The Battle Within

The Battle Within.

(Taken from an old Cherokee tale.)

   By the swirling waters of the Little Bighorn River twenty finely decorated tipis stood nestled within a small clump of trees. A band of Lakota, led by their chief Yellow Hand, had made this spot, in a bend of the river, their summer camp for as long as anyone could remember.
   Because of the heat, the village was quiet; movement kept to a minimum. High above, the sun blazed large and powerful in the clear blue sky. The heat sapped at the strength of everything that moved. Old men, having long ago learnt the important lesson of taking shelter from the heat, sat beneath the shade of a large tree. Younger men lazed around the village, their skin as red as the earth beneath their feet. They sometimes sat inside their tipis in an attempt to escape the hottest part of the day, only venturing outside to either talk or to swim.
   Young boys and girls played in the dried grubby earth, their laughter and babble drifting lazily across to the group of old men who sat smiling at their antics.
   “I sometimes wish I could go back and play like that,” Standing Bear said. He sighed and sat back against the trunk of a tree.
   “I remember when you played,” Bright Star said. He was Standing Bear’s oldest friend. “Most of us were always careful when around you, because of your temper, just like our children are doing when they’re playing with your Grandson.” He nodded towards the group of children that they had been watching.
   Standing Bear watched as his Grandson approached the group. Little Elk marched across to the happy band of children and instantly began bossing them about, challenging anyone who would not do as he instructed. Their laughter died. Smiles disappeared from dirty faces and the fun that they had been having instantly forgotten. Some of the children drifted away.
   “I will have to talk to him,” Standing Bear acknowledged.
   “That would be good,” Hawk said as he watched the boy roughly shove his own Grandson.
   “I shall do it now,” Standing Bear said. He slowly rose to his feet.
   “Let it wait, it’s too hot. Do it when the sun is much kinder to us,” Hawk urged him.
   “He needs to be taught now,” Standing Bear grunted as he walked across to the children. “I should have seen this before, why didn't anyone tell me?”
   “Because we knew that eventually you would see it with your own eyes,” Bright Star said, “as your own father saw it in you.”
   “Yes, he did,” Standing Bear smiled at the memory. He then thought about the important lesson his own father had taught him, it was time, he decided, that he taught his Grandson the same lesson. He walked slowly across to the sullen children.
   When Little Elk saw his Grandfather, his posture and attitude to those around him changed. Gone was the serious look and anger, now upon his handsome face a smile appeared. He treated the younger, smaller, children much gentler now.
   “Come here my son,” Standing Bear called across to him.
   The children watched as Little Elk walked across to the old man. Maybe the time had come, the time when Little Elk would get a big whopping from the old man. Since his father’s death in a buffalo hunt it had fallen to Little Elk’s Grandfather to teach him the ways of the Lakota. Some of the children watching would take great pleasure in seeing him get a whopping.
   Instead of being punished, or indeed ordered to leave them alone, the old man placed an arm around the young boy’s shoulders and led him off towards the river. Now that he was gone, the children returned to their games; laughter once more drifted across to the old men beneath the tree.
   When they reached the river, Standing Bear looked around for a shaded spot to sit. He found it beneath a steep bank. He sat down and began taking off his moccasins and leggings. Placing them down upon the ground, he urged the boy to sit down next to him.
   “I am going to wash away the heat from my body. Will you join me?” he asked the boy.
   “No Grandfather,” Little Elk answered. The old man could sense the boy was annoyed that he had been taken him away from the fun of playing with the other children.
   “Stay here then,” Standing Bear said. He rose to his feet.
   With a smile upon his face, the old man walked out and enjoyed the cooling waters swirling around his thin legs. He watched the boy closely and could see his impatience building.
   “Go back to the village and bring me my hunting knife,” he suddenly told the boy.
   “But Grandfather it’s too hot to go back now,” Little Elk said trying to get out of going.
   “Then walk, don't run, that way you will stay cooler,” Standing Bear said looking across at the boy. He watched as his Grandson angrily got to his feet before starting back towards the village. “And don't take long,” he called out to the boy. He could hear the insolence in the boy’s voice as he called back.
   “I shall be as long as it takes.”
   When he reached his Grandfather’s tipi Little Elk was so annoyed, so angry at the way his Grandfather was treating him that he did not take care when he searched for the hunting knife. He threw his Grandfather’s possessions around. Forgetting to close the flap of the tipi he did not see the old man watching him from the edge of the village. When he found the knife, he studied it and yearned to have a knife just like it. Holding it in his hand he walked back towards the river. Thoughts filled his head and he imagined himself to be a great warrior; a great hunter. He pulled the knife from its decorated sheath and wielded it at several children who happened to be going in the same direction.
   “Behold the great warrior Little Elk,” he cried.
   “Put your Grandfather's knife away before you hurt someone,” Screaming Eagle said. He was not in the mood to listen to Little Elk’s foolishness.
   “Don't try and tell me what to do,” Little Elk warned him, “or else I shall add your scalp to the others.”
   “But you have no scalps,” said Shadow Hawk. He wanted to laugh but knew better.
   “Then yours shall be my first,” cried Little Elk as he ran towards the boys. They scattered in all directions. Seeing them flee in panic made Little Elk laugh aloud. He turned to find his Grandfather standing a short distance from him, again watching him closely.
   "Put the knife away and follow me," Standing Bear said.
   Once more, the old man and the boy found themselves back at the river. Standing Bear motioned for Little Elk to sit down. When they were both sitting down upon the bank, the old man held out his hand and took the knife from his Grandson. He placed it down upon the ground.
   “Why do you need your knife Grandfather?” Little Elk asked.
   “I don’t need it,” Standing Bear said. “I used it as a test.”
   “A test Grandfather?” The boy looked confused.
   “I wanted to see how you would react when I asked you to go and get it for me,” the old man explained. “You went to get it with a bad heart, and then you threw my things around inside my tipi without a care for them, because you had anger in your heart for me, then when you had the knife in your possession your heart desired it.”
   “All those things are true Grandfather,” Little Elk admitted. He felt a great shame now that his bad ways had been shown to him in this manner. “But how did you know?”
   “I was once as you are now, my medicine was also troubling to those around me, for a great fight was going on inside of me. My son I can see that there is the same fight going on inside you, it is a terrible fight between two wolves.” The old man explained to the boy. “One wolf is anger, envy, lies, and false pride.”
   “And the other wolf?” the boy asked.
“The other wolf is love, sharing, kindness, truth, and compassion,” Standing Bear said.
   Little Elk thought long and hard about what his Grandfather had just said. Then he turned to the old man and said. “Which wolf won?”
   The Grandfather replied. “The one I fed my son. It is now up to you to choose which one you will feed.”
   Standing Bear then rose and started back towards the village, leaving Little Elk deep in thought. That day Little Elk became aware of his failings. Later when he returned to his Grandfather, Standing Bear gave his much-prized knife to his beloved Grandson. It was something he knew Little Elk had always admired and hoped to have at some time, and the old man thought that time had come.
   The boy looked up at his Grandfather and asked. “Is this mine to do with as I want?”
“It is, my son.” Standing Bear confirmed.
   Little Elk began looking around the village until he spotted Shadow Hawk a short distance from his Grandfather’s tipi. Walking away from the old man the boy turned and said. “One of my wolves is hungry; I must go and feed him.”
   Standing Bear watched as his Grandson went across to a group of children in which Shadow Hawk stood. He heard Little Elk apologising to them all for his bad ways. He heard the promises that his Grandson made to all those now standing listening to him. The boy told them how he would change his ways. It filled the old man’s heart with love when he saw Little Elk step forward and present Shadow Hawk with his newly acquired knife. Turning away from the astonished group of children the old man entered his tipi. As he sat down upon his buffalo robe Standing Bear now knew in his heart which wolf would win the battle inside his beloved Grandson.
   Little Elk would always be grateful to his Grandfather for showing him the errors of his way.

THE END