63 pages • 2 hours read
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
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Chapters 5-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, illness, death, animal death, rape, physical abuse, and mental illness.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Spirit Talk”
In 1912, Agnes travels through the Ojibwe reservation on snowshoes, determined to visit her Indigenous neighbors. As she walks, she reflects on her physical transformation and senses that her monthly flow has ceased.
Agnes arrives at Nanapush’s cabin to discover both him and a young woman named Fleur Pillager near death from starvation. Her arrival somehow revives them from their weakened state. Fleur prepares a sweat lodge for purification, and together, she and Nanapush discover and kill a porcupine, sharing the life-saving meal with Father Damien.
Seeking to manipulate the priest for his own purposes, Nanapush tells Father Damien a trickster story and then announces that his friend Kashpaw has multiple wives. Knowing that the Catholic Church forbids polygamy, Nanapush manipulates the priest into visiting Kashpaw’s household, promising more food and secretly hoping that Father Damien will interfere and break up the Kashpaw family. (This eventuality would serve Nanapush’s desire to claim one of Kashpaw’s wives for himself.)
Chapter 6 Summary: “The Kashpaw Wives”
Father Damien and Nanapush arrive at Kashpaw’s camp, which consists of both a cabin and a traditional bark lodge. They are greeted by Mashkiigikwe, one of Kashpaw’s wives. She fires a rifle and presents them with a freshly killed deer.
