 Marshall
Cultural Atlas
This collection of student work is from
Frank Keim's classes. He has wanted to share these works for others
to use as an example of Culturally-based curriculum and documentation. These
documents have been OCR-scanned. These are available
for educational use only.
Raven Foils
Oil
It wasn't iong ago that Raven had his greatest
adventure since creating all the creatures on Mother Earth. Life had
been getting rather humdrum for him anyway so he was happy for the
chance to do something that was both exciting and helpful to his
creations.
It so happened that while he was sharing a
smali tidbit of an old dog carcass with his nephew Grey Jay that he
iearned of the presence of some strange beings out on the flatlands.
Grey Jay said they were very strange looking two-leggeds and they had
round orange hats on their heads. There were three of them and they
were bent over a pool of black liquid on the tundra. One of them,
after touching the black gooey stuff, smelled it and voiced something
like, "Oil!" He and another of the men smiled very big smiles when he
said that, Jay told him.
Raven was curious about this and decided to fly
out to the flats to investigate Jay's story. When he found the three
two-leggeds he noticed they had put up a big tent and that they had
parked some sort of whirlybird contraption not very far
away.
He flew back and forth over the camp and
spotted the large black splotch Jay had told him about. Since he
didn't see the men around anywhere, he figured they were inside the
tent. He could hear them talking, so he landed on the ground near the
tent and listened to the conversation. What he heard made his
feathers ruffle.
"This looks like a big one, Sam. We could rake
in trillions of dollars of profit from the oil here. But how are we
going to get the land to develop it? It belongs to the village over
there."
"Pete, our company will just buy it from the
village. They'll go for it. All people care about these days is money
and getting rich. Anyway, even if they don't, we have other
means."
The third man, bearded and older than the other
two, spoke up, wondering how they could talk that way? They were
speaking about people who had lived on this land for 1000's of years.
He didn't think it was respectful to write off village people like
that. To which Pete replied, "You be quiet about this, Rutan. You're
just our pilot, and if you say one word about this discovery, you're
dead meat!" But Rutan continued, "Well, so be it, fellows, you can
find another pilot when we get back to Bethel. I can't work for bums
like you!"
Raven was amazed at this conversation and
thought Rutan was going to have to be careful from then on. in fact,
everyone around these parts would have to be careful. It didn't take
much to imagine what would happen to the land and people if that oil
company had its way. He had heard horror stories from his northern
cousins about what had happened up in Alaska's north country. The
land and way of life of the people had been torn asunder. And
although he usually stayed out of the business of the human beings in
these parts, he wisely realized this was a matter that would require
his interference.
Suddenly the tent flap opened and the two oil
men walked over towards the whirlybird. Raven flew close and
listened.
"We've got to get rid of him fast, Sam. He
knows too much."
"Yeh, in Bethel. Don't worry. He'll
conveniently disappear somewhere after we get in. Maybe drown or
something." And he grinned.
Raven thought he'd better warn old Rutan about
their intentions. So soon after
Pete and Sam had gone back inside the tent, and
while Rutan was over checking out his whirlybird, Raven raised his
beak and turned into a man and motioned Rutan to come over to him.
Rutan was surprised but quietly approached him and listened intently
to his whispered words. Raven told him not to worry though, that all
would go well with him. And then he waved him back to the tent. When
the tent flap closed, Raven took his bird form again and flew off
towards Bethel.
Sure enough, as soon as Rutan got back to
Bethel, the two oil men tied him up, hustled him into their van, then
started driving toward the Kuskokwim River. When they stopped near a
high bank overlooking the swiftly moving water they asked him if he
had any last words? Suddenly from behind them there was the "quork" of a Raven
and when the two men wheeled around they were faced by the same man who had befriended
Rutan back at the camp. He stared sternly
at the two men with his black eyes and in a moment had them limp at
his feet. After untying Rutan, Raven revealed his true identity and
then asked him how much of the information the two men had sent back
to their oil company?
"None," Rutan replied, "All their documents and
computer disks with the data they had acquired were in the van in a
locked metal trunk. They were going to take it back to Texas with
them tomorrow."
Raven smiled, relieved that the job would be so
much easier now. He then explained what he had to do to keep the
information about the oil discovery from getting out to the world.
Rutan agreed that it was necessary and offered to help him. The only
help he thought he needed, Raven said, was with the metal box and, of
course, complete silence about anything he witnessed.
While Rutan was lifting the metal container out
of the van, Raven took his bird form again and flew up on top of the
van to think.
"Yes, he said, this is the way it must be." And
he flew far up into the pale blue sky and drifted there for awhile.
Rutan looked up and he could barely make out Raven's black silouette.
Then suddenly there was a bright flash in front of him and the box
slowly rose into the air. Then it moved at a right angle towards a
group of large trees until it reached the tallest cottonwood where it
settled solidly down in the topmost branches and became a giant
eagle's nest. As Rutan lowered his gaze earthward, he noticed the two
men on the ground were also changing form. They became two old spruce
logs and began to roll towards the edge of the embankment. They
continued rolling until, Splash!, they were in the muddy water and
rapidly floating down the river to the Bering Sea where they would
probably become firewood to warm someone's village home.
Raven realized that Rutan would now be in
special danger from the Texas oil company which surely would accuse
him of murder. So he flew down to him, lifted his beak and became man
again and asked if he would like to be a part of the Raven clan too
and help keep the land and people safe from exploiters like the oil
company those two-leggeds were representing. Rutan thought about it
for awhile and then finally nodded his head. At that, he began to
take on the same bird form that Raven had and together they both
closed their beaks and flew off towards the place where the oil had
been found.
After a few hours of flying Raven and his
friend reached the illbegotten site and landed beside the now much
larger pool of sticky black goo. They rested there for awhile
wondering what they could do to forever rid themselves of this black
curse? They thought about it and discussed their ideas for a very
Iong time until finally the answer came to them.
Raven said his powers were such that he could
make the oil disappear forever, even the oil under the Earth. But he
resisted this thought after speaking with his friend. Rutan advised
him against this course since he understood the needs of modern
humans. For in the villages, didn't the people need the stuff
nowadays for even their basic comfort? Someday when it was all gone
elsewhere it would probably come in very handy for the communities in
these parts. But for now, he mirrored Raven's feelings.
"You're right," Raven continued, "I will not
make it go away completely. You speak with wisdom, Rutan. I will get
rid of only the earthly traces of this black curse you call oil.
Perhaps sometime in the future when humans are wiser and, like you
say, our people have the true need, then will I let the elders know
where it is again. Mean-while I will wave my wings over this poison
and dry it up."
And with four wide waves over the oil with his
giant wings, in a sudden flash it vanished from sight. Raven then
cast a spell in the four sacred directions on all the underground oil
in the region so that noone could find it again, at least not until
man had become more respectful toward his creations. If that ever
happened, only then would he release the spell and allow the black
liquid to be used. For now though it would be safe. As was the land
and its animal creatures, including the human beings who lived in the
villages nearby.
Frank
Keim
Christmastime Tales
Stories real and imaginary about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 1996 |
Christmastime Tales II
Stories about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 1998 |
Christmastime Tales III
Stories about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 2000 |
| Summer Time Tails 1992 |
Summertime Tails II 1993 |
Summertime Tails III |
| Summertime Tails IV Fall, 1995 |
Summertime Tails V Fall, 1996 |
Summertime Tails VI Fall, 1997 |
| Summertime Tails VII Fall, 1999 |
Signs of the Times November 1996 |
Creative Stories From Creative Imaginations |
| Mustang Mind Manglers - Stories of the Far Out,
the Frightening and the Fantastic 1993 |
Yupik Gourmet - A Book of
Recipes |
|
| M&M Monthly |
|
|
| Happy Moose Hunting! September Edition 1997 |
Happy Easter! March/April 1998 |
Merry Christmas December Edition 1997 |
| Happy Valentine’s
Day! February Edition
1998 |
Happy Easter! March/April Edition 2000 |
Happy Thanksgiving Nov. Edition, 1997 |
| Happy Halloween October 1997 Edition |
Edible and Useful Plants of Scammon
Bay |
Edible Plants of Hooper Bay 1981 |
| The Flowers of Scammon Bay Alaska |
Poems of Hooper Bay |
Scammon Bay (Upward Bound Students) |
| Family Trees and the Buzzy Lord |
It takes a Village - A guide for parents May 1997 |
People in Our Community |
| Buildings and Personalities of
Marshall |
Marshall Village PROFILE |
Qigeckalleq Pellullermeng ‘A
Glimpse of the Past’ |
| Raven’s
Stories Spring 1995 |
Bird Stories from Scammon Bay |
The Sea Around Us |
| Ellamyua - The Great Weather - Stories about the
Weather Spring 1996 |
Moose Fire - Stories and Poems about Moose November,
1998 |
Bears Bees and Bald Eagles Winter 1992-1993 |
| Fish Fire and Water - Stories about fish, global warming
and the future November, 1997 |
Wolf Fire - Stories and Poems about Wolves |
Bear Fire - Stories and Poems about Bears Spring,
1992 |
|
