Ted

Ted the buffalo was running around at top speed for no reason at all. Prairie dogs went flying down their holes.
“Mayday, mayday! Here comes that big, stupid buffalo again!”
Ted was, of course, just having fun. He liked to run around and show off for the girls. They thought he was a little goofy but they all liked him anyway.
Sometimes he would make train sound effects while he ran around. He would also run into other buffalo; only half on purpose.
“Dang it Ted; cut it out!”
“Sorry,” and off he’d speed in another random direction.
“Take a chill pill, Ted.” It was Joe Buffalo.
“You can’t catch me! Bet you can’t, and I’ve been running all day.” Ted slammed into Joe almost knocking him over.
“All right. That’s it...” Joe Buffalo turned around and took off after Ted. But Ted wasn’t fooling when he said Joe wasn’t going to catch him. Ted was, if nothing else, quick. Every time Joe got close Ted would turn it on.
Finally Joe was huffing and puffing. Ted danced in none too close and then ran a circle around him. Joe laughed at this.
The herd was heading for the Cimarron river about a hundred miles west of present day Tulsa very near what is now called Ames. Back when Ted was running around, the water was clear except after a really hard rain. Ted and Joe ran to catch up grazing on sweet green grass along the way.
Joe jumped in and swam around. Ted stood on the bank watching.
“C’mon in,”
“Don’t swim so well.”
“Just jump in, you goober. It’s as natural as running around.”
Ted just stood there.
“Chicken?” it was Barrynol a young female with huge brown eyes.
Ted jumped in. The water was cold and here it was also deep. Ted was struggling to keep his head above water. After a moment he had it down though.
“Indians!” It was the alarm everybody dreaded.
Barrynol was in the water and headed for the other side, so was Joe.
“Hold up,” Ted said. “‘Be not first nor last, let the fools run past.’ Is what my granny used to say. If they’ve set a trap we’ll be the first to run into them.” It was really hard to fight the instinct to run with the herd but when eight or nine hundred had gone by and a couple thousand were still behind them they took off too.
They were spared the arrow and the spear, and Joe and Barrynol got married soon after. You’d think it’d be Ted, but Ted was always too busy running around.