NOTE: This story was given to me by a beloved Elder, whom wanted me to pass these on to others, they are very old and are rarely told anymore. This Elder has now crossed over to be with the Ancestors, these are told here as she told them to me... I cannot mention her name, because this was also asked of me to do.
ShaunaSay WhiteFeather
This is a story that took place in a time long ago. One day a little girl was being bad. She was being very very bad. She was arguing with her sisters and brothers. She was shouting and waking the babies. She was angry and making everyone around her miserable. She was causing a commotion and disturbing the work of her mother and aunts. She was being a very very bad girl. Then her
father came home. Now her father was a wise leader and it took him very little time to realize that his daughter was being very naughty and disrespectful.
So he told his daughter to get a piece of dried fish, her blanket, and her grandmothers memory stick and to follow him. Well even
though the little girl was being naughty she did as she was told by her father. She did not like it and made a face of anger and madness but followed her father. Her father led her a long way from the lodge a very long way. Then they came to a high hill . They climbed the hill and when they got to the top which was a long way there was a cliff on the other side of the hill.
From the top of the hill looking over the cliff you could see a long way off. Her father said, now sit on your blanket, eat your fish and put your hands on your grandmothers memory stick and think about these things. I will come to pick you up when the sun goes down and I expect I will find a happy girl with a smile. Her father then left and the girl was very very angry. She felt she
was being unfairly treated and threw the fish, the blanket and the memory stick of her grandmother over the cliff. Then she sat down and tried to stare down a cloud with her angry stare.
That did not work and after a while she became hungry. Now what was she to do. Her food was at the bottom of the cliff. So she climbed down the hill and went around the hill to the cliff side. Now this took a long long time. She realized that she better get all
of her things as she did not want to make that climb again. So she found her fish, her blanket, and her grandmothers memory stick and carried them back up the hill. By the time she got to the top she was very very tired so she ate her fish and lay down on the blanket to rest. She took her grandmothers memory stick in her hands and let her fingers find the little carvings on the stick.
She felt the animals and the little designs carved into the stick and she remembered her grandmothers stories as each animal and carving made her remember one of her grandmothers stories. Now her grandmothers stories were stories that taught one to be respectful, to share, to be good, to help others. She realized that this memory stick was very precious to her grandmother and was ashamed that she threw it down the cliff. She thought of each nanabooshoo story and laughed and laughed. They were funny stories and made her heart warm. When her father returned he found a girl who was laughing and singing. A very happy girl.
She hugged her father in greeting and smiled at him. He hugged her back and said this is the girl I came to take home with me. When they returned to the lodge the little girl told her grandmother of her day and told her brothers and sisters of her day and she
was very very happy. When her grandmother was leaving she called for the little girl and gave her the memory stick that she loved so. The little girl promised to keep and use it always. And then my grandmother would say that little girl was me and this is the memory stick my grandmother gave me.
Then she would smile and be very happy. Then she would start to tell us Nanabooshoo stories and she would make us all very happy and make us all laugh.
