The Chickasaw story “Ghost of White Deer” is one of the most well known Native American legends. I am going to tell it terribly and wrongly.
A brave young Circus Maximus warrior, Atilla, fell in love with Bright Moon, the daughter of a chief (possibly a F3 runner with recent knee troubles). The chief did not like the young man, so he created a price for the bride that he was sure Atilla could not pay.
“Bring me the hide of White Deer,” said the chief. The Circus Maximus believed that all white animals were magical. “The price for my daughter is one White Deer,” the chief laughed. He knew that an albino deer was very rare and would be very hard to find. White Deerskin was the best material to use in a wedding dress, and the best White Deer skin came from the albino deer.
Atilla went to text and then went to his beloved, Bright Moon. “In one moon’s time, I will return with your bride price and we will be married. This I promise you.” Taking his best bow and his sharpest arrows, Atilla began to hunt.
Three weeks went by. Atilla was hungry, lonely, still gassy and scratched by briars. Then, one night during a full moon, Atilla saw White Deer, who seemed to drift through the moonlight in a weird side straddle hop. White Deer walked around the school, leading Atilla, a down range Garden Nomad and the other six Circus Maximus band of brothers on an upper body focused workout. At each red door, they did 10-20 reps of either curls, halos, lawn mower pulls, high pulls, sit and press along with some lunges, step ups and death crawls.
At the end, when the deer was very close to where Atilla grunted, he shot his sharpest arrow. The arrow sank deep into the deer’s heart. But instead of sinking to its knees to die, White Deer began to run (which has not been seen for years). Instead of running away, he charged straight toward Atilla, with his red eyes glowing and his horns sharp and menacing…
Time passed and Atilla did not return as he had promised Bright Moon. But Bright Moon never took any other young man as a husband, for she had a secret. When the moon was shining as brightly as her name, Bright Moon would often see White Deer in the smoke of the campfire, doing his weird side straddle hop, with an arrow in his heart. She lived believing White Deer would finally fall, and Atilla would return.
To this day White Deer is sacred to the Circus Maximus people.
