Sunday 19 April 2009

Native American monolouge

I had just been hunting with my older brother. He had given me a small bow and some arrows and had begun to teach me how to hunt, only small things like grouse and rabbits. A few days earlier he had shot down a buffalo with his long bow and boiled the meat to show me how. We were going to the traders to swap some of our meat for other supplies. When I went into the store it seemed very strange to me. I couldn’t understand why people would want to live in this stuffy little building with such a low roof. The smoke in the room hurt my eyes and stung my throat. While at the store we ran into some crow members of the black lodge tribe. My brother began talking to them and we decided to visit there camp. There camp was three days journey from the store and we made the trip with them. While making the trip we hunted for game. Two days into the trip my brother killed a dear and we made a fire and roasted the meat. The next day we were joined by two more crow and made our way to the camp.

When we were at the camp some men decided to go hunting. I was young but I wanted to see the hunt so I followed them without them knowing. They were running over the hills and climbing the cliffs. I found it hard to follow and eventually I saw them disappear over a cliff face.

You ran back over the cliff shouting something that I couldn’t quite make out. You came right over to me. All of the other hunters gathered around me as if the appeared from know were. You said that there was a bear ahead of us on the path and that we shouldn’t go any further until it had been dealt with. The other hunters ran back to the camp to gather more support. You rushed forward to deal with the bear. I just watched frozen in my place as you unsheathed your long bow. You began firing arrows at the bear. It rose up on its back legs and let out a yell like a man would. It turned and ran into the nearest bushes.

Unfazed by the bear you ran in after it without any fear. Just as you ran into the bush the other men from the tribe ran up behind me armed with rifles and yelling at you to come out of the bushes. All you could hear was the bear’s roars and your voice shouting out for help, you went silent and the bears roar turned into a low snarl. Pretty Hawk prepared his rifle in preparation for what was going to happen. There was silence as the group of crow men around me silently prepared themselves, all of a sudden the bear rushed out of the bush. The crow warriors let there arrows fly and fired there rifles the bear fell to the floor and drew its last breath. We pushed our way through the bushes to the clearing were you were. Your jaw had been crushed and your eye was hanging down your face, your ribs were exposed and you were clawing at the air grabbing out for anything you could. I watched as the men tried to help you.

Your breathing was shallow and your movements were slowly stopping. I stared at you and you looked back at me. You drew your last breath and then you were dead. We took your body and brought you back to the tribe. That was my last memory of you my brother.

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