How White Wolf Became A Man

By: Simeon

Once many winters ago lived a young boy called White Wolf. He had been on the earth for eleven winters. White Wolf had four brothers.  His father, Brave Eagle, was the leader of the tribe. All of White Wolf’s brothers were older than he was, therefore they could go out on the hunt with their father. White Wolf really wanted to go out on the hunt as well. However, to go on a hunt, one had to prove he was a man. White Wolf longed for his tribe leader, his father, to tell him what he had to do to prove he was a man. One of his brothers had to fight a wolf and kill it. Another had to stand on a pole for five days. The third brother had to live in the wilderness for two weeks with only a four-day supply of food. The final brother had to chase a herd of deer into an ambush of villagers. White Wolf was dying to know what he would have to do. But one had to have been on the earth for twelve winters and White Wolf had only been on the earth for eleven. White Wolf still had one more winter before he would find out what he would have to do to prove he was a man. White Wolf’s last winter as a boy was finally over. After the next moon, he would find out what he would have to do. It was exactly one moon away. White Wolf’s father, Brave Eagle, seeing that his son was impatient, decided to give his son a hint. Brave Eagle said the following: “Through the forest, to the fourth rolling hill and back again.” White Wolf thanked his father and went back to his hut to think about what it might mean. After a little while he realized that he would be going on a quest. “How exciting!!” he thought. “I’ll be going on a quest through the forest to the fourth rolling hill.” He could hardly wait for his father to tell him more.

The one moon had finally passed. At last, it was the evening when Brave Eagle was going to tell White Wolf what he had to do. The ceremonial dancers were almost finished their final dance. White Wolf was very excited! All of the tribe was there. Young children clung to their mothers, a little frightened but yet very interested in the dance. Soon, the dance was finished. Brave Eagle approached White Wolf. He said “To be a man, you must fulfill the following task: you must go on a quest, a journey, through the forest and to the fourth rolling hill. When you get to that hill, there is a village. In that village, there is a special medicine man. He is the keeper of the sunflowers. You must go there and retrieve one sunflower seed and then return home safely. You leave tomorrow.” White Wolf was very surprised. None of his brothers, no one in the tribe had ever had a task that they were so far away from home. White Wolf wondered why his father had given him such a difficult task. Nevertheless, White Wolf felt proud. Then, everyone went to sleep. The next morning, all of the tribe was at the eastern edge of the village to say good-bye to White Wolf and to wish him good luck. White Wolf first went to Swift Fox’s teepee. Swift Fox was the medicine man of the tribe. He gave White Wolf some pemmican and other foods he might need. He also prayed White Wolf have a swift and easy journey. White Wolf thanked him and left the teepee. The tribe cheered when White Wolf came out. White Wolf said good-bye to his family and then took his first few steps outside his tribe on the beginning of his long journey. White Wolf felt proud because he was leaving his village, his home. He felt like a turtle out of his shell, because he was going into an unknown territory on his own. None of his friends would be there. But then he was on his way to becoming a man and so on he walked. Later on, once the sun had set, White Wolf decided to make camp. It was there that he heard a deer scampering through the forest not far from him. White Wolf looked around and then saw the faint glow of a deer’s eyes. White Wolf called out to the deer, in a gentle way. Amazingly, the deer came forward. White Wolf reached down for some grass and offered it to the deer to see if it was tame. The deer took the grass, ate it and then said: “Thank you.” White Wolf, thinking something wrong with his ears, asked: “Did you just talk?” The deer replied: “Yes.” White Wolf was amazed. He asked the deer if it had a name. She said her name was Deer. Deer and White Wolf spent the whole night talking, getting only a bit of sleep. By morning, White Wolf said he had to go because he was on a journey. Deer asked if she could go with him on his journey. White Wolf was surprised, but pleased that Deer wanted to join him. Deer and White Wolf walked on eastward toward the hills. White Wolf was very happy he had made a new friend. A few days later, White Wolf and Deer noticed a small snake at the side of the small forest path. It didn’t seem like a normal snake because it was a different color. Most snakes in the area were dark green, brown or black.  But this snake was vibrant green and purple. When White Wolf and Deer stopped to look at the snake, the snake asked: “Where are you two going?” White Wolf answered: “I’m going on a journey to become a man,” and Deer added: “I’m going with him.” Snakes were very mean and sneaky creatures. So this snake decided to play a trick to scare this boy and deer. He asked them: “Do you know how I became this odd color?” Both of them replied no. “I went east, as you are going, and I was trying to cross all the hills. But on one of the hills, an evil wizard screamed out: “Why do you pass this way? This is forbidden ground!” “I, not knowing this, had no reply so then he said a spell and I became this like this.” This was the end of the snake’s story. White Wolf and Deer were quite scared because east as the way they were going. Deer and White Wolf decided to stop for the day and rest because they weren’t sure if they wanted to go east anymore. They spent all night trying to decide if they should go on. White Wolf pointed out that they were really close to the hills and that they were too far to go back. Deer, on the other hand, was frightened. She asked: “What if the wizard is still there? He might turn us into something.” Then, White Wolf said: “He never said how long ago this happened.” Deer replied: “But wizards live for a very, very longtime.” The discussion went on back and forth but in the end it was White Wolf who prevailed. They would keep on going east. It was morning; Deer and White Wolf were about to head out, when Deer said: “I’m sorry White Wolf but I don’t want to go on. I’m too scared that the wizard will be there. I think that I a going to go back home. I’m sorry.” White Wolf answered: “It’s okay Deer, you can go home. I don’t mind. It was nice having your company though. Thanks for coming this far anyway.” Then Deer and White Wolf headed in their different directions. Again, White Wolf felt a bit sad because he was leaving his friend. But then White Wolf remembered he was on a journey to becoming a man. A few hours later, White Wolf could see the hills. He could also see the smoke of a fire. “It must be a village,” White Wolf thought to himself. But when he got closer, he could see the village was surrounded by a wall of poles that measured five meters. White Wolf wondered if he had to go all the way around or if the people would be nice enough to let him go through their camp. White Wolf moved closer; he could see there was a guard walking around, (it was either a guard or someone pretending to be one.) White Wolf moved closer to the person. He then asked the person if he could go through his village or if he had to go all the way around. The person replied: “You may go through if you can get in.” White Wolf didn’t understand. He said “All it is, is a village surrounded by a tall wall.” But the person replied by saying “You’d be surprised!” White Wolf entered. He then noticed that there were two ways to go, to the right or to the left. White Wolf chose to go to the right. He walked quite a ways and then again there were two ways to go. White Wolf then realized that it was like a maze. You had to know which way to go to cross the village. White Wolf decided to turn around and go back. He thought it would be faster to go all the way around.

When White Wolf was back outside, he noticed the person to whom he had spoken was gone. White Wolf then walked about ten meters, turned east again and then started walking. He walked for a long time. White Wolf was now at the second hill. He could see the village; there was no wall, no maze hidden behind a wall. He noticed a small hut. There was a man standing outside the hut. White Wolf moved closer and then noticed that he was carrying a small stick. When White Wolf started to walk again, the man shouted: “What are you doing here?” White Wolf replied by saying “I’m on a journey to become a man. I must go to the fourth hill where the keeper of the sunflowers lives.” Then the man said: “I’m a very powerful man. Not many people go through this village because they are scared of me. Are you going to turn back? I suggest you do, if not I will turn you into a wolf. Well, what is your decision?” White Wolf didn’t hesitate. He replied: “I am on a journey and I am not going to turn back because of you.” Then, the man said a spell and “POOF,” White Wolf was a wolf. White Wolf hoped the medicine man back at his village could fix this. But he had to first finish this journey. He didn’t want to turn back. White Wolf then found out that being a wolf was very useful. He could run very quickly. It only took him four days to get to the base of the next hill. When he got there, he decided to go to this village’s medicine man. He asked three people for directions but they all ran away. However, the fourth person let him speak. She told him the medicine man lived in the teepee with the eagles on it. He walked over to the teepee and since he couldn’t knock, he howled. Then, the medicine man came and opened his flap of hide, used as a door. This medicine man looked older than the one White Wolf knew back at his village. The man asked him what the problem was. White Wolf told him everything about his journey and that he didn’t want to be a wolf; he wanted to be a boy, no, a man. Then, the medicine man said: “I know the perfect antidote to make you human again.” The medicine man said a spell and “POOF,” White Wolf wasn’t a wolf anymore. White Wolf was very happy. He thanked the medicine man and was on the road again, heading toward the fourth and last hill. Since he was no longer a wolf, White Wolf moved more slowly. Finally, he arrived. White Wolf was so happy to be at this village because this was where the keeper of the sunflowers was. All he needed to do was go and ask where the medicine man was and ask for a sunflower seed. He asked a person who replied: “Go to the teepee with the sunflowers on it.” White Wolf ran and knocked. The flap opened. White Wolf introduced himself and asked if he could have a sunflower seed. The medicine man told White Wolf to wait a minute while he went and got a seed. He came back and gave it to White Wolf. White Wolf thanked him and was off on the long journey home. On the way back, White Wolf saw Deer. White Wolf told her about becoming a wolf. She was most interested in hearing about his journey. When he showed her the sunflower seed, she congratulated him. White Wolf and Deer walked all the way back to White Wolf’s village. When White Wolf arrived, he said good-bye to Deer. She said she would come and visit him soon. White Wolf walked into his village happily. He called out, “It’s me White Wolf. I’m back.” Everyone came out to greet him. And that is the story of how White Wolf became a man.

* THE END *