The Gift is in the Making by Leanne Simpson

Author:Leanne Simpson [Simpson, Leanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55379-571-1
Publisher: Portage & Main Press
Published: 2013-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

11

ZHIGAAG’S POWERFUL MEDICINE

“Nbakade! Nbakade! Nbakade!” Nanabush yelled. “I’m hungry!”

Hunting seemed like too much work. Fishing seemed like too much work. Snaring rabbits seemed like too much work. Ricing had seemed like too much work last fall, so Nanabush didn’t put any in his cache. The maple sugar from last spring was too good to save; Nanabush had already gobbled his up. There were no berries or roots or plants to be seen.

“Nbakade!”

“That Zhigaag never seems to do much work,” thought Nanabush. “I never see her working too hard, but she always has food to eat. Hmmmmm.”

“Zhigaag! Zhigaag!” Nanabush hollered as he went off to find Skunk.

Finding her sleeping in her den, Nanabush called, “Zhigaag, I need some of your skunk medicine. I’m hungry and lazy, and I think you have all this skunk medicine, and you should share.”

“Hmmm,” thought Zhigaag. “It is a very good thing to share, and I can see that you are very hungry. But my skunk medicine is powerful, and it takes a long time to learn how to use it. You have to be careful.”

“I am very, very good at being careful,” replied Nanabush. “Exceptionally good, really.”

“Nahow. I’ll share, but you have to agree to follow my instructions. No tricks,” said Zhigaag.

Nanabush passed Zhigaag his semaa. “Yes, yes, yes,” he said. “I am also very good at following instructions. I follow them right down to the letter. I never make mistakes. You can count on me.”

Zhigaag wasn’t so sure. “Are you sure, Nanabush? Are you sure you can follow my instructions?”

“Ehn! Ehn! Ehn! No worries, Zhigaag.”

So Zhigaag lifted her tail and transferred the skunk medicine into Nanabush’s butt. Oh, that Nanabush thought he was something now, with all that skunk power. Zhigaag told him to go to his lodge and play his drum until Mooz showed up. She said that he could use his new skunk medicine on the Mooz and have a big feast. Nanabush thanked Zhigaag and started to walk to his lodge, all proud with his new skunk power.

Pretty soon, he thought he should at least test it out and see if it was working. He decided to boogidi some skunk medicine out at a tree, just as a test, and CABOOM! The tree exploded.

“SHTAA SHTAA TAA HAA!” shouted Nanabush. “This is AWESOME!”

Pretty soon, he thought that the last test might have been a fluke, at least scientifically. So, he did another boogidi, and skunk medicine flew out at a lake, and CABOOM! A beautiful fountain of water appeared.

“SHTAA SHTAA TAA HAA!” shouted Nanabush. “This is AMAZING!”

Pretty soon, he thought, “Let’s try best two out of three.” CABOOM! A rock exploded into dust.

“SHTAA TAA HAA!” shouted Nanabush. “This is WICKED!”

Pretty soon, he thought, “Really, it is four that is the sacred number. I can’t really just stop at three because that would be so unbalanced. Things come in fours for the Nishnaabeg.”

So, he did a boogidi, and skunk medicine flew out at Beaver’s lodge, and CABOOM! The logs were up in the air, scattered everywhere.

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