Black Heart And The Quest For The Cure

BY: Lauren S.

Once many moons ago, there lived a family of five children. The oldest, Nanabusho, a girl of fourteen, twin brothers, Black Heart and Strong Bear,were eleven and the youngest two, a boy and a girl. The boy was eight and the girl was five.

         The family lived in a small village. Their grandfather was the chief. He was old and wise. He could hear a feather fall to the ground, he could see as far as the eye could see, he could smell sweet flowers in a valley far away, and he could taste the crisp, fresh air of the winters cold. But, one day the chief took ill and the twin brothers Strong Bear and Black Heart had to go see the medicine man,called Segasa, and find medicine to make their grandfather well again. They were to leave the next morning. Strong Bear and Black Heart’s mother was worried because this was their first time away from the village. Their father assured her that they would be fine and that she should be proud of her brave boys. It was morning and the boys were ready to go. Their mother said good-bye and they were off. They traveled for many moons and finally came to a small tipi. They were a little nervous. They called out to Segasa and he told them to come in. It smelt musty and felt dry. Segasa said, “How may I help you?” They told him about their grandfather. Segasa didn’t speak, he only nodded and then gave then tobacco powder in a leather pouch. “Take this powder to the Great Spirit, Hinu and offer it to him, in return he will give you the medicine you need.” They nodded and left. As they were walking to find Hinu, they bumped into Sharp Tooth, a coyote, and Sneaky Sly, a fox. “What yah got in that pouch?” they asked. “Nothing important” the sons replied. Sneaky Sly and Sharp Tooth didn’t believe them; therefore they snatched the pouch and ran. “We’ll never catch-up to them! “Strong Bear whinned “I’m not so sure about that”, answered Black Heart. He had a plan. And he told it to Strong Bear…“Okay, let’s give this plan a try.” said Strong Bear. And they were off. You see Black Heart knew a shortcut to where Sharp Tooth and Sneaky Sly were headed. They took the short cut and dug a big hole at the end of the path and covered it with leaves and twigs. “If this doesn’t work we should have another plan “Strong Bear suggested. “That’s a good idea.” Black Heart said with a grin. “And I know exactly the plan.” After telling Strong Bear the second plan they got to work setting it up. Then they waited. (Not for long though, about four minutes later Sharp Tooth and Sneaky Sly came by). Sweat was running down Strong Bear’s forehead. He was nervous. The first plan worked and the twins were so happy that they totally forgot about the second plan. The brothers ran to meet Hinu and as they were running they got caught in the net that they had set-up just awhile before. “Oh no! We’re going to be stuck in here until who knows when!” Black Heart cried. “We’ll find a way out of here I know it.” Strong Bear said confidently. They asked Sneaky Sly and Sharp Tooth to let them out but then remembered that they were stuck too!

A long while later they saw an old hag walking down the path. “Old hag old hag!” the twins cried. “You must let us out of this net!” they went on. “What will I get in return?” she asked. Black Heart and Strong Bear thought for a second then came to an agreement. They were to give her the necklace that Strong Bear was wearing. It was a special necklace because it used to belong to their father. It contained a coyote’s tooth and an eagle’s head feathers. “Father will be disappointed in me!” Strong Bear complained. “He will not be disappointed; he will be proud to know that he has such smart sons and will soon forget about the necklace.” Black Heart smiled. “I hope you’re right.” Strong Bear replied. After the old hag let them out of the net, they started walking to go meet the Great Spirit, Hinu, but soon after the old hag was running after them and so they stopped. “What do you want?” they said “I wanted to know if you could do one more thing for me, can you pick me an apple from the tree of youth and beauty? For I cannot reach its high branches.” she said. The tree of youth and great beauty was in the opposite direction and Black Heart thought there was no time to backtrack just to pick an apple. Strong Bear on the other hand thought there was always enough time to do a favor for an old hag. “Our grandfather, the chief is more important than an old hag!” Black Heart argued. “If he does not get his medicine in time he could die!” he went on. “I think he’ll be okay if we take maybe one day longer.” Strong Bear yelled so the brothers went their own ways and didn’t look back. Finally, after four sunsets Black Heart came to a large willow tree, near a small creek. This was the home of Hinu. Black Heart offered him the tobacco powder and Hinu gave him the medicine he needed.

          Black heart thought that when he returned to the village that Strong Bear and his family would be waiting there for him but when he returned his family ran up to him, hugged him and asked him where is brother was. His reply was, “You mean he’s not already home?” His mother’s face suddenly turned deathly pale. After Black Heart told them what had happened Black Heart gave them the medicine and his father and himself set out to find Strong Bear. Later that day when Black Heart and his father were looking for Strong Bear, they saw a deer grazing on grass. The boy’s father said that it was Black Hearts turn to use the bow and arrows. BlackHheart took the bow and arrows, his hands were shaking. He pulled back the bow and shot…it hit the deer on the back. “I am proud of you son, you are growing into a fine young man. As for your brother, I think he could make some better decisions. After a day of looking for Strong Bear the father began to worry a little. “We must go see wise beaver; he will help us find Strong Bear.” Said the father. Finally they reached a small river with a rather large beaver dam built on it. This was where the wise beaver lived. The father called out to the beaver. The beaver came out of the dam and looked around for a second. Once he saw Black Heart and his father, he said “What can I do for you?” They replied, “We can’t find Strong Bear, he went with an old hag to the tree of youth and beauty, she couldn’t reach the branches and asked Strong Bear to pick one of the apples for her.” “Strong Bear is missing, how and where can we find him?’ The beaver thought for a moment, and then he said, “Have you checked the tree of youth and beauty?” “Yes, that was the first place we looked.” The two of them answer. “Hmm…walk east until you meet the eastern river. Then walk north along the river. You will then come to a small shack. This is the house of the old hag. Go inside the house and search it. Strong Bear is inside the house.” advised the beaver. The father and son thanked the wise beaver and did as they were told. They went east until they met the eastern river, then traveled north until the reached the shack. They went inside and started searching for Strong Bear. They found Strong Bear under a trap door. The hag was yelling at them to get out but they didn’t. Finally the hag was filled with so much rage that she transformed into an eagle and started pecking at their heads. They started screaming with pain and ran out of the house. Now that they were all together they started walking home. When they did arrive home, the mother hugged them and then looked at Strong Bear with that “I am very disappointed in you” looks. “Where’s Nanabusho?” Black Heart asked. “She’s playing with some animal she found in the storage longhouse.” The little boy said. “Where’s the other little one?” Strong Bear said. She’s with Nanabusho” the little boy continued. When the boys were looking for Nanabusho and her little sister in the storage longhouse, the little boy knocked over a bucket of ashes from the fire they had had the night before and it landed on the animal Nanabusho was playing with. It landed on both sides of it but not on one stripe down the middle. And that’s why skunks have one white stripe down their back.

The End