To the Bright Edge of the World

by Eowyn Ivey

I have many other questions. Since we came to the Wolverine River, we have seen women who behave like geese. There is the baby we found in the woods. Can he explain these occurrences? —He doesn’t understand. You saw them, not him. How can he tell you again what your eyes already told you? —We are not accustomed to believing in mountain spirits or men who can fly. —He says he hears from the Indians downriver that your people catch light on paper so that you can see something that happened a long time ago or far away. You have boats that shoot fire, wooden boxes that sing. —Yes, that is all true. —He says he was a small boy when he first went over the mountains. He met the Wolverine People. He was frightened because he had heard many stories. Some of them were true. Some were not. That is always how it is with strangers.