CHAPTER 15

Seven Stones

“AH,” GREAT-GRANDMOTHER SAID. THEN SHE sat silently for a long time after I had asked that one more question. It was this:

How can I change into a human being?

I could tell how much my question troubled her. Her eyes were closed and her ear tufts were lowered back on her head. Finally she clacked her beak, opened her eyes, and swiveled her head to look straight at me. Then she made one of those soft little whoot-a-luls that is an owl’s way of sighing.

“So-oo-ooo, you are sure this is what you want?”

“Yes.”

She sighed again. “Look down.”

I looked down over my right shoulder. Malsumsis, who had followed his nose to find me, was sitting there on his haunches at the base of another big oak tree a few steps away from the one in which we sat, looking up expectantly at us. It seemed that Malsumsis could sense that something out of the ordinary was happening—even more out of the ordinary than a wolf having an owl as his best friend.

“Not there, Wabi,” Great-grandmother said. “Look to the other side. Right below.”

I turned my head to peer over my left shoulder. It took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. There, right below us, were seven tall standing stones. Why had I never noticed them before? They stood as straight as seven giant owls. The way they were arranged in a perfect circle made it seem as if someone had placed them there. In the middle of their circle was a mound of earth that was about the size and shape of a human being lying on its back.

“Long agooo,” Great-grandmother said, “there were seven beings. Some said they were owls, for they were as wise as owls. But whatever they were, they could answer any question. They were mdawelinnok, wise ones. But so many came to ask them questions that they grew tired. So they decided to hide. They flew to a place deep in the forest and changed themselves into a circle of seven cedar trees. For a time they were left in peace. But they did not stay silent. They would whisper to each other in the wind, sharing all the things they knew. So it was that someone heard them and told others. Once again, many came to them to ask questions, and because they were trees and rooted to the ground, they could not escape. So one night, they changed themselves back into owls and flew away. They flew to the base of a great tree and there they changed themselves into seven stones. Because they were stones, they remained silent and so it was hard for anyone to find them. But within their circle is the answer to many questions.”

I stared down at that circle of stones. The answer to my question had to be there. But what was I supposed to do now?

“Should I fly down there?” I asked.

“No. Stay where you are. First I must ask you, are you certain this is what you want to dooo?”

I nodded my head so hard that I shook loose a few feathers. “Yes!”

Once again, Great-grandmother was silent for a long while. Finally she turned her head one way and then the next, moving her gaze through the circle of creation surrounding us. As she did so, I could see just how old she was, how many seasons of flight were beneath her wings. Lately I had been worried about what would happen when she no longer was able to fly. What if a flock of crows should ever spy her daylight roosting place and then dive in to attack her? Was it wrong of me to want to leave her? For a moment I felt uncertain about the decision I had just made.

I opened my beak, but Great-grandmother raised her wing, gesturing me to stay silent.

“Wabi,” she hooted softly, “it is all right. You must do what you must do. Just remember, you will always be yoooo.”

Then she took flight.

“Whooo,” she said as she circled me the first time.

“Whooo,” she repeated as she came around me the second time. I had to keep turning my head to watch her as she flew. I couldn’t help it.

“WHOOOOO,” she called yet again, flying around me a third time, so fast that I found myself becoming dizzy.

“WHOOO ARE YOOOOOOO?” she hooted so loudly that it almost deafened me as she made a fourth and final tighter circle that ended with her not going around me but flying right at me!

Thoomph! Her right wing struck me in the chest. She didn’t hit me hard, but I lost my balance and felt myself falling backward. I tried to open my own wings to catch the wind, but something was wrong. My feathers weren’t spreading out as they should. Then, all of a sudden—WHOMP!—I landed on my back right on that mound of earth in the middle of the seven stones. I wasn’t hurt, but it took the wind out of me and I didn’t feel like moving for a while.

How strange, I thought. Why wasn’t I able to fly?

Then something even stranger happened. The ground around me began to move and shift. It felt as if I had landed on an ant hill whose occupants had just wakened and were now crawling all over me. I began to sink into the ground. I tried to open my beak to say something, but my mouth was filled with the flow of that glowing earth that was now all around me and all over me. A bright light began pulsing, blinding my eyes to the comforting darkness. Then I became lost in that light.