A GRANDFATHER'S STORY
There was Grandfather,
his little grandson often came in the
evenings to sit at
his knee and ask the many questions that
children ask. One
day the grandson came to his Grandfather
with a look of anger
on his face.
Grandfather said, "Come, sit, tell me what has happened today."
The child sat and
leaned his chin on his Grandfather's knee.
Looking up into the
wrinkled, nut brown face and the kind dark
eyes; the child's
anger turned to tears.
The boy said, "I went
to the town today with my father, to trade
the furs he has collected
over the past several months. I was
happy to go, because
father said that since I had helped him
with the trapping,
I could get something for me. Something that
I wanted.
I was so excited to
be in the trading post, I have not been there
before. I looked
at many things and finally found a metal knife! It
was small, but a
good size for me. So father got it for me."
Here the boy laid
his head against his Grandfather's knee and
became silent. The
Grandfather, softly placed his hand on the
boys raven hair and
said, "and then what happened?". Without
lifting his head,
the boy said, "I went outside to wait for father,
and to admire my
new knife in the sunlight. Some town boys
came by and saw me,
they got all around me and started
saying bad things.
They call me dirty
and stupid and said that I should not have
such a fine knife.
The largest of these boys, pushed me back
and I fell over one
of the other boys. I dropped my knife and
one of them snatched
it up and they all ran away laughing."
Here the boy's anger returned, "I hate them, I hate them all!"
The Grandfather, with
eyes that have seen too much, lifted his
grandson's face so
his eyes looked into the boys. Grandfather
said, "Let me tell
you a story. I too, at times have felt a great hate for those that have
taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down,
and does not hurt your enemy. It is like
taking poison and
wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled
with these feelings
many times. It is as if there are two wolves
inside me, one is
white and one is black. The white wolf is good
and does no harm.
He lives in harmony with all around him and
does not take offense
when no offense was intended. But will only
fight when it is
right to do so, and in the right way.
But, the black wolf
is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him
off into a fit of
temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no
reason. He cannot
think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for
his anger will change nothing. Sometimes it is
hard to live with
these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to
dominate my spirit."
The boy looked into
his Grandfather's eyes, and asked, "Which one
wins Grandfather?"
The Grandfather, smiled and said, "The one I feed".
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