The Legend of the Goldenrod

by Franziska Roesner

Purple Sage Elem. Round Rock, ISD, fourth grade

Many moons ago there was a Caddo Indian village which had very little food. This was before the Caddo's learned the skill of farming.

The chief, Great Eagle had no son and no daughter. Back then, Caddo Indians believed it was good luck when the chief had a daughter. But Chief Great Eagle had no daughter and deeply believed that if he had none, his tribe would find no food, and food was already scarce.

Then when the moon was shining home, one of the hunters came back with a captive white girl with blond hair.

"She be your daughter," the hunter told Chief Great Eagle.

"She be called...Yellow Hair!" Chief Great Eagle decided after thinking awhile.

Many moons later, Yellow Hair had adjusted to the ways of the Caddo Indians.

Every few moons, white traders would come by on thier horses, but would only trade their supplies for gold. This Caddo tribe could not get anything from them because they had no gold.

"I hear of gold in mountain," Chief Great Eagle infomed his tribe around the campfire one night. "If we can get gold, we give people gold so they give fire sticks. Then we good hunt."

Yellow Hair listened, too, as Chief Great Eagle told this to his tribe. She remembered that her familly wanted gold too. Possibly, she could get the gold and go back to her white family with it.

With the sun rising, Yellow Hair set out into the mountains. After many moons there, she found a mysterious cave. Slowly, Yellow Hair walked inside. She frightened a group of bats and they came flying out of cave. Yellow Hair backed away frightened. After the bats disappeared on the other side of the cave, Yellow Hair reentered the cave. She thought she saw something shimmering. All of a sudden, Yellow Hair tripped on what she thought was a rock. She picked it up and noticed it was gold. She found it!! By the time the sun went to sleep, Yellow Hair had gathered all the gold together and carried it out of the cave. There Yellow Hair drifted to sleep. That's when she had her dream.

In her dream, she was carrying the gold toward her family. Mistaking her for an Indian because her skin was tanned by the sun, her father shot her.

Yellow Hair woke up with a start. "What if that really happens?" Yellow Hair thought. "And they've probably forgotten all about me. I'm going to go back to my Indian family, I get good food and they take good care of me. They're poor too. If I share this gold with them, they can get the fire stick from the white traders that come by. Then there will be better food for them." So Yellow Hair decided to go back to her Indian family.

She got back to the village after a few moons. There Yellow Hair spread the gold out onto the ground and told all the Caddo tribe to help themselves.

"Yellow Hair! We look for you many moons. You bring gold! You be remembered all times," Chief Great Eagle told his adopted daughter.

All of the Indians went to sleep happily that time, when the moon rose over the prairie.

Then, when all eyes were open again, they saw the miraculous thing that had happened during the night. Flowers, Goldenrod, had sprouted where the gold was laid by Yellow Hair.

Yellow Hair had returned to her Indian family and was so generous to share the gold with the Caddos. This is why the Goldenrod sprouted, that time, many moons ago.