#2000-23, 87 minutes, 1988, Four Worlds Development Project, six parts
Part 1: The Arrival Amy and Jason are excited about spending a week with their grandfather at a youth camp in the mountains. They have invited their friends, Jenny, Buddy and Michael to come with them. Their Uncle George, who is a bronco rider at rodeos, is driving them out to the camp. As they drive, the children have the opportunity to ask Uncle George some questions about traditional Indian customs. Once they arrive at the camp, they are soon enjoying a big breakfast and asking Grandfather exciting questions about the way Indians lived in the past and what it means to be an Indian today. After breakfast, Grandfather shows them a painted teepee, and promises that in the evenings to come, he will tell them some of the stories depicted in the pictures in the teepee. The children in turn promise to do the best they can to earn the stories by helping Grandfather and each other.
Part 2: The Woods Because the children have been learning about how important it is to forgive each other for the mistakes they make, Grandfather tells the children the story of “The Corn Maidens” that evening as they sit in the teepee. This is the story he tells. In the beginning of the world, the people have only grasses and seeds to eat. They decide to make offerings and pray for something more substantial. Six beautiful Corn Maidens come to earth to teach them to grow corn. For a while the people are grateful to the Corn Maidens and work hard to look after their crops. Then they become lazy and unappreciative. The Corn Maidens leave the people because they cannot stay somewhere they are not treated with kindness or respect. As their crops fail and they run out of seeds to replant them, the people of the village begin to grow desperate. They realize that their own actions are the cause of their problems and they send Eagle, Falcon and Raven to find the Corn Maidens and to beg them to return. The birds are unsuccessful in locating the Corn Maidens, but during their search they learn that only the young flute player who has always remained loyal to the Corn Maidens can call them back with his mucis. As he plays his flute, the Corn Maidens do return and they graciously accept the apology of the people of the village. The people promise to hold a special celebration each year to remember the generosity of the Corn Maidens and the lesson they learned about how to care for the earth.
PART 3: THE MOUNTAIN While hiking in the mountains, Grandfather, Amy and Jason see an eagle soaring in the sky. As they tell the other children about what they saw, Grandfather explains that the eagle can teach many lessons. That evening they learn more about those lessons as Grandfather tells them the story of the “Great Wolf and Little Mouse Sister”.
The story begins with the Great Wolf crying in the meadow because he had lost his eyes through his own foolishness and selfishness. Little Mouse Sister gives him her own eyes, and together they set out on a journey to find the Sacred Lake and ask for help for the little blind mouse. The journey is a difficult one and they must overcome many obstacles before they finally reach the Sacred Lake at the top of a high mountain. After the Great Wolf makes his offerings to the four directions and to Mother Earth and Father Sky, he leaves Little Mouse Sister to discover the promise of the Sacred Lake. As she waits, she hears a voice telling her to jump higher and higher. She obeys and opens her eyes to find that she has become a mighty eagle.
Part 4: The Valley As the children walk through a mountain meadow one day, they find many beautiful wild flowers. They beg Grandfather to tell them which is the most beautiful, but he reminds them that the flowers don’t compete with each other. They each have their own kind of beauty which they offer to the world without asking for anything in return. That night the children hear the story of “The Daughter of the Sun”.
A young warrior, Sun Cloud, wants to marry Snowflower, the most beautiful girl in the village. Unfortunately she is also very vain. She tells Sun Cloud that in order to win her love, he must bring her a Rainbow Rose from the garden of the Tower of the Sun. His journey is very difficult, but with the help of a kind girl in the garden, he is successful. Snowflower scorns his gift, however, and asks him to cut his hair, the symbol of his manliness. When he does so, she ridicules him all the more and refuses once and for all to marry him.
Embarrassed and grief-stricken, Sun Cloud leaves the village and returns to the Tower of the Sun. It is there that he realizes that true beauty arises from inner qualities. He falls in love with the kind girl who helped him get the Rainbow Rose because of her inner rather than her outer beauty. At that point she is transformed into The Daughter of the Sun and the two of them return to Sun Cloud’s village. Everyone welcomes them as the most beautiful couple they have ever seen, except for Snowflower, whose jealousy gradually turns her into a bitter, lonely old woman.
Part 5: The Stream As Grandfather and the children rest beside a mountain stream, Grandfather talks to the children about some of the lessons nature can teach us. They discuss ecology as way of understanding how all things are interconnected. They also notice how water, which essential to all life, always seeks the lowest spot. Something that seems very humble and patient can also be very strong. That evening Grandfather shares the story of “The Winter Warrior”.
Long ago a tribe of fishermen lived in the icy north. Every winter they would have to migrate south to escape the power of Old Giant Northwind. One of the fishermen, named Firehawk, decides to challenge Old Giant Northwind. He does not feel his people should have to flee from their best fishing sports because of the Wind’s bullying ways. Old Giant Northwind becomes very angry when he sees that Firehawk plans to stay all winter. Using all his power, he tries to destroy Firehawk, but with courage, patience and cleverness, Firehawk manages to drive Old Giant Northwind away. From then on, the people are allowed to stay in their village all year round and to enjoy the abundant fish and game they find there.
Part 6: The Gift One morning the children wake up to find that they have each been given a pair of beaded moccasins during the night. Excitedly, they rush off to find Grandfather and to thank him. He just smiles and shows them the tiny footprints all over the outer covering of the teepee. That night Grandfather tells them the story of “The Spirit Bride” and her little friends, the Bogidabigs. Everyone in the village is worried about Morningstar, the young girl who claims she can hear trees whispering, the brook singing and the voices of the little people – the Bogidabigs. To help Morningstar learn to work and live like other people do, the elders gave her the task of making a new set of clothes for everyone in the village. When Moringstar begins to work on this impossible task, five Bogidabigs come to help her.
Everyone is amazed that she has been able to do the work in one day, but they are upset to learn that she has gone off into the woods by herself again. They decide she must marry Hunter and settle down. Morningstar begs to take one last walk in the forest before she must marry a man she doesn’t love. As she sits crying in the forest, the Bogidabigs come to help her. They introduce her to Evergreen the spirit of the woods, and the two are married. They return to the village with their Bogidabigs friends determined to help the people of the village regain their sense of wonder and imagination.