Story of the Forest Protector

 

I want to share the story of the Forest Protector.  It started with the logging of Poplars in our favourite forest.  The large, profitable logs were taken away but the rest was left behind, in piles, wasted.  One five foot log with a diameter of 30 inches started to get the attention of my partner.  He began to think about carving a face on it.

Using tools he already had and fashioning some new ones, he took the bark off of the log.  Then he drew a face and began to carve with chisels and a wooden mallet that he constructed.  Over a number of days, the face emerged.

Then we had to roll it to a large stump that would work as a pedestal and somehow get it standing upright.  

Once in place, he added wooden ears, complete with earrings of shell and pinecone.  One eyeball was a piece of rounded sodalite shared by a friend.  The other was a black stone that we found in the nearby river.  The eyes brought the Forest Protector to life as it surveyed the forest beyond.

Other sea shells and cones adorned the face as well.  Then he added pine and cedar bows into holes drilled into the hat which was made from a stump and a slice of a big log.  Two pine bows adorned the top of the hat, hanging at a jaunty angle.  Two feathers were attached with red string.  They spun and danced in the breeze.

On the opposite side of the trail we placed a stump that was attached to a tall piece of bark.  I wrote “Listening Spot” on the stump and attached two more feathers, one crow and one swan, just like those on the hat. 

What are we listening to?  The forest, the Forest Protector, the silence, our inner voices?  Sitting before the statue and being invited to listen, who knows what may happen?