00:01The legend of the Indian paintbrush, retold and illustrated by Tommy DePaola, read by Harold Littlebird.
00:16Many years ago, when the people traveled the plains and lived in a circle of tipis, there was a boy who was smaller than the rest of the children in the tribe.
00:26No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep up with the other boys who were always riding and shooting their bows to prove their strength.
00:37But the boy, who was called Little Gopher, was not without a gift of his own.
00:43From an early age, he loved to decorate stones with the juices from berries.
00:49The wise shaman of the tribe understood that Little Gopher had a gift that was special.
00:56Do not struggle, Little Gopher. Your path will not be the same as the others.
01:02They will grow up to be warriors. Your place among the people will be remembered for a different reason.
01:09In a few years, Little Gopher went out to the hills alone to think about becoming a man, for this was the custom of the tribe.
01:21And it was there that a dream vision came to him.
01:25The sky filled with clouds, and out of them came a young Indian maiden and an old grandfather.
01:34She carried a rolled up animal skin, and he carried pots of paint and a brush made of fine animal hairs.
01:42The grandfather spoke,
01:46My son, these are the tools by which you shall become great among your people.
01:53You will paint pictures of the deeds of the warriors, and the visions of the shaman, and the people shall see them, and remember them forever.
02:01The maiden unrolled a pure white buckskin, and placed it on the ground.
02:09Find a buckskin as white as this, she told him.
02:14Keep it, and one day you will paint a picture that is as pure as the colors in the evening sky.
02:21And as she finished speaking, the clouds cleared, and a sunset of great beauty filled the sky.
02:32Little Gopher looked at the white buckskin, and on it he saw colors as bright and beautiful as those made by the setting sun.
02:43Then the sun sank behind the hills, and the dream vision was over.
02:51The next day, Little Gopher began to make brushes from the hairs of different animals.
02:58He gathered berries and flowers, and rocks of different colors, and crushed them to make his paints.
03:06And he began to paint pictures of great hunts, of great deeds, of great dream visions.
03:21So that the people would always remember.
03:26Many months before, he had found his pure white buckskin.
03:31But it remained empty, because he could not find the colors of the sunset.
03:37He used the brightest flowers, the reddest berries, and the deepest purples from the rocks.
03:43And still his paintings never satisfied him.
03:47He began to go to the top of a hill each evening, and look at the colors that filled the sky, to try and understand how to make them.
03:56One night, he heard a voice, calling to him.
04:03Because you have been faithful to the people, and true to your gift.
04:09You shall find the colors you are seeking.
04:12The next evening, Little Gopher went to the top of the hill, as the colors of the sunset spread across the sky.
04:22And there, on the ground all around him, were brushes filled with paint, each one a color of the sunset.
04:30Little Gopher began to paint quickly and surely, using one brush, then another.
04:42And as the colors in the sky began to fade, Little Gopher gazed at the white buckskin, and he was happy.
04:50He had found the colors of the sunset.
04:55He carried his painting down to the circle of the people, leaving the brushes on the hillside.
05:02And the next day, when the people awoke, the hill was ablaze with color.
05:09For the brushes had taken root in the earth, and multiplied into plants of brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows.
05:17And every spring from that time, the hills and meadows burst into bloom.
05:24And the people no longer called him Little Gopher, but he who brought the sunset to the earth.
05:47Nor did they show the sense of themanish hymn after I opened up.
05:48And the beautiful sun this platform, I told them that when that you were able to use fairly low.
05:52And the sunset was still gone, then there was another level ofbras.
05:54Of course, not until haze is high.
05:56I watched the sky as it was but the sun now opened up.
05:58And it should still remain where there's some impacts on the light.
