Okay so I wrote this story when I was like 10 for my history co-op, I haven't read it in forever or done any editing to it since I entered it in the fair so hopefully it's not to bad, but I thought I'd share it with you guys. This is the first couple pages:
Padre Kino and the Indians
A story about the Mission Nuestra Senora De Los Dolores
A story about the Mission Nuestra Senora De Los Dolores
The sun was setting and just about everyone was in his hut at the Nuestra Senora De Los Dolores Mission. Except for a man walking along a stream. He was a padre named Eusebio Francisco Kino, who was a solidly built man and five-foot-six. There was also a Pima Indian girl walking with Padre Kino. Her name was Marie Margarita. She had brown eyes, dark brown hair, and was nine years old and looked like any other Indian girl.
While Padre Kino was walking he was thinking of all the good things that God had made and how good God had been to him. Marie Margarita was thinking a little differently though, she was thinking of the first time she had been at the Mission.
It had started when she was around eight years old in the wintertime. She still had her Indian name, Cactus Flower. She had become sick with influenza. So her parents called the medicine man. He did what he called his magic, but of course it did not work. Cactus Flower just got worse.
Finally, Cactus Flower’s older brother Brown Coyote suggested taking her to one of the padres. He said to his mother and father, ‘‘the padres have helped lots of other Indians like my friend Snakeskin. Why could he not help Cactus Flower?’’
His mother asked Brown Coyote, ‘‘Have you ever met any of the padre’s?’’
Brown Coyote answered, ‘‘Well no, but I have heard that they will be able to help Cactus Flower.’’
His father and mother hesitated, but after a few days, when Cactus Flower was near to death, they took her to Padre Kino since there seemed to be no other thing to do. When they got Cactus Flower to the Mission her parents asked one of the padres whose name was Padre Kino if he would take care of her and try to make her well again. He said he would. So Cactus Flower stayed at the Mission for a few weeks, resting.
While her parents waited at their Indian village, they sent Brown Coyote almost every day to go to where the sick Indians stayed to see how Cactus Flower was doing. Also, while she was there some Catholic Indians came to visit the sick Indians. One day they came over to were she was laying and began to talk to her. They told her about the places were the padres stayed and what they did. After their visit she could not sleep because she was thinking about all that the Indians had told her.
When she saw how happy the Catholic Indians were to be around the padre’s she wished that she could be like them and with them. So the next time she saw a Catholic Indian she asked if she could talk with Padre Kino. The Indian told her that he would try to make her request possible because the padre was very busy and left.
After a few days Padre Kino found time to come and see Cactus Flower. He entered the hut and said to Cactus Flower, ‘‘I heard that you wanted to see me Cactus Flower. Is there some thing you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Yes Padre Kino. I want to ask you if you would teach me to become a Catholic like you have with some of the other Indians?” said Cactus Flower.
“Well, of course!” Then in a more solemn voice he said, “But you know you can not get baptized if you do not learn your prayers, songs, learn about the one true God, and you must learn the Spanish language. You must also learn to read and to write. You also need to learn some math. Do you think you will be able to do all those things? It will take a couple years and a lot of hard work.”
I guess it's not to bad for a ten year old :), I'll post some more of it next week.
~Trisha
