Great Spirit, Creator of all.
To the east, where the sun rises, I offer the sacred tobacco,
To the north, where the beautiful husky warrior with the cold breath comes from, I offer the sacred Tobacco.
To the west, where our ancestors have gone, I offer the sacred tobacco.
To the South, where the beautiful maiden of spring comes from, I offer the sacred Tobacco.
Great Spirit, I speak humbly.
Great Creator, I ask your blessing on all who come to this place. May their lodges be filled with peace and good health.
Stand us up to the things that we must face, be they good or bad.
May no clouds of sadness darken our sky.
I have spoken humbly,
Waneche (thank you)
Great Father
Spring was late in coming one year. All of the creatures were a little hungry. Rabbit was on his way down by the lake. He thought perhaps, there he might find something to eat. On his way he met Fox who had 2 nice fish, that he was carrying. Normally he would have run from Fox, but he could see Fox had more than he could eat all ready. Fox, he said when they had come close, I am hungry and there is little to eat, would you give me some of your fish? The Fox replied, I have a wife and children at home and they are hungry also. Why don't you catch your own, it's easy.
Now Rabbit did not know how to catch fish. How do you do that he asked Fox. Fox looked at him with a thoughtful look in his eye. The hardest part is making a hole in the ice of the lake, he said. I had to bite at the ice for hours, untill I had a hole big enought to fish in. But you Rabbit, with your big front teeth, should have no trouble. Once you have your hole made. you put your tail in the water and the fish see it and bite it. They get their teeth caught in the hairs and you pull them out of the water and eat them, simple as that. If you hurry you might find the hole I used, before it freezes over.
And so Rabbit thanked Fox and set out for the lake. As he ran along he was thinking about his tail. Rabbit had a wonderful tail. It was long and large and very fluffy. At night when it was cold, he would wrap it around him and he was never cold. Rabbit wasnt so sure he wanted to put his beautiful tail in the water. On the other hand he was very hungry, and fish dinner sounded just fine.
At last he came to the lake, as far as he could see, nothing but ice. He Began to run about, making great leaps into the air. He was looking for the hole Fox had used. At last he said to himself, Foxes hole must have frozen over already. I will have to make my own hole in the ice. Rabbit started to bite at the ice with his big front teeth, and soon he had a nice hole, big enought to go fishing in.
Now came the hard part, putting that wonderful tail in the water. At last he did it, he began to wait for a fish to bite. Soon his feet began to get cold, then the place where you sit down got cold. His big ears felt like ice, still no fish. At last he said to himself, I have had enought. He tried to get up. He couldn't get up, his fishing hole had frozen over and his tail was froze along with it.
Rabbit tried everything, he could not get loose. Just then he saw something in the sky. It was Eagle and Eagle will always eat a nice Rabbit. Rabbit began the jump about and try harder to get loose. Now he could see Eagle diving straight at him. He Could see Eagle's gleaming claws as he struck at him. Rabbit gave a mighty jump ant the last second, and his tail broke off near his body and Eagle Missed him. But, every since then Rabbit's have only short fluffy tail's.
If you look at Rabbit's tail you can see how wonderful it once was.
The Moral of the story, don't believe everything people tell you.