The Kind Hawk - a Hopi Legend

Long ago, in a Hopi village, a little boy lived with his mother, who loved him very much.  She dressed him in a beautiful shirt and moccasins, covered with the most intricate embroidery.

  

 One day, the boy went out to play.  he started to wander far from the village, across the plains.  There, he was spotted by another tribe.  The raced in and carried him off.  The other tribe brought the boy to their camp.  Once there, the women took his shirt and moccasins, and gave them to the Chief's son.  While the other children played all day, the little Hopi boy worked and worked.  They gave him little to ea.  Soon the boy grew thin and ill.


Near the camp, there was a high bluff.  And atop the high bluff there lived a hawk.  Each day the hawk looked out at the world, spread beneath him.  And each day the hawk coasted on the thermals, and gliding over the camp where the boy worked and worked.  One day, when all the tribe members were gathered at the Chief's lodge, the hawk swooped down and hovered over the boy's head.

The boy was frightened.  The past weeks had been difficult and sad for him.  He could not imagine life becoming even worse.  "Please do not kill me!" he begged the hawk.


The hawk reassured him.  "I mean you no harm," he told the boy.  "I have watched you and seen your troubles.  Hop on my back.  Hold onto my wings and I will fly you away from this place."

The boy jumped on the hawk's back.  Anything, he reasoned, would be better than his life here.  He held on tight.  The hawk flew up in the air.  With the boy on his back, the hawk glided over the place where the tribe members were gathered.  When they saw the boy on the hawk's back they were amazed and angry.

The hawk flew to the highest bluff and set the boy down.  "Wait here," he told him.  


Then the hawk flew back to the village.  He swooped straight to the Chief's son and, using his fierce beak, pulled the shirt right off him.  This he carried to the boy.  Then the hawk returned to the camp.  He dived straight for the moccasins, pulling them right off the feet of the Chief's son.  With these, the hawk returned to the bluff and the boy.


There, the hawk dressed the boy.  Then he fed him meat of a jack rabbit, and other fine foods.  Finally, with the boy dressed and fed, the hawk flew him back to his mother.


And then, without waiting for thanks or praise, he flew back to his bluff and looked out at the world again.

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