Interview · South Dakota · Pearl Kennedy-Colombe · OSEU 5
Themes: Kinship & family, Storytelling & oral tradition, Education & learning
New transcript-based questions created with AI assistance using Scott Simpson’s Learn About and Learn From guide.
Learn About questions
1. Why does the girl in Pearl Kennedy-Colombe's story leave the school?
2. What agreement does she make with the wolf who helps her?
3. What happens when she forgets, and how does her family help her keep the commitment afterward?
Learn From questions
1. How do I remember a commitment made in gratitude for help?
2. What would repairing a forgotten responsibility require from me?
3. How might this story invite me to think about reciprocity with beings beyond humans?
Transcripts
The Story of the Girl and the Wolf - Pearl Kennedy-Colombe - OSEU #5
Watch this interview on YouTubeAnother story they tell, it happened over across the river. This girl was going to school at Stephane and she was sickly. She had TB and she ran away. She didn't like it, the nuns were kind of mean to her because of her being sickly, you know. So she ran away. And at that time, there were still a few wolves around. And she made it into that creek by the river, she made it there. And it was getting dark and it was like an autumn time of the year, cold. And she was really feeling bad and here this wolf came up.
And he told her, and they talk native, you know, Dakota. And he told her, I'll help you. If I help you, what would you do for me? So she told him, I'll bring you meat every day. I'll bring you something to eat. And leave it, you know, a certain place. And here, that went on for, you know, about a year. And here, she was still getting, you know, sick. So here one day she forgot. And that night when she went to bed, somebody was pulling on her covers and she woke up and here that was that wolf. He said, you forgot me today.
So she went and told him she was sorry and she said that's not going to happen again, you know. So every day, you know, her family, they made sure, she told him, you know, that I need to feed him because he helped me. But it never happened again. She made sure it never happened again.
Source materials
Supplied transcript document. Text preserved as supplied; spellings and transcription uncertainties have not been corrected.
Additional source transcripts
The Story of the Girl and the Wolf
The Story of the Girl and the Wolf - Pearl
Kennedy-Colombe - OSEU #5
Another story they tell, it happened over across the river. This girl was going to school at
Stephane and she was sickly. She had TB and she ran away. She didn't like it, the nuns
were kind of mean to her because of her being sickly, you know. So she ran away. And
at that time, there were still a few wolves around. And she made it into that creek by the
river, she made it there. And it was getting dark and it was like an autumn time of the
year, cold. And she was really feeling bad and here this wolf came up.
And he told her, and they talk native, you know, Dakota. And he told her, I'll help you. If I
help you, what would you do for me? So she told him, I'll bring you meat every day. I'll
bring you something to eat. And leave it, you know, a certain place. And here, that went
on for, you know, about a year. And here, she was still getting, you know, sick. So here
one day she forgot. And that night when she went to bed, somebody was pulling on her
covers and she woke up and here that was that wolf. He said, you forgot me today.
So she went and told him she was sorry and she said that's not going to happen again,
you know. So every day, you know, her family, they made sure, she told him, you know,
that I need to feed him because he helped me. But it never happened again. She made
sure it never happened again.