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 MAP

CHARACTERS Comanche People She-Who-Is-Alone Great Spirits SETTING Texas plains Long ago PROBLEM Drought (no rain) People are dying EVENTS Great Spirits tell people to sacrifice.

People don’t know what to sacrifice.

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

SOLUTION In 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?