the reservation. But in August and September 1898, two such feasts were conducted by the old Apache woman, Sotii, who now lives in Pueblo of San Ildefonso. Sotii made the journey of nearly a hundred miles to the Jicarillas on a burro. She was delayed for some time on the way by the high waters of Chama Creek, so rumors of her arrival were repeatedly spread for some weeks, before she actually appeared. For festive dances, the U.S. Indian Agent or his representative, the clerk at Duke, issue extra rations of beef and flour, and the Indians themselves buy all the supplies from the traders that their scanty funds will permit. Edible supplies do not keep well in Indian camps, and successive postponements threatened to terminate a feast without adequate provisions. But fortunately Sotii arrived in time. The preliminary arrangements were made by Sati, the husband of the invalid Kes-nos'-un-da, in whose behalf the ceremonies were to be performed. Sati presented Sotii with a pipe of ancient pattern, a short cylinder of clay; a few eagle feathers and a new basket as well. As the Jicarilla Apaches live in scattered tipis and cabins about the reservation, there is no specified place, such as the plaza of a pueblo tribe, where religious ceremonies are performed. Sotii chose a spot in La Jara Canon where Sati and his friends built a medicine lodge with an enclosure surrounded by a pine brush fence. The lodge was begun on the morning of August 22 and the fence was completed by noonday. The builders were served food by the women of Satl's family. At noon of the 22nd, the first day, about a dozen of the older men gathered in the medicine lodge. According to Gunsi, these men were selected by Sotii because of their ability in outlining the dry paintings, which they made in the lodge under her direction. No one but Apaches are admitted to the medicine lodge, so that I have depended upon the account of it given by Gunsi in the following description: "The ground was cleared at the back of the lodge-between the fire and the western wall-over a space about six feet in diameter, and covered with a layer of clean gray sand. The sand painting the first day contained the figures of snakes only, having their heads directed toward the west, with the exception of the sun symbol, which was drawn each day during the ceremony around a shallow hole six or eight inches in diameter at the center of the painting. "The sun was represented by a ring of white sand around the margin of the hole; next came a circle of black, and then a ring of red with white rays. After the painting had been completed, the invalid woman, in an ordinary gown not especially prepared for the occasion, entered the enclosure, laid aside her blanket, and passed into the lodge, on the floor of which four "bear tracks" had been made, leading to the dry painting. (Presumably because she had the snake and bear disease.) 'The patient stepped upon the footprints in going to the sand painting, on which she spread pollen (kut-u-tin) from the cattail flag, and sacred meal. She then sat down upon the painting, facing the east. Songs were sung and prayers were offered to the sun, after which the women brought food from the camps into the enclosure. Those within the lodge seated themselves around the wall and were Served by the doorkeeper, who began at the left and carried food to each in turn. After all were served, the doorkeeper gathered a morsel of food from each and threw it outside the enclosure, as a sacrifice to the sun, followed by prayers to the sun. Then the doorkeeper joined the others in the lodge and ate his food, as did the invalid. All others dined within the enclosure. The remaining food was gathered for the next meal. The men carried the food vessels from the lodge into the enclosure, later removed by the women. "When darkness fell in the evening, the men again painted snakes in the medicine lodge, where a fire had been built. A young pine tree was placed at the right and another at the left of the sand painting. The children were then expelled from the enclosure. "The patient entered as in the morning, offering pollen and meal, then seated herself upon the painting. A terrifying figure rushed into the semidarkness of the lodge, lunged toward the invalid, but seemed unable to reach her, gave forth two or three cries similar to those uttered by the bear, and then made his exit. "Gunsi admitted 'I was frightened, although I knew it was only one of the men in disguise, who had been painted black with charcoal and covered with pine branches. He wore no mask. Since the invalid suffered from snake and bear disease, the painting with prayer meal and pollen offerings represented snakes and the bear was called upon to drive away the disease.' "While the bear was in the lodge the singing men yelled at the tops of their voices to scare the bear. The invalid fell shaking to the ground. An eagle feather was waved rapidly to and fro above her head as she continued to rise, fall, shake, and cry out. I thought she was dying. "Sbtii then placed a live coal in a dish of blue corn meal and allowed the invalid to inhale the smoke. This quieted her somewhat as she sat upright but staring just like a drunk. Sotii then handed her the medicine pipe filled with 'Mexican' tobacco. After smoking this, the patient seemed to recover her senses. Two or three songs concluded the day's serious part of the ceremony. The ex-patient then moved to the north side of the lodge and remained there for the rest of the evening. An old buffalo hide was spread over the sand painting, and the sacred basket given to Sotii was inverted with the hide over the hole in the center of the painted area. The hide was then doubled over the basket, and the margin of the hide was held down by the feet of the men sitting around "The white basket was ornamented with conventional red butterflies. The ex-patient removed her moccasins from a tight bundle and used them as drumsticks, striking four times upon the basket drum as a signal for the whole encampment to gather inside for the dance. 'Two notched sticks were placed upon the basket drum, a black one on the east, a white one on the west side. The sticks were laid with one end resting upon the drum and the other end upon the ground. A tarsal bone of a deer was rubbed across the notches, at the sound of which the young women began to dance. "The women occupied the southern portion of the enclosure and the men arranged themselves along the wall opposite them. The lodge was brilliantly lighted by a circle of fires around the inside wall. The women's dance was ended by repetition of the same drum signal by which it had begun-four strokes upon the basket drum. "When again the drum sounded, those afflicted with ailments of any kind placed their hands upon the affected part of their bodies and made a hand gesture of casting off the disease. When the sticks were scraped again, the women chose partners from the men and boys and all danced together. This became the lighter aspect of the ceremonies: serious thoughts, the desire to propitiate the gods, and the awe inspired by the priestess and the deity symbolized by the bear, all gave way to lighthearted, merrymaking spirit, which by no means exhausted itself before the sound of the drum ceased, about midnight, and the voice of one of the old men within the lodge was heard, directing the assembly to disperse. "Second day ceremonies resembled those of the first, except the figures outlined upon the sand were of bears, foxes, and other animals, with here and there a snake. The same patient was not induced into a trance, nor was the general ceremony of casting off diseases performed. "The third day differed only in the character of the sand painting. Animals differed from those of the previous days. Sotii forbade representation of the horse or elk at any time. "On the fourth day, the figures of two deities were drawn in the dry painting, along with all kinds of animals. A black circle outside the painting symbolized the ocean. The program of the evening consisted of two groups of men, painted and dressed in the manner prescribed by the rites in the tradition of Jicarillas. "One party of six men were the clowns with bodies and limbs painted with white and black horizontal rings. Ragged remnants of old blankets served as loincloths. On necks and shoulders appeared necklaces and festoons of bread, which had been baked in small fantastic shapes. Four wore old buffalo-skin caps, with the skin sewed to look like buffalo horns, projecting laterally and downward; to one horn was attached an eagle feather, to the other a turkey feather. Two men dressed their hair in the shape of horns. 'The other group of twelve men, painted white with oblique black stripes extending downward from the inner comers of their eyes, wore necklaces and an eagle feather in their hair. Bands of pine brush were wrapped around their waists, arms, and ankles. "As on the other evenings, the women began the dance; then the general dance followed in which the women selected their partners from among the men. Then the two deities entered the enclosure and marched directly to the medicine lodge, around which four circuits were made in a sunwise direction. The twelve then took positions on the south side of the pathway from the gate to the lodge. Clowns ran about among the crowd. Two men led the singing and also took the lead during the exit back through the medicine lodge. Clowns created much amusement for everyone. The dance continued until sunrise." As the disc of the sun rose above the mountaintops, every man, woman, and child present joined in the dance. The ceremony again took on a serious nature, as the sun's rays clear and bright in that rare and arid atmosphere lit up the valley and the whole band of Jicarilla-Apaches marched in line out of the enclosure toward the sun. Sotii led the way, carrying the two young pines from the ends of the dry sand painting, along with the sacred basket containing the meal. Each person marched past the old medicine woman, took a pinch of the meal from the basket, and cast it upon the pine trees. The line was re-formed, facing the lodge, then one of the older men stepped forward and shook his blanket four times. At this signal, all shook their blankets to frighten away diseases and then ran into the enclosure. The ceremonies ended. Every tipi in that vicinity must be moved at once. The invalid was cured, but Sotii warned her not to sleep on a rope or string or the disease would return. No one should sing the medicine songs for some time or a bear would kill the offender. Severe illness would overtake the twelve should they forget and sleep with their heads toward any clay vessel. Sotii accepted food only as remuneration for her services. Her terms were known in advance, so a considerable quantity of provisions were laid aside for her. The only article of food that was taboo during the four-day celebration was bread baked in ashes. I did not see the invalid after the feast, but when I left the reservation three weeks later, the Indian of whom I inquired all insisted that she was then in perfect health. Taken from Frank Russell, American Anthropologist, December 1898, Pages 367-72 and is now in the public domain. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

An Angakok On Kekertarsuak - Inuit An angakok on kekertarsuak set off in his sledge to visit his married sister. On approaching the house his dogs suddenly stopped. After in vain trying to urge them on with his whip, he alighted and went up to the house on foot. But seeing no people about, he looked in at the window, and was horror-struck at seeing all the people lying or sitting about lifeless, their eyes open and staring. His sister alone showed signs of life, and seeing her brother, began to move her mouth as if chewing, and crept towards the entrance. At sight of this he was struck with terror, and fled to his p. 453 dogs, but was again unable to make them stir. Not until the sister had come quite close, her mouth widely opened as if to devour him, did they suddenly start; and thus he escaped to his home. Afterwards he performed a conjuration, and undertook an angakok flight to examine the place. On his return he reported that those people had been frightened to death by the sight of a skin-cover from a kayak (viz., which had been used at a funeral to carry the corpse upon). Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, by Henry Rink; London [1875] and is now in the public domain. [Greenland] Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Among The Last Angakut At Kangerdlugsuatsiak - Inuit Among the last angakut at kangerdlugsuatsiak was a man named Kapiarsuk, and a woman called Avangnanersuak, who every day during the whole winter used to go out together to catch partridges, but never brought any home, and never were seen to eat anything at all. At last a child, who was anxious as to their doings, one day asked leave to accompany them, and soon observed that they never looked for any partridges at all; but having come a good way up the country, Kapiarsuak commenced to strike a flat rock with his staff, and murmuring certain words, an opening appeared in the ground, out of which they went on angling and hauling up different kinds of food, allowing the child to partake of the good fare. On going home they gave it a small fish to swallow, after which it lost all remembrance of what it had seen. Not until he was full grown, many years after, did he suddenly recollect the event and narrate it. Another angakok of the same place, named Kuvatsiak, had two brothers, Usuinak and Igpak, of whom the former, having gone out kayaking, did not return, and entirely disappeared. In the evening they saw the clothes of the missing brother moving about by themselves. Kuvatsiak forthwith began to conjure, by means p. 447 of which he found out that he had been seized by the ingnersuit. Kuvatsiak had a dream somewhat like that of Akamalik; and when he began growing old he often met with his deceased brother out at sea. He observed some black thing lying on the top of his brother's kayak, who laboured in vain to rid himself of it, saying that that was the only impediment hindering him from leaving the under-world people and returning to the land of the living. When the first missionary came to the country Kuvatsiak had a dream that induced him to get baptised. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, by Henry Rink; London [1875] and is now in the public domain. [Greenland] Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Amamet - Wintu Long ago, among the real Indians, there was some kind of being nobody knew what it was. They called it Anamet. It came from the mountains and made believe that it was a person. It carried women away on its back. It also took children who were playing outside and carried them away. Anamet would say "K-ete p'iw!" [one jump] as it jumped away with them. What could it have been? The Indians called it Anamet. It stole children and they would say, "Don't let children play late in the evening." They brought all the children inside at dusk. They also took their children along wherever they went, saying "Don't leave them home along," for fear of Anamet. Once some people left home for only a short time and whey they returned their children were gone. Anamet had already taken them. They did not know what it was. It was a terrible thing; not a person. In My Own Words. Stories, songs and memories of Grace Mckibbin, Wintu [1884-1987]. by Alice Shepherd, 1997. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Always-Living-at-the-Coast - Kwakiutl Coyote was paddling his canoe down the coast when some people called out to him from the beach. "Coyote, where are you going?" "I am going to marry the daughter of Always-Living-at-the-Coast." "Only a crazy person would do something like that." That made Coyote angry, and he paddled to the shore. He turned all the people into birds, and then he turned the flock of birds into deer. "You will be the deer that men need," he said and departed. Soon he passed some other people who were standing on the beach. "Coyote, where are you headed?" He told them. "You should watch out, then. The bones of those who have tried to marry this woman are piled up high." Coyote appreciated their concern. He came ashore and put mussels and salmon in the water, which is why you still go to this place for those things today. A little while later some other people called out to him, asking him where he was going. He told them. The chief then said, "Be careful, Coyote. All my young men have gone there to marry this woman, and none of them have come back." Coyote came ashore and filled the waters along this beach with mussels, and gave the people roasted salmon to eat. At a place called Copper Bottom, Coyote put ashore again and walked through the woods to a village, where he saw an old woman steaming clover roots. The woman was blind, but right away she smelled him. "Coyote! What are you doing here?" she asked. He reached over and took a handful of clover roots to eat. "What's this? Who's taking my clover roots?" "Can't you see?" The woman explained that she was blind. Coyote then took some pine gum and chewed it and spit it into the woman's eyes. "Can you see now?" "Yes. I can see well. Coyote told her where he was going. She told him to be careful and gave him some food to take with him. Coyote went on until he came to a woman working on a canoe. He went over and pinched the feet of her baby. The child began to cry, and the woman said, "Don't touch my child. He has never cried." She went back to working on the canoe, chipping at the inside, but she cut a hole through the bottom. "Look what you've done. Are you blind?" asked Coyote. "Yes I am," answered the woman. "I am going to marry the daughter of Always-Living-at-the-Coast." "You should be careful with her: she has teeth in her vagina. This is how she kills all the young men who come to see her. Take my stone chisel, and when you go to bed with her, stick this up in there and break the teeth off." The woman rubbed Coyote's back with a stone and gave him the masks of the wren, the deer, the mountain goat, and the grizzly bear. Coyote put on a mask that made him look older and went into the country of Always-Living-at-the-Coast, where he sat down by a river. He had not been there long when the man's daughter, Death-Bringing Woman, came by with her friends and saw him. "Oh, he would make a good slave," she said. "Let's take him with us." So they took Coyote back to camp with them. That night Death-Bringing Woman asked Coyote to sleep with her. Coyote could hear the sound of grinding teeth coming from under her clothes. When he got into bed with her, he heard the sound of rattlesnakes. He pushed the stone chisel in and twisted it sharply, and broke off all the teeth in Death-Bringing Woman's vagina. Then Coyote took off his mask. He said he was Coyote and he had come to marry her. They slept together. The next night they arrived at the house of Always-Living-at-the-Coast. That night Always-Living-at-the-Coast heard laughing coming from his daughter's bedroom. he got up from his bed and came into her room. "Who is that you're laughing with, my daughter?" "This is my husband. Welcome him." Always-Living-at-the-Coast welcomed Coyote and returned to his room. The next morning Always-Living-at-the-Coast split some cedar and stripped the bark, and made a snare trap. Then he went into his daughter's bedroom and said, "Son-in-law, I want you to jump through that door into the center of the house." Coyote put on his deer mask and jumped through the door of the room right into the trap, where the deer died. "It serves him right, coming into my house and embarrassing me like this," said the old man. But Coyote took off the mask of the deer and went back into his wife's room. That night the old man heard his daughter laughing again. The next morning he made another cedar bark trap and told his son-in-law to jump through the door into the center of the house. Coyote put on the mask of the mountain goat and jumped into the trap, where he died at once. when the old man went out, Coyote took off the mask of the mountain goat and returned to his wife. That night Always-Living-at-the-Coast heard the sounds of two people making love again and he called out, "Who's in there with you, daughter?" "My husband," she answered. The next morning the old man did as he had done before, making the trap and telling his son-in-law to jump into the dimness where it was concealed. This time Coyote put on the mask of the grizzly bear and went out into the other room and crushed the trap. Then he sat down to eat. The old man was still thinking how he might kill his son-in-law. He asked Coyote to go with him by canoe across an inlet to the other shore where they would begin work on another canoe. Coyote and the old man paddled across the water and went into the woods, where they felled a tree and began splitting the log. Coyote took up some alder wood and chewed on it while he worked. They were working along like this when Always-Living-at-the-Coast dropped his hammer into the split. He asked Coyote, who was smaller, to go down into the crack and get the hammer. When Coyote went in, the old man quickly knocked out the wedges holding the split open. Coyote spit out the alder wood, which looked like blood, and the old man thought his son-in-law was dead. "This serves you right for thinking you could come and marry my daughter," he said, and left. Coyote put on the mask of the wren and flew up out of the crack. He caught up with Always-Living-at-the-Coast. "Why did you leave me behind there, Father-in-law? The log closed up and I was almost trapped." "Oh, I'm glad to see you! I almost cried myself to death when it happened. I was going home now to tell my daughter. I thought you were dead. I'm glad you got out; I didn't think it was possible." They both got into the old man's canoe and started paddling toward home. Coyote was chewing a piece of wood. When it was soft, he took it out, carved it into the shape of a killer whale, and threw it into the water. "You will be the killer whales of future generations," he said. Just then the killer whales came up out of the water and snatched Always-Living-at-the-Coast out of the canoe. When he got home, Death-Bringing Woman asked him where her father was, and Coyote said he didn't know. Later the woman had a son. One morning Coyote took his son and went away. Reported by Barry Lopez, 1977. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Flood Myth - Algonquin The god Michabo was hunting with his pack of trained wolves one day when he saw the strangest sight-the wolves entered a lake and disappeared. He followed them into the water to fetch them and as he did so, the entire world flooded. Michabo then sent forth a raven to find some soil with which to make a new earth, but the bird returned unsuccessful in its quest. Then Michabo sent an otter to do the same thing, but again to no avail. Finally he sent the muskrat and she brought him back enough earth to begin the reconstruction of the world. The trees had lost their branches in the flood, so Michabo shot magic arrows at them that immediately became new branches covered with leaves. Then Michabo married the muskrat and they became the parents of the human race. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/

Buffalo Field Campaign Yellowstone Bison Update from the Field June 11, 2009 ------------------------------ ------------------------------ In this issue: * Update from the Field * Thunder Beings Bless Horse Butte Ceremony * Quarantined Buffalo Rejected by Northern Arapaho * BFC Needs Summer Volunteers in Yellowstone * Last Words * Kill Tally NOTE: Updates from the Field will be coming to you every other week until mid-November, when we will resume weekly distribution. ------------------------------ * Update from the Field In the past two weeks, the Montana Department of Livestock, Yellowstone National Park, and other agencies have continued hazing, forcing wild buffalo off of Horse Butte and other areas along the Madison River corridor. These areas have no cattle, and never will. There is absolutely no excuse for the federal government to be foolishly wasting tax dollars to satisfy the selfish whims of Montana's livestock industry on our public lands, and private lands that welcome buffalo. If the three or four small hobby ranchers who live around Yellowstone and Gallatin National Forest don't want buffalo co-mingling with their cattle for the few short months they are present, then the Department of Livestock should hire a cowboy for those purposes, to monitor the ranches. The rest of the land should be available to roaming buffalo; the wounded earth needs their healing abilities. The agents ever so rudely brought their hazing operations deep into Yellowstone National Park again this year, much to the chagrin of shocked park visitors. Yellowstone likes to sugarcoat hazing activities by saying "if we didn't haze them, we'd have to kill them," but for more than a decade they've been in the business of doing both. As we saw from the numerous broken legs, separated moms and babies, and the deteriorating condition of the buffalo, hazing is not benign. It is harmful, unnecessary harassment that causes stress, injury, and sometimes death. Ironically, harassing wildlife is illegal in Yellowstone, yet Park Rangers are doing it to buffalo with a smile, a wink, and tip of their cowboy hat. Right now, Buffalo Field Campaign is deep within Yellowstone's interior, bringing the truth to inquiring minds and lovers of wild buffalo. We will spend the whole summer in the Park, speaking with park visitors about what has actually been taking place. Buffalo Field Campaign will show the realities of what Yellowstone and the Montana Department of Livestock are doing to America's last wild population of bison. And through our tabling efforts, we will help raise awareness and gain more support for the cessation of the harassment and killing of buffalo. Through meeting people like you, and building a strong advocacy for wild bison in Montana and throughout North America, we will continue to make ripples in the pond, turning them into waves, and one day the tidal wave will come that finally sets the buffalo free, like a flood upon the plain. Roam Free! ~Stephany ------------------------------ * Thunder Beings Bless Horse Butte Ceremony On Sunday, May 31, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, traveled hundreds of miles, with his family, to come pray with us again for the buffalo. This was his first time coming to Horse Butte, where many of the last wild buffalo bring forth the next generation. Nearly 200 people arrived to join the ceremony, coming from as close as right around the corner, and as far as California and South Dakota. New and familiar faces were ready to enter into something powerful, to open our hearts to the change for which we are all ready. We were there to give our collective energy and prayers to a place that the buffalo hold sacred. We gathered at the site of the Horse Butte trap; scorched earth, beaten down over the years by the brutality of agents harming and trapping wild buffalo. Fresh buffalo tracks were all over the place; they had already begun to reclaim and restore. And we were there to offer our prayers for the buffalo, to lend them our hearts, strength, energy; and to pray that the people who hurt the buffalo would soon see another way of being, a way of harmony and honoring, respect for the sacred earth upon which we all walk and which gives us all life. Standing around a sacred fire, Chief Looking Horse reminded us that the circle we formed was inspired thousands of years ago by the buffalo, who gather in a circle to defend and protect their family; each one of us is part of the circle, a leader, an important voice to help defend the buffalo who can heal the wounded earth. After weeks of hot, sunny days, large, dark clouds began to gather and approach, letting rain fall upon the earth, and all of us standing there. Chief Looking Horse laughed and said that the Thunder Beings were pleased. The rain and thunder were a good sign that our prayers were being heard. People sacrificed their comfort and embraced the rain and thunder; the thunder that could be the clouds bringing the storm, or a distant sound of many buffalo hooves running free, arriving to shake the earth awake once again. You can read Chief Arvol Looking Horse's full statement and view additional photos here: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/bisonhonoring.html Buffalo Field Campaign is so very honored and grateful to have Chief Looking Horse, Paula, and their family come to Montana to pray with us on the buffalo's chosen ground. Thank you so much for your time, your wisdom, and your generous and caring hearts. We give thanks to Karrie Taggart and Horse Butte Neighbors of Buffalo, Rosalie Little Thunder and Seventh Generation Fund's Tatanka Oyate Project for helping make this ceremony possible. We thank all the beautiful buffalo people who were here with us in person and in spirit. We give thanks to Seeds of Peace and those who brought dishes for the wonderful community meal that followed. We look forward to meeting you all again - on Horse Butte, and throughout the vast lands of this country - in the midst of great buffalo herds living free. On June 21, join Chief Arvol Looking Horse and many others by sharing a Sacred Fire wherever you may be. This is an international day of prayer for environmental peace; the Sacred Fire is a common thread among cultures globally. The Sacred Fire binds us all to one another and the earth mother that we all share. ------------------------------ * Quarantined Buffalo Rejected by Northern Arapaho The Northern Arapaho tribe was ready to welcome to the Wind River reservation forty-one captured Yellowstone buffalo who had suffered years of confinement and testing within a state-federal quarantine feasibility study, just north of Yellowstone in Corwin Springs, Montana. After years of testing, forty-one buffalo were deemed "disease free" and the Northern Arapaho tribe was ready to bring them home, honor them as wildlife, and provide them with 30,000 acres on which to roam. Buffalo advocates were pleased to know that these buffalo would finally be set free from their government tormentors, returning to a people who have co-evolved with these sacred beings for thousands of years. On the heels of the tribe's announcement, however, the livestock industry of Wyoming and Montana raised a ruckus about allowing even disease-free buffalo to return to their native lands; by their objection they underscored the obvious issue that the war against bison is not about disease, but a prejudice against bison and control of grasslands. A bill was introduced in the Montana legislature which would have prevented the disease-free buffalo from going to the Wind River reservation, or anywhere else save the fenced in National Bison Range or the slaughterhouse. Luckily, that bill failed. The Northern Arapaho were free to proceed and the buffalo were ready to travel to their new home. Ironically, close upon the heels of the bill's failure, the Northern Arapaho suddenly announced that they no longer wanted the quarantined buffalo. It was stated they feared the emergence of latent brucellosis infection; the exact echo of the livestock industry's message. The Northern Arapaho had been so excited about the return of the buffalo. What could have changed their minds so suddenly? We can only imagine the disappointment and heartache of the people who were ready to welcome the return of the buffalo. What will happen to these buffalo now, and to the rest who remain in the government's scientific experiment? The slaughterhouse will likely be their final destination after all, just like the families they were stolen from. In the end, as we knew it would, the quarantine feasibility study has failed the buffalo. This series of events has shown again that the issue is not disease; otherwise all disease-free public bison herds would not be fenced in. It's all about the grass, and with the livestock industry in control, only cattle are free to enjoy it. And while the government attempted to disguise their quarantine project as a "restoration" program, it's very essence is a de-wilding program. Real bison restoration happens on the buffalo's terms, with one foot in front of the other, via migration corridors, not quarantines locked doors. Learn more about why quarantine is a bad idea: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/legislative/bisonquarantine.html ------------------------------ * BFC Needs Summer Volunteers in Yellowstone! BFC is looking for summer volunteers to help with outreach in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Talking to park visitors who are in the company of the buffalo we are trying to protect is a great way to raise awareness and make more friends for the buffalo. If you would like to spend some or all of your summer with BFC, please contact Chris at [email protected] or call 406-646-0070. See you in West Yellowstone in the land of the last wild buffalo! ------------------------------ * Last Words "We are here once again to pray for the Pte Oyate, the four-legged relatives that have perished in Yellowstone and for the little ones born here into suffering... Let it be known that the habitat of the wild buffalo is sacred ground, a SACRED SITE for the Lakota, for all native people, and for all humanity who hold reverence for Creation... With deepest respect for the challenges of leadership, we call upon another relative, President Barack Obama, to join us to begin shaping a Nation-to-Nation agreement for the Yellowstone buffalo." ~Excerpted from a statement made by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, at a May 31, 2009 ceremony held on the Horse Butte Peninsula in honor of wild buffalo. -- Media & Outreach Buffalo Field Campaign P.O. Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 [email protected] http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org BFC is the only group working in the field every day in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S. KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/t/6876/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=3647 Join Buffalo Field Campaign -- It's Free! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/t/6876/signUp.jsp?key=3378 Tell-a-Friend: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=3835 Take Action! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26453 Unsubscribe http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/t/7926/p/salsa/supporter/unsubscribe/public/?unsubscribe_page_KEY=42 --

Algon and the Sky Girl - Algonquian Algon was a great hunter who found a strange circle cut in the prairie grass. Hiding in the bushes nearby, he watched to see what might have caused it. Finally, a great willow basket descended from the sky bearing twelve beautiful maidens. The maidens got out of the basket and began singing celestial songs and doing circle dances. All of the girls were beautiful, but the most beautiful of all was the youngest, with whom Algon was immediately smitten. He ran toward the circle in the hope of stealing her away, but just as he arrived, the girls were alarmed and left in the basket, which flew high into the sky. This happened again three more times, but Algon's resolve only grew. Then he devised a strategy. He placed a hollow tree trunk near the circle. Inside the tree trunk lived a family of mice. He took some charms out of his medicine bag and transformed himself into a mouse. When the girls in the basket next arrived, he and the other mice ran among the girls. The girls stomped on the mice killing all of them but Algon, who then resumed his human form and carried off his beloved. He took her to his village and in time she fell in love with him. They had a son and the three lived very happily for a time. But as the years passed, the sky-girl grew very homesick. She spent the entire day gazing up at the sky, thinking of her sisters and parents. This homesickness continued until she could no longer bear it. So she built a magic willow basket, placed her son and some gifts for her people in it, climbed in, and headed for the sky. She remained there for years. In her absence, Algon pined for his wife and son. Every day he went to sit in the magic circle, in the hope that they would return. He was now growing old. Meanwhile, in the far-off sky-country, his son was growing into manhood. The lad asked questions about his father, which made the sky girl miss Algon. She and her son spoke to her father, the chief of the sky-people. He told them to go back to the earth, but ordered them to return with Algon and the identifying feature of each of the earth animals. Then the sky-girl and the son returned to earth. Algon was overjoyed to see them and was eager to gather the gifts the sky-chief wanted. From the bear, he took a claw; from the eagle, hawk, and falcon, a feather; from the raccoon, its teeth; and from the deer, its horns and hide. He placed all of these gifts in a special medicine bag, and ascended with his wife and son to the sky-country in their willow basket. His father-in-law divided the tokens among his people, offering tokens to Algon and the sky-girl; and they chose the falcon feather. The chief said that they should always be free to travel between the sky-country and the earth, and so Algon and his wife became falcons. Their descendants still fly high and swoop down over the forests and prairies. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/