Everlasting and the Great River

by Bumppo

  Everlasting was a little shy about all the attention, but the pride in her mother’s eyes made her happy.

  That night Everlasting and her mother lay in the snug new home her brothers had built for them out of stout spruce logs tied together with spruce roots. Everlasting told her mother that she felt she must go and search for her father and uncle.

  “But Everlasting, you are only a small girl and the world is a large and dangerous place.”

  “I know, Mother, but you and my sister and brothers need to stay here and gather food and make warm clothes for the long, cold winter. I am the only one who can be spared to look for them. I have my magic talking stick to help me. I know in my heart that is why I found the stick.”

  Her mother sighed and hugged her daughter close.

  “You are indeed a special child, and I also know in my heart that you are right. Give us a few days to properly prepare you for your journey.”

  Everlasting knew she would miss her patient big sister, her kind brothers and her loving mother. She also knew that she must find her father and uncle, however far away they might be.

  Everlasting fell asleep, snuggled in her mother’s arms, and dreamed of her journey.

  She held on tight as the canoe began to move through the water, heading across the river toward the south shore.

  Chapter 3

  Everlasting Begins Her Journey

  The days were almost at their longest and the nights very short. The people of Everlasting’s village had spread out along The Great River to their traditional fish camps. Fish camp was usually where a smaller river flowed into The Great River. Salmon would gather at these spots tasting the water to see if this was the stream where they had been born and needed to swim up to lay their eggs, or if they still had miles to travel to their home waters.

  Everlasting’s family fished a small but deep creek that flowed from the tundra and hills north of the winter village. Near The Great River, the deep creek ran parallel to the river. A high gravel bar separated the creek and the river. This gravel bar was a perfect place for a fish camp. Salmon gathered in the deep pool at the mouth of the creek and boats were safe on the calm waters of the creek even when the wind blew hard up The Great River.

  The family built a temporary home from small tough black-spruce poles. To cover their shelter they lashed birch bark to the poles with fibrous spruce roots. Then they built a smoke house of spruce poles covered with birch bark. Red salmon were split open and hung over a smoky alder fire. River breezes helped dry the fish and keep flies away. Her family was always careful with the salmon they captured, as they knew the fish would quit coming to their nets if they did not treat them with respect. They returned unused parts of the salmon to The Great River so the salmon runs would continue. They kept their promise to the bear mother and cub and brought all their salmon heads to the cottonwood tree on the hill behind the village.

  Everlasting’s family was especially busy this year because they wanted to be sure Everlasting had everything she needed for her journey to find her father and uncle. Her mother kept hoping that they would return so that her youngest child wouldn’t have to undertake this dangerous search.

  Her oldest brother tracked and shot a caribou with his bow and arrow. He gifted the light, tough caribou hide to Everlasting for a traveling dress. She helped her mother and sister scrape the hide carefully and rub it with special parts of the animal so it would stay soft. From the hide they cut out pieces for a summer dress that fit her perfectly. The dress was beautiful. The front of it reached her knees with fringe along the edge. The back of the dress was also fringed but hung down like an animal’s tail. This was to remind her that people and animals are related. To protect Everlasting from danger, the seams of the dress were colored with a ground-up red rock mixed with bear grease.

  On the front of the dress her mother stitched a beaver made of porcupine quill beads in memory of the beaver who helped Everlasting feed the village after the great flood. Everlasting’s mother cut off the sharp ends of the quills, and sewed the hollow quills into a beaver pattern. On the back of the dress she stitched porcupine quills in the pattern of the tracks of the mother grizzly and cub who freed her from the tree.

  To complete Everlasting’s traveling outfit, her mother and sisters made moccasins that came up to her knees. They beaded these moccasins with a family design passed from mother to daughter for many generations. They also made a hood lined with soft muskrat fur, for when the weather got cold.

  From the back of the caribou hide where the light hollow fur was very thick, they made a sleeping bag with caribou fur inside to keep her warm and comfortable in even the worst weather. One of her older brothers made a bent willow pack frame that fit her small body perfectly. Another brother made a split willow basket and lashed it to the frame. Her sister sewed a waterproof rain coat and pants from the skins of king salmon. Her mother had smoked and dried strips of king salmon that would keep for a long time on her trip. Her oldest brother gave her a knife made of carefully chipped stone with a caribou bone handle. Her other brother gave her a pouch of tanned hide. This pouch held flint stones, special rocks that made sparks when struck together so she could make fires, and pieces of dried birds nest that would catch fire easily.

  Dressed in these fine new traveling clothes, wearing her pack and carrying her talking stick, Everlasting was ready for her journey. She hugged her family goodbye and walked along the bank of The Great River, downstream toward the ocean. She was sure that somewhere ahead she would find her father and uncle.

  After several hours of hiking, Everlasting heard the call of her favorite bird, dotron, the raven. He glided high in the air. Raven would fold one wing and flip upside down, then fold the other wing and extend the first wing to make a complete roll in the air. Everlasting had carefully watched ravens do this many times before she finally figured out their trick. She loved ravens because they were the only bird she knew that loved to play.

  The raven was calling, “Ku-luk! Ku-luk!

  Everlasting understood him perfectly. He was asking if any of his friends were in the area. She called out to him,

  “Kruk! Kruk! Hello, I am here!”

  The beautiful big black bird swung around in an arc in the air and swooped down to land at Everlasting’s feet. He gazed at her with one big shiny black eye and his head turned to the side.

  “My, my,” the raven croaked, “you certainly are not a member of the raven tribe. I believe you are a small one of the people of The Great River. How did you learn our language?”

  “Oh, great bird, I have always wanted to speak to the wonderful dotron who created the world by bringing rocks from the sea and building an island so that the mountains and forests could emerge.”

  Raven chuckled happily, “I am pleased that you know of our long and noble history, younger sister, but you have not yet told me how you learned our melodious speech.”

  “Excuse me, elder brother,” said Everlasting politely, “I was blessed to find a talking stick that allows me to understand you and speak the ancient raven tongue.”

  “Ah,” said the raven, “would you mind if I took a closer look at your wonderful stick?”

  “Not at all sir.” She bent on one knee and displayed her walking stick in both hands. The raven hopped closer and looked first with one eye, then turned his head and looked with the other eye.

  “This is a very ancient branch from the tree of life, from the time when all animals and people spoke one language. You have received a powerful gift that you must use only for good. The spirits of all the animals, their yega, are bound in this stick. You must never use the stick to defend yourself, but only to give you wisdom and courage to settle disputes peacefully.”

  In awe at the gift she had been given, Everlasting rubbed her small hands along the smooth stick. She felt the power of the animal spirits it contained and vowed that she would use the stick only for good purposes.

  “And now, my dear, is there any way I can help you?�
� chortled the raven.

  “Oh yes, Mr. Raven. With your far-seeing eyes, I wonder if you have noticed my father and uncle in a skin covered canoe who left our village almost a moon ago to go fishing. They have not yet returned.”

  “Let me think. I did spot a canoe not far down the river that looks as if it was washed up high on the bank. Being a raven, I would have noticed any bodies nearby, so I would guess that your father and uncle survived the flood.”

  “Oh, that is wonderful news! I will look for the canoe and see if it is my father’s. But first, is there anything I can do for you, kind bird?”

  “Well, my sharp ears have picked up the sounds of grubs gnawing on that log behind you in the grass. It’s too big for me to roll over; but if you could do so, I’d be eternally grateful.”

  Everlasting tried use her stick to move the log, but without any success. She then had an idea. She spotted a short, smaller log nearby, She placed the small log near the larger one and stuck her stick between the two. When she pushed down on her stick, the large log rolled over easily!

  The raven hopped over eagerly and began picking out the fat white grubs exposed in the soft wood on the bottom of the log. Everlasting put her pack on her back, thanked the raven, waved goodbye and headed down the river.

  Everlasting walked the river bank until she found her father’s canoe, illuminated by a setting sun that peeked from streaky clouds the fuchsia color of fireweed. The canoe was upside down in a pile of rocks, sticks, and grass where high water left it after the flood.

  Everlasting struggled to turn the canoe upright. The skin boat was heavier than the birch bark canoes that her people built, but tougher. She finally hauled the boat out of the flood debris. She inspected the canoe for damage. One thin birch rib was broken, and there was a hole in the hull near the waterline. A spare paddle was still lashed inside the canoe and the spruce root fishing net was carefully folded and tied up in the bow.

  Everlasting built a small fire, ate a strip of her mother’s delicious smoked salmon and then curled up in her warm caribou skin sleeping bag. She was lonely for her family, home at fish camp. She missed her father’s wonderful songs and stories.

  The next day, Everlasting carved a new rib for the canoe with her stone knife, carefully matching the rib to its cousins. She found a birch tree and cut a strip of birch bark from its trunk. From a spruce tree she gathered sticky sap and heated it with her small fire. She smeared the sap around the hole in the boat and covered it with the birch bark patch. She dragged the repaired canoe down to the water. When at last she floated the boat she felt proud that it didn’t leak.

  She loaded her pack and stick in the bottom of the canoe and climbed inside, keeping both hands on the sides of her canoe to keep the tippy boat from rolling over, as her father had taught her. She grasped the carved spruce paddle and began stroking down The Great River.

  The strong current of the river quickly carried her a long way from her home. By late afternoon she noticed that a bank of dark clouds was building up over the hills to the north. Just when she decided to head for the shore, a strong gust of wind slammed into her. Before she could make headway to the bank, the river boiled into steep waves topped with white spray. Higher and higher, these white-capped waves pounded her little boat, preventing her from steering toward the land. An especially large wall of cold water crashed against the hull, knocked the paddle from her grip and into the river and left her lying in the bottom of the canoe, soaking wet.

  Not knowing what to do, Everlasting gripped her magic stick. She stuck the stick into the water hoping she might be able to steer the out-of-control boat, but it only tossed around in the storm. She called out in her small scared voice,

  “Help me! Help me!”

  The wind was whistling and the crash of waves was deafening, but she thought she heard a low rumbling voice.

  “Put out the net, Everlasting. Put out the net!”

  She scrambled to the bow, untied the knots that held the net in place and began to feed the fish net overboard. She felt a hard tug against the net. She held on tight as the canoe began to move through the water, heading across the river toward the south shore.

  For what seemed like hours, she gripped the net with all her strength until she heard the canoe scrape the sandy bottom. She crawled out on the beach exhausted, then tugged the boat up on the sand where it wouldn’t blow away. She saw a splashing in the net. She grabbed her talking stick out of the canoe and waded into the river up to her knees to investigate. In the net was a huge king salmon as long as she was. The salmon had pulled her to safety! She carefully untangled the fish from the net and it swam in circles around her.

  “Thank you for saving my life, mighty fish,” she said gratefully. “How did you know my name when you told me to put out the net?”

  “I am glad to help, little one,” said the salmon. “Word of your gift has traveled down the great river. I was looking for you because I need your assistance.”

  “I will do anything in my power to help you.”

  “We are near the mouth of the stream where I was born. The flood washed a huge spruce tree down the river and it lodged across our stream. Its branches have collected sticks and grass. We salmon cannot get through to our home waters where we have our babies.”

  As tired as she was, Everlasting immediately set out for the creek with the king salmon leading the way in the water. They soon reached the creek and the tree that blocked the salmon’s way upstream. Everlasting walked onto the trunk of the tree, holding on to its branches. She leaned over the creek, and with her strong stick pushed sticks and grass away from two large branches sticking deep into the water. At last she cleared a hole and the clear creek water came gushing through.

  “Thank you, dear child of the river people. All the descendants of the salmon that can now swim up this creek will hear of your deed and will bless you and your children with their bodies for generations.”

  “And I thank you again for saving my life, mighty king. May you and all your children thrive both here and in the ocean.”

  Everlasting trudged back to her canoe. She was now many miles from her home and across the wide river from her tribe’s country. She felt very alone but she had to be brave. Although she was only a young girl, she knew the skills she had been taught by her family and the elders in her village would help her survive. She also had the talking stick and the help of the animals who were also her family.

  Everlasting built a warm fire and dried out her clothes. She ate some smoked salmon and crawled into her sleeping bag, exhausted from her long dangerous day on the river. She watched the stars overhead during the short time they could be seen in the summer sky and remembered her father’s stories about the animals and people in the star patterns. She fell asleep with one of her father’s traveling songs in her head.

  As the people sat in the grass and wildflowers, yode, the golden eagle, dropped from the sky and, folding his wings, settled on the highest branch.

  Chapter 4

  Everlasting’s Tree

  Everlasting spent the next day carving a paddle to replace the one she lost in the storm. The following day she paddled her father’s boat along the south shore of The Great River. This side of the river was much different from the north side where her village sat snugly against the bluff and hills. The land was flat with large swamps and small creeks flowing out of the wetlands. She saw many small trees that had been chewed down by the hardworking beavers to build their dams. Dilja, the noisy red squirrel, chattered at her as she glided past his tree. She picked up her stick and called out to him in his language.

  “Good morning, brother squirrel! I’m not here to bother you.”

  The squirrel ran out to the end of a branch overhanging The Great River.

  “Oh, oh, oh! It is Everlasting, the little Déné girl who can talk to us!” the squirrel called out to anyone who’d listen. “Have a safe journey!” he yelled in his high voice, as Everlasting said goodbye and paddled away.
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br />   As sunset neared, Everlasting saw smoke rising from a point of land farther down the river. As she got closer, she saw many boats pulled up on a long gravel beach. Low log homes with sod roofs were scattered among a stand of birch trees. She paddled to the shore, crawled to the bow of her canoe, hopped out, and dragged the boat up onto the beach. She reached into the canoe and picked up her walking stick.

  Four big men ran down from the village. Two had long bows of willow wood wrapped with rawhide to make them stronger and arrows tipped with pointed stones. The other two men carried tall spears with long stone blades lashed to them. All these were pointed at little Everlasting.

  Everlasting stood her ground, her walking stick in her hand.

  “I am Everlasting, from the Déné people of The Great River. I come in peace and wish you no harm.”

  The scowling men talked among themselves. They spoke Everlasting’s language, although some of the words sounded different.

  “You must come with us,” one of the men commanded. “We will have an elder question you. We shall see if you tell the truth.”

  The big men surrounded Everlasting as she followed the leader up the beach to their village. In the birch grove a very old woman sat by a fire wrapped in the skin of yudesla, the black bear. This was strange, as women were not allowed to wear the fur of a bear. Her gray hair was very long and her eyes were the light blue of those without sight.

  The leader of the men spoke to the old woman.

  “We have captured an intruder, old mother. What shall we do with her?”

  The old woman stared at Everlasting as if she could see her in spite of her blindness. Everlasting looked closely at the woman and saw that her face was covered with old scars.

  As if she could read Everlasting’s thoughts, the old woman said, “When I was a girl no older than you, a black bear dragged me out of my tent at fish camp. I managed to kill him with my stone knife, but not before he blinded me with his claws. This is his fur that I still wear. I have since learned other ways to see, Everlasting of the magic stick.”