(A) Long ago, when the world was young, an old Native American spiritual leader Odawa had a dream on a high mountain. In his dream, Iktomi, the great spirit and searcher of wisdom, appeared to (a) him in the form of a spider. Iktomi spoke to him in a holy language.
(B) Odawa shared Iktomi’s lesson with (b) his people. Today, many Native Americans have dream catchers hanging above their beds. Dream catchers are believed to filter out bad dreams. The good dreams are captured in the web of life and carried with the people. The bad dreams pass through the hole in the web and are no longer a part of their lives.
(C) When Iktomi finished speaking, he spun a web and gave it to Odawa. He said to Odawa, “The web is a perfect circle with a hole in the center. Use the web to help your people reach their goals. Make good use of their ideas, dreams, and visions. If (c) you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your good ideas and the bad ones will go through the hole.” Right after Odawa woke up, he went back to his village.
(D) Iktomi told Odawa about the cycles of life. (d) He said, “We all begin our lives as babies, move on to childhood, and then to adulthood. Finally, we come to old age, where we must be taken care of as babies again.” Iktomi also told (e) him that there are good and bad forces in each stage of life. “If we listen to the good forces, they will guide us in the right direction. But if we listen to the bad forces, they will lead us the wrong way and may harm us,” Iktomi said.