Omakayas walking along a path in the woods, carrying scissors and a lump of maple sugarOmakayas (oh MAHK ay ahs) is returninghome from an errand. She carries scissorsfor her mother and a lump of sweet maplecandy for herself. Both the scissors andthe candy are rare and valued items in herOjibwe village in 1847. She is not eagerto return home to the chore of tanning amoose hide and to her older sister, Angeline,who made fun of her earlier in the day. Herfeelings are hurt, and she wants nothing butto be respected by Angeline.Before she went back on the trail,Omakayas rinsed off the old candy lump in thelake. It came out beautifully, creamy-golden,translucent and grainy-dark. And sweet. Shestarted walking, her treasure now wrappedin a leaf. As she walked, Omakayas thought.There was no way to share such a toughnut of sweetness. How would she divide it?Omakayas decided she did not want to causetrouble at home. Furthermore, it suddenlymade sense to her that at least one personin the family should get the full effect of themaple sugar. She would pop the whole thinginto her mouth. All at once! This would saveproblems. Aaaaah. The lump was delicious,tasting of spring sweetness and the inside oftrees. Besides, Omakayas reasoned, as shewalked contentedly along, the taste of thesugar would save her from eating everyone of the berries she was sure shewould find on the path.670671Omakayas’s feet moved slower and even slower yet. For onething, the moose hide waited. For another, she was still angry with herolder sister, and didn’t want to see Angeline. She could still feel thatsister foot pressing hateful on her back. If only there were some wayto impress Angeline, cause her envy, make her say, “Can I have someof those berries, please, please, please?” You can be sure, Omakayasthought, her face taking on a faraway, haughty expression, she wouldbe slow in answering! Yet the worst of it was this: her sister wasusually on her side, helping her plan tricks on the other children inthe village or gathering new ferns or snaring rabbits, visiting the gravehouses looking for sugar or food left for the spirits, tossing off herclothes to swim with her. And to have her older sister laugh at herhurt Omakayas so much inside that she both wanted Angeline to smilein surprise, to be proud, to envy her, and to feel rotten and be sorryforever. So Omakayas took the slow way back looking for odaemin(oh DAY mihn), little red heartberries, in the sunny margins of thewoods near the ground.