"Don't feel sad, Little Tree. It is The Way. Tal-con caught the slow and so the slow will raise no children who are also slow. Tal-con lives by The Way. He helps the quail." Grandpa dug a sweet root from the ground whith his knife and peeled it so that it dripped with its juicy winter cache of life. He cut it in half and handed me the heavy end. "It is The Way," he said softly. "take only what ye need. When ye take the deer, do not take the best. Take the smaller and the slower and then the deer will grow stronger and always give you meat. Pa-koh, the Panther, knows and so must ye." And he laughted, "only Ti-bi, the bee, stores more than he can use...and so he is robbed by the bear, and the 'coon...and the Cherokee. It is so with people who store and fat themselves with more than their share. They will have it taken from them. And there will be wars over it... and they will say a flag stands for their right to do this...and men will die because of the words and the flag...but they will not change the rules of The Way."
-The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter-