"What the bears did not know was that these
masks were magic masks and if you put them
on you would become the animal that was
carved into the mask."
Kwantlen storyteller Joseph Dandurand uses forthright text to tell another story in the Kwantlen Stories Then and Now series from Nightwood Editions. Elinor Atkins, herself a member of the Kwantlen First Nation, complements the words with colorful, stylized images that bring the natural setting and powerful magic of the masks to life for young readers.
Bears and the Kwantlen people have lived in close proximity over many years. The bears did nothing to frighten the people; the people, in turn, appreciated their presence and often left fresh fish for them. The bears protected the fish from other predators, allowing for a harmonious communal life.
When the master carver fell into the river, the bears were there to save him and take him home. Grateful for their assistance, the carver designed masks as a gift for the bears: an eagle, a raven, a wolf, a coyote and a sasquatch. He hung those masks on a cedar tree nearby. In the spring, the bears returned from hibernation to find the masks where the carver had left them.
Their need for food outweighed their happiness at seeing the masks. Upon their return to the tree, they chose to wear the masks, not knowing they were magic. One by one, they donned a mask, became that animal. In repetitive pages describing the actions of the bears as each of the animals, readers learn their ways.
"Then the bear who wore the raven mask
also began to dance. It, too, went up into
the air and it, too, soared above the bears
and then landed. It had a berry in its beak
and took off the mask to become a bear
again. Then it ate the fresh berry."
The bear, who wore the sasquatch mask, went to the master carver's house in the village. There, the sasquatch danced to thank him and the Kwantlen people for all they had always done for the bears, before returning to his forest home.
In an interview, Mr. Dandurand explained that his people have an oral history, rather than a written one. Their history and culture shape the stories that are told, meant to teach their children that everyone has a gift to share, although those gifts are different.
Of himself he says: "I wish to believe that my gift is the gift of storytelling. All of my stories come from my imagination alone. I always leave the reader with the teaching in all of my work for children that you should always give something back. That you should not take from the earth everything or else there will be nothing left. This is a simple Kwantlen teaching."
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