Winter Skinny Dipping

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Every winter when I’m freezing on a tree stand trying to tough it out or maybe busting the ice out of my guides while sauger fishing I’m reminded of the winter Tecumseh spent jumping in the Little Miami. Even when he was a young boy the Shawnee sensed greatness in Tecumseh. Possibly because of this in the winter of 1776 Tecumseh’s father the great warrior Black Fish summoned him and told him it was time to seek his Pa-wah-ka. A Pa-wah-ka was a magical object thru which one could talk to and recieve power from the Great Spirit. Black Fish told Tecumseh he must strip every day and run naked to the nearby Little Miami and plunge into the river before returning home. Well this went on day after day. Through snow or cold sleet and rain he ran to plunge into the Little Miami. As winter wore on he would have to break through the ice formed on the river’s edge. All this barefoot and naked mind you. What a test of sheer willpower this must have been for Tecumseh. Finally in mid-January Black Fish told Tecumseh that the next run would be his last, that Tecumseh was to wade to the middle of the river and dive to the bottom and close his hands on whatever he touched and bring that back to Black Fish without looking at it. Tecumseh ran naked to the river, plunged in and returned with a small white quartzite rock. Black Fish declared this his Pa-wah-ka and Tecumseh forever afterward wore it on a cord around his neck. I imagine it must have been priceless to him considering what he endured to earn it.
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