The Completion of The Lodge for The Human Spirit

" When the First Campground on earth was in the planning stages, The Thunder-beings came from all four corners of the world to decide what would be the best plan of attack to acheive both the wishes of Great Spirit and the wishes of The Animal People they found living there. They were to make it just like the place where They lived, The Great Medicine Lodge in The Sky ."
" The Thunder-beings did that and work on The Campground started out ok. But then one day, They got angry at one point because many of The Animal People were loud and noisy, and all that noise made it difficult for any body to accomplish anything. Most of it was coming from The Rabbit People. So in order to bring some peace to the place, they asked White Elk to bring everybody to order real fast or The Campground would never get built!"
"They asked White Elk to do the job, because when he bellowed, everybody could hear him from miles around. And You didn't mess with Him when He was on the warpath. You shut up and listened!"
" But White Elk was of good heart and good intentions and when he addressed the other Animal People (after he got their attention) he did it so gently and lovingly, they all listened and did what he asked them to."
" Listen, My Friends, White Elk said, The Thunder-beings need to have some quiet around here if any work is going to get done, and I know You are all anxious to have The Campground done before The Winter Snows settle in, so stop Your bickering and complaining and quiet down. I've been told to bring some order around here, so let's move over to the other meadow so they can work in peace. Everybody complied although The Rabbit People could still be heard whimpering about it. They always wanted to be first in everything."
" That's true, The Rabbit People said amongst each other. White Elk's right. We better quiet down.. So they all quieted down and asked Little Rabbit to be their spokesman and to make sure their requests were heard and well taken care of. Litle Rabbit was smart & could probably represent all The Rabbit People, in spite of their differences.. Although they were small in stature compared to the other Animal People & there were as many different opinions on what was best for THEIR family, they all agreed on one thing:They had a right to be taken just as seriously as The Big Animals, too! And if anyone could get his voice heard, He could."
" So Little Rabbit came to the front of the crowd and took his place along side Little Bear, White Eagle, and all the other elders that were gathered in the meadow. Things went well for quite awhile and a lot of work got done while The Animal People watched the goings-on in silence. Although they couldn't see much(they were too far away for their eyes to see) White Elk & Gray Feather, The Hawk People's spokesman kept them informed of what was happening as they went back and forth from the worksite to The Animal People to get a closer view and to relay any messages The Thunder-beings wished them to take back with them . They told all The Animal People that there were many lodges being built, very handsomely, using The Birch people and the Pine people for the poles and The Buffalo People for the coverings. They all centered around a huge lodge in the middle. It was left unfinished because it was the most important lodge of all and occupied the most sought after spot in the meadow. The details of its construction were very elaborate and the Thunder-beings wanted all The Animal People's imput into how it would be built and what it would be used for."
" The Thunder-beings then consulted with the elders of each tribe to get their opinion on how they wanted their lodges to be built but no one had come to Little Rabbit to ask him what The Rabbit People wanted. Little Rabbit was very upset. He thought that because of their huge numbers and the size of their clan, he should have been the first to be consulted. Maybe he would be called on at the end of the day when it came time to put the finishing touches on the big lodge in the center, he thought. From the way Hawk & White Elk described it, it was the only one large enough! to accomodate all the Rabbit People, as far as he was concerned. He was sure he would be consulted about its details. But the day was nearly coming to an end, and still, The Thunder-beings hadn't sent for him."
" Little Bear, " Rabbit said to him, who was sitting next to him, " What's going on?, Why haven't they called Me? What have You seen? "
" Not much, " Little Bear said, " although I met with one of their representatives. I'm sure They took my request and are working on our lodge."
" What else do You know? What about the others? "
" We were taken to a clearing and asked what We wanted and needed, things like how We would like Our lodge to be constructed and what materials We wanted Them to use. We told Them We preferred they used The Rock People for Our Lodge rather than The Tree People, but We didn't actually see Them doing it. It's a secret. When its all done, We'll all be brought in together to have a big ceremony to honor Great Spirit for what He's done for Us. You'll just have to wait, that's all. I wouldn't try to sneak away to get a glimpse of what's going on either, unless You're asked. You better not interfere with Them, if I were You. Now stop asking so many questions. You'll get Your turn."
But Little Rabbit rabbit just kept on whining & whimpering about how it wasn't fair, or something like that, until Little Bear had enough and boxed Rabbits ears so badly that they turned pink and swelled so big He had to go see the doctor to get them bandaged. Only in those days, there weren't no official doctors among The Animal People so They had to invent their own medicine. Rabbit went to see Coyote to get patched up, but You know Coyote, He did a pretty shabby job of it, and that's why Rabbit's ears to this day are still big and pink and way out of proportion to the rest of His body.
Anyway, Little Rabbit wasn't satisfied with Little Bear's words and decided to talk to The Thunder-beings Himself. He stole away from the circle and searched everywhere for Them and eventually found Them, . In fact he got to see the whole thing, even though he wasn't supposed to. He couldn't contain himself, so he went back to where the other RabbitPeople were staying and told them everything He saw. They decided to get a warparty together and storm the place, but Little Rabbit convinced them that that wouldn't be the way to do it. Instead They got several scouts together to follow Him back to where The Thunder-beings were working and present them with their requests themselves. When They arrived, They found all the lodges completed and not a single one had their name on the flap-door. Little Rabbit went up to them and said it wasn't fair that they were'nt consulted first and demanded an explanation.
First of all, You don't demand ANYTHING from The Thunder-beings, nor are You supposed to watch how they do things. The Thunder-being from the South said that they had no business being there and was very angry. He shot out a huge bolt of lightning that struck Little Rabbit and the other scouts hind legs and made them swell up to twice their size, too. Now all The Rabbit People needed to get doctored up. But since They were there, The Thunder-being told Them the whole truth of the matter and why they weren't consulted.
All their whimpering and their bickering was heard and felt as far away as The Stars in The Sky and First Father & Mother told them that because they wouldn't shut up and wait their turn, that their lodge would be built underground and they wouldn't be represented on council in The Sacred Circle of The Great Medicine Lodge. Period! Until they learned how to behave properly and respect the orders of White Elk and the other elders assigned to The Campground. To this day their lodges are still constructed underground.
And why do You think they are still hopping about all the time and why they scurry under the nearest hollow log they can find when they see Eagle circling above? Its because their whimpering and bickering amongst themselves and their impatience to get the last word in before The Campground was completed, and Their disobeying White Elk's orders, and all the rest,.nearly caused The Campground to remain unfinished. They also caused Eagle to lose His rightful place as Guardian of The Center Lodge & Keeper of the Great Medicine from The Sky inadvertantly. When The Thunder-beings were so furious with them for disobeying orders that they sent their thunderbolts from all parts of The Sky. (which of course interrupted the whole work schedule,) The Thunderbolts not only hit Little Rabbit and the scouts right in the backside on Their hind legs causing them to keep on jumping to this day like a scared rabbit, they hit the hind legs of ALL The Rabbit People to scatter them too. That way all their arguing and bickering and all their whimpering wouldn't be heard by any of The Animal People.
" But how did Eagle lose his place as elder of The Medicine Lodge?"
" The Guardianship of The Great Medicine Lodge went to Eagle and Cougar, instead of Eagle alone because First Father & First Mother heard all the racket and decided to re-draw the whole plan. Even Eagle got angry.Eagle doesn't like to share honors with anybody, even Cougar. And He blames The Rabbit People for it. Even though He knew the importance of silence & was a good example of that, and although He never argued with anybody, He too had to learn about harmony and getting along with others."
"After First Father & First Mother heard what was going on, They reconsidered The Rabbit People's complaint about everyone needing to be represented. If they had given The Great Medicine Lodge to The Eagle People only, none of The Animal People would be represented at all. But Cougar, with his courage and his clear vision could represent The Animal People very well indeed. And for all intents and purposes, Cougar & Eagle have learned to get along pretty well since First Father & Mother decided to make The Keeper of The Medicine Lodge a joint- guardianship."
" Now We ALL know in order for such a powerful Medicine to reach ALL The Earth People as well as The Sky People in the proper way can only be accomplished when We are in Perfect Harmony with ALL Our Brothers & Sisters."
Everybody was happy about The decisons that were made and the changes in The Plans , except The Rabbit People, of course. But in due time they came to accept the way things are and the rest of the work went along very smoothly from that point on."
" Originally, First Father & First Mother did consider giving The Gaurdianship in The Center Lodge to The Rabbit People since there were so many of them ... well, when You interrupt Their Work like that & won't stop............By Red Turtle as told to TwoHawk."

The Great Medicine Lodge is complete for The Animal & Tree people, but what about us? If all The Human People would do the same, don't You think we would be well-represented on The Council of The Great Lodge? Why can't We just stop all this nonsence so we can have Our Medicine Lodge completed.?

(Hmmm......... Maybe The Completion of The Lodge is what this "Quickening" we are hearing about IS all about:

The Completion of The Lodge for The Human Spirit.

That is all ! - Red Turtle Speaking through White Eagle -