MULTIPLY Pictures to Words #18: Free to Express

Many years ago in a luscious green valley there lived two Indian tribes; the North Valley tribe and the South Valley tribe. In between there were just green fields where the buffaloes roamed and antelopes skipped. Why there were two tribes and not just one populating the complete valley no-one really knew. There was no actual reason for them to be apart. The buffaloes and antelopes were happy as it meant they had a lot of room for themselves. Of course the members of the North Valley tribe and the South Valley tribe often visited their herds of buffalo to make sure they were thriving and reproducing. Buffalo meat was the main food, as well as the hides being used for clothing purposes. A buffalo coat was nice and warm in the winter. The antelopes were another useful animal. Their meat usually being served on the Indian special days, such as tribe foundation day and everyone knew in the two Indian tribes that leather was the ideal dress to wear when hunting.

In the middle of the valley there was a fence to separate the North Valley tribe from the South Valley tribe; just to keep things in their place. One day the chieftain of the North Valley tribe took his son, White Buffalo, to the central part of the valley to show him how to look after the buffalo and antelopes. He left him there and told him he would come again in the evening to pick him up and bring him back to the North Valley. As coincidence would have it, on this day the daughter of the chieftain of the South Valley tribe, White Antelope, was also in the central part of the valley, bringing buffalo sandwiches to the men of the South Valley for their lunch who were looking after the animals. It was then that White Buffalo set his eyes the first time on White Antelope.
“Hello beautiful maiden”
White Antelope turned to see who was talking to her and saw White Buffalo.
“My father told me not to talk to boys I do not know.”
“I am White Buffalo, son of the chieftain of the North Valley tribe.”
“Big deal.”
“You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Please tell me your name.”
White Antelope was playing hard to get, as her older sister told her she should the first time she met a boy that she liked, but on second thoughts she decided nothing could really happen. After all they were both separated by a fence dividing the two sides of the valley.
“I am White Antelope, daughter of the chieftain of the South Valley tribe. Would you like a buffalo sandwich? I still have a spare one in my bag.”

Buffalo sandwich was White Buffalo’s favourite food and so he accepted. White Antelope also took her own sandwich and they both sat on each side of the fence eating their food, washed down with a cup of antelope milk that White Antelope fetched from one of the mother antelopes in the pasture.

This was the first meeting that the young Indian brave and the Indian maiden had. As the years went past, White Buffalo decided to crawl under the fence separating the two tribes and he shared more than just buffalo meat and antelope milk with White Antelope as time went past.

One day White Antelope did not come to the pasture to bring the food for the men and White Buffalo was worried. He decided to gather his courage in his hands Mounting his horse he galloped over the lush fields to the tepees of the South Valley tribes to look for White Antelope.

“Halt” said a South Valley Indian at the entrance to their village. “You are a stranger here and smell like North Valley. What is your purpose?”
“I have come to find White Antelope.”
“White Antelope is not feeling well this morning. Her family’s tent is the first on the second row.”
White Buffalo rode to the tent and found White Antelope with her parents.
“White Antelope what is your problem. I missed you this morning at the border between our two lands. You are not feeling well?”
“White Antelope, who is this brave from the North Valley that is visiting you. Is he the reason for your illness this morning?”
“But I never harmed her. I just love your daughter and wish to marry her.”
“Of course you will marry her, she is expecting your child.”
“What about me” spoke up White Antelope “does no-one ask me if I want to marry the son of a chieftain from the North Valley?”
Her mother spoke further.
“No deal, my daughter. You should have thought about want or not want before you let him sneak through the fence from his land.”
And so the words were spoken and the North Valley tribe and the South Valley tribe were united and were from then on known as the Central Valley Tribe.

Unfortunately the pale faces were interested in the North and South Valleys, mainly for the buffalo, antelopes and good land, so they came sweeping into the Valley driving the Indian tribes away. Eventually things quietened down and the pale face settlers built their houses and no-one really ever mentioned the North and South Valley Indian tribes any more as well as the Central Valley tribe.

One day many years later, so-called civilisation had taken over the area where the North and South Valley tribes once lived. They had built factories, railroads, supermarkets, schools and even a university. In this university there was a department of archaeology and the Professor decided to examine the history of the area. He found it would be a good subject for a successful book. It was then that the archaeologists started to dig. One day they discovered the remains of an Indian cemetery. There was a grave marked with the headstone of a female and male Indian. The Professor made a photo of the headstone and decided to use it for the cover of his book. The book became a success, telling the history of Central Valley City and one of the factory owners in the town bought a copy. He then had an idea and his factory began to produce copies of the gravestone to be sold in various souvenir shops for the tourists that came to Central Valley City.

So it came to pass that many people in the country where Central Valley City is to be found, have a model of White Buffalo and White Antelope decorating their homes, or gardens.

Pictures to Words #18: Free to Express