Excerpt

Several days later a chill entered the air. Flakes of snow appeared, gently, softly. This was the advance guard. They were pursued by larger ones, legion in number, accompanied by wind. In little time the sky was filled with bands of snow dancers, lifted from here to there, blown about, rising high, settling on bare ground, where gradually they formed a base for their followers. Inside the lodge it was comfortable, warm from the glowing coals of fires. The wind whistled through the cracks in the walls, whispering mournfully. A few snowflakes entered and melted on our cheeks. The children captured them on blankets and marveled at their beauty. The shaman told the story of why the snowflakes had such symmetry.

In the beginning the Creator formed the heavens and the earth. On high he hung the sun and the moon, then because they looked lonely, he threw handfuls of sparkles into the sky forming the stars. Some of these attached themselves to the sky, but some fell through and descended to earth as snow. Each snowflake is unique but they share the symmetry the Creator imposed upon all creation. Notice you all have two arms and two legs, two eyes and two ears. A child responded,

But I have only one nose and one mouth.

Ah, but they are in the middle. That too is symmetry. Notice the snowflakes also have a middle where there is only one. The children hurried to examine their captured flakes before they melted.

Where do they go after they melt?

They join the sea and the rivers. Other stars are blown loose by winter winds and also fall to earth. But there are still many, many stars that remain in the sky.

Will they all fall someday?

If the Creator so wishes. But he can also throw more into the sky. That is why he is called the Creator.

The great wind that came to us must have blown away many stars?

No, that great wind was too low. Its mission was to sweep clean the earth. It takes winds that are very high in the sky to shake the stars from their places.

***

It was in the springtime, the moon of chwami gischuck The water was still cold from the long winter. Wind blew in force as if to sweep the land clean to prepare for the coming of new life. We were two lads also in the springtime of life. No adventure was daunting to us. All winter we had remained land bound as the ocean is ferocious during this season. Now we were impatient to test ourselves and each other. We rescued a dugout from its sandy nest and launched it on the waves. The surf was not great but that disguised a furious sea beneath. The surface was in great flux, it flowed in all directions at once, not like the streams and rivers of your land, which flow in one direction only. The waves also seemed to come from every direction. We rose and fell, bobbing and turning about, not at all in control of our destination. The spray wetted us from head to toe, cold and salty. It wasnt long before we realized we were being drawn out to sea. We were caught in a rip tide. People had been known to perish in this situation, lost to the sea, never to be seen again. This was a time when bravado learned a bit of wisdom. We were foolish and knew it; we would go to a watery grave a bit wiser than before. Then the miracle occurred. A great behemoth appeared at our side. It was like nothing I had ever seen. It was as long as our boat and had a single horn on its head, straight, with a curled pattern, longer than a man is tall. A blow hole on its back indicated this was of the family of giant sea creatures that were not fish but were akin to four-legged land animals. Legends had been told of this one, it was called mechweu. They say it sometimes came to the rescue of man. Indeed, that is what this savior did. Using its great bulk and strong sea-arms it pushed us toward the shore. When we entered the surf it dug its spear into the boat and further guided us to safety. This last effort of heroism caused the tip of its horn to break off in the wood. Here we have that spear which we have honored ever since. For some time afterwards our people gave back a portion of our catches to this friend from the deep. Finally it left us. It is said it lives in the great reaches of the icy seas of the north. For this one time the Great Spirit guided it here to rescue two foolish but now wiser young men.