Description
Yamozha and His Beaver Wife (Yamoózha Eyits'o Wets'ékeé Tsá) published by Theytus in cooperation with the Yellowknife Catholic Schools offers young readers an opportunity to hear and see a retelling of a traditional Dogrib legend in English and the Weledeh dialect of Dogrib. The original telling by Vital Thomas is recorded here in book and CD formats that tell a story about the geographical landmarks of the Dene People. The story about long ago characters such as Yamozha (Walks Around the World) and his brother Sazea (Little Brother) are used to remind us of the rules of behavior, provide a geography lesson, and teach us that we must always keep our promises. Yamozha often played trickster-like behavior on others and these result in lessons for the people. This being lived in the bush area of the Mackenzie River and one day he as he walked around the land he found a young woman who was alone in the world. Yamozha asked the young woman to marry him and she agreed on the condition that he promise to help her to keep her feet dry and never lead her to over creeks or wet land. He promised but one day Yamozha forgot his promise and his wife turned into her true nature and became a beaver. This miraculous event led to Yamozha searching for her and in the process creating the landmarks familiar to the people of the Mackenzie River region. The picture book contains the remarkable colour illustrations of Archie Beaulieu and the text has been translated by Mary Siemes. The accompanying CD-ROM contains a reading in English and one in Dogrib, as well as the audio and visual view of the book. Dogrib narration is provided by Francis Zoe and the English narration is provided by Dianne Lafferty. The CD is compatible on PCs, MACs, and CD players. This book is selected as a recommended title in the 2009 First Nations Libraries Community Reads program.