Stories relating to Tobacco
A very long time ago...
The Creator looked down on the world and was speaking to Himself...
He said "This world is a sick place...
I am not pleased with My Children"...
"They kill and rob and cheat one another!"..."
I think this world needs to pass on..."
Eagle flew by when these words were spoken...
and Eagle flew to the Creator and said...
"Creator...I fly down there every day..
I know there are good people there!"
"Would you destroy the Earth if there are good people there?"
The Creator said "No I would not".
Eagle asked to be allowed to fly down to the earth and
find someone that was good. The Creator told Eagle that if he
could find someone good He would spare the World. Eagle
flew down to the Earth to search for someone...
Eagle started his journey at Noon day...
flying towards the South...
He flew and flew until he had circled the entire world. He returned
to the spot where he started 24 hours earlier. He then
returned to the Creator and told Him that he had found no one...
But also asked for another chance...
and the Creator said let it be so...
Eagle flew back to Earth and started his journey again...
This time leaving at Sunset...
and flying towards the West....
Again he flew around the world to no avail -
and another day passed.
He again returned to the Creator with sad news and asked
for another chance, which was granted. On the third day
Eagle started his journey at Midnight...
and flew towards the North...
And as before, he returned a day later...
with no one found...
Eagle flew to the Creator and again spoke sorrowful words...
And again asked for another chance...
and again the Creator granted his request...
Eagle started his fourth journey at Dawn -
towards the rising sun in the East....
As Eagle flew, he spotted an old man kneeling on a mountain peak...
The old man’s arms were stretched wide, raised towards the sky...
His eyes were open and looking up to the Creator...
he was praying...
Eagle flew down to the old man and said to him,
"Brother...I need to speak with you"...
The old man said "Brother Eagle, please forgive me"...
"I need to finish my prayers here. Then I will be honored
to speak with you". Eagle waited with patience..
and when the old man was done he spoke to Eagle...
"Brother Eagle...what can I do for you?"
Eagle apologized for interrupting and told him why he was here.
The old man thought for a moment...
then said "I am old...
I have lived well"...
"Please ask the Creator to accept my life for the World"...
"I know its not much but it is all I have to give. Please see if
He will accept this offer."
The Eagle thanked the old man and flew swiftly to the Creator...
Before he was able to speak the Creator said "It is done"...
Eagle flew back to the spot where he had found the old man praying...
and there in his place was a tobacco plant ...
this is the offering we use today...
if you place your tobacco on the ground...
Eagle flies by 4 times a day to pick up these offerings..
at Dawn, Noon Day, at Sunset, and Midnight...
This is the story that I share with you...
as it has been shared with me...
All My Relations
By Sun Wolf
The Legendary Origin of Tobacco
according to the Crow and Hidatsa Indians
A long time ago the Indians roamed the West like the buffalo, one family scattered and returned by change. There were no separate tribes. One of the Indians was a woman of powerful beauty. She gave birth to twin sons, but she did not know who their father was. The beautiful woman sang her sons to sleep with a heartbreaking lullaby, and everyone who heard it took pity on her. Finally, the Earth agreed to claim the first son, and the stars took the second son as one of their own. From then on, the people called them Earthboy and Starboy. When the boys were near manhood , they began to behave a little differently from their friends. Earthboy stopped following the buffalo every where and began to stay close beneath the willows of his home, searching for pretty rocks and carefully observing the slow growth of the plants. Starboy also grew lax in his hunting but rather then staying at home he began to wander far beyond the buffalo. He slept during the days so that at night he could watch the travels of his star family. One day Starboy's wanderings brought him to the foot of the highest mountain. No one had climbed it before, but Starboy started the slow climb upward without hesitating. Somewhere near the sky, Starboy fainted. A shining silver man appeared to him. The man was a star. he told Starboy that he was his father but that he spent his life traveling far beyond the earth, and he said he would not pass near the mountain again in his son's lifetime. "And so to show my love and concern for you, my son, I will give you a gift of great strength and freedom. Keep this plant with you wherever you wander, and in the springtime plant it everywhere you go. Tend the scarred beds, and harvest them when they are tall." With these words, the star plunged his hands into his own silver chest. When he pulled them out again, they were full of tobacco. He told Starboy that tobacco would make everyone in their family strong and free. To share the tobacco and it's power, people must be adopted into Starboy's family. Starboy listened carefully, but he was too overwhelmed to speak. he nodded his head gratefully, and his father burst away from him, pack to the sky. When Starboy came down from the mountains, he found his brother Earthboy, and offered to adopt him and share the tobacco. Earthboy laughed, and said, "Brother, you don't need to climb mountains to have visions. While you were gone, I met my father earth and he taught me some secrets of my own. Your family may become powerful wanders, but mine is going to become a family of peaceful farmers. We will grow everything except tobacco and you will grow nothing more." "I don't want to grow anything more," said Starboy, "I will follow the buffalo, and be strong as an eagle, and as free as wind." Earthboy smiled. " I will be strong as rock, my brother," he said "and steady as sunrise. But no matter how different our families become, we will never quarrel. Your father has given you tobacco, and mine has given me the way of the Medicine Pipe. When we smoke together, your plant with my pipe, our fathers will give us peace and freedom." Earthboy brought forward a beautiful pipe made from the rock and willow of his home. Starboy filled it with tobacco from the heart of the star, and the brothers smoked together. When Starboy left, some of the people went with him, hoping to be adopted into his family. Even before they learned the secrets of tobacco, the people who followed Starboy took a name, and called themselves the Crow. The ones who stayed with Earthboy to learn to farm were called after the willows of their home, Hidatsa. And so the people were divided into tribes, but the power of tobacco and the pipe kept them from becoming enemies
When Tu-chai-pai made the world, the earth was the woman, the sky was the man. The sky came down upon the earth. The world in the beginning was a pure lake covered with tules. Tu-chai-pai and his younger brother, Yo-ko-mat-is, sat together, stooping far over, bowed down by the weight of the sky. The Maker said to his brother, "What am I going to do?" "I do not know," said Yo-ko-mat-is. "Let us go a little farther," said the Maker. So they went a little farther and sat down to rest. "Now what am I going to do?" said Tu-chai-pai. "I do not know, my brother." All of this time the Maker knew what he was about to do, but he was asking his brother's help. Then he said, "We-hicht, we-hicht, we-hicht," three times. He took tobacco in his hand. and rubbed it fine and blew upon it three times. Every time he blew, the heavens rose higher above their heads. Younger brother did the same thing because the Maker asked him to do it. The heavens went higher and higher and so did the sky. Then they did it both together, "We-hicht, we-hicht, we-hicht," and both took tobacco, rubbed it, and puffed hard upon it, sending the sky so high it formed a concave arch. Then they placed North, South, East, and West. Tu-chai-pai made a line upon the ground. "Why do you make that line?" asked younger brother. "I am making the line from East to West and name them so. Now you make a line from North to South." Yo-ko-mat-is thought very hard. How would he arrange it? Then he drew a crossline from top to bottom. He named the top line North, and the bottom line South. Then he asked, "Why are we doing this?" The Maker said, "I will tell you. Three or four men are coming from the East, and from the West three or four Indians are coming." The brother asked, "Do four men come from the North, and two or three men come from the South?" Tu-chai-pai said, "Yes. Now I am going to make hills and valleys and little hollows of water." "Why are you making all of these things?" The Maker explained, "After a while when men come and are walking back and forth in the world, they will need to drink water or they will die." He had already made the ocean, but he needed little water places for the people. Then he made the forests and said, "After a while men will die of cold unless I make wood for them to burn. What are we going to do now?" "I do not know," replied younger brother. "We are going to dig in the ground and find mud to make the first people, the Indians." So he dug in the ground and took mud to make the first men, and after that the first women. He made the men easily, but he had much trouble making women. It took him a long time. After the Indians, he made the Mexicans and finished all his making. He then called out very loudly, "People, you can never die and you can never get tired, so you can walk all the time." But then he made them sleep at night, to keep them from walking in the darkness. At last he told them that they must travel toward the East, where the sun's light was coming out for the first time. The Indians then came out and searched for the light, and at last they found light and were exceedingly glad to see the Sun. The Maker called out to his brother, "It's time to make the Moon. You call out and make the Moon to shine, as I have made the Sun. Sometime the Moon will die. When it grows smaller and smaller, men will know it is going to die, and they must run races to try and keep up with the dying moon." The villagers talked about the matter and they understood their part and that Tu-chai-pai would be watching to see that they did what he wanted them to do. When the Maker completed all of this, he created nothing more. But he was always thinking how to make Earth and Sky better for all the Indians.