Native American Legends
Feather Song
An American Indian Legend - Nation Unknown
In a time before the Earth was complete there were some Creatures
that came from the water. These Creatures could no longer live in
the ocean, as it was becoming hot from all the volcanos that were
burning on the bottom of the ocean floor. These Creatures had to
crawl onto the shore and they were not dressed with cloths. They
did not have the knowledge of what to eat in this strange land.
It began to get colder and they started to cry for help but no help
came. A small white cloud heard the cry and he listened to them
as they told of the hot ocean water and how they could no longer
live there. The small white cloud said he would go and ask the Elders
in the sky world what to do. He left to talk to the Elders and after
he explained all the problems of the Creatures they had a great
council.
The sky world shook and turned black and rain fell for a long time.
Finally the Cloud Elders came down to earth and said,"We will
help you but first you must agree to honor the Earth and to live
with respect with all the other things that are here." "You
must never forget where you are from and that we have helped you
here today. In this way you must be ever aware of others that are
to come and you must help them too." With that the Clouds shook
and shook many seeds like snow fell from the clouds. They told the
ocean people to eat the seeds and they would know how to live here
on this land.
Soon all was good and the Creature People were warm and happy and
something strange started to happen to them. Long white soft things
started to grow from their bodies and they were warm. They started
to dance with joy and soon found our that they could fly. After
many tries they flew off into the hills to live where it was warm
and dry. For many years they lived there and they were many kind
of the Creature People. Years and Years went by.
One day one of the beautiful Creature People was flying over the
water and he heard a cry so he went to see what it was. There on
the shore he found many Creatures and they were cold and hungry,
they were crying. He listened to the Creatures and he said he could
remember once when his people came from the ocean he remembered
his Great Great Grandmother telling about the Cloud Beings and the
seeds they brought. So he decided to fly to the Cloud Beings and
ask for their help.
He flew for days and finally reached the Sky World and spoke to
the Cloud Elders. They answered back in an angry voice and said
no. We will not come because you did not hear them or help them
sooner. He pleaded with them to help and they again had a council
there was thunder and lightning as they talked. Finally they said
they would help if he could go and get all the winged ones to come
and pull the clouds down to the Creatures.
He flew day and night back to the Creature People in the hills.
They had a council and some agreed and because of one Creature person
the others did not agree. The other Creature person had always been
greedy and did not want to share the space with others. He said
that it was to crowded and that there was not enough food to feed
all of them.
Finally half of the beautiful winged ones flew to get the clouds
and the others stayed there on the hill. It took a long time to
fly up to the Cloud Nation and a long time passed until the winged
ones were able to help the Sea Creatures become able to fly.
One day they all returned to the hills and they found many changes
in all the ones who stayed behind. Many of the winged ones had grown
long and crooked necks and had to wait a long time to get their
food, others had grown long and strange legs and had to stand in
the water and wait for their food to come to them. Some could not
fly at all and had no feathers on their wings, some had huge bodies
and short legs and had to swim in the water to live.
It was sad to see all the beautiful hunters so ugly and now they
had to go to the water to eat, and live. They could no longer live
on the hill and hunt like the Winged ones did. The leader of the
winged looked around to see if he could find the one who was responsible
for all the sadness and he saw him walking on all four feet with
no feathers, he only had quills where the feathers once grew.
He had become Porcupine and no one wanted to be near him. The Bird
Nation grew into the Nation it is today and the Eagle who was the
one chosen to watch out for all the Earth Creatures and to send
help for those who need it.
Creator said he would give them something to remind them that they
once came from the ocean so he made scales on the legs of the birds.
To this day they are the only other two legged on the Earth except
the Bear when it stand tall.
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