Long ago, in a time when the animals still spoke to man, there lived amongst the people, an ugly man. In fact, he was so ugly that none of the women of his tribe wanted to be his wife or would even talk to him and the men would not invite him on any hunts. This made him very sad. Finally, he could take it no longer and he decided it would be better to wander in the wilderness on his own amongst the animal people than to endure another day of heartache within his tribal community. So he gathered all his belongings and left without anyone caring.
One day, when he was far away from his people, he set up camp in the foothills of the great mountains. As the sun set, the evening winds started up and they carried a strange but beautiful music to his ears that totally captivated him and lifted him out of his great sadness. He desperately wanted to search for the source of this wondrous sound but fearing some kind of enchantment he thought it best to wait until light.
In the morning he broke camp and began his search but the music had stopped in the night and he could find nothing. As the day ended he once again set up camp and as the sun set and the evening winds returned so did the wondrous music. Again, in the morning, he continued his search, but to no avail. This went on for several days and he was growing more and more desperate.
Finally, as he searched through the hills, Woodpecker, who had been watching him all these days flew into a nearby branch and asked the man what he was doing. The ugly man told Woodpecker the story of how this beautiful music had healed his spirit and how he yearned to find the source and take it back as a gift to his people and earn a place within the community. Woodpecker was deeply moved so he guided the man to a clearing in the forest where he had pecked holes into a hollow branch of a tree to create a flute that was played by the wind. The thankful man reached up and broke the limb from the tree and tried blowing into it but no sound came out. Woodpecker told the man that the dead branch would not make music until a likeness of Woodpecker was carved and placed on the flute to show him proper respect. When the man did as instructed the flute indeed created beautiful music when he blew into it which caused his spirit to soar amongst the clouds.
The Ugly man thanked Woodpecker and elated, he quickly broke camp and began searching for his people. When he finally came upon his tribe's camp he became self conscious and full of doubt so once again felt ashamed and could not go into the camp directly. In the evening he began to play the flute around the perimeter of the camp and the people were amazed and delighted by the wondrous sound. However, fearing that the woods might be enchanted, not even the bravest man would venture into the forest at night to find the source of the music. Finally one beautiful maiden was so touched by the sweet sounds of the flute that she went searching into the woods for the source of this beautiful music. When she came upon the ugly man she could no longer see his ugliness and brought him back into the camp and married him. The Ugly man live happilly the rest of his life and his story inspired other men to use the flute for courting the women they loved. And this is how the Native American Love Flute was given to the people by Woodpecker.
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