My sister, Little Bird One day long ago I had a chance to visit and play with my siblings. The older brother was always wanting to keep me to himself and not share my company with our younger brother and sister. And when he grew tired of them tagging along, he came upon an idea. He stood tall and stout, and said to our younger brother and sister that they had to earn the right to keep following us around the fields and stream. He said he was Chief, and I was Medicine Man that if they desired a place in our clan they would have to take a challenge. The challenge was for them two to track us across the fields and stream and through the woods, and when we got to Our secret sacred circle that WE, him and I, would decide if they belonged with us in our clan. We, Elder brother and I, began running all through rough terrain and through thick bushes and brambles, up hill and down, and then up again, then down, and across the stream a few times, careful to not move stones or get them wet by our foot placement. Yet they followed our trail which by this time was more than a few minuets old. Then we came to the forest and started really trying to loose the younger two. My smallest brother got dismayed and frustrated because we were taking very big leaps and steps and not moving slowly, he gave up and sat down and sat there with the biggest pout anyone ever has seen. Our sister however, undaunted never broke her stride in trailing us. She was like the beaver when hashing a tree down for his home, or fix his dam. She came steadily on and never stopped. While we, my elder brother and I, kept to an uneven gate, and only pausing for a moment to listen and perhaps see where Our dear sister was, and seeing her continue on Our trail we left no matter how slight it was. I mean we were very careful to not even brake a blade or leaf, and not turn a stone or log, and began to even swing through the trees for the try at loosing our little sister. We finally came to the clearing we called Our secret circle, and rested to see if any of them would have come this far knowing that they had not been this far in the wild fields, and forest from home. A short time later Our sister came into the clearing, she was a bit disheveled, and a bit shaken for the hard trail, but she held her composure and walked to where we were and stood looking expectantly at us, and even a bit nervous she waited politely for our verdict. Our elder brother was still indignant by her audacity of actually being able to track us all that way, even after we had swung in the trees from limb to limb, keeping up somewhat with us on the trail. His vote and verdict was no, because she, was even though good at tracking, she was still too young, "who would do the cooking for us men" because she would probably harm herself or start a forest fire while trying to make a mess of a meal for us all, and by the way where is Our youngest brother, as elder sister she should have kept him by her side, and safe from any animals that could be lurking about. Her reply was that the little one had gone back to the home she had made sure he saw the roof and which way to go safely back to the hearth. And standing her ground bravely stated she had tracked us even when she could not see our trail the whole way, that she knew how to make corn, beans and squash, and fry bread, and knew how to dig up sweet roots, and gather berries, and that as long as WE MEN caught the game she would try to not burn the forest down. I began laughing at how tall my little sister was, crouched like a small bird, all timid, then jumping up tall and straight and ready to answer anything we might have to say in the way of objections, like the strike of an eagle. I then reminded Our brother she had accomplished her challenge, and done as good as we men could have done, and on top of that made sure our little brother had gone home and was safe, and had as she said, already had berries to nibble on through the afternoon, My vote on the grounds of her honest diligence and bravery, and the not so timid little girl I saw before we had started all this. Was of course YES, I had the honor to let her be in Our clan, and was given the title head mother and able to carry the responsibility of the things of what we knew women were to do for the family. That afternoon we had a ceremony in the secret circle giving our brave sister a new name, Little Bird
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 13:23:49 +0000
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