Louis Bird, "Wihtigo, or the Consequences of Not Listening"

[radiantfracture]

sabotabby mentioned being interested in the Louis Bird story, and I realized that I'd had the link to the oral archive in my pocket all the time, Toto.

"Wihtigo, or the Consequences of Not Listening"
Louis Bird
Omushkego (Swampy Cree)
1934-

I first taught this story out of An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, for English 164: Indigenous Literatures and Oratures. I was putting a course outline together at very short notice, and I am embarrassed to say I chose the story without any great thought. I've now taught it several times -- this last time was the best, I think, because the students had so many illuminating things to say about the values they found in the story.

I did not know, that first time, how much of Bird's life's work has gone into cultural recovery and resurgence, and especially into creating the oral archive of the Omushkego Oral History Project. Over many years, he travelled, visiting elders and requesting that they tell him stories; then, in his 30s, he began recording the stories so they would not be lost.

I encountered the Omushkego Oral History Project when I was researching Bird for my class. It turned out that the story I'd been teaching from print was actually a transcript of Bird's oral storytelling, so now we study both. Research is awesome.

Like all the best archives, the Project is idiosyncratically indexed. I recommend spending some time with it, but if you just want to go right to this story, you can find it here:

Story 0029 - Our Voices-Mystery Stories [Restored]
Hyperlink: http://www.ourvoices.ca/index/ourvoices-story-action/id.0029

(On my Mac, I have to use the "Download" link.)

Part 6 – beginning of story (4:52)
Part 7 – continuation (4:20)
Part 8 – (5:00)
Part 9 – (0:00-0:30)

It's just Bird and his microphone, and he spends quite a bit of time contextualizing the story for his listeners. It's a quiet telling, conversational rather than dramatic, but there's something very assured about the telling -- I feel like I'm in good hands when I listen.

{rf}