The Curse of the Shaman by Michael Kusugak

Author:Michael Kusugak [Kusugak, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-443-40395-5
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2006-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

One misty morning, Wolverine woke up to find the snowy owl gone. He thought it had flown away, until he remembered it could not bend its right wing because of the splint. He and Breath went out looking for it. A fog had settled over the land and there was dew on the grass. Soon the fish would make their way up the river to lay their eggs in their beds in the lakes. The men would mend the stone fishing weir and repair their fishing spears. With the coming of colder weather, meat would no longer spoil. They would store meat and fish under piles of big rocks to keep it away from the polar bears, the wolverines, and the foxes. It was a time for gathering and preparing food for winter.

They found the owl hopping along the ground, dragging his right wing behind him.

“Are you ready to try out your wings, Ukpigjuaq?” Wolverine said when they had caught up to him.

The owl was now so tame he let them handle him like a pet. They took the splint off and set him on a rock. Ukpigjuaq stood up and folded his wings for the first time, his head held back, turning this way and that, a perfect picture of an owl.

“You look pretty impressive, Ukpigjuaq,” Breath said. “Can you fly?”

She picked him up and threw him up into the air. Ukpigjuaq instinctively spread his wings and promptly fell out of the air, rolling over as he hit the ground. “You are not a good lander, Ukpigjuaq,” Breath said, laughing.

Wolverine picked him up and again threw him into the air. This time, the owl glided a little longer but his landing was just as rough. “Practise, Ukpigjuaq,” Wolverine said. “Practise.”

He threw him up in the air again. He and Breath walked home, taking turns picking Ukpigjuaq up and throwing him into the air. In the next few days, Ukpigjuaq learned to fly, and before winter, he had became a powerful flier like the rest of his kind. Wolverine and Breath no longer fed him, but he always stayed close to them. Wolverine and Breath had a companion for a long time to come.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.