the legend of the bluebonnets
Every year in early April much of the Texas countryside is covered with beautiful wildflowers, including the region’s stunning bluebonnets. People stop their cars by the side of highways to gaze at this short-lived natural wonder and to pose their loved ones among the blue flowers. The earliest inhabitants of Texas, the Comanche Indians, loved the bluebonnets as much as modern day Texans, and they have an enchanting story about how these wildflowers came to be….
In the legend, the land is plagued with a horrible drought. The lack of rain is unbearable and becomes the focus for the whole community. The people send up many prayers, but there is still no rain. Everything is drying up, water holes cracking apart, and animals becoming scarce.
One little girl in the drought-afflicted region had lost all her family to disease or old age and has only a small doll made by her mother when the girl was a baby. This doll is the last connection the girl has with her family. But when the elders say a great sacrifice has to be made, she knows right away her beloved doll has to be cast into the fire that very night. Later, while everyone else sleeps, she begins saying prayers to her ancestors and for future generations, and throws her doll into the flames. While watching her precious possession burn, the girl falls asleep.
By the next morning the rains had started and according to the legend, the land was lush with grass and the lovely blue of the first bluebonnets. But the little girl and her doll were nowhere to be found. Eventually the people realized that the girl had sacrificed not only her most beloved possession, but also herself for them and for the earth’s transformation.
As the Comanche understood, often a great sacrifice must be made for the emergence of beauty and return of life….