Three Day Road

In “My Father”, Niska notes that Xavier slept outside the night before. She senses his pain, and sees that he is taking morphine. She wishes she knew which herbs would heal him, but realizes that his body has been destroyed in Europe and that she does not know how to heal him of his affliction. She remembers her father, who was a great storyteller. His stories were what kept the tribe alive during the toughest times. Niska decides to tell Xavier a story from her childhood in the hopes of keeping him alive.

At the time, nearly thirty Anishnabe Indians live together in Hudson Bay’s harsh North Country. As winter approaches, Niska feels that a curse has been placed upon the tribe. She has already begun to have shaking fits, which indicate she had the gift of vision, like her father. In time, the group’s hunters return with no game. The hunters are worried, and Niska listens in secret as they consult her father. Eventually, things become so bad that the hunters kill a bear, angering those from the bear tribe. Niska’s mother and father must prepare a special ceremony for honoring and killing the bear, then the group feasts on the bear meat, taking great care to respect every part of the animal lest it return to haunt them.