An Athabasca Story By Warren Cariou

“An Athabasca Story,” by Warren Cariou, uses allegory to describe how Indigenous communities have been drawn into the natural resources industry. Cariou begins by describing Elder Brother’s hunger and loneliness. As the story states, “[h]is stomach was like the shrunken dried crop of a partridge,” (Cariou 1). He is starved, cold, alone, and unable to find his way. This seems to represent how, through colonialism, Indigenous communities have been under resourced and isolated from one another. Thus, when Elder Brother discovers he can get warmth from the dirt, he is already in a state of desperation, and it is this desperation that leads him to steal a tiny portion of the dirt. As he does this, the earth begins to cry; however, he ignores it