the legend of the indian paintbrush book

Now every spring the ground is covered with these beautiful plants and Little Gopher is praised for being the person who brought the sunset to the earth. The brushes had taken root and multiplied. The next morning, the hillside was covered with plants of brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. He left his brushes on the ground and returned to the village. Little Gopher finally painted a picture pure as the colors in the evening sky. The next evening, in this place Little Gopher found brushes filled with paint the colors of the sunset on the ground all around him. One night he heard voices in the sky telling him to go to the hillside where he sees the sun set and he will find what he needs. He often looked at the colors of the sky and did not give up on this task. He struggled with finding the colors of the sunset. Little Gopher gathered flowers and berries to make his paints, and painted pictures of great hunts and great deeds. They told him to paint pictures of deeds of warriors, visions of the shaman, and a picture pure as the colors in the evening sky. The young Indian Maiden and the old grandfather in the clouds gave Little Gopher a rolled-up animal skin, a brush made of fine animal hairs, and pots of paints. When he grows a bit older, he goes to the hills alone to think about becoming a man.

Little Gopher is upset in the beginning of the story because he is smaller then the other children and he can not keep up with their strength.

The legend of the indian paintbrush book