Dove, continued
The founders of her people were said to come for those who escaped destruction of the raid and his people escaped slavery to find a new home on a far north island. That is why they speak a similar language, tell some of the same stories and worship the Great Spirit in the same way. Hayoqwis’s family was of the Owl clan and Uma-kwee’s family was of the Green Heron clan – a match of linage that was considered ideal for good fortune and producing prosperous children becasue the owl and the heron are the only birds that sing at night.
Nine days passed and the families who would spend the summer at the island were ready to depart the next morning for the all day canoe trip across the water. Uma-kwee’s packing and work was done when she realized that she hadn’t spoken to her pet worm since the excitement of the news that her father had accepted the pre-engagement gift from the Kaw-Seth braves. She found the jewelry box in the house and opened it to discover that the worm’s body had dried up in a leaf and was nothing but a rough shell. She looked at the remains and felt sorry for capturing the creature in the first place and neglecting him in the box.
“He was a good little pet,” she said to herself, “and I should have taken better care for him. Now he is gone. His guardian spirit will be displeased.”
She asked permission form her stepmother if she could go to the Sky Ladder Waterfall to say prayers about the coming test of Hayoqwis and her future marriage. But, really she wanted to take the body of the dead worm to bury him in the sands near the sacred pool at the base of the falls. It would be a way of saying goodbye to her childish ways, she thought.
“You may go to the falls to pray by yourself, but only if you return immediately. I will send your brothers after you if you are not back when the sun’s shadow is beyond the beach trees,” said Klee-wik.
Putting on her woman-moccasins and carrying the carved jewelry box, Uma-kwee set off up the trail along the river to the falls, singing the waterfall song that is the tradition for those on a quest to walk the sacred shores. She found her way to the log bridge across the stream that joins the river from the hills, and continued as normal deeper into the gorge, watching the hills on each side of the river draw nearer and steeper and the sound of the falls grow the closer that she approached. “I will bury him with some red dusty bark, the same way that I found him,” she thought.
When she arrived at the falls, she was again amazed by the beauty of the tumbling wall of water shrouded in mist that drifted across the base pool and occasionally into her path, cooling her face hot from exertion of the hike.
She didn’t have much time, so she prayed for forgiveness of her offensive deeds and asked that the Dove Spirit that comes from the heart of Wonderful Doer might make her into the child that he had intended when he weaved her in her mother’s womb. Then she dug a small hole in the sand with a stick, and put some red decayed bark from a stump in the forest into it and opened the box to take out the remains of the worm.
It was then that Uma-kwee saw something that changed her for the rest of her life. When she unfolded the leaf that held the worm, it had transformed into a brilliant blue butterfly, half as large as the palm of her hand. It spread spectacular wings, tipped with a row of black spots that looked like eyes. The wings glowed bluer than any sky or lake and beat slowly up and down in the sunlight. She took a startled breath and quickly knelt down to look closely. The winged creature showed more glorious than the most beautiful mother of pearl broach or any flower that she had ever seen. No ornament in any jewelry box could compare.
“Kee-Kee-a-Klika-Coo how wonderful you are,” she said in awe. Then a gust of wind from the falls blew across the sand where she knelt in amazement and, like a leaf caught by a breeze, the butterfly rose from his perch on the box. It fluttered around Uma-kwee three times as she spun not to lose sight, watching it rise up toward the sky above the rushing waters and rocky cliffs. The roar of the falls matched her joy. She watched in astonishment as the butterfly continued to rise until it disappeared behind a drifting cloud of mist.
She had cared for him as a worm and now made into a colorful being set free to travel the blowing winds of summer she loved him all the more. Her pet was not dead, but alive in a new and powerful form -- changed into a soaring beauty better than the most extravagant dreamer or artist could imagine.
It was then that she realized that if Wonderful Doer could lavish such beauty upon a lowly worm and grant him rebirth as the glorious jewell then he would never abandon his greater work of human beings at death.
Uma-kwee knew that day that all of her prayers were answered and that her deepest desires would would certainly be fulfilled. Never before had she felt closer to the power of the sky world and the love for Wonderful Doer dwelling in her heart. The worm passing from death to glory was a sign for her from the highest place that she also might be made new.
On that day, it was as if she had risen up high above the river along with the butterfly. Now she understood that the stories that she had been taught were true. Eagle Ghost does come to take those who die to the dawn's hunting grounds. Death is not a hole in the sand, but a door to the skies and her people would live forever.
When she returned home, she told her father everything, how she had collected the worm and made him a bed in her jewelry box and fed him moss and sage leaves, then one day found him dead, sought his burial at the sacred falls, and how she saw the worm transform into a blue butterfly that ascended into the heavens. Her father was greatly pleased and called the people together to make an announcement that night: “This sign given to us from above will be commemorated by my daughter’s new name. She is no longer Uma-kwee daughter of Se'akwal, but will now be called Uma-kwee Butterfly Woman.” And so she was called Butterfly Woman for the rest of her days.
Next chapter
Nine days passed and the families who would spend the summer at the island were ready to depart the next morning for the all day canoe trip across the water. Uma-kwee’s packing and work was done when she realized that she hadn’t spoken to her pet worm since the excitement of the news that her father had accepted the pre-engagement gift from the Kaw-Seth braves. She found the jewelry box in the house and opened it to discover that the worm’s body had dried up in a leaf and was nothing but a rough shell. She looked at the remains and felt sorry for capturing the creature in the first place and neglecting him in the box.
“He was a good little pet,” she said to herself, “and I should have taken better care for him. Now he is gone. His guardian spirit will be displeased.”
She asked permission form her stepmother if she could go to the Sky Ladder Waterfall to say prayers about the coming test of Hayoqwis and her future marriage. But, really she wanted to take the body of the dead worm to bury him in the sands near the sacred pool at the base of the falls. It would be a way of saying goodbye to her childish ways, she thought.
“You may go to the falls to pray by yourself, but only if you return immediately. I will send your brothers after you if you are not back when the sun’s shadow is beyond the beach trees,” said Klee-wik.
Putting on her woman-moccasins and carrying the carved jewelry box, Uma-kwee set off up the trail along the river to the falls, singing the waterfall song that is the tradition for those on a quest to walk the sacred shores. She found her way to the log bridge across the stream that joins the river from the hills, and continued as normal deeper into the gorge, watching the hills on each side of the river draw nearer and steeper and the sound of the falls grow the closer that she approached. “I will bury him with some red dusty bark, the same way that I found him,” she thought.
When she arrived at the falls, she was again amazed by the beauty of the tumbling wall of water shrouded in mist that drifted across the base pool and occasionally into her path, cooling her face hot from exertion of the hike.
She didn’t have much time, so she prayed for forgiveness of her offensive deeds and asked that the Dove Spirit that comes from the heart of Wonderful Doer might make her into the child that he had intended when he weaved her in her mother’s womb. Then she dug a small hole in the sand with a stick, and put some red decayed bark from a stump in the forest into it and opened the box to take out the remains of the worm.
It was then that Uma-kwee saw something that changed her for the rest of her life. When she unfolded the leaf that held the worm, it had transformed into a brilliant blue butterfly, half as large as the palm of her hand. It spread spectacular wings, tipped with a row of black spots that looked like eyes. The wings glowed bluer than any sky or lake and beat slowly up and down in the sunlight. She took a startled breath and quickly knelt down to look closely. The winged creature showed more glorious than the most beautiful mother of pearl broach or any flower that she had ever seen. No ornament in any jewelry box could compare.
“Kee-Kee-a-Klika-Coo how wonderful you are,” she said in awe. Then a gust of wind from the falls blew across the sand where she knelt in amazement and, like a leaf caught by a breeze, the butterfly rose from his perch on the box. It fluttered around Uma-kwee three times as she spun not to lose sight, watching it rise up toward the sky above the rushing waters and rocky cliffs. The roar of the falls matched her joy. She watched in astonishment as the butterfly continued to rise until it disappeared behind a drifting cloud of mist.
She had cared for him as a worm and now made into a colorful being set free to travel the blowing winds of summer she loved him all the more. Her pet was not dead, but alive in a new and powerful form -- changed into a soaring beauty better than the most extravagant dreamer or artist could imagine.
It was then that she realized that if Wonderful Doer could lavish such beauty upon a lowly worm and grant him rebirth as the glorious jewell then he would never abandon his greater work of human beings at death.
Uma-kwee knew that day that all of her prayers were answered and that her deepest desires would would certainly be fulfilled. Never before had she felt closer to the power of the sky world and the love for Wonderful Doer dwelling in her heart. The worm passing from death to glory was a sign for her from the highest place that she also might be made new.
On that day, it was as if she had risen up high above the river along with the butterfly. Now she understood that the stories that she had been taught were true. Eagle Ghost does come to take those who die to the dawn's hunting grounds. Death is not a hole in the sand, but a door to the skies and her people would live forever.
When she returned home, she told her father everything, how she had collected the worm and made him a bed in her jewelry box and fed him moss and sage leaves, then one day found him dead, sought his burial at the sacred falls, and how she saw the worm transform into a blue butterfly that ascended into the heavens. Her father was greatly pleased and called the people together to make an announcement that night: “This sign given to us from above will be commemorated by my daughter’s new name. She is no longer Uma-kwee daughter of Se'akwal, but will now be called Uma-kwee Butterfly Woman.” And so she was called Butterfly Woman for the rest of her days.
Next chapter
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