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Notes:
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Hand out a small piece of basalt for medicine bags.
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Long ago, two young Indian boys found themselves lost on the great prairie. They had played together one afternoon and had wandered far out of the village. Then they had shot their bows still farther out into the sagebrush. Then they had heard a small animal make a noise and had gone to investigate. They had come to a stream with many colorful pebbles and followed that for a while. They had come to a hill and wanted to see what was on the other side. On the other side they saw a herd of antelope and, of course, had to track them for a while. When they got hungry and thought it was time to go home, the two boys found that they didn't know where they were. They started off in the direction where they thought their village was, but only got farther and farther away from it. At last they curled up beneath a tree and went to sleep.
They got up the next morning and walked some more, still headed the wrong way. They ate some wild berries and dug up wild turnips, found some chokecherries, and drank water from streams. For three days they walked toward the west. They were footsore, but they survived. How they wished that their parents, or aunts and uncles, or elder brothers and sisters would find them. But nobody did.
On the fourth day the boys suddenly had a feeling that they were being followed. They looked around and in the distance saw Mato, the bear. This was no ordinary bear, but a giant grizzly so huge that the boys would make only a small mouthful for him, but he had smelled the boys and wanted that mouthful. He kept coming close, and the earth trembled as he gathered speed.
The boys started running, looking for a place to hide, but there was no such place and the grizzly was much, much faster than they. They stumbled, and the bear was almost upon them. They could see his red, wide-open jaws full of enormous, wicked teeth. They could smell his hot evil breath.
The boys were old enough to have learned to pray, and the called upon Wakan Tanka, the Creator: 'Tunkashila, Grandfather, have pity, save us.'
All at once the earth shook and began to rise. The boys rose with it. Out of the earth came a cone of rock going up, up up until it rose more than a thousand feet high. And the boys were on top of it.
Mato the bear was disappointed to see his meal disappearing into the clouds. This grizzly was so huge that he could almost reach to the top of the rock when he stood on his hind legs. Almost, but not quite. His claws were as large as a tipi's lodge poles. Frantically Mato dug his claws into the side of the rock, trying to get up, trying to eat those boys. As he did so, he made big scratches in the sides of the towering rock. He tried every spot, every side. He scratched up the rock all around, but it was no use. They boys watched him wearing himself out, getting tired, giving up. They finally saw him going away, a huge, growling, grunting mountain disappearing over the horizon.
The boys were saved. Or were they? How were they to get down? They were humans, not birds who could fly. Wanblee, the eagle, has always been a friend to our people. It was the great eagle that let the boys grab hold of him and carried them safely back to their village.
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How Mosquitoes Came To Be Story |
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Long time ago there was a giant who loved to kill humans, eat their flesh, and drink their blood. He was especially fond of human hearts. 'Unless we can get rid of the giant,' people said, 'none of us will be left,' and they called a council to discuss what to do.
One man said, 'I think I know how to kill the monster,' and he went to the place where the giant had last been seen. There he lay down and pretended to be dead. Soon the giant came along.
Seeing the man lying there, he said: 'These humans are making it easy for me. Now I don't even have to catch and kill them; they die right on my trail, probably from fear of me!'
The giant touched the body. 'Ah, good,' he said, 'this one is still warm and fresh. What a tasty meal he'll make; I can't wait to roast his heart.'
The giant flung the man over his shoulder, and the man let his head hang down as if he were dead. Carrying the man home, the giant dropped him in the middle of the floor right near the fireplace. Then he saw that there was no firewood, and went to get some.
As soon as the monster had left, the man got up and grabbed the giant's huge skinning knife. Just then the giant's son came in, bending low to enter. He was still small as giants go, and the man held the big knife to his throat. 'Quick, tell me, where's your father's heart? Tell me or I'll slit your throat!'
The giant's son was scared. He said: 'My father's heart is in his left heel.'
Just then the giant's left foot appeared in the entrance, and the man swiftly plunged the knife into the heel. The monster screamed and fell down dead.
Yet, the giant still spoke. 'Though I'm dead, though you killed me, I'm going to keep on eating you and all the humans in the world forever!'
'That's what you think!' said the man. 'I'm about to make sure that you never eat anyone again.' He cut the giant's body into pieces and burned each one in the fire. Then he took the ashes and threw them into the air for the winds to scatter.
Instantly each of the particles turned into a mosquito. The cloud of ashes became a cloud of mosquitoes, and from their midst the man heard the giant's voice laughing, saying: 'Yes, I'll eat your people until the end of time.'
As the monster spoke, the man felt a sting, and a mosquito started sucking his blood, and then many mosquitoes stung him, and he began to scratch himself
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