A DANCE |
and a Dinner |
| Traditional Wendat Story as told by B.N.O. Walker A Wyandotte Ancestor |
| re-written by Yuseatah and edited by Oniena Onda in modern language. They are Tribal Members |
| OON laughed to himself thinking about FOX, and the trick he had played on him several days ago. He still hoped that BEAVER could resist telling OTTER, because BEAVER sure liked to watch OTTER fall laughing all over himself. COON would have stayed home and out of sight for awhile longer to let things cool off but Rah-shu(Moccasin) the village runner, came running up and announced the news about a Big Council being held. COON always liked to attend because he was a good singer and he wasnšt a bad speaker either. COON grinned and said to himself, "I bet FOX won't be there, so, maybe I can be the one to tell everyone how ol' FOX is using his tale to catch crawdads these days!" |
| So he got together his drum and things and walked up to The Council House. It was already crowded, but he didn't see FOX anywhere. Somebody asked: "Where is FOX and TURTLE, they always come?!" Well COON couldn't help himself and he had to tell everyone how he had tricked FOX into thinking he could catch crawdads by sticking his tail down into the cold water and the ice froze around it. They all laughed and had a good meeting. They stayed three or four days singing and talking about alot of things. Finally COON said, "Well it's time I go," he picked up his little drum and started back, traveling all day. Sometimes he talked and sometimes he sang to himself. |
| Just as the sun was about to settle behind the hill, he met TURTLE slowly walking home as well. "KWE, my friend! We missed you at the Big Council. We were looking for you all the time. We wanted to hear you make good talk." TURTLE turned to him,"Well,I was on my way there, when FOX's woman came up and was telling me FOX was all upset, like something was wrong with him. She wanted me to come pay him a visit. So I went thinking maybe hešs sick and I'll doctor him. But He is just irritated,and complaining that his tail is all sore." COON listened and just laughed a little, "Ol' FOX, he'll be alright in a few days! But I need to go on now and find something for supper." So off he went smiling to himself. |
| In a short time he came out of the bush in a clearing by a beautiful blue sparkling lake where close to shore, several geese were swimming. Nice fat ones too! "Yo-ho! my friends!", he called out. "I just came from a place where we all learned a new dance. Come on out of the water onto the sand and I'll teach it to you!" Those geese came out in a long string like white soldiers marching in line. COON took off his belt and took his little drum. "Well friends, this is what you do. Make a big ring, yes, yes, yes that's right. All around me and I'll sing and play the drum. When I come to a stop, you must all close your eyes and dance like this," and COON closed his eyes and slowly danced for them. "You must keep your eyes closed tight till I start to sing again. Everybody is dancing this way in the place I come from!" With that they all formed the ring and COON shut his eyes and started beating on the drum and singing: "Ho-he-yah,ho-ha...Ho-he-yah,ho-ha...!" When he stopped, all those geese just danced round slow and easy, with their eyes shut tight. Now COON reached out quick and grabbed a fat ol' she-goose and snapped her head off before she could squawk, then he threw it behind him real quick. Next, he sang again: "Ho-he-yah,ho-ha...Ho-he-yah,ho-ha...! and stopped. As the geese silently danced, he grabbed another fat one, quickly twisted his head off, and threw it behind him again. But after the third one, a little she-goose opened one eye just a crack to see if she was dancing better than the others. She screamed: "He is killing us!" and the geese instantly flew away in a big hurry! COON just laughed, picked up his three geese and drum. He briskly started off to his lodge, thinking he had a good supper now! When he got home he decided to build a fire and roast them in the coals, hmmmmm, his favorite! So he picked up lot's of sticks and built a great big bonfire. Meanwhile a way down the river FOX looked out his lodge and saw a big fire burning down by COON's place, "I wonder what that rascal is doing now and why he has such a big fire burning? Maybe I'll just slip out and around in the dark and see what he is up to." He told his nephew not to both bother making a fire in the lodge since he'd wouldn't be coming back till late. " Just go to sleep," he told him, and then he crept out into the night. COON let his fire burn down to a bed of nice hot coals and with a stick scraped them aside and lay all three geese down on their backs in a row. Then he covered them with the coals and ash packing it tightly, but leaving their feet sticking out like a row of new bean plants just coming up in the garden. COON sat there on that rocky hill listening while the melody of the wind playing in the tree limbs started making him sleepy. "I guess I could take a little nap, while supper is cooking," he thought and he looked up to the branches that were making all kinds of sounds. "Hey you noisy fellows !" he called out to them, "I'm going to take a little nap. Wake me up if anything comes to bother my supper!" The limbs replied, "Yes! we will wake you up if we hear anything." So COON curls up into his tail and falls asleep next to the warmth of the fire... |
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| The Wendat People are also known as: The Huron The Wyandottes The Wyandot |
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