Simple But Mighty

When the Legends Die by Hal Borland

             
           When I first started When the Legends Die I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.  Going from the intricate stories of The Tale of Two Cities and The Secret Agent, it was nice to sit down and read a steadily paced American author who I could fully understand.  This, of course, is not the only I reason I have come to greatly appreciate this book.  Hal Borland’s expert use of time, speeding it up and just as soon slowing it down, bring in the reader and are a major part of this book.  

            When the Legends Die is a book about Native American culture, but embraces themes and ideals about life that can be used anywhere.  The story begins with the early life of Thomas Black Bull. His father, mother, and he were forced to flee their village after his father murdered another man for stealing.  They leave town and begin to live in the ways their ancestors once lived.  Thomas is very young, about six years old when the first leave, and must learn the old ways of life now that they have separated themselves from society.  As he grows up, he learns things that have not been taught for years.  He father teaches him to hunt with traps and a bow and his mother teaches him the songs of their people and how to weave baskets by hand.  Two short years after leaving town his father dies in an avalanche and a year later his mother dies from sickness. Thomas is left alone in the world, but with him he has his knowledge.  He makes friends with animals animals, talking to them, and lives a peaceful life with them in the wilderness.  Borland’s descriptions are usually very simple but I find so appealing, as he narrates, “He told the bear cub to come with him, and it came.  That is how the boy and the bear cub became brothers and friends.  That is how it happened.  After that the boy was not alone.”  With nature and its creatures Tom finds other souls to live his life with. 

            Hal Borland reaches deep down into American culture and values.  This is constantly displayed in his tone throughout the book, even as Tom’s mom is describing the type of lodge she wants to build, “I do not want a house.  I want a lodge that is round like the day and the sun and that path of the stars.  I want a lodge that is like the good things that have no end.”  Borland shows that what Tom has learned in the wilderness is far more important than anything he will read out of a book, but his values are tested in many events.  After Thomas agrees to enroll in school following the death of his parents his life begins to change.  In school the teachers try and replace his knowledge with what they think is right in the eyes of the current day.  The teachers also chain his pet bear to a post, keeping him there and away from Tom.  To me, this symbolizes Tom's start in the new-world of man.  His values are repressed as his closest freind is taken away and chained down.  Like his bear, Tom's freedom is also chained down. 

           Many things happen in Tom's life, but later in the book he eventually goes back to the town his parents first moved from.  He is given a job as a shepherd and begins again to live within nature and amongst animals.  One day a bear comes and kills one of the sheep.  Tom tracks the bear down and confronts it.  With gun in hand he takes aim at the bear but never shoots, letting the bear live.  In this scene i feel that Tom regains his freedom.  After a long life in an empty world he has turned back to what he once knew so well.  Tom rediscovers his values and turns again to a solitary life in the wilderness.  

            I wish I could write more but that would take far too much time.  The beauty of this book can not merely be captured in a summary of its events and my personal take on them.  This book reaches into your soul as Tom reaches into his own and rediscovers himself after a life of turning away from his cultural values.  I don’t think I will go as far to say that Tom’s journey and transformation made me rediscover myself, but it did make me acknowledge the importance of beauty in the world and that my values are far too important to forfeit for any type of gains.  As Blue Elk says, “It is good for people to change, but it is not good for them to forget.”

                        All quotes taken from Hal Borland’s  When the Legends Die