I LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS STORY TO BRENDA PAYER, MY WINNEBAGO FRIEND. THE SEA LIONS AND THE SHELLS By David Lee Timothy Smith the Third It had been a very long and cold winter for all the sea animals, without much sun to warm the frigid waters to the East. Thus, they had spent months upon months close to the bottom of the sea to distance themselves from the bitter north winds blowing above. Suddenly, there appeared a ray of light that grew larger and larger. The oldest sea lion exclaimed, “Awake, awake, I see rays of light. Hurry, Hurry, you must see!” Lazily, the sea lions began to stir, just one by one. Surprisingly, as the lions awoke; each one by one, the ray of light became brighter and brighter. And when all had awakened the darkness of the ocean’s bottom had become alive with intense light. As the sea lions became more and more alert they began to experience for themselves the brightness at the oceans bottom. Lighter and lighter it became and then instantly all the rocks and crevices hidden below the waters surface came alive with brilliant auras of color. These colors became so bright and the light so intense that they knew they must get to the surface of the water, and do so quickly, as they did not want to be blinded by the intense light. They needed excellent vision to search for food, and they feared the damage to their sight from such brightness. Fear gripped them as they quickly realized that the brightness was so intense that they were almost instantly blinded. Chief Lion exclaimed, “Please, only open your eyes halfway and you will be able to see.” So, carefully, they all began to open their eyes slowly and only part way. To their instant amazement they could now see the brilliant colors clearly. The intensity of the colors caused the sea lions to become quite anxious and nervous, as they had never experienced anything like it before. Slowly, their anxiety began to wane as their respective guardian spirits began to check out the intense rays. The spirits spoke, and told them to, ‘be calm and patient,’ and if they did so, the spirits would create a way for them to explore all the intense beauty. They were so struck by the beauty that they instantly became still and content. Suddenly, from above, the spirits began to drop large ‘cone shaped’ objects. As these objects fell through the water they began to swirl, faster and faster. And as they swirled, the bases became smaller and smaller, rounder and rounder. Before they could realize what had happened to them, the bottom of the sea was covered with these cone shaped objects. Soon they realized that they could insert the narrow end of one of the objects into the large opening of the other. And if they continued to do this they could build a structure tall enough to bring them to the oceans surface, where they could bask in the warm sun surrounded in brilliant colors. So, they began to build. And they built, and they built and they built. Within days they knew that they could reached the surface and felt the warmth of the sun. But how would they decide who was to climb first, then second and so on. The youngest sea lion said, “Let the oldest go first.” So, they arranged themselves in order from oldest to youngest. And when they realized that some of the ones to go first were struggling to reach the top, the younger ones arose to assist their elders in reaching the surface. And thus began the tradition that elders should be given the greatest respect and that the young members of the family should assist them, and not expect payment for this help. DEDICATED TO IRIE MAE LUJAN, MY TEWA FRIEND. THE GRASSHOPPER NECKLACE AND GREED By David Lee Timothy Smith the Third Long ago there was a young girl who wanted a necklace made of seashells. She saw children of another tribe all having these nice seashell necklaces. But they lived close to a very beautiful lake and could easily go pick up shells on the beach to make these wonderful necklaces. She thought and thought. She had nothing to trade for them. Nobody wanted her old beads and her moccasins were all worn out. Finally, she started chasing the grasshoppers in the field around were she lived. She caught several and then decided she would string them together to make a necklace out of them. She then got her friends to all do the same and they all decided to act as if these necklaces were really pretty and that everyone wanted one. So, at the next tribal ceremony they all wore them to show them off. But what they really wanted was for the other children to trade their seashell necklaces for these grasshopper ones. So when the dancing started the children came together to talk trade. But just as the children with the seashell necklaces agreed to make a trade for the grasshopper ones; the grasshoppers all came back to life and started jumping all over while the children tried to catch them. Soon they all had disappeared. Moral: Be happy with the beautiful things you have around you or they might one day disappear or hop away! And lesson two, never be greedy/ T y David Smith
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 22:40:01 +0000