Wealth, defined by how much we hoard or how much we share, is a concept explored deeply in The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. To illustrate the type of wealth we can experience through giving, Kimmerer introduces a story about an abundance of meat that is shared in a feast rather than preserved for personal use. What the hunter says (which is that he wants to store the meat in the belly of his brother) becomes a motif Kimmerer returns to time and time again in the book.
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TAB p 32
“’Store my meat? I store my meat in the belly of my brother,’ replied the hunter.”
TAB p 1-2
“The birds carry their berries in the buckets of their bellies and wonder if they will be able to fly with so much cargo.”
TAB p 50
“You can store meat in your own pantry or in the belly of your brother.”
TAB p 69
“Come, my relatives, fill your bellies, say the Serviceberries. Are they not storing their meat in the bellies of their brothers and sisters—the Jays, the Thrashers, and the Robins?.”
TAB p 72
“As I watch the Robins and Cedar Waxwings fill their bellies, I see a gift economy in which abundance is stored “in the belly of my brother.”
TAB p 94
“The surplus will be stored in the belly of a neighbor.”
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