Indian Myths

Ska’ reh seemed never to tire of doing evil. When one wicked deed was done, he began another. He was restless and was always going from place to place. One day before the Rainbow Bridge was burned he met his brother Se’ sta, on the mountain by the lake. At once there was a battle between them. It was a struggle of Right against Wrong in the Lower World.

When Ska’ reh saw that he was losing the battle, he fled. Se’ sta pursued him. There was no place of rest for Ska’ reh He ran through the earth, but he found no place of refuge. He came to the Beautiful Bridge made by the Rainbow. Over it he ran into the sky.

When Se’ sta was about to come up with him, Ska’ reh said to one of his hookies, “My brother is coming upon me. I shall be slain. I can run no more. Bring me the swiftest animal in the forest of the sky.”

The wicked hookie brought the Deer. Now the Deer was very proud of his fine horns. He carried his head high. But Ska’ reh said to him, “I am beaten in my battle with my brother. For me there is no place of safety in the skyland. Take me upon your back and run swiftly down to the Great Island. For Se’ sta will slay me if I fall into his hands.”

The Animals hated the Man of Ice and Stone. The Deer did not wish to help the Evil One, but he did not dare refuse. And he said to Ska’ reh, “See my great horns. They will catch on the branches of the trees as I run. The Hawk could carry you more swiftly than I.”

This made Ska’ reh very angry. He said to the Deer, “The Hawk would say, “You are too heavy for my wings.' I will not call the Hawk.”

Then he seized the horns of the Deer and broke them off. “Now,” he said, “carry me to my own country. Be in haste, for my brother is near. In that land I will give you back your horns.”

So Ska’ reh made the Deer do his will. But in his own land Se’ sta was so close upon him that he did not give back the horns. He carried them away as he ran and dropped them on the ground.

The Deer was ashamed. He had helped Ska’ reh whom all despised, and had lost his beautiful horns. He went apart. All winter he lived alone in a deep forest. The next summer another pair of horns grew upon his head as he grazed on the mountain above the lake. They were more beautiful than those he had lost. Then he was proud again. And he went back to the skyland.

To this day, when the season comes when Ska’ reh tore away the horns of the Deer, the horns of every deer in the Lower World drop off. Then they all live alone. The next summer new horns grow to take the places of those which fell off. And they all walk through the woods to show one another their beautiful new horns.  They are proud again.

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