[Nanabozho] walked the land, handing out names to all he met, an Anishinaabe Linnaeus. I like to think of the two of them walking together. Linnaeus the Swedish botanist and zoologist, in his loden jacket and woolen trousers, with felt hat cocked back on his forehead and a vasculum under his arm, and Nanabozho naked but for his breechcloth and a single feather, with a buckskin bag under his arm. They stroll along discussing the names for things. They’re both so enthusiastic, pointing out the beautiful leaf shapes, the incomparable flowers. Linnaeus explains his Systema Naturae, a scheme designed to show the ways in which all things are related. Nanabozho nods enthusiastically, “Yes, that is also our way: we say, ‘We are all related.’” He explains that there was a time when all beings spoke the same language and could understand one another, so all of Creation knew each other’s names. Linnaeus looks wistful about that. “I ended up having to translate everything into Latin,” he says of binomial nomenclature. “We lost any other common language long ago.” Linnaeus lends Nanabozho his magnifying glass so he can see the tiny floral parts. Nanabozho gives Linnaeus a song so he can see their spirits. And neither of them are lonely.

43. Braiding Sweetgrass.

The Spouter-Inn Robin Wall Kimmerer’s collection of essays about botany and Indigenous knowledge. More episodes

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