Grandma Beck and "thank goodness for Jasper!"

11/29/09

Grandma and Jasper: The Friendly, Talking,

Saber-tooth Tiger

In 1948 Idaho and Utah had one of the most severe winters ever remembered in the mountain States. It was so cold; however, it was the great quantity of snow that caused the most problems and which even now, 61 years later, people who were alive that year still remember that cold snowy winter and talk about it.

Punkaman and his father, Avery T. Beck, got lost in the snow that year in the New Field, east of Crowleyville, Utah, but that is a different story and must be told on a different occasion. This story is about South-Central Idaho in the little farming community called Filer, Idaho. Filer is west of Twin Falls and is in the Twin Falls County. The County Fair is held in Filer and this is the major attraction for this small city.

Dean and Vyla Call lived in Filer, Idaho in 1948 with their 2 children: Marilyn (age 5) and MarDean (age 3). Dean M. Call was a farmer, and he also worked for the Rogers Seed Company. Vyla was a stay-at-home mom who also did a lot of work outside on the farm in feeding the livestock which included cattle (4 milk cows), sheep, pigs and chickens. In the spring, summer and fall, Vyla and Marilyn would also work in the fields doing the hard work. Even as a 5 year old child, Marilyn could often guide the work horses when they pulled a wagon because Marilyn’s dad could yell “Getty-up” which the horse knew meant to walk and to pull. He would yell “Whoa-there” which would make the horses stop. All Marilyn had to do was hold the leather reins which were like long small ropes going from the horses' bridles which included a metal bit in their mouth. The horses also had leather blinders, which hindered the horses from seeing the driver and whatever loads were put on a wagon or sleigh. So when 5 year old Marilyn held the reins and her dad would talk to the horses, the horses thought that Dean was the driver, since he was the one that gave them their orders. In this way, Dean could walk alongside the wagon and either load or un-load hay or other things. Marilyn liked helping her dad, and it was fun to hold the reins for the horses. Marilyn liked to work, even way back then 61 years ago.

In the winter of 1948 Dean would hook the horses up to a big home-made sleigh which he had made and would haul the milk from their 4 milk cows in big metal silver cans up the hill to the railroad track and down to the main road where a big milk truck could pick up the cans. This was because the farm road to their little farm house was blocked with deep snow. Below is a picture of a horse hooked up to a “one horse open sleigh” which is like the one Grandma had, except her sleigh wasn’t a store bought sleigh like in this picture.

At age 5, Marilyn was a big helper as she sat on the big home-made sleigh holding the reins to the horses. The big work horse stood in the snow hooked on to the sleigh with a harness. In the picture below, you can see a horse hooked up to a sleigh. See how the horse is hocked up and note that there are blinders on his eyes so it is hard for the horse to look back.

Marilyn was happy to be helping her dad, and she sat carefully on the sleigh as her dad loaded the big heavy cans of milk. Even then, she just seemed to know that it was important to work hard and this meant working hard outside and inside for her parents and herself. She did not mind being out in the cold, even if the cold made her nose and her cheeks rosy red.

.BANG, BANG, BANG! Marilyn’s daddy Dean yelled and he yelled loud because he was trying to carry two big cans of milk at once to put on the sleigh, and he tripped upon a rock under the snow and dropped one can on the other making such a load noise! Then one can of milk had the lid come off and about 10 gallons of precious milk was spilled on the ground and that was why Dean yelled. Now he couldn’t sell that milk and the family needed the money!

The big horse jumped! The noise of the cans hitting each other was such a loud thunderous noise to the horse, The horse couldn’t look back at what caused the noise and then when Dean yelled, the poor horse thought he might get a whipping and so when he came down on his feet from jumping at the noise, the horse took off running. Marilyn was standing in the sleigh, but when the horse jumped it jerked the sleigh and Marilyn fell down in the back of the sleigh. She was still holding the reins, and she pulled as hard as she could and yelled as loud as she could to the horse to “Whoa, WHOA, WHOA-THERE”! The poor horse was afraid and terrified and was running and racing even in the deep snow. The horse was so frightened that all it wanted to do was to run away from the fearful noise of the milk cans and the loud yells of Dean.

Marilyn was also frightened for she was fearful that the sleigh would tip over, and she would get hurt, or she was fearful that the horse would run into a barb-wire fence which would cut the horse up pretty bad and maybe it would cut her up as well. Marilyn’s dad was also frightened for his little girl, for the horse and the sleigh for he knew that when a horse gets scared or "spooked" as it is usually called almost nothing will cause a spooked horse to stop running until it is out of energy. He knew this horse had a lot of energy.

Marilyn had heard of Jasper, The Friendly Talking Saber-tooth Tiger, from her cousin Lynn and had told him that she “didn’t believe a tiger could talk.” As the sleigh rocked up, down and forward after the runaway horse she decided she would try the silly thing that Lynn told her to do in order to call for help from Jasper. She didn't know what else to do..................

Sticking her tongue between her fingers she made the strange and peculiar sound: “Whew```plew~~~~~PLEW~~~~~” as the sound and spit came off her tongue, she immediately felt the sleigh slow down, and as she sat up the whole sleigh stopped.

A horse with a harness pulling a sleigh A horse harness is a type of horse tack that allows a horse to pull various horse-drawn vehicles such as a carriage, wagon or sleigh. A harness may also be used to hitch animals to other loads such as a plow or a canal boat.

At first Marilyn thought maybe the horse had broken the harness and run away leaving the sleigh, but as she adjusted her winter cap, she saw the horse had just stopped and was breathing hard with heavy sighs and big blasts of air bursting out from his nose and mouth in the cold winter day. Standing beside the big horse was a huge tiger, almost as big as the horse with two long white Saber-teeth sticking out of his mouth. “Oh my goodness sakes alive, 5 year old Marilyn could hardly believe her eyes. Her cousin Lynn was telling the truth.”

The horse and the tiger were evidently talking with each other. Jasper was talking to the horse and got him to stop and to calm down.

Then Jasper spoke to Marilyn: “Are you okay Marilyn?” asked the huge Tiger. Marilyn didn’t talk; she just nodded her head up and down signaling “YES!”

Marilyn heard her dad running toward her and Jasper quickly said: Marilyn, you know how to call me, please do so whenever you wish. . . And when you are a mother and grandmother, tell your children and grandchildren to call me also.”

Now, I think Marilyn called Jasper several times in her childhood. You’ll have to ask her about those occasions if you want to know about them. . . I just know that some of them are scary………………

Merilee and Jasper

Merilee meets Jasper in a prickly pear bush.

It was summer time in 1967. Cute little Heidi was just a few months old. Mark Andrew had just turned 2 years old a few weeks earlier and Merilee was about 3 ½ years old. She was about the age of Anna, Brinley, Anson, or Tanner. Grandma Marilyn was almost 24 years old (a little younger that Joshibear is right now) and Punkaman was 29 years old, which is almost the same age as Emily is now.

Our family lived in Missoula, Montana in a big old house which the Church owned and had partially remodeled closed to the University of Montana campus. Downstairs was an office for Dad/Punkaman, a small lounge area, and a nice large classroom which could sit almost 80 students. Part of Punkaman’s assignment with CES was to have his family live in the Institute building. Besides the Institute work with the college students, Punka was also assigned to start and maintain early morning Seminaries from Great Falls, Montana and throughout the west-central part of Montana... In this area, the Church had the Kalispell Mission District with many branches and three Stakes: Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula. Besides the Church Education work, sometimes Punka worked at the J.C. Penney Co. selling men’s clothing. Grandma took care of the kids and looked after the Institute work and Institute students when Punka wasn’t around or available which was often.

From the small lounge, there was a swinging door which gave access to the old apartment which had not been remodeled. The apartment had a large old fashioned kitchen, and an old fashioned bathroom with a large old tub. Furthermore, the bathroom door did not lock. The small hall outside the bathroom door could lead you directly to the swinging door into the Institute area if you went west, or if you turned north you could go into a small front room with a small comfortable sofa, one chair, and a small coffee table. There was an outside entrance from this front room. From the hall, you could also turn north and go into a small bedroom with a couple of old dressers, one small clothing closet, and a double bed and a crib for baby Heidi. (At night, we would put Merilee and Mark to sleep in the bed and then when it was time for Punka and Marilyn to go to bed, Merilee and Mark would be moved into the front room to sleep on different ends of the couch.

From the same hall, you could go south into the kitchen, or up steep and narrow stairs to a large upstairs room, and also an enclosed screen porch area. We rented the upstairs bedroom to two young college students: Rob Keltner and Farris Khalill. Rob was an inactive LDS boy from Wyo. and Farris was from Detroit, Mich.

On Sunday, we would have the student LDS Branch meet in the Institute classroom for Sacrament Meeting, and then they would meet in our kitchen, bedroom, and front room for Sunday school classes, and Relief Society meetings.

Almost all our LDS students lived in the dorms, for having come off the farms and ranches in Montana; they seldom could go home on weekends for they lived too far away. Once a month on Fast Sundays, they would miss the one meal served on Sunday at the College luncheon area. Therefore, we had a full meal for about 50 kids each first Sunday, which Marilyn supervised and did most of the cooking.

During the week, students often came over to visit with Marilyn and the kids, often staying after classes to visit and study in the class room or in the lounge often feeling free to go through the swinging door into the apartment to talk with Marilyn, get a drink from the kitchen, or use the bathroom.

Consequently, if the weather was nice, Marilyn and the kids would join me; we would lock our apartment and frequently ride around delivering Church Educational supplies to early morning Seminary teachers and/or see Priesthood Leaders about problems regarding the Seminary programs.

Other times, we would just take the car and ride around, just to get away from the constant press of LDS students wanting attention, to talk and hang out at the Institute. It was such an occasion that we put Merilee and Mark in the back seat of our yellow/brown ford station wagon. It was 1967 and cars were not required to have seat belts. Marilyn held baby Heidi on her lap, and I drove. There are so many pretty places to ride around Missoula: West of Missoula is a federal smoke -jumping school and a number of lovely horse farms. South is the Bitter Root area alongside the beautiful Clarke River named after the Lewis & Clarke Expedition. Many small farms with cattle, sheep, and always horses, even some domestic buffalo could be seen when driving south of Missoula. There are many fishing holes and hiking trails about. In the fall, it is a popular area to hunt deer, elk and occasionally Moose and Bear as it is in most of Western Montana.

It was a Thursday, and number college students were at the Institute building where they would study for their college classes and often they had Friday tests to prepare for. But always they especially seemed to enjoy visiting with their friends and with Marilyn and the kids. We decided to take a little pleasure ride.

Heidi was such a cute baby, most students loved to be with Heidi. She always had a big smile. Merilee was a precocious and bright little girl who loved to talk and the students: both the boys and the girls loved to spend time with her. Mark was pretty quiet, but on occasion he would be engaged with the students, especially if they would read him a book or look at pictures with him. Marilyn was shy in those days, but then it would be an effort, and emotionally draining, to have the University students always in your apartment. Marilyn was not much older than many of our students, and she was younger than some, although she had three little children.

So about 3:30 PM, the three little Beck kids went with Marilyn and Sherman in the car for a little ride. We drove south of Missoula and then off the highway road and on to a gravel/dirt road. We saw some cows and other farm animals, and then we went into the hills and Punka stopped the car along the side of the road while Marilyn changed baby Heidi. Merilee and Mark wanted to get out and play and since there were no cars, we said it was okay. They played for a minute at the base of a little trail, which wound up the small hill next to the road.

“May we hike up this trail?” asked Merilee as she adjusted her little pink sweater that she was wearing. She and Mark started up the crooked and twisted trail before they even got an answer, but maybe they knew that Punka would say: “Sure!” which he did. Marilyn said: “Be careful.” The trail was well used because away from the trail was a heavy growth of prickly pear bushes, and they also had some had red flowers on these sticky plants. Both people and animals would want to avoid getting stuck on these prickly pears and so they would use the trail path.

People and animals made sure they used the trail because they did not want to get stuck by this prickly pear patch for those stickers could hurt.

Up to the trail went Merilee quickly and Mark followed her more slowly. They were so happy to be out of the car. Marilyn was in the car nursing the baby Heidi, and Punka stood by the car looking at the two oldest children walking up the trail and enjoying the sun here on the foot hills south of Missoula.

By now, Merilee had hiked up the trail about 50 yards and Mark was slowly following her and both had big smiles on their faces and were enjoying themselves.

“Merilee" Punka yelled. “That is far enough, please turn around and come back down” was Punkaman’s instructions. Merilee turned around on the trail happy to obey her dad when she stepped on a loose little rock on the trail and down, she fell off the trail and into a huge prickly pear patch. “OH HELP ME! OUCH,OUCH, OUCH!” she yelled and into the sticky prickly pear bushes she went. She landed right in the middle of the prickly pear bushes and her sweater and clothing was caught in the stickers. Some of the stickers were also sticking into her skin.

“Please, Help” yelled Merilee. “Oh my goodness……………..” said Marilyn as Punka ran up the trail wondering how he could get into the patch of prickly pears and save his eldest daughter. Then in the middle of Merilee’s screams of pain and hurt, Punka was about half way up the trail, when he saw and heard Merilee put her fingers over her mouth and made the Jasper sound: “Plew~~~~PLEW~~~~PLEW~~~~~” Merilee’s little face was sad with tears because the prickly pears' stickers were hurting her so much. Then before Punka could get all the way up to the trail from where Merilee had fallen off into the prickly bushes, a flash of yellow and brown ran down the trail from above and jumped right into the prickly pear bushes, gathering up Merilee with one scoop in his big two front teeth. It was Jasper! Jasper picked up Merilee just like he did Princess Sari long long ago in the jungle so that the elephant foot would not mash her. His big fangs picked up Merilee by her clothing and did not touch her skin at all.

Merilee was so surprised and happy that she stopped crying even though some stickers were still in her clothing and some stickers still stuck in her skin. Jasper jumped out of the prickly pear patch and his skin was so thick that the stickers didn’t even stick him or hurt him in any way.

Jasper jumped back on the trail and ran right past Punka and Mark, who were on the trail and put Merilee on the hood of our car at the bottom of the trail. He smiled at Marilyn and then winked at Mark and Punka and said something to Merilee, and then he was gone in a flash.

By the time that Punka got down to the car, Marilyn had put baby Heidi on the car seat and was around Merilee soothing her and telling her everything would be okay. Punka got to the car and gave Merilee a big hug, and she frowned and said: “Daddy don’t.” Marilyn said: “Sherman, there are still stickers in her skin and you are hurting her.” And then Marilyn carefully removed Merilee’s clothing except her panties and sure enough, there were about 10 stickers still in Merilee’s skin. Marilyn held her tight while Punka pulled the stickers out. It was hard to pull some of them out because they were in so deep in her skin, but Merilee was brave and Punka was strong. Marilyn was loving and Mark Andrew was amazed.

When all the stickers were out and Merilee was in her mother’s arms, Punka asked Merilee “What did Jasper say to you?” Merilee said: “He told me to be brave when he first jumped into the prickly pear patch” and then when he put me on the car hood he said: “Merilee, you will be okay now because your mom will take care of you, but always call me if you need me. ”

Later when we got home, Marilyn and Punka was talking the situation and Marilyn said that she did not know that Merilee knew about Jasper and how to call him. Marilyn asked Punka if he had told Merilee about Jasper the Friendly Talking Saber-tooth Tiger. Punka said:”no, he did not”, and then Marilyn wondered how Merilee found out….

Neither Merilee’s mom nor dad knows how she was smart enough to call Jasper; if you want to know the answer you will have to ask Merilee herself. The only thing that Marilyn, Sherman, Mark and baby Heidi knows for sure about that day is that they are happy Jasper came and helped Merilee out of a STICKY SITUATION BECAUSE SHE WAS REALLY STUCK.

The end………………………………… 11-22-09

(The next story is how Jasper saved Mark when the Beck family lived in Tempe, Arizona and Mark was abandoned at a big Kentucky Fried Chicken Store. ”Oh my, what would the Beck family do without Jasper?”) Oh yes….. and then Heidi Jo in the White Mountains in Arizona and wait until you hear about the 4 year old Michael Aaron on a Mexican beach with a 4 year old Mexican beauty princess………………..Thank goodness for Jasper……………………………..

How Jasper Saved Punka from a Scary Skunk

“Sherman Andrew” my father, Avery T. Beck was calling me.  I was playing basketball on my dirt basketball court where my big wooden backboard was connected to the west side of our big wooden granary. I was eleven years old, about the same age as Aaron, Spencer and Caleb almost ready to be a deacon. I had a new basketball net on my basketball hoop and I was having a great time trying to make baskets.  I was mainly practicing side shots where I would dribble the basketball either on the left or right of the hoop and bank the ball off the backboard into the hoop and when I did it right, the new net would make a swooshing sound that was so, so sweet! Such a sound is one of the sweetest sounds I know.
      I knew I needed to answer my dad when he called, so I reluctantly put the ball down by the basketball goal and ran around to the east side of the granary which was my dad’s shop where he had a his tools and equipment and would repair farm machinery and things.  “Sherm” my dad was saying, “I’m in the middle of this repair work on this sugar beet cultivator and need to finish today.  I want to test it out this evening so I can use it behind the tractor at 5:00 AM on Monday morning.
       
      I knew that my dad thought Monday was an important day of the week, and he considered getting a good start on the work on Monday was a very important thing.  He used to wake my brother Paul and me up about 5:00 AM on Mondays; (he would wake up about 4:00 AM) by saying:  “Wake up you guys………The day after tomorrow is Wednesday, the week is half over, and you haven’t got anything done yet!”      
Then he would sing: “Wake-up and do something more, than dream of your mansion above…..doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure, a blessing of goodness and light……….”
      My father told me that he would like me to jump on my horse, Bonnie, take the big shovel and go down in the lower field and change the irrigation water from one end of an alfalfa field to the other side of the field.  It would be rather easy, since I would mainly need to remove a canvas dam which was just a little larger than a baby quilt. I would pull it out of the water, clean the mud off with my shovel and place it on the ditch bank to dry.  This would allow the water to flow on down the ditch and water the rest of the alfalfa field.  I would need to take some dirt and dam up the small ditch where the water had been going so has to stop the water from continuing to water the part of the field that had sufficient water.  It was easy assignment and I was happy to help my dad with this work. I liked assignments on the farm that would allow me to ride my horse.  
      I put my rubber boots on that went almost up to my knees, I put the bridle on my old horse, Bonnie, who seem to be excited to get out of her corral.  I think she knew we were going down in the alfalfa fields where she would be able to pull some new green alfalfa up and eat it instead the old dry hay which we fed her when she was in her corral.   As you likely know, hay is alfalfa that is dry and put in stacks to feed to cattle and other livestock.
      I had put the shovel against a fence so that once I was on the horse’s bare back, I could put it over my shoulder and hold it with my right hand while I held on to the reins of the  bridle with my left hand.  The bridle is the thing made out of leather and metal which I had put on my horse’s head and in her mouth.  Away we went and Bonnie was excited because without any encouragement from me, she began to lope, which is between walking and running for a horse.  It felt good to be on the horse, I was sweaty from playing basketball and there was a slight breeze going across the fields as we headed down to the lower fields where we had a large field of alfalfa growing.  Usually in one summer, you can harvest alfalfa three times: 1^st crop, 2^nd crop, and 3^rd crop.  We had already cut the 1^st crop and the 2^nd crop was almost ready to harvest, so the alfalfa was quite tall as we stopped close by the canvas dam which I needed to remove from the ditch to do my assignment from my father.  I just dropped the reins on the ground since I knew that Bonnie would just wait for me, happy to eat fresh alfalfa right from the field.  However, my horse seemed cautious and jumpy.  As I jumped off her back and grasped the shovel which I had stuck in the field like a spear while I got off the horse, I saw what Bonnie was worried about.  About 9 feet away right next to the canvas dam was a small skunk!  Before I could hardly think, the skunk looked at me with fearful eyes and then up went his back right foot and zippy-zoom, skunk stink-water was shot right at my face.  That skunk was an incredible excellent shot; the stink-water came at me just like he was aiming a powerful super squirt gun. I quickly put the metal shovel in front of my eyes and the stink-water hit right in the middle of the shovel and went all over the wooden handle of the shovel, on my clothing and especially my boots.  Bonnie quickly backed away, but I don’t think any stink-water got on her, and she didn’t run away, thank goodness.
      Oh my goodness sakes alive, I had never, NEVER, smelled anything so bad, absolutely dreadful and awful.  I went to back away from the skunk, because I knew that most skunks can shoot stink-water at least twice and the skunk evidently thought I wanted to cause him hurt and trouble, but I tripped over myself and down I went. As I rolled on the ground, I put my fingers to my lips and stuck my tongue out and blew as hard as I could, calling Jasper, The Friendly, Talking, Saber-tooth Tiger.
      Before that skunk could shoot again, JASPER WAS THERE!  THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!   Jasper told the skunk, (I couldn’t understand skunk talk, but Jasper explained it to me later) not to be scared and not to shoot me again.  He told the skunk, I wasn’t going to hurt him or cause him trouble.   
      I saw the skunk almost smile and then much to my relief, he put his back leg down, and I was out of danger from being shot with stink water a second time.  Whew………that was too close.  I was so thankful that Jasper came quickly.
      I quickly pulled out the canvas dam and let the water go down the ditch, I quickly put some dirt in the little side ditch so the water wouldn’t leak into the wrong field and then with difficulty, I got on my horse.   Bonnie did not want me to get on her back because I smelled so bad.  Finally, however, I did get on her back and turned to tell Jasper ”thank you” and he told me” You are welcome,” and he said: “call me any time until you turn twelve” and then Jasper reminded me that he wouldn’t be available to help me after I turned twelve.  I thought to myself, maybe I don’t want to grow up and be twelve after all, even though I had been looking forward to it until this experience.
      I went back to the house.  My dad and mom said I was so lucky the skunk’s stink-water didn’t get in my eyes because that stuff can make eyes go blind.   My mom had me take my clothing off outside the house, and she burned my clothing and my rubber boots.  My dad had to replace the wooden handle on the shovel, since we couldn’t get the stink out of the wood, it did come off the metal shovel.
      So that time, I called Jasper on purpose and thank goodness he came quickly to help me and to tell the scared skunk not to shoot me a second time.  Oh my, I was one lucky boy. OH MY GOODNESS SAKES ALIVE, I’M GLAD JASPER CAME QUICKLY AND EXPLAINED HOW THINGS WERE TO THAT LITTLE SKUNK.

How Punka Met Jasper

Sherman Andrew Beck was 6 years old and lived on a big farm in central Utah in a neighborhood called Crowleyville.  Crowleyville was about 7 miles south of a small town called Centerfield and was the location of the Gunnison Valley U&I Sugar Factory.   Centerfield was in the middle of Gunnison Valley which was a small valley with mountains all around it and with highway #89 going thru the valley on a north/south route.  North of Centerfield was a bigger town where the high school and the hospital were located called Gunnison.¹  In about late July of 1944 when Sherman (Punkaman) was just six years old his family decided to go up twelve mile canyon for a picnic.   Above Gunnison Valley, up the mountain from the small town of Mayfield, was a little campground. We took an old 1938 Plymouth car which my parents owned. My brother Paul, age 12 and my sister, Beverly, age 14 along with my mother, Elvona Marie Sorensen Beck who was 36 years old and my father, Avery T. Beck, who was also 36 years old put food and blankets in the trunk of the car and left our farm about noon and arrived at the twelve mile campground at the base of Mountain Baldy at about 2:00 PM.
        Mom was expecting a baby in November (Aunt Judy) and so dad fixed a place for her to sit and gave her a blanket to put around her and then he told us Beverly and I that we go could play.  He said that he and Paul would go find some wood so we could fix a fire in the fire pit.  The campground had a wood fence around it and a cattle guard² on the road which was a gravel road; it had just a few wooden tables and picnic sites.  It had a one water tap and a couple of outside toilets with wooden seats and pits.
      On one side of the campground was a stand of Quaking Aspen³ and the fence thru the Aspen was strings of barb-wire.  Most of the wire was nailed right on a tree trunk and was designed to keep cattle out, but not much of anything else in or out.
      I hurried over to the Quaking Aspen grove and before long had gotten down on my knees and crawled thru and under the barb-wire fence.  What an adventure!  I thought I would go find some wood and help Paul and Dad with the fire. So off I went down a little trail as happy as a squirrel.  It wasn’t long until I was out of sight of the campground and when I noticed I was somewhat dismayed; however, I thought I can just follow the path back and so that is what I tried to do.  But there were too many trails in the Quaking Aspen and I soon was mixed-up and didn’t know where to go.
      OH DEAR………….WHAT SHOULD I DO? I started to run and then down I fell right on my face, my lips and nose into the rough dirt of the trail.  I got up and was about to cry.    I took both my hands and used my fingers to brush away the dirt from my lips and blew my mouth and tongue between my fingers trying to get the dirt out of my mouth and off my tongue. 
      I didn’t know which way to go.  I wanted my Mom or my sister Beverly, but I did not know which way to go to find them.   Should I go up the trail or down the trail?  I was about ready to cry out when I heard an unexpected voice.  It was a big voice, but not aloud voice. It was a deep voice, but not a scary voice.  “Sherman, did you call me?” was what the voice said.  I couldn’t tell who said it and the voice said again:  “Sherman, did you call me?”
      Then I noticed standing partly hidden by three Quaking Aspen growing close together actually from the same clump of dirt.   There was a humongous big cat; a humongous tiger is exactly what I was looking at. A Saber-tooth Tiger⁴
      I don’t know why I wasn’t scared out of my wits.  Perhaps it was because this tiger was talking to me.  I know that sounds crazy, but at the time it seemed kind of natural and normal.  I was a lost child; this animal was speaking to me in a sweet smoothing voice.  The voice was deep like my father’s voice, but sweet like my mother’s voice.  I knew I was in trouble and while the Tiger didn’t say he could or would help me, somehow I knew that is exactly what he intended upon doing.  I was so happy for some help that I didn’t consider how strange it was that this huge beast was talking to me.  Without fear, I moved toward him, and as I came around the clump of dirt holding the base of the three Quaking Aspen, I was startled to see what a big animal he was.  I mean, he was as big as a small bull, bigger than any of my dad's cows. Most all of my father’s cattle would weigh about 200 to 300 lbs.   Once in a while a bull would weigh 800 to 1,000, lbs. and I think that is how much Jasper would weigh.
        He was almost as tall as a small horse, but had much smaller legs than a horse.  And those teeth…..  I MEAN:  OH MY GOODNESS SAKES ALIVE, HE HAD THE BIGGEST TEETH I HAVE EVER, EVER, EVER SEEN.⁵
      He said he was “JASPER, THE FRIENDLY TALKING SABER-TOOTH TIGER.”  And he went on to tell me that he was naturally friendly because of his family⁶, and that he had received a gift from a famous King named Rahjah so that he could speak to people and all animals and be their friend.   He also said that he was sent by Rahjah to help all children under the age of twelve.
      “WOW!” I said when Jasper told me this news.  “But how did you know I had troubles?” I asked Jasper.  “You called me” he said.  “When you put your fingers to your lips and blew your tongue through them, which is the secret call for me to appear!” said Jasper.   I didn’t tell him I was just cleaning dirt off my lips and tongue.  I did not want him to think that I didn’t need him, because, I did need him.  I was kind of lost. No, no, I was really lost; I had no idea which direction the campground was.  Thank goodness Jasper had come and he could now tell how to get back to my family.   I was so pleased and happy to have Jasper as a friend and I was especially glad when he took me to the barb-wire fence and I could see and hear my family in the campground.  Then I heard Beverly yelling my name.  “Sherman”, “Sherman Andrew” she said.  “Here I am” I yelled back and I then turned to speak to Jasper, but Jasper wasn’t there.   I don’t know where he went so fast, I had wanted my sister, Beverly, to meet him.
      After we had stew and some of my mom’s home-made bread plus some cup cakes that Beverly had made my dad told us a story about my Grandpa Alexander Beck when he was a cowboy up in these very same mountains.   We sang some favorite songs and Dad had Paul say a prayer, and we gathered up our stuff and put it in the car.  Then Dad and Paul put out the fire, and we got in the car and started back to the valley and to our home in Crowleyville.  
      I fell asleep before we got home; however, before I went to sleep, I tried to figure out if I had really spoken to a Saber-tooth Tiger named Jasper of if it was just my imagination.    What do you think?
      The next story will be the about my second visit with Jasper and this time I called him on purpose rather than accidently as I did on our first meeting.   The story after the next one will be when Merilee first met Jasper.
         

Jasper Learns about Friendship and Meets People

Jasper was excited to be with PunkaDunkyWooWooWoo. He was very happy to have PunkaDunky as his friend and teacher. When he told PunkaDunkyWooWooWoo that he was thankful that he was Jasper’s teacher and friend, PunkaDunky said:

"good teachers are also friends and friends are also teachers….That is one of the reasons that you need to always choose good friends.”

PunkaDunky said this was important to remember. Jasper decided he had a lot to learn. And also decided he would think about how to be a good friend since friends are also teachers….

Until now, Jasper did not realize that being a good friend was so serious. "Actually, being a good friend is fun and serious" Jasper thought to himself. He promised himself he would always try and be a good friend.

PunkaDunkyWooWooWoo told Jasper that they would soon have a wonderful adventure. He told Jasper to please follow him into the jungle where he quickly came to a trail that was used by many animals in the jungle. Jasper’s teacher told him, “please be quiet, and soon you will see wonderful things come marching down the trail. You should stay behind the big tree.”

“Don’t let anybody see you Jasper!” said his teacher. “They will not know that you are a friendly tiger and it will scare them to see you because you are so big and strong and have such large sharp teeth. “ Jasper knew that this was good advice and was quiet and walked carefully as he followed his teacher into the jungle.

Soon Jasper could smell some elephants, a smell he had smelled before; however, he had never been close to elephants before, and he looked down the trail with anticipation. What was that other smell mixed in with the elephant scent? PunkaDunkyWooWooWoo seemed to know what Jasper was thinking…….. “People” said Jasper’s teacher. “The new odors you can smell are the scent of people, does it smell good or bad?”

Jasper whispered: “It’s is an interesting smell…………..I think it is a good scent, and it doesn’t smell bad or unkind.” “You’ve got a good nose” said PunkaDunkyWooWooWoo for most all people are interesting and kind; however, sometimes you will meet a person who is mean and likes to hurt other people or animals.”

Just then, Jasper could see the first of the five big elephants coming down the trail. He also saw creatures walking on only two legs beside the elephants, and they carried big sticks with sharp heads on them. His teacher said the things in the men's hands were called “Spears. People use spears and other tools to protect them since they don’t have big teeth like you.”

There was a man riding on top of the elephant’s head and neck who seemed to be able to tell the big animals which way to go and when to stop and start. Behind the driver, was a box on the back of the elephant and people were in the box sitting down. What an interesting sight this was for Jasper. On the third elephant Jasper could see in the box was a little person, she was so pretty and beside her was a strong looking man with a turban with a jewel on it. This man had a nice beard and was smiling as was the little girl beside him.

And so the story goes:

“A long, long time ago there lived a saber-toothed tiger in the jungles of Africa. His name was Jasper and he was all alone because his family had all died in a terrible fire. Jasper was a good tiger. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He wanted to be helpful.

One day Jasper was hiding in the jungle when he saw a big parade of elephants marching through the trees. They were carrying King Rahjah and his daughter, the princess. Jasper could tell that Rahjah was magical and very kind.

Suddenly, the princess fell off her elephant and was about to get stepped on by the big foot of the next elephant! Jasper couldn’t let such a terrible thing happen to the little princess, so he ran as fast as he could and used his big teeth to swoop the princess out of the way. She was safe.

The King’s guards didn’t know that Jasper had saved the princess. They all grabbed their spears and knives and pointed them at Jasper. King Rahjah yelled, “stop!” He thanked Jasper for saving the princess. He could speak animal language. Jasper had never heard a human speak animal language before!

King Rahjah said, “Jasper, because you saved my little girl, you will now be Jasper, the friendly, talking, saber-toothed tiger. Whenever children under the age of twelve are in danger, they can summon you with the secret whistle. Children will love you forever.”

And so it is, centuries later, and children all over the world have a friend in Jasper the friendly taking saber-toothed tiger. Do you know how to call him?”

So King Rahjah gave Jasper special powers and his daughter, Sari, became Jasper’s very good friend. PunkaDunkyWooWooWoo and Jasper were welcome to visit Sari’s family any time they wanted. They came often and sometimes stayed for several days at a time.

Sari learned to call Jasper and because of the magic of her father, whenever Sari put her fingers over her mouth and then sticking her tongue between her fingers and blowing as hard as she can, Jasper hears and immediately runs and dashes to where ever Sari is. He talks with her and finds out what the problem she is having and then he helps her solve the problem.

All children, under the age of twelve, can call Jasper in this same way! He will appear and help the child no matter what troubles or problems the child may have. Jasper will protect and keep the child safe until the parents or other good adults come to help the child.

Next week on the blog: http://punkajasper.blogspot.com/ Jasper will recount some of his adventures with the Beck Grandchildren starting with the George family in Pullman, Washington and then the week after with the Beck family in Elmira, New York and on down the family list. Love, Punka