July, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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he had turned into Navajo the words of their evening prayer to the Tènder Shep herd. Nazbah had listened to the story with that same look of intense earnestness that he had seen in her eyes just before leav ing the hogan, and had said softly, as though to herself instead of to him, “ I like that; I’d like to be the little lamb that Shepherd found.” A sudden peace came into the hoy’s unhappy heart. Perhaps Naz bah did belong to the Shepherd ! Could she have opened her heart and said, “ Come in” to the Loving One? At the Mission they said that was what one should do. His head bowed lower. One night he had done that, and he had loved that Un seen Friend until he had turned back— were the Navajo gods real, or was He— this Saviour who died for all? Suddenly the boy knew that he could never ask that question again. It was an swered. The wind was still shrieking, and it flung flurries of snow in his face as he went quickly out into the night. Down the steep path to Nazbah’s hogan he hurried. Well he knew the terrible fear of death that lay on all his people. Might it be that accord ing to custom with those who were dying, Nazbah had been carried out of the hogan to a rude shelter and left alone in the dark and cold? He could scarcely get his breath for the pounding of his heart as he stood at the door of the silent hogan. Some one within moved; he softly opened the door. In the dim light o f the fire he saw his aunt raise her finger to her lips. He peered into the shadows and drew a long breath; [Continued on page 280] How to Join the K. Y. B. Club To become a member of the Know Your Bible Club, read through the Gospel according to John, using either your own Bible or a Gospel of John which will be sent upon request. W hen the Gospel has been read, and a state ment to this effect, signed by parent or Sun day-school teacher, has been sent to the Editor of the Junior King’s Business, a K . Y . B. C. pin will be mailed. Sunday-school classes or clubs desiring to order ten or more Gospels or pins may wish to share the cost of these supplies, as the Lord directs: Gospels, postpaid, five cents each— in quantity, three cents; pins, without postage, two cents each. However, no one is to do without a Gospel or pin because of lack of money. Address: Junior King's Busi ness, 558 South Hope St., Los Angeles, Calif. New K. Y. B. C. Members The following have read through the Gospel ac cording to John and are now members of the Know Your Bible Club: Anderson, S. C.: Frances Browning; Eloise Burton; Adell Carey; Helen Harvey; Charles Hutto; Ida Ruth Kelley; Doyle Rumsey; and Car- mon Stovall (Mrs. S. G. Harden, teacher). Buhler, Kans.: Leona Braun; Hilda Epp; Helen Heidebrecht; and Elizabeth Schroeder (Mrs. Ike C. Hamm, teacher). Carney, Md.': Roaslie Green. Centerville, S. D .: Dorothy Gustafson. Dallas, Ore.: Esther and Luella Gossen; Cath erine, Edna, and Esther Neufeld; Grace Schmidt; and Lorena Teoves (Evelyn Linscheid, teacher). Denair, Calif.: Doris, Dorothy, and Wilbur Doerksen; Robert Nalt; and Theodore Wall (Ger trude Amstutz, teacher). Eau Claire, W is.: Betty Powers. Fairviele, Okla.: Kenneth Eitzen; Allen Gru- nau; Marcella Hamm; Marvin and Virgil Hein; and Junior and Luvella Patzkowsky (A. W. Epp. leader). Fresno, Calif.: Naomi Heinrichs; Alice Said; and Tyrne Willems (Mrs. A. N. Willems, teacher). Hamlet, Nehr. : Lila Adamson; Ruth Marian Chase;. Betty Hiner; Lavina Holmes; Yvonne Sailors; and Arietta Wach (Mrs. James E. Egle, teacher). ‘Houston, Tex.: Bobby Wilson (Marvin W. Froehner, teacher). Katanga, Africa: Dagwala; Dinkai; and Mai- Sari (Mrs. Harold Coen, missionary). Keokuk, la .: Minne Jane Johnson; Billie and Marie Nye; Emerson Rose; and Morris and Rob ert Walker (Mary E. Linquist, teacher). [Continued on page 280]
name is near thy wondrous works declare" (Psa. 75:1). “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid” (Matt. 5 :14). ________ Summoned by his uncle, a powerful medicine man o f the Navajo tribe, Slender Boy ran away from the Mission school to his own people, where his uncle began to train him in the heathen customs of. the Navajo religion. Slender Boy memorized the long prayers his uncle taught to him, but he could not quite forget the simple prayers to Jesus, the tender Shepherd, as he had learned them at the Mission school. One day he was startled to fityi that his un cle was preparing for a "Sing"—a special ceremony which he performed when some one was ill. Slender Boy soon found that the patient was his second cousin, Nazbah, the merry-hearted girl with whom he had herded the sheep many times. P art II T he trample o f hoofs and the sound of voices announced the coming of the neighbors who had heard of the pro posed Sing. They had come from scattered hogans for miles around, breaking through snowdrifts and in the mood to have a lively social‘'time. Slender Boy sat moodily inside the ho- gan. As assistant to the medicine man he had a certain dignity to preserve, but in reality he was not concerned about his dig nity; the low moans and occasional sobs of the little patient had robbed him of interest in anything else. He was relieved when his uncle, Strong Arm, the medicine man, cleared the hogan o f all but those who should help him with the sand painting and other preparations for the Sing, for, in spite of himself, Slen der Boy had .not been able to keep out of his mind the thought of the clean, comfort able beds at the Mission, and the quiet care given sick children. Here were cold drafts, smoke, noise, dirt. He had never noticed these things before. As the afternoon waned and the cold grew intense, the fires burned hotter and the feast was made ready. When twilight fell, as many as possible gathered around the fire in the hogan, and those who could not get in drew close to the fire outside, and the company ate, drank, laughed, and smoked in complete indifference to the fe verish little patient. When the feast was over, still more peo ple crowded into the hogan, the women on one side, the men on the other. In the cen* ter with his medicines sat the medicine man and his patient, whose little body he smeared from shoulders to-waist with mut ton tallow and charcoal, that the evil spirit tormenting her might be frightened away. He poured between her unwilling lips the medicinal herbs prepared with water. The talking and laughing had stopped; a deathlike silence reigned within and with out the hogan. Sitting down near his pa tient, Strong Arm began to shake his rattle, a gourd filled with small stones. Then, closing his eyes and resting his head on his hand, he began the chants, in which most of the men joined him. All night long ex-, cept for brief intervals of rest they con tinued that chant. It seemed to Slender Boy that the night would never end; he was learning what it meant to say the chants and mean them. Slender Boy of Navajo Land •B y F rances N oble P hair
He had learned them carefully, but now he was saying them with all his heart, hoping till it pained him that the gods would hear and answer. Toward morning he grew so tired and sleepy that he was frightened to find that he had almost spoken the words that kept coming to his mind, “Jesus, Tender Shepherd, lead us, Bless thy little one . . . ” With a start of fear he closed his lips tightly and chanted no more. When day broke, all who could curl up on the sheepskins in the hogan did so and soon were sound asleep; and others, being neighbors, went to their own hogans. Slender Boy hurried home, looked after the sheep and then fell into deep sleep on his own sheepskin and did not waken until his aunt told him it was time to go back to eat and sing again. The second night passed much as the first, but there was the hooting of owls outside the hogan, and every Navajo shiv ered, for that meant death was coming near. The little patient was weaker and could not sit up at all, and she cried be cause of the pain in her side. Before dawn the wind began to rise. It shrieked and howled around the hogan, and the early morning light could scarcely creep through the heavy clouds that piled above Pine Mountain. Because o f these signs of a coming storm, it was silently agreed that the Sing had been long enough. The pan of corn meal and bunch o f dry grass and feathers, to please the evil spirit which the people believed rrfust be somewhere near Nazbah, were placed outside the hogan door. . Slender Boy helped his uncle gather up all the things that belonged to him. As Naz bah was laid back on her own little sheep skin by the wall, she looked earnestly for a moment into Slender Boy’s face. Her eyes were larger and darker-than ever as they shone in her thin little face; she tried to speak, but -though her lips moved, no sound came. She closed her eyes again and lay unconscious. As the boy climbed the snowy path to his own hogan, he felt as though he were living in a bad dream. The masses of scud ding grey clouds cast a gloom over all the mountain side,' and the wind cried drearily among the trees. His head was heavy from lack o f sleep, and even the cups of strong, black coffee his aunt made could not keep him awake. Soon, with his uncle and aunt, he was fast asleep on the sheep skins. The hours o f the short winter day pass ed; in his dreams he was following the sheep with Nazbah; they seemed to be sit ting together under the pinon trees eating the nuts they had gathered. Nazbah was playing with the heap of little brown nuts in her lap and, suddenly looking up at him with a strange earnestness in her face, be gan to say in English, “Jesus, Tender Shepherd, lead us,. Bless thy little ones tonight, In the darkness . . • The dreamer, woke with a start and found himself sitting upright. As his mind cleared, the dream brought back the mem ory o f one o f their days on the hills. A storm had overtaken them, and they had huddled together with the sheep in an old corral. To pass the time, he had told her of many of the white man’s ways and be liefs. It was the only time he had spoken of them, and she listened eagerly. He had told her of their bedtime frolics and then the story o f the Good Shepherd who found the one sheep that was lost, and
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