National Adult Literacy Database

December 25, 2000

This week, we are launching 7 stories written by students from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. These students are enrolled at SIAST-Kelsey Campus, at the Literacy Centre. As a special event you can read their stories as well as hear them.

The family unit is the key to the success of any family literacy program. It is through the family that the seeds of literacy grow. The role of the parent as a model cannot be under-estimated. It is through modeling that the child establishes lifetime patterns. When parents read to their children, reading becomes a positive. Not only are the parents showing the child that reading can be an enjoyable thing, but the experience allows the parent to develop his or her own skills. The promotion and encouragement of family literacy is one of the mandates of the SIAST Kelsey Campus Literacy Program. In our efforts to achieve and validate this the students from the literacy class have created children's storybooks. The students receive a copy of the book that is theirs to take home. The books are to be shared with their own family and extended family units in the spirit of family literacy. These are some selected stories from the two children's book Unicorns and Dragon Tales.

I'm Mary Gordon. I came back to school because I wanted to get more education, so that I could have a better job. For years I have been struggling to raise my children. Now that my children are grown up I'm alone. I have had different jobs but I was not satisfied with them. I'm hoping I will have a better job after this.

 

Play an audio version of this story

The Unicorn Story

by Mary Gordon

One day I asked my grandchildren about unicorns. I wanted to know if they had ever seen or heard about unicorns in real life. They told me that the only unicorns they had ever seen were the ones they saw in pictures and the ones made into ornaments. They believed that unicorns are white and gold because of the ornaments they had seen in the stores. I told them, my story.

I was two months old when my grandparents started to care for me. When I was nine years old I remember I started hearing stories about unicorns and their spirituality. I did not believe these stories until I saw for myself. But now I know my grandparents' stories were true.

My grandparents had warned us not to go near the river when it has rained, but one day after the rain I looked up to see a beautiful rainbow in the sky. The rainbow was up against the wall of the clouds but it looked like it was right in front of us. My brother and I ran towards the rainbow. We were trying to get close to it.

It was getting close to evening and the sun had started setting. The rainbow led us to the river. The river was so wide that you could not see the other side of it. When we arrived at the river, it started to get foggy. We were having a hard time seeing through the fog to go into the boat by ourselves. That evening we did not listen to their warnings and climbed into a boat that was on the river. We pushed away from the river's shore. As we paddled down the river, we looked up to the shore. By the trees, on river's edge, we saw this beautiful creature. It had long silky hair, the colour of the rainbow. Its mane was streaked with gold. The creature's hair hung down and floated on the water.

We saw the creature clearly because of the rainbow's brightness, it looked like a horse. It was looking upward and it whinnied like a horse. Then it looked right at us. As it turned, I noticed it had a long pointed horn in the center of its forehead. The creature now looked golden.

It started swimming toward us. We were afraid and we quickly paddled back to shore. We quickly tied the boat up.

When we looked back to where we saw the creature, it was gone.

We ran all the way home and told my grandparents and some relatives what we had seen. The only one to believe us was our grandfather. "It was a spirit you saw," he said, " It's your daily guide. The spirit is holy and you have to be very careful what you say about it. It is called a unicorn."

My brother, out of respect for the unicorn spirit, has never talked about what he saw. He never goes out to the river when it is raining or after it has rained because of his belief in it.

This is a true story about what I experienced at the age of nine. Over the years I have been told stories about my ancestors but I am now learning much more about the hidden stories of my ancestors. Today I pass these stories down to my children and grandchildren, especially the story of the Spirit Horse that we have in the spirit world. The spirit is the soul of the immortal being. It is sometimes called the Holy Spirit. The unicorn is the spiritual guide for the spirit and the mind.

I told my grandchildren about the unicorn. After listening to my story they believed in the unicorn's spiritual way. I am very proud to know that my grandchildren will know about the unicorns and their spiritual significance.