A Choctaw story:

 

The Red Bird

 

Once, when time was not quite old enough to be counted, there lived a beautiful Indian maiden.  This was a special maiden.  She could do all the work that needed to be done to keep her lodge in order and to satisfy her mate.  But this maiden did not have what she longed for -- her mate.  As she sat under the large tree one day, she heard the Red Bird.

 

"Red Bird, is it so strange for me to wish to have someone to care for, who will care for me?" asked the maiden.  "If it is not so strange, why have I not found that one meant for me?"

 

The Red Bird had no answer for the Indian maiden, but he sat and listened to her because he could hear the lonely in her voice.  Every morning for the passing of seven suns, the Red Bird came and listened to the maiden's story.  As each day passed, the loneliness felt by the maiden began to fill the Red Bird.

 

One day in the Red Bird's far travels, he came to a handsome Indian brave.  The brave saw the Red Bird and called him to him.  As he began to talk, the Red Bird felt the loneliness in his voice that the maiden had shown.  Soon the Red Bird began to see that these two lonely people had the same wish, to find another who would love and care for them as they would care for their mate.

 

On the fifth day of listening to the brave, the Red Bird became as a bird that is sick.  The brave became concerned, for the Red Bird had become his friend.  As the brave walked toward him, the Red Bird began hopping, leading the brave to the lodge of the Indian maiden.  Because the brave was wanting to see if the Red Bird was alright, he did not notice that he was going from his home.  The Red Bird saw the Indian maiden sitting outside of her lodge and when he came very close to where he knew the brave would then see the Indian maiden, he flew away.  The brave saw the Indian maiden and realized that he had wandered far from his home.  He went to the Indian maiden to ask where he was.

 

The Red Bird sat in the tree and watched the brave and the maiden.  At first the brave was shy and the maiden would not talk, but they soon were talking and laughing like old friends.

 

Red Bird saw this and thought it was good.  He had done as he could and now it would be up to the brave and the maiden.  As Red Bird flew to his home he thought of how Great Spirit had known that someday the two would find each other.  Now it was good, thought Red Bird, that maiden had someone who would see for her and brave had someone that would hear for him and that they finally had someone who would care.