These Are Our Stories Both Fact and Fable
The Red Fox
A Deer Called Bambi
AMOO - BEE STORY
This story was told by Burton Saugrey, he was an elderly Cree; an elderly Cree man in his 80s. He told a story about an old man who had the bee as a spirit helper. This old man Burton had helped his son. And the old man told him he was a poor man and had nothing to give him but would give him this "Bee song". He gave him the song and said, when this song was sung, it would bring something good and prayer must the company the song. He told the story on how he was use his song in World War II of which he was a veteran.
He said when he and his group of men were about to go into the battlefield he prayed and sang this be solved. Many of the non-native men were laughing when he did this. When they went into a battle they were surrounded and pinned against the mountain by 3000 German soldiers. The seargent came and offered him a cigarette and said to him, I know you guys are good fighters, warriors, can you get us out of here he said. The old man accepted the cigarette and sang his "Bee song". While he was singing a large bee appeared and told him to follow it. The soldiers followed the bee and it guided them out to safety.
When they all returned to their camp the old man prayed to the Creator, and the bee to give thanks and sang the song. When he was singing the song many of the non-native men were crying because they were so happy to escape and make it out alive.
This story was told by Burton Saugrey, an elderly Cree, during an interview with and the story recorded by Alex Ahenakew of Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, Saskatchewan.
An Oral Story
This oral story was told by Henery Beaudry, a veteran, an Indian Cree man from Red Pheasant First Nation. Henery said that he had joined the Army when he was a young man. He went to World War II and became a prisoner of war and was put into a German concentration camp. He was told by the German soldiers and officers that they were proud to have captured an Indian brave. They offered to move him to better living quarters when he was a prisoner of war, but he refused to move because he didn't trust them.
While he was a prisoner of war they were being moved by train in boxcars. While they were being moved by train, he said they were dying of thirst because they did not give them any water to drink. Also, they were very thirsty because they fed them a lot of salt pork. He said, while they were traveling on the train in the boxcars, they started to pray while the train was traveling. There was a lot of thunder and lightning and it started to hail. He said that the large hail stones stuck to the boxcars between cracks. They grabbed the hail stones and ate to hail stones water. He said the Thunderbird saved their lives.
Henery Beaudry of Red Pheasant First Nation was interviewed and the story recorded by Alex Ahenakew of Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, Saskatchewan
Indian Veteran's Story
This was a story told to me by an old man by the name of Tony Frank Cote from: Cote Reserve. He talked about when they were prisoners of the war during World War II. They were four different men being kept in this German concentration camp in the same cell. The other three men wore white Canadian soldiers.
One day, the German soldiers came to their cell and they were talking German and one started to talk in Saulteaux. And because Frank was a Saulteaux and understood the language, he heard him say they were going to kill them tomorrow. Frank told his comrades that he understood that one German soldier said. That the Germans was talking Saulteaux. When they, the prisoners, heard the story, they said let's pray and see whose religion is the strongest. They were sitting in a circle and come from different religious denominations. They invited Tony to join them in prayer. And at first, he refused saying he didn't care if he got killed. Nobody cared about him anyway. They finally convinced him to join them and they all took turns praying. When it came to Frank's turn to pray, a light shone into the middle of their circle. A beam of light from the sun shined in when Frank was praying. From where the light was shining in through the wall, they found a hole and dug a hole and they escaped. That saved their lives the prayer and the light that was shown to them through the wall.
Tony Frank Cote of Cote First Nation) was interviewed and the story recorded by Alex Ahenakew of Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, Saskatchewan
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