The sun began to hide its glowing face as George Washington Green made his way to the house with his Papa.

Papa helped him take off his jacket and boots. Supper time couldn't come soon enough!

"Careful with the plates, Georgie", Mama said as he nearly tripped over his baby brother crawling

underneath the table.

"1, 2, 3...4..." George counted each space as he set each plate down. He couldn't help but pause when he smelled the stew that Mama set down on the table.

The heavenly aromas beckoned the rest of the family to the table as they sat down for prayer.

Papa finished saying grace and 9 pairs of hands quickly reached for their spoons and forks. The piles of food seemed to disappear as contented sighs filled the air.

As the children helped to clear the table, George slid off his stool and began to stoke the fire. The meal may have filled his belly but he was still hungry...

Hungry for stories!

Mama picked George up and set him down on her lap.

It was now Mama's turn to sigh as she stared into the fire.

Her thoughts traveled

to a time long past

and to stories

she had yet to voice.

Perhaps today

was finally the time.

"Long ago lived the Great Earthmaker God. He spent His time making trees and flowers, rivers and streams, wolves and horses.

Even though He loved all that he had made, He wanted to create something special.

He bent down in the clay and began to form a figure of a man, perfect in every way."

"He took His beautiful figure of clay

and put it into the fire.

When it had baked just right,

He pulled it out to let it cool.

It's skin was a beautiful red,

like the last bit of light

on a summer day."

"He created more of these beautiful red people and gave them land to live on. They worked the land and helped it to blossom and grow."

"This was their home."

"But their home soon became the home of others. They learned to share the land with those who came from across the sea.

But one day, the Great White Father looked at their land and decided he wanted it all for himself."

"'You must leave!' the Great White Father told the peaceful people. A young woman and her husband knew that they could not refuse even though they were expecting their first child.

'Leaving our home may be bad

but to stay will cause even greater harm,'

the man told his wife"

The crackle of the fire was all that broke the silence that now filled the room.

"They weren't people to him. How else can it be explained?"

"How could the Great White Father do that?" George's question and the confusion on his face brought Mama back to reality.

"They had to leave everything they loved to travel to a distant land because their land had become something that the white man wanted."

"For days they traveled to a new land called 'Missouri'.

The land of woods that they left had changed but although life was now different, they sought to make the new land their home."

"It was there that the little baby was born:

a little girl named Philoba."