Tale of Tim main
The old aged Indian chief walks out before the
village young.
“Today children, I will tell the tale of
Tim.”
He waits for the reaction of the children to
abate.
“Tim belonged to a poor, famished branch of the
Tlingit peoples. He was born into clan Raven as that was the clan of
his mother. This small community was short on supplies, and winter
was fast approaching. Tim loved eagles much, so with much love he
offered his extra food to them.”
“'Tim, please refrain from feeding the eagles, we have so little food we can't throw it away to the animals. If you have extra food now, we may all have sufficient food later.' village chief Gus had told him. Tim would not listen. He still ate little, and leftovers were offered to the eagles. Gus's cautionary suggestion became more forceful, but Tim loved the eagles too much to stop. 'It is my food to do with as I wish' Tim would say, 'and I wish to feed the eagles.'
“Finally Gus and the other villagers had had
enough, and they banished Tim. They divided his food supplies up and
had enough to survive the winter. Tim found himself in a bad way,
lonely, cold and hungry in the Alaskan freeze. He was finding
precious little to eat, and little to keep himself warm. When things
looked their bleakest for 'ole Tim, the eagles made their presence
known. And they had brought him an offering!”
“Tim's
eyes slowly rose from the field of snow to the delightful bounty
brought to him by his beloved friends. They had brought him the head
of Gus.“The eagles' offering did nothing to
stop Tim from dying of exposure an hour and a half later, but at
least they had given him a sweet smile to part his life with.”
The
children cheer.