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Show Crosscurrents 18 November 20, 1998 Page sage book review Timeless 'Crow and Weasel' finally in paperback Crow and Weasel By Chad Learch ever written, perhaps tures and traditions, but it finds no because it is a story that has been told so grounding in any particular tribe. Weasel is the hunter while Crow is a budding many different ways for so long. It is the story of a journey and a com- medicine man. Together, they embark on ing of age. It is a modern parable on the a mythic journey into the northern counbeauty of nature. It represents everything try becoming men in the process. Their journey is what makes this story we know and live every day. Crow and Weasel is written with so familiar and immortal. We all have this journey in our head. It is the basic respect to many Native American cul (essential by Barry Lopez illustrated by Tom Pohrt Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998 $7.95 Though cheaper, smaller and paperback, Barry Lopezs 1990 classic, Crow and Weasel, is still one of the quin- - stories archetypal interlude: leave home, enter the unknown, learn from the unknown and bring that education back home. We do it when we go off to college, when we go to a business interview, when we climb mountains or even on that first day of kindergarten. When Crow and Weasel are almost home, at the end of their journey, Lopez writes, Leases Mas Real Leather as low as NORTHIPSSEro KJ mmmi 1 FURNISHINGS 1315 MAIN AVE., DURANGO 247-295- hand-in-ha- Made Leather 2nd Generation Store P at UNREAL PRICES! starting Free Delivery in the Four Corners. Financing Available 9 u they traveled easily, riding with a confident rhythm that was new to them ... . They were flush with the knowledge of all that they had learned and seen. It would get colder and they had a long way to go. But they had covered this trail once before. And this time they were drawn on by memories of what lay at the other end. The story is almost overdone with revelation. Every action has an awareness for these travelers. But in respect to nature as religion, Lopez makes these parables work. Crow and Weasel learn, among other things, confidence, vision and patience. Weasel talks about the horses they ride, These horses are young like us. They are determined, but they are not seasoned, so they dont have good rhythm. Their pace is to push and then quit instead of going steadily. The characters realize the importance of patience, which goes with experience. Crow and Weasel dont face just positive revelations on their journey. They are also constantly humbled, namely by the divine land around them. In one instance, Weasel shows vainglory in his hunting skills and is therefore humbled cold and hunger. He prays, by near-deat- h I will never again act as though I expected the land to feed me. I will remind myself, always, that this is a gift ... . With a background in theology, philosophy and literature, it is no coincidence that Lopez made this story with a biblical slant. Once a candidate for monastic life, Lopez is a deeply spiritual individual. He rejected the monastery because he thought it would be too easy. Lopez writes without so much contrition, Sometimes it is what is beautiful that carries you, said Weasel. ... Yes. It can carry you to the end. It is your relationship to what is beautiful, not the beautiful thing by itself, that carries you. said Grizzly Bear. And, more importantly, this awardwinning author of Arctic Dreams and Of Wolves and Men saw1 that his church was made with vaults of living trees above his head and the living soil beneath his feet, with the smooth skin of a writhing river as his altar. BP Chad Learch is a speed reader and poet who lives in Durango and works at Marias bookshop. |