About this title: Wallis recounts an Indian legend passed down thougth generations of Alaskan Athabascan women. Two women, aged 80 and 70, are abandoned by their tribe during a famine and must find a way to survive the winter.
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"Based on an ancient Athabascan legend about two old, complaining women left behind one starving winter before the white man came to the Yukon. I love what Willis has to say about storytelling : ". . . . We would always end with Mom telling me a story. (There I was, long past my youth, and my mother still told me bedtime stories!) . . . . Stories are gifts given by an elder to a younger person. Unfortunately, this gift is not given, not received, a often today because many of your youth are occupied by television (and texting and gaming and facebook . . ." "This story told me that there is no limit to one's ability - certainly not age - to accomplish in life what one must. Within each individual on this large and complicated world there live an astounding potential of greatness. Yet it is rare that these hidden gift are brought to life unless by the chance of fate.""
"The book is based on an Athabascan Indian legend from Alaska. The story has been passed on for generations, and certainly the customs of this tribe are difficult for us to understand. It is (ok just can't resist the pun) the polar opposite from the culture of say, Japan where the elderly are held in the highest regard. But are they really so different from us who often disregard our elders? Do you really think that eighty year old man wants to be thought of as "cute"? As for the legend...the time is desperate for the tribe. Despite their great love for the old women the decision is made to leave them behind, no doubt insuring their deaths. Heartbroken, yet determined Ch'idzigyaak and Sa' learn to survive using skills they had forgotten. But the legend is more than mere survival, it is the story of friendship, and family. Ultimately it is a lovely story worth telling and hearing and passing on to the next generation."
"This story is delightful. The author wrote with such skill that I felt I sat at her feet, while gazing into the embers of glowing fire while she told the tale of these two brave women. She literally took me to this place in her memory. Ms. Wallis makes a valid point in her introductory of this book that the oral histories of our people and families need to be preserved. She also acknowledges the elders of her tribe and gives them respect in her dedication.
I was reading this book while waiting in a doctor's office with my mother. My mother has had a rough decade as her body has been ravaged by the effects of heart disease, arthritis, diabetes and neuropathy. She complains about her woes from time to time and her diseases do limit her capabilities. More than once she has muttered a phrase similar to this, "why don't you just take me out and shoot me and put me out of my misery". Of course she doesn't really mean it, she's just trying to make light of her difficulties. Despite all of her challenges she still plugs dutifully through life doing what she needs to. I've watched her meet a challenge with fear, worry it through, figure it out and in the end get it done. I admire her cheekiness.
So back to the book, I was reading and my mother chuckled and once again muttered one of those I'd rather be dead comments exactly when I read this passage from the book, "However, the two old women shared a character flaw unusual for people of those times. Constantly they complained of aches and pains, and they carried walking sticks to attest to their handicaps. Yet no one reprimanded the two women, and they continued to travel with the stronger ones-until one fateful day."
That fateful day was the one when their people abandoned them on the freezing cold Yukon tundra. This was a practice reserved for extreme times. "The people" were required to follow their food source to survive. The band was facing starvation and the old ones could not keep up. So they were left behind to meet their fate.
These two old women sat for a time in shock and despair, considering their plight. Then the younger of the two, Sa', speaks her mind, "Our time of leaving this world should not come for a long time yet, but we will die if we just sit here and wait. This would prove them right about our helplessness. Yes, in their own way they have condemned us to die! They think we are too old and useless. They forget that we, too, have earned the right to live! So I say if we are going to die, my friend, let us die trying, not sitting."
I find this advice pertinent to all. The story continues as these two women pluck their courage from deep inside, put it on and face the daunting task of survival in a hostile environment. Surprisingly they find the will and ability to do it.
I enjoyed the story, and as all good tales do it ended with a lesson learned, ready to be passed on to generations.
The illustrations in this book were pen and ink, roughly and simply done lending to the simplicity and authenticity of the story."
"This story is based on an old Athabaskan Indian legend from the upper Yukon River in Alaska. The author who is from that area was told the legend by her mother when she was a little girl. She was impressed by the legend and wanted to make it into a book.
It is the story about two old women who are abandoned by their nomad tribe because they are old and the chief thinks that the two women are slowing down the tribe and making it harder for them to survive. So the women decide that rather than just letting themselves die, they are going to give their all to survive in the bitter wilderness. It is an inspiring story and one that testifies of the power to do anything that we set our mind to do."
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