The Chemawa American
Printed at Chamawa,
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Vol. XXVIII
Oregon, and Devoted to the Inti ireits^of Indian Education
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| 3
MAY
8
Wednesday, October 13, 19gOPY - 1956
EAR-EATER, OR HOW THE WILDCAT LOST
HIS SMELL
The following interesting “Indian Story” was writ
ten by Charles DePoe of our English class—read it:
Once upon a time there lived a great big panther
in a forest. This panther was the king of that part of
the land. He was very mean to all his brother animals.
When he was hungry he would go out and kill a deer
and eat it, but he always threw the ears away. These
ears would decay and smell.
A wildcat that was hungry and one day looking
about for something to eat came upon the camp of the
panther. This wildcat sniffed around and found the
ears, which the panther had thrown away; and being
very hungry, he ate them, although they made him
awfully sick and made his breath very offensive.
After that his only food was these cast-away ears. He
soon became acquainted with the panther and was a
servant of his.
The deer decreased in number until the buck, the
boss of his people, called a meeting. Deer came from
all over the land to this big meeting. The meeting
was very exciting. The big buck told them that the
meeting was called to see what could be done about
the panther killing all the deer. They decided that
they would have to stop him or kill him. They were
all in favor of killing him, but the wildcat always kept
watch during the night to warn the panther of any
danger and they were afraid that if they attempted to
kill the panther that many deer and maybe all
would be killed. At this meeting the deer named the
wildcat “ear-eater.” The deer thought that the
scream of the panther was half of his strength
and were deathlv afraid of him for that reason, and
felt that if they could only deprive him of this scream
they would no longer fear him. The deer planned to
kill the panther by cutting out his diaphragm. At
night when the time came to go to the place of the
king, all went ahead to kill the panther except a 2w
that stayed behind to build a fire so that they iSight
celebrate afterwards.
It happened that the ear-eater was away that night,
so the deer had no trouble in getting into the
panther’s camp.
They stole their way through the bushes and trees
:*o. 4
as quietly as they could and had the camp surrounded so
they could give warning if the ear-eater was returning.
One big buck and two small ones, all very strong
and quick, left the ring that surrounded the camp,
and went on their deadly mission to the panther’s
sleeping place. They arrived at the opening and very
quietly entered. All the deer on the outside felt tense
while waiting for the outcome. After a little time,
they heard a sharp cry of agony, and soon after the
deer ran out and the big buck had something in his
right front foot. He gave the signal of viciory and
all turned and ran to the fire to celebrate.
Far away in the darkness and gloom of the night,
little ear-eater was straying about with his head down,
when the call of his pain-stricken master came to his
ears. He stopped, waited for the second call, as he
was not sure it was his master. The call came, just
as a clear note would from a horn. Ear-eater swung
around and headed full speed toward his master’s call
for help. In a very short time he was there ready to
help his master.
‘ ‘Go to the place where they have my diaphragm and
get it—hurry or I will die.” Little ear-eater said
nothing but was away to the place where the dia
phragm of his master was being stamped upon. Ear
eater slowly crawled up to the edge of a little opening
in the forest and saw the deer dancing and every once
and a while all would yell, sing, and dance with all the
spirit possible and start throwing the diaphragm
about.
Back in the forest the panther was slowly losing
strength. Every time the deer would throw his dia
phragm around it would take some of his strength
away, and he thought that if ear-eater did not come
quickly he should surely die.
Meanwhile, ear-eater was doing h. best in watching
for a chance to snatch the diaphragm. The deer were
dancing hard and were going to throw the “life” of
the panther into the fire. Ear-eater crawled too near
to the deer and was seen, and after being discovered
he entered the circle and dodged around and finally
snatched the diaphragm without being hurt.
The deer yelled that ear-eater had it. They started
(Continued on page 4)