Mahpe: A Short Story

One day when the Earth was still a work in progress, a Ojibwe tribe member man by the name of Mahpe which means water was asked by God to enhance the beauty of the land. Mahpe began to look out the window of his house which was adjacent to a wide waterfall and he realized that all the flowers within his meadow were the same white color. He thought to himself “how boring” and in that exact moment Mahpe had a brilliant idea, he was going to make a change so he gathered up his paint and paintbrushes then proceeded to the meadow. Mahpe sat down in the tall grass and arranged his paint in a specified order. Then he began to meticulously paint each flower in his meadow a different color. Violets were coated in a deep blue color while, tiger lilies
Mahpe hummed happily to himself as he diligently worked in the burning daylight. Occasionally, Mahpe would shade his eyes to look upon a large white bird that was racing across the deep blue sky, then he would continue with his work, painting the center of the flowers yellow. Above him, the bird decided to see how fast he could dive down to the lush green fields below him. The bird soared down with raging speed, then pulled himself up sharply before touching the tips of the grass. As he
Mahpe scolded the bird, but he continued to fly in this same pattern for six more days. Soon the bird had feathers that were coated with paint of all colors in the same order Mahpe arranged them beginning with red then proceeding to violet. Finally, the bird decided to fly away from Mahpe and his paint pots, looking for another place to play his games. The bird now painted from head to toe began to sail across the top of the waterfall that stood next to Mahpe’s house. As the bird began to spread his wide wings, he left a series of paint streaks amongst the mist without realizing this the bird continued to glide back and forth across the water, making the colors more vivid with each movement. The sun began to shine upon the colors, making a sparkled radiance through the mist of the waterfall meanwhile, Mahpe looked up in delight when the vibrant colors spilled upon his meadow. A superb arch of colors danced upon the water and shimmered in the sky above the waterfall. A smiled stretched across Mahpe’s face, he was so pleased that he left the rainbow to permanently float above the water, its colors shimmering in the