The First Thanksgiving with a Happy, Dumb Turkey

One day, Running Red Feathers, the princess of Wampanoag, chased a turkey with a bow and arrow, along with a couple other Indians. This was their first time hunting a turkey. The turkey was small and colorful. They crept around making sure the turkey didn’t see them. Then, she whispered, “Ready, aim, fire!!!” They all fired their arrows, but missed. They shot the bush behind him. The dumb turkey just stood there, not making a single move. He didn’t even know what was going on; he just thought the arrows were flies. “Ready, aim, fire!” Running Red Feather whispered. This time, one of the arrows got really close to his ear. The turkey moved around a little, flapping its wings, but he still stayed there.

Suddenly, a little girl came up, and hugged the turkey. She had five red feathers sticking up from her long, black hair. Her frantic mother came running after her, shouting “No! Come back, Saving Red Feathers!” The little girl hugged the turkey, and wouldn’t let go. She was crying. She shouted, “No! No! You can’t do this, he’s just a turkey, and you know maybe he won’t even taste good! Please don’t kill him. I just can’t take it. I hate seeing things get killed.” She kept crying and hugging the turkey. Finally the princess said, “Alright, alright. I see your point, but I want to eat this turkey so I’ll give you two choices. Your choices are: shoot a berry off this turkey’s head from fifty feet away or I will kill the turkey.” Saving Red Feathers answered, “I’ll take the first choice.”
Running Red Feathers handed Saving Red Feathers her bow and arrow. Saving Red Feathers placed a gooseberry on top of the turkey’s head and it was too dumb to know that there was a berry on its head or that it was being aimed at. Saving Red Feathers comforted the turkey, “ I love you!” aimed in the silence and shot. She hit the exact middle of the berry and it split cleanly in two. The turkey just stood there looking confused.

“Let’s spare just this one turkey.” “Oh! Thank you. Running Red Feathers! Thank you!” The little girl said. She buried her face into the princess’s dress. The Wampanoag ate their feast (mashed potatoes, corn, beans etc.) without the turkey. Every man clinked their wine glasses, and said cheers. They all had a good time, and Running Red Feathers burped loudly when she was done, because it was polite back then. The rest burped along with the princess. Their bellies were very full, and after the burps, their stomachs felt better. The princess, Running Red Feathers, felt good for letting the dumb turkey go and being kind to a girl. It was good to do kind things.

11/25/2010