The Forgotten Ear Of Corn


An Arikara woman was once gathering corn from the field to store away

for winter use. She passed from stalk to stalk, tearing off the ears and

dropping them into her folded robe. When all was gathered she started to

go, when she heard a faint voice, like a child's, weeping and calling:



"Oh, do not leave me! Do not go away without me."



The woman was astonished. "What child can that be?" she asked herself.
br />
"What babe can be lost in the cornfield?"



She set down her robe in which she had tied up her corn, and went back

to search; but she found nothing.



As she started away she heard the voice again:



"Oh, do not leave me. Do not go away without me."



She searched for a long time. At last in one corner of the field, hidden

under the leaves of the stalks, she found one little ear of corn. This

it was that had been crying, and this is why all Indian women have since

garnered their corn crop very carefully, so that the succulent food

product should not even to the last small nubbin be neglected or wasted,

and thus displease the Great Mystery.



More

;