Three Day Road: Ka Nipihat Windigowa: Windigo Killer Summary & Analysis

Xavier smiles as Niska tells him the story of the nun. She asks Xavier if he remembers the day the “awawatuk from the turtle clan” came to visit. “One of us has gone windigo this winter,” the awawatuk said immediately. He told Niska his nephew went into the woods several weeks ago and came back with human meat. “He has gone mad and threatens to destroy all of us,” the man said.

“We will leave at once,” Niska told Xavier, and they set out with the old awawatuk toward his camp. The man’s story was much like Micah’s, only it was the man that went windigo and ate his wife. Niska was nervous as they approached the camp. She feared the windigo had gotten loose and killed everyone. When they arrived, all was calm. Niska could see the glow of the windigo through the lodge walls. “An aura as bright to me as the North Lights pulsed from within a great sadness,” Niska says.

Niska did not have a plan as she approached the windigo. He remained calm as she slipped the rope around his neck. All she had to do was twist the rope with a stick and it would be over. Niska prayed to Gitchi Manitou and began to twist. He began to buck and struggle, but Niska prayed louder, and he soon fell slack. After, on “shaking legs,” Niska told the awawatuk man to build a fire and burn the body “until there was nothing left.” Later, Xavier asked why she had killed the man. “Sometimes one must be sacrificed if all are to survive,” Niska answered.

“I want a friend, Auntie,” Xavier said to Niska as he grew. “I am lonely.” She agreed to move camp closer to town so Xavier could find other children to play and hunt with. She warned him to stay away from the wemistikoshiw; if they found him, they would take him away. Xavier soon came home with Elijah. His mother was dead, he said, and his father was a trapper whom he’d never known. “Your friend began to return to our camp with a rifle and many bullets,” Niska says. She didn’t know where Elijah got them from, but she would watch the boys practice shooting at targets.

Elijah told Xavier that he took the rifle from the nun on the reserve. “What does a nun need with a gun, anyway?” he said. “I don’t know if it is right to take something that isn’t yours,” Xavier said as Niska stuck her head out of the lodge. “Nephew,” she yelled, “the two of you are truly talented marksmen.” Elijah looked to Xavier. “Why does she call you Nephew and not your real name?” he asked. Xavier was confused. “Nephew is my real name,” he said. “I am her nephew.” Elijah shook his head. “Your name is Xavier,” he said. “Your Christian name is Xavier. And mine is Elijah.”