Isobel and the Mammoths

But one afternoon they looked out to the mountains. There was smoke, and fire. The ground shook and everyone was so frightened that they stopped dancing. They were too scared by the mountain to dance. They were too scared to sing, and too scared to tell stories. It was a volcano, but they didn’t know why it was erupting. They didn’t know if the village was in danger.

So the Salmon shaman and the Reindeer shaman went together to ask the spirits what was happening.

For three days the shamans danced and sweated. For three days they wandered through the spirit world, crying to the spirits, ‘What has woken in the mountain? What is the fire in the mountain?’ For three days, the spirits were asleep, because they had been drinking and eating during the party, and they were full of salmon, ready to sleep for the winter. But on the evening of the third day, the Reindeer shaman found a spirit who said that the mammoths were awake in the mountain. At the same time, another spirit came to the Salmon shaman, and said that what the people saw was the fires of the mammoths in the mountain.

“Should we bring the mammoths a gift of food?” asked the shamans. “Should we bring them salmon? Should we bring them reindeer meat?”

“The mammoths live under the earth,” the spirits replied. “All rivers flow through their land, and they do not need salmon. The reindeer walk on their roofs, and fall in their smoke holes whenever the mammoths want them. They do not need these things from you.”

“What should we do, then?” the shamans asked.

“Send them a story,” said the spirits. “Send them a dance, send them a song.”

The shamans thanked the spirits for their advice and returned to the village, where the people were waiting. 

“The mammoths have woken in the mountains,” they explained. “We see their fires, and we must send them some of our joy of the harvest.”

They looked around, and the Reindeer shaman pointed to Sobel. “This girl knows how to dance and sing,” he said.

The Salmon shaman nodded. “Sobel will go to the mammoths and share our stories and songs and dances with them.”

Everyone turned to look at Sobel. All the boys knew she was a fancy dancer, and all the little children knew she could tell a story about anything. All the hunters knew she could sing any animal into a snare. But Sobel’s little brother ran up to take her hand. “Don’t go, Sobel,” he said. “Who will tell us stories?”

“Sobel will stay and tell you stories,” said her mother. She hugged her children tight and said to the shamans, “My daughter is only a child. Send someone else.”

But the Salmon shaman shook his head. “She is almost old enough to be married, and she is the one who must go.”

Sobel slipped out of her mother’s arms and stepped forward from the crowd. “I will go,” she said. “I will go to the mountain and share our stories with the mammoths.”

She put on her best clothes and prepared to leave. Her mother gave her a circlet of fine beads to wear on her head, and her father gave her tall boots of rich leather. The Salmon shaman gave her an amulet to tuck into her pocket and the Reindeer shaman chose two Reindeer riders to take her to the mountain.

They traveled for five days, and every day they drew closer to the mountain, which was still spitting smoke and fire. Every day, the fire took a new path from the mouth of the mountain down its blackened slopes. The air was filled with terrible smoke, and powdery ash fell from the sky. When they came to a place where the very trees had been burned away, the reindeer would go no further. The riders helped Sobel dismount. Then they wished her luck and rode away.