The 'Three Sisters' news blog from yesterday has raised some questions from several of you regarding the symbolism within the quilt. Here is the Tri-Nation Tale as it appears on the back of the quilt to complete the story.
The Three Sisters
A Mythic Collaboration of Epic Proportions
Once upon a time, so the tale is told, there was a cunning coyote and an amazing dragon who was able to shift shape magically. The coyote called out to the dragon, daring it to change its form. “Can you change into an elephant?” the coyote challenged. Instantly the dragon transformed into the large beast. “Can you change into a rabbit?” The dragon did so without effort. Finally the coyote taunted, “I bet you can’t change into an itty-bitty dragonfly.” Without hesitation, and with no thought to the consequences, the dragon transformed itself into a dragonfly. To the dragon’s great shock, the last metamorphosis was instant, complete, and irreversible, and the dragon has remained in this form to this very day.
This myth is woven throughout this collaborative story quilt crafted by three artists from three different countries: Australia, Canada, and the United States. Each artist incorporated her own image as well as her animal totem, identified in the story. Thus the quilt includes the blue-gray-eyed Canadian with her blue-eyed dragon, the American with her howling green-eyed coyote symbol, and the Australian, whose blue-green eyes are mirrored in her companion dragonfly. Mailing the quilt from country to country, they worked together stage by stage, weaving this tale of magic and myth, and watching the metamorphosis unfold.