EXCERPT

IT WAS A LONG TIME AGO when our mother, the earth, was young. In those days, people and animals all spoke one language. There was one animal who was a very good friend of the people and he often came to visit them. His name was Grey Coyote.

Now, Grey Coyote was a gentle and considerate creature. He was also very wise. When he visited, the people all gathered around and listened to him speak. Grey Coyote had one friend who was special, a boy named Little Badger.

Grey Coyote and Little Badger spent many hours talking. You see, Little Badger was blind. Grey Coyote took him on many long walks in the forest. He taught Little Badger about the earth he could not see, and how to smell, hear and touch all the things around him.

He taught him that everything on the earth—human, animal, insect or plant—had a purpose.

This purpose was to serve and help each other.

Little Badger’s people lived in a world of plenty. Mother earth gave them all they needed. There was never any want.

However, with so much good, there had to be some bad.

For Little Badger’s people, the bad was the long, cold winters. On winter days, the people took refuge in their teepees, huddled together for warmth.

One cold day, as Little Badger shivered under his robe, he thought: There must be some way for us to be warm. But how? Grey Coyote will know what to do. I will go and find him.

And he set off to find Grey Coyote.