The Algonquin legends of New England; or, Myths and folk lore of the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribes

(

THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS
OF NEW ENGLAND

OR

Myths and Folk Lore oftbe Micmac, Passa-
maqiioddy, and Penobscot Tribes

BY

CHARLES G. LELAND

THIRD EDITION

BOSTON
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street

, Camfcriti0e

Copyright, 1884,
BY CHARLES G. LELAND.

All rights reserved.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.
Electrotyped and Printed by II. 0. Houghton & Ccmpany.

E

PEEFACE.

WHEN I began, in the summer of 1882, to collect
among the Passamaquoddy Indians at Campobello, New
Brunswick, their traditions and folk-lore, I expected
to find very little indeed. These Indians, few in
number, surrounded by white people, and thoroughly
converted to Roman Catholicism, promised but scanty
remains of heathenism. What was my amazement,
however, at discovering, day by day, that there existed
among them, entirely by oral tradition, a far grander
mythology than that which has been made known
to us by either the Chippewa or Iroquois Hiawatha
Legends, and that this was illustrated by an incredible
number of tales. I soon ascertained that these were
very ancient. The old people declared that they had
heard from their progenitors that all of these stories
were once sung; that they themselves remembered
when many of them were poems. This was fully
proved by discovering manifest traces of poetry in
many, and finally by receiving a long Micmac tale
which had been sung by an Indian. I found that all
the relaters of this lore were positive as to the an
tiquity of the narratives, and distinguished accurately

M618649

iv PREFACE.

between what was or was not pre-Columbian. In fact,
I came in time to the opinion that the original stock
of all the Algonquin myths, and perhaps of many
more, still existed, not far away in the West, but at
our very doors ; that is to say, in Maine and New
Brunswick. It is at least certain, as the reader may
convince himself, that these Wabanaki, or North
eastern Algonquin, legends give, with few exceptions,
in full and coherently, many tales which have only
reached us in a broken, imperfect form, from other
sources. .

This work, then, contains a collection of the myths,
legends, and folk-lore of the principal Wabanaki, or
Northeastern Algonquin, Indians; that is to say, of
the Passamaquoddies and Penobscots of Maine, and
of the Micmacs of New Brunswick. All of this mate
rial was gathered directly from Indian narrators, the
greater part by myself, the rest by a few friends ; in
fact, I can give the name of the aboriginal authority
for every tale except one. As my chief object has
been simply to collect and preserve valuable material,
I have said little of the labors of such critical writers
as Brinton, Hale, Trumbull, Powers, Morgan, Ban
croft, and the many more who have so ably studied
and set forth red Indian ethnology. If I have rarely
ventured on their field, it is because I believe that
when the Indian shall have passed away there will
come far better ethnologists than I am, who will be
much more obliged to me for collecting raw material
than for cooking it.

PREFACE. V

Two or three subjects have, it is true, tempted me
into occasional commenting. The manifest, I may say
the undeniable, affinity between the myths and legends
of the Northeastern Indians and those of the Eskimo
could hardly be passed over, nor at the same time
the identity of the latter and of the Shaman religion
with those of the Finns, Laplanders, and Samoyedes.
I believe that I have contributed material not devoid
of value to those who are interested in the study of
the relations of the aborigines of America with the
Mongoloid races of the Old World. This is a subject
which has been very little studied through the rela
tions of these Wabanaki with the Eskimo.

A far more hazardous venture has been the indicat
ing points of similarity between the myths or tales of
the Algonquins and those of the Norsemen, as set
forth in the Eddas, the Sagas, and popular tales of
Scandinavia. When we, however, remember that the
Eskimo once ranged as far south as Massachusetts,
that they did not reach Greenland till the fourteenth
century, that they had for three centuries intimate
relations with Scandinavians, that they were very
fond of legends, and that the Wabanaki even now
mingle with them, the marvel would be that the
Norsemen had not left amons: them traces of their

O

tales or of their religion. But I do not say that this
was positively the case ; I simply set forth in this
book a great number of curious coincidences, from
which others may draw their own conclusions. I
confess that I cannot account for these resemblances

vi PREFACE.

save by the so-called "historical theory" of direct
transmission; but if any one can otherwise explain
them I should welcome the solution of what still seems
to be, in many respects, a problem.

I am, in fact, of the opinion that what is given
in this work confirms what was conjectured by David
Crantz, and which is thus expressed in his History
of Greenland (London, 1767) : " If we read the ac
counts which have been given of the most northerly
American Indians and Asiatic Tartars, we find a
pretty great resemblance between their manner of
life, morals, usages, and notions and what has been
said in this book of the Greenlanders, only with this
difference : that the farther the savage nations wan
dered towards the North, the fewer they retained
of their ancient conceptions and customs. As for the
Greenlanders, if it be true, as is supposed, that a
remnant of the old Norway Christians incorporated
themselves and became one people with them, the
Greenlanders may thence have heard and adopted
some of their notions, which they may have new-
modeled in the coarse mould of their own brain."

Among those who have greatly aided me in pre
paring this work I deem it to be a duty to mention
Miss ABBY ALGER, of Boston, to whom it is cordially
dedicated; the REV. SILAS T. RAND, of Hantsport,
Nova Scotia, who lent me a manuscript collection of
eighty-five Micmac tales, and communicated to me,
with zealous kindness, much information by letter;
and MRS. W. WALLACE BROWN, of Calais, Maine. It

PREFACE. vii

was through this lady that I derived a great proportion
of the most curious folk-lore of the Passamaquoddies,
especially such parts as coincided with the Edda.
With these I would include MR. E. JACK, of Freder-
icton, New Brunswick. When it is remembered that
there are only forty-two of the Hiawatha Legends of
Schoolcraft, out of which five books have been made
by other authors, and that I have collected more
than two hundred, it will be seen how these friends
must have worked to aid me.

AUTHORITIES.

THE authorities consulted in writing this work were as fol
lows : —

PERSONS.

Tomah Josephs, Passamaquoddy, Indian Governor at Peter
Dana's Point, Maine.

The Rev. Silas T. Rand, Baptist Missionary among the Mic-
mac Indians at Hantsport, Nova Scotia. This gentleman lent
me his manuscript collection of eighty-five stories, all taken
down from verbal Indian narration. He also communicated
much information in letters, etc.

John Gabriel, and his son Peter J. Gabriel, Passarnaquoddy In
dians, of Point Pleasant, Maine.

Noel Josephs, of Peter Dana's Point, alias Che gach goch, the
Raven.

Joseph Tomah, Passamaquoddy, of Point Pleasant.

Louis Mitchell, Indian member of the Legislature of Maine.
To this gentleman I am greatly indebted for manuscripts, letters,
and oral narrations of great value.

Sapiel Selmo, keeper of the Wampum Record, formerly read
every four years at the kindling of the great fire at Canawagha.

Marie Saksis, of Oldtown, a capital and very accurate narrator
of many traditions.

Miss Abby Alger, of Boston, by whom I was greatly aided in
collecting the Passamaquoddy stories, and who obtained several
for me among the St. Francis or Abenaki Indians.

Edward Jack, of Fredericton, for several Micmac legends
and many letters containing folk-lore, all taken down by him
directly from Indians.

Mrs. W. Wallace Brown. Mr. Brown was agent in charge of

x A UTHORITIES.

the Passamaquoddies in Maine. To this lady, who has a great
influence over the Indians, and is much interested in their folk
lore and legends, I am indebted for a large collection of very in
teresting material of the most varied description.
Noel Neptune, Penobscot, Oldtown, Maine.

BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS, ETC.

The Story of Glooskap. A curious manuscript in Indian-Eng
lish, obtained for me by Tomah Josephs.

The Dominion Monthly for 1871. Containing nine Micmac le
gends by Rev. S. T. Rand.

Indian Legends. (Manuscript of 900 pp. folio.) Collected
among the Micmac Indians, and translated by Silas T. Rand,
Missionary to the Micmacs.

A Manuscript Collection of Passamaquoddy Legends and Folk-
Lore. By Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, of Calais, Maine. These are
all given with the greatest accuracy as narrated by Indians, some
in broken Indian-English. They embrace a very great variety of
folk-lore.

Manuscript Fairy Tales in Indian and English. By Louis
Mitchell.

Manuscript : The Superstitions of the Passamaquoddies. In
Indian and English.

A History of the Passamaquoddy Indians. Manuscript of 80
pages, Indian and English. All of these were written for me
by L. Mitchell, M. L.

Wampum Records. Read for me by Sapiel Selmo, the only liv
ing Indian who has the key to them.

David Cusick's Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations.
Lockport, N. Y., 1848. Printed, but written in Indian-English.

Manuscript: Six Stories of the St. Francis or Abenaki Indians.
Taken down by Miss Abby Alger.

Osgood's Maritime Provinces. In this work there are seven
short extracts relative to Glooskap given without reference to any
book or author.

CONTENTS,

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

GLOOSKAP, THE DIVINITY.

Of Glooskap's Birth, and of his Brother Malsum, the
Wolf 15

How Glooskap made the Elves and Fairies, and then Man
of an Ash-Tree, and last of all the Beasts, and of his
Coming at the Last Day 18

Of the Great Deeds which Glooskap did for Men; how
he named the Animals, and who they were that formed
his Family 28

How Win-pe, the Sorcerer, having stolen Glooskap's Fam
ily, was by him pursued. How Glooskap for a Merry
Jest cheated the Whale. Of the Song of the Clams,
and how the Whale smoked a Pipe . . . .31

Of the Dreadful Deeds of the Evil Pitcher, who was both
Man and Woman ; how she fell in Love with Glooskap,
and, being scorned, became his Enemy. Of the Toads
and Porcupines, and the Awful Battle of the Giants . 36

How the Story of Glooskap and Pook-jin-skwess, the Evil
Pitcher, is told by the Passamaquoddy Indians . . 44

How Glooskap became friendly to the Loons, and made
them his Messengers 50

How Glooskap made his Uncle Mikchich, the Turtle, into
a Great Man, and got him a Wife. Of the Turtles'
Eggs, and how Glooskap vanquished a Sorcerer by
smoking Tobacco . . . ; . . . .51

xii CONTENTS.

How Glooskap sailed through the Great Cavern of Dark
ness . . . . .

Of the Great Works which Glooskap made in the Land .

The Story of Glooskap as told in a few Words by a Woman
of the Penobscots .......

How Glooskap, leaving the World, all the Animals
mourned for him, and how, ere he departed, he gave
Gifts to Men . .

How Glooskap had a Great Frolic with Kitpooseagunow,
a Mighty Giant who caught a Whale ....

How Glooskap made a Magician of a Young Man, who
aided another to win a Wife and do Wonderful Deeds .

How a certain Wicked Witch sought to cajole the Great
and Good Glooskap, and of her Punishment

Of other Men who went to Glooskap for Gifts

Of Glooskap and the three other Seekers . .

Of Glooskap and the Sinful Serpent ....

The Tale of Glooskap as told by another Indian, showing
how the Toad and Porcupine lost their Noses . . 106

How Glooskap changed Certain Saucy Indians into Rattle
snakes .......... 110

How Glooskap bound Wuchowsen, the Great Wind-Bird,
and made all the Waters in the World stagnant . .111

How Glooskap conquered the Great Bull-Frog, and in
what Manner all the Pollywogs, Crabs, Leeches, and
other Water Creatures were created .... 114

How the Lord of Men and Beasts strove with the Mighty
Wasis, and was shamefully defeated .... 120

How the Great Glooskap fought the Giant Sorcerers at
Saco, and turned them into Fish ..... 122

How Glooskap went to England and France, and was the
first to make America known to the Europeans . . 127

How Glooskap is making Arrows, and preparing for a
Great Battle. The Twilight of the Indian Gods . . 130

How Glooskap found the Summer 131

CONTENTS. xm

THE MERRY TALES OF Lox, THE MISCHIEF-MAKER.

The Surprising and Singular Adventures of two Water
Fairies who were also Weasels, and how they each be
came the Bride of a Star. Including the Mysterious
and Wonderful Works of Lox, the Great Indian Devil,
who rose from the Dead . . . . . . 140

Of the Wolverine and the Wolves, or how Master Lox
froze to Death 170

How Master Lox played a Trick on Mrs. Bear, who lost
her Eyesight and had her Eyes opened .... 174

How Lox came to Grief by trying to catch a Salmon . 179

How Master Lox, as a Raccoon, killed the Bear and the
Black Cats, and performed other Notable Feats of Skill,
all to his Great Discredit 180

How Lox deceived the Ducks, cheated the Chief, and be
guiled the Bear 186

The Mischief-Maker. A Tradition of the Origin of the
Mythology of the Senecas. A Lox Legend . . 194

How Lox told a Lie . 206

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT.

How Master Rabbit sought to rival Keeoony, the Otter 208

How Mahtigwess, the Rabbit, dined with the Woodpecker
Girls, and was again humbled by trying to rival
them . . . . . . . . . 210

Of the Adventure with Mooin, the Bear ; it being the Third
and Last Time that Master Rabbit made a Fool of
himself . . . . . . . . . 212

Relating how the Rabbit became Wise by being Original,
and of the Terrible Tricks which he by Magic played
Loup-Cervier, the Wicked Wild-Cat .... 213

How Master Rabbit went to a Wedding and won the
Bride . . .223

How Master Rabbit gave himself Airs . . . . 225

The Young Man who was saved by a Rabbit and a Fox . 227

xiv CONTENTS.

THE CHENOO LEGENDS.

The Chenoo, or the Story of a Ca,nnibal with an Icy Heart 233
The Story of the Great Chenoo, as told by the Passama-

quoddies 246

The Girl-Chenoo . . . . . . . .251

THUNDER STORIES.

Of the Girl who married Mount Katahdin, and how all

the Indians brought about their own Ruin . . . 255
How a Hunter visited the Thunder Spirits who dwell on
Mount Katahdin . ...... 259

The Thunder and Lightning Men 263

Of the Woman who married the Thunder, and of their

Boy 266

AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT.

How Two Girls were changed to Water-Snakes, and of
Two others that became Mermaids . . . . 268

Ne Hwas, the Mermaid . . . . . . .270

Of the Woman who loved a Serpent that lived in a Lake . 273
The Mother of Serpents . . . . . , .275

Origin of the Black Snakes 278

THE PARTRIDGE.

The Adventures of the Great Hero Pulowech, or the Par
tridge * 281

The Story of a Partridge and his Wonderful Wigwam . 290
How the Partridge built Good Canoes for all the Birds,

and a Bad One for Himself . . . . . 293

The Mournful Mystery of the Partridge- Witch ; setting

forth how a Young Man died from Love . . . 295
How one of the Partridge's Wives became a Sheldrake
Duck, and why her Feet and Feathers are red . . 300

THE INVISIBLE ONE 303

STORY OF THE THREE STRONG MEN ..... . . 311

THE WEEWILLMEKQ'.

How a Woman lost a Gun for Fear of the Weewillmekq' . 324

CONTENTS. xv

Muggahmaht'adem, the Dance of Old Age, or the Magic

of the Weewillmekq' 327

Another Version of the Dance of Old Age . . .330
TALES OF MAGIC.

M'tdouliu, or Indian Magic . . . . . 334

Story of the Beaver Trapper ...... 342

How a Youth became a Magician ..... 343

Of Old Joe, the M'teoulin 345

Of Governor Francis 345

How a Chief's Son taught his Friend Sorcery . . . 352
Tumilkoontaoo, or the Broken Wing .... 359

Fish-Hawk and Scapegrace 363

The Giant Magicians 368

LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS.

5? AGE
MlK UM WESS, THE INDIAN PUCK, OR ROBIN GOOD-FEL-

LOW Frontispiece.

GLOOSKAP KILLING HIS BROTHER, THE WOLF 17

GLOOSKAP LOOKING AT THE WHALE SMOKING HIS PIPE . 35
GLOOSKAP SETTING HIS DOGS ON THE WITCHES .... 40
THE MUD-TURTLE JUMPING OVER THE WIGWAM OF HIS

FATHER-IN-LAW 54

GLOOSKAP AND KEANKE SPEARING THE WHALE ... 75
GLOOSKAP TURNING A MAN INTO A CEDAR-TREE ... 98

LOX CARRIED OFF BY CULLOO 157

THE INDIAN BOY AND THE MUSK-RAT. SEEPS, THE DUCK 192

THE RABBIT MAGICIAN 214

THE CHENOO AND THE LIZARD 237

THE WOMAN AND THE SERPENT 274

INTRODUCTION.

AMONG the six chief divisions of the red Indians
of North America the most widely extended is the Al
gonquin. This people ranged from Labrador to the
far South, from Newfoundland to the Rocky Moun
tains, speaking forty dialects, as the Hon. J. H.
Trumbull has shown in his valuable work on the sub
ject. Belonging to this division are the Micmacs of
Nova Scotia and the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot
tribes of Maine, who with the St. Francis Indians
of Canada and some smaller clans call themselves the
Wabanaki, a word derived from a root signifying
white or light, intimating that they live nearest to the
rising sun or the east. In fact, the French-speaking
St. Francis family, who are known par eminence as
u the Abenaki," translate the term by point dujour.

The Wabanaki have in common the traditions of
a grand mythology, the central figure of which is a
demigod or hero, who, while he is always great, con
sistent, and benevolent, and never devoid of dignity,
presents traits which are very much more like those of
Odin and Thor, with not a little of Pantagruel, than
anything in the characters of the Chippewa Mano-
bozho, or the Iroquois Hiawatha. The name of this

\

2 INTRODUCTION.

divinity is Glooskap, meaning, strangely enough, the
Liar, because it is said that when he left earth, like
King Arthur, for Fairyland, he promised to return,
and has never done so. It is characteristic of the
Norse gods that while they are grand they are manly,
and combine with this a peculiarly domestic humanity.
Glooskap is the Norse god intensified. He is, how
ever, more of a giant ; he grows to a more appalling
greatness than Thor or Odin in his battles ; when a
Kiawaqii\ or Jotun, rises to the clouds to oppose
him, Glooskap's head touches the stars, and scorning
to slay so mean a foe like an equal, he kills him con
temptuously with a light tap of his bow. But in the
family circle he is the most benevolent of gentle
heroes, and has his oft-repeated little standard jokes.
Yet he never, like the Manobozho-Hiawatha of the
Chippewas, becomes silly, cruel, or fantastic. He has
his roaring revel with a brother giant, even as Thor
went fishing in fierce fun with the frost god, but he is
never low or feeble.

Around Glooskap, who is by far the grandest and
most Aryan-like character ever evolved from a sav
age mind, and who is more congenial to a reader
of Shakespeare and Rabelais than any deity ever
imagined out of Europe, there are found strange
giants : some literal Jotuns of stone and ice, sorcerers
who become giants like Glooskap, at will ; the terrible
Chenoo, a human being with an icy-stone heart, who
has sunk to a cannibal and ghoul ; all the weird mon
sters and horrors of the Eskimo mythology, witches

INTRODUCTION. 3

and demons, inherited from the terribly black sorcery
which preceded Shamanism, and compared to which
the latter was like an advanced religion, and all the
minor mythology of dwarfs and fairies. The Indian
m'teouUn, or magician, distinctly taught that every
created thing, animate or inanimate, had its indwelling
spirit. Whatever had an idea had a soul. Therefore
the Wabanaki mythology is strangely like that of the
Rosicrueians. But it created spirits for the terrible
Arctic winters of the north, for the icebergs and frozen
wastes, for the Northern Lights and polar bears. It
made, in short, a mythology such as would be perfectly
congenial to any one who has read and understood the
Edda, Beowulf, and the Kalevala, with the wildest
and oldest Norse sagas. But it is, as regards spirit
and meaning, utterly and entirely unlike anything else
that is American. It is not like the Mexican pan
theon ; it has not the same sounds, colors, or feelings ;
and though many of its incidents or tales are the
same as those of the Chippewas, or other tribes, we
still feel that there is an incredible difference in the
spirit. Its ways are not as their ways. This Waba
naki mythology, which was that which gave a fairy, an
elf, a naiad, or a hero to every rock and river and
ancient hill in New England, is just the one of all
others which is least known to the New Englanders.
When the last Indian shall be in his grave, those who
come after us will ask in wonder why we had no
curiosity as to the romance of our country, and so
much as to that of every other land on earth.

4 INTRODUCTION.

Much is allowed to poets and painters, and no fault
was found with Mr. Longfellow for attributing to the
Iroquois Hiawatha the choice exploits of the Chip-
pewa demi-devil Manobozho. It was " all Indian " to
the multitude, and one name answered as well in
poetry as another, at a time when there was very little
attention paid to ethnology. So that a good poem
resulted, it was of little consequence that the plot was
a melange of very different characters, and character
istics. And when, in connection with this, Mr. Long
fellow spoke of the Chippewa tales as forming an
Indian Edda, the term was doubtless in a poetic and
very general sense permissible. But its want of literal
truth seems to have deeply impressed the not generally
over particular or accurate Schoolcraft, since his first
remarks in the Introduction to the Hiawatha Legends
are as follows : —

" Where analogies are so general, there is a constant
liability to mistakes. Of these foreign analogies of
myth-lore, the least tangible, it is believed, is that which
has been suggested with the Scandinavian mythology.
That mythology is of so marked and peculiar a char
acter that it has not been distinctly traced out of the
great circle of tribes of the Indo-Germanic family.
Odin and his terrific pantheon of war gods and social
deities could only exist in the dreary latitudes of
storms and fire which produce a Hecla and a Mael
strom. These latitudes have invariably produced na
tions whose influence has been felt in an elevating
power over the world. From such a source the Indian

INTRODUCTION. 5

could have derived none of his vague symbolisms and
mental idiosyncrasies which have left him as he is found
to-day, without a government and without a god."

This is all perfectly true of the myths of Hiawat'ha-
Manobozho. Nothing on earth could be more unlike
the Norse legends than the " Indian Edda " of the
Chippewas and Ottawas. But it was not known to
this writer that there already existed in Northeast
ern America a stupendous mythology, derived from
a land of storms and fire more terrible and wonderful
than Iceland ; nay, so terrible that Icelanders them
selves were appalled by it. " This country,'7 says the
Abb£ Morillot, "is the one most suggestive of su
perstition. Everything there, sea, earth, or heaven, is
strange." The wild cries which rise from the depths of
the caverned ice-hills, and are reechoed by the rocks,
icebergs, or waves, were dreadful to Egbert Olaf-
son in the seventeenth century. The interior is a des
ert without parallel for desolation. A frozen Sahara
seen by Northern lightning and midnight suns is but a
suggestion of this land. The sober Moravian mission
ary Crantz once only in his life rose to poetry, when
more than a century ago he spoke of its scenery. Here
then was the latitude of storm and fire required by
Schoolcraft to produce something wilder and grander
than he had ever found among Indians. And here
indeed there existed all the time a cycle of mytho
logical legends or poems such as he declared Indians
incapable of producing. But strangest of all, this
American mythology of the North, which has been the

6 INTRODUCTION.

very last to become known to American readers, is
literally so nearly like the Edda itself that, as this
work fully proves, there is hardly a song in the Norse
collection which does not contain an incident found in
the Indian poem-legends, while in several there are
many such coincidences. Thus, in the Edda we are
told that the first birth on earth was that of a giant
girl and boy, begotten by the feet of a giant and born
from his arrnpit. In the Wabanaki legends, the first
birth was of Glooskap, the Good principle, and Malsum
the Wolf, or Evil principle. The Wolf was born from
his mother's armpit. He is sometimes male and some
times female. His feet are male and female, and con
verse. We pass on only twelve lines in the Edda
(Vafthrudnismal, 36) to be told that the wind is
caused by a giant in eagle's plumage, who sits on a
rock far in the north " at the end of heaven." This is
simply and literally the Wochowsen or Windblower
of the Wabanaki word for word, — not the " Thunder-
Bird " of the Western Indians. The second birth on
earth, according to the Edda, was that of man. Odin
found Ash and Elm " nearly powerless," and gave
them sense. This was the first man and woman. Ac
cording to the Indians of Maine, Glooskap made the
first men from the ash-tree. They lived or were in
it, " devoid of sense " till he gave it to them. It is
to be observed that primevally among the Norse the
ash alone stood for man. So it goes on through the
whole Edda, of which all the main incidents are to be
found among the sagas of the Wabanaki. The most

INTRODUCTION. 1

striking of these are the coincidences between Lox
(lynx, wolf, wolverine, badger, or raccoon, and some
times man) and Loki. It is very remarkable indeed
that the only two religions in the world which possess
a devil in whom mischief predominates should also
give to each the same adventures, if both did not
come from the same source. In the Hymiskvida of the
Edda, two giants go to fish for whales, and then have
a contest which is actually one of heat against cold.
This is so like a Micmac legend in every detail that
about twenty lines are word for word the same in the
Norse and Indian. The Micmac giants end their
whale fishing by trying to freeze one another to death.
It is to the Kev. Silas T. Eand that the credit be
longs of having discovered Glooskap, and of having
first published in the Dominion Monthly several of
these Northern legends. After I had collected nearly
a hundred among the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot
Indians, this gentleman, with unexampled kindness,
lent me a manuscript of eighty-four Micmac tales,
making in all nine hundred folio pages. Many were
similar to others in my collection, but I have never yet
received a duplicate which did not contain something
essential to the whole. Though the old Indians all
declare that most of their lore has perished, especially
tha more recondite mythic poems, I am confident that
much more remains to be gathered than I have given
in this work. As it is, I have omitted many tales
simply because they were evidently Canadian French
stories. Yet all of these, without exception, are half

8 INTRODUCTION.

Indian, and it may be old Norse modified; for a
French story is sometimes the same with one in the
Eddas. Again, for want of room I have not given any
Indian tales or chronicles of the wars with the Mo
hawks. Of these I have enough to make a very curi
ous volume.

These legends belong to all New England. Many
of them exist as yet among the scattered fragments
of Indian tribes here and there. The Penobscots of
Oldtown, Maine, still possess many. In fact, there is
not an old Indian, male or female, in New England or
Canada who does not retain stories and songs of the
greatest interest. I sincerely trust that this work may
have the effect of stimulating collection. Let every
reader remember that everything thus taken down,
and deposited in a local historical society, or sent to
the Ethnological Bureau at Washington, will forever
transmit the name of its recorder to posterity. Ar
chaeology is as yet in its very beginning ; when the
Indians shall have departed it will grow to giant-like
proportions, and every scrap of information relative
to them will be eagerly investigated. And the man
does not live who knows what may be made of it all.
I need not say that I should be grateful for such In
dian lore of any kind whatever which may be trans
mitted to me.

It may very naturally be asked by many how it
came to pass that the Indians of Maine and of the
farther north have so much of the Edda in their sa
gas ; or, if it was derived through the Eskimo tribes,

INTRODUCTION. 9

how these got it from Norsemen, who were professedly
Christians. I do not think that the time has come
for fully answering the first question. There is some
great mystery of mythology, as yet unsolved, regard
ing the origin of the Edda and its relations with the
faiths and folk-lore of the older Shamanic beliefs, such
as Lapp, Finn, Samoyed, Eskimo, and Tartar. This
was the world's first religion ; it is found in the
so-called Accadian Turanian beginning of Babylon,
whence it possibly came from the West. But what
we have here to consider is whether the Norsemen did
directly influence the Eskimo and Indians. Let us
first consider that these latter were passionately fond
of stories, and that they had attained to a very high
standard of culture as regards both appreciation and
invention. They were as fond of recitations as any
white man is of reading. Their memories were in this
respect very remarkable indeed. They have taken
into their repertory during the past two hundred years
many French fairy tales, through the Canadians. Is
it not likely that they listened to the Northmen ?

It is not generally noted among our learned men
how long the Icelanders remained in Greenland, how
many stories are still told of them by the Eskimo, or
to what extent the Indians continue to mingle with the
latter. During the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth
centuries, says the Abbe MorilJot, "there were in
Greenland, after Archbishop Adalbert, more than
twenty bishops, and in the colony were many churches
and monasteries. In the Oestrbugd, one of the two

10 INTRODUCTION.

inhabited portions of the vast island, were one hun
dred and ninety villages, with twelve churches. In
Juliaiishaab, one may to-day see the ruins of eight
churches and of many monasteries." In the fifteenth
century all these buildings were in ruins, and the col
ony was exterminated by the pestilence or the natives.
But among the latter there remained many traditions
of the Scandinavians associated with the ruins. Such
is the story of Oren'gortok, given by the Abbe Moril-
lot, and several are to be found in Rink's Legends.
When we learn that the Norsemen, during their three
centuries of occupation of Greenland, brought away
many of the marvelous tales of the Eskimo, it is not
credible that they left none of their own. Thus we
are told in the Floamanna Saga how a hero, aban
doned on the icy coast of Greenland, met with two
giant witches (Troldkoner), and cut the hand from
one of them. An old Icelandic work, called the Ko-
nungs Skuggsjd (Danish, Kongespeilet), has much to
say of the marvels of Greenland and its monsters of
the sea. On the other hand, Morillot declares that
the belief in ghosts was brought to Greenland by the
Icelanders and Scandinavians. The sagas have not
been as yet much studied with a view to establishing
how much social intercourse there was between the na
tives and the colonists, but common experience would
teach that during three centuries it must have been
something.

There has always been intercourse between Green
land and Labrador, and in this latter country we find

INTRODUCTION. 11

the first Algonquin Indians. Even at the present day
there are men among the Micmacs and Passamaquod-
dies who have gone on their hunting excursions even
to the Eskimo. I myself know one of the latter who
has done so, and the Rev. S. T. Rand, in answer to a
question on the subject, writes to me as follows : —

" Nancy Jeddore, a Micmac woman, assures me that
her father, now dead, used to go as far as the wild
(heathen) Eskimo, and remained once for three years
among the more civilized. She has so correctly de
scribed their habits that I am satisfied that her state
ments are correct." l

These Eskimo brought from the Old World that
primeval gloomy Shaman religion, or sorcery, such
as is practiced yet by Laplanders and Tartars, such
as formed the basis of the old Accadian Babylo
nian cultus, and such as is now in vogue among all
our own red Indians. I believe that it was from the
Eskimo that this American Shamanism all came. In
Greenland this faith assumed its strangest form ; it
made for itself a new mythology. The Indians, their
neighbors, borrowed from this, but also added new
elements of an only semi-Arctic character. Thus there
is a series of steps, but every one different, from the

1 The word Eskimo is Algonquin, meaning to eat raw fish,
Eskumoga in Micmac, and people who eat raw flesh, or Es-
kimook, that is, eski, raw, and moo-uk, people. This word re
calls in-noo-uk, people, and spirits, in Eskimo, Innue, which has
the same double meaning. This was all suggested to me by
an Indian.

12 INTRODUCTION.

Eskimo to the Wabanaki, of Labrador, New Bruns
wick, and Maine, from the Wabanaki to the Iroquois,
and from the Iroquois to the more western Indians.
And while they all have incidents in common, the
character of each is radically different.

It may be specially noted that while there is hardly
an important point in the Edda which may not be
found, as I have just shown, in Wabanaki legends,
there is very little else in the latter which is in com
mon with such Old World mythology as might have
come to the Indians since the discovery by Columbus.
Excluding French Canadian fairy tales, what we have
left is chiefly Eskimo and Eddaic, and the proportion
of the latter is simply surprising. There are ac
tually more incidents taken from the Edda than there
are from lower sources. I can only account for this
by the fact that, as the Indians tell me, all these tales
were once poems, handed down from generation to
generation, and always sung. Once they were re
ligious. Now they are in a condition analogous to
that of the German Heldenbuch. They have been
cast into a new form, but they are not as yet quite
degraded to the nursery tale.

It may be objected that if the Norsemen in Green
land were Christians it is most unlikely that they
would have taught the legends of the Edda to the
heathen ; to which I reply that some scholar a few
centuries hence may declare it was a most improbable
thing that Christian Roman Catholic Indians should
have taught me the tales of Glooskap and Lox. But

INTRODUCTION. 13

the truth is, we really know very little as to how soon
wandering Vikings went to America, or how many
were here.

I would say in conclusion that, while these legends
of the Wabanaki are fragmentary and incomplete,
they still read like the fragments of a book whose
subject was once broadly and coherently treated by a
man of genius. They are handled in the same bold
and artistic manner as the Norse. There is nothing-
like them in any other North American Indian rec
ords. They are, especially those which are from the
Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, inspired with a genial
cosmopolite humor. While Glooskap is always a gen
tleman, Lox ranges from Punch to Satan, passing
through the stages of an Indian Mephistopheles and
the Norse Loki, who appears to have been his true
progenitor. But neither is quite like anything to be
found among really savage races. When it is borne
in mind that the most ancient and mythic of these
legends have been taken down from the trembling
memories of old squaws who never understood their
inner meaning, or from ordinary senaps who had not
thought of them since boyhood, it will be seen that
the preservation of a mass of prose poems, equal in
bulk to the Kalevala or Heldenbuch, is indeed almost
miraculous.

THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS OF NEW
ENGLAND.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY.

Of Glooskap's Birth, and of his Brother Malsum the
Wolf.

Now the great lord Glooskap, who was worshiped
in after-days by all the Wabanaki, or children of light,
was a twin with a brother. As he was good, this
brother, whose name was Malsumsis, or Wolf the
younger, was bad. Before they were born, the babes
consulted to consider how they had best enter the
world. And Glooskap said, " I will be born as others
are." But the evil Malsumsis thought himself too
great to be brought forth in such a manner, and de
clared that he would burst through his mother's side.1
And as they planned it so it came to pass. Glooskap

1 The reader of Rabelais cannot fail to recall here the remarks
of the author as to the extraordinary manner in which it pleased
the giant Gargantua to come into the world. The Armenians
believe that Christ was born through the right side of the Virgin.
The Buddhists say the same of Buddha's birth. (Heth and Moab,
London, 1883.) Another and as I believe the correct account de
clares that Malsum the Wolf was born from his mother's armpit.

16 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

as first came quietly to light, while Malsumsis kept
his word, killing his mother.

The two grew up together, and one day the younger,
who knew that both had charmed lives, asked the
elder what would kill him, Glooskap. Now each had
his own secret as to this, and Glooskap, remembering
how wantonly Malsumsis had slain their mother,
thought it would be misplaced confidence to trust his
life to one so fond of death, while it might prove
to be well to know the bane of the other. So they
agreed to exchange secrets, and Glooskap, to test his
brother, told him that the only way in which he him
self could be slain was by the stroke of an owl's
feather,1 though this was not true. And Malsumsis
said, "I can only die by a blow from a fern-root."

It came to pass in after-days that Kwah-beet-a-sis,
the son of the Great Beaver, or, as others say, Miko
the Squirrel, or else the evil which was in himself,
tempted Malsumsis to kill Glooskap ; for in those days
all men were wicked. So taking his bow he shot
Ko ko-khas the Owl, and with one of his feathers he
struck Glooskap while sleeping. Then he awoke in
anger, yet craftily said that it was not by an owl's
feather, but by a blow from a pine-root, that his life
would end.

1 There are different readings of this incident. In Mr. Rand's
manuscript the alleged means of Glooskap's death is described as
being a cat-tail flag Qiaw-kwee-usqu' ', Passamaquoddy), while .a
handful of bird's down is the bane of Malsum the Wolf. The
termination sis is a diminutive, here meaning the younger.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 17

Then the false man led his brother another day far
into the forest to hunt, and, while he again slept,
smote him on the head with a pine-root. But Gloos-
kap arose unharmed, drove Malsumsis away into the
woods, sat down by the brook-side, and thinking over
all that had happened, said, " Nothing but a flowering
rush can kill me." But the Beaver, who was hidden
among the reeds, heard this, and hastening to Mal
sumsis told him the secret of his brother's life. For
this Malsumsis promised to bestow on Beaver what
ever he should ask ; but when the latter wished for
wings like a pigeon, the warrior laughed, and scorn
fully said, " Get thee hence ; thou with a tail like a
file, what need hast thou of wings ? "

Then the Beaver was angry, and went forth to the
camp of Glooskap, to whom he told what he had done.
Therefore Glooskap arose in sorrow and in anger,
took a fern-root, sought Malsumsis in the deep, dark
forest, and smote him so that he fell down dead. And
Glooskap sang a song over him and lamented.

The Beaver and the Owl and the Squirrel, for what
they did and as they did it, all come again into
these stories ; but Malsumsis, being dead, was turned
into the Shick-shoe mountains in the Gaspe* peninsula.

For this chapter and parts of others I am indebted
to the narrative of a Micmac Indian, taken down by
Mr. Edward Jack ; also to another version in the
Rand MS. The story is, in the main points, similar
to that given by David Cusick in his History of

18 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

the Six Nations, of Enigorio the Good Mind, and
Enigonhahetgea, Bad Mind, to which I shall refer
anon.

It is very evident that in this tradition Glooskap
represents the Good principle, and Malsumsis, the lit
tle wolf, — that is the Wolf who is the Younger, rather
than little or small, — the Evil one. Malsum typifies
destruction and sin in several of these tales. He will
arise at the last day, when Glooskap is to do battle
with all the giants and evil beasts of olden time, and
will be the great destroyer. Malsum is the Wolf
Fenris of this the true Indian Edda.

For a further comment on this birth of the twins
and its resemblance to a passage in the Edda, the
reader is referred to the notes on the next chapter.

How Glooskap made the Elves and Fairies, and then Man
of an Ash Tree, and last of all, Beasts, and of his Conn
ing at the Last Day.

(Passamaquoddy.)

Glooskap came first of all into this country, into
Nova Scotia, Maine, Canada, into the land of the
Wabanaki, next to sunrise. There were no Indians
here then (only wild Indians very far to the west).

First born were the Mikumwess, the Oonahgemes-
suk, the small Elves, little men, dwellers in rocks.

And in this way he made Man : He took his bow
and arrows and shot at trees, the basket-trees, the
Ash. Then Indians came out of the bark of the Ash-

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 19

trees. And then the Mikumwess said . . . called
tree-man.1 . . .

Glooskap made all the animals. He made them
at first very large. Then he said to Moose, the great
Moose who was as tall as Ketawkqu's,2 " What would
you do should you see an Indian coming ? " Moose
replied, j' I would tear down the trees on him." Then
Glooskap saw that the Moose was too strong, and
made him smaller, so that Indians could kill him.

Then he said to the Squirrel, who was of the size
of a Wolf, " What would you do if you should meet
an Indian ? " And the Squirrel answered, " I would
scratch down trees on him." Then Glooskap said,
" You also are too strong," and he made him little.3

Then he asked the great White Bear what he
would do if he met an Indian; and the Bear said,
" Eat him." And the Master bade him go and live
among rocks and ice, where he would see no Indians.

So he questioned all the beasts, changing their size
or allotting their lives according to their answers.

He took the Loon for his dog ; but the Loon ab
sented himself so much that he chose for this service
two wolves, — one black and one white.4 But the
Loons are always his tale-bearers.

1 The relater, an old woman, was quite unintelligible at this
point.

2 A giant, high as the tallest pines, or as the clouds.

3 Another account states that Glooskap took the Squirrel in
his hands and smoothed him down.

4 Dogs are used for beasts of burden, to draw sledges, in the
North.

20 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Many years ago a man very far to the North wished
to cross a bay, a great distance, from one point to
another. As he was stepping into his canoe he saw
a man with two dogs, — one black and one white, —
who asked to be set across. The Indian said, " You
may go, but what will become of your dogs ? " Then
the stranger replied, " Let them go round by land."
" Nay," replied the Indian, " that is much too far."
But the stranger saying nothing, he put him across.
And as they reached the landing place there stood
the dogs. But when he turned his head to address
the man, he was gone. So he said to himself, " I have
seen Glooskap."

Yet again, — but this was not so many years ago, —
far in the North there were at a certain place many
Indians assembled. And there was a frightful com
motion, caused by the ground heaving and rumbling ;
the rocks shook and fell, they were greatly alarmed,
and lo ! Glooskap stood before them, and said, " I go
away now, but I shall return again ; when you feel
the ground tremble, then know it is I." So they will
know when the last great war is to be, for then Gloos
kap will make the ground shake with an awful noise.

Glooskap was no friend of the Beavers ; he slew
many of them. Up on the Tobaic are two salt-water
rocks (that is, rocks by the ocean-side, near a fresh
water stream). The Great Beaver, standing there
one day, was seen by Glooskap miles away, who had
forbidden him that place. Then picking up a large
rock where he stood by the shore, he threw it all that

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 21

distance at the Beaver, who indeed dodged it ; but
when another came, the beast ran into a mountain, and
has never come forth to this day. But the rocks
which the master threw are yet to be seen.

This very interesting tradition was taken down by
Mrs. W. Wallace Brown from a very old Passama-
quoddy Indian woman named Molly Sepsis, who could
not speak a word of English, with the aid of another
younger woman named Sarah.

It will be observed that it is said in the beginning
that Glooskap produced the first human beings from
the ash-tree. Ash and Elm in the Edda were the
Adam and Eve of the human race. There were no
intelligent men on earth —

" Until there came three
mighty and benevolent
Aesir to the world
from their assembly
nearly powerless,
Ash and Embla (Ash and Elm),
void of destiny.

" Spirit they possessed not,
sense they had not,
blood nor motive powers,
nor goodly color.
Spirit gave Odin,
sense gave Hoenir,
blood gave Lodur
and good color." l

1 The Edda of Saemund, translated by Benjamin Thorpe.
London : Triibner & Co. 1866. Voluspa, v. 17, 18.

22 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

It is certain, however, that the ash was the typic
tree of all life, since the next verse of the Voluspa is
devoted to Yggdrasil, the tree of existence, or of the
world itself. It may be observed that in the Finnish
poem of Kalevala it is by the destruction of the
great oak that Wainamoien, aided by the hero of the
sea, causes all things to grow. The early clearing
away of trees, as a first step towards culture, may be
symbolized in the shooting of arrows at the ash.

The wolf, as a beast for the deity to ride, is strongly
Eddaic.

" Magic songs they sung,
rode on*wolves,
the god (Odin) and gods.1

We have here within a few lines, accordingly, the
ash as the parent of mankind, and wolves as the
beasts of transport for the supreme deity, both in
the Indian legend and in the Edda.

As Glooskap is directly declared in one tradition to
keep by him as an attendant a being who is the course
of the sun and of the seasons, it may be assumed that
the black and white wolf represent day and night.

Again, great stress is laid in the Glooskap legend
upon the fact that the last great day of battle with
Malsum the Wolf, and the frost-giants, stone-giants,
and other powers of evil, shall be announced by an
earthquake.

1 Rognir og regin. Odin and the Powers. Note by B. Thorpe
to the Hrafnagalar Odins, in Edda, p. 30.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 23

" Trembles Yggdrasil's
Ash yet standing,
groans that aged tree ...
and the Wolf runs . . .
The monster's kin goes
all with the Wolf. . . .
The stony hills are dashed together,
The giantesses totter.
Then arises Hlin's second grief
When Odin goes
with the wolf to fight."

Word for word, ash-tree, giantesses, the supreme
god fighting with a wolf, and falling hills, are given in
the Indian myth. This is not the Christian Day of
Judgment, but the Norse.

In this myth Glooskap has two wolves, one black
and the other white. This is an indication of day
and night, since he is distinctly stated to have as an
attendant Kulpejotei, who typifies the course of the
seasons. In the Eddas (Ragnarok) we are told that
one wolf now follows the sun, another the moon ; one
Fenris, the other Moongarm : —

" The moon's devourer
In a troll's disguise."

The magic arrows of Glooskap are of course world
wide, and date from the shafts of Abaris and those
used among the ancient Jews for divination. But it
may be observed that those of the Indian hero are
like the " Guse arrows," described in Oervarodd's

24 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Saga, which always hit their mark and return to the
one who shoots them.1

It is important here to compare this old Algonquin
account of the Creation with that of the Iroquois, or
Six Nations, as given by David Cusick, himself an
Indian : —

" There was a woman who was with child, with
twins. She descended from the higher world, and
was received on the turtle. While she was in the dis
tress of travail, one of the infants in her womb was
moved by an evil desire, and determined to pass out
under the side of the parent's arm, and the other in
fant endeavored in vain to prevent his design. They
entered the dark world by compulsion, and their
mother expired in a few minutes. One of them pos
sessed a gentle disposition, and was named Enigorio,
the Good Mind. The other possessed an insolence of
character, and was called Enigonhahetgea ; that is,
the Bad Mind. The Good Mind was not content to
remain in a dark situation, and was desirous to create
a great light in the dark world ; but the Bad Mind
was desirous that the world should remain in its orig
inal state. The Good Mind, determined to prosecute
his design, began the work of creation. Of his moth
er's head he made the sun, of her body the moon.
After he had made creeks and rivers, animals and
fishes, he formed two images of the dust of the ground
in his own likeness, male and female, and by his

1 The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia. By Sven Nilsson.
Edited by Sir John Lubbock. 1868.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 25

breathing into their nostrils he gave them living souls,
and named them ea gwe howe, that is a real people ;
and he gave the Great Island all the animals — of
game for the inheritance of the people. . . . The Bad
Mind, while his brother was making the universe,
went through the island, and made numerous high
mountains and falls of water and great steeps, and
also created reptiles which would be injurious to man
kind ; but the Good Mind restored the island to its
former condition. The Bad Mind made two images
of clay in the form of mankind, but while he was
giving them existence they became apes. The Good
Mind discovered his brother's contrivances, and aided
in giving them living souls.

" Finding that his brother continually thwarted
him, the Good Mind admonished him to behave bet
ter. The Bad Mind then offered a challenge to his
brother, on condition that the victor should ride the
universe. The Good Mind was willing. He falsely
mentioned that whipping with flags [bulrushes] would
destroy his temporal life, and earnestly solicited his
brother to observe the instrument of death, saying
that by using deer-horns he would expire. [This is
very obscure in Cusick's Indian-English.] On the
day appointed the battle began ; it lasted for two days ;
they tore lip the trees and mountains ; at last the Good
Mind gained the victory by using the horns. The last
words uttered by the Bad Mind were that he would
have equal power over the souls of mankind after
their death, and so sank down to eternal doom and
became the Evil Spirit."

26 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Contrasted with this hardly heathen cosmogony,
which shows recent Bible influence throughout, the
Algonquin narrative reads like a song from the Edda.
That the latter is the original and the older there can
be no doubt. Between the " Good Mind," making
man " from the dust of the earth," and Glooskap,
rousing him by magic arrows from the ash-tree, there
is a great difference. It may be observed that the
fight with horns is explained in another legend in this
book, called the Chenoo, and that these horns are the
magic horns of the Chepitch calm, or Great Serpent,
who is somewhat like the dragon.

In the Algonquin story, two Loons are Glooskap's
" tale-bearers," which occasion him great anxiety by
their prolonged absences. This is distinctly stated in
the Indian legend, as it is of Odin's birds in the Edda.
Odin has, as news-bringers, two ravens.

" Hugin and Mimin
Fly each day
over the spacious earth.
I fear for Hugin
that he comes not back,
yet more anxious am I
for Munin."

The Loons, indeed, occasioned Glooskap so much
trouble by absences that he took wolves in their place.
The ravens of the Edda are probably of biblical
origin. But it is a most extraordinary coincidence
that the Indians have a corresponding perversion of
Scripture, for they say that Glooskap, when he was in

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 27

the ark, that is as Noah, sent out a white dove, which
returned to him colored black, and became a raven.
This is not, however, related as part of the myth.

The Ancient History of the Six Nations, by David
Cusick, gives us in one particular a strange coinci
dence with the Edda. It tells us that the Bad Mind,
the principle of Evil, forced himself out into life, as
Cusick expresses it in his broken Indian-English,
" under the side of the parent's arm ; " that is, through
the armpit. In the Edda (Vafthrudnismal, 33) we
are told of the first beings born on earth that they
were twins, begotten by the two feet of a giant, and
born out of his armpit.

" Under the armpit grew,
't is said of the Hritnthurs,
a girl and boy together ;
foot with foot begat,
of that wise Jbtun,
a six-headed son."

There are in these six lines six coincidences with
red Indian mythology : (1.) The Evil principle as a
Jb'tun's first-born in the one and the Bad Mind in the
other are born of the mother's armpit. (2.) In one of
the tales of Lox, the Indian devil, also a giant, we are
told that his feet are male and female. (3.) In both
faiths this is the first birth on earth. (4.) The six-
headed demon appears in a Micmac tale. (5.) There
is in both the Eddaic and the Wabanaki account a
very remarkable coincidence in this : that there is a
Titanic or giant birth of twins on earth, followed by

28 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

the creation of man from the ash-tree. (6.) The Evil
principle, whether it be the Wolf-Lox in the Waba-
naki myths, or Loki in the Norse, often turns himself
into a woman. Thus the male and female sex of the
first-born twins is identified.

According to the Edda, the order of births on
earth was as follows : —

First, two giants were born from the mother's
armpit.

Secondly, the dwarfs were created.

Thirdly, man was made from the ash-tree.

According to the Wabanaki, this was the order : —

First, two giants were born, one from his mother's
armpit.

Secondly, the dwarfs (Mikumwessuk) were created
from the bark of the ash-tree.

Thirdly, man was made from the trunk of the ash.

The account of the creation of the dwarfs is want
ing in the present manuscript.

Of the Great Deeds which Glooskap did for Men ; how he
named the Animals, and who they were that formed his

Family.

(Passamaquoddy.)

Woodenit attih-hagen Gloosehap : 1 this is a story
of Glooskap. It is told in traditions of the old time
that Glooskap was born in the land of the Wabanaki,
which is nearest to the sunrise ; but another story says
that he came over the sea in a great stone canoe, and
that this canoe was an island of granite covered with
1 Passamaquoddy.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 29

trees. When the great man, of all men and beasts
chief ruler, had come down from this ark, he went
among the Wabanaki.1 And calling all the animals
he gave them each a name : unto the Bear, mooiii ;
and asked him what he would do if he should meet
with a man. The Bear said, " I fear him, and I should
run." Now in those days the Squirrel (rtii-ko) was
greater than the Bear. Then Glooskap took him in
his hands, and smoothing him down he grew smaller
and smaller, till he became as we see him now. In
after-days the Squirrel was Glooskap's dog, and when
he so willed, grew large again and slew his enemies,
however fierce they might be. But this time, when
asked what he would do should he meet with a man,
Mi-ko replied, " I should run up a tree."

Then the Moose, being questioned, answered, stand
ing still and looking down, " I should run through the
woods." And so it was with Kwah-beet the Beaver,2
and Glooskap saw that of all created beings the first
and greatest was Man.

Before men were instructed by him, they lived in

1 This part of the legend is from a very singular and I may
add almost unintelligible manuscript, Storey about Glooscap, writ
ten in English by a Passamaquoddy Indian. The word ark
which occurs in it reminds me that the Indian from whom I ob
tained it once asked me if I did not think that Glooskap was the
same as Noah. This sentence is as follows in the Indian-Eng
lish of the original : " Gloosecap hat left from ark come crosse
even wiht wabnocelel."

2 This is very obscure in the original manuscript. It reads
"Herask beaber did do anything just look behager."

30 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

darkness ; it was so dark that they could not even see
to slay their enemies.1 Glooskap taught them how to
hunt, and to build huts and canoes and weirs for fish.
Before he came they knew not how to make weapons
or nets. He the Great Master showed them the hid
den virtues of plants, roots, and barks, and pointed out
to them such vegetables as might be used for food, as
well as what kinds of animals, birds, and fish were to
be eaten. And when this was done he taught them
the names of all the stars. He loved mankind, and
wherever he might be in the wilderness he was never
very far from any of the Indians. He dwelt in a
lonely land, but whenever they sought him they found
him.2 He traveled far and wide : there is no place in
all the land of the Wabanaki where he left not his
name ; hills, rocks and rivers, lakes and islands, bear
witness to him.

Glooskap was never married, yet as he lived like
other men he lived not alone. There dwelt with him
an old woman, who kept his lodge; he called her
Noogumee, " my grandmother." (Micmac.) With her
was a youth named Abistanaooch, or the Martin. (M.)
And Martin could change himself to a baby or a lit-

1 This was read to me by an Indian from a wampum record,
now kept at Sebayk. I do not think I am mistaken in the
phrase. It probably refers to ignorance of warlike weapons.

2 This is from the Rand manuscript. The writer remarks
that these expressions were the very words of a Micmac Indian
named Stephen Flood, " who had no idea that he was using al
most the identical expressions of Holy Writ with reference to
God."

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 31

tie boy, a youth or a young man, as befitted the time
in which he was to act ; for all things about Glooskap
were very wonderful. This Martin ate always from
a small birch -bark dish, called witch-kwed - lakun-
cheech (M.), and when he left this anywhere Gloos
kap was sure to find it, and could tell from its ap
pearance all that had befallen his family. And
Martin was called by Glooskap Uch-keen (M.), "my
younger brother." The Lord of men and beasts had
a belt which gave him magical power and endless
strength. And when he lent this to Martin, the
younger brother could also do great deeds, such as
were only done in old times.

Martin lived much with the Mikumwess or Elves, or
Fairies, and is said to have been one of them.

How Win-pe the Sorcerer, having stolen Glooskap' s Family \
was by him pursued, and how Glooskap for a Merry
Jest cheated the Whale. Of the Song of the Clams, and
how the Whale smoked a Pipe.

(Micmac.)

^'kah-ne-oo. In old times (P.)? m the beginning
of things, men were as animals and animals as men ;
how this was, no one knows. But it is told that all
were at first men, and as they gave themselves up to
this and that desire, and to naught else, they became
beasts. But before this came to pass, they could
change to one or the other form ; yet even as men
there was always something which showed what they
were.

32 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Now Glooskap lived on an island named, Aja-lig-
un-mechk, and with him were many Indians with the
names and natures of animals and birds.

These men, but most of all Pulowech, the Partridge,
having acquired power themselves, became jealous of
Glooskap, and made up their minds to depart when
he was away, taking with them Martin and the grand
mother. For they had great hope that Glooskap,
being left alone on the island, would perish, because
they knew not his power. There is another story
which says that he was living at the mouth of the
Oolostook, at a place called Menogwes (St. John,
N. B.), and went away into the forest as far as Gool-
wahgik (Juan), and had been gone six weeks, when
he returned home and found the old woman, whose
name was Mooinarkw,1 and Martin had been taken
away. Following their tracks to the shore he saw
one of his greatest enemies, a terrible sorcerer named
Win-pe, just pushing off in his canoe. And with him
were his wife and child and Dame Bear and Martin.
They were still within call, and Glooskap cried from
the shore to the grandmother to send back his dogs,
which were not larger than mice, and, as some stories
tell us, were squirrels. So she took a woltes-takun,
which is a small wooden platter, and on such Indian
dice are tossed. This she put in the water, and placed
the dogs on it, and it floated to the shore, and Gloos
kap took it up. Win-pe with his family and prisoners
pushed on to Passanioogwaddy (M.), and thence to

1 Mr. Rand translates this Micmac word as Mrs. Bear.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 33

Grand Manan ; and after remaining there a while he
crossed over to Kes-poog-itk (Yarmouth), and so went
slowly along the southern coast through Oona-mahgik
(Cape Breton), and over to Uktukkamkw (New
foundland), where he was slain.

Now whether it was to gain magical power, or to
weaken that of Win-pe, or to chasten the others by
suffering, who knows? But Glooskap rested seven
years alone before he pursued the enemy, though
some say it was seven months. And when the time
had come, he took his dogs and went to the shore, and
looked far out to sea over the waves, and sang the
magic song which the whales obey.1 Soon there rose
in the distance a small whale, who had heard the call,
and came to Glooskap ; but he was then very great,
and he put one foot on the whale to test his weight,
and the fish sank under him. So he sent it away.

Then the lord of men and beasts sang the song
again, and there came the largest, a mighty female,
and she bore him well and easily over to Kes-poog-
itk. But she was greatly afraid of getting into shoal
water, or of running ashore, and this was what Gloos
kap wished her to do that he might not wet his feet.
So as she approached she asked him if land were in
sight. But he lied, and said " No." So she went on
rapidly.

1 In the Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, by Dr. Henry
Rink, we are told in the story of Akigsiak that an old man
taught the hero a magic lay for luring a whale to him. In an
other, Katersparsuk sings such a song to the walrus.
3

34 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

However, she saw shells -below, and soon the water
grew so shoal that she said in fear, " Moon-as-tabd-
kdn-kwi-jean-nook ? (M.) Does not the land show
itself like a bow-string ? " And he said, " We are
still far from land."

Then the water grew so shoal that she heard the
song of the Clams as they lay under the sand, singing
to her that she should throw him off and drown him.
For these Clams were his deadly enemies. But Bootup
the Whale did not understand their language, so she
asked her rider — for he knew Clam — what they
were chanting to her. And he replied in a song : —

" They tell you to hurry (cussal) (M.),
To hurry, to hurry him along,
Over the water,
Away as fast as you can ! "

Then the Whale went like lightning, and suddenly
found herself high on the shore. Then she lamented

and sang

" Alas, my grandchild (noojeech),
Ah, you have been my death;
I can never leave the land,
I shall swim in the sea no more."

But Glooskap sang : —

"Have no fear, noogumee,
You shall not suffer,
You shall swim in the sea once more."

Then with a push of his bow against her head he
sent her off into deep water. And the Whale re-

GLOOSKAP LOOKING AT THE WHALE SMOKING HIS PIPE.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 35

joiced greatly. But ere she went she said, " Oh, my
grandson," " K'teen 2^nabskioass rfaga tomaice?"
(P.). "Hast thou not such a thing as an old pipe and
some tobacco?" He replied, —

" Ah yes.

You want tobacco,
I behold you."

So he gave her a short pipe and some tobacco, and
thereunto a light. And the Whale, being of good
cheer, sailed away, smoking as she went, while Gloos-
kap, standing silent on the shore, and ever leaning on
his maple bow, beheld the long low cloud which fol
lowed her until she vanished in the far away. And
to this day the Indians, when they see a whale blow,
say she is smoking the pipe of Glooskap.

In a Passamaquoddy tale of Pook-jin-skwess the
Witch, the Clams sing a song deriding the hero. The
words are : —

" Mow chow nut-pess sell
Peri marm-hole wett."

These words are not Indian, but they are said to
mean, —

You look very funny with your long hair streaming in the wind,
And sailing on a snail's horn.

The large Clams sing this in a bass voice, the
small ones in falsetto. The gypsies say that a Snail,
when put on a fire, utters four cries, or sqneaks ; hence
in Germany the Romany call it Stargoli : that is,
shtor-godli, four cries.

36 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Of the Dreadful Deeds of the Evil Pitcher, who was loth
Man and Woman, and how she fell in love ivith Gloos
kap, and, being scorned, became his Enemy. Of the
Toads and Porcupines, and the Awful Battle of the

Giants.

(Passaniaquoddy.)

When Glooskap came into the world it abounded in
giants, monsters, sorcerers and witches, fiends and
devils. Among the witches there was one whom the
Passaniaquoddy call Pook-jin-skwess, or the Pitcher.1
And they have a legend that she once fell in love with
Glooskap when he was young and had not gained the
power of his riper age. He fled before her, and she
pursued him. It was a dreadful flight, since to make
rapid steps both took the form of giants by their m'te-
oulin (P.), or magic power. It was like an awful
storm in winter, the wind chasing the cloud ; it was
like a frightful tempest in summer, the lightning chas
ing the thunder. As the snow lay deep, both had
snow-shoes on. When they came to the shore Gloos
kap leaped from the main-land to the island of Grand
Manan,2 and so escaped her. Now the snow-shoes of
Glooskap were sams }oolc (P.), or round, while those
of Pook-jin-skwess were long and pointed,3 and the
marks of them as they jumped are to be seen deep in
the rocks to this day.

1 It is not impossible that this well-known Indian witch gave
her name to Moll Pitcher, the famous fortune-teller of Lynn.

2 A leap of about nine miles.

8 The Penobscots give the long shoes to Glooskap.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 37

When Glooskap came to the camp, which was at
Ogumkegeak (M.), iiosv called Liverpool, he found no
one. But there lay the witch-kiced-lakun-cheech (M.),
or birch-bark dish of Martin, and from it, or, as an
other legend states, from an old man and woman
who dwelt hard by, he learned that Win-pe and the
families had been gone for seven years, along a road
guarded by wicked and horrible beings, placed by
Win-pe to prevent the Great Master from finding him.
For it was a great triumph for him to keep Glooskap's
friends as slaves, and all the land spoke thereof.

And these monsters were Pook-jin-skwess, or the
Evil Pitcher herself, in many forms ; for she could be
man or woman,1 or many of them, and also several
girls, when she willed it. Now it is a great part of
Indian m'teoidin (P.) to know what one's enemies
are planning and plotting, and all their tricks and
darkened paths ; and in this Glooskap went beyond
them all, for before his time every one went his own
way, even in wickedness. But Glooskap first of all
threw out his soul unto others.

And when he came to Ogumkeok he found a hut,

1 In the Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, we are told that
a woman named Arnakuak, being apparently gifted by magic
with the ability to change her sex, had her daughter-in-law,
Ukuamak, for a wife, and, having eloped with her, was followed
and killed by her own son. As this is almost immediately
followed by a story of a man who gave birth to a child, it would
appear that the idea was common to both Eskimo and Indians.
Only the wicked magicians in Indian tales change their sex,
like Loki in the Edda.

38 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

and in it, seated over a fire, the ugliest old hag he had
ever seen, trembling in every limb, as if near death,
dirty, ragged, and loathsome in all ways. Looking
up at him with bleared eyes, she begged him to
gather her a little firewood, which he did. And then
she prayed him to free her from the wah gook (M.), or
vermin, with which she was covered, and which were
maddening her with their bites. These were all
devils in disguise, the spirits of foul poison, such as
she deemed must kill even the Master. Now Gloos-
kap, foreseeing all this, had taken with him, as he
came, from a bog many cranberries. And bidding
Pook-jin-skwess bend over, he began to take from her
hair the hideous vermin, and each, as he took it, be
came a horrid porcupine or toad.1 Then the hag
asked, "Have you found one?" "I have," replied
the Master. " Edsp ! " (M.) " Crush it ! " was her
answer, and Glooskap crushed a cranberry ; and she,
hearing the noise, thought that he had done as she bid,
and that the poison on his fingers would penetrate to
his life. But he put the imps, one by one, under the

1 In the Eskimo mythology, Arnarkuagsak, the old woman of
the sea, is tormented by vermin about her head. These are
really the souls of still-born or murdered infants, who have be
come imps. The first thing which the angakbk or sorcerer, who
visits her must do is to free her from these pests. The de
scent of the sorcerer to this mother of all the monsters of the
sea, who are at the same time giants, when they choose to assume
the human form, recalls that of Odin to Hela. Both make tins
journey to hell, not for themselves, but in the interests of man
kind.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 39

wooden platter, which, lay before him. As this went
on he put the witch to sleep. When she awoke he
was gone. The foul porcupines and toads were swarm
ing all over the ground, having upset their hive. And
filled with fury at being made a jest of, since it was a
great despite that he had not even found it worth
while to kill her when asleep, she burst out into her
own form, which was beautiful as sin, wild as the
devil, and gathering up all her imps, and making her
self far more magical by fiercer will, went onward to
encounter him again.

Then Glooskap came to a narrow pass in the hills.
Here were two terrible beasts, as one story has it, or
two monstrous dogs,1 as it is told in another. And
they attacked him ; but he set his own at them, and
they, growing to tremendous size, killed the others.
His dogs were so trained that when called to come
off they went on, and the more they were bid to be
quiet the more they bit.

Soon he came to the top of a high hill, and look
ing thence over all the land saw afar off a large wig
wam, and knew in his heart that an enemy dwelt
therein. And coming to it he found an old man and
his two daughters.2 Now the girls came out greeting

1 The Indians had dogs before the coming of the whites.
They were wolf -like.

2 In another account, an old sorceress and her daughters ;
also an old man and his wife and daughters. According to two
versions, these are all separate wizards, but the whole spirit of
the Passamaquoddy legends make them Pook-jin-skwess alone.

40 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

him with very pleasant glances, wooing softly and
sweetly; they offered him a string of sausages, siu-h
as the Indians make from the entrails of the bear
by only turning them inside out. For the fat, which
clings to the outside, fills the skin. When these are
washed and dried and smoked, many deem them de
licious. But these which the girls offered, as girls
do, to show their love, by casting the string round the
neck of the favored youth, were enchanted, and had
they once put the necklace upon him he would have
been overpowered. However, they knew not of this
new magic which the Master had brought into the
land, by which one can read the heart ; so, as they
sidled up unto him with smiles and blandishments,
waving in the wind as they danced their garlands of
enchanted sausages, he looked as if he wanted to be
won. And when his dogs growled at them he cried,
" Cuss!" (M.), which means /Stop! but which the
dogs only knew as " Hie, at them ! " So they flew at
the witches, and these flashed up like fire into their
own dreadful forms of female fiends. Then there
was a terrible tumult, for never before in the land of
the Wabanaki had there been such a battle. All the
earth and rocks around were torn up. All the while
the Master cried to the dogs, " Stop ! These are

In the story of the Rabbit and Lusifee the sorcerer singly twice
assumes the form of an old man and his two daughters. There is
yet another story, in wrhich a magician thus triples himself with
two daughters. It is, I believe, Eskimo, but I cannot distinctly
remember as to this.

GLOOSKAP SETTING HIS DOGS ON THE WiTCHES.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 41

my sisters. Come off, ye evil beasts.! Let them
alone ! Cease, oh cease ! " Yet the more he ex
horted them to peace the more they inclined to war,
and the more fiercely they fought, until the witches
tied.

Then he entered the wigwam where the old sor
cerer sat, waiting for him as food. And the Master
said, " Are you hungry ? Or do you love sausages ?
Here they are ! " Instantly casting the links around
his neck, he was taken, and Glooskap slew him with
one blow.

Then, going on, he reached the Strait of Cam-
soke 1 (M.), or Canso, and to cross over again sang
the song which wins the whales, and one of these ris
ing, carried him to the opposite shore. Thence he
made the circle of Oona-mah-gik, keeping round by
the southern coast, and coming to the old camps
where his enemy had been. From the witch-kived-
lakun-cheech, or birch-bark dish, left by Martin, he
learned how long they had been gone.2 When he
came to Uk-tu-tun (M., Cape North) he found they
had rowed to Uk-tuk-ainqw (M., Newfoundland), and
had left three days before.

1 Camsoke means, " There is a high bluff on the opposite side
of the river." — S. T. Rand.

2 As the gypsy leaves his patteran, or sign, so the Indian
makes marks which set forth clearly enough how long he has
cuinped at any place, and how many were in the party, etc. It
may be supposed that Martin, not daring to attract Win-pe's at
tention, effected this by a few secret scratches. Thus three lines
and a crescent or moon would mean three nights.

42 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Then again lie sang, and once more a whale carried
him over. And now he knew that he was indeed
coming to what he sought, for in the deserted camp
he found the embers of a fire, still smoking. Ad
vancing rapidly, he saw near the next camp Martin,
seeking wood to burn. The youth and the old Dame
Bear had been most cruelly treated by Win-pe, and
they were nearly starved, but Martin's clothes were
good.1 And Martin was so sunk in sorrow that he
did not hear Glooskap call him, and not till the Mas
ter threw a small stick at him did he look up, and
even then he thought it had fallen from a tree. Then,
seeing him, he cried out with joy ; but Glooskap, who
was hiding in the woods, bade him be silent. " Wait
till it is dark," he said, "and I will go to your wig
wam. Now you may go home and tell your grand
mother."

In the other story (M.) it is narrated that as Mar
tin with the grandmother were on the road, and Dame
Bear bore him as almost a babe on her back, he
turned his head and saw Glooskap following them,
and cried out, —

" Where, oh where,
Where is my brother ?
He who fed me often
On the marrow of the moose ! "

1 There is a reason for this singular detail. Nancy Jeddore, the
Indian from whom Mr. Rand learned one version of this leg-end,
informed him that the Martin, thin at all times, nlways has a fine
fur, however starved he may be. Dying with hunger, he is al
ways well dressed.

GLOOSRAP THE DIVINITY. 43'

And she replied, —

" Alas for thee, boy !
He is far, far away ;
You will see him no more."

But the little fellow, seeing him again, sang as before,
and Dame Bear, turning her head and beholding her
Master, was so moved that she fainted and fell to the
ground. Then Glooskap raised her in his arms, and
when she had recovered she related how cruelly they
had been treated by Win-pe. And Glooskap said,
" Bear with him yet a little while, for I will soon pay
him in full for what he has done."

Then the Master bade the old woman go back to
the camp with Martin, and say nothing. It was the
youth's duty to go for water and tend the baby in its
swinging cot. And Glooskap told him all that he
should do. AVhen he should bring water he must
mix with it the worst filth, and so offer it to Win-pe,
the sorcerer.

And even as he ordered it was done, and Martin
meekly offered the foul drink to the evil man, who at
the smell of it cried aloud, " Uk say ! " (M., Oh, hor
ror !) and bade him bring a cleaner cup. But Martin,
bearing the babe, threw it into the fire, and, running
to the spot where Glooskap hid, cried out, " Nse-sako !
nse-sako ! " (M., My brother ! my brother !) Win-pe,
pursuing him, said, " Cry out to him ; your brother
cannot help you now. He is far away from here, on
the island where I left him. Cry out well, for now
you must die ! " All this had been done that Win-pe's

44 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

power might be put to sleep by anger, and his mind
drawn to other things. And the Master rose before
him in all his might, and stepped forward, while
Win-pe drew backward a pace to recover his strength.
And with great will the bad man roused all the magic
within him, and as it came, he rose till his head was
above the tallest pine ; and truly in those days trees
were giants beyond those of this time. But the lord
of men and beasts laughed as he grew till his head
was far above the clouds and reached the stars, and
ever higher, till Win-pe was as a child at his feet.
And holding the man in scorn, and disdaining to use
a nobler weapon, he tapped the sorcerer lightly with
the end of his bow, like a small dog, and he fell
dead.

How the Story of Glooskap and Pook-jin-skwess, the Evil
Pitcher, is told by the Passamaquoddy Indians.1

(Passamaquoddy.)

There was a village of Indians who were all Black
Cats, or Po'gum'k. One of them, the cleverest and
bravest, went forth every day with bow and arrow, tom-

1 In this story Glooskap is called Pogumk, the Black Cat or
Fisher, that is, a species of wild cat, while Martin is a N'mock-
swess, sable. There seems to be no settled idea as to what was
the totem or innate animal nature of the lord of men and beasts.
I have a series of pictures scraped on birch-bark illustrating
these myths, executed by a Passamaquoddy, in which Glooskap
and the adopted grandmother in the stone canoe are represented
as wood-chucks, or ground-hogs. (Mou-in-kAvess, P.)

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 45

ahawk and knife, and killed moose and bear, and sent
meat to the poor, and so lie fed them all. When he
returned they came to him to know where his game
lay, and when he had told them they went forth with
toboggins l and returned with them loaded with meat.
And the chief of the Black Cats was by his mother
the son of a bear.2

Pook-jin-skwess, the Witch, was a Black Cat. She
was a woman or a man as she willed to be ; but in
these days she was a man. And she, being evil, hated
the chief, and thought long how she could kill or re
move him, and take his place. Now, one day when
all the camp had packed what they .had, being about
to travel, Pitcher asked the chief to go with him, or
with her, as you may will, down to the water-side to
gather gulls' eggs. And then they went far out in a
canoe, and very far, and still farther, till they came to
an island, and there they landed, and while Pogumk
(who was Glooskap) sought for eggs, the false-hearted
Pitcher stole away in the akwSden (P., canoe), and as
she paddled she sang a song —

" Xikhed-ha Pogumk ruin nekuk,
Netswil sagamawin ! " (P.)

f

" I have left the Black Cat on an island,
I shall be the chief of the Fishers now ! "

1 Toboggin, a sled made very simply by turning up the ends
of one or more pieces of wood to prevent them from catching in
the snow.

2 A confused but important point in all these myths.

46 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

So she came to the village, and the next day they
all departed through the woods ; there was not one of
them left save the one who was worth them all. And
at night they camped, expecting every day that the
chief would come to them, and till then Pitcher was
in his place.

Now on the thirtieth day the chief remembered his '.
friend the Fox, who had m9 Moulin (P.)> or magic
power. And he sang a song, and the Fox heard it,
although he was miles away, beyond forests and moun
tains. And thus knowing all, he went to the shore
and swam to the island, where he found the chief. At
this time the Black Cat could not swim such a dis
tance,1 but the Fox offered to take him to the main
land. Then they waded into the water, and the Fox
said, " Close thine eyes and hold fast to my tail as
tightly as thou canst, and be of good faith, oh, my
elder brother, and we shall soon gain the shore."
Saying this, he swam away and his friend followed.
And it went well with them, but the chief grew weary,
and he opened one eye a little, and saw that they were
not ten feet from the shore. And being of little faith <
he thought, for he spoke not aloud, " We shall never/
get to land." But the Fox replied, " Do not believe
it." But the journey lasted long, for what seemed to
Pogumk to be ten feet was ten miles, and the wind

1 The most powerful manitous, or magicians, in the Chippeway
tales, as well as in all others of the Indians, may exhaust their
power and be forced to depend on that of inferiors in the great
art. In this tale Glooskap is decidedly under a cloud.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 47

was high and the waters were wild, for Pitcher had
called forth a storm. So they swam all day and all
the evening before they landed. " And now, my elder
brother," said the Fox, " you may go your way." And
he went to the camp of the Black Cats.

When he came to the camp it was cold, and there
were only ashes, for the people had gone on. So he
followed them, and in one day came near them. And
the first whom he overtook was his mother, bearing
his younger brother Sable ('Nmmok - swess, P.) on
her back, so that while she looked forward he looked
behind. And as Pogumk peeped out from among
the leaves, Sable saw him, and said, " Here comes my
brother ! " And she turned, but saw nothing, for the
chief suddenly hid himself behind a tree. Then they
went on, and Sable cried again, " Indeed, mother, I
behold my elder brother! " And this time the mother,
glancing quickly, caught him, and they all laughed
ijor joy, and she threw Sable down in the leaves, like
|a stick. Then the chief bade Sable run to the camp.
"xVnd when you are there," he said, "build up a great
fire of hemlock bark, and take Pitcher's babe, even the
,pabe which she loves, and which you tend, and throw
it into the fire, and run to me as fast as you can, for
-verily thou wilt be in dire need to do so."

And as he commanded it was done ; and when the

> fire was hot, Sable threw the babe into it, and it was

j burned to death. And Pitcher, being, as one may

well believe, maddened at such a sight, pursued him

as a starving wolf pursues a rabbit. Then Sable, in

great fear, cried aloud, " Oh, my elder brother, my

48 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

brother ! " And Pitcher screamed, " Call aloud to
him, for you must run as far as the island where Po-
gumk is, to save yourself ! " Arid at that word Po-
gumk stepped forward and confronted her, and said,
" Truly, she need not run so far."

And seeing him and hearing this, fear came upon
her ; but she laughed aloud to hide it, and said, " I
did but chase him in sport, for I love Sable." But
Pogumk replied grimly, " I know thee and thy tricks,
thou the evil one." Then, as his magic had come
to him, he used his power, and put Pitcher with her
back against a tree ; and there she stayed, stuck to
it, unable to get away. But the chief and Sable
went to the camp. Now Pitcher had a hatchet and
wedge, and with much ado she cut herself away, and
the Black Cats heard her pounding and chopping all
night long. And in the morning she came to them,/
and there was a great piece of wood sticking to her
back, and they laughed her to scorn, and sang at
her, —

"He who made the chief
Stay on a distant island,
He is stuck by the chief
Fast with his back to a tree." l

Now Pitcher the Witch, being mad with shame and
spite, fled from the face of man, and ran through the
woods like a wild wolf. And so she came to Bar
Harbor (Pes'sonkqu', P.), and sat down on a log,
and said, with her heart full of bitterness and malice,

1 In another version Pook-jin-skwcss is turned to a toad, and the
piece of wood or bark is the hump which she bears to this day.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 49

" I would that I could become something which should
torment all men." And as she said this she became
a mosquito (T'sis-o, P.), and so it came to pass that
mosquitoes were made. And to this day men see that
wherever the Black Cat is, there too is the Sable not
far away.1

Of this Pook-jin-skwess it was said that she had
children of her own, begotten by sorcerers and giants
and monsters ; but as they were all ugly she stole
from the Indian women their fairest babes, and
brought them up as if they were her own, that she
might not be entirely put to shame because of her
children. And once she had thus stolen a boy, and
when he grew up some one said to him that he should
not believe that she was his mother, but should ques
tion her as to it. Now the youth, reflecting on this,
^observed that his brothers and sisters were all as ugly
;as evil beasts and no better behaved, while he himself
comely and good. Then he asked her what this

1 The Passamaquoddy version relates that Pitcher in her

» flight pursued a moose to Bar Harbor, where, having killed

I) him and drawn out the entrails, she petrified him. A Penobscot

i| woman told me she had often seen the moose rock there, and the

" inments." But she attributed the deed to Glooskap, to whom

- it properly belongs, his petrified moose and dogs and the print of

his bow, etc., being still shown in Nova Scotia; and it is also said

I that it was at Freshwater, after returning from Bar Harbor

! (Maine), that Pitcher was changed into a mosquito.

Another story states that Pook-jin-skwess, having pursued
; young men all her life, changed into a mosquito that she might
continue to prey on them.
4

50 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

might mean. And she replied, laughing, " Because
they were all begotten (or born) in the night-time,
but you are a child of the day and of light." 1

How Glooskap became friendly to the Loons, and made
them his Messengers.

(Micmac.)

When Glooskap was pursuing Win-pe, he one day
on Uktukamkw saw from afar flying over water the
Kwe-moo (M.), or Loons. And thrice did their chief
make the circle of the lake, corning near to the land
of men and beasts every time, as if he would fain
seek somewhat. Then Glooskap asking him what he
wanted, Kwe-moo replied that he would be his ser
vant and friend. So Glooskap taught him a strange ,
long cry like the howl of a dog, and when the loons
were in need of him or would pray to him they werej
to utter this cry.

And it came to pass that when he was in New
foundland he came to an Indian town, and they whc»
dwelt therein were all Kwee-moo-uk, or Loons. And
they, as men, were exceeding glad to see their lord,ff
who had blessed them as birds, and did their best to* V

1 There is probably an allusion in this to the Wabanaki, or I
Children of Light ; that is, the Algonquin. This story was told
me by Noel Josephs, a Passamaquoddy.

I have been told by an old Passamaquoddy woman that the
descendants of Pook-jin-skwess were the 'Nmmok-skwess. This
stealing the white boy is related in another tale more fully. It
may refer to the early dark Eskimo.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 51

please him. So he made them his huntsmen and mes
sengers, and in all the tales of Glooskap the K wee-
moo ever appears as faithful to him. Whence to this
day, when the Indians hear the cry of the Loon, they
say, " Kwemoo el-komik-too-ajul Gloocapal " (He
is calling- upon Glooskap).

How Glooskap made his Uncle Mikchich the Turtle into
a Great Man, and got him a Wife.1 Of Turtles' Eggs,
and how Glooskap vanquished a Sorcerer by smoking
Tobacco.

(Micmac and Passamaquoddy.)

Now when Glooskap left Uktukamkw, or New
foundland, it was in a canoe, and he came to Piktook
(M. for Pictou), which means the bubbling up of air,
because there is much bubbling in the water near that
place. And here there was an Indian village, and in
that place the Master met with a man whom he loved
all his life.

1 This legend of the tortoise is carefully compiled from six
Different versions : the narration of Tomah Josephs, a Passama
quoddy ; the Anglo-Indian manuscript, already cited ; two ac-

< counts in the Rand manuscript ; the author quoted without credit
;n The Maritime Provinces ; and one by Mrs. W. Wallace Brown.

•- as the totem of the Tortoise was of the highest rank among the
(Algonquins, this account of its origin is of corresponding interest.
Having employed an old Indian to carve the handle of a war
/or scalping knife for me, such as was used by his Passamaquoddy
ancestors, he carved on it a tortoise. It was especially the totem

j of the Lenni-Lenape, called by the Passamaquoddies Lel-le-nabe\

'," the people."

52 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

And this was not because this man, whose name in
Micmac is Mikchieh and in Passamaquodcly Chick-
we-notchk, meaning the Turtle, was great, or well
favored, or rich. For truly he was none of these,
being very poor and lazy, no longer young, and not
very cleyer or wise in any way. It is said that he
was indeed Glooskap's uncle, but others think that
this was by adoption. However, this old fellow bore
all his wants with such good nature that the Master,
taking him in great affection, resolved to make of him
a mighty man. Which came to pass, and that in a
strange manner, as we shall see.

For coining to Piktook, where there were above a
hundred wigwams, Glooskap, being a very handsome,
stately man, with the manner of a great chief, was
much admired, and that not a little by all the women,
so that every one wished to have him in the house.
Yet he gave them all the go-by, and dwelt with his
old uncle, in whose quaint ways and old-time stories
he took great delight. And there was to be a great
feast with games, but Glooskap did not care to go,.
either as a guest or a performer in the play.

Still he inquired of Mikchieh if he would not take
part in it, telling him that all the maidens would be
there, and asking him why he had never married, anc
saying that he should not live alone. Then the uncde
said, " Poor and old and plain am I ; I have not even
garments fit for a feast ; better were it for me to smoke
my pipe at home." " Truly, if that be all, uncle," re
plied Glooskap, " I trow I can turn tailor and fit you

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 53

to a turn ; and have no care as to your outside or
your face, for to him who knows how, 't is as easy to
make a man over as a suit of clothes." " Yes ; but,
nephew," said Mikchich, " how say you as to making
over the inside of a mortal ? " " By the great Beaver ! "
answered the Master, " that is something harder to
do, else I were not so long at work in this world. But
before I leave this town I shall do that also for you ;
anil as for this present sport, do but put on my belt."
And when he had done that, Mikchich became so
young and handsome that no man or woman ever saw
the like. And then Glooskap dressed him in his own
best clothes, and promised him. that to the end of his
days, whenever he should be a man, he would be the
comeliest of men ; and because he was patient and
tough, he should, as an animal, become the hardest to
kill of all creatures on the face of the earth, as it came
to pass.

* So Mikchich went to the feast. Now the chief of
.Piktook had three beautiful daughters, and the young
est was the loveliest in the land. And on her he cast
his eyes, and returning said, " I have seen one whom
I want." Now all the young men in Piktook desired
this girl, and would kill any one who would win her.

So the next day Glooskap, taking a bunch of waw-
bap (P., wampum), went to the chief and proposed for
Mikchich,1 and the mother at once said " Yes." So

1 All invitations to festivals, or formal ceremonies, proposals
->f marriage, etc., were preceded among these tribes by a gift of
wampum.

54 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

the girl made up a bed of fresli twigs and covered it
with a great white bear-skin, and went to Mikchich,
and they returned and had dried meat for supper. So
they were married.

Now Turtle seemed to be very lazy, and when
others hunted he lounged at home. One day his
young wife said to him that if this went on thus they
must soon starve. So he put on his snow-shoes and
went forth, and she followed him to see what he
would do. And he had not gone far ere he tripped
and fell down, and the girl, returning, told her mother
that he was worthless. But the mother said, " He will
do something yet. Be patient."

One day it came to pass that Glooskap said to Mik
chich, " To-morrow there will be a great game at ball,
and you must play. But because you have made your
self enemies of all the young men here, they will seek
to slay you, by crowding all together and trampling
upon you. And when they do this it will be by your
father-in-law's lodge, and to escape them I give you,
the power to jump high over it. This you may da
twice, but the third time will be terrible for you, and
yet it must be."

All this happened as he foretold ; for the young men
indeed tried to take his life, and to escape them Mik
chich jumped over the lodge, so that he seemed like
a bird flying. But the third time he did this he was
caught on the top of the tent-poles, and hung there
dangling in the smoke which rose from below.

Then Glooskap, who was seated in the tent, said,

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 55

" Uncle, I will now make you the sogmo, or great
chief of the Tortoises, and you shall bear up a great
nation." Then he smoked Mikchich l so long that his
skin became a hard shell, and the marks of the smoke
may be seen thereon to this day. And removing his
entrails he destroyed them, so that but one short one
was left. And he cried aloud, " Milooks ! (M.) My
nephew, you will kill me ! " But the nephew replied,
" Not so. I am giving you great life. From this
time you may roll through a flame and never feel it,
and live on land or in the water. And though your
head be cut off, it will live for nine days, and your
heart, even, shall beat as long when taken from your
body." So Mikchich rejoiced greatly.

And this came betimes, for he soon had need of it
all. For the next day all the men went on a hunt,
and the Master warned him that they would seek to
slay him. Now the young men went on before, and
Turtle lingered behind; but all at once he made a
imigic flight far over their heads, unseen, and deep
in/ the forest he slew a moose. Then he drew this to
tljie snow-shoe track or road, and when his foes came
u.b there he sat upon the moose, smoking, and wait-
img for them. Now Glooskap had told them that
t)iey would see some one come out ahead of them

1 In a verbal Passamaquodcly narrative (John Gabriel), and

i n one given in The Maritime Provinces, this was effected by

(jrlooskap with tobacco-smoke from his pipe. In Mr. Rand's

manuscript it is the smoke of the tent-fire. The Passamaquoddy

narrations are invariably more spirited and humorous than the

. 'Mic mac.

56 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

all that day, and when this came to pass they were
more angered in their hearts than ever.

So they plotted to kill Turtle, and his nephew, who
was about to leave, told him how it would be. " First
of all, they will build a mighty fire and throw you
in it. But do thou, O uncle, go cheerfully, for by
my power thou wilt in nowise suffer. Then they will
speak of drowning, but thou must beg and pray that
this may not be ; and then they will the more seek to
do so, and thou shalt fight them to the bitter end, and
yet it shall be."

And as he said, so it came to pass ; and Mikchich,
being of good cheer, bade farewell to his nephew.1
And they seized him and threw him into a great fire,
but he turned over and went to sleep in it, being very
lazy ; and when the fire had burnt out he awoke, and
called for more wood, because it was a cold night.

Then they seized him yet again, and spoke <of
drowning. But, hearing this, he, as if he were 'in
mortal dread, begged them not to do this thing. Ai'id
he said they might cut him to pieces, or burn him, a>s
they would, but not to throw him into the water) 2

1 This is amusingly, though not very clearly, set forth in ttf, e
Indian manuscript as follows : " Make believe but you dond war
be trown. So he shaken hands witt is nuncel kick hororch goo(
by do him. Tell is uncle you — I shall not be kill and I am goiii£
Lever (to live) — we may meet again."

2 This in the original is extremely like Brer Rabbit's prayer
not to be thrown into the brier-bush. As this legend is one oi
the oldest of the Algonquin, and certainly antedating the com
ing of the whites, I give it the priority over the negro.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 57

Therefore they resolved to do so, and dragged him
on. Then he screamed horribly and fought lustily,
and tore up trees and roots and rocks like a madman ;
but they took him into a canoe and paddled out into
the middle of the lake (or to the sea), and, throw
ing him in, watched him sink as he vanished far down
below. So they thought him dead, and returned re
joicing.

Now the next day at noon there was a hot sun
shine, and something was seen basking on a great
rock, about a mile out in the lake. So two young
men took a canoe and went forth to see what this
might be. And when they came to the edge of the
rock, which was about a foot high, there lay Mik-
chich sunning himself ; but seeing them coming to
take him, he only said, " Good-by," and rolled over
plump into the water, where he is living to this day.
In memory whereof all turtles, when they see any
one coining, tip-tilt themselves over into the water at
once.

/ And Turtle lived happily with his wife, and she
jhad a babe. Now it happened in after-days that
Glooskap came to see his uncle, and the child cried.
*' Dost thou know what he says ? " exclaimed the Mas-
/ter. " Truly, not I," answered Mikchich, " unless it
be the language of the Mu-se-gisk (P., Spirits of the
Air), which no man knoweth." " Well," replied
Glooskap, " he is talking of eggs, for he says 4 Hoo-
wah ! hoo-wah ! ' which methinks is much the same
as 4 Waw-ivun, waw-wun.' And this in Passama-

58 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

quoddy means egg. " But where are there any ? "
asked Mikchich. Then Glooskap bade him seek in
the sand, and he found many, and admired and mar
veled over them greatly ; and in memory of this, and
to glorify this jest of Glooskap, the Turtle layeth eggs
even to this day.

The great Glooskap was a right valiant smoker ; in
all the world was no man who loved a pipe of good
tobacco so much as he. In those days the summers
were longer in the land of the Wabanaki, the sun
was warmer, and the Indians raised tomawe (tobacco,
P.), and solaced themselves mightily therewith.1 And
there came to Glooskap a certain evil-minded magi
cian, who sought to take his life, as the Master very
well knew, for he read the hearts of men as if they
had been strings of wampum. And this m^teoulin
(P., magician), believing himself to be greatest in all
things, thought to appall Glooskap by outdoing him
at first in something at which he excelled ; for a fish
is frightened when another swims faster, but not till!
then. j

And the man sat down to smoke with an exceeding]
long pipe with a great bowl, but that of Glooskap
grew to be much greater. Then, having filled his
pipe, the sorcerer exhausted and burnt it out at one

1 I have met with an old Indian woman in New Brunswick
who told me that her grandmother remembered to have seen to
bacco raised there by the Passamaquoddy.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 59

pull, and then blew all the smoke out of his nose at one
puff. So he sat and looked at the Master. But Gloos-
kap, whose pipe held ten times as much tobacco, did
the same, and blowing it out split the rocky ground,
so that a great chasm opened before them. Then they
were silent awhile, till the Master said, " If you can
do that you may kill me." But he could not, and so
went back with shame to those who had sent him.1

How Glooskap sailed through the great Cavern of Dark'

ness.
(Micmac.)

Now it is told in another tradition — and men tell
even this differently — that pitchS, in these old times
(P.) Glooskap's seven neighbors, who were all so many
different animals, took away his family, and that he
followed them, even as it has been written, unto New
foundland. And when he came there it was night,
and, finding Marten alone, he took him forth into the
forest to seek food, putting his belt on the boy, which
gave him such power that he hunted well and got
maich meat.

So it came to pass that the next morning Dame
Kjah-kah-gooch, the Crow,2 observed that Marten was

l^1 In this "tale of tobacco," told me by John Gabriel, the
aVil-minded magician is described as a Black Cat. This is prob
ably an error, as Glooskap himself appears as chief of the Black
(Oats in another tale. It may be, however, that this was Pook-
jin-skwess in disguise.

- Kah-kah-gooch, Micmac, Kah-kali-goos, Passamaquoddy. The
(Grow is represented in several stories as always peeping, spy-

60 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

drying meat on his wigwam. And this she spread
abroad. But when the people learned that the child
had done this, a great fear came upon them all, and
they sat every man in his lodge and awaited death,
for they knew that the Master had come.

And he indeed came ; but when he saw them all as
frightened as rabbits before the wild-cat, he laughed
aloud and forgave them, for he was noble and gen
erous. And as they were hungry — for he had come
in hard times — he gave them much venison, and sor
row departed from their wigwams. But as they had
left him of old, he now left them. When they knew
him not they left him to die ; now that they knew him
they feared lest they should perish without him. But
he turned his steps towards other paths.

Now having made a canoe, the Master, with Marten
and Dame Bear, went upon a mighty river. As the
story says, it was broad and beautiful at first, and so
they sailed away down towards its mouth. Then they
came to great cliffs, which gathered round and closed
over them. But the river ran on beneath these, and
ever on far underground, deeper and deeper in tlie
earth, till it dashed headlong into rapids, among roclj:s
and ravines, and under cataracts which were so hojr-
rible that death seemed to come and go with even
plunge of the canoe. And the water grew narrowe
and the current more dreadful, and fear came upo:

ing, begging, pilfering, and tale-bearing about a town. Th
Passamaquoddy Indians have peculiar superstitions as regard
killing the crow.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 61

Marten and the woman, so that they died. But the
Master sat with silent soul, though he sang the songs
of magic, and so passed into the night, but came
forth again into sunlight. And there was a lonely
wigwani on the bank, into which he bore Marten and
the grandmother, and saying, " Numchahse ! arise ! "
lo, they arose, and deemed they had only slept. And
now Glooskap had gained the greatest power.1

This incident of passing through darkness, on a
roaring stream in a frail bark, before emerging to
sunlight or illumination, was not only in the ancient
heathen myths. We are reminded of it by the storm
through which Jesus passed with the disciples. That
it made a great impression upon the Indians is shown
by its being told of Pulewech, the Partridge, who is
a type of Glooskap, and who, like him, makes war
on the powers of evil, set forth in the Porcupines.
The Indians, who imagined and selected so many
wild and terrible tests to form the Shaman, or sor
cerer, as well as the warrior, would hardly neglect
that of de profundis clamavi, the storm, the waves,
darkness, and the roaring flood.

If there is really any Norse influence in this tale,
this river must be the one mentioned in the Vaf-
thrudnismal, —

1 This incident of the passage underground is deeply sugges-
'ive of Wabeno mystery and initiation. It will strike every stu-
Vent of classic lore as almost identical with much that he has
(pad. If it has not the same symbolical meaning here, it has ap-
uone whatever.

i>arently

62 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

" Ifing the stream is called
which earth divides between
the Jotuns and the gods.
Open it shall run
throughout all time.
On that stream no ice shall be."

It will be observed that, having gone down or across
this stream, Pulewech finds himself in the country of
the Evil sorcerers ; that is, Jdtunheim. To conquer
a river among the Norse, in a dream, was a sign of
victory ; to be carried away by one was a terrible

omen.

" Methought a river ran
Through the whole house,
that it roared violently,
rushed over the benches,
brake the feet of yon
brothers twain ;
Nothing the water spared ;
Something that will portend."

(Atlamal, in Grcenlenzku, 25.)

Of the Great Works which Glooskap made in the Land.

(Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot.)

i
Over all the Land of the Wabanaki there is n(|>

place which was not marked by the hand of the Mas
ter. And it is to be seen on hills and rivers anc
great roads, as well as mighty rocks, which were in
their day living monsters.

For there is a very wonderful highway from Cwesr
owra legek1 to Parrsborough, running parallel witl
1 Hardwood Point, Fort Cumberland.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 63

the river now called Hebert, and this road is called
by Indians Ou-wokun, the Causeway, but by white
men, or the Iglesmani, the Boar's Back. For it is
said that he meant to visit Partridge Island and
Cape Blomidon, but they who were with him had got
tired of the sea, and wished to cross over by land.
And while they were resting and getting ready for
their trip across, the Master, raising his magic power
to a great deed to be spoken of forever, went away a
little time, and cast up a great and beautiful level
ridge, throwing it over bogs and streams ; and on this
they traveled, rejoicing, and, having reached the isl
and, awaited him.

And yet again the Master did a mighty deed. It
came to pass in those days that the Beavers had built
a dam across from Utkoguncheek, or Cape Blomidon,
to the opposite shore, and thereby made a pond that
filled all the valley of Annapolis. Now in those
times the Beavers were monstrous beasts, and the
Master, though kind of heart, seems to have had but
little love for them ever since the day when Qwah-
beetsis, the son of the Great Beaver, tempted Malsum
to slay his brother. Now the bones of these Beavers
niay be found to this day, and many there are on
Oonamahgik, and their teeth are six inches across,
?,nd there are no such qivah-beet to-day.1 And these
f,re the remains of the Beavers who built the dam at
Cape Blomidon and forded the Annapolis Valley.

1 Both Mr. Rand and myself have been solemnly assured by
Indians who had seen these antediluvian remains that they are
the petrified relics of Glooskap's victims.

64 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Now Glooskap would have a hunt and do a deed
which should equal the great whale-fishing of Kit-
pooseeog-unow. So he cut the great dam near the
shore, and bade Marten watch ; for he said, " I mis
trust that there is a little Beaver hiding hereabouts."
And when the dam was cut from where it joined the
shore there was a mighty rush of many waters, so that
it swung round to the westward, yet it did not break
away from the other shore. Therefore the end of it
lodged with a great split therein when the flood had
found a free course, and the whole may be seen there
still, eveirto this day, and may be seen by all of those
who pass up the bay ; and this point, or Cape Split,
is called by the Micmacs Pleegun, which, being inter
preted, means the opening of a beaver dam.

Then, to frighten the Beaver, Glooskap threw at it
a few handf uls of earth, and these, falling somewhat
to the eastward of Partridge Island, became the Five
Islands. And the pond which was left was the Basin
of Minas.

And yet another tradition tells that, after cutting
the dam, Glooskap sat and watched, but no beaver
came out ; a for Qwah-beet had gone out of a back
door. So he took a rock and threw it afar,2 — one
hundred and fifty miles, — to scare the Beaver back
again ; but the Beaver had gone over the Grand Falls
and the stone remaineth there even to this day.

1 This is the Anglo-Indian manuscript, already referred to.

2 " He tock Rock tructed 150 miles ip River to sker beabe
bock down, but beaber has gone ober granfalls."

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 65

The Story of Glooskap as told in a few Words by a Woman
of the Penobscots.

" Glus-gahbe gave names to everything. He made
men and gave them life, and made the winds to make
the waters move. The Turtle was his uncle ; the
Mink, Uk-see-meezel, his adopted son; and Monin-
kwessos, the Woodchuck, his grandmother. The
Beaver built a great dam, and Glus-gahbe turned it
away and killed the Beaver. At Moose-tchick he
killed a moose ; the bones may be seen at Bar Har
bor turned to stone. He threw the entrails of the
Moose across the bay to his dogs, and they, too, may
be seen there to this day, as I myself have seen them ;
and there, too, in the rock are the prints of his bow
and arrow." l

1 Many a place is pointed out as the locality of the same
legend. In addition to those in New Brunswick and Bar Har
bor, Thoreau found another in Maine, which he thus de
scribes : —

" While we were crossing this bay " (that is, the mouth of Moose
River), " where Mount Kiiieo rose dark before us, within two or
three miles, the Indian repeated the tradition respecting this
mountain's having been anciently a cow moose, — how a mighty
Indian hunter, whose name I forget, succeeded in killing this
queen of the moose tribe with great difficulty, while her calf was
killed somewhere among the islands in Penobscot Bay ; and to
his eyes this mountain had still the form of the moose in a re
clining posture, its precipitous side presenting the outline of her
head. He told this at some length, though it did not amount to
much, and with apparent good faith, and asked us how we sup
posed the hunter could have killed such a mighty moose as that ;
5

66 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

How Glooskap, leaving the World, all the Animals
mourned for him., and how, ere he departed, he gave

Gifts to Men.

(Micmac.)

Now Glooskap had freed the world from all the
mighty monsters of an early time : the giants wan
dered no longer in the wilderness ; the cullo terrified
man no more, as it spread its wings like the cloud be-
how we could do it. Whereupon a man-of-war to fire broad
sides into her was suggested, etc. An Indian tells such a story
as if he thought it deserved to have a good deal said about it,
only he has not got it to say; and so he makes up for the de
ficiency by a drawling tone, long-windedness, and a dumb won
der which he hopes will be contagious."

This concluding criticism is indeed singularly characteristic
of Mr. Thoreau's own nasal stories about Nature, but it is as
utterly untrue as ridiculous when applied to any Indian story
telling to which I have ever listened, and I have known the near
relatives of the Indians of whom he speaks, and heard many
of them tell their tales. This writer passed months in Maine,
choosing Penobscot guides expressly to study them, to read In
dian feelings and get at Indian secrets, and this account of
Glooskap, whose name he forgets, is a fair specimen of what
he learned. Yet he could in the same book write as follows :
"The Anglo-American can indeed cut down and grub up all
this waving forest, and make a stump and vote for Buchanati
on its ruins ; but he cannot converse with the spirit of the tretj;
he fells, he cannot read the poetry and mythology which retiresi
as he advances."

If Mr. Thoreau had known the Indian legend of the spirit of
the fallen tree — and his guide knew it well — he might have
been credited with speaking wisely of the poetry and mythology
which he ridicules the poor rural Yankees for not possessing

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 67

tween him and the sun ; the dreadful Chenoo of the
North devoured him not ; no evil beasts, devils, and
serpents were to be found near his home. And the
Master had, moreover, taught men the arts which
made them happier ; but they were not grateful to him,
and though they worshiped him they were not the less
wicked.

" Now when the ways of men and beasts waxed evil
they greatly vexed Glooskap, and at length he could
no longer endure them, and he made a rich feast by
the shore of the great Lake Minas. All the beasts
came to it, and when the feast was over he got into
a great canoe, and the beasts looked after him till
they saw him no more. And after they ceased to
see him, they still heard his voice as he sang ; but
the sounds grew fainter and fainter in the distance,
and at last they wholly died away ; and then deep
silence fell on them all, and a great marvel came
to pass, and the beasts, who had till now spoken but
one language, were no longer able to understand each
other, and they fled away, each his own way, and
never again have they met together in council. Until
the day when Glooskap shall return to restore the
Golden Age, and make men and animals dwell once

Such a writer can, indeed, peep and botanize on the grave of
Mother Nature, hut never evoke her spirit.

The moving the island is evidently of Eskimo origin, since
Crantz (History of Greenland) heard nearly the same story of
some magician-giant. It was prohably suggested by the very
common floating away of ice-islands.

68 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

more together in amity and peace, all Nature mourns.
And tradition says that on his departure from Acadia
the Great Snowy Owl retired to the deep forests, to
return no more until he could come to welcome Gloos-
kap ; and in those sylvan depths the owls even yet re
peat to the night J£oo-koo-skoos ! which is to say in the
Indian tongue, ' Oh, I am sorry ! Oh, I am sorry ! '
And the Loons, who had been the huntsmen of Gloos-
kap, go restlessly up and down through the world,
seeking vainly for their master, whom they cannot
find, and wailing sadly because they find him not." 1

But ere the Master went away from life, or ceased
to wander in the ways of men, he bade it be made
known by the Loons, his faithful messengers, that be
fore his departure years would pass, and that whoever
would seek him might have one wish granted, what
ever that wish might be. Now, though the journey
was long and the trials were terrible which those must
endure who would find Glooskap, there were still many
men who adventured them.2

Now ye shall hear who some of these were and

1 This passage is one of seven on the subject of Glooskap, cited
in Osgood's Maritime Provinces, without giving either the name
of the author or the book from which they were taken.

2 There is a great embarrassment of riches, or rather a great
wealth of embarrassment, as regards this chapter. In the Rand
manuscript there are three histories of the adventures of the pil
grims who sought Glooskap. Another and very different war
given to me by John Gabriel. In one account there are three
travelers, in another four ; others speak of seven and twelve.
Finally, there are many incidents which apparently belong to

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 69

what happened to them. And this is the first tale as
it was told me in the tent of John Gabriel, the Passa-
maquoddy.

When all men had heard that Glooskap would grant
a wish to any one who would come to him, three In
dians resolved to try this thing ; and one was a Mali-
seet from St. John, and the other two were Penobscots
from Old Town. And the path was long and the way
was hard, and they suffered much, and they were seven
years on it ere they came to him. But while they
were yet three months' journey from his dwelling,
they heard the barking of his dogs, and as they drew
nearer, day by day, it was louder. And so, after great
trials, they found the lord of men and beasts, and he
made them welcome and entertained them.

But, ere they went, he asked them what they want
ed. And the eldest, who was an honest, simple man,
and of but little account among his people, because
he was a bad hunter, asked that he might excel in the
killing and catching of game. Then the Master gave
him a flute, or the magic pipe, which pleases every
ear, and has the power of persuading every animal to
follow him who plays it. And he thanked the lord,
and left.

Now the second Indian, being asked what he would

tliis part of the Glooskap cycle, scattered here and there in dif
ferent disconnected legends.

Mrs. W. Wallace Brown was told by the Passamaquoddy In
dians that when Glooskap departed he took with him the king of
each of the different kinds of animals ; so that the wolves, loons,
etc., mourn not only for the lord, but for their masters.

70 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

have, replied, The love of many women. And when
Glooskap asked how many, he said, " I care not how
many, so that there are but enough of them, and more
than enough." At hearing this the Master seemed
displeased, but, smiling anon, he gave him a bag which
was tightly tied, and told him not to open it until he
had reached his home. So he thanked the lord, and
left.

Now the third Indian was a gay and handsome but
foolish young fellow, whose whole heart was set on
making people laugh, and on winning a welcome at
every merry-making. And he, being asked what he
would have or what he chiefly wanted, said that it
would please him most to be able to make a certain
quaint and marvelous sound or noise,1 which was fre
quent in those primitive times among all the Waba-
naki, and which it is said may even yet be heard in a
few sequestered wigwams far in the wilderness, away
from men ; there being still here and there a deep ma
gician, or man of mystery, who knows the art of pro
ducing it. And the property of this wondrous sound
is such that they who hear it must needs burst into a
laugh; whence it is the cause that the men of these
our modern times are so sorrowful, since that sound is
no more heard in the land. And to him Glooskap was
also affable, sending Marten into the woods to seek a
certain mystical and magic root, which when eaten
would make the miracle the young man sought. But
he warned him not to touch the root ere he got to his
1 Pedere, crepitare.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 71

home, or it would be the worse for him. And so he
kindly thanked the lord, and left.

It had taken seven years to come, but seven days
were all that was required to tread the path returning
to their home, that is, for him who got there. Only
one of all the three beheld his lodge again. This was
the hunter, who, with his pipe in his pocket, and not a
care in his heart, trudged through the woods, satisfied
that so long as he should live, there would always be
venison in the larder.

But he who loved women, and had never won even
a wife, was filled with anxious wishfulness. And he
had not gone very far into the woods before he opened
the bag. And there flew out by hundreds, like white
doves, swarming all about him, beautiful girls, with
black burning eyes and flowing hair. And wild with
passion the winsome witches threw their arms about
him, and kissed him as he responded to their em
braces ; but they came ever more and more, wilder
and more passionate. And he bade them give way,
but they would not, and he sought to escape, but he
could not ; and so panting, crying for breath, smoth
ered, he perished. And those who came that way
found him dead, but what became of the girls no man
knows.

Now the third went merrily onward alone, when
all at once it flashed upon his mind that Glooskap
had given him a present, and without the least heed
to the injunction that he was to wait till he had
reached his home drew out the root and ate it ; and

72 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

scarce had lie done tins ere lie realized that he pos
sessed the power of uttering the weird and mystic
sound to absolute perfection. And as it rang o'er many
a hill and dale, and woke the echoes of the distant
hills, until 't was answered by the solemn owl, he felt
that it was indeed wonderful. So he walked 011 gayly,
trumpeting as he went, over hill and vale, happy as a
bird.

But by and by he began to weary of himself. See
ing a deer he drew an arrow and stealing silently to
the game was just about to shoot, when despite him
self the wild, unearthly sound broke forth like a de
mon's warble. The deer bounded away, and the young
man cursed ! And when he reached Old Town, half
dead with hunger, he was worth little to make laugh
ter, though the honest Indians at first did not fail to
do so, and thereby somewhat cheered his heart. But
as the days went on they wearied of him, and, life
becoming a burden, he went into the woods and slew
himself. And the evil spirit of the night-air, even
Bumole,1 or Pamola, from whom came the gift, swooped
down from the clouds and bore him away to 'Lahm-
kekqu', the dwelling place of darkness, and he was no
more heard of among men.

As regards the destruction of the giants by Gloos-
kap, it may be observed that the same tradition ex
ists among1 the Six Nations. Cusick tells us that

O

1 For an account of Bumole, or Pamola, see the chapter on
Supernatural Beings. Bumole seems to have been the personi
fication of the night-hawk.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 73

about 1250 years before Columbus discovered Amer
ica a powerful tribe called Otne-yar-heh, that is, Stone
Giants, who were ravenous cannibals, overran the
country, and nearly exterminated the inhabitants.
These Stone Giants practiced themselves in rolling on
the sand; by this means their bodies became hard.
Then Tas-enyawa-gon, the Holder of the Heavens,
came to earth as a giant, and, being made their chief,
led them into a hollow, where he overwhelmed them
with rocks. Only one escaped to the far North. The
reader will recognize in these the Chenoos, or Ke%
wahqti', who cover themselves with pitch and roll on
the ground. But no one can deny that, while that
which Cusick narrates has much in common with the
mythology of the Wabanaki, it is much less like that
of the Edda; that Indian grotesqueness has in it
greatly perverted an original ; and finally, that it cer
tainly occupies a position midway between the mythol
ogy of the Northeastern Algonquins and that of the
Chippewas, Ottawas, and other Western tribes. Ex
amination shows this in every story. Thus the Waba-
riaki warrior makes his bow infallible in aim by string
ing it with a cord made of his sister's hair. This is
Norse, as it was of old Latin. But in the Iroquois
the young man " adorns his arms with the hairs of
his sister." Here the tradition has begun to weaken.
It may be interesting to visitors to Niagara to know
that the army of Stone Giants crossed the river dur
ing their journey just below the Falls.

74 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

How Glooskap had a great Frolic ivith Kitpooseagunow, a
Mighty Giant who caught a Whale.

(Micmac.)

N'kah-nee-oo. In the old time (P.) Glooskap came
to Pulewech Munegoo (M., Partridge Island), and
here he met with Kitpooseagtmow,1 whose mother had
been slain by a fearful cannibal giant. And it was
against these that he made war all his life long, as
did Glooskap. Whence it came to pass that they
loved one another, which did not at all hinder them
from having a hearty and merry encounter, in which
they missed but little of killing one or the other, and
all in the best natured way in the world.

Now, having come to Pulewech Munegoo, the lord

1 Kitpooseagunoiv, " one born after his mother's death," is a
magician-giant, who plays in the Algonquin mythology a part
only inferior to that of Glooskap, whom he in every way resem
bles. Both are benevolent, both make war on wicked sorcerers
and evil wild beasts, and both, finally, are much like Gargantua
and Pantagruel in their sense of humor. They are sometimes
made the heroes of the same adventure in different stories. The
true origin of the name, according to Mr. Rand, is as follows :
" After a cow moose or caribou has been killed, her calf is some
times taken out alive, and reared by hand. As may be supposed,
tlia calf is very easily tamed. The animal thus born is called
Kitpooseagunow, and from this a verb is formed which denotes
the act." — Legends of the Mic Macs, Old Dominion Monthly,
1871.

This giant was also called the Protector of the Oppressed. He
probably represents the Glooskap myth in another form.

GLOOSKAP AND KEANKE SPEARING THE WHALE.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 75

of men and beasts was entertained by Kitpooseagu-
now. And when the night came, he who was born
after his mother's death said to his guest, " Let us go
011 the sea in a canoe and catch whales by torchlight;"
to which Glooskap, nothing loath, consented, for he
was a mighty fisherman, as are all the Wabanaki of
the seacoast.1

Now when they came to the beach there were only
great rocks, lying here and there ; but Kitpoosea-
gunow, lifting the largest of these, put it on his head,
and it became a canoe. And picking up another, it
turned to a paddle, while a long splinter which he
split from a ledge seemed to be a spear. Then Gloos
kap asked, " Who shall sit in the stern and paddle,
and who will take the spear ? " Kitpooseagunow
said, " That will I." So Glooskap paddled, and soon
the canoe passed over a mighty whale ; in all the great
sea there was not his like ; but he who held the spear
sent it like a thunderbolt down into the waters, and as
the handle rose again to sight he snatched it up, and
the great fish was caught. And as Kitpooseagunow
whirled it on high, the whale, roaring, touched the
clouds. Then taking him from the point, the fisher

1 Glooskap would seem to have been the prototype of the
giant fisher so well known in song : —

" His rod was made of a sturdy oak,
His line, a cable, in storms ne'er broke ;
He baited his hook with a dragon's tail,
And sat on a rock and bobbed for whale. '

A fabulous monster, apparently identical with the dragon, is

common in Micmac stories.

T6 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

tossed him into the bark as if he had been a trout.
And the giants laughed ; the sound of their laughter
was heard all over the land of the Wabanaki. And
being at home, the host took a stone knife and split
the whale, and threw one half to the guest Glooskap,
and they roasted each his piece over the fire and ate it.
Now the Master, having marked the light, which
was long in the heaven after the sun went down, said,
" The sky is red ; we shall have a cold night." And
his host understood him well, and saw that he would
make it cold by magic. So he bade Marten bring in
all the fuel he could find, and all there was of the oil
of a porpoise ; and this oil he so multiplied by magic
that there was ten times more of it. And they sat
them down and smoked, and told tales of old times ;
but it grew ever colder and colder. And at midnight,
when all was burnt out, Marten froze to death, and
then the grandmother, but the two giants smoked on,
and laughed and talked. Then the rocks out-of-doors
split with the cold, the great trees in the forest split ;
the sound thereof was as thunder, but the Master and
he who was born after his mother's death laughed even
louder. And so they sat until the sun rose. Then
Glooskap said to the dead woman, " Noogume,
numchahsc ! " (M.) Grandmother, arise ! " and to his
boy, " Abistanooch numchahsef " " Marten, arise ! "
and they arose, and went about their work.

And the morning being bright, they went forth far
into the forest to find game. But they got very little,
for they caught only one small beaver, and Glooskap

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 11

gave up his share of this to Kitpooseagunow. And
he, taking the skin, fastened it to his garter, whence
it dangled like the skin of a mouse at the knee of a
tall man. But as he went on through the woods the
skin grew larger and larger and larger, till it broke
away by its own weight. Then the giant twisted a
mighty sapling into a withe, and fastened it around
his waist. But it still grew apace as he went on, till,
trailing after, it tore down all the forest, pulling away
the trees, so that Kitpooseagunow left a clean, fair
road behind him.1

And when the night came on they fished again, as
they had done before ; and again it was said, but this
time by the host, " The sky is red ; we shall have a
cold night." So they heaped up wood more than the
first time, but now it was far colder. And soon the
boy was dead, and the grandmother also lay frozen.
But when the sun rose the Master brought them back
to life, and, bidding good -by to Kitpooseagunow,
went his way.2

1 Many of these stories have received later additions, which
can be detected by their occurring only in single versions of
them. In the story of Kitpooseagunow (Rand's manuscript) the
giants arrive at a " large town," and go to a " store," where they
sell the skin for all the money, goods, houses, and lands which
the merchant possesses. " And the skin was so heavy that it took
the greater part of the day to weigh it."

2 It is possible that there is a version of this story in which
Glooskap kills his friend with frost, and then revives him. In
one story it is a frozen stream, incarnate as a man, which attempts
in vain to freeze Glooskap.

The extraordinary manner in which host and guest, or even

78 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

The most striking feature, however, of this legend
is its Norse-like breadth or grandeur and its genial
humor, which are very remarkable characteristics for
the fictions of savages. Its resemblance to the Scan
dinavian tales is, if accidental, very remarkable. The
two heroes are, like Thor and Odin, giant heroes who
make war on Jotuns and Trolls; that is, giant-like
sorcerers. It is their profession ; they live in it. No
one can read Beowulf without being struck by the
great resemblance between Grendel, the hideous, semi-
human night prowler, and the Kewahqu', a precisely
similar monster, who rises from the depths of waters
to wantonly murder man. I do not recall any two
beings in any other two disconnected mythologies so
strangely similar. The fishing for the whale recalls
that which is told in the Older Edda (Hymiskvida,
21), where Hymir succeeds in hooking two of these
fish : -

" Then he and Hymir rowed out to sea. Thor
rowed oft with two oars, and so powerfully that the
giant was obliged to acknowledge they were speeding
very fast. He himself rowed at the prow ."

If the reader will compare this account of the
Edda with the Micmac story, he cannot fail to be
struck with the great resemblance between them. It

intimate friends, endeavor to kill one another in the most good-
natured rivalry, is of constant occurrence in the Eskimo legends.
It is not infrequent among our own backwoods or frontier-men.

The stone-canoe occurs in Eskimo legends (vide Rink), as it
does in those of all American Indians.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 79

is even specified in both that the hero, though a guest,
paddles. And in, both instances the host catches a
whale. Now compare with this the legend of Mano-
bozho-Hiawatha, who merely catches the great sun-
fish, and is swallowed by it. Does it not seem as if
the Western Indians had here borrowed from the
Micmacs, and the Micmacs from the Norse ? Whether
this was done directly or through the Eskimo is as yet
a problem. It may also be noted that both in the
Edda and in the Micmac story, it is declared that one
of the giants picked up the boat and carried it.

It may be observed that most of these Indian tra
ditions were originally poems. It is probable that all
were sung, while they still retained the character of
serious mythical or sacred narrative. Now they are
in the transition state of heroic tales. But they un
questionably still retain many passages of very great
antiquity, and it is not impossible that Eskimo and
even Norse songs are still preserved in them. In this
tale the following coincidences with passages in the
Elder Edda (Hymiskvida) are remarkable. In both
the host asks his guest to go with him to catch
whales, to which the latter assents.

" ' We three to-morrow night
Shall be compelled
On what we catch to live.'
Thor said he would
On the sea row."

Kitpooseagunow picks up the heavy canoe, with its
oars and a spear, and carries them.

80 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

" Thor went,
grasped the prow
quickly with its hold-water,
lifted the boat
together with its oars
and scoop ;
bore to the dwelling
the curved vessel."

Glooskap asks which of the two shall take the paddle,
and which sit in the stern. Hyinir inquires, —
" Wilt thou do

half the work with me ?

either the whales

home to the dwelling bear,

Or the boat

fast bind ? "

Kitpooseagunow drew up a whale.

" The mighty Hymir,
He alone
two whales drew
up with his hook."

After this whale-fishing, the Scandinavian giants at
home have a trial of strength and endurance. Thor
throws a cup at Hymir. This cup can only be broken
on Hymir's head, which is of ice, and intensely hard.
" That is harder
than any cup."

This is therefore an effort on the part of Thor to
overcome Cold. Hymir is the incarnation of Cold

itself.

" The icebergs resounded

as the churl approached ;

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 81

the thicket on his cheeks
was frozen.

In shivers flew the pillars
At the Jotun's glance."

That is, the frost cracks the stones and rocks. In
the Indian tale the two giants try to see which can
freeze the other. In both there is distinctly a con
test. In the Norse tale Strength or Heat rights Frost ;
in the American, Frost is battled with by Frost as a
rival.

It may be observed that the Indian tale is far from
being perfect, and that in all probability the whole of
it includes a fishing for the sea-serpent.

It is plainly set forth in the Edda that Cold may
be overcome by a magic spell. Thus Groa (Grou-
galdr, 12) promises her son a rune to effect this : —

" A seventh (charm) I will sing thee :
If on a mountain high
frost should assail thee,
deadly cold shall not
thy body injure,
nor draw it to thy lirnbs."

How Glooskap made a Magician of a Young Man, who

aided another to win a Wife and do Wonderful Deeds.

(Micmac.)

It is well known unto all Indians who still keep the
true faith of the olden time that there are wondrous
dwellers in the lonely woods, such as elves and fairies,
called by the Micmacs Mikumwessos, and by the
Passamaquoddies Oonahgemessos. And these can

82 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

work great wonders, and also sing so as to charm
the wildest beasts. From them alone come the magic
pipes or flutes, which sometimes pass into possession
of noted sorcerers and great warriors ; and when these
are played upon, the woman who hears the melody is
bewitched with love, and the moose and caribou follow
the sound even to their death. And when the Megu-
mawessos are pleased with a mortal they make him
a fairy, even like themselves.

N^Karnayoo. In old times there was an Indian
village, and in it were two young men,1 who had heard
that Glooskap, ere he left the world, would bestow on
those who came to him whatever they wanted. So
they went their way, an exceeding long pilgrimage,
until they came to a great island, where he dwelt.
And there they first met with Dame Bear and Marten,
and next with the Master himself. Then they all,
sitting down to supper, had placed before them only
one extremely small dish, and on this there was a
tiny bit of meat, and nothing more. But being a bold
and jolly fellow, the first of the pilgrims, thinking
himself mocked for sport, cut off a great part of the
meat, and ate it, when that which was in the dish
grew in a twinkling to its former size; and so this
went on all through the supper, every one eating his
fill, the dish at the end being as full as ever.

Of these two, one wished to become a Mikum-

1 According to another Micmac version of this legend, the
elder of these pilgrims was Keekwahjoo, the Badger, and the
younger Caktoogwasees, or Little Thunder.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 83

wess, and the other to win a very beautiful girl, the
daughter of a great chief, who imposed such cruel
tasks on all who came for her, that they died in at
tempting them.

And the first was taken by Glooskap ; and after he
had by a merry trick covered him with filth and put
him to great shame, he took him to the river, and after
washing ^him clean and combing his hair gave him a
change of raiment and a hair string of exceeding
great magic virtue, since when he had bound it on he
became a Mikumwess, having all the power of the
elfin-world. And also because he desired to excel
in singing and music, the Master gave him a small
pipe, and it was that which charmed all living beings; 1
and then singing a song bade him join in with him.
And doing this he found that he could sing, and ever
after had a wondrous voice.

Now to seek the beautiful girl it was necessary to
sail afar over the sea ; and during this adventure the
Mikumwess was charged to take care of the younger
pilgrim. So he begged the Master to lend him his
canoe. And Glooskap answered, " Yes, I will do this
for thee, if thou wilt honestly return it when thou
needest it no more. Yet in very truth I did never

1 The identity of these incidents with those of " classic " times
is worth noting. There is a lustration and the clothing the
neophyte in a new garment, and he receives the magic fillet, as
in the Mysteries of the old world. Nor is the resemblance of the
pipe to that of Orpheus less striking. In many respects this is
the most remarkable old Indian myth I have ever met with.

84 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

yet lend it to mortal man but that I had to go after
it myself." l

Thereupon the young man promised most faithfully
that he would indeed return the canoe, and with this
they got them ready for the journey. But when they
came to the bay there was no canoe, and they knew
not what was to be done. But Glooskap pointed to a
small island of granite which rose amid the waves,
and it was covered with tall pine-trees. "There is
my canoe ! " said he ; 2 and when he had taken them
unto it, it became a real canoe, with masts, and they
set sail on it, rejoicing.

So they came in time to a very large island, where
they drew up the canoe and hid it in the bushes.
Then they went forward to seek for people, and found

1 One of the traits of bonhomie and common humanity which
continually occur in the Glooskap tales, even in the most serious
situations and solemn myths. In this respect the resemblance
of the Northwest Algonquin tales to the Norse is truly strik
ing. The canoe is among all Indians, even in Central America,
exactly what the umbrella is in civilized society. With all his
immense originality Glooskap had a number of " old Joes," of
which he never seems to have tired. One was the inexhaustible
dish, and another the giant skunk set upon end to salute his vis
itors, and this of the canoe was probably the commonest of all.
He is a true Indian divinity, shining like the lightning and striking
only when there is a storm, but appearing like the Aurora Bo-
realis, or even the Robin Goodfellow-Will-o'-the-Wisp at others.

2 Another standard " piece of witt " with the incorrigible
joker. Glooskap's " floating island " was served up as a dessert
to all guests, and I doubt not that if the double meaning of the
word had been known to him, they would have had that too.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 85

a village in which dwelt the chief who had the beauti
ful daughter, in seeking whom so many had lost their
lives.

And having found him, they went into his wigwam,
and were placed on the seat of honor. Now when an
Indian seeks a wife, he or his mutual friend makes
no great ado about it, but utters two words, which tell
the whole story. And these are Sewin-coadoo-gwah-
looywet\ wiiich mean in Micmac, " I am tired of liv
ing alone." And the chief, hearing this, consented
that the young man should marry her whom he
sought, but on one condition : and this was that he
should slay and bring unto him the head of a, certain
horned dragon, called in Micmac Chepichcalm.1 So
this was agreed upon, and the two strangers went to
the wigwam which was assigned them.

Now in the night he that was Mikumwess arose and
went alone and afar until he came to the den of the
dragon, and this was a great hole in the ground. And
over this he laid a mighty log, and then began the
magic dance around the den. So the serpent, or the
great Chepichcalm, hearing the call, came forth, put
ting out his head after the manner of snakes, wav
ing it all about in every way and looking round him.

1 Vide " Supernatural Beings." The Chepichcalm (M.) is an
immense horned serpent or wingless dragon. It is probably
identical with the Wiwillmekq' (P. and Pen.), which is a singu
lar horned worm found on trees or by water. It is believed to
be capable of assuming a vast size and to be gifted with super
natural powers.

86 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

While doing this he rested his neck upon the log, when
the Indian with a blow of his hatchet severed it. Then
taking the head by one of the shining yellow horns he
bore it to his friend, who in the morning gave it to
the chief. And the old man said to himself, " This
time I fear me I shall lose my child."

Yet the young man had more to do ; for the chief
said, " I would fain see my son coast down yonder
hill on a hand-sled." Now this hill was an exceed
ing high mountain ; the sides thereof were ragged
with rocks and terrible with trees and ice. Then
two toboggins l were brought out, one of them for
the two "strangers, and this he that was Mikumwess
was to direct. And on the other were two powerful
men, and these were both boo-oinak,2 who hoped to
see the former soon fall out, and then to run over
them. And at the word they went flying fearfully
down the mountain, and yet ever faster, as if to
death. And soon he that sought the girl went whirl
ing headlong from the sled, and the two boo-oinak
gave a loud hurrah ; for they knew not that this had
been done with intent by the Mikumwess, that he
might get them before him. So he put forth his
hand, and, seizing the younger man, turned a little
aside, but in an instant went on after ; and erelong
the sled of the boo-oinak stopped, but the other,
bounding upwards from a mighty wall of ice, flew far

1 Toboggin : a sled or sledge.

2 Magicians, the original of pow-wow-in. It is apparently the
same in meaning as the angakok of the neighboring Eskimo.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 87

over their heads onwards ; nor did it stop in the val
ley, but, running with- tremendous speed up the op
posite hill and into the village, struck the side of the
chief's wigwam, ripping it up from end to end ere it
stopped. And the old man, seeing this, said, " This
time I have lost my daughter ! "

Yet the young man had more to do ; for the chief
said, " There is here a man who has never been
beaten in running, and thou must strive with him
in that and overcome him, to win thy wife." And
the race was appointed ; but ere it came off he that
was Mikumwess lent to his friend the magic pipe to
give him power.1 And when he that was the racer
of the village met the young man, the youth said,
" Who art thou ? " and he replied, " I am Wey-ad-
esk " (the Northern Lights, M.) ; " but who art
thou ? " And he answered, " I am Wosogwodesk "
(the Chain Lightning). And they ran. In an in
stant they were no longer in sight ; they were far
away over the most distant hills. Then all sat and
waited, and ere it was noon he that was the Chain
Lightning returned, and he was not out of breath,
nor weary, and he had gone round the world. And
at evening they saw the Northern Lights return, and
he trembled and quivered with fatigue ; yet for all

1 It may be observed that Indian magic depends on fetich, or
objects having innate power. Glooskap himself relies on his
belt, and when he lends it to Marten, the boy becomes " mani-
too," as the more Western Indians term it. There is in the
early red Indian mythology really no God ; only more or less
powerful magicians.

88 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

that lie had not been round the world, but had turned
back. And the old chief, seeing him beaten, ex
claimed, " This time I shall lose my child ! "

And yet there was another trial of the young man
ere he could win her whom he wanted. For the
chief had a man whom no one could overcome in
swimming and diving, and it was chiefly in this last
thing that he excelled. And the young man must
strive with him. And when they met he asked the
man of the village his name, and he replied, u I am
an Ukddgumooech " (a Sea Duck, M.) ; " but who
are you ? " And he answered, " I am a IZweemoo "
(a Loon, M.). So they dived, and after a time the
Sea Duck rose again for breath, but those who waited
waited long indeed ere they saw the Loon. And an
hour passed, and he came not, and yet another ere they
beheld him ; but when he at last rose the old chief
said, " This is the end of all our weary work, for
this time truly I have lost my child."

Yet it was not the end of the wonderful deeds
which were done in that village by the power of the
great Glooskap. For the Mikumwess, at the great
dance which was held that evening at the wedding,
astonished all who beheld him. As he danced around
the circle, upon the very hard beaten floor, they saw
his feet sink deeper at every step, and ever deeper as
the dance went on ; ploughing the ground up into
high, uneven ridges, forming a trench as he went,
until at length only his head was to be seen.1 And

1 This is very characteristic of the true magician, both in the

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 89

this ended the dancing for that night, since the ground
was no longer to be danced upon by anybody except
wizards and witches.

Then the young man and his wife and the Mikum-
wess entered their canoe and sailed boosijk (home
wards, M.). And yet their trials were not over.1 For
they had not gone far ere they saw an awful storm
coming to meet them ; and he that had the Elfin
spells knew that it was raised by boo-oin, or sorcery,
since these storms are the worst of all. Then, with
out fear, he rose, and, filling his lungs and puffing
his cheeks, he blew against the tempest, wind against
wind, until he blew the wind away, and the great
water was aoobuneak\ as calm and smooth as be
fore.

So they sailed on over the sunlit sea, but it was
not long before the Elf-gifted saw rising among the

Algonquin and Eskimo folk-lore. " The angakok" or sorcerer
of Greenland, " after meeting with tomarsuk, or guardian spirits,
sometimes manifested it by his feet sinking into the rocky ground
fust as if into snoiv." (Rink.) This phrase indicates the Northern
origin of the idea, which occurs in many Indian stories. I have
been assured in all faith that there is a Passamaquoddy m'te'ou-
lin, or sorcerer, now living, who can walk up to his knees in a
floor or in the paved street, and an honest and trustworthy In
dian assured me that he had seen him do it.

1 These subsequent trials were not inflicted by the old chief,
but were, as appears by comparison with other legends, simply
jokes played by the incorrigible Glooskap. It is most probable
that in its original form this remarkable myth was all maya, or
illusion, and the whole a series of illusions, caused by the arch-
conjurer, typifying natural phenomena.

90 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

waves far before them a dark mass, which soon proved
to be a tremendous beast coming to attack them. And
as he drew near they saw it was Quahbeet, the giant
beaver, and his eyes were angry.1 But the Mikum-
wess, seeing this, steered straight to meet the monster,
and, coming to him, said, " I am the great hunter of
beavers ; lo, I am their butcher ; many a one has
fallen by my hand." 2 Now the Beaver had placed
himself under water, with his tail out of it and rising
upwards, that he might sink the canoe with a blow
thereof ; for the Beaver strikes mightily in such wise,
as is his wont. But he of the magic power, with one
blow of his tomahawk, cut the tail from the body, and
sailed onward.

Yet they had not gone far ere, on rounding a
point, they saw before them another animal of giant
size, who likewise had his tail in the air, waiting to
overcome them, and this was A-bekk-thee-lo (M.),
the Skunk. Yet ere he made his hideous attack the
Mikumwess, ever on the watch, caught up his spear,
and, hurling it, pierced A-bekk-thee-lo, who did but
kick two or three times ere he died. And, stepping
ashore, he who had slain him took a pole, a long dead
pine, which lay upon the sand, and, transfixing the
Skunk, lifted him high in air, and, planting the tree

1 From the beginning, when Quahbeetsis, the son of the Beaver,
inspired Malsumsis with hatred of Glooskap, this quadruped ap
pears as an enemy.

2 This is oddly like the speech of the beaver-killer in The
Hunting of the Snark.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 91

on the ground, left him, saying scornfully, as he left,
" Lik cho je nain!" which, being interpreted, mean-
eth, " And now show your tail there ! " 1

So they returned safely. And Glooskap met them
at the landing, and his first words were, " Well, my
friends, I see that you have brought back my canoe."
And they answered, " We have, indeed." Then he
inquired, " Has all gone well with ye ? " And they
replied that it had. Then Glooskap, laughing, let
them know that in all they had experienced he had
been busy, and that in all their triumphs he had had
a hand. And to the Mikumwess he said, " Go now
thy ways, thou and these, and ever lead happy lives :
thou amid the Elfin, they among mankind. And be
sure of this, that if danger or trouble should come
to you, you have but to think of me, and verily aid
will come. So they rose and went to their wigwams.2

1 The Skunk is here a parody on the Beaver.

2 In its earlier form this must have been a very remarkable
narrative, or poem. That the two combatants in the race were
originally the personified Northern Lights and Lightning, and
that these were not merely names assumed for boasting, is shown
by the incident that the Lightning actually passed round the world,
while the Aurora Borealis only covered a portion of it. The
diving is either a later addition, or it represents the same stu
pendous spirits taking on the appearance of mastering the ele
ment of water as well as that of fire. Without carrying the Solar
myth theory to extremes, it cannot be denied that Glooskap ap
pears in several of these stories as Spring, or as the melter of ice,
the conqueror of the frozen stream and of the iceberg. In this
narrative he is active and creative Nature itself, directing and
sporting with the warring elements. His vast practical joking

92 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

How a Certain Wicked Witch sought to cajole the Great

and Good Glooskap, and of her Punishment.

(Micmac.)

N'lcarnayoo, of old time. Once it came to pass
that Glooskap met with an evil witch, and she had
made herself like unto a fair young girl, and believed
that he could not know who she was. And she asked
him to take her with him in his canoe. So they sailed
out over a summer sea : and as they went the witch

cannot fail to remind the reader yet again of the Norse deities
and their jovial household godhood.

This tradition is Micmac, and taken almost entirely from Mr.
Rand's manuscript. It should be borne in mind that it is not
from a single story of this collection, but from a careful analysis
and comparison of them all, that their entire value is to be as
certained.

Certain incidents in this tale deserve special attention. The
young men go to a land of evil sorcerers, of boo-oin. When one
is required to run a race he conquers because he is really the
Lightning. When Thor visits Utgard Loki, there is also a race,
in which Hugi wins, because he is Thought disguised as a man.
Glooskap has a canoe, which is sometimes immensely large, but
which at other times shrinks to a very small size. In the Edda,
Odin is said to have had made for him by the dwarfs a boat,
Skidbladuir, which, like Glooskap's bark, expanded or dimin
ished. Sigurd, in the New Edda, is obliged to kill a dragon,
and it is very remarkable that he does it by a special previous
preparation. That is to say, he digs a little ditch, and when the
dragon crawls over it the hero pierces him with his sword. In
this story the Indian lays a log over the dragon's hole, to enable
him to chop his head off. The dragon, or horned snake, is an
old-time tradition in America, or pre-Columbian.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 93

sought to beguile him with sweet words ; but he an
swered naught, for he wist well what kind of passenger
he had on board. And as they went on she played her
cajoleries, but he remained grim as a bear. Then
she, being angry, showed it, and there arose a great
storm. The wind howled over the waves as they
rose and fell, like white wolves jumping while they
run, the first lightnings flashed, and the sky grew
dark as night. The Master was angered that so mean
a creature dared to play him such tricks, and, pad
dling the canoe to the beach, he leaped ashore. Then
giving the bark, with the witch in it, a push out to
sea, he cried to her, " Sail thou with the devil ! But
never be in human form again, O she-beast ! '

Then she, being frightened, said, "Master, what
wilt thou that I become ? " And he replied, " What
ever thou wilt ; that grace alone I give thee." And
in despair she plunged into the waters, and became a
keegunibe, a ferocious fish, which has upon its back a
great fin, which it shows like a sail when swimming
through the water. So the canoe and the witch be
came one in the evil fish, and the Indians to this day
when they see it, cry, " See the witch, who was pun
ished by the great Master ! "

Now of sinful men, evil beasts, foul sorcerers,
witches, and giants, there were in those days many
who sought to do great harm to Glooskap ; but of
them all there did not escape any ; verily, no, not one.1

1 A Micinac story, from the Rand manuscript. I believe that
the fish here spoken of is a shark.

94 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Of other Men who ivent to Gloosliap for Gifts.
(Micmac.)

N'karnayoo: wood-enit-atokliagcn Glooskap. Of
the old times : this is a story of Glooskap. Now
there went forth many men unto Glooskap, hearing
that they could win the desires of their hearts ; and all
got what they asked for, in any case ; but as for hav
ing what they wanted, that depended on the wisdom
with which they wished or acted.

The good Glooskap liked it not that when he had
told any one evenly and plainly what to do, that man
should then act otherwise, or double with him. And
it came to pass that a certain fool, of the kind who
can do nothing unless it be in his own way, made a
long journey to the Master. And his trials were in
deed many. For he came to an exceeding high moun
tain in a dark and lonely land, where he heard 110
sound. And the ascent thereof was like a smooth
pole, and the descent on the other side far worse, for
it hung over the bottom. Yet it was worse beyond,
for there the road lay between the heads of two huge
serpents, almost touching each other, who darted their
terrible tongues at those who went between. And yet
again the path passed under the Wall of Death. Now
this wall hung like an awful cloud over a plain, rising
and falling at times, yet no man knew when. And
when it fell it struck the ground, and that so as to
crush all that was beneath it.

But the young man escaped all these trials, and

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 95

came to the island of the Great Master. And when
he had dwelt there a certain time, and was asked
what he would have, he replied, " If my lord will,
let him give me a medicine which will cure all dis
ease." More than this he asked not. So the Mas
ter gave him a certain small package, and said,
" Herein is that which thou seekest ; but I charge
thee that thou lettest not thine eyes behold it until
thou shalt reach thy home." So he thanked the Mas
ter, and left.

But he was not far away ere he desired to open
the package and test the medicine, and, yet more, the
truth of the Master. And he said to himself, " Truly,
if this be but a deceit it was shrewdly devised to bid
me not open it till I returned. For he knew well
that once so far I would make no second journey to
him. Tush! if the medicine avail aught it cannot
change in aught." So he opened it, when that
which was therein fell to the ground, and spread it
self like water everywhere, and then dried away like
a mist. And when he returned and told his tale, men
mocked him.

Then again there were three brothers, who, having
adventured, made known their wishes. Now the first
was very tall, far above all his fellows, and vain of
his comeliness. For he was of those who put bark or
fur into their moccasins, that they may be looked up
to by the little folk and be loved by the squaws ; and
his hair was plastered to stand up on high, and on the
summit of it was a very long turkey-tail feather. And

96 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

this man asked to become taller than any Indian in
all the land.1

And the second wished that he might ever remain
where he was to behold the land and the beauty of it,
and to do naught else.

And the third wished to live to an exceeding old
age, and ever to be in good Leitlth.

Now the three, when they came to the island, had
found there three wigwams, and in two of these were
dwellers, not spoken of in other traditions. In one
lived Cool-puj-ot, a very strange man. For he has no
bones, and cannot move himself, but every spring and
autumn he is rolled over with handspikes by the
order of Glooskap, and this is what his name means
in the Micmac tongue. And in the autumn he is
turned towards the west, but in the spring towards
the east, and this is a figure of speech denoting the
revolving seasons of the year. With his breath he
can sweep down whole armies, and with his looks alone
he can work great wonders, and all this means the
weather, — frost, snow, ice, and sunshine.2

1 This story has been told to me in three different forms. I
have here given it with great care in what I conceive to be the
original. In one version it is the pine, in another the cedar-tree.

2 Mr. Rand (manuscript, p. 471) says that all of this explana
tion was given verbatim by a Micmac named Stephen Flood, who
was a " very intelligent and reliable Indian." Cool-puj-ot is al
most identical with Shawandasee, the guardian of the South.
" He is represented as an affluent, plethoric old man, who has
grown unwieldy from repletion, and seldom moves. He keeps
his eyes steadfastly fixed on the north. When he sighs in au-

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 97

And in the other wigwam dwelt Cuhkw (M.), which
means Earthquake. And this mighty man can pass
along under the ground, and make all things shake
and tremble by his power.

Now when Giooskap had heard what these visitors
wished for, he called Earthquake, and bid him take
them all three and put them with their feet in the
ground. And he did so, when they at once became
three trees : as one tradition declares, pines ; and an
other, cedars.

So that he that would be tall became exceeding tall,
for his head rose above the forest ; and even the tur
key-feather at the top thereof is not forgotten, since
to this day it is seen waving in the wind. And he
who will listen in a pine-wood may hear the tree mur
muring all day long in the Indian tongue of the olden
time, —

" Ee nil Etuchi nek m'kilaskitopp
Ee nil Etuche wiski nek n'kil ooskedjin." x

Oh, I am such a great man !
Oh, I am such a great Indian !

And the second, who would remain in the land, re
mains there ; for while his roots are in the ground he
cannot depart from it.

tumn, we have those balmy southern airs, which communicate
warmth and delight over the northern hemisphere, and make
the Indian summer." The " affluence " and " grown unwieldy
from repletion," in this account, are probably due to Schoolcraf t's
florid style. (Hiawatha Legends.) Shawandasee is identical
with Svasud of the Edda. (Vafthrudnismal, 27.)
1 Passamaquoddy.
7

98 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

And the third, who would live long in health, un
less men have cut him down, is standing as of yore.1

Of Glooskap and the Three Other Seekers.

(Micmac.)

Of old time. Now when it was noised abroad that
whoever besought Glooskap could obtain the desire of
his heart, there were three men who said among them
selves, " Let us seek the Master." So they left their
home in the early spring when the bluebird first sang,
and walked till the fall frosts, and then into winter,
and ever on till the next midsummer. And having
come to a small path in a great forest, they followed
it, till they came out by a very beautiful river ; so fair
a sight they had never seen, and so went onward till
it grew to be a great lake. And so they kept to the
path which, when untrodden, was marked by blazed
trees, the bark having been removed, in Indian fash-

1 In another version of this tale, Glooskap transformed him
into an old gnarled and twisted cedar, with limbs growing out
rough and ugly all the way from the bottom. " There," he said
to the cedar-tree, " I cannot say how long you will live ; only
the Great Spirit above can tell that ; but you will not be dis
turbed for a good while, as no one can have any object in cut
ting you down. You are yourself unfit for any earthly purpose,
and the land around you is useless for cultivation. I think you
will stand there for a long while." (Rand manuscript.)

It should be added that in one version we are told that the
seeds from these cedars or pines were blown by the wind, and so
spread forth all over the earth. The planting of the cedar by
Earthquake possibly indicates the storms by which seeds are
blown afar.

GLOOSKAP TURNING A MAN INTO A CEDAR-TREE

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 99

ion, on the side of the trunk which is opposite the
place where the wigwam or village lies towards which
it turns. So the mark can be seen as the traveler
goes towards the goal, but not while leaving it.

Then after a time they came to a long point of land
running out into the lake, and, having ascended a high
hill, they saw in the distance a smoke, which guided
them to a large, well-built wigwam. And, entering,
they found seated on the right side a handsome,
healthy man of middle age, and by the other a woman
so decrepit that she seemed to be a hundred years
old. Opposite the door, and on the left side, was a
mat, which seemed to show that a third person had
there a seat.

And the man made them welcome, and spoke as if
•he were weleda'asit kesegvou (M.) — well pleased to
see them, but did not ask them whence they came or
whither they were going, as is wont among Indians
when strangers come to their homes or are met in
travel. Erelong they heard the sound of a paddle,
and then the noise of a canoe being drawn ashore.
And there came in a youth of fine form and features
and well clad, bearing weapons as if from hunting
who addressed the old woman as Kejoo, or mother,
and told her that he had brought game. And with
sore ado — for she was feeble — the old dame tottered
out and brought in four beavers ; but she was so much
troubled to cut them up that the elder, saying to the
younger man Uoh-keenf (M.), " My brother," bade
him do the work. And they supped on beaver.

100 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

So they remained for a week, resting themselves,
for they were sadly worn with their wearisome journey,
and also utterly ragged. And then a wondrous thing
came to pass, which first taught them that they were
in an enchanted land. For one morning the elder
man bade the younger wash their mother's face. And
as he did this all her wrinkles vanished, and she be
came young and very beautiful ; in all their lives the
travelers had never seen so lovely a woman. Her
hair, which had been white and scanty, now hung to
her feet, dark and glossy as a blackbird's breast.
Then, having been clad in fine array, she showed a
tall, lithe, and graceful form at its best.

And the travelers said to themselves, " Truly this
man is a great magician ! " They all walked forth to
see the place. Never was sunshine so pleasantly tem
pered by a soft breeze ; for all in that land was fair,
and it grew fairer day by day to all who dwelt there.
Tall trees with rich foliage and fragrant flowers, but
without lower limbs or underbrush, grew as in a grove,
wide as a forest, yet so far apart that the eye coidd
pierce the distance in every direction.

Now when they felt for the first time that they were
in a new life and a magic land, he that was host asked
them whence they came and what they sought. So
they said that they sought Glooskap. And the host
replied, " Lo, I am he ! " And they were awed by his
presence, for a great glory and majesty now sat upon
him. As the woman had changed, so had he, for al]
in that place was wonderful.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 101

Then the first, telling what he wanted, said, " I am
a wicked man, and I have a bad temper. I am prone
to wrath and reviling, yet I would fain be pious, meek,
and holy."

And the next said, " I am very poor, and my life is
hard. I toil, but can barely make niy living. I
would fain be rich."

Now the third replied, " I am of low estate, being
despised and hated by all my people, and I wish to be
loved and respected." And to all these the Master
made answer, " So shall it be ! "

And taking his medicine-bag {Upsakumoode, M.)
he gave unto each a small box, and bade them keep it
closed until they should be once more at home.1 And
on returning to the wigwam he also gave to each of
them newr garments ; in all their lives they had never
seen or heard of such rich apparel or such ornaments
as they now had. Then when it was time to depart,
as they knew not the way to their home, he arose and
went with them. Now they had been more than a
year in coming. But he, having put on his belt, went
forth, and they followed, till in the forenoon he led
them to the top of a high mountain, from which in
the distance they beheld yet another, the blue outline
of which could just be seen above the horizon. And
having been told that their way was unto it, they

1 In tliis version (Rand manuscript) there is a fourth Indian
introduced, — he who would fain be tall and long-lived, and is
changed to a tree. As it is precisely the same tale as that of the
three who became cypresses or pines, I have not repeated it.

102 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

thought it would be a week's journey to reach it. But
they went on, and in the middle of the afternoon of
the same day they were there, on the summit of the
second mountain. And looking from this afar, all
was familiar to them — hill and river, and wood and
lakes ; all was in their memory. " And there," said
the Master, pointing unto it, — " there is your own
village ! " So he left them alone, and they went on
their way, and before the sun had set were safe at
home.

Yet when they came no one knew them, because of
the great change in their appearance and their fine
attire, the like of which had never been seen by man
in those days. But having made themselves known to
their friends, all that were there of old and young
gathered together to gaze upon and hear what they
had to say. And they were amazed.

Then each of them, having opened his box, found
therein an unguent, rich and fragrant, and with this
they rubbed their bodies completely. And they were
ever after so fragrant from the divine anointing that
all sought to be near them. Happy were they who
could but sniff at the blessed smell which came from
them.

Now he who had been despised for his deformity
and weakness and meanness became beautiful and
strong and stately as a pine-tree. There was no man
in all the land so graceful or of such good behavior.

And he who had desired abundance had it, in all
fullness, his wish. For the moose and caribou came

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 103

to him in the forest, the fish leaped into his nets, all
men gave unto him, and he gave unto all freely, to
the end.

And he that had been wicked and of evil mind,
hasty and cruel, became meek and patient, good and
gentle, and he made others like himself. And he
had his reward, for there was a blessing upon him as
upon all those who had wished wisely even unto the
end of their days.1

1 This beautiful story, in its original simplicity, reminds one of
the tenderest biblical narratives. There is in it nothing reflected
or second-hand ; it is a very ancient or truly aboriginal tale. I
can but sincerely regret my utter inability to do justice to it.
The pen of a great master would be required to describe the
fairyland freshness and light of Glooskap's home as it is felt in
the original by men far more familiar with the forest in all its
loveliness at all seasons than any white writer can be. The
naivete or simplicity of the pilgrims is as striking as that of the
narrator or poet, to whom fine clothes — a Homeric trait — are
as wonderful as all the deeds of magic which he describes.

In this and other tales a man is represented as being punished
by being turned into a tree, so that he can never leave a certain
spot. This is a kind of imprisonment. In the Eclda the Ash
Yggdrasil is the prison of Iduna.

" She ill brooked
her descent
under the hoar tree's
trunk confined."

(Hrofnagaldr Odins, 7.)

It is to keep a man or a woman in a certain place, as prisoner,
that the characters described in the Indian and Norse myths are
put into trees.

This was related to Mr. Rand by Benjamin Brooks, a Micmac.

104 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Of Glooskap and the Sinful Serpent.
(Passamaquoddy.)

Of old time it befell that Glooskap had an enemy,
an evil man, a sinful beast, a great sorcerer. And
this man, after trying many things, made himself a
great serpent, hoping so to slay the Master.

Of old time Glooskap met a boy whose name was
' NmmoTcswesS) the Sable.1 And the boy had a flute :
whoever played on it could entice unto him all the
animals. And once, when the Master was afar, the
boy broke the flute, and in his great sorrow he would
not return home, but wandered away into the wil
derness. Now Glooskap knew in his heart that the
flute was broken: he who is a magician knows at
once of a great evil. And coming home, he asked
of the grandmother where the boy was, and she could
only weep. Then the Master said, " Though I roam
forever, yet will I find the boy." So he went forth,
and he tracked him in the snow for three days ;
and on the third night he heard some one singing in
a hollow; and it was a magic song, that which the
rrfUoulin sings when he is in dire need and death is
near. And making a circle round about the place,
Glooskap looked down and saw a wigwam, and heard
the voice more distinctly as he drew nearer; and it
was the voice of the boy, and he was singing a song

1 Evidently no other than Marten, or the Abistauooch of the
Micmac mythology.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 105

against all of the snake kind. And he was wandering
about the wigwam, seeking a straight stick.

Then Glooskap understood all the thing, and how
the boy had been enticed into the wilderness by the
evil arts of At-o-sis, the Snake, and that the Great
Serpent was in the wigwam, and had sent him out to
seek a straight stick. Then Glooskap, singing again
softly, bade him get a very crooked one, and told
what more to do. So the boy got an exceedingly
crooked one ; and when he entered, the Snake, seeing
it, said, " Why hast thou got such a bad stick ? "
And the boy, answering, said, " Truly, it is very
crooked, but that which is crookedest may be made
straightest, and I know a charm whereby this can be
done ; for I will but heat this stick in the fire, and
then I will make it quite straight, as you shall see."
Now At-o-sis was very anxious to behold this wonder
ful thing, and he looked closely ; but the boy, as soon
as the end of the stick was red-hot, thrust it into his
eyes and blinded him, and ran forth. Yet the Snake
followed him ; but when he was without the wigwam
he met the Master, who slew him out of hand.1

Of old times. This is an end of the story.

1 This curious legend is suggestive of Ulysses and the Cyclops.
The enemies of Glooskap are all cannibals ; the boy is sent out
for a straight stick to serve as a spit to roast him on. It is not im
possible that the Snake, in some perfect version of the tale, has
but a single eye, since many of the evil creatures of red Indian
mythology are half stone lengthwise. But the whole story is
full of strange hints. It was told me by Tomah Josephs, at Cam-
pobello, N. B.

106 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

The Tale of Glooskap as told by another Indian. Show*

ing how the Toad and Porcupine lost their Noses.

(Micmac.)

In the old time. Far before men knew themselves,
in the light before the sun, Glooskap and his brother
were as yet unborn ; they waited for the day to ap
pear. Then they talked together, and the youngest
said, " Why should I wait? I will go into the world
and begin my life at once." Then the elder said,
" Not so, for this were a great evil." But the younger
gave no heed to any wisdom : in his wickedness he
broke through his mother's side, he rent the wall ; his
beginning of life was his mother's death.

Now, in after years, the younger brother would
learn in what lay the secret of the elder's death. And
Glooskap, being crafty, told the truth and yet lied;
for his name was the Liar, yet did he never lie for
evil or aught to harm. So he told his brother that
the blow of a ball, or handful of the down of feath
ers, would take away his life ; and this was true, for
it would stun him, but it would not prevent his re
turning to life. Then Glooskap asked the younger for
his own secret. And he, being determined to give the
elder no time, answered truly and fearlessly, " I can
only be slain by the stroke of a cat-tail or bulrush."

And then the younger, having gathered the down
of bird's feathers, struck the elder, so that he fell
dead, and therein he told the truth. But he soon re
covered, and in that was his deceit. Howbeit it was

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 107

well for the world and well for him that he then
gathered bulrushes and smote his younger brother, so
that he died. But the plant never grew that could
harm the Master, wherefore he is alive to this day.

Who was his mother ? The female Turtle was his
mother.

The Master was the Lord of Men and Beasts.
Beasts and Men, one as the other, he ruled them all.
Great was his army, his tribe was All. In it the
Great Golden Eagle was a chief ; he married a female
Caribou. The Turtle was Glooskap's uncle ; he mar
ried a daughter of the Golden Eagle and Caribou. Of
all these things there are many and long traditions.
Our people tell them in the winter by the fire : the
old people know them ; the young forget them and
the wisdom which is in them.

When the Turtle married, the Master bade him
make a feast, and wished that the banquet should be
a mighty one. To do this he gave him great power.
He bade him go down to a point of rocks by the sea,
where many whales were always to be found. He
bade him bring one ; he gave him power to do so, but
he set a mark, or an appointed space, and bade him not
go an inch beyond it. So the Turtle went down to
the sea ; he caught a great whale, he bore it to camp ;
it seemed to him easy to do this. But like all men
there was in him vain curiosity ; the falsehood of dis
obedience was in him, and to try the Master he went
beyond the mark ; and as he did this he lost his magic
strength ; he became as a man ; even as a common

108 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

mortal his nerves weakened, and he fell, crushed flat
beneath the weight of the great fish.

Then men ran to Glooskap, saying that Turtle was
dead. But the Master answered, " Cut up the Whale ;
he who is now dead will revive." So they cut it up ;
(and when the feast was ready) Turtle came in yawn
ing, and stretching out his leg he cried, " How tired
I am ! Truly, I must have overslept myself." Now
from this time all men greatly feared Glooskap, for
they saw that he was a spirit.

It came to pass that the Turtle waxed mighty in
his own conceit, and thought that he could take Gloos-
kap's place and reign in his stead. So he held a
council of all the animals to find out how he could be
slain. The Lord of Men and Beasts laughed at this.
Little did he care for them !

And knowing all that was in their hearts, he put on
the shape of an old squaw and went into the council-
house. And he sat down by two witches : one was the
Porcupine, the other the Toad ; as women they sat
there. Of them the Master asked humbly how they
expected to kill him. And the Toad answered sav
agely, " What is that to thee, and what hast thou to
do with this thing ? " " Truly," he replied, " I meant
no harm," and saying this he softly touched the tips
of their noses, and rising went his way. But the two
witches, looking one at the other, saw presently that
their noses were both gone, and they screamed aloud
in terror, but their faces were none the less flat. And
so it came that the Toad and the Porcupine both lost
their noses and have none to this day.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 109

Glooskap had two dogs. One was the Loon (Kwe-
moo), the other the Wolf (Malsum). Of old all ani
mals were as men ; the Master gave them the shapes
which they now bear. But the Wolf and the Loon
loved Glooskap so greatly that since he left them
they liowl and wail. He who hears their cries over
the still sound and lonely lake, by the streams where
no dwellers are, or afar at night in the forests and
hollows, hears them sorrowing for the Master.

I am indebted for this legend to Mr. Edward Jack,
of Fredericton, N. B. " I give it to you," he writes,
" just as it came from an Indian's lips, as he sat be
fore the fire in my room this evening, smoking his to
bacco mixed with willow bark. He has an endless
store of Indian lore." It may be observed that this
story gives a far more ingenious reason for Glooskap's
telling his brother what would be his bane than ap
pears in the other version. For he tells him what
would indeed deprive him of life, but not forever.

No one can compare the story of Glooskap with that
of Manobozho - Hiawatha and the like, as given by
Schoolcraft or Cusick, and not decide that the latter
seems to be a second-hand version of the former. In
one we have the root of the bulrush, — not the light,
feathery rush itself. In this story, as in that of Balder
and Loki, it is the very apparent harmlessness of the
bane which points the incident. Manobozho's father
so?/8 that a black rock will kill him ; but it does not,
although he flies before it. Glooskap declares that a

110 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

handful of down will cause his death. The double
entendre of the swoon is entirely wanting in the West
ern tale, as is the apparent harmlessness of the me
dium of death. In the Edda the mistletoe, the softest,
and apparently the least injurious, of plants, kills
Balder ; in the Wabanaki tale it is a ball of down
or a rush. The Chippewas change it, like savages, to
a substantial root and a black rock, thereby manifest
ing an insensibility to the point of the original, which
is that the most trifling thing may be the cause of the
most terrible events.

How Glooskap changed Certain Saucy Indians into Rattle-

snakes.
(Passamaquoddy.)

You know At-o-sis, the Snake? Well, the worst of
all is Rattlesnake. Long time ago the Rattlesnakes
were saucy Indians. They were very saucy. They
had too much face. They could not be put down by
much, and they got up for very little.

When the great Flood was coming Glooskap told
them about it. They said they did not care. He told
them the water would come over their heads. They
said that would be very wet. He told them to be
good and quiet, and pray. Then those Indians hur
rahed. He said, " A great Flood is coming." Then
they gave three cheers for the great Flood. He said,
" The Flood will come and drown you all." Then
these Indians hurrahed again, and got their rattles,
made of turtle-shells, in the old fashion, fastened to-

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. Ill

gether, filled with pebbles, and rattled them and had
a grand dance. Afterwards, when the white men
brought cows and oxen into the country, they made
rattles of horns.

Yes, they had a great dance. The rain began to
fall, but they danced. The thunder roared, and they
shook their rattles and yelled at it. Then Glooskap
was angry. He did not drown them in the Flood,
however, but he changed them into rattlesnakes.
Nowadays, when they see a man coming, they lift up
their heads and move them about. That 's the way
snakes dance. And they shake the rattles in their
tails just as Indians shake their rattles when they
dance. How do you like such music ?

A Passamaquoddy tale related by an old woman
to Mrs. W. Wallace Brown. These Indians still keep
up a very curious snake-dance.

How Glooskap bound Wuchowsen, the Great Wind-Bird,
and made all the Waters in all the World Stagnant.

(Passamaquoddy.)

The Indians believe in a great bird called by them
Wochowsen or Wuchowsen, meaning Wind-Blow or
the Wind-Blower, who lives far to the North, and
sits upon a great rock at the end of the sky. And it
is because whenever he moves his wings the wind
blows they of old times called him that.

When Glooskap was among men he often went out
in his canoe with bow and arrows to kill sea-fowl.

112 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

At one time it was every clay very windy ; it grew
worse ; at last it blew a tempest, and he could not
go out at all. Then he said, " Wuchowsen, the Great
Bird, has done this ! "

He went to find him ; it was long ere he reached
his abode. He found sitting on a high rock a large
white Bird.

" Grandfather," said Glooskap, " you take no com
passion on your Koosesek, your grandchildren. You
have caused this wind and storm ; it is too much.
Be easier with your wings ! "

The Giant Bird replied, " I have been here since
ancient times ; in the earliest days, ere aught else
spoke, I first moved my wings ; mine was the first
voice, — and I will ever move my wings as I will."

Then Glooskap rose in his might ; he rose to the
clouds ; he took the Great Bird-giant Wuchowsen as
though he were a duck, and tied both his wings, and
threw him down into a chasm between deep rocks,
and left him lying there.

The Indians could now go out in their canoes all
day long, for there was a dead calm for many weeks
and months. And with that all the waters became
stagnant. They were so thick that Glooskap could
not paddle his canoe. Then he thought of the Great
Bird, and went to see him.

As he had left him he found him, for Wuchowsen
is immortal. So, raising him, he put him on his rock
again, and untied one of his wings. Since then the
winds have never been so terrible as in the old time.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 113

The reader will find the main incident of this story
repeated in " Tumilkoontaoo, the Broken Wing,"
from the Micmac, in which there is no mention of
Glooskap. This of Wuchowsen is from the Passa-
maquoddy manuscript collection by Louis Mitchell.
It is unquestionably the original. ^Glooskap, as the
greatest magician, most appropriately subdues the
giant eagle of the North, the terrible god of the
storm.

No one who knows the Edda will deny that Wu-
chowsen, or the Wind-blower, as he appears in the
Passamaquoddy tale, is far more like the same bird
of the Norsemen than the grotesque Thunder Bird
of the Western tribes. He is distinctly spoken of by
the Indians of Maine as a giant and a bird in one,
sitting 011 a high cliff at the end of the sky, the wind
— not thunder — coming from his pinions : —

" Tell me ninthly,
jSiuce thou art called wise,
Whence the wind comes,
That over ocean passes,
Itself invisible to man.

" Hraesvelg he is called
Who at the end of heaven sits,
A Jbtun (giant) in eagle's plumage :
From his wings comes,
It is said, the wind
That over all men passes."
(The Lay of Vafthrudnir. The Edda, trans, by B. Thorpe.)

114 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

How Glooskap conquered the Great Bull-Frog, and in what
Manner all the Pollywogs, Crabs, Leeches, and other
Water Creatures were created.

(Passamaquoddy and Micmac.)

N'karnayoo, of old times, there was an Indian
village far away among the mountains, little known
to other men. And the dwellers therein were very
comfortable : the men hunted every day, the women
did the work at home, and all went well in all things
save in this. The town was by a brook, and except
in it there was not a drop of water in all the country
round, unless in a few rain-puddles. No one there
had ever found even a spring.

Now these Indians were very fond of good water.
The brook was of a superior quality, and they be
came dainty over it.

But after a time they began to observe that the
brook was beginning to run low, and that not in the
summer time, but in autumn, even after the rains.
And day by day it diminished, until its bed was as
dry as a dead bone in the ashes of a warm fire.

Now it was said that far away up in the land where
none had ever been there was on this very stream
another Indian village; but what manner of men
dwelt therein no one knew. And thinking that these
people of the upper country might be in some way
concerned in the drought, they sent one of their num
ber to go and see into the matter.

And after he had traveled three days he came to

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 115

the place ; and there he found that a dam had been
raised across the rivulet, so that no water could pass,
for it was all kept in a pond. Then asking them why
they had made this mischief, since the dam was of no
use to them, they bade him go and see their chief, by
whose order this had been built.

And when he came to him, lo, there lay lazily in
the mud a creature who was more of a monster than
a man, though he had a human form. For he was
immense to measure, like a giant, fat, bloated, and
brutal to behold. His great yellow eyes stuck from
his head like pine-knots, his mouth went almost from
ear to ear, and he had broad, skinny feet with long
toes, exceeding marvelous.

The messenger complained to this monster, who at
first said nothing, and then croaked, and finally re
plied in a loud bellow, —

" Do as you choose,
Do as you choose,
Do as you choose.

" What do I care ?
What do I care ?
What do I care ?

" If you want water,
If you want water,
If you want water,
Go somewhere else."

Then the messenger remonstrated, and described
the suffering of the people, who were dying of thirst.

116 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

And tins seemed to please the monster, who grinned.
At last he got up, and, making a single spring to the
dam, took an arrow and bored a hole in it, so that a
little water trickled out, and then he bellowed, —

" Up and begone !
Up and begone !
Up and begone ! "

So the man departed, little comforted. He came
to his home, and for a few days there was a little
water in the stream ; but this soon stopped, and there
was great suffering again.

Now these Indians, who were the honestest fellows
in all the world, and never did harm to any one save
their enemies, were in a sorry pickle. For it is a bad
thing to have nothing but water to drink, but to want
that is to be mightily dry. And the great Glooskap,
who knew all that was passing in the hearts of men
and beasts, took note of this, and when he willed it he
was among them ; for he ever came as the wind comes,
and no man wist how.

And just before he came all of these good fellows
had resolved in council that they would send the bold
est man among them to certain death, even to the vil
lage which built the dam that kept the water which
filled the brook that quenched their thirst, whenever
it was not empty. And when there he was either to
obtain that they should cut the dam, or do something
desperate, and to this intent he should go armed, and
sing his death-song as he went. And they were all
agog.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 117

Then Glooskap, who was much pleased with all
this, for he loved a brave man, came among them look
ing terribly ferocious ; in all the land there was not
one who seemed half so horrible. For he appeared
ten feet high, with a hundred red and black feathers
in his scalp-lock, his face painted like fresh blood with
green rings round his eyes, a large clam-shell hanging
from each ear, a spread eagle, very awful to behold,
flapping its wings from the back of his neck, so that
as he strode into the village all hearts quaked. Being
but simple Indians, they accounted that this must be,
if not Lox the Great Wolverine, at least Mitche-hant,
the devil himself in person, turned Wabanaki ; and
they admired him greatly, and the squaws said they
had never seen aught so lovely.

Then Glooskap, having heard the whole story, bade
them be of good cheer, declaring that he would soon
set all to rights. And he without delay departed up
the bed of the brook ; and coming to the town, sat
down and bade a boy bring him water to drink. To
which the boy replied that no water could be had in
that town unless it were given out by the chief. " Go
then to your chief," said the Master, " and bid him
hurry, or, verily, I will know the reason why." And
this being told, Glooskap received no reply for more
•'•-i:in im hour, during which time he sat on a log and

lokecl his pipe. Then the boy returned with a small
'-up, and this not half full, of very dirty water.

So he arose, and said to the boy, " I will go and
see your chief, and I think he will soon give me bet-

118 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

ter water than this." And having come to the mon
ster, he said, " Give me to drink, and that of the best,
at once, thou Thing of Mud ! " But the chief reviled
him, and said, " Get thee hence, to find water where
thou canst." Then Glooskap thrust a spear into his
belly, and lo ! there gushed forth a mighty river ;
even all the water which should have run on while in
the rivulet, for he had made it into himself. And
Glooskap, rising high as a giant pine, caught the chief
in his hand and crumpled in his back with a mighty
grip. And lo ! it was the Bull-Frog. So he hurled
him with contempt into the stream, to follow the cur
rent.

And ever since that time the Bull-Frog's back has
crumpled wrinkles in the lower part, showing the
prints of Glooskap's awful squeeze.

Then he returned to the village ; but there he found
no people, — no, not one. For a marvelous thing had
come to pass during his absence, which shall be heard
in every Indian's speech through all the ages. For the
men, being, as I said, simple, honest folk, did as boys
do when they are hungry, and say unto one another,
" What would you like to have, and what you ? "
" Truly, I would be pleased with a slice of hot veni
son dipped in maple-sugar and bear's oil." " Nay,
give me for my share succotash and honey." Even
so these villagers had said, " Suppose you had all the
nice cold, fresh, sparkling, delicious water there is in
the world, what would you do ? "

And one said that he would live in the soft mud,
and always be wet and cool.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 119

And another, that he would plunge from the rocks,
and take headers, diving into the deep, cold water,
drinking as he dived.

And the third, that he would be washed up and
down with the rippling waves, living on the land, yet
ever in the water.

Then the fourth said, " Verily, you know not how
to wish, and I will teach you. I would live in the
water all the time, and swim about in it forever."

Now it chanced that these things were said in the
hour which, when it passes over the world, all the
wishes uttered by men are granted. And so it was
with these Indians. For the first became a Leech, the
second a Sp9tted Frog, the third a Crab, which is
washed up and down with the tide, and the fourth a
Fish. Ere this there had been in all the world none
of the creatures which dwell in the water, and now
they were there, and of all kinds. And the river
came rushing and roaring on, and they all went head
long down to the sea, to be washed into many lands
over all the world.1

1 This was told by Tomah Josephs. It is given much more im
perfectly in the tale of Kitpooseagunow in the Rand manuscript,
and in the Anglo-Indian " Storey of Glooscap." I have taken
very great pains in this, as in all the tales written down from
verbal narration, to be accurate in details, and to convey as well
as I could the quaint manner and dry humor which characterized
the style of the narrator. Even white men do not tell the same
story in the same way to everybody ; and if Tomahquah and
others fully expressed their feelings to me, it was because they
had never before met with a white man who listened to them

120 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

How the Lord of Hen and Beasts strove with the Miyhty
Wasis, and was shamefully defeated.

(Penobscot.)

Now it came to pass when Glooskap had conquered
all his enemies, even the I£ewahqu\ who were giants
and sorcerers, and the m'tfoulin, who were magicians,
and the jPamola, who is the evil spirit of the night
air, and all manner of ghosts, witches, devils, canni
bals, and goblins, that he thought upon what he had
done, and wondered if his work was at an end.

And he said this to a certain woman. But she re
plied, " Not so fast, Master, for there yet remains
One whom no one has ever conquered or got the bet
ter of in any way, and who will remain unconquered
to the end of time."

with such sympathy. It may be observed that the Indians com
monly say that wherever the bull- frog is to be found in summer
there is always water. It is not to be understood, in this tale,
that the bull-frog is supposed to have merely drunk up the river.
It is the river which has become incarnate in him. It is the ice
of winter penetrated by the spear of the sun ; that is, Glooskap.
Thus, in another tale, a frozen river tries, as a man, to destroy
the hero, but is melted by him. The conception of the hour when
all wishes are granted, and the abrupt termination of the whole
in a grand transformation scene, are both very striking. There
is something like the former in Rabelais, in his narrative of
the golden hatchet ; as regards the latter, it is like the ending
of a Christmas pantomime. Indeed, the entire tale is perfectly
adapted to such a " dramatization."

I have been told by an old Passamaquodcly woman that the
name of the monster who swallowed the stream was Hahk-lee-
be-mo.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 121

" And who is he ? " inquired the Master.

" It is the mighty Wasis" she replied, " and there
he sits ; and I warn you that if you meddle with him
you will be in sore trouble."

Now Wasis was the Baby. And he sat on the
floor sucking a piece of maple -sugar, greatly con
tented, troubling no one.

As the Lord of Men and Beasts had never married
or had a child, he knew naught of the way of manag
ing children. Therefore he was quite certain, as is
the wont of such people, that he knew all about it.
So he turned to Baby with a bewitching smile and
bade him come to him.

Then Baby smiled again, but did not budge. And
the Master spake sweetly and made his voice like that
of the summer bird, but it was of no avail, for Wasis
sat still and sucked his maple-sugar.

Then the Master frowned and spoke terribly, and
ordered Wasis to come crawling to him immediately.
And Baby burst out into crying and yelling, but did
not move for all that.

Then, since he could do but one thing more, the
Master had recourse to magic. He used his most
awful spells, and sang the songs which raise the dead
and scare the devils. And Wasis sat and looked on
admiringly, and seemed to find it very interesting, but
all the same he never moved an inch.

So Glooskap gave it up in despair, and Wasis, sit
ting on the floor in the sunshine, went goo ! goo ! and
crowed.

122 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

And to this day when you see a babe well con
tented, going goo / goo / and crowing, and no one
can tell why, know that it is because he remembers
the time when he overcame the Master who had con
quered all the world. For of all the beings that have
ever been since the beginning, Baby is alone the only
invincible one.1

How the great Glooskap fought the Giant Sorcerers at
Saco, and turned them into Fish.

(Penobscot.)
Nkarnayoo, of old times : Woodenit atok hagen

1 I am indebted for this " miirchen " to Maria Saksis, a very
intelligent Penobscot woman, a widow of a former governor,
whom I met at North Conway, in the White Mountains, N. H.
In her dialect Glooskap is invariably called Glus-gah-be. She
told it with that admirable dry drollery, characteristic of a good
story-teller in a race where there are no bad ones. The exquisite
humor and humanity of this little legend, placed as a pendant to
the stupendous successes of the giant hero, are such as to entitle
its Indian author to rank as a genius. I have frequently asserted
that these Wabanaki or Northeastern Algonquin tales bore to
those of the West the apparent relation of originals to poor
copies. Let the reader compare this, which is given as nearly
word for word as was possible from the Indian narrative, with
that of Mauobozho-Hiawatha's effort to compete with a baby.
The Cherokee account is that, seeing an infant sucking its own
toe, he tried to do the same, and failed. It is in accounting for
the unaccountable crowing of Baby that the point of the Penob
scot story lies. Of this there is no mention made in the Western
tale, which is utterly wanting in any feeling as to the power of
childhood or its charm over the strongest. A real Indian tale
may always be assumed to be ancient when it is told to set forth
an origin. This gives the origin of a baby's crowing.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 123

Glusgalibe. This is a story of Glooskap (P.). There
was a father who had three sons and a daughter:
they were nittoulin, or mighty magicians ; they were
giants ; they ate men, women, and children ; they did
everything that was wicked and horrible ; and the
world grew tired of them and of all their abomina
tions. Yet when this family \vas young, Glooskap had
been their friend ; he had made the father his adopted
father, the brothers his brothers, the sister his sister.1
Yet as they grew older, and he began to hear on every
side of their wickedness, he said : "I will go among
them and find if this be true. And if it be so, they
shall die. I will not spare one of those who oppress
and devour men, I do not care who he may be."

This family was at Samgadihawk, or Saco, on the
sandy field which is in the Intervale or the summer
bed of the Saco River, in the El-now-e-bit, the White
Mountains, between Geh- sit- wah-zuch2 and K' tehee
penahbesk,3 and near Oonahgemessuk weegeet, the
Home of the Water Fairies.4

1 The Indians make formal adoptions of relatives of every
grade, and in addition to this use all the terms of relationship as
friendly greetings. This is in fact made apparent in all the sto
ries in this collection.

2 Geh-sit-wah-zuch, " many mountains " (Pen.). Mount Kear-
sarge, so called from the several lesser peaks around it.

8 K?tchee penabesk, "the great rock," a much more sensible
and appropriate name than that of " Cathedral Rocks," which
has been bestowed upon it ; also chee penabsk.

4 Also called from a legend, Oonahgemessuk k'tubbee, the Water
Fairies' Spring. This appropriate and beautiful name has been

124 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Now the old man, the father of the evil magicians
and his adopted father, had only one eye, and was
half gray.1 And Glooskap made himself like him, —
there was not between them the difference of a hair ;
and having this form, he entered the wigwam and sat
down by the old man. And the brothers, who killed
everybody, not sparing one living soul, hearing a talk
ing, looked in slyly, and seeing the new-comer, so like
their father that they knew not which was which, said,
" This is a great magician. But he shall be tried ere
he goes, and that bitterly."

Then the sister took the tail of a whale, and cooked
it for the stranger to eat. But as it lay before him,
on the platter and on his knees, the elder brother en
tered, and saying rudely, " This is too good for a beg
gar like you," took it away to his own wigwam. Then
Glooskap spoke : " That which was given to me was
mine ; therefore I take it again." And sitting still he
simply wished for it, and it came flying into the plat
ter where it was before. So he ate it.

Then the brothers said, " Indeed, he is a great ma
gician. But he shall be tried ere he goes, and that
bitterly."

rejected in favor of the ridiculously rococo term " Diana's Bath."
As there is a " Diana's Bath " at almost every summer watering
place in America, North Conway must of course have one. The
absolute antipathy which the majority of Americans manifest for
the aboriginal names, even in a translation, is really remarkable.
1 This would directly connect him with the beings which are
half stone, like the Oonahgemessuk, or water-goblins, the dwellers
in Katahdin, and the Eskimo elves. This will be referred to
again.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 125

When he h id eaten, they brought in a mighty bone,
the jaw of a whale, and the eldest brother, with ^reat
ado, and using both his arms and all his strength, bent
it a little. Then he handed it to Glooskap, who with
his thumb and fingers snapped it like a pipe-stem.
And the brothers said again, " Truly, this is a great
maoician. But he shall for all that be tried ere he

O

goes, and that bitterly."

Then they brought a great pipe full of the strongest
tobacco ; no man not a magician could have smoked
it. And it was passed round : every one smoked ; the
brothers blew the smoke through their nostrils. But
Glooskap filled it full, and, lighting it, burnt all the
tobacco to ashes at one pull, and blew all the smoke
through his nostrils at one puff. Then the brothers
said again in anger, " This is indeed a great magician.
Yet he shall be tried again ere he goes, and that bit
terly." But they never said it again.

And they still tried to smoke with him, and the
wigwam was closed ; they hoped to smother him in
smoke, but he sat and puffed away as if he had been
on a mountain-top, till they could bear it no longer.
And one said, " This is idle ; let us go and play at
ball." The place where they were to play was on the
sandy plain of Samgadihawk, or Saco, on the bend of
the river.1 And the game begun ; but Glooskap found
that the ball witji which they played was a hideous
skull ; it was alive and snapped at his heels, and had

1 I have an Indian stone pestle, or hominy pounder, which I
picked up on the site of this ball-play.

126 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

he been as other men and it had bitten him, it would
have taken his foot off. Then Glooskap laughed, and
said, " So this is the game you play. Good, but let
us all play with our own balls." So he stepped up to
a tree on the edge of the river-bed and broke off the
end of a bough, and it turned into a skull ten times
more terrible than the other. And the magicians ran
before it as it chased them as a lynx chases rabbits ;
they were entirely beaten. Then Glooskap stamped
on the sand, and the waters rose and came rushing
fearfully from the mountains adown the river-bed ; the
whole land rang with their roar. Now Glooskap sang
a magic song, which changes all beings, and the three
brothers and their father became the chinahmess, a
fish which is as long and large as a man, and they
went headlong down on the flood, to the deep sea, to
dwell there forever. And the magicians had on, each
of them, a wampum collar ; wherefore the chinahmess
has beneath its head, as one may say, round its neck,
the wampum collar, as may be seen to this day. And
they were mighty m'teoulin in their time ; but they
were tried before they went, and that bitterly.

Yes, seewass, my brother, this is a true story. For
Glus-gah-be was a great man in his day, and the day
will come when I shall go to him and see him.1

1 This legend is from a single authority, Maria Saksis.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 127

How Glooskap went to England and France, and was the

first to make America known to the Europeans.

(Passamaquoddy.)

There was an Indian woman : she was a Woodchuck
(Mon-in-kwess, P.). She had lost a boy; she always
thought of him. Once there came to her a strange
boy ; he called her mother.

He had a pipe with which he could call all the ani
mals. Pie said, " Mother, if you let any one have this
pipe we shall starve."

" Where did you get it ? "

" A stranger gave it to me."

One clay the boy was making a canoe. The woman
took the pipe and blew it. There came a deer and a
qwah-beet, — a beaver. They came running ; the deer
came first, the beaver next. The beaver had a stick
in his mouth ; he gave it to her, and said, " When
ever you wish to kill anything, though it were half a
mile off, point this stick at it." She pointed it at the
deer ; it fell dead.

The boy was Glooskap. He was building a stone
canoe. Every morning he went forth, and was gone
all day. He worked a year at it. The mother had
killed many animals. When the great canoe was fin
ished he took his (adopted) mother to see it. He said
that he would make sails for it. She asked him, " Of
what will you make them ? " He answered, " Of
leaves." She replied, " Let the leaves alone. I have
something better." She had many buffalo skins al-

128 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

ready tanned, and said, " Take as many as you
need."

He took his pipe. He piped for moose ; he piped for
elk and for bear : they came. He pointed his stick at
them : they were slain. He dried their meat, and so
provisioned his great canoe. To carry water he killed
many seals ; he filled their bladders with water.

So they sailed across the sea. This was before the
white people had ever heard of America. The white
men did not discover this country first at all. Gloos-
kap discovered England, and told them about it. He
got to London. The people had never seen a canoe
before. They came flocking down to look at it.

The Woodchuck had lost her boy. This boy it was
who first discovered America (England ?). This boy
could walk on the water and fly up to the sky.1 He
took his mother to England. They offered him a
large ship for his stone canoe. He refused it. He
feared lest the ship should burn. They offered him
servants. He refused them. They gave him presents
which almost overloaded the canoe. They gave him
an anchor and an English flag.

He and his mother went to France. The French
people fired cannon at him till the afternoon. They
could not hurt the stone canoe. In the night Gloos-
kap drew all their men-of-war ashore. Next morning
the French saw this. They said, " Who did this ? "
He answered, " I did it."

1 This tale was taken down in very strange and confused Eng
lish. The first part is in iny notes almost unintelligible.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 129

They took him prisoner. They put him into a great
cannon and fired it off. They looked into the cannon,
and there he sat smoking his stone pipe, knocking the
ashes out.

The king heard how they had treated him. He said
it was wrong. He who could do such deeds must be
a great man. He sent for Glooskap, who replied, " I
do not want to see your king. I came to this country
to have my mother baptized as a Catholic." They
sent boats, they sent a coach ; he was taken to the
king, who put many questions to him.

He wished to have his mother christened. It was
done. They called her Molly.1 Therefore to this day
all woodchucks are called Molly. They went down to
the shore ; to please the king Glooskap drew all the
ships into the sea again. So the king gave him what
he wanted, and he returned home. Since that time
white men have come to America.

This is an old Eskimo tale, greatly modernized and
altered. The Eskimo believe in a kind of sorcerers
or spirits, who have instruments which they merely
point at people or animals, to kill them. I think that
the Indian who told me this story (P.) was aware
of its feebleness, and was ashamed to attribute such
nonsense to Glooskap, and therefore made the hero an
Indian named Woodchuck. But among Mr. Rand's

1 The Indians pronounce the word Marie Mahli or Molly.
Mahlinskwess, " Miss Molly," sounds like Mon-in-kwess, a wood-
chuck. Hence this very poor pun.

130 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Micmac tales it figures as a later tribute to the mem
ory of the great hero.

One version of this story was given to me by Tomah
Josephs, another by Mrs. W. Wallace Brown. In the
latter Glooskap's canoe is a great ship, with all kinds
of birds for sailors. In the Shawnee legend of the
Celestial Sisters (Hiawatha Legends), a youth who
goes to the sky must take with him one of every kind
of bird. This indicates that the Glooskap voyage
meant a trip to heaven.

How Glooskap is making Arroivs, and preparing for a

Great Battle. The Twilight of the Indian Gods.

(Passamaquoddy.)

"Is GloosJcap living yet?" " Yes, far away ; no
one knows where. Some say he sailed away in his
stone canoe beyond the sea, to the east, but he will re
turn in it one day ; others, that he went to the west.
One story tells that while he was alive those who
went to him and found him could have their wishes
given to them. But there is a story that if one travels
long, and is not afraid, he may still find the great
sagamore (so^mo). Yes. He lives in a very great, a
very long wigwam. He always making arrows. One
side of the lodge is full of arrows now. They so
thick as that. When it is all quite full, he will come
forth and make war. He never allows any one to
enter the wigwam while he is making these arrows."

" And on ivhom will lie make war ? " " He will
make war on all, kill all ; there will be no more world,

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 131

— world all gone. Dtmno how quick, — mebbe long
time ; all be dead then, mebbe, — guess it will be
long time."

" Are any to be saved by any one ? " " Dunno.
3fe hear how some say world all burn up some day,
water all boil all fire ; some good ones be taken up in
good heavens, but me dumio, — me just hear that.
Only hear so."

It was owing to a mere chance question that this
account of the Last Day was obtained from an Indian.
It was related to Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, of Calais,
Maine, by Mrs. Le Cool, an old Passamaquoddy In
dian. It casts a great light on the myth of Glooskap,
since it appears that a day is to come when, like Ar
thur, Barbarossa, and other heroes in retreat, he is to
come forth at a new twilight of the gods, exterminate
the Iglesmani, and establish an eternal happy hunt
ing-ground. This preparing for a great final battle is
more suggestive of Norse or Scandinavian influence
than of aught else. It is certainly not of a late date,
or Christian, but it is very much like the Edda and
Eagnarok. Heine does not observe, in the Twilight
of the Gods, that Jupiter or Mars intend to return
and conquer the world. But the Norsemen expected
such a fight, when arrows would fly like hail, and
Glooskap is supposed to be deliberaijly preparing
for it.

A very curious point remains to be noted in this
narration. When the Indians speak of Christian, or

132 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

white, or civilized teachings, they say, " I heard," or,
" I have been told." This they never do as regards
their own ancient traditions. When Mrs. Le Cool
said that she " had heard " that some were to be
taken up into good heavens, she declared, in her way,
that this was what Christians said, but that she was
not so sure of it. The Northeastern Algonquin al
ways distinguish very accurately between their an
cient lore and that derived from the whites. I have
often heard French fairy tales and 2Esop's fables In-
dianized to perfection, but the narrator always knew
that they were not N'Karnayoo, " of the old time."

Glooskap is now living in a Norse-like Asa-heim ;
but there is to come a day when the arrows will be
ready, and he will go forth and slay all the wicked.
Malsum the Wolf, his twin brother, the typical colos
sal type of all Evil, will come to life, with all the
giant cannibals, witches, and wild devils slain of old ;
but the champion will gird on his magic belt, and the
arrows will fly in a rain as at Kagnarok : the hero will
come sailing in his wonderful canoe, which expands to
hold an army. Thus it will be on

" That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,"

with all things, in blood and death and fire. Then
there will come the eternal happy hunting-grounds.

If this was derived from Christian priests, it must
be admitted that it has changed wonderfully on the
way. It is to me very heathen, grimly archaic, and
with the strong stamp of an original. Its resem-

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 133

blance to the Norse is striking. Either the Norse
men told it to the Eskimo and the Indians, or the lat
ter to the Norsemen. None know, after all, what was
going on for ages in the early time, up about Jotun-
heim, in the North Atlantic I Vessels came to New
foundland to fish for cod since unknown antiquity,
and, returning, reported that they had been to Tar-
tary.

It may be assumed at once that this Indian Last
Battle of the Giants, or of the good hero giants against
the Evil, led by the Malsum-Fenris Wolf, was not de
rived from the Canadian French. The influence of
the latter is to be found even among the Chippewas,
but they never dealt in myths like this.

It is very remarkable indeed that the one great
principle of the Norse mythology is identical with that
of the Indian. So long as man shall make war and
heroism his standard, just so long his hero god exists.
But there will come a day when mankind can war no
more, — when higher civilization must prevail. Then
there will be a great final war, and death of the he
roes, and death of their foes, and after all a new

world.

" Then shall another come

yet mightier,

although I dare not

his name declare.

Few may see <-

further forth

than when Odin

meets the wolf."

(HindluLod, 42.)

134 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

The Norsemen may have drawn this from a Chris
tian source ; but the Indian, to judge by form, spirit,
and expression, would seem to have taken it from the
Norse.

How Glooskap found the Summer.

In the long ago time when people lived always in
the early red morning, before sunrise, before the
Squid to neck was peopled as to-day, Glooskap went
very far north, where all was ice.

He came to a wigwam. Therein he found a giant,
a great giant, for he was Winter. Glooskap entered ;
he sat down. Then Winter gave him a pipe ; he
•smoked, and the giant told tales of the old times.

The charm was 011 him ; it was the Frost. The giant
talked on and froze, and Glooskap fell asleep. He
slept for six months, like a toad. Then the charm
fled, and he awoke. He went his way home ; he went
to the south, and at every step it grew warmer, and
the flowers began to come up and talk to him.

He came to where there were many little ones
dancing in the forest ; their queen was Summer. I
am singing the truth : it was Summer, the most beau
tiful one ever born. He caught her up ; he kept her
by a crafty trick. The Master cut a moose-hide into
a long cord ; as he ran away with Summer he let the
end trail behind him.

They, the fairies of Light, pulled at the cord, but
as Glooskap ran, the cord ran out, and though they
pulled he left them far away. So he came to the lodge

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 135

of Winter, but now he had Summer in his bosom ;
and Winter welcomed him, for he hoped to freeze him
again to sleep. I am singing the song of Summer.

But this time the Master did the talking. This
time his m'teoidin was the strongest. And ere long
the sweat ran down Winter's face, and then he melted
more and quite away, as did the wigwam. Then every
thing awoke ; the grass grew, the fairies came out,
and the snow ran down the rivers, carrying away the
dead leaves. Then Glooskap left Summer with them,
and went home.

This poem — for it is such — was related to Mrs.
W. Wallace Brown by an Indian named Neptune. It
appears to be the completer form of the beautiful
allegory of Winter and Spring given in the Hiawatha
Legends as Peboan and Seegwum (Odjibwa). The
struggle between Spring and Winter, Summer and
Winter, or Heat and Cold, represented as incarnate
human or mythic beings, forms the subject of several
Indian legends, as it does a part of the Hymiskvida,
in the Edda. The German J. B. Friedreich (Symbo-
lik der Natur, Wiirzburg, 1859) remarks that in the
Bible, Job xxxviii. 28, and in the Song of the Three
in the Fiery Furnace, Ice and Snow are spoken of as
intelligences.

Heat and cold, in classic times, were supposed to be
united, yet in conflict, in the lightning and hail (Virgil,
^n. VIII. 429), the symbol for this being a twisted
horn. In the legend of the Culloo the frost giantess

136 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

can only be killed by a crooked horn thrust into her
ear. The horn darts out at once into incredible,
irregular length, and evidently means lightning. In
the Edda the he-goat is, on account of his horns, the
symbol of lightning and storm. (Schwenk, Sinnbil-
den der alten Volker.) The Giala-horn of the Edda
(Nyer up. Diet. Scan. Mythol.) is the thunder which
summons the Elves. " Miolner, the hammer of Thor,
with which he kills frost giants, is the lightning."
(Kirclmer, Thor's Donnerkeil, Neu Strelitz, 1853, p.
60.) The coincidence of the symbols in the Edda
with that of the lightning horn in the Indian legend
is very curious, if nothing more.

The cord which Glooskap unrolls, and with which
he deceives the fairies, who think they have him fast,
while he is escaping, means delusive speech or plau
sible talk. To " talk like paying out rope " is an old

simile.

" Speech runes thou must know,

If thou wilt that no one

for injury with hate requite thee.

Those thou must wind,

Those thou must wrap round (thee),

Those thou must altogether place

in the assembly,

where people have

into full court to go." (Sigrdrifumal.)

This is a merely accidental coincidence, but it illus
trates the meaning of the myth. In both cases it is
" wound or wrapped around " and rapidly unrolled,
and the same simile.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 137

The following poem on Glooskap may be appropri
ately placed in this work. The allusion to the agates
of Cape Blomidon refers to a tradition given by S. T.
Rand, which states that when Glooskap would make
his adopted grandmother young again he created the
brilliant stones, which are still found at that place, to
adorn her.1

THE LEGEND OF GLOOSKAP.

Bathed in the sunshine still as of yore

Stretches the peaceful Acadian shore ;

Fertile meadows and fields of grain

Smile as they drink the summer rain.

There like a sentinel, grim and gray,
Blomidon stands at the head of the bay,
And the famous Fundy tides, at will,
Sweep into Minas Basin still.

With wondrous beauty the Gaspereaux
Winds its way to the sea below,
And the old Acadian Grand Pre
Is the home of prosperous men to-day.

The place where Basil the blacksmith wrought,
In the glow of his forge, is a classic spot,
And every summer tourists are seen

In the fairy haunts of Evangeline.

v.

But the old Acadian woods and shores,
Rich in beautiful legend stores,
Were once the home of an older race,
WTho wove their epics with untaught grace.

1 Youth's Companion.

138 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Long ere the dikes that guard for aye
From the merciless tides the old Grand Prd,
Built by the Frenchman's tireless hands,
Grew round the rich Acadian lands,

The Micmac sailed in his birch canoe
Over the Basin, calm and blue ;
Speared the salmon, his heart's desire,
Danced and slept by his wigwam fire ;

Far in the depth of the forest gray
Hunted the moose the livelong day,
While the mother sang to her Micmac child
Songs of the forest, weird and wild.

Over the tribe, with jealous eye,
Watched the Great Spirit from on high,
While on the crest of Blomidon
Glooskap, the God-man, dwelt alone.

No matter how far his feet might stray
From the favorite haunts of his tribe away,
Glooskap could hear the Indian's prayer,
And send some message of comfort there.

Glooskap it was who taught the use

Of the bow and the spear, and sent the moose

Into the Indian hunter's hands ;

Glooskap who strewed the shining sands

Of the tide-swept beach of the stormy bay
With amethysts purple and agates gray,
And brought to each newly wedded pair
The Great Spirit's benediction fair.

GLOOSKAP THE DIVINITY. 139

But the white man came, and with ruthless hand
Cleared the forests and sowed the land,
And drove from their haunts by the sunny shore
Micmac and moose, forevermore.

And Glooskap, saddened and sore distressed,
Took his way to the unknown West,
And the Micmac kindled his wigwam fire
Far from the grave of his child and his sire ;

Where now, as he weaves his basket gay,
And paddles his birch canoe away,
He dreams of the happy time for men
When Glooskap shall come to his tribe again.

ARTHUR WENTWORTH EATON.

THE MEEEY TALES OF LOX, THE MIS
CHIEF MAKEE,

COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE INDIAN DEVIL.

Of the Surprising and Singular Adventures of two Water
Fairies who were also Weasels, and how they each be
came the Bride of a Star. Including the Mysterious
and Wonderful Works of Lox, the Great Indian Devil,
who rose from the Dead.

(Micmac and Passamaquoddy.)

Wee-zig-yik-keseyook. " Of old times." Far back
in the forest, by a brook, dwelt two young men, Abis-
tanooch, the Marten, and Team, the Moose. Of these
each had a wigwam, and therewith a grandmother who
kept house. And Team hunted and worked industri
ously, but Master Marten was greatly moalet (M.),
which signifies one who liveth upon his neighbors, de
pending on their good nature, even as he that planteth
corn and beans depends upon the pleasant smiles of
the sun ; whence it came to pass that wherever vict
uals were in store there too his presence did greatly
abound.

Now it happened that one day Team, the Moose, had
killed a bear, and brought home a single load of the
meat, leaving the rest to be looked after anon. And
being thrifty, and not caring to feed those who fed

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 141

him not, neither did they thank, he said unto himself,
and also to his grandmother, " Truly, the eyes of Mar
ten shall not see this thing, his nose shall not smell
thereof, neither shall his tongue taste it ; so let not the
tidings of our good luck go forth from the wigwam."
" Yes," replied the old woman, " and well and wisely
them speakest, my son. But we have this day broken
our kettle, while Marten has brought in a new one.
Behold, I will go and borrow it, and having cooked in
it I will wash and wipe it, so that there shall be no
sign of what we did therewith, and so return it."

Now this was done, but he who is moalet and a
haunter of feasts is like a hunter of beasts : he knows
well from a small sign where there is a large load,
and the borrowing of kettles means the boiling of
victuals therein. So having in him somewhat of
sorcery, he did but step to his friend's wigwam, and,
peeping through a crevice, saw a great store of bear's
meat. And when the grandmother of Moose came
unto him to return the kettle, just as she entered the
lodge there arose from it a savory steam, and look
ing in it was full of well-cooked food. And Marten
thanked her greatly, yet she, being put to shame, fled
to her own home. But Moose said it wa^ no matter,
so the next day they went to the woods together, and
all was well.

Now it befell Marten, as it might have befallen any
other man, that one day he came to a distant and
lonely lake in the mountains. Yet there, stepping
softly as a cat behind the rocks himg with grapevines,

142 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

he heard laughing and splashing, and a pleasant sound
as of girls' voices. So, peeping carefully, he saw many
maids merrily bathing in the lake : and these were of
the fairy race, who dwell in deep waters and dark
caves, and keep away from mankind. And seeing
their garments lying on the shore, and beholding
among the damsels one whom he desired to obtain,1
Marten quietly slipped along unseen, as all of his
species can do, till he had the clothes in his hands.
For being tinctured with magic and learned in the
lore of all kind of goblins, elves, and witches, Master
Marten knew that when Naiads are naked and a man
has their garments he holds them at his mercy. For
in the apparel lies their fairy power; and if you
doubt it, do but give it a trial and see for yourself !

And having done this, the merry fellow ran inland
with a brave whoop, which the fairies hearing, they
in a great rage ran after the ravisher of their robes.
But she whom he desired outstripped the rest, and
when she approached him he did but tap her lightly
on the head with a small stick, according to a certain
ancient prescription followed in Fairy -land, which
makes of a woman a wife ; whereupon she, according

1 There are many of these stories which indicate passionate
and deeply seated attachment, but I never once heard a real In
dian say that man or woman loved, though they have w'ords
which fully express it. " He wanted her " is the nearest ap
proach to tenderness which I have ever heard from them. This
is not the result of a want of feeling, but of the suppression of all
manifestation of it, to which every red man is trained from
earliest infancy.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 143

to the antique rite, being astonished to find herself so
suddenly married, fainted dead away, and was carried
off in peace. And as for the clothes of the others, the
Marten gave them back without taking fee or re
wards.

Then Team, the Moose, who was a good soul, but
not wise above all the world, coming home and find
ing Marten married, wished also for a wife. And
having heard all the tale, he said, " Well, if it is no
harder than that, 't is as easy as sucking a honey
suckle, and I am as good as married." And going
to the pond in the mountains, among the rocks and
behind the grapevines, he too beheld the virgins jump
ing, flapping, splashing, and mischieving merrily, like
mad minxes, in the water ; whereat he, being all of a
rage, as it were, caught up the clothes of these poor
maids and ran ; she whom he most admired catching
up with him. And being resolved to do the thing
thoroughly, he grappled up a great club and gave her
a bang on her small head, which stunned her indeed,
and that forever, inasmuch as she was slain outright.
So the Moose remained unmarried.

Now Team was one of the kind not uncommon in
this world, who hold that if any other man has or gets
more than they have, then they are deeply wronged.
And it had come to pass that Master Marten, finding
that his wife yearned greatly for the society of her
sisters, offered to take yet another of them in mar
riage, merely to oblige his wife ; for in such a kind
of benevolence he was one of the best souls that ever

144 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

lived, and rather than have trouble in the family he
would have wedded all the pretty girls in the coun
try. So going as before to the pond in the moun
tains, among the rocks and behind the grapevines,
he, by the same device, captured yet another fairy,
whom, taking home, he wedded.

Yet Team took this sadly to heart, and willed that
Marten should give him this last spouse, to which
Marten would in nowise agree. Truly, Team argued
earnestly that as he had no wife, and no wisdom
wherewith to win one, of course he must have one
of Marten's, or that Marten should go and get him
one. To which Marten replied that Moose might
skin his own skunks, and fish for his own minnows,
and also paddle his own canoe to the devil, if it so
pleased him, — all of these being approved Indian
sayings of high and racy antiquity. Whereupon Team
sought to persuade Marten with a club, who gave a
soft answer by shooting a flint-headed arrow through
Team's scalp-lock ; and this friendship they continued
for many days, passing their evenings in manufactur
ing missiles, and the mornings in sending them one at
the other.

Now the fairy water-wives, not being accustomed to
this kind of intimacy, sought to subtract themselves
from it. So one morning, when Marten and Team
were most industriously endeavoring to effect mutual
murder, the two wives of the former fled afar to seek
fortune, and succeeded therein to perfection. And it
came to pass when the sun had set and the voice of

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 145

Bumole, the Spirit of Night, was heard afar on high,
and Nibauehset (P.)? tne Night- Walker, shone over
all, that the two brides lay in an oak opening of the
forest, and looked at P'ses'muk, the Stars, and talked
about them even as children might do. And one
said to the other, " If those Stars be men, which
would you have for a husband ? " " By my faith,"
replied the other, " it should be that little red, twin
kling fellow, for I like the little stars best." " And
I," said the other, " will wed the Wisawaioo P'ses'm
(P.), the Great Yellow Star, for I love the large
stars." And, saying this in jest, they fell asleep.

But many a word spoken in jest is recalled in ear
nest, as these brides learned when they awoke, and
found themselves married again in the Indian man
ner, at only a word. For she who had wished for the
Great Yellow Shining Star, as she opened her eyes,
heard a man's voice say, " Take care, or you will up
set my war-paint ! " 1 And lo, there lay by her side a
great and handsome man, very noble, with large and
lustrous eyes.2 Then the other, as she awoke and
stirred, heard a little feeble, cracked voice crying,

1 Sekroon (red ochre).

2 In the Passamaquoddy version of this tale, given me by
Tomah Josephs, the brides awake in Star-Land. The husbands
are both elderly men, and he who is the Yellow Star has bright
yellow corners to his eyes, while the other has red. In another
the Yellow Star is called Wdbeyu, the White. While they are all
distinctly forms of one tale, the three differ so much that I have
had great difficulty in reconstituting what appears to be the
original legend.

10

146 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

" Take care, or you will spill my eye-water ! " l And
by her was the smaller star, whom she had chosen ;
but he was a weak-looking old fellow, with little red,
twinkling eyes. And as they had chosen so it came
unto them.

But yellow or red, young or old, in a few days they
both grew a-weary of the star country to which they
were taken, and wished to return to the earth. And
then that came to pass which made them yearn with
tenfold longing ; for their husbands, who were absent
all day hunting, had pointed out to them a large flat
stone, which they were on no account to lift ; which
they obeyed in this wise, that they did not both lift
the stone, but only the younger, who, as soon as the
Stars had gone to the greenwood, rushed to the slab,
and, lifting it up, gazed greedily down into the hole
beneath. And what she saw was wonderful, for it was
the sky itself, and directly under them was the world
in which they had lived, and specially in sight was
the home of their childhood, with all its woods and
rivers. And then the elder having looked, both al
most broke their hearts with weeping.

Now the Stars were by no means such evil-minded
men as you may have deemed ; for having perceived
by magic that their wives had looked through the
hole in the sky, and knowing that they were lying
when they denied it, they gave them leave to go back
to earth. Yet there were conditions, and those not
easy to such fidgety damsels as these ; for they said,
1 Nebijegwode (eye medicine, M.).

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 147

" Ye shall lie together all this night, and in the morn
ing when ye awake ye shall be in no haste to open
your eyes or to uncover your faces. Wait until ye
shall have heard the song of the Ktsee-gee-gil-lassis
(P.), or chick-a-dee-dee. And even then ye shall not
arise, but be quiet until the song of the red squirrel
shall be heard. And even then ye must wait and
keep your faces covered and your eyes closed until ye
hear the striped squirrel sing. And then ye may
leave your bed and look around."

Now the younger wife was ever impatient, and when
the chick-a-dee-dee sang she would have leaped up at
once, but the elder restrained her. " Wait," she said,
"my sister, until we hear the Abalkakmooech" l
And she lay still till the Adoo-doo-dech 2 began his
early chatter and his morning's work. Then, without
waiting, she jumped up, as did the elder, when they
found themselves indeed on earth, but in the summit
of a tall, spreading hemlock-tree, and that in such a
manner that they could not descend without assist
ance. And it had come to pass in this wise : for as
each song was sung by the bird and the squirrels, they
had come nearer and nearer to the earth, even as the
light of day drew near, but as they coulW not delay
they had been deserted.3

1 Ground squirrel. 2 Red squirrel.

3 A want of patience or of dignity, and restlessness, are moro
scorned by every Indian than any other fault. This is not the
only story in which people are represented as being punished for
being unable to bide their time. Glooskap was specially severe
on all such sinners.

148 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

And as they sat there and day dawned, men of the
different Indian families went by, and unto all of
these they cried for help. It is true that their star
husbands had made for them in the tree a bed of
moss, but they cared not to rest in the hemlock, for
all that.1 And of all the beasts of the forest or men
of the clearing, who should be the first to appear but
Team, or Master Moose, himself. And to him they
cried, " N^ sesenen-apkwahlin, n'sesenen ! " " Oh, our
elder brother, let us free ; take us down, and we will
be your two dear little wives, and go home with you."
But he, looking up scornfully, said, " I was married
this autumn." And so he went his way.

And he who next came was the shaggy Bear, or
mooin, to whom they made the same request, offering
themselves for no higher price than to be taken down
safely out of their nest. But he growled out that he
had been married in the spring, and that one wife was
enough for any man. So he went his way.2

1 In another very full version of this legend (M.), the water-
wives are called Weasels (Uskoolsk), "from their great white
ness." This, however, indicates supernatural fairness or beauty.
In the same story the tree is a pine, not a hemlock. Insignifi
cant as these differences may appear, they are of primary im
portance in the elucidation of a myth.

2 N. B. — There is a joke here. The animals who pass by tho
tree each mate at the season of the year when they declare that
they were married. The White Ladies, weasels or ermines, there
fore, came at the wrong time. The fickle, variable nature as
cribed to woman, varium et mutabile semper femina, is supposed
to be most decidedly expressed by such slender, slippery, active
little animals.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 149

And then who should come along but Marten him
self, even the Abistanooch, whom they had deserted!
And they cried out for joy, begging in in to take them
back. But he, behaving as if tlioy were utter stran
gers, replied that he had been married in the early
spring to one of his own tribe, and unto a damsel
whose name was Marten, and that it was not seemly
for animals to wed out of their own kind. So he
scampered off, leaving the little Weasels all alone.

And last of all came Lox, whom hunters call the
Indian Devil,1 and others the Wolverine, who is ex
ceeding subtle above the beasts of the forest, and who
is gifted with more evil mischief than all of them in
one. And whan the Weasels called to him for help
he tarried, for it came into his heart that he might in
some way torment and tease them. But verily he had
to deal with those wrho were not much more virtuous
than himself, and quite as cunning, for what with trav-

1 In the Micmac it is the Badger, Keekwajoo, who is the rogue
and teaser of the tale. But in the Passamaquoddy versions it is
the dreaded and mysterious Lox, who appears to be a species of
Lynx or Wolverine. The Lox is said, by trustworthy white trav
elers as well as Indians, to follow hunting parties for weeks, in
spired apparently only by an incredible mania for mischief, much
like that of a monkey or a revengeful savage, but guided by re
markable intelligence. He will find his way into a camp and
destroy every object made by the hand of man with a thorough
ness akin to genius, and what he cannot destroy he will carry to
a great distance and carefully conceal. As his ferocity is equal
to his craftiness, he is very appropriately termed the Indian
Devil.

150 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

eling from the earth to the heavens and changing hus
bands, these fair minevers were learning wisdom rap
idly. So the elder sister, who had not the least idea of
keeping her promise unless it suited her fancy, played
a trick, and that quickly anon. For she at once took
off her hair-string 1 and tied it into a few less than a
hundred knots among the twigs of the trees, tangling
it so that you would have deemed it a week's work
before a man could loosen it again without injury.

Now Master Lox, having taken down the younger
sister with all the politeness in the world, came for the
other, and aided her also to descend. And when on
the ground she indeed said, " Willee-oon," " I thank
you " (P.), but begged him to go up the tree again and
bring down a great treasure which she had left there,
her hair-string ; beseeching him for all their lives not
to break or injure it in any way, but to most- care
fully untie every knot, for thus doing it would bring
untold felicity on them all ; and that they, the Weasels,
would meantime build a beautiful bridal bower, or a
wigwam, and that so furnished as he had never seen
the like before, — in which verily they kept their word.

For they speedily built the wigwam, but the furni
ture thereof was of this rare kind. The Weasels had,
it seems, certain sworn friends, — for birds of a feather

1 The Hair-String, Saggalobee (M.), occurs very often in Indian
legends, generally as gifted with magic. The Indian women al
lowed their hair to grow long, then doubled it upon the back of
the head, often making additions of something to enlarge the
roll. It was then bound in a bunch with the string.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 151

flock together, — and these were not far to seek, as they
were the Thorns, Burrs, and Briers of all kinds, Hor
nets and other winged and and stinged insects, besides
the Ants. And they were, moreover, intimate with
all the sharp-edged Flints in the land, which was a
goodly company. So when the bower was built it had
therein a hornet's nest for a bridal bed, thorns for a
carpet, flints for a floor, and an ant's nest for a seat,
which for a bare-footed and bare-breeched Indian is
indeed a sore essay. Now it had taken Master Lox
the entire day to untie the hair-string, so when he
came down it was dark, and he was glad when he
saw the hut and thought of resting therein.

But, as he entered, he ran among the Thorns, which
pierced his nose, and Flints, which cut his feet, so that
he roared aloud. Then he heard a voice, which seemed
to be that of the younger Miss Weasel, crying " Names-
cole " (M.), " Go to my sister, yonder ! " So he went,
and trod in an ant-hill, and this was worse than the
Briers. And then he heard another voice on that side
which cried, laughing, " N'kwech-kale ! " (M.), " Go
to my sister, who is younger than I." And plunging
furiously through the darkness, he fell on the hornet's
nest ; and verily the last state of that Indian was worst
of all. Thus, seeing himself mocked, he became furi
ous ; so that he who has by nature the very worst tem
per of all beasts or men was never so angry before, and,
seeking the tracks of the Weasels, he pursued them as
they fled in the night and through the thick forest.

Now it came to pass that by daybreak the two girls,

152 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

even the Misses Weasel, had come to a broad river
which they could not cross. But in the edge of the
water stood a large Crane, motionless, or the Tum-gwo-
lig-unach, who was the ferryman. Now truly this is
esteemed to be the least beautiful of all the birds, for
which cause he is greedy of good words and fondest
of flattery. And of all beings there were none who
had more bear's oil ready to anoint every one's hair
with — that is to say, more compliments ready for
everybody — than the Weasels. So, seeing the Crane,
they sang : —

" Wa wela quis kip pat kasqu',
Wa wela quis kip pat kasqu'. " (P.)

The Crane has a very beautiful long neck,
The Crane has a very beautiful long neck.

This charmed the old ferryman very much, and when
they said, " Please, grandfather, hurry along," he came
quickly. Seeing this, they began to chant in chorus,
sweetly as the Seven Stars themselves : —

" Wa wela quig nat kasqu',

Wa wela quig nat kasqu'." (P.)

The Crane has very beautiful long legs,
The Crane has very beautiful long legs.

Hearing this, the good Crane wanted more ; so
when they asked him to give them a lift across, he
answered slowly that to do so he must be well paid,
but that good praise would answer as well. Now
they who had abundance of this and to spare for

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 153

everybody were these very girls. " Have I not a
beautiful form ? " he inquired ; and they both cried
aloud, " Oh, uncle, it is indeed beautiful ! " " And
my feathers ? " " Ah, pegeakopchu " (M.), " Beauti
ful and straight feathers indeed ! " " And have I not
a charming long, straight neck ? " " Truly our uncle
has it straight and long." " And will ye not acknowl
edge, oh, maidens, that my legs are fine?" "Fine!
oh, uncle, they are perfection. Never in this life did
we see such legs ! " So being well pleased, the Crane
put them across, and then the two little Weasels scam
pered like mice into the bush.

And scarcely were they concealed, or the Crane
well again in his place, ere Master Lox appeared.
And being in no good temper he called to Uncle Crane
to set him across, and that speedily. Now the Crane
had been made mightily pleased and proud by the
winsome words of the Weasels, and was but little in
clined to be rudely addressed. So he said to Lox,
44 1 will bear thee over the river if thou wilt bear wit
ness to my beauty. Are not my legs straight?"
44 Yea " replied the Lox, 44 and beautifully painted,
too." Now the color thereof was little pleasing to
poor Uncle Crane. " Are not my feathers very smooth
and fine ? " 44 Yea, smooth and fine ; what a pity,
though, that they are mildewed and dusty ! " " And
my straight neck ? " " Yes, wonderfully straight, —
straight as this" said Lox to himself, taking up a
crooked stick. And then he sang : —

" Mecha guiskipat kasqu',
Mecha quig nat kasqu'."

154 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

The Crane has a very ugly neck,
The Crane has dirty, ugly legs.

"Come, mooso me (grandfather), hurry up!

Oh, the Crane has a very ugly neck,
The Crane has dirty, ugly legs.

I wish you to be quick, mooso me. Hurry up, I
say!'"

And all of this ill-temper and insincerity was deeply
and inwardly detected by Uncle Crane, but he said
not a word, and only meekly bent him down to take
the traveler on his back. But when in the stream,
and where it was deepest and most dangerous, he
gave himself a shake, and in another instant Lox was
whirling round and round like a chip in the rapids.
And yet a little time he was dashed against the rocks,
and then anon was thrown high and dry on the shore,
but dead as a seven-year-old cedar cone.

Now the Lox is a great magician at certain times
and seasons, albeit his power fails him at others.2

1 This dialogue, including the songs, is from a very curious
Passamaquoddy version of the tale, sent to me by Louis Mitchell.
As in all such cases, there is far more humor in the Passama
quoddy narratives than in the Micmac or Eskimo.

2 From this point of the legend onward there is an inextricable
confusion as regards the four different versions. While the hero
is decidedly a Badger in the Micmac, I regard the great ferocity,
craft, and above all the vitality which he displays as far more
characteristic of the Lox or Wolverine of the Passamaquoddy.
What is almost decisively in favor of the latter theory is that
in all the stories, despite his craft and power, he is always get
ting himself into trouble through them. This is eminently char
acteristic of the Lox, much less so of the Badger.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 155

And he is one of those who rise from the dead. Now
it came to pass that some days after two boys of the
Kwedech or Mohawk race found the Lox lying dead
on a rock in the sunshine, and the worms were crawl
ing from him. But when they touched him he arose
as if from sleep, and stood before them as a proud and
fierce warrior. But he was scarce alive ere he sought
to do them who had roused him to life a mischief ; for
having noted that they had fine bows, he got them into
his hands, and broke them, yet all as if he meant it
not.1 And then by magic making a sound as of many
children at play, afar off across the next point of
land by the river, he bade them run and join the pleas
ant games. And when he had got them a space on
ward, lo, the sound seemed ever farther on, mingled
with the murmur of the stream ; and so they went
without him, seeking it, and yet it wandered ever far
away.

Now he had learned from the boys that they were
of a Cullo family ; and the Culloos are certain mon
strous birds, exceeding fierce. But Master Lox, having
seen in the cabin plenty of fine meat, desired greatly
to become one of the family, and having been much
about in life knew something of the ways of every
one. So putting on the Culloo style, he, seeing a

1 In the Passamaquoddy version of this tale, when Lox is thus
dismembered, the ants, pitying him, bring his scattered members
together. As soon as he recovers, the Wolverine, with charac
teristic ingratitude, amuses himself by trampling his benefactors
to death beneath his feet.

156 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

babe, began to sing with the most natural air in the
world a Culloo nursery-song : —

" Agoo ge abeol,
Wetkusanabeol." l

A seal- skin strap,
A shoulder-strap.

Now it costs very little to fall into the humor of a
man ; but this the woman would not do, and told him
plainly that he could not deceive her. On hearing
which Master Lox, in a great rage, seized his toma
hawk and slew her. Then seeing a kettle boiling on
the fire, he cut off her head and put it into the pot,
hiding the body. And this was a merry jest after his
own heart, so that it greatly solaced him. But after
a time, the two boys, returning, missed their mother,
and looking into the kettle, found her head. Then
they knew well who had done this. And, being fear
less, they pursued him, but having no bows they could
do him no harm ; however, they took from him his
gloves, and with these they returned.

And anon there came also an uncle of the boys, or
Ifah-kah-goos (P.)? tne Crow. So he gave chase to
Lox, yet all that he could do was to snatch away his
cap as he ran. Yet without shame he cried aloud,
" Well, my head was getting warm, and now I am
cooler. Thank you ! "

Then came another relative, Kitpoo, the Eagle (M.).
And he, pursuing Lox, took from him his coat. Yet
1 Micmac.

LOX CARRIED OFF BY CULLOO.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 157

all unabashed he replied, " Thanks unto you also; for
I was just wishing that my younger brother were here
to carry my coat for me." But he who now arrived,
hearing of the deadly deed, was the great Culloo him
self, the most terrible of all created creatures, and he,
pursuing Lox, caught him up, and carrying him in his
claws, even to the summit of the sky itself, let him
drop, and he was a whole day in falling ; even from the
first dawn unto sunset he went down ere he touched
the earth. But before he was let drop, and when on
high, he burst into a mocking song on what he saw,
and the words were as follows : —

" Kumut kenovek,
Telap tumun ek,
Stugach' kesenagasikel,
Yog wa egen'
Yog wa egeno
Telap tumen ek
Kumut ken ooik'
Stuga 'mkudomoos koon."

Our country all lost
Seems clearly to us
As though it were all spread with boughs.

Heigh ho, hay hum !

Heigh ho, hay hum !
Our country now lost
Seems now unto us
To be blue like the clear blue sky.

Hum, hum — tol de rol !

And when let fall, this graceless jackanapes in no
wise ceased his ribaldry ; for while pretending to flap

158 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

with his arms as if they were wings, he imitated with
his mouth, mockingly, the wish ! wish ! of the wide
wings of the Culloo. Yet just ere he touched the
earth he uttered one little magic spell, " Oh, spare my
poor backbone ! " And with that all the trouble of
all the birds went for nothing. Truly he was mashed
to a batter, and his blood and brains flew in every
direction, like raspberry pudding ; but among the re
mains his backbone lay whole, and this was his life.

And in a few days after his younger brother came
by, who, seeing the dire mess, exclaimed, " Hey, what
is all this ? " 1 Whereupon a Voice came from the
bone, crying, " Nuloogoon, ba ho ! " " Ho, my leg,
come hither ! " and a leg came unto the spine. Then
the Voice cried, " N'petunagum, ba ho ! " " Ho, my
arm, come hither ! " And when the last fragment
had come* he arose, the same indomitable Lox as ever,
even the Indian Devil, or Wolverine, who never says
Die, and whom nothing can kill, and who is hard to
put away.

Now the two brothers went on till they came to the
top of a high mountain, where there lay a very great
round rock, or a mighty boulder. And, being full of
fun, they turned it over with great sticks, saying to it,

1 The dead body of a sorcerer must lie until addressed by
some human being. Then it revives. This is suggestive of vam
pirism, which is well known to the Indians. There is some
thing strangely ghastly in the idea of the Voice calling separately
to each dead limb to come to it. The Culloo is an emblem of
the cloud, and Lox let fall from one probably signified fire, or
the lightning.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 159

" Now let us run a race ! " Then it rolled downhill
till it stopped at the foot, they rushing along by it all
the time. And when it rested they jeered it, and
bade it race with them again, when it so listed.

And truly they had not long to wait, for soon after,
as they sat cooking their food, they heard a mighty
commotion as of something coining with dreadful speed
through the forest. And lo ! it was the stone in dire
wrath, which, having rested a little while, came rush
ing through the forest, crashing the mighty trees like
grass, with a roar like thunder, leaving a smooth road
behind it in the roughest wilderness. Up and after
the sorcerers flew the stone, and the younger slipped
aside like a snake, but the elder had scarcely time to
utter his magic charm, " Noo-goon ooskudeskuch ! "
" Let my backbone remain uninjured ! " ere the awful
rock rolled down upon him, crushing his bones and
mashing his flesh. Yet the spine was unhurt ; it re
mained sound as ever.

And the stone went on and ever on, till the sound
of its roar died away in the breeze and afar in the
wilderness.

Then the younger brother turned to the Backbone
and said, " Cagooee wejismoott tumun ? " (M.) " Why
are you lying there ? " And hearing this charm the
Bone called aloud, " Ntenin ba ho ! " " My body, ho ! "
and "Nuloogoon la ho! " " My leg, ho ! " and so with
the rest of the members as before, until he that was
decomposed was now recomposed ; yes, and composed
perfectly. And then he that was dead, but was now

160 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

alive, arose, and said as one awaking, " What have I
been doing ? " So his brother told him all.

Then he was greatly angered, and when the Wol
verine is angry it is not a little. And he said in his
wrath, " Shall I that am the devil of the woods him
self be slain by birds and stones, and not be re
venged ? " So they went onwards through the woods
till they found the Great Rock : they followed in the
path of the broken trees ; even by the trees did they
track it. Which having found, they built a fire around
it ; with great stones for hammers they broke it, and
ever more and still smaller, till it was all mere dust,
for their souls were sore for revenge.

When lo, a great wonder ! For the Spirit of the
Old Rock, even that which was itself, turned all the
dust to black flies, into the stinging and evil things
which drive men and beasts mad, so- that its hatred
and spite might be carried out on all living creatures
unto the end of time.

And having had their ill-will of the Rock and seen
it become Flies, the two went through the forest, and
so on till they came to a village of good, honest folk ;
and knowing what manner of men they were, Lox re
solved to forthwith play them an evil trick, for in all
life there was nothing half so dear to him as to make
mischief, the worse the better.

And this time it came into his head that it would
be a fine piece of wit to go into the town as a gay girl
and get married, and see what would come of it, trust
ing to luck to fashion a sad fool out of somebody. So

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 161

having made himself into a delicate young beauty,
richly attired, he entered the place ; and truly the town
was soon agog over the new guests. And the young
chief of the tribe, wanting her, won her without waste
of time. Truly there lieth herein some mystery. I
know not what, only this I know : that there are in all
towns certain folk who, by means of magic or med
dling, always find out everything about everybody, and
then tittle-tattle thereof. Now, albeit Lox had ut
terly abjured all the sinfulness of manhood, and had
made a new departure in an utterly new direction, say
ing not a word thereof to any one, yet in a brief meas
ure of time, one here, another there, Jack in a corner
and Jane by the bush, began to whisper of a strange
thing, and hint that all was not as it should be, and,
whatever the chief might think, that in their minds
matters were going wrong in his wigwam.

Now Lox, knowing all this thread as soon as it was
spun, began to think it high time to show his hand
in the game. And what was the amazement of all
the town to hear, one fine evening, that the chief's
wife would soon be a iriother. And when the time
came Dame Lox informed her husband that, accord
ing to the custom of her people, she must be left ut
terly alone till he was a father and the babe born.
And when in due time the cry of a small child was
heard in the lodge the women waiting ran in, and re
ceived from the mother the little one, abundantly
rolled in many wrappers, which they took to the chief.

But what was his amazement, when having unrolled

11

162 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

the package, he found under one skin after another,
tied up hard, yet another sewed up, and yet again, as
the inmost kernel of this nut, the little withered, wiz
ened, dead, and dried shrivelment of an unborn moose
calf. Which pleased the chief so much that, dashing
Master Moose into the fire, he seized his tomahawk
and ran to his lodge to make his first morning call on
the mother.

But Master Lox was now a man again, and expect
ing this call, and not wishing to see visitors, had with
his brother fled to the woods, and that rapidly. And
in the rush he came to a river, and, seeing a very high
waterfall, thought of a rare device whereby he might
elude pursuit. For he with his brother soon built a
dam across the top with trees and earth, so that but
little water went below. And lying in a cave, con
cealed with care, he imitated the 600-00-00 of a fall
ing stream with quaint and wondrous skill. And
there he lay, and no man wist thereof.

But verily the wicked one is caught in his own
snare, and even so it befell Master Lox. For as he
hid, the water above, having gathered to a great lake,
burst the dam, so that it all came down upon him at
once and drowned him ; nor was there any great
weeping for him that ever I heard of. So here he
passes out of this story, and does not come into it
again. But whether he went for good and all out of
this life is doubtful, since I find him living again in
so many rare, strange histories that it has become a
proverb that Lox never dies.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 163

Now the tale returns to the two little Weasels, or
Ermines, or Water-Maids, poor souls, who had such a
hard life ! And it happened that, fleeing from Master
Lox, they came at evening to a deserted village, and
entered a wigwam to pass the night. But the elder,
being the wiser, and somewhat of a witch in the bud,
mistrusted the place, deeming it not so empty as it
seemed. And beholding by the door, lying on the
ground, the Neckbone of a man or some other animal,
she warned her sister that she should in nowise offend
it or treat it lightly, to which the younger replied by
giving it a kick which sent it flying, and by other
wise treating it with scorn and disdain.

Then they laid them down to sleep ; but before their
slumber came they heard a doleful, bitter voice chant
ing aloud and shouting, and it was Chamach keg
wech, or the Neckbone, bewailing the scorn that had
been put upon him, and reviling them with all manner
of curses. Then the elder said, " There, truly, I said
it. I knew you would be our death if you did not
mind me : " it being in all cases an esteemed solace
for every woman and most men to say, " I told you
so ! " But the younger, being well-nigh frightened to
a corpse, in a soft whisper implored the elder to let
her hide herself in her roll of hair,1 which the Voice,
mocking her, repeated ; adding thereto all the reviling
and railing that Mitche-hant, the devil, himself ever
yet invented, and abusing her so for her past life, and

1 That is, the elder should retain the human form, and the
younger become a weasel.

164 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

exhorting her so for all the sins, slips, and slops
therein (of which there were many), that even the
impenitent little Weasel repented and wept bitterly.
Howbeit no further harm came to them beyond this,
so that the next morning they went their way in
peace ; and I warrant you Master Neckbone got no
kicks that day from them, departing.1

Then, coming to a river, they saw on the other side
a handsome young man holding a bow, and to him
they called, making their usual offer to become his
wives, and all for no greater thing than to carry them
over the ferry. And this man's name was See-witch,2
and to please them he did indeed pass them over in
his canoe ; but as for taking them home, he said that
he had housekeepers in store, and as many as he
needed just then, and that of a kind who kept him
very busy. So they went their way onwards.

And coming anon to the great sea, they beheld yet
another canoe with two men therein, and these were
Kwe-moo, the Loon, and Mahgwis, the Scapegrace.
And embarking with them, Loon soon began to ad
mire the girls greatly. And saying many sweet things,
he told them that he dwelt in the Wigem territory, or
in the land of the Owealkesk,3 of which he himself

1 This incident of the Neckbone is very much like the com
mon nursery tale of Teeny Tiny, in which an old woman takes
home a human bone and puts it in the cupboard. It torments her
all night by its cries.

2 A kind of small sea-duck.

8 A very beautiful species of sea-duck.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 165

was one. But the Mahgwis whispered to them aside
that they should put little trust in what he told them,
for Loon was a great liar. Now when they came to
the land of the Owealkesk, they were amazed at the
beauty of the people, and saw that all in that land
was lovely, nor did they themselves seem less marvel-
ously fair to the men therein. Indeed, the poor little
Weasels began to see the end of their sorrows, for,
being water-fairies, these sea-birds were nigh akin to
them. And there was a great feast, a great dance,
and great games held in honor of their arrival, and
the two finest young Sea-Duck men, utterly unheeding
the old Loon, who believed indeed that they were his
own wives, carried them off, and nothing loath wedded
them.

And it was in this wise. There was a canoe-race,
and Kwe-moo, being bitterly angry that he was held
of so little account in the Sea-Duck land, went forth
with the rest, and, paddling far outside, upset his
canoe, and making as if he were drowning called to
the Weasels to come and save him. But the Sea-
Ducks laughed, and said, " Let him alone. Truly he
will never drown. We know him." And the race
ended they went ashore in peace.1

And that night they danced late, and the Weasels,

1 Here the Micmac narrative ends. The rest is as it was given
to me by Noel Josephs, or Chi gatch gok, the Raven, a Passa-
maquoddy. It would not be a complete Indian tale if a man
having received a slight or injury did not take a bloody revenge
for it.

166 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

being better pleased with the two handsome Sea-
Ducks than with Loon, forthwith divorced themselves
out of hand, and at once married them, going to where
their canoe lay, to pass the bridal night. Now Loon
had not gone to the dance, but sat at home nursing
his vengeance till he was well-nigh mad. And as the
Weasels did not return, he went forth and sought
them ; and this he did so carefully that at last he
found all four by the sea, sound asleep. Whereupon
he, with his knife, slew the young men, and being in
great fear of their friends took his canoe and went
down the river to kill a deer. But not daring to
return, and being mad for loss of the Weasels, and
fearing to fall into the hands of the enemy, he in de
spair took his knife and killed himself.

Yet the Weasels, who had seen the deed done, did
not betray him, for there was at least so much truth
left in them. And they lived with the Sea-Ducks,
and I doubt me not went on marrying and mischief-
making after their wont even unto the end of their
days. And their kind are not dead as yet in any
land.

This is a fair specimen of many Indian legends.
So much of it as is Micmac was told to Mr. Rand by
a highly intelligent Indian, named Benjamin Brooks,
who was certain that the story was of great antiquity.
As I at first heard it, it was limited to the adventure
with the Stars, but I was told that this formed only a
part of an extremely long narrative. It consists, in

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 167

fact, of different parts of other tales connected, and I
doubt not that there is much more of it. It cannot
escape the reader versed in fairy-lore that the incident
of the water-maiden captured by her clothes is com
mon to all European nations, but that it is especially
Norse ; while the adventures of the Wolverine, and
indeed his whole character, are strangely suggestive of
Loki, the Spirit of mere Mischief, who becomes evil.
The fact that both Loki and Lox end their earthly
career at a waterfall is very curious. The two also
become, in wizard fashion, women at will. But it is
chiefly in the extreme and wanton devilishness of their
tricks that they are alike. Many other resemblances
will suggest themselves to those who know the Eddas.
In the Passamaquoddy version of this tale, it is See-
witch, and not the Loon, who plays the part of the
jealous husband at the end. The career of the Wea
sels seems to set forth the adventures of a couple of
Indian Becky Sharps, very much in the spirit of an
Indian Thackeray. The immorality of these damsels,
the sponging of Marten, the deviltry of Lox, the se
nile follies and ferocious vindictiveness of the Loon,
all seem to impress the composer of the tale as so many
bubbles rising and falling on the sea of life, only
remarkable for the sun-gleam of humor which they
reflect. Outside these tales I know of nothing which
so resembles the inner spirit of Aristophanes, Rabelais,
and Shakespeare. I do not say that the genius of
these great masters is in them, but their manner of
seeing humor and wickedness combined. The cause

168 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

of this lies in the cultivated stoicism with which every
Indian trains himself to regard life. The inevitable
result of such culture is always in some way a kind of
humor, either grim or gay.

A re-perusal of the Eddas has impressed me with
the remarkable resemblance of Lox, the Wolverine, to
Loki. The story begins with the incident of a bird
maiden caught by a trick, and married. This is dis
tinctly Scandinavian. It is known in all lands, but
the Norse made the most of it. Then the two girls sit
and choose the kind of stars they will have. In the
Eskimo (Rink, No. 8), two girls sitting 011 a beach,
(talking in the same way, seeing eagles' and whales'
tones by them, declare that they would like to marry,
the one an eagle, the other a whale, and both get their
wishes. In the Norse legends stars are like human
beings. Lox is pursued by a giant bird ; Loki is
chased by Thiassi, the giant, in eagle plumage. Again,
in the Edda a giant eagle drags and trails Loki over
woods and mountains, till he screams for pity. The
Wolverine's race with a stone giant also recalls this
race, the eagle being really one of the Jotuns, who
were also all mountains and rocks. The Wolverine
wizard becomes a girl, merely to make mischief. Loki
took the form of a woman in Fensal, where he
schemed to kill Balder. This is certainly a strange
coincidence ; for as in the Edda, Loki's becoming a
woman led to all the subsequent tragedy and to his
own doom, so in the Indian tale the very same thing
caused the Wolverine to be chased to the high water-

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 169

fall, where, owing to his own tricks, he perished, just
as Loki came to grief in Franangursfors, the bright
and glistening cataract. But the most remarkable
point is that the general immoral character of the
Lox, l or Wolverine, is so much like that of Loki, con
sisting of evil or mischief of the worst kind, always
tempered by humor, which provokes a laugh. Now
to find a similar and very singular character supported
by several coincidences of incident is, if nothing more,
at least very remarkable.

Loki is fire, and Lox, when killed in another tale, is
revived by heat. He is carried off by the Culloo, or
cloud, and let fall, typifying fire or lightning coming
from a cloud. Again, in another story he dies for
want of fire. And he twice dies by drowning ; that is,
the fire is quenched by water.

In one of the Passamaquoddy versions of this tale,
which is, though less detailed, far superior in humor
to the Micmac, the Loon is cheated by his two
nephews, the Assooi^s, a species of loon, who steal
the Weasels from him. He revenges himself, not by
murdering, but by merely frightening them. He fills
a bladder with blood, puts it under his shirt, and then
stabs himself. They, thinking he is killed, lament,
when he grandly comes to life, and is regarded as a
great magician.

1 The coincidence of name amounts to something, as Lox is
not, I believe, an Indian word.

170 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Of the Wolverine and the Wolves, or hoiv Master Lox
Froze to Death.

(Passamaquoddy.)

Of old times it came to pass that Master Lox, the
Wolverine, or Indian Devil, he who was slain many
times and as often rose from the dead, found him
self deeply down in luck ; for he was crossing a wide
and dismal heath in winter-time, being but poorly
provided in any way for travel. The wind blew
like knives ; the snow fell ; sleet, frost, hail, and rain
seemed to come all together in bad company, and still
Lox was not happy, although he had no blanket or
fur coat beyond his own. Yet this evil-minded jolly
companion with every vice had one virtue, and that
was that of all the beasts of the forest or devils in
P'lamkik9 he was the hardest hearted, toughest, and
most unconquerable, being ever the first to fight and
the last to give in, which even then he did not, never
having done it and never intending to ; whence it
happened that he was greatly admired and made
much of by all the blackguardly beasts of the back
woods, — wherein they differed but little from many
among men.

Now as of all rowdies and rascals the wolves are
the worst, we may well believe that it was with great
joy Lox heard, as the darkness was coming on, a
long, sad howl, far away, betokening the coming of a
pack of these pleasant people ; to which he raised his
own voice in the wolf tongue, — for he was learned in

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 171

many languages, — and soon was surrounded by some
fifteen or sixteen lupine land-loafers, who danced, roll
ing over, barking and biting one another, all for very
joy at meeting with him. And the elder, he who was
captain, or the sogmo,1 said, " Per ad venture thou wilt
encamp with us this night, for it is ill for a gentle
man to be alone, where he might encounter vulgar
fellows." And Lox thanked him as if he were doing
him a favor, and accepted the best of their dried
meat, and took the highest place by their fire, and
smoked the chief's choicest tomawe out of his best
pipe, and all that with such vast condescension that
the wolves grinned with delight.

And when they laid them down to sleep he that
was the eldest, or the sogmo, bade the younger cover
their guest Lox over very carefully. Now the tail
of the wolf has broad-spreading, shaggy hair, and
Lox, being sleepy, really thought it was a fur blanket
that they spread, and though the night was cold
enough to crack the rocks he threw the covering off ;
twice he did this, and the chief who looked after him,
with all the rest, admired him greatly because he
cared so little for the cold or for their care.

And having eaten after they arose, when in the
morning they would wend away, the Wolf Chief said
unto Lox, " Uncle, thou hast yet three days' hard
travel before thee in a land where there is neither
home, house, nor hearth, and it will be ill camping
without a fire. Now I have a most approved and ex-

1 Sogmo, sagamore, a chief ; the word corrupted into sachem.

172 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

cellent charm, or spell, by which I can give thee three
fires, but no more ; yet will they suffice, one for each
night, until thou gettest to thy journey's end. And
this is the manner thereof : that thou shalt take unto
thee dry wood, even such as men commonly burn, and
thou shalt put them together, even as boys build little
wigwams for sport, and then thou shalt jump over it.
And truly, uncle, this is an approved and excellent
charm of ripe antiquity, kept as a solemn secret among
the wolves, and thou art the first not of our holy
nation to whom it hath been given." So they parted.

Now Lox trudged on, and as he went westwards
kept thinking of this great secret of the pious and
peculiar people, and wondering if it were even as the
Wolf said, or only a deceit ; for however kindly he
was treated by people, he always suspected that they
mocked him to scorn, or were preparing to do so ; for
as he ever did this thing himself to every condition
of mankind or beasts, he constantly awaited to have it
done to him. And being curious withal, and anxious
to see some new thing, he had not walked half an
hour ere he said, " Tush ! let me try it. Yea, and I
will ! " So building up the sticks, he jumped over
them, and at once they caught fire and blazed up,
and it came to pass even as the Wolf had prophesied.

Now having solaced himself by the heat, Lox went
on. And anon it grew cold again, and he began to
think how pleasant it was to be warm ; and being, like
most evil people, wanting in a corner of wisdom, he
at once put the sticks together again and jumped over

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 173

them, and as before there rose a blaze, and he was
happy. And this was the second fire, and he had still
three cold nights before him before he could reach
his home.

And yet this Wolverine, who was so wise in all
wickedness and witty in evil-doing, had not walked
into the afternoon before he began to think of the
third fire. " Truly," he said to himself, " who knows
but the weather may take a turn to a thaw, and give
us a warm night ? Hum ! ha ! methinks by the look
of the clouds the wind will soon be southwesterly.
Have I not heard my grandmother say that such a
color, even the red, meant something ? — I forget
what, but it might be a warm change. Luck be 011
me, I will risk the odds." And, saying this, he set
up the sticks again ; and this was the last fire, though
it was not even the first night.

And when he came after dark to the first camping
place it grew cold in earnest. Howbeit Lox, think
ing that what was good for once must be good forever,
made him his little pile of sticks and jumped over
them. It was of no avail. Finally, when he had
jumped twenty or thirty times more, there arose a lit
tle smoke, and, having his heart cheered by this, he
kept on jumping. Now it is said that there can be
no smoke without fire, but this time it went not beyond
smoke. Then Lox jumped again, and this time the
Indian Devil came up within him, and he swore by it
that he would jump till it blazed or burst. So he
kept on, and yet there came no comfort, not even a

174 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

spark ; and being at last aweary he fell down in a
cwpon, and so froze to death. And so the Devil was
dead, and that was the last of him for that turn ; but
I think he got over it, for he has been seen many a
time since.

In two stories Lox (once as the loup cervier) is in
timate with the wolves. Loki was the father of the
wolves. Loki is fire ; here Lox dies for want of fire.
Since I wrote the foregoing, Mrs. W. Wallace Brown
has learned that Lox is definitely the king or chief
of the wolves, and that many Indians deny that he is
really an animal at all, though he assumes the forms
of certain animals. He is a spirit, and the Mischief
Maker. It will be admitted that this brings the Lox
much nearer to Loki.

It is said that when Glooskap ]eft the world, as he
took away with him the kings of all the animals, Lox
went with him as king of the Wolves. This is an
identification of him with Malsum, the Wolf, himself.

How Master Lox played a Trick on Mrs. Bear, who lost
her eyesight and had her eyes opened.

(Micmac.)

Don't live with mean people if you can help it.
They will turn your greatest sorrow to their own ac
count if they can. Bad habit gets to be devilish sec
ond nature. One dead herring is not much, but one
by one you may make such a heap of them as to stink
out a whole village.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 175

As it happened to old Mrs. Bear, who was easy as
regarded people, and thought well of everybody, and
trusted all. So she took in for a house-mate another
old woman. Their wigwam was all by itself, and the
next neighbor was so far off that he wras not their
neighbor at all, but that of some other folks.

One night the old women made up a fire, and lay
down and \vent to sleep Indian-fashion, — witkusoodi-
jik, — heads and points, so that both could lie with
their back to the fire.

Now while they were sound asleep, Lox, the Wol
verine, or Indian Devil, came prowling round. Some
people say it was Hespuns, the Eaccoon ; and it is a
fact that Master Coon can play a very close game of
deviltry on his own account. However, this time it
must have been Lox, as you can see by the tracks.

While they were both sound asleep Lox looked in.
He found the old women asleep, heads and points, and
at once saw his way to a neat little bit of mischief.
So, going into the woods, he cut a fine long sapling-
pole of oio-bo-goos, and poked one end of it into the
fire till it was a burning coal. Then he touched the
soles of Mrs. Bear ; and she, waking, cried out to
the other, " Take care ! you are burning me ! " which
the other denied like a thunder-clap.

Then Master Lox carefully applied the end of the
hot pole to the feet of the other woman. First she
dreamed that she was walking on hot sand and roast
ing rocks in summer-time, and then that the Mohawks
were cooking her at the death-fire ; and then she woke

176 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

up, and, seeing where she was, began to blame Mrs.
Bear for it all, just as if she were a Mohawk.

Ah, yes. Well, Master Lox, seeing them fighting
in a great rage, burst out laughing, so that he actually
burst himself, and fell down dead with delight. It
was a regular side-splitter. When my grandfather
said that we always laughed.

In the morning, when the women came out, there
lay a dead devil at the door. He must indeed have
looked like a Eaccoon this time ; but whatever he
was, they took him, skinned him, and dressed him for
breakfast. Then the kettle was hung and the water
boiled, and they popped him in. But as soon as it
began to scald he began to come to life. In a minute
he was all together again, alive and well, and with
one good leap went clear of the kettle. Rushing out
of the lodge, he grabbed his skin, which hung on a
bush outside, put it on, and in ten seconds was safe
in the greenwood. He just saved himself with a
whole skin.

Now Master Lox had precious little time, you will
say, to do any more mischief between his coming to
life and running away ; yet, short as the allowance
was, he made a great deal of it. For even while
jumping out his wits for wickedness came to him,
and he just kicked the edge of the pot, so that it
spilled all the scalding hot water into the fire, and
threw up the ashes with a great splutter. They flew
into the eyes of Dame Beav and blinded her.

Now this was hard on the old lady. She could not

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 177

go out hunting, or set traps, or fish any more ; and
her partner, being mean, kept all the nice morsels for
herself. Mrs. Bear only got the leanest and poorest
of the meat, though there was plenty of the best. As
niy grandfather used to say, Mrs. Bear might have
fared better if she had used her eyes earlier.

One day, when she was sitting alone in the wigwam,
Mrs. Bear began to remember all she had ever heard
about eyes, and it came into her head that sometimes
they were closed up in such a way that clever folk
could cut them open again. So she got her knife and
sharpened it, and, carefully cutting a little, saw the
light of day. Then she was glad indeed, and with a
little more cutting found that she could see as well as
ever. And as good luck does not come single, the
very first thing she beheld was an abundance of beau
tiful fat venison, fish, and maple-sugar hung up over
head.

Dame Bear said nothing about her having recov
ered her eyesight. She watched all the cooking going
on, and saw the daintiest dinner, which all went into
one platter, and a very poor lot of bones and scraps
placed in another. Then, when she was called to eat,
she simply said to the other woman, who kept the
best, " Well, you have done well for yourself ! "

The other saw that Mrs. Bear had recovered her
sight. She was frightened, for Dame Bear was by
far the better man of the two. So she cried out,
" Bless me ! what a mistake I 've made ! Why, I
gave you the wrong dish. You know, my dear sis-
12

178 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

ter, that I always give you the best because you are
blind."

My grandfather said that after this Mrs. Bear kept
her eyes open on people in two ways. And it always
made us laugh, that did.

The Spirit of Mischief in these stories is sometimes
Lox, the Wolverine ; at others the Raccoon, or the
Badger. Their adventures are interchangeable. But
the character is always the same, and it is much like
that of Loki. Now Loki is Fire ; and it may be ob
served in this legend that the wolverine or raccoon
comes to life when thrown into scalding water, and
that in another narrative Lox dies for want of fire ;
in another he is pricked by thorns and stung by ants.
" We must," says C. F. Keary, in his Mythology of the
Eddas, " admit that the constant appearance of thorn-
hedges, pricking with a sleep-thorn (Lox's thorns are
his bed), in German and Norse legends, is a mythical
way of expressing the idea of the funeral fire."

The first thing that the Lox-Raccoon does in this
tale, on coming to life, is to upset a pot into the ashes
for mischief's sake. And the very first exploit of the
magic deer, made by the evil spirits and sorcerers in
the Kalevala (Runes XIII.), is thus set forth: -

" Then the Hiisi stag went bounding,
Bounding to the land of Pohja,
Till he reached the fields of Lapland.
Passing there before a cabin (goatte),
With a single kick while running

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 179

He upset the boiling kettle,
^ So that all the meat went rolling,
Rolling ruined in the ashes,
And the soup upon the hearth-stone."

This is, in both cases, the very first act of an ani
mal, created and living only for mischief, on coming
to a magic or artificial life.

The legends of Finland and Lapland are as impor
tant as the Norse to explain the origin of our Indian
mythology.

How Lox came to Grief by trying to catch a Salmon.
(Passamaquoddy.)

Kusk, the Crane, had two brothers. One of these
was Lox, the Wolverine, or Indian Devil. And his
other brother was Koskomines, the Blue Jay.

Kusk was very lazy, and one day, being hungry,
thought he would go and get a dinner from Lox. Lox
served him a kind of pudding-soup in a broad, flat
platter. Poor Kusk could hardly get a mouthful,
while Lox lapped it all up with ease.

Soon after, Kusk made a fine soup, and invited Lox
to dinner. This he served up in a jug, a long cylinder.
None of it had Lox. Kusk ate it all.

The next day the pair went to dine with Blue Jay.
Blue Jay said, " Wait till I get our food." Then he
ran out on a bough of a tree which spread over a
river, and in a minute fished out a large salmon.
" Truly," thought Lox, " that is easy to do, and I can
do it."

180 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

So the next day he invited the Blue Jay and Crane
to feed with him. Then he, too, ran down 40 the
river and out on a tree, and, seeing a fine salmon,
caught at it with his claws. But he had not learned
the art, and so fell into the river, and was swept away
by the rushing current.

This is one of Esop's fables Indianized and oddly
eked out with a fragment from a myth attributed to
both Manobozho and the Wabanaki Kabbit. As the
Wolverine has a great resemblance to Loki, it may be
here observed that, while he dies in trying to catch a
salmon, " Loki, in the likeness of a salmon, cast him
self into the waterfall of Franangr," which was effec
tively his last act in life before being captured by the
gods, as told in the Edda. Otter, in the Edda, caught
a salmon, and was then caught by Loki. There is, of
course, great confusion here, but the Indian tale is a
mere fragment, carelessly pieced and indifferently told.
Lox is, like Loki,^re, and perishes by water.

How Master Lox as a Haccoon killed the Bear and the
Black Cats, and performed other Notable Feats of Skill,
all to his Great Discredit.

(Passamaquod dy .)

Now of old time there is a tale of Hespuns, the
Raccoon, according to the Passamaquoddy Indians,
but by another record it is Master Lox, to whom all
Indian deviltry truly belongs. And this is the story.
One fine morning Master Lox started off as a Kao-

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 181

coon ; l for lie walked the earth in divers disguises, to
take his usual roundabouts, and as he went he saw a
huge bear, as the manuscript reads, " right straight
ahead of him."

Now the old Bear was very glad to see the Eac-
coon, for he had made up his mind to kill him at
once if he could : firstly, to punish him for his sins ;
and secondly, to eat him for breakfast. Then the
Kaccoon ran into a hollow tree, the Bear following,
and beginning to root it up.

Now the Coon saw that in a few minutes the tree
would go and he be gone. But he began to sing as if
he did not care a bean, and said, " All the digging and
pushing this tree will never catch me. Push your
way in backwards, and then I must yield and die.
But that you cannot do, since the hole is too small for
you." Then Mooin, the Bruin, hearing this, believed
it, but saw that he could easily enlarge the hole, which
he did, and so put himself in arrear ; upon which
the Kaccoon seized him, and held on till he was
slain.2

Then he crawled out of the tree, and, having made
himself a fine pair of mittens out of the Bear's skin,
started off again, and soon saw a wigwam from which
rose a smoke, and, walking in, he found a family of
Begemkessisck, or Black Cats. So, greeting them, he

1 The same stories are attributed to the Wolverine, Badger,
and Raccoon.

2 As Reynard, the Fox, won the victory in the famous tale ver
sified by Goethe. Vide Reinecke Fuchs.

182 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

said, " Young folks, comb me down and make me
nice, and I will give you these beautiful bear-skin mit
tens." So the little Black Cats combed him down,
and parted his hair, and brushed his tail, and while
they were doing this he fell asleep ; and they, being
very hungry, took the fresh bear - skin mitts, and
scraped them all up, and cooked and ate them. Then
the Coon, waking up, looked very angry at them, and
said in an awful voice, " Where are my bear-skin
mitts ? " And they, in great fear, replied, " Please,
sir, we cooked and ate them." Then the Coon flew
at them and strangled them every one, all except the
youngest, who, since he could not speak as yet, the
Raccoon, or Lox, thought could not tell of him.
Then, for a great joke, he took all the little dead
creatures and set them up by the road-side in a row ;
as it was a cold day they all froze stiff, and then he
put a stick across their jaws, so that the little Black
Cats looked as if they were laughing for joy. Then
he made off at full speed.

Soon the father, the old Black Cat, came home,
and, seeing his children all grinning at him, he said,
"How glad the dear little things are to see me." But
as none moved he saw that something1 was wrong1, and

O O '

his joy soon changed to sorrow.1

Then the youngest Black Cat, the baby, came out

1 This trick is so precisely in the style of Lox that it seems a
gross mistake to attribute it to the Raccoon. Those who have
seen a wild cat grin will appreciate the humor of Lox on this
occasion.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 183

of some hole where he had hid himself . Now the baby
was too young to speak, but he was very clever, and,
picking up a piece of charcoal, he made a mark from
the end of his mouth around his cheek.1 Then the
father cried, " Ah, now I know who it was, — the Rac
coon, as sure as I live ! " And he started after him
in hot pursuit.

Soon the Raccoon saw the fierce Black Cat, as an
Indian, coming after him with a club. And, looking
at him, he said, " No club can kill me ; nothing but a
bulrush or cat-tail can take my life." Then the Black
Cat, who knew where to get one, galloped off to a
swamp, and, having got a large cat-tail, came to the
Coon and hit him hard with it. It burst and spread
all over the Raccoon's head, and, being wet, the fuzz
stuck to him. And the Black Cat, thinking it was
the Coon's brains and all out, went his way.

The Raccoon lay quite still till his foe was gone,
and then went on his travels. Now he was a great
magician, though little to other folks' good. And he
came to a place where there were many women nurs
ing their babes, and said, " This is but a slow way you
have of raising children." To which the good women
replied, " How else should we raise them ? " Then he
answered, " I will show you how we do in our country.
When we want them to grow fast, we dip them into
cold water over night. Just lend me one, and I will
show you how to raise them in a hurry." They gave

1 The reader cannot fail to recall the peculiar mustache of the
Raccoon so well indicated by the infant artist.

184 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

him one : he took it to the river, and, cutting a hole in
the ice, put the child into it. The next morning he
went to the place, and took out a full-grown man, alive
and well. The women were indeed astonished at this.
All hastened to put their babes that night under the
ice, and then the Raccoon rushed away. So they all
died.

Then he came to another camp, where many women
with fine stuff and furs were making bags. " That
is a very slow way you have of working," he said
to the goodwives. " In our country we cook them
under the ashes. Let me see the stuff and show you
how ! " They gave him a piece : he put it under the
hot coals and ashes, and in a few minutes drew out
from them a beautiful bag. Then they all hurried to
put their cloth under the fire. Just then he left in
haste. And when they drew the stuff out it was
scorched or burned, and all spoiled.

Then he came to a great river, and did not know
how to get across. He saw on the bank an old Wi-
willmelcq\ a strange worm which is like a horned al
ligator ; but he was blind. " Grandfather," said the
Raccoon, " carry me over the lake." " Yes, my grand
son," said the Wiwillmekq', and away he swam ; the
Ravens and Crows above began to ridicule them.
" What are those birds saying ? " inquired the Old
One. " Oh, they are crying to you to hurry, hurry,
for your life, with that Raccoon ! " So the Wiwill
mekq', not seeing land ahead, hurried with such speed
that the Raccoon made him run his head and half his

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 185

body into the bank, and then jumped off and left
him. But whether the Wiwillmekq' ever got out
again is more than he ever troubled himself to know.

So he went on till he came to some Black Berries,
and said, " Berries, how would you agree with me if
I should eat you?" "Badly indeed, Master Coon,"
they replied, " for we are Choke-berries." " Choke-
berries, indeed ! Then I will have none of you." And
then further he found on some bushes, Rice-berries.
" Berries," he cried, " how would you agree with me
if I should eat you ? " " We should make you itch, for
we are Itch-berries." " Ah, that is what I like," he
replied, and so ate his fill. Then as he went on he
felt very uneasy : he seemed to be tormented with
prickles, he scratched and scratched, but it did not
help or cure. So he rubbed himself on a ragged rock ;
he slid up and down it till the hair came off.

Now the Raccoon is bare or has little fur where he
scratched himself, to this very day. This story is at
an end.

This story is from the Passamaquoddy Indian-Eng
lish collection made for me by Louis Mitchell. In
the original, the same incident of boiling the hero in
a kettle and of his springing out of it occurs as in
the tale of Mrs. Bear and the Raccoon. This I have
here omitted. The Mephistophelian and mocking
character of Lox is strongly shown when he says,
" Nothing but a cat-tail or bulrush can kill me," this
being evidently an allusion to Glooskap. This is to

186 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

an Indian much like blasphemy. Lox, or Raccoon, or
Badger, — for they are all the same, — in his journey-
ings after mere mischief reminds us of an Indian Tyll
Eulenspiegel. But the atrocious nature of his jokes
is like nothing else, unless it be indeed the homicide
Punch. It is the indomitable nature of both which
commends them respectively to the Englishman and
to the Red Indian. In this tale Lox appears as the
spirit of fire by drawing a bag from it. The itching
or pricking from which he suffers is also significant of
that element, as appears, according to Keary, in many
Norse, etc., legends.

In the Seneca tale of the Mischief Maker, the Ber
ries are distinctly declared to have souls.

How Lox deceived the Ducks, cheated the Chief, and be
guiled the Bear.
(Micmac and Passamaquoddy.)

Somewhere in the forest lived Lox, with a small
boy, his brother. When winter came they went far
into the woods to hunt. And going on, they reached
at last a very large and beautiful lake. It was cov
ered with water-fowl. There were wild geese and brant,
black ducks and wood -ducks, and all the smaller
kinds down to teal and whistlers.

The small boy was delighted to see so much game.
He eagerly asked his brother how he meant to catch
them. He answered, " We must first go to work and
build a large wigwam. It must be very strong, with
a heavy, solid door." This was done; and Lox, being

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 187

a great magician, thus arranged his plans for taking
the wild-fowl. He sent the boy out to a point of land,
where he was to cry to the birds and tell them that
his brother wished to give them a kingly reception.
(Nakamit, to act the king.) He told them their king
had come. Then Lox, arraying himself grandly, sat
with dignity next the door, with his eyes closed, as if
in great state. Then the little boy shouted that they
might enter and hear what the great sagamore had
to say. They flocked in, and took their seats in the
order of their size. The Wild Geese came nearest
and sat down, then the Ducks, and so on to the small
est, who sat nearest the door. Last of all came the
boy, who entering also sat down by the door, closed it,
and held it fast. So the little birds, altumabedajik
(M.), sat next to him.

Then they were all told " Spegwedajik ! " " Shut
your eyes ! " and were directed to keep them closed
for their very lives, until directed to open them again.
Unless they did this first, their eyes would be blinded
forever when they beheld their king in all his magnif
icence. So they sat in silence. Then the sorcerer,
stepping softly, took them one by one, grasping each
tightly by the wings, and ere the bird knew what he
was about it had its head crushed between his teeth.
And so without noise or fluttering he killed all the
Wild Geese and Brant and Black Ducks. Then the
little boy began to pity the poor small wild-fowl. He
thought it was a shame to kill so many, having al
ready more than they needed. So stooping down, he

188 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

whispered to a very little bird to open its eyes. It
did so, but very cautiously indeed, for fear of being
blinded.

Great was his horror to see what Lox was doing !
He screamed, " Kedumed^lk ! " "We are all being
killed ! " Then they opened their eyes, and flew about
in the utmost confusion, screaming loudly in terror.
The little boy dropped down as if he had been knocked
over in the confusion, so that the door flew wide open,
and the birds, rushing over him, began to escape, while
Lox in a rage continued to seize them and kill them
with his teeth. Then the little boy, to avoid suspi
cion, grasped the last fugitive by the legs and held
him fast. But he was suspected all the same by the
wily sorcerer, who caught him up roughly, and would
have beaten him cruelly but that he earnestly pro
tested that the birds knocked him down and forced
the door open, and that he could by no means help it :
which being somewhat slowly believed, he was for
given, and they began to pluck and dress the game.
The giblets were preserved, the fowls sliced and dried
and laid by for the winter's store.

Then having plenty of provisions, Lox gave a
feast. Among the guests were Marten and Mahti-
gwess, the Rabbit, who talked together for a long
time in the most confidential manner, the Rabbit con
fiding and the Marten attending to him.

Now while this conversation had been going on, Lox,
who was deeply addicted to all kinds of roguery and
mischief, had listened to it with interest. And when

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 189

the two little guests had ceased he asked them where
their village was, and who lived in it. Then he was
told that all the largest animals had their homes
there : the bear, caribou or reindeer, deer, wolf, wild
cat, to say nothing of squirrels and mice. And having
got them to show him the way, he some time after
turned himself into a young woman of great beauty,
or at least disguised himself like one, and going to the
village married the young chief. And having left lit
tle Marten alone in a hollow tree outside the village,
the boy, getting hungry, began to howl for food ;
which the villagers hearing were in a great fright.
But the young chief's wife, or the magician Lox,
soon explained to them what it meant. " It is," she-
he said, " Owoolakumooejit, the Spirit of Famine.
He is grim and gaunt ; hear how he howls for food !
Woe be unto you, should he reach this village ! Ah,
I remember only too well what happened when he
once came among us. Horror ! starvation ! "

" Can you drive him back ? " cried all the villagers.

" Yes, 't is in my power. Do but give me the well-
tanned hide of a yearling moose and a good supply
of moose-tallow,1 then the noise will cease." And
seizing it, and howling furiously the name of his
brother after a fashion which no one could under
stand, — Aa-chowwa'n! — and bidding him begone,
he rushed out into the night, until he came to Mar
ten, to whom he gave the food, and, wrapping him up
well in the moose-skin, bade him wait a while. And
1 A great delicacy among these semi- Arctic Indians.

190 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

the villagers thought the chief's wife was indeed a
very great conjurer.

And then she-he announced that a child would soon
be born. And when the day came Badger handed out
a bundle, and said that the babe was in it. " Nool-
musugakelaimadijul" " They kiss it outside the blan
ket." But when the chief opened it what he found
therein was the dried, withered embryo of a moose-
calf. In a great rage he flung it into the fire, and
all rushed headlong in a furious pack to catch Badger.
They saw him and Marten rushing to the lake. They
pursued him, but when he reached the bank the wily
sorcerer cast in a stick ; it turned into a canoe, and
long ere the infuriated villagers could reach them
they were on the opposite shore and in the woods.

Now it came to pass one day that as Lox sat on a
log a bear came by, who, being a sociable fellow, sat
down by him and smoked a pipe. While they were
talking a gull flew over, and inadvertently offered to
Lox what he considered, or affected to consider, as a
great insult. And wiping the insult off, Lox cried
to the Gull, " Oh, ungrateful and insolent creature,
is this the way you reward me for having made you
white ! "

Now the Bear would always be white if he could,
for the White Bear (wabeyu mooin) is the aristocrat
of Beardom. So he eagerly cried, " Ha ! did you
make the Gull white ? "

" Indeed I did," replied Lox. " And this is what
I get for it."

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 191

" Could you, my dear friend, — could you make me
white ? "

Then Lox saw his way, and replied that he could
indeed, but that it would be a long and agonizing
process ; Mooin might die of it. To be sure the Gull
stood it, but could a Bear?

Now the Bear, who had a frame as hard as a rock,
felt sure that he could endure anything that a gull
could, especially to become a white bear. So, with
much ceremony, the Great Enchanter went to work.
He built a strong wigwam, three feet high, of stones,
and having put the Bear into it he cast in red-hot
stones, and poured water on them through a small
hole in the roof. Erelong the Bear was in a terrible
steam. /

" Ah, Doctor Lox," he cried, " this is awfully hot !
I fear I am dying ! "

" Courage," said Lox ; " this is nothing. The Gull
had it twice as hot."

" Can't stand it any more, doctor. O-o-o-oh ! "

Doctor Lox threw in more hot stones and poured
more water on them. The Bear yelled.

" Let me out ! O-o-h ! let me out ! 0-o-o-oJi ! "

So he came bursting through the door. The doc
tor examined him critically.

Now there is on an old bear a small white or light
spot on his upper breast, which he cannot see.1 And
Doctor Lox, looking at this, said, —

" What a pity ! You came out just as you were be-
1 This is very white on the Japanese bears.

192 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

ginning to turn white. Here is the first spot. Five
minutes more and you 'd have been a white bear.
Ah, you have n't the pluck of a gull ; that I can see."

Now the Bear was mortified and disappointed. He
had not seen the spot, so he asked Lox if it was really
there.

" Wait a minute," said the doctor. He led the
Bear to a pool and made him look in. Sure enough,
the spot was there. Then he asked if they could not
begin again.

" Certainly we can," replied the doctor. " But it
will be much hotter and harder and longer this time.
Don't try it if you feel afraid, and don't blame me if
you die of it."

The Bear went in again, but he never came out
alive. The doctor had roast bear meat all that win
ter, and much bear's oil. He gave some of the oil to
his younger brother. The boy took it in a measure.
Going along the creek, he saw a Muskrat (Keuchus,
Pass.). He said to the Muskrat, "If you can harden
this oil for me, I will give you half." The Muskrat
made it as hard as ice. The boy said, " If my brother
comes and asks you to do this for him, do you keep
it all." And, returning, he showed the oil thus har
dened to his brother, who, taking a large measure of
it, went to the Muskrat and asked him to harden it.
The Muskrat indeed took the dish and swam away
with it, and never returned.

Then the elder, vexed with the younger, and re
membering the ducks in the wigwam, and believing
now that he had indeed been cheated, slew him.

THE INDIAN BOY AND THE MUSK-RAT. SEEPS, THE DUCK.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 193

This confused and strange story is manifestly pieced
together out of several others, each of which have in
cidents in common. A part of it is very ancient.
Firstly, the inveigling the ducks into the wigwam is
found in the Eskimo tale of Avurungnak (Rink, p.
177). The Eskimo is told by a sorcerer to let the
sea-birds into the tent, and not to begin to kill them
till the tent is full. He disobeys, and a part of them
escape. In Schoolcraft's Hiawatha Legends, Mano-
bozho gets the mysterious oil which ends the fore
going story from a fish. He fattens all the animals
in the world with it, and the amount which they con
sume is the present measure of their fatness. When
this ceremony is over, he inveigles all the birds into
his power by telling them to shut their eyes. At
last a small duck, the diver, suspecting something,
opens one eye, and gives the alarm.

The sorcerer's passing himself off for a woman and
the trick of the moose abortion occurs in three tales,
but it is most completely given in this. To this point
the narrative follows the Micmac, Passamaquoddy,
and Chippewa versions. After the tale of the chief
is at an end it is entirely Passamaquoddy ; but of the
latter I have two versions, one from Tomah Josephs
and one from Mrs. "VV. Wallace Brown.

I can see no sense in the account of the bear's oil
hardened by ice, but that oil is an essential part of
the duck story appears from the Chippewa legend
(Hiawatha L. p. 30). In the latter it is represented
as giving size to those who partake of it.

13

194 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

The Mischief Maker. A Tradition of the Origin of the
Mythology of the Senecas. A Lox Legend.

(Seneca.)

An Indian mischief maker was once roving about.
He saw that he was approaching a village, and said,
" How can I attract attention ? "

Seeing two girls coming from the wigwams, he
pulled up a wild plum-bush and placed it upon his
head, the roots clasping about his chin.

" It will be strange to see a plum-tree on my head,
bearing ripe fruit. These girls will want trees also."
So he thought.

The tree shook as he walked, and many plums fell
to the ground.

The girls wondered greatly at the strange man with
the tree. They admired it, and said they, too, would
like to be always supplied with fruit in such a man
ner.

" I can manage that," he replied. So he pulled
up a bush for each, and planted them on their heads.
The plums were delicious, and grew as fast as they
were plucked ; and the girls stepped along proudly,
for they had something which certainly no girls ever
had before.

The Mischief Maker went on to the village. On
the way he reflected, " There is no such thing in the
world as a plum-tree growing on a man's head. I
will take this off." He did so, and, on entering the
village, gave a loud signal (a whoop). All the peo-

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 195

pie listened, and the chiefs sent messengers to inquire
what news he brought.

lie said, " I have seen a very strange sight. As I
was coming hither I saw two girls walking. Trees
grew on their heads ; the boughs were covered with
plums, and the roots, which came through their hair,
were fastened about their necks. They were beauti
ful, and seemed to be very happy."

" We will go and see them ! " cried the women.

They had not gone far before they saw one of the
girls lying on the ground, while the other pulled at
the tree on her head. The roots gave way and the
tree came out, but all the hair came with it also.
Then the other lay down, and her friend in turn
pulled the tree from her head. They were very an
gry, and said, " If we meet with the man who played
us this trick we will punish him."

When the women who had gathered round them
learned how the trees had been fastened by magic
upon the girls' heads, they returned to the village, re
solved to chastise the man who had played the trick.
But when they reached home he was gone.

Gone far and away to another town. Before reach
ing it he sat down, and said, " Now I will show these
people also what I can do." He went a little distance
into the woods, where he found a wigwam. A woman
with a bucket in her hand came from it. He Saw that
as she passed along she reached high with one hand,
and felt her way by a thong which ran from tree to
tree till it ended at a spring of cold water. She

196 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

went on, filled her bucket, and so returned. Then
another woman after her did the same.

" They must be blind," said the Mischief Maker.
" I will have some fun with them." And so it was.
There lived in that wigwam five blind sisters.

Then he untied the thong from the tree near the
spring and fastened it to another, where there was no
water. Then a third blind woman came with a bucket,
and followed the line to the end, but found no water.
She returned to the wigwam, and said, " The spring
is dried up."

" No, it is n't," replied one of the sisters, who was
stirring pudding over the fire. " You say that be
cause you are too lazy to bring water ; you never
work. Here, do you stir the pudding, and let mo go
for water."

The Mischief Maker heard all this, and made haste
to tie the end of the thong where it belonged. The
blind woman filled her bucket, and when she returned
said to her sister, " There, you lazy creature, I found
the water ! "

By this time the Mischief Maker was in the house,
and slipping quietly up to the fire he dipped out some
of the pudding and threw it, scalding hot, into the
face of the scolding woman, who cried in a rage, —

" You throw hot pudding at me, do you ? "

"No, I did not throw any at you," replied the
sister.

Then the Mischief Maker threw some into her face.
She screamed, being very angry.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 197

" You mean thing ! You threw hot pudding at me,
when I did you no harm."

" I did n't throw any ! " said the other, in a rage.

" Yes, you did, you mean thing ! "

"Stop! stop!" cried the others. Just then hot
pudding flew in all their faces ; they had a terrible
quarrel, and the Mischief Maker left them to settle
it among themselves as they could.

He entered the village near by, and gave the usual
signal for news. The runners came out and met him ;
the chiefs and all the people assembled, lining the
path on both sides for a long way. They asked,
" What news do you bring? "

He replied, "I come from a village where there
is great distress. A pestilence visited the people. The
medicine man could not cure the sick; till I came
there was no remedy ; the tribe was becoming very
small. But I told them the remedy, and now they
are getting well. I have come to tell you to prepare
for the pestilence : it will soon be here ; it is flying
like the wind, and there is only one remedy."

" What is it? what is it? what is it?" interrupted
the people.

He answered, "Every man must embrace the wo
man who is next to him at this very instant; kiss
her, quick, immediately ! "

They all did so on the spot, he with the rest.

As he was leaving them an elderly man came to
him and whispered, " Are you going to do this thing
again at the next village ? If you are I should like

198 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

to be on hand. I did n't get any girl myself here.
The woman I went for dodged me, and said she had
rather have the pestilence, and death too, than have
me kiss her. Is the operation to be repeated ? "

The Mischief Maker said that it certainly would
be, about the middle of the morrow forenoon.

tk Then I will start now," said the middle-aged
man, " for I am lame, and it will take me all night
to get there."

So he hurried on, and at daylight entered the vil
lage. He found a wigwam, by which several beauti
ful Indian girls were pounding corn in a great wooden
mortar. He sat down by them. Pie could hardly
take his eyes from them, they were so charming, and
they wondered at his strange behavior.

He talked with them, and said, " My eyelids
quiver, and by that I know that some great and
strange news will soon be brought to this tribe.
Hark ! " — here he moved up towards the one whom
he most admired, — " did you not hear a signal ? "

" No," they replied.

The middle-aged man became very uneasy. Sud
denly the girls gave a cry, and dropped their corn
pssiles. A voice was heard afar ; the runners leaped
and flew, tLo chiefs and people went forth. With
them went the girls and the middle-aged man, who
took great pains to keep very near his chosen one,
so as to lose no time in applying the remedy for the
pestilence when the Mischief Maker should give the
signal. He was determined that a life should not be
lost if he could prevent it.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 199

The Stranger went through his story as at the other
village. The people became very much excited. They
cried out to know the remedy, and the old bachelor
drew nearer to the pretty girl.

" The only remedy for the pestilence is for every
woman to knock down the man who is nearest her."

The women began to knock down, and the first to
fall was the too familiar old bachelor. So the Mis
chief Maker waited no longer than to see the whole
town in one general and bitter fight, tooth and nail,
tomahawk and scalper, and then ran at the top of
his speed far away and fleet, to find another village.
Then the people, finding they had been tricked, said,
as people generally do on such occasions, " If we had
that fellow here, would n't we pay him up for this ? "

The Mischief Maker was greatly pleased at his suc
cess. It was nearly dark when he stopped, and said,
44 1 will not enter the next village to-night; I. will
camp here in the woods." So he had piled up logs
for a fire, and was just about to strike a light, when
he saw a stranger approaching. " Camp with me here
over night," said the Mischief Maker, " and we will
go to the village in the morning."

So they ate and smoked their pipes, and told stories
till it was very late. But the stranger did not seem
to tire ; nay, he even proposed to tell stories all night
long. The Mischief Maker looked at him aslant.

" My friend," he said, " can you tell me of what
wood my back-log is ? "

" Hickory ? " inquired the stranger.

200 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

" No, not hickory."

" Maple ? "

" No, not maple."

" White oak ? "

" No, not white oak."

" Black walnut ? "

" No, not black walnut."

" Moosewood?"

" No, not moosewood."

"Ash?"

" No, not ash."

"Pine?"

" No, not pine."

"Cedar?"

" No, not cedar."

"Birch?"

The stranger began to yawn, but he kept on guess
ing. Then his head nodded. By the time he had
found out that it was slippery elm he was sound
asleep.

" This fellow deserves punishment," remarked the
Mischief Maker. "He is an enemy to mankind."
Here he adroitly put some sticky clay on the sleep
er's eyes, and departed. When the stranger awoke
he thought himself still fast asleep in darkness, and
then that he was blind.

" If ever I meet with that fellow again," he said,
"I '11 punish him!"

The Mischief Maker played so many pranks that
all the tribes sent out runners to catch him. He heard

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 201

their whoops in every forest. He knew that he was
being hunted down. He hurried on, and once at
iii»'lit hid in a cave under a rock. The runners did

o

not quite overtake him, but they saw that his tracks
were fresh, and thought they might catch him in the
morning. In the morning he was up and far away
long before they awoke. The next night he hid again
in a hollow log. In the middle of the afternoon of
the next day he heard the whoops of the pursuers
very near, and knew that they were gaining fast on
him. He climbed a thickly limbed tree, and hid in
the top. Here the runners lost his track, because he
had broken the weeds and bushes down beyond the
tree, as if he had gone further on. They ran for a
long distance. Then they returned, and camped and
built a fire under the tree.

The smoke crept up among the branches and curled
above, and rose in a straight column to the sky. The
fugitive sailed away on the smoke, going up and up,
— past beautiful lakes and hunting-grounds stocked
with deer, large fields of corn and beans, tobacco and
squashes ; past great companies of handsome Indians,
whose wigwams were hung full of dried venison and
bear's meat. And so he went on and up to the wig
wam of the Great Chief.

Here he rested. He remained for a hundred moons
observing the customs of the people and learning
their language. One morning the Great Chief told
him that he must return to his own people. He dis
liked to do this, for he was very happy in the new

202 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

place. The Chief said, " These are the happy hunt
ing-grounds. We have admitted you that you may
know how and what to teach your people, that they
may get here. Go, and if you do what I tell you, you
may return to remain forever. You have not been
allowed to come here to remain, but only to observe.
When you come again, you shall join us in all things.
You shall hunt and fish then, and have whatever you
wish. But return now, and teach what you have
learned here."

A cloud of smoke in the form of a great eagle came
to him, and, seated on its back, he was borne down
to the top of the tree from which he had risen. He
opened his eyes. The sun was shining. His pursuers
had gone away. He descended and traveled on. His
mind was filled with what he had seen. He said, " I
will no longer play tricks, but tell the people about
what I learned in the happy hunting-grounds."

After a long journey he drew near a village. He
gave the common signal. Runners came to meet him.
The head chief and all the people came to hear. He
was asked, " What news do you bring us ? "

He said, "I that was the Mischief Maker am the
Peace Maker now. The Great Spirit took me to the
happy hunting-grounds, and I am sent back to tell
you how to get there." Then the Peace Maker de
scribed all he had seen. The people built a great fire
and danced around it, and shouted as they had never
done before. Then he said, " This is the message I
bring you."

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 203

So the people sat in a great circle round the fire
and listened. He spoke : —

" The Great Spirit is unseen, but he is about us.
He will not forsake us. He rules all things for us.
He will take care of us. He told me that we should
return thanks to him, for he changes the seasons, and
makes corn and beans and squashes grow for us. He
is displeased when we kill our brothers. He hopes
that we will not forget him. He will never die. His
name is Ha-wen-ni-yu^ — the Ruler. He bids us
keep away from his wicked brother, whose name is
Ha-ne-go-ate-geh^ the Evil-Minded. He is very bad.
He brings pestilence and fevers, and lizards and
poisonous weeds. He destroys peace, and brings war.
Ha-wen-ni-yu will care for us if we trust in him.
Obey his words, and Ha-ne-go-ate-geh will never
harm us.

" The Great Spirit, has messengers, who aid him in
his work. They watch over the people. They take
care of the mother and her new-born babe, that they
receive no harm ; they watch over those whom the
Evil-Minded has troubled with disease. The Evil-
Minded has messengers who do his work. They scat
ter pestilence, and whisper in our ears, and tell us
to go against Ha-wen-ni-yu.

" The Great Spirit has messengers. Heno has a
pouch filled with thunderbolts. Heno gathers the
clouds and sends the rain. He is a friend to the corn
and beans and squashes. He also punishes witches
and evil persons. Pray to Heno when you plant, and

204 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

tliank him when you gather your crop. Pray also
to Ha-wen-ni-yu, who will send Heno to care for you.
Let Heno be called Grandfather.

"Ga-oh is the Spirit of the Winds. He moves the
winds, but he is chained to a rock. The winds trouble
him, and he tries very hard to get free. When he
struggles the winds are forced away from him, and
they blow upon the earth. Sometimes he suffers
terrible pain, and then his struggles are violent. This
makes the winds wild, and they do damage on the
earth. Then he feels better and goes to sleep, and the
winds become quiet also.

" There is a spirit for the corn, another for beans,
another for squashes. They are sisters, and are very
kind to each other. They dwell together, and live in
the fields. They shall be known as De-o-ha-ka, — the
keepers of our life.

" There are spirits in the water, in fire, in all the
trees and berries, in herbs and in tobacco, in the grass.
They assist the Great Spirit.

" Always return thanks to ffo-noh-che-noh-Jceh, the
Guardian Spirits.

" Ha-ne-go-ate-geh has messengers. These are the
spirits of disease, of fever, of witches, weeds, and
murder. But the Great Spirit will keep them away
from his children.

" This is the message I bring from the happy hunt
ing-grounds. Obey these words, and the Great
Spirit will give you a place there."

So Peace Maker taught the people. They threw

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 205

tobacco on the fire, according to his instructions, and
on the column of its smoke he was borne away to the
happy hunting-grounds. And the people danced and
sang around the dying embers of the council fire.

This is probably an ancient legend with a modern
moral. The idea of an Indian Tyl Eulenspiegel
going about the country making mischief recalls a
great part of the adventures of Hiawatha or Mano-
bozho ; in fact, it could not fail to suggest itself to a
believer in Shamanism, or pow-wow, according to
which evil spirits and men like them are continually
teasing mankind, out of sheer malice. The reform of
the wicked man, under the influence of the "Great
Spirit," is of later days. I do not believe that the
idea of a Great Spirit, in the sense in which it is
generally used by Indians, or is attributed to them,
was ever known till learned from the whites. Noth
ing is more natural than that during the two hundred
years past intelligent Indians, who felt that there were
many evils in the old barbaric state, yet who were still
under the influence of its myths and poetry, should
have made up legends like this purporting to be revela
tions. There is one of the kind given in the Hiawatha
Legend, as " Eroneniera, an Indian visit to the Great
Spirit," which bears on its face every mark of modern
manufacture for a purpose. For these very reasons,
however, the tale here given is of great interest to the
impartial historian. I am indebted for it to the kind
ness of Colonel T. Wentworth Higginson, who in
forms me that it was written by the Rev. J. Went-

206 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

worth Sanborn (alias O - yo - gah - weh) of Batavia,
N. Y.

In the first part we have in the Mischief Maker
the same character or principle who appears as Lox,
the Wolverine, the Kaccoon, and Badger among the
Wabanaki. The setting the blind women together by
the ears, and the dashing of hot pudding, soup, or water
in their faces, is another form of a Lox story, which
occurs again in the Kalevala. But the entire spirit of
the tricks is that of Lox, as those of Lox are like
those of Loki. The Rev. Moncure D. Conway once
said to me, as Miss E. Robins has also said in an
article in the Atlantic Monthly, that it is only in the
Norse mythology that the Evil One, or devil, is repre
sented as growing up from or inspired solely by reck
less wanton mischief, — the mischief of a bad boy or
a monkey. But the very same is as true of so much
of a devil as there is in the Wabanaki mythology. It
is as a grotesque shadow of Loki, but still it is his.
The Germans say the devil is God's ape ; the Indian
Lox is the Norse devil's.

How Lox told a Lie.

(Passamaquoddy.)

Lox had a brother, who had married a red squaw.
When she was touched the red color rubbed off. The
brother kept this wife in a box.

One day, returning, the brother saw that Lox had
red fingers. " Aha ! " he cried, in a rage, " you have
taken my wife out of the box." But Lox denied it,
so that his brother believed him.

THE MERRY TALES OF LOX. 207

The next time the husband returned, Lox's fingers
were again red. And again he was accused, and once
more he denied it. But as he swore with all his
might that he was innocent, something, as if on the
floor, laughed, and said, " You lie. I was with you ;
I helped you."

Lox thought it was his right foot. So he cut off the
toes, and then the foot, but the accusation continued.
Thinking it was the other foot, he cut that off ; yet as
the testimony was continued, he found that it was Ta-
loosc, even he himself, the bodily offender in person,
testifying against his lying soul. So in a rage he
struck himself such a blow with his war-club that he
fell dead.

I cannot give in full all the adventures of Lox. I
may, however, observe one thing of great importance.
Lox, in these tales, is the Evil Principle, that is, a
giant by birth. His two feet in this story are male
and female ; they talk as if they were human. In the
Edda, a giant's two feet beget together a six-headed
son (Vafthrudnismal) : —

" Foot with foot begot

Of that wise Jottm,

A six-headed son."

This six-headed son reappears as a demon in the
Passamaquoddy tale of the Three Strong Men.

Taloose, literally translated, is the phallus. The
red squaw refers to the Newfoundland Indians, cov
ered with red ochre. They are believed to be now
extinct.

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF MASTER
RABBIT

WITH THE OTTER, THE WOODPECKER GIRLS, AND MOOIN
THE BEAR.

ALSO A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE FAMOUS CHASE, IN WHICH HE
FOOLED LUSIFEE, THE WILD CAT.1

I. How Master Rabbit sought to rival Keeoony, the
Otter.

OF old times, Mahtigwess, the Rabbit, who is
called in the Micmac tongue Ableegumooch, lived
with his grandmother, waiting for better times ; and
truly he found it a hard matter in midwinter, when
ice was on the river and snow was on the plain, to
provide even for his small household. And running
through the forest one day he found a lonely wigwam,
and he that dwelt therein was Keeoony, the Otter.
The lodge was on the bank 01 a river, and a smooth
road of ice slanted from the door down to the water.
And the Otter made him welcome, and directed his
housekeeper to get ready to cook; saying which, he
took the hooks on which he was wont to string fish
when he had them, and went to fetch a mess for din
ner. Placing himself on the top of the slide, he
coasted in and under the water, and then came out

1 In this story the Wild Cat is another form of Lox, the master
of the wolves.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 209

with a great bunch of eels, which were soon cooked,
and on which they dined.

" By my life," thought Master Rabbit, " but that
is an easy way of getting a living ! Truly these fish
ing-folk have fine fare, and cheap ! Cannot I, who
am so clever, do as well as this mere Otter ? Of
course I can. Why not ? " Thereupon he grew so
confident of himself as to invite the Otter to dine with
him — adamadusk ketkewop — on the third day after
that, and so went home.

" Come on ! " he said to his grandmother the next
morning ; " let us remove our wigwam down to the
lake." So they removed ; and he selected a site such
as the Otter had chosen for his home, and the weather
being cold he made a road of ice, or a coast, down
from his door to the water, and all was well. Then
the guest came at the time set, and Rabbit, calling his
grandmother, bade her get ready to cook a dinner.
" But what am I to cook, grandson ? " inquired the
old dame.

44 Truly I will see to that," said he, and made him
a naboguri) or stick to string eels. Then going to the
ice path, he tried to slide like one skilled in the art,
but indeed with little luck, for he went first to the
right side, then to the left, and so hitched and jumped
till he came to the water, where he went in with a
bob backwards. And this bad beginning had no bet
ter ending, since of all swimmers and divers the Rab
bit is the very worst, and this one was no better than
his brothers. The water was cold, he lost his breath,
he struggled, and was well-nigh drowned.
14

210 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

" But what on earth ails the fellow ? " said the Ot
ter to the grandmother, who was looking on in amaze
ment.

" Well, he has seen somebody do something, and is
trying to do likewise," replied the old lady.

" Ho ! come out of that now," cried the Otter,
"and hand me your ndbogun! " And the poor Rab
bit, shivering with cold, and almost frozen, came from
the water and limped into the lodge. And there he
required much nursing from his grandmother, while
the Otter, plunging into the stream, soon returned
with a load of fish. But, disgusted at the Rabbit
for attempting what he could not perform, he threw
them down as a gift, and went home without tasting
the meal.

II. How Mahtigivess, the Babbit dined with the Wood
pecker Girls, and was again humbled by trying to rival
them.

Now Master Rabbit, though disappointed, was not
discouraged, for this one virtue he had, that he never
gave up.1 And wandering one day in the wilderness,
he found a wigwam well filled with young women, all
wearing red head-dresses; and no wonder, for they
were Woodpeckers. Now, Master Rabbit was a well-
bred Indian, who made himself as a melody to all
voices, and so he was cheerfully bidden to bide to din
ner, which he did. Then one of the red-polled pretty

1 It will be seen in the end that this great Indian virtue of
never giving in eventually raised Rabbit to power and prosper
ity. II y ade morale id.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 211

- Is, taking a woltes, or wooden dish, lightly climbed

tree, so that she seemed to run ; and while ascend-
ig, stopping here and there and tapping now and
then, took from this place and that many of those in
sects called by the Indians apcJiel-moal^timpTcawcil^ or
rice, because they so much resemble it. And note
that this rice is a dainty dish for those who like it.
And when it was boiled, and they had dined, Master
Rabbit again reflected, " La ! how easily some folks
live ! What is to hinder me from doing the same ?
Ho, you girls ! come over arid dine with me the day
after to-morrow ! "

And having accepted this invitation, all the guests
came 011 the day set, when Master Rabbit undertook
to play woodpecker. So having taken the head of an
eel-spear and fastened it to his nose to make a bill, he
climbed as well as he could — and bad was the best —
up a tree, and tried to get his harvest of rice. Truly
he got none ; only in this did he succeed in resem
bling a Woodpecker, that he had a red poll ; for his
pate was all torn and bleeding, bruised by the fishing-
point. And the pretty birds all looked and laughed,
and wondered what the Rabbit was about.

"Ah ! " said his grandmother, " I suppose he is
trying again to do something which he has seen some
one do. 'T is just like him."

" Oh, come down there ! " cried Miss Woodpecker,
as well as she could for laughing. "Give me your
dish ! " And having got it she scampered up the
trunk, and soon brought down a dinner. But it was

212 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

long ere Master Rabbit heard the last of it from
these gay tree-tappers.

///. Of the Adventure with Mooin, the Bear ; it being
the Third and Last Time that Master Rabbit made a
Fool of himself.

Now, truly, one would think that after all that had
befallen Master Mahtigwess, the Rabbit, that he
would have had enough of trying other people's
trades ; but his nature was such that, having once
set his mighty mind to a thing, little short of sudden
death would cure him. And being one day with the
Bear in his cave, he beheld with great wonder how
Mooin fed his folk. For, having put a great pot on
the fire, he did but cut a little slice from his own foot
and drop it into the boiling water, when it spread
and grew into a mess of meat which served for all.1
Nay, there was a great piece given to Rabbit to take
home to feed his family.

" Now, truly," he said, " this is a thing which I can
indeed do. Is it not recorded in the family wampum
that whatever a Bear can do well a Rabbit can do bet
ter ? " So, in fine, he invited his friend to come and
dine with him, Ifetkewopk', the day after to-morrow.

And the Bear being there, Rabbit did but say,
" Noogume* ImesawaV tvohu ! " "Grandmother, set
your pot to boiling ! " And, whetting his knife on a

1 Mr. Rand observes that this is evidently an allusion to the
bear's being supposed to live during the winter by sucking his
own paws.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 213

stone, he tried to do as the Bear had done ; but little
did he get from his small, thin soles, though he cut
himself madly and sadly.

" What can he be trying to do ? " growled the
guest.

" Ah ! " sighed the grandmother, " something which
he has seen some one else do."

" Ho ! I say there ! Give me the knife," quoth
Bruin. And, getting it, he took a slice from his sole,
which did him no harm, and then, what with magic
and fire, gave them a good dinner. But Master Rab
bit was in sad case, and it was many a day ere he
got well.

IV. Relating how the Rabbit became Wise by being Origi
nal, and of the Terrible Tricks which he by Magic played
Loup-Cervier, the Wicked Wild Cat.

There are men who are bad at copying, yet are good
originals, and of this kind was Master Rabbit, who,
when lie gave up trying to do as others did, succeeded
very well. And, having found out his foible, he ap
plied himself to become able in good earnest, and stud
ied m'tSoulin, or magic, so severely that in time he
grew to be an awful conjurer, so that he could raise
ghosts, crops, storms, or devils whenever he wanted
them.1 For he had perseverance, and out of this may

1 The three previous chapters of the Rabbit legend are from
the Micmac. The rest is Passamaquoddy, as told by Tomah Jo
sephs, who in his narration not only often interpolated jocose re
marks, but was wont to ejaculate " By Jolly ! " especially in the
most striking scenes. I think that with him the interjection had
become refined and dignified.

214 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

come anything, if it be only brought into the right
road.

Now it came to pass that Master Kabbit got into
great trouble. The records of the Micmacs say that it
was from his stealing a string of fish from the Otter,
who pursued him ; but the Passamaquoddies declare
that he was innocent of this evil deed, probably be
cause they make great account of him as their ances
tor and as the father of the Wabanaki. Howbeit,
this is the way in which they tell the tale.

Now the Rabbit is the natural prey of the Loup-
Cervier, or Lusifee, who is a kind of wild cat, none
being more obstinate. And this Wild Cat once went
hunting with a gang of wolves, and they got nothing.
Then Wild Cat, who had made them great promises
and acted as chief, became angry, and, thinking of the
Rabbit, promised them that this time they should in
deed get their dinner. So he took them to Rabbit's
wigwam ; but he was out, and the Wolves, being vexed
and starved, reviled Wild Cat, and then rushed off
howling through the woods.

Now I think that the Rabbit is mteoulin. Yes,
he must be, for when Wild Cat started to hunt him
alone, he determined with all his soul not to be caught,
and made himself as magical as he could. So he
picked up a handful of chips, and threw one as far as
possible, then jumped to it, — for he had a charm for
a long jump ; and then threw another, and so on, for a
great distance. This was to make no tracks, and when
he thought he had got out of scent and sight and
sound he scampered away like the wind.

THE RABBIT MAGIC'AN.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 215

Now, as I said, when the wolves got to Master Rab
bit's house and found nothing, they smelt about and
left Wild Cat, who swore by his tail that he would
catch Rabbit, if he had to hunt forever and run him
self to death. So, taking the house for a centre, he
kept going round and round it, all the time a little
further, and so more around and still further.1 Then
at last having found the track, he went in hot haste
after Mr. Rabbit. And both ran hard, till, night
coming on, Rabbit, to protect himself, had only just
time to trample down the snow a little, and stick up
a spruce twig on end and sit on it. But when Wild
Cat came up he found there a fine wigwam, and put
his head in. All that he saw was an old man of
very grave and dignified appearance, whose hair was
gray, and whose majestic (sogmoye) appearance was
heightened by a pair of long and venerable ears. And
of him Wild Cat asked in a gasping hurry if he had
seen a Rabbit running that way.

" Rabbits ! " replied the old man. " Why, of course
I have seen many. They abound in the woods about
here. I see dozens of them every day." With this
he said kindly to Wild Cat that he had better tarry
with him for a time. " I am an old man," he re
marked with solemnity, — " an old man, living alone,

1 While telling this, Toraah described a spiral line. It is evi
dent that if the volute were only continued long enough it must
inevitably end in finding any trail, if the point of departure be
only known. This device is familiar to all Indians, and it is
mentioned in other stories.

216 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

and a respectable guest, like you, sir, comes to me like
a blessing." And the Cat, greatly impressed, re
mained. After a good supper he lay down by the
fire, and, having run all day, was at once asleep, and
made but one nap of it till morning. But how aston
ished, and oh, how miserable he was, when he awoke,
to find himself on the open heath in the snow and al
most starved ! The wind blew as if it had a keen will
to kill him ; it seemed to go all through his body.
Then he saw that he had been a fool and cheated by
magic, and in a rage swore again by his teeth, as well
as his tail, that the Rabbit should die. There was no
hut now, only the trampled snow and a spruce twig,
and yet out of this little, Rabbit had conjured up so
great a delusion.

Then he ran again all day. And when night came,
Master Rabbit, having a little more time than before,
again trampled down the snow, but for a greater space,
and strewed many branches all about, for now a huge
effort was to be made. And when Wild Cat got there
he found a great Indian village, with crowds of people
going to and fro. The first building he saw was a
church, in which service was being held. And he, en
tering, said hastily to the first person he saw, " Ha !
ho ! have you seen a Rabbit running by here ? "

" Hush — sh, sh ! " replied the man. " You must
wait till meeting is over before asking such ques
tions." 1 Then a young man beckoned to him to come

1 Though this story is very old, the incident of the church
(sogmoye wigwam, or chief house) is manifestly modern.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 217

in, and he listened till the end to a long sermon on the
wickedness of being vindictive and rapacious ; and the
preacher was a gray ancient, and his ears stood np
over his little cap like the two handles of a pitcher,
yet for all that the Wild Cat's heart was not moved
one whit. And when it was all at an end he said to
the obliging young man, " But have you seen a Rab?
bit running by ? "

" Rabbits ! Rab-bits ! " replied the young man.
" Why, there are hundreds racing about in the cedar
swamps near this place, and you can have as many as
you want." " Ah ! " replied Wild Cat, " but they are
not what I seek. Mine is an entirely different kind."
The other said that he knew of no sort save the wild
wood - rabbits, but that perhaps their Governor, or
Chief, who was very wise, could tell him all about them.
Then the Governor, or Sagamore, came up. Like the
preacher, he was very remarkable and gray, with the
long locks standing up one on either side of his head.
And he invited the stranger to his house, where his
two very beautiful daughters cooked him a fine sup
per. And when he wished to retire they brought out
blankets and a beautiful white bear's skin, and made
up a bed for him by the fire. Truly, his eyes were
closed as soon as he lay down, but when he awoke
there had been a great change. For now he was in a
wet cedar swamp, the wind blowing ten times worse
than ever, and his supper and sleep had done him little
good, for they were all a delusion. All around him
were rabbits' tracks and broken twigs, but nothing
more.

218 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Yet he sprang up, more enraged than ever, and
swearing more terribly by his tail, teeth, and claws
that he would be revenged. So he ran on all day, and
at night, when he came to another large village, he was
so weary that he could just gasp, " Have — you —
seen a Rab — bit run this way?" With much con
cern and kindness they all asked him what was the
matter. So he told them all this story, and they
pitied him very much ; yea, one gray old man, — and
this was the Chief, — with two beautiful daughters,
shed tears and comforted him, and advised him to
stay with them. So they took him to a large hall,
where there was a great fire burning in the middle
thereof. And over it hung two pots with soup and
meat, and two Indians stood by and gave food to all
the people. And he had his share with the rest, and
all feasted gayly.

Now, when they had done eating, the old Governor,
who was very gray, and from either side of whose
head rose two very venerable, long white feathers, rose
to welcome the stranger, and in a long speech said it
was, indeed, the custom of their village to entertain
guests, but that they expected from them a song.
Then Wild Cat, who was vain of his voice, uplifted it
in vengeance against the Rabbits : —

" Oh, hew I hate them !
How I despise them !
How I laugh at them !
May I scalp them all ! "

Then he said that he thought the Governor should

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 219

sing. And to this the Chief consented, but declared
that all who were present should bow their heads while
seated, and shut their eyes, which they did. Then
Chief Rabbit, at one bound, cleared the heads of his
guests, and drawing his timlieyen, or tomahawk, as he
jumped, gave Wild Cat a wound which cut deeply into
his head, and only fell short of killing him by entirely
stunning him. When he recovered, he was again in
snow, slush, and filth, more starved than ever, his head
bleeding from a dreadful blow, and he himself almost
dead. Yet, with all that, the Indian devil was stronger
in him than ever, for every new disgrace did but bring
more resolve to be revenged, and he swore it by his
tail, claws, teeth, and eyes.

So he tottered along, though he could hardly walk ;
nor could he, indeed, go very far that day. And when
almost broken down with pain and weariness, he came
about noon to two good wigwams. Looking into one,
he saw a gray-haired old man, and in the other a
young girl, apparently his daughter. And they re
ceived him kindly, and listened to his story, saying
it was very sad, the old man declaring that he must
really remain there, and that he would get him a doc
tor, since, unless he were well cared for at once, he
would die. Then he went forth as if in great con
cern, leaving his daughter to nurse the weary, wounded
stranger.

Now, when the Doctor came, he, too, was an old
gray man, with a scalp-lock strangely divided like two
horns. But the Wild Cat had become a little suspi-

220 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

cious, having been so often deceived, for much abuse
will cease to amuse even the most innocent ; and truly
he was none of these. And, looking grimly at the Doc
tor,1 he said : " I was asking if any Kabbits are here,
and truly you look very much like one yourself. How
did you get that split nose? " " Oh, that is very sim
ple," replied the old man. " Once I was hammering
wampum beads, and the stone on which I beat them
broke in halves, and one piece flew up, and, as you see,
split my nose." " But," persisted the Wild Cat, "why
are the soles of your feet so yellow, even like a Rab
bit's?" "Ah, that is because I have been preparing
some tobacco, and I had to hold it down with my
feet, for, truly, I nedeed both my hands to work with.
So the tobacco stained them yellow." Then the Wild
Cat suspected no more, and the Doctor put salve on
his wound, so that he felt much better, and, ere he de
parted, put by him a platter of very delicate little
round biscuits, or rolls, and a beautiful pitcher full
of nice wine, and bade him refresh himself from
these during the night, and so, stealing away softly,
he departed.

But oh, the wretchedness of the awaking in the
morning ! For then Wild Cat found himself indeed
in the extreme of misery. His head was swollen and
aching to an incredible degree, and the horrible wound,
which was gaping wide, had been stuffed with hem-

1 This cross-examination of the Doctor is taken from an Abe
naki version, narrated by a St. Francis Indian to Miss Alger.
This Indian is the well-known Josep Cappino.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 221

lock needles and pine splinters, and this was the cool
salve which the Doctor had applied. And as a last
touch to his rage and shame, thinking in his deadly
thirst of the wine, he beheld 011 the ground, still left
in the snow, a last summer's pitcher-plant, half full
of what might indeed pass for wine by the mere sight
thereof, though hardly to the taste. While seeking for
the biscuits on a platter, he found only certain small
pellets, such as abound about a rabbit warren. And
then he swore by all his body and soul that he would
slay the next being he met, Rabbit or Indian. Verily
this time he would be utterly revenged.

Now Mahtigwess, the Rabbit, had almost come to an
end of his rrfteoulin, or wizard power, for that time,
yet he had still enough left for one more great effort.
And, coming to a lake, he picked up a very large chip,
and having seamed it with sorcery and magnified it
by magic threw it into the water, where it at once
seemed to be a great ship, such as white men build.
And when the Wild Cat came up he saw it, with
sails spread and flags flying, and the captain stood so
stately on the deck, with folded arms, and he was a
fine, gray-haired, dignified man, with a cocked hat, the
two points of which were like grand and stately horns.
But the Wild Cat had sworn, and he was mindful of
his great oath ; so he cried, " You cannot escape me
this time, Rabbit ! I have you now ! " Saying this he
plunged in, and tried to swim to the ship. And the
captain, seeing a Wild Cat in the water, being en
gaged in musket drill, ordered his men to fire at it,

222 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

which they did with a bang ! Now this was caused by
a party of night-hawks overhead, who swooped down
with a sudden cry like a shot ; at least it seemed so to
Wild Cat, who, deceived and appalled by this volley,
deeming that he had verily made a mistake this time,
turned tail and swam ashore into the dark old for
est, where, if he is not dead, he is running still.1

1 This expression, very common among the Indians, appears to
have been taken from the Canadians. II court encore ends many
of their stories. This was related to me by Tomah Josephs,
September 2, 1882. I have four versions of it. In one, the
Chippewa, given by Schoolcraft, the wretched efforts to rival
the woodpeckers and bear are attributed to a no less personage
than Hiawatha, or Manobozho, himself, when under a cloud.
But Hiawatha as a poem deals only with the better part of the
hero's character. In the Rand manuscript, the most amusing
portion of tho adventures of the Rabbit, or those with the Wild
Cat, are much abbreviated. Tomah's tale supplies this missing
portion, but consists of nothing else. The Abenaki tale is
slightly different in its beginning : " Rabbit was making maple-
sugar in the woods, but he was very pious, and rested on the
Sabbath. While praying on this day by his hearth, there came a
great black fierce man, who glared at him, but Mahtigwess
kept siiyiug ' Peace ! peace ! peace ! ' for that is the way the
Rabbit prays. Then the stranger was angry because he would
not cease praying and talk to him, but the Rabbit said, ' Would
you have me break the Sabbath ? ' Then he went and brought
the stranger, who was a Wild Cat, refreshments." These refresh
ments were the same as those given by the Doctor. Here the
chase begins.

There is probably much more of this story.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 223

V. How Master Rabbit went to a Wedding o,nd won the

Bride.
(Passamaquoddy.)

Chee malitigwess, or the Great Rabbit, was once
very stout or large of body, having a very long tail.
And one day in the old times, as he sat on the rock,
with his fine long tail trailing afar into the bushes, an
old man came by who asked the way. And Master
Rabbit, being as usual obliging, offered to show it to
him. So they talked together and grew intimate, but
as the old man went very slowly, while Rabbit was
always running, he said, " Go on before, and I will
follow." So the guide was soon out of sight, and then
the old man, hurrying without heeding, fell down into
a deep pit or chasm, where he cried out aloud for help,
but was not heard. After a time, Rabbit, missing his
follower, turned back and tracked him till he found
the pit. Yet they could not between them manage to
bring the traveler up again, until Rabbit said, " Catch
hold of my tail ; " and when this was done he gave a
jump, but alas ! the fine tail broke off short within an
inch of the root.

One would think that by this time Master Rabbit
must have had enough of helping, but all the stories
of him show that he never gave up anything which
he had once begun. So he simply said to the old
man, " Catch hold of me round the waist ; " and
when this was done he gave another leap, and brought
the prisoner out. But the man, being heavy, had

224 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

slipped down, and almost broken Rabbit's back. So
it came to pass tiiat since that day Master Rabbit has
had a very short tail and a slender waist.

The old man was on his way to marry a young
girl. But she was in love with Mikumwess, the forest
fairy. However, the old man married her, and invited
Master Rabbit to the dance, which in old times made
the ceremony. And the guest dressed for the occasion
by putting ear-rings on his heels — for Rabbits or Hares
dance on their tip-toes — and a beautiful bangle round
his neck, and he danced opposite the bride. Now the
bride had on only a very short skirt, and in crossing a
brook it had got wet. So that as she danced, it began
to shrink and shrink, until Master Rabbit, pitying the
poor girl, ran out and got a deer-skin, and hastily
twisted a cord to tie it with. But it seemed as if
Master Rabbit's efforts to oblige people always got
him into trouble, for he twisted this string so rapidty
and earnestly, holding one end of it in his teeth as
he did so, that he cut his upper lip through to the
nose, for which reason his descendants all have hare
lips to this day.

Now having dressed the bride, she was so grateful to
Rabbit that she danced with him all the night. The
old man, seeing this, was so angry at her fickleness
that, without saying a word, he walked away, and left
her to Mahtigwess, with whom she lived very happily
until she ran away with Mikumwess ; with whom, if
she has not run away again, she is living yet. This
story is at an end.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 225

VI. How Master Rabbit gave himself Airs.
(Micmac.)

It happened once that Lox was living in great lux
ury. He had a wigwam full of hundreds of dried sea-
ducks, moose meat, maple-sugar, and corn. He gave
a dinner, and among the guests invited Marten and
Mahtigwess, the Rabbit.

Now it is a great weakness of Master Rabbit that
he is much given to hinting at one minute, and saying
pretty plainly the next, that he has been in better so
ciety than that around him, and has lived among
great people, and no one was quicker than the Marten
to find out that wherein any one was foolish or feeble.
So when Master Rabbit, smoothing down his white
fur, said it was the only kind of a coat worn by the
aristocracy, Marten humbly inquired, " if that were
so, how he came by it."

" It shows," replied Master Rabbit, " that I have
habitually kept company with gentlemen."

" How did you get that slit in your lip ? " inquired
Marten, who knew very well what this Indian really
was.

" Ah ! " replied the Rabbit, " where / live they
use knives and forks. And one day, while eating with
some great sagamores, my knife slipped, and I cut my

HP.-

"And why are your mouth and whiskers always
going when you are still ? Is that high style ? "

" Yes ; I am meditating, planning, combining £reat

15

226 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

affairs ; talking to myself, you see. That 's the way
we do."

" But why do you always hop ? Why don't you
sometimes walk, like other people ? "

" Ah, that 's our style. We gentlemen don't run,
like the vulgar. We have a gait of our own, don't
you know ? "

" Indeed ! Well, if you don't mind a question, I
would like to know why you always scamper away so
suddenly, and jump so far and so rapidly when you
run."

" Aw ! don't you know ? I used to be employed
in very genteel business ; public service, — in fact,
diplomatic. I carried dispatches (weegadigunn, Mic-
mac ; wighiggin, Pass.) — books, letters, papers, and
so I got in the way of moving nimbly. Now it
comes naturally to me. One of my old aristocratic
habits."1

Upon this Marten gave it up. He had seen some
thing of good society himself, as he lived habitually
with Glooskap, but Master Rabbit was too much for
him.

1 This droll dialogue occurs in the middle of the Micmac story
of Lox, or Badger, and the Ducks and Bear, where it evidently
does not belong, or has been interpolated to make length. In the
original, Marten carries his inquiries much further into certain
physiological details, all of which Master Rabbit naively explains
as the result of the delicate diet and the wine to which he as a
gentleman had been accustomed.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 227

VII. The Young Man who was Saved by a Rabbit and a

Fox.
(Passamaquoddy.)

There dwelt a couple in the woods, far away from
other people, — a man and his wife. They had one
boy, who grew up strong and clever. One day he
said, " Father and mother, let me go and see other
men and women." They grieved, but let him go.

He went afar. All night he lay on the ground. In
the morning he heard something coming. He rose
and saw it was a Rabbit, who said, " Ha, friend, where
go you ? " The boy answered, " To find people."
"That is what I want," replied the Rabbit. "Let
us go together."

So they went on for a long time, till they heard
voices far off, and walking quietly came to a village.
" Now," said the Rabbit, " steal up unseen, and listen
to them ! " The boy did so, and heard the people
saying that a kewahqu\ a cannibal monster, was to
come the next day to devour the daughter of their
sagamore. And having returned and reported this
to the Rabbit, the latter said to the boy, " Have no
fear ; go to the people and tell them that you can save
her." He did so, but it was long before they would
listen to him. Yet at last it came to the ears of the
old chief that a strange young man insisted that he
could save the girl ; so the chief sent for him, and
said, "They tell me that you think you can deliver my
daughter from death. Do so, and she shall be yours."

228 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Then he returned to the Rabbit, who said, " They
did not send the girl far away because they know that
the demon can follow any track. But I hope to make
a track which he cannot follow. Now do you, as soon
as it shall be dark, bring her to this place." The
young man did so, and the Rabbit was there with a
sled, and in his hand he had two squirrels. These
he smoothed down, and as he did so they grew to be
as large as the largest sled-dogs. Then all three
went headlong, like the wind, till they came to an
other village.

The Rabbit looked about till he found a certain
wigwam, and then peered through a crevice into it.
" This is the place," he said. " Enter." They did
so ; then the Rabbit ran away. They found in the
cabin an old woman, who was very kind, but who, on
seeing them, burst into tears. " Ah, my dear grand
children," 1 she cried, " your death is following you
rapidly, for the kewahqu' is on your track, and will
soon be here. But run down to the river, where you
will find your grandfather camping."

They went, and were joined by the Rabbit, who
had spent the time in making many divergent tracks
in the ground. The kewahqu' came. The tracks
delayed him a long time, but at last he found the
right one. Meanwhile the young couple went on, and
found an old man by the river. He said, " Truly

1 The terms grandchildren, grandmother, etc., do not here
signify actual relationship, but only friendship between elderly
and young people.

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 229

you are in great danger, for the kewahqu' is coming.
But I will help you." Saying this, he threw himself
into the water, where he floated with outstretched
limbs, and said, " Now, my children, get on me." The
girl feared lest she should fall off, but being reas
sured mounted, when he turned into a canoe, which
carried them safely across. But when they turned to
look at him, lo ! he was no longer a canoe, but an old
Duck. " Now, my dear children," he said, u hasten
to the top of yonder old mountain, high among the
gray rocks. There you will find your friend." They
fled to the old gray mountain. The kewahqu' came
raging and roaring in a fury, but however he pur
sued they were at the foot of the precipice before
him.

There stood the Rabbit. He was holding up a very
long pole ; no pine was ever longer. " Climb this,"
he said. And, as they climbed, it lengthened, till they
left it for the hill, and then scrambled up the rocks.
Then the kewahqu' came yelling and howling horri
bly. Seeing the fugitives far above, he swarmed up
the pole. With him, too, it grew, and grew rapidly,
till it seemed to be half a mile high. Now the ke
wahqu' was no such sorcerer that he could fly ; neither
had he wings ; he must remain on the pole ; and when
he came to the top the young man pushed it afar.
It fell, and the monster was killed by the fall thereof.

They went with the squirrel - sledge ; they flew
through the woods on the snow by the moonlight;
they were very glad. And at last they came to the

230 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

girl's village, when the Rabbit said, " Now, friend,
good-by. Yet there is more trouble coming, and when
it is with you I and mine will aid you. So farewell."
And when they were home again it all appeared like
a dream. Then the wedding feast was held, and all
seemed well.

But the young men of the village hated the youth,
and desired to kill him, that they might take his wife.
They persuaded him to go with them fishing on the
sea. Then they raised a cry, and said, " A whale is
chasing us ! he is under the canoe ! " and suddenly
they knocked him overboard, and paddled away like
an arrow in flight.

The young man called for help. A Crow came, and
said, " Swim or float as long as you can. I will bring
you aid." He floated a long time. The Crow re
turned with a strong cord; the Crow made himself
very large ; he threw one end of the cord to the youth ;
by the other he towed him to a small island. " I can
do no more," he said ; " but there is another friend."
So as the youth sat there, starving and freezing, there
came to him a Fox. " Ha, friend," he said, " are you
here ? " " Yes," replied the youth, " and dying of
hunger." The Fox reflected an instant, and said,
" Truly I have no meat ; and yet there is a way."
So he picked from the ground a blade of dry grass,
and bade the youth eat it. He did so, and found
himself a moose (or a horse). Then he fed richly
on the young grass till he had enough, when the Fox
gave him a second straw, and he became a man

ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT. 231

again. " Friend," said the Fox, " there is an Indian
village on the main-land, where there is to be a great
feast, a grand dance. Would you like to be there ? "
" Indeed I would," replied the youth. " Then wait till
dark, and I will take you there," said the Fox. And
when night came he bade the youth close his eyes and
enter the river, and take hold of the end of his tail,
while he should draw. So in the tossing sea they
went on for hours. Thought the youth, " We shall
never get there." Said the Fox, " Yes, we will, but
keep your eyes shut." So it went on for another
hour, when the youth thought again, " We shall never
reach land." Said the Fox, " Yes, we shall." How
ever, after a time he opened his eyes, when they were
only ten feet from the shore, and this cost them more
time and trouble than all the previous swim ere they
had the beach under foot.

It was his own village. The festival was for the
marriage of his own wife to one of the young men
who had pushed him overboard. Great was his magic
power, great was his anger ; he became strong as
death. Then he went to his own wigwam, and his
wife, seeing him, cried aloud for joy, and kissed him
and wept all at once. He said, " Be glad, but the
hour of punishment for the men who made these
tears is come." So he went to the sagamore and
told him all.

The old chief called for the young men. " Slay
them all as you choose," he said to his son-in-law;
" scalp them." But the youth refused. He called

232 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

to the Fox, and got the straws which gave the power
to transform men to beasts. He changed his enemies
into bad animals, — one into a porcupine, one into
a hog, — and they were driven into the woods. Thus
it was that the first hog and the first porcupine came
into the world.

This story, narrated by Tomah Josephs, is partly
old Indian and partly European, but whether the lat
ter element was derived from a French Canadian or
a Norse source I cannot tell, since it is common to
both. The mention of the horse and the hog. or of
cattle, does not prove that a story is not pre-Colum
bian. The Norsemen had brought cattle of various
descriptions even to New England. It is to be very
much regretted that the first settlers in New England
took no pains to ascertain what the Indians knew of
the white men who had preceded them. But modern
material may have easily been added to an old le
gend.

THE CHENOO LEGENDS.

/. The Chenoo, or the Story of a Cannibal with an Icy

Heart.
(Micmac and Passamaquoddy.)

OF the old time. An Indian, with his wife and
their little boy, went one autumn far away to hunt in
the northwest. And having found a fit place to pass
the winter, they built a wigwam. The man brought
home the game, the woman dressed and dried the
meat, the small boy played about shooting birds with
bow and arrow ; in Indian-wise all went well.

One afternoon, when the man was away and the
wife gathering wood, she heard a rustling in the
bushes, as though some beast were brushing through
them, and, looking up, she saw with horror something
worse than the worst she had feared. It was an awful
face glaring at her, — a something made of devil, man,
and beast in their most dreadful forms. It was like
a haggard old man, with wolfish eyes ; he was stark
naked ; his shoulders and lips were gnawed away, as
if, when mad with hunger, he had eaten his own flesh.
He carried a bundle on his back. The woman had
heard of the terrible Chenoo, the being who comes
from the far, icy north, a creature who is a man
grown to be both devil and cannibal, and saw at once
that this was one of them.

234 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Truly she was in trouble ; but dire need gives quick
wit, as it was with this woman, who, instead of show
ing fear, ran up and addressed him with fair words,
as "My dear father," pretending surprise and joy,
and, telling him how glad her heart was, asked where
he had been so long. The Chenoo was amazed be
yond measure at such a greeting where he expected
yells and prayers, and in mute wonder let himself be
led into the wigwam.

She was a wise and good woman. She took him
in ; she said she was sorry to see him so woe-begone ;
she pitied his sad state; she brought a suit of her
husband's clothes ; she told him to dress himself and
be cleaned. He did as she bade. He sat by the side
of the wigwam, and looked surly and sad, but kept
quiet. It was all a new thing to him.

She arose and went out. She kept gathering sticks.
The Chenoo rose and followed her. She was in great
fear. " Now," she thought, " my death is near ; now
he will kill and devour me."

The Chenoo came to her. He said, " Give me the
axe ! " She gave it, and he began to cut down the
trees. Man never saw such chopping ! The great
pines fell right and left, like summer saplings ; the
boughs were hewed and split as if by a tempest.
She cried out, " jVbo, tabeagul "boohsoogul ! " "My
father, there is enough ! " * He laid down the axe ;
he walked into the wigwam and sat down, always in

1 The tremendous pine chopper is a character in another In
dian tale.

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 235

grim silence. The woman gathered her wood, and
remained as silent on the opposite side.

She heard her husband coming. She ran out and
told him all. She asked him to do as she was doing.
He thought it well. He went in and spoke kindly.
He said, "^Y'cMcA," " My father-in-law," and asked
where he had been so long. The Cheiioo stared in
amazement, but when he heard the man talk of all
that had happened for years his fierce face grew
gentler.

They had their meal; they offered him food, but
he hardly touched it. He lay down to sleep. The
man and his wife kept awake in terror. When the
fire burned up, and it became warm, the Chenoo asked
that a screen should be placed befure him. He was
from the ice ; he could not endure heat.

For three days he stayed in the wigwam ; for three
days he was sullen and grim ; he hardly ate. Then
he seemed to change. He spoke to the woman ; he
asked her if she had any tallow. She told him they
had much. He filled a large kettle ; there was a gal
lon of it. He put it on the fire. When it was scald
ing hot he drank it all off at a draught.

Pie became sick ; he grew pale. He cast up all the
horrors and abominations of earth, things appalling to
every sense. When all was over he seemed changed.1

1 The Chenoo is not only a cannibal, but a ghoul. He preys
on nameless horrors. In this case, " having yielded to the power
of kindness, he has made up his mind to partake of the food and
hospitality of his hosts," "to change his life; but to adapt his

236 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

He lay down and slept. When lie awoke he asked
for food, and ate much. From that time he was kind
and good. They feared him no more.

They lived on meat such as Indians prepare.1 The
Chenoo was tired of it. One day he said, " N'toos "
(my daughter), " have you no pela weoos ? " (fresh
meat). She said, " No." When her husband re
turned the Chenoo saw that there was black mud on
his snow-shoes. He asked him if there was a spring
of water near. The friend said there was one half
a day's journey distant. " We must go there to-mor
row," said the Chenoo.

And they went together, very early. The Indian
was fleet in such running. But the old man, who
seemed so wasted and worn, went 011 his snow-shoes
like the wind. They came to the spring.2 It was
large and beautiful ; the snow was all melted away
around it ; the border was flat and green.3

system to the new regimen, he must thoroughly clear it of the
old." — Rand manuscript. This is a very naive and curious
Indian conception of moral reformation. It appears to be a very
ancient Eskimo tale, recast in modern time by some zealous
recent Christian convert.

1 That is, cured, dried, smoked, and then packed and pressed
in large blocks.

2 " The Micmacs have two words for a spring of water : one
for summer, utkuboh, which means that the water is cool ; the
other for winter, keesoobok, indicating that it is warm." — S. T.
Rand.

3 Not uncommon round warm springs even in midwinter, and
among ice and snow.

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 237

Then the Chenoo stripped himself, and danced
around the spring his magic dance ; and soon the water
began to foam, and anon to rise and fall, as if some
monster below were heaving in accord with the steps
and the song. The Chenoo danced faster and wilder ;
then the head of an immense Taktalok, or lizard,
rose above the surface. The old man killed it with a
blow of his hatchet. Dragging it out he began again
to dance. He brought out another, the female, not
so large, but still heavy as an elk. They were small
spring lizards, but the Chenook had conjured them ;
by his magic they were made into monsters.

He dressed the game ; he cut it up. He took the
heads and feet and tails and all that he did not want,
and cast them back into the spring. " They will grow
again into many lizards," he said. When the meat
was trimmed it looked like that of the bear. He
bound it together with withes ; he took it en his shoul
ders ; he ran like the wind ; his load was nothing.

The Indian was a great runner; in all the land
was not his like ; but now he lagged far behind.
" Can you go no faster than that ? " asked the Che
noo. " The sun is setting ; the red will be black
anon. At this rate it will be dark ere we get home.
Get on my shoulders."

The Indian mounted on the load. The Chenoo
bade him hold his head low, so that he could not be
knocked off by the branches. " Brace your feet," he
said, " so as to be steady." Then the old man flew
like, the wind, — nebe sokano'v'jal samastukteskugul

238 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

did wegwasumug wegul ; the bushes whistled as they
flew past them. They got home before sunset.

The wife was afraid to touch such meat.1 But her
husband was persuaded to eat of it. It was like bear's
meat. The Chenoo fed on it. So they all lived as
friends.

Then the spring was at hand. One day the Chenoo
told them that something terrible would soon come to
pass. An enemy, a Chenoo, a woman, was coming like
wind, yes — on the wind — from the north to kill him.
There could be no escape from the battle. She would
be far more furious, mad, and cruel than any male,
even one of his own cruel race, could be. He knew
not how the battle would end ; but the man and his
wife must be put in a place of safety. To keep from
hearing the terrible war-whoops of the Chenoo, which
is death to mortals, their ears must be closed. They
must hide themselves in a cave.

Then he sent the woman for the bundle which he
had brought with him, and which had hung untouched
on a branch of a tree since he had been with them.
And he said if she found aught in it offensive to her
to throw it away, but to certainly bring him a smaller
bundle which was within the other. So she went and
opened it, and that which she found therein was a
pair of human legs and feet, the remains of some ear
lier horrid meal. She threw them far away. The
small bundle she brought to him.

1 " The Indians are much less particular than white men as to
food, but they avoid choojeeck, or reptiles." — Rand manuscript.

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 239

The Chenoo opened it and took from it a pair of
horns, — horns of the chepitchcalm, or dragon. One
of them has two branches ; the other is straight and
smooth.1 They were golden-bright. He gave the
straight horn to the Indian ; he kept the other. He
said that these were magical weapons, and the only
ones of any use in the coming fight. So they waited
for the foe.

And the third day came. The Chenoo was fierce
and bold ; he listened ; he had no fear. He heard
the long and awful scream — like nothing of earth —
of the enemy, as she sped through the air far away in
the icy north, long ere the others could hear it. And
the manner of it was this : that if they without harm
should live after hearing the first deadly yell of the
enemy they could take no harm, and if they did but
hear the answering shout of their friend all would be
well with them.2 But he said, " Should you hear me
call for help, then hasten with the horn, and you may
save my life."

They did as he bade : they stopped their ears ; they
hid in a deep hole dug in the ground. All at once
the cry of the foe burst on them like screaming
thunder ; their ears rang with pain : they were well-

1 In the winter of 1882-1883, Tomah Josephs killed a deer
whose horns were precisely like those of the chepitchcalm as
regarded shape.

2 In all this we clearly perceive the horrible scream of the
angakok, or Eskimo Shaman, trained through years and genera
tions to utter sounds which terrify even brave men.

240 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

nigh killed, for all the care they had taken. But then
they heard the answering cry of their friend, and were
no longer in danger from mere noise.

The battle begun, the fight was fearful. The mon
sters, by their magic with their rage, rose to the size of
mountains. The tall pines were torn up, the ground
trembled as in an earthquake, rocks crashed upon
rocks, the conflict deepened and darkened ; no tem
pest was ever so terrible. Then the male Chenoo was
heard crying : " N'loosook ! choogooye ! abog unu-
mooe ! " " My son-in-law, come and help me ! "

He ran to the fight. What he saw was terrible !
The Chenoos, who upright would have risen far above
the clouds as giants of hideous form, were struggling
on the ground. The female seemed to be the con
queror. She was holding her foe down, she knelt on
him, she was doing all she could to thrust her dragon's
horn into his ear. And he, to avoid death, was mov
ing his head rapidly from side to side, while she,
mocking his cries, said, " You have no son-in-law to
help you." Neen ndbujjeole, " I '11 take your cursed
life,1 and eat your liver."

1 It is generally said that there can be no swearing in Indian,
but Mr. Rand corrects this gross error. " It is a mistake," he
writes, " to suppose that the red man cannot swear in his own
tongue." It cannot, of course, be expected that simple savages
can swear like cultivated Christians, but they do the best they
can. They introduce the venom into their speech by inserting
an extra syllable. Thus nabole or naboV means, " I will kill
you," but ndbujeol' is the equivalent of " I '11 take your cursed
life," though it has not that literal meaning. Having only one

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 241

The Indian was so small by these giants that the
stranger did not notice him. " Now," said his friend,
" thrust the horn into her ear ! " He did this with a
well-directed blow ; he struck hard ; the point entered
her head. At the touch it sprouted quick as a flash
of lightning, it darted through the head, it came out
of the other ear, it had become like a long pole. It
touched the ground, it struck downward, it took deep
and firm root.

The male Chenoo bade him raise the other end of
the horn and place it against a large tree. He did so.
It coiled itself round the tree like a snake, it grew
rapidly ; the enemy was held hard and fast. Then the
two began to dispatch her. It was long and weary
work. Such a being, to be killed at all, must be
hewed into small pieces ; flesh and bones must all be
utterly consumed by fire. Should the least fragment
remain unburnt, from it would spring a grown Chenoo,
with all the force and fire of the first.1

The fury of battle past, the Chenoos had become of
their usual size. The victor hewed the enemy to
small pieces, to be revenged for the insult and threat

small syllable to swear with, the Indians are, however, not so
profuse and wasteful of profanity as their more gifted and pious
white brethren.

1 The idea is common to both Eskimo and Indian that so long
as a fragment of a body remains unburned, the being, man or
beast, may, by magic, be revived from it. It was probably sug
gested by observing the great vitality and power of self-produc
tion inherent in many lower forms of life, and may have given
rise to the belief in vampires.
16

242 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

as to eating his liver. He, having roasted that part
of his captive, ate it before her ; while she was yet
alive he did this. He told her she was served as she
would have served him.

But the hardest task of all was to come. It was to
burn or melt the heart. It was of ice, and more than
ice : as much colder as ice is colder than fire, as much
harder as ice is harder than water. When placed in
the fire it put out the flame, yet by long burning it
melted slowly, until they at last broke it to fragments
with a hatchet, and then melted these. So they re
turned to the camp.

Spring came. The snows of winter, as water, ran
down the rivers to the sea ; the ice and snow which
had encamped on the inland hills sought the shore.
So did the Indian and his wife ; the Chenoo, with
softened soul, went with them. Now he was becom
ing a man like other men. Before going they built a
canoe for the old man : they did not cover it with
birch bark ; they made it of moose-skin.1 In it they
placed a part of their venison and skins. The Chenoo
took his place in it ; they took the lead, he followed.

And after winding on with the river, down rapids
and under forest-boughs, they came out into the sun-

1 " The Indians have several names for a canoe : Kwedun (M.) ;
A'kweden (P.); N'tooal (M.), my canoe or my water-craft of any
kind ; Mooseoolk, a canoe covered with moose-skin (M.) ; Skogu-
moolk (M.), a new canoe ; N'canoolk (M.), an old canoe." — Rand
manuscript. To these may be added the different patterns of
canoes peculiar to different tribes, as for instance the Mohawk,
which is broad, with peculiar ends, etc.

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 243

shine, on a broad, beautiful lake. But suddenly, when
midway in the water, the Chenoo laid flat in the canoe,
as if to hide himself. And to explain this he said that
he had just then been discovered by another Chenoo,
who was standing on the top of a mountain, whose dim
blue outline could just be seen stretching far away to
the north. " He has seen me," he said, " but he can
not see you. Nor can he behold me now ; but should
he discover me again, his wrath will be roused. Then
he will attack me ; I know not who might conquer. I
prefer peace."

So he lay hidden, and they took his canoe in tow.
But when they had crossed the lake and come to the
river again, the Chenoo said that he could not travel
further by water. He would walk the woods, but
sail on streams no more. So they told him where
they meant to camp that night. He started over
mountains and through woods and up rocks, a far,
round-about journey. And the man and his wife
went down the river in a spring freshet, headlong with
the rapids.1 But when they had paddled round the
point where they meant to pass the night, they saw
smoke rising among the trees, and on landing they
found the Chenoo sleeping soundly by the fire which
had been built for them.

1 One should be familiar with the almost impassable forests
of Maine and Canada, even as they are at the present day, to
properly appreciate the Chenook's journey. As for the speed of
the canoe, I have myself gone down the Kenawha River (Va.), in
a dug-out, at the rate of one hundred miles in a day.

244 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

This he repeated for several days. But as they
went south a great change came over him. He was a
being of the north. Ice and snow had no effect on
him, but he could not endure the soft airs of summer.
He grew weaker and weaker ; when they had reached
their village he had to be carried like a little child.
He had grown gentle. His fierce and formidable
face was now like that of a man. His wounds had
healed ; his teeth no longer grinned wildly all the time.
The people gathered round him in wonder.

He was dying. This was after the white men had
come. They sent for a priest. He found the Chenoo
as ignorant of all religion as a wild beast. At first
he would repel the father in anger. Then he listened
and learned the truth. So the old heathen's heart
changed ; he was deeply moved. He asked to be
baptized, and as the first tear which he had ever shed
in all his life came to his eyes he died.1

1 This strange and touching tale was told to Mr. Rand by a
Micmac Indian, Louis Brooks, who heard it from his grandfather,
Samuel Paul, a chief, who died in 1843, at the age of eighty.
He was a living chronicle of ancient traditions. The Chenoo
can be directly identified with the so-called Inlander of the
Greenland Eskimo. He is a cannibal, a giant, a mysterious
being who haunts the horrible and almost unexplored interior.
He assumes different forms ; in one shape he is supposed to be a
man who has become a recluse and a misanthrope. But no such
being as a Chenoo could ever have been imagined out of an
arctic country. The conception of the heart of hardest ice and
the gradual civilization of the savage by kindness ; the tact with
which this is done, as only a woman could do it ; the indication
of the old nature, as shown by eating the liver of his conquered

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 245

As there is actually a tribe of Indiana in the North
west called Chenoo, there can be little doubt as to the
derivation of the name. Such a character could have
originated, as I have said, only in the icy north ; it
could never have grown in the milder regions of the
west and south. But the Chenoo, the monstrous, fero
cious cannibal giant, with an icy heart, is the central
figure of the evil supernatural beings of the north.
The Schoolcraft traditions and Hiawatha have little to
say of Titans whose heads top the clouds, who tear up
forests and rend rocks, and change the whole face of
Nature in their hideous battles or horrible revels. But
such scenes are continually described by the Passama-
quoddy and Micmac story-tellers, and they would be
natural enough to Greenlanders, familiar with whales,
icebergs, frozen wastes, long winter nights, and all the
frozen desolation of the north.

There is a mystery connected with the eating of the
liver, which is to be explained, like many other Indian
mysteries, by having recourse to the Eskimo Shaman
ism. " In Greenland a man who has been murdered
can revenge himself by rushing into him," that is,
entering his soul, " which can only be prevented by
eating a piece of his liver." (Rink, T. and T. of the
Eskimo, page 45.) The Chenoo is in all essentials
identical with the Kivigtok of Greenland, " a man who
has fled mankind, and acquired extraordinary mental
and physical powers. The story which I have here

foe, and his final conversion, display a genius which is greatly
heightened by the simplicity of the narrative.

246 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

given is probably that of the Eskimo tale of the
Blind Man who recovered his sight (Rink, page 99),
in which a Kimgtok, after becoming incredibly old, re
turns to mankind to seek a Shaman priest and repent.
In both stories there is a " Chenoo," and in both there
is atonement with mankind and the higher powers.

It may be observed that while the Chenoo is a giant
with a heart of ice as hard as stone, the giant Hrung-
nir, of the Edda, has a heart of stone. The Chenoo
agrees with the Jb'tuns in many respects.

The Story of the Great Chenoo, as told by the Passama-

quoddies.
(Passamaquoddy) .

What the Micmacs call a Chenoo is known to the
Passamaquoddies as a Jfewahqu* or Jiieivoqu '. And
this is their origin. When the k'tchi m'teoulin, or
Great Big Witch,1 is conquered by the smaller witches,
or M'teoulinssisk, they can kill him or turn him into
a Kewahqu\ He still fights, however, with the other
Kewaquiych. When they get ready to fight, they
suddenly become as tall as the highest trees; their
weapons are the trees themselves, which they uproot
with great strength. And this strength depends upon
the quantity or size of the piece of ice which makes
the heart of the Kewahqu\ This piece of ice is like

1 When legends from the Anglo-Indian manuscript collection
of Mitchell are given, many of the phrases or words in the
original are retained, without regard to style or correctness.
Wizard should be placed here for witch.

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 247

a little human figure, with hands, feet, head, and
every member perfect.

The female Kewahqu' is more powerful than the
male. They make a noise like a roaring lion (pee'h-
tahlo\ but sharper (shriller) and more frightful.
Their abode is somewhere in I£as mu das doosek, in
some cold region in far Northern Canada.

In summer time they rub themselves all over with

poo-pooka-wigu, or fir balsam, and then roll themselves

on the ground, so that everything adheres to the body,

— moss, leaves, and even small sticks. This was often

seen of old by Indian hunters.

Once a newly married Indian couple had, accord
ing to Indian custom, gone on the long fall and win
ter hunt. One day when the man was away an old
Kewahqu' came and looked into the wigwam. The
wife was frightened, but she made up her mind at
once : she called him Mittunksl, or " my father."
The old Kewahqu' was very proud to be called father.
When she heard her husband returning she ran out
and told him that a great Kewahqu' was in the camp,
and that he must call him M'sil hose, or " father-
in-law." So going in he did this, and the Kewahqu'
was still more pleased. So they lived with him,
and hunted with him. He was very skillful in the
chase. When they came to broad and deep waters
the Kewahqu' would swim them with his son-in-law
on his back. He could run faster than any wild an
imal.

One day he told his children to go away to a great

248 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

distance. " There is a great female Kewahqu' coming
to fight ine. In the struggle I may not know you, and
may hurt you." So they went away as fast and as far
as they could, but they heard the fighting, the most
frightful noises, howls, yells, thundering and crashing
of wood and rocks. After a time the man determined
to see the fight. When he got to the place he saw
a horrible sight: big trees uprooted, the giants in a
deadly struggle. Then the Indian, who was very brave,
and who was afraid that his father-in-law would be
killed, came up and helped as much as he could, and in
fact so much that between them they killed the enemy.
The old Kewahqu' was badly but not fatally hurt,
and the woman was very glad her father came off vic
torious. She had always heard that a Kewahqu' had
a piece of ice for a heart. If this can be taken out,
the Kewahqu' can be tamed and cured. So she made
a preparation or medicine, and offered it to him.
He did not know what it was, nor its strength, so he
swallowed it, and it gave him a vomit. She saw some
thing drop, so quietly picked it up : it was the figure
of a man of ice ; it was the Kewahqu's heart. She,
not being seen or noticed, put it in the fire, when he
cried, " Daughter, you are killing me now ; you destroy
my strength." Yet she made him take more of the
medicine, and a second heart came out. This she
also put on the fire. But when a third came he
grabbed it from her hand, and swallowed it. How
ever, he was almost entirely cured.

Another time an Indian village was visited by a

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 249

Ke wall qu', but he was driven away by magic. The
people marked crosses on the trees where they ex
pected the Kewahqu' to come. There was a great ex
citement among the Indians, expecting to hear their
strange visitor with his frightful noises. It was the
old people who gave the advice to mark crosses on
the trees.

Another time an Indian of either the Passama-
quoddy or Mareschite tribe was turned to a Kewahqu'.
The last time he was seen was by a party of Indian
hunters, who recognized him. He had only small
strips of clothing. " This country," he said, " is too
warm for me. I am going to a colder one."

This story from the Passamaquoddy Anglo-Indian
manuscript of Mitchell supplies some very important
deficiencies in the preceding Micmac version. We
are told that the heart of the Chenoo is of ice in
human figure. This human figure is that of the Ke
wahqu' himself, or rather his very self, or microcosm.
It is this, and not the liver, which is swallowed by the
victor, who thus adds another frozen " soul " to his
own. Of the three vomited by the Kewahqu', two
were the hearts of enemies whom he had conquered.
He could not give up his own, however. It is much
more according to common sense that the woman
should have given the cannibal the magic medicine
which made him yield his heart than that he should
voluntarily have purged himself. In the Micmac tale
he merely relieves his stomach ; in the Passamaquoddy
version he, by woman's influence, loses his icy heart.

250 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

It is interesting to observe that the use of the Chris
tian cross is in the additional anecdote described as
magic.

It is the main point in the Chenoo stories that this
horrible being, this most devilish of devils, is at first
human ; perhaps an unusually good girl, or youth.
From having the heart once chilled, she or he goes
on in cruelty, until at last the sufferer eats the heart
of another Chenoo, especially a female's. Then utter
wickedness ensues. It is more than probable that
this leads us back to some dark and terrible Shaman
superstition, older than we can now fathom. There is
a passage in the Edda which its translator, Thorpe,
thinks can never be explained. " I believe," he writes,
" the difficulty is beyond help." The lines are as fol
lows : —

"Loki scorched up l

In his heart's affections,

Had found a half -burnt

Woman's heart.

Loki became guileful

from that wicked woman :

thence in the world

are all giantesses come."

Of which Thorpe writes, " The sense of this and the
following line is not apparent. They stand thus in
the original: Loki of hiarta lyrdi brendu, fann liann
halfsvidthin hugstein konu, for which Grimm (Myth.
Vbrrede 37) would read Loki at hiarta lundi brenda,
etc., Lokius comedit cor in nemore assum, invenit
i The Edda, p. 112.

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 251

semiustum mentis lapidem mulieris" Whatever ob
scurity exists here, it is evident that it means that
Loki, having become bad, grew worse after having
got the half-burnt stone of a woman's soul. That is,
his own heart, half ruined, became utterly so after he
had added to it the demoralized hug stein, soul-stone,
thought-stone, or heart of a woman. If we assume
that stone and heart are the same, the difficulty van
ishes. And they are one in the Chenoo, who, like
Loki, illustrates or symbolizes the passage from good
to evil, which a German writer declares is quicker
than thought, or that very same Hugi which the Norse
myth puts forwards as swiftest of all runners. Loki,
not as yet lost, gets the stone heart of a giantess, and
becomes an utter devil at once. The Chenoo becomes
an utter devil when he has swallowed the thought-
stone of a giantess, and so does Loki.

The Girl-Chenoo.

(Micmac.)

Of the old time. Far up the Saguenay River a
branch turns off to the north, running back into the
land of ice and snow. Ten families went up this
stream one autumn in their canoes, to be gone all
\vinter on a hunt. Among them was a beautiful girl,
twenty years of age. A young man in the band wished
her to become his wife, but she flatly refused him.
Perhaps she did it in such a way as to wound his
pride ; certainly she roused all that was savage in
him, and he gave up all his mind to revenge.

252 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

He was skilled in medicine, or in magic, so he went
into the woods and gathered an herb which makes
people insensible. Then stealing into the lodge when
all were asleep, he held it to the girl's face, until she
had inhaled the odor and could not be easily awak
ened. Going out he made a ball of snow, and return
ing placed it in the hollow of her neck, in front, just
below the throat. Then he retired without being dis
covered. So she could not awake, while the chill
went to her heart.1

When she awoke she was chilly, shivering, and
sick. She refused to eat. This lasted long, and her
parents became alarmed. They inquired what ailed
her. She was ill-tempered ; she said that nothing was
the matter. One day, having been sent to the spring
for water, she remained absent so long that her mother
went to seek her. Approaching unseen, she observed
her greedily eating snow. And asking her what it
meant, the daughter explained that she felt within a
burning sensation, which the snow relieved. More
than that, she craved the snow ; the taste of it was
pleasant to her.

After a few days she began to grow fierce, as

1 The Eskimo Shamans and the Indian boo-oin are familiar
with many very ingenious and singular ways of producing- pro
longed illness and death. There is one known to a very few old
gypsies, of gradually inducing insanity and death, which I have
never seen noted in any work on toxicology. In a work which
I lately read, it was positively denied that there was any such
thing as a " lingering poison " I

THE CHENOO LEGENDS. 253

though she wished to kill some one. At last she
begged her parents to kill her. Hitherto she had
loved them very much. Now she told them that un
less they killed her she would certainly be their death.
Her whole nature was being changed.

" How can we kill you ? " her mother asked.

"You must shoot at me," she replied, " with seven
arrows.1 And if you can kill me with seven shots
all will be well. But if you cannot, I shall kill you."

Seven men shot at her, as she sat in the wigwam.
She was not bound. Every arrow struck her in the
breast, but she sat firm and unmoved. Forty-nine
times they pierced her ; from time to time she looked
up with an encouraging smile. When the last arrow
struck she fell dead.

Then they burned the body, as she had directed.
It was soon reduced to ashes, with the exception of
the heart, which was of the hardest ice. This re
quired much time to melt and break. At last all was
over.

She had been brought under the power of an evil
spirit ; she was rapidly being changed into a Chenoo,
a wild, fierce, unconquerable being. But she knew it
all the while, and it was against her will. So she
begged that she might be killed.

The Indians left the place ; since that day none have
ever returned to it. They feared lest some small part
of the body might have remained unconsumed, and

1 The Micmac version gives guns. But the Chenoo stories are
evidently very ancient, and refer to terrors of the olden time.

254 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

that from it another Chenoo would rise, capable of
killing all whom she met.1

1 Mr. Rand (manuscript) gives a detailed account of an In
dian who went mad during the winter, ran away naked into the
wilderness among the snows, and was unanimously declared to
have turned into a Chenoo. I agree with Mr. Rand that " the
historical basis of these tales, if they have any, may be the
same, — a case of lunacy ; fiction and figure adding the incred
ible details."

THUNDER STORIES.

Of the Girl ivho married Mount Katahdin, and how all
the Indians brought about their own Ruin.

(Penobscot.)

OF the old time. There was once an Indian girl
gathering blueberries on Mount Katahdin. And, be
ing lonely, she said, " I would that I had a hus
band ! " And seeing the great mountain in all its
glory rising on high, with the red sunlight on the top,
she added, " I wish Katahdin were a man, and would
marry me ! "

All this she was heard to say ere she went onward
and up the mountain, but for three years she was
never seen again. Then she reappeared, bearing a
babe, a beautiful child, but his little eyebrows were of
stone. For the Spirit of the Mountain had taken her
to himself ; and when she greatly desired to return
to her own people, he told her to go in peace, but for
bade her to tell any man who had married her.

Now the boy had strange gifts, and the wise men
said that he was born to become a mighty magician.
For when he did but point his finger at a moose,
or anything which ran, it would drop dead ; and
when in a canoe, if he pointed at the flocks of wild
ducks or swans, then the water was at once covered

256 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

with the floating game, and they gathered them in as
they listed, and through that boy his mother and every
one had food and to spare.

Now this was the truth, and it was a great wonder,
that Katahdin had wedded this girl, thinking with
himself and his wife to bring up a child who should
build up his nation, and make of the Wabauaki a
mighty race. And he said, " Declare unto these peo
ple that they are not to inquire of thee who is the
father of thy child ; truly they will all know it by see
ing him, for they shall not grieve thee with imperti
nence." Now the woman had made it known that she
would not be questioned, and she gave them all what
they needed ; yet, for all this, they could not refrain
nor restrain themselves from talking to her on what
they well knew she would fain be silent. And one
day when they had angered her, she thought, " Truly
Katahdin was right ; these people are in nowise wor
thy of my son, neither shall he serve them ; he shall
not lead them to victory ; they are not of those who
make a great nation." And being still further teased
and tormented, she spake and said, " Ye fools, who
by your own folly will kill yourselves ; ye mud-wasps,
who sting the fingers which would pick ye out of the
water, why will ye ever trouble me to tell you what
you well know ? Can you not see who was the father
of my boy ? Behold his eyebrows ; do ye not know
Katahdin by them ? But it shall be to your exceed
ing great sorrow that ever ye inquired. From this
day ye may feed yourselves and find your own veni
son, for this child shall do so no more for you."

THUNDER STORIES. 257

And she arose and went her way into the woods and
up the mountain, and was seen on earth no more.
And since that day the Indians, who should have been
great, have become a little people. Truly it would
have been wise and well for those of early times if
they could have held their tongues.

This remarkable legend was related to me by Mrs.
Marie Sakis, a Penobscot, a very clever story-teller.
It gives the Fall of Man from a purely Indian stand
point. Nothing is so contemptible in Indian eyes as
a want of dignity and idle, loquacious teasing ; there
fore it is made in the myth the sin which destroyed
their race. The tendency of the lower class of Amer
icans, especially in New England, to raise and empha
size the voice, to speak continually in italics and small
and large capitals, with a wide display, and the con
stant disposition to chaff and tease, have contributed
more than any other cause to destroy confidence and
respect for them among the Indians.

Since writing the foregoing paragraph, I have read
The Abnakis, by Rev. Eugene Yetromile. In his
chapter on the Religion and Superstition of these In
dians he gives this story, but, as I think, in a cor
rupted form. Firstly, he states that Pamola (that is,
Bumole), who is the evil spirit of the night air, was
the Spirit of Mount Katahdin. Now these are cer
tainly at present two very distinct beings, which are
described as being personally quite unlike. Secondly,
in Vetromile's story the mother and child disappear

17

258 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

in consequence of the child having inadvertently killed
an Indian by pointing at him. It will be seen that
this feeble, impotent conclusion utterly spoils the man
ifest meaning of the whole legend.

Of this story Vetromile remarks that "it is, of
course, a superstitious tale, made up by the prolific
imagination of some Indians, yet we can perceive in
it some vestiges of the fall of the first man in having
transgressed the command of God, and how it could
be repaired only by God. We can also trace some
ideas of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of
God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mixed
with fables, superstitions, and pagan errors. The ap
pearance of God to Moses in the Burning Bush may
be glimpsed in Pamole appearing to the Indian on
Mount Katahdin, and so forth."

The pilgrims in Rabelais did not point out scriptu
ral coincidences with greater ingenuity than this. It
is deeply to be regretted that the reverend father's en
tire knowledge of the mythology of the Abenakis was
limited to this single story. (Vide Bumole, in chap
ter on Supernatural Beings.) It may be, however,
observed, that if the name Bumole or Pamela really
means " he curses on the mountain," or curse on
mountain, it was natural that the evil spirit should be
supposed to be on the mountain. Pamela was per
haps at an early period the spirit of lightning, and
might thus be very easily confused with Katahdin.

THUNDER STORIES. 259

How a Hunter visited the Thunder Spirits who dwell in
Mount Katahdin.

(Passamaquoddy.)

N'karnayoo. Of old times. Once an Indian went
forth to hunt. And he departed from the east branch
of the Penobscot, and came to the head of another
branch that leads into the east branch, and this he
followed even to the foot of Mount Katahdin.1 And
there he hunted many a day alone, and met none, till
one morning in midwinter he found the track of snow-
shoes. So he returned to his camp ; but the next day
he met with it again in a far-distant place. And thus
it was that, wherever he went, this track came to him
every day. Then noting this, as a sign to be ob
served, he followed it, and it went up the mountain,
Katahdin, which, being interpreted, means " the great
mountain," until at last it was lost in a hard snow-
•*shoe road made by many travelers. And since it was
hard and even, he took off his agahmook (P.)» or
snow-shoes, and went ever on and up with the road ;
and it was a strange path and strange was its ending,
for it stopped just before a high ledge, like an im
mense wall, on a platform at its foot. And there

1 This minuteness of needless detail is very characteristic of
Indian tales. I do not think that it is introduced for the sake of
local color, or to give an air of truthful seeming, because the In
dian simply believes the whole, as it is. I think the reason may
be that, owing to their love of adventure, they enjoy the mere
recitation of topographical details.

260 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

were many signs there, as of many people, yet he saw
no one. And as he stayed it seemed to grow stranger
and stranger. At last he heard a sound as of foot
steps coming, yet within the wall, when lo ! a girl
stepped directly out of the precipice upon the plat
form. But though she was beautiful beyond belief,
he was afraid. And to his every thought she an
swered in words, and that so sweetly and kindly and
cleverly that he was soon without fear, though he saw
that she had powerful niteoulin, or great magic
power. And they being soon pleased one with the
other, and wanting each other, she bade him accom
pany her, and that by walking directly through the
rock. " Have no fear," said she, " but advance bold
ly ! " So he obeyed, and lo ! the rock was as the
air, and it gave way as he went on. And ever as
they went the maiden talked to him, answering his
thoughts, so that he spoke not aloud.

And anon they came to a great cavern far within,
and there was an old man seated by a fire, and the
old man welcomed him. And he was very kindly
treated by the strange pair all day : in all his life he
had never been so happy. Now as the night drew
near, the old man said to his daughter, " Can you hear
aught of your brothers ? " Then she went out to the
terrace, and, returning, said, " No." Then anon he
asked her again, and she, going and returning as be
fore, replied, " Now I hear them coming." Then they
listened, when lo ! there came, as at the door without,
a crash of thunder with a flash of lightning, and out

THUNDER STORIES. 261

of the light stepped two young men of great beauty,
but like giants, stupendous and of awful mien. And,
like their father, their eyebrows were of stone, while
their cheeks were as rocks.

And the hunter was told by their sister that when
they went forth, which was every few days, their
father said to them, " Sons, arise ! it is time now for
you to go forth over the world and save our friends.
Go not too near the trees, but if you see aught that is
harmful to those whom we love, strike, and spare
not ! " Then when they went forth they flew on high,
among the clouds : and thus it is that the Thunder
and Lightning, whose home is in the mighty Katah-
din, are made. And when the thunder strikes, the
brothers are shooting at the enemies of their friends.

Now when the day was done the hunter returned to
his home, and when there, found he had been gone
seven years. All this I have heard from the old peo
ple who are dead and gone.

This tale was told me by Tomah Josephs (P.)- I*
seems to have nothing in common with the very widely
spread myth that the thunder is the flapping of the
wings of a giant bird, and the lightning the flashes of
its eyes. The tradition is probably of Eskimo origin,
supernatural beings partially of stone being common
to Greenland and Labrador. There is a strange but
entirely accidental resemblance between this story and
Rip Van Winkle, as in the distant sound of the nine
pins like low-muttered thunder, the hospitable enter-

262 THE ALGONQUIN* LEGENDS.

tainment, and finally the seven years as one day. Ap
parent resemblances are very deceptive. In the Es
kimo mythology the mersugat or Jcutadlit, who are
the higher or benevolent spirits, protecting mortals,
are distinguished from the evil ones by dwelling in
'cliffs, to which there are invisible entrances.

There is a remarkable resemblance between Katah-
din and Hrungiiir of the Edda. Hrungnir has a face
of stone ; he is unquestionably a mountain personified,
as Miss Lamed declares : " His stony head pierces
the blue sky." * Both giants are the typical great
mountain of their respective countries. Hrungnir
has also very great affinity with the Chenoo giant.
He has a stony heart, an insatiable appetite, and is
cruel and brutal.

The Iroquois have the very stone giants — or, as
Schoolcraft calls them, the stonish giants — them
selves, and a very curious picture of them has been
preserved.2 Of them ho remarks, "Who the giants
are intended to symbolize is uncertain. They are
represented as impenetrable by darts." The connec
tion between the stone giants of the Indians, the Es
kimo, and the Norsemen, if not historical, is at least
identical in this, that they all typify the mountains.

1 Tales of the Elder Edda, p. 235.

2 Vide Cusick's Five Nations, 2d edition, and Schoolcraft's In
dian Tribes, vol. i. p. 429.

THUNDER STORIES. 263

The Thunder and Lightning Men.
(Passamaquoddy.)

This is truly an old Indian story of old time. Once
an Indian was whirled up by the roaring* wind : he
was taken up in a thunder-storm, and set down again
in the village of the Thunders.1 In after- times he
described them as very like human beings : they used
bows and arrows (tah-bokque), and had wings.

But these wings can be laid aside, and kept for use.
And from time to time their chief gives these Thun
ders orders to put them on, and tells them where to
go. He also tells them how long they are to be gone,
and wrarns them not to go too low, for it is sure death
for them to be caught in the crotch of a tree.

The great chief of the Thunders, hearing of the
stranger's arrival, sent for him, and received him
very kindly, and told him that he would do well to
become one of them. To which the man being willing,
the chief soon after called all his people together to
see the ceremony of thunderif ying 2 the Indian.

Then they bade him go into a square thing, or box,
and while in it he lost his senses and became a

1 Tliis tale is transcribed, with very little alteration, from a
manuscript collection of tales written in Indian-English by an
Indian. I retain the word thunders as expressive of the beings in
question. It has for title, A Story called "An Indian transformed
into a Thunder ! "

2 This word is one of the Indian author's own, but as I know
of no synonym for it I retain it. It is certainly not worse than
" Native- Americanizing."

264 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Thunder. Then they brought him a pair of wings,
and he put them on. So he flew about like the rest
of the Thunders ; he became quite like them, and fol
lowed all their ways. And he said that they always
flew towards the sou' ri snook, or, south, and that the
roar and crash of the thunder was the sound of their
wings. Their great amusement is to play at ball
across the sky.1 When they return they carefully put
away their wings for their next flight. There is a big
bird in the south, and this they are always trying to
kill, but never succeed in doing so.

They made long journeys, and always took him
with them. So it went on for a long time, but it
came to pass that the Indian began to tire of his
strange friends. Then he told the chief that he
wished to see his family on earth, and the sagamore
listened to him and was very kind. Then he called
all his people together, and said that their brother
from the other world was very lonesome, and wished
to return. They were all very sorry indeed to lose
him, but because they loved him they let him have
his own way, and decided to carry him back again.
So bidding him close his eyes till he should be on
earth, they carried him down.

The Indians saw a great thunder-storm drawing
near ; they heard such thunder as they never knew
before, and then something in the shape of a human
being coming down with lightning; then they ran

1 The Eskimo say that the lightning of the Northern Lights is
caused by spirits playing at ball with the head of a walrus.

THUNDER STORIES. 265

to the spot where he sat, and it was their long-lost
brother, who had been gone seven years.

He had been in the Thunder-world. He told them
how he had been playing ball with the Thunder-boys :
yes, how he had been turned into a real Thunder him
self.

This is why the Indians to this very day have a firm
belief that the thunder and lightning we hear and see
are caused by (beings or spirits) (called) in Indian
Bed-dag yek (or thunder),1 because they see them,
and have, moreover, actually picked up the bed-dags
k'chisousan, or thunder-bullet.2 It is of many dif
ferent kinds of stone, but always of the same shape.
The last was picked up by Peter Sabatfcis,3 one of the
Passamaquoddy tribe. He has it yet. He found it
in a crotch-root of a spruce-tree at Head Harbor, on
the island of Campobello. This stone is a sign of
good-luck to him who finds it.

1 The manuscript is here difficult to understand, but this is
apparently the real meaning of it.

2 Thunderbolt.

8 I heard of the existence of this legend a long time before I
found it in the manuscript collection obtained for me by Louis
Mitchell. It is very curious as being unquestionably of Eskimo
origin, or common to the Eskimo ; also because it speaks of the
Thunders as always endeavoring to kill a great bird in the south.
This is probably the thunder or storm bird, called by the Pas
samaquoddy Indians Wochoicsen or Wuchowsen, that is, Wind-
Blower. Another legend makes Thunder and Lightning the
sons of Mount Kata^lidin.

I may here mention that I am well acquainted with old Peter
Sabattis, the possessor of the " thunder-bullet."

266 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

The thunder is the sound of the wings of the men
who fly above. The lightning we see is the fire and
smoke of their pipes.

Of the Woman who married the Thunder, and of their

Boy.
(Passamaquoddy.)

Once a woman went to the edge of a lake 1 and lay
down to sleep. As she awoke, she saw a great ser
pent, with glittering eyes, crawl from the water, and
stealthily approach her. She had no power to resist
his embrace. After her return to her people her
condition betrayed itself, and she was much perse
cuted ; they pursued her with sticks and stones, howl
ing abuse.

She fled from the village ; she went afar into wild
places, and, sitting down 011 the grass, wept, wishing
that she were dead. As she sat and wailed, a very
beautiful girl, dressed in silver and gold,2 appeared,
and after listening to her sad story said, " Follow
me ! "

Then they went up on high into a mountain, through
three rocks, until they came into a pleasant wigwam
with a very smooth floor. An old man, so old that

1 It is impossibla to distinguish in any Indian story between
lake and sea.

2 Both silver and gold were known in pro-Columbian times to
tli3 Indians. I had a cousin who once found a very old stone
pipe in which a small piece of gold had been set. Particles
of gold are found in many mountain-streams in New England.

THUNDER STORIES. 267

he was all white, came to meet them. Then he,
taking a short stick, bade her dance. He began to
sing, and as he sang she gave birth, one by one, to
twelve serpents. These the old man killed in suc
cession with his stick as they were born. Then she
had become thin again, and was in her natural form.

The old man had a son, Badawk, the Thunder, and
a daughter, P saiuk-tankapic, the Lightning, and when
Thunder returned he offered to take her back to her
own people, but she refused to go. Then the old man
said to his son, " Take her for your wife and be good
to her." So they were married.

In time she bore a son. When the boy could stand,
the old man, who never leaves the mountain, called him
to stand before him, while he fastened wings to the
child. He was soon able, with these wings, to make a
noise, which greatly pleased the grandfather. When a
storm is approaching, the distant rumbling is the mut
tering thunder made by the child, but it is Badawk,
his father, who comes in the dark cloud and makes
the roaring crash, while Psawk-tankapic flashes her
lightnings.

In after days, when the woman visited her people,
she told them that they never need fear the thunder
or lightning.

AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT.

How Two Girls were changed to Water-Snakes, and of

Two Others that became Mermaids.

(Passamaquoddy.)

POCUMKWESS, or Thoroughfare, is sixty-five miles
from Campobello. There was an Indian village there
in the old times. Two young Indian girls had a
strange habit of absenting themselves all day every
Sunday. No one knew for a long time where they
went or what they did. But this was how they passed
their time. They would take a canoe and go six miles
down the Grand Lake, where, at the north end, is a
great ledge of rock and sixty feet of water. There
they stayed. All day long they ran about naked or
swam ; they were wanton, witch-like girls, liking ec
centric and forbidden ways.

They kept this up for a long time. Once, while
they were in the water, an Indian who was hunting
spied them. He came nearer and nearer, unseen.
He saw them come out of the water and sit on the
shore, and then go in again ; but as he looked they
grew longer and longer, until they became snakes.

He went home and told this. (But now they had
been seen by a man they must keep the serpent
form.) Men of the village, in four or five canoes,

AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT. 269

went to find them. They found the canoe and clothes
of the girls ; nothing more. A few days after, two
men on Grand Lake saw the snake-girls on shore,
showing their heads over the bushes. One began to

sing,

" N'ktieh ieben mt,

Qu'spen ma ke owse."

We are going to stay in this lake

A few days, and then go down the river.

Bid adieu to our friends for us ;

We are going to the great salt water.

After singing this they sank into the water. They
had very long hair.

A picture of the man looking at the snake-girls
was scraped for me by the Indian who told me this
story. The pair were represented as snakes with fe
male heads. When I first heard this tale, I promptly
set it down as nothing else but the Melusina story
derived from a Canadian French source. But I have
since found that it is so widely spread, and is told in
so many different forms, and is so deeply connected
with tribal traditions and totems, that there is now
no doubt in my mind that it is at least pre-Colum
bian.

Another and a very curious version of this story
was obtained by Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, who has
been the chief discoverer of curious Indian lore among
the Passamaquoddies. It is called:

270 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Ne If was, the Mermaid.

A long time ago there was an Indian, with his wife
and two daughters. They lived by a great lake, or
the sea, and the mother told her girls never to go into
the water there, for that, if they did, something would
happen to them.

They, however, deceived her repeatedly. When
swimming is prohibited it becomes delightful. The
shore of this lake sands away out or slopes to an
island. One day they went to it, leaving their clothes
on the beach. The parents missed them.

The father went to seek them. He saw them swim
ming far out, and called to them. The girls swam up
to the sand, but could get no further. Their father
asked them why they could not. They cried that they
had grown to be so heavy that it was impossible.
They were all slimy ; they grew to be snakes from
below the waist. After sinking a few times in this
strange slime they became very handsome, with long
black hair and large, bright black eyes, with silver
bands on their neck and arms.

When their father went to get their clothes, they
began to sing in the most exquisite tones : —

" Leave them there !
Do not touch them !
Leave them there ! "

Hearing this, their mother began to weep, but the
girls kept on : —

" It is all our own fault,
But do not blame us ;

AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT. 271

'T will be none the worse for you.
When you go in your canoe,
Then you need not paddle ;
We shall carry it along ! "

And so it was : when their parents went in the ca
noe, the girls carried it safely on everywhere.

One day some Indians saw the girls' clothes on the
beach, and so looked out for the wearers. They found
them in the water, and pursued them, and tried to
capture them, but they were so slimy that it was im
possible to take them, till one. catching hold of a mer
maid by her long black hair, cut it off.

Then the girl began to rock the canoe, and threat
ened to upset it unless her hair was given to her again.
The fellow who had played the trick at first refused,
but as the mermaids, or snake-maids, promised that
they should all be drowned unless this was done, the
locks were restored. And the next day they were
heard singing and were seen, and on her who had lost
her hair it was all growing as long as ever.

We may very easily detect the hand of Lox, the
Mischief Maker, in this last incident. It was the same
trick which Loki played on Sif, the wife of Odin.
That both Lox and Loki were compelled to replace
the hair and make it grow again — the one on the
snake-maid, the other on the goddess — is, if a coin
cidence, at least a very remarkable one. It is a rule
with little exception that where we have to deal with
myths which have passed into romances or tales, that

272 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

which was originally one character becomes many,
just as the king who has but one name and one ap
pearance at court assumes a score when he descends
to disguise of low degree and goes among the people.
But when, in addition to characteristic traits, we have
even a single anecdote or attribute in common, the
identification is very far advanced. When not one,
but many, of these coincidences occur, we are in all
probability at the truth. Thus we find in the mythol
ogy of the Wabanaki, as in the Edda, the chief evil
being indulging in mere wanton, comic mischief, to
an extent not to be found in the devil of any other
race whatever. Here, in a mythical tale, the same
mischief maker steals a snake-girl's hair, and is com
pelled to replace it. In the Edda, the corresponding
mischief maker steals the hair of a goddess, and is
also forced to make restitution. Yet this is only one
of many such resemblances in these tales. It will be
observed that in both cases the hair of the loser is
made to grow again. But while the incident has in
the Edda a meaning, as appears from its context, it
has none in the Indian tale. All that we can con
clude from this is that the Wabanaki tale is subse
quent to the Norse, or taken from it. The incidents
of tales are often remembered when the plot is lost.
It is certainly very remarkable that, wherever the
mischief maker occurs in these Indian tales, he in
every narrative does something in common with his
Norse prototype.

AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT. 273

Of the Woman who loved a Serpent who lived in a Lake.
(Passamaquoddy.)

Of old times. There was a very beautiful woman.
She turned the heads of all the men. She married,
and her husband died very soon after, but she imme
diately took another. Within a single year she had
five husbands, and these were the cleverest and hand
somest and bravest in the tribe. And then she mar
ried again.

This, the sixth, was such a silent man that he passed
for a fool. But he was wiser than people thought. He
came to believe, by thinking it over, that this woman
had some strange secret. He resolved to find it out.
So he watched her all the time. He kept his eye on
her by night and by day.

It was summer, and she proposed to go into the
woods to pick berries, and to camp there. By and by,
when they were in the forest, she suggested that he
should go on to the spot where they intended to re
main and build a wigwam. He said that he would do
so. But he went a little way into the woods and
watched her.

As soon as she believed that he was gone, she rose
and walked rapidly onwards. He followed her, un
seen. She went on, till, in a deep, wild place among
the rocks, she came to a pond. She sat down and
sang a song. A great foam, or froth, rose to the sur
face of the water. Then in the foam appeared the
tail of a serpent. The creature was of immense size.

274 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

The woman, who had laid aside all her garments, em
braced the serpent, which twined around her, envelop
ing all her limbs and body in his folds. The husband
watched it all. He now understood that, the venom of
the serpent having entered the woman, she had saved
her life by transferring it to others, who died.

He went on to the camping ground and built a wig
wam. He made up two beds ; he built a fire. His
wife came. She was earnest that there should be only
a single bed. He sternly bade her lie by herself. She
was afraid of him. She lay down, and went to sleep.
He arose three times during the night to replenish the
fire. Every time he called her, and there was no an
swer. In the morning he shook her. She was dead.
She had died by the poison of the serpent. They sunk
her in the pond where the snake lived.

I do not omit this ghastly and repulsive legend for
the following reasons : One might hastily conclude,
from its resemblance to the old legend of the origin of
the Merovingian family, that this idea of the woman
with the horrible water spirit for a lover was of Cana
dian French origin. But a story like it in the main
detail is told by the Indians of Guiana, and that of
the Faithless Wife, given in Rink's Tales and Tra
ditions of the Eskimo (p. 143), is almost the same.
But in the latter the husband revenges himself by
stuffing the woman full of poisonous vermin. Rink
says that he had five different versions of this tale, and
that one was from Labrador, a country often traveled

EPTP N £ A^

THE WOMAN AND THE SERPENT-

AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT. 275

by the Micmacs, and even by the Penobscots and Pas-
samaquoddies ; I myself knowing one of the latter who
has been there. I conjecture that this tale sets forth
the aboriginal idea of the origin of a certain disease
supposed to have come from America. It is popularly
believed among the vulgar that this disease can be
transferred to another person, thereby removing it
from the first. Of this the Rev. Thistleton Dyer, in
his Folk Lore of Shakespeare, says, " According to
an old but erroneous belief, infection communicated
to another left the infecter free ; in allusion to which
Timon of Athens (Act IV. 3) says, —

" * I will not kiss thee ; then the rot returns
To thy own lips again.' "

Bonifacius, Historia Ludicra, has collected all the
instances known to classical antiquity of women who
had serpent lovers. The kings of the early races of
Central America laid great stress on the fact that
they were descendants of serpents. One could fill a
volume with all the Arab, Hindoo, and other Oriental
tales belonging to the beloved of " ophitic monsters."

I am indebted for this very curious and ancient
tale to Governor Tomah Josephs, of Peter Dana's
Point, Maine.

The Mother of Serpents.

(Passamaquoddy.)

There was once a couple well advanced in years.
They were powerful and rich in the Indian fashion,
but they were unhappy because they had no children.

276 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

This was near the river St. John's^ on the shore of
a small lake.

After the woman had gone in vain to all the medi
cine men and mteoulin, she heard of an old doctress,
or witch, who lived not very far off. And though
hope was almost dead, the witch was consulted.

She gave the wife some herbs, and bade her steep
them in a pot out-of-doors, and then let them boil.
When the vessel should dance over the flame, the pro
pitious moment would be at hand.

Everything succeeded according to the witch's pre
diction. A few days after she appeared in the town.
The mother, who was a very proud woman, had in
advance hung up an Indian cradle with very fine or
naments. The eld woman was very dirty, poor, and
squalid. The proud woman was furious at the visit,
which mortified her in every way. She drove the
witch away with bitter words, bidding her begone
with her rags. The old woman went away mutter
ing, " That woman — too proud — too ugly proud —
I '11 see." i

What she saw was bad for the mother. She took
some more herbs from her box and threw them in the
fire, crying with a loud voice, " At-o-sis ! At-o-sis! "
and imitated the motions of a snake.

When the proud woman was confined, she gave

birth to two large serpents. They had each a white

ring round the neck and red stripes down the sides.

As soon as they were born they went rapidly to the

1 The story was narrated in Indian-English.

AT-0-S1S, THE SERPENT. 277

lake, and disappeared in its water. They have been
seen there, now and then, ever since.

She who gave birth to them was a Mohawk, and she
is called the Mother of Serpents.

Another Passamaquoddy tale gives the following ac
count of the origin of the Serpent-race.

Once there was an Indian sorcerer came to a wig-
wani where there was a man who had a very handsome
daughter.

The magician wished to win the girl ; the father
made up his mind that he should not have her.

The magician told them that he was very wealthy,
and had a great lodge filled with furs and wampum.
It was of no use.

Then he told the father that if he would go and cast
his lines in a certain place he would catch as many
of the finest fish as he wanted. The old man went,
but took his daughter with him.

When they returned, loaded with fish, the magician,
smiling, said to the girl with great mystery, " When
you have cooked these fish, always throw away the
tail, and begin by eating the head first."

He knew very well that her curiosity and perversity
would make her disobey him. She waited with impa
tience till the man had left, when she hurried to cook
and eat the fish. Thereby she became a mother, and
the magician had his revenge.

278 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Origin of the Black Snakes.
(Passamaquoddy.)

Far away, very far in the north, there dwelt by the
border of a great lake a man and his wife. They
had no children, and the woman was very beautiful
and passionate.

The lake was frozen over during the greater part
of the year. One day when the woman cut away the
ice, she saw in the water a bright pair of large eyes
looking steadily at her. They charmed her so that
she could not move. Then she distinguished a hand
some face ; it was that of a fine slender young man.
He came cut of the water. His eyes seemed brighter
and more fascinating than ever ; he glittered from
head to foot; on his breast was a large shining sil
very plate.

The woman learned that this was At-o-sis, the Ser
pent, but she returned his embraces and held conver
sation with him, and was so charmed with her lover
that she not only met him more than once every day,
but even went forth to see him in the night.

Her husband, noticing these frequent absences, asked
her why she went forth so frequently. She replied,
"To get the fresh air."

The weather grew warmer; the ice left the lake;
grass and leaves were growing. Then the woman
waited till her husband slept, and stole out from the
man whom she kissed no more, to the lover whom
she fondled and kissed more than ever.

AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT. 279

At last the husband's suspicions being fairly aroused,
he resolved to watch her. To do this he said that
he would be absent for three days. But he returned
at the end of the first day, and found that she was
absent. As she came in he observed something like
silvery scales on the logs. He asked what they were.
She replied, Brooches.1

He was still dissatisfied, and said that he would be
gone for one day. He went to the top of a hill not
far distant, whence he watched her. She went to the
shore, and sat there. By and by there rose up out
of the lake, at a distance, what seemed to be a brightly
shining piece of ice. It came to the strand and rose
from the water. It was a very tall and very hand
some man, dressed in silver. His wife clasped the
bright stranger in her arms, kissing him again and
again.

The husband was awed by this strange event. He
went home, and tried to persuade his wife to leave the
place and to return to her people. This she refused
to do. He departed ; he left her forever. But her
father and mother came to find her. They found her
there ; they dwelt with her. Every day she brought
to them furs and meat. They asked her whence she
got them. " I have another husband," she replied ;
" one who suits me. The one I had was bad, and did
not use me well. This one brings all the animals to
me." Then she sent them away with many presents,

1 Nskmahn'l : coins of all sizes hammered out by the Indians
and made into pin-brooches.

280 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

telling them not to return until the ice had formed ;
that was in the autumn.

When they returned she had become white. She
was with young, and soon gave birth to her offspring.
It consisted of many serpents. The parents went
home. As they departed she said to them, " When
you come again you may see me, but you will not
know me."

Years after some hunters, roaming that way, re
membered the tale, and looked for the wigwam. It
was there, but no one was in it. But all the woods
about the place were full of great black snakes, which
would rise up like a human being and look one in
the face, then glide away without doing any harm.

THE PARTRIDGE.

The Adventures of the Great Hero Pulowech, or the
Partridge.

(Micrnac.)

Wee-yig-yik-keseyook. A tale of old times. Two
men once lived together in one wigwam in the woods,
on the border of a beautiful lake. Many hard-wood
trees made their pictures in it. One of these Indians
was Pulowech, the Partridge in the Micmac tongue,
but who is called by the Passamaquoddy Mitchihess ;
but the other was Wejek (M.), the Tree Partridge.

Now it befell that one day Pulowech was walking
along the shore, when it was winter, and he beheld
three girls, fair and fine, with flowing hair, sitting on
the ice braiding their locks. Then he knew that they
were of the fairy kind, who dwell in the water ; and,
verily, these were plentier of old than they are now,
— to our sorrow be it said, for they were good com
pany for the one who could get them. And Pulowech,
knowing this, said, " I will essay this thing, and per
chance I may catch one or two of them ; which will
be a great comfort, for a pretty girl is a nice thing
to have about the wigwam." So he sought to secure
them by stealing softly along ; but one cried, " Ne
miha skedap ! " " I see a man ! " P., and they all
went head over heels, first best time, into the water ;

282 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

and verily that was a cold duck for December in the
Bay of Fundy.

But though Pulowech had never hunted for sea-
girls, yet he had fished for seals, who are greatly akin
unto them, being almost as slippery ; and wotting well
that no man hath the mitten till he is refused thirty
times and many more, he went about it in another
wise. For this time he gat many fir boughs, strewing
them about as if blown by the wind, and hiding him
self behind them, again came up and made a sudden
dart. Then the maids, crying as before, " JVe mika
skedap ! " " I see a man ! " went with a dive into the
deep. But this time he caught, if not the hair, at
least the hair-string, of the fairest, which remained in
his hand. And, gazing on this, it came into his mind
that he had got that which was her charm, or life,
and that she could not live without it,1 or her cher
ished saJcultobee (M.). And taking it home, he tied
it to the place in the wigwam above that wherein he
slept. Nor had he waited long before she came, and,
with little ado, remained with him as his wife.

Now Pulowech, being himself addicted to sorcer}^
knew that there were divers knaves of the same stamp
prowling about the woods, who wculd make short work
of a wife if they could find a plump young one in
the way, — they being robbers, ravishers, and canni
bals withal. Therefore he warned his bride to keep
well within doors when he was away, and to open to

1 The magic hair-string plays a part in many of these tales.
It belongs to the sorcery of all the world in all ages.

THE PARTRIDGE. 283

none, which she, poor soul, meant to obey with all her
might. But being alone at midnight, and hearing a
call outside, even "Pantakdooe! " M., "Open the door
to me ! " she wondered greatly who it might be. And
it was a very wicked wizard, a boo-din, or pow-wow ;
and he, being subtle and crafty, and knowing of her
family, so imitated the voices of her brothers and
sisters, beseeching her to let them in, that her very
heart ached. " O sister, we have come from afar ! "
they cried. " We missed you, and have followed you.
Let us in ! " And yet again she heard a sad and very
earnest voice, and it was that of her old mother, cry
ing, " N'toos\ rftoos\pantahdooel" M., "My daugh
ter ! my daughter ! open unto me ! " and she verily
wist that it must be so. But when she heard the
voice of her dear old father, shaking and saying,
" Pantahdooe loke cyowchee!" " Open the door, for I
am very cold ! " she could resist no more, and, spring
ing up, opened it to those who were without. And
then the evil sorcerers, springing on her like mad
wolves, dragged her away and devoured her. They
did not leave two of her little bones one with an
other.1

Now when Wejek, the Tree Partridge, came in and
found his friend's wife gone, he was so angry that,
without waiting, he set forth to seek her. And this

1 This Indian Little Red Riding-Hood story is very effective.
The wolfish sorcerers bursting in at midnight are even more ter
rible, from a nursery melodramatic point, than the old wolf in
bed.

284 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

was not wisely done, since, falling among them, he
was himself slain. Then Pulowech, returning last of
all, and finding no one, sought by means of magic to
know where friend and wife might be. For taking a
woltes, or a wooden dish, he rilled it with water, and
charmed it with a spell, and placed it in the back
part of his wigwam, just opposite the door. So he
laid him down to sleep, and in the morning when he
arose he looked upon the dish, — even the dish of
divination, — and lo ! it was half full of blood. Then
he knew that the twain had been murdered.

Then gathering all his arms, he went forth for
revenge, and passed many days on the path, tracking
the boo-oin ; and having the eyesight of sorcery,
he one day beheld very far away, upon an exceeding
high cliff, the knee of a man sticking out of the stone,
and knew that a sorcerer had hidden himself in the
solid rock, even as a child might hide itself in a pile
of feathers. Then throwing his tomahawk he cut
away the knee, and the boo-oin, his spell broken,
remained hard and fast forever in the ledge. And
yet, anon, a little further on, he saw a foot projecting
from a wall, and this he likewise cut off, and with that
he had slain two.

And as he went further he found by the way a poor
little squirrel, even Meeko, who was crawling along,
half dead, in sorry plight. And taking her up he
made her well, and placing her in his bosom, said,
" Eest there yet a while, Meeko, for thou must fight
to-day, and that fiercely. Yet fear not, for I will

THE PARTRIDGE. 285

stand by thee, and when I tap thy back, then shalt
thou bring forth thy young ! "

Then going ever on, he saw from the mountains
far in a lake below a flock of wild geese sporting
merrily, even the Senum-kwak\ But he wist right
well that these also were of the boo-din, whom ha
sought, and placing a spell on his bow, and singing a
charm over his arrows that they should not miss, he
slew the wild fowl one by one, and tying their heads
together, he carried them in a bunch upon his back.
And truly he deemed it a good bag of game for one
day.

And yet further on he came to a wigwam, and
entering it saw a man there seated, whom he knew at
once was of the enemy. For he who sat there glared
at him grimly ; he did not say to him, " "Kutakumoog-
wal ! " " Come higher up ! " as they do who are hospi
table. But having cooked some meat, and given it in
a dish to Pulowech's hand, he snatched it back again,
and said he would sooner give it to his dog. And this
he did more than once, saying the same thing. But
Pulowech kept quiet. Then the rude man said, " Hast
thou met with aught to-day, thou knave ? " And the
guest replied, " Truly I saw a fellow's knee sticking
out of a stone, and I cut it off. And yet, anon, I saw
a foot coming from a rock, and this I also chopped.
And further on there was a flock of wild geese, and
them I slew ; there was not one left, — no, not one.
And if you will look without there you may see them
all dead, and much good may it do you ! "

286 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Then the savage sorcerer burst forth in all his rage i
" Come on, then, our dogs must fight this out ! "
" Thou sayest well," replied Pulowech ; " truly I am
fond of a good dog-fight, so bring out thy pup ! "
And that which the man brought forth was terrible ;
for it was no dog, but a hideous savage beast, known
to Micmacs as the Weisum.1

But that which Pulowech produced was quite as
different from a dog as was the Weisum ; for it was
only Meeko, a poor little squirrel, and half dead at
that, which he laid carefully before the fire that it
might revive.2 But anon it began to revive, and
grew until it was well-nigh as great as the Weisum.
And then there was indeed a battle as of devils and
witches ; he who had been a hundred miles away
might have heard it.

But anon it seemed that the Weisum was getting
the better of Meeko. Then Pulowech did but tap the
squirrel on the back, when lo ! she brought forth two
other squirrels, and these grew in an instant to be as
large as their mother, and the three were soon too
many for the beast. " Ho ! call off your dogs ! "
cried the boo-oin ; "you have beaten. But spare mine,
since, indeed, he does not belong to me, but to my
grandmother, who is very fond of him." ; But this

1 The Amarok of the Eskimo.

2 In another version of this story, the savage stranger puts
up a real dog against the squirrel ; and in the story of Glooskap,
it is that great man who makes the squirrel great or small.

3 This trivial episode of begging a call-off seems to have

THE PARTRIDGE. 287

Pulowech, who held to his own in all things like
a wolverine, was the last man alive to think of, and
he encouraged the squirrels until they had torn the
Weisum to rags.

Then he who had staked it, bitterly lamented, say
ing, " Alack, my poor grandmother ! Alas, how she
will wail when she hears that her Weisum is dead !
Woe the day that ever I did put him up ! Alas, my
grandmother ! " For all which the cruel Pulowech,
the hard-hearted, impenitent Partridge, did not care
the hair of a dead musk-rat.

Now the host, who had thus suddenly grown so
tender-hearted, said, " Let us sail forth upon the river
in a canoe." Then they were soon on the stream, and
rushing down a rapid like a dart. And anon they
came to a terribly high cliff, in which there was a
narrow cavern into which the river ran. And on it,
thundering through this door of death, borne on a
boiling surge, the bark was forced furiously into
darkness. And Pulowech sat firmly in his seat, and
steered the boat with steady, certain hand ; but just as
he entered the horrible hole, glancing around, he saw
the sorcerer leap ashore. For the evil man, believing
that no one had ever come alive out of the cavern, had
betrayed him into it.

Yet ever cool and calm the mighty man went on,
for danger now was bringing out all the force of his

deeply impressed the Indians, who are generally sporting-men,
since I find it in both the Passainaquoddy aud Micmac versions
of the legend.

288 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

magic ; 1 and soon the stream grew smoother, the rocks
disappeared from its bed, and then from afar there
was a brightness, and he was soon in the daylight
and sunshine on a beautiful stream, and by the banks
thereof there grew the wabeyu-beskwan, or water-
lilies, and very pleasant it was to him to feel the wind
again. So using his paddle lie saw a smoke rising
from a cave in the rocks, and landing and softly
stepping up heard talking within.

Nor had he listened long ere he knew the voice of
the man who had lured him into the canoe, and he
was telling his grandmother how, one after the other,
all the best boo-oin of their band had been slain by
a mighty sorcerer. But when she heard from him
how her beloved, or the one who had inspired the
Weisum, had been beaten, her wrath burst forth in a
storm, like the raving of devils, like a mad wind on
the waves. And she said, " If Pulowech were but be
fore me, were he but alive, I would roast him." The
man, hearing this, cried, " Aye ; but he is not alive,
for I sent him afloat down into the dark cavern ! "

And then Pulowech, stepping in before them, said,
" And yet I am alive. And do thou, woman, bak sole
boksooc!" (roast me to death). Then she scowled
horribly at him, but said naught ; and he, sitting
down, looked at them.

1 It is very characteristic of the heroes of these Indian tales
that they gradually unfold or develop from small characteristics
to very great ones. There is a lesson in this, and it has been
perfectly appreciated by poets and similar sorcerers.

THE PARTRIDGE. 289

This woman was of the Porcupines, who are never
long without raising their quills, and they are fond of
heat. Now there was in the cave much hemlock bark,
and this she began to heap on the fire. Then it blazed,
it crackled and roared ; but Pulowech sat still, and
said naught, neither did his eyes change. And he
called unto himself all his might, the might of his
magic did he awaken, and the spirit came unto him
very terribly, so that all the boo-oin^ with their vile
black witchcraft, were but as worms before him, the
Great and Terrible One. And when the fire had
burned low he brought in by his will great store of
bark, so that the whole cave was filled, and closing the
door he lighted the fuel. Then the Porcupines, who
were those who had slain his wife and friend, howled
for mercy, but he was deaf as a stone to their cries.
Then the roof and sides of the cavern cracked with the
heat, the red-hot stones fell in heavy blocks, the red
flames rose in the thickest smoke, but Pulowech sat
and sang his song until the witch and wizard were
burned to cinders ; yea, till their white bones crumbled
to ashes beneath his feet. And then he arose and
went unto his home.1

1 In this Micmac legend, which is plainly a poem, there is one
very striking and original element in the art with which the
great knowledge and power of Pulowech are kept out of sight
until towards the final unfolding. When he picks up the Squirrel
it is with a full comprehension that he will be confronted with
the Weisum. From the beginning to the end, he is master of the
situation ; all goes on with him like the unfolding of Fate in a
19

290 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

In this legend the hero passes the mysterious river
which separates in several Indian tales the ordinary
world from that where the evil giants, Jotuns, sor
cerers, or witches live. It appears to correspond ex
actly to " the stream called Ifiiig, which divides the
earth between the Jotuns and the Gods." (Edda,
Vafthrudnismal, 16.) The attempt by the Porcupine
host to roast the guest alive and its failure bears a
marked likeness to the scene in the Grimnismal, in
which King Geirrod vainly strives to roast his guest,
Odin, and is himself slain.

"Fire, thou art hot,
and much too great ;
flame, let us separate."

The grandeur of Odin and the behavior of the In
dian are set forth in a strikingly similar manner in
both narratives. If any modern poet had depicted
this incident in so like a style, every critic would
have cried out plagiarism !

The Story of a Partridge and his Wonderful Wigwam.

Once a man was traveling through the woods, and
he heard afar off a sound as of footsteps beating the
ground. So he sought to find the people that made
it, and went on for a full week ere he came to them.
And it was a man and his wife dancing about a tree,
in the top of which was a Raccoon. They had, by their

Greek tragedy, until the end, when, stern and unpitying, he sits
in the cavern of fire and sees his enemies roasted alive before
him. — From the Rand Manuscript.

THE PARTRIDGE. 291

constant treading, worn a trench in the ground ; in
deed, they were in it up to their waists.1 Then, being
asked why they did this strange thing, they answered
that, being hungry, they were trying to dance down
the tree to catch the Raccoon.

Then the man who had come said, " Truly there is
a newer and better way of felling trees, which has
lately come into the land." As they wished to know
what this might be, he showed them how to cut it
down, and did so ; making it a condition that if they
got the game they might have the meat and he should
get the skin. . So when the tree fell they caught the
animal, and the woman, having tanned the skin, gave
it to the man, and he went his way.

And being afar, in a path in the forest, he met an
other man, and was greatly amazed at him because he
was bearing on his head a house, or a large birch wig
wam of many rooms. He was frightened at first at
such a sight, but the man, putting down his house,
shook hands with him, and seemed to be a right hon
est good fellow. Then while they smoked and talked,
the Man of the House, seeing the skin of Hespu.is,
or that of the Raccoon, in the other's belt, said,
" Well, that is a fine pelt ! Where did you get it,
brother ? " And he, answering, told all the story of
the Dancing Man and Wife ; whereupon he of the

1 To dance away the ground, or walk knee-deep in it, was
characteristic of wizards. So was the hearing of any sound at
an apparently incredible distance. To an Indian mind this tale
is weird and wonderful from the first words thereof.

292 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

House became mightily anxious to buy it, offering
one thing after another for it, and at last the House,
which was accepted. And, examining it, the buyer
was amazed to find how many rooms it contained,
and how full it was of good furniture. " Truly,"
said he, " I can never carry this as you do ! " " Yes,
you can," replied the Pil-wee-mon-soo-in (P., one who
belongs somewhere else, — a stranger). " Do but try
it ! " So he essayed and lifted it easily, for he found
it as light as any bassinode or basket.

So they parted and he went on carrying his cabin
till night-fall, when coming to a hard-wood ridge, near
a good spring of water, he resolved to settle there.1
And, searching, he found a room in which there was a
very fine bed, covered with a white bear-skin.^ And
as it was very soft, and ho was very weary, he slept
well.

In the morning, when he awoke, what was his aston
ishment and delight to see above him, hanging to the
beams, all kinds of nice provisions, — venison, hams,
ducks, baskets of berries and of maple-sugar, with
many ears of Indian corn. And as he, in his joy,
stretched out his arms and made a jump towards all
these dainties, behold the white bear-skin melted and
ran away, for it was the snow of winter ; and his arms

1 A hard-wood ridge ; that is, where there is plenty of birch,
ash, and such trees as are necessary for baskets, dishes, canoes,
and other Indian wants. Hence it is mentioned in many tales as
a desirable place to live.

2 A sure indication of sorcery.

THE PARTRIDGE. 293

spread forth into wings, and he flew up to the food,
which was the early buds of the birch, on which they
hung.1 And he was a Partridge, who after the man
ner of his kind had been wintering under a snow
drift, and now came forth to greet the pleasant spring.

How the Partridge built Good Canoes for all the Birds,
and a Bad One for Himself.

When a partridge beats upon a hollow log he
makes a noise like an Indian at work upon a canoe,
and when an Indian taps at a canoe it sounds afar
off like the drumming of a partridge, even of Mitchi-
hess. And this comes because that N^karnayoo, of
ancient days, the Partridge, was the canoe-builder for
all the other birds. Yes, for all at once.

And on a certain day they every one assembled, and
each got into his bark, and truly it was a brave sight
to see. First of all Kicheeplagon, the Eagle, entered
his great shell and paddled off, using the ends of his
wings ; and then came J£o-ko-kas, the Owl, doing the
same ; and JfosqiC, the Crane, Wee-sow-wee-Jiessis,
the Bluebird, Tjidge-is-skwess, the Snipe, and Meg-
sweit-tcMp-siS) the Blackbird, all came sailing proudly
after. Even the tiny A-la-Mussit, the Humming-Bird,
had a dear little boat, and for him the good Par
tridge had made a pretty little paddle, only that some

1 Birch buds are the food of the partridge. The unexpected
ending of this tale signifies the sudden return of spring. As
told by an Indian, it is very effective. This talc was told me by
Tomah Josephs.

294 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

thought it rather large, for it was almost an inch long.
And Ishmegwess, the Fish-Hawk, who lived on the
wing, cried in amazement, " Akweden skouje ! " " A
canoe is coming ! " when he beheld this beautiful
squadron standing out to sea.

But when Mitchihess, the great builder, was asked
why he had not built a canoe for himself, he merely
looked mysterious and drummed. And being further
questioned by the birds, he shook his head, and at last
hinted that when he built a canoe unto himself it
would be indeed a marvel ; yea, a wonder such as even
birds' eyes had never beheld, — an entire novelty, and
something to dream of. And this went on for many
days.

But in due time it was noised abroad that the
wonderful canoe had at last been really built, and
would soon be shown. And at an appointed time all
the birds assembled on the banks to behold this new
thing. Now the Partridge had reasoned that if a
boat having two ends could be rowed in two ways, one
which was all ends, all round, could be rowed in every
way. So he had made a canoe which was exactly like
a nest, or perfectly round. And this idea had greatly
amazed the honest feathered folk, who were astonished
that so simple a thing had not occurred to all of them.

But what was their wonder when Partridge, having
entered his canoe and proceeded to paddle, made no
headway at all ; for it simply turned round and round,
and ever and again the same way, let him work it as
he would. And after wearying himself and all in

THE PARTRIDGE. 295

vain, he went ashore, and, flying far inland, hid him
self for very shame under the low bushes, on the
earth, where he yet remains. This is the reason why
he never seeks the sea or rivers, and has ever since
remained an inland bird.1

The Mournful Mystery of the Partridge- Witch ; setting
forth how a Young Man died from Love.

Of the olden time. Two brothers went hunting in
the autumn, and that as far as the head waters of the
Penobscot, where they remained all winter. But in
March their snow-shoes (agahmook, P.) gave out, as
did their moccasins, and they wished that a woman
were there to mend them.

When the younger brother returned first to the
lodge, the next day, — which he generally did, to get it
ready for the elder, — he was astonished to find that
some one had been there before him, and that, too, in
the housekeeping. For garments had been mended,
the place cleaned and swept, a fire built, and the pot
was boiling. He said nothing of this to his brother ;

1 Having met Mr. Louis Mitchell, the Indian member of the
legislature in Maine, one day in Eastport, I asked him to occupy
the few minutes which would pass before I should take the
steamboat for Calais by telling me a story. He complied by
narrating the foregoing. It is very remarkable that the Indian
story-tellers of ancient days should have taken it into their
heads to satirize an idea which has been of late carried out
completely by the Russian Admiral Popoff, in his celebrated
circular war steamer. The story and all the Indian words in it
are Passarnaquoddy.

296 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

but returning the next day at the same time, found
that all had been attended to, as at first. And again
ho said nothing ; but in the morning, when he went
forth to hunt, he did but go a little way, and, return
ing, watched, from a hidden place, the door. And
there came a beautiful and graceful girl, well attired,
v/ho entered the wigwam. And he, stepping softly,
looking through a hole in the hut, saw her very busy
with his housekeeping.

Then he entered, and she seemed to be greatly
alarmed and confused ; but he calmed her, and they
soon became good friends, sporting together very hap
pily all day long like children, for indeed they were
both young.

When the sun's height was little and his shadows
long, the girl said, "I must go now. I hear your
brother coming, and I fear him. But I will return
to-morrow. Addio / " So she went, and the elder
brother knew nothing of what had happened. The
next day she came again, and once more they played
in sunshine and shadow until evening ; but ere she
went he sought to persuade her to remain always.
And she, as if in doubt, answered, " Tell thy brother
all, and it may be that I will stay and serve ye both.
For I can make the snow-shoes and moccasins which
ye so much need, and also canoes." Then she de
parted with the day, and the elder, returning, heard
from his brother all that had happened, and said,
"Truly I should be glad to have some one here to
take care of the wigwam and make snow-shoes."

THE PARTRIDGE. 297

So she came in the morning, and hearing from the
younger that his brother had consented to her coming
was very glad, and went away, as in haste. But she
returned about noon, drawing a tdboggin (sled) piled
up with garments and arms, for she was a huntress.
Indeed, she could do all things as few women could,
whether it were cooking, needle-work, or making all
that men need. And the winter passed very pleas
antly, until the snow grew soft, and it was time for
them to return. Till she came they had little luck
in hunting, but since her coming all had gone well
with them, and they now had a wonderful quantity of
furs.

Then they returned in a canoe, going down the river
to their village. But as they came near it the girl
grew sad, for she had thrown out her soul to their
home, though they knew it not, by meel alibi -give.1
And suddenly she said, as they came to a point of
land, " Here I must leave. I can go no further. Say
nothing of me to your parents, for your father would
have but little love for me." And the young men
sought to persuade her, but she only answered sorrow
fully, " It cannot be." So they came home with their
furs, and the elder was so proud of their luck and
their strange adventure tliat he could not hold his
peace, but told all.

Then his father was very angry, and said, " All my
life have I feared this. Know that this woman was a
devil of the woods, a witch of the Mitche-hant, a sister
1 Passamaquoddy : Clairvoyance, or state of vision.

298 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

of the Oonahganicss 1 and of the Krftaliks" And he
spoke so earnestly and so long of this thing that they
were afraid, and the elder, being persuaded by the
sire, went forth to slay her, and the younger followed
him afar. So they sought her by the stream, and
found her bathing, and, seeing them, she ran up a lit
tle hill. And, as she ran, the elder shot an arrow at
her. Then there was a strange flurry about her, a
fluttering of scattered feathers, and they saw her fly
away as a partridge. Returning, they told all this to
their father, who said, " You did well. I know all
about these female devils who seek to destroy men.
Verily this was a she Mikumwess." 2

But the younger could not forget her, and longed to
see her again ; so one day he went into the woods, and
there he indeed found her, and she was as kind as be
fore. Then he said, " Truly it was not by my good
will that my brother shot at you." And she an
swered, " Well do I know that, and that it was all by
your father ; yet I blame him not, for this is an affair
of N'karnayoo, the days of old ; and even yet it is not
at an end, and the greatest is to come. But let the day
be only a day unto itself ; the things of to-morrow are
for to-morrow, and those of yesterday are departed."
So they forgot their troubles, and played together mer
rily all day long in the woods and in the open places,
and told stories of old times till sunset. And as the

1 P. Goblins and ghosts.

2 P. The Mikumwess is a Robin Goodfellow, who plays
pranks on people, or treats them kindly, according to his caprice.

THE PARTRIDGE. 299

Kah-kah-goos, or Crow, went to his tree, the boy said,
" I must return ; " and she replied, u Whenever you
would see me, come to the woods. And remember
what I say. Do not marry any one else. For your
father wishes you to do so, and he will speak of it to
you, and that soon. Yet it is for your sake only that
I say this." Then she told him word by word all that
his father had said; but he was not astonished, for
now he knew that she was not as other women ; but he
cared not. And he grew brave and bold, and then he
was above all things. And when she told him that if
he should marry another he would surely die, it was
as nothing to him.

Then returning, the first thing his father said was,
" My son, I have provided a wife for you, and the
wedding must be at once." And he said, " It is well.
Let it be so." Then the bride came. For four days
they held the wedding dance ; four days they feasted.
But on the last day he said, "This is the end of it
all," and he laid him down on a white bear-skin, and a
great sickness came upon him, and when they brought
the bride to him he was dead.

Truly the father knew what ailed him, and more
withal, of which he said nothing. But he liked the
place no longer, and he and his went away therefrom,
and scattered far and wide.

This strange story recalls the Undine of La Motte
Fouqud. There is in it an element of mystery and
destiny, equal in every way to anything in German

300 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

literature. The family secret, touched on but never
explained, which ends in such a death, is, speaking
from an artistic point of view, very skillfully man
aged. It must be borne in mind that in this, as in
most of these tales, there are associations and chords
which make as gold to an Indian that which is only
copper, or at best silver, to the civilized reader of my
translations.

There is a characteristic feature of this story supe
rior to anything in Undine. It is the growth in the
hero, when he knows the worst to come, of that will,
or stoicism, or complete indifference to fate, which the
Indians regard as equivalent to attaining m't£oulin,
or magic power. When a man has in him such cour
age that nothing earthly can do more than increase it,
he has attained to what is in one sense at least Nir
vana. From an Algonquin point of view the plot is
perfect.

I have given this story accurately as it was told to
me by Tomah Josephs, a Passamaquoddy Indian.

Hoiv one of the Partridge's Wives became a Sheldrake
Duck, and why her Feet and Feathers are Red.

N'karnayoo, of the old time, there was a hunter
who lived in the woods. He had a brother,1 who was
so small that he kept him in a box, and when he went

1 The word brother is so generally applied in adoption or
friendship that it cannot here be taken in a literal sense. The
brother in this case seems to have been a goblin or spirit.

THE PARTRIDGE. 301

forth he closed this very carefully, for fear lest an evil
spirit (Mitche-hant) should get him.

One day this hunter, returning, saw a very beautiful
girl sitting on a rock by a river, making a moccasin.
And being in a canoe he paddled up softly and si
lently to capture her ; but she, seeing him coming,
jumped into the water and disappeared. On return
ing to her mother, who lived at the bottom of the
river, she was told to go back to the hunter and be
his wife ; " for now," said the mother, " you belong to
that man."

The hunter's name was Mitchihess, the Partridge.
"When she came to his lodge he was absent. So she
arranged everything for his return, making a bed of
boughs. At night he came back with one beaver.
This he divided ; cooked one half for supper and laid
bv the other half. In the morning when she awoke
he was gone, and the other half of the beaver had also
disappeared. That night he returned with another
beaver, and the same thing took place again. Then
she resolved to spy and find out what all this meant.

So she laid down and went to sleep, wide awake,
with one eye open. Then he quietly rose and cooked
the half of the beaver, and taking a key (Apkwosge-
hegan, P.) unlocked a box, and took out a little red
dwarf and fed him. Replacing the elf, he locked him
up again, and lay down to sleep. And the small
creature had eaten the whole half beaver. But ere he
put him in his box he washed him and combed his
hair, which seemed to delight him.

302 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

The next morning, when her husband had gone for
the day, the wife sought for the key, and having found
it opened the box and called to the little fellow to
come out. This he refused to do for a long time,
though she promised to wash and comb him. Being
at length persuaded, he peeped out, when she pulled
him forth. But whenever she touched him her hands
became red, though of this she took no heed, thinking
she could wash it off at will. But lo ! while combing
him, there entered a hideous being, an awful devil,
who caught the small elf from her and ran away.

Then she was terribly frightened. And trying to
wash her hands, the red stain remained. When her
husband returned that night he had no game ; when
he saw the red stain he knew all that had happened ;
when he knew what had happened he seized his bow
to beat her ; when she saw him seize his bow to beat
her she ran down to the river, and jumped in to
escape death at his hands, though it should be by
drowning. But as she fell into the water she became
a sheldrake duck. And to this day the marks of the
red stain are to be seen on her feet and feathers.1

1 Related to me by Noel Josephs, a Passamaquoddy. Notwith
standing its resemblance to Blue Beard, it is probably in every
detail a very old Indian tradition. It bears a slight resemblance
to several far western legends, which refer to peculiarities in
the duck. It is partly repeated in a Lox legend.

THE INVISIBLE ONE.

(Micmac.)

THERE was once a large Indian village situated on
the border of a lake, — Nameskeett oodun Kuspemku
(M.). At the end of the place was a lodge, in which
dwelt a being who was always invisible.1 He had a
sister who attended to his wants, and it was known
that any girl who could see him might marry him.
Therefore there were indeed few who did not make
the trial, but it was long ere one succeeded.

And it passed in this wise. Towards evening, when
the Invisible One was supposed to be returning home,
his sister would walk with any girls who came down
to the shore of the lake. She indeed could see her
brother, since to her he was always visible, and be
holding him she would say to her companions, " Do
you see my brother ? " And then they would mostly
answer, " Yes,'* though some said, " Nay," — alt telo-
vejich, aa alttelooejik. And then the sister would say,
"Cogoowa* wiskoboo Jcsich ? " " Of what is his shoul
der-strap made?" But as some tell the tale, she would

1 In this Micmac tale, which is manifestly corrupted in many
ways, the hero is said to be "a youth whose teeomul (or tutelary
animal) was the moose," whence he took bis name. In the Pas-
samaquoddy version nothing is said about a moose. A detailed
account of the difficulty attending the proper analysis of this
tradition will be found at the end of this chapter.

304 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

inquire other things, such as, " What is his moose-run
ner's haul ? " or, " With what does he draw his sled? "
And they would reply, " A strip of rawhide," or " A
green withe," or something of the kind. And then she,
knowing they had not told the truth, would reply
quietly, " Very well, let us return to the wigwam ! "

And when they entered the place she would bid
them not to take a certain seat, for it was his. And
after they had helped to cook the supper they would
wait with great curiosity to see him eat. Truly he
gave proof that he was a real person, for as he took
off his moccasins they became visible, and his sister
hung them up ; but beyond this they beheld nothing
not even when they remained all night, as many did.

There dwelt in the village an old man, a widower,
with three daughters. The youngest of these was
very small, weak, and often ill, which did not prevent
her sisters, especially the eldest, treating her with
great cruelty. The second daughter was kinder, and
sometimes took the part of the poor abused little girl,
but the other would burn her hands and face with hot
coals ; yes, her whole body was scarred with the marks
made by torture, so that people called her Oochige-
askw (the rough-faced girl). And when her father,
coming home, asked what it meant that the child was
so disfigured, her sister would promptly say that it
was the fault of the girl herself, for that, having been
forbidden to go near the fire, she had disobeyed and
fallen in.

Now it came to pass that it entered the heads of

THE INVISIBLE ONE. 305

the two elder sisters of this poor girl that they would
go and try their fortune at seeing the Invisible One.
So they clad themselves in their finest and strove to
look their fairest ; and finding his sister at home went
with her to take the wonted walk down to the water.
Then when He came, being asked if they saw him, they
said, " Certainly,'' and also replied to the question of
the shoulder-strap or sled cord, " A piece of rawhide."
In saying which, they lied, like the rest, for they had
seen nothing, and got nothing for their pains.

When their father returned home the next evening
he brought with him many of the pretty little shells
from which weiopeskool (M.), or wampum, was made,1
and they were soon engaged napawcjik (in stringing
them).

That day poor little Oochigeaskw', the burnt-faced
girl, who had always run barefoot, got a pair of her
father's old moccasins, and put them into water that
they might become flexible to wear. And begging
her sisters for a few wampum shells, the eldest did
but call her " a lying little pest," but the other gave
her a few. And having no clothes beyond a few pal
try rags, the poor creature went forth and got herself
from the woods a few sheets of birch bark, of which
she made a dress, putting some figures on the bark.2

1 In Passamaquoddy wampum is called loaw-bap. It is said
that a single bead required a full day's work to make and finish
it. It is not many years since it was made much more expe-
ditiously in certain New York villages.

2 Probably by scraping. Birch bark (moskwe) peeled in win-

20

306 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

And this dress she shaped like those worn of old.1 So
she made a petticoat and a loose gown, a cap, leg-
gins, and handkerchief, and, having put on her fa
ther's great old moccasins, — which came nearly up
to her knees, — she went forth to try her luck. For
even this little thing would see the Invisible One in
the great wigwam at the end of the village.

Truly her luck had a most inauspicious beginning,
for there was one long storm of ridicule and hisses,
yells and hoots, from her own door to that which she
went to seek. Her sisters tried to shame her, and
bade her stay at home, but she would not obey ; and
all the idlers, seeing this strange little creature in her
odd array, cried, " Shame ! " But she went on, for
she was greatly resolved ; it may be that some spirit
had inspired her.

Now this poor small wretch in her mad attire, with
her hair singed off and her little face as full of burns
and scars as there are holes in a sieve, was, for all
this, most kindly received by the sister of the Invis
ible One ; for this noble girl knew more than the mere
outside of things as the world knows them. And as
the brown of the evening sky became black, she took
her down to the lake. And erelong the girls knew
that He had come. Then the sister said, " Do you

ter can have the thin dark brown coat scraped away, leaving a
very light yellowish-brown ground. Tomah Josephs "and his
niece Susan, of Princeton, Maine, are experts at this work.

1 This remark indicates the lateness of the Micmac version of
this very old myth.

THE INVISIBLE ONE. 307

see him ? " And the other replied with awe, " Truly
I do, — and He is wonderful." " And what is his
sled-string?" "It is," she replied, "the Rainbow."
And great fear was on her. " But, my sister," said
the other, " what is his bow-string ? " " His bow
string is Ketaksoowowcht " (the Spirits' Road, the
Milky Way).1

" Thou hast seen him," said the sister. And, tak
ing the girl home, she bathed her, and as she washed
all the scars disappeared from face and body. Her
hair grew again ; it was very long, and like a black
bird's wing. Her eyes were like stars. In all the
world was no such beauty. Then from her treasures
she gave her a wedding garment, and adorned her.
Under the comb, as she combed her, her hair grew.
It was a great marvel to behold.

Then, having done this, she bade her take the wife^s
seat in the wigwam, — that by which her brother sat,
the seat next the door. And when He entered, terri
ble and beautiful, he smiled and said, " Wayoolkoos ! "
" So we are found out ! " " Alajulaa" " Yes," was
her reply. So she became his wife.2

1 The Spirits' or Ghosts' Road, so called because it is believed
to be the highway by which spirits pass to and from the earth.
The Micmac version, belittled and reduced in every way, limits
this reply to " a piece of a rainbow." There is a grandeur of
conception in the Passamaquoddy myth which recalls the most
stupendous similes in Scripture.

2 This is the true end of this Indian Cupid and Psyche legend.
But the Micmacs having, for no apparent reacon, made the Stu
pendous Deity of the Heavens a moose (Team), have added to it

308 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

another for the sake of the name, and which I give in due suc
cession simply as an illustration of the manner in which tales are
tacked together. I have very little doubt that the story as here
given is an old solar myth, worked up, perhaps, with the story of
Cinderella, derived from a Canadian-French source. There are
enough of these French-Indian stories in my possession alone to
form what would make one of the most interesting volumes of
the series of the Contes Populaires. The Passamaquoddy version
is to this effect : " There was a great being, a mighty hunter,
who had a wife, of wonderful magic gifts, and a boy ; and the
child became blind. After a long time his sight returned, and
he said so ; but his mother was suspicious, and did not believe
him." It is evident that she suspected that he saw by clairvoy
ance, not by literal vision. " So one day she bade her husband
put on certain things which no one could behold who did not see
them in truth. Then she asked the boy, ' What has your father
for a sled-string?' (literally for a moose-runner haul). And
he replied, ' The rainbow to haul by.' Then she asked him yet
again, * "What has he for a bow-string ? ' And he answered,
* Ke'taksoo wowcht • ' ' The Spirits' or Ghosts' Road.' And once
more she inquired, ' What has he on his sled ? ' To which he
said, * A beaver.' Then she knew that he could indeed see."
(T. Josephs.)

We can perceive by shreds and patches such as these the all
but loss of an early and grand mythology which has undergone
the usual transmutation into romantic and nursery legends. By
great exertion we might recover it, but the old Indians who re
tain its fragments are passing away rapidly, and no subject at
tracts so little interest among our literati. A few hundred dol
lars expended annually in each State would result in the collec
tion of all that is extant of this folk-lore ; and a hundred years
hence some few will, perhaps, regret that it was not done.

It may be observed that in the Edda the rainbow is the heav
enly road over which the gods pass. The rainbow is not the
Milky Way, but it may be observed that in this tale the two are

THE INVISIBLE ONE. 309

curiously compared, or almost identified. But according to
Charles Francis Keary {Mythology of the Eddas, London, 1882),
" there is small hint in the Edda of the use of the rainbow as a
path for souls, save where Helgi says to his wife, —
" ' 'T is time for me to ride the ruddy road,

And on my horse to tread the path of flight,' "

which is more applicable to the Milky Way than the rainbow.
" We owe," he says, " to the learned Adalbert Kuhn some re
searches which have traced the path of the Milky Way as a
bridge of souls from its first appearance in Eastern creeds to its
later appearance in mediaeval German tradition." {Zeitschrift f. v.
Sp. I. c.) In the Vedas the Milky Way is called the Gods' Path.
The American Indians firmly believe that the Spirits' Road is
one of their very earliest traditions, and I believe with them that
they had it long- before Columbus discovered this country.

Since the foregoing remarks were written, Mrs. W. Wallace
Brown has obtained tho following fragment, which was given as
a song, and declared to be very ancient : —

" There was a woman, long, long ago :
She came out of a hole.
In it dead people were buried.
She made her house in a tree ;
She was dressed in leaves,
All long ago.

When she walked among the dry leaves
Her feet were so covered
The feet were invisible.
She walked through the woods,
Singing all the time,
' I want company ; I 'm lonesome ! '
A wild man heard her :
From afar over the lakes and mountains
He came to her.
She sa%v him : she was afraid ;
She tried to flee away,
For he was covered with the rainbow ;
Color and light were his garments.
She ran, and he pursued rapidly ;
He chased her to the foot of a mountain.

310 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

He spoke in a strange language ;

She could not understand him at first.

He would make her tell where she dwelt.

They married ; they had two children.

One of them was a boy ;

He was blind from his birth,

But he frightened his mother by his sight.

He could tell her what was coming,

What was coming from afar.

What was near he could not see.

He could see the bear and the moose

Far away beyond the mountains ;

He could see through everything."

The old Indian woman ended this story by saying abruptly,
" Don't know any more. Guess they all eat up by muoin " (the
bear). She said that it was only a fragment. "If you could
have heard her repeat this," adds Mrs. Brown, " in pieces, stop
ping to explain what the characters said, and describing how
they looked, and anon singing it again, you would have got the
inner sense of a wonderfully weird tale. The woman's feet cov
ering and the man's dress like a rainbow, yet not one, which
made their bodies invisible, seemed to exercise her imagination
strangely ; and these were to her the most important part of the
story." The fragment is part of a very old myth ; I regret to
say a very obscure one.

STORY OF THE THREE STRONG MEN.

(Micmac.)

THERE was a chieftain in the days of yore. He
had a great desire for a poor girl who was a servant,
and who worked for him. To win this girl he first
must lose his wife. He took his wife afar into the
woods to gather spruce-gum, and then left her there.

She soon found out that she had lost her way, and,
wandering, she lost it more and more for many days,
until she came at last to a bear's den, where, going in,
she found the Chief of all the bears, who welcomed
her, provided for her wants, and furnished her with
pleasant food ; but as the meat was raw he went into
a neighboring town for fire. And as she lived with
him she was to him in all things as he wished, and as
a wife.

So that it came to pass, as time went on, that a
new-comer was expected, and she bade the Bear pro
vide the baby's clothes. And when the long-expected
infant came it was a boy, large, beautiful, and strong ;
he was in everything beyond all other boys.

And as the child was born in a strange way, he
very soon displayed a magic power. No baby ever
grew so rapidly : when four months old he wrestled
with the Bear and threw him easily upon the floor.
And so the mother saw that he would be a warrior,
and the chief of other men.

312 77/75 ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

She loathed the life she led, and wished to leave,
and live as she had done in days of old. To this the
Bear would in nowise consent, and as her son was
human, like herself, he loved his mother best, and
thought with her.

One day he said, " Now I can wrestle well and
throw the Bear as often as I choose. When I next
time cast him upon the ground, catch up a club ; the
rest remains for you ! "

They waited yet a while till he had grown so strong
that the Bear was nothing in his grasp. One day they
wrestled as they ever did, and then the woman, with a
vigorous blow, strengthened by hate and famishing
desire of freedom and a better human life, laid him
in death upon the mossy floor.

They went their way back to the chieftain's town,
and found him married to the servant-girl. The mother
only spoke, and the wild boy tore down the wigwam
of the Indian chief just with a blow, and then he
called aloud unto the Lightning in the sky above,
" Come down to me and help me in my need ! Build
a grand wigwam such as man ne'er saw ! Build it,
I say, and for my mother here ! "

The Lightning came, and with a single flash built
such a home as man had never seen.

And then he said, " Mother, I mean to go and travel
everywhere, until I find another man who is as strong
as I. When he is found I will return to thee."

So on he went afar until he saw a man who lifted
up a vast canoe with many people in it. This he did,

THE THREE STRONG MEN. 313

raising it in the water ; but the boy bore it ashore, and
lifted it 011 land.

And so the two agreed that they would go on to
gether until they found a third equal to them in
strength, if such a man were living anywhere in all
the world.

So traveling by hill and lake, they went, until one
day, far in a lonely land, they saw a man rolling
a mighty rock, large as the largest wigwam, up a hill.
But the Bear's son, lifting the stone with ease, threw
it afar over the mountain-top, — threw it afar beyond
the rocky range ; they heard it thunder down tho
depths below.

Then the three strong men went to hunt the moose.
He who had tossed the ship remained in camp to do
the cooking, while the others went with bow and spear
afar to find their game.

Now when the sun was at the edge of noon, just
balancing to fall, there came a boy, a little wretched,
elfish-looking child, as sad and sickly as a boy could
be, who asked the man for food. He answered him,
" Poor little fellow ! there, the pot is full of venison,
so go and eat your fill."

He ate, indeed, the dinner for the three. When he
had done he did not leave a scrap ; then walked into
the stony mountain-side, as any man might walk into
the fog, and in a second he was seen no more.

Now when the two returned and heard the tale
they were right angry, being hungry men. The man
who rolled the stone stayed next in turn, but when the

314 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

little fellow came to him he seemed so famished and
he shed such tears that this one also gave him leave to
eat. Then, in a single swallow, as it seemed, he
bolted all the food, and yelled aloud with an insulting
laugh. The man, enraged, grappled him by the throat,
but the strange boy flung him away as one would
throw a nut, and vanished in the mountain as before.

On the third day the mighty man himself remained
at home, and soon the starveling child came and
began to beg, with tears, for food. " Eat," said the
chief, " as other people eat, and no more tricks, or
I will deal with you." But as it was with him the day
before, so it went now ; he swallowed al] the meat
with the same jeering yell. Then the strong man
closed with the boy. It was an awful strife ; they
fought together from the early morn until the sun
went down, and then the Elf — for elf he was — cried
out, " I now give in ! " So both his arms were
tightly bound behind, and with a long, tough cord of
plaited hide the strong man kept his prey, the lariat
fast noosed about his neck. The child went on, the
strong man ever following behind, holding the cord
well twisted round his hand.

And so they went into the mountain-side, and ever
on, a long and winding way, down a deep cavern, on
for many a mile, — the light of sorcery shining from
the elf made it all clear, — until at last ' the guide
stopped in his course, and said : —

" Now list to me. I am the servant of a frightful
fiend, a seven-headed devil, whom I deemed no man

THE THREE STRONG MEN. 315

could ever conquer, he and I being of equal strength ;
but I believe that thou mayst conquer him, since I
have found, by bitter proof, that thou canst conquer
me. Here is a staff, the only thing on earth that man
may smite him with and give him pain. Now, do your
best ; it is all one to me which of you gains, so one of
you be slain, for well I wot 't will be a roaring fight."

In came the evil being with a scream, and clutched
the Indian with teeth and claws. There, in the magic
cavern, many a mile from the sun's rays, they fought
for seven days, the stubborn devil and the stubborn
man, whose savage temper gave him fresher strength
with every fresh wound ; the more his blood ran from
his body all the more his heart grew harder with the
love of fight, until he beat away the monster's seven
heads. And so he slew him, and the watching elf burst
into laughter at the victory.

" Now," said the Elf, " I have a gift for thee. I
have three sisters : all are beautiful, and all shall be
thine own if thou wilt but unbind my hands." The
strong man set him free. And so he led the man to
another cave, and there he saw three girls so strangely
fair they seemed to be a dream. The first, indeed,
was very beautiful, and yet as plump as she was
lovely ; then the second maid was tall, superb, and
most magnificent, in rarest furs, with richest wampum
bands, the very picture of a perfect bride ; but fairer
than them both, as much more fair as swans outrival
ducks, the youngest smiled. And the young chieftain
chose her for his own.

316 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

With the three girls he went into the day. Far on
the rocks above him he could see his two companions,
and a sudden thought came to his mind, for he was
quick to think; and so he called, "I say, let down
a rope ; I have three girls here, and they cannot
climb." And so the two strong men let down a cord :
then the first fairy-maid went up by it, and then the
second. Now the chief cried out, " It is my turn ;
now you must pull on me ! " And saying this, he tied
a heavy stone, just his own weight, unto the long
rope's end, then bid them haul. It rose, but as it
came just to the top the traitors let it fall, as he sup
posed they would, to murder him.

And then the chieftain said unto the elf, " You
know the mountain and its winding ways: bear me
upon thy back, and that in haste, to where those fel
lows are ! " The goblin flew, and in an instant he
was by their side.

He found the villains in a deadly fight, quarrel
ing for the maids ; but seeing him they ceased to
wrestle, upon which he said, " I risked rny life to
bring away these girls ; I would have given each of
you a wife : for doing this you would have murdered
me. Now 1 could kill you, and you both deserve
death at the stake, vile serpents that you are ; but
take your lives, — you are too low for me, — and with
them take these women, if they wish to wed with such
incarnate brutes as you ! "

They went their way ; the women followed them
along the forest paths, and ever on. Into this story
they return no more.

THE THREE STRONG MEN. 317

And then the strong man said to his young bride,
" I must return unto my village ; then I '11 come again
to you ; await me here." But she, as one to elfin
magic born, replied, " I warn you of a single thing.
When you again are at your wigwam door a small
black dog will leap to lick your hand. Beware, I
say ; if he succeed in it, you surely will forget me ut
terly." As she predicted so it came to pass.

And so she waited in the lonely wood beside the
mountain till a month was gone, and then arose and
went to seek her love. All in the early dawn she
reached the town, and found the wigwam of the saga
more. She sought a neighboring hiding-place, where
she might watch unseen, and found a tree, a broad old
ash, which spread its stooping boughs over the surface
of a silent pool.

An old black Indian had a hut hard by. His
daughter, coming, looked into the spring, and saw a
lovely face. The simple girl thought it was hers, her
own grown beautiful by sorcery which hung about the
place. She flung away her pail, and said, "Aha!
I '11 work no more ; some chief shall marry me ! "
and so she went to smile among the men.

Then came the mother, who beheld the same sweet,
smiling, also girlish face. She, said, " Now I am young
and beautiful again ; I '11 seek another husband, and at
once." She threw her pail afar and went away, losing
no time to smile among the men.

And then in turn the old black Indian came, and
looking in the spring beheld the face. He knew right

318 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

well that it was not his own, for in his youth he never
had been fair. So looking up above he saw the bride,
and bade her come to him ; and then he said, " My
wife has gone away ; my daughter, too. You were the
cause of it ; it is but right that you should take the
place my wife has left. Therefore remain with me
and be my own."

He fares but ill who weds unwilling witch. When
night came on they laid them down to sleep, and then
the bride murmured a magic prayer, begging the
awful Spirit of the Wind, the giant Eagle of the
wilderness, to do his worst. A fearful tempest blew,
and all night long the old black Indian was out-of-
doors, working with all his power to keep the lodge
from being blown away. As soon as he had pinned
one sheet of bark into its place another blew away,
and then a tent pole rattling in the rain bounded
afar. It was a weary work, but all night long the
young bride slept in peace, until the morning came,
and then he slept.

Then she arose, and, walking to the wood, sat down
beside a stream and sang a song : —

" There are many men in the world,
But only one is dear to me.
He is good and brave and strong.
He swore to love none but me ;
He has forgotten me.
It was a bad spirit that changed him,
But I will love none but him."

And as she sat and sang, the sagamore her husband,

THE THREE STRONG MEN. 319

paddling by in his canoe, heard the sweet song in
toned in magic style,1 and all at once recalled what
had been lost, — the two strong giants, the cavern and
the elf, the seven-headed monster and the fight, the
sisters and the evil-minded men, and the black dog
who leaped to lick his hand : it flashed upon him
like some early dream brought out by sorcery. He
saw her sit beside the stream, and still he heard her
song, soft as a magic flute. He went to her, and in
a minute he was won again.

And then she said, " This world is ever false. I
know another, let us go to it." So then again she sang
a magic spell, and as she sang they saw the great Cul-
loo, the giant bird, broad as a thunder cloud, winging
his way towards them. Then he came ; they stepped
upon him, and he soared away. But to this earth they
never came again.

This very singular legend was obtained for me by
Mrs. W. Wallace Brown. It is from the Micmac, and
is in the original from beginning to end a song, or
poem. For this reason I have given it a plain met
rical form, neither prose nor poetry, such being quite
the character of the original. But I have not intro
duced anything not in the original.

This story consists of a very old Indian legend

1 Not only the words, but the peculiar intonations of them,
were essential to produce the proper effect of a magic song. An
intelligent white man has left it on record that it required two
years to learn one of these incantations of only a few lines;

320 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

mingled with, a European fairy tale drawn through
a French-Canadian source. The incident of the Elf
who eats the food of three men is to be found in an
other tale. In one version, the bride, finding that her
husband, though utterly deprived by magic of his
memory, has married again, sails away on the great
bird, leaving him forever. I have naturally rejected
this senseless termination in favor of one found in an
other form.

The calling on the Lightning to build a wigwam is
probably a mistake. It is more likely that it was sum
moned to destroy the chief's wigwam, but the narra
tor, confused with the subject of the hero's strength,
changed the original. The invocations of Lightning,
and subsequently of the Storm Bird are probably en
tirely Indian, though there are Norse invocations to
Hroesvelgar, or the Eagle of the Northwest, as we
read in Scott's Pirate.

The black whelp or small black dog is in this tale
ominous of evil. It causes oblivion. In the Edda to
dream of the same thing is the most evil of all Atli's
bad dreams (vide the second lay of Gudrun, 41) : —

" Seemed to me from my hand
Whelps I let slip.
Lacking cause of joy ; "

and in the very same song (24) he takes a potion
which causes oblivion. But there is even a third
point in the Atlamal in Groenlenzku, which resem
bles one in the Indian tale. It is where the half en
chantress Kostbera warns Hb'gni against leaving her :

THE THREE STRONG MEN. 321

" From borne thou art going :
Give ear to counsel ;
Few are fully prudent ;
Go another time."

In the Norse lay we are told that to dream of a
white bear indicates a storm, but here it means a
strange and terrible event. Long before I met with
this, I observed that the introduction, or mention, of
a white bear-skin in these Indian stories invariably
intimates some strange magical change.

But it is most remarkable of all, that, while the
poems of the Edda have nothing but a very few in
cidents in common with the traditions 01 the western
tribes, they are inspired throughout with a strange and
mysterious sentiment or manner wonderfully like that
of the Wabanaki. As regards literal resemblance the
following coincidences may here be noted.

In a widely spread Norse tale a very small goblin
sustains a long and obstinate contest with an immense
white bear.

The Norsemen invoked the Eagle Giant of the
Winds, as Scott has shown in his song of the Reim-
kennar. The same being is invoked in this legend.

The whelp, as an omen of evil, is mentioned in the
Edda. In this tale he causes forgetfulness. A potion
of oblivion is also mentioned in the Norse poem in
close connection with the omen of the dog.

If we accept the termination of this tale as given
in the Micmac poem it amounts to this : A certain
woman causes the whelp to lick the hero's hand.

21

322 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

This causes forgetfulness. The hero marries her, and
thereby loses his first wife. In the Edda, Brynhild,
who has morally the first claim to Sigurd, says of
Crymhild, " She presented to Sigurd the pernicious
drink, so that he no more remembers me." In the
saga of Thorstein, Viking's son the hero, is made by
the witch Dis to utterly forget his bride Hunoor.

The Kalmuk tale of How the Schimm-Khan was
Slain contains striking analogies to this of the Three
Strong Men.1 In it -the hero associates with three
men, who take turns to cook. Their food is devoured,
as in this tale, every day by a little old witch who is
very strong. He overcomes her by craft. His com
panions, instead of drawing him up by the rope, as
agreed on, leave him to perish, in order to possess
themselves of a treasure. There can be no doubt as
to the Hindoo origin of this and many more plots
found among the red Indians. But a careful study
of the Norse story convinces me that the tale did
not come to the Wabanaki through any other than a
Norse source.

Since writing out the foregoing poem, with the com
ment, I have received from Louis Mitchell the Pe-
nobscot version of it. It is about twice as long as the
Micmac story, and differs from it very materially. In
it the hero conquers the goblin by getting possession
of his red cap. In the Norse tales the same incident
occurs in different forms. He then fights with a
copper demon ; also with one of silver and another of
1 Sagas from the Far East, London, 1873.

THE THREE STRONG MEN. 323

gold. Each devil, while he is sharpening his sword,
exclaims, " Hurry ! hurry ! I am hungry ! " The last
of the three, the JTche mitche-hant, or great devil, has
three heads, which replace themselves when cut off ;
but the hero summons a lion (pee'tahlo) and an eagle,
who devour each a head, when the demon, to save the
last, surrenders. There are old " aboriginal " inci
dents in this Passamaquoddy tale, but the European
elements predominate to such an extent as to call for
the following remark from the Indian writer : —

" This story is ended. When Indians in it, as they
do in many others, speak of kings and queens or ships
and ivory, I think they got it all from Europe. But
perhaps when the Indians came here from Asia they
brought these stories with, them4 Thus they very
often mention ivory, calling it white bone. They also
mention cities. But these things are not new, for
they were handed down from one generation to an
other."

I have to add that, while the story agrees with an
universally spread Aryan fairy tale, it is very remark
able that it should add to these, several strictly Ed-
daic details, such as the white bear.

THE WEEWILLMEKQ'.

/. How a Woman Lost a Gun for Fear of tho Wee-
willmekq'.

THERE was a man and his wife who had got to
gether all they had for the fall hunt. They went up
the St. John's River ; they left the village of Foxer-
bica; they went twenty-five miles beyond it. They
passed the falls on the upper side to get some game.
They cooked and ate. They got ready to start again ;
they launched the canoe.1 They shoved the canoe
twenty-five feet from the shore. The woman turned,
and upset it. It went like lightning down the rapids.
They had hard work to get ashore, and lost their
gun, traps, kettle, and everything. They escaped with
great trouble ; they had trouble to save their canoe.

The man was in great grief at the loss of his gun.
He sat down and sang : —

" Nici sigi psach ke-yin,
Dich m'djel mieol wagb nuch'."

I am sorry,

I am hi great trouble.

There came two Indians down to the portage where
the man and his wife sat. They asked him why he

1 This story and the preceding are taken word for word from
the Indian narration. The singular precision of minute details
is very characteristic of many of these legends.

THE WEEW1LLMEKQ'. 325

was so sad. He told them all. One of them was a
mteoulin. He asked of them, " Could you tell your
gun if you saw it ? " The woman cried quickly, " I
could ! " He was not pleased at her forwardness, but
put the question again ; when she as pertly answered,
" Yes," for her husband. He looked sternly at her,
and said, " Are you sure ? " To which she cried,
" Yes, yes ! " Then he said, " If you are very bold,
and not afraid of anything, you may get it again."
And this, too, she took on herself, saying, " Oh, yes,
I'm not afraid ; I'll get it," making no account of
her husband.

Then, by the order of the man, she went to a ledge
just below the falls, where they are seventy-five feet
high. There was a little projecting rock on which
she could just sit, — a horrible place. Below it was
a dreadful eddy, in which nothing could live. He
helped her down to it, and she was in mortal terror,
as such glib-tongued women generally are when there
is the least danger. Then the man went away.

And as she sat there, trembling and half dead with
fright, she saw Something come up out of the eddy,
— even out of the worst of it. It rose; it was an
awful sight, — a kind of monstrous head, with great
forked horns and terrible eyes. She was stiff as a
stone with fear. The lost gun lay crosswise on the
prongs of the horns. It moved slowly on through the
eddy, glaring at her. It came nearer and rfearer;
the gun was within her reach, but she was too fright
ened to touch it. Then the monster passed by and

326 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

sank into the water, and was seen no more, nor was
the gun.

They got her back with trouble from the place
where she sat. The m'teoulin was furious with rage
at her, that he had taken such pains for nothing. He
said, " This serves you right for your impudence and
forwardness. Learn your proper place, and never
undertake to do what is none of your business." He
then condoled with the husband, but said, " If you
could give me all you could think of, I could never
get your gun again."

By this women may learn not to speak too quickly,
or propose to do men's duties. "Hu 'sami nzama
wiuch wee lei n'aga samee ri gamma wiool petin'l."
(P. " Too quick with the tongue, slow with the
hands."1)

1 Though the Weewillmekq' is a worm inhabiting the forest
and found in dry wood, it is certainly identified, or confused, by
the Passamaquoddy Indians with the alligator, or some kind of
a horrible water-goblin, which appears to have many points in
common with the Chepitchcalm, or dragon of the Micmacs. This
story was related to me by Tomah Josephs, now Indian governor
at Princeton, Maine.

Among various notes I find the following : —
" The weewillmekq' becomes human at times, even now."
" Six years ago," said T. J., " I was in the woods collecting
boughs, and I saw a weewillmekq1 on a tree. The thunder kept
approaching the tree on which it was, and finally struck it. It
seemed to me as if the worm had attracted the lightning." (Au
gust 2§, 1883.)

" The Weewillmekq' is a small worm, sometimes two or three
inches long. It is seen sometimes in the water as large as

THE WEEWILLMEKQ'. 327

//. Muggahmaht'adem, the Dance of Old Age, or the

Magic of the Weewillmekq' '.l

(Passamaquoddy.)

Of old times. There lived in a village many In
dians. Among them was a handsome young man,
very brave, a great hunter. And there was a beau
tiful girl, What was her name ? Mahli-hahn-sqwess,
or Kaliwahdazi, — I don't remember which. But she
was proud and high-tempered, and, what was worse,
a great witch, but nobody knew it. She wanted the
young man to marry her, but he was very busy get
ting ready for the fall and winter hunt, and had 110
time to attend to such a thing ; and told her so very
plainly.

Yes, he must have been very plain with her, for she
was very angry, and said to him, " You may go ; but
you will never return as you went." She meant that
he would be ill or changed. He gave no heed to her
words ; he did not care for her nor fear her. But far

a horse. Then it has horns. It is a very horrible-looking little
worm."

1 This mysterious being is called Wee-wil-li-ah-tnek in Penob-
scot. The correct pronunciation is very nearly Wee-iuil-l-mekqu?
for both Penobscot and Passamaquoddy, but this would be a diffi
cult utterance for any one who has never listened to the Algon
quin soft gutturals.

Mrs. W. Wallace Brown informs me that " the Weewillmekqu*
is a snail." This would account for its being thought to inhabit
both land and water.

328 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

away in the woods, far in the north, in midwinter,
lie went raging mad. The witch had struck him, when
far away, with her magic.

He had with him an elder brother, a great brave, a
very fierce man. He, not being able to do aught else,
did the most desperate thing a Wabanaki Indian can
do. He went down to the river, and sang the song
which calls the Weewillmekq\

" We que moh wee will 1'mick,
We que moh m'cha micso,
Som'awo wee will 1'mick !
Cardup ke su m'so wo Sawo ! "

I call on the Wee-will-1'mick !
1 call on the Terrible One !
On the One with the Horns !
I dare him to appear !

It came to him in all its terrors. Its eyes were
like fire ; its horns rose. It asked him what he wanted.
He said that he wished his brother to be in his right
mind again.

" I will give you what you want," said the Wee-
willmekq', " if you are not afraid."

" I am not afraid of anything," said the Indian.

" Not of me ? "

" Not of you nor of Mitche-hant, the devil himself."

" If you dare take me by my horns and scrape
somewhat from one of them with your knife," said
the monster, " you may have your wish."

Now this Indian was indeed as savage and brave as
the devil ; and he had need to be so to do this, for

THE WEEWILLMEKQ;. 329

the Weewillmekq' looked his very worst. But the
man drew his knife and scraped from the horn till he
was told that he had enough.

u Go to your camp," said the Worm. " Put half
the scrapings into a cup of water. Make your brother
drink it."

" And the other half ? " asked the Indian.

" Give it to the girl who made all this trouble. She
needs medicine, too."

He returned to camp, and gave the drink to his
brother, who recovered. When the hunt was at an
end they went home.

They arrived at night. There was an immense
lodge in the town, and a dance was going on. The
younger brother had prepared a cool drink, — sweet
with maple-sugar, fragrant with herbs, — and in it
was the powder of the horn of the Weewillmekq'.
The witch, warm and very thirsty from dancing, came
to the door. He offered her the cup. Without heed
ing who gave it, she drank it dry, and, turning to her
partner, went on in the dance.

And then a strange thing happened. For at every
turn of the dance she grew a year older. She began
as a young girl ; when at the end of the room she
was fifty years of age ; and when she got back to the
door whence she started she fell dead on the floor,
at the feet of him who gave her the drink, a little
wrinkled, wizened-up old squaw of a hundred years.

Aha, yes ? wood enit atokhahgen, mug g oh mah't
adem. This is the story of the Dance of Old Age.

330 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

But you may call it Sektegah, the Dance of Death,
if you like it better.1

///. Another Version of the Dance of Old Age.
(Passamaquoddy.)

It was in the autumn, the time when Indians go up
the rivers to their hunting-grounds, that two youn^
men left home. They ascended the stream ; they came
to a branch, where they parted : one going alone, an
other with his married brother. This latter, with the
brother, had left in the village a female friend, a
witch, who had forbidden him to go hunting, but he
had not obeyed her.

And she had cause to keep him at home, for, when
he was afar in the woods, and alone, he met one day
with a very beautiful girl, who fascinated him, and
gave herself to him. And when he said that he did
not know how to conceal her from his friends she told
him that she was a fairy, and could make herself as
small as a newly born squirrel, and that all he need
do was to wrap her up in a handkerchief and carry
her in his pocket. When alone, he could take her out,
enjoy her company, and then reduce and fold her up
and put her away again.

1 This extraordinary story1 was related to me by Noel Joseph,
at Campobello, August 26, 1883. I am indebted to Mrs. W.
Wallace Brown for the incantation song. The Weewillmekq'
has, as it appears in several tales, an extraordinary resemblance
to tho Norse dragon. It cures mental diseases. It seems to be
the same with the Chepitchcalm.

THE WEEWILLMEKQ;. 331

He did so, but from that hour, while he carried
the fairy near his heart, he began to be wicked and
strange. This was not caused by her, but by the girl
at home. He was entirely changed ; he grew devil
ish ; he refused to eat, and never spoke. His sister-
in-law began to fear him. When she offered him food
he cried out, " Unless I can devour one of your chil
dren I will have nothing ! "

When his brother returned and heard all this, he,
too, offered him meat, but met with a refusal and the
reply, " Give me one of your little children." To
which he answered, " The child is so small that it will
not satisfy you. Let me go and get a larger one."
Then he ran to the village and informed his friends of
what had come over the brother. And as they knew
that he was about to become a kewahqu (chenooi)
they resolved to kill him.

But there was a young man there, a friend of the
sufferer, who said that he could save him. So all who
were assembled bade him try.

And when night came he went apart, and began to
sing his m'teoulin, or magic song. When it ended
there was a loud sound as of some heavy body falling
and striking the earth, which fairly shook. The next
morning he called all his friends and the married
brother, and showed them a human corpse. "Now
leave me," he said. u Go to my friend and tell him
that I have food for him." The Indians did so, and
in horror left the two cannibals to devour their dis
gusting meal. When the insane youth was satisfied,

332 THE ALGONQUIN LEGEND?..

his friend asked, " Have you had enough ? " He re
plied that he had.1 Then the magician said, " You are
bewitched by the girl who forbade you to go hunting ;
she knew you would find a maid better than she is.
Now come with me."

They went to a small lake ; they sat down by its
side ; the sorcerer began his magic song. And as he
sang the waters opened ; from the disturbed waves rose
a huge Weewillmekq', a creature like an alligator,
with horns. And, as the terrible being came ashore,
the magician said, " Go and scrape somewhat from
his horn and bring it here ! " The young man had
become fearless ; he went and did as he was bid :
he scraped the horn, and brought the scraping.

" Now, my friend," said the magician, " let us try
this on a tree." There was a large green beech grow
ing by them. It was simply touched with the frag
ment from the horn when another color spread all over
the bark as rapidly as the eye could follow it : in an
instant it was dead, and in a few minutes more it fell
to the ground, utterly rotten, as if it were a century
old.

"Now," said the sorcerer, " we will experiment with
this on the witch who wishes to destroy you." So as
it was night they went to the village. A dance was
being held, and the beautiful tall witch having paused
to rest, the two men approached her. The young man
placed his hand on her head ; he held in it a scraping

1 The human body which supplied the meal was probably in
reality a deer, or some such animal.

THE WEEWILLMEKQ. 333

o£ the horn of the weewttlmekqf. As he did so she
grew older in an instant, — she became very old ; a
pale color rippled all over her ; she fell, looking a
hundred years, dead on the floor, shriveled, dried, and
dropped to powder.

" She will not trouble you any more," said the sor
cerer. " Her dance is over."

This is the same story as the preceding, but I give
it to show how differently a tale may be told by neigh
bors. In one it is the spretce injuria formce, the
wrath of rejected love, which inspires the witch to
revenge ; in the other it is jealousy. In one she in
flicts madness ; in the other she turns him into a
cannibal demon, as Loki, when only half bad, was
made utterly so by getting the " thought-stone " or
heart of a witch. This legend was sent to me by
Louis Mitchell. It is written not by him, but by
some other Passamaquoddy, in Indian-English,

TALES OF MAGIC.

M^teoulin, or Indian Magic.

THE study of magic as it is believed in or under
stood by the Indians of America is extremely interest
ing, for it involves that of all supernaturalism or of
all religion whatever. But if we, declining all ques
tion as to the origin of monotheism, limit ourselves
definitely to what is known of Shamanism alone,
we shall still have before us an immense field for
investigation. Shamanism is the belief that all the
events and accidents of life are caused or influ
enced by spirits, and as fear of suffering is in all
men, but particularly the savage, the strongest moral
emotion, the natural consequence is a greater fear of
evil invisible beings. The result of it is a faith that
everything which is obscure or invisible is supposed
to be the work of mysterious agents, generally evil.
Thus all disease whatever, all suffering, pain, loss, or
disaster, or bad weather, is at once attributed either
to a spirit or to some enemy who practices witchcraft.
The Shaman is the priest or doctor, who professes to
be able, by his counter-charms, to counteract or neu
tralize this devil's work.

It will be long ere the scholar definitely determines
whether Shamanism as it now exists originated spon-

TALES OF MAGIC. 335

taneously in different countries where the same causes
were to be found, or whether it is historical ; that is,
derived from a single source. I believe that while
darkness, hunger, fear, and similar causes could not
fail to create a rude religion anywhere, as Moncure
Conway has shown, yet that the derivation from one
beginning, or at least later modifications from it, has
been very great indeed.

Investigation indicates that it was in Assyria, at a
very remote age, that Shamanism had, if not its origin,
at least its fullest development. The reader who will
consult Lenormant's work on Chaldean magic will
learn from it that the fear of devils and the art of
neutralizing their power were never carried to such
an extent elsewhere as in the Land of Bel. Now as
Shamanism has at the present day its stronghold
among the Turanian races of Central Asia, it may
greatly strengthen the theory, somewhat doubted of
late, of the early Accadian predecessors of the Chal
deans and their Turanian origin, if we can only prove
that their magical religion was the same as that of the
Tartars. So far as my reading has aided me, I am
inclined to believe that they are identical. " Magic "
went so far among the former that, while they dis
covered natural remedies for natural ills, they never
doubted that one was as much the result of sorcery as
the other. This theory spread everywhere.

Shamanism, or a vague fear of invisible evils and
the sorcerer, may indeed have sprung up independently
in Tartary, Central Africa, Finland, and North Amer-

336 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

ica. But it is almost incredible that the use of a drum
inscribed with magical figures, the spirit flight of the
aiigakok or Shaman, and twenty other characteristics
of the art should have become, without transmission,
common to all these countries. Shamanism has prob
ably been at the root of all religions ; there was a great
deal of it in all those of the Semitic races, and, ad
mitting this, it is not difficult to see how from Chaldea
and Babylon it may have found its way into Africa,
where black savages, who would have rejected a higher
religion, would grasp greedily at what they sympa
thized with. The only real difference between the
Voodoo and Pow-wow practices is that the former is,
so to speak, the Hacker and more revolting. This is
because a low state of culture has induced the believers
in it to retain more of the coarse witchcraft on which
Shamanism was based, or out of which it grew.

For wherever Shamanism exists, there is to be
found, in company with it, an older sorcery, or witch
craft, which it professes to despise, and against which
it does battle. As the Catholic priest, by Bible in
cantations or scriptural magic, exorcises devils and
charms cattle or sore throats, disowning the darlicr
magic of older days, so the Shaman acts against the
real wizard. Rink tells us that among the heathen
Eskimo the Shaman is sacrecl, and witchcraft a deadly
crime, but that the latter is the secret survival cf a
more ancient religion. Voodoo, whether practiced, as
it is to-day, in Philadelphia, New York, Havana, or
Senegambia, deals with alleged devils, poisons, chicken

TALES OF MAGIC. 337

bones, the ivory root, unnatural orgies, — all, in short,
that can startle and astonish ignorant natures ; it is
the combination of the oldest faith with its successor.
Far higher forms are those of the magic of the black
Takowri whom one meets divining about the streets of
Cairo, or of the Arab proper, which brings us fairly
to the Cabala and the Jew, Cornelius Agrippa and
Eliphas Levi.

It is not difficult to understand how Shamanism,
with its drums and darkened rooms, its conjuring of
evil-doers and extraction of diseases in tangible forms,
should have spread from Central Asia to the Lapland
ers and Eskimo, and thence to the red Indians. Very
little attention has been paid to the intercourse act
ually existing at the present day between these races.
I have met with a Passamaquoddy Indian who spoke
French well, who had been educated at a mission
school, and who had been among the Eskimo. As
regards legends and folk-lore, no one can read the
Eskimo tales and those of this volume and not feel
that the Algonquin is to the man of the icy north
what the gypsy is to the Hindoo. As regards the
early religion of both races, it is simply identical, and
it is far too peculiar in its many similar details to
have simply sprung up, as many might assume, from
the common likeness in customs of all savages. For
there is in both a great deal of " literary " culture,
especially in the Algonquin, and it would be little less
than miraculous tliat this too should have assimilated
by chance. It does not help the " opposition " to
22

338 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

point out that Algonquin legends declare that their
ancestors came from the west. Even so, they came
from the Pacific coast, where Eskimo Shamanism
exists in its most decided forms. But in any case
it cannot be denied that in the red Indian mythology
of New England, and of Canada and New Bruns
wick, we have a collection of vigorous, icy, powerful
legends, like those of a strong northern race, while
those of the middle continent, or Chippewa, are far
feebler and gentler. Hiawatha-Manobozho is to Gloos-
kap as a flute to a war trumpet.

It is absurd to laugh at or pity the Indian for be
lieving in his magic. Living as he does in the woods,
becoming familiar with animals, and learning how
much more intelligent and allied to man they are
than civilized man supposes, he believes they have
souls, and were perhaps originally human. Balaam's
ass spoke once for every Christian ; every animal
spoke once for the Indian. If a child can be put to
sleep by singing to it, why cannot insensibility to pain
or a cure be caused by the same process ? He is told
that the wafer becomes the body of Christ ; this may
confirm his belief that the Indian god Manobozho
turned bits of his own flesh or his wife's into raccoons,
for food. If it is difficult for any educated or culti
vated man to conceive how, if any condition or phase
of supernaturalism be admitted, any other can be de
nied, how can the Indian be logically blamed for be
lieving anything ? But the greatest cause of all for a
faith in magic is one which the white man talks about

TALES OF MAGIC. 339

without feeling, and which the Indian feels without
talking about it. I mean the poetry of nature, with
all its quaint and beautiful superstitions. To every
Algonquin a rotten log by the road, covered with moss,
suggests the wild legend of the log-demon ; the Indian
corn and sweet flag in the swamp are the descendants
of beautiful spirits who still live in them ; Meeko, the
squirrel, has the power of becoming a giant monster ;
flowers, beasts, trees, have all loved and talked and
sung, and can even now do so, should the magician
only come to speak the spell. And there are such
magicians. Why should he doubt it ? If the squirrel
once yielded to such a power in man, it follows that
some man may still have the power, or that he himself
may acquire it. And how much of this feeling of the
real poetry of nature does the white man or woman
possess, who pities the poor ignorant Indian ? A few
second-hand scraps of Byron and Tupper, Tennyson
and Longfellow, the jingle of a few rhymes and a few
similes, and a little second-hand supernaturalism, more
" accepted " than felt, and that derived from far
foreign sources, does not give the white man what the
Indian feels. Joe, or Noel, or Sabattis may seem to
the American Philistine to be a ragged, miserable,
ignorant Indian ; but to the scholar he is by far the
Philistine's superior in that which life is best worth
living for.

The magic of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot,
like the magician himself, is called met£owlin, rri'deoo-
lin, or m't Moulin* It is the same effectively as

340 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

which is from the same root. It is a power, but
opinions differ as to how it is acquired. It is certain,
as I was told by an old Passamaquoddy Indian, of
Sebayk, near Campobello, that some children are born
rrfteoulin. They manifest it, even while babes, by
being capricious, eccentric, and malicious. Others
acquire the art as they grow older. From all that I
have heard I infer that m'teoulin takes two forms,
— one of witchcraft, the other -of magic. The former
is innate, or may be acquired ; the latter, for aught 1
know, may be sometimes inborn, but is generally ac
quired by fasting, abstinence of other kinds, and cer
emonies. The two are distinctly different. Rink
found in Greenland and Labrador that the Eskimo,
as I have said, made this difference.

I will now give, word for word, the remarks of cer
tain Indians on this subject, beginning with those of
an intelligent and prosperous old man, who is cer
tainly enlightened and Christianized very much be
yond the average of his race. I had asked him if
there were any m'tSoulin, or magicians, living. He
replied : —

"There are. Many at St. John and Sebayk are
still m'teoulin. I saw this myself thirty-five years
ago at St. John's. There was a deaf Indian there.
The white men were abusing him. They spat on him.
By and by a m'teoulin from St. John's came, a man
of thirty-five or forty. I saw this. The mteoulin
asked them not to abuse the deaf and dumb Indian.
They turned on the m'teoulin. Then he screamed so

TALES OF MAGIC. 341

horribly, so awfully, and looked so like a devil that
the men were frightened. They fell on their knees,
and could not move. They let the man go."

This is precisely what is narrated by many writers
of the Shaman screaming and distorting of the fea
tures. Very few people know of what the human
voice is capable. It can not only be trained to divine
song, but to such demoniacal howling as to deafen
and appall even the guardians of a lunatic asylum. In
Lapland, Central Asia, or on Nootka Sound the in
itiated are trained in remote solitudes to these utter
ances, to which no one can listen without terror. My
informant continued : —

" Two or three weeks after I was in another place.
We spoke of the mteoulin. The white folks ridi
culed them. I said there was one in Fredericton, and
I said I would bet ten dollars that he would get the
better of them. And they bet that no Indian could
do more than they could. So the rrfteoulin came.
And first of all he screamed so that no one could
move. It was dreadful. Then he took seven steps
through the ground up to his ankles, just as if it had
been light snow. When I asked for the ten dollars,
the white men paid. I gave it to the m'teoulin."

Among the Greenland Eskimo the sorcerer, writes
Rink, " after meeting with tomassuk, or guardian spir
its, sometimes manifests it by his feet sinking into the
rocky ground just as if in snow." He uses the very
words of the Indian who described the same thing to
me. And very recently in Philadelphia, in fact while

342 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

I was writing the preceding remarks, a spiritualist
named Gordon performed the very same trick. Hav
ing been detected, a full account of the manner of
action appeared in the Press of that city. It was
done by a peculiar method of stooping, and of con
cealing the stoop behind a skirt. It was a very odd
coincidence that the explanation should thus present
itself while I was seeking it.

This Shaman Eskimo trick was known to the Norse
men. In the Saga of Thorstein it i» said that Ogan-
tun, a noted sorcerer, when stabbed at, " thrust him
self down into the ground, so that only the soles of
his feet could be seen ; " and of Kol it was said that
"he could pass through the earth as well as walk
upon it."

"Women are sometimes rrfteoulin. There is one
at Psesuk (Bar Harbor) now, this summer. You

have met her. She is 's wife.1 If you offend

her she can hurt you in strange ways.

" She is a good doctor. Once she cured a man.
When he got well he could not pay her for the med
icine. His name is Louis . She asked for her

money ; she asked many times ; she could not get it.
He was going to the woods, far away, to trap ; he said
he would pay her when he returned, but she wanted it
then. She said, ' I will never forget this ; I will be
revenged.' He went far up the St. John Eiver with
his traps ; he set them in the stream for beaver. All

1 I am acquainted with all the parties, but for obvious reasons
suppress their names.

TALES OF MAGIC. 843

that he caught that winter was sticks, and sometimes
an eel. Then at the end of the day he would say to
his man, i It is of no use.' And then they could hear
the witch laughing behind the bushes, and tittering
when he came home. So it went on long. Then he
was sorry, and said, 4 1 wish I had paid that woman
what I owed her.' And at once they heard a voice
from the bushes, or rocks, say, ' Louis, that will do.
It is enough.' And the next day they caught two
beaver, and every day two, and so on, till the season
was over.

" This happened in 1872, in Miramichi Waters."

There does not appear to be any single approved
method of acquiring m'teoulin. Some, as I have
said, are born to it, but they appear to be wizards or
witches. Others are formally trained from boyhood
by the experienced magicians. Others acquire cer
tain gifts by certain ceremonies or penances. Of this
kind was the power obtained in the manner narrated
in the following story, which I heard from an old
Passamaquoddy : —

" There was once a young man who wished to be
come a very wise and brave warrior, like his father.
And his father said to him, ' I get all my luck of
every kind from my dreams. You can have such
dreams ; any man can, if he will do a certain thing ;
but that thing is not easy for a young man like you.
You must sleep seven nights with a virgin, and never
touch her.'

" The young man thought this over for a few days,

344 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

and then asked his father how it could be arranged or
managed.

" ' I will tell you,' replied the old man. ' Find a
girl ; the more beautiful she is and the more you
want her, the stronger the magic will be. Go to the
parents for their daughter as a wife. Cheat them so.
Before you marry get seven bear-skins, and let no
man except one know anything about it. Make him
clean them. One skin should be cleaned every twenty-
four hours. Seven days must pass so.'

" The young man was accepted by the parents ; he
sent the seven bear-skins to the young woman ; they
were married ; they went to their wigwam. He lay
on the bear-skins ; he directed his wife to make an
other bed and sleep on it. They lay apart. The
bride thought this was strange ; she told her mother
of it. The mother said, 4 Never mind. By and by
it will be all right.' The wife thought it was all
wrong. When seven nights had passed the bride
groom disappeared. He was not seen in his village
for twenty-five or thirty years. Then he returned to
his father. He could divine all things by dreams.
He had but to take the magic bear-skin and sleep on
it, and dream. He could tell where to find good hunt
ing or fishing. He foredreamed war with the Mo
hawks. Can any man do this ? They say so, and I
have known many who tried it in vain. They could
not pass the trial successfully."

"There are stones in the forest with names on
them. They give great power to dream. I have seen

TALES OF MAGIC. 345

in my dreams the m'teoulin of ancient times, — the
magicians, rny father told me, of long ago. I have
seen them diving under the waters from one island to
another. I have seen them dive ten miles.

u When I was young, J. N., who was a great rrfte-
oulin, offered to teach me the art. I could have be
come one, but I would not. I did not think it was
right.

" Once old J. N. and my grandfather hunted in the
woods. It was near Katahdin, the Great Mountain.1
And they wanted everything. They had got out of
everything. One night old N. said, ' I can bear this
no longer. Would you like a nice pipe of tobacco ?
We have had nothing but meat for four weeks.' So
he went away for a short time ; perhaps it was an hour.
He returned with a box. There was in it three pounds
of tobacco ; there was cheese, rice, and sugar ; there
was fifty pounds of provision in all."

This famous m'teoulin was long a popular gov
ernor of the Passamaquoddies. I have a curious old
brass candlestick, said to be one hundred and fifty
years old, which he owned all his life. The following
remarkable reminiscences of this very clever old saga
more were given to me by Marie Sakis, a Penobscot :

" The old governor was a great rrCteoulin. He
had got it among the Chippewas. He said that it

1 Katahdin, like the Intervale near North Conway, is haunted
and enchanted ground, abounding in fairies and other marvelous
beings. But there is not a mile square of New England which
has not its legends.

346 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

would come to pass that lie would die before the
next snow-storm. No, he did not care himself, but my
husband's mother did, when she heard this, and she
cried. Then he said, ' Well, I will try to live, or else
die in a month ; but it will be a hard fight.' So he
made him a bow, and strung it with his wife's hair ; l
and having done this, he shot an arrow through the
smoke-hole of his wigwam.2

" All this was at Nessaik, near Eastport. Then he
said to his wife, 4 Take one of your leggins and put it
on my head.' She did so. Then he took medicine.
A rainbow appeared in the sky, and a great horse-fly
came out of his mouth, and then a large grasshopper.
He cried to his wife, ' Do not kill it ! ' And then
came a stone spear-head.3

"'Now,' said the governor, 'this is all right so far,
but the great struggle is yet to come. It is a loee-
willmehq who has done this.' (You know what that
is: the Passamaquoddies call it wectuilmekq' . It is
a worm an inch long, which can make itself into a
horrid monster as large as a deer ; yes, and much
larger. It is mtboulin ; yes, it is a great magician.)
' I am going to fight it. You must come with a small

1 In a Chippewa legend a boy confers magic power on a bow
by stringing it with his sister's hair.

2 This is also mentioned in a legend where it is said that every
arrow killed a supernatural enemy.

3 This is all in detail perfectly Shamanic. The smell of the
frssh fish after such a fight is the same in an Eskimo legend.
The horse-fly (gan) is Lapp.

TALES OF MAGIC. 347

stick to hit it once, and only a mere tap.' l But she
would not go. So he went and fought with the Wee-
willmekq'. He killed it. It was a frightful battle.
When he returned he snielt like fresh fish. His wife
bade him go and wash himself; but let him bathe as
much as he could, the smell remained for days. The
pond where he fought has been muddy and foul ever
since.

" The governor could with a gimlet bore a hole in
any tree in the woods, and draw from it as he pleased
any kind of wine or other liquor. Once he was far in
the forest with some white gentlemen ; he wished to
entertain them. He did this, to their astonishment.
He produced tobacco in a miraculous manner when it
was wanted. Then, returning to Eastport, he went to
Mr. Pearce, who kept a store, and showed him that a
certain amount of wine had disappeared from his bar
rels, and paid him for it. He never drank wine or
spirits himself.

" He once went hunting. He took his wife with
him ; she was enceinte. It was in midwinter. She
had a great yearning for green corn. He put a dish
on the ground, and there fell from above ears of fresh-
boiled green corn into it. ' There,' said he, ' as I
promised, you have it.'

" She had a silver cross and beads. One day she

lost it, and grieved very much. He said, ' Put that

wooden dish upside down, near the fire.' It was done,

and when she turned it up the cross was under the

i In the legend of Partridge, a mere tap stuns the water-fairy.

348 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

dish. And lie said the Ketawks, or Spirits, had
brought it."

The following legend, told me by Tomah Josephs,
sets forth another manner by which m'teoulin may be
acquired.

44 There were two Indian families camped away at
some distance from the main village. In. one lived a
young man, and every night he would go to the other
wigwams to see some girls. His mother warned him
that he would come to harm, for there was danger
abroad, but he never minded her.

44 Now, one night at the end of winter, when the
ground was bare of snow, as he was walking along he
heard something come after. It had a very heavy,
steady tramp. He stopped, and saw a long figure,
white, but without arms or legs. It looked like a
corpse rolled up. He was horribly frightened, but
when it attacked him he grew angry. The object,
though it had no arms, fought madly. It twined
round him ; it struck itself against him, and thrashed
itself, bending like a fish all about. And he, too,
fought as if he was crazy. He was one of those whose
blood and courage go up, but never down ; he could
die, but never give in till dead. Before daylight the
Ghost suggested a rest, or peace ; the Indian would
not hear of it, but fought on. The Ghost began to
implore mercy, but the youth just then saw in the
north Kwal lo kesso, the break of day. Then he
knew that if he could but endure the battle a little
longer he should indeed get a great victory.

TALES OF MAGIC. 349

" Then the Ghost implored him, saying, ' Let me go,
and whatever you may want you shall get, and good
luck all your life.' Yet for all this he would not
yield, for he knew that by conquering he would win
all the Spirit had to give. And as the first sun-ray
shone on him he became insensible, and when he
awoke it was as from a sleep. But by his side lay a
large, old, decayed log, covered with moss. He re
membered that during the fight he had seemed once
to plunge his fist, by a violent blow, completely into
the enemy up to his elbow, and there was a hole in it
corresponding to this wound. He had torn away the
other's scalp -lock, stripping the skin down to the
waist ; he found a long, hairy-looking piece of moss
ripped from the end of the log to the middle. And
all about lay pieces of moss and locks of his own hair,
testifying to the fury of the fight.

" He was terribly bruised and torn, but that he did
not heed, for now he was another man, and a terrible
one. His mother said, ' I warned you of danger : '
but he had conquered the danger. He had all the
strength of five strong men, and all the might and
magic of the Spirit ; yes, the Spirit itself was now in
him. After this he could do anything, and find game
where no one else could. To conquer a ghost gives
power."

To conquer the dead, or to fight terrible spirits, to
thereby absorb their power, and finally to keep them
in a struggle until the day shines on them, is both
Norse and Celtic, if not, indeed, world-wide. But

350 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

the grim spirit of this narrative is Norse ; it is that
of the hero wresting from a corpse's hold the sword
of victory.

" Farewell, daughter !

Fleet give I thee,

Five men's bane,

If thou it believe."

But the great element or chief cause of magic
power among the Indians is that of Will. It mani
fests itself in many forms, mere courage being one.
Thus the Weeiuillmekq' confers supernatural ability
or other favors only on those who are not afraid of it.
The demon Log, as we have just seen, gives strength
and prosperity to a man for simply fighting like a
bull-dog. Beyond courage, pluck or bottom is with
these Indians as nearly allied to magic as poetry was
among the Greeks, or with an Eschenmayer. When
the true magician " gets mad," and continues to get
madder till the end, he is invincible. Allied to this
is perseverance. The Eabbit is rewarded with skill
as an enchanter merely for continuing to try. His
very failures have this in them, that he keeps on res
olutely, though in a wrong road. No one can fail to
be struck, in these legends of the Northeast Algon-
quins, how often a boy, or adult, when asked if he
can do a difficult thing, replies, " I can try." All of
this apotheosis of pluck, perseverance, and patience
is far more developed among these legends than in
those of the Chippewas or other western and south
ern tribes, at least so far as I am familiar with

TALES OF MAGIC. 351

them. It exists wherever there are red Indians, but
the Eastern Algonquin seems to have thought it out
more and made more of it than others have done.
Therefore his cycle of myths, or his Edda, occupies
a higher place. It is less chaotic ; it is more con
sistent ; it is a chorus in which every voice is trained
to respond to or correspond with the leader. In this
respect it has a remarkable resemblance to the Scan
dinavian myths and poems. In its theory that magic
power may be obtained by " penitence," - 1 do not
mean here " repentance," - that is by self-inflicted
pain, it agrees with the Hindoo, and in fact more or
less with all religions. But it is only, I believe, in the
red Indian and Hindoo creeds that it is distinctly ad
mitted that man can attain the power to do both good
and evil, or whatever he pleases, if he will only pay
for it by suffering. The doctrine of power through
penance is so simple and obvious in its origin that ifc
would long precede monotheism. A man exercises
himself with great exertion in lifting stones, as in an
Eskimo tale, till he is strong ; he practices shooting
arrows and running after them, as in the story of the
Chief's Son, till he can outrun them. Then the secret
of such marvelous deeds is supposed to exist in the
bow, and it becomes a fetich.

A very important part of mt&oulin is the materials
employed. In Old World magic these are exclusively
objects which startle or disgust, parts of the human
body, dead reptiles, or things singular and rare.
Among the Indians, very commonplace articles are

352 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

employed indifferently with those of the former kind.
The magic consists not in them, but in the magician
and his methods. He has had, let us say, his dreams,
or received, while alone in the forest, his inspirations,
which have told him what to do. He takes the ob
jects suggested, and with them performs his wonder
works. Sometimes he tells others to do the same with
the same things, but in this case he is still the motive
force ; it is his enchantment. In illustration of this
I give the following legend : —

Far in the woods was an Indian town ; near it lived
two old people, who had two beautiful daughters, and
no son. The girls were very shy. They seldom let
themselves be seen. They would not listen to the
young men.

The chief of the tribe had a fine son, a great
hunter, and skilled in mysteries.1 The young man
wanted one of the girls. His father went to their
parents and obtained their consent, but the girls re
fused to be married.

There lived in the village a young man who was
neither strong, handsome, nor clever at any kind of
work. Hearing that the chief's son had failed to get
one of the shy or proud girls, he said — but all in jest,
for he had but a poor opinion of himself — that he
was the right kind of a man to get them. " If they
had, for example, only seen me, now," he exclaimed,

1 In Passamaquoddy, N'paowlin: a man learned in mysteries,
a scholar. This is my own Indian name. It is apparently the
same with boo-din ; that is, pow-wow man.

TALES OF MAGIC. 353

" they would have wished to be married at once ! "
Then they all laughed, and proposed that they should
go that night and try to see the girls, and how they
would receive the plain looking youth.

So they went quietly, about supper-time, and entered
so suddenly that the girls had not time to hide behind
the curtain, and so were obliged to receive the visit
ors. After supper they engaged in playing Ming-
wadokadjik. In this game a ring is hidden in the
ashes or sand, and each player, with a pointed stick,
makes a plunge until the ring is hit, and brought out.
(This is Indian poker. — T. B.)

So the evening passed, and nothing was said of mar
riage ; and at last the guests went away, and for some
time the young man made a jest of his having gone
courting. One day he was far and alone in the woods,
when he met an old woman of very strange appear
ance. She was wrinkled and bent with extreme age,
and her head was braided up with a very great number
of sakalobeek, or hair-strings, which hung down to her
heels. After greeting him civilly, she asked him if he
was really anxious to marry one of the beauties whom
he had visited. " O Nugumee " (grandmother), he
replied, " I do not care about it." " Only if you did,"
she replied, " I can give you the one you want, if you
will only say so."

Now the young man saw that the old woman was in
earnest, and he replied that in fact he would be very
glad to get one of the girls, but that no girl worth
having would look at him. Then the old dame, taking

354 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

one of her hair-strings, said, " Roll this up, and carry
it in your pouch for a while ; 1 and then go, and, catch
ing an opportunity, toss the cord upon her back. But
take care that she does not know that you have done
this, and let it be indeed a secret to all."

So he took the sakalobe, and, visiting the girls once
again, threw it on one of them, more hopeful of success
this time. And the cast succeeded, though she said
nothing then. But the next day, alone in the woods,
he met her, for she had followed him. And she said,
" Tamealeen ? " " Where are you going ? " "I am
going hunting," he replied. " But, if you have not
lost your way, what are you doing here ? " "I am
not lost in the woods," she replied, but said no more.
Then he, seeing how it was, said, " It would be better,
though, if I returned with you to your parents, and
told them that I found you lost, and showed you the
way home." And having done this, the girl's father,
noting that she liked the young man, asked him if he
wished to marry her ; and as both were willing, and
something more, the wedding feast was soon ready,
the friends invited, and the couple settled down.

Some days after, the husband, seeing his wife wear
ing the magic hair-string, asked her, " Where did you

1 One of the infallible ancient methods to make anything
into a fetich, or amulet, is to carry it a long time about the per
son. Familiarity, as Heine observes (Heisebilder) , gives a silent
life, or apparent sympathy, to even old clothes. Thus domestic
well-known objects become fairies, and thus they talk to chil
dren.

TALES OF MAGIC. 355

get that pretty sakalobe ? " " I found it," she re
plied, " in my 'ntuboonk " (usual sitting place in the
wigwam). This caused the young man to reflect how
kindly he had been treated by the old fairy or witch,
and how easily he, without any merit, had won his wife,
and then to think of the deserving young chief's son
who had failed. So, taking him into the woods, they
found the old woman, who, kind as ever, did for the
chief's son what she had already done for his friend,
and gave him also a magic hair-string. And using it
in the same way he in like manner won the other sis
ter ; and it was indeed well, for she was the one whom
he wanted most. And the two men whose wives were
sisters (wechoosjik), were on the best of terms and
much together.

Now the young chief reflected that his brother-in-
law had been very kind to him, for little cause, and
thought how he could repay him. So he asked him
one day if he would like to be a swift runner. " Truly
I would," replied the other. " Then go and gather
some feathers, and let them blow when the wind is
high, and chase them. You will soon be able to out
strip the wind, and when the art comes it will never
depart from you." Then he did this, and became so
swift that no man or beast could escape him.

Yet again the chief's son said, " Would you like
to become strong and very active ? " And as he of
course said " Yes," the friend replied, " Dress yourself
in the worst and raggedest garments, and attack the
first man you find. He will catch you by the clothes ;

356 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

but do you slip out of them and run." This he did ;
the first man whom he met was a lunatic, who gladly
grappled for a fight. So he slipped out of the clothes
and ran ; but the madman thought the apparel made
the man, and beat it a long time, and left it for dead.
But after he had done this with many men he indeed
became strong and active.

Then the chief's son said, " I will teach you quick
ness of sight, so that you may perceive animals while
hunting, though other men may not. Take a hand
ful of moose's hairs ; hold them firmly in a roll be
tween your thumb and finger ; hold them up in a
high wind and let them go. So you will be able to
perceive, in time, all the moose. And to see deer, or
any other animal, you must take their hair and treat
it in the same way." So he did ; and by means of
this magic became so keen of sight that he beheld
every beast.

Yet again the chief's son said, " Would you see
birds where no other men can ? " And he, assent
ing, was told to strip the feathery part from a bird's
quills (chekakadega), and, blowing it into the air,
look carefully in the direction in which it flew. And
having practiced this also, he became very perfect in
the art.1

1 The secret of these spells is very apparent. But the teacher
would make the pupil believe that the successful result would
greatly depend on the color and kind of the fur or feathers
employed. It is curious to observe how, in the over-refinement
of " sport " among gentlemen, the idea that this or that is " good

TALES OF MAGIC. 357

Now, having learned all these things, he asked the
chief's son how he could learn to see the fishes of the
sea. And being told that he must collect all kinds
of fishes' bones, and burn them and pound them to
dust, he did so ; and, having blown them up into the
wind, he could see all manner of fish and call them
to him.

This young man went afar in his thoughts ; for re
flecting that the whales were giant-like in power, he
wondered what might be done by magic with them.
And his friend said that it was true that the whales
coidd give to man unearthly power and exceeding
long life. " For," said he, " they never die till they
are killed, and by their aid one may live on till life
borders on immortality." So burning a piece of whale
bone (pootup-awicjun), he pounded it to powder, and,
standing on a rock that jutted out into the sea, the
sorcerer blew the dust seawards. And erelong he
saw dark spots far away, and as they grew to be more
numerous they became larger, and yet more numerous
anon, and for every grain of dust which he blew there
came a whale ; and yet he blew again seven times.
Then the whole school of immense creatures came to
wards him ; and he that was largest, or the sagamore
of the whales, swimming close to the man on the rock,
said, " Why hast thou called me ? " And he replied,
" Make me strong."

form " and " the correct thing," which must be done, has had the
effect of establishing much which is mere fetich. A fox in Eng
land and a bear in Canada must be killed in a certain way by
men of caste.

358 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

And the Whale answered, " It is well. Put thy
hand in my mouth ! " And, doing this, he found and
took out a golden key.1 " Keep that," said the Whale.
" While you have it you will be safe against man,
beast, or illness. The foe shall not harm you ; the
spirits which haunt the wilderness shall pass you by ;
hunger and pain shall not know you ; death shall not
be in your road."

So the young man thanked the great magician, and
went home ; and as it had been promised it came to
pass. All was ever well with him ; trouble and trial
were with him no more. Those who were in his viL
lage never knew hunger; the wild game abounded,
and came to them when called ; no enemy attacked
them ; the sun and moon smiled on them ; they sang
the songs of the olden time, and played the flute in
peace.

In time the old chief drew near the end of his life,
and his son asked the friend if his father's days could
not be prolonged. But the magician thought it best
to let him pass in peace ; and he did so. Then the
young chief offered his place and power to his brother-
in-law (wechoosul) ; but he refused it, and passed his
life in aiding his friend in every way by his power
and wisdom. Kespeahdvoksit (here the story ends).

This legend is little more than an enumeration of
the recipes popularly employed to obtain certain pow-

1 This is a manifestly modern addition. There is every indi
cation that the story itself is ancient, probably Eskimo.

TALES OF MAGIC. 359

ers. It may be observed that it is limited to all that
a real Indian requires. It is very different from what
a white man or an Asiatic savage would have wanted ;
and there is just enough truth and common sense in
the methods recommended to make the whole plausi
ble. The reader will observe that the magic hair-
string and locks of hair play the same important part
in rrfteoulin that they did in Old World magic. This
is hardly one of the coincidences which can be attrilx
uted to spontaneous development from similar causes.
It may be such, but there may be also an Eskimo side-
gate through which it entered from the other side.

Another magic means was the influencing high and
mysterious powers. Of this the following is an ad
mirable illustration : —

Tumilkoontaoo, or the Broken Wing.
(Micmac.)

An Indian family lived on the sea-shore. They
had two sons; the eldest of these was married, and
had many small children. They lived by fishing;
they chiefly caught eels.

It came to pass that the weather was so stormy that
they could not fish. The wind blew terribly night and
day; the waves were like dancing hills. Hunger made
them fierce. One day the father told his boys to walk
along the shore and see if no fish had been cast on the
beach.

A young man went ; he went far along ; and as
he went the wind was ever worse ; it blew so fiercely

360 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

that he could hardly stand. It seemed to come from
a point of land. He resolved to pass it, and when
there he saw the cause of the tempest. Upon a
kwesopskeal? — a high and rocky ledge, a bold cliff,
but surrounded by the water — sat the Wind-Bird,
or storm-sagamore himself, flapping his wings, and
thereby raising all the wind.

Then the young man, who was brave and wise, re
solved to outwit the wind-god. And approaching
him and addressing him as Nikslcamich, " My grand
father," he inquired, " are you cold ! " And he
answered, "Nay;" but the young man insisted that
he must be suffering, arid offered to carry him on his
back to the main-land.1 And the offer being accepted,
he carried the mighty bird from one weedy, slippery
rock to another, up and down, jumping anon, and
wading through the pools. But at the last rock he,
with full intention, stumbled and fell as if by accident,
yet managed it so well as to break one of the wings of
the eagle, as he indeed meant to do. Yet he made
great show of being very sorry, and, having set the
wing, bade the bird keep quiet, and not move his
wings for many days ; not till the wound was healed
should he stir them. " Sit still, NticskamichJ' he
said, " and I will bring you food ; I will be attentive ;
you shall want nothing." And the god sat still:
there was a calm on the water ; no leaves moved in
the forest ; there was no wind in all the world.

1 It would appear that while the bird flapped his wings he did
not fly. I believe this was the same with the Norse Hrosvelgar.

TALES OF MAGIC. 361

The young man went home ; there was not a breeze,
the canoe went smoothly over the sea, the eels could
be seen in the depths, the Indians caught fish by
thousands; never before had they caught so many.
And the sagamore of the birds sat still ; the Wind-
Bird waited to get well ; the young man fed him every
day.

There can be too much of what is good ; good turns
to evil, sweet to sour. After many days of quiet calm
the sea was covered with Ogokpegeak, a scum which
is caused by sickness amojjg the fish, and which is
thrown off by them, for they suffer in still water.
Then the fisherman can no longer look down into the
sea ; then he cannot use the spear.

Then the young man, examining the wing of the
storm-bird, said, " Grandfather, it is much better ;
move it but a little now, that I may see ! " So he
moved it ; he gave a flap, and lo ! a slight ripple passed
over the surface of the sleeping sea. And striking
lightly with his wings, again there came a breeze, and
the OgokpcgeaJc, or the scum, was blown away, and
the Indians fished again, and all was well.

So they had the Wind-Bird for a friend, and the sea
was smooth or stormy as they willed. But these Indians
wished for more than they could manage. They grew
tired of catching small fish ; they wanted whales. " Let
us go and catch the Bootup ! " said the elder brother.
" How will you take him ? " asked the younger. " I will
entice him with the pecpoogwokan" said the elder,
" with my pipe." So he sat by the sea ; he played on

362 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

the pipe; he played, but no whale came. So they
went back to their small fishery.

This is manifestly the beginning and end of a very
ancient Indian mythical tale. The Micmacs have
tacked on to it a ridiculous fragment of an indifferent
French nursery tale, without an end and witnout any
connection with the Indian beginning. The tradition
is probably entirely Eskimo. Among the Greenlanders
there is a caste of whale-fishers, separate and apart,
and this story, in its second stage, was applied to teach,
Ne sutor ultra crepidam, — that all should stick to
their trades, and that though a sorcerer might rule
the winds it did not follow that he could win the
whales.

I have spoken before of the curious identity of the
Indian storm-king, or Wind-Bird, with that of the
Norse Hrosvelgar. When among the Chippewas,
west of Lake Superior, I met with a white man who
had received the name of Thunder -Bird from the
Indians still further west.

The magicians of all countries, be they of Africa,
Asia, or North America, are invariably represented
by travelers as holding their flock in subjection, and
never being doubted as to power or skill. But there
are skeptics or Agnostics among the men of the woods
as well as among those of civilized cities. There are
shrewd fellows who cannot only detect impostors, but
turn their tricks to their own advantage. An amus
ing illustration of this is given in the following story :

TALES OF MAGIC. 363

FisJi-Hawk and Scapegrace.1
(Micmac.)

Two men met and talked : one was Fish-Hawk, the
other was Scapegrace. Now the Fish-Hawk can fly
higher than any other ocean bird, and he is proud
and particular as to his food ; he is only beaten by the
eagle. When he dives and takes a fish the eagle
pursues him ; he lets it drop ; the great sagamore of
the birds catches it ; but to less than the chief he
yields nothing. But the Scapegrace will eat any
thing ; he is heavy in flying ; he is slow and of low
degree.

So when the Scapegrace proposed to the Fish-
Hawk that they should become partners the proud
bird was angry in his heart, but said nothing, as he
was crafty, and as it occurred to him that he could
punish the other ; and this he was the more willing
to do because the Scapegrace actually proposed to fly
a race with him ! So he said, " Let us go together
to a certain Indian village." And they went off to
gether.

The Fish-Hawk arrived there far before the other.
And on arriving he said, " Beware of him who will
come after me. You will know him by these signs :
he is ugly and heavy ; he will bring with him his own
food. It is coarse and common ; in fact it is poison.
He wishes to kill you ; he will offer it. Do not eat of
it, or you will die."

1 Wiskumagwasoo and Mahgwis. The Mahgwis, or " Scape
grace," is a kind of sea-gull.

364 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

Then having been very well entertained himself, he
took his departure. Scapegrace soon appeared, but
was treated with great reserve. He offered his food,
and the people pretended to eat it, but took good care
to quietly throw it away. Then he told the chief that
he was seeking a wife, and asked if there were girls
to marry in the town. To which the chief replied,
" Yes, there is a mother with several daughters, of the
AmalchoogwecK or Raccoon tribe."

He went to see the girls. A bad name had gone
before him. One of them stood before the lodge. She
saw him, and cried, "Mcthgwis wechooveet!" ''Scape
grace is coming ! " They received him as if he had
been Sickness. He was welcomed like filth on fine
clothes. They cried out, " Ulummeye ! " " Go home ! "
He asked the mother if she had daughters. She an
swered, " Yes." He asked her if she would give him
one. She replied, " I will not." So he went his way.

Now when he had gone Fish-Hawk came again, and
asked if Scapegrace had been there. He inquired
if all had passed as he predicted. They said it had.
Then it occurred to him to pass himself off for a great
prophet, a wise magician, well knowing that he could
make much of it. So he said, " It is well. Remember
that you would have all died but for my foresight.
That wizard would have poisoned you all. But have
no fear. In future I will watch over you."

Then he said to a man of the people that if at any
time he should see a large bird flying over the village
it would be an omen of great coming danger. " Then,"

TALES OF MAGIC. 365

he said, " think of me ; call on me, and I will come."
So he departed.

The man thought it all over for a long time. He
was shrewd and wise. " He foretold the coming of
Scapegrace," he reflected. " Now he pretends to be a
very great sorcerer. We shall see ! "

Sure enough, in a few days he saw a bird flying
on high. "That," said he, "must be the Wis-kuma-
gwasoo" He called him, and he came. " You spoke,"
he said, " of danger to our town. What is it ? "

" There is great danger. In a few days your town
will be attacked by a Kookwes.1 Unless you save
yourselves you will all be devoured."

" What shall we do to be saved ? " asked the man.
" When will he come ? "

" In seven days," replied the Fish-Hawk. " Before
that time you must take to your canoes and flee afar.
You may get beyond his reach, but you cannot before
that time get beyond the horrible roar of his voice.
And all who hear it will drop dead."

" How can we escape this second danger ? " asked
the man.

" You must all close your ears, so that you can hear
nothing. When the time is over you may return."

The man's name was Oscoon.2 He led the people
away. He closed their ears ; he did not close his own.
Once he heard a far-away whoop. It was not very

1 In Passaraaquoddy Kewahqu\ a cannibal giant, who is also a
sorcerer.

2 Oscoou (M.) : the Liver.

366 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

terrible. But lie said nothing. After a time, the
scouts who were sent out returned. They reported
that the Kookwes had departed. They had not even
seen him. It was a great escape.

The people thought much of Oscoon. They made
him their chief. In a few days the Fish-Hawk re
turned. He spoke to Oscoon : " Did the giant come ? "
" He did." " You escaped ? " *' By following your
advice, we did." "And in which direction did he
go ? " 1 " Surely you, who know so much about him,
must know that better than we do." Then the Fish-
Hawk saw that he was found out. He flew away, and
never returned to the town to play the prophet.

He who would cheat must watch his words well.

As in the preceding tradition, there has been tacked
to this a fragment of a very poor French tale about a
king, a great city, a royal carriage, and the forest of
wild beasts, borrowed from so many old European ro
mances. But what is here given is apparently really
Indian, and it shows with spirit and humor how men
tricked one another, and rose in life by trickery, in the
days of old.

There are naturally contradictory opinions on such

1 Here the Fish-Hawk inadvertently betrays himself. In the
Edda, Loki changes himself into a falcon and flies to Jotunheim
to make mischief, as usual. Odin also changes himself to a hawk
or eagle when he is chased by the giant Suttung. There is a
strong Norse color to all this tale. The Fish-Hawk is very Loki-
like and tricky.

TALES OF MAGIC. 367

a subject as to what constitutes the morality of magic.
The old Shaman or Manitou regarded witchcraft as
wicked. The Roman Catholic has taught the Indian
that all sorceries and spells except his own are of the
devil. Hence it came that I got from two Passama-
quoddy Indians, next - door neighbors, the following
opinions : —

Tomati. — " There was once a man who hated an
other. So he prayed until he became a snake," etc.

Another Indian. — "If a man wanted to be m'te-
oulin he must go without food, or sleep, or saying his
prayers, for seven days. Yes, that certainly. He must
go far into the w^oods. He must go again when his
power was used up."

The faith in and fondness for magic were so great
among the Algonquins that there is not one even of
their most serious histories into which it has not been
introduced. The Passamaquoddies will narrate an in
cident of their wars with the Mohawks. The first time
it will all be probable enough ; but hear it again, when
the story-teller has become more trustful, and some of
the actors in it or the scene will be sure to end like a
Christmas pantomime in fairy-land. With them m'tS-
oulin covered everything ; it entered into every detail
of life. I do not think that it was so deeply felt
even by the ancient Babylonians or the modern Arabs
and Hindoos as by our red men. It is no wonder
they prefer the Catholic religion to the Protestant.

There is a Micmac legend which is so magical and
mystical, so inspired with Eskimo Shamanism, that it

368 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

would not be remarkable if it had been originally a
sacred song. This is

The Giant Magicians.

There was once a man and his wife who lived by
the sea, far away from other people. They had many
children, and they were very poor. One day this
couple were in their canoe, far from land. There
came up a dense fog ; they were quite lost.

They heard a noise as of paddles and voices. It
drew nearer. They saw dimly a monstrous canoe
filled with giants, who greeted the little folk like
friends. " Uch keen, tahmee wejeaok f " " My little
brother," said the leader, " where are you going ? "
"I am lost in the fog," said the poor Indian, very
sadly. "Ah, come with us to our camp," said the
giant, who seemed to be a good fellow, if there ever
was one. " Truly, ye will be well treated, my small
friends, for my father is the chief; so be of good
cheer ! " And they> being much amazed at this gen
tleness, sat still in awe, while two of the giants, each
putting a tip of his paddle under their bark, lifted it
up and put it into their own, as if it had been a chip.
And truly the giants seemed to be as much pleased
wjth the little folk as a boy would be who had found
a flying squirrel.1

1 A story like this of giants in a canoe would very naturally
originate about the Bay of Fundy, where, in the dense and fre
quent fogs, all objects assume greatly exaggerated apparent di
mensions. One often beholds there, on the shore, " men as trees
walking."

TALES OF MAGIC. 369

And as they drew near the beach, lo ! they beheld
three wigwams, high as mountains, in size according
to that of the giants. And coming to meet them was
the chief, who was taller than the rest.

" Ha ! " he cried. " Son, what have you there ?
Where did you pick up that little brother ? " " Noo,
my father, I found him lost in the fog." "Well,
bring him home to the lodge, my son ! " So the
giant took the small canoe in the palm of his hand,
the man and his wife sitting therein, and carried them
home. Then they were taken into the wigwam, and
the canoe was laid carefully in the eaves, but within
easy reach, about a hundred and fifty yards from the
ground.

Then an abundant meal was set before them, but
the benevolent host, mindful of their small size, did
not give them more to eat than they would have needed
for about ten years to come, and informed them in a
subdued whisper, which could hardly have been heard
a hundred miles off, that his name was Oscoon.1

Xow it came to pass, a few days after, that a com
pany of these well-grown people went hunting, and
when they returned the guests must needs pity them
that they had no game in their land which answered
to their size ; for they came in with strings of such
small affairs as two or three dozen caribou hanging
in their belts, as a Micmac would carry a string of

1 Mr. Rand suggests that this may indicate the dark color of
his tribe. Eskimo legends speak of people among them who
were black.

24

370 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

squirrels, and swinging one or two moose in their
hands like rabbits. Yet, what with these and many
deer, bears, and beavers, they made up in the weight
of their game what it lacked in size, and of what they
had they were generous.

Now the giants became very fond of the small folk,
and would not for the world that they should in any
way come to harm. And it came to pass that one
morning the chief told them that they were to have a
grand battle, since they expected in three days to be
attacked by a Chenoo. Therefore the Micmac saw
that in all things it was even with the giants as with
his own people at home, they having their troubles
with the wicked, and the chiefs their share in being
obliged to keep up their magic and know all that was
going on in the world. Yea, for he would be a poor
powwow and a necromancer worth nothing who could
not foretell such a trifle as the day and hour when an
enemy would be on them !

But this time the Sakumow (M.), or sagamore, was
forewarned, and bade his little guests stop their ears
and bind up their heads, and roll themselves in many
folds of dressed skins, lest they should hear the deadly
war-scream of the Chenoo. And with all their care
they hardly survived it ; but the second scream hurt
them less ; and after the third the chief came to them
with a cheerful countenance, and bade them arise and
unpack themselves, for the monster was slain, and
though his four sons, with two other giants, had been
sorely tried, yet they had conquered.

TALES OF MAGIC. 371

But the sorrows of the good are never at an end,
and so it was with these honest giants, who were al
ways being pestered with some kind of scurvy knaves
or others who would not leave them in peace. For
anon the chief announced that this time a Kookwes
— a burly, beastly villain, not two points better than
his cousin the Chenoo — was coming to play at rough
murder with them. And, verily, by this time the
Micmac began to believe, without bating an ace on it,
that all of these tall people were like the wolves, who,
meeting with nobody else, bite one another. So they
were bound and bundled up as before, and put to bed
like dolls. And again they heard the horrible shout,
the moderate shout, and the smaller shout, until sooel
moonoodooa/idigool, which, being interpreted, mean-
eth that they hardly heard him at all.

Then the warriors, returning, gave proof that they
had indeed done something more than kick the wind,
for they were covered with blood, and their legs were
stuck full of large pines, with here and there an oak
or hemlock, for the fight had been in a forest; so
that they had been as much troubled as men would be
with thistles, nettles, and pine splinters, which is truly
often a great trouble. But this was their least trial,
for, as they told their chief, the enemy had well-nigh
made Jack Drum's entertainment for them, and led
them the devil's dance, had not one of them, by good
luck, opened his eye for him with a rock >vhich drove
it into his brain. And as it was, the chief's youngest
son had been so mauled that, coming home, he fell

372 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

dead just before his father's door. Truly this might
have been deemed almost an accident in some families ;
but lo ! what a good thing it is to have an enchanter
in the house, especially one who knows his business,
as did the old chief, who, going out, asked the young
man why he was lying there. To which he replying
that it was because he was dead, his father bade him
rise and walk, which he did straight to the supper
table, and ate none the less for it.

Now the old chief, thinking that perhaps his dear
little people found life dull and devoid of incident with
him, asked them if they were aweary of him. They,
with golden truth indeed, answered that they had
never been so merry, but that they were anxious as to
their children at home. He answered that they were
indeed right, and that the next morning they might
depart. So their canoe was reached down for them,
and packed full of the finest furs and best meat, when
they were told to tebaJi '-dikw' ', or get in. Then a
small dog was put in, and this dog was solemnly
charged that he should take the people home, while
the people were told to paddle in the direction in
which the dog should point.1 And to the Micmac he
said, " Seven years hence you will be reminded of
me." And then tokooboosijik (off they went).

1 Strange as it may seem, there is not the least exaggeration
in this. Lieutenant-Colonel Barclay Kennan told me that when
surveying in the far North Pacific he had an Eskimo dog which,
in the thickest fog, would scent the land at a great distance,
and continually point to it.

TALES OF MAGIC. 373

The man sat in the stern, his wife in the prow,
and the clog in the middle of the canoe. The dog
pointed, the Indian paddled, the water was smooth.
They soon reached home ; the children with joy ran to
meet them ; the dog as joyfully ran to see the chil
dren, wagging his tail with great glee, just as if he
had been like any other dog, and not a fairy. For,
having made acquaintance, he without delay turned
tail and trotted off for home again, running over the
ocean surface as if it had been hard ice ; which might,
indeed, have once astonished the good man and his
wife, but they had of late days seen so many wonders
that they were past marveling.

Now this Indian, who had in the past been always
poor, seemed to have quite recovered from that com
plaint. When he let down his lines the biggest fish
bit ; all his sprats were salmon ; he prayed for gos
lings, and got geese ; moose were as mice to him now ;
yea, he had the best in the land, with all the fatness
thereof. So seven years passed away, and then, as
he slept, there came unto him divers dreams, and in
them he went back to the Land of the Giants, and
saw all those who had been so kind to him. And yet
again he dreamed one night that he was standing by
his wigwam near the sea, and that a great whale swam
up to him and began to sing, and that the singing
was the sweetest he had ever heard.

Then he remembered that the giant had told him
he would think of him in seven years ; and it came
clearly before him what it all meant, and that he was

374 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

erelong to have magical power given to him, and that
he should become a Megumoowessoo. This he told his
wife, who, not being learned in darksome lore, would
fain know more nearly what kind of a being he ex
pected to be, and whether a spirit or a man, good or
bad ; which was, indeed, not easy to explain, nor is it
clearly set down in the chronicles beyond this, — that,
whatever it might be, it was all for the best, and that
there was a great deal of magic in it.

That day they saw a great shark cruising about in
their bay, chasing fish, and this they held for an evil
omen. But, soon after, there came trotting towards
them over the sea the same small dog who had been
their pilot from the Land of the Giants. So he, full
of joy, as before, at seeing them and the children,
wagged his tail and danced for glee, and then looked
earnestly at the man as if for some message. And to
him the man said, " It is well. In three years' time I
will make you a visit. I will look to the southwest."
Then the dog licked the hands and the ears and the
eyes of the man, and went home as before over the
sea, running on the water.

And when the three years had passed the Indian
entered his canoe, and, paddling without fear, found
his way to the Land of the Giants. He saw the wig
wams standing on the beach ; the immense canoes were
drawn up on the water's edge ; from afar he beheld
the old giant coming down to welcome him. But he
was alone. And when he had been welcomed, and was
in the wigwam, he learned that all the sons were dead.

TALES OF MAGIC. 375

They had died three years before, when the shark, the
great sorcerer, had been seen.

They had gone, and the old man had but lingered a
little longer. They had made the magic change, they
had departed, and he would soon join them in Ms own
kingdom. But ere he went he would leave their
great inheritance, their magic, to the man.

Therewith the giant brought out his son's clothes,
and bade the Indian put them on. Truly this was as
if he had been asked to clothe himself with a great
house, since the smallest fold in them would have been
to him as a cavern. But he stepped in, and as he did
this he rose to great size ; he filled out the garments
till they fitted ; he was a giant, of Giant-Land. With
the clothes came the wisdom, the rrfteoidin, the mani-
tou power of the greatest and wisest of the olden
time. He was indeed Megumoowessoo, and had at
tained to the Mystery.

This very remarkable and evidently ancient tale is
one of that kind which the keepers of tribe chronicles
among the pagan Indians do not tell to the world,
and which they conceal from white men. It is not a
fragment, nor is it unfinished, as some readers may
suppose. Its plot is of a much higher nature than a
novel, which ends in a marriage. To an Indian, whose
ideas of earthly happiness were not in money, houses,
and lands, personal power was the one thing to be most
desired. As a Passamaquoddy said once to me, " To
be rich in those days meant to be a great hunter and

376 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

always have plenty of meat for everybody." Hence
the desire to be great and strong, to be able to entice
wild animals, to run like the wind, to be crafty in all
things, especially in making war ; hence to have pro
phetic dreams. All of this was to be attained by m'te-
oulin, or magic. The highest ambition of an Indian
was to become a Megumooicessoo, a mystical being,
which is explained differently as fairy, faun, sylvan
deity, but which means one who enjoys all the high
est privileges of humanity allied to the supernatural.
This is what the hero of this story gets by favor of
the giant.

It may be observed that in this tale the Indian
cannot explain to his wife what he nevertheless per
fectly understands ; that is, the exact nature of a Me-
gumoowessoo. The giant, by speaking of his own
kingdom, gives the true key of the whole mystery. He
has attained magic power so far as one can exercise
it in this life. Like Glooskap he can be, or unlike
him prefers to be habitually, a giant. He has battled
with the Chenoo and Kookwess ; he has, like Hercules,
fulfilled his mission ; and now he departs for his own
realm, that of the Megumoowessoo, as Arthur went to
Fairy-Land, as Buddha to the unknown Nirvana, —
that is, to something beyond the conception of poet
or theosophist.

I suspect that the period of seven years, and again
of three years, had been employed by the Indian in
preparing himself by penance for m'tSoulin. The
respect of the Indians for the number seven is so

TALES OF MAGIC. 377

remarkable, that if it be true that Deus imparibus
numeris gaudet, they are in that respect, at least, like
deities. Whenever seven or a white bear's skin occurs
in these tales, there always lies hidden a magical mys
tery.

It is not. the least remarkable feature of this tale
that it abounds in that quiet small humor which re
calls the adventures of Captain Lemuel Gulliver.
The Indian, like the Norseman, was such an implicit
believer in his own myths, and he had evolved them
so entirely from himself without borrowing, — since
we may regard him as one in this respect with the
Eskimo, — that no human characteristic detracted
from the dignity of the Manitou,

There is a strong suggestion in this story that the
giants were whales. This and the incident of their in
habiting a mysterious country beyond the sea and the
fog would identify them with the enchanted land of
the Eskimo, visited by the Angakok in their trances,
and by others in kayaks. This country was named
Alcilinelc, " a fabulous land beyond the sea." The
whole story of Malaise, the man who traveled to
Akilinek, is in every detail extremely like an Indian
tale. (Rink, page 169.) It has also a Norse affinity.
The land of the giants was supposed by both Iceland
ers and Indians to be in the North Atlantic. There
is a Norse tale of a man changed to a whale which
indicates a common origin with the one here given.

It is believed that the m'teoulin can, when speak
ing, make themselves heard to whom they will, at any

3T8 THE ALGONQUIN LEGENDS.

distance. They can confer with one another secretly
when miles away, or make themselves known to many.
I was informed by an Indian in all faith that an old
witch who died in 1876, twelve miles from Pleasant
Point, was heard to speak in the latter place when at
her last. A very intelligent Passamaquoddy told me
that when Osalik (Sarah) Hequin died he himself
heard all she said, though sixty-five miles distant. I
am certain that he firmly believed this. This woman
died a strange death, for she was found standing up,
dead, in the snow, with her arms extended and
" hands sticking out." It is generally believed that
she was killed by other m'teoulin.

There are really very few ideas in modern mesmer
ism not known to Eskimo or Indian Shamans. Clair
voyance is called by the Passamaquoddies Meelah bi
give he.

GLINT-WAH-GNOUR PES SAUSMOK.

N'loan pes-saus, mot glint ont-aven

Glint ont-aven, nosh mor-gun

N'loan sep-scess syne-due

Mach-ak wan le-de-born harlo kirk

Pes-sauk-wa morgim pa-zazen.

Dout-tu cowall, yu' eke ne-mess comall

Dow-dar bowsee des ge-che-ne-wes skump,

Na-havak dunko to-awk w'che-mon wh'oak

No-saw yu-well Mooen nill

Mask da-ah gawank la me la-tak-a-dea-on

TALES OF MAGIC. 379

Di-wa godamr Kudunk-ah dea-on
Glor-ba dea-on glom-de-nec
Glint-wah-gnour pes sausmok.

THE SONG OF THE STARS.

We are the stars which sing,
We sing with our light ;
We are the birds of fire,
We fly over the sky.
Our light is a voice ;
We make a road for spirits,
For the spirits to pass over.
Among us are three hunters
Who chase a bear ;
There never was a time
When they were not hunting.
We look down on the mountains.
This is the Song of the Stars.

Ahboohe b'lo maryna Piel to-marcess "

We poual gee yuaa

Mar-yuon corded delo son

Ne morn-en nute magk med-agon

On-e-est Molly duse-al ca-soo-son nen.

Tumbling end over end, goes Piel to mercess,

With feathers on his eyes.

To the maple -sap ridge we are going,

Our lunch a cod-fish skin ;

One est Molly's daughter goes with us.

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