Tokala-Cheveyo

Stories have been told for centuries among the great grassland tribes of North America about animals and the wisdom they share with their human companions. One story in particular had a great effect on two tribes: the story of Tokala-Cheveyo, the sacred fox-cat. Warnings were given about hunting this sacred animal, and if one was ever sighted, the gods were to be given thanks for their wondrous gift.
Many years ago, during the time when there was separation between tribes, two of these tribes were fighting over the most fertile land. Fighting between the tribes was a common occurrence. An old woman was watching, a mother of the leaders and brothers of the two tribes. What she saw saddened her and she stepped between them and cried out for peace. Her cries brought a stop to the fighting and peace was made between the two tribes. They lived in harmony until the plains were wracked by a horrible drought, and food became scarce. They blamed one another as the exclaimed that it was the gods who had done this to them.
The fighting once again confused the old woman, but she knew peace was needed. She walked a great distance to the last fertile place and knelt down as she cried out. The fighting ceased and the two tribes stared at her as she raised her hands to the dim moon. There was a small rustling in the grass as a small animal appeared. Not wanting to frighten the animal, the woman stayed on her knees, motionless, as the fox-cat slowly moved out of the bushes and looked up at the mysterious human before her. Her orange fur coat with the arrow shape on her forehead, and her white-flecked ears stood out like a beacon of light in the dark. Cautiously she walked toward the woman until she could sniff her outstretched palm. The woman then picked her up and spoke softly as she looked into the animals eyes saying, “Tokala-Cheveyo”.
At that moment the sky was transformed into a spectrum of light with many colors. It was as thought the stars themselves had decided to look down on what has happening in the realm below them. The voices of those lost in battle were heard and everyone in the field below them stared at the lights in awe. The woman seemed unaffected by what was going on around her. She let the spirits whisper wisdom in her ears and gently set the fox-cat down on the ground. Once the fox-cat was safely on the ground, she was immediately encompassed in a cocoon of spirits. The old woman was staring at the animal’s eyes below her; and could not look away from the spirits around the fox-cat. The animal rose above the ground as the spirits carried her up into the sky. A sound like thunder struck the earth and the lights slowly started to dim. Then once fox-cat was lowered to the ground. It transformed into a young woman, bare for all the world to see and exhausted from her transformation. The old woman watched her sink to the ground, then took off her cloak and draped it over the young woman's shaking shoulders. “Tokala-Cheveyo,” she whispered fondly. “No, that is too formal a name for one so young as you. You are Toka.” The woman gently smoothed Toka's hair down then beckoned to one of the men. Unsure of himself, he slowly approached the woman.
“Take care of her. She is more important than you will ever know,” she warned. The man nodded gravely. With that, the old woman turned and slowly guided him to his village as both tribes went to their land. Once they reached the tribal grounds she asked him to place her in one of the teepees. He offered his tent and placed her on a fur ground mat for her to sleep on. As he got up the old women summoned him and said, "You must take care of her, for she has the spirit blessed by the gods and you must let no harm come to her." He agreed to her task given to him, however wondered what he was suppose to do with her. She looked at him again and said, "She is here for a very special reason as it is my time to go." She turned from him and walked away as she magically disappeared. The man was left confused but was too tired that night and rested.
As the new day began, the tribal leaders were immensely saddened by the loss of their mother. Too stubborn to see reason, they blamed each other and fought once more, blaming each other for her leaving of this world. Meanwhile, Toka began to awaken from her sleep and was confused by her location. She looked down at herself and was shocked to see not a hair in sight; instead there was tanned human skin being kissed by the sun. The sight frightened her, and trying to escape herself, she scurried to the other end of the teepee, knocking things over as she ran. The man heard her and went in to see what was wrong. Trying to calm her, he softly spoke, “It’s alright! It’s alright! I’m not here to harm you! My name is Helushka.” Toka looked at him, confusion written across her face.
“How can I understand you? How can I speak your language?” she spoke, getting louder with each word. Helushka remained quiet, reaching into a bag instead and pulling out some deerskin clothes and handing them to her.
“Here, wear these; they will cover you,” he explained, seeing her suspicion. “I will be outside if you need me.” He left Toka to figure out the strange things.
After some time, Toka emerged from the teepee, squinting at the bright sun. Helushka looked at her and tried not to laugh. “That is a skirt, not a top. It goes around your legs.” Toka glared at him.
“You humans cover up too much,” she stated defiantly. Helushka shook his head.
“Fix that so we can see the elders. And be quick about it,” he demanded and pushed Toka back into the teepee. She emerged a minute later, clothes in the right place. Helushka nodded in approval, the walked away, expecting her to follow.
They arrived at the grand tent where sage leaves were burning, giving the tent an appealing scent. They approached the great chair, where a stern, but weary man was sitting. “That is my father, Hok’ee. Be respectful,” Helushka whispered harshly in her ear. Before Toka could respond, Hok’ee interrupted.
“What is your name girl? Why did my mother bring you here?” Toka was frightened by his loud words and tried to hide behind Helushka, who answered for her.
“Father, her name is Toka. Grandmother said she was given to us for a very special reason.”
Hok’ee looked skeptical. “And what reason might this be to which she gives us this girl?”
“She did not say, Father, but she must be kept safe!”
“Safe? She is the cause of my mother’s death and we must keep her safe?” Hok’ee asked in an incredulous tone.
“Grandmother wished it before her passing and said no harm must come to her!”
Hok’ee sat back in his chair, studying his son intently. “So she does not know her purpose as a human, does she?” Toka looked over Helushka’s broad shoulder and nodded rapidly in agreement. “Then we will see if you will find that purpose.” Hok’ee announced and said again, “She is cast away from these lands, not to return until she has found her purpose!”
Helushka was outraged and looked at his father pleadingly. “Father, why must she be cast out alone? Grandmother said she must be kept safe!”
“And she will be. You will accompany her, as you are the one protecting the one responsible for my mother’s death,” Chief Hok’ee exclaimed, angered by an act of defiance by his own son. Then he called for his strongest warrior to take them as far from the tribe as possible. Helushka and Toka were grabbed roughly and escorted through the camp, receiving harsh looks. They were led further and further from the camp, closer to the enemy’s tribe then Helushka had ever been. Once they were far enough away, they were tied loosely to a tree to keep them from following the warrior back.
Toka felt tears in her eyes and Helushka was shouting at the warrior. Toka tears started to fall faster and Helshka stopped his shouting to comfort her. “Don’t worry, Toka. Everything will be alright.” Slowly her tears slowed, then stopped. Helushka reached around her to untie their leather bindings. First he freed himself, then Toka. Once they were both free, he spoke: “I’ll go scout to see where we are. You stay here and relax.” She looked at him with fear in her eyes and asked,” How do I know you won’t run away and leave me here?”
“Trust me, Toka, I won’t leave you. I’m going to see where we are so we can go back,” Helushka explained. Toka sat on something more comfortable and let him go. Helushka went to the top of a large rock so he could see the land around him. Now he knew where he was. “Toka!” he called down. “I know where we are!” With that that he climbed down. Toka still didn’t trust him and being close to nature soothed her after being in such a strange place. Helsuhka came back to find her curled up against an oak tree. “Toka, we need to get back to the tribes before they start fighting again!” he pleaded, but Toka wouldn’t move.
Reluctantly he walked off and started to gather supplies for a shelter. As sunset came closer, the shelter became closer to completion. Helushka tuned to call Toka, but saw that she was already curled up inside. He sighed and sat next to her to keep watch. After a few minutes, he started to drift off so he decided to sleep. He stretched out next to Toka and entered the dream realm.
Toka awoke to feel herself surrounded by warmth. Confused, she sat up and saw that Helushka had his arm flung across her waist. She immediately jumped up and in doing so awoke him. “What do you think you are doing? Why are you touching me?” she shouted at the not completely awake Helushka.
“It’s windy and I must’ve been cold. I mean nothing by it, I swear,” he protested, but Toka would hear none of it.
“Don’t ever touch me again!” she shouted and stormed out. Helushka sighed and followed her out.
“Toka, we need to get back to the tribes,” he reminded her as they walked farther and farther from their shelter. “We need to leave now!”
“No. I’m going to find my purpose,” Toka replied as she stepped over stones and crushed dry twigs beneath her feet. Suddenly she stopped and clutched her stomach. Helushka rushed to her side, confused. “What is it?” he asked worriedly.
“My whatever you call this,” she said, gesturing to her stomach. “It sounded like a ravenous wolf. Why?”
Helushka groaned. “You’re hungry. But we have no food and nothing to hunt with.” Toka glared at him.
“I do not care. Make this stop. I am going to find this purpose the old woman was talking about,” and with that she stalked off, leaving Helushka no choice but to follow.
“I cannot. There is a drought and everything that is smart has left. Like we should be doing,” he explained. Toka continued walking as if she hadn’t heard him.
The two walked for hours in the sun, until Helushka collapsed. “We need to find shade,” he gasped. The sun is too hot.” Toka nodded in agreement. They sat in silence as the sweat poured out of them. After a while, Toka stood up.
“Come. We will not find my purpose by sitting here and sweating.” She walked off, this time with less of a spring in her steps. They both became very dehydrated, but found some trees for shade. Helushka looked at the surrounding and saw the tribe in the distance. "Look Toka! There! The tribe is not far from us now." He said. "We can make it if we pick it up and keep going." Toka refused and said, "it'll be cold by the time we get there and we have nothing to keep us warm." he reluctantly agreed with her words and decided to make a fire where they sat.
"Why can't you trust me sometimes Toka?" Helushka said as he looked up at her from the other side of the fire. Toka looked up at him and said, "I never had anyone to talk to, and lived on my own. Those who I did trust abandoned me." "You can trust me Toka, I only want to protected you." Helushka said. "Yeah, like you did while I was sleep." Toka said sarcastically. Helushka tried to explain to her, "You were shivering, and I didn't want you to catch cold." She brushed him off and said, "Whatever, I'm going to sleep,” he Agreed with her and they both slept close to the fire to keep warm.
As they slept through the night, the wind picked up and the fire blew around wildly. The small fire reached to one of the trees and it caught making the fire even larger. It started to spread, as the two did not realize until it was too late. The fire grew massively and flames consumed everything around them. Helushka awoke by a tree that had crashed between the two. He yelled to Toka and she awoke.
"We must get out of here and get to the tribe quickly!" He yelled to her. She became scared and hid, but was fully surrounded by flames. She could not find Helushka. "Toka!" He yelled again. They both saw a glimpse of each other over the fire. "Do you trust me that we will get out of here alive?" He yelled out to her over the reaching fire. She nodded and Helushka ran through the burning branches and trees and picked her up and carried her as he ran towards the tribe. Trees and brush, ambers and fire were all around them but he pressed on. They were crossing the field that was once fertile as he tripped and they both fell to the ground.
The fire had again slowly surrounded them and a ring of fire protected her. "Toka!" He yelled out to her. She laid motionless on the ground as the fire surrounded her. All of both tribes were out and saw the great mass of fire that had consumed all within its path. Helushka ran towards her and went to leap over the firewall, but just then, a great light glowed on her. He slowed to a halt at the wall and looked up towards the sky. A great many spirits fell from the moon and surrounded her from the fire. She was lifted up off the ground by light streams that surrounded her. Helushka and all the tribes stood in awe of what happened before them. As Toka was raised into the sky, a head appeared within the light and looked at the tribal leaders. This was the old lady; their mother looked at them and spoke. Her words were only heard by the leaders and after her saying, her head tilted towards the sky and a sound like thunder occurred and a great light flashed where Toka was. Rain began to pour down and the fire was extinguished. Helushka looked at the ground and saw a small animal, a Fox-cat. She got up looked around and once seeing him stared and slowly backed away. "Toka?" Helushka asked to the small animal. She kept backing away then became frightened of the human and ran. "Toka wait!" He yelled again but it didn’t work. People soon surrounded him. The tribe leaders looked at each other and hugged. They were brought back together through the power of trust that was restored to them from what they heard. Everyone, but Helushka celebrated. He became sad, because he would no longer be able to see Toka again.
He arrived back to the empty tribal grounds and saw that no one was there besides him. Everyone was at the land where they met each other. Helushka looked back as he saw them all gathered together and went for his tent. As he opened his tent, he sat down leaning his head on the ground as he looked towards the opening. A small tear rolled down out of one eye as he looked out the opening. Then he saw the flaps starting to move as a small animal entered. He smiled because he knew who it was. Toka went over to him and pressed her nose against his forehead. She then climbed underneath his arms and curled up next to his chest. He proceeded to put her head softly and she began to purr. She trusted him now and was no longer afraid of him. As for the Two Chief brothers, their mother told them about story of what Helushka did for Toka and that they needed to have a great trust to keep them together, closer then they have before. The Great fertile fields became healthy with great crops and the tribes rejoiced and all was well.
THE
END