In the days when the first people lived, they used to go hunting with arrows that had pine-bark points. They did not know where to get obsidian, or they would have used it, for obsidian made a sharp, deadly point which always killed the animals that were shot.
Ground Squirrel was the only one who knew that Obsidian Old Man lived on Medicine Lake, and one day he set out to steal some obsidian. Taking a basket filled with roots, he went into Obsidian Old Man’s house and offered him some. Obsidian Old Man ate the roots and liked them so much that he sent Ground Squirrel out to get more. While Ground Squirrel was digging for them, Grizzly Bear came along.
“Sit down,” Grizzly Bear said, “Let me sit on your lap. Feed me those roots by the handful.” Ground Squirrel was very much afraid of huge Grizzly Bear, so he did as he was told. Grizzly Bear gobbled the roots and got up. “Obsidian Old Man’s mother cleaned roots for someone,” he said as he went away. Ground Squirrel returned to Obsidian Old Man , but there were only a few roots left to give him. Ground Squirrel told him what Grizzly Bear had done and what he had said as he departed. Obsidian Old Man was extremely angry at the insult to his dead mother.
“Tomorrow we will both go to find roots,” he said.
So early next morning they set off. Obsidian Old Man hid near the place where Ground Squirrel started digging. Soon Ground Squirrel’s basket was filled, and then along came Grizzly Bear.
“You dug all these for me!” he said. “Sit down!” Ground Squirrel sat down, as he had the day before, and fed Grizzly Bear roots by the handful. But just then Grizzly Bear saw Obsidian Old Man draw near, and the bear got up to fight. At each blow, a great slice of the Grizzly’s flesh was cut off by the sharp obsidian. Grizzly Bear kept fighting till he was cut to pieces, and then he fell dead. So Ground Squirrel and Obsidian Old Man went home and ate the roots, and were happy. Early next morning, Obsidian Old Man was awakened by Ground Squirrel’s groaning. “I am sick. I am bruised because that great fellow sat upon me. Really, I am sick,” he was groaning.
Obsidian Old Man was sorry for Ground Squirrel. “I’ll go and get wood,” he said to himself. “But I’ll watch him, for he may be fooling me. These people are very clever.”
So he went for wood, and on the way he thought, “I had better go back and look.” But Ground Squirrel was very clever, he had been fooling all the time. As soon as Obsidian Old Man was far away, he got up. Taking all the obsidian points and tying them up in a bundle, he ran off. As soon as Obsidian Old Man returned, he missed Ground Squirrel. He dropped the wood, ran after him, and almost caught him, but Ground Squirrel ran into a hole in the ground. As he went, he kicked the earth into the eyes of the old man, who was digging fast, trying to catch him.
After a whild Obsidian Old Man gave up and left. Ground Squirrel came out the other end of the hole, crossed the lake, and went home. He emptied the bundle of points on the ground and distributed them to everyone. All day long the people worked, tying them onto arrows. They threw away all the old bark points, and when they went hunting they used the new arrow points and killed a great many deer.
from → My Fairy Tales and Stories
There was once a large Indian village situated on the border of a lake. At the edge of the village was a lodge, in which dwelt a being who was always invisible. He had a sister who attended to his wants, and it was known that any girl who could see him might marry him. Nearly all the girls in the village made an attempt.
Towards evening, when the Invisible One was supposed to be returning home, his sister would walk with any girls who came down to the shore of the lake. She could see her brother, since to her he was always visible, and upon seeing him she would say to her companions, “Do you see my brother?” And they would mostly answer, “Yes.”
And then the sister would say, “Of what is his shoulder-strap made?” But sometimes she would inquire other things, such as, “With what does he draw his sled?” And they would reply, “A strip of rawhide,” or “A green withe,” or something of the kind. And then she, knowing they had not told the truth, would reply quietly, “Very well, let us return to the wigwam!”
As they entered the place she would bid them not to take a certain seat, for it was his. After they had helped to cook the supper they would wait with great curiosity to see him eat. They saw proof that he was a real person, for as he took off his moccasins they became visible, and his sister hung them up; but beyond this they beheld nothing not even when they remained all night, as many did.
There dwelt in the village an old man, a widower, with three daughters. The youngest of these was very small, weak, and often ill. Her sorry condition did not prevent her sisters, especially the eldest, from treating her with great cruelty. The second daughter was kinder, and sometimes did not bother the poor abused little girl, but the oldest would burn the youngest’s hands and face with hot coals; yes, her whole body was scarred with marks made by torture, so that people called her the rough-faced girl. And when her father, coming home, asked how it was that the child was so disfigured, her sister would promptly say that it was the fault of the young girl herself, because having been forbidden to go near the fire, she had disobeyed and fallen in.
Now it came to pass that it entered the heads of the two elder sisters of this poor girl that they would go and try their fortune at seeing the Invisible One. So they clad themselves in their finest and strove to look their fairest. They found the Invisible One’s sister at home and so walked down to the water with her.
Then when He came, being asked if they saw him, they said, “Certainly,” and also replied to the question of the shoulder-strap or sled cord, “A piece of rawhide.” In saying which, they lied, like the rest, for they had seen nothing, and got nothing for their pains.
When their father returned home the next evening, he brought with him many of the pretty little shells from which wampum was made, and they were soon busy stringing them.
That day poor little burnt-faced girl, who had always run barefoot, got a pair of her father’s old moccasins and put them into water that they might become flexible to wear. And begging her sisters for a few wampum shells, the eldest just called her “a lying little pest,” but the other gave her a few. And having no clothes beyond a few rags, the poor creature went into the woods and got a few sheets of birch bark, of which she made a dress, putting some figures on the bark. She also made a cap, leggings, and handkerchief. Having put on her father’s great old moccasins, which came nearly up to her knees, she went forth to try her luck. For even this little thing would try to see the Invisible One in the great wigwam at the edge of the village.
She had to overcome one long storm of ridicule and hisses, yells and hoots, from her own door to that of the Invisible One. Her sisters tried to shame her, and told her to stay home, but she would not obey; and all the idlers, seeing this strange little creature in her odd clothes, cried, “Shame!” But she went on, for she was greatly resolved; it may be that some spirit inspired her.
Now this poor small wretch in her mad attire, with her hair singed off and her little face as full of burns and scars as there are holes in a sieve, was most kindly received by the sister of the Invisible One. His sister was very noble and knew more than the mere outside of things as the world knows them. And as the brown of the evening sky became black, she took her down to the lake. And soon the girls knew that He had come.
Then the sister said, “Do you see him?” And the other replied in awe, “Truly I do, and He is wonderful.”
“And what is his sled string?” “It is,” she replied, “the Rainbow.” And great fear was on her.
“But, my sister,” said the other, “what is his bow-string?” “His bow-string is the Milky Way.”, she responded.
“You have truly seen him,” said the sister. And, taking the girl home, she bathed her. As she washed, all the scars disappeared from face and body. Her hair grew again; it was very long, and like a blackbird’s wing. Her eyes were like stars. In all the world there was no such beauty. Then from her treasures she gave her a wedding garment, and adorned her. Under the comb, as she combed her, her hair grew. It was a great marvel to behold.
Then, having done this, she told her to take the wife’s seat in the wigwam, that by which her brother sat, the seat next to the door. And when He entered, terrible and beautiful, he smiled and said, “So we are found out!”
“Yes,” was her reply. So she became his wife.
from → My Fairy Tales and Stories
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.
Able’s oldest son decided to make the first attempt. He opened the door and went in, he saw Able’s wallet on the table and reached for it. Immediately he heard a voice say:
“I am the ghost of Able Fable, put the money back on the table!”
The voice scared the son so much that he ran from the room and out the door, screaming: “I heard the voice of a ghost!”
The oldest daughter in disbelief decided she would make her way into Able’s room. She entered and reached for the wallet.
She then heard the voice say: “I am the ghost of Able Fable, put the money back on the table!”
The daughter was so scared that she dropped the wallet and ran from the room screaming: “I heard the voice of a ghost!”
The youngest son decided to make his attempt at getting the money. When he entered the room and reached for the wallet he also heard the voice say: “I am the ghost of Able Fable, put the money back on the table!”
The youngest son decided that he was not easily scared and said back: “Well, I am the ghost of Davey Crockett and the money is going to stay in my pocket!”
The youngest son took all the money for his own and the ghost of Able Fable was never heard from again!
from → My Fairy Tales and Stories
There was once a great chief on the Plains who had very tender feet. Other mighty chiefs laughed at him; little chiefs only smiled as he hobbled past; and though they did not dare to smile, the people of the tribe also enjoyed the big chief’s discomfort.
All of them were in the same canoe, having no horses and only bare feet, but luckily very few of them had tender feet. The unhappy medicine man who was advisor to the Chief-of-the-Tender-Feet was afraid and troubled. Each time he was called before the chief he was asked, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ The ‘it’ meant the chief’s tender feet. Forced by fear, the medicine man at last hit upon a plan.
Though he knew that it was not the real answer to the chief’s foot problem, nevertheless it was a good makeshift. The medicine man had some women of the tribe weave a long, narrow mat of reeds, and when the big chief had to go anywhere, four braves unrolled the mat in front of him so that he walked in comfort.
One day, the braves were worn out from seeing that the chief’s feet were not worn out. They carelessly unrolled the mat over a place where flint arrowheads had been chipped. The arrowheads had long ago taken flight, but the needle-sharp chips remained. When the big chief’s tender feet were wounded by these chips, he uttered a series of whoops which made the nearby aspen tree leaves quiver so hard that they have been trembling ever since.
That night the poor medicine man was given an impossible task by the angry chief: ‘Cover the whole earth with mats so thick that my feet will not suffer. If you fail, you will die when the moon is round.’ The frightened maker of magic crept back to his lodge. He did not wish to be put to death on the night of the full moon, but he could think of no way to avoid it. Suddenly he saw the hide of an elk which he had killed pegged to the ground, with two women busily scraping the hair from the hide, and an idea flashed into his groping mind. He sent out many hunters; many women were busy for many days; many braves with hunting knives cut, and women sewed with bone needles and rawhide sinews.
On the day before the moon was round, the medicine man went to the chief and told him that he had covered as much of the earth as was possible in so short a time. When the chief looked from the door of his lodge, he saw many paths of skin stretching as far as he could see. Long strips which could be moved from place to place connected the main leather paths. Even the chief thought that this time the magic of the medicine man had solved tenderfoot transportation for all time – but this was not to be !
One day, as the big chief was walking along one of his smooth, tough leather paths, he saw a pretty maiden of the tribe gliding ahead of him, walking on the hard earth on one side of the chief’s pathway. She glanced back when she heard the pitter patter of his feet on the elk hide pathway and seemed to smile. The chief set off on the run to catch up with her, his eyes fixed on the back of She-Who-Smiled, and so his feet strayed from the narrow path and landed in a bunch of needle-sharp thorns! The girl ran for her life when she heard the hideous howls of the chief, and Indians in the distant village thought that they were being attacked by wildcats.
Two suns later, when the chief was calm enough to speak again, he had his medicine man brought before him and told the unhappy man that next day, when the sun was high, he would be sent with all speed to the land of shadows.
That night, the medicine man climbed to the top of a high hill in search of advice from friendly spirits on how to cover the entire earth with leather. He slept, and in a dream vision he was shown the answer to his problem. Amid vivid flashes of lightning, he tore down the steep hillside, howling louder than the big chief at times, as jagged rocks wounded his bare feet and legs. He did not stop until he was safely inside his lodge.
He worked all night and until the warriors who were to send him on the shadow trail came for him, just before noon the next day. He was surrounded by the war-club armed guards. He was clutching close to his heart something tightly rolled in a piece of deerskin. His cheerful smile surprised those who saw him pass. ‘Wah, he is brave!’ said the men of the tribe. ‘He is very brave!’ said the women of the tribe.
The big chief was waiting just outside his lodge. He gave the guards swift, stern orders. Before the maker of magic could be led away, he asked to say a few words to the chief. ‘Speak!’ said the chief, sorry to lose a clever medicine man who was very good at most kinds of magic. Even the chief knew that covering the entire earth with leather was an impossible task.
The medicine man quickly knelt beside the chief, unrolled the two objects which he took from his bundle and slipped one of them on each foot of the chief. The chief seemed to be wearing a pair of bear’s hairless feet, instead of bare feet, and he was puzzled at first as he looked at the elk hide handicraft of his medicine man. ‘Big chief,’ the medicine man exclaimed joyfully, ‘I have found the way to cover the earth with leather! For you, O chief, from now on the earth will always be covered with leather.’ And so it was.
from → My Fairy Tales and Stories