THE LEGEND OF THE BLUEBONNET

Story Elements

By Cinda Keane

CHARACTERS

Comanche People

She-Who-Is-Alone

Great Spirits

SETTING The story takes place long ago on the

plains of Texas within a tribe of nomadic Indians.

PROBLEM The land and the people are dying

because of a drought. They dance and sing, but the Great

Spirits send no rain.

EVENTS The shaman tells the

people that the Great Spirits say the people must give back to the earth and sacrifice the most valuable possession among them.

The people think about it, but don’t know what they should sacrifice.

EVENTS She-Who-Is-Alone takes her doll, which

is her most valuable possession, and burns it in the middle of the night as a sacrifice to the Great Spirits.

She scatters the ashes to the North, East, South, and West, then falls asleep.

SOLUTION In the morning,

She-Who-Is-Alone and all the people wake to find bluebonnets covering the hills and rain falling from the sky. The drought is over!

The little girl’s name is changed to One-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People.

STORY MAPCHARACTERSComanche PeopleShe-Who-Is-AloneGreat Spirits

SETTINGTexas plainsLong ago PROBLEM

Drought (no rain)People are dying

EVENTSGreat Spirits tell people to sacrifice.People don’t know what to sacrifice.

EVENTSShe-Who-Is-Alone sacrifices her doll and scatters the ashes.

SOLUTIONIn the morning, bluebonnets cover the hills, and the rain comes.Name changed to She-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People.

SUMMARY Long ago on the Texas plains, the Comanche

people are having a terrible drought that is causing many to die. The Great Spirit tells the shaman that the people must sacrifice something of great value. She-Who-Is-Alone takes her doll to the hill and burns it in the night. She scatters its ashes in all directions and falls asleep. In the morning, she and the people wake to find bluebonnets everywhere, and it is finally raining! The people change the girl’s name to She-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS… What traits helped the She-Who-Is-

Alone solve the problem?

How would the story be different if set in modern times?

What lesson could we learn from the way She-Who-Is-Alone solved the problem?