Hello Everybody!
This is an old native American tale that we love, if you read it before try it again! I'm sure your new eyes will show you something different this time...enjoy!
Once there was a mouse. He was a busy mouse,
searching everywhere, touching his whiskers to the grass, and looking. He was
busy as all mice are, busy with mice things. But once in a while he would hear
an odd sound. He would lift his head, squinting hard to see, his whiskers
wiggling in the air, and he would wonder. One day he scurried up to a fellow
mouse and asked him, "Do you hear a roaring in your ears, my
brother?"
"No, no," answered the other mouse, not
lifting his busy nose from the ground. "I hear nothing. I am busy now.
Talk to me later."
He asked another mouse the same question and the
mouse looked at him strangely. "Are you foolish in your head? What
sound?" he asked and slipped into a Hole in a fallen cottonwood tree.
The little mouse shrugged his whiskers and busied
himself again, determined to forget the whole matter. But there was that
roaring again. It was faint, very faint, but it was there! One day, he decided
to investigate the sound just a little. Leaving the other busy mice, he
scurried a little way away and listened again. There it was! He was listening
hard when suddenly, someone said hello.
Hello little brother," the voice said, and
mouse almost jumped right out of his skin. He arched his back and tail and was
about to run.
"Hello," again said the voice. "It
is I, brother raccoon." And sure enough, It was! "What are you doing
here all by yourself, little brother?" asked the raccoon. The mouse
blushed, and put his nose almost to the ground. "I hear a roaring in my
ears and I am investigating it," he answered timidly.
"A roaring in your ears?" replied the
raccoon as he sat down with him. "What you hear, little brother is the
river."
"The river?" mouse asked curiously.
"What is a river?"
"Walk with me and I will show you the
river," raccoon said.
Little mouse was terribly afraid, but he was
determined to find out once and for all about the roaring. "I can return
to my work," he thought, "after this thing is settled, and possibly
this thing may aid me in all my busy examining and collecting. And my brothers
all said it was nothing. I will show them. I will ask raccoon to return with me
and I will have proof."
"All right raccoon, my brother," said
mouse. "Lead on to the river. I will walk with you."
Little mouse walked with raccoon. His little heart
was pounding in his breast. The raccoon was taking him upon strange paths and
little mouse smelled the scent of many things that had gone by his way. Many
times he became so frightened he almost turned back. Finally, they came to the
river! It was huge and breathtaking, deep and clear in places, and murky in
others. Little mouse was unable to see across it because it was so great. It
roared, sang, cried, and thundered on its course. Little mouse saw great and
little pieces of the world carried along on its surface.
"It is powerful!" little mouse said,
fumbling for words.
It is a great thing," answered the raccoon,
"But here, let me introduce you to a friend."
In a smoother, shallower place was a lily pad,
bright and green. Sitting upon it was a frog, almost as green as the pad it sat
on. The frog's white belly stood out clearly.
"Hello, little brother," said the frog.
"Welcome to the river."
"I must leave you now," cut in raccoon,
"but do not fear, little brother, for frog will care for you now."
And raccoon left, looking along the river bank for food that he might wash and
eat.
Little mouse approached the water and looked into
it. He saw a frightened mouse reflected there.
"Who are you?" little mouse asked the
reflection. "Are you not afraid of being that far out into the great
river?"
"No, answered the frog, "I am not
afraid. I have been given the gift from birth to live both above and within the
river. When winter man comes and freezes this medicine, I cannot be seen. But
all the while thunderbird flies, I am here. To visit me, One must come when the
world is green. I, my brother, am the keeper of the water."
Amazing!" little mouse said at last, again
fumbling for words."
Would you like to have some medicine power?"
frog asked."
"Medicine power? Me?" asked little
mouse. "Yes, yes! If it is possible."
"Then crouch as low as you can, and then
jump as high as you are able! You will have your medicine!" Frog said.
Little mouse did as he was Instructed. He
crouched as low as he could and jumped. And when he did, his eyes saw the
sacred mountains.
Little mouse could hardly believe his eyes. But
there they were! But then he fell back to Earth, and he landed in the river!
Little mouse became frightened and scrambled back
to the bank. He was wet and frightened nearly to death.
"You have tricked me," little mouse
screamed at the frog!"
"Wait," said the frog. "You are
not harmed. Do not let your fear and anger blind you. What did you see?"
"I," mouse stammered, "I saw the
sacred mountains!"
"And you have a new name!" frog said.
"It is Jumping Mouse."
"Thank you. Thank you," Jumping Mouse
said, and thanked him again. "I want to return to my people and tell them
of this thing that has happened to me."
"Go. Go then," frog said. "Return
to your people. It is easy to find them. Keep the sound of the medicine river
to the back of your Head. Go opposite to the sound and you will find your
brother mice."
Jumping Mouse returned to the world of the mice.
But he found disappointment. No one would listen to him. And because he was
wet, and had no way of explaining it because there had been no rain, many of
the other mice were afraid of him. They believed he had been spat from the
mouth of another animal that had tried to eat him. And they all knew that if he
had not been food for the one who wanted him, then he must also be poison for
them.
Jumping Mouse lived again among his people, but
he could not forget his vision of the sacred mountains.
The memory burned in the mind and heart of
Jumping Mouse, and one day he went to the edge of the place of mice and looked
out onto the prairie. He looked up for eagles. The sky was full of many spots,
each one an eagle. But he was determined to go to the sacred mountains. He
gathered all of his courage and ran just as fast as he could onto the prairie.
His little heart pounded with excitement and fear.
He Ran until he came to a stand of sage. He was
resting and trying to catch his breath when he saw an Old Mouse. The patch of
sage Old Mouse lived in was a haven for mice. Seeds and many things to be busy
with.
"Hello," said Old Mouse.
"Welcome."
Jumping Mouse was amazed. Such a place and such a
mouse. "You are truly a great mouse." Jumping Mouse said with all the
respect that he could find. "This is truly a wonderful place. And the
eagles cannot see you here, either," Jumping Mouse said.
"Yes," said Old Mouse," and one
can see all the beings of the prairie here: the buffalo, Antelope, Rabbit, and
Coyote. One can see them all from here and know their names."
"That is marvelous," Jumping Mouse
said. "Can you also see the river and the great mountains?"
"Yes and no," Old Mouse said with
conviction. "I know the great river, But I am afraid that the great
mountains are only a myth. Forget your passion to see them and stay here with
me. There is everything you want here, and it is a good place to be."
"How can he say such a thing?" Thought
Jumping Mouse. "The medicine of the sacred mountains is nothing one can
forget."
"Thank you very much for the meal you have
shared with me, Old Mouse, and also for sharing your great home," Jumping
Mouse said. "But I must seek the mountains."
"You are a foolish mouse to leave; there is
danger on the prairie! Just look up there!" Old Mouse said, with even more
conviction. "See all those spots! They are eagles, and they will catch
you!"
It was hard for Jumping Mouse to leave, but he
gathered his determination and ran hard again.
The ground was rough. But he arched his tail and
ran with all his might. He could feel the shadows of the spots upon his back as
he ran. All those spots! Finally he ran into a stand of chokecherries. Jumping
Mouse could hardly believe his eyes. It was cool there and very spacious. There
was water, cherries, and seeds to eat, grasses to gather for nests, holes to be
explored and many, many other busy things to do. And there were a great many
things to gather.
He was investigating his new domain when he heard
very heavy breathing. He quickly investigated the sound and discovered its
source. It was a great mound of hair with black horns. It was a great buffalo.
Jumping Mouse could hardly believe the greatness of the being he saw lying
there before him. He was so large that Jumping Mouse could have crawled into
one of his great horns. "Such a magnificent being," thought Jumping
Mouse, and he crept closer.
"Hello, my brother," said the buffalo.
"Thank you for visiting me."
"Hello Great Being," said Jumping
Mouse. "Why are you lying here?"
"I am sick and I am dying" the buffalo
said.
"And my medicine has told me that only the
eye of a mouse can heal me. But little brother, there is no such thing as a
mouse."
Jumping Mouse was shocked. "One of my
eyes!" he thought. "One of my tiny eyes." He scurried back into
the stand of chokecherries. But the breathing came harder and slower.
"He will die." Thought Jumping Mouse.
"If I do not give him my eye. He is too great a being to let die."
He went back to where the buffalo lay and spoke.
"I am a mouse." he said with a shaky voice. "And you, my
brother, are a Great Being. I cannot let you die. I have two eyes, so you may
have one of them."
The minute he said it, Jumping Mouse's eye flew
out of his head and the buffalo was made whole. The buffalo jumped to his feet,
shaking Jumping Mouse's whole world.
"Thank you, my little brother," said
the buffalo. "I know of your quest for the sacred mountains and of your
visit to the River. You have given me life so that I may give-away to the
people. I will be your brother forever. Run under my belly and I will take you
right to the foot of the sacred mountains, and you need not fear the spots. The
eagles cannot see you while you run under me. All they will see will be the
back of a buffalo. I am of the prairie and I will fall on you if I try to go up
the mountains."
Little mouse ran under the buffalo, secure and
hidden from the spots, but with only one eye it was frightening. The buffalo's
great hooves shook the whole world each time he took a step. Finally the came
to a place and buffalo stopped.
"This is where I must leave you, little
brother," said the buffalo.
"Thank you very much," said Jumping
Mouse. "But you know, it was very frightening running under you with only
one eye. I was constantly in fear of your great earth-shaking hooves."
"Your fear was for nothing," said
buffalo, "For my way of walking is the sun dance way, and I always know
where my hooves will fall. I now must return to the prairie, my brother, you
can always find me there."
Jumping Mouse immediately began to investigate
his new surroundings. There were even more things here than in the other
places, busier things, and abundance of seeds and other things mice like. In
his investigation of these things, suddenly he ran upon a gray wolf who was
sitting there doing absolutely nothing.
"Hello, brother wolf," Jumping Mouse
said.
The wolf's ears came alert and his eyes shone.
"wolf! wolf! yes, that is what I am, I am a wolf!" But then his mind
dimmed again and it was not long before he sat quietly again, completely
without memory as to who he was. Each time Jumping Mouse reminded him who he
was, he became excited with the news, but soon would forget again.
"Such a great being," thought Jumping
Mouse, "but he has no memory."
Jumping Mouse went to the center of his new place
and was quiet. He listened for a very long time to the beating of his heart.
Then suddenly he made up his mind. He scurried back to where the wolf sat and
he spoke.
"Brother Wolf," Jumping Mouse said.
....
"wolf! wolf," said the wolf ....
"Please brother wolf," said Jumping
Mouse, "Please listen to me. I know what will heal you. It is one of my
eyes. And I want to give it to you. You are a greater being than I. I am only a
mouse. Please take it."
When Jumping Mouse stopped speaking his eye flew
out of his head and the wolf was made whole.
Tears fell down the cheeks of the wolf, but his
little brother could not see them, for now he was blind.
"You are a great brother," said the
wolf, "For now I have my memory. But now you are blind. I am the guide
into the sacred mountains. I will take you there. There is a great medicine
lake there. The most beautiful lake in the world. All the world is reflected
there. The people, the lodges of the people, and all the beings of the prairies
and skies."
"Please take me there," Jumping Mouse
said. The wolf guided him through the pines to the medicine lake. Jumping Mouse
drank the water from the lake. The wolf described the beauty to him.
I must leave you here," said wolf, "For
I must return so that I may guide others, but I will remain with you as long as
you like."
Thank you, my brother," said Jumping Mouse.
"But although I am frightened to be alone, I know you must go so that you
may show others the way to this place."
Jumping Mouse sat there trembling in fear. It was
no use running, for he was blind, but he knew an eagle would find him here. He
felt a shadow on his back and heard the sound that eagles make. He braced
himself for the shock. And the eagle Hit! Jumping Mouse went to sleep.
Then he woke up. The surprise of being alive was
great, but now he could see!
Everything was blurry, but the colors were
beautiful.
"I can see! I can see!" said Jumping
Mouse over again and again.
A blurry shape came toward Jumping Mouse. Jumping
Mouse squinted hard but the shape remained a blur.
"Hello, brother," a voice said.
"Do you want some medicine?"
"Some medicine for me?" asked Jumping
Mouse. "Yes! Yes!"
"Then crouch down as low as you can,"
the voice said, "and jump as high as you can."
Jumping Mouse did as he was instructed. He
crouched as low as he could and jumped! The wind caught him and carried him
higher."
"Do not be afraid," the voice called to
him. "Hang on to the wind and trust!"
Jumping Mouse did. He closed his eyes and hung on
to the wind and it carried higher and higher. Jumping Mouse opened his eyes and
they were clear, and the higher he went the clearer they became. Jumping Mouse
saw his old friend upon a lily pad on the beautiful medicine lake. It was the
Frog.
"You have a new name," called the frog.
"You are Eagle!"
(The End, or perhaps a new beginning)
