Everlasting and the Great River
Page 1
EVERLASTING
and The Great River
Adventures of an Alaskan Déné Girl
by Bumppo
Alaskan sea captain writes bold tales of culture and spirit
PO Box 221974 Anchorage, Alaska 99522-1974
books@publicationconsultants.com
www.publicationconsultants.com
ISBN: 978-1-59433-400-9
eBook ISBN: 978-1-59433-401-6
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2013942962
Copyright 2013 by Bumppo
—First Edition—
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in any form, or by any mechanical or electronic means including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, in whole or in part in any form, and in any case not without the written permission of the author and publisher.
Illustrated by Bob Parsons
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dedication
Everlasting and the Great River is dedicated to my granddaughters, Gillian and Xoe. I told these stories to your Papa when he was little and he suggested I write them for you.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Everlasting and The Great River
Chapter 2 Everlasting and the Magic Stick
Chapter 3 Everlasting Begins Her Journey
Chapter 4 Everlasting’s Tree
Chapter 5 Everlasting and the Yup’ik Village
Chapter 6 Everlasting and the Bear Men
Bumppo’s Biography
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Gail Striker for time and space to write, to Bob Parsons for illustrations that bring Everlasting to life, to Robin Parsons for editing, and to Lindianne for the final edit and so much more.
A talking stick! So that was why Everlasting could understand the beaver!
Chapter 1
Everlasting and The Great River
Everlasting lived on The Great River. She’d been told that it flowed to the ocean but she’d never been more than a few miles from her small village and wasn’t even sure what the ocean was.
Everlasting lived with her mother and father, her older sister and three older brothers. Her father was strong and kind and her mother beautiful and warmhearted.
During the long, cold winter, she helped her mother around their home. The fire had to be tended, food had to be cooked and their warm winter fur clothes had to be mended.
Everlasting’s mother and sister were always patient with her. They didn’t scold if she dropped firewood when she tried to carry too much. They took out the stitches when she made them too loose in her doll’s parka and showed her how to make them tight and even.
Her brothers would play with her. They tossed her to each other and threw her in the air with their big arms but were never rough.
Her father told exciting stories at night. He had once followed the tracks of a wolverine for three days so that he could shoot it with his bow and arrow and bring home its special fur. This fur was used on the edge of a parka hood and wouldn’t build up frost.
Everlasting had many friends in her village and the adults were like aunts and uncles who carefully watched all the village children.
There were many dogs in her village as they were needed to pull dogsleds in winter. Some of the dogs were mean and Everlasting knew better than to go near them where they were tied up. Some of the dogs were friendly and wagged their tails with joy when they saw Everlasting. They knew she would pet them and sometimes bring them a treat to eat. She especially liked the puppies. Her favorite thing was to lie down with a litter of puppies as they crawled all over her and licked her with their soft, warm tongues.
On a spring day when the first geese had been sighted flying north in the sky, Everlasting’s father and his hunting and fishing partner, her mother’s brother, decided to go fishing. Their skin-covered canoe was still upside down on a pole rack where hungry dogs couldn’t chew on it. Winter’s ice had just broken up on The Great River, but large chunks still floated past the village in the strong current. The salmon that the family had caught, smoked and dried the previous summer was almost gone. The time for shooting moose and caribou was past; they were having their babies. Ducks and geese had not yet returned to the frozen lakes that dotted the tundra.
Everlasting’s father hoped that the pike fish with their jaws full of sharp teeth had moved into the shallow pools along the river to lay their eggs. Her uncle and father carried their small boat down to The Great River. They put their forked fish spears and their net, woven from spruce roots, in the boat. Everlasting’s mother gave them dried fish in case they got hungry.
Everlasting’s father and uncle hugged her goodbye and promised to bring home fresh fish for dinner. She waved from the riverbank as they carefully paddled their canoe around the blocks of ice bobbing in The Great River.
Upstream from Everlasting’s village, The Great River narrowed as it ran between steep bluffs. Blocks of ice had crowded together until they blocked the river. Behind the ice, the river rose higher and higher. A huge volume of water pushed against the ice dam until it finally broke apart. A wall of water and ice roared down The Great River. Trees ripped from the river banks and rocks tore from the canyon walls.
The people of Everlasting’s village heard a rumbling sound as water, ice, trees and rocks washed down the river. The older villagers knew the sound and told everyone, “Run from the river!” People grabbed the little children and helped the elders. They cut loose the tied-up dogs. They had no time to grab any possessions before the flood roared through the village.
The survivors climbed a small hill behind their village. When they counted the people they were thankful that no one was missing. But their sturdy log homes, their canoes and all their food and fishing and hunting tools were gone. Some children cried, but most were just happy they still had their families. Everyone went to work building temporary shelters from spruce branches and moss.
Farther down The Great River, the flood caught Everlasting’s father and uncle as they maneuvered their canoe around the ice floes. They heard the flood coming and paddled desperately towards the shore. A huge cottonwood tree that had been ripped from the river bank slammed into their boat and rolled them over. The men struggled in the icy cold water but managed to drag themselves on to the branches of the cottonwood. Dripping wet, but glad to be alive, they clung to each other and the tree as they rushed down the river.
The people of Everlasting’s village, using the survival skills they had learned over thousands of years, built shelters and fires to get them through the cold spring night. The next day they knew they must find food. A few plants that grew on protected slopes facing the sun had just begun to sprout. The people gathered them along with any seeds and berries still left on plants from the previous fall.
Everlasting found herself wandering along the banks of a small channel off the main river. Becoming tired, she looked for a stout walking stick she could use. She saw a stick standing in the shallow water a few feet from the shore. The stick waved back and forth in the slow current as if it was calling to her. She waded out into the cold water and pulled it from the sandy bottom. It came out easily and seemed to fit her hands perfectly. The stick was just as tall as she was and was smooth and hard. On the bank, she flexed the stick against the ground and felt that it was strong and limber. It was just what she needed to help her search for food.
Everlasting walked a short distance before she noticed something dark moving along the channel. As she quietly moved closer, she saw a huge beaver with a branch in its two strong orange front teeth. She stood very still as the beaver swam to shore near her and droppe
d the branch. The beaver looked at her with bright, dark eyes.
“What are you doing here, little girl?”
Everlasting was so surprised to hear the beaver speak that she dropped her walking stick.
The beaver looked at her and then at the stick on the ground. Everlasting felt it was important to pick it up. When she did, she again heard the beaver speak to her.
“What are you looking for?” the beaver asked kindly.
Everlasting was taught to speak respectfully to her elders and knew this was a very old beaver.
“ Excuse me, sir, but I am looking for food to help feed my village as we lost all our food in the flood.”
“I understand your troubles. My home was also washed away in the flood and my winter supply of roots and bark is gone.”
“What can I do to help you?”
“Well, if you could use your talking stick to dig out a few skunk cabbage roots growing up on the bank, I’d appreciate it.”
A talking stick! So that was why Everlasting could understand the beaver.
She quickly dug out a half-dozen roots and brought them to the beaver.
The beaver thanked her and said, “Now, maybe I can help your people. Not far downstream I saw a pool where many large pike were trapped by the flood. I don’t eat fish myself, of course, being a vegetarian, and I don’t like pike as they will eat young beavers, but they will feed your village for a long time.”
Everlasting thanked the beaver and ran back to her village to give them the good news. The villagers found the pool Everlasting told them about and they gathered enough pike to make a fine feast for everyone.
Everlasting decided it was better to not tell anyone that she had talked to a beaver. She kept the secret of her talking stick from everyone but her mother. When Everlasting told her mother the story, she looked at her closely.
“I knew you were a special girl, Everlasting. Your kindness to animals has brought you a wonderful gift.”
Everlasting saw pride and love in her mother’s eyes. But her eyes also held sadness and worry. She didn’t know what had happened to her husband and brother. Everlasting promised herself that she would find out if she could.
“I am Everlasting of the powerful talking stick. My people will honor our agreement or they will suffer greatly.”
Chapter 2
Everlasting and the Magic Stick
In Everlasting’s village on the bank of The Great River the spring air was warming and the birds sang all night. The sun slipped below the rolling hills to the north for only a couple of hours as the pink sunset became an orange sunrise.
Everlasting and her people, the Déné, were very busy. The flood had washed away their homes and belongings, but the people worked together to find all they needed to survive.
The men and boys gathered special flint stones that they shaped to make sharp axes, hide scrapers, and spear and arrow tips. The women made baskets from birch bark sewn together with spruce roots. They used the baskets to carry roots and young plants to keep the people healthy.
Some of the men wove nets from spruce roots. These nets were used to trap ducks and geese arriving on the lakes that dotted the nearby tundra. Soon the women and children would be able to collect eggs from these bird nests. They would be careful to take only one egg from each nest so the birds could still have lots of babies.
Everlasting’s family was happy to be together, but they worried when her father and uncle failed to return from their fishing trip. Everlasting knew her father had survived many dangerous adventures in his life; she was sure that he would come home.
On a bright afternoon in the month when the first king salmon returns, Everlasting and her mother walked along the shores of The Great River looking at wild flowers growing in the rich riverbank soil. Everlasting carried her magic walking stick and a small basket her older sister had helped her to make. Under an alder tree thicket Everlasting and her mother found stinging nettles, their favorite spring greens. They carefully picked the young leaves with their fingertips so they wouldn’t get stung. They filled their new baskets. When they got home, her mother would boil them for a wonderful and healthy meal.
The warm spring sun shone on the bluffs that rose above the great river. Under the layer of moss and trees that grew on top of the bluff was a layer of frozen ground called permafrost. The sun shining on the edge of this layer gradually warmed it until it melted. A large birch tree clung to the edge of the bluff. As the frozen ground thawed, the tree lost its grip and came tumbling down the bluff.
As they walked home to their village, Everlasting and her mother heard rocks and pebbles bouncing down the bluff. Her mother said, “Run, Everlasting!” just as the birch tree slid down the cliff, knocking loose boulders in its path. A large rock just missed Everlasting. The birch tree followed the rock and slid over her mother’s leg, pinning her to the ground.
Dust hung in the air. Everlasting ran back to her mother. She smiled at Everlasting and said, “I’m all right, but this birch tree has trapped me.”
Everlasting pushed against the tree as hard as she could, but it didn’t move. She pried with her magic walking stick under the trunk of the tree. Her stick bent and the birch moved a little but not enough to free her mother. She felt like crying, but she knew crying wouldn’t help free her mother from under the tree.
Everlasting heard a rustling and snuffling sound behind her. She turned and there was a large gaga, a grizzly bear, and her cub watching them a short distance away.
She knew that her people talked to bears when they unexpectedly came upon them. They would talk in a calm voice and apologize for disturbing them. Aware of the danger she and her mother were in from a protective mother grizzly bear, Everlasting gripped her stick in both hands and spoke in a soothing tone.
“Good afternoon, mother bear, what brings you along the riverbank today?”
The mother bear sniffed the air carefully and gave a short “whuff!” Her cub quickly ran behind her knowing that was the word for possible danger. “If my nose does not deceive me, we have a young girl and her mother here. My cub and I are searching for food, as usual. A small girl who speaks our tongue is not at all usual!”
“My mother and I were also searching for food,” said Everlasting, “when a tree slid down the bluff and trapped my mother. It is too large for me to move. I wonder if you would help us?”
“Well, well, a human in need of our help. That is indeed unusual. Since I have a hungry cub, why should we not just eat you?”
Everlasting spoke quickly, “We do not mean you any harm, mother bear. If you do not hurt us and will help my mother, I will make sure that all the salmon heads from the fish we catch this summer will be placed at the bottom of the large cottonwood tree that grows on the hill behind our village. You and your cub can feast all summer on the very best of the salmon that we will save for you.”
Bears love salmon, and the head was their very favorite part. The mother bear and her cub started drooling just thinking about her offer.
“How do I know your people will honor your promise? You are just a little girl and a hunter may decide to lie in wait for us by the cottonwood tree and shoot us with his arrows.”
Everlasting stood up straight and held her stick in both hands over her head.
“I am Everlasting of the powerful talking stick. My people will honor our agreement, or they will suffer greatly!”
Both her mother and the mother bear looked at Everlasting with a new respect. Although Everlasting’s mother couldn’t understand all the words between her daughter and the bear, she could tell they were coming to an understanding.
“Very well,” growled the bear. “My cub and I will help your mother and your people will feed us all summer.”
The huge, shaggy, brown bear, with her cub beside her, leaned their shoulders against the trunk of the birch tree. Everlasting slid her stick under the trunk and lifted with all her small might.
With the bears huffing and puffing, the tree be
gan to move. Everlasting’s mother quickly pulled her leg from beneath the birch tree. She wiggled her toes and carefully moved her foot and then her knee. Her leg was sore but she knew that no bones were broken. Everlasting and her mother both thanked the bears for their help and promised they would honor their bargain.
Everlasting, using her stick for balance, helped her mother limp along the riverbank back to their village. They arrived just as the sun dipped behind the hills.
There was great excitement in the village. The first of the powerful king salmon had been caught that day.
The village held their traditional ceremony welcoming the fish. The huge silver fish with its blue back dotted with black spots was laid out on fresh willow leaves. Everyone in the village took turns sprinkling it with fresh water from a bright green willow branch. Each person said as they sprinkled the fish,
“Draw up your canoe here!”
In this way, the people would be assured that schools of salmon would soon follow and that the village would have food to eat throughout the year.
Everyone shared the salmon after it was wrapped in damp leaves and baked in a bed of hot wood coals. Everlasting and her mother dropped glowing hot stones into a waterproof basket to boil the nettles they had gathered. Another villager had found the delicious spring mushroom, the morel, that grows in old fire-burnt areas. To honor the first salmon, the women wore braided cords of willow bark around their necks and wrists.
After the feast, Everlasting’s mother told the villagers how Everlasting had saved her from the tree and her promise to the mother bear and her cub. The people could hardly believe that the little girl could be so brave and could actually talk to animals. The oldest and wisest woman in the village hobbled up to Everlasting and looked deep into her eyes for a long time. She said to the people,
“This little girl has a powerful medicine given to her by the Creator to help our village and all the animals and people she will meet. We must stand by her pledge to gaga, the bear. She and her stick are a great blessing to our village.”