Storyteller brings past to life at DeKalb Library

Tag : rabbit pelts

But it could have been a shadowy bear cave or an Indian tribal longhouse.

Christine Buik, of Chicago Region Interpreters, made “EarthKeepers: Native American Legends and the Environment” comealive for kids last Thursday at the DeKalb Public Library.
Buik stretched a coyote pelt between her outstretched arms, all thewhile saying, “I didn't kill any animal for my presentation.Even though the coyote has died, we can still honor its spirit bybringing it in to touch. Coyotes live right here in DeKalb.

“Some Indians believed animals had magical powers,” shecontinued, softly bringing the children into her confidence andinto the realm of Indian legend.

“Long ago, there were storytellers among the tribal people.The children would come to their tents and long houses and wereasked, ‘Would you like to hear a story?'”

Then the children shouted in the affirmative, “HEY!”

“Some of the stories you may not believe, but (through thestories) you're learning about earth and going green,” Buiksaid.
She told how the Indian “watched the hawk fly down from thesky and pierce the flesh of a rabbit.”
She said pelts were used for warmth, then beat on a drum made ofbuffalo hide, and demonstrated tools and jewelry carved from bone.

“The Indian used the entire animal and only killed what heneeded of the earth's special gifts. Native Americans were goinggreen long before the word was heard in this land.”

Then Buik began to introduce living animals, including a box turtlewith wiggly legs and a furry tarantula. She allowed the spider towalk freely across the drum as the children watched with fear andfascination. She also showed them ornamental use of a turtle shelland demonstrated how dried, hollowed gourds could be filled withseeds to create a musical instrument.

She even told them earthworms “are like candy to the turtle,though you or I probably wouldn't want to eat one."

And in a story not unlike a parable, she told how the bear, fond ofhibernation, “growlingly called for 10 days dark, one daylight.” But the other animals didn't like that, so a merefrog rapidly chirped “one dark, one light, one dark onelight.” And the children learned that sometimes the littlecreature can triumph over the mighty, like David against Goliath.

After the presentation, the children were invited to touch theanimals - with the exception of the tarantula.

Through tribal stories, Buik demonstrated how the great web of lifeencircles the plants, the animals and the people.

Buik has been performing before groups since 1988. Previously shehas been an educator and naturalist at Chicago area nature centers,the Morton Arboretum, Camp Fire and the National Park Service.