Book Review
Grey Owl. Tales of an Empty Cabin. 1999, Key Porter Books, Toronto, Canada, 296 pp., $14.95 USD.by Brand Frentz
Grey Owl (Wa-Sha-Quon-Asin in Ojibway) was an international sensation in the 1930s, a hunter and trapper who emerged into the public eye from a backwoods subsistence life with the Indians of Northern Ontario. It seemed miraculous that he was an articulate and clever storyteller, and he drew enthusiastic crowds wherever he went. His message was conservation, protecting the wilderness and its inhabitants from the ravages of Progress. People flocked to hear and see him. When he suddenly died at the age of 50 in 1938, his followers and admirers were shocked to learn that Grey Owl was not an Indian. He was Archie Belaney, an Englishman. His remarkable story was made into the recent movie "Grey Owl," starring Pierce Brosnan. The film has revived interest in the man and his life.
In his day Grey Owl was best known for his personal appearances, his dramatic and moving talks to rapt audiences in Canada, England, and the U.S, but today his books are his legacy. He may have lived a lie and deceived millions, and this may have hurt the causes he believed in, but with the sting of the hoax now gone we can read his writings for their own value.
Tales of an Empty Cabin was the last of his four works to be published, in 1936. The book has three parts, beginning with the "tales" proper, a set of carefully crafted short stories that he supposedly told to his beloved Anahareo during their first winter, when he was teaching her (an Iroquois from the city!) the ways of the wilderness and Indian traditions. He includes tales of starvation, storm blindness, colorful characters, and even ghosts, repeatedly drawing small and sometimes large lessons. Grey Owl tends to write in a formal, 19th Century language that is complex, relies on a broad vocabulary, and is usually very effective, even poetic. He also uses local characters to tell some stories; their language is quaint, but sometimes a little artificial.
The second part, titled "Mississauga," is the story of a canoe trip. This will be the paddler’s favorite. The river, called Mississagi today, flows into Lake Huron a little east of Sault St. Marie. The trip begins with a headlong dash through lakes to reach the river headwaters. The four boats make 75 water miles and many portages in 1 1/2 days and the paddlers shout with joy at their speed and strength. The colorful rivermen and their hard-nosed leaders battle and jest on the water and in camp, with practical jokes, campfire tales (within the tale), and mishaps that they laugh their way through. The river builds as they progress, and finally they hear the distant growl, then roar, then thunder of Seven League Rapids. A "league" is three miles, and with wild whoops and some powerful descriptive writing the brigade crashes and splashes its way through 20 miles of hair-raising whitewater. It is a trip worth sharing in print.
The third section of the book is another set of tales, this time focusing on Grey Owl’s close relations with and observations of the forest wildlife, especially the beavers he adopted. They literally built their lodge inside his cabin, with a connecting passage to the rest of the lodge that abutted the outside wall. These stories are filled with interesting facts about and incidents with beavers, moose, bears, and other forest life. They are permeated with Grey Owl’s deep respect for all living things.
