Reading Notes, Tejas Legends, Part A: How the North Wind Lost His Hair

How the North Wind Lost His Hair

Spanish moss

(Source: Wikipedia Commons)

The north wind was old and cold, and the south wind was young, strong, and warm. The north wind was too cold to come down south around the Gulf of Mexico because he is scared of the south wind. Once, they got into a huge fight and you can still see the effects of the fight int eh southern woods where all of the trees were knocked down and the moss grows on the trees. The two winds have always hated each others. The north wind used to always intrude into the south with his cold presence followed by a dark cloud of his gray hair. He made the people shiver in their tents and all of the plants would die when he came around. In contrast, everybody loved the warm wind. He made flowers bloom and the people joyful. 

One spring, the north wind came down south and he just would not go back. He stunted all productivity as he covered the lands with snows. The flowers and birds could not come out as they always do at the beginning of spring. The leaves could not grow back. The north wind was overstaying his visit in the Gulf and this made the south wind so mad that he had to take action. The south wind was filled up his entire lungs with air and blew as hard as he could towards the north wind. He knocked the north wind out of the Gulf, but the north wind returned to fight with the south winds, locking arms and rolling all over the land, creating mass destrcution. Finally, the south wind grabbed the north wind by the hair and threw him back up north, leaving the north wind's gray hair in his hand. HE let go of the hair over the trees and it fell to the forest floor, taking rooting and growing into Spanish moss, which still grows today and serves as a reminder to the north to never enter the south again if he wants to live.

From the Tejas Legends unit. Story source: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).