An illustrated storybook created by instructors at Haahuupayak School uses First Nations oral tradition to guide children through some of the hazards of modern life.
The project is titled “Eagle and Sea Serpent” and is based on an original tale by Tseshaht’s Trevor Little. After sharing his tale orally before a variety of audiences, Little partnered with Lena Ross to turn the story into an instructional book, told in both English and Nuu-chah-nulth.
“It came at a time I was dealing with my own childhood,” Little explained. “I was working with my grandmother (Kathy Robinson), and we were doing a language teaching program. I wanted to create a story about setting up safe boundaries, and being comfortable telling somebody, ‘I’m not comfortable with what you’re doing.’”
Little searched for a traditional Nuu-chah-nulth tale to illustrate safe social behaviour but was unable to find a story that could be adapted.
“Our traditional tales were based on nature and were intended to teach our children how to live in the environment around them,” he said.
For Little, the goal was to use familiar animal characters, using their known characteristics and personalities, to illustrate the hazards of human life.
That last note takes on added significance. Not only did Little craft the Eagle and Sea Serpent story, he also did the full-colour illustration.
Ross said bringing the oral tale to three-dimensional form was a labour of love, but it was a labour.
“When I picked up the finished book, it was like giving birth, because I knew that it had incubated in Trevor, through his experiences,” she said. “He made an oral story out of it to share, and he’s shared it here [Haahuupayak], he’s shared it at Literacy Alberni, and places where it is appropriate to teach people about boundaries.
“So it was an oral story, and then we got funding through the First Peoples Cultural Council [language program], and that gave us the ability to turn the oral story into a book.”
With side-by side translation into Nuu-chah-nulth, Eagle and Sea Serpent also serves as a language primer for children or adults, but for Little, the goal has been to provide a learning experience for all children. As his vision became clearer, the story evolved into the form made permanent with the book.
“It started off similar to the present version, but it grew with every group when I told it,” he said, adding that there are some story elements that are still emerging.
In the story, the Eagle, the Bear, the Salmon, the Sea Serpent and all the other creatures go about their daily routines. Little uses the familiar rhythms and repetitions of classic children’s stories to draw the reader/listener into the world of the animals.
All of the animals admire Eagle in flight, but none more intently than Sea Serpent. When Eagle drops into the water to catch a fish, Sea Serpent ventures to make her acquaintance. They begin a tentative friendship, meeting at the ocean surface.
But it is a superficial relationship and the two creatures know little about each other. The Sea Serpent, watching Eagle dip into the water, believes she can swim.
One day, Sea Serpent brings a halibut, fresh from the sea bottom, to their meeting, and the two friends enjoy a feast together. Then misunderstanding shatters their friendship.
“Where did you get the halibut?” Eagle asks.
“Do you want me to show you?” Sea Serpent replies.
“Sea Serpent wrapped his body around Eagle and dove in, thinking ‘This is what you do,’” Little said.
As she is being dragged to the bottom, Eagle bites into the Sea Serpent to free herself. She escapes, and flies high into the sky until she is just a tiny dot. To this day, Sea Serpent still comes to the surface, looking for his lost friend.
“Both of them were hurt in their own ways, and they reacted in different ways,” Ross said. “Eagle went way up, Sea Serpent went way down, and they never re-connected.”
In the story, both creatures are true to their characters and blameless. Little said the real-world lesson for children is to make sure you know somebody before giving them your complete trust.
In the real world, sometimes those superficial friends–often older and in a position of trust–are trying to set you up for an abusive situation.
“Just because you think you’re best friends with someone, you may not know them that well,” he said. “There’s more to know about people than just having a good time on the playground.”
Sea Serpent dragged Eagle into the abyss in the belief that he was teaching her where to find a choice fish. In the real world, Little said, there are those seeking to drag you down whose purpose is not so innocent, but the lesson is the same: do not be afraid to say no; do not let curiosity or fear of embarrassment lead you into an unsafe situation.
Eagle and Sea Serpent is being produced locally at Houle Printing. Twenty-four pages in length, this edition will be ring-bound to allow it to be opened wide for classroom presentations.
Little credits Ross and Robinson for bringing the story to book form. Despite having exceptionally high verbal skills, the first-time author said he is actually not comfortable with written language as the result of a learning disorder.
“I’m afraid of reading. I don’t like reading. I’ve got dyslexia, and it’s something I choose not to tackle right now. So the final form came through Lena and Grandma,” he said.
Two years ago, Little and Ross collaborated on an environmental video. With that experience, and now, with the completion of Eagle and Sea Serpent, Ross said they have learned valuable lessons in the process of conceiving, developing and funding cultural projects.
“Now that we know what’s needed, we can do it with other legends,” she said.
“There are definitely other stories brewing,” Little added. “There are definitely old legends to pull from. But for me, the goal is to draw from the culture to create contemporary lessons for today. That’s the only way I would want to make another one: if there was a great idea out there, if something came to one of us and said, ‘This would help for today – what the kids face today.’ That’s why our loved ones before us made up all these stories about the animals; because they cared about how their children were living in that world.”
"Eagle and Sea Serpent" will be printed in a limited edition later this month, for distribution to local schools and educational agencies. Following that, the book will go into general release.
