Ethelbert is an imaginary amalgam of many different characters from my life: a cowboy, a father and husband, a teller of tall tales, a man of deep faith, and one tough hombre.

Young Ethelbert Meets the Buffalo

Onc't I was out walkin' the mountains;
mindin' my own, don't cha know,
when down in the Cache Creek canyon
I startled an ol' buffalo.

He seen me afore I sawed him -
by only a second it wuz,
An' my heart went to beating like crazy
as it sometimes un-naturally does.

Seems I wuz a blockin' his exit
as I stood in the tall, rocky draw
in the Narrows of Cache Creek canyon
a fer piece from my maw or my paw.

Well he circled an' started a runnin'
I froze a-skeered for my life,
for he was a comin' straight t'wards me
an' I wuz headed for hurtin' an' strife!

So I turned to flee that thar critter
but I tripped on a tumbleweed bush.
An' as I on my hands an' knees was a ris'n
I shortly was given a push!

Now I was a skinny young feller
not weighin' much more than a hair,
so when that bull got a holt o' my rump
well I went sailin' away through the air!

Yep, I was a tumblin' all over
up thar in 'at mighty blue sky;
a doin' some powerful prayin' to God
that I soon shor 'nuff wouldn't die.

Then as I commenced to descending,
near one side of that steep canyon wall,
I spied me a juttin' out oak branch
which I grabbed holt of to break up my fall.

An' shor 'nuff that oak branch helt me!
An' shor 'nuff the Lord saved my skin!
An' I learnt me to pray with both eyes wide open
in sitcheashuns like that I been in!

Next poem: Ethelbert on Faith

Author: Jerry Dan Deutschendorf
from: Red Earth Whisperings
Part II: The Old Timer