"Legend of the Indian Paintbrush " For Ice Bear! "

A long time ago, there lived a little Indian boy named Gopher. It was not Gopher's destiny to become a mighty warrior. Although, he tried to run, wrestle and shoot with the bow and arrow like other boys, he was too small and couldn't manage. Gopher went on a vision quest, where he had a vision to find a white buckskin, " keep it and one day you will paint a picture that is as pure as the colors in the evening sky." So we learn that Gopher's spiritual gift was to create with color. He did get the white buckskin, but he couldn't mix the correct colors of sunset. He tried and tried, but the colors he mixed weren't the bright colors of sunset. One night Gopher had a dream to watch sunset the next evening, on top of the hill, where he would find paintbrushes filled with paint - sunset colors. The next evening Gopher went to the top of the hill where lo and behold paintbrushes were all around, full of paint in the colors of sunset as the dream vision had promised. To fulfill his destiny as an artist, he began painting a picture as pure as the colors in the evening sky. The legend goes that after painting his masterpiece, Gopher abandoned the paintbrushes that he'd scattered about on the hillside. The next morning, the paintbrushes had rooted to become beautiful flowers. And this is how the Indian Paintbrush flower came to be. Indian paintbrush flowers are sweet and tasty and were used as a condiment by various Native American tribes. Nevada tribes used them to treat venereal disease. The Ojibwe Indians used the flowers to treat rheumatism. This plant absorbs selenium from soil, which concentrates in the root system and green parts. If you decide to eat Indian Paintbrush flowers, don't taste the green parts or roots, as they are quite toxic.