"It was a harsh winter in which no grass grows, no flower bloom, no river flow. A famine was plaguing the Great Lakes. Men were fed with dignity rather than hunt; women were giving birth to pile of bones rather than child. The forest was home to sacred pines and great deer who we worship. And no man should enter the woods. Those days I was a young hunter wishing to prove himself to tribe and competing with the Wolf's Fang to earn the hand of your beautiful mother in marriage. They were calling me Little Raven son of Grey Raven." The Chief paused for a moment; his son seemed distracted. The Chief hawked up his throat unpleasantly. The child understood this notice and asked, "I do not know anybody name Wolf's Fang in tribe, did he die during the winter?" "No, my Raven." Little Raven replied, "He is alive, and you know him very well." The child did not grasp what he meant yet did not bother to ask about it. Now there was something more gripping to him. "Why I, you and your father are named Raven? I thought I was the only Raven in the family." Adults laughed at this regard. When his joyful laughter ended the Chief explained "My great great grandfather did join our great tribe after four days from the visit of the first raven to this land. Our folk believed it to be an omen and named him Great Raven." The child seemed satisfied with this answer. Hence the Chief proceeded "Let me see what I was saying?" You were a young hunter who wished to hunt my mother." Raven joked. The Father, who is happy to know his son's attention to story continued. "Well, she was the most beautiful and talented woman in the tribe, and we were in love. Yet to marry her I had to prove my worth to her parents and Wolf was preying too. Wolfs and Ravens were hostile to each other for generations since the day Great Raven came in since the Great Wolf deemed it to be a bad omen. So, as you can imagine there was an unspoken hostility between us inherited from our ancestors and augmented with jealousy for the same woman. Even though we try to fight several times others stopped it because of the lack of healthy men due to long lasting starvation. The big animals were protected by the sacred woods and the little ones were buried deep under the thick layer of snow. The ones who dared to enter the forest to save their dying family were disappearing without a sign. Rumors of cannibalism were spreading among tribes. We were managing by diving under the ice of our river the Long Trace and catching trout to survive. When we thought we are living the worst. The nightmare happened." The child felt a cold chill moving from his neck to back and spreading all over his body. He did not know what happened but somehow, he was sensing a relation between the story and the disfigured face on the wall. His nervous was so tense that he exhaled deeply to release his anxiety when a man shouted into the Chief.
The Chief stood up and moved to the entrance for a brief talk. Two men were whispering yet family was sensing some kind of discomfort during the speech. They only heard "I can put someone else in the post" and "leave it" at the end. Dawn was aware of what was tormenting her husband. It was Broken Spear's turn to guard the tents, and no one was trusting him, yet the Chief could not retract this last honor from him. All this time Little Raven was sunk in shadowy dreams which were torn apart by the voice of his father. He did not realize his father which sat down and carried on the story. "...hence we were worried." He heard and looked upon his father with asking eyes. Father explained "as number of cannibalized bodies were increasing around tribe. First, we were suspicious of other tribes, but no one had seen anybody from outside. Then we fixed our eyes on each other, yet everybody proved innocent. We were left with no chance but to consult the elders of old. When the ritual was complete the shaman whispered "Wendigo!". There was a dead silence in the tent. The Chief was measuring the extent of this word on his son. Little Raven appeared to expect it. "Clever kid" he thought through. "It is an evil spirit inhabits our land, a demon emerged from misery and a god feed upon men. She shall protect the forest and the deer in it and crave for the flesh. Run faster than wind and appear from nowhere. Strong enough to break rocks and her presence is enough to drive the men crazy. The men eating men, dead bodies spreading, and the ever-increasing blizzard are her signs, Shaman warned us. When the night came all gathered in the great tent to decide on the course of action." Meanwhile dark clouds were gathering above. It was midnight.
He was preparing to stop the story, but Little Raven was looking into his father with begging eyes. The Chief believed it would be unfair to cut such a story in the middle (also there was something keeps him on tenterhooks) hence he talked “Many were scared and confused about what to do but I knew exactly what to do it was a gift from the holy spirit Christians speak about and all religions recognize. I could prove myself if I defeat this calamity and gain everything I wish for. However, I was not the only one who dreamed about it. Wolf’s Fang acted before me ‘We shall hunt the Wendigo’. These words cut the silence and different sounds and noises began to rise from all sides. Finally, I mentioned that I agree with the Wolf. Everybody was surprised to see two hostile families concur on the same thing. The seriousness of the situation was obvious, so everybody backed up the plan. We sharpened our axes and reinforced our bows. We attached iron to the head of arrows and muzzled our rifles with bullets bought from the white men. Several parties were found and spread into the wild. We searched day and night but there was no trace of it. No one knew we were the prey followed by our hunter. On the third day, my party arrived in the southernmost part of the forest as all parties decided beforehand to meet. Unfortunately, there was no man but us.”
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