The Birchbark House

Summer is ending, and Omakayas always has her pet crow, named Andeg, for the Anishinabe word meaning “crow,” with her. Andeg has become a useful member of the family, even chasing off a raccoon that tries to steal food, and he always sleeps near Omakayas.

Deydey spends the fall and winter making trips to traps and bringing furs home. One day, his friends Albert LaPautre and Fishtail arrive. Angeline and Omakayas hide in the bushes to eavesdrop on the men, who begin discussing the problem of white people (chimookomanug) encroaching on their land. LaPautre, known for reading too deeply into his ridiculous dreams, tells the other men about a dream in which he had lice, and the town was planning a dance gathering. Deydey tries to play a joke on LaPautre by suggesting an absurd interpretation, but LaPautre thinks the dream means that he must move his family out west to escape the white people.

The three men agree that they will likely have to move west someday, to Omakayas and Angeline’s dismay. Deydey observes that “[chimookomanug] are like greedy children. Nothing will ever please them for long” (79). They discuss the difficulties they would face in Dakota territory and fall into a pensive silence.