Free Wabi by Joseph Bruchac Page B

carry my weight. In no time at all, even faster than I could have hopped as an owl, I reached that hollow and looked inside. My new eyes did not seem to be as good at penetrating the darkness, but there was something in there. I lifted my arms and reached in. My hands proved as good at grasping as my feet had been when I was an owl. I pulled out a long bundle wrapped in deerskin and tied tightly with rawhide.
    I put it down on the ground and knelt. And that was extremely weird. Instead of bending backward as legs are supposed to do, my human legs bent forward. I stood and knelt several more times, getting used to the feeling. Then I turned to the bundle again. Those new fingers of mine seemed clever enough to know what to do on their own. Without my telling them, they loosened the rawhide string and unwrapped the bundle.
    By now, Malsumsis had returned, a grin on his face and the stick in his mouth. But he dropped it when he saw what I was doing and trotted up to look over my shoulder.
    â€œHoo-hoo-hoooo,” I said in pleasure as my wolf friend and I looked down at what I had revealed.
    There were all the clothes a human man would wear, from the fringed shirt and breechcloth down to moccasins that were, I was pleased to see, decorated with porcupine quill patterns much like those on Dojihla’s dress.
    It was a bit awkward, but with Great-grandmother’s hooted instructions to help me, I got the clothing on. Malsumsis was no help at all. He kept picking up pieces of clothing, running about with them, dropping them, and then waiting for me to come get them. He grabbed one of the moccasins in his mouth, dancing close and then leaping away. There was nothing I could do but chase after him to get it back. I dove at him, grabbed him with my new arms. The two of us went rolling around on the ground, just as I had seen human children do with their puppies.
    I enjoyed it, but this was no time for play. I had things to do. I pried the moccasin out of his jaws, stood and brushed leaves and dirt from my new clothing. Malsumsis crouched down again, lowering his head to the ground in anticipation of another round of wrestling. I was tempted. I had never been able to do this when I was an owl, and it was such fun. But I shook my head and raised one arm to point at the forest.
    â€œNo, my friend,” I said in a firm voice. “We will play later. Now go and leave me alone for a while.”
    Without a whimper of complaint, Malsumsis turned and trotted off into the woods.
    I put on the last of the clothing and secured it with its rawhide strings. I held out my arms to show off my clothing, turned around twice, and then looked up at Great-grandmother.
    She nodded. “Good, Wabi,” she said.
    But there was a far-off look in her eyes as she spoke that made me step closer to her.
    â€œWhose clothes were these?” I asked.
    Great-grandmother did not answer. She turned her head away from me and looked toward the place where I had landed in the middle of the circle of stones. I followed her gaze. To my surprise, the human-shaped mound had sunk down and was now a depression in the earth. Right where I had been. That was why I had such a hard time sitting up. I’d been half buried in the earth. No, that wasn’t exactly it. I’d felt for a moment as if I was part of that earth, and I’d been right. Had I absorbed that whole mound of earth when my body changed shape? I felt my legs and arms with my hands. I felt like flesh, not earth, but it made sense to me. How else could I have become so large? After all, even the biggest owl is much, much smaller and lighter than a human being.
    I looked back at my great-grandmother. It was not easy to do. My neck was so stiff! I could just barely turn it from side to side, rather than being able to turn it way around as an owl can.
    â€œWabi,” Great-grandmother said, “do not try so hard to turn your neck. Human necks are stiffer than an owl’s. But your