Stránka:roll 1916.djvu/149

Tribe Activities "5 the wind. Thunder pealed, lightning flashed, but he whom Wo sought was not there. In the hush that followed the storm Wo heard a voice low and quiet, but in it all the sounds of earth and sky seemed to mingle — the song of the bird, the whi^jcring ci the trees, and the murmuring of the brook : "Wo, I am He whom thou seekest; I am the Great Spirit; I am the All-Father. Ever since I made man of the dust of the earth and so child of the earth and brother to all living things, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, thus making him my son, I have waited for a seeker who should find me. In the fullness of time thou hast come, Wo, the questioner, to the Answerer. "Thy body is of the earth and to earth returns; thy spirit is mine; it is given thee for a space to make according to thy will; then it returns to me better or worse for thy making. Thou hast found me because thy heart was pure and thy search for me tireless. Go back to thy tribe and be to them the Voice of the Great Spirit. From henceforth I will speak to thee and to the seekers that come after thee in a thousand voices and appear in a thousand shapes. I will speak in the voices of the wood and streams and of ^ose you love. I will appear to^ou in the sun by day and in the stars by night. When thy people and mine are in ne^ and wi^ for the will of the Great Spirit, then shall my spirit brood over thine and the words that thou shalt speak shall be my words." And Wo awoke, facing the east and the rising sun. His body was warmed by its rays. A great gladness Med his souL He had so^t and found, and prajrer came to him like acmg to the bird: "0 Great Spirit, Father of my spirit, the sun is Thy messenger, but Hiou art brighter than the sun. Drive Thou the darkness befwe me. Be Thou the light of my spirit," As Wo went down the mountain and took the journey back to the home of his people, his face shone, and the light never seemed to leave it, so that men called him He of the Shining Face." When Wo came back to his tribe, all who saw his face knew that he had found the answer^ and they gathered again about the council fire to hear. As Wo stood up and lodged into the eager faces in the circle of the fire, he remembered that the Great Spirit had given him no message and for a moment he was dumb, llxen the words ci the Great Spirit came to him again: "When thy peopk Mid m» tM peed know my will, my spirit