Cochise, Our Blood Brother

Was telling my children about Cochise, the great Chiricahua Apache leader and warrior, and the friendship he developed with (white) Tom Jeffords. I off-handedly included a reference to the close bond they had, and the concept of 'blood brothers' which has historically been realised via a ritual of making a small cut in the forearm, then letting the blood mingle together in a symbol of eternal trust and brotherhood. Yeah. 

The rest of the story fell on deaf ears to my son after this detail. "I want to CUT my arm too, like Cochise,"

he growled fiercely, scratching at himself with midget fingernails.

"I want to be a blood brother."

Subtract one parental point for misreading the age of my audience. 

Oh well. We'll just keep the super-sharp knives away from him for the rest of the day. And perhaps I'll dis-include some of the fun details of my upcoming story about Montezuma the Aztec leader...