“His words to the council were simple and clear, as clear as water that seems shallow but is actually very deep. He told us he had come as a messenger from the Creator, who was not pleased to see the human beings always fighting each other and suffering. He said he had come to help bring us together as we were meant to be.”

Then Carries coughed out a laugh. “Do you remember the story I told? How we were by the lake and saw him approaching in that strange white canoe?”

Okwaho nodded.

“I was not the first to reach him. Long Feather, our fast runner, got there a spear’s throw ahead of me.

“‘Throw down your weapons,’ Long Feather shouted, drawing his bow and aiming an arrow at the tall, good-looking man’s chest.

“But that tall man, simply stepped from his canoe and held out his empty hands. ‘I carry no weapons,’ he said.

“Long Feather stopped and lowered his bow. The stranger’s voice had been so calm that it confused him.

“By then I was at Long Feather’s side. I held in my hands the rawhide cords I always carried on my belt. They were there to bind the hands of any strangers we encountered so that we could bring them back to our village as a prisoner. The other two men with me, Caller and Beaver Tail, had picked up their war clubs.

“The man gestured at us. ‘You do not need those,’ he said. ‘I have come to speak to you all. Bring me to your council. First, though, let me put out your fire. A fire that is left burning and not properly put out is like anger or revenge. It may end up destroying everything.’

“His words were so strange and yet rang so true that none of the four of us questioned him. We did not bind his hands or threaten him. We just stood there like children waiting for a parent to tell us what to do.

“As we watched, he carefully put out that small fire, first pouring water on it and then covering it with the loose earth he had placed around it. When he was done, there was no sign that a fire had ever been there.

“Then, walking ahead of us as if the path to our village had been made especially for his feet to walk it, he led the way. Everyone was waiting. None of us had run ahead to tell them to gather as they did, yet they were all there waiting. Even our dogs did not bark at him as he entered our stockade. Bear Killer, the strongest of our dogs, the one that was the leader of all the other dogs, came up to him and licked his hand.