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 A
long, long time ago, there lived a warrior who was very unhappy in his
calling. He told the Chief that he was not happy to have been called as
a warrior, but the Chief explained that if he worked hard, doing what
was asked of him, his life would be wonderful.
The warrior however, would not fight his enemies with all his heart and,
sometimes, he even hid in the forest while the other warrios fought.
The warrior knew that the people did not respect him and, because of
this, he would never do anything to help anyone else.
The warrior lived many winters but he was very lonely and very unhappy.
Finally, there came the day when he must return to the Creator. The
people took his body to the side of the mountain and there laid it to
rest in the manner befitting a cowardly warrior, away from the mountain
top where the brave warriors were laid.
No eagle came to show his spirit the way to the upper world where the
Creator lived and so it took a long, long time for his spirit to find
its own way there.
When he finally arrived, the Creator was waiting for him and, saying not
a word, took the warrior on a tour of the beautiful land where he would
now live. As they were walking, the warrior noticed a humble wikiup and
asked the Creator why such a building would be here in this beautiful
place and, without waiting for answer, he asked if he could go inside
but the Creator said, "No", and continued on.
The warrior could not stop thinking about the little wikiup and again
asked the Creator if he could enter. Finally, after asking many times if
he could go inside, the Creator finally consented and, upon entering the
wikiup, the warrior saw many little cedar boxes tied with buckskin. He
asked, "What is in these boxes, Creator?"
The Creator said, "Everyone who lives in the lower world has a little
box. In it, are placed all the gifts a person does not use on their
journey through life." The warrior quickly began looking for his cedar
box and, when he found it, he pulled the buckskin tie off and looked
inside ... and he began to cry.
In the box were all the good things of the world that should have been
his ... the gift of many children, the gift of many grandchildren, the
gift of a big tipi, the gift of true friends, the gift of being a great
warrior, the gift of being a great leader. He, the warrior, should have
become the Grand Chief of all his people in the lower world but he had
given up his right to all these gifts because he had not lived up to his
responsibilities to his people.
The warrior cried. -- As we live our life here on Mother Earth, we must
walk in a good way, helping all people. Only then, will the Creator give
us all the wonderful things we deserve and then, when we walk in beauty
always and leave this lower world to meet the Creator once again, we
will find our little cedar box is empty.
Priscilla Yellowhead Tobey
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