California Coastoan Indian Story
Everything that turtle understood in his world, and
everywhere that turtle could see, was the same color of blue. The blue sky met the blue
waters in one continuous color, and there was no way the eye had of knowing how far or how
wide or indeed where it all began and ended, and in this watery world of blue, Turtle swam
and swam and swam and every once in a great while he would close his eyes and try to think
of something else, but he could not, for there was nothing else except the blue. As the
gentle rolling of the blue carried him this way and that, the slow monotonous movement was
lulling him to sleep, when an odd and distinct sound unlike one he had ever heard,
appeared above his head. It did not sound like the peaceful waves that lapped at his
shell, it did not sound like the small breezes that whispered in his small ears, it was a
clear and distinct sound that caused his eyes to be awake, and when he raised his wrinkled
head to the sound again, indeed something quite beautiful appeared in front of him holding
on to a small piece of something that squished and squooshed when ever this beautiful
sight moved this way or that before him. Turtle had not used his voice for so long that
indeed he had lost it, and he did so want to ask this splendor before him what it was
doing here, but before he could even finish thinking, the beautiful object tenderly
touched the turtles face with something that he had never felt before, even his small
clawed toes or his shell had never experienced this soft, thick, damp and wonderful gift
in a color his tiny round eyes had ever seen before, because it was not blue. The gift
even smelled different than all of the oceans water and the breezes of the clear invisible
sky. Can you even begin to imagine what this wonderful gift was?
COMMENTARY:
When it is the time for change, no matter what our world
has been or for how long it has existed in this way, the instrument of our introduction
into transformation will appear when our curiosity is ready to accept exploration and
adventure.
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