#10 I Heard the Owl Call My Name

by Margaret Craven

It took me a little longer to get into this book than some others. It is a slower moving book, but this story wouldn't work at a faster pace. The reader learns about the traditions and lives of a remote tribe of indians, the Kwakiutl, through the eyes of a terminally ill vicar who is sent to serve amoung them. The vicar doesn't know he is terminally ill, but the bishop does. The bishop sends the vicar to this assignment knowing that he will learn the most in the short time he has left. He learns of lonliness, sadness, and the tribe's traditions by living with the indians. He is accepted by them as family. He also learns of death. In the tribe it is an accepted part of life. They are sad when they lose someone they love, but they accept it as part of the cycle of life. One of their beliefs is that the owl will call your name when your time is close. There is a lot of meaningful quotes in this book, but one stood out the most.

A girl named Keetah has just returned from the white man's world. She went to school for a short time in that world, but returned because it wasn't the world she knew. The boy she was bethroved to, Gordon, also was going to school in that world. He was changed by this experience, and she knew that he would stay there and not return to the village. Of this she says, "I have lost my sister to death. I have lost Gordon to life, and this is harder."