“I am Wa-choo-bay,” cried the stranger again. “I am the son of
Sky-Walker. I am a man, and not a spirit. Give me meat, for I am
hungry.”
And they gave him meat, and he ate. Then only did the people know him
for a man.
In the days that followed, Wa-choo-bay told many strange things of the
white-faced race whose camp fires were kindled ever nearer and nearer
the people of the prairie. Also he said words that were not common
words. They were medicine-words.
And before many moons had grown and died these things travelled far and
wide across the prairie, until in many tribes the wonder grew. Around
many camp fires was told the tale of how an Omaha had come back after
being many years in the lands that lay toward the place of summer;
also of the devil-boat in which he came, and of the new wisdom he was
talking.
So there was a great moving of the tribes toward the village of the
Omahas. The Poncas, the Pawnees, the Osages, the Missouris, the
Otoes—all heard the strange tale and took the trail that led to the
village lying in the flat lands of Ne Shoda.
And in the time when the prairie was brown there was a great gathering
of the prairie peoples in the flat lands.
The cluster of villages that they made was so broad that a strong man
walked from morning until the sun was high before he reached the other
side. Then one morning when the tribes had gathered Wa-choo-bay went
to the top of a bluff that stood bleak against the sky, and the people
followed, sitting below him upon the hillside, for they wished to hear
the strange words that would be spoken that day.
Wa-choo-bay, standing thin and tall against the sky, raised his arms
and his face to the heavens, breathing strange words above the people,
upon whom a great hush fell.
And it happened that in the hush a tamed wolf among the people near
the summit of the bluff raised its snout and mourned into the sudden
stillness.
And its master beat it for the noise it made until it cried with pain.
Then a strange thing happened. Wa-choo-bay walked in among the gazers
and laid caressing hands upon the wolf, calling it by gentle names
until it licked his hands.
And when he returned to the summit, the wolf followed, licking the feet
of Wa-choo-bay as it went.
Then Wa-choo-bay raised his voice, and it went even to the farthest
listener, though it seemed a soft voice.
“This is the first I shall teach you: be kind to everything that lives.”
And the people wondered much. This was a new teaching.
In the hush of awe that fell, Wa-choo-bay spoke again, while the wolf
sat by him, licking his feet. He told of his being in the lands that
lay toward the summer; of the great white-faced race that lived there;
of the great villages that they built, having lodges bigger than half a
prairie village.
He told of the strength of this great white-faced race; of how they
were moving steadily toward the people of the prairie. And then he told
in quaint phrases the story of Christ and His teachings of kindness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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