Cape Breton's Magazine

But they were out. Nobody was bothering with stories, when it came in--radio, and so much attraction with hockey, hockey nights, and other programs on the radios, and nobody seemed to bother much about it. (Would people come to your home expecting to hear stories?) Well, they were hearing so many of them. Well, the great trouble was that I didn't have enough of those sto? ries. I used to read stories myself. I used to read them. When I'd have the loan of a book from somebody, and I'd read. There'd be a couple, two or three stories in it, and I'd read those stories for people when they came to visit. (Oh, you'd read to them from the book.) Yes. (In Gaelic.) Oh,.of course. They were written in Gaelic, and I'd read them. (And there couldn't be that many people in your neighbourhood who could read Gaelic.) Oh no, no. There was nobody around. Perhaps at the time there'd be only two of us in the district that could read Gaelic. Maybe the next person that could read Gaelic was six or seven miles away. But then when I got out of the habit, when radios and everything came in, I got out of the habit of telling the stories, and like I said, there was no need of telling the stories--they'd heard them.... (We've talked so much about stories that you DIDN'T bring back. But you have brought back so many, Joe.) Well now, it's funny. I mean, books. Naturally, the sto? ries that were told here years ago, they were collected here and there, and they were similar stories. They came through books. And of course, when I heard some of those stories, I'd know them when I'd see them in a book--that was a story that I had lost, that I had--I heard that, I knew that story once, I heard it often enough, I knew it. And then, it came back, as to what had to be done. (What was missing from what you remembered.) Yes. Well, then--when I was reading part that I had forgot about altogether. When I'd read, and come up to this part of it: Yes, that man, I remember now, he had that part in it, he had that in it. And I'd keep go? ing till I'd come to another part in it; Yes, this is the way. And I'd find that that was the story that the man had told years ago. "The Golden Bird" was one of those. The fox was mentioned in that one, of course. That's one of the stories with a fox in it. And you'd go through, and go down in a story, and find--well, it has to be the same story because it has the same parts in it, the same thing took place, a man doing this and that and the other. So that had to be the story. Well, it all came back then. That was it. (Were there also stories that you heard Three Great Releases from UCCB Press Loon Rock by Maxine Trottier, Illustrated by Dozay (Arlene Christmas) Pkwimu Wkuntem Mi'kmaq translation by Helen Sylliboy of Eskasoni Loon Rock is the second children's book published by UCCB Press, with Ontario author Maxine Trottier. Loon Rock is a lovely, dreamy story told in both English and Mi'kmaq • native language of Canada's First Nations people • of the rites of passage. The Voyage of Wood Duck by Maxine Trottier, Illustrated by Patsy MacAulay-MacKinnon Ta'n Teli Kaqasimiliala'sis Malsikws Mi'kmaq translation by Helen Sylliboy of Eskasoni Award winner of the Federation of Women Teachers Association of Ontario Writers Award. "Some people say that dreams are foolish. Some people say that you can search your whole life long and never find what it is you are looking for. But long ago when dreams were more real than they are today; there was a young hoy who lived by th-e sea. He was called Wood Duck." Written in both (side by side) English and Mi'kmaq. 'iMifi The Centre of the World at the Edge of a Continent Edited by Carol Corbin, PhD and Judith Rolls, PhD Cape Breton Island is celebrated worldwide as being singularly rich and diverse in popular culture and lifestyle. The essays in this book go significantly beyond the pictorial image of spectacular geography, fiddles and fish, to focus on the pastimes, arts, community and self-identity of Cape Breton • literally the "Centre of the World." Distributed by Goose Lane Editions. Carol Corbin, PhD, is an Assistant Professor • teaching communication and media studies at the University College of Cape Breton (UCCB), and Judith Rolls, PhD, is Associate Professor • teaching communication and gender studies, also at UCCB. For more informadon on Wood Duck, Loon Rock, The Centre of the World at the Edge of a Continent and other UCCB Press publications, phone (902) 563-1604. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF CAPE BRETON UCCB Press 58