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| There is a legend among the ancient
tribes, which is often told by the Indians around their wigwam fires. it
is a legend truly strange, but its moral is ever true.
Two Elks had learned to feel that they were suited for companionship. Both were strong and lusty, bold and sleek of limb, |
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| but one was more favored as his antlers were
spread with broader grace, and his form was taller than his mate. They
had been inseperable for years.
One day the Elk more favored chanced to see the graceful image of himself reflected in the water at his feet while he was bending over a pool. He thereupon became proud, and assumed the airs of one above the common herd of Elkdom. So he wandered off to lead a seperate life, and |
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browsed on mountains higher than the
rest. He slighted his own mate, who, grieved and sad, sought solace in
the humbler companionship of Elks less favored, but with hearts more true.
It happened on day that, while the proud Elk was browsing on the summit of a ledge, a crag gave way beneath his feet, and he fell to the glen below. Bleeding and maimed, his graceful antlers broken and torn, he lay stunned and insensible for hours. He would of died there, but |
| the comrade of his earlier years went to him, and with mighty effort drew his broken body to a water-pool, bathed his bleeding limbs and gave him drink. The other Elks cried: "Why do you help this proud and haughty creature, who is receiving only his just deserts?" But the good Elk replied that if his mate, through vanity, had made a grievious mistake, it was no more than many others had done, who had failed to learn the lesson of equality. And so, through love for the unfortunate wounded Elk, deprived of beauty and lingering only to his certain, tragic end, he watched with kindness through the closing days, and made death seem less bitter for his friend. |
| Thus, the proud and misguided Elk
passed on in pain and sorrow. His faithful nurse and comrade, who patiently
desertion had withstood, lived on for many years, bereaved and sad, but
always a noble example of the principles of Fidelity and Love.
So, the legend of the Elk's companionship is told around the |
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| campfires of the Indians as they sit at night.
They dwell upon the few short years during which the favored Elk roamed
on the heights, and they never forget that the proud and faithless in reproach
are held, while the true and loyal gain unending praise.
Now, although you may regard this legend as a somewhat idle tale, I suggest that you mediate upon the time when, like the flesh and blood and bone of these two Elks, your body will decay, and nothing but the memory of your life will be left to represent you in this world. I would urge that you let Equality, Love, Kindness and Service hold you, as to a staff that makes for perfect manhood, just and pure. Think about the story of the Elks, the story old, it's moral ever new: a legend truly strange yet strangely true. |
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