The priest of the summer is gone and now the priest of the winter is here. The village is getting ready for the day of the Totem.  My mother said, “Red Wolf, go into the great mountain and get meat for the day of the Totem. Be sure you give the blessing to the spirits before the hunt. Be sure you return within three moons and don’t be late.”

     Red Wolf was getting his bow and arrows to go hunting when Big Bear came up with Little Snake. They asked, “Where are you going, Red Wolf?”

     “My mother told me to go into the mountain and get meat for the day of the Totem.”      “Can we go hunting with you?”

     “Yes,” said Red Wolf.

     Big Bear said, “When will Running Fox be back?”

     Red Wolf said, “He will return before the day of the Totem.”

     Little Snake said, “Where did he go?”

     Red Wolf replied, “He went to the village of peace, he will be back soon.”  So they went north to look for meat.

    That afternoon, Little Snake said, “Look, there is the Shaman of the Horn.”

    Red Wolf said, “Where are you going, Shaman?”

    The Shaman of the Horn said, “To the village. Where are you boys going?”

    Red Wolf said, “My mother told me to go to the mountains to get meat.”

    The Shaman said, “Did you bless the spirits?”

    “We will,” said Little Snake.

    The Shaman said, “We will now.” He made a circle in the snow and the Shaman asked for the blessing of the spirits. He then said, “Be sure you are back before the spirit of the moon rests the third time”.

     And Big Bear said, “We will be back before then.”  So they went north to look for meat. The first day out the hunting was very good and the snow was falling very hard.          When the three young braves came upon a new cabin that must just have been built, Red Wolf said, “I did not know the cabin was here, we must go. My father said we must stay away from the white eyes.”

    “But Red Wolf, it will not hurt to take one little look, then we will go to the village.”        “Alright, just a fast look then we will go.” The boys moved so they could see in the window of the cabin. About the time they were looking in the window of the cabin, an old white eye came around the end of the cabin.

     He said, “Hold it right there, Indian. What do you boys want here?”

     Red Wolf said, “White eye, we have been hunting in the great mountain and we did not know that a cabin was built here.”

     The old white eye said, “I have a hot fire inside, come in and warm your selves. We do not have much food but my wife will fix you what we have to eat.”

     Red Wolf said, “Yes.”  So the boys followed the old white eye into the cabin.

     The old man said, “This is my wife, Mrs. Harmon.  I told these young Indian boys they could warm themselves and eat some of our food with us."

     “But father, we are just about out of food.”

     “That’s alright, mother,” he said. So the old woman fixed each one of the boys some of the food and put it on the table.

     The boys began to eat with their hands and the old woman said, “You should use the spoons to eat with.”

     Big Bear asked, “Red Wolf, what is a spoon?”

     He turned to Little Snake and said, “I remember the Shaman of the Horn saying that one time when he was talking about the white eyes, that they used the spoon to eat the food with.”

     Little Snake then asked, “What is wrong with your hands, are they hurt?”

     Red Wolf replied, “My father said the white eyes did funny things like that." 

     "My father said they pray to a god that they killed,” Big Bear said.  “Why do they kill their gods?”

     “We did not all kill our gods.”  Red Wolf said.

     “How can you kill a god?” The old man asked.

     “They really did not kill him Little Snake, the white eyes speak with a fork tongue, Big Bear.  The great spirits make all things and gave us Mother Earth and the spirits to watch over us.”

     Big Bear said, “I am glad I am a Cherokee and not a white eye. I do not understand the white eyes.”

     The old woman said, “It is not the way it sounds, I know it’s hard for you to understand because you boys are wild and unschooled.”

     “Red Wolf, you have to be schooled to kill your god. I am glad I am not schooled for the Great Spirit would take revenge. He would send the shadow dancers against anyone who tried to kill him. Red Wolf said that’s why the white eyes are always after the land for themselves. They kill their gods and everyone they see. They have to get everything for themselves.” Little Snake said, “Why do the white eyes have to take the lands for themselves and kill everything on it? Is that why they killed their god?”

     The old man and the old woman said, “Since you said that, you may be right, since I think about it, we do. We just may be the wild ones. Your families must be good people. I would look forward to meeting them someday.” The boys just looked at each other.

     Little Snake said, “Big Bear, Red Wolf, do you know what they are talking about?”

     Big Bear and Red Wolf said, “Sometimes they sound like they have been in the Shaman of the Horn’s sour weed, we will have to ask the Shaman about this when we get to the village.”

     The boys said, We must be going, my mother is waiting for the meat we got.”

     The old man and woman said, “I hope you boys will come again to see us.”

     Red Wolf said, “We must go.” The old man and woman closed the door to the cabin and the boys started up the path to go to the village.

     Red Wolf said, “Wait.” He turned around and took one of the slabs of meat back to the cabin. He went and placed it by the door of the cabin.

     Big Bear and Little Snake said, “What are you going to tell your mother?”

     “Maybe I help save the white eyes god with the slab of meat. It is what the great spirits would have me to do.”

     The boys got to the village and Red Wolf’s mother said, “Was hunting so bad that my son got no meat?”

     “No.”

     “Where is it,” she asked.

     “I gave it away.”

     “You gave the meat away, to whom did you give the meat, to the white eyes?  Are you hurt,” she asked.

     “No, they let us warm and they gave us the last of their food, so I gave them the slab of meat, mother. The white eyes said that some of the white eyes kill their god, why do the white eyes kill everything, even their god?”

     Red Wolf’s mother said, “I do not know of these things, when your father returns you are to tell him of these things and what you have done. The Great Spirit will be happy with what you did. Now you boys come and eat.”

     Little Snake asked, “Do you have a spoon?”

     Red Wolf’s mother asked, “What are you talking about, Little Snake? What is wrong with you?  Red Wolf, have you been to see the Shaman of the Horn?”

     “No mother.”

     "You boys sound like you have been in his sour juice, now eat.”