CLEO KENMILLE

GPO: 1982-593.665

10


It was the middle of August. The berries were ripe and ready for picking.
A party of seven women decided to take their children whortleberry picking.
They planned to go up into the mountains behind Lone Pine.

They had to travel by horseback. They loaded their picking baskets on
the horses. The children had to ride double and even triple. The younger chil-
dren rode with their mothers.



Suddenly, he heard branches breaking behind him. When he turned
around, he saw a big, black bear coming towards him. Little Weasel was very
frightened.



The women were so busy picking that they forgot about everything else.
Late in the afternoon when the baskets were full, they decided it was time to
start home. The women told the children to get ready for the long, slow trip
home.



The women and children rode for many hours until they found a spot
with enough berries to fill their baskets. They stopped, unloaded their
baskets and piled them near the berry patch.

To nearby trees they tied their horses with enough lead rope to graze.

Someone saw signs of wild animals so they had to be extra careful. The
children were given strict orders to stay close together near the elders. The
older children were expected to watch the younger ones.



Little Weasel was playing and having such a fun time that he didn’t
realize he had wandered too far and was lost. When he realized he was lost, he
began running, desperately trying to find his mother. He couldn’t find his
mother or anyone else. He sat down on a log and began to cry.



\ LITTLE WEASEL’S
DREAM

The Indian Reading Series

Level IV Book 7




He began to scream for help as loudly as he could. The women were
about to give up their search and send for help from their village. Then they
heard Little Weasel cry out for his mother. She ran to him, picked him up and
held him in her arms. She was so happy that her son was safe.



One of the women noticed that she hadn’t seen her three year-old-son
Little Weasel for quite some time. She became alarmed when she found that
no one else had seen him either. The women and children began looking all
over for Little Weasel.



Developed by the Pacific Northwest Indian Reading and Language Development Program
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 300 Southwest Sixth Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204

Copyright © 1981 by the Kootenai Cultural Committee, designated as the representatives
of The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation
All rights reserved.

‘The work upon which this publication is based was performed pursuant to Contract
No. 400-80-0105 with the Educational Equity Group/Multicultural/ Bilingual Division
of the National Institute of Education. It does not, however, necessarily reflect the
views of that agency.

Printed and bound in the United States of America


Booklets available in the Level IV sequence are listed below. Numbers refer to the Planned Sequence of use
in the Teacher’s Manual. Materials developed by these tribes and others in the Northwest are included in
the Levels I, II and III sequences.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Warm Springs Animal Stories
The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

Snail Women at Sq*a’le

The Suquamish Tribe of the Port Madison
Reservation

Blue Jay — Star Child/Basket Woman
Muckleshoot Tribe

Assiniboine Woman Making Grease
Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation
Coyote

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

6. How the Summer Season Came

7.

Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Belknap
Reservation
Little Weasel’s Dream

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

8. Fort Hall Stories

9.

10.

ll.

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall
Reservation

The Bear Tepee

Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Sioux Stories and Legends

Sioux Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation
Kootenai Stories

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

12.

13.

14,

15.

16.

Chief Mountain’s Medicine
Gros Ventre Tribe from the Fort Belknap
Reservation

Coyote the Trickster
Burns Paiute Reservation

Running Free
Shoalwater Bay

Salish Coyote Stories
Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

Coyote and the Cowboys
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall
Reservation

17. Napi’s Journey

18.

19.

Blackfeet Tribe

Warm Springs Stories

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

Tepee Making

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

20. Baskets and Canoes

21.

Skokomish Tribe

Warrior People
Blackfeet Tribe


THE INDIAN READING SERIES
Stories and Legends of the Northwest

Little Weasel’s Dream
Level IV Book 7

Developed by the Kootenai Cultural Committee of the
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Cleo Kenmille, Coordinator
Glen James

Verna James, Illustrator
Madeline Couture

Sarah Bufton

Sophie Matt

Sarah Eneas

Patricia Hewankorn
Joseph Antiste, Consultant
Agnes Kenmille

Debbie Joseph, Il/ustrator
Howard Kallowat, Jr., Illustrator

Illustrated by Debbie Joseph

Joseph Coburn, Director
Pacific Northwest Indian Program
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory



THE INDIAN READING SERIES: Stories and Legends of the
Northwest is a collection of authentic material cooperatively devel-
oped by Indian people from twelve reservations. Development ac-
tivities are guided by a Policy Board which represents the Indian
community of the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest Indian
Reading and Language Development Program Policy Board mem-
bers are:

* Warren Clements — Warm Springs
Chairman

+ Clement Azure — Devils Lake Sioux

+ Walter Moffett — Nez Perce

+ Emmett Oliver — Quinault

+ Bob Parsley — Chippewa

+ Lloyd Smith — Warm Springs

+ Max Snow

+ Jeanne Thomas — Yakima




i) THE INDIAN READING SERIES:
% Stories and Legends of the Northwest