Kwîhkwîsiw  

Deep in the Boreal Forest in western Alberta there was this family of Blue Jays resting, awaiting the morning sun. As the night passed, and the sun was coming over the horizon, one of the four baby Blue Jays named Nîpiniminân (Cranberry) slowly started to awaken. Nîpiniminân was not a morning person, however she cherished mornings such as this one. The morning dew was no stranger to Nîpiniminân; as the season changed and her family prepared for the winter months, morning dew would wrap her body in a warm hug informing her it was time to wake. With the other families slowly awakening from their evening slumber, Nîpiniminân could hear the forest come alive with morning chitter. The smell of wet leaves, and moss, slowly started to surround her home fire filling her senses with an elating arousal. Nîpiniminân arose from her bed and began to look around. She could see the amber colored fungal bark on her home tree, red, yellow, and orange leaves slowly gliding to the forest floor, and her neighbour’s gathering supplies for their winter preparation.

  Nîpiniminân’s neighbour ankwacas (squirrel) was leaping from tree to tree gathering an array of nuts for her and her family. The creepy crawlers on the forest floor were gathering the leaves graciously gifted from the trees above. They used these leaves as food to fill their bellies and to provide shelter from the upcoming elements. As Nîpiniminân watched her neighbours cross off chores from their winter preparation to do list, she, she grew hungry and left her nest in search of food. Nîpiniminân’s father Mihkwâsiht (red cedar) always instilled to his children to never leave the home fire without parental guidance. The forest is a big and scary place, with many twists and turns and , scary creatures, and because it was easy to get jumbled up with every tree looking the same. Mihkwâsiht ensured these rules were followed because he’d hate to lose his children to the elements. However, listening to the grumble in her tummy and tired of waiting for her family to awake, Nîpiniminân defied her father’s rules and left the nest.

On her morning journey to search for food Nîpiniminân had a craving for manicôs (worms). She started off by looking under leaves and digging in the moist dirt below her tree. Nîpiniminân found caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, and snails but none of them would have curbed her craving for manicôs. So, she thanked the Creator for those gifts, but turned them away and kept looking for a delicate, and juicy manicôs to curb her hunger. Searching high and low, deep in the earth’s soil, under leaves above and on the ground, in trees and behind them Nîpiniminân had zero luck. She started becoming famished and worried she wouldn’t be able to find her desired meal. Nîpiniminân, tired of looking, decided to go home, as she mustered up the strength to fly back to her home fire, she started to become disorientated. Each tree looked the same. There were groups of lumpy brown barked trees with narrow leaves in different shades of yellow and orange and families of tall spruce trees with welcoming branches ready to hold a home for new animals, even the sacred red cedar in groups anchored along the forest floor. Nîpiniminân, trying to find her specific thinly leafed home with amber fungal covered bark quickly realized that she was lost. She was so tunnel visioned and determined to find her delectable treat that she forgot to abide by her father’s rules of observation and always being able to identify where you are. This was super important, especially in such a huge forest like the ones the Jay family lived in.

Nîpiniminân decided to fly high above the tree line to look at the forest from a different perspective. Maybe if she trusted in herself, she would be able to find her home. “After all, baby birds do have to leave the nest at some point”, she thought to herself. “This is my time to prove to Mihkwâsiht that I am strong and capable enough to scavenge for my own food and navigate the forest. Maybe father isn’t always right, and the forest isn’t as scary as he portrays it to be. All these creatures here are my friends, we come from the same internal home fire anyway.” Nîpiniminân said.


With dedication and hopes of finding her home fire, Nîpiniminân looked for the distinctive colour of the amber fungus and the colourful leaves in the head of her home from above. Quickly Nîpiniminân realized that with the seasons changing, all deciduous trees look the same from above and below. They all have beautiful colour changing abilities gifted from the Creator, it was hard for Nîpiniminân to tell her home apart from the others. With discouragement weighing in the back of her mind, Nîpiniminân mustered the courage to move forward. Nîpiniminân searched in all four directions. Visiting her relatives paskwâw mostos (buffalo) in the North, Kihiw (eagle) in the East, and Muskwa (bear) in the west. Nîpiniminân kindly asked for help, and graciously all of them tried to guide her. Paskwâw mostos told her to “follow your pack”, Kihiw told her to “glide above the clouds, higher than she’s ever gone before”, and Muskwa told her to “use her senses, you’ll be able to smell which way is home”. With all this great knowledge, Nîpiniminân persisted on and did as each direction informed her. However, as helpful as the suggestions were, Blue Jays were not gifted with the same instincts as her relatives and Nîpiniminân had to tirelessly give up. Nîpiniminân started crying out for Mihkwâsiht. She was starving, lost, and confused. She needed guidance, which she would have had all along if she were to of have listened to her father, who was a veteran of the forest, understanding it’s ways of knowing and being, and how to navigate such similar areas. Resting on a tree root above the ground, Nîpiniminân was wailing for her family. She was heartbroken and wished she never went venturing on her own, she was too young and little to be out in the humongous forest. Sitting in defeat, as the day turned to night Nîpiniminân rested her eyes, in hopes this would all be over when she woke up, and none of it was real. Holding her very hungry stomach, Nîpiniminân drifted to sleep. While asleep Nîpiniminân had a visitor in her dream. It was âpakosîs (mouse). Apakosîs was a frail elder mouse who came to her with guidance. After all, he was the animal of the South. Someone Nîpiniminân had forgot to visit. In her dreams, âpakosîs told her to “continually trust in yourself. We all make mistakes, especially when independence shines brightly. It is important to learn from this behaviour and push forward. Don’t let your thoughts poison the knowledge you know. You were born a navigator just like your father. You just need to have trust internally that you can do it. Navigation runs through your veins, it’s blood memory. Now look up.” Nîpiniminân awoke in a panic. She felt relief that an elder came to guide her. Frightened by the seeming reality of her dream, Nîpiniminân slowly got up from her root and investigated the bark from the tree she used as a resting point. It was all coming back to Nîpiniminân now. The air was filled with the familiar morning aromas, the chitter of the forest felt the same. Eager to be home, Nîpiniminân looked at the tell-tale sign of her home fire. The bark. It was Amber Fungus covered; she never had been so happy to see that beautiful colour in her life. Nîpiniminân quickly flew to the head of the tree where her family rested in hopes of finding them there. Thankfully all three of her siblings and two of her parents anxiously awaited her arrival in fear she may never have returned. After the relief of knowing his daughter was safe, father started to reem Nîpiniminân. “How could you blatantly disobey my rules daughter! You knew better than to leave the home fire without consent and guidance. We were all worried sick about you!” The mother paskwâwihkwaskwa (Sage) chimed in and said “Mihkwâsiht ekwayikok (enough)! Your daughter is safe, her ancestors will guide her in the right direction to do better next time.” Reflecting on her journey and the mistakes made throughout the past day, Nîpiniminân wondered what the Creator was trying to teach her. She found independence, and courage, to venture away from her home fire on her own. She stumbled upon obstacles put in place to test her, and she applied her gifts to listen to her guides in her dreams. Why did she feel that the lesson was more than what was in front of her? It dawned on Nîpiniminân. The Creator was guiding her to use her already beknown gifts of navigation, courage, and inner strength to become better and, to build trust within herself.