Deer Feather
A Rare Feather
We always enjoy finding a feather when we're out. Hand-me-down clothes from a bird, we could say. A gift from an unknown passer by. But sometimes it seems there is more to the story.
To the Native People a feather is often seen as a Gift from Great Spirit/Creator/God. A Tribe would honor a great leader with an Eagle feather for his headdress with each great deed he had done for his people. A sign of recognition for helping others as the tribe gave great importance on taking care of all.
Today's story may be like that in a sense. I went out kayaking on the lake this one evening.
I decided to go over to a tiny island where I know there are several Persimmon trees.
Persimmons when not ripe will pucker your mouth something terrible. One of those things you only do once. But when ripe they are sweet and wonderful.
You can not just walk up and pick them. One has to wait until they fall off the tree then you have a day or two to find them before they become hard or mush. A gentle shake of the tree may hurry a few that are ripe, but a violent shake will drop one's that are not ready yet. And you quickly learn it is smarter to just wait till they are ready and you don't have to ever get a puckered up mouth full.
Persimmons sure don't look like much. They are small soft sort of things laying around on the ground. They have many giant seeds and hardly seem worth the trouble. But one taste and YES, they are worth the trouble. They are good for wonderful breads called puddings. And I've had some luck with cookies, but they are best just eaten as they are and spitting out the seeds.
When I arrived at the tiny island only one tree had persimmons. I noticed over the years only one or two trees there seem to have fruit. I'm not sure why yet. Maybe they are like Ginko trees and have male and female trees? Maybe they just let the alpha tree bear fruit kind of like Wolves do?
When I looked on the ground there were no Persimmons anywhere. They were totally cleaned up. When I looked closer I saw deer poop everywhere. Aha. ... Wait, on an island? Yes, as I was surprised to see a few times, deer do swim. They look a bit like ducks with just their heads above the water. Ducks with giant floppy ears.
It was obviously the deer were swimming out here every night to gobble up any tasty persimmons that had fallen that day. That tells us we aren't the only ones who enjoy a sweet treat. The deer are making special effort to swim out to get them. Yum.
As I watched the sun setting I decided I better get paddling back to camp. I looked around and thought a bit about the one tree handing out a few tasty morsels every day and about the deer swimming out to the island just to enjoy one or two bites. I made up my mind I wouldn't come back to the island for persimmons. There were other places I can look. With the deer swimming all the way out here every night to search for that day's small offering it hardly seemed fair for me to pick them up. The deer and the trees had a good thing going. The deer poop gave the tree fertilizer to help it thrive, and the tree gave back with delights. I was kind of out of the loop as a human.
I felt good about deciding that. A small thing perhaps but I bet it was a giant thing to the deer. We have to think of others. As I gently walked the small rocky shore back to the kayak enjoying the setting sun I noticed there at the edge of the water was a giant feather. It was a Great Blue Heron Feather! They are very rare to find. I have only ever found a few of them. What a gift. And it was interesting it showed up after I made that choice. A feather for my headdress of sorts? A good deed for my tribe, the deer? I wondered. Surely we all count in this world and I had put them before myself.
As I paddled back to camp across the lake I thought of something I had read years before. To the Native People often a Chief's strength was judged by how well they took care of the disadvantaged in their community. Did they care for the elderly, the children, the sick, and those simply less fortunate? A strong leader tried to take care of everyone. It was the role Great Spirit / God had given them. And they needed to carry it well.
As I reached camp I was drawn to pull up the pewter description card I had written for the Great Blue Heron piece. It reads:
"Great Blue Heron - Our Own Path - Heron is a bird of myth and elegance as they stand strong and still. Herons teach us the abilities of self determination and self reliance. We don't need massive pillars to support ourselves but instead can rely on our patience and ability as we move through life. Heron People have a different perspective than the rest, and their seemingly unstructured lives allow for great diversity and insight as they spread their great wings far. Heron reminds us to always follow our own inner wisdom.
They were good words to remind me of following my inner wisdom. And I have a beautiful new feather to decorate my headdress... or small, more beautiful by the day, always moving, little home.
May we all strive to help our tribe wherever and whomever they may be.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." (Philippians 2:3-4)
P.S. A few evenings later I found a bountiful tree that was hiding right by camp. It was in an area many would miss and a place the deer wouldn't wander with the campers near by. A perfect tree reserved for people to enjoy.
A bountiful harvest every few days as they ripened a couple at a time.
