Why Birds Fly South
by Danielle K.
One day part of the Lenni Lenape tribe was on a walk. While they were walking, Eagletail noticed that there were some geese flying south. He wondered why this was happening. A week had gone by and still Eagletail still couldnít come up with an answer so finally he asked Eaglehawk, one of his great friends, "Why do birds fly south?"
Eagle hawk said quietly "Iíll tell you at campfire tonight, okay?"
"Okay, but donít forget!"
Eagletail couldnít wait until campfire. Eagletail had a
lot of chores to do and he couldnít go to campfire until
he finished all his chores. The walk was finally over and Eagletail
went right to starting his chores. He had to gather wood, fire,
and rocks. He also had to start a fire by rubbing sticks together.
He did this so he could make a bow-and-arrow because he promised
his father it would be done by sundown. As he was tending the
fire, Eagletail remembered his other chores which were to make
a blowgun and skin the small animals he had trapped. The animals
were beavers, rabbits, deer, foxes and snakes.
Eagletail also promised Eaglehawk that he would play lacrosse with him. Eagletail had just finished all of his chores when Eaglehawk came running toward him. It was perfect timing! Eagletail ran inside the longhouse to grab his lacrosse stick and tell his mom that he was done his chores and would be playing lacrosse. His mother was sewing a doll for Eagletailís younger sister, Littlerock. Littlerock was sitting beside her mother making pottery out of clay. His father was in the adjoining room practicing his dancing. His father was wearing 25 to 45 pounds of bells, beads and other decorations as he danced. Eagletail said goodbye to his family and ran to the open meadow to play lacrosse.
After lacrosse, Eagletail and Eaglehawk went to the campfire early
so Eaglehawk could tell his story. A long, long time ago when
animals could talk, there lived a large family of wild geese with
one bluebird. The bluebird was always very mean to the geese.
The cold of winter put the
bluebird into an even meaner mood and he got meaner each year,
especially to the young geese. The geese finally called a meeting
and decided that it would be wise to fly far away from the bluebird
as the winter approached. As they all flew up into the air a strong
wind blew them south. They have continued to do this every winter
leaving the bluebird all by himself during the winter.
Eaglehawk concluded, "So the moral of the story is if you
are mean, you will also be lonely." Eagletail nodded in agreement
as Eaglehawk finished his story. Now the tribe was coming toward
the campfire to watch the dance as it did every night.
