“When The Legends Die” By Hal Borland
..., then he claims to work for their good. Thomas luckily gets the chance to run away once again to Horse Mountain to look for his lost friend, a bear cub. When he finds nothing left of the lodge he built the first time he and his family were there, he goes back to Piedra Town disappointed. Thomas grows up and moves to Bayfield where he works with Albert Left Hand when he is just eleven years old. Albert Left Hand is a short fat man who owns a tiny band of sheep on the north end of the reservation. Thomas joins Red Dillon who then trains him to ride broncos. Red Dillon has red wiry hair and a crooked nose. Even though Red Dillon is a drunk and a gambler, he owns a ranch in New Mexico, just conveniently on the other side of the reservation. Thomas learns the trade of bronco riding and just age eleven and they begin to travel to shows all through the southwestern United States. His shows take him to many places such as Bernalillo, Aztec, Socorro, Carrizozo, Oklahoma, Eastern New Mexico, Colorado, Texas. After Red Dillon dies of natural causes in Odessa, Thomas travels alone to Albuquerque, New York, Wolf Point, and Pagosa. He becomes a famous bronco rider who is feared by all. After Tom has an accident with a bronc, his injuries force him to retire. He returns to Pagosa and settles down at Granite Peak. Thomas fears growing up, which makes it hard when he is forced to return to the reservation and live in the “white mans world”. When he matures he faces and overcomes many obstacles. Blue Elk was the one who forced him out of the wild and steals everything from his lodge. In the “white mans world” Thomas grows very angry and extremely frustrated, feeling as if everyone is trying to control him, especially Red Dillon. Thomas releases his anger when he rides the broncos in the ring. The entire book is about “When the Legends Die”. When Thomas allows his past to become just that, his past, he felt numb inside. Through out most of the book, Thomas denied hi...