“This is the first I shall teach you: be kind to everything that lives.”
And the people wondered much. This was a new teaching.
In the hush of awe that fell, Wa-choo-bay spoke again, while the wolf sat by him, licking his feet. He told of his being in the lands that lay toward the summer; of the great white-faced race that lived there; of the great villages that they built, having lodges bigger than half a prairie village.
He told of the strength of this great white-faced race; of how they were moving steadily toward the people of the prairie. And then he told in quaint phrases the story of Christ and His teachings of kindness.
“These things I learned from the great medicine-men of the white-faced race, and they are wise men,” said Wa-choo-bay. “It is this that has made their people great. So I have come to say: Have no more fighting on the prairie; be one great tribe, even like the white-faces; build great villages like them, for I have learned that only they who build great villages and do not wander shall live. The others must flee like the bison when hunters follow.
“And I will teach you the wise words of the great white Wakunda’s Son, who died because he loved all the tribes. It is a teaching of peace—a teaching that we be kind to our enemies.”
Then there arose one among the Osages, an old man, and he said:
“These are big words. Let Wa-choo-bay call down rain upon us if this big white God loves him.”
Then arose one among the Pawnees, and he cried in broken Omaha:
“I say with my Osage brother, let Wa-choo-bay do some medicine-deed, that we may know him for a holy one.”