Mi'kmaq Autumn

L'Invisible / The Invisible One - text by M. Diaz, illustrations by B. Pilorget

Voici mon nouveau bébé à venir ce mois-ci : l'histoire de la Brûlée et l'Invisible, que j'ai adaptée de la tradition orale du peuple Mi'kmaq (côte Est du Canada, Nova Scotia, Terre-Neuve), superbement illustrée sous les pinceaux fauves de l'ami Bruno Pilorget, peintre-illustrateur et carnettiste morbihannais - merci l'artiste !

Dans l'atelier de Bruno Pilorget

Bruno Pilorget, the illustrator, another Breton artist, is fond of travelling and meeting other people, cultures and landscapes from around the globe; he has worked on many youth litterature albums and novels, turning stories into powerful ink sketchings and vibrating paintings.

Le Rêve de la Brûlée - Burnt Skin Girl's Dream - B. Pilorget

The Mi'kmaq tale of the 'Invisible One' (also found under the titles 'Oochigeaskw', Mi'kmaq Cinderella', etc.) was first told in 1848 by Mrs. Susan Barrs, a Mi'kmaw speaker, to Reverend Silas T. Rand, on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Rand was a Baptist missionary, collector and translator of stories, who published the first Mi'kmaw/English dictionary in 1888. 
This particular story caught my eye and heart while chasing another Mi'kmaq tale... which I still haven't found so far - As usual, stories have their own stubborn ways and proper timing to enter our lives! 
My retelling slightly differs from Rand in a few sequences. 
It is meant as a tribute to Mi'kmaq culture and Native American people, whose stories have endured, however hard the times they've been through, to feed our ears and souls of today. 
May this one go back to L'Nuk, the People, so it can feed new generations.

L'Invisible - Fin - B. Pilorget

I would like to acknowledge the helping hand and advice from two Fairy-Godmothers to this story : * Mrs. Fiona Mac Leod, a renowned storyteller and 'story-wisewoman', who first helped me tell this tale on a wild Brittany cliff facing the western ocean, straight across from Mi'kmaqi;
* Dr. Ruth Whitehead, anthropologist, a very generous authority on Mi'kmaq people's culture, history and cosmogony, who accepted to read my text and helped me correct some cultural misunderstandings and mistakes. 

* My grateful thoughts to them both *

M. Diaz

L'Invisible illustration page titre - B. Pilorget