Storytelling for Week 9: The Trail Back Home

Igasho stretched and let out an excited and youthful whoop as he welcomed the morning his entire tribe had been waiting for. The Tejas Indians had been living in the wilderness for the past twenty years and today was the day the medicine man was told by the spirits that it was time to return to their once beautiful home.

You see, the Tejas Indians had to leave their island many years ago when their homes were destroyed by a vicious volcanic eruption. Since that time, they had lived as nomads - refusing to stay anywhere for too long in fear that they may make that place their false new home.

When the tribe had only been nomads for a few years, the chief came to the medicine man with a concerned face and asked, "My friend, so many of the elders of the tribe have already passed on or are close to doing so. How is my tribe supposed to make its way back to the island?"

"Chief, do not plague yourself with unnecessary doubts. The spirits know what good people we are and they had appointed your grandson, Igasho, to lead the tribe home when the time is right," the medicine man answered.

Igasho threw on his pack containing every bit of his scarce belongings and then jogged to the start of the trail. He knew that this is where they could start their journey because of the beautiful orchid that marked it.

(Orchid. Web Source: Wikipedia)

These orchids used to be the shoes of the tribe that were left on the ground has they traveled to serve as a guide to get them back home when the spirits told them that it was time. The center of the first orchid faced the south as did Igasho's eager face.

When Igasho turned back around to face the tribe, he saw every one of them - young and old alike - patiently staring back him. They were ready to start their journey home.

(Indian Tribe. Web Source: Dreaming in Daylight)

Author's Note: The original story from which my storytelling post is based on is called A Tribe That Left Its Shoes. As I mentioned above, the Indians in this story were forced to leave their home due to its destruction from a volcanic eruption. Also in the origianl story, the tribe did leave behind their shoes, which turned into orchids, as their way of marking the trail back home. The story leaves off with the medicine man showing the chief the flowers as an assurance from the spirits that they would not lose their way. For my story, I picked up the tale twenty years later and gave the chief a grandson named Igasho, which is a Native American name that means "wanders." I wanted to place my focus on the moment they had all been waiting for - the time that they were able to finally go back home!

Bibliography: "A Tribe That Left Its Shoes," from the Myth-Folklore Unit: Tejas Legends