How Snow Came to Be

By: Jesse

            Long ago, before clouds sailed the sky, there was a problem throughout a village.

Ikuta, one of the toughest and bravest warriors in all of the land, was disturbed with a noise that sounded like the people complaining about a problem. The problem was so bad that the whole village was involved.  So Ikuta came out of his tipi to see what the problem was.  Now everyone was listening to the old Wiseman who was chief of the tribe.  Chief Wise Bear was also a great warrior at one time.  Ikuta listened; he was shocked in surprise with what he heard.  He thought he heard Chief Wise Bear say that there was going to be a new chief and to decide, there would be a contest.  Ikuta has been waiting for a challenge for a long time.  But the problem was that Chief Wise Bear was dying and the people didn’t know how long he would stay alive.  There was not enough water and it was very hot, that is why the chief was dying.  He was old and didn’t have much strength, but the younger people had more strength than him.  They needed something to cool them down and at the same time give water.  But what, that was the question? The contest was to see who could get to the Great Wind Spirit first and get the Spirit to help them with their problems. Ikuta had to get ready for the journey so he packed some meat for the long adventure.  When Ikuta came out of his tipi, Chief Wise Bear took a look at him and smiled, the chief then came up to Ikuta and said, “You may start your quest tomorrow at sunrise”.  But there was one thing that Ikuta didn’t know. The chief didn’t tell him what it was because he wanted Ikuta to make his way to the Great Wind Spirit without knowing, that he was going to be the only one on this quest. Ikuta started his quest at sunrise the next day.  There was one other thing the chief didn’t tell Ikuta. Chief Wise Bear had sent his messenger to watch over Ikuta.  The messenger has the power to transform into any animal he wanted.  The animal he had transformed into was a crow.  As Ikuta was walking, he noticed that it would take him longer than he thought.  He walked more, and thought about his becoming chief. Ikuta heard a crow cawing in a tree above him.  This crow seemed to be watching Ikuta, but he continued walking.  “That crow was the only crow I’ve seen all morning, and usually, they are all over the place”, Ikuta thought to himself.  It was the chief’s messenger, but Ikuta still didn’t know that.  He walked further and further away from the village.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark mysterious shape in the bushes.  It walked out, and then Ikuta noticed it was an old woman that looked like she had gotten lost in the woods.  “Please young man, I am lost!” the old woman cried.  “And I am so hungry!”  “May I offer you some meat?” Ikuta asked.  “Oh, how generous of you!  Thank you very much.”  As the old woman ate Ikuta asked for a favor.  “I have a map with me, could you show me the way to the river?”  “Certainly”, the old woman answered.  “First, you keep going the way you were going before you stopped, and then you turn left when you see a dead tree that has been struck by lightning”, the old woman lied.  The woman also lied about being lost; she actually has a hut near Ikuta’s village.  Her hut is about five kilometers away from Ikuta’s village.  Ikuta took the old woman’s directions and went on with his quest. He saw the dead tree and turned left then stopped.  He felt something pulling on his leg. Ikuta looked down.  He saw a little chipmunk at his feet.  “Stop!” the chipmunk squeaked.  “You’re going the wrong way; the old woman lied to you.  And she wanted some meat because she can’t hunt.  Her hut was not far from where she was talking to you”.  “Then which way do I go?” asked Ikuta.  “Keep going past the dead tree and turn right when you see a rock as tall as a deer and as long as a beaver.  It has a small elm tree leaning on it”.  “Thank you for helping me chipmunk”, said Ikuta.  So he continued on his quest. Ikuta found soft and flat spot on the ground and sat down. He leaned back on a tree behind him and rested because it was getting dark and he was tired.  Ikuta fell asleep about two minutes later. The next morning Ikuta was a wakened by the caws of the four crows in a tree. Ikuta was hungry so he built a fire to hang the meat over.  When the meat was done, he ate the meat and started walking again. Ikuta saw a fallen tree over the river.  He went across it to the other side of the river.  He didn’t have to worry about how he was going to cross the river anymore.  He stopped walking after he crossed the river and looked around.  Ikuta ran in front of the row of trees in front of him.  He saw a hill, and it looked like something was glowing behind it.  So he walked up the hill and saw a blue, glowing object that looked like blue smoke that has been formed into a ball.  Ikuta stared in amazement.  “Hello”, the object said in a deep voice.  “I am the Great Wind Spirit. I see that you’ve come a long way to find me”.  “Yes I have, and I need help.  The people in my village are getting weaker, and my chief is dying.  I need something that’s cold, and has water in it.  It is very hot around my village”, explained Ikuta.  “I will help you.  I will help you every year.  Now return to your village and you will see what I give you”, said the Great Wind Spirit.  Ikuta took the same route back to the village that he had taken when he went to see the Wind Spirit.  He got back to his village and the people regained most of their strength.  Ikuta became the chief for helping the people of the village.

Now every year, the Great Wind Spirit helps by cooling the weather down and making snow fall down from the clouds the Spirit created.

THE END