The Magic Cooking Pot

A story about shapeshifting 
- a common theme in Native American stories -
from the tales of the Oglala Sioux

     Once there was a good old woman who knew herbs and healing. She didn't have much but her needs were simple and she was satisfied. She had a great love for her people and for children in particular. Very often, if you visited her tipi, you would find her sitting on the ground with visiting children, teaching and telling them stories. She always shared what little she had with anyone who was in need--and she wasn't able to gather very much because she was frail and not very strong. Still, her snares caught enough to supply her with meat, and wild grain, berries and other fruits and greens grew close at hand. She also taught the children how to make leather, how to plant and gather and best of all, she opened their minds to all the possibilities of their world through the magic of stories. Everybody- and especially the children- loved the old woman and considered her a blessing to the tribe.

     Badger Woman Spirit was out snuffing around one day, looking for something good to eat or a good fight-either one is agreeable to Badger. She came upon the old woman who had just taken a rabbit out of one of her snares. The old woman saw Badger Woman Spirit and thought she was just a regular badger. She looked up and said," Wait just a while, impatient one, and I will give you half this rabbit. You don't need the skin, so I will keep it to make something soft for a new man baby that has been born to the tribe."
Badger Woman Spirit was so amazed that someone would be willing to share with her, that she stopped her growling and meekly followed the old woman to her tipi. When the rabbit was skinned, the old woman kept her word by putting half the meat on a stone and backing away from it, saying: 
     "Here you are, Sister Badger---fill your stomach and walk in peace."
     The spirit being was curious about the old woman and decided to watch her for awhile. The longer she watched her, the more certain she became that this was a very unusual person. She shared everything she had, she took care of sick people, she befriended those who were lonely or sad. She had a lot of powerful medicine for healing and she was not afraid of anything. 
     "This is a good old woman---I must give her something special," the spirit said, and when the old lady was out gathering one day, Badger went into her tipi and turned herself into a beautiful cooking pot full of delicious meat stew. When the old one came in with a few roots and berries, she was delighted to see the beautiful pot bubbling on her cooking fire.
     "Oh, me! Some kind person has thought of me and has given me this fine pot and good food. My heart is full and my spirit soars like a hawk." She said. The old woman had never owned anything as fine as this cooking pot and she was thrilled at the gift. All she ever had to cook in was an old cooking skin and some flat rocks she heated in the fire and dropped into the food to get it hot enough to boil.
     That evening some children came by and begged for a story and something to eat. These were rude children and their mothers would have been ashamed of them if they knew that after eating good meals at their own fires, here they were asking for this poor old woman's food! But the old woman invited them in and fed them from the wonderful pot and told them all about finding it and showed them that no matter how much they ate, the pot was just as full as ever.
     "We need something sweet to eat," the wicked children said, rubbing their stomachs because they were so full. The kind old woman went out to find them some berries or plums.
     "Now, let us steal this pot and we will be heroes to the tribe. No one will ever be hungry again---and it will be us they will be grateful to!" Then they grabbed the pot and started to leave; but the pot turned into an angry badger who snarled, laid back her ears and chased them outside, biting them on their feet and nipping their behinds. The old woman heard the children crying and screaming and she hurried back to her home.
     "That pot is really Badger Woman Spirit! She chased us and bit us!" they cried.
     "How can that be? You are just imagining things-how could a cooking pot be a badger?" the old woman told them. "Now calm down, I have some lovely berries for you. I was washing them at the stream--I'll go and get them now. Sit down, sit down, and be patient." She said, thinking they were just wanting her to hurry with the berries.
As soon as the old woman was out of the tipi, those naughty children grabbed her digging stick and tried to break the pot. Quick as a wink, the pot turned into a spitting, snarling, spoiling- for- a- fight badger.
     "Oh, Ho! So you think you can abuse me, do you?" she cried, and this time, she really gave them a trouncing.
     The old woman heard the children yelling again and she hurried back to the tipi--just in time to see Badger jumping all over the place fighting with the children. She started to hit Badger with a rock, but Badger quickly told her what had happened. The naughty children ran howling for home.
     "I can't stay here, Old Woman, and I wanted to reward you for all your kind deeds. Come travel with me--we will go into towns and villages. People will give us treasures to see me change into different things and back again."
     So that is what the old woman did. And people did give them many valuable things to see the magic Badger could work. After awhile, the old woman went home, and now she was quite well known and quite well off. She had a fine new painted tipi, several good ponies, and a beautiful pot that no one but her dared to touch at all. And the naughty children came and sat on the ground and listened to the wisdom of the old woman and became wise themselves.

This version of a very old story by Kathleen Hanna 2001