Indian Myths

Se’ sta walked through the pinewoods. Before he reached the lake he suffered from thirst. There was no water to be found in the pine forest. So he cried out, ”The way is long. I perish for water. I will can the Little People. They will find me water.”

He struck the rock with his war club. At once there stood before him one of the Little People. He was a tiny old man whose name was Goma.

Se’ sta said to Goma, ”There is no water. I sink down. I cannot go on. My mouth is dry and parched. Bring me, I pray you, a little water from the lake.”

Goma went around the pine whose twisted roots curled about a great rock. Se’ sta followed him. When he came to the rock, he found a Spring of clear water by the rock at the root of the old pine. Its pure water flowed out in a great stream and raced down the stony hill. Goma had but that instant made it for his Master.  

Se’ sta drank from the Spring. He was refreshed. He was pleased. He rested beneath the old pine. The wind sang through its branches. He was comforted.

When Se’ sta rose to go on, he said to the Spring, ”You shall be called the Spring which sang for the Master. You shall give joy to my people. Goma Shall stay with you. In all springs shall his children live. The beasts and the birds shall be glad you came into this mountain. Springs shall sing softly in every land.”

The Spring was glad. It leaped and sang down the stony hill and through the beautiful valley. The deer came to the Spring. He drank the shining water. When he looked into it, he saw his horns. The birds dipped their wigs in its foamy ripples. The panther came. The big, lumbering bear came to drink at the Singing Spring.

The Spring was Goma’s home. There his children lived and played. Often they could be seen racing along on the bottom of the stream under the water. They could be heard singing gay songs. Sometimes Goma sat at the roots of the old pine to dry his long white beard.

Now, the wicked Stone Giant lived in the same forest. He did much harm. He hated the animals and birds. One day he said to the Spring, “When the bear comes to visit you hold him till I come. When the deer drinks, don’t let him get away. I wish to kill and eat them.”

The Spring heard all this. But it did not answer. It loved the deer and the bear. It would not do them harm. This made the Stone Giant angry. He struck the Spring with his stone club. He splashed its waters.

When the elk and the deer came down to drink, the Giant called, ”Do not go there for water. The Spring is waiting to do you hurt. Drink from the lake.”

The animals and the birds did not believe the wicked giant. This made him still more angry. “I will break the rocks from which it flows. I will break down the old pine. That will be the end of this Spring,” he said.

But one thing he had forgotten. Goma was the friend of the Spring. And the Little People have more power than any Giant. So when the Stone Giant struck the rock with his big war club, Goma came quickly out. He climbed up the stone club. His beard was dripping with water from the Spring. He caught the Giant by the throat. So great was his strength that when he let go the Giant was glad to run into the pinewoods, for he was choked. He was never seen again. Goma made many springs. To this day one of his children lives in each spring. They teach the waters to be happy and to sing. You may hear these beautiful water songs if you listen by the brook side or at the spring where the waters flow out.

Goma often visits his children. If you see and old man not nearly so big as the smallest babe, watch him closely. If he sits at the root of an old tree over a spring, and his long beard is as white snow, you may be sure his name is Goma. He is there to see his children.

And if you could find and drink from the first Spring, that which sang for the master, Goma him­self would take you to visit the Land of the Little People far under the earth.

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