a PARENTING STORY

The Boys Who turned to Geese - Chumash - California Long ago, when animals were people, there was a little boy whose mother and stepfather wouldn't give him anything to eat, though they had plenty for themselves. So the boy went off to find his own food and met another boy who was also abandoned. Raccoon came along, felt sorry for the two boys, and helped them dig roots to eat. In the next few days, five more hungry abandoned boys came by, and they all went to stay with Raccoon in the temescal (sweathouse). Finally they decided to go north and take Raccoon with them. So they sprinkled themselves with goose down and sang songs. For three days they went around the temescal, singing and rising higher and higher off the ground. But Raccoon couldn't fly even though he was covered with goose down. All the mothers came to see the boys and begged them to come down, but they refused. They all turned into geese and flew away to the north, to become the seven stars we call the Pleiades.  And when geese cry, they sound just like a little boy. From the Archives of Blue Panther

The Boys Who turned to Geese

Long ago, when animals were people, there was a little boy whose mother and
stepfather wouldn't give him anything to eat, though they had plenty for
themselves. So the boy went off to find his own food and met another boy who
was also abandoned.

Raccoon came along, felt sorry for the two boys, and
helped them dig roots to eat.

In the next few days, five more hungry
abandoned boys came by, and they all went to stay with Raccoon in the
temescal (sweathouse). Finally they decided to go north and take Raccoon
with them. So they sprinkled themselves with goose down and sang songs. For
three days they went around the temescal, singing and rising higher and
higher off the ground.

But Raccoon couldn't fly even though he was covered
with goose down. All the mothers came to see the boys and begged them to
come down, but they refused. They all turned into geese and flew away to the
north, to become the seven stars we call the Pleiades.  And when geese cry,
they sound just like a little boy.- Chumash nation in California

From the Archives of Blue Panther

"The coldness of a mother, her rejection can turn the warmth and naturalness of her child's ability to love into a coldness that is brilliant and distant or dull and distant. Either one is cold."

- Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories