Story Two: The Golden Gun Origin Story

          It was 1856, right before the boom of the “Old West” as we know it now. A tiny town in upstate Montana was home to a young man who was fascinated by all things cowboy. He quickly learned how to rope and ride and decided that he should try his luck on a cattle drive that was headed south to deliver a herd to Abilene. He knew that it was a dangerous trek but loved the idea of being a real cowboy on the trail. The first few weeks of riding went well for this young man and he began to get the hang of keeping the herd together. All was going fine until the group found themselves caught in a thunderstorm in Nebraska. The sky was filled with huge thunderclouds as dark as night and lightning stuck only inches from their horses. Thunder clapped and rumbled. Soon the cows were running in all directions. The boy soon found himself at the head of a stampede. His horse bucked and tossed him off. Lying on the ground, certain that the shadow of death was going to soon fall over him, the young man began to pray out loud to God saying, “Please Lord don’t let me die here in the rain and the mud! Save me from this position and I will serve you forever!” God must have been listening because as that boy lay there on the ground, eyes closed, the cattle seemed to divert around him and did not touch him even once. When he pulled himself together and decided to look up, he found the sun beginning to peek through the storm clouds and knew at that moment what he must do. He went out in search of his horse to begin his ride back to his hometown where he would ask his preacher to mentor him and begin his rode toward becoming a servant of the Lord himself.

                About twenty years had passed and the young boy was now a man. He was the town's preacher now, as his teacher before him had passed on from old age. He had a small congregation of only ten or fifteen people because the town was so small and also everyone began to move south and west toward California in search of gold. He knew he had to keep serving God because of his promise but was not sure if preaching to ten souls a week was what the Lord had in mind for him. He had begun to hear of all the evil that was now spreading across the West in forms of bandits, robbers, and gangs. He was not sure what God wanted of him but decided he need to go meditate on this thought. He heard of a place just across the border in Canada where natives used to go. It was a very spiritual place that was said to be touched by God and thus had a powerful connection with the spirits.

                Even though it was the middle of January and very cold, the preacher knew he could wait no longer and must go seek out this sacred place. He made his way into Canada and into the dense evergreen forests. On his way he knew he must look out for mountain lions, bears, and spirits of the forest that would wish to do him harm. After wandering about for close to a month he came across a group of natives. He asked them about the location of the place he was seeking. After telling him his reasons, they shared with him the direction of where he wished to go. It was deeper into the forest. He would know when he got there because there was a crystal-clear lake that seemed to just drop off from the shore and fall to a depth of one hundred feet. In the middle of the lake, however, was a tree rising up from the water. He made his way through the forest and finally after a week more of wandering found himself at the shores of the lake. It was deathly quiet in this place with no sounds of animals or wind. He sat there, made a fire, and began praying to God asking him what it was he wanted. Repeatedly, he would pray saying, “Lord, please come to me and tell me what you desire of me.”

            After a little over a week the preacher began to become very hungry because there were no animals in this holy place. He lay by the fire and still praying was overcome by hunger. At that moment he heard a voice coming from the fire. He was not sure if he was hallucinating from being starved to almost death or not. He listened closely and heard the voice in the fire say to him, “My servant, whom I am greatly pleased with, you have fulfilled your promise to me perfectly. Now, I ask that you serve me in a different manner.” The preacher asked the fire what it is that the Lord would have him do? The Spirit of God answered, “Take your rifle that you have used to hunt this wilderness and throw it into this fire.” The preacher did what was asked of him. Suddenly as the rifle hit the flame the fire shot up into the air in a great column and then in an instant the fire ceased to be there.

The Column of Fire

Sitting underneath a pile of ash the preacher could see something glistening. He reached through the ash and picked up a golden revolver. The voice now came  from all around him now and spoke saying, “Take this pistol and holster and go about the West. Clean up all the foulness that has come about and bring peace to the people. This golden pistol will aid you in your travels making you quicker on the draw than other man alive.” With this being said, the preacher picked himself up off the ground, wrapped the belt and holster around his waist and slipped the golden revolver into it. He then began his journey South.

Author's Notes
I decided to do a weapon origin story that was from a previous story that I wrote “The Preacher in the West.” This story really gives not only a background to the magical pistol but also a little bit of a background to the Preacher himself. I came across a story in this week's reading “Arjuna and Shiva” that I thought would work perfectly for me for the story I had in mind. In the original story from the Mahabharata, Arjuna goes out into the forest around the Himalayan Mountains where he prays and worships the God of the mountains in hopes of receiving weapons that he could use. He stayed and worshiped for many days and finally he had to stop because he was going to be attacked by a boar. As he was about to shoot the boar his arrow crossed paths with another that was shot by the God of the mountain himself. Later in the story he gives Arjuna weapons that he would later use. In my story I kept most of the same concepts about going into the forest and finding a spiritual place but instead God comes to the preacher in means of a fire and not a physical being. In both stories the main character receives a great weapon though.

Bibliography 
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)