The
Story of the Wisemen Retold
As
told by the old ones
By
Helen Leschied
One
day early in the Moon of the Goose, the dogs in the village
of the great and powerful chief began to bark fiercely
and pull on their chains. The great noise brought people
rushing from their tents to find the cause. They were
surprised to see approaching a large team of pure white
dogs so different from their own. The team came out of
the East and bore quickly down on them. The three strange
men, all so different, arriving with the team required
an interpreter before they could state their business.
Now
there lived in that village an old, old man who had traveled
as a young man far to the northeast in search of furs.
It was a winter of deep snows and the hunt had been very
poor. He kept traveling in an easterly direction to the
land of the little sticks looking for caribou.
There,
exhausted, starving and far from home, a hunter with a
strange language had found him and taken him to his home
of ice and snow.
As
the days grew longer, he grew stronger but by then it
was impossible to find his way back over the melting muskeg.
He had stayed for one full year with the people of the
North and East. During that time he had learned to talk
their tongue.
So
now he was called to the Great Chief's council fire. For
a long time they sat in silence and then the stranger
spoke. The old man told his words.
“We
have come to find the great new chief who was just born.
Where should we look for him? The bright new star we saw
some time ago in the Eastern sky has led us to your village
and we have come to worship him.”
The
old and powerful chief was very surprised to hear this
news from the lips of strangers. Nor was he happy.
Quickly
he called to the council fires the wise men in his great
village who could read the writings of the prophets to
see if such a happening had ever been foretold. Then they
told what the writings said.
Word
was passed to the strangers to look in the village called
David and when the child was found to return and tell
about it.
They
left as quickly as they'd come and hurried on their way.
The star guided them again and shone deep into the forest
at midnight. At last it brought them to the tent where
Joe and Mary and the little child lived.
The
village folks were anxious to see the strangers and as
many as possible crowded into the tent. For many days
the happenings were told and retold around the evening
fires.
As
winter trappers returned from their camps, they wondered
much as they heard about the three strange chiefs who'd
visited Joe's tent. They thought about the great Inuit
elder who came from the North and East and brought a pure
white pelt of arctic fox. It was a costly gift and Joe
had later sold it for a great sum of money.
They
wondered too about the woven basket brought by the Micmac
chief. Some said it meant the child would have a useful
life on earth that would please Creator above.
The
third and final gift was the most puzzling of all. It
came from the chief of the Mohawk nation who had traveled
from far to the South and East. He'd laid before the child
a small bundle wrapped in a pure white cloth. Carefully
Mary unwrapped it and showed everyone the beautifully
carved wooden box. Inside the box, she found some small
dried flowers, red in color and very shiny. He called
them bittersweet. It was some days later long after the
chiefs had left that Mary reached into the chest. As she
did, she gave a cry of pain for hidden in the flowers
was a long, sharp thorn. The wisest in the village said
the child would suffer much and die before his time.
The
talk continued but the child grew strong and wise. He
was the joy of his mother's heart.
Child
is in danger
Meanwhile,
back in the other village, dark thoughts were forming
in the old chief's heart. For two moons now he'd waited
for the strangers to return but day-by-day he grew more
angry as he realized he'd been tricked. He had no way
of knowing that the Creator had talked to the visitors
in a dream and told them to return to their people by
a different way. They had obeyed the voice of the Great
Spirit and were long since among their own people again.
Finally,
the angry old chief could wait no longer. He formed a
plan. He called together the cruelest of the young men
in his tribe and gave them orders. They slipped away in
the darkness of that forest night and paddled toward the
village of David . It was a dark, dark night. Even the
moon itself hid its face behind thick clouds and refused
to look at the work they planned.
Creator
comes in a dream
Joe
and Mary laid out their bed rolls as usual and soon were
fast asleep. But not for long. Once again the messenger
of the Great Spirit came in a dream to talk with the sleeping
man.
“Hurry!”
he said, 'take Mary and the child and go south as fast
as possible to the land of the "Big Knife People."
Stay there until I tell you to return. The old chief plans
to kill the child."
Joe
woke up with fear in his heart. Softly he spoke to Mary.
"We
must leave at once," he said. "Get together
what we need. The night is dark. We can leave and no one
will know when we go or where."
Together
they packed their things and carried them to a canoe Joe
had just finished making. Then Mary wrapped the sleeping
child in a warm, gray blanket and held him close.
Silently,
they pushed the canoe into the water and were soon gone
in the darkness of the night. A wolf howled in the distance
and Mary shivered.
The
first red streaks of the morning sun were reaching into
the sky. A group of men, armed with bows and arrows, stepped
from their canoes and moved quickly into the village of
David .
It
didn't take too long. And when they left, the wails of
many mothers could be heard deep into the forest and far
along the shore. Holding in her arms the lifeless body
of her little one, each mother wept in grief for not a
child remained alive who was two years old or younger.
Unable
to find comfort for so great a loss, a village clothed
in black, grew hatred in its heart toward Mary and Joe
and the Creator Himself. No one could understand or even
wanted to.
After
many winters in the land of the "Big Knife People,"
the angel came to Joe in another dream. This time he brought
good news.
"The
old chief now lives in the house of spirits and it is
safe to return to your own country."
They
went as the angel said but when they heard that the old
chief's son had taken his father's place again Joe was
afraid.
One
more time Joe dreamed and heard the voice of Creator telling
him to return to his own village far to the North.
There
the child became a boy and the boy became a man and later
on He gave His life that all men everywhere might be able
to find the way to truth and walk in love and holiness.
Adapted
from a story originally published in Indian Life ,
December 1995.
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