Tracks

Nanapush finds Lulu at his door, nearly frozen to death. Margaret takes care of Lulu, then rushes to help Fleur. Nanapush chastises his granddaughter, in the present day (the moment in which he is telling her the story), for wearing high heels and thin stockings, saying that if she remembered the pain of her frozen feet once delivered from the vain patent leather shoes, she would never wear such things again. Nanapush chants over Lulu all night, holding her frozen feet in his armpits.

Father Damien brings a doctor from town who announces that he must amputate Lulu’s feet to save her life. Nanapush absolutely refuses. Though he does not know whether he can save her feet, he knows Lulu’s character: “You were no quiet child, no pensive thing who could survive without running. You were a butterfly, a flash of wit and fire, a blur of movement who could not keep still” (168). He judges rightly that he knows the best way to treat Lulu. Once Lulu is out of danger, Fleur is desperate to see her daughter. Nanapush packs all of his things and sleds Lulu back to her mother. He intends to live with Margaret, Fleur, Eli, and Lulu at Matchimanito.