But over time it began to dawn on the animals that something was not quite right. "We feed them and care for them like our own," said Bear, "yet they do not stand. They do not run and play in the woods like our children do. Nanabush will come soon. We must ask his help." A few days later, when Nanabush, son of West Wind, arrived, the animals told him their concerns. Nanabush told the animals they had cared for the babies well. Too well. "Children grow by reaching, striving for what they want," he said. "Not by having everything placed in their laps. I will go and ask Great Spirit what to do."
Spirits of the Wild
So Nanabush left the woods and went high into the hills to the west, seeking the help of Great Spirit. When Great Spirit heard the problem, he told Nanabush to scour the slopes of those high hills for a certain kind of sparkling stone. "Gather as many as you can," he instructed, "and place them in a pile on the highest hill." Nanabush did just that, until he had an enormous pile of the colored stones, many times higher than a man's head.
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