Week 11 Story: The Woodpeckers

Tell me, do you hear the tapping in the trees? That is the sound of the woodpeckers, pecking away as they always do. They are mournful creatures, trapped for many ages by the mistake they made so  long ago. Let me tell you the story.

When the world was much younger, woodpeckers did not yet exist. There were men, however, like you and I, living in tribes as they should. These tribes also had medicine men. The medicine men could eat the strange orange moss that grew on some trees, but the rest of the tribe was forbidden. The moss could be helpful, but it could also ensnare the user in addiction. One day, the medicine man of a tribe fell sick. He could not get out of bed or even speak. Everyone prepared for the worst. One boy decided that he would try to save the medicine man by sneaking out to the woods and taking some of the moss. After he put it in his mouth, he fell to the ground and began to have visions. When he came to, the boy ran back to the village, crying, "I saw the medicine man! I saw him! I can fix him!" He ran into the tent where the man lay and placed some of the orange moss into his mouth. He said the moss had given him a vision, and that it would heal the medicine man in three days.

The rest of the tribe knew that the moss was dangerous. Still, seeing that the boy had taken the moss and learned much, they decided that they also wanted to try it. They all had many colorful visions of many events that would and would not come to pass. When they woke, they wanted more. The whole village became addicted to the strange orange moss, except the medicine man. He woke after three days, and, seeing the people in such a state, decided he must do something. So, he cast a spell to separate their souls from their bodies, and hid them in the trees. Then, one by one, he enacted a curse upon the tribe. Their skin turned black and feathery, their hair bright red. Arms turned to wings. Mouths turned to beaks. As they became aware of their predicament, the medicine man explained, "I have put your souls inside the trees of the forest. You must search each one until you find your own, and only then will you become a human again.

To this day, many woodpeckers still search the trees, looking for their souls, and in some parts, strange men come from the forest, as if they had awoken from a dream. Stay away from the orange moss, my friends. It will bring nothing but trouble.


Author's Note: In the original story, there is no sick medicine man. instead, some boys playing in the woods just decide to try mescal, a hallucinogen used by medicine men. In a nod to a Phineas and Ferb episode (The Ballad of Badbeard), I changed the drug to orange moss. I added the sick medicine man to make the boy that starts the moss-taking more sympathetic. Also, in the original story a god hides the tribe's children in the trees, rather than a medicine man hiding their souls. I didn't like the thought of children who did nothing wrong being stuck in trees, so I changed it. And now, if a woodpecker finds its soul, it can turn back into a person, so there's more chance of a happy ending.


Image: Woodpecker. Source.

Bibliography: "Why the Woodpecker Pecks" from When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936). Source.