“Natives believed in the beginning all living things shared the world in a state of equality and mutual understanding. They spoke the same language and the difference between them was in their superficial external appearance. If for convenience, this body covering was removed, the form underneath was identical with a human form. This allowed a human to live with birds and animals and return with their secrets and hand them on to his people. From this belief, Natives developed a series of legends and myths, many of which are illustrated in their totem pole carvings. On a single pole there might be illustrated one simple tale or several events in tribal history, legendary or actual. Almost every tribe and clan valued at least one story of an encounter between an ancestor and a spirit, usually in the guise of an animal.”