Treasury of American Indian TalesRessler, Theodore Whitson
General
Treasury of American Indian Tales
Ressler, Theodore Whitson
Indians of North America -- Folklore; Indians of North America -- Juvenile literature
The next morning after breakfast the party continued on its trek, this
time turning westward. Soon they came to a large lake and Tall Hawk
divided the party, requesting some of them to remain here and fish and
the others to continue on around the lake in search of game. Black Hawk
was among those chosen to stay and fish and he was very happy about it.
He saw that he was the only young brave allowed to stay with the fishing
party and he felt it was because he was such a good fisherman.
When the hunting party had finally gone out of sight, Red Hand, the
second in command, gathered the group and explained to them their
mission. This lake should have plenty of fish, and so they would spend
the next day and night here fishing and in the morning of the second day
return to their village, as they hoped, with a successful catch of fish
from the beautiful lake.
Red Hand led the way down the shore of the lake to where the last
fishing party had hidden the canoes. Then, asking the party to team up
in pairs, he slipped a pouch from his shoulder and gave out fishing
equipment to each brave. When each one had received his equipment, Red
Hand said, “We shall fish the lake for one day and we shall rest on
shore for one night. On the dawn of the second day the hunting party
will return and we shall all leave for our homes together. Let us pray
that the gods will smile favorably upon us this day and that our catch
will be a large one. Good luck to all of you, and may your lines be
heavy with fish when you return.”
With these words ringing in their ears the Indians rushed to the canoes
and pushed off into the quiet blue waters of this great lake. Black Hawk
had chosen as his partner an older brave of the tribe by the name of
Crooked Arrow. Perhaps it seemed strange that Black Hawk should choose
his partner because he was so young, but Crooked Arrow very rarely spoke
and many of the Indians of the tribe did not like him. Why they did not
like him, Black Hawk did not know. He did know that Crooked Arrow was
not very good-looking and that he was a little fatter than most of the
other men of the tribe. But, aside from that, Black Hawk could see no
reason for not liking him and so had asked him if he would be Black
Hawk’s partner in the fishing trip.
Crooked Arrow had shaken his head and without saying a word had followed
Black Hawk to the canoes and helped him lift one into the lake. The
other braves had laughed at Black Hawk when they saw him choose Crooked
Arrow as his partner, but Red Hand had motioned them to be quiet and
stop making fun of the boy.
When the instructions had been given out and the equipment distributed
among the braves, Black Hawk and Crooked Arrow stepped into their canoe
and pushed away from the shore. They dipped their paddles softly into
the lake and the canoe glided quietly across the waters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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