A Haunting Story

The first essay in Barbara Kingsolver's book that I'm reading is titled "Small Wonder" and it recounts a haunting little true incident that happened some years ago in Lorena Provence in Northern Iran. A little boy, a toddler of 16 months, wandered off from his nomadic tribe and was found three days later in a cave being nursed by a she-bear. Kingsolver says we can hear this story and think it preposterous and beyond believing or we can see it as a little miracle, a "small wonder," or maybe a parable on mothering instincts. We can imagine a baby crying, and a lactating mother bear who has perhaps just lost her own cub. If we add to that the knowledge that we mammals share almost all of the same DNA code it is not so hard to understand.

Or we can see it as evidence of God if we so choose. Kingsolver writes, "God is frightful, God is great, you pick. I choose this: God is in the details, the completely unnecessary miracles sometimes tossed up by the stars to guide us."

For an abridged version of the essay by Kingsolver see the Orion reprint.