The Boy and the Buffalo

The Boy and the Buffalo
by Kerry Wood

The Boy and the Buffalo is about a First Nations boy named O-Shees. I got this book when my grandparents came to visit and my Nana gave me a pile of books from when she was a child. The one that interested me most was The Boy and the Buffalo. It is a story based on true events when O-Shees became separated from his tribe and lived with the buffalo for a time. I found out O-Shees, also known as Jim O'Chiese, was a real man who later became chief of his band near Rocky Mountain House, Alta.  The author of the book, however, embellished his story a lot to make it more interesting.

My mom and I did an Internet search about what really happened to Jim O'Chiese ( O-Shees ). We were lead to Virtualmuseum.ca where we found copies of notes written by Henry Stelfox, who knew O'Chiese firsthand. Stelfox also recorded O'Chiese own words about his experience.

According to the notes, O-Shees' tribe was trying to evade the Blackfoot tribe at night and he was travelling with them on a travois. He got off the travois and fell asleep under a bush because he was very tired. The tribe travelled on but his parents didn't notice he was missing until it was too late. A few people who were in there tribe came looking for O-Shees, but they did not succeed in finding him.

When O-Shees woke up, he realized he had been left behind. He was very afraid. On the morning of the third day that he was lost, he awoke to see two old buffalo bulls standing a short distance away from him. They did not bother O-Shees in anyway, they just seemed to be curious about him. As they walked away, they occasionally looked back at him as if inviting him to follow them. He was very frightened and lonely, so he followed them at a distance. While they grazed, O-Shees hunted for birds eggs and young birds to eat, which he found lots of.

In the Boy and the buffalo book, O-Shees is adopted by two buffalo cows that lost their calves. O-Shees survives by drinking their milk. I don't think a wild animal would really try to adopt a boy. Our Jersey cow sure would, but I don't think a buffalo cow would. I think they would either charge or run away.

But even though there were many parts that were made up, I enjoyed this book because I had never read a book about the First Nations people and it helped me to learn about them. I also liked this book because it is written well and is not dull. But I didn't like that the northern lights are called the 'Dead Man's Dance' in the story. It's not a very nice name for such a pretty thing.

The book is worth reading and even my younger siblings enjoyed it when my mom read it aloud to them (I had read it first and told them about it). The real story is also very interesting. You can read copies of Stelfox's notes about O'Chiese here:

http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/histoires_de_chez_nous-community_memories/pm_v2.php?id=search_record_detail&fl=0&lg=English&ex=00000290&hs=0&sy=&st=O%27Chiese&ci=&rd=172932#