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Into the Light – Fay Marvin Clark

Mitchell agreed to take me home after the blueberry season was over, as I had, during our many conversations together, told him of several places that I knew where Ginseng grew.

Each day Mitchell talked to me about the oneness of all life - the oneness of everything. He said, "Yes, there is a creator.  The name is unimportant, but we call it 'Manitou.' This creator is a force, not a person”, …….I asked about the animals. Mitchell replied, "All forms of life are in attunement with their creator, but at their own level of understanding."

Deer are quite numerous in that area, and Mitchell said the deer are possibly more in attunement than nearly all of mankind.  I then asked if it were possible that Indians could communicate with the animals.  After one of Mitchell's long pauses, he said very quietly, "Why just Indians?" After another silence he continued, "Anyone can attune and commune with the animals. If you desire and really believe, I will teach you; but there are certain things you must promise never to tell anyone."

I promised.

Each morning just before daybreak, we would go a short distance from camp, and I would remain concealed while Mitchell stood in an open clearing with arms folded and his eyes closed. Some heads would show, and after a few moments one or more deer would approach. They would get close enough to Mitchell that he could pet them.

Finally Mitchell taught me how to do this and what to think.

He let me stand with him, and the deer would come to me also.

It is an overwhelming feeling of oneness with everything to stand, almost not breathing, and have a doe put her head against you, while you gently scratch her behind her ears.

There was one large buck that would come to Mitchell, always hesitantly, as though wondering within itself about this strange man-creature, who was thinking his language.

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I remember that one evening Mitchell, Sam Little Soldier, Johnny Greengrass, and I were sitting by the evening campfire, when we noticed a doe cautiously approaching. She came directly to Mitchell, stood looking at him then turned and started to walk away. She then stopped and looked back at us.

Mitchell said to me, "Mama Deer is in trouble and needs help. I will go."

I said, "I will go with you."

The doe walked away, turning to see if we were following her, going slow enough so we would not lose sight of her. We followed her in the semi-darkness for what seemed like miles.

Then we came upon two fawns being watched over by the buck deer.

One of the twins had a broken leg. The buck was very determined that we stay away, but after a little silent communication between Mitchell and the parents, the buck changed his mind.

We found two, fairly flat sticks and set the leg in place, using the sticks as splints and holding them in place with our handkerchiefs. We really were proud of our job.

Mitchell then picked up the baby deer, put it over his shoulders, and holding its legs, we returned to camp with the doe following. We were cramped in the area that had been a yard with a chicken fence still standing. We did a hasty repair job on the fence and placed our patient in this pen.

We stayed there for nearly two weeks, and each day our patient was supplied with milk donated by our “moose," the range cow. We sometimes added Karo syrup or molasses to the milk. The fawn was a good bottle drinker even without a nipple.

Each evening the mother came and touched noses through the fence with her baby.

One evening Mitchell removed the splints and let the fawn out of the enclosure. The mother came at her usual time and watched her baby walk around, then left without it. I wondered if she was rejecting it and giving it to us, but on the third evening she returned and took the little fellow away.

Just as we were thinking, "Well, that's that," the doe returned and walked directly up to Mitchell, completely ignoring the rest of us, then stood looking at him before she turned and ran away into the dusk. I looked at Mitchell, and no doubt he knew my thoughts, for he said, "Yes, mama deer came back to say "thank you."

It would appear that every time I need a boost in life, some occurrence just as meaningful as the above comes to me. Again and again I am permitted to share in an experience that to me is evidence that there is only one life and that I and everything else are a part of it.