the way of the plains

8/6/2019 The Way of the Plains

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The Way of the Plains

By Brandon Pilcher

A cool evening breeze swept across the prairie and brushed against Cougar Eye's

coppery face. From atop a hill he watched a herd of woolly mammoths mill around and

graze on the tall green grass. He was a safe distance from them but could still get a sense

of their captivatingly awesome size. To observe these great hairy elephants going about

their daily lives burdened him with remorse when he considered what he had to do

tomorrow.

³You excited about the big hunt, son?´ he heard a kind voice say.

Cougar Eye turned his head to see his father Red Rock smiling down on him. The

youth shrugged and said, ³I suppose so.´

³That didn¶t sound sincere. Is something bothering you?´ Red Rock gently laid a

hand on his son¶s shoulder.

It took a while for Cougar Eye to force up the courage to reply. ³I don¶t know if I

could ever be a hunter.´

³What? Don¶t put yourself down like that. Of course you can be a hunter. You¶ve

trained all those years.´

³It¶s not a question of whether I am capable of hunting. It¶s just that«I don¶t

know if I want to.´

Red Rock¶s brow furrowed in confusion. ³What in the Creator¶s name do you

mean? Every man your age wants to go on a mammoth hunt. It¶s what separates the men

from the boys.´



Cougar Eye hesitated again. How was he going to explain his feelings to his

father? Maybe he could get Red Rock to see what he was seeing. ³Look at those

mammoths. Are they not majestic?´

³They are, my son, but since they¶re all female, we won¶t be hunting them. We¶re

after the bulls.´

³No, that¶s not what I meant. I mean, just look at them! Do you really have the

spirit to take the lives of such beautiful animals?´

³And do you want to sleep outside a tipi¶s warmth? Do you want to go around

without your clothes or moccasins? Do you want to live without ever tasting meat? You

know our people depend on hunting for everything we need. It is the way of life on the

plains.´

Cougar Eye was silent again. He had to admit his father had made a valid point,

for almost everything their tribe needed to survive had indeed been made from hunters¶

kills. Still, that was not enough to soothe his conscience. ³But it is so cruel! We are to

these animals what the knifetooth is to us, and do we not try to keep the knifetooth from

eating us?´

³Yes, but there is nothing wrong with the knifetooth wanting to hunt us. It must

hunt so it can live, and we in turn must hunt so we ourselves can live. Besides, just as we

try to fight back when the knifetooth attacks us, so does our game fight back when we

attack them.´

³But why did the Creator make it so that some animals must kill other animals so

they can live? Why couldn¶t he make us all live off, say, grass or rock?´



³Because there is only so much grass in the world. If all animals ate just grass,

there would be nothing to keep them from eating up all the grass. Only hunters like us

and the knifetooth can keep the grass-eaters in check. It¶s cruel, yes, but no other way can

work. Now, do you wish to prove your manhood or not?´

Cougar Eye nodded.

³Then you must go on the mammoth hunt whether you like it or not. It will be

thrilling, I promise, even if it is dangerous.´

The youth said nothing. He simply ignored his father and returned to gazing at the

mammoths. Even then he could not stop wrestling with what Red Rock had said. That

had all been true, but the mere sight of these animals in all their magnificence was too

tear-jerking for him to accept that they had to die for his people.

Cougar Eye would continue to be haunted by this even when he finally returned to

his tipi for sleep.

³Wake up, Cougar Eye,´ Red Rock said as he rubbed his son¶s shoulder.

The youth struggled to open his heavy eyelids. When he finally did, he saw that it

was still dark outside their tipi. ³Why are we getting up so early?´ he yawned.

³Because the chief wants us to scout for the mammoths before the big hunt can

begin. Now please get up.´ Red Rock pulled his son up onto his feet and then the two

exited the tipi with flint-tipped spears.

The night had just begun to fade from black to dark blue, a sign of morning¶s

onset. Cougar Eye followed his father out of their camp and across the prairie, scanning



the ocean of grass as they went. They held their torsos low so as to appear as

inconspicuous as possible in this vast, open landscape.

The youth noticed a large circular depression of trampled grass. Next to it was a

big, rancid ball of dung with little shards of grass poking out of it. This raised his heart

rate and made him quiver with excitement.

³I see a mammoth footprint!´ he said.

³I do too, and there¶s a whole trail of them going eastward,´ Red Rock responded.

³Now we have to be especially careful as we follow it. We don¶t want to spook the

animal.´

They tread slowly and quietly down the trail. Cougar Eye¶s excited trembling

worsened with every step he took, but his eagerness now mixed with dread as he

anticipated what could happen if they did indeed scare the elephant. That the sun had now

risen over the eastern horizon made stealth even more challenging. Even with its poor

eyesight, a mammoth could easily spot them out on the grasslands in broad daylight.

It was therefore to Cougar Eye¶s relief when the footprints lead to a grove of

cottonwood trees.

³Maybe he¶s in there,´ he said. ³At least we¶ll have more cover.´

³And so will the mammoth,´ Red Rock said. ³If anything, we have to be even

more careful there.´

Cougar Eye saw his point when they penetrated the copse. With the dark shadows

cast by the treetops, it gripped his spine with icy claws. He tightened his grip on his

spear.



The grove¶s silence was broken by low rumbling. Heavy footsteps. Branches

snapping. The two hunters froze. Cougar Eye¶s heart now throbbed wildly and his neck

hairs prickled.

³What was that?´ he asked.

The answer came when the ground started to shake. Something was stomping

towards them! Turning his head leftward to see what it was, Cougar Eye saw a big bull

mammoth erupting out of the trees, trumpeting ferociously. He knew he should run but

was too paralyzed by sheer terror. The only movement he made was his jaw dropping to

let out a scream.

The shaggy beast swung its head and slapped Red Rock with its trunk, knocking

him onto his back. So great was the collision¶s force that his face was smeared with

blood. Cougar Eye, seeing his father so brutally injured, felt even more scared than

before. He raced towards Red Rock to help him up. Before he could get to him, the

mammoth grabbed Red Rock with its trunk and hurled him into a tree. Cougar Eye could

hear bones cracking and saw his father limply fall to the ground. The worst he had feared

had happened: Red Rock was dead.

This turned the youth¶s terror into a wildfire of rage. He would not tolerate

anything killing his beloved father. He wanted revenge. With his spear pointed forward,

Cougar Eye charged towards the elephant, roaring with bloodlust. He would pierce the

creature¶s heart and bring it down!

Or so he had hoped. Just as Cougar Eye was about to thrust his weapon, the

mammoth stepped back out of the way. He collided into a tree and his spear snapped in



half. Both pain and horror racked the young hunter. The horror came from finding out

that he had lost his main weapon. How was he going to slay the brute now?

Then an idea struck him. Maybe he could still use his spear¶s point as a dagger and

stab the mammoth¶s skull. There was just the question of climbing onto the beast.

Cougar Eye began to scramble up a tree trunk with the spearhead in his mouth.

Before he got very high, the tree shook violently. The mammoth was ramming its bulk

into the cottonwood! The youth hugged the tree as hard as he could, but that was not

enough to keep him on it. He fell screaming off and landed on the mammoth¶s back.

Again the hunter felt overwhelmed by pain, this time in his spine. Only the

animal¶s shaking its body could spur him into action. Cougar Eye grabbed the

mammoth¶s brown hair tightly and started to creep towards its head. The elephant bucked

and shook to get him off, but every time he clung hard. Eventually he was able to reach

the beast¶s scalp, but just as he raised his makeshift dagger, the mammoth slapped him

with its trunk¶s tip. This broke and bloodied his nose. Teeth fell out. The agony was

excruciating.

So excruciating, in fact, that Cougar Eye¶s hatred was rekindled. The fire of

vengeance burned in his veins with such fury that it energized him into stabbing the

mammoth¶s skull again and again. Each time he went deeper into the bone until he finally

felt the spearhead pierce something soft and fleshy: the creature¶s brain.

The mammoth trumpeted more shrilly than usual. After jumping off the animal

onto a tree trunk and climbing down, Cougar Eye saw the beast¶s body wobble and then

collapse with a thunderous thud, throwing up a great cloud of dust. The animal¶s flanks



rising and falling with heavy breathing were its own body movements, and even these

faded into complete stillness. The mammoth was dead.

Cougar Eye did not feel a rush a pride. Instead, gazing at the mammoth¶s giant

carcass, he felt pity. Tears welled up in his eyes as he considered that he had slain such a

beautiful animal. But then, looking at his father¶s corpse, his sympathy for the elephant

evaporated and he felt satisfied. No matter how majestic mammoths were, his own father

was far more precious to him.

A day ago he would not have wanted to kill this mammoth. But now that the

mammoth had taken a beloved family member, he was far more willing to continue the

way of the plains.

the way of the plains

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