"Cool Dawn's Story" a Gospel parable from the book The Last Western
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Frank Cordaro
Dec 10, 2009, 10:46:22 PM12/10/09
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Chapter eight/ Cool Dawn’s story – page 38
Once upon a time the Great Spirit said, "Now men have everything they
want-trees, beautiful flowers, animals, rocks, waterfalls, mountains.
Still they are unhappy. They do not love. They do not share with one
another. So I will show them how to love."
Then the Great Spirit made a special man-a beautiful noble man-and
sent him into the world with a great secret. No one knew what this
secret meant, not even the special man who carried it in his heart.
Now, when the special man came into the world, there was great
suffering everywhere.
The babies did not have enough food.
The tribes were at war.
A few people had cattle, fine harvests of great, delicious fruit, but
most people were starving. Disease and pestilence were everywhere.
The man with the secret looked upon the world and said, "Why should
men fight one another? Are not all men brothers? The village with
cattle and crops should share with the village that has none. There is
enough food in the land for each child."
The people had never heard this teaching before. They found it
strange, even insane.
The man with the secret himself did not know why he felt as he did.
One day there was a great contest among the tribes. The men were
jumping from high cliffs into a river that ran at the base of the
great mountain.
The contest would determine who could jump from the highest point of
the mountain and still survive. The brave man who could leap from the
highest place would be the king of the nation for one year.
All day the people watched as the braves jumped from the cliffs . Many
men died as they leaped from the mountain. There were jagged rocks
sticking out from the side of the mountain. There were boulders in the
river. The higher one climbed, the harder it was to avoid hitting the
rocks on the mountain and the great stones in the river.
At sunset the contest was nearly over. One brave had jumped from a
place halfway up the mountain. Cut and bruised, he was yet alive. It
appeared that this man would be king of the nation.
Then the man with the secret climbed to the top of the mountain. At
first, no one noticed him standing there. He was a dot on the sky just
at the place where the mountain went into the clouds.
Then someone in the crowd saw the man standing at the edge of a stone
platform that jutted out from the very tip of the mountain.
No man had ever jumped from that place-no man had ever even climbed so high.
For a moment the man stood there and stretched out his arms. The
people gasped. Many jeered and laughed . It was certain that this man
would die.
But as the man stood there, glinting in the sun, a hush came over the people.
The man lifted up his arms in a strange way, then stepped forward and
dived out into the air.
He seemed to hang there for a moment in the sun, like an eagle with
its wings spread against the sky.
The people gasped at the wonderful sight.
Then swiftly the man fell down, down, down-diving like an arrow into
the deepest part of the river.
In a moment he pushed up through the waves and swam to shore. He was
not cut or bruised in any way.
The people were amazed. They fell upon their knees and immediately
proclaimed this man their king.
Because of the way he soared through the sky, they gave him the name
of Eagle King; some called him simply the Eagle.
The Eagle assembled all the people that night. He told them what he
had earlier told the people of his native village. He told them that
though he was their king, there was another king still mightier who
ruled all things, who ruled the world and the sun and the stars, who
kept watch over the seasons, who caused the plants to grow.
"This great king/' said the Eagle, "loves all the people of earth as a
father loves his sons, as a mother loves her daughters.
"I speak of the Great Spirit/' the Eagle told his people, "and it is
he who is your true king, not the wind which some of you now worship,
not the moon which others of you worship. The Great Spirit is above
all the things we have worshiped all these years.
"I am glad to be your ruler, to look after the things a man can look
after, but remember, it is the Great Spirit who is the real king, not
I."
The people had never heard such talk from a man. "What does the Great
Spirit ask of us?" the people asked. "Shall we burn the oxen to him?"
"No," said the Eagle. "The Great Spirit doesn't care anything about
burning oxen. What the Great Spirit wants is something that our tribes
do not do very well. He wants us to love one another."
The Eagle paused just a moment here, a little surprised at his own
words. Sometimes he said things that he really didn't know out of his
own thoughts. He would say them because he felt he had to say
them-only later figuring out what they meant.
Now came one of those moments. Before he really knew what he was
saying, some instinct in the Eagle's heart caused him to say these
words: "The Great Spirit wants us to love not just the members of our
own tribe, but members of all tribes. He wants us to love even our
enemies just as he loves all of us."
When the Eagle said this, the people were even more amazed, and the
warriors of the tribe were the most amazed of all. Some of them were
angry. They had spent so many years fighting and killing that they did
not know any other occupation.
"How does a warrior love his enemy?" the general of the tribal warriors asked.
"By going to the enemy and extending the hand of peace," the Eagle
answered. "We must stop all wars at once, we must feed the children of
the enemies and all the people who are hungry, and we must enter into
peace with all the tribes of earth."
The warriors scoffed at this. They were too proud to go to an enemy
and make peace.
Then the father of the tribe, a man who was one hundred years old and
who had once been king himself, asked to speak.
This old man was very feeble. He had to be carried by younger men to
the stone platform where the new king stood.
"This man," the old man said in his cracking voice, "is our king. He
has won the trial by his great dive into the river. By our ancient
custom we must follow him and obey his law. "
Then with great effort the old man knelt at the Eagle King's feet and
kissed them.
The Eagle raised the old man up.
"Thank you, old father," he said. "But do not kneel at my feet. One
must kneel only for the Great Spirit."
"It is our custom," said the old king.
"But now we have a new custom: one worships the Great Spirit and one
loves all other men."
There was still much bickering among the people. They had never heard
a man speak like this before. Besides, the people were anxious to
begin their feast, for it was the custom that on the night of the
trial, the people had the greatest feast of the year.
The Eagle himself did not understand the things he had been saying. He
only knew that his heart had asked him to say them.
"The feast will begin now," he said. "At the end of the feast I myself
will show you how to love an enemy." The people cheered and ran wildly
for the great tables laden with food and for the casks of wine that
had been made ready for the feast.
At that moment the Eagle cried out again, surprising himself once more
and once more acting only on the secret instinct of his heart.
"Wait!" he shouted. "By the custom of the tribe, I have the right to
add one law which shall be eternal among our people."
The people knew this to be true. Each king had the right to set down
one particular law that would bind the people forever. But this was
the first king ever to make the new law the very first night of his
reign.
"What is the law, great and wonderful king?" the General of the Army
shouted sarcastically. Already he had it in for the new king.
"It is this," said the Eagle. "All laws are unlawful but one, that we
love one another."
At this the tribe jeered and laughed at the king. The warriors shouted
angrily, "He's crazy!"
The teacher of the tribe stood up and said, "This man would destroy
all the laws we have ever had. No one, not even the king, can do
that."
The people shouted in agreement with the teacher. They were angry now,
excited and confused.
The Eagle knew he had tried to do the impossible, and he didn't know
what he should do to quiet the people down. For just a second he
doubted the secret in his heart.
Down he came from the stone platform and into the center of the crowd,
his heart beating wildly. He sensed the danger and excitement in the
air.
He stumbled on a cask of wine. He stared at the keg and waited for his
heart to tell him what to do. Without a word he seized an ax that was
lying on the ground and struck open the cask of wine. He seized one of
the copper goblets that had been set on the royal table and filled it
with wine. Then he turned to the people and raised the goblet as if to
make a toast.
"You are right," he said. "My law was poorly thought out. Then this
shall be the law-The Law of the Eagle. Each year at this feast, from
now until forever, the new king must take a goblet of wine as 1 am
doing now. He shall hold it high above the people so that all can see.
Then he must say these words: We must try to love each other. The
people then must repeat these words after him. Then all shall drink
from the cup."
The people clapped and shouted, and many laughed. This was the easiest
law any king had ever passed-a mere gesture. All other kings had
passed hard laws, asking for more taxes, grains, and so forth. This
king, they thought, was a weak king to pass such an easy law.
The Eagle said, "1 shall be the first to observe the new law and you
shall join me. Teacher, write the law in the Book of the Tribe."
Then the Eagle solemnly held up the goblet full of wine. Slowly he
said the words; we must try to love each other. The people, half of
them laughing, repeated the words after him. Then all shared the cup.
Putting the whole thing out of their minds, the people began their
feast which would last for three days and three nights.
--
At this point in the story, there was the sound of a siren in the
street, and suddenly a police car, tires squealing, jerked to a stop
in front of the Nagasaki Zero.
"What is it, grandmother?"
Cool Dawn said nothing.
Now men came running out of the tavern into the glare of the revolving
light on top of the police car. There was shouting and scuffling. Men
and women swarmed about the door of the Nagasaki Zero, milling under
the popping red, white and blue lights. The whirling light on the top
of the police car flashed red into the room where Cool Dawn and Willie
sat watching. Another police car pulled up, its siren screaming. There
was more shouting. Officer Harlowe Judge, revolver in hand, came out
of this second car and dashed into the Nagasaki Zero. Now two
policemen dragged a black man from inside the Nagasaki and forced him
into their car. Officer Judge's gun gleamed in the red light. It was
then that Willie spotted Clio on the edge of the crowd.
"Clio!" he shouted through the open window.
Clio waved back. There was something worried about the way he waved.
"Come on up, Clio," Willie shouted. So Clio joined Willie and Cool
Dawn in the living room of the apartment. "What happened?" Willie
asked.
"They got papa," said Clio. "They put him in jail." Clio started to cry.
"It's okay," said Willie, feeling sorry for his friend. "It'll turn
out okay, Clio," he said, though he was as frightened as Clio.
Cool Dawn got some cookies and gave them to Clio and Willie.
Willie said, "My grandmother is telling a story about an Indian King.
Tell the rest of it, will you grandmother?" Cool Dawn retold the first
part of the story for Clio's benefit. He listened in a dreamy way.
Willie knew he was thinking about his father.
Now the Nagasaki Zero was quiet. The people had gone home. But the
lights were flashing as before, and the boys stared at the lights as
Cool Dawn continued her story. Willie listened so closely he could see
the Eagle King and the people of long ago.
But with another part of his mind, he thought of his friend sitting
next to him. He tried to think of something to say that would cheer
him up. He looked down at the street. There was no one there but
Officer Harlowe Judge. Under the red, white and blue lights he was
fondling his gun and peering up at the dark Texas sky.
------------------------------
Chapter nine/ Cool Dawn/s story/ continued - page 45
The last night of the great feast, the Eagle King went to the bank of
the river. He prayed many hours to the Great Spirit, and then fell
into a deep sleep.
The next morning he awoke to find his warriors standing around him in
a circle. The General of the Army came forward and spoke most
seriously and urgently. "We believe we should attack the enemy who has
just encamped across the river. His warriors are still sleeping, and
we shall take them by surprise."
"Go get one hundred bushels of grain, one hundred loaves of bread and
ten casks of the new wine," the Eagle King said. Messengers brought
these things to the king.
"What do you plan to do?" asked the General of the Army.
"This is the day I shall make peace with the enemy," replied the
Eagle. Then, taking a bow from one of the warriors, he sent a
white-feathered arrow flying across the river into the campsite of the
enemy. Scouts were awakened. When they saw the arrow, they looked out
across the river. On the opposite shore the Eagle King stood in his
chieftain's robes.
Alone and unarmed the Eagle paddled his canoe across the river,
disembarked and walked into the camp of the enemy. "It is a trick,"
said the enemy warriors. "Let us kill their chief."
But the enemy king spoke out. "Bring the king to me," he said. "We
shall see what he wants."
The Eagle walked up to the enemy king. He held out his hand in
friendship and said, "Brother King, I come to you in gentle peace. Let
us end our fighting, which has brought us nothing but suffering and
hardship. The children of both our tribes are hungry. The women weep
for their dead husbands. Let us declare a new day of friendship
between our people."
"How do I know you are telling the truth?" asked the enemy king.
Then the Eagle sent for the grain, the bread and the wine and set it
before the enemy warriors. It was food enough for many days. "I give
you this as a sign of peace," said the Eagle. "And now I must return
to my people."
As the Eagle turned to go, a warrior thrust a spear against his chest
and shouted, "This is a trick!"
The enemy king looked at the king curiously. He knew that the Eagle
was unarmed and that it had taken great courage to come into the camp
alone and unprotected. Then the enemy king spoke. "Have the chieftain
eat a piece of the bread and drink some of the wine and let him chew
some of the grain he has brought," he said. "Then we shall see if the
food is poisoned.”
The Eagle ate and drank as the enemy king commanded. "You see," said
the Eagle, "the food is perfectly good." Many of the warriors still
insisted that the Eagle was deceiving them. "Release him," said the
enemy chief. "After all, we see his warriors standing idly on the
opposite shore. They are not waging attack."
"One more thing remains to be done before we are at peace," said the
Eagle. "Release to me the four warriors of our tribe you are holding
as prisoners."
"Now it is clear why he has come," said the enemy general. "It is a
trick after all."
"The warriors are but two young boys and two wounded men," said the
enemy king. "They are of no use to anyone."
"Then you can't refuse to release them," said the Eagle.
The enemy chief said, "I cannot release them without the vote of the
war council, and I know the members of the council well enough to
assure you that they will not release them."
Then the Eagle, listening to something that was whispered in his
heart, said, "Let the four men go and keep me in their stead."
This astonished the enemy chief and all his warriors.
"He is crazy," said the General of the Army.
"Nevertheless," said the chief, "do as he says." So the four men were
released from the wooden cages where they had been imprisoned and were
free to return to their tribe in the Eagle King's canoe. As they filed
past him on their way to the river, the Eagle King embraced each man
and said, "Remember, you must try to love other people as your
brothers and sisters."
These four men who had been condemned to die would never forget what
the Eagle said.
When they returned to their own camp, the warriors wanted to know why
the Eagle had remained with the enemy. "He offered to take our place
as a prisoner of war," they told them.
"He is a fool," said the General of the Army.
That night, the enemy king went to the wooden cage where the Eagle was
held prisoner. "Why have you done this?" he asked.
Then the Eagle told the enemy king about the Great Spirit. He said
that all the tribes of the world were in truth one great family, that
all the people of earth were brothers and sisters and that through
love they could learn to be happy together. The enemy king had never
heard such things before. That night he slept uneasily.
The next morning, the enemy scouts found ten bushels of golden apples
sitting on the shore, a gift from the Eagle's tribe. "This is his
ransom," said one of the scouts, taking one of the apples. He bit into
the golden fruit and immediately fell dead.
When the enemy king heard of this, he was furious. "You lie to me," he
shouted to the Eagle in his cage. "You send my people poisoned fruit."
"My people have forgotten what I told them," the Eagle said sadly.
"He must die for this," said the general of the enemy tribe. The king
said, "I must consider this carefully." Then he went to his tent where
he spent the day trying to decide what to do. The king remembered all
that the Eagle had told him the night before. He remembered the
sincerity of his manner, the straightforward and simple way he said
things. He knew in his heart that the Eagle had had nothing to do with
the poisoned apples.
That night the king spoke to all his tribe. "The Eagle himself is
innocent. It is his people who have lied. They must make good for the
suffering they have caused. Send word to them that they must give to
our tribe 500 bushels of grain, 50 horses and 50 casks of wine. We
will then release their king, and we shall have peace between our
peoples."
Word was sent to the tribe of the Eagle, but the warriors refused to
send the grain, the horses and the wine. The enemy king then said,
"Very well. Then tell them to send a healthy colt in exchange for the
scout whom they poisoned."
This demand, too, was rejected.
The enemy king said, "Send this message. If by sunset tomorrow, the
enemy does not give us at least one bushel of grain and one cask of
wine, then the Eagle will be hurled from the top of the mountain into
the river."
All that night and through the next day, the enemy king waited for the
grain and the wine. He did not want to kill the Eagle, knowing him to
be innocent. But he had given his royal command before the tribe, and
now he could not go back on it without disgracing himself before the
people. He could not understand why the Eagle's tribe did not try to
save him.
Late in the afternoon he went to the wooden cage. "Your people do not
love you," the king said.
"They have not yet learned how to love," said the Eagle. "I shall have
to give the order to kill you if the gifts do not come soon."
"I understand," said the Eagle.
"Are you afraid?"
"Yes."
The king said, "It is not right that you should die."
"Perhaps it will be necessary," said the Eagle.
An hour later, with the sun lowering little by little in the west, the
enemy king, moved by pity for the first time in his life, sent the two
guards away, took a knife, and cut the rope that held the door of the
Eagle's cage. "I shall speak to the guards for a while," said the
king. "We shall walk over into that grove of trees. Then you can
escape."
"You have a merciful heart," said the Eagle.
The king called the two guards and led them into the grove. The Eagle
looked at the door of his cage. He broke into a sweat and began to
weep. He wanted to escape and save his life. Yet the secret in his
heart told him to stay. "Why must I die?" he asked himself.
He cried to the Great Spirit, "You sent me to teach love and I have
tried and failed. I can do no more. Am I not justified in escaping?"
His heart told him nothing at first. Then slowly these words came to
him: Stay here and destroy the cage for others. When the king and the
guards returned, they found the Eagle still in his cage, weeping.
"Look!" said one of the guards. "He has cut the rope!" "Then why is he
still here?" the other guard asked. The king drew near the cage.
"Why?" he whispered.
"I do not know the answer myself," the Eagle said. "Only the Great
Spirit knows."
"I must give the order now. The sun is set in the western sky."
"I forgive you," said the Eagle.
The enemy king felt his heart turn at the sight of the Eagle as the
guards led him away.
"Why did you not escape?" the guards asked.
"We must learn to love," the Eagle said. He was in a daze.
"Don't you know that you must die?" the guards asked.
"The Great Spirit will protect me even in death," said the Eagle.
"Fear has made him crazy," said one of the guards. Then the Eagle was
led to the top of the mountain that towered over the river, just
opposite the mountain from which he had made the great leap that made
him king. On both sides of the river, the people of the warring tribes
stood watching.
At the top of the mountain, the Eagle was bound hand and foot by two
braves. There was no hope now of escaping death. When the sun touched
the rim of the horizon in the west, the braves cast the Eagle off the
cliff. Down, down, down he fell, heavy as a stone. His body fell upon
the hardest rocks in the river, and then slipped beneath the waves.
Some of the people on both sides of the river cheered as the body fell
upon the rocks. Some gasped in horror. A few wept: the four prisoners,
the enemy king, one of the guards who had thrown the Eagle from the
cliff, and a handful of other persons of both tribes who had seen the
goodness and innocence of the Eagle. After a few minutes the people
withdrew from the banks of the river.
It was just then that the strange thing occurred. (Cool Dawn now spoke
more slowly; Willie and Clio leaned forward.) In the water where the
Eagle fell, there was a whirling and purling among the rocks. The
people went back to see what this commotion was. Suddenly, out of the
water, a great golden bird appeared. A gigantic, marvelous creature no
man had seen before, with great wings and flashing dark eyes. For a
few seconds he seemed content to ride on the waves of the river,
flapping his huge wings in the last rays of the sun. Then slowly he
lifted himself above the water, and slowly flew up out of the steep
canyon above the upturned faces of the people. Swiftly, more swiftly
still, he flew straight into the pale air until he disappeared in to
the blue space.
"The Eagle King!" said Willie in a dreamy, yet excited voice.
"According to some," said Cool Dawn. "On the other hand, many of the
people who were there said they saw nothing."
"Who saw the bird?" Clio asked.
"Only the four prisoners, the enemy king, the one guard and the few
tribes people who had thought the Eagle innocent." Cool Dawn paused.
She put one hand on Willie's red hair and the other on Clio's
shoulder.
"So you like the story I have told you?" she asked.
"It's a wonderful story," said Willie. Clio only nodded. He was
looking at the red, white and blue sign of the Nagasaki Zero.
"Is there more?" Willie asked.
"A little," said Cool Dawn. "After the death of the Eagle, the people
fell back into warfare. But the four prisoners and the few others who
had loved the Eagle went to the enemy king and to the guard who also
had seen the goodness of the Eagle and who had witnessed the miracle
of the Eagle, and together they entered into friendship. This little
group of people formed a special tribe.
"Each year, at the time of the feast of the Eagle, the tribe would
gather to make the toast and proclaim the words; We must try to love
one another.
"Young people from other tribes would inquire about the meaning of
this custom, and there was always a follower of the Eagle to tell the
story of the Eagle's short reign. So little by little the tribe
acquired new members.
"Even now," said Cool Dawn, "scattered across the face of the earth,
this tribe still lives."
"Is this the tribe you come from, grandmother?" Willie asked.
"Yes," Cool Dawn replied.
"Then I am a member as well," said Willie. "And Clio, too, if he
wants." Clio said nothing. He was still looking down at the strange
sign.
As Clio went down the stairway to go back to his own tenement, Willie
called after him, "Have courage, Clio. It will be all right." But Clio
did not answer.
That night Willie dreamed of a golden bird floating in the thin blue
air above the great city of Houston. Early the next morning Cool Dawn
awakened him. "Are you prepared then?" she asked.
"Yes," said Willie. Through still, dim streets they went to a strange
church called The Church of Saint Stephen the Martyr, and there Willie
made his First Communion.
When he came back from the table of Eucharist, having swallowed the
body of the Lord, Cool Dawn whispered, "We must try to love."
Willie replied, "We must try to love." Outside, the morning light had
come to the earth. The city was blue and magical, like a town in a
children's story or a dream. Walking alongside his grandmother, Willie
felt that he too might be in a dream.
Once upon a time the Great Spirit said, "Now men have everything they
want-trees, beautiful flowers, animals, rocks, waterfalls, mountains.
Still they are unhappy. They do not love. They do not share with one
another. So I will show them how to love."
Then the Great Spirit made a special man-a beautiful noble man-and
sent him into the world with a great secret. No one knew what this
secret meant, not even the special man who carried it in his heart.
Now, when the special man came into the world, there was great
suffering everywhere.
The babies did not have enough food.
The tribes were at war.
A few people had cattle, fine harvests of great, delicious fruit, but
most people were starving. Disease and pestilence were everywhere.
The man with the secret looked upon the world and said, "Why should
men fight one another? Are not all men brothers? The village with
cattle and crops should share with the village that has none. There is
enough food in the land for each child."
The people had never heard this teaching before. They found it
strange, even insane.
The man with the secret himself did not know why he felt as he did.
One day there was a great contest among the tribes. The men were
jumping from high cliffs into a river that ran at the base of the
great mountain.
The contest would determine who could jump from the highest point of
the mountain and still survive. The brave man who could leap from the
highest place would be the king of the nation for one year.
All day the people watched as the braves jumped from the cliffs . Many
men died as they leaped from the mountain. There were jagged rocks
sticking out from the side of the mountain. There were boulders in the
river. The higher one climbed, the harder it was to avoid hitting the
rocks on the mountain and the great stones in the river.
At sunset the contest was nearly over. One brave had jumped from a
place halfway up the mountain. Cut and bruised, he was yet alive. It
appeared that this man would be king of the nation.
Then the man with the secret climbed to the top of the mountain. At
first, no one noticed him standing there. He was a dot on the sky just
at the place where the mountain went into the clouds.
Then someone in the crowd saw the man standing at the edge of a stone
platform that jutted out from the very tip of the mountain.
No man had ever jumped from that place-no man had ever even climbed so high.
For a moment the man stood there and stretched out his arms. The
people gasped. Many jeered and laughed . It was certain that this man
would die.
But as the man stood there, glinting in the sun, a hush came over the people.
The man lifted up his arms in a strange way, then stepped forward and
dived out into the air.
He seemed to hang there for a moment in the sun, like an eagle with
its wings spread against the sky.
The people gasped at the wonderful sight.
Then swiftly the man fell down, down, down-diving like an arrow into
the deepest part of the river.
In a moment he pushed up through the waves and swam to shore. He was
not cut or bruised in any way.
The people were amazed. They fell upon their knees and immediately
proclaimed this man their king.
Because of the way he soared through the sky, they gave him the name
of Eagle King; some called him simply the Eagle.
The Eagle assembled all the people that night. He told them what he
had earlier told the people of his native village. He told them that
though he was their king, there was another king still mightier who
ruled all things, who ruled the world and the sun and the stars, who
kept watch over the seasons, who caused the plants to grow.
"This great king/' said the Eagle, "loves all the people of earth as a
father loves his sons, as a mother loves her daughters.
"I speak of the Great Spirit/' the Eagle told his people, "and it is
he who is your true king, not the wind which some of you now worship,
not the moon which others of you worship. The Great Spirit is above
all the things we have worshiped all these years.
"I am glad to be your ruler, to look after the things a man can look
after, but remember, it is the Great Spirit who is the real king, not
I."
The people had never heard such talk from a man. "What does the Great
Spirit ask of us?" the people asked. "Shall we burn the oxen to him?"
"No," said the Eagle. "The Great Spirit doesn't care anything about
burning oxen. What the Great Spirit wants is something that our tribes
do not do very well. He wants us to love one another."
The Eagle paused just a moment here, a little surprised at his own
words. Sometimes he said things that he really didn't know out of his
own thoughts. He would say them because he felt he had to say
them-only later figuring out what they meant.
Now came one of those moments. Before he really knew what he was
saying, some instinct in the Eagle's heart caused him to say these
words: "The Great Spirit wants us to love not just the members of our
own tribe, but members of all tribes. He wants us to love even our
enemies just as he loves all of us."
When the Eagle said this, the people were even more amazed, and the
warriors of the tribe were the most amazed of all. Some of them were
angry. They had spent so many years fighting and killing that they did
not know any other occupation.
"How does a warrior love his enemy?" the general of the tribal warriors asked.
"By going to the enemy and extending the hand of peace," the Eagle
answered. "We must stop all wars at once, we must feed the children of
the enemies and all the people who are hungry, and we must enter into
peace with all the tribes of earth."
The warriors scoffed at this. They were too proud to go to an enemy
and make peace.
Then the father of the tribe, a man who was one hundred years old and
who had once been king himself, asked to speak.
This old man was very feeble. He had to be carried by younger men to
the stone platform where the new king stood.
"This man," the old man said in his cracking voice, "is our king. He
has won the trial by his great dive into the river. By our ancient
custom we must follow him and obey his law. "
Then with great effort the old man knelt at the Eagle King's feet and
kissed them.
The Eagle raised the old man up.
"Thank you, old father," he said. "But do not kneel at my feet. One
must kneel only for the Great Spirit."
"It is our custom," said the old king.
"But now we have a new custom: one worships the Great Spirit and one
loves all other men."
There was still much bickering among the people. They had never heard
a man speak like this before. Besides, the people were anxious to
begin their feast, for it was the custom that on the night of the
trial, the people had the greatest feast of the year.
The Eagle himself did not understand the things he had been saying. He
only knew that his heart had asked him to say them.
"The feast will begin now," he said. "At the end of the feast I myself
will show you how to love an enemy." The people cheered and ran wildly
for the great tables laden with food and for the casks of wine that
had been made ready for the feast.
At that moment the Eagle cried out again, surprising himself once more
and once more acting only on the secret instinct of his heart.
"Wait!" he shouted. "By the custom of the tribe, I have the right to
add one law which shall be eternal among our people."
The people knew this to be true. Each king had the right to set down
one particular law that would bind the people forever. But this was
the first king ever to make the new law the very first night of his
reign.
"What is the law, great and wonderful king?" the General of the Army
shouted sarcastically. Already he had it in for the new king.
"It is this," said the Eagle. "All laws are unlawful but one, that we
love one another."
At this the tribe jeered and laughed at the king. The warriors shouted
angrily, "He's crazy!"
The teacher of the tribe stood up and said, "This man would destroy
all the laws we have ever had. No one, not even the king, can do
that."
The people shouted in agreement with the teacher. They were angry now,
excited and confused.
The Eagle knew he had tried to do the impossible, and he didn't know
what he should do to quiet the people down. For just a second he
doubted the secret in his heart.
Down he came from the stone platform and into the center of the crowd,
his heart beating wildly. He sensed the danger and excitement in the
air.
He stumbled on a cask of wine. He stared at the keg and waited for his
heart to tell him what to do. Without a word he seized an ax that was
lying on the ground and struck open the cask of wine. He seized one of
the copper goblets that had been set on the royal table and filled it
with wine. Then he turned to the people and raised the goblet as if to
make a toast.
"You are right," he said. "My law was poorly thought out. Then this
shall be the law-The Law of the Eagle. Each year at this feast, from
now until forever, the new king must take a goblet of wine as 1 am
doing now. He shall hold it high above the people so that all can see.
Then he must say these words: We must try to love each other. The
people then must repeat these words after him. Then all shall drink
from the cup."
The people clapped and shouted, and many laughed. This was the easiest
law any king had ever passed-a mere gesture. All other kings had
passed hard laws, asking for more taxes, grains, and so forth. This
king, they thought, was a weak king to pass such an easy law.
The Eagle said, "1 shall be the first to observe the new law and you
shall join me. Teacher, write the law in the Book of the Tribe."
Then the Eagle solemnly held up the goblet full of wine. Slowly he
said the words; we must try to love each other. The people, half of
them laughing, repeated the words after him. Then all shared the cup.
Putting the whole thing out of their minds, the people began their
feast which would last for three days and three nights.
--
At this point in the story, there was the sound of a siren in the
street, and suddenly a police car, tires squealing, jerked to a stop
in front of the Nagasaki Zero.
"What is it, grandmother?"
Cool Dawn said nothing.
Now men came running out of the tavern into the glare of the revolving
light on top of the police car. There was shouting and scuffling. Men
and women swarmed about the door of the Nagasaki Zero, milling under
the popping red, white and blue lights. The whirling light on the top
of the police car flashed red into the room where Cool Dawn and Willie
sat watching. Another police car pulled up, its siren screaming. There
was more shouting. Officer Harlowe Judge, revolver in hand, came out
of this second car and dashed into the Nagasaki Zero. Now two
policemen dragged a black man from inside the Nagasaki and forced him
into their car. Officer Judge's gun gleamed in the red light. It was
then that Willie spotted Clio on the edge of the crowd.
"Clio!" he shouted through the open window.
Clio waved back. There was something worried about the way he waved.
"Come on up, Clio," Willie shouted. So Clio joined Willie and Cool
Dawn in the living room of the apartment. "What happened?" Willie
asked.
"They got papa," said Clio. "They put him in jail." Clio started to cry.
"It's okay," said Willie, feeling sorry for his friend. "It'll turn
out okay, Clio," he said, though he was as frightened as Clio.
Cool Dawn got some cookies and gave them to Clio and Willie.
Willie said, "My grandmother is telling a story about an Indian King.
Tell the rest of it, will you grandmother?" Cool Dawn retold the first
part of the story for Clio's benefit. He listened in a dreamy way.
Willie knew he was thinking about his father.
Now the Nagasaki Zero was quiet. The people had gone home. But the
lights were flashing as before, and the boys stared at the lights as
Cool Dawn continued her story. Willie listened so closely he could see
the Eagle King and the people of long ago.
But with another part of his mind, he thought of his friend sitting
next to him. He tried to think of something to say that would cheer
him up. He looked down at the street. There was no one there but
Officer Harlowe Judge. Under the red, white and blue lights he was
fondling his gun and peering up at the dark Texas sky.
------------------------------
Chapter nine/ Cool Dawn/s story/ continued - page 45
The last night of the great feast, the Eagle King went to the bank of
the river. He prayed many hours to the Great Spirit, and then fell
into a deep sleep.
The next morning he awoke to find his warriors standing around him in
a circle. The General of the Army came forward and spoke most
seriously and urgently. "We believe we should attack the enemy who has
just encamped across the river. His warriors are still sleeping, and
we shall take them by surprise."
"Go get one hundred bushels of grain, one hundred loaves of bread and
ten casks of the new wine," the Eagle King said. Messengers brought
these things to the king.
"What do you plan to do?" asked the General of the Army.
"This is the day I shall make peace with the enemy," replied the
Eagle. Then, taking a bow from one of the warriors, he sent a
white-feathered arrow flying across the river into the campsite of the
enemy. Scouts were awakened. When they saw the arrow, they looked out
across the river. On the opposite shore the Eagle King stood in his
chieftain's robes.
Alone and unarmed the Eagle paddled his canoe across the river,
disembarked and walked into the camp of the enemy. "It is a trick,"
said the enemy warriors. "Let us kill their chief."
But the enemy king spoke out. "Bring the king to me," he said. "We
shall see what he wants."
The Eagle walked up to the enemy king. He held out his hand in
friendship and said, "Brother King, I come to you in gentle peace. Let
us end our fighting, which has brought us nothing but suffering and
hardship. The children of both our tribes are hungry. The women weep
for their dead husbands. Let us declare a new day of friendship
between our people."
"How do I know you are telling the truth?" asked the enemy king.
Then the Eagle sent for the grain, the bread and the wine and set it
before the enemy warriors. It was food enough for many days. "I give
you this as a sign of peace," said the Eagle. "And now I must return
to my people."
As the Eagle turned to go, a warrior thrust a spear against his chest
and shouted, "This is a trick!"
The enemy king looked at the king curiously. He knew that the Eagle
was unarmed and that it had taken great courage to come into the camp
alone and unprotected. Then the enemy king spoke. "Have the chieftain
eat a piece of the bread and drink some of the wine and let him chew
some of the grain he has brought," he said. "Then we shall see if the
food is poisoned.”
The Eagle ate and drank as the enemy king commanded. "You see," said
the Eagle, "the food is perfectly good." Many of the warriors still
insisted that the Eagle was deceiving them. "Release him," said the
enemy chief. "After all, we see his warriors standing idly on the
opposite shore. They are not waging attack."
"One more thing remains to be done before we are at peace," said the
Eagle. "Release to me the four warriors of our tribe you are holding
as prisoners."
"Now it is clear why he has come," said the enemy general. "It is a
trick after all."
"The warriors are but two young boys and two wounded men," said the
enemy king. "They are of no use to anyone."
"Then you can't refuse to release them," said the Eagle.
The enemy chief said, "I cannot release them without the vote of the
war council, and I know the members of the council well enough to
assure you that they will not release them."
Then the Eagle, listening to something that was whispered in his
heart, said, "Let the four men go and keep me in their stead."
This astonished the enemy chief and all his warriors.
"He is crazy," said the General of the Army.
"Nevertheless," said the chief, "do as he says." So the four men were
released from the wooden cages where they had been imprisoned and were
free to return to their tribe in the Eagle King's canoe. As they filed
past him on their way to the river, the Eagle King embraced each man
and said, "Remember, you must try to love other people as your
brothers and sisters."
These four men who had been condemned to die would never forget what
the Eagle said.
When they returned to their own camp, the warriors wanted to know why
the Eagle had remained with the enemy. "He offered to take our place
as a prisoner of war," they told them.
"He is a fool," said the General of the Army.
That night, the enemy king went to the wooden cage where the Eagle was
held prisoner. "Why have you done this?" he asked.
Then the Eagle told the enemy king about the Great Spirit. He said
that all the tribes of the world were in truth one great family, that
all the people of earth were brothers and sisters and that through
love they could learn to be happy together. The enemy king had never
heard such things before. That night he slept uneasily.
The next morning, the enemy scouts found ten bushels of golden apples
sitting on the shore, a gift from the Eagle's tribe. "This is his
ransom," said one of the scouts, taking one of the apples. He bit into
the golden fruit and immediately fell dead.
When the enemy king heard of this, he was furious. "You lie to me," he
shouted to the Eagle in his cage. "You send my people poisoned fruit."
"My people have forgotten what I told them," the Eagle said sadly.
"He must die for this," said the general of the enemy tribe. The king
said, "I must consider this carefully." Then he went to his tent where
he spent the day trying to decide what to do. The king remembered all
that the Eagle had told him the night before. He remembered the
sincerity of his manner, the straightforward and simple way he said
things. He knew in his heart that the Eagle had had nothing to do with
the poisoned apples.
That night the king spoke to all his tribe. "The Eagle himself is
innocent. It is his people who have lied. They must make good for the
suffering they have caused. Send word to them that they must give to
our tribe 500 bushels of grain, 50 horses and 50 casks of wine. We
will then release their king, and we shall have peace between our
peoples."
Word was sent to the tribe of the Eagle, but the warriors refused to
send the grain, the horses and the wine. The enemy king then said,
"Very well. Then tell them to send a healthy colt in exchange for the
scout whom they poisoned."
This demand, too, was rejected.
The enemy king said, "Send this message. If by sunset tomorrow, the
enemy does not give us at least one bushel of grain and one cask of
wine, then the Eagle will be hurled from the top of the mountain into
the river."
All that night and through the next day, the enemy king waited for the
grain and the wine. He did not want to kill the Eagle, knowing him to
be innocent. But he had given his royal command before the tribe, and
now he could not go back on it without disgracing himself before the
people. He could not understand why the Eagle's tribe did not try to
save him.
Late in the afternoon he went to the wooden cage. "Your people do not
love you," the king said.
"They have not yet learned how to love," said the Eagle. "I shall have
to give the order to kill you if the gifts do not come soon."
"I understand," said the Eagle.
"Are you afraid?"
"Yes."
The king said, "It is not right that you should die."
"Perhaps it will be necessary," said the Eagle.
An hour later, with the sun lowering little by little in the west, the
enemy king, moved by pity for the first time in his life, sent the two
guards away, took a knife, and cut the rope that held the door of the
Eagle's cage. "I shall speak to the guards for a while," said the
king. "We shall walk over into that grove of trees. Then you can
escape."
"You have a merciful heart," said the Eagle.
The king called the two guards and led them into the grove. The Eagle
looked at the door of his cage. He broke into a sweat and began to
weep. He wanted to escape and save his life. Yet the secret in his
heart told him to stay. "Why must I die?" he asked himself.
He cried to the Great Spirit, "You sent me to teach love and I have
tried and failed. I can do no more. Am I not justified in escaping?"
His heart told him nothing at first. Then slowly these words came to
him: Stay here and destroy the cage for others. When the king and the
guards returned, they found the Eagle still in his cage, weeping.
"Look!" said one of the guards. "He has cut the rope!" "Then why is he
still here?" the other guard asked. The king drew near the cage.
"Why?" he whispered.
"I do not know the answer myself," the Eagle said. "Only the Great
Spirit knows."
"I must give the order now. The sun is set in the western sky."
"I forgive you," said the Eagle.
The enemy king felt his heart turn at the sight of the Eagle as the
guards led him away.
"Why did you not escape?" the guards asked.
"We must learn to love," the Eagle said. He was in a daze.
"Don't you know that you must die?" the guards asked.
"The Great Spirit will protect me even in death," said the Eagle.
"Fear has made him crazy," said one of the guards. Then the Eagle was
led to the top of the mountain that towered over the river, just
opposite the mountain from which he had made the great leap that made
him king. On both sides of the river, the people of the warring tribes
stood watching.
At the top of the mountain, the Eagle was bound hand and foot by two
braves. There was no hope now of escaping death. When the sun touched
the rim of the horizon in the west, the braves cast the Eagle off the
cliff. Down, down, down he fell, heavy as a stone. His body fell upon
the hardest rocks in the river, and then slipped beneath the waves.
Some of the people on both sides of the river cheered as the body fell
upon the rocks. Some gasped in horror. A few wept: the four prisoners,
the enemy king, one of the guards who had thrown the Eagle from the
cliff, and a handful of other persons of both tribes who had seen the
goodness and innocence of the Eagle. After a few minutes the people
withdrew from the banks of the river.
It was just then that the strange thing occurred. (Cool Dawn now spoke
more slowly; Willie and Clio leaned forward.) In the water where the
Eagle fell, there was a whirling and purling among the rocks. The
people went back to see what this commotion was. Suddenly, out of the
water, a great golden bird appeared. A gigantic, marvelous creature no
man had seen before, with great wings and flashing dark eyes. For a
few seconds he seemed content to ride on the waves of the river,
flapping his huge wings in the last rays of the sun. Then slowly he
lifted himself above the water, and slowly flew up out of the steep
canyon above the upturned faces of the people. Swiftly, more swiftly
still, he flew straight into the pale air until he disappeared in to
the blue space.
"The Eagle King!" said Willie in a dreamy, yet excited voice.
"According to some," said Cool Dawn. "On the other hand, many of the
people who were there said they saw nothing."
"Who saw the bird?" Clio asked.
"Only the four prisoners, the enemy king, the one guard and the few
tribes people who had thought the Eagle innocent." Cool Dawn paused.
She put one hand on Willie's red hair and the other on Clio's
shoulder.
"So you like the story I have told you?" she asked.
"It's a wonderful story," said Willie. Clio only nodded. He was
looking at the red, white and blue sign of the Nagasaki Zero.
"Is there more?" Willie asked.
"A little," said Cool Dawn. "After the death of the Eagle, the people
fell back into warfare. But the four prisoners and the few others who
had loved the Eagle went to the enemy king and to the guard who also
had seen the goodness of the Eagle and who had witnessed the miracle
of the Eagle, and together they entered into friendship. This little
group of people formed a special tribe.
"Each year, at the time of the feast of the Eagle, the tribe would
gather to make the toast and proclaim the words; We must try to love
one another.
"Young people from other tribes would inquire about the meaning of
this custom, and there was always a follower of the Eagle to tell the
story of the Eagle's short reign. So little by little the tribe
acquired new members.
"Even now," said Cool Dawn, "scattered across the face of the earth,
this tribe still lives."
"Is this the tribe you come from, grandmother?" Willie asked.
"Yes," Cool Dawn replied.
"Then I am a member as well," said Willie. "And Clio, too, if he
wants." Clio said nothing. He was still looking down at the strange
sign.
As Clio went down the stairway to go back to his own tenement, Willie
called after him, "Have courage, Clio. It will be all right." But Clio
did not answer.
That night Willie dreamed of a golden bird floating in the thin blue
air above the great city of Houston. Early the next morning Cool Dawn
awakened him. "Are you prepared then?" she asked.
"Yes," said Willie. Through still, dim streets they went to a strange
church called The Church of Saint Stephen the Martyr, and there Willie
made his First Communion.
When he came back from the table of Eucharist, having swallowed the
body of the Lord, Cool Dawn whispered, "We must try to love."
Willie replied, "We must try to love." Outside, the morning light had
come to the earth. The city was blue and magical, like a town in a
children's story or a dream. Walking alongside his grandmother, Willie
felt that he too might be in a dream.
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