One day as is often the case, a young warrior fell in love with the daughter of a great Chief. Upon meeting the young warrior the Chief was not very fond of the idea of this young warrior with his daughter at all, so he created a price for the bride that he was sure that the young warrior would not be able to pay.
“Bring me the hide of the White Deer, for it is believed that animals that are all white are magical, as is my daughter. That is the price for my daughter’s hand in marriage, one white deer skin” The chief knew that an all white deer was very rare and would most difficult to find. The white deerskin was the best and most beautiful material to use in a wedding dress, so the Chief felt good setting the task to such a high level.
So the young warrior agreed and before leaving on the hunt went to his beloved, and spoke to her “I will return with your bride price in one moon, and we will be married this I promise you.” Taking his best bow and his sharpest arrows he headed out to find the rare and magical White Deer.
Three weeks went by, and the young warrior was often hungry and lonely until one night during a full moon when he saw a White Deer that seemed to drift in and out of his vision with the moonlight. When the deer came very close to where he was hidden, the young warrior pulled back the arrow on his bow and sent his sharpest arrow through the wind. The arrow sank deep into the White Deer’s heart yet instead of falling to the ground in death the deer turned and began to run toward the young warrior. His red eyes shining in the night with his horns sharp and menacing pointing as he grew closer to the warrior.
Soon a month had passed and the young warrior had not returned as he had promised his beloved. Soon the seasons began to pass the tribe decided that the young warrior would never again return. The Chief’s young daughter never took any other young man as a husband, for she deep inside her heart she held a secret. When the moon was full in the sky, she would look out over the meadows and she would glimpse a magnificent White Deer through the mist, and as it ran if one looked closely you could see the quill of an arrow in his heart. She lived hoping the deer would finally fall, and her warrior would one day return.
To this day the white deer is special to the Native Peoples for it speaks to us of all that is Sacred in the Hoop of Life.
Mitakuye O’yasin
~ bear Medicinewalker
