THE FIRST FLUTE
LAKOTA
Told By: Joseph Bruchac
Long ago, it is said, a young man saw a young woman in his village and longed to find some way to talk to her. But he was too shy to approach her directly. She was the daughter of a Chief and it is well known that she was very proud. Many men tried to court her, but she sent them all away.
One day, this young man went on a hunting trip. He found the tracks of an
elk and began to follow it. Although he caught sight of it now and then, it stayed far ahead of him, leading him away from the village until he was deep in the hills. Finally night came and he made camp. He was far from home and the sounds in the night made him feel very lonely. He listened to the owls and rustling of the leaves, the creaking of the tree branches and the whistling of the wind. Then he heard a sound he had never heard before. It was a strange sound, like a call of a bird and yet different from any bird. It sounded as if it came from the land of the spirits. Strange as it was, that call was also beautiful. It was like a song and he listened closely to it. Soon he fell asleep and dreamed.
In his dream, a
red-headed woodpecker came and sang that strange and beautiful song. Then the woodpecker spoke. "Follow me," it said. "Follow me and I will give you something. Follow me, follow me."
When the young man woke, the sun was two hands high. There in the branches of the tree above him was the red-headed woodpecker. It began to fly from tree to tree, stopping to look back. The young man followed. Finally the woodpecker landed on the straight dead branch of a
cedar tree. It began drumming with its beak on that hollow limb, which was full of holes made by the woodpecker. Just then a wind came up and blew through the hollow branch. It made the song that the hunter had heard!
Now the hunter saw what he should do. He climbed the tree and carefully broke off that branch. He thanked the red-headed wookpecker for giving him this gift and he took it home to his lodge. But he could not make it sing, no matter what he did. Finally he went to a hilltop and fasted for
four days. On the fourth day a vision came to him. It was the woodpecker and it spoke again, telling him what to do. He must carve the likeness of the woodpecker and fasten it in a certain way near one end of the branch. He must shape the other end of the flute so it looked like the head and open mouth of the bird. Then when he blew into that end of the flute and covered the holes with his fingers, he would be able to play that song.
The man did as his vision told him. He carved the flute so that it looked like the head and open mouth of a bird. He tied on the bird reed near the other end and he blew into the flute it made music. Then he began to practice long and hard, listening to the sounds of the wind and the trees, the rippling of the waters and the calls of the birds, making them all part of his playing. Soon he was able to play a beautiful song. Now when he hunted and camped far from the village he had his flute with him and could play it to keep himself company.
Finally, he knew that he was ready to visit that young woman he had liked so long from afar. He went and stood behind her lodge and played his best song on the flute. She heard that song and came out into the moonlight. She went straight to where he was playing. She walked up to him and stood close to him and he lifted his blanket and wrapped around them both.
So it was that young hunter became the husband of the Chief's daughter. He became a great man among his people. Ever since then, young men who wish to go courting have learned to make the cedar flute and play those magical songs. And many of those flutes, to give honor to the red-headed woodpecker that gave such a special gift, have been shaped like the head and open mouth of a bird.
African Native American woman at the 1st Annual Mountain Eagle Place Inter-Tribal Pow Wow
