The Story of Grey Owl Colin Ross Once upon a time there was a pervert called Grey Owl, who lived in the Canadian woods. He is famous because he came to Canada and learned how to imitate the Indians he wore a disguise and grew his hair long. The white people in Canada know so little about Indians, and about their own woods, that Grey Owl fooled them all for a long time. But even after they found out that the famous Indian was really only Archie Belaney from England, even then they still respected him. Canadians have so few heroes that they decided to have Archie Belaney for a hero they said to themselves, Old Archie sure fooled us, didn t he? What a great man he was, to be able to fool us all, and live like an Indian. Archie was only like an Indian on the outside though. That s why the Canadians liked him, and made him a hero. They wanted to have a hero who played little boy s games in the woods, and made friends with animals just like in a story book. Canadians don t like Indians, on the outside or on the inside. That s why they like Archie so well, and still do they know that he s just a pleasant Englishman on the inside, just like them. When they know that, then they can love his Indian clothes and his Indian canoe, and even think that maybe his Indian life is very beautiful. When it s only harmless old Archie Belaney inside that Indian costume, then the Canadian ladies have nothing to be afraid of. Why there s an Indian who would just love to talk to them, and tell them about his friendly animal pets in the woods. The Canadian ladies may live in Canada, but they don t like Canada they don t like the cold, they don t like the bears, they don t like the lonely prairies, they don t like the forest. They re afraid of all those things and places. They don t have to be afraid of Archie Belaney he writes nice books for them, that sound just like Henry Williamson, and other nice Englishmen who love nature. Archie Belaney had a very big heart, not like Indians if the Canadian ladies ever tried to talk to an Indian, that Indian s heart wouldn t like them. They wouldn t like the Indian either. All the Canadians are very grateful to Archie Belaney. His books are such a relief for them. When they read his books then they re not afraid of nature anymore Archie makes them feel that nature is tame and friendly and safe. The only difference between Archie s life in the woods and 1 2 3 4 The Story of Grey Owl by Colin Ross. From THE STORY OF GREY OWL published in The Compass, 5(1979): 79 83. Copyright Colin Ross. Reprinted with permission of the author.
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Mrs. Smith s life in the city is that Archie has beavers for pets. Mrs. Smith, and her neighbour Mrs. MacKenzie, both keep budgies. The Canadian ladies are very grateful to Archie for keeping beavers for pets. Beavers seem like the best symbol Canada could have, when you think of Archie Belaney s friendly pets. All those Indians care about is killing the poor beavers, and selling their skins. Yes sir, those Indians are awful, says Mrs. MacKenzie. Why if they came to our city they d probably eat my budgies. Those poor friendly beavers and rabbits that live in our beautiful forests, the Indians hunt and kill them. And Indians never write lovely books like Grey Owl does. Isn t it a shame that they never learned how to write! Quite a shame, says one of the ladies. Yes, says Mrs. Smith. You know, we should form a club to help those poor Indians. They have no books and no shoes, and all they ever eat is rabbits and wild things. We should help them. It s a shame. They re people too you know, just like us. Let s gather up some money and give it to the Indians to buy food and clothes. It would be such a good thing to do. Very good, says another one of the ladies. The bridge party was at Mrs. MacKenzie s house that day. Mr. MacKenzie wasn t feeling well so he was at home. Mr. MacKenzie is a fireman. Mr. MacKenzie was serving the ladies tea and cakes he had gotten up too early to bake them. Mr. MacKenzie is very proud of being a Canadian man. He s very tough. He fights fires in the city, and in the fall he takes his holidays and goes hunting just like an Indian. Just like Grey Owl. Mr. MacKenzie spoke up and said, The Indians were good people. They only killed the friendly animals in the woods because they needed them for food and clothes. They couldn t let their children go hungry. The Indians were good people, and very good hunters. They just weren t very smart, that s all they weren t quite as high up as we are in the family tree of man. Mr. MacKenzie was talking to his wife, explaining about Indians to her. All the other ladies were listening. As a matter of fact, continued Mr. MacKenzie, we re at the top. Yes, ladies, it s true. Now if the Indians had been able to build cars and houses like us, then I m sure they wouldn t have killed so many of the poor animals in nature. They would have loved them just like you love your budgies. The ladies knew Mr. MacKenzie was a very good fireman, and they listened to what he said with a great deal of respect. Mrs. MacKenzie knew her husband went hunting in the fall though. She didn t like the poor dead wild animals he brought back, and she wondered how he could ever bring
himself to pull the trigger. But Mr. Mackenzie is so tough and strong that he still has hunting instincts just like a real Indian. Just like Grey Owl. You can t expect him to stop hunting just because of the Canadian ladies. After all Mr. MacKenzie loves nature in his own way, and who is Mrs. MacKenzie to say his way is wrong? The Canadian ladies are very grateful to Archie Belaney. They had some bad feelings about nature, and about Indians, but after they read his books they felt all right. The bad feelings went away. After the Canadian ladies read Archie s books they felt that the woods and the Indians were safe and friendly after all. And Archie Belaney was so concerned about his animal friends he went all the way to England, just to talk about them. Wasn t that a great thing for Canada! Mr. MacKenzie doesn t have much time for books. But his wife and the other ladies have said such nice things about Grey Owl that he admires Grey Owl too. Mr. MacKenzie would never call Grey Owl just old Archie Belaney. If he did that then his wife s bad feelings about Indians might come back. That wouldn t be nice. Mr. MacKenzie and his friends were so grateful to Archie for making the bad feelings go away that they got together. They made Archie into a hero, and promised never to call him anything but Grey Owl. If they called him just old Archie Belaney, then he might seem like just another Englishman. Yes, it was a good day for Canada when Archie Belaney came over here and started pretending to be an Indian. There was quite a mystery to his life you know, not like the Indians, who just sneak around in the woods in a bad mood killing things. Let me show you what a nice guy Archie was here s some of his writing. This is from his wonderful book which he called Tales from an Empty Cabin: 13 14 15 16 There was a wood-chuck, a special chum of mine, who year after year made her home under the upper cabin, where she had every Spring a brood of wood-chucklets, or whatever they are called. She was an amiable old lady, who used often to watch me at my work and allowed me a number of privileges, including the rare one of handling her young ones. But if a stranger came, she would spread herself out so as to quite fill the entrance to her domicile, to keep the youngsters in, and when the stranger left she would emit a shrill whistling sound at his retreating back, very sure that she had frightened him away. She too has gone, her time fulfilled, and another has taken over her old home; a well-built, very trim young
matron who stands up straight and very soldierly before her doorway and tries to look in windows. 17 18 19 20 21 Old Archie sure was a tame Indian wasn t he. Isn t Mrs. Smith grateful for that? When Archie Belaney left his three aunts in England and came over to Canada Mrs. Smith really felt good. She loved nature then. Good! she thought to herself. Mr. Smith and Mr. MacKenzie were so grateful they gave Archie a place to live in a special park, and paid him for the rest of his life to keep on playing games with animals. They never paid any real Indians. When Archie writes a book, he writes just like an Englishman. That s the nicest way. He makes the woodchucks sound just like the ladies who read his books. Archie Belaney dressed up like an Indian and pretended to be one himself. The Canadian ladies loved him for that. But inside Archie was all the time an Englishman who called the woodchucks his chums. Archie had lots of friends. Some had feathers. Some had fur. Some wore hats to church. They were all one big happy family, Archie and Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Smith, and Mr. MacKenzie, and his wife, and Mrs. Woodchuck, and her woodchucklets. Archie sure had a nice time in nature. Wouldn t it be beautiful to live like an Indian too? Indians are really very lovable people. If Mr. MacKenzie was an Indian he would be able to say wonderful things about nature too. Just like Archie and Geronimo. Archie Belaney was brought up by his three aunts in England. This was bad for little Archie there were too many ladies around all the time. So when Archie got the chance he decided he d really show his aunts he didn t need them. He d go over to Canada and be a wild Indian, and no aunties would tell him what to do. Archie Belaney was one guy who sure was tough. He didn t need a bunch of aunties to take care of him. He was a wild Indian who lived by himself in nature and showed everybody. After he showed them real good, he came back to England. Yes, Archie came back to England as an Indian, and gave speeches and went to dinners. He even went to dinner with that white man the King, and he sure didn t show him any respect. How could you expect a wild Indian to stand up when the King walked in the room? Boy, Archie really showed his aunts that time, when he went back to England. Even when Archie was a little boy in England he used to play at being an Indian. But he couldn t play Indians in England and still live with his aunts when he was thirty or forty. Everyone would laugh at him. Archie was smart. He went over to Canada and played at being an Indian over there. No one laughed at him in Canada; in fact he fooled them all and
played the game for the rest of his life. Trouble was, he wasn t really an Indian on the inside. Inside Archie Belaney was an Englishman who got lonely for his aunts. What do you think he did? Well, he made friends with all the animals, then he never got lonely again, not for the rest of his life. When he wrote about his animal friends, in his books, he used words like domicile, chum, youngsters, matron, and maybe even auntie. The Canadian ladies are very grateful. They were worried about living in this country. But Archie helped them. He wrote books, and in his books he showed the Canadian ladies that all the wild animals are really just as warm and friendly as an aunt or a grandma. Wasn t that wonderful! Mr. MacKenzie and Mrs. Smith were grateful too. All the Canadian people loved Archie Belaney for doing this great thing, and promised never to call him anything but Grey Owl. And that s just what they did. Notes and Definitions The word pervert catches the reader s eye. Today, the word has a strong sexual connotation. Ross uses pervert as meaning a person who has changed or turned from his/her proper nature. In this case, the Englishman Archie Belaney has altered from white man to Native. (para. 1) Geronimo (1829 1909): a legendary Apache who fought against the U.S. Cavalry. (para. 19) Structure and Technique This article is a satire. Ross is belittling both Grey Owl and the Canadians who believed in him. Note the mocking tone, the repetition, and the simplistic sentence structure. It sounds like a children s story, especially with the fairy-tale opening Once upon a time. This opening brings a sense of unreality (which is undercut and contradicted by the real-life Archie Belaney). It permits Ross to use simplistic language and a sarcastic tone at the same time. It also lets Ross blend fact and fiction. The fiction resides in the composite characters the MacKenzies and Smiths, who represent a major portion of white Canadians of the time. 22
Topics for Discussion and Writing 1. Discuss the opening sentence. How does it set the tone of the article? 2. Discuss how Ross shows his opinions of both Belaney and the white Canadians. Explain the techniques he uses to show his point of view. 3. Ross mocks the attitudes of 1930s white Canadians. Have attitudes changed since then? 4. Why doesn t Ross admire Archie Belaney/Grey Owl? 5. What do you think Ross s ethnic background is? Why do you think so? 6. Do you think Ross s point about Canadians thinking of animals as pets is valid?