I have been thinking about you while I was left out in the snow to die. Oh how time flies, your children have all grown up and fill with energy. I can see I am old; old and useless. Son, I never blamed you for this, because this once happened to my mother.

I still remember everything that night. We gathered out kettles and birch-bark, rabbit skin and mink traps, then launched out canoes and left her on the island...forever. I know now how she felt, because I am also a mother. You will always be my young chieftain, my baby. It was my responsibility for me to teach you all I know. But now your knowledge is greater than mine, and I can no longer teach you.

Whenever I think of you, my memories lead me back to one winter, when we...