The Wren and the Elk

United Spiritual Gathering Councilfire Part One:
We drove to Neah Bay Friday afternoon, spending the morning packing for camping and food prep, etc. I let Pearl drive from just before the Hood Canal Bridge to Port Angeles, then let her rest, then around Lake Crescent to just past Sekiu. She was doing fine, but being the responsible person in the passenger seat puts me in a wearying high state of vigilance.

After worrying about rain, as in recent years there has been a lot of bucketing rain, we never had a drop of rain the whole weekend. Sunday the sun even came out.

The United Spiritual Gathering Councilfire has been held on the Makah reservation on Hobuck Beach Campground for over forty years, I believe. Participants are guests on the reservation. We feel welcome and honored to be there. Here is a story as I remember it, told by Scott Tyler:

The Wren and the Elk:
The Small Forest Animals enjoyed singing, but they had a problem. Whenever they sang in the forest, along came the Elk, tall and imposing, calling out, "Who is singing in the forest? Stop singing or I will stomp on you!" Then all the Small Forest Animals would immediatly stop singing and scurry away into the woods. Finally, having had enough of this, all the Small Forest Animals met and consulted about what to do about the Elk.

They chose the very Smallest of the Forest Animals, the wren, to perform a special mission. They began their song, and sure enough, here came the Elk, stomping up. "Who is singing? No singing in the forest! Stop at once or I will . . . " and at that point the Wren flew up the nose of the Elk. The Elk began to sneeze. He sneezed so much that he fainted away and fell down, vanquished. The Wren emerged, showered, and all the Small Forest Animals gathered again for their song.