A Guiding Spirit

There was once a man who was tasked to go out and find food for his tribe. The tribe had recently fallen upon hard times and supplies were running scarce. Atop that, the man belonged to a small tribe and was one of few that were able enough to venture out and find food for his fellow tribesmen. He made his preparations before setting out. He gathered tools to help ensure his survival. He readied his bow and arrows for the prey that he was hoping to happen upon. Lastly, before he set out, he began to gather some basic rations for the journey ahead, but soon made the decision that he best leave it all for the tribe. He set out into the forest, and it was not long until hunger overtook him. The man scavenged as best he could, yet he was spending much greater amounts of energy then he was gaining.

Nearing the end of the third day, the man hadn’t seen so much as the tracks of an animal. He was slowly becoming demoralized over this quest that he had taken on. He was exhausted from all this hunting, he was becoming delirious from the starvation, and he was losing all hope due to there being no sign of wild game. Still, the man knew that he must continue on in order to save his tribe. He found a nice clearing to make camp for the night and immediately passed out due to the extreme mental and physical fatigue that overcame him.

It was not long into this slumber that he was awoken by a vision of a spirit. The spirit appeared to the man as a woman with a warm nurturing nature about her. The spirit said to the man, “Do not lose hope, my child, for you will soon find the food that you desire.” After hearing this, the man regained his morale and began the next day reinvigorated. Hearing that he would soon find food gave him the confidence that he so desperately needed to press on. He searched hard all through the fourth day and just knew that he was sure to find food for his tribe. Alas, even with the spirit's guidance, he was still empty-handed at the end of the fourth day. He was also feeling very weary, for he had expended so much extra energy because he knew that he was soon to find food.

This night, the man had barely started to set up camp before he passed out due to exhaustion. Regardless of this extreme fatigue, the man was shortly awoken by the spirit again. The spirit said to the man, “You cannot succumb to your exhaustion, my child; press on for you are close to the food that you desire.” Again, the man began the new day reinvigorated, but this time he could feel his body was nearing its limits. The man marched on and just when the sunlight began to fade, so did his faith in the spirit. He realized this was but a fool’s journey and chose carefully the place he might lie for his final slumber. He set his head on the soft dirt and prepared to join his ancestors.

The man was abruptly awoken by the spirit. She said to him, “Have faith in me as your tribesmen have faith in you. You are soon to find food; you must press on.” The man awoke to see a new morn. He had gone to sleep for what he thought to be his last, yet here he lay still alive. He decided the spirit must be right if he was still alive, and he decided that he must press on. He mustered up what little strength he had left and continued his journey. He eventually came to a river, and as though bestowed to him by the spirit herself, there was a hearty young buck on the other side. He used the last of his strength to quickly and quietly ready his shot. He sent the arrow, with the last of his might, sailing through the head of the buck. It fell to the ground with a thud. The man was relieved, for at last, he had found the food that might yet save him and his tribe.

The man walked away from this story a hero. He knows that he can put all of his faith into the spirits, for they will never misguide him. The spirits told him that he would soon find food if he kept going, and he did eventually find food with enough persistence. But I ask you this. Is there not a chance that the man knew he must find food, and that there was not another option? Could the spirit be no more than a hallucination brought on by hunger and exhaustion? Is the fact that he eventually found food not just mere coincidence and “soon” but a relative frame of time, something to keep him pressing forward? Could this guiding spirit of his simply be his own spirit, his will to survive, refusing to yield, and guiding him to just keep moving forward in the hopes that there may be food? No, not if you ask the man. The spirit saved him and his tribe, and this story will be passed on from generation to generation, and all the children will grow up knowing that the spirits will guide and protect them. That is the lesson that was learned through this one man's journey.

Author's Notes: This story was based upon The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost. I used that story as a vague outline when creating this one. The original story was about an Indian, of the Teton Sioux tribe, who had a mission of his own. This Indian was visited by three ghosts, and it was only the third ghost that caught my eye. The third ghost said that the man would be successful on his mission, if he were able to beat him in a wrestling match. The man won and ended up being successful on his mission. The last line of that story stated that this is why people always trust ghosts, and that made me ponder what sort of psychological things I could add into a story, and I guess this is what the outcome was. A story of an Indian who is guided by a spirit, be that his own or a ghost. In one of my psychology classes I learned about how people make connections and form beliefs around strong positive correlations, like touching a stove and it being hot or needing to find food and then finding food. I wanted to make a story that could display how we form these beliefs based on these correlations, be them causal or coincidental. Beyond that, I had hoped to maybe get across how deep these beliefs can run and how they are not easily broken.

The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913).