Eagle Feather Finds His Medicine




Front Porch Tales with Barbara Belding Gibson. Come on, pull up a rocking chair, grab a glass of iced tea and let's visit a while. The Way it Could Have Been part 2 Last time we left Eagle Feather on his Medicine Quest. He has found the place he feels the Great Spirit has led him but first he must prepare himself. In anticipation of tomorrow, he began searching for a place to spend the night, a place where the first rays of the rising sun would strike. He could not intrude on his ancestors by sleeping in their home so he began walking east up a small side stream, passing Backbone Spring, the source of the water in the stream. As he turned north toward the cliffs near the river, he walked down the length of a long prairie. Suddenly he noticed a small herd of buffalo wallowing in a depression in the prairie, coating their hides with the mud from under the tall grass that grew in the moisture gathered there. As he watched the herd, they began moving south and east. He noticed a small, sacred, white buffalo calf following one of the cows and knew instantly he was to follow the herd. Soon they appeared to drop out of sight. When he arrived at the place where he had lost sight of them, he saw that they had moved down a draw leading to the river. There in the cliff wall he found a small cave* and knew that the Great Spirit was telling him to spend the night here. In preparation for the night, he carried clean, dry leaves and grass into the cave, carefully arranging them so that the first rays of the rising sun would strike him as he lay sleeping. Then he went to the pool at the bottom of the cliff and bathed in the clear stream in anticipation of the great event that was to take place tomorrow. He returned to the cave without any food because he intended to fast until the Great Spirit gave him his medicine. Until he could stay awake no longer, he sat on his fresh smelling bed and gazed into the darkening sky dreaming of what his medicine might be. The next morning, after his morning prayers to the sun, he climbed the cliff and walked quickly south to Backbone Spring. As he walked down the hill near the spring, he gathered several flint nodes to take back as his gift to his tribe. Then he moved on west until he reached a cliff overlooking the fire from the Nether World. He seated himself on the cliff and began to meditate. Soon he saw an eagle in the sky. The eagle began to circle, swooping down over the young man and on down through the smoke of the fire. As the eagle flew, a feather dropped from its tail and the young man knew without another thought that this was his medicine. He scrambled down the cliff face to the ground and retrieved the feather and lovingly placed it in his medicine bag. He stopped only long enough to ask the sun that was now shining over the rim of the little canyon to send his thanks to the Great Spirit. Then he started down the stream toward the gate, that massive cut through the cliff. He somehow felt that he should leave by the gate just as he had entered the day before. He returned to his tribe where he was honored with his medicine ceremony and given the name Eagle Feather. In his tales of his search for his medicine he included a description of the Gates of the Nether World and explained that any point made from the flint gathered from the hill near Backbone Spring would have the magical powers to kill whatever its owner chose as its target. * On a cliff face somewhere near the lake, there is a small cave which was the camp site for many people over the years. Here, in the remains of fires from ages past, has been found the small red bone from the head of a drum (fish, not instrument) as well as small bird points that were left behind when the camper left. In Gaines Bend where Mockingbird leaves Lake Shore Loop is a depression that holds water in wet weather. This has been known as The Buffalo Wallow for as long as I have listened to family stories.




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Possum Kingdom Lake

Fishing Report from TPWD (Sep. 17)

FAIR. Water stained; 80 degrees; 1.05 feet below pool. Stripers are slow to fair with live bait in 20-40 feet of water. Put your baits down in areas that you have marked fish recently and slowly move around with your trolling motor. You will bump into smaller schools of fish, but it will take patience while you wait for a bite. Sand bass are still fair to good moving quickly in 5-10 feet of water on main lake points and sand flats. Chrome and white seem to be out producing all other colors. Catfish are still fair to good with shad in 10-20 feet of water fished on the bottom. Baited holes are your best bet to catch numbers but will not produce big fish. Bait with cattle cubes and wait 2-3 hours before fishing. Use punch bait for best results on baited holes. Catfish should be spawning, so expect a slower bite. Water clarity is 2-6 feet of visibility but slowly becoming clearer. Report by TJ Ranft, Ranft Guide Service. The fall transition is in full swing, and fish are on the move! That means staying on top of the bite can be tricky, but the action has been worth the effort. Water temperature is 77 degrees with 3-4 foot visibility. The striper and white bass bite has been strong this week. Fish are stacking up on shallow points in 10–20 feet, with sporadic surface feeding early and late when there’s a little wind. Slab spoons, swimbaits, and downriggers are all producing, so keep a mix of gear ready. The eating size 1–3 pound catfish bite is absolutely on fire. Limits are coming in fast, often within just a few hours, using punch baits and dip baits. For channels and blue catfish baited holes in 20–25 feet near points and flats are paying off. The crappie bite has picked up nicely. Minnows are the go-to in 12–20 feet of water around structures and brush. Largemouth bass are crushing topwater at first light, then shifting to shallow crankbaits around dock legs as the sun climbs. Shaky heads are producing steady catches as well. Once the sun gets higher, a Texas-rigged

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