Cry of the Wind (57 page)

Cry of the Wind
is a study of war and war’s most natural and tragic aftermath: revenge. Like its prequel,
Song of the River
, it weaves a story around the inhabitants of the Near River and Cousin River villages and is set in ancient Alaska.

Many of the characters and plot elements are based on Native mythologies, two of which perhaps need further explanation.

In traditional Native literature—which is, of course, oral literature—heroes and villains abound. Often the villains are very evil indeed and are used as foils for the heroes of the stories. Sometimes, especially for those of us who have grown up within the nebulous gray world of situational ethics, this stark dichotomy is difficult to understand.

Quite obviously, I have followed Native literary traditions in creating my villainess K’os and the villain Anaay. In an effort to make their behavior believable to modern readers, I have given them motivating factors and mind-sets that provide a psychological basis for their actions, but I would ask my readers to remember that they represent a long-standing tradition in North American Native literature: the classic, unredeemable antihero.

The second mythological tradition is that of the nuhu’anh, known by many names, including windigo, witigo, outside man, and woodsman. Most groups of northern Native peoples tell legends about the windigo or nuhu’anh. In my studies, I have noticed that in areas with an extremely cold climate and limited winter food resources the legends take on more mystical and terrifying proportions than among those peoples who experience less winter starvation. The Aleut and some of the Athabascan peoples generally consider the nuhu’anh a nuisance more than a threat—someone whose behavior has mandated exclusion from his or her village. The nuhu’anh may kill to steal a wife or food but is seldom if ever cannibalistic, like the windigo/witigo of the Ojibwa or Cree.

Scientists have only recently begun to believe there is a physiological basis for windigo mythology. Research points toward the possibility that people who face extreme fat deprivation under bitter weather conditions may suffer delusions that lead them to believe other humans are food resources—animals that may be legitimately butchered. It is interesting to note that though Native stories offer many different ways to kill a windigo, one often cited is to pour hot fat down the windigo’s throat.

I have had a number of requests from readers asking that I explain the concept of the “handful,” which I use in the Storyteller Trilogy to denote counting. According to what I have been able to find through my research, most Native peoples of North America based their counting systems on five (rather than ten, as we do), thus the concept of the handful—five fingers.

For those who, like me, are mathematically disadvantaged, I offer this explanation in the hope that it will help. In a base five counting system, the sequence of numbers one to ten would be as follows: one, two, three, four, five, five plus one, five plus two, five plus three, five plus four, two fives. Eleven would be two fives plus one…and so on.

The reader may notice that in this trilogy, and in my previous trilogy (
Mother Earth
,
Father Sky
;
My Sister the Moon
; and
Brother Wind
), the First Men count by tens. The Unangan or Aleut people upon whom the First Men are patterned have (and this is very unusual for Native Americans) a base ten number system. Thus, in my novels I include two number systems, one used by the First Men and designated by “tens” and the other used by the Walrus Hunters and the River People and denoted by the term “handful.”

One last explanation: some of my readers may wonder why the old woman Ligige’ addresses the wolverine she inadvertently caught in her snare trap as a parka hood ruff (see chapter 48). Among the various Athabascan peoples, and in numerous other Native cultures, women traditionally do not say the names of animals considered to have unusual or sacred powers. Instead, they will use a euphemism. Thus, a woman talking about a black bear will say, “The black one,” “The black place,” “That humpback.” This usage is intended to show the bear respect and to give spiritual protection to the speaker. In
Cry of the Wind
, Ligige’ is following this practice when she addresses the wolverine as a parka hood ruff.

Thank you for joining me on another journey to ancient Alaska! I hope you will check out my website for information about upcoming books—
www.sueharrison.com

Sue Harrison

Pickford, Michigan

February 1998

Character List

PEOPLE OF THE COUSIN RIVER VILLAGE

Elders (Men):

Take More

Elders (Women):

Day Woman (mother of Chakliux and Sok)

Hollow Cup

Ligige’ (aunt of Chakliux and Sok)

Long Eyes (mother of Night Man and Star)

Twisted Stalk (aunt of Dii)

Yellow Bird

Hunters:

Chakliux (adopted son of K’os; biological son of Day Woman and Gull Wing; brother to Sok)

First Eagle (Near River husband of Awl)

Man Laughing

Night Man (son of Cloud Finder and Long Eyes; brother of Star)

Sky Watcher (husband of Bird Caller)

Sok (son of Day Woman and Gull Wing; brother of Chakliux)

Wives and Young Women:

Aqamdax (half-sister of Ghaden; stepsister of Yaa)

Awl (wife of First Eagle)

Bird Caller (wife of Sky Watcher) Dii (niece of Twisted Stalk)

Green Bird (sister of Squirrel and Black Stick)

Gguzaakk (deceased, wife of Chakliux)

Little Mouse

Owl Catcher

Red Leaf (wife of Sok; mother of Cries-loud and Sok’s infant daughter)

Snow-in-her-hair (wife of Sok; mother of Carries Much)

Star (daughter of Cloud Finder and Long Eyes; sister of Night Man; wife of Chakliux)

Children:

Angax (infant son of Aqamdax and Night Man)

Black Stick (brother of Squirrel and Green Bird)

Carries Much (infant son of Sok and Snow-in-her-hair)

Cries-loud (son of Sok and Red Leaf)

Ghaden (brother of Aqamdax; stepbrother of Yaa; adopted son of Chakliux and Star; son of Cen, the trader)

Squirrel (brother of Black Stick and Green Bird)

Yaa (stepsister of Aqamdax and Ghaden; adopted daughter of Chakliux and Star)

Dogs:

Biter (male; Ghaden’s)

Ligige’’s dog (male)

Snow Hawk (female; Sok’s)

PEOPLE OF THE NEAR RIVER VILLAGE

Elders (Men):

Anaay (also called Fox Barking; stepfather of Chakliux and Sok; husband of Dii and Gull Beak; owner of K’os)

Blue-head Duck (deceased; former chief elder)

Giving Meat

Summer Face (deceased; father of Yaa)

Sun Caller (father of Least Weasel) Tsaani (deceased; grandfather of Chakliux and Sok; brother of Ligige’)

Wolf-and-Raven (deceased; former shaman; cousin of Ligige’; husband of Blue Flower)

Elders (Women):

Blue Flower (Wolf-and-Raven’s widow)

Gull Beak (wife of Anaay)

Lazy Snow

No Teeth

Three Baskets

Vole (widow of Blue-head Duck)

Hunters:

Black Mouth (owner of K’os; husband of Two Fist)

First Eagle (husband of Awl)

Gull Wing (deceased; father of Sok and Chakliux, brother to Anaay)

Least Weasel (son of Sun Caller)

Many Words (husband of Owl Catcher)

Muskrat Singer

River Ice Dancer (son of Wolf Head)

Third Tree

Wolf Head (father of River Ice Dancer)

Wives and Young Women:

Awl (Cousin River captive; wife of First Eagle)

Cut Ear (Cousin River captive)

Daes (deceased; mother of Ghaden and Aqamdax; originally from the First Men Village)

Dii (Cousin River captive; wife of Anaay)

Green Bird (Cousin River captive) Happy Mouth (deceased; mother of Yaa)

K’os (Cousin River captive; adoptive mother of Chakliux; slave of Black Mouth and later of Anaay)

Light Hair Owl Catcher (Cousin River captive; wife of Many Words)

Red Leggings

Stay Small (Cousin River captive)

Talks-all-night

Two Fist (wife of Black Mouth) Willow Leaf (Cousin River captive)

Children:

Best Fist (girl)

Blue Necklace (girl) Daughter of Red Leggings

PEOPLE OF THE FOUR RIVERS VILLAGE

Elders (Men):

Brown Foot

Tree Climber (husband of Sand Fly)

Elders (Women):

Near Mouse

Sand Fly (wife of Tree Climber)

Hunters:

Brown Eye

Cen (a trader; husband of Gheli)

Eagle Catcher

Fat Mink

First Spear (chief hunter)

Gives-dogs

Jumps-too-far

Willow Stick

Wives and Young Women:

Fern

Gheli (also known as Red Leaf; wife of Cen)

K’os (adoptive mother of Chakliux)

White Lake

Children:

Daes (Gheli’s infant daughter)

Dogs:

Tracker (male; Cen’s)

Glossary of Native American Words

AA, AAA
(Aleut Athabascan) Interjection used to express surprise: “Oh!” (The double or triple
a
carries a long
a
sound.)

ANAAY
(Ahtna Athabascan) That which moves, caribou or caribou herd. (The Athabascan vowel
a
is pronounced like the
u
in the English word
but.
The
n
is similar to the English
n
, and the
aa
takes on an
aw
sound. The
y
is like the
y
in the English word
you.
The accent falls on the
naay
.)

ANGAX
(Aleut) Power.
Anga
is the root used in the Aleut word for “elder brother.” (The
a
’s are short; because it falls before the letter
n
, the first
a
takes on more of a short
e
sound. The Aleut
n
is quite nasal; the
g
is a voiced velar fricative, quite guttural; and the final
x
is a voiceless velar fricative.)

AQAMDAX
(Aleut) Cloudberry,
Rubus chamaemorus.
(See Pharmacognosia.) (The
a
’s are short. The Aleut
q
is like a harsh English
k
, the
m
like an English
m
and
d
much like the English
th.
The Aleut
x
is a voiceless velar fricative.)