|
|||
|
Back to Wesoomi's Archives The Legend of Wesoomi: Twenty One: Ancestral Home: July 22, 2002: It was a sweet spring morning when Spirit Guide stood upon a rise overlooking the village of the Husbandmen. There was a powerful feeling within his heart. It felt as though the village was pulling him forward. He recalled the words of his mother. "As you journey to learn and teach, you will come upon a village. There you will tarry. The memory of the place is in the spirit of your ancestry. You will know it." Then Spirit Guide knew he had come home. This, he knew, was the village of his mother's people. These people were his people. Spirit Guide began walking toward the village. There was an urgency in his step and the tripping of his heart agreed with it. He had need to know these people of his mother's home. As he approached the village, a young man came out to greet him. "A greeting to you traveler. Welcome to my village. I be Eagle Eye." "Thank you Eagle Eye. I be Spirit Guide." The young man's eyes grew large with his surprise. "Be you truly the Spirit Guide of the songs and tales. Be you of the Quiet Folk?" "I be of the Quiet Folk," laughed Spirit Guide. "I know not of the songs and tales." "We know of them," exclaimed Eagle Eye. "It is told that you be the Chief of The Nation of People." "I have so heard," agreed Spirit Guide, "but I have not been so charged by the Great Spirit." "Then, what be you?" "I be as my name be, a guide of the people's spirit. So the Great Spirit has charged me." "You come to guide and teach?" "And to learn," smiled Spirit Guide. "I have much to learn, err I have much to teach." "You are indeed a humble one," marveled Eagle Eye. "As befits a servant of the Great Spirit." "Indeed! As befits all of us," agreed Eagle Eye. "Come, let me take you to our elder, Quiet Stalker. He will be joyed to see you." Spirit Guide went with the young man to the lodge of Quiet Stalker who sat on his log in the spring Sun. With him sat another man of many summers. "Oh noble elders," said Eagle Eye, "this be Spirit Guide of the songs and tales." Both men looked to Spirit Guide with pleased surprise. "Good morn, honored Elders," offered Spirit Guide. Good morn, to you, Spirit Guide," said one. "I be Quiet Stalker. This be our healer, Soft Hand. Please join us." "Thank you," said Spirit Guide. He sat before them on another log. Then began a long morning's talk. The elders had many questions of Spirit Guide. He in turn had great need to know of these Husbandmen who he knew to be his kin. First, Spirit Guide told of his life with the Quiet Folk and of his growing. He told of Grey. He told of the Tree of Life and of the Shrine of The Golden Earth Mother. He told, as Gentlehand had explained it to him, of the miracle of his mother's entry into the domain of the Great Spirit. "My mother also told me that I would find this village," he said. "It be in the spirit of my ancestry. This be my mother's home. She was taken from here by the Bandar many summers past. This I so believe. You be my kin." The elders showed their surprise at the words of Spirit Guide. "I so believe," agreed Quiet Stalker. "Many summers ago, my sister was taken by the Bandar. Many young maidens were taken by the Bandar in those evil days." "Aye," said Spirit Guide sadly. "The tales of the Bandar's evil acts, are known through the land. Many are prey for them. My mother who became The Golden Earth Mother was but one." "Mayhap she was my sister in our early days," mussed Quiet Stalker. "Mayhap you be my kin, Spirit Guide. I would be please to have such kin." "Indeed. As would I," agreed Spirit Guide. "Now, err the Great Spirit shows me else, I will believe it." "Will you tarry with us then." "Aye, Elder. I will tarry until the Great Spirit charges me otherwise." Soft Hand looked sharply at Spirit Guide. "Will you then become the healer of this village?" he demanded. "Will you take my duties?" "Nay, Elder," assured Spirit Guide. "I come to learn and teach of the Great Spirit. I am no healer." "The songs and tales tell of your great powers," insisted Soft Hand. "I have no great powers," smiled Spirit Guide. "All power resides with the Great Spirit." "Well spoke," remarked Quiet Stalker. "Indeed, we must praise the Great spirit for all of his gifts. We must needs praise him for healing us of our illnesses and even our envy." He smiled toward Soft Hand who looked ill at ease. "Come, let us have trust," smiled Quiet Stalker. "Let us trust the Great Spirit." "That be my way and my plan," agreed Spirit Guide. "It be a good way," agreed Soft Hand cautiously. "Then let us have our brothers build a lodge for Spirit Guide," said Quiet Stalker. "Until then it would please me to share my lodge with you, Spirit Guide." "Thank you, Elder" And so it came to pass that a lodge was built for Spirit Guide and he resided in the village of the Husbandmen. He was accepted as a kin of the elder, Quiet Stalker. As always, Spirit Guide did his part. He had grown accustom to the gardens with the Quiet Folk. He worked well in the fields of the Husbandmen. The seeds were sown and the tiny plants came forth as spring turned into summer. All looked well, but little rain came and the Husbandmen were troubled. They gathered for ceremonies each day. They praised and entreated the Great Spirit all to no avail. The tiny plants began to wither in the relentless sun. Concern became fear amongst the Husbandmen. They knew a poor harvest would mean a difficult winter. Spirit Guide sat with the elders of an evening to ponder their plight. "The Great Spirit turns away from us," said Quiet Stalker. "It seems so," agreed Spirit Guide. "Yet, we must needs keep our trust." "Aye," agreed Quiet Stalker. "We have nought else but trust." He looked to Spirit Guide. "Be there aught else that we have not done?" "I know of aught else, Elder." "Then why be you here?" demanded Soft Hand with anger. "By you not the chosen one of the Great Spirit? Perhaps you be why the Great Spirit turns his face away from us? This evil comes to us in the season of your arrival." "Enough," snapped Quiet Stalker. "Invoke not the wrath of the Great Spirit. This be Spirit Guide." "If he be Spirit Guide, let him show it," whispered Soft Hand with narrowed eyes. "Reach out to the Great Spirit and fetch his favor, Spirit Guide. Bring rain for our crops." Enough, I said!" roared Quiet Stalker. "You offend me with your cub talk. You offend the Great Spirit. Enough!" He looked sternly at Soft Hand, then sadly at Spirit Guide. "Let us delay our talk for a while," he continued gently. "Let us pause to restore the love in our hearts. Now, it is time for our evening praise and entreat to the Great Spirit" Thus, the went to the ceremony, each with his own thoughts. Spirit Guide was deeply troubled by the words of Soft hand. Could he really be the cause of this evil which befell the Husbandmen? After the ceremony, he retired to his lodge to entreat the Great Spirit and his mother for guidance. Long into the night he lifted his face upward in appeal. He finally fell into a fitful dreaming sleep. In his dream, the Golden Earth Mother came to him. She stood before him in golden radiance. "You have come," he said. "I have come, as always, to aid you back unto your path." "Have I failed you mother?" "Nay, you fail me not. You fail yourself. You have lost your trust." "Indeed, I feel beset by doubt. I am charged with causing evil." "Do you cause evil, Spirit Guide? What know you of your own heart?" "I cause no evil that I know." "What be evil, Spirit Guide?" "The tiny plants in the field shrivel beneath the sun." "Be that evil?" "I know not, Mother. Indeed, I know not." "Then harken well to my words and forget not, Spirit Guide, for you once knew these things." "I am shamed, Mother. I am indeed lost in my own error." "It is enough. Harken now. Evil be what men do. Evil be as the Bandar do. The seasons and even the rains are of the Great Spirit. They ever change. They be not evil or good. The Great Spirit be beyond all evil and good. The Great Spirit be what he be. It be not your place, nor even my place to doubt the design of the Great Spirit. "Always trust the Great Spirit and do as he bids. When you know not what to do, open your heart. The Great Spirit will always guide you. Never have doubt of yourself or of the tasks given you. Never doubt the great Spirit. You cannot cause evil. Just as was I, you be the chosen tool of the Great Spirit. Never forget these things again." "Thank you, Mother. I will ever remember." "It is enough." "What of the Husbandmen, Mother? Will the harvest fail?" "You must prevent that." "What must I do?" "In the morn, you must go into the fields. You must lift your face upward and entreat the Great Spirit to bring the rain. This will be the first of the Great Spirit's miracles through you. He will make the rain to fall upon you so long as you remain in the field. You must remain until you can no longer stand. This will make you ill of body." "I will do as you say, Mother." "Will you not ask about your illness," she queried. "I need not ask," replied Spirit Guide. "The Great Spirit will provide." The Golden Earth Mother smiled her pleasure. "Now, you understand," she said. "What else need you?" "But one thing more, if it please you." "What thing, Spirit Guide?" "Quiet Stalker, be he my kin." "Quiet Stalker be my blood brother." "It is as I believed then. I had the sense of it when first I saw him. Thank you, Mother." "I go now." With her words, her image began to fade. In a moment she was gone and Spirit Guide fell into a deep and peaceful sleep. Back to Wesoomi's Archives
|