Wesakejack and the Bears

Alison Mews is co-ordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
The Memorial University of Newfoundland.

The legends of Wesakejack are well known in Cree folklore. He was
believed to be a magical being who originated all human acts, good and
bad, since the beginning of creation. He was also known to be a good
friend to animals, and it is this element that Bill Ballantyne, a Native
storyteller, has chosen as his focus in these two tales. The text (and
presumably the accompanying audiocassette) is given in both the Cree and
English languages.

In Wesakejack and the Flood, the Creator decides to cleanse the earth
with a great flood because the creatures of earth are no longer living
in harmony. As the floodwaters rise, Wesakejack, an otter, a beaver, and
a muskrat wait out the rain on a floating log. When the rain ceases,
Wesakejack implores the animals to dive for a piece of earth from which
he can form an island. The muskrat offers to fetch it but is ridiculed
by the other two; however, they each fail in turn, and it is the
smallest and weakest animal, the muskrat, who succeeds. Wesakejack then
blows on the dirt to expand it into an island, and continues to enlarge
it until the animals sent to explore it do not return. He then sets out
to travel this new world he has fashioned. In the less successful
Wesakejack and the Bears, Wesakejack is more a figure of ridicule as he
unsuccessfully attempts to catch a fish, to the great amusement of some
watching bears. The bears have more human characteristics than the
animals in the previous story, a device that seems less true to the
original oral tales.

The illustrations in both books are faithful to the text but are rather
unpolished in their execution. Wesakejack himself is not consistently
drawn (sometimes he appears to have aged from one page to the next).
With respect to layout, in most cases the English and Cree texts appear
in the same box, separated only by a space. For beginning readers who
are struggling with decoding the printed word, the close proximity of
the two languages may pose a problem. Recommended with reservations.