The concept of transformation is found in many of the oral traditions of the Anishinaabe. There are stories of Nanabush, the trickster, who takes on both the shape of male and female animals. Other stories speak of individuals who are able to shift from their forms into other beings such as Thunderbirds and Bears. This ability is possessed by those who are known as Shaman. How well and early anthropologists writing about the Anishinaabe noted once outward appearance can change and enable a metamorphosis to occur at will disability can only be acquired with the help and sanction of those other than human beings. To have this ability to change shape is a sign of someone who possesses a high order of power and indicates a person who shares a very special relationship with those other than human beings. Here we see a human being transforming into a bear as one side of the Bears body retain some of the vestiges of its human form in the rendering of the leg foot arm and hand. This image vibrates with power and movement.