The Marrow Thieves

Miig offers some explanation of why the Recruiters are hunting Natives for their bone marrow. The whites are after Natives’ dreams—“Your DNA weaves them into the marrow like spinners” (19). Frenchie describes each of the members of Miig’s group: the Elder Minerva, Chi-Boy, twins Tree and Zheegwon, Slopper, Wab, and the youngest, RiRi. Miig announces, “It’s time for Story” (22), which means that the youngest—Slopper and RiRi—must leave for their tents so as not to hear Story yet.

Miig tells the story of Natives in Canada, briefly describing the arrival of whites to Canada and the early subjugation of Natives. Miig notes that the Natives survived: “We returned to our home places and rebuilt, relearned, regrouped. We picked up and carried on” (24). Next, Miig describes “the wars for the water” (24), where whites specifically target Native lands for having the cleanest water. Miig continues, describing how climate change altered the world and affected humanity: “Half the population was lost in the disaster and from the disease that spread from too many corpses and not enough graves.