Grade 4 Native Tales

The Big Sickness

by Kimberly Brezinski

A long time ago, there was a lady named Bigstar.  She had two children.  The girl was named Littlestar and the boy was named Pinch.  They also had a dog named Spike.

They lived on a very nice island.  They lived in tipis.  They had one really big tipi.  They each had a part of the tipi for their room.  On the island, there was a very nice hill for Littlestar and Pinch to play on.  They would always take Spike for walks there.

One day when Littlestar and Pinch came back from picking berries from the forest, their mother was laying on the couch.  Pinch went to give her some berries and their mom had red spots all over her face.  Pinch started to scream.  Littlestar heard him and ran in and she started to scream.  Then they both ran all around the island two times, and went back into the tipi.  Then both said, “Who are you?”

Then the lady answered, “I am your mother.  I am sick.  I have smallpox.”

Then the kids said, “Oh, you scared us.”

Later on in the day, Pinch and Littlestar asked their mom, “Mom, can we go outside and play?”

Then their mother said, “No, there is a big storm.  It is really windy.”

But later on when their mother fell asleep, Pinch and Littlestar sneaked out of the tipi.  They went to the hill.  When they got to the hill, it was so windy.  Their mother was right.  Then Pinch said, “I think we better go back.”

Then Littlestar said, “I think so.”

So, they started to go back and when they got really close to the tipi, a big wind came and blew Pinch right over.  When he got up, the wind blew him right inside the tipi and it made a big noise.  The same happened to Littlestar.  This time, it made a really big noise and woke their mother up.  She got mad and sent them both to their rooms.  The door was still open, though, so she went to close it and it blew her right out the door.

By the time she got back in, it was midnight so she went to ask her children what she looked like.  They said her smallpox was gone.

The Buffalo

 by Shannon Fox  

Long, long ago, when the prairies teemed with animals and people lived in tribes, there was a tribe called The Cree.  The Cree had many people in their group so the hunters had to catch more food then other tribes.  The hunters had to bring back so much food that they couldn’t bring it all back on horse, foot or sleds.  “If only an animal big enough for five families roamed the land,” sighed Grandmother.  This was a problem for other tribes, animals and all people traveling the land.

A girl named Little Rose lived with The Cree.  She only lived with her grandmother because she had gotten separated from her original tribe.  Anyway one day, when Little Rose was cooking up the last of the Muskrat meat with grandmother, she piped up, ”Grandmother, this meat is so lean and shriveled, why do the hunters have to bring back such horrible meat?”

“ Well,” said Grandmother slowly, “ I guess that is all the hunters can bring back.  I know this meat is skinny and dry but it is all the hunters can bring back for a family.”

There must be another way, thought Little Rose. She suddenly remembered The Great Spirit.  If she did whatever The Great Spirit told her to do and worshiped it, then it would bring her whatever she asked for.

That very night after eating a meager supper, Little Rose kneeled at the side of her bed and whispered, “Oh Great Spirit, please, please hear me and listen.” Quiet broke into the air.  Little Rose listened and said, “Great Spirit I know you can hear me so please just listen.” Silence stilled the air once again.  “Please, oh please answer me,” she cried at the top of her lungs, hoping that her Grandmother couldn’t hear.

“Yes little one,” cooed the Great Spirit.  ”What are your troubles?”

“Well,” started Little Rose “We don’t have enough food for a family and since the hunters bring back so many of these small animals for food, the animals we eat might become extinct.”

“Oh, dear child is that all?  Now listen.  If you sew a warm, beautiful moose coat in 3 weeks then I will bring you an animal fit for five families,” the Great Spirit explained.

“Oh thank you! Thank you!” praised Little Rose.

The Great Spirit bowed and vanished.  Little Rose clambered into bed and went to sleep dreaming wonderful dreams.

The very next morning, at precisely 5:00, she left the tipi and went into the forest.  Little Rose looked everywhere for a moose.  Finally after lots of hunting at the edge of the forest, she found and killed a moose.  It was not easy but luckily her dad showed her how to approach and kill animals that frighten easily.

Three weeks had passed and Little Rose did her best to make the coat.

“Oh child, this is the finest coat I’ve ever seen. I love it.  Oh now for the animal.  Hmm, well I guess you can have the buffalo. It is a big, furry and powerful animal.  Fit for five families as you wished,” the Great Spirit said.

And that is how the buffalo came to be.

The Indian Boy

by Hubert Lin

One sunny day on the plains, the chief of the Crow tribe said, “We do not have much food left from the last buffalo hunt.  All of the warriors have to hunt and find more buffalo before we all starve.”  The warriors walked out to the plains and looked everywhere but there were no buffalo.

Three days later, they saw some members of the Blood tribe and they were their enemy.  The Blood tribe saw the Crow tribe’s warriors and attacked them, taking all of their weapons and remaining food.

The Crow warriors ran back to their village and said the Blood enemy was attacking them.  The group went to tell the chief of the Crow and he said, “Do not worry, the Great Spirit will help us, but we need some one that can call upon the Great Spirit for help.”

The Blood warriors had been hiding behind trees and bushes following the Crow tribe back to their village.  They surrounded the village and sneaked into their tepees and took their bows, knife, arrows and spears.  They also took their remaining food and returned home with their prize.

An old man walked up to the chief and said, “I know a boy who can call upon the Great Spirit.”

Then the chief said, “Then show him to me or we shall all perish.”  So the old man got the boy and showed him to the chief.  The chief said, “This is him!  He looks like someone with dirt all over him.”

“He is the boy,” said the old man again.

“Then prove it to me.”

So the old man asked the boy to call upon the Great Spirit.

The boy nodded and went to find a hill.  When he found one, he climbed to the top and started asking the Great Spirit in a special language that nobody knew except for the boy and the Great spirit.  The boy said, “We need your help.  If you do not help us, we shall die of hunger.”  So the Great Spirit helped the boy and led him to some dry buffalo bones and the boy brought them back to the village for the warriors to make into hunting weapons.

Then the hunters finished the hunting weapons and started looking for the buffalo for three days.  Finally, they found the buffalo and started hunting again.  From then on, they trusted the boy to help them.

Why Leaves are Red, Green, Brown, & Yellow

 by Dylan McCann

Many years ago there was an aboriginal boy named Leif.  He was a great painter and painted many paintings for the people of his land.

One day, Leif was about to paint a picture of the brown leaves on the trees, so he went out to find berries and all sorts of things he could make paint with.  That day, it was very windy!  After he had collected many berries, he had the colors of red, green, brown, and yellow paint.

He put the paints in containers he made from walnut shells and began to paint on the outside of his teepee.  He wanted to make his teepee different from everyone else’s.  All of a sudden, a huge gust of wind came out of nowhere and knocked over all the paints.  The wind blew the paints all over the trees nearby.

Leaves of green, yellow, & red were everywhere.  After the huge gusts went away, the villagers came out.  They began to cry, “What have you done Leif?”  Leif started to cry.

All of a sudden a loud voice from the heavens above came down.  It said to Leif and the villagers below, “Leif, you have that done something good.  From now on, leaves on trees will be green, red, yellow, and brown and the world will be a much more beautiful place.”

Leif stopped crying and the villagers agreed with the voice from the heavens above.  The trees did look so much more beautiful with all the different colors.  They celebrated all night long, dancing with their faces painted red, green, yellow, and brown.

The Big War

 by Chris Day

Long ago in a little village, there was a guy named Kaboo.  Kaboo was one of the people in the Cree tribe that stole weapons from other tribes.  One day the chief was at the trading post trading fur for weapons.  Kaboo just did the same things over and over again, stealing weapons.

One day Kaboo stole something that meant more than anything in the world to one family – their children.  When the parents woke up that day, the mother screamed and ran out of the tipi, and woke the chief.  “Chief, my children are missing,” said the mother.

The chief then said, “It was that Kaboo guy wasn’t it?”  There was a minute of silence.  And then the chief said, “A war must be started.”  As soon as all the people heard that children were being stolen, all the men stepped forward to start the war.

The war lasted for years and years.  There were dead bodies everywhere.  One day, the father went to the Cree tribe, sneaking quietly into the tipi and got the children and took them back to their tribe.

The Best Friend

 by Elizabeth Dalgleish

One day there was a little girl named Anna.  Anna’s best friend was a horse named Wirebell given to her by her mother.  Anna loved Wirebell and Wirebell loved Anna back.  Anna would ride Wirebell in the forest.

One day something happened to Wirebell.  Wirebell got sick and Anna couldn’t do anything about it.  Wirebell died.  Anna cried and cried. 

One night, Anna was in bed and she had a dream about Wirebell.  Wirebell was in heaven.  Wirebell said, “Don’t be sad just because you can’t see me.  I am still with.  I am inside of you in your heart.”

The next day, Anna wasn’t sad.  She was happy because Wirebell was with her.

The Night

Connor Biblow

One night an old man walked into the woods no knowing what he would find.  The old man was terrified because he was lost.  Then he heard a whisper saying, “I’m here and I know where you are.  I’m getting closer.  I’m coming.”

The old man was so scared, he jumped right out of his moccasins.  He ran right further into the woods.  He was so terrified, he ran right into a camp not finding anybody.  The old man walked into on tent made of wood with deer, moose, and buffalo skulls hanging from pieces of string.  After the old man saw this, he ran right out of the woods and the camp was never found again.

Lost Little Feather

by Vanessa Greaves

One sunny morning, Meaya got up out of bed and went to see her brother.  When she got there, she saw that her brother was not up, so Meaya said, “Little Feather get up.”  So he got up.  Then they both went to Ashala’s room and Ashala was up.  She was playing with Jack their dog.  Ashala and Jack followed Meaya and Little Feather to the kitchen where Mama and Papa were.  They all sat down at the table and ate.  Mama brought Jack some food too.

After they were done, Mama got up to do the dishes.  While she was doing that, Papa was handing her the dishes.  When Papa was done, he sat down and said, “Now let’s go to your rooms and I will help you pack.”

“Why do we have to pack?’ asked Ashala.

Papa said, “Because we are going to move to the prairies so we can live a real Indian life.”

“But what about Bobby,” said Meaya sadly.

“And what about Jack?” said Little Feather. They all were very sad.

“Well, Bobby will stay here and we will see him sometimes and we will write to him.  And Jack will come with us.”

“Oh good, I thought that Jack would have to stay here and we would miss him a lot.” 

So they all went and packed up.  When they were packed, they went into Mama and Papa’s room.  They gave Papa their bags and he took them into the wagon.  But first they had to get the horses out of the barn.  After they got the horses out, they hopped in the wagon and they got settled with blankets.

On the way, they saw deer, cows, buffalo, and squirrels.  They also saw a little pond with fish in it.  On their journey to the prairies, they saw some beautiful flowers on a hill so they went to it and ate.  When they were done, they looked at the flowers and picked a few.  But Mama said, “It is time to go.  Get in the wagon.”

Little Feather did not hear her.  So they left and he was still there.  At least he still had some food.  When they go to their spot, it was almost night.  So they quickly set up the tipi and went inside to go to bed.

While Mama was telling everyone where to sit, Papa set the blankets out.  Then they called Little Feather but he was not here.  All of a sudden it went very quiet.  Everyone was very worried.

In the morning, they got up to look for him.  Jack came along too.  They went to the forest.  They went all over the place.  And finally they found Little Feather sitting by a tree on the top of the hill in a blanket.  They were all very happy.  They all went back to the tipi and had a great Indian life and no one got lost again.

Buffalo Hunt

 by Brianna Koller  

Long ago when the people hunted buffalo, there was a man whose name was Zelda.  He had three daughters.  Zelda and his family lived with the rest of the tribe on the hot, fry plains.  They lived on a big hill.

One day when all the men were out hunting for buffalo, the chief told the women to get their houses ready for a cold night.  And so the women did.  After the men came home to the circle of tipis, the chief told every person in that tribe to go to the middle of the circle to have a meeting.  The chief told every one about the bad weather that was coming their way and that they would not go anywhere the next day.  One man spoke up and said, “As you all know, my name is Zelda and we should not stay here tomorrow.  We will not be able to stay with the buffalo.  They will be moving tomorrow.”

But the chief did not listen.  “We’re staying,” he said.

That night everyone went to sleep.  In the morning when the men were gone hunting, they came back with nothing.  Zelda went to the chief.  “There’s no buffalo anywhere,” he said.  “Tell everybody to go pack up.  We’re leaving.”

So on the way to find the buffalo, they got lost.  “Which way?” asked Zelda.

“This way,” said the chief pointing northeast.  Zelda knew he was wrong, so he sent his oldest daughter to the highest hill to talk to the Great Spirit.

Zelda said, “Go to the Great Spirit and ask him where the buffalo are.”

So his eldest daughter went to the highest hill and said, “Great Spirit, tell me where the buffalo are?”

“South.”

“She ran back and told the tribe, “South.”

The whole tribe went south, but they found no buffalo.

“Have you told a lie?” Zelda asked.

“No, “ she said.

Then Zelda asked his middle daughter to go.  So, off she went.  “Great Spirit, can you tell me where to find buffalo?”

“East!!”

“East!” she yelled.  Then they all traveled east but there were no buffalo.

“Did you lie?”

“No, that’s what the Great Spirit said.” 

Then Zelda asked his youngest daughter to go.

His youngest daughter got there and asked, “Great Spirit, please tell me where the buffalo are.  The tribe is starving with nothing to eat.”

“West” he said.

“Thank you!” yelled the youngest daughter as she ran down the hill.  So they all went west and there were hundreds of them.

“Thank you, “ said Zelda.

“You’re welcome,” she said.  And from that day on they all had enough to eat.

The Greedy Boy

 by Nicholas Keating

Once a long time ago, the people of the Sambra tribe were having trouble finding buffalo.  But there was one little boy named Moto Maji who loved the buffalo and didn’t want them to get hurt.  He had hidden the buffalo in a very far away hill.  The people never thought of looking there.

Sarmuon, the chief of the tribe, decided to make an announcement.  He called all the people in and said, “Anyone who finds at least one buffalo can have anything they want.” 

Moto Maji thought about this and thought to himself, “No, I will not tell Chief Sarmuon where the buffalo are.”  But then he recalled Sarmuon’s announcement.  One buffalo for anything.  So Moto Maji thought, “one buffalo isn’t going to do anything to anybody except him.”  So Moto Maji went and got the smallest buffalo from the herd and brought it back to Chief Sarmuon. 

Sarmuon was pleased and said, “What do you want?”

Moto Maji replied, “Nothing, thank you.  All I want is for you to be happy.”

“Thank you. No, thank you,” said the chief.

Moto Maji walked away thinking, “I am so stupid.”  Then he thought about the buffalo. 

Later that night during super, Moto Maji’s mom, Arwen, brought about five pounds of buffalo meat and his sister Galadrieal Lothorien said, “Mmm, fresh buffalo meat.”

Once again, the chief said, “Whoever brings just another buffalo can have anything they want again, and be chief for a year.”  All the people ran the second they heard this.

Moto Maji ran to the heard of buffalo again and got the rest of the buffalo and thought to himself, “I will wish to be chief the rest of my life and be very rich.”

Then a cloud appeared and somehow it sank onto one of the buffalo.  Then very quickly, that buffalo said, “Do not be afraid, little child for I am the might buffalo God Ihmotep.  Do you really want to kill all these buffalos to get rich and famous?”/

The boy replied, “Yes, of course, I do.  Anyone would.  Wouldn’t they?”

“Maybe, but the point I am trying to make is, would you kill all the buffalo just for food, shelter and warmth?”

Moto Maji thought about this for a long time and finally said, “No. I will let the buffalo free and will stay and run with them.”

By then, the Spirit had already left and from that day on, nobody knew where he had done.  But he knew by now, he was a buffalo.  He protected the entire herd.  Sooner or later, the buffalo started talking to him and he talked back.  And finally, he saw the buffalo were humans just like him.

The Buffalo

 by Kiana Lee

One day a long, long time ago, the people always followed the buffalo for food and lots of other stuff.  There was a tribe which was very small. There were only five people in the tribe.  They all lived in a big, big tipi.  One of the people in the tribe was the chief’s daughter.  She was very wise and her name was Liana.

One day when Liana noticed that there were not very many buffalo in the field, she went to the tribe and said, “The buffalo are all dying.  You have to stop killing the buffalo for no reason and start feeding them.”

The tribe said, “Oh well, they will live.”  The buffalo became fewer and fewer in number.  There were 200 and then only 150.  One week later, there were 100.  Two weeks went by and there were no buffalo and the tribe didn’t notice.  The tribe went to eat at the table and said, “Hey, where is the food?”

Liana said, (she always cooked supper) “You killed all of the buffalo!”

“We did?” said the tribe.  “We didn’t notice.  Well, let’s go find dome more.”

“It’s not that easy.  You have to apologize to the buffalo spirit.  Then we will find 20 buffalo, take good care of them and only kill them as you need them.”

So the tribe did just that, and from that day on, they never needed to apologize again to the buffalo spirit.

Zelda’s Stripes

by Sara Valentini

Long ago, when all of the skunks looked alike, there was a skunk nine years old named Zelda.  All of the skunks were just plain white.  Zelda lived in a forest with her two friends, Leon the buffalo and Beatrice the beaver.  They were also nine years old.

One Saturday morning, Zelda, Leon, and Beatrice were playing a game of Duck-Duck Goose.  All of a sudden, they heard a noise.  It sounded like a person was cutting wood!  Zelda, Beatrice, and Leon were very scared.  “What if a carpenter or someone is cutting down our trees?” worried Leon.

“No, I bet it is just the wind,” said Beatrice.

“Well then, why don’t you go down and see what it is, smarty-pants?” said a very angry Leon.

“NO WAY!  I-I-I mean no thank-you!” said Beatrice half mad and half calm.

“Well then, I will go!” Zelda yelled.  So off she went.  “Hey, umm… this part of the forest is pretty scary!  Yup! Yes, siree!”  Zelda said in a very scared voice.

LATER, IN THE WOODS…

“John!” said a surprised Zelda.  John used to be a very close friend to Zelda.  John was just building a little tree house.

“I’m going to go on my break now.  Can you stay here and make sure that nothing happens?” asked John.

“Sure!” replied Zelda.  “OK, all I have to do is watch the tree house, “ Zelda said.  “OOOO!  I love paint!” said Zelda when she saw a can of black paint.  “Maybe I can go and look at the paint,” she thought.  “OOPS!” screamed Zelda.  “I got black paint stripes on me!”  And so Zelda ran away.

“Hi!  Why do you have stripes?” asked Leon.

“Oh! Umm, God made a mistake.”  And of course, Beatrice and Leon believed her.

And so 15 years later, Zelda met a male name Zooa and they married.  Two years later, they had a daughter named Ziza, and she had stripes!  Then Ziza had a daughter and she had stripes and so on.  This was all because of Zelda.

The Sickness

 by Sarah Flesch

Long ago, far away, the Blackfoot tribe was happy.  But soon that would change.  Jamie and Ancia, who were 11 winters old, came running out of their tipi to go meet their cousin Blue Star.  They skipped all the way.  When they got there, Blue Star was out in her garden.  Blue Star’s father was the chief and he had never once been sick.

They wanted to go out together in the forest so they walked there.  When they went into the forest, they found a black pony with a white dot on its’ head.  They name it Blackey because of it colour.  They combed its black shiny hair with their fingers.  “I like this pony,” said Blue Star.

“Me too,” said Jamie and Ancia together.  After a few minutes, they skipped home.  There was a beautiful sunset in the sky.  The colours of pink, blue, and purple filled the beautiful air.

In the morning, Jamie and Ancia did not wake up and jump out of  bed.  Neither did Blue Star.  They felt too sick.

Every day their mother checked on them.  Soon she got the illness too.  She passed it on until the buffalo were gone.

The Chief and half of his warriors went out to find food.  When they came back they had only half of a rabbit.  “This is terrible!” exclaimed the Chief.

“Yes,” said one of the warriors. 

Suddenly, Blue Star barged into the tent.  “Daughter, I thought you were sick,” said the chief.

“I am not,” said the daughter.  “I know where the buffalo are,” she continued.  “And I know a cure for the sickness.”

“Daughter, show me the buffalo,” said the Chief.

“No,” she screamed.  “First, I cure the sick.”

“Tell me the way to the buffalo, and you can go cure the sick,” said the Chief.

“Fine,” said Blue Star.  She told her father.  She went to cure Ancia and Jamie. 

“Hello,” said Jamie.

“Hi,” said Blue Star.  “Where’s Ancia?”

“She is sleeping,” said Jamie.

“What,” whined Ancia.

“Hi, Ancia.  The horse Blackey had the flu and I know the cure,” said Blue Star.

“What?” said Jamie and Ancia at the same time.

“It’s from my garden.  It’s called spinach.  Here eat some,” said Blue Star.  They got better and the chief found food.

The Boy and the Bull

 by Josh Littke

One nice worm winter day about 300 years ago, a boy, his mother, father, and bigger brother went to their grandmother’s house.  They were going to her house to ask her to give the youngest son a task, so that he could prove that he was old enough to be considered a man.

The boy’s grandmother invited them in and she started to think.  She thought for about five minutes and then she answered, “Your son should go out on his horse and kill a buffalo.”

The boy’s parents agreed with his grandmother, so the next day he set out to look for some buffalo to kill.  He looked and looked for many hours but he could not find any.  The next day, he wanted to look for some more buffalo but when he went outside, there was a hailstorm so he couldn’t go.  The storm went on for one whole month.

When the storm finally ended, he went outside to look for some buffalo.  He looked for about three hours before he finally found a herd.  He chased after them, took his bow and arrow, and killed one.  He got it and took it home to show his mother.  When he got home his parents were so happy that they said, “You are old enough to be an adult.”  So from then on, nobody ever called him a kid again.

A Walk to Remember

 by Courtney Dombrosky

One early spring day, there was a little girl who was nine years old.  Her name was Jaime.  She loved taking long walks in the village.  She also had a love for the animals in the village.  Ever since she was three years old, she dreamed of talking with animals.

One morning in the fall, she took her usual walk in the village and then on to the foothills.  Then she got to the top of the foothills, she saw a horse.  She decided to ride it.  The horse took her to places that she had never seen before.  There was a beautiful sky with all of the colors, some of which she had never seen before.  She could not believe her eyes.

When she was on the way back home, she fell off the horse.  When she woke up, she was back in the village in her tipi.  Her eyes opened and she visualized all of the animals.  The animals seemed to be calling her.

When she woke up the next day and did her walk, she went to see the horse in the foothills.  She realized she was talking to the horses.  Her dream came true she was so happy!  She ran to the village to tell every one the good news.

“Everyone, I can talk with the animals!” she said.

Everyone wanted to know how to talk with animals.  She tried and tried but it did not work.  She left the village feeling disappointed.  She took a long walk but then she got lost.  She didn’t know what to do.  All of a sudden, the horses were there.  The horses asked her if she could stay with them in the foothills.  She jumped with glee saying, “Yippee!!”

The horses guided her back to the village.  She asked the village elders for permission to live with the animals.  They said, “Yes!!”

Birch Carvings

 by Robyn Sokil

In a place long, long ago, some of the Tribes had lots of food, but some had no food at all.

The wealthy tribes sometimes would give some of their food to others, but the ones that had a whole bunch of food gave none.

One day a little girl named Little Foot, who lived in the not so wealthy families, was peeling some loose bark off of a birch-bark tree.  Underneath the loose bark, she saw little marks that looked like the branches on a tree or like the grass on the ground.  The shapes were going every which way, this way, and that way.  Little Foot just stared at them because she had never seen anything like that before in her whole life.  She ran back home and old her parents.  The next day, Little Foot showed her mother and her father the neat designs that she found. 

“Blackfoot,” said her mother and father.

“Pardon me?” asked Little Foot.

“Blackfoot is a big, big tribe that has mostly wealthy families,” explained her mother.

“Blackfoot tribes make very interesting designs that are called carvings,” explained her father.  “I’ll show you how if you want.”  So the next day, Little Foot’s Father showed her how to carve.

A year later, they were very wealthy, but they weren’t mean because they sold carvings to get the food and horses.  So their poverty problems were over!!

Rainbow Colors

 by Sabrina McCarthy

A long time ago when the people’s tipis were blank, a boy had a talent of art.  Every morning and evening and after rainstorms, he would go and try to paint the rainbows, sunrises, and sunsets.  But he just couldn’t get the right colors.  He used the darkest blackberries, the reddest strawberries, and the brightest flowers, but he just couldn’t get the right colors

On afternoon, he was trying to paint a rainbow and a voice came from the sky.  The voice said, “If you can get an eagle feather with a white top and brown bottom, then you will find the colors you need to paint.  You can show your people how they can express themselves.  They can give offerings to the Great spirits with symbols of animals or other important things painted on their tipis.”

Three years later, he found the feather.  And with the feather he found twenty bright rainbow colored seeds.  He planted them on top of the hill and a month later the seeds grew into flowers of purple, green, blue, and orange.  Something was different about these flowers.

The pollen stems were little paintbrushes.  From a purple flower, he plucked a tiny paintbrush and to his surprise it grew into a normal sized pint brush!  He painted with it and it was the right color!  He painted beautiful paintings for the people from that time on.

The Race

 by Mason Koskinen

One day, the Aboriginal people were very weak because they had no food.  So they split into groups to find some.  One of the people, Scotty, found a berry bush.  Everybody came running even the animals.  So the chief said, “We will have a race – humans, all air creatures, all land creatures, and all water creatures.”  The race began.

First, they had to go down the mountain.  The birds were leading followed by the animals of the land.  The humans and the water creatures were last.

The race continued on the plains.  The humans were leading, followed by the land creatures, then the birds.  The water creatures were still last.

After the plains, they raced through a swamp.  The birds took the lead followed by the water animals, the land creatures, and the humans.

Then they were in an empty field and they could see the finish line.  Everyone raced desperately to the finish.  The humans won, then the birds, then the water creatures, and then the land animals.  The humans decided to share the berries with the birds and the land animals.  The water creatures were just racing for fun because they did not want to be left out.

The Lost Animals

 by Jaime Clanachan

Once upon a time in the beautiful prairies with the swaying grass, The People were starving.  The animals they usually ate were gone!  There was no trace of any animal miles away from their camp!  The warriors and hunters had traveled even beyond the highest hills and they still couldn’t find any!  Without animals, they only had wild berries and bannock to live off of!

This was creating such a big problem.  A young girl named Star Eyes (she was named that because her eyes sparkled like stars) left in the middle of the night to go see if she could find an animal.  That night, she was not successful at all!  She didn’t even find a berry patch.

The next night she set off again.  When she entered some dark woods, she saw a rabbit zip past her and into the darkness.  She decided to follow it, but first decided to go back to the tipi and get a torch.

When she was in the tipi, and getting a stick and something to light it wither, her mother woke up.  She said, “What do you think you’re doing, trying to light a torch?  Put it out and go back to bed.”  So Star Eyes did as she was told, and went back to bed.

That night she decided to go out the next night and get the troch ready just before the sun went down.

The next night at about 11:00 pm, Star Eyes decided to go out again.  She went to get the torch and then set out again to the deep, dark woods.

When she finally found the woods, instead of a rabbit running by, she saw a deer running by.  So she took a deep breath and walked into the woods.

In the woods, she saw all sorts of swamps.  But she still didn’t see any animals.  When she finally got to the middle of the forest, she saw hundreds and hundreds of animals in the clearing.  When the animals noticed she was there, they began to go away.  She called out to one of the deer saying “Deer, why won’t the other animals come back?  What have we done?”

“You have been taking us for granted, so we decided to go away,” the deer replied.

“Dearest animals, if I promise to tell the other people not to take you for granted, will you come back?” Star Eyes begged.

“Well, um, okay,” replied the deer.

So the people never took the animals for granted again.

The Sacred Animal

 by Paige Gorsak

There once was a boy named Little Bear.  He was the youngest in his family, and he was only 3 feet tall.

When he was just five, his older brother Alex got his own sacred animal, a horse.  Its name was Silverado.  When Little Bear saw Silverado he was dazzled!  He wanted that horse for his own.

Until Little Bear was seven years old and 3 foot 9 inches tall, Little Bear was disturbed by his wants.  Every day he would wake up miserable and would not eat because of his troubled mind.  He would disturb the tribe but no one knew why this anger had come.  One day, Little Bear got so mad that he ran away into the woods and got lost.

Night began to fall.  Little Bear had never been that far into the woods, and he was scared.  Suddenly, he heard a twig snap to his right.  He saw a dark figure come into the clearing where he stood.  Then he noticed it was the Chief.  He was about to rejoice, but he remembered, “Oh ya, they gave Alex a pet and not me, so why should I be nice.”

So he walked boldly and confidently over to the Chief and then snuffled, “What do you want?”

The Chief replied, “I came to find you, everyone was worried.”

“Yah right I don’t believe you,” Little Bear retorted.  “Just so you know, I’m not coming back.  I’ll make camp right here, then I’ll find my own sacred animal!”

“So that’s what this is all about.  You want a pet too,” the Chief was shocked.

Little Bear couldn’t do anything to take back what he had said.  So he cried, “but it’s so unfair I ju...”

“Calm down Little Bear.  I think I have something to show to you,” Chief interrupted.

He took Little Bear down to a fox’s den where a mother fox had just had babies.  He made an offering to the spirits and then took one of the kits (baby fox) which was a brilliant orange, then gave it to Little Bear.  Little Bear decided to name it Pumpkin because of its color.  When they got back to the tipi circle, Little Bear was able to show off Pumpkin as much as Alex had done with Silverado.

So that was how Little Bear got his Sacred Animal.

The Hunter

 by Robert McCormick

One day many years ago, there was a hunter, named Big Foot.  He wanted to be a tribe leader.  He was really good at hunting.  His dad was a tribe leader before he died.  His dad taught him to be very good at hunting. 

Big Foot’s tribe wanted him to give them a supply of dead buffalo for one week, but the problem was that he couldn’t find any buffalo.  He had to find the buffalo meat if he wanted to be a tribe leader.  He told himself that he would never give up, but he just couldn’t find any buffalo.

There was one spot in the forest that he didn’t look in because his dad had said never to go into that part of the forest.  He didn’t want to disobey his dad, so he didn’t go there.  He still didn’t give up, though, and he kept on trying to find buffalo so that he could be tribe leader.

He was walking back to camp and then he heard the crashing sounds of buffalo.  He ran over and shot all the buffalo he saw.  There were hundreds of them and he kept on using his bow until he ran out of arrows.

He went back to camp.  He said that he needed people to help him bring the buffalo back to camp.  Then that night around the campfire, they awarded him the role of tribe leader.    When he got old, he awarded the role of tribe leader to another good hunter, and it went on and on until the white people came to Canada.

The Legend of the God

 by Alex Vollmer

Long ago in the village, there was a boy, father, and mother.  They lived in a tipi in the village.  One day, the middle son went to the meadow.  The boy felt a rumble.  “What’s that?” said the boy.  The boy saw a man. 

The man said, “Here, give this to the village.  It will make dried rivers run with water again”.

“NO,” said the boy.  “I hate water”.  And he ran home.  He said, “Father there is a man in the meadow”.

The father said, “Son, it is just your imagination”. 

So the boy went to his mother.  “Mother,” said the boy.  “There is a man in the meadow”.

The boy’s mother said, “Son, I think you need some fresh air”.

The boy went out.  He looked at the meadow.  He saw a tornado.  He ran to the chief and said, “Chief, there is a tornado coming straight for us”.

“The storm god must have gotten mad,” said the chief.

The boy said, “Who is the Storm God?”

“The Storm god controls the world.  If he gets mad, a bad storm will come.  He should have come today in the meadow”.

“I saw a man in the meadow,” said the boy.

The Chief said, “Did he offer you anything?”

“Yes, but I said, NO!” said the boy.

The Chief said, “You must do what the god says or the village will be gone.”

So the boy ran to the meadow, picked the water stone up, and ran to the dried river.  He put the stone in the river, and the river ran with water again, and the village was safe.

Little Horse’s Problem

 by Caterina Anger

When the People roamed the lands, there was one single white man.  And then he got married and had a child, who was a girl.  There was something unusual about her.  She was fair like her father!  This was a big problem for her.

When she first started to walk, everyone called her names.  They thought that she was not good at anything just because she had pale skin!  One day when she was about fifteen years old, she noticed why people were making fun of her!  People would whisper, ”Do you know that Little Horse has pale skin?  And you know what that means.  She is not good at anything.”

When it finally came time for Little Horse to learn how to bead and take care of a family, she was always the best at the task.  The rest of the people would look at her in strange ways.  One bright, sunny morning the chief said, “Little Horse proved to us that white people are just as strong as we are and capable of doing great things too.”

Years later when Little Horse no longer lived, people would talk about her and what she proved.

A Bull, an Amphibian, and Two Tribes of Indians

 by Robert Hackman

It was the perfect day to go swimming and everyone went swimming.  Everyone had to be careful, though, because the people of the forest were at war with the people by the lake and no one was to be trusted.

The reason the people were warring, was a very strange thing indeed.  There were two chiefs.  Chief Shiny-stone, the chief of the forest, earned his name because the chief before him had no kin.  He was very sick so he said that the male who could find the shiniest stone would be the new chief.  And that was Chief Shiny-stone.  The chief of the lake, Chief M got his name because when he go mad or was very glad his forehead got scrunched up into a M.

The two peoples had been fighting for years.  Before the war started, they were basically like one tribe.  Many years before the war had started, there was a small green creature in the water named Gamalian.  Gamalian was a very evil trickster who caused the war to start.

If the war got out of hand the entire race of Indians could be destroyed.  Who would stop it?  Would it be Gamalian’s enemy, the great peacemaker named Goatabull?  Goatabull was the speckled goat that wasn’t a goat at all but a bull.  He was very strong and everyone feared him not knowing how nice he was.  This is the story of the war.

Chief M was out walking by the lake, when a strange green creature came out and started to talk, “Hey, mister,” it said.  “Chief Shiny-stone is planning to destroy your tribe.  Yeah, and he said it was because you don’t help them enough and the forest people are dying,” Gamalian said.

“WHAT!  How can they say that?  We give them so much.  I’m going to get an army ready and he’ll be sorry!!!” said Chief M.  Then Gamalian just swam away.

Meanwhile back at the outskirts of town, Chief Shiny-stone was walking by the lake and Gamalian came and told him the same thing, and he had the same response.

The war began and it was HUGE.  No one could interfere and everyone was fighting.  Indians do not really fight, but their acts of bravery are stealing shields.  This was a game that was deadly and no man was left behind.  The women were the medics.  The fight didn’t cool down.  They were fighting to the death, but fortunately, no one died.  The Indians couldn’t bring themselves to bring their sword down on the enemy. 

Finally, all the men and women left except for the two chiefs.  They kept battling.   Everyone watched in silence as the battle went on for days.  The two fighters didn’t slow down.  They just kept at it.  The loud noise of wood hitting wood grew louder and louder until everything was shaking.  The ground was shaking.  The sound was like thunder.  Everyone saw it.  The speckled bull Goatabull charged at the two fighters.  He did not hurt them but he threw them apart from each other.  The fighting stopped.

Goatabull started to speak, “how could you two humans fall into Gamalian’s trap?  You are the chiefs.  You should know better.  But now I will leave hoping that peace will be returned.”  Then he just walked away.

The fight wasn’t over.  The two chiefs kept at it until once again Goatabull came.

“YOU PITIFUL HUMANS,” he roared.  “HOW COULD YOU NOT TAKE HEED OF MY WARNING?  NOW YOU MUST SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES.”

He did not hurt them, but he threw them on the highest trees he could find and then he walked away and said, “Never listen or be tempted by a thing like Gamalian again.”

The War

by Kelsey Gordulic

Black Bear was seven years old when it happened.  It was the summer of 1863 and Black Bear was hard at work.  She was helping father chop wood for the stove.  This is her story.

Black Bear had one pet, a fox named Little Worrier.  Black Bear found Little Worrier in her secret cave at the top of Mount Skydive.

Black Bear didn’t have any friends because she had smaller fingers than everyone else.

Black Bear’s tribe was the enemy of a tribe near by.  The two tribes often fought about which tribe was better, but one day both tribes of Aboriginal people got so mad at each other that they started a war.

The war started on a warm summer day.  Black Bear and her family had to escape the war or they would die.

Fire arrows and spears were being shot everywhere.  Tipis were burning to the ground.  It was the scariest thing Black Bear had ever seen.

“Black Bear, quickly go get some help.  Your mother and I will stay her and try to help the other,” shouted her father.

So Black Bear ran for her life, dodging anything in front of her.  Once she got far away from the war, she started to look for help.

After a while, Black Bear found herself in her secret place on the top of Mount Skydive.  Her secret place was really a cave where she talked with the Spirits or asked the Spirits for help.

Black Bear knew she had to hurry or her family would die.  She ran into the cave and did the dance the Spirit told her to do whenever she entered the cave.  Black Bear asked the spirits for help, and they told her to tell her tribe to just give up and the other tribe would give up too.

So black Bear hurried to her family to tell them to give up.

After Black Bear’s tribe gave up, the other tribe gave up too and went home.

Later, as soon as everything was cleaned up, all the Aboriginal people gave three cheers for Black Bear.

The Big Chase

 by Scott Wilcox

Once upon a time, the people from the tribes Motomagi and Suzuki were having a big feast to celebrate Chief Cunha’s 50^th birthday.  His elder daughter came running from the woods saying, “There is a hunter in the pasture chasing me!”

Chief Cunha finished the feast, and then he went back to his tipi in silence.

When he woke up the next morning, he decided to disguise himself.  He went out into the pasture pretending to be his daughter to see if he could see the person who was chasing his daughter back to the village.

He went deeper and deeper into the pasture.  He thought he saw someone chasing wild horses and when he got a closer look, he saw it was a person.

He started chasing the person through the pasture back to the village. He had set up a defense line at the edge of the village with all the village warriors, to catch the person when the chief chased him back.  When he was in the deepest part of the pasture, the chief go lost and never found his way back.

The warriors waited and when the Chief did not return, the Chief’s daughter ruled the tribe.  The legend goes that he is still chasing the spirit person who helped his daughter become the tribe leader.   

The Colorful Paintbrush

 by Jacqueline Juba

Long time ago in a village lived a girl named Anica.  Anica lived with her mother and father.  The village had plenty of water and food.  Anica’s father was the chief of the village.  Anica loved exploring the grasslands and the forest.

One day, Anica was walking along the soft ground in the grasslands, when she saw some children playing with a wonderful stick.  It was not just any stick, but a stick with colors that Anica had never seen before.  It was multicolored and there were bristles on the end.

It was getting dark, so Anica went home.  When Anica got home, she said to her father, “Oh most wonderful father, today I saw a stick that was beautiful.  It was so pretty, in fact, it was the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Anica.

“Youngest daughter, you must be imagining,” said her father.

“I was not father.  I mean it,” Anica explained.

“Anica listen, I don’t want to hear it,” said her father.  So Anica went to bed.

The next day, Anica went to the forest.  She saw something moving in the bushes.  She followed it down into an underground secret passage under the creek.  “Wow, this is wonderful.”  Then she saw an old man coming toward her.

“Hello young girl,” spoke the old man softly.  “And what are you doing in my home?”

“I followed a bird down her,” said Anica.

“Oh, you mean Kits,” said the old man as the bird flew to the man.  “She is my pet,” the man said stroking the bird.  Then Anica saw the stick.  The stick she saw before.

She asked, “Um, that stick over there, what is it?”

“Oh that,” said the man.  “Well, I will tell you.  It is a magic stick.  You go to the creek above my house and put it in the water and see what happen,” explained the man.

Strange and confused, Anica did what the man said.  She put the magic stick into the water and “Pow!”  Wonderful colors rushed down the stream.  When Anica picked up the stick, it was colorful.  She kept coming every day. 

One day, Anica came home.  She saw her father was ill.  “Father, what happened?” asked Anica.

“There is no water Anica,” her father said.  As soon as Anica heard that, she knew why.  She was using all the water with the magic stick paintbrush.

She ran to the old man.  She talked and talked and then finally the old man said, “Break the stick.  Then it will be normal.”

“Thank you,” Anica said.  She ran back to the stick and picked it up.  Then she thought, “If I break the stick, I will never paint again but my father would be ill.”  So she broke the stick.  Then it released its color and it was beautiful.  All the color went to the sky.  Every night the girl saw the wonderful colors when the sun went down.

Winter

by Sarah Melton

One day, a long time ago in a far away island, there was a girl named Little Light.  Little Light was ten years old.  She had a mom named Blue Eyes, a grandpa named Big Nose, a grandma named Small Nose and a dad named Long Ears.  Little Light had a horse and its name was Anyanka.  Her Grandpa was 98 years old.

Today was the first day of winter and Little Light was out playing in the snow.  Grandpa was inside drinking tea with her dad while her mom was making it.  Little Light liked learning about legends and liked listening to new ones that her grandfather told her.

Three weeks later, Grandpa started to feel ill.  When the doctor came to see him, he told his family that he had smallpox.  One month later, Little Light’s grandpa died.

Little Light was very sad at the time, but another problem was occurring.  The family was running out of food.  The first night that no one ate any supper, Little Light had a dream.  She dreamt that the spirit of her grandfather appeared.

Little Light woke up in the morning.  She told her family that the spirit of Grandpa was in her dream.  Little Light told them that Grandpa said if we wanted food all we have to do is look behind the oak tree outside.  Little Light looked.  There were plenty of nuts for them to eat.  The family was saved and they all lived happily ever after.

The Star Buffalo

by Gabriel Cunha

In one perfect day, people were hunting the buffalo. The chief said, "Everybody, go to the lake to hunt the buffalo," but no one found them.

Everybody went to the forest, but no one saw the buffalo.

Everybody went to the beach, but no one found the buffalo.

One person said, "The buffalo are extinct."

But everybody said, "You are lying. This is impossible."

But no one found one buffalo that day, not that one month, and not in one year.

In one battle, the chief of this tribe was killed and they asked God, "Lord, why did you take the buffalo away from the earth?"

And God said, "Because the people only killed the buffalo, and finally the buffalo are finished."

The chief said, "This is unjust. I only killed the buffalo to eat."

But God said, "It is not you and your tribe. It is the Europeans and others."

I am really sorry about this. The buffalo are now only one legend in the stars, like one million of legends in one million of stars in the dark blue night sky.

The chief saw that star, the buffalo star and every person's star. Every person has one star.

God said, "But the star, to have history, has more light. Like you, the buffalo, the Aboriginal people, and every one, believe in God."