The father of the Osage nation was a snail. It was when the earth was
young and little. It was before the rivers had become wide or long, or
the mountains lifted their peaks above the clouds, that the snail
found himself passing a quiet existence on the banks of the River
Missouri. His wants and wishes were but few, and well supplied, and he
was happy.
At length the region of the Missouri was visited by one of those great
storms which so often scatter desolation over it, and the river,
swollen by the melted snow and ice from the mountains, swept away
everything from its banks, and among other things the drowsy snail.
Upon a log he drifted down many a day's journey, till the river,
subsiding, left him and his log upon the banks of the River of Fish.
He was left in the slime, and the hot sun beamed fiercely upon him
till he became baked to the earth and found himself incapable of
moving. Gradually he grew in size and stature, and his form
experienced a new change, till at length what was once a snail
creeping on the earth ripened into man, erect, tall, and stately. For
a long time after his change to a human being he remained stupefied,
not knowing what he was or by what means to sustain life. At length
recollection returned to him. He remembered that he was once a snail
and dwelt upon another river. He became animated with a wish to return
to his old haunts, and accordingly directed his steps towards those
parts from which he had been removed. Hunger now began to prey upon
him, and bade fair to close his eyes before he should again behold his
beloved haunts on the banks of the river. The beasts of the forest
were many, but their speed outstripped his. The birds of the air
fluttered upon sprays beyond his reach, and the fish gliding through
the waves at his feet were nimbler than he and eluded his grasp. Each
moment he grew weaker, the films gathered before his eyes, and in his
ears there rang sounds like the whistling of winds through the woods
in the month before the snows. At length, wearied and exhausted, he
laid himself down upon a grassy bank.