The Story of the First Flute Once long ago there was a young brave creeping through the woods. He was quiet. Only the smallest of the grasses felt his coming, and his going. He had come to the woods to hunt. He hoped to get some fairly easy to catch, small animal. Although he had grown up hunting in the woods with his father, and the other boys, there were times when the catch was faster than his arrow. The path home always seemed longer on those nights, than the path outward. As he walked along he heard a new sound out beyond him in the woods. In all his days, he had not encountered a sound like that. Quickly, he ran as quietly as he could toward the sound. But when he got to the place where it seemed to be coming from, there was no one, and nothing there. Then he heard it again. A sighing sound, eerie, could the spirits of the wood be talking to him? Then a flash of color up a tree caught his eye. It was a woodpecker walking along a branch, and as it walked the mysterious sound was changing. Maybe the bird was magic! He took off his pouch of arrows, and slowly climbed up the tree. It wasn’t a great height, and his young muscles easily carried him up the trunk of the old tree. Once he got to the branch and could see it again, he felt his heart drop. The bird was gone, and he could no longer hear the magic. Suddenly a gust of wind went past him, and he thought he heard something like the sound again. Only this time it was very near, almost where his hand rested. He looked down, and saw where the woodpecker had been working the wood. The holes were evenly spaced, where the bird had pecked through to the hollow interior. It had taken one step, and started pecking another hole, until it had a short row of them. With a flash of insight, the young brave understood how the branch was producing the tone. Carefully, the young man reached out, and broke the branch off next to the trunk. Then he broke it off again, out beyond the holes. He was careful of the thin wood, the branch had been dead a long time. He took it back to his tribe, and showed it to a girl he was hoping to impress. The young brave got his wish. The heart of the young girl was enthralled by the mysterious sound of the Native American Flute, and in time she became his bride. Later, the brave took the flute to his families elder, then on to the Tribal Chief. The old man recognized it’s worth as a statement of the heart, to the spirits, and it was quickly adopted into the North American Indian culture. Soon it was an integral part of the Matchstick Ceremony, as well as entertainment. It was also adopted for use in healing, as the amazing music of this most unusual instrument unveiled its medicinal properties. RBryhn 11/12/14
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 07:35:09 +0000