Proverbs 27:12: A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, The naive proceed and pay the penalty.
Stout Tree was a young Blackfoot Indian boy who wanted to be a man. For centuries his people had depended on the huge herds of buffalo that passed through their hunting grounds in the Rocky Mountains near what is now Alberta, Canada. They had become expert in driving whole herds of the shaggy giants off a certain cliff, providing meat, skins and bones enough for the tribe through an entire year. The buffalo was the Blackfoot tribe’s source of food, clothing, tools and weapons. But to young Stout Tree, the buffalo hunt was above all, a grand adventure that he was denied. Too little! But he was determined. He would find a way.
He did. Very early on the day of the annual hunt, the Blackfoot boy sneaked away from camp. In the early dawn half-darkness he headed for the buffalo jump as his father and the other men began their miles-long trek to encircle and begin driving the herd. Stout Tree knew that there was a ledge just below the edge of the cliff. He would climb down to that ledge and watch the hunt from an angle most hunters would never see. He would watch the mighty buffalo from below as they sailed over his head and down to their doom!
But Stout Tree had not figured on the powerful tremor that the herd of huge beasts would send through the earth as they thundered across the ground. Suddenly he realized with terror that the ledge was vibrating violently beneath him. Then, as the leaders of the herd flew overhead and down to the rocks far below, Stout Tree felt the earth give way beneath him and he slid off the face of the cliff amid a shower of dirt, rocks and huge shaggy bodies.
The Indian boy had failed to take seriously enough the danger inherent in his boyish adventure. Hours later, as the tribe butchered the buffalo at the bottom of the cliff an anguished cry went up. The body of Stout Tree had been discovered deep in the pile of dead animals. The cliff has carried the name of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump to this day.
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