by
Erin
nce upon a time, there was a little girl named Sarah. She was sitting in the garden with her Mother and she asked her, "Why are flowers so colorful Mamma?"
Then her sister Ashley said, "They just are!"
"That's not true," said Mamma, "There's a legend about it."
"Are legends true?" asked Sarah.
"Some are true," Mamma said. "Would you like me to tell it to you?"
"Yes!""A long time ago, maybe even hundreds of years ago, in the Choctaw tribe, there was a little girl named Whistling Waters. She was very bored one day so her mother suggested to her that she plant some flowers. They were just a dull gray color. Whistling Waters knew this, but wanted something to so. So, she took some seeds and a shovel and started to dig a hole.
That day was the first day of spring, so there were many nuts and berries. Also all of the butterflies were coming out of their cocoons. Whistling Waters' sister, Shining Sun, was celebrating the first day of spring by collecting nuts, for a little snack, and berries for face painting. After collecting, she went down to the brook to rinse off the berries so that they were clean to eat.
Back at home Whistling Waters just finished digging the hole for the seeds. Suddenly she heard a scream. Now, her sister, Shining Sun was very superstitious. She had seen a black cat run in front of her very quickly. She thought it was following her. So she ran fast and tripped on a root in the ground. Whistling Waters was just about to fill the hole with dirt, but before she could, Shining Sun flew into the air. Her beautiful red, pink, blue, and purple berries went right into the hole, with the dirt toppling right on top of them. While brushing off her spring buckskin dress, Shining Sun, stood up yelling at her sister. She was really mad, so Whistling Waters dug up some dirt to find the berries, but they had somehow already disappeared.
By now their mother was calling them in to get ready to go into the village for the spring festival. There will be food and games. It will be really fun!í said their mother. Then Shining Sun stood up and started sobbing and yelling, "Whistling Waters lost all of my beautiful pink, red, purple and blue berries!" "When we get back we will get some new ones" said their mother.
Whistling Waters just kept wondering how the berries disappeared. She supposed that she might have dug up the wrong spot. Whistling Waters went back inside her longhouse where her mother and sister were getting ready. Her grandmother was on a blanket near the entrance sipping tea. "I washed your buckskin dress," she said. "It's on your bed." "Thanks! See you later," said Whistling Waters.
Around five o'clock, they got back around suppertime. After dinner, they went to bed. That night, Whistling Waters tossed and turned. She could not get to sleep. She kept thinking of nothing in particular, but she was for sure thinking. When she finally put herself to sleep she had a dream, a beautiful dream. She dreamed that the dull gray flowers were beautiful and resembled all of the colors of the spring berries. "I wish I could stay here forever," she said to herself. "Or at least I wish my dream would come true."
The next morning, she ate breakfast with her family then went outside. As she walked outside, she froze in her footsteps and her mouth was wide open in amazement. Her dream had come true. The flowers were the colors of the berries, but even more beautiful. They were pink, purple, blue and maroon. "Mama! Shining Sun! Grandmother! Come here! Come here!" They cam running and stopped, their mouths wide open too! "That's why flowers are so colorful," said Mamma.
"That was a great story!" said Sarah.
"I agree to that!" said Ashley.
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