IN THE NORTH WOODS, ghostly aspen trunks beneath a gray November sky. Snow is on the way. Everything is beautiful. Long, long ago, the Anishinabe hero, Nanabozho, feeling playful, stole a tail feather from the Thunderbird. Thunderbird, not feeling playful, chased the swift Nanabozho through the forest. Every place his wings grazed a white aspen trunk, they left a dark, horizontal scar. We can see the scars yet today. And thus we know the story is true. And everything is beautiful.