While recently following a comment thread on a friend’s blog, I found mentioned an aboriginal title: Mouse Woman and the Mischief Makers. Curious about who this Mouse Woman was, I went to the library. Mouse Woman and the Mischief Makers by the late Christie Harris (with drawings by Douglas Tait) is a collection of stories about a tiny but rather inspiring narnauk, or spirit being, of the Haida Gwaii people. The collection, first published in 1977 by Christie Harris, was out of print for many years, but has recently been re-issued by Raincoast Books.
Mouse Woman is a diminutive, grandmotherly figure whose business it is to see that there is order in the world. She is particularly helpful to young people. Elusive and self-effacing as the creature she is named after, she is nontheless a powerful being whose ‘wily interventions’ help restore order in the world she lives in. When things are out of balance, as in a couple over-hunting porcupines or a grieving husband talking to a dead wife, Mouse Woman intervenes to correct the situation and restore harmony. All that Mouse Woman asks for in return is something her ‘ravelly fingers’ can work like mountain goat wool.
Mouse Woman is a feminine archetype. She is unusual and atypical; you couldn’t quite call her a fairy godmother, for instance. Ever elusive, however, she has not achieved the kind of fame other figures such as the totemic Raven or Bear have received. That is probably just as well for her, but I’m happy to have discovered her through the efforts of Christie Harris who brought this curious little figure out into the light through her extensive research into the lore of the Haida Gwaii people. Mouse Woman and the Mischief Makers is definitely a worthwhile read.