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© Copyright 2001 TheTalewagger The Totem Pole Challenge by
The TaleWagger One day last summer, a grandfather was sitting on a pier with his grandson fishing. It was a warm, sunny day and several people were out and about, enjoying the fine weather, the scenery and relaxing. On a seat, near to the grandson, a young woman was reading a book and when she had finished she wandered away, leaving the book on the seat. After a while, the grandson, bored with not being able to catch a fish, strolled across to the seat and picked up the book. He quickly flicked through the pages, decided that it was of no interest to him, and proceeded to tear out the pages, one by one. When he had sufficient, he went to the water's edge. There he proceeded to screw them into balls and throw them into the water. "Mike!" his grandfather shouted out. "What do you think you're doing?" "Nothin' Grandpa", came the reply, "just playing with an old book someone left behind." "Don't be destructive," scolded his grandfather, "someone will have to clear up your mess. More importantly though, you should realise that some author must have taken a lot of trouble to write that book." "But it was only an old book Grandpa," replied Mike, "and anyway, anyone can write a book. It's easy!" The old man sighed, gave an old-fashioned look, and asked. "Have you heard the story of the Totem Pole Challenge?" Mike shook his head. "In that case, you'd better sit down and listen carefully." With the fishing forgotten for a while, Mike sat cross-legged on the ground and his grandfather began his tale. *** "Many years ago, a small tribe lived deep in the wilderness of North America. One day the Chief met with his three sons and spoke. 'I have decided that we should leave the story of our lives for others to see. When the snow melts, I will trade half of our pelts with the woodcarvers, for a totem pole.' At first his sons could not believe what they had heard and looked at each other in amazement. 'But father,' they cried out as one, 'if you do that, we will not have enough pelts to trade for food and we will surely die! We have tomahawks and there are many trees. We can make as many totem poles as you want!' The Chief was not convinced but paused for a moment to consider. However, his sons were adamant. 'Anybody can make a totem pole, it's easy!' they chanted. 'Anybody can make a totem pole, it's easy!' Finally the Chief gave in and agreed that, come the Springtime, they could each make a totem pole. The elders of the tribe would then select the best one and it would stand in the middle of their village and the history of the tribe would be carved upon it. The first son spent the winter sheltering from the cold, stayed close to the settlement, and carried on doing the things that he had always done in the winter. The second son spent most of his spare time making his tomahawk into the finest and sharpest one in the village, and thinking about where the most suitable tree might be growing. The third son travelled afar, through the deep snow of the inhospitable countryside, to seek out the wigwams of the totem-pole makers. He spent the winter learning how they selected the trees, the tools they used and the history of totem-pole making. Finally, on the way back to his village he visited the finest totem poles in the area. When the first day of Spring arrived, the three sons set about the task of carving their totem poles. By the end of the first week the third son had finished and everyone in the tribe agreed that he had carved a magnificent totem pole, fit to stand in the middle of any village. At the end of first month, the second son had finished and the villagers agreed that he had done a neat job, but it looked more like a canoe than a totem pole! By the end of Spring, the first son had finished and the villagers were unanimous that, thanks to his efforts at carving, there would be enough firewood for many years to come! You see Mike, everything done properly is never as 'easy' as it first seems!" The End.
Copyright reserved. No part(s) of these publications may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form by any means without the written permission of the author. |
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