| Once, some
Native children were out an the prairie and found a large egg. They
played with the egg for a time, tossing it about like a ball. A
couple of times the egg was almost dropped. One child
worried about the egg and demanded that the others treat it with
respect. "You shouldn't be tossing it around like that, "
the concerned child said. "It could be dropped and broken.
That egg contains one of the Creator's creatures waiting to be born
." |
| The other
children were shamed by these words, and they stopped tossing the
egg about. But they wondered what they should do with the egg. "We
must find a place where it can be protected and warmed," said
one child. "We must find it parents to teach it how to be a
bird," said another. "We must find it a nest, " the
children agreed. |
| The other
children were shamed by these words, and they stopped tossing the
egg about. But they wondered what they should do with the egg. "We
must find a place where it can be protected and warmed," said
one child. "We must find it parents to teach it how to be a
bird," said another. "We must find it a nest, " the
children agreed. |
| They searched
and finally beside a bush, they found a nest with same eggs in it.
It was the nest of a Prairie Chicken. They placed the egg carefully
in the nest where the mother could sit on top of it and hatch it
with the other smaller eggs . |
| The bird
that hatched out of the found egg was larger than the other chicks
and quite clumsy. It wasn't good at scratching in the dirt
for insects and seeds, like the others. It didn't cluck and cackle
as well as the other chicks. It's voice was shrill and loud. |
| When the
birds flew just over the ground with a thrashing of wings and a
flurry of feathers, as Prairie Chickens do, the clumsy bird made
a terrible cloud of dust with its large wings. The others made fun
of the big, awkward bird. They named it Clumsy One for the clumsy
way it struggled to keep alive, scratching and pecking for insects.
|
| Clumsy One
didn't realize that the name was an insult. I t was too
busy doing what it was told to do and trying to be what it was told
to be. It was too concerned with survival, trying to scratch up
enough food to ease the constant hunger in its belly, to be aware
of mistreatment. |
One day it
looked and saw a magnificent bird winging through the cloudless
sky. Supported by unseen air currents, this bird soared with hardly
any movement of its wings. "What a beautiful bird," Clumsy
One said.
"That's Eagle, chief of the birds,"
said one of the others .
"How smoothly it flies. I wish
I could do that," said Clumsy One. |
"Don't
give that another thought," said the other. "We Prairie
Chickens
can never fly high. We're meant to stay down here, scratching and
pecking in the dirt." |
The original
story says that Clumsy One never gave it another thought. It grew
up, grew old and died, thinking it was an awkward, clumsy Prairie
Chicken. It died believing what it was told, never knowing
it was really an Eagle meant
to soar. |
| We can al
ways change the story, making it better. Some say that the
children came back for a visit on the day Clumsy One had seen the
other bird in the sky. They decided to teach the big bird to fly
since they could see it was different and wanted to get off the
ground. They took turns carrying the bird, flapping its wings and
encouraging it. They ran faster and faster and finally got
Clumsy One into the air. It made a few awkward flaps and then began
as strong, steady beating of its wings. The children cheered as
their bird, no longer clumsy, flew higher and higher. It reached
the other Eagle, and the two flew off together. The Prairie Chickens
kept scratching and pecking in the dirt . |
Some
say that Clumsy One got angry when told it must spend its life just
scratching and pecking. "I'm tired of scratch, scratch, and
peck, peck," it screeched in frustration. Its screech was heard
by the soaring Eagle, who recognized the cry as coming from her
own chick, the one hatched from her lost egg. The mother Eagle flew
down to reclaim her baby. She taught her offspring to fly smoothly
and strongly as the Eagle it was always meant to be, and then they
soared off together. The Prairie Chickens never looked up fran the
dirt.
That's how it was, and that's how
it is. As
told by Grey Eagle |
