Story for the Pow-Wow Ceremony

This story was related to me by Albert McArdle, a Mohawk Indian Chief
and known as "Chief Top Leaf" to many children both in Scouting and
out, in Quebec and Ontario, Canada. He has kindly allowed me to
transcribe the story and pass it on. If you remember all the lessons in
the story, he has kindly granted permisssion that you pass the story on
to anyone.

Note that any gender reference may be interchangeable with "she",
"hers", etc. as per your desires.

How The Chipmunk Got Its Stripes

What kind of food do chipmunks normally eat? (Good answers are acorns,
beechnuts, butternuts,) and if in your back yard you throw them a
peanut, they'll stuff it in their mouth and eat it right away or store
it in their cheeks and run back to its hole to store it for eating in
the winter.

Back in the days when the chipmunk didn't have stripes on its back, a
young chipmunk came out from its hole, called its friends and mentioned
how they didn't climb the trees like their cousins the squirrels did
and that it would be fun to try.

Without asking his parents if it was alright, he raced up to a nearby
oak tree and started climbing it. Once it got up there he noticed some
nuts growing that he didn't recognize because he'd never seen a nut
growing on a tree (having never been up a tree before.) He was used to
seeing them on the ground once they'd fallen out of their cup. What
kind of nuts do you think he'd seen in the oak tree? (Ask the children;
they'll no doubt come up with all sorts of answers. For the oak-
impaired, it's acorns.) He started chewing on the nuts though and
finally got through the hard shell and found the delicious nut inside
and recognised it for what it was. 'This is a good idea; we can now get
more acorns than we did before and store them in holes for the winter,'
he thought to himself.

Then he decided to run along the branches of the oak tree to another
tree where he found some bees flying around a hole. Inside the hole he
found a sweet sticky liquid that tasted very good, so he started to eat
lots of it. (Ask the children if they know what it is; they'll probably
answer "honey" but depending on where you live, they may answer maple
sap. Remind them that this isn't the case because of the bees flying
around.) However, soon a very large animal came around doing its
morning rounds to find food and came up to the tree where the chipmunk
was eating his honey. First he scratched his claws against the bark and
then proceeded to climb up the tree so that he could eat some honey.
The chipmunk was making so much noise eating the honey (make chipmunk
noises) that once the bear got up there, what do you think he found?
(Yes, the chipmunk.) Alerted, the chipmunk quickly jumped up and ran
along a couple of branches, hopped onto the branches of the oak tree,
grabbed a couple of acorns, stuffed them in his mouth sacks (have the
children imitate this, puffing their cheeks,) and ran down the oak tree
and over and into his hole. It was scary situation but he'd managed to
get out of it. He told his friends about it and they all seemed scared.

The next day, he thought to himself that he'd like some more nuts and
especially some of that sweet liquid. So without asking his parents, he
raced over to the oak tree, up the trunk and started munching on a
couple of acorns. Then he raced over to the next tree where the hole
containing the sweet liquid was and started eating some. Soon the bear
was back doing its rounds again. He scratched his claws against the
bark and then proceeded to climb up the tree so that he could eat some
honey. The chipmunk was making so much noise eating the honey (make
chipmunk noises) that once the bear got up there, what do you think he
found? (Yes, the chipmunk yet again.) Alerted, the chipmunk quickly
jumped up and ran along a couple of branches, hopped onto the branches
of the oak tree, grabbed a couple of acorns, stuffed them in his mouth
sacks (have the children imitate this, puffing their cheeks,) and ran
down the oak tree and over and into his hole.

The following day the chipmunk come out to eat some more nuts and some
of that sweet liquid. Again without asking his parents, he raced over to
the oak tree, up the trunk and started munching on a couple of acorns.
Then he raced over to the next tree where the hole containing the sweet
liquid was and started eating some in his noisy way. Soon the bear was
back doing its rounds again. But being an intelligent creature, he only
scratched his claws against the tree trunk this time. The chipmunk
heard the scratching and, remembering the scary bear trying to catch
him, he scurried away along a couple of branches, hopped onto the
branches of the oak tree, grabbed a couple of acorns, stuffed them in
his mouth sacks (have the children imitate this, puffing their cheeks,)
and ran down the oak tree. But this time, not being up the tree, the
bear was able to chase the chipmunk toward his hole. The bear was very
close to the chipmunk and swung his large paw with his claws extended;
fortunately the chipmunk, being a very swift animal, scurried away even
faster and made it into his hole. The bear finally returned to his
honey.

The chipmunk came out of his hole and was very scared by his close
encounter with the bear. One of his friends noticed though that the
bear claw's swipe had lifted up the darker fur that was closer to his
skin to the surface as they skimmed his fur. He decided that since it
was almost as tasty and not as risky to eat acorns and other nuts, he
wouldn't try to steal the bear's honey.

Now all chipmunks have the three stripes on their backs, which act as a
constant reminder of why they don't eat the food of other animals, and
they don't make noise when they eat as this won't attract the attention
of the other animals, so they don't know that they're eating. (Remark
that it's also good manners for us at the table not to make noises
while eating.)

The chipmunk also learned that since it was such a dangerous experience
eating the bear's honey, had he asked his parents for permission to go
out exploring, being more experienced than he they would have suggested
that he avoid the kinds of trees that have bees around them because it
could be dangerous, as he is a ground animal and a staying on the
ground is safer because he can scoot into his hole for safety from his
predators.

By having several such entrances to his home in the ground, he can
eventually discourage his predators by going in and out of his various
holes and confusing them to the point that they leave him alone. It is
also interesting that had he met a martin in the tree the first time,
the story would have ended there as martins are very good hunters.

*****

Also another note to add to the story: Remind the audience that chipmunks
are rodents and by eating soft foodstuff -- such as honey -- their teeth
grow too long because it won't wear them down, which could be bad for the
chipmunks. This story acts as a good reminder that some foods may taste
good (chocolates and candies etc.) but too much is not good for us. We
might be tempted by something that seems good but if you ask for some
opinions or ask permission first, you might find out that it isn't good
for you, such as alcohol, smoking, and drugs.


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