Week 10 Storytelling: The Brave Old Man's Gift

The Brave Old Man’s Gift: from the Original Old Quanah's Gift

There once was a village very far north that stayed cold 10 months out of the year.  With snow covering the ground and ice all around them, the people in the village were at a high demand for coats and other things ways to stay warm.   You see, in this village, it was much like any other village where the women stayed home and cleaned and made the clothes while the men were out defending the land and fighting for new lands. 

All the men were great fighters because they grew up hunting and were surrounded by strong, brave men throughout their entire life.  The strongest and the bravest of them all was a man named Henry.  Henry, more than anything, wanted to give his whole life back to the village and he would work harder than any other fighter out there because he was so passionate about keeping the people in the village safe and making the village a better place to live. 

It was a dark and dreary day and other tribes came to invade the village.  Henry was the first to respond and like always, he fought harder than anyone.  With a great fight, comes great risk.  Henry was shot by a poisonous bow and arrow in the leg and all went down.  Many tried to help him but nothing could save his leg.  He could no longer fight and do what he had always done best.

Henry was desolate that he could no longer fight and he still wanted to help out the village, so Henry began making coats to keep the people in the village warm.   It is not like Henry to just made plain and regular coats, he wanted to make something that would portray how he felt about the village and the people.  So, he set out to find the most beautiful colors from herbs, plants, and berries that he possible could to dye the threads that he made into the coats.  Each and every coat was full of the most beautiful colors and patterns. 

He found yellow plants to reveal the beauty of the sun and blue berries to show the magnificent waters that surround the village.  He put so much time and effort into every single jacket he made because he truly believed the people in his village deserved the very best. 

After making hundreds of coats, Henry became very sick.  He was working on one last coat that was more majestic and stunning than any other coat.  He worked on that coat for longer than any other coat and he explain to the people that he wanted that coat to go to the person in the tribe that is the most worthy.  Upon finishing the coat, Henry laid there on the ground, still and cold.  He has passed away but it was the duty of the chief of the village to figure out who this coat was going to be presented to. 

After hour of contemplation and fighting within the village, it dawned on the people in the village that the person most worthy is the person that took so much pride in the village and showed so much passion for the people.  There was no other person that showed those characteristics than Henry himself.  They put the magnificent coat on Henry as they buried him in the ground.  It was bitter sweet because no one could make as beautiful of coats as he, but now he can die with the legend.  

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Author's Note:

This was one of my favorite stories that I have read this week.  I took the original story and just changed what he made and a few of the characters.  I focused on his pride and passion for the village and when he could no longer fight, he began to make coats.  In the original story, he began making the most beautiful blankets for the village.  It ended very similar to the original story, too, where the village people saw him as the most worthy person to have the beautiful masterpiece that the main character worked on for so long.

Reading Diary B: Tejas Legends

Native American Unit: Tejas Legends

Why Hummingbirds Drink Only Dew

·      Hummingbirds only drink dew, not water. Why?

·      Hummingbird and blue heron owned a lake together

·      Big lake and hummingbird hovered over cool water

·      Habit of gambling

·      Bet on who could get to the other side faster

·      It got dark and the hummingbird couldn’t fly at night

·      Hummingbirds had to stop but the blue heron could fly through the night

·      Since the hummingbird lost the race, he could never drink from the lake or any other lake or river ever again

·      That’s why he can only drink the dew

The Maiden Who Loved a Star

·      Indian girl that wen into the desert to find a purple ripe prickly pear

·      Set off for home at night and watched the stars

·      Bright stars and thought one was winking at her

·      Home of handsome sky dweller?

·      She did it again and the sky winking at her again so she knew

·      She visited him for seven days

·      She couldn’t visit him, he couldn’t visit her

·      Full of love but sad because she couldn’t be with her love

·      She wanted to die so she cold live with her love in the sky

·      Visited an old witch woman in her tribe

·      Wouldn’t give her a way to die because she said life was too great

·      Changed her into a form that would allow her to live in the desert under her love

·      Old witch turned her into a tree

·      The star in the sky fell out of the sky and turned into blossoms on the tree

·      Now they can be together

·      This is how this bush, the purple sage, came to the desert

Old Quanah’s Gift

·      Love of blankets with beauty and color with form

·      Quanah was a brave warrior that took pride in bow and arrow

·      Stayed at home with the women in the tribe because he got hit by a poison arrow

·      Hurt him to not do anything

·      Began to make blankets

·      Searched for different things to make as dyes

·      Each one was different

·      Others came to try to imitate his blanket making

·      No one could compare to his blankets

·      Famous blankets with magic touch

·      Worked on one blanket for years and years

·      Wouldn’t tell anyone what it was or who it was going to until it was done

·      He began to die but he finished the blanket

·      Everyone was sad because there would never be another blanket maker like him

·      Blanket is done. For the most worthy in the tribe.  Man who has done most for the people. Children will see he importance of being a good member

·      Couldn’t agree on one person

·      The chief made it clear that Quanah himself should have the blanket

·      Buried in the ground with him

·      Gave a new flower to the world

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