3 Short Story

I am Taelo.

   Welcome to my world of green valleys, clear running rivers, pine forests skirts surrounding snowcapped mountains and where the eagle flies across brilliant blue skies. This is the land that I grew up in during a time when everything was a new discovery.

   I am Ron Mueller’s forty-thousand years ago soul brethren. He might have fallen for other protagonists that float in his mind, but I embody his aspirations, beliefs, and his boundless belief in the good side of human possibilities. He has traveled with me throughout the world as I discovered its beauty, its treasures and the wonders of the peoples that populate it.

   I, Taelo, “The Claw of the Eagle” have stretched his imagination and gifted him with those many journeys of the mind.

   My mother and aunt Quiet Pheasant often share the story of finding out on the same day that they were pregnant and then later having sons on the same day. Golden Hawk came into the world in the early morning, and I came into the world as the sun reached its zenith.

   Then two seasons later we selected our names on the same day. They both say that it the most extraordinary naming day in the history of the clan when I selected the claw of an eagle and held it up and an eagle plucked the claw my upstretched hand.

   On that same day, my cousin chose the feather of a Golden Hawk.

   He became Golden Hawk and I became Taelo, the claw of the eagle.

   Both of our mothers, sisters, were the early forces that molded us into what we both became. They were sisters, mothers and, most important they were strong steady guides.

   Our early years were filled with discovery, invention, and adventure as he and I explored the new land that our clan had migrated to.This was a wonderous land where the only inhabitants were the few of us that made up the Elk Clan. We embraced the animals, the birds, the forests, and rivers that spanned the land that surrounded us.

   In roaming this land, my cousin, Golden Hawk, and I faced many challenges, which molded us, that developed our appreciation of its wonders and beauties and that tested our survival skills. We survived. These were natural challenges of the times.

   My father Grey Fox Running still grows quiet when he speaks of the day he and Uncle Red Oak were invited to hunt with two astounding women. He always begins the account in a quiet voice, “We were shocked but on the morning of the hunt we were ready and followed the two lithe women, who had invited us, on a fast jog to a valley filled with buffalo. Their challenge to us was that they would drop two buffalo at our feet, but we had to skin and take the buffalo back to camp. Both of us laughed and agreed, knowing such a feat would be impossible for two women to do. We stood looking in amazement as they culled two buffalo from the herd and in unison kept pace and guided the two buffalo toward us. We were both prepared to jump aside when suddenly both of them accelerated, got in front of the charging beast, planted their spears butt first into the ground and let the buffalo drive the spear into its own hearts. The buffalo fell to their knees no more than a spear’s length from the two of us. Still in shock, I did not know any other way to reply to the question of, “Do you desire to have a mate that can hunt for you?” than to say yes. As soon as I replied I realized that I had just accept her proposal to be her mate. Red Oak had uttered the same reply and that explains how you and Golden Hawk came about.”

   My mother, White Swan and my aunt, Quiet Pheasant were rebels in their own right.  In fact, they turned the tables when they each asked my father and uncle to be there mates. This is just one example of their many challenges to the traditional clan culture.

   Their spirits must have been passed to both Golden Hawk and me because we were always at the edge of what was acceptable for two young boys to be doing.

   These were our parents who guided the two of us as we grew. It is clear to me now that both Golden Hawk and I were so very lucky to have such parents. They nurtured us, taught us the skills needed for survival and made sure we learned from our adventures.

   As we grew up we would both get up in the grey light just before dawn and go sit at the Weaver’s camp site listening and absorbing every word of his stories. Little did we know that each story would later come to life in real situations. He stressed the split-second actions needed for survival.

   His story about how to face a bear came to life a short time later. We were helping to mind a group of the village children that were gathering blackberries in a secluded thicket. Suddenly a tremendous growl froze all of us in place. There, in the thicket with us was a huge mother brown bear and her two cubs. She was ready to attack. Like a thunder bolt, I heard the Weaver’s words and instinctively took the actions in his story. It instantly turned my fear into action that save three stranded children as well as Golden Hawk and me.

At that moment I, a mere four-foot-tall boy, raised my hands into the air and roared back at the bear and took one step toward her. I was prepared to be eaten but the mother bear hesitated for a moment, looked back at her cub and I took that opportunity to run into the woods.

   In subsequent years both Golden Hawk and I turned the Weaver’s stories into actions that saved us and the people with us.

   The Weaver, the eagle, and a seer of the clan of Others all had a tremendous impact on me.  My totem the eagle was a constant companion that always soared above us when we were facing a challenge.

   Unknown to us until much later, the eagle that had taken the claw from my hand on naming day had the seer of the Others flying with it. This seer, Broken Spear would become a lifelong advisor and guide to me. He would in the end be the model I now emulate since after his passing, I become a seer.

   But I am ahead of myself.

   Our parents worried about us. My father and uncle gave both of us training on the use of the spear, the knife, the ax and how to fight hand to hand. We loved that training and we often remind each other that it saved our lives on many occasions.

   On one venture, a small goat caught our eyes, and we followed it slowly up the mountain on a path that only a goat would know. The goat stepped out of sight around a jagged out cropping of stone. I was following Golden Hawk, and as I went around the corner, I looked back down the trail. We were tracking the goat but so was a huge lion that was close behind us!

   The training on how to use our spear, our stone axe and our tusk knives given to us by our fathers was about to pay off. The path was too narrow for both of us to attack the lion. As the lion came around the bend in the trail, I could hear my heart pounding, and the cry of the eagle as I lunged forward and drove the spear into the lion. The eagle swooped down hooked its claw into the nose of the lion and pulled. The lion embraced me in a hug and together we all fell down the cliff.

  The eagle flew up into the sky and the lion, and I hurled down to the rocks below. My spear was through the lions heart my knife was buried into its chest, and I survive the fall by twisting the attacker around so I would land on top.

   I survived. That day the training paid off.

  We faced dire wolves, lions, and bears and survived. We were more adventurous than most of the other boys and we were more than eager to experience all the adventures that came our way.

   Together we invented the spiral fish trap that changed how the salmon was captured.

My mother still tells the story about the day as she knelt at the salmon cleaning stone and looked over as Golden Hawk, and I went about weaving willow branches into mats and then dragging them out into cold stream water and creating a curved structure that guided the salmon toward a trench we had dug. She was amazed at the rapid accumulation of salmon just a few feet from her and then she was overwhelmed at the number of fish she had to clean. She points to that moment as the defining moment that ensured the clan would have an abundance of dried salmon.

   After that moment we were granted more freedom to roam, and we were humored by all the clan members.

   I knew my soul mate as a young boy in the season that took her parents. Quiet Rabbit was my friend and often accompanied Golden Hawk and I on our adventures. Then came the season of despair when she lost both of her parents. Floating Cloud, her grandmother stepped in to raise her, but they had no one to hunt for them or to fill their drying rack with fish. Each morning before dawn, I left two hare and other small game at the entrance to their dwelling and then slipped away before the morning mist cleared. Nothing was ever said.

   It was a few years later when for the first time, women were allowed to go on the long hunt. Golden Hawk and I were both surprised by the change that took place in the relationship we had with two young women who went on the hunt with us.

My mother arranged to have several young women be part of the hunt team we were on. She and my aunt both conspired to make sure the young ladies that got on the hunt team were ones they approved of. The elders were not happy about this arrangement and gave our hunt team the worst hunting grounds.

   The young women ran a race to see who would be paired with each of the male hunters. As Golden Hawk and I stood near the race’s finish line and watched five young, lithe and to us beautiful lady’s race out to a tree designated as the turn around point we both comment about who we would like to be our hunt partners. We both picked the same two. The winner of the race would hunt with me the fastest runner; the second winner would hunt with Golden Hawk. 

   I watched in amazement as suddenly Quiet Rabbit surged from the very back and past her two best friends who in the past always beat her when they raced.  She came in first and it was then I knew that I would want her to be more than a hunt partner. And as she knelt trying to recover from her sprint she looked up at me and quietly said, “partners for the hunt and for life.” So ironically like our fathers, both Golden Hawk and I smiled at the two ladies kneeling at our feet and nodded our heads.

   Our hunt team was exceptionally successful.

   The pairing has lasted a lifetime for everyone on that hunt.  The years have been generous to all us. Together all of us have ventured the vast expanse that surrounds us.

   On our first team venture we traveled far to the south and met the Condor Clan in the high mountains. We were cordially greeted, greatly enjoyed the stay and we left with treasures in our minds. Minds filled with how roof tiles were made, how to prepare the mating surfaces of the stone use to build the homes they lived in, how to guide the flow of water and water ways to specific areas.

   We also left with a treasure of a different sort.  We surreptitiously left with Feather-in-the-Wind, a young woman who in a drugged state was taken to the top of the mountain and left in a cave to become the bride of the Condor. In the dark of the night, Quiet Rabbit and Busy Bee brought her down and we hid her in the supply travois and took her with us.

Taking her meant that the Condor had taken her as his bride and the sacrificing each season of a young virgin would cease.

   We faced the Warrior Clan as we were travelling on the way back. They showed us the constraints and cruelty that a clan based on war had as their society. It was there that we kept Feather-in-the-Wind from becoming the wife of a cruel warlord. She now jokes about the fact that the team was trying to make her into an old maid.

   We returned north and at the end of that journey, we discovered the original home of the Elk Clan in the new world. It held all the tales that we had all listened to as we grew up.

There were other team journeys, all with challenges that we faced and conquered. All where the eagle or one of the Weaver’s stories saved us.

   The concept of treating others as we wished to be treated but be uncompromising fighters against those choosing to attack us taught to us by our parents served to guide all of us. We also adopted the practice to make the day better for those around us.

   That original hunt team and I have been on thrilling adventures, continuously learning of the all-encompassing expanse of our world. I can only say that each journey held new surprises and challenges.

   I am Taelo, I proved to our peoples that the world is round, that the land is bountiful, that the seas are challenging, the resilience of people is boundless, and the color of their eyes or the color of their skin does not change the goodness of their being.

   I was guided by the many people that helped me grow. Time has graced me. I am now a seer of the Elk Clan. My mind is where my journey now continues. There is a streak of grey in my hair. My sons are clan leaders.

   Quiet Rabbit has remained the anchor that grounds me. My friends all still surround me. The Ancients, and Broken Spear still guide me.

I am Taelo, the claw of the eagle.

Thank-You for taking the time to get to know me.

Taelo