Storytelling for Week 9: The Lost Children

Tap! Tap! Tap! This is the all-familiar sound of the Woodpecker.  Legend has it that the Woodpecker is the only bird that pecks wood.  Why do Woodpeckers peck wood, you ask?  I have a story for you.

(Red Bellied Woodpecker: Wikipedia)

A long time ago a tribe of Indians set up camp near the edge of a large forest thick with trees.  Everyday the little Indian children would run and play but when they got too close to the forest the protective moms would call for them to return.  Only the men and older boys were allowed to go into the forest to hunt for food.  There were many dangerous animals and berries in the forest that the children may easily get their hands on.

One day a storm came through the camp and the little children had to stay in their huts all day long.  As the sun began to set the storm cleared up and the little children wanted to play outside very badly.  The mother Indians made a campfire and told the children they could play as long as they stayed in sight of the campfire light.  The children were ecstatic and ran around the camp playing with one another.  The glow of the fire caused a reflection of purple and blue colors to shine from the forest.  Intrigued by the rich colors, the children went to see what was in the forest.  They found bushes and bushes of berries that were big and plump!  Overjoyed with their discovery the children began to eat the berries and forgot about staying where they could see the campfire.  They wandered deep into the forest and it grew very dark and very late into the night.  The children were lost and tired and laid against the wide trunks of the trees.  An Indian God who was watching over the children created an opening in the trees for the children to sleep in.  The children crawled into the trunks of the trees one by one until they were all protected and soon fell asleep. 

As the morning came, the Indian dads went on a search for their children.  Worried and scared they began to pray to the Gods.  The God who hid the children summoned all the woodpeckers in the forest to guide the Indian dads to their children.  The Indian dads followed the woodpeckers through the forest and intensely watched, as the birds would fly from tree to tree pecking on the hollow trunks.  They were able to find all the children safe and sound and soon returned to their camp. 

Now as woodpeckers peck the trunks of the trees, the Indians are reminded that the Gods are protecting them.  They will provide safety to those in the tribe and resources, such as the woodpeckers, to guide them through the forest.

Authors Note: In the original legend, Why the Woodpecker Pecks, a tribe of Indians ate berries that gave them hallucinations.  They forgot to feed their children who wandered off trying to find food.  An Indian God, Manitou, put the children in the hollow trunks of trees to protect them from the sun.  He was angry with their tribe for letting them be hungry and made a deal with them that they could be turned into woodpeckers to search for their children.  I wanted to still incorporate the berries, the God, and the woodpeckers from the original legend into my own legend because I felt like these were important characters.  I changed what happened to the children and used the woodpeckers to help the parents find them.

Bibliography:

When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936)