The Osage and the Spider

"Osage," a corruption of the word Wazhazhe, means "True People." The homeland of the Osage is the eastern edge of the Great American Plains where the tall grass grows. This prairieland is now known as eastern Kansas and western Missouri. Until the Osage acquired horses and could more easily hunt the buffalo they planted and harvested crops, although some buffalo hunting was done.

These "True People," relatives of the Omaha, Ponca and Quapaw, were a tall people. It was not unusual for an Osage man to stand well over 6 feet tall. It has been recorded that some early French visitors to the Osage encountered some that were 7 feet tall.

In contrast to the height of the Osage, these people referred to themselves as "The Little Ones." This strange reference was their way of showing humility to Honga, "The Sacred One," also known as Mother Earth.

The Osage loved and respected all animals and used more than one animal as clan symbols. To the Osage, the animals were their relatives as well as their teachers. Even the smallest of creatures were considered so, including the lowly spider who was also respected, although this had not always been true.

On a certain day, a very long time ago, the chief of one Osage clan, called the Isolated Earth People, went hunting in the forest. Although he was hunting for meat to take home to his people he was also hunting for some great and powerful animal he could use as a symbol for his people. He was certain this creature had to be huge and fierce. How else could it teach him an important lesson to guide his people by?

The chief hunted a long time before he came upon the tracks of what must have been made by a huge deer. The chief became very excited and called out to the deer he had yet to spy, asking it to show itself and teach him.

When the deer did not appear or answer him the chief began to follow its tracks. His search was so intense that he did not look at anything else but the tracks he was following. The chief did not even look around him for unseen enemies, as he should have done. In his anxiety he moved faster and faster through the forest.

Such was the chief's speed that had he looked around him the forest would have seemed a green blur. Also, had he looked at the trail stretching far ahead of him he might not have run into a huge spider's web that was stretched across his path, between the trees on either side of the trail. But the chief had not looked where he was going, so there he was, badly tangled in the spider's web. And it was a huge and strong web. The web, tangled in the chief's hair and covering his eyes, made him stumble. The whole situation made the chief very angry.

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