Once Upon A River

He was left with a canoe and a solitary oar, so he began to slice through the rippling water, first on one side and then the other. All was going well until he spotted what looked like a pair of evil eyes situated beneath two arches of prehistoric eyelids attached to the front of a long floating log. His mind began to vacillate between two distinct and weird thoughts. First, if this was truly an enormously large and hungry alligator heading in his direction, he would be facing his first test of impending danger to be overcome by his own skills and ingenuity, secondly he would have to resort to summoning help that had been made available to him. Of course, all of the bewilderment on his part could be senseless and nothing would happen. In any event, he was not taking any chances while he faced the unknown challenge.

As the gap narrowed between the canoe and the oncoming potential menace, there was no time for either to change their course. Running Deer deftly lifted his oar from the water and placed it into the bottom of the canoe while he felt for his bow and arrow. Before he could steady himself and wait for his next move, the huge alligator swam directly toward the side of the canoe with an apparent attempt to overturn it, thereby dumping his dinner into the water for easy access. The meal was not about to happen, however, because just as the huge tooth lined snout rose from the water, Running Deer’s straight powerful arrow landed with a thud between those monstrous eyes. But as the leviathan struggled and recoiled from the arrow’s blow, the huge tail whipped across the water to overturn the canoe. The strike from the tail threw Running Deer several yards out and away from his canoe into deep water.

One of the first lessons that he had learned back on the farm, living near the river, was how to swim. He was reminded of the time when he and his friends were at their favorite swimming hole on the Shalot river. The tide would rise and fall in the river, and it was on a full moon in June when the tide was extraordinarily high and one of his friends was taking a dare to swim across the swollen river to the other side and back. On the way back, the boy was half-way when he suddenly experienced a cramp in one of his legs. In this situation, it was impossible to swim and he began to sink. Running Deer recalled that he didn’t hesitate to swim out to rescue his friend at the risk of being drawn down the river in a very strong current. In a situation like that, he thought less of his own danger than that of his friend, so he reached him just in time to help him back to shore.