Shingebiss

A Chippewa Indian Tale

In his lodge on the shores of Lake Huron lived little brown duck, Shingebiss. When the fierce North Wind swept down from the glittering Land of Snow, four great logs for firewood had little brown duck, Shingebiss.

Brave and cheery was Shingebiss. No matter how the North Wind raged, he waddled out across the ice and found what food he needed. Pulling up the frozen rushes that grew in his pond, he dived down through the holes they left and got his fish for supper. Then away to his lodge he went, dragging a string of fish behind him. By his blazing fire he cooked his fish for supper and made himself warm and cozy.

At last the North Wind shrieked: "Woo-oo-oo! Who dares brave Big Chief North Wind? All other creatures fear him. Only brown duck Shingebiss, treats Big Chief North Wind as if he we a squaw-breeze!"

So the North Wind sent cold, icy blasts, and he made high drifts of snow, till not a bird or beast dared venture forth save Shingebiss. Shingebiss still went out just as he had before and paid no heed to the weather. He got his fish every day, cooked his supper every night, and warmed himself by his fire. "Ah!" raged Big Chief North Wind, "little brown duck, Shingebiss, cares not for snow or ice! North Wind will freeze his holes, so he can get no food; then Big Chief will conquer him!" So the North Wind froze the holes where the little brown duck fished and heaped his pond with snow.

But, when Shingebiss found his holes closed so he could not reach the water, he did not even murmur. He just went cheerily on till he found another pond on which there was no snow. Then he pulled up the rushes there and made new holes for himself through which he could do his fishing.

"Brown Duck shall know who is Chief!" the North Wind howled in anger and for days and days and days, he followed the little brown duck. He froze up his holes in the ice and covered his ponds with snow.

But Shingebiss walked forth fearlessly, just as he had before. He always got a few fish before each hole was frozen and he still went cheerily home every night dragging his fish behind him.

"Woo-oo-oo! Woo-oo-oo!" The North Wind now roared in fury. "Big Chief will go to the lodge of little brown duck, Shingebiss. Big Chief will blow in his door, sit down by his side, and breathe icy breath till he freezes."

Now Shingebiss at that moment had just eaten his supper, and he was sitting cozily warming his webbed feet by the blaze of his bright, burning fire.

Carefully, holding his breath, so Shingebiss should not hear him, quietly, very quietly, North Wind crept up to the lodge. But Shingebiss felt the icy cold come in through the cracks of the door.

"I know who is there," he though. And he began to sing sturdily:

"Ka-neej, Ka-neej,

Bee-in, Bee-in,

Bon-in, Bon-in,

Ok-ee, Ok-ee,

Ka-weya, Ka-weya!"

And the North Wind knew he was saying:

"North Wind, North Wind, fierce of feature,

You are still my fellow creature;

Blow your worst, you can't freeze me;

I fear you not, and so I'm FREE!"

Then North Wind was raging, but he kept his voice to a whisper and he said: "Big Chief will freeze him!"

So North Wind crept under the door, he slipped up behind little Shingebiss, and sat down by the fire. Now Shingebiss knew he was there, but he paid no heed at all. He kept on singing louder:

"Ka-neej! Ka-neej!

Bee-in, Be-in."

"Big Chief will stay till he freezes," whistled the fierce North Wind, and he breathed his iciest breath. But, at that moment, Shingebiss leaned over and stirred his fire. A shower of sparks leaped up and the log glowed ruddy gold.

The North Wind's frosty hair began all at once to drip, his icy face started to drip, the tears ran down his cheeks, the mighty puff of his breath grew fainter and fainter and fainter. But Shingebiss still sat warming his little webbed feet by the blaze and he still continued to sing:

"North Wind, North Wind, fierce of feature,

You are still my fellow creature."

At length North Wind gave a shriek. "Big Chief is melting!" he cried. And he rushed headlong through the doorway and flung himself on a snowbank.

"Strange little brown duck, Shingebiss," he murmured weakly to himself. "Big Chief North Wind can't starve him, can't freeze him, can't make him afraid! Ugh! North Wind will let him alone. The Great Spirit is with him."

I transcribed this from My Book House volume 2 story book from 1971.

I'll try to not plagiarize Fallout 3 when I write my post-apocalyptic fiction. It'll be tough though.

Taking deep breaths helps. I'm surprised by how much it helps.

End the hiatus of happiness,

And find the pinnacle of life

In the notes of the guqin.

Mimic the mantra of the

Ubiquitous resonance of rain.

300th Post

Desiderata

By Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even to the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;

they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter,

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals,

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love,

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

The giant reaches his hands to the top of the wall,

Digs his feet into the face of the stone wall,

And begins to climb.

Granule doves fly about the crown of his head.

His muscles are frail because of their age.

The giant's eyes begin to float above the wall as he climbs,

And he tucks the top of the wall into his armpits.

He sees the ocean and the setting Sun on the other side,

And smiles.

Outline

Guy plays the piano

Forgets to breath

Dies at the end of performance

Audience is amazed.

Just before I went to bed last night, I read Wikipedia about Cornell and Harvard and Yale. And then I had a weird dream. It started out with me standing somewhere in the middle of the field with two other people. One of them was a professor at Harvard and the other one was a student trying to be admitted. The student was standing on a metal bench like the one's on the sidelines at football games. After a brief time passed, the student stepped off the bench and grabbed his bags and left, and the professor looked around like he lost somebody in a crowd, but I was the only one in the field. Then his eyes stalely fell upon me. He asked me to step on the bench, so I did. What I did afterwards is a little unclear, I'm pretty sure it was some kind of obstacle course or something, because that's the final test of Harvard admissions. After I had finished the physical activity, there was one last thing that I needed to do, I needed to watch something and examine it and find something out of place that wasn't obvious. That wasn't obvious. The entire time, the professor looked at me like I was a piece of shit. I started watching what we were supposed to be watching with 10 or so other admission prospects and I first looked at their faces, because they appeared instantaneously, and they were all yelling and smiling and cheering like they were at a football game. I looked down and saw some woman, I think Marilyn Monroe was having sex with someone on the grass, and all I could see was her face and she looked like she was enjoying it but at the time all I could think was that they were raping her, and cheering. And afterwards I don't remember what I point out, I think it has something to do with the grass, the professor tells me that I should leave, and so I do. And he was a professor, not an admissions officer or something like that. I don't know what he taught, he was kind of young, maybe early 30's. And after leaving I take a plane somewhere, the view looks like somewhere in the gorge but it's supposed to be in Colorado or something. Something happens at the airport and I'm delayed and that has nothing to do with anything. After it's delayed or whatever, I'm at my house and it's night time, and somebody walks into my house, and he's a big muscular young guy. As soon as he walks in, I hate him but for no reason. He has two big duffel bags of stuff and a rolling suitcase that he puts down in my living room and he sits on the couch and I ask him what the hell he's doing and he says that he's going to stay here now until his dad finishes buying the house and I'm like what the hell there's no way. I look outside the window and I see a red generic sports car, and I also get a vision of his father, he's never present in the dream but I see him in my mind and he looks a lot like the professor now that I think about it, except he's in a business suit in my mind but was wearing a track suit at the beginning and the general idea that this guy and his father are very wealthy, to the point we're they can do whatever they want with their money, like bribe cops and politicians and buy anything they want. Then some amount of time passes and Mason comes over and we're standing and talking in the living room and he's still there just sitting, and he gets up and says something sexually uncouth about her breasts and she gets mad and leaves and I'm livid and I think I start punching him in the chest or something. I don't know why but this feeling of fragility comes over me and I back away from him, but I still attack him with other things. And he comes toward me laughing and I'm throwing plates and cups at his skull for sometime and he gets angrier and angrier and I start insulting him verbally in some way, but it's too calm, I just say it to him in a normal voice and he responds in a normal voice. And at some point I run outside and hide in some grass, and it's somewhere else next to a small road. And the grass is dried like hay. And it's night time and he's looking for me with someone else, and they look around for awhile but can't find me. Then they go to some corner of the grass field and I get out of the grass and run down the road and they see me but don't chase after me, and we're in the middle of no where. After that I'm somewhere else and I'm talking to somebody about what happens and we talk about me going back and getting that guy out of my house. So I go back and it's daytime and I'm fighting him again, but it's in a really cowardly way, I'm standing at a distance throwing objects at him or something because I'm actually scared that he'll get to close and hurt me badly. He's taller than me and with more muscle and I'm scared. I don't think what I do would be what I would do in reality but it's what I did. He gets increasingly angry because I'm throwing bricks and rocks and other things at him and he's getting bloody, but he never runs at me. The entire time he just walks slowly towards me and I walk slowly backwards. Emotions then start to develop and I become angry that he's not leaving and he still continues to pursue me and he has been threatening me with death and torment and suddenly I am murderously enraged and grab a garden hose and run towards him and wrap it several times around his neck and squeeze. I squeeze until his face is dark red but something happens and he becomes free and pushes me back into some bushes and I'm still murderously enraged so I get up and I have to jump to actually reach his face with my fists and I start punching him right in his nose but I'm still afraid of his retaliation the entire time. And I wake up.

Went to sleep at 6, woke up at 3. Found a "songs that touch you deep" thread. Been there since.

The old giant walks,

And wisps his hands through forest canopies.

Born of the stars,

His height above trees,

The night sky and the universe beheld

Always and never unviewable.

He walks slowly through the land and

Slumbers in a grove as daylight rains.

The old giant,

His forest unreachable.