LEGEND OF THE BUTTERFLY (Native American)

March 1 was the deadline for entering the ACEO Theme Week contest. The theme for March is Caterpillars, Butterfles and Lady Bugs. ACEOs must be 2.5"x3.5" to qualify as an ACEO. ACEO is an acronym for Art Cards Editions and Originals.

I decided to make a medicine bag with a butterfly on it. Here is my entry, and description.





ACEO is an acronym for Art Cards Editions and Originals and must always be 2.5" x 3.5". The theme for March is “Caterpillars, Butterflies and Ladybugs”.

This little ACEO is a medicine bag 2.5" wide and 3.5" high. It is made on brain-tanned deerskin and beaded around the top with orange and blue size 11 seed bead. I have made a leather neck thong so that it can be worn or the leather thong can be tucked inside the medicine bag for displaying in a sleeve (scanned both ways). Inside the bag, I have placed a small rock, the symbol of Mother Earth, a gift the Creator gives to His children, solid, everlasting and ingrained with colors of the earth.

This ACEO card will be enclosed in an acid-free sleeve. Shipping is $1.50 by U.S. First Class Mail. International shipping is at cost. If you want to combine other of my auctions, please request an invoice so I can adjust charges.

For your information, here is the Legend of the Butterfly. I will include it separately with the ACEO Medicine Bag.

Legend of the Butterfly

One day the Creator was resting and watching some children play in a village. As He watched them, His heart grew sad - “these children will grow old, their skin will become wrinkled, their hair will turn gray, their teeth will fall out, the young hunter’s arm will fail, the lovely young girls will grow ugly and fat, the playful puppies will become blind, mangy dogs, and those wonderful flowers - yellow and blue, red and purple - will fade. The leaves from the trees will fall and dry up. Thus, the Creator grew sadder and sadder.

The Creator took out his bag and started gatherings things: a spot of sunlight, a handful of blue from the sky, the shadow of paying children, the blackness of a beautiful girl’s hair, the yellow of the falling leaves, the green of the pine needles, the red, purple and orange of the flowers. All of these he put into his bag.

Then he walked over to the grassy spot where the children were playing. “Children, little children, this is for you.” And he gave them his bag. “Open it; there something nice inside.” The children opened the bag, and at once hundreds and hundreds of colored butterflies flew out, dancing around the children’s heads, settling on their hair, fluttering up again to sip from this or that flower. And the children, enchanted, said they had never seen anything so beautiful.

The butterflies began to sing and the children listened smiling. But then a songbird came flying, settling on the Creator’s shoulder, scolding him, saying, “It’s not right to give our songs to the new, pretty things. You told us when you made us that every bird would have his own song. And now, you’ve passed them all around. Isn’t it enough that you gave your new playthings the colors of the rainbow?” “You’re right,” said the Creator. “I made one song for each bird, and I shouldn’t have taken what belongs to you.”

So, the Creator took the songs away from the butterflies, and that’s why they are silent. “They’re beautiful even so!” he said.