Turtle Got A Hard Back!!
by Ross
Long ago when there when turtles didn't have shells, there were animals named Grandmother Kiwani, a turtle; Grandfather Okini, a fox; Uncle Sharp Point, a porcupine; a father named Big Feather, a Native-American; Little Feather, a little boy; and the Lightning God, Okiniana.
They were busy working in their cave one day, when the Lightning
God came along and said, "Since I'm your god, you must give
me something that you own every sunrise I come"
And he stormed off sending lightning all over. He was upset because he thought that the animals should be happy to give their God something but they weren't.
The next day the animals had to run off to get the finest corn
they had for Okiniana. However, the Kiwani was left behind because
of her lack of speed. None of the other animals enjoyed being
around her because they all thought she was a misfit. Sometimes
the animals, especially Okini made her feel that way about herself.
By the time the animals were coming back Kiwani was just out of
the cave they lived in. She thought to herself, "why even
bother they wouldn't respect me like they should." She had
remembered this from the time her friends had come to visit but
they didn't know where the entrance was and wound up falling from
thin ground at the top of the cave (As she remembered this she
laughed). Her friends had once headed (scalped) their friend for
food. These friends were from the river up north. The father had
bragged a lot about being a brave warrior. His son hadn't interrupted
the whole time.
Big Feather had done the same for Little Feather. The boy had bragged about being a friend with a rich white boy who had come to their tribe just to learn more. They had told the animals about themselves and what Kiwani remembered the best was that they lived in longhouses and their tribe was the Mohawk out of the five nations and they lived mostly way up north. Then they all sat down and ate corn and maple sugar.
Then Kiwani remembered the most important and exciting part of
their visit.
It was the time when Okiniana had only requested one thing a week
instead of daily. They didn't give him anything that week because
they had to serve their friends. He had made a storm come then
reached up to the sky and took their piece of their sun they managed
to hold onto! He already had the rest of their sun.
And Okiniana had left
and went to his home on the other side of the country. The animals
decided they had to get their sun back or it would never stop
raining and that would ruin their crops.
The animals figured that they should just try to sneak there and
take their sun back.
First Okini tried, he almost didn't go because he was so scared of being caught by Okiniana, and what would happen to him if he did get caught. But in the end the animals told him it was O.K., and he left triumphantly but came empty handed two days later saying "He got burnt, then screamed, and was nearly caught."
Then it was Sharp Point's turn and he too came back empty handed
three days later. Saying "He got caught because the sun fell
off his back and burnt Okiniana."
By this time Kiwani was so eager to go she had almost fallen over
trying to get attention to go but instead they chose Big Feather
to go. He was so sure hey would make it he had nearly run off
without something to cover his hands so he grabbed a bunch of
leaves. He came back only one day later. He too was saying that
he was burnt by the sun but had gotten by Okiniana. But the leaves
burnt away and had hurt his hand so much that he dropped the sun
and ran to the nearest river. He then got lost and found his way
back.
The only animal left was Kiwani. Kiwani walked and walked it had
taken her seven nightfalls to get there and was almost caught
because of her lack of speed. She had finally managed to bite
off a piece and successfully put it on her back. Her back began
to burn but she was determined to prove to the others that she
could do it that she had hardly noticed until she had gotten to
the place where she could see the cave she was getting very tired
because she had been walking for so long and she was hurting so
much from the burn she just managed to cry "Little Featherrrrr!!!!"
Little Feather was talking to Big Feather when he thought he heard
something and ran outside to find that Kiwani had fainted. Little
Feather ran back to get the others they had managed to carry Kiwani
back to the cave. It took a long time for Kiwani to heal but when
she was feeling better she was respected like she thought she
should be.
And that is why all turtles up to now have shells!!!!