A Burro Named Mariah

Most of the people who lived in the little town of Panaca in the South Eastern part of the state of Nevada, were farmers and ranchers. Eleven miles away was the little town of Pioche. It was famous for it's rich silver mines. The mountains and hills between the towns were also dotted with mines. In many of these mines, burros were used to help the miners. A burro is a small donkey. They would carry supplies back and forth from the miners camps to the mines. Sometimes, these little burros would even go deep into the mines to carry out the silver and other metals.

This is a story about one of those shaggy little burros and the children of Panaca who loved her. It happened many years ago.

After a time, there was no more silver left in many of the mines. The miners had no more use for the little burros and so they were turned loose to wander in the hills around Panaca. Soon, the people of Panaca were telling stories about a shaggy little burro they had seen. Her long ears were lined with soft black hair and she had a black circle around one eye.

An old miner came into town one day and hearing the people talking about the little burro with the black circle around her eye, said, "I know this little burro. Her name is Mariah. Often, after a long day in the mines, we would sing by our fires at night. We sang a song about the rain and the wind, and the wind was called Mariah. We often saw her after she left the mines, roaming free like the wind that blew gently across the prarie and whistled through the canyons, and so we named her Mariah."

Soon, the children of Panaca were watching for Mariah. If they were lucky enought to see her, they talked about how beautiful she was. She had huge brown eyes with the longest eyelashes they had ever seen. Sometimes in the early morning, away off in the hills, they could hear the burros braying and it sounded like they were laughing as they called to one another.

Time passed and one year when winter came, the winds were colder and the snow fell earlier, piling into huge drifts. The burros and the wild horses, which were called mustangs, came down out of the hills hunting for food. Many had died. The children were afraid for Mariah. They talked their fathers into going into the hills to see if they could catch her and bring her to Panaca for the winter. Later, the fathers said it seemed as if Mariah had been waiting, and she willingly came with them. Oh, how the children loved her! They loved the soft snuffling noises she made into their hands when they touched her nose which felt like velvet, and the way she twitched her long ears, first one way and then another, as they talked to her.

The long, cold winter finally passed and spring came. In the early morning one beautiful spring day, Mariah heard the burros braying away off in the hills and the children knew she wanted to go to them, and so they walked with her out of town. But from then on, each year when the leaves began to change from green into beautiful shades of yellow, red, and orange, and the rain began to fall and the wind whistled loudly across the prairie, the children of Panaca waited for a day when the rain didn't fall and the sun came out. Then, their mothers would pack them a lunch, they would dress in warm clothes and sturdy boots or high topped shoes, and they would go to bring Mariah to Panaca for the winter. One or two fathers always went with them to make sure they didn't lose their way or get hurt. But, they didn't follow too closely because they knew this adventure belonged to the children.

Mariah had her own special place where the children could usually find her alone, and with the fathers watching, they would go there. They had a set of rules; they were never to chase Mariah or frighten her, and whoever was able to put their halter on her, was the one at whose home she would stay. The other children would then visit her there and help feed her and care for her. She loved being snug and warm in the winter and she loved the children, but when spring came and the leaves were budding on the trees and the gentle rains fell, and the desert was colored with the brillant colors of the wildflowers, she would call to to her friends in the hills and the canyons. Then, the children knew it was time to tell her goodbye and let her go.

How excited they were one year when they saw Mariah with two tiny little burros! She had twins! That winter, the children of Panaca had three little burros to love and take care of. They wanted to give Mariah's children names before they left in the spring. Mariah had been named after the wind. Often when the summer storms would gather in the hills and the wind would begin to blow, the lightening would flash and the thunder would crack, and so the children of Panaca called Mariah's children, Lightening and Thunder.

Time passed, Lightening and Thunder grew bigger and they were always with Mariah. One morning when the sage brush was covered with frost, and the trees were wearing their beautiful colors, and the squirrels were busy gathering pinion pine nuts to store in their homes in the trees, and the pocket mouse's cheeks were fat with seeds as she scurried back and forth into her burrow, and the sky was dark with ducks and birds flying off to their winter homes, the children were preparing to go into the hills to get their friends, the little burros. Mother handed them their lunches and apples, carrots. and sweet lumps of sugar for Mariah and her children.

A wise and gentle father gathered the children close to him and said, "Now children, as you begin your adventure today, I want you to remember that as you walk across the desert, past the sand dunes and into the hills, you will be going by many of our animal friends homes. Snakes, lizards. and horned toads live in the rocks and crevices, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, the little burrowing owl, and desert tortoises live in burrows in the ground, birds of all kinds build their nest in tress and shrubs and the grasses. Other animals live in many different places. Remember how frightened you would be if someone came into your home and destroyed it. Treat the plants gentle, also. The animals need them for food and shelter. They return nutrients to the soil and help to keep the rains from washing it away. We also need many of the plants for food and healing. "

At the same time, Mariah had called her children to her and said, "The children of Panaca will come today. This time we will go home with the two little girls with long blond braids that hang down their back. Their brother will be with them. He will be wearing boots and a big cowboy hat, and he will be carrying a halter. This family has a nice warm barn. They have lots of animals; dogs, cats, horses, cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, and the little girls always have a lamb. They treat their animals with kindness and respect. They will clean our ears and clean and trim our hooves. They will brush the burrs from our coats and will stick a long needle into us. I know you won't like that but they do it so we won't get sick, and I expect you to make me proud and act like the well behaved children you are. Lightening, I know you don't like the children to sit on your back, but that doesn't mean you should bite or kick at them. Thunder, you don't seem to mind and it really wouldn't hurt you to let the children sit on your back. I am growing old now and they do not sit on me anymore, but you are young and strong."

And so, the little girls and their brother took them home and loved them and took care of them. The other children of Panaca loved them too, and the little burros felt their love and they were happy. They knew that when a child grew up, there would always be another to take their place.

This is a true story, I know, because one of the little girls with the long blond braids that hung down her back, who along with the other children of Panaca loved the little burros, was me.