Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)
Ganondagan April eNews & Updates | Ganö΄gat Ge:ih 2022
Jinyowae’ (Bluebird)
“With great eagerness Jenny-er-ye flung herself into the water and far down did she dive. When she came to the surface, she was quite out of breath and too tired to fly. She staggered through the ripples to the shore and brushed her breast against the red clay bank, rested a moment, and then flew upward into the warm breeze blowing above the tops of the trees.
The whir of her wings dried her feathers, and as she sang, she noticed the sky’s own color had been magically transferred to her feathery coat. Her joy was a wonderful joy. With a happy heart she sang, “I have been touched by the brush that colored the sky! Great Ra-wen-io has made me beautiful like the sky. I thank him, I thank him, for what I desired he gave me. I thank him.”
Then was Ra-wen-io glad he had turned Jenny-er-ye into the first bluebird.
He said to her, “Jenny-er-ye, your coat is blue, but your breast is red. You touched the clay when you came from the water, and though you have the magic of the sky upon your wings, you also have the touch of earth upon your breast. It is well, for in you the sky-world and the earth-world meet. Go your way and sing, and your song will be a sweet thanks to me, Jenny-er-ye!”
Excerpt from the story “How Bluebird Gained the Color of the Sky” as recorded by Arthur C. Parker
