...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 3-7: Breakfast

In the morning Ghandl is fixing breakfast when the young couple emerge from Xayna's room. They both glow like newborn spirits. Ghandl smiles and gestures them to the table he has set. For a while they sit and stare at their plates as if they have forgotten the need for food. But soon the enticing aroma reminds them, and they start in. Within a few bites they are both eating ravenously, bodies making them aware that much of the energy they expended last night was physical.

Ghandl continues serving them until they slow down. The edge taken off, Xayna stops for a moment, looks at Bear and giggles. He looks at her and stops eating, then notices the forkful of food suspended halfway to his mouth, and chuckles in turn. Bear makes a big show of reluctantly allowing the fork to reach his tongue, and Xayna laughs at him. Then she begins toying with her food, savoring each bite as if it is an aphrodisiac, favoring Bear with sultry looks as she licks her lips.

Bear does his best to play this game, but finds he is no match for her. She is too intoxicating. He rises from his chair and says to Ghandl, "Thank you for the breakfast. I know you want to continue our talk today, but right now I think Xayna and I need to go for a walk in the forest. We won't be long." Xayna springs to her feet and is hauling Bear out the door before Ghandl has time to nod.

When they return they find Ghandl's dream awaiting them. They enter the longhouse and take their seats in front of him. He begins to speak. His eyes close, but his words are addressed to Bear.

"You come seeking the wisdom of the Eagle. That is why you are here. But there is more you must know. The wisdom of the Eagle exists only to balance the wisdom of the Raven. The Raven is more primitive, more powerful than the Eagle. In a way, the wisdom of the Raven is greater. But it is the wisdom of the fool, the wisdom that comes without thought.

"You want to teach a thousand people the wisdom of the Eagle. But those thousand people already possess the foolish wisdom of the Raven.

"Since time began, Eagle has tried to teach its wisdom to Raven. Raven refuses to learn. Raven created Eagle because it knew that it needed this lesson. But although Eagle is Eagle and is not Raven, Raven is Raven, and cannot be Eagle." Ghandl's eyes open to look at Bear as he pauses.

Bear is confused. Ghandl's words sound discouraging, but his demeanor remains calm. There is a gleam in his eye that Bear recognizes, a gleam reminiscent of the times when Juan or Tengri posed what Niño thought was a trick question, the sort of question that seems to have two answers, when both answers cannot be true. Bear watches Ghandl watching him, and knows that this is just such a test, what Zen masters call a koan. He remembers seeing Ghandl's totem outside the lodge, and knows that Ghandl is Eagle. But Raven is the trickster. Ghandl is being Raven.

Bear says, "What happened before time began?"

Ghandl smiles broadly. "Nothing. And everything. Before time began, there was only Raven. Time began with Eagle."

Bear says, "Raven is everything. Eagle is hope."

Ghandl nods. "Hope is what the Haida have. That is all any of us have. Without hope, Raven rules all.

"Raven is everything, and in that is alone. Self-centered, compassionless, fully knowing that the spirit cannot be destroyed so ultimately nothing matters. Raven can wear any skin. Life is a game, Raven treats it that way.

"Eagle is serious and conservative by comparison, aware of the game but wanting to play by agreed-upon rules. Eagle is committed to preserving the world as it is, keeping the natural balance. The Eagle goes unhesitatingly to the aid of another, regardless of the threat, any effort to preserve the balance. The Eagle too knows that the spirit survives."

Ghandl pauses briefly for a shift in his narrative. "We call our homeland Haida Gwaii, Islands of the People. But the old name for it was Islands on the Edge of the World. We teach our children to walk this edge with care, for with one misstep they may fall off. Raven invites such missteps, prepares many pitfalls for the unwary. One of Raven's tricks is to make life seem easy. Then the followers of the Eagle begin to think they have won, and many choose to follow the Raven just for fun.

"Here the sea brings its bounty with every tide. It brings us herring and salmon, seals and orcas, even humpbacks. The land gives us tall cedar trees to make our canoes, so we can paddle out to sea and bring home what we can catch. In the old days the people were many. For more than ten thousand years we thrived here, they say. We were many thousands, so many fat villages that people made a game of raiding other villages to steal from their plenty.

"If they were lucky they would arrive when no one was home, and they could take whatever they wanted. If not so lucky then there would be fighting, and some might die. If they could they would take the heads of those who died, as a sign of respect. If they could they would take captives, to be slaves, and maybe wives or husbands.

"Then there would be potlatch, and the wealthy would give away all that they had accumulated, inviting the villages they had been raiding to come and take back what they wanted. In this way the Eagle would balance the Raven. Everyone always knew that those who took would soon give, those who gave would soon receive, those who died would be reborn, and the balance would continue.

"But then the balance did not continue. Once again Raven did something unexpected."