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Grey Eyes
Mother to Niska and Rabbit and grandmother to Xavier. After Niska’s father dies, Niska’s mother teaches Niska the “old ways” and “the magic deep in the bush that is real.” She teaches Niska about medicinal plants and herbs and shows her how to construct a matatosowin (sweat lodge). When the wemistikoshiw (European) priest comes to take Niska to the residential school, Niska’s mother helps Niska escape and takes her back to the bush. Before Xavier is born, Niska’s mother dies of a sudden illness. Niska wraps her mother’s body and places her in a tree so her “ahcahk is free.”
Niska’s Mother Quotes in Three Day Road
The Three Day Road quotes below are all either spoken by Niska’s Mother or refer to Niska’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Noohtaawiy: My Father
Quotes
The following afternoon my mother and father prepared the bear for us. Normally we did our butchering outside, but the bear was our brother, and so he was invited in. Nothing was rushed. Nothing was to be wasted for fear of angering him. The knife used couldn't touch anything else. Any of the hair that the bear shed was carefully collected from the floor and clothing, and burned in the fire, whispered prayers drifting up with the stinking smoke. My parents carefully laid the animal on his back on freshly cut spruce boughs, talking to him, whispering prayers for what seemed like hours. They rocked back and forth on their haunches, my father sprinkling bits of powder into the flames that brought into the room a sweet smell I recognized as cedar. I was alarmed when at one point my father began to cry. I'd never seen this before and was frightened, but I remained beneath his heavy moose robe.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Niska’s Mother Quotes in Three Day Road
The Three Day Road quotes below are all either spoken by Niska’s Mother or refer to Niska’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Noohtaawiy: My Father
Quotes
The following afternoon my mother and father prepared the bear for us. Normally we did our butchering outside, but the bear was our brother, and so he was invited in. Nothing was rushed. Nothing was to be wasted for fear of angering him. The knife used couldn't touch anything else. Any of the hair that the bear shed was carefully collected from the floor and clothing, and burned in the fire, whispered prayers drifting up with the stinking smoke. My parents carefully laid the animal on his back on freshly cut spruce boughs, talking to him, whispering prayers for what seemed like hours. They rocked back and forth on their haunches, my father sprinkling bits of powder into the flames that brought into the room a sweet smell I recognized as cedar. I was alarmed when at one point my father began to cry. I'd never seen this before and was frightened, but I remained beneath his heavy moose robe.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
