Wishbone's Wolf River Flutes

"Hi, This is what I was taught... This comes from the complete story on how the first young man was told to play the flute by the Creator. I would share that with you but it would take about an hour if I spoke the words and much longer to type.
The background is that this boy around the age of 12 was a weakling that couldn't do much of anything. He was sickly and couldn't hunt, no body would play with him, the girls laughed at him....You know the situation.

Anyway, one day he followed a Great Elk into the woods with the intentions of hunting it and bringing back food for the village and impressing everyone with his skills. However, the Elk is a wily old buck that leads him deeper and deeper into the forest until he is completely lost.
To make even this long story shorter, after a very long time by himself in the forest his told the Creator that he missed the sound of his Mothers singinging and wished that he could have music. One day the wind was rustling through a stand of ancient cedars, the lower branches scraggly and bare. One of these branches was hollow and as the wind blew, a wonderful sound came from it. The boy said a prayer of thanks (he knew the Creator gave him this gift) , put some tobacco at the base of the tree, climbed up and snapped off the branch to bring it back down. He blew and he blew but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it to sound.

Then the his friend woodpecker came to him and told him that the Creator had given him the instructions on how to make it play. So the woodpecker told him to hold it out and then he landed on the outstretched branch and began to peck two holes in it, the length of his outstretched toes apart. But instead of pecking a round holes though, he pecked a slanted square holes. To connect the two into one, he then scratched out a very shallow channel between them Then he squatted on top of the branch, like sitting he would be tending his nest. As he wiggled back and forth to get comfortable, he instructed the boy to blow. All of a sudden, the flute began to play a beautiful low note but only one note and the boy quickly got bored tooting the flute. The woodpecker then instructed the boy to put his finger in places down the flute that felt good while holding it and the woodpecker reached down the length of flute from his perch and tapped in 6 more round holes at the places where the boy's fingers landed. He told the bot to cover them and uncover them as he blew and well....you know what happened...you have made the same sounds with your first flute! And so, out of respect for the woodpecker, every flute since that day has a a 'bird' and 'nest' to make it play!

Now the boy could make a lot of noises and this thrilled him for a few days but he quickly got bored and asked the Creator to show him how he could put the sounds together to make pleasing songs. This is how the Creator instructed him; For the next few days, I would like you to go into the open field and play the tree-tops that surround the field. If there are 2 together, then tap 2 times with your foot before preceding with the next note. If there are 3 trees together, tap three times. If it is high tree, play a high note and a low tree and low note and all of the notes in the middle for all of the other trees. When you can do this without stopping and it flows like the rivers, come back to me. They boy did as he was asked but it took many hours of following the treetops before he could follow them as easily as the rivers flow. When he felt he had reache the point where he could play all the treetops as easily as the rivers flow he, was so proud that he asked the Creator if he would like to hear what he had learned. The Creator said, 'No, you are not ready. There is still more to learn."

The boy was disappointed but he still asked what was the next step. He heard the Creator say; For the next few days, I want you to back to your field, but this time I want you to follow the birds. At first pick only one. If the bird goes high, then the note should be high. If the birds swoops and goes low, then the notes shoulds swoop low. If the bird hangs in the air, then the note should also hang. If the birds are warbling, then your note should also warble. When you can play all the the birds that visit your field as easily as the rivers flow, I want you to come back for you final lesson. And so, once again the boy did as instructed. At first he had a lot of trouble following the smaller birds, so he followed the hawks gliding overhead. After many long hours that stretched into days of sitting in his field, he had gained confidence and began to follow each movement and sound of every bird. It was a long time but eventually he could follow them as easily as the rivers flow. He was so excited that he felt he must play to show the Creator what he could do.

Once more the Creator refused to listen, and once more came the Creator's words; Now I would like you to go back to your field. I would like you to close your eyes and imagine the treetops... I would like you to imagine the birds that have visited your field...and I would like you to then open your heart and allow the spirit come from there, to your mouth and out of the flute. I will be there beside you, listening to the treetops and the birds and most of all, your heart. The young man did as he was instructed and at first he played the treetops in his mind and then the birds as they flew past and then the treetops and the bird's warble and before he knew it, he was making the most beautiful music that the Creator had ever heard. He had stopped 'seeing' and began to 'feel'. He was playing straight from his heart. In later years, after he taught many people to make these gifts from the Creator, he was asked the how he learned to play so well. Along with this story, he always added; It's simple really, I just play from my heart!

BRADD (THAWENO':KEN) POWLESS
Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Tyendinaga Reserve