Comanche Dawn Read Online Free PDF Page A

on like a hawk?” he asked.
    â€œYes, I am holding the horns, Grandfather.”
    â€œGood. Maybe I have told you the story about where the first deer horns came from. Even if I have told you, I am going to tell you once again, because it is a good story. Hear me, Grandson.”
    Shadow grabbed the antlers with both hands as his horse stepped off a small ledge that had worn away in heavy rains.
    â€œLong ago, in the days when animals spoke words and walked about like two-leggeds, Deer was a young warrior who did not have any weapons and did not have a wise grandfather to show him how to make any. So he decided to make medicine and grow his weapons from the top of his head. His guardian spirits, who spoke to him in visions, told him he must eat green leaves and berries every night, and run from place to place to find enough food to have the medicine for growing his weapons. This was not easy to do, but after three moons had passed, the warrior had a beautiful pair of weapons on his head.
    â€œThese weapons were matched. Each one split into five branches, and they were curved like old moons. But they were still covered with fur when he grew them—like those you are holding on to, Grandson—so Deer had to polish them and make them smooth and sharp. He found many small trees that were just right for rubbing the different places in his weapons, and every day he would go from one small tree to the next and polish the different points and branches.
    â€œAfter the next moon had changed, this warrior had weapons that were smooth and shining, for he had worked on them long and carefully, as you have watched your own grandfather make arrows, Shadow. The points were sharp like a lance, and the curve of each weapon was thick and heavy like a war club, so Deer went away to seek battle.
    â€œHe found his enemies and he fought many battles with the weapons on his head. His wounds became many, but his honors numbered still more, for he counted many battle strokes. He became a great warrior among his people, and every father wanted his daughter to be the wife of Deer, for a strong warrior will provide meat and shelter for a father-in-law who is not lucky enough to die young in battle.
    â€œSo Deer had many wives, and many sons and daughters. He became so powerful that his enemies would no longer fight him. Instead, they would run away and hide when they saw him coming.
    â€œOne day, Deer wanted to couple with a new young wife but she ran into the thick bushes, and it was hard to chase her around in the bushes with such large weapons on his head. So he let them fall from his head, and they landed together on the ground, but he forgot where they had fallen. He did not really care because there was no one to fight, anyway.
    â€œBut now Deer’s wives were ashamed when they saw him, and to scorn him, they ran away with his rivals who still carried their weapons. Deer tried to get his wives back, but his rivals laughed at him and wounded him with their arrows and lances, and he ran like a coward.
    â€œSo Deer decided he was going to make his medicine again and grow new weapons. He prayed to his guardian spirits, but the spirits were angry because he had lost his sacred weapons and insulted them.
    â€œAnd so the spirits changed Deer from a two-legged into a four-legged who would always be hunted by all tribes of people. The spirits gave him some wives but told him he would have to drop his weapons after every winter had passed, lose all his wives, and make new medicine and new weapons all summer long, every summer, as long as he lived. And even Deer’s sons and grandsons would suffer for his insult. Their horns would fall off after every winter, and they would lose their wives and have to eat leaves and berries and hide from all kinds of people. And that was Deer’s punishment for losing his weapons and offending his guardian spirits.”
    They neared the place where the trail narrowed and dropped off