Origin of The Love Flute

This was sent to me in email a
several months ago and sorry
it took so long to get it posted online.



Dakota origin

Story of the Love Flute


A long time ago, there lived a young
man who was very shy.
He was brave in battle, and led the
buffalo hunt with courage,
yet when it came to speaking his
love to the girl he wanted to marry,
he was too shy to speak. He would
stand helplessly, his eyes cast to
the ground, while other young men stood
with their courting blankets
outside the tipi of the girl's father.
The young man thought about the girl day
and night. In his dreams
she was still there before his eyes, yet
even in his dreams he lacked the
courage to tell her of his love.
He watched her from a distance when she
fetched water from the river,
and his heart was heavy when he saw the
other young men who talked
to her so easily, whistled to her to
gain her attention, and in a hundred ways
vied for her love. The young man was sure
that the girl did not notice
him One day, his heart aching, he left the
camp and wandered alone.
In despair he drew his bow and without a
thought he let fly an arrow
into the air.
To his amazement the arrow stayed aloft.
It seemed to him that the
arrow pointed ahead. He followed the direction
of the arrow and found
that it moved ahead at a steady pace which
he could follow. He followed the
arrow all day, and when evening came the arrow
fell to earth beside a stream.
He slept beside the stream, and in the morning
shot another arrow into the sky.
Again the arrow stayed aloft, and led him on.
That evening it, too, sank to
earth beside a stream. This continued for a
total of four days.
On the fourth day the young man slept at the
edge of a forest. In that half-dream
state between waking and sleep, two Elk Men
appeared to him, and told him that
they had come to help him. "We have come to
give you this flute", one said,
and when he blew into the flute he carried,
the sound was so beautiful that
even the forest stood breathlessly listening.
The Elk Man told him, "This flute is made
from the wood of the cedar,
because cedars grow where the winds blow.
Woodpecker made these finger
holes in the flute with his beak."
The other Elk Man told him "All the birds
and animals helped to make this
flute, and their voices sing within it.
When you play this flute for the girl you
love, all our voices sing with you.
Your music will speak the words of love that
your voice alone cannot."
Then the Elk Men were gone, but there,
lying on sage leaves, was the flute.
The young man set off towards his home,
his heart light. He played the flute
as he walked, and the cranes joined in his song.
For four days he walked,
playing his music, and listening to the
sounds of the animals and birds.
He imitated the sounds of the animals on his
flute, and from those sounds he
made melodies As evening drew near on the
fourth day, he reached the hill
above his camp. There he paused to play his
flute, and the sounds of the
beautiful music he made carried into the camp
and thrilled the heart of every woman there.
But one woman, the girl he loved, knew that
the music spoke straight to her
heart. The girl left her tipi and joined the
young man on the hill. She listened
to the words of love that his music spoke more
eloquently than his voice could
express. "I love you. I love you."