Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

Long ago the Indian people did not have the bow and arrow for a weapon. At that time, a spear was the common weapon used in the hunt.

One day a young Indian hunter, whose name was Oh-gwe-luhn-doe, left his village in search of a bear. His only weapon was a long spear, tipped with flint. Oh-gwe-luhn-doe walked a long way. He saw no signs of bear. After a while, the thought came to him that perhaps he would find a bear in a thickly forested glen that was not far away. In this particular place there were wild grape vines. It was at the time of the Moon of Falling Leaves (October). The grapes would be ripe and the bear would, no doubt, be eating them.

Ohgweluhndoe was not wrong in his guess. As he entered the thickest part of the glen, he caught sight of a huge black figure. It was Oh-gwa-li, the bear, and he was busy eating wild grapes. From time to time he would grunt little squeals of pleasure as he gulped the wild grapes down. The young hunter crept very close. He was almost within reach of the bear. Quietly he raised the spear for the death stroke and (that) would have materialized but for one thing. As Ohgweluhndoe was about to throw the spear, his foot slipped on a rock and he fell sprawling to the ground, almost under the bear's claws. With a startled grunt the hunter looked up. He still held the spear, but now he was in no position to throw it. Oh-gwa-li, the bear, ordinarily would have run away from a human hunter; but the sudden appearance of the young Indian startled him, and instead of running away as most black bears do, he turned and started for the hunter. Ohgweluhndoe did not take long in getting to his feet. With one jump he was on his feet, and in a moment was heading through the forest. The bear, seeing that the hunter was running from him, gained courage and quickly took after Ohgweluhndoe. For a short while the two, the hunter and the bear, kept the same speed, but in a short time the bear gained rapidly on the hunter.

Ohgweluhndoe knew that in a very little while the bear would have him and that probably he would be torn to pieces. He thought of his wife and son waiting for his return. This thought made him determined to kill the bear or die in the attempt. Turning quickly, he made ready to throw his spear, but the end of the spear had caught on a twisted grape vine which was clinging to the top of a small ash sapling. The hunter tried to pull the spear free from the vine, but he only succeeded in bending the sapling. The bear was almost upon the Indian. Ohgweluhndoe made one more effort to pull the spear loose. As he tugged at the spear he pulled the sapling to the ground. He did not wait long. With a startled yell, he let the spear go and turned to run. He did not run many steps when he noticed that the bear was not following him. He looked back. The bear was on the ground with the spear stuck through his neck. The blood was rapidly reddening the leaves as Ohgwali gave a few final kicks before death came. The surprised hunter went back to see what had happened. The spear which had caught on the vine had caused the sapling to bend, thus forming a bow. The vine had been the bow string, the sapling the bow. When the hunter had pulled the spear he had caused the sapling to bend. When he dropped the spear the sapling had sprung upright again. The force of this spring had whipped the vine straight, at the same time, throwing the spear ahead into Ohgwali's neck.

The hunter again took the spear and put the end of it on the vine. Pulling the vine back, he bent the sapling. When the sapling had bent almost to the ground, he released the spear. It shot through the air. Thus, the bow was invented.

In time the Indians made smaller bows out of smaller saplings. Instead of a grapevine bowstring they used one of rawhide. Instead of a heavy spear, they used an arrow, tipped with flint and winged with feathers. The bow became a priceless weapon for the Indian people of long ago.