Growing Up Native American by Bill Adler Page A

heard my brothers and sister cry. Yet I said nothing, because they had not called me to get some of the pretty things. When they began to cry, I began crawling out, and then my grandfather scolded me, and told me that his brothers loved good children, but not bad ones like me. How I did cry, and wished that I had staid at home with my father! I went to sleep crying.
    I did not forget what had happened. There was a house nearwhere we camped. My grandfather went down to the house with some of his men, and pretty soon we saw them coming back. They were carrying large boxes, and we were all looking at them. My mother said there were two white men coming with them.
    â€œOh, mother, what shall I do? Hide me!”
    I just danced round like a wild one, which I was. I was behind my mother. When they were coming nearer, I heard my grandpa say,—
    â€œMake a place for them to sit down.”
    Just then, I peeped round my mother to see them. I gave one scream, and said,—
    â€œOh, mother, the owls!”
    I only saw their big white eyes, and I thought their faces were all hair. My mother said,—
    â€œI wish you would send your brothers away, for my child will die.”
    I imagined I could see their big white eyes all night long. They were the first ones I had ever seen in my life.

N I-BO-WI-SE-GWE
Ignatia Broker
    I n Night Flying Woman, Ignatia Broker (Ojibway) lovingly recounts the life of her great-great-grandmother, Ni-bo-wi-se-gwe. This is a story rich in Ojibway traditions and lifeways that moves from a life of precontact peace and contentment to the disruption and displacement caused by white settlers. In Broker’s own words, it was a time of “great chaos and change .”
    The following passage tells the story of a family’s refusal to capitulate to government demands that they be placed on a reservation, their subsequent flight from white encroachment, and the sorrow and desolation of leaving playmates and loved ones behind, perhaps never to be seen again .
    Ignatia Broker was an Ojibway elder and storyteller. Over the course of her life she worked to educate the public about Native American people. She was involved with the Upper Midwest American Indian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded the Minnesota Indian Historical Society. She died in 1987 .
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    N I-BO-WI-SE-GWE IS A GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER TO MANY people of the Wolf and Fish clans, and in our family we speak of her with pride. She was a great and unusual woman, and there are many stories told of her life and ways.
    As it is told, many of the events and circumstances pertaining to Ni-bo-wi-se-gwe were unusual, even from the time before her birth. Her father, Me-ow-ga-bo (Outstanding), and mother, Wa-wi-e-cu-mig-go-gwe (Round Earth), were young, healthy,and strong. Usually such Ojibway couples have children early in marriage, and often they have at least five. But it was not so with this young couple. They had been three years together, a long time, and they had not had a child. The people of their village began to wonder and feel a sadness for the young couple. After the third year, Ni-bo-wi-se-gwe was born, and she was the only child.
    The time of her birth was after the blueberry gathering and before the wild-rice harvesting. The day began bright and sunny, and it was so when Wa-wi-e-cu-mig-go-gwe felt the first pangs of birth. Just before the sun was high in the sky, at the exact time of birth, the sun and moon crossed paths and there was a pitch darkness. In this darkness the first wail of the child was heard, and because of this her parents knew that the tiny girl would be different. But they felt it was good because she was born of love and joy.
    So out of the darkness, called the eclipse, was born a person who became strong and gave strength, who became wise and lent this wisdom to her people, who became part of the generation of chaos and change.
    Me-ow-ga-bo and Wa-wi-e-cu-mig-go-gwe were happy, for it was a time