Story

How Trees Were Made

       Once upon a time long before now life had just been created.  Every animal was made differently.  The best at seeing was the hawk, the biggest was the whale, the most colorful was the toucan, and the smartest was the human.  The problem was humans had no mouths.  All the other animals could talk and show off there skills to the other animals.  

      "I can swing from tree to tree." said a monkey.  

      "I can fly." said a flamingo.  

       " I can swim." said a fish.  The humans wanted to show off there skills too but no one would notice to them because they couldn't speak.

          One day a human named Cloud could not stand not talking anymore.  He was going to give the humans mouth.  He went to Wise Hawk, the oldest, wisest Native American in the Chickasaw tribe.  Hawk wrote what he had to do to get a mouth.  He would have to climb the highest mountain and find the water of the river that flowed backwards.  He would have to catch a golden fish and put it in the pocket of his breechcloth.  He would have to find the richest soil. Wise Hawk gave Cloud a seed and wrote "plant it" in the dirt.  Cloud decided he would get a good night's sleep in his Chickee and set off for his journey.  

                      In the morning Cloud ate some nuts and berries and set off for his journey.  He took a pitcher and a long walking stick with him so he could get up the mountain faster.  So Cloud's journey began.

                 Cloud knew the steepest mountain in the valley but it was all the way across his village.  He knew he would have to walk for a whole day to get there. Finally when Cloud got there it was dark.  The mountain was steep and rocky but he had his stick.  He pulled it out and set off up the mountain.

                  When Cloud finally got up the mountain he saw the mot beautiful river he ever saw.  His home was dry so this was really surprising.  The most weird thing about this water was it was flowing backwards!  He took the pitcher and filled it to the top.  Then he got into the water and looked under.  There were so many fish!  Blues, reds, greens, yellows!  He kept wading through the water looking for the golden fish until he saw it.  It was the most beautiful fish he had ever seen!  He reached out to grab it but it quickly swam out of sight.  It was a quick fish and he could never catch it with just his hands.  He took off his moccasins and tried to find the fish when he finally saw it.  He quickly made his move and caught the fish in his moccasin!  He put it in the pocket of his breechcloth and finally set off back down the mountain.  

                 When he was at the bottom of the mountain he started thinking about where the richest soil was and the place popped into his head.  It was on the other side of the village by the fishing stream.  He would have to walk for another day to get there.  When he was walking to the stream he passed many woman farming.  He noticed how they put fish around the seeds they were planting and watering them. He figured out that he would have to do that with his seed, fish, and water.   

                When he finally got to the soil he dug a hole, put in his seed, buried it with soil, and watered it.  Instantly a huge plant the size of two chickees stacked on top of each other rose from the ground.  He said "Oh my gosh." He actually said something! He had a mouth!  He ran to everyone in his village, all the animals and shouted "We have mouths because of this big plant I planted! Come see!"  Everyone ran to the huge plant.  Everyone was amazed by this growing thing.  Everyone started talking.  The Chickasaw tribe decided that they would make a language.  They could do all sorts of things with their new mouths, but the best part is the animals would finally notice them!  

              "What are you going to call it?" someone asked Cloud.

               "I think I'll call it... a tree."

The golden fish

The first tree