{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66509/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66509","id":"gutenberg_66509","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66509","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Indians of North America -- Folklore","Ojibwa Indians -- Folklore","Timiskaming Indians -- Folklore"],"text":"CANADA\n DEPARTMENT OF MINES\n Hon. Louis Coderre,\n Minister; R. W. Brock,\n Deputy Minister.\n\n GEOLOGICAL SURVEY\n MEMOIR 71\n No. 9, Anthropological Series\n\n\n Myths and Folk-lore\n of the\n Timiskaming Algonquin\n and\n Timagami Ojibwa\n\n\n BY\n F. G. Speck\n\n\n OTTAWA\n Government Printing Bureau\n 1915\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n PAGE\n\nMyths and folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin 1\nIntroduction 1\nWiske\u00b7djak cycle 2\n\n (1) Wiske\u00b7djak pursues the Beaver 2\n (2) Wiske\u00b7djak kills the Bear and gets his head fastened\n in the skull 4\n (3) Wiske\u00b7djak invites the Ducks to a dance 8\n (4) Wiske\u00b7djak anum suum urit and originates rock-weed\n and red willow from the scabs 10\n (5) Wiske\u00b7djak disguises himself as a Lynx 15\n (6) Wiske\u00b7djak\u2019s love affair 16\n (7) Ci\u014bg\u0259bis 17\n (8) Remarks about Wiske\u00b7djak 20\n Timiskaming Algonquin text 20\n Free translation 21\n (9) Further comment on Wiske\u00b7djak 21\n\nTimiskaming folk-lore 22\n\n (1) Wi\u2032ndigo 22\n (2) Pa\u00b7\u2032guk\u2035 22\n (3) Constellation Ursa Major 22\n (4) Northern Lights 23\n (5) Rainbow 23\n (6) Milky Way 23\n (7) White animals 24\n (8) Dwarfed animals 24\n (9) Partridge breast-bone as omen 24\n (10) Wings of birds and skulls as amulets 24\n (11) Blue bottle flies 25\n (12) Rabbits\u2019 hair thrown into fire 25\n (13) Fish bone 25\n (14) Left-handed people 25\n (15) Bear feast 25\n (16) Legend of Iroquois Falls 26\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nMyths and folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa 28\nIntroduction 28\nMyths and tales 28\n\n (1) Nenebuc, the transformer 28\n (a) The magic birth of Nenebuc and his four brothers 28\n (b) Nenebuc tempers the wind 30\n (c) Nenebuc starts travelling, anum suum castigat for\n deceiving him, changes the colour of the Partridge\n family, and originates rock tripe from his scabs\n for the benefit of the people 31\n (d) Nenebuc prepares a feast and gets caught between\n two trees, while the animals receive a distribution\n of fat 33\n (e) Nenebuc gets caught in the Bear\u2019s skull 33\n (f) Nenebuc wounds the Giant Lynx, disguises himself\n in a Toad\u2019s skin, and finally slays her 34\n (g) The Giant Lynx causes the World Flood and gathers\n the animals on a raft; Muskrat dives for earth,\n which Nenebuc transforms into a new world 36\n (h) Nenebuc sends Crow out, for disobedience changes\n him black and Gull partly black, then retires to\n the west, until he will return again 37\n (2) Nenebuc fragment 38\n (3) Nenebuc transforms the Bear 39\n (4) Wemicus 39\n (5) Ci\u014bg\u0259bis 47\n (6) Beaver gives a feast 53\n (7) Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs 54\n (8) Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye, the Giant Skunk, and the origin of Skunks 56\n (9) The man who transformed a doll into a woman and\n followed her into the world above 57\n (10) Ayas\u00b7e and the origin of Bats 62\n (11) Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major) 63\n (12) The young Loon 64\n (13) The Giant Pike 65\n (14) Lynx and his two wives 67\n (15) Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami 68\n (16) Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher 68\n (17) Snaring the Sun 69\n (18) Homo Excrementi 69\n (19) The origin of Snakes 71\n (20) Muskrat warns the Beaver 71\n (21) Story of a hunter 72\n (22) A Timagami story 73\n (23) Story of a fast runner 73\n (24) The hunter and the seven Deer 73\n (25) Story of a conjurer 74\n (26) Legend of Obabika lake 76\n (27) Iroquois pictographs 76\n (28) An Iroquois legend 76\n\n\nTimagami folk-lore 78\n\n (1) Telling stories in summer 78\n (2) Foretelling sex of child to be born 78\n (3) How to bring rain 79\n (4) Northern Lights 79\n (5) Milky Way 79\n (6) Rainbow 79\n (7) Whippoorwill\u2019s cry 79\n (8) Rain omens 79\n (9) Killing blue bottle flies 80\n (10) Finding a live mole 80\n (11) Hiccoughing 80\n (12) Children born feet first 80\n (13) Cooking squirrels 80\n (14) How to bring on a snowstorm 80\n (15) An infant warming its hands 80\n (16) Red sunset 81\n (17) Whirling buzzer 81\n (18) Divining what game is to be killed 81\n (19) Supernatural creatures:\u2014\n Pa\u00b7g\u00b7\u03b1k 81\n Me\u00b7megwe\u00b7s\u00b7i 82\n\n\nAppendix: Notes on Timagami folk-lore, by Neil C. Fergusson\n\n (1) Whisky Jack and the markings on birch bark 83\n (2) The two girls, Hell-diver, and Loon 83\n\nPhonetic key 86\n\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n Map: Hunting territories of the Timagami, Timiskaming,\n Kipawa, and Dumoine bands in pocket.\n Figure 1. Night set-line 66\n Figure 2. Markings on birch bark 83\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS AND FOLK-LORE OF THE TIMISKAMING ALGONQUIN AND TIMAGAMI OJIBWA.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nMYTHS AND FOLK-LORE OF THE TIMISKAMING ALGONQUIN.\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\nA few fairly typical Algonquin myths relating the exploits of\nWiske\u00b7djak were taken down in the summer of 1913 from Benjamin\nMackenzie of the Timiskaming band. He had learned them when a young man\nfrom Algonquins near Dumoine lake [1] at the head of Dumoine river.\nThese versions are also current at Timiskaming, as I found by testing a\nfew incidents with other informants, who, however, knew only of\nfragments. These myths also are not considered entirely complete.\n\nThe trickster-transformer Wiske\u00b7djak \u201cmeat bird\u201d is the personified\nCanada Jay or \u201cWhisky Jack\u201d (Perisoreus sp.). He is not in the least\naltruistic, though he seems to have in mind some provision for the\nIndians, as appears more particularly in story number 4. For the most\npart his transformations are semi-accidental. It seems hardly worth\nwhile at the present time to comment in detail on the transformer\nconcept here, as it is my intention to pursue investigations further in\nthis general area, in which the transformer appears under various\ntitles. At Timagami, for instance, he is called Nenebuc or wi\u00b7ske\u00b7\u2032; at\nMattagami, he is We\u00b7\u2032micuze\u00b7\u2035hwa or Nenebuc. The name Wiske\u00b7djak and\nits variants seem to be more or less characteristic of the Algonquin\nbands, in which respect they resemble the Cree. [2] A secondary hero\npersonage here is Ci\u2032\u014bg\u0259bis, the Horned Grebe (Colymbus auritus).\n\nIt is important to note, in dealing with myths in this area, that the\nscenes of the trickster-transformer\u2019s adventures always lay in well\nknown localities within the territory of the band among which the story\nis told. These vary considerably, so that the stories have to be\ngathered independently from each band before any thorough comparison\ncan be attempted. In these myths the scene of action commences with\nDumoine lake, Ki\u00b7we\u00b7\u2032goma \u201cTurn-back lake.\u201d The other geographical\nreferences are as follows. The beaver\u2019s cabin in the first story is a\nhigh round-topped mountain near the lake. Then came Coulonge river and\nPembroke lakes. The Calumet chutes are below Allumette island in Ottawa\nriver; they are called Apwa\u2032ganiba\u2035ut\u0259k \u201cPipe rapids,\u201d because the\nstone at that place is suitable for making pipes and was there sought\nby the Indians for this purpose. The big river referred to is Ottawa\nriver, Ki\u2032tcisi\u00b7\u2032bi \u201cbig river,\u201d down which Wiske\u00b7djak\u2019s course seems\nto have been. Other general qualities of the transformer attributed to\nhim by the Indians were given by the informant and appear at the end of\nthe cycle.\n\n\n\n\n\nWISKE\u00b7DJAK CYCLE.\n\n\n(1) Wiske\u00b7djak Pursues the Beaver.\n\nWiske\u00b7djak was travelling about looking for adventures. He never\nsucceeded in anything he tried to do. He never did well and was always\nhungry. In his travels he came to Ki\u00b7we\u00b7\u2032goma \u201cTurn-back lake\u201d (Dumoine\nlake). Now he even had no canoe, but he was a great swimmer. When he\ncame to Ki\u00b7we\u00b7\u2032goma, he found it even too big to swim, so he started to\nwalk around it. He wanted to hunt beaver. On one side of the lake, he\ncame to a round, high mountain that looked like a beaver-lodge. In\nfront of it he found deep water, just as there is in front of a beaver\nlodge. And a little way off shore was a little island with many\ngrasses; just as the beaver provides a winter supply of greens for\nhimself near his lodge, so this island he supposed to be the beaver\u2019s\nwinter supply and the mountain his lodge. Wiske\u00b7djak wanted to get this\ngreat beaver, but did not know how to get at him. Then he thought of\ndraining the lake, so he went way around to the lower end and broke\naway the dam so that the water would run off. Soon the water began to\ngo, and Wiske\u00b7djak lingered about, waiting for it to get low enough to\nget at the beaver. Pretty soon he took a nap. When he woke up, it was\nrather late and he hurried back to the mountain only to find that the\nbeaver had gone. Now he thought the beaver might have escaped over the\ndam with the water, so he started back, and sure enough he saw the\nbeaver going over the dam. \u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cI lost my beaver.\u201d He\nfollowed hard after him and had lots of trouble to keep up.\n\nHe followed him past Coulonge river and Pembroke lakes. But when the\nbeaver reached Calumet chutes, he was afraid to go through and took to\nthe portage. Then Wiske\u00b7djak saw him and chased him harder over the\nportage. When he got to the lower end, he lost sight of the beaver and\nstarted back up river (Ottawa river). When he got to the upper end of\nthe portage, he saw fresh tracks. \u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201cthere has been\nsomebody here. I wonder if I could trace him. We might have something\nto eat.\u201d Then he followed the track to the lower end of the portage\nwhere he had already been, but nobody was there. So he went back to the\nupper end of the portage and there saw more fresh tracks leading to the\nlower end. These he followed to where he had been twice before, but saw\nno beaver. He then discovered that they were his own tracks he had been\nfollowing and gave it up. The tracks back and forth can be seen plainly\nto-day imprinted in the stone of Calumet portage, which the Indians\ncall Wiske\u00b7djak tracks. After this he started off on another trip.\n\n\n\n\n(2) Wiske\u00b7djak Kills the Bear and Gets his Head Fastened in the Skull.\n\nWiske\u00b7djak was always in trouble. One time he was going along the shore\nof a big lake carrying a big pail. He felt very hungry and was looking\nfor something to eat. Pretty soon he saw a lot of clumps of high-bush\ncranberries and commenced to eat from one little clump to another. Then\nhe remembered his pail. Said he, \u201cIf I could pick my pail full, I would\nhave a good supply to last me a long while.\u201d So he began filling his\npail, and as he went on he got into some big clumps. Suddenly he saw a\nbig Bear sitting down among some bushes, every little while rubbing his\neyes and picking out his paws as though something was hurting his eyes.\nWiske\u00b7djak watched him a while and thought how nice it would be to kill\nhim. What a big supply of food he would have then to fill his pail\nwith! So he went up to the bear and said, \u201cHello, Bear! What\u2019s the\nmatter with you?\u201d The Bear answered, \u201cOh! my eyes are so sore, and I\ncan\u2019t see where to go. I just wish somebody would help me.\u201d \u201cWell, come\nalong with me. I will help you. I know where to get some fine medicine\nthat will fix you up all right.\u201d \u201cVery well,\u201d said the bear.\n\nWiske\u00b7djak led him off to a big bunch of cranberries. There he gathered\na lot of berries and crushed them in his hands. Then he told the Bear\nto open his eyes so that he could put the medicine on. \u201cIt may hurt you\nwhen I put this medicine in, but it will cure you, so don\u2019t mind it.\u201d\nThen Wiske\u00b7djak began to rub the cranberry juice into the Bear\u2019s eyes.\nThe Bear began to roar and tear around with the pain, making a great\ntime. \u201cBut never mind,\u201d said Wiske\u00b7djak. \u201cIt may hurt, but it will cure\nyou.\u201d In the meantime he hunted around and got two big stones, and\nwhile the Bear was blinded with the pain, began pounding him on the\nhead with the stones. He had a hard fight all over the berry-patch, but\nfinally succeeded and killed the Bear. Then Wiske\u00b7djak went back to\nwhere he had left his pail and got his knife. He skinned the bear and\ncut him up. He put some of the pieces into his pail to make a bouillon.\nThen he got sticks and made a fire for the cooking. Next he got some\nbirch bark peeled off and cleaned a big space near the fire, spreading\nthe birch bark to put the meat on. He stuck the pieces of meat on sharp\nsticks. When they were well roasted, he spread them on the bark to cool\noff before eating them. He left the bear\u2019s head for the last, then he\nbegan to eat lots of the bear\u2019s fat and the meat. He had a great big\npile of it. He sat down to enjoy his meal.\n\nNow, just as he was ready to begin, the wind began to blow a little,\nand at the same time from above came a little cry, \u201cWhun!\u201d He looked\naround, because it bothered him, but could not see anything, so he\nstarted to eat again. Then the same little cry sounded again, \u201cWhun!\u201d\nand he stopped to look around, but couldn\u2019t see anything. The third\ntime he started to eat, the same cry sounded, and then he got up and\nhunted for the cause, for it bothered him and was spoiling his good\ntime. When he looked up, he saw a tree that had been blown down,\nresting in the crotch of another tree over him that rubbed when the\nwind blew and made this noise. Said Wiske\u00b7djak, \u201cYou had better stop\nthat noise until I get through eating. I don\u2019t like it at all.\u201d \u201cOh!\u201d\nsaid the tree, \u201cI have to do it. I can\u2019t stop it.\u201d Whenever Wiske\u00b7djak\nstarted to eat again, the wind blew a little. Then Wiske\u00b7djak climbed\nthe tree and put his hands in between the tree and the crotch to stop\nthe rubbing, and when the wind blew a little the space spread and\nclosed again. It pinned his hands in the crotch and held him fast. \u201cLet\nme go! Let me go!\u201d he begged of the tree. \u201cI must get down to my meat.\u201d\nBut the only answer he got was, \u201cNo,\u201d and there he stayed.\n\nPretty soon when he looked down, he saw a Squirrel come and take some\nof his meat. He shouted for him to go away without any success. Next\ncame the Marten, then the Fisher, then some Wildcats, then Ravens, and\nin fact all kinds of animals came and began to eat up his supply of\nmeat. He tried to drive them away, but couldn\u2019t. The more he shouted at\nthem, the more they danced and sang and ran off mocking him. They\ncarried away all his pieces of meat to their dens, but didn\u2019t touch the\npail of grease. By the time all the meat was gone, a little breeze\narose and the tree let him go. When he got down, all was cleared away.\nThere were not even bones enough for bouillon. There was only the\ngrease in the pail. \u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201cI\u2019ll have grease anyway.\u201d\n\nThe Bear\u2019s bladder was hanging in some willow trees where he had thrown\nit when he had cut him up. And he went over and filled the bladder with\nthe grease, so that he could cool it. He tied the neck of the bladder\nso that it would hold the grease. \u201cNow,\u201d said he to himself, \u201ceven if\nthey have taken all my meat and bones, I\u2019ll have the grease. I\u2019ll just\ntie it by a string to a stick and let it float in the river until it is\ncool, and then I\u2019ll make a good meal of that anyway.\u201d So he tied the\nbladder of grease to a stick and let it swing in the current of the\nriver to cool it. A Muskrat came along. \u201cKwe, Muskrat! Where are you\ngoing?\u201d said Wiske\u00b7djak. \u201cOh! anywhere,\u201d answered the Muskrat. \u201cWell,\nthen, come work for me,\u201d said Wiske\u00b7djak. \u201cCome, tie this bladder on\nyour tail and swim further out in the deep water where it is cold and\ncool it for me. Don\u2019t swim too fast and go easy or you might break the\nbladder and spill my grease.\u201d \u201cAll right,\u201d said the Muskrat, \u201cI will do\nit for you and you will tell me how fast to go.\u201d Then Wiske\u00b7djak tied\nit to his tail and the Muskrat started off with it. He made a plan\nmeanwhile. The Muskrat swam way out. \u201cHold on,\u201d said Wiske\u00b7djak,\n\u201cyou\u2019re going too fast.\u201d But the Muskrat swam farther and when he got\nfar enough, he snapped the string with his tail, broke the bladder, and\ndove out of sight. The grease spread all over the water. Wiske\u00b7djak\ncried and ran out into the water and tried to scoop up the grease in\nhis hands to save some of it, but it all escaped him.\n\nWhen he had lost his grease, he thought of his bouillon, and went back\nto his pail, but when he got there, he found that the Wolverine had\ncome and eaten it all up. Then he searched about to see if he could\neven find a small bone. There was not a thing left. After a while he\nsaw a string of little ants going back and forth from under a log. \u201cI\nwonder what they are doing,\u201d thought he. \u201cMaybe they have something\nhidden under there.\u201d He followed them and looked under the log, and\nthere were the ants eating away on the Bear\u2019s skull, devouring the\nbrains. \u201cIf I could get in there myself, I could get some of those\nbrains,\u201d said he. He tried different ways to reach in, but could not\nget at it. \u201cIf I could only put my head in that hole, I could eat some.\nI wish my head was as small as a snake\u2019s head, then I could get it in.\u201d\nThen his head began to get small like a snake\u2019s head and he poked it\ninside the skull and began eating a great snack. He licked the skull\nclean and said, \u201cWell, I had a meal. Now, if I could only get up and\nout, I would be all right.\u201d But when he tried to get his head clear of\nthe skull, he could not, because his head had turned back to its\noriginal size and was fast inside the skull. He couldn\u2019t see where he\nwas going.\n\nThen he sat down on a log, thinking what to do next. \u201cIf I knock my\nhead against a rock, I might break my own head.\u201d Then he thought of the\nIndians and started off in search of a camp to get help. He was blinded\nby the skull and could not see where he was going. Soon he banged\nagainst a tree. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d he asked of the tree. \u201cMaple,\u201d was\nthe answer. \u201cWell, I\u2019m in high ground. I won\u2019t find any people camping\nway up here.\u201d Soon he banged against another tree. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d\nhe asked. \u201cBeech,\u201d was the answer. \u201cI\u2019m still in high ground,\u201d said he;\n\u201cI must strike lower ground.\u201d Soon he banged against another tree and\nasked its name. It answered, \u201cWhite-pine.\u201d \u201cStill in high ground,\u201d said\nhe, \u201cbut getting lower.\u201d The next tree he bumped against proved to be a\nred pine. \u201cStill in high ground. No Indian camp here.\u201d At last he\nbanged against a balsam and then a spruce. \u201cI am getting on low ground\nnow,\u201d said he. Pretty soon he got into ragged bush and struck a\nrough-bark tree. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d he asked. \u201cCedar,\u201d said the tree.\n\u201cAha! Now I\u2019m in low ground and may strike a camp at last.\u201d He went on\nand soon got into very tight bush and struck an alder. \u201cAha! Now, I am\nclose to a lake. I will soon find a camp.\u201d Next he got tangled up in\nknee-high twigs. He asked them what their name was and they told him\nwillows. He said, \u201cAm I near a lake?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d they answered. \u201cCan you\nsee people?\u201d \u201cYes, up at yonder point there is a camp,\u201d they answered.\n\u201cIs it far?\u201d he asked. \u201cNo, not far,\u201d said they. So he went on and got\ninto something still lower. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d he asked. \u201cGrass,\u201d was\nthe answer. Now he walked on and got into water, deeper and deeper. \u201cIf\nthe people would only see me, I would be all right,\u201d said he. Next he\nstarted to swim. He splashed about and made a noise to attract the\npeople if any were about. Suddenly he remembered about the skull on his\nhead and said, \u201cIf the people see me, they might think that I\u2019m a bear\nand try to kill me.\u201d So he swam on.\n\nSure enough the Indians saw him. They recognized Wiske\u00b7djak by his\nantics and thought he was trying to play some trick on them, so they\nlaughed about it and quietly paddled up close to him. They pretended\nthey thought he was a bear and made out as though they were going to\nkill him. Wiske\u00b7djak swam as hard as he could for his life. \u201cHand me my\naxe,\u201d said one of the Indians, \u201ctill I kill him.\u201d \u201cStand aside till I\nshoot him with my arrow,\u201d said another. \u201cHurry up, paddle hard or we\u2019ll\nlose him,\u201d said a third. They all kept shouting and making a great\npretence to get after him, all the time laughing at Wiske\u00b7djak and\nsplashing with their paddles as though trying to keep up with him.\nWiske\u00b7djak all the time struggled ahead in great fear, expecting any\nmoment to be killed. At last he got across the lake on the other shore\nand his feet struck bottom. He landed on a flat rock with the Indians\nbehind him. Suddenly he slipped and fell on his head. The bear skull\ncracked and fell off and left his head free. Then he saw the Indians.\n\u201cDon\u2019t shoot! Don\u2019t shoot!\u201d cried he. \u201cI\u2019m Wiske\u00b7djak.\u201d Then he took to\nthe bush and escaped.\n\n\n\n\n(3) Wiske\u00b7djak Invites the Ducks to a Dance.\n\nWiske\u00b7djak was always hungry. One time, in the autumn of the year, he\nnoticed the flocks of ducks flying south and how fat they were. Then he\nmade up his mind to try and get some for a good supply against the\nwinter. He decided to make a big dance among the birds in the autumn\nand to invite all the ducks and geese to come, so that he could kill\nthem. Then he set to work and built a big wigwam and cleaned a nice\nplace around the outside. He built a little fire in the middle of the\nwigwam and fixed a nice space all around it for the dance to take\nplace. Then he made his door of birch bark, so that the centre stick,\nwhich keeps the bark spread, extended over the ends of the bark and\nkept it from opening inwards. Now, everything was about ready, so he\nwent to see a Duck and said to him, \u201cSoon, now, you will be going away\nsouth to be gone all winter and not to come back until next spring. It\nwill be a long time before I will see you again, so I want to get up a\ndance for you all. You go and invite all your friends\u2014the Ducks, the\nGeese and the others who go south.\u201d \u201cAll right,\u201d said the Duck.\n\nSo he got ready and went back to his wigwam to wait for the company. To\nhelp invite the birds, he sat down in front of it and got his drum and\nrattle and began singing a song of invitation.\n\nAs the ducks came flying by overhead, they heard his song and came down\nto join the party. He sang his song and told them, \u201cYou are going away\nto be gone until next spring, and I won\u2019t see you for a long time, so I\nwant to get up a dance for you all, before you go.\u201d A lot of them came\ndown and he gathered a crowd outside. Then he said, \u201cNow, let us go\ninside and have our good time,\u201d and he opened the door and they all\nwent in. Then he fixed the small fire in the middle so that it would\njust give enough light to see a little. \u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cyou must obey\nthe rule of this dance and do whatever you are told when you hear the\norder.\u201d He sat down on one side of the fire near the door and they all\nbegan dancing around. They got well mixed up before long\u2014the geese,\nducks, loons, and all kinds of birds, and Ci\u014bg\u0259bis [3] was there too.\nWhen he got them warmed up to the dance, they all got mixed up and soon\nWiske\u00b7djak said, \u201cNow, you must all close your eyes and not open them\nuntil I give the word.\u201d Then they obeyed and kept on dancing with their\neyes closed. Then, while their eyes were closed, Wiske\u00b7djak got up and\nbegan wringing the neck of one after another. The noise of the dancing\nprevented them from hearing what he was doing.\n\nPretty soon, Ci\u014bg\u0259bis began to suspect that Wiske\u00b7djak was moving\naround, so he danced over into a dark corner where Wiske\u00b7djak could not\nsee him and opened one of his eyes a little to peep out. There he saw\nWiske\u00b7djak going among the dancers, wringing their necks, and he called\nout, \u201cWiske\u00b7djak is killing you! Fly!\u201d Then they opened their eyes and\nsaw what was happening and took wing and flew away. But little Ci\u014bg\u0259bis\nwas way up in the corner. When the birds rushed for the door, Ci\u014bg\u0259bis\ngot there last. Wiske\u00b7djak jumped at him and gave him a kick behind\nthat knocked him out of shape. Then he kicked him out of the door and\ncried, \u201cNow go, you little rascal.\u201d Ci\u014bg\u0259bis flew off. Ever since then\nhe has been out of shape. His feet are so far back that he cannot walk\non land. Wiske\u00b7djak did not eat the ducks he had killed after all. He\nwas a curious lad, that Wiske\u00b7djak. (I wasn\u2019t with him any longer. I\nleft him there.) [4]\n\n\n\n\n(4) Wiske\u00b7djak Anum Suum Urit and Originates Rock-weed and Red Willow\nfrom the Scabs.\n\nNow Wiske\u00b7djak went on after he had kicked Ci\u014bg\u0259bis. He saw the flocks\nof birds rising in the sky and flying overhead for the south to where\nit is warmer. When he lost sight of them, he went back into his wigwam\nand looked over what birds he had killed. He wondered how he could cook\nthem best, so they would taste good. Then he made up his mind to build\na big fire outside his wigwam. When he got the fire well started, he\ngot a stick and sharpened its point; then with this he loosened up the\nground all around and under the fire. When the fire burned down, it\nleft the sand red hot round about, and the holes too. Then, where the\nholes were, he stuck the fowl head-first with their feathers all on\njust as he had killed them, leaving their feet sticking out above the\nground. Then he put on more fire to roast them well in the hot sand. He\nstayed up part of the night tending his fire, until he grew drowsy.\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cI\u2019ll take a little sleep while my birds are cooking in\nthe sand.\u201d But he grew uneasy lest somebody might come while he was\nsleeping and steal his birds. Now Wiske\u00b7djak had the power to make\nanything answer him when he spoke to it, no matter what it might be. So\nhe decided to lie down in a clear space facing the lake where people\nwould come in a canoe if any were around. He lay down ano suo lacui\nadverso, resting on his knees and elbows. \u201cNow,\u201d declared he, \u201cI\u2019m\ngoing to have a little sleep. You watch and tell me when you see any\nIndians, if they should come in a canoe. Wake me up if you see\nanybody.\u201d So he went to sleep. After a while anus ejus clamavit, saying\nthat an Indian was coming. Wiske\u00b7djak jumped up and looked around\neverywhere, but could not see anybody. So he lay down again and ano suo\nidem dixit ut antea. But just as he was going to sleep, anus iterum\nclamavit, saying that a canoe was approaching from around the point.\nWiske\u00b7djak jumped up again and looked all around, but he could not see\nany canoe. He then grew angry and anum suum vehementes objurgavit and\nwarned it not to tell any more lies, as he wanted to go to sleep. Then\nhe lay down and fell asleep again.\n\n\n\nNow this time there were some Indians coming around the point in a\ncanoe and they saw the smoke from Wiske\u00b7djak\u2019s fire on the shore of the\nlake. Seeing something strange-looking near the fire\u2014they could not\nwell make out what\u2014they paddled near. As they drifted quietly in shore,\nlooking sharp to see what curious creature it might be, they came quite\nclose. One of the Indians said, \u201cLook out, it might be Wiske\u00b7djak up to\nsome more of his mischief.\u201d So one of the men went ashore and said,\n\u201cI\u2019ll go see who it is and what he is doing.\u201d Then he went up the shore\nto where Wiske\u00b7djak was crouching asleep and looked at him. He then\nfound out who it was, Wiske\u00b7djak, and saw the fire burning, but\ncouldn\u2019t see anything cooking. But at last he examined the fire-place\nand saw the fowls\u2019 legs sticking out of the sand around the fire. He\nstepped closer to the fire and saw that they were the legs of all kinds\nof ducks and geese. Then he went down to the water and told the rest of\nthe men what he had found. Said they, \u201cWe will all go up and take\nWiske\u00b7djak\u2019s ducks and geese out of the sand and play a trick on him.\u201d\nSo they got out of the canoe and took their paddles. They dug up all\nthe fowl with the paddles and twisted the legs off them. The legs they\nstuck back in the sand just as Wiske\u00b7djak had placed them. They then\ntook the ducks and geese and started off as fast as possible before\nWiske\u00b7djak should wake up and see them.\n\nPretty soon Wiske\u00b7djak did wake up, as he had slept enough. He got up\nand looked about. Nobody was around and things looked quiet. \u201cI guess\nmy food is pretty well cooked by this time,\u201d said he. Then he pulled up\none of the duck legs from the sand, and ate the meat on the shank. He\nwent all around pulling the fowls\u2019 legs out of the sand and eating\nthem. \u201cThey are very well done to pull off so easily. Oh, they must be\nnice and tender!\u201d thought he. The only thing he noticed was that the\nlegs came very freely from the sand. \u201cThey must be very well cooked to\ncome out of the sand so freely.\u201d He took a digging stick and commenced\nto dig them out. He commenced shovelling away the sand where one of his\nducks was, but found the hole empty, and he dug all around in the sand\nbut found they were all taken away. He could not find one bird. At last\nhe got tired of searching and then ano suo dixit, \u201cSo I thought I left\nyou to watch for me while I was asleep!\u201d Et anus [5]respondit, \u201cWhen I\nwas watching for you and woke you up, you were not satisfied. You gave\nme a scolding. So when the Indians did come, I thought I would leave\nyou to do your own watching.\u201d\n\nThen Wiske\u00b7djak grew angry and planned anum suum castigare. He got wood\nand made another big fire. He got it burning well until there were a\nlot of red coals. \u201cNow,\u201d ano suo dixit, \u201cI\u2019ll give you a little\npunishment for letting my ducks and geese go to the Indians.\u201d He went\nover to the fire and straddled his legs over the fire-place, sitting\nover the red coals. Anum suum paulum urere incepit ut eum castigaret,\nbut he stood the pain the fire gave him. Soon his flesh commenced\nsizzling, making a sputtering noise \u201cTsii!\u201d as it roasted nicely. He\nheard it squealing. \u201cYou can squeal all you like till you get enough of\na scorching,\u201d ano suo dixit Wiske\u00b7djak. When he thought it was burnt\nenough, he got up and started walking off. He started off to look for\nsomething else to do, ano suo maxime dolente.\n\nHe wandered across swamps and mountains and around lakes, suffering\nwith his burns. All at once he came upon a little flock of partridges\nnewly hatched, and their mother was away. \u201cKwe!\u201d said Wiske\u00b7djak, \u201cWhat\nare you doing here?\u201d \u201cNothing,\u201d said the little Partridges, \u201cjust\nstaying here.\u201d \u201cWhere is your mother?\u201d asked Wiske\u00b7djak. \u201cAway\nhunting,\u201d replied they. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d he asked of one. Each\nlittle Partridge told him its name until he came to the last, the\nyoungest one. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d he demanded. \u201cKucku\u014bge\u00b7\u2032s\u012fs, suddenly\nfrightened!\u201d answered the little Partridge. \u201cOh you!\u201d said Wiske\u00b7djak,\n\u201cwhat can you frighten?\u201d Then he took a lump of soft mud and threw it\nover all the young Partridges, so that he almost covered them with the\ndirty mud. \u201cWhat can you frighten now?\u201d said he. Then he left and\nwalked along until he came to a high mountain. He was getting very sore\nfrom his burns and anus [6]maxime doluit. When he climbed to the top\nof the mountain he found a nice breeze blowing across it. He found a\nhigh rock swept by the cooling breeze. \u201cNow,\u201d thought he to himself,\n\u201cif I can find a nice place on the highest of these rocks I can rest\nmyself and let the cool breeze cool my burns.\u201d So he searched around\nthe mountain until he came to a place clear of trees where there was a\ngreat chasm below, hundreds of feet deep, with a nice cool breeze\ncoming over. Here he lay down right on the edge where most of the\nbreeze was. He found the wind very good. He got relief from his\nsuffering burns. His pains had been so bad and he had walked so far\nthat he was very tired and sleepy. Soon he was fast asleep on the brink\nof the cliff.\n\nBy this time the old Partridge had got home to his young and found them\nall covered with black mud. The old Partridge said to his young, \u201cWhat\nhas happened to you? Where did you go? Anywhere?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d they answered,\n\u201cnowhere.\u201d \u201cWell, what did this?\u201d he asked. \u201cWell, Wiske\u00b7djak came\nalong to-day after you went away. He commenced asking us questions and\nwe answered him as well as we could. He asked us our names and we all\ntold him. But one, our youngest brother, was the last to be asked, and\nwhen he told his name Wiske\u00b7djak got angry and said, \u2018What could you\nfrighten?\u2019 Then he got mud and threw it over us and left us in this\nmess.\u201d So the old Partridge was angry. He cleaned the young ones up,\nwashed and dried them, and gave them their food which he had brought\nback for them. Then he asked them which way Wiske\u00b7djak went and they\nshowed him the direction. Then the old Partridge took the trail the\nlittle ones showed him and followed Wiske\u00b7djak across the swamps, over\nthe mountains, and around the lakes. He tracked him to the big high\nmountains. He kept on until he reached the high rock of the cliff, and\nthere he saw Wiske\u00b7djak lying on the edge of the rock sleeping soundly.\nThe old Partridge went alongside of him on the upper side of the rock,\nabove him. He spread his wings and went right up close to Wiske\u00b7djak\u2019s\nears, and shouted, screeched, and clapped his wings. Wiske\u00b7djak woke up\nwith a start and jumped up. He saw something above him making a\nterrible noise and took such a fright that he fell over the edge of the\nrock. \u201cNow,\u201d said the old Partridge, \u201cyou will know better what\nKucku\u014bge\u00b7\u2032s\u012fs is now.\u201d\n\nSo poor Wiske\u00b7djak tumbled down the cliff, banging and sliding on his\nhind-quarters, and scraped all the scabs off his burns. When he fell to\nthe bottom of the rocky cliff, he lay stunned for some time, but after\na while he arose. He started to crawl away on his hands and knees. Soon\nhe saw a lake at the bottom of the cliff. His sores pained him very\nbadly. Thought he to himself, \u201cThere\u2019s a nice lake; now I\u2019ll go down\nthere and cool myself in the water.\u201d He started crawling toward the\nshore. Before he came to the edge of the water there were a lot of low\nwillows he had to crawl through. As he went over them, he looked back\nwhere he had come and saw all his blood from the sores stuck on to the\nwillow twigs. Then said he, \u201cNow you young willows will be called \u2018red\nwillows\u2019 from this time on. And when the Indians get short of tobacco\nthey will cut you and scrape the bark off you and dry you and use you\nto smoke for their tobacco.\u201d He looked up higher toward the rocks where\nhe fell down. There he saw his scabs sticking to the rocks where he had\nstuck, some large, some small. Said he to the rocks, \u201cYou will hold on\nto these scabs. Don\u2019t ever let go. And when the Indians are hard put to\nit for something to eat, you will give them some of my scabs and tell\nthem to wash them in cold water and boil them with rabbit meat or any\nkind of meat or fish. It will furnish them with fine soup, those small\nones. And now the biggest scabs\u2014you can tell them that if they have any\nkind of oil they can oil them a little and roast them before the fire\nand that it will give them good nourishment when they are hard put to\nit for something to eat.\u201d So from that time the Indians have used red\nwillow bark to smoke and the \u201crock weed\u201d to eat when they have needed\nthem. [7] By this time anus Wiske\u00b7djaki magnopere doluit and he thought\nhe would go into the water for a while and cool his burns.\n\nSo I had some travelling to do and I left him there, and I don\u2019t know\nwhere he went.\n\n\n\n\n(5) Wiske\u00b7djak Disguises himself as a Lynx.\n\nOne time in winter Wiske\u00b7djak was going along and fell upon an Indian\u2019s\ntrail. He followed the tracks of the snowshoes and soon came to a place\nwhere the Indian had set his rabbit snares. Wiske\u00b7djak saw the rabbits\nin the snares. He followed on and finally came to where a Lynx was\ncaught in a snare. He thought it was a very curious looking creature.\nThe Lynx\u2019s eyes were bulging out from being choked in the snare, and\nhis teeth showed. Now Wiske\u00b7djak admired the Lynx\u2019s bulging eyes.\n\u201cDon\u2019t you think your eyes are very pretty?\u201d he asked the Lynx. \u201cNo,\nnot very,\u201d answered the Lynx, because every thing living or dead had to\nreply when Wiske\u00b7djak asked it a question. Wiske\u00b7djak was very eager to\nget pretty eyes like the Lynx\u2019s, so he made a fire and roasted the poor\nLynx to get its skin off. Then Wiske\u00b7djak took out his own eyes and\npulled the Lynx\u2019s skin on over his own head, so that the bulging eyes\nof the Lynx fitted into his own eye sockets.\n\nThen Wiske\u00b7djak went on his travels, very well pleased with his looks.\nBut he found out that with the Lynx\u2019s eyes he could only see well at\nnight. So after a while he became dissatisfied with the new eyes, but\nhe had thrown his own away, so he had to make the best of it. He could\nonly travel at night on account of his new eyes. So he had to make his\nliving on rabbits, stealing them from the Indians\u2019 snares. They were\nall he could get. One day, as he was going along, he stopped and looked\nat his tracks. Then he discovered that his paws were big and broad and\nso spread out when he walked that they resembled snowshoes. They were\nso broad that he could walk over the snow without snowshoes. So he went\non.\n\nOne day he decided to watch the Indians, so he sat down on a log near a\nhunter\u2019s path and waited for someone to come along. He waited all night\nand part of the day. Finally some Indians came along the path to visit\ntheir rabbit snares. As they passed they found the rabbits stolen from\nall their snares, but they did not mind it very much. Some time after,\none of the Indians\u2019 little children came along the trail and saw\nWiske\u00b7djak with his big face and bulging eyes sitting on the stump. The\nchild ran back to camp and told his parents that he saw a big wildcat\nwith bulging eyes staring at him from a stump. Then the father of the\nchild took his \u201carrow-head club,\u201d [8] and went to where the child said\nhe saw the wildcat. Then he started clubbing Wiske\u00b7djak to kill him.\nThe fight was getting pretty bad, when Wiske\u00b7djak cried out, \u201cHold on,\nhold on! it isn\u2019t a lynx, it is Wiske\u00b7djak that you are pounding to\ndeath!\u201d And Wiske\u00b7djak tore off the lynx skin, and pitched it away.\nThen he took to the bush. That\u2019s the last I saw of him.\n\n\n\n\n(6) Wiske\u00b7djak\u2019s Love Affair.\n\nWiske\u00b7djak never got married to a woman. But he pretended to get\nmarried. One time he dressed himself like a woman, with skirts, and\ntried to deceive a young man, so that he thought Wiske\u00b7djak was his\nwife. Wiske\u00b7djak pretended to be jealous of the man when he went away.\nThe other people knew that it was Wiske\u00b7djak all the time and laughed\nto themselves and made fun of the pair. The young man lived with\nWiske\u00b7djak for some time, thinking it was his wife. But the other\npeople made fun of the young man so much that at last he left\nWiske\u00b7djak. Several times he got young men to live with him as their\nwife, but at last they all left him and he went away by himself. He was\na queer fellow, that Wiske\u00b7djak. He never got married because he would\nnot be bothered with a woman, as he had to be travelling all the time.\n\n\n\n\n(7) Ci\u014bg\u0259bis.\n\nCi\u014bg\u0259bis was a remarkable fellow, a wonderful diver who could stay\nunderneath the water all day if he wanted to. He was married and lived\nwith his wife\u2019s people. One time he had some kind of a dispute with\nthem and they would not give in to him. So he said he would go away. As\nit was winter time, there was a water hole in the ice on the lake, and\nhe went down and slid into the water and disappeared. His relatives\nspent all day hunting for him along the shores, thinking he might come\nup along the edge, but he did not. Then they went home and gave him up.\nIn a few months, when his wife\u2019s brothers were out on the lake in their\ncanoe, they spied a little duck swimming a long way off, and paddled up\nto him. This was Ci\u014bg\u0259bis. When they got near, they recognized him and\nasked him, \u201cAre you not Ci\u014bg\u0259bis?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d said he. \u201cWe thought you were\ndrowned. Are you coming back again?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d said he, and fluttered his\nwings and sank out of sight, leaving only his bill above the water,\nwhich they could not see. This time he stayed under all day, and when\nnight came, he left the country. His wife\u2019s people thought he was\neither dead or gone.\n\nThen Ci\u014bg\u0259bis travelled to another village, where he heard there was a\nbeautiful girl. When he saw her all dressed up in fine clothes, new and\nbeaded, he wanted to marry her, and asked her parents for her. \u201cWho are\nyou?\u201d they asked him. \u201cI am Ci\u014bg\u0259bis,\u201d said he. \u201cWhy, we heard you were\ndrowned,\u201d said they. \u201cIt is not true. Here I am. I am Ci\u014bg\u0259bis and\nalive.\u201d \u201cYou cannot be Ci\u014bg\u0259bis, because there is only one Ci\u014bg\u0259bis,\nand we heard he was drowned. But if you are, you cannot marry the girl,\nbecause you have another wife.\u201d Now Ci\u014bg\u0259bis wanted the girl and stayed\nin the camp. He would not leave. So that night they put one of the\ngirl\u2019s brothers to sleep alongside of him, so that he could not\nsecretly get to the wigwam where the girls slept. During the night he\ntalked with the brother and told him that he would show them how he\ncould stay under water if they would give him the girl. The next\nmorning the young man told his parents about it and they talked it\nover. They thought it might be good for their boys to know how to stay\nunder water, and at last gave their consent. So they gave Ci\u014bg\u0259bis the\ngirl, and the next day went out on the lake to see him dive. The whole\nfamily got in the canoe and they paddled out to the middle of the lake.\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201clet me out here.\u201d Then he slid into the water and with\nhis body stiff sank slowly until he was out of sight. Then he struck\nout under water and reached the shore where he hid under some rushes,\njust leaving his bill above the water. His nostrils were at the end of\nhis bill, so he could breathe with only a bit above water. They waited\nfor him half the day and, though the water was calm, could not see him,\nso they gave him up and went home. That night he came back, to their\nsurprise.\n\nThey planned to go out again the next day and see him dive again. The\nnext day they went out and Ci\u014bg\u0259bis dove again and swam among some\nreeds. He got under one lying flat, and pushed it just a little above\nthe water so that his nostrils were out of water, yet covered by the\nstem of the rush. There he stayed a couple of hours out of sight. When\nthey were about to leave again, Ci\u014bg\u0259bis shouted, \u201cHe! Here I am. Can\nyou see me?\u201d They looked all around but could not see him. Then he came\nup in sight and went back to the canoe. He explained how his nostrils\nwere out at the end of his bill and how he got under the reeds and hid\nthere. Then he explained how in the winter time he could dive through\nan air hole in the ice and swim to where the rushes grew up through the\nice, pull down one of the stalks, and put his bill in the opening and\nget all the air he wanted. Said he, \u201cI can stay there a week or a\nmonth, if I want, only I get hungry. Then I dive to the bottom and eat\nsome little mussels and things on the bottom and come up to the hole\nagain. In that way I can get along under the ice all winter if I like.\u201d\nThat is how he did.\n\nNow, before long, his first wife\u2019s family heard that Ci\u014bg\u0259bis was alive\nand living with another woman. They got angry and began to conjure to\nbring sickness upon his new wife and her family. When his new wife and\nher people heard of this, they were angry at Ci\u014bg\u0259bis and wanted him to\ngo away. But he would not consent. At last he made an offer, because\nhis mother-in-law wanted her daughter to leave him. He told them that\nhe would give up his new wife and her family if they would succeed in\ngetting her away from him unknown to him. When they heard this, they\nbegan planning. For a whole year they thought of different plans. At\nlast the old mother-in-law said she had a plan, and told everyone in\nthe family to help her get up a big dance and invite all the people to\ncome. Ci\u014bg\u0259bis was very jealous of his wife and had his camp apart from\nthe others, lest some man might take a fancy to his wife and take her\naway. His jealousy was known everywhere and he never let her out of\nsight. Knowing this, the old mother-in-law made her plan. She sent a\nspecial invitation to Ci\u014bg\u0259bis and his wife and told her sons to try to\nget him to come. Now Ci\u014bg\u0259bis suspected some trick and told his wife\nnot to go to the dance. \u201cIf I have to go, you must stay here at home\nand not move away from the wigwam.\u201d\n\nWhen the night of the dance came, they got everything ready\u2014the drum\nand rattles, and everybody was coming from every camp. They prepared a\nkind of drink out of boiled bark and herbs with tobacco juice in it,\nthat would make people dizzy when they drank it. Ci\u014bg\u0259bis did not want\nto go to the dance at first, but everybody coaxed him until he started.\nBut he told his wife to stay at home and not leave for anything. Now\nthis was just what the old woman depended on, because she knew how\njealous Ci\u014bg\u0259bis was. When the dance began, everybody began drinking\nsome of the strong herb liquor and it went to their heads and made them\nfeel good, and dizzy. The old woman told her sons to keep Ci\u014bg\u0259bis well\nsupplied with the drink and not to let him leave until late. She then\nwaited until the dancing was well started and everybody was warmed up\nto it. Then she quietly slipped away when she saw that Ci\u014bg\u0259bis was\ndancing hard and feeling good with the drink. He had almost forgotten\nabout his wife and what might happen. The old woman went off into the\nwoods to where there was a dead spruce stump that was full of ants. She\ncut off the stump and got a piece about the length of a person. The\nants are asleep in the cold of night and will not rouse when disturbed.\nThe stump she took with her to Ci\u014bg\u0259bis\u2019 wigwam and quietly called to\nher daughter inside. \u201cCome, daughter, I have come to take you home away\nfrom Ci\u014bg\u0259bis,\u201d she whispered. \u201cYou get up out of bed and leave\neverything as it is.\u201d \u201cAll right,\u201d said the girl, and she packed up a\nfew of her things and came out. Then the old woman took the stump full\nof ants in and put it beneath the rabbitskin blanket, covered it up\njust like the girl\u2019s figure sleeping there, and the two then fled to\nthe mother\u2019s camp.\n\nCi\u014bg\u0259bis stayed late at the dance. He drank a great deal of the liquor\nand got pretty dizzy before he thought about going home. At last he\nleft the dance and started for his wigwam. He entered quietly. \u201cAre you\nasleep?\u201d he asked of his wife. There was no answer. \u201cAha! that\u2019s good,\u201d\nsaid he. \u201cI\u2019ll let her sleep and then there will be no danger of her\nbeing carried away tonight, as I am very sleepy with my weariness and\ncannot keep awake to watch her tonight. That\u2019s good; she is sound\nasleep.\u201d And he felt her blanket and found what he thought was her\nfigure beneath the rabbitskin. Then he lay down quietly beside her, so\nas not to awaken her, and pretty soon was fast asleep.\n\nBefore long some of the ants got warmed up by his body and began\ncrawling over him. \u201cOh! what\u2019s that crawling over me! Do you know what\nit is that is creeping over us?\u201d he asked his wife, and gave the stump\nanother poke with his elbow. No answer. \u201cWell, you are asleep yet. But\nthat\u2019s good. There won\u2019t be any danger of your walking about the camp\nattracting the other men while I am asleep. But oh! how those things\nbite. I wonder what they are!\u201d Then he dozed off again and was awakened\nagain by the ants stinging him. He managed to bear it all night, and in\nthe morning woke up suddenly, all bitten up. He jumped up, threw off\nthe rabbitskin blanket, and instead of his wife there lay the old\nrotten spruce stump swarming with ants.\n\n\n\n\n(8) Remarks About Wiske\u00b7djak.\n\n\nTIMISKAMING ALGONQUIN TEXT.\n\nwiske\u00b7djak wi\u00b7\u2032egiskenda\u2035go zi\u2032gob\u03b1n igi\u00b7\u2032bi\u00b7\nWiske\u00b7djak was always doing mischief, it is said, in his lifetime\n\nwi\u00b7\u2032gip\u0259ma\u02bbt\u03b1zi\u00b7matc anic\u0259na\u2032bi m\u0254\u00b7\u2032jak ano\u2032tcke\u00b7\u2035gon\n living among the Indians, always everything\n\n ogi\u00b7\u2032jini\u2035gwuna\u2035dji\u00b7an wi\u00b7\u2032djini\u2035c\u0259na\u2032bin\u02bb i\u2032yanotc m\u0254\u00b7\u2032j\u03b1k\ndoing what he could teasing his countrymen Indians. Everywhere always\n\n ki\u00b7\u2032b\u0259ba\u2035ma\u00b7\u2035d\u0259zitc e\u2032ji\u00b7 ani\u2032c\u0259nabe\u00b7ka\u2035nik ki\u00b7b\u0259ba\u2032nd\u0259\ngoing about during his life wherever there were Indians. Going about\n\nmi\u00b7\u2032gucka\u2035djiatc wi\u00b7\u2032dj\u0259nic\u0259na\u2035bi owi\u00b7\u2032etenda\u2035go zi\u2032gob\u03b1n\n teasing his countrymen. He was funny, it is said,\n\n sa\u2032wi\u00b7na\u2035nawe i\u00b7yeja\u2032nawe ega\nat the same time to have him about for all that. He had\n\nu\u00b7jo\u2032dji\u00b7ma\u2035n\u0259s\u00b7ik m\u0254\u00b7\u2032j\u03b1k ki\u00b7gmita\u2032z\u0259ga\u00b7\u2035m\u025b\u00b7tc kenowekwa\u00b7\u2032s\u00b7e\n no canoe; always he walked about the land a great distance,\n\n ki\u00b7\u2032b\u0259ba aye\u2032ja ke\u2032gat\u02bb enigu\u2032k\u02bbkami\u00b7ga\u02bbg\u2071\ngoing here and about there. Almost travelled over the whole world\n\n ak\u00b7i\u2032\u014bg ki\u00b7no\u2032ndaga\u2035newe ki\u00b7\u02bbb\u0259ba mi\u00b7gu\u2032cka\u2035dzitc\non earth. We heard tell of him going about doing mischief.\n\n kaye\u2032ga\u02bbk\u00b7i\u2035n\u0259ge\u2035gon ogi\u00b7\u2032g\u0259cki\u2035t\u00b7on tci\u00b7a\u2032n\u0259mit\u00b7a\u02bbg\u02b7\u0259t\u00b7o\u2035tc\nHe had everything so that it would answer him when he spoke to it;\n\nmi\u02bbti\u2032g\u00b7on\u02bb nibi\u00b7\u2032 awe\u2032\u02bbsi\u00b7z\u03b1\u2035n\u02bb ano\u2032tc awi\u00b7\u2032\u03b1n\u02bb awe\u2032gwe\u2035n\u0259c\u00b7\u0259\u02bbn\u02bb\n trees, water, animals, and all other small creatures\n\nogi\u00b7\u2032n\u0259kwe\u2035\u02bbta\u02bbgon\u02bb i\u00b7g\u03b1no\u2032nac mi\u00b7\u2032s\u03b1mini\u2035k teba\u2032dji\u00b7m\u03b1\u2035k\nwould reply to him when he spoke. That is as much as can be told\n\n wiske\u00b7djak.\nof Wiske\u00b7djak.\n\n\n\n\nFREE TRANSLATION.\n\nWiske\u00b7djak was always doing mischief in his lifetime among the Indians,\nso it is said. He was always doing everything he could to plague his\ncountrymen, the Indians. He spent his life going about everywhere where\nthere were Indians, to tease them and play mischief among them. Because\nhe was so funny, it was thought good to have him going about in spite\nof his mischief. He had no canoe, so he always walked about, going\ngreat distances here and there and everywhere, until he had travelled\nalmost all over the world, where he was heard of doing his mischievous\npranks. He had the power to make everything in creation answer him when\nhe spoke to it; trees, water, animals, and all the other little\ncreatures would reply to him when he spoke. That is all that can be\nsaid of Wiske\u00b7djak.\n\n\n\n\n(9) Further Comment on Wiske\u00b7djak.\n\nWiske\u00b7djak, \u201cmeat bird,\u201d was a great mischief maker. He was always a\nroamer, always hungry. He used to visit from one family of Indians to\nanother, but he never liked to stay long with one, so soon he would\nmove away and go near other people. He was always looking for trouble\nand got it too, but in spite of all he was never killed. Indeed, nobody\never wanted to kill him, even though he was causing so much mischief,\nbecause the people liked to have him around. So he never came to an\nend. All of Wiske\u00b7djak\u2019s pranks were done at different times long ago,\nnot all one after another at one time, as it might seem. He is still\nliving somewhere, but he is very quiet now, as we don\u2019t hear of him\ndoing anything new nowadays.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTIMISKAMING FOLK-LORE.\n\n\n(1)\n\nWi\u2032ndigo: a man-eating creature who roams through woods devouring\nluckless victims. He is believed to have commenced as a hunter who\nbecame lost in the bush, and lost all his provisions and clothing. Then\nhe preyed upon anything he could find, like an animal.\n\n\n\n\n(2)\n\nPa\u00b7\u2032guk\u02bb: a creature of bones, a skeleton, that clatters through the\nforest, making a great rattling and squeaking noise. When this is\nheard, it is understood as an omen that some friend will be lost.\nPa\u00b7\u2032guk\u02bb is accounted for by the story of a hunter who got starved out\nin the bush. Before he died he wished that his life and the strength of\nhis flesh might be transferred to his bones. He got his wish, and his\nstrength went into his bones when his flesh fell away. Whenever he\nwished, he could fly through the air as though on wings.\n\n\n\n\n(3)\n\nThe constellation Ursa Major (Great Bear or Dipper) is called w\u0259dji\u00b7\u2032g\n\u201cfisher\u201d or \u201cblack cat\u201d (Mustela pennanti). The four main stars of the\ngroup form the body of the animal; the stars trailing behind (the\nhandle of the dipper) represent the fisher\u2019s tail, the bend showing the\nbent tail of the animal. The story accounts for the presence of the\nfisher in the sky, relating how the various animals tried to reach the\nnorth star, but eventually froze to death. The fisher is still trying\nto reach it and he is the nearest, but he only keeps going round and\nround it (representing the revolution of the constellation about the\nNorth Star) without being able to get there.\n\n\n\n\n(4)\n\nThe Northern Lights are called wa\u2032t\u00b7e \u201cillumination\u201d (reduplicated\nwawa\u2032t\u00b7e is \u201clightning\u201d from thunder). They are caused by the waves\nsplashing against the rocky shores of the northern seas (James bay),\nwhich produce a sort of reflected glow. The seething noise which is\nsometimes heard when the aurora is visible is attributed to the\ngrinding of the rocks and gravel along the shore of the sea driven by\nthe action of water and wind in the north.\n\nThe Indians here think that within two days after the aurora is seen\nthey will get a heavy wind storm. They also state that wild geese\nrequire a day and a night to reach Lake Timiskaming from James bay when\nthey migrate, thus showing the speed of the wind by comparison.\n\n\n\n\n(5)\n\nThe Rainbow is called w\u0259d\u03b1\u2032dgwan\u0259bi\u00b7san\u02bb \u201cforms from the water,\u201d since\nthe phenomenon is believed to be caused by the mist from breakers on\nsome great body of water, just as a rainbow will appear above the spray\nalong the seashore or hanging in the mist above some waterfalls.\n\n\n\n\n(6)\n\nThe Milky Way is bine\u2032s\u00b7imi\u00b7k\u00b7\u03b1n\u02bb \u201cbird\u2019s path,\u201d because it is by the\nMilky Way that the fowl and birds follow their northward or southward\ncourse in their migrations. It guides them southward in the autumn and\nback again in the spring. Less frequently the Milky Way is called\ndji\u00b7ba\u2032imi\u00b7k\u00b7\u03b1n\u02bb \u201cspirit path\u201d over which the spirits of the dead are\nthought to journey.\n\n\n\n\n(7)\n\nTo see a white animal is a sign of bad luck to a hunter. \u201cOnce a man\nwent hunting. After he had been travelling all day and taken a few\nanimals, he saw a bear that was half black and half white. Then he said\nto himself, \u2018I must not hunt any more this trip. If I do, some harm\nwill come to my family.\u2019 So he went home.\u201d\u2014\u201cIf a hunter sees an albino\nanimal he must stop hunting or evil will befall him or some member of\nhis family.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(8)\n\nTo find a dwarfed animal is an omen of misfortune. \u201cOnce two men were\nout on a long hunting trip. Soon after they had begun trapping, they\nfound a dwarfed beaver in one of the traps. It was not small because it\nwas young, but they could see it was an old one, but much undersized.\nWhen the older of the two men saw this, he said, \u2018We must go home at\nonce and give up hunting because something is wrong at home.\u2019 Although\nthey had been gone only a short time, they turned back, and when they\ngot home, they found that one of his sons was dead and that the family\nwas waiting to bury him.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(9)\n\nTo foretell what kind of animals will be killed the next day by men\njust before going hunting, a partridge breast bone is burnt or scorched\nbefore the fire. The shape of the scorched portion suggests, by a vague\nresemblance, the form of some animal.\n\n\n\n\n(10)\n\nThe tips of the wings of birds that are killed for food are preserved\nabout the camp for good luck, or, as they say, \u201cto ask for more luck.\u201d\nSome hunters also preserve the skulls of all the game they kill. \u201cIf\nthey throw these parts of the animals away, they won\u2019t be able to find\nwhat creatures they may look for afterward.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(11)\n\nIf blue bottle flies are killed it will bring rain.\n\n\n\n\n(12)\n\nIf, in winter, rabbit\u2019s hair is thrown into the smoke of a fire, as it\nrises in the heat toward the sky, it will cause snow the next day.\nChildren are scolded when they do these things at the wrong time.\n\n\n\n\n(13)\n\nIn the body of a fish are various bones which the Indians liken to\ndifferent utensils and tools in the hunter\u2019s outfit. There is a gun,\nspear, bow and arrow, knife, paddle, sled, snowshoe, awl, etc. This is\nmerely a saying.\n\n\n\n\n(14)\n\nAnother idea is that a \u201cleft-handed person is clever, because he fools\npeople by the way he does things.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(15) Bear Feast.\n\nThe following description of the ceremony attending the eating of a\nbear is based on the accounts of three participants.\n\nWhen a bear has been killed, the families in the neighbourhood assemble\nat a camp conveniently near. The hunter who has killed the bear becomes\nthe host of the occasion, which is called m\u03b1\u2032gw\u03b1ce\u00b7\u2035 \u201cfeast.\u201d Slabs of\nbirch bark are spread upon a clear space of ground to serve as a sort\nof table. The carcass is then butchered, the head being cut off,\nincluding the first vertebra, the long piece of breast fat is also cut\noff with the head, so that the two remain together. The head with this\nmass of breast fat is then put into a separate cooking vessel. Then the\nbirch bark slabs, often 12 feet long, forming the cover of some wigwam,\nare covered with the cut up portions of the meat. Birch bark dishes are\nplaced for each participant on the bark, with extra dishes for the\ngravy. The grease from the cooking vessels is then collected and put\ninto a separate vessel to cool, so that it will be thick enough to\ndrink. When the meat has been boiled properly, all the guests are\nseated at their places around the bark spread. Often they have a dance\naround it at this time. Before they begin to eat, the chief goes around\nto each guest and with a big wooden spoon, holding about a cupful and a\nhalf, gives each a spoonful of grease. Then they begin to eat.\n\nWhen the feast is about half through, the chief gets up and decorates\nthe bear\u2019s head with bright coloured ribbons about six inches long\nattached to little cedar sticks about four inches long, with their ends\nsplit to hold the ribbons. These ribbon streamers are stuck into the\nfat and about the head. Then the head itself is impaled on a stick and,\ncarrying this in his hand, the chief dances twice around the company,\nsinging a tune to a burden of syllables. After this performance the\nchief plants the stick with the head upon it in the middle of the\nspread before all the guests, where it is left. Then they finish\neating.\n\nAfter the feast the oldest and most venerable man in the camp is\npresented with the head and the attached breast fat, which he may\neither take home or distribute over again to the company. After the\nfeast is over the chief must go around and consume what grease is left.\nThis is to demonstrate his capacity as a man and hearty eater. After\nall is over, the lower jaw bone is tied to the skull in its proper\nposition and black stripes are painted on the skull. This is then put\non the stub end of a branch of a tree facing from some prominent point\ntoward the river or lake, near the water\u2019s edge. Here it can be seen by\npassers by as a reminder of the place and occasion of the bear feast.\n\nThe Indians themselves can give little comment on the meaning or reason\nof this ceremony, except that it is done from respect to the bear and\nsatisfaction in securing a bountiful supply of meat. It belongs to the\nvariously expressed series of bear rites widespread among the northern\ntribes.\n\n\n\n\n(16) Legend of Iroquois Falls.\n\nOnce long ago a war party of Iroquois came north into this country to\nfight the Indians at Abitibi. On the way they captured an old woman and\ntook her with them to guide them. When they were on Abitibi river they\ndrew near the big falls there without knowing it. The old woman was\nmade to stay in the first canoe. When she knew they were nearing the\nfalls she slowed up so that the flotilla of canoes became bunched. The\napproach to the falls is very much concealed. All of a sudden they\nfound themselves upon the brink of the falls, and before they could\nhelp themselves they all went over. The old woman was lost with the\nrest in saving her people from being massacred by the Iroquois. [9]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nMYTHS AND FOLK-LORE OF THE TIMAGAMI OJIBWA.\n\n\n\nIntroduction.\n\nIn the following pages are presented the myths and items of folk-lore\nrelated by various informants through Aleck Paul, the second chief of\nthe Timagami band of Ojibwa. I present them without any comparisons\nwith other mythologies at this time, as we may expect before long to\nhave more northern Algonkian mythology available for study and\nanalysis.\n\n\n\n\n(1) Nenebuc, the Transformer.\n\n\n(a) The Magic Birth of Nenebuc and his Four Brothers. [10]\n\nThere were two people living, a man and his wife, who had an only\ndaughter. When she was twelve years old, the age of puberty, she was\ntaken over a hill and was kept there in a camp alone for twelve days,\nneither eating nor drinking, in order that she might have a dream. [11]\nIf she should eat or drink, she would have no dream. If, while she was\ndreaming, a panther came alone, she would be very strong. So her\nparents kept her there. The girl dreamed of the sun, so she could not\nlook at the sun any more, for if she did so, she would have to go away\nfrom her parents and live with the sun. When the girl had had this\ndream, she went back to her parents and her father asked her, \u201cWhat\nhave you been dreaming?\u201d \u201cI am very sorry, but I have dreamed of the\nsun, so I cannot ever look at the sun again,\u201d replied his daughter.\n\u201cWell, now it is too bad, but you mustn\u2019t look at the sun,\u201d said her\nfather. \u201cYou stay here all the time. Don\u2019t look at the sun, that\u2019s\nall.\u201d\n\nThe girl used to get water at the shore and stay there a long time. One\nday in March, she went to the water hole, broke the ice and looked into\nthe water. In so doing, she made a mistake, for there was no cloud in\nthe sky and the sun was shining brightly near the horizon, so that,\nearly in the morning, she looked at the sun. [12] She brought the water\nback in a birch bark pail and placed it inside the wigwam, but she\ncould not sit down. \u201cWhat is the matter?\u201d said her father. \u201cWhy, I\nlooked at the sun,\u201d answered his daughter. \u201cWell, good-bye, you\u2019ve got\nto live with the sun now,\u201d said her father. Then the girl and her\nparents shook hands and she went away to live with the sun, and is\nthere yet. Before she went away she said to her father, \u201cYou will see\nyour grandchildren before long.\u201d Then she told him to put his wooden\ndish upside down before the fire and to leave it there four days and\nfour nights and to look under it every morning. Then she went to live\nwith the sun.\n\nSo the old man put the dish upside down before the fire. The first\nmorning he lifted the edge of the dish, looked under, and there he saw\nNenebuc, the child of the sun, sitting. The next morning he did the\nsame thing and he saw Nenebuc\u2019s brother sitting with him. He kept doing\nthis the third, fourth, and fifth mornings, until there were Nenebuc\nand his four brothers all sitting under the dish. Then the old man\npicked up the dish. One of the brothers, the second brother, had horns\non his head and the old man said to him, \u201cYou won\u2019t stay here. You go\nto the west.\u201d Then he sent one brother to the east, one to the south,\nand one to the north. So Nenebuc, the eldest of the five, was left. The\nold man told him to attend to the world and to keep the winds going\njust right lest the water get stagnant and bad. Then Nenebuc stayed,\nand his four brothers started to the four parts of the earth.\n\nOne day Nenebuc asked his grandfather, \u201cWhere have I been born? Had I a\nmother like other people?\u201d His grandfather would not tell him, but his\ngrandmother told him that he had been found. This appeared queer to\nNenebuc and he thought to himself, \u201cThe other people have mothers, but\nI have none. I must find out.\u201d So he took a whetstone and, scraping it\non a rock, he asked it, \u201cHave I any mother?\u201d \u201cYes, you have a mother,\u201d\nreplied the whetstone and then it told him his story. Then Nenebuc told\nhis grandfather, \u201cI have a mother and four brothers besides. The\nwhetstone told me so.\u201d\n\nSoon Nenebuc began growing larger and he thought it strange that he had\nnot been sent out into the world like his brothers, so he asked his\ngrandfather for what reason he had kept him. His grandfather told him\nthat he had kept him at home so that when he became old and feeble\nNenebuc would be able to help him, cut wood for him, and hunt for him.\nThis satisfied Nenebuc and he used to help his grandfather in many\nways, spearing fish for him in calm days, hunting for him, and doing\nmany other things. He never got into any mischief and he grew very\nfast.\n\n\n\n(b) Nenebuc Tempers the Wind.\n\nOne summer Nenebuc was unable to get fish for the whole summer on\naccount of the high winds. The people almost starved, and then Nenebuc\nbecame very angry. He did not like to see his grandfather starving and\nhis anger was aroused against the West Wind for blowing so much. So he\ntold his grandfather that he was going to kill the West Wind for this,\nbut the old man said to him, \u201cDon\u2019t kill him. Make him let the wind\nblow a while and then stop, so that everything will be all right, but\ndon\u2019t kill him.\u201d \u201cWell, I won\u2019t be long away and I\u2019ll punish my\nbrother\u201d, replied Nenebuc.\n\nSo he went away and finally met his brother, the one with the two\nhorns, who lived in the west. Nenebuc hammered him soundly with a club\nand broke one of his horns. This hurt him, but did not kill him. Then\nNenebuc said, \u201cDon\u2019t blow so hard any more. You don\u2019t care for your\ngrandfather, but I do and I fear he and the people will starve.\u201d Then\nhe arranged things with his brother and went back. After this he went\nfishing and found it calm with only a little puff of wind now and then.\nThen the West Wind told his three brothers not to blow, for if they did\nNenebuc would come and kill them. The winds became frightened at this\nand did not blow at all, and because of this the water grew thick and\nstagnant and Nenebuc was unable to fish. Then his grandfather said, \u201cWe\nare going to die. There is no wind and the water is bad. Did you kill\nthe West Wind?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d said Nenebuc. \u201cI will go and see him and tell him\nto send the wind once in a while, not too often but just right.\u201d So\nNenebuc went to his brother, the West Wind, and said to him, \u201cI came\nhere to tell you that I want a little wind once in a while, but not too\nmuch.\u201d Then everything was arranged satisfactorily. Shortly after this\nNenebuc\u2019s grandparents died and were heard of no more. [13]\n\n\n\n(c) Nenebuc Starts Travelling, Anum Suum Castigat for Deceiving Him,\nChanges the Colour of the Partridge Family, and Originates Rock Tripe\nfrom his Scabs for the Benefit of the People.\n\nNow Nenebuc grew up and was alone. He was a man and began to travel. He\nknew all kinds of things concerning the trees, the world, and\neverything which his grandfather had taught him. He set out on his\nfirst journey and went toward the mountains. In one day\u2019s walk he\nclimbed over three great mountains, something that no man could do.\nWhen he reached the top of the first mountain he found a goose and\nkilled it. In like manner he killed a goose on the tops of the second\nand third mountains. Then he went down to the lake below. He was very,\nvery tired from his first day\u2019s journey. He made a fire with his\nbow-drill [14] and put his geese in the sand, which he had heated to\nbake them in. He buried them with their legs sticking out. He lay down\nby the fire and ano suo dixit to watch the geese while he slept, so\nthat no one would steal them. Just as he was dozing off to sleep, anus\nejus dixit, \u201cSomebody\u2019s coming for your geese!\u201d and Nenebuc jumped up.\nSed anus ejus eum deci piebat. It did this three or four times. At last\nNenebuc grew angry. He took a club and anum suum percussit and told it\nnot to do that again. Then he went to sleep. Some people came along and\nstole the geese, but left the legs sticking in the same place.\n\nWhen Nenebuc awoke, anum suum interrogavit, \u201cDid any one come?\u201d \u201cI\ndon\u2019t know,\u201d anus ejus respondit. \u201cAs soon as you fell asleep, I slept.\nI don\u2019t know.\u201d Nenebuc then pulled up the legs of the geese and found\nnothing else. \u201cIt\u2019s well cooked,\u201d said he. He made a big fire. \u201cNow\nI\u2019ll punish you,\u201d ano suo dixit and he held it over the fire.\n\u201cTc\u012f\u00b7\u2032\u012f\u012f!\u201d clamavit anus ejus. \u201cYou can cry all you want to. I\u2019ll\npunish you,\u201d said Nenebuc, ano suo strepitum urendi faciente. He didn\u2019t\nfeel the burns then. Then he started walking.\n\nNext day he felt a little sick and anus ejus scabi osus fuit. In\nwalking he got turned around and saw his own tracks. \u201cSomebody\u2019s passed\nhere,\u201d he said to himself, when he saw them. Then he saw some kind of\nmeat lying on the ground, and he tasted it. \u201cSomebody had some meat\nhere,\u201d he said. Then the little bird Gitci\u00b7\u2032gi\u00b7\u2035tci\u00b7gane\u2035c\u012fc [15]\n(Tom-tit) cried out, \u201cNenebuc scabies suas edit!\u201d \u201cOh no, those are not\nmy scabs. Some old woman passed by and left some dry meat,\u201d said he.\nBut at last he discovered se scabies suas edisse, but even then he\ndidn\u2019t care. He kept on walking and felt very sick.\n\nBy and by he came upon a brood of young partridges and said, \u201cWhere is\nyour mother?\u201d \u201cOur mother is away,\u201d said they. \u201cWhat\u2019s your names?\u201d\nThey answered \u201cK\u03b1cku\u014bge\u2032s\u00b7i\u201d (\u201cJump out and frighten\u201d). Nenebuc turned\naround upon hearing this and super totam familiam defaecavit. Up to\nthis time the Partridges had been white, but after this they have\nalways been brown.\n\nThen Nenebuc went to a high bluff near by. He was tired, sick, and\nhungry, and he lay upon the bluff sleeping. Partridge came home and\nsaid to his young when he saw what Nenebuc had done to them, \u201cWho did\nthis?\u201d \u201cA man came along and asked us our name and, when we told him\n\u2018K\u03b1cku\u014bge\u2032s\u00b7i,\u2019 super nos defaecavit. He said he wasn\u2019t frightened by\nus.\u201d And so the young Partridges told their father where Nenebuc had\ngone. The old Partridge followed his tracks until he came to where\nNenebuc lay on the cliff. He saw him lying right on the edge, so he\nwalked up slowly to him and then suddenly buzzed his wings, and Nenebuc\njumped up and fell over the cliff. As he slid down, anum suum in\nlapidibus scabit and all the scabs rubbed off. As he lay on the ground\nhe saw the scabs and said, \u201cThese Indians will call this wa\u00b7\u2032kw\u03b1n\u00ed [16]\nand when they go hungry they can make soup for themselves, these\nOjibwa, forever.\u201d Then he was cured.\n\n\n\n(d) Nenebuc Prepares a Feast and Gets Caught Between Two Trees, While\nthe Animals Receive a Distribution of Fat.\n\nAfter this Nenebuc began travelling again. One time he feasted a lot of\nanimals. He had killed a big bear, which was very fat and he began\ncooking it, having made a fire with his bow-drill. When he was ready to\nspread his meat, he heard two trees scraping together, swayed by the\nwind. He didn\u2019t like this noise while he was having his feast and he\nthought he could stop it. He climbed up one of the trees and when he\nreached the spot where the two trees were scraping, his foot got caught\nin a crack between the trees and he could not free himself.\n\nWhen the first animal guest came along and saw Nenebuc in the tree, he,\nthe Beaver, said \u201cCome on to the feast, Nenebuc is caught and can\u2019t\nstop us.\u201d And then the other animals came. The Beaver jumped into the\ngrease and ate it, and the Otter did the same, and that is why they are\nso fat in the belly. The Beaver scooped up the grease and smeared it on\nhimself, and that is the reason why he is so fat now. All the small\nanimals came and got fat for themselves. Last of all the animals came\nthe Rabbit, when nearly all the grease was gone\u2014only a little left. So\nhe put some on the nape of his neck and some on his groin and for this\nreason he has only a little fat in those places. So all the animals got\ntheir fat except Rabbit. Then they all went, and poor Nenebuc got free\nat last. He looked around and found a bear\u2019s skull that was all cleaned\nexcept for the brain, and there was only a little of that left, but he\ncouldn\u2019t get at it. Then he wished himself to be changed into an ant in\norder to get into the skull and get enough to eat, for there was only\nabout an ant\u2019s meal left.\n\n\n\n(e) Nenebuc Gets Caught in the Bear\u2019s Skull.\n\nThen he became an ant and entered the skull. When he had enough he\nturned back into a man, but he had his head inside the skull; this\nallowed him to walk but not to see. On account of this he had no idea\nwhere he was. Then he felt the trees. He said to one, \u201cWhat are you?\u201d\nIt answered, \u201cCedar.\u201d He kept doing this with all the trees in order to\nkeep his course. When he got too near the shore, he knew it by the kind\nof trees he met. So he kept on walking and the only tree that did not\nanswer promptly was the black spruce, and that said, \u201cI\u2019m\nSe\u00b7\u2032se\u00b7ga\u2035nd\u03b1k\u201d (black spruce). Then Nenebuc knew he was on low ground.\nHe came to a lake, but he did not know how large it was, as he couldn\u2019t\nsee. He started to swim across. An Ojibwa was paddling on the lake with\nhis family and he heard someone calling, \u201cHey! There\u2019s a bear swimming\nacross the lake.\u201d Nenebuc became frightened at this and the Ojibwa then\nsaid, \u201cHe\u2019s getting near the shore now.\u201d So Nenebuc swam faster, and as\nhe could understand the Ojibwa language, he guided himself by the\ncries. He landed on a smooth rock, slipped and broke the bear\u2019s skull,\nwhich fell off his head. Then the Ojibwa cried out, \u201cThat\u2019s no bear!\nThat\u2019s Nenebuc!\u201d Nenebuc was all right, now that he could see, so he\nran off, as he didn\u2019t want to stay with these people.\n\n\n\n(f) Nenebuc Wounds the Giant Lynx, Disguises Himself in a Toad\u2019s Skin,\nand Finally Slays Her.\n\nHe had his bow and arrow with him, and as he went along he saw a great\nsnake. [17] He shot it with his arrow. He came to a big lake with a\nnice, sandy shore, where he saw Lions [18] (mici\u00b7\u2032bi\u00adzi\u2035w \u201cgiant\nlynx\u201d). He couldn\u2019t shoot them with his arrow as they were too far\naway, nor was there any place where he could hide himself until they\ncame to sun themselves by the shore, when they felt too cold in the\nwater. Finally he hit upon a plan. He took some birch bark from a\nrotten stump, rolled it into a hollow cylinder, and placed it, like a\nwigwam, near the shore. He got inside and made a little hole in the\nbark through which to shoot and kill the Lions.\n\nWhen the Lions saw the thing on the beach, they grew curious to find\nout what this strange thing was on the beach that was not there the day\nbefore. So they sent a big snake to twist around it and to try to upset\nit, but the snake did not succeed in doing this, for Nenebuc stood too\nfirm. So the Lions came ashore upon the sand and Nenebuc shot one of\nthem with his arrow\u2014a she-lion, the wife of the Lion chief. He did not\nkill her, but wounded her badly in the side, and the flint arrow point\nstayed in the wound. She was very badly wounded and went back to a hole\nwhich led to a cave in a big rock where she lived. [19] Nenebuc was\nsorry that he had not killed the Lion queen.\n\nAs he went along the shore, the next morning, he heard someone singing\nand shaking a rattle. Nenebuc stood there wondering and waiting, and\npretty soon he saw an old woman making the song. So he went across to\nsee her, and when they met, he asked her, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d \u201cI\u2019m a\ndoctor,\u201d she answered. \u201cThe queen of the Lions has been shot by Nenebuc\nand I am going to cure her.\u201d She didn\u2019t know that it was Nenebuc to\nwhom she was talking, for she was too old. So Nenebuc told her, \u201cLet me\nhear you singing. Is that what you are going to do to cure her?\u201d \u201cYes,\nI will sing and then pull out that arrow.\u201d The Lions had sent for her\nat the foot of the lake to cure the queen. Nenebuc picked up a club and\nkilled her, saying, \u201cYou are no doctor (macki\u00b7ki\u00b7\u2032winini\u2035k\u00b7we\n\u2018medicine-person woman\u2019) at all.\u201d Then he discovered that she was no\nperson at all, but a big toad (om\u03b1\u2032k\u03b1k\u00b7i\u00b7\u2035). So he skinned her and put\non the skin. The skin had a hole in the groin, and as he had no needle\nto sew it up with, his scrotum hung out when he put it on himself. This\ndid not worry Nenebuc, for he thought, \u201cIt will be all right, unless\nthey notice me too closely.\u201d So he walked past the cave in which the\nLions lived and kept singing and rattling all the time.\n\nWhen the young lions heard him, they said, \u201cThere\u2019s the old medicine\nwoman coming.\u201d They were very glad to think that their mother would be\ncured. So they opened the door in the rock and Nenebuc went in, and one\nof the daughters came to meet him and said, \u201cCome in, old woman.\u201d They\nwere very much pleased. Nenebuc said, \u201cDon\u2019t shut the doors. Leave them\nopen, as the queen needs plenty of fresh air!\u201d [20] Then he said, \u201cI\u2019m\nhungry. I\u2019ve had a long walk and I\u2019m tired.\u201d Then they gave him a good\nmeal first. While he was eating, he sat with open legs and the children\ncried out, \u201cLook at the old woman with testicles hanging out!\u201d But the\nolder ones told them to be silent, as they thought some old women had\ntesticles.\n\nWhen he had finished eating, Nenebuc said, \u201cDon\u2019t watch me. I\u2019m going\nto pull out the arrow point. You will hear her suffering and me\nsinging, but don\u2019t look until you hear her stop suffering. Then she\nwill be cured, and the arrow point will be out. So don\u2019t look, for I am\ngoing to cure her.\u201d Then he began rattling and singing, and, as he did\nso, he shoved the arrow point farther into the wound of the queen in\norder to kill her. When she yelled, her people thought that the hurt\nwas caused in pulling it out. At last one of the little lion children\npeeped and saw Nenebuc pushing the arrow farther in. He told his\nsister, \u201cThat\u2019s Nenebuc himself inside!\u201d Then Nenebuc ran outside and\nthe Queen Lion was dying. Nenebuc had difficulty to clear himself. He\npulled off the toad skin and tried to climb up the rock.\n\n\n\n(g) The Giant Lynx Causes the World Flood and Gathers the Animals on a\nRaft; Muskrat Dives for Earth, which Nenebuc Transforms into a New\nWorld.\n\nAs soon as the queen died, a giant stream poured out of the cave and\nthe lake began rising. \u201cThat is going to flood the world and be the\nend,\u201d said Nenebuc. So he cut trees and made a kind of raft. [21] So he\nhad his raft ready, and the end of the world came. He couldn\u2019t see any\ntrees, water covered everything, and he made the flood. He saw all\nkinds of animals swimming toward his raft and he took them on. \u201cCome\non, come on,\u201d he cried, \u201cand stay here.\u201d For he wanted to save them, so\nthat after the flood there would be all kinds of animals. The animals\nstayed on the raft with him for a long while. Some time after this he\nmade a rope of roots and tied it to the Beaver\u2019s tail, telling him to\ndive and to try and reach the land underneath. He knew the water would\nget lower afterwards. The Beaver couldn\u2019t reach the land and he came up\nto the surface of the water again.\n\nSeven days after this he allowed the Muskrat to try and bring the land.\nMuskrat dove and they waited for a long time, but he didn\u2019t come up.\nThis Muskrat doubled up and put his nose into the hair of his breast\nwhich enabled him to breathe by the bubbles clinging there. By doing\nthis he could rest and dive still deeper. At last he used up all the\nair in his breast hair and could only grab a little piece of mud. Then\nhe started up to the surface of the water, but drowned before he\nreached the raft. Nenebuc pulled the Muskrat in and he still was\nholding the mud. Nenebuc said, \u201cI am going to dry this. As soon as it\nis dry, you can all run around again and have this world.\u201d So he dried\nit, but not entirely, and that is the reason why some parts of the\nworld are swampy and wet, while others are dry like this. So the\nanimals had the earth again and the world was made.\n\n\n\n(h) Nenebuc Sends Crow Out, for Disobedience Changes Him Black and Gull\nPartly Black, then Retires to the West, until He Will Return Again.\n\nNenebuc knew the world was round like a ball, but he didn\u2019t know how\nlarge it was. He was sitting down, tired. So he said to Crow, \u201cGo fly\naround the world and don\u2019t eat until you come back again. If you do, we\nwill know it.\u201d Crow at that time was white. Crow had to do as he was\ntold, because Nenebuc was chief of all men and animals. So Crow started\nand flew and flew along the salt water beach. Soon he became very\nhungry and wondered how far he was away from Nenebuc. One morning he\nwas flying along the shore and he saw an old dead fish. He was so\nhungry that he tasted a little bit of it, and finally made a meal of\nit. When he finished eating, he found he had turned black. This is the\nway Crow became black.\n\nWhen Crow reached the place from which he started out, he found Nenebuc\nand all the animals waiting for him. He told Nenebuc that he had eaten,\nand then Nenebuc said to Gull, \u201cYou go try. Do the same and don\u2019t eat\nuntil you come here.\u201d So Gull went. When he got to the same place at\nwhich Crow had felt hungry, Gull felt hungry. One morning he saw the\nsame dead fish. He thought, \u201cWell, I mustn\u2019t eat it, for if I do, I\u2019ll\nbe as black as Crow.\u201d He took one mouthful and started flying. When\nGull returned, Nenebuc could see a little black on his wings, so he\nsaid, \u201cGull has had a mouthful too.\u201d\n\nThen he told Owl, \u201cYou go and try to go around the world this time. If\nyou eat, you won\u2019t change colour but remain the same colour as you are\nnow. But if you eat, you won\u2019t come back here.\u201d So Owl started flying.\nHe came to the same lake, saw the dead fish and finished it. He ate a\ngood meal and never returned. [22] But he didn\u2019t change colour.\n\nThen Nenebuc let all the animals go from the raft. He started west and\nis there yet, lying on his back, singing and hammering at his wigwam\npoles, in place of drumming, all the time. He will stay there until he\ngets up again three years before the end of the world, when he will\ntravel all over the world to see the animals and the Ojibwa again. He\nwill not die until the end of the world.\n\n\n\n\n(2) Nenebuc Fragment. [23]\n\nOnce the Goose met Nenebuc and gave him two wings. He told him that if\nhe flapped them he could fly with them, but that he must not look\ndownwards while he flew. So Nenebuc took the wings and began flying.\nWhen he got very far up, he wondered how high he was and looked down.\nThen he tumbled down and down until he fell into a big hollow stump\nwhere he couldn\u2019t get out. Soon two girls came along with an axe to get\nsome wood and began cutting at the hollow pine in which Nenebuc was.\nThey cut a hole and Nenebuc kept quiet, for he was hoping they would\nfree him. When they looked in the hole, they saw his belly and they\npulled out a hair. They went back to camp and told their father, \u201cHere\nis a porcupine quill we found in a tree.\u201d The old man looked at it and,\nlaughing, said, \u201cThat\u2019s not a porcupine quill, that\u2019s a hair from\nNenebuc\u2019s groin!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(3) Nenebuc Transforms the Bear. [24]\n\nNenebuc in his tracks encountered the great Bear that killed and ate\nthe Indians\u2014so many of them that they feared they would all be killed.\nSo Nenebuc went to the Bear and said, \u201cYou are eating so many of the\nIndians that they will all be gone soon. Now I am going to make you\nsmall and harmless.\u201d Then he made him into the Squirrel and turned the\nSquirrel into the Bear, and the Bear, now in Squirrel\u2019s shape, felt so\nbadly that he cried until his eyebrows turned grey. That is the reason\nwhy to this day squirrels have grey eyelids.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said Nenebuc, \u201cwhat will you eat?\u201d The Bear, now a Squirrel,\nsaid he would continue to eat people, but he was so small that he could\nnot do anything. \u201cThat is good,\u201d said Nenebuc. \u201cNow you can\u2019t do any\nharm to the Indians. But you had better change your food. Just run up\nthat black-spruce tree and taste the acorn seeds and then see whether\nyou want to eat people any more. You are too small to eat people as you\nused to do.\u201d So the Squirrel ran up the black-spruce tree and tasted\nthe sweet seed of the cone. He liked it so well, it tasted so sweet,\nthat he chose this for his food and said that he would not want\nanything better any more. That is his food to-day.\n\n\n\n\n(4) Wemicus.\n\nWemicus had a very large family. Many of his children had married the\ndifferent animals who lived in various parts of the surrounding\ncountry. By and by he had nearly all kinds of animals for his\nsons-in-law, and there were still a great many children left in his\nfamily. When winter came, Wemicus was unable to support his family, as\nthere were too many of them. They were all living in one wigwam.\n\nOne day Wemicus said to his wife, \u201cWe are all very hungry. I might go\nand see one of our sons-in-law; he might have some food.\u201d Next morning\nhe started out. Wemicus always tried to imitate the actions of\neverybody he saw. When he reached the home of his son-in-law Ninicip\n(Black Duck) he saw that he also had a large family. Ninicip was inside\nof his wigwam, and when he saw Wemicus coming, he told his wife, \u201cYou\nhad better begin to get ready for company and boil water in the stone\npail.\u201d Then he jumped up upon the cross poles in his wigwam [25] and in\nvas lapidum sub se [26] defaecavit, telling his wife to stir up the\ncontents of the pot. Wemicus apparently saw nothing of this. Then one\nof the children of Ninicip took spoons and, dipping them in the pot,\nsaid, \u201cSoup, soup, soup, rice soup.\u201d Wemicus tasted the soup, thought\nit tasted good, and decided that after this he would make soup in the\nsame manner.\n\nThe next morning, when Wemicus started for home, he was given some rice\nsoup to take home to his children. Before leaving the wigwam of\nNinicip, however, Wemicus had purposely left behind one of his mittens.\nOne of the children saw the mitten and Ninicip\u2019s wife sent the child to\nreturn it, bidding him not to go too close to Wemicus but to throw him\nthe mitten. The child did the bidding of his mother and, when the\nmitten was thrown to Wemicus, he said, \u201cAsk your father to come and see\nme,\u201d and he named a certain day. On the way back home Wemicus thought,\n\u201cI wonder what this soup tastes like when it is cold. I must try it. My\nchildren don\u2019t need any of it, so I might as well eat it all.\u201d So he\nate all of the soup. When he reached his wigwam he said, \u201cNinicip and\nhis family are starving also. To-morrow he will come to see us and\nperhaps he will bring us something. We had better fix up our wigwam.\u201d\nThen they fixed up the wigwam in the same manner as that of Ninicip.\nThe next day Ninicip came and they gave him the best place. Wemicus\nsaid to his wife, \u201cWe\u2019ll get ready to eat now. Put some water in the\nstone pail.\u201d \u201cThere is no use putting any water in the pail,\u201d answered\nhis wife, \u201cwe have nothing to cook.\u201d \u201cWell, bring the pail, anyway, and\nget some spoons,\u201d said Wemicus. When the water began boiling, Wemicus\njumped up on the cross-poles, in vas defaecavit, all over his children\nand the inside of the wigwam. Then Ninicip went out. His wife scolded\nWemicus, saying, \u201cYou always do something like that. You must have seen\nsomeone do that.\u201d Then Wemicus kept quiet and everything had to be\ncleaned up. The wife then invited Ninicip to come in again and he told\nher that he would fix up the meal. Igituo interum in vas defaecavit and\nthey had good rice soup, and everyone, even Wemicus, had a good meal.\nThe following morning Ninicip made soup for the family again and then\nwent home. Soon Wemicus and his family were starving again and Wemicus\nsaid, \u201cI must go and see my son-in-law, Muskrat. He lives not far\naway.\u201d \u201cAll right,\u201d said his wife and Wemicus set out. When he had\nalmost reached Muskrat\u2019s home, the little Muskrat children called out,\n\u201cOur grandfather is coming.\u201d Wemicus told Muskrat that he was starving\nand Muskrat said to his wife, \u201cYou had better make a fire in the hot\nsand.\u201d So the fire was made, and Muskrat went out with a big sack made\nout of hide and returned with the sack full of ice, which he dumped\ninto the hot ashes. Wemicus expected that it would explode but it only\ncooked nicely. Wemicus wondered what it was. Soon Muskrat said, \u201cWe are\nready now,\u201d and they took off the sand and there were a lot of nicely\nbaked potatoes. Wemicus thought that was an easy way in which to\nlive\u2014just to get ice for potatoes.\n\nNext morning Wemicus started out for home and left his mitten behind as\nhe had done with Ninicip. Muskrat\u2019s wife sent a child after him and\ntold the child, \u201cDon\u2019t go too close to Wemicus. He\u2019s always in\nmischief.\u201d Everything happened as before. The child threw the mitten to\nWemicus and Wemicus sent an invitation to Muskrat to come to his home\nthe next day. As Wemicus went on his way he had some potatoes which\nMuskrat had given him for his family. Half way home he rested and\nthought he would eat the potatoes, as they looked very good. So he ate\nevery one. \u201cI am the one who works hard,\u201d he said to himself. \u201cMy\nfamily can wait until Muskrat comes.\u201d When he reached home he told his\nwife, \u201cMuskrat is also starving. I brought nothing. Muskrat is coming\ntomorrow to see us.\u201d Next day Muskrat came and they put him on the\nopposite side of the wigwam. Wemicus said, \u201cWe have nothing much, but,\nwife, make a fire in the hot sand.\u201d The wife answered, \u201cI suppose you\nsaw somebody else do something. Don\u2019t you try any more mischief.\u201d But\nhe made his wife make the fire. He then went out and returned with the\nsack full of ice, which he dumped on the fire. The sack blew up all\nover everybody and put out the fire. Then his wife said, \u201cI suppose you\nsaw someone do that again.\u201d She made another fire and Muskrat said,\n\u201cGive me that bag.\u201d He went out and brought back the sack full of ice,\ndumped and buried it in the fire, and, after a while, they got the\npotatoes. All of them had a good meal. The next morning, before Muskrat\nleft, he got them another bag of potatoes.\n\nWemicus does not work, although his family is so large. Well, pretty\nsoon the whole family was starving again. Then said Wemicus, \u201cI must go\nand see Meme (pileated woodpecker), my son-in-law.\u201d He went into the\nbush and when he reached Meme\u2019s wigwam he found a large white pine in\nback of it. He noticed that Meme had a sharp pointed nose. He saw that\nMeme had not much to live on, but nevertheless Meme told his wife to\nget the cooking pail ready. Then Meme began climbing the pine tree,\nwhich was at the back of his wigwam, and began pecking in the trunk\nwith his nose. Pretty soon he came down with a raccoon. [27] When\nWemicus saw this, he thought, \u201cThat is a great thing; I must try it.\u201d\nMeme burned off the hair and cleaned the raccoon, and shared the meat\non a stick to each one. Wemicus received the best part, as he was the\ngrandfather.\n\nThe next morning they had another raccoon to eat. Then everything\nhappened as before. Wemicus was given a raccoon to take home. He left\nhis mitten behind, and sent an invitation to Meme to visit him the next\nday. On the way home Wemicus thought to himself, \u201cI wonder how this\nraccoon tastes cold.\u201d So he ate the entire raccoon. When he got home,\nhe told his wife that Meme was starving but that he was coming to visit\nthem the following day. They put the wigwam in order and Wemicus fixed\nup a big pine like that belonging to Meme and cut two pieces of wood,\nwhich he pointed and shoved into his nose to imitate Meme. When Meme\ncame along he saw Wemicus sitting there with sticks in his nose.\nWemicus told his wife, as usual, to prepare for supper, and she told\nhim that they had nothing. When she had the water boiling in the pail,\nWemicus climbed up the tree and pecked upon it in imitation of Meme. He\nfell down, however, and drove the sticks into his head. He fell into\nthe fire, but after a while he gained consciousness. Then Meme stepped\nout of the wigwam, climbed the tree, and brought down a raccoon. And\nthen the whole family had a good supper. Next morning Meme got another\nraccoon and left it for the family, and then went home.\n\nStill Wemicus did nothing and the family was again in a starving\ncondition. Then said Wemicus, \u201cI have some more sons-in-law and one is\nclose. I will go and see him; he will help me until open water. [28] I\nwill go and see Skunk.\u201d So he set out to visit Skunk. Wemicus was\npretty hungry and Skunk was farther off than the rest of the\nsons-in-law, but he finally reached his home. Wemicus found Skunk\u2019s\nwater hole [29] and saw a great quantity of oil in it. He knew that\nSkunk must have killed a great deal of game. So he went into Skunk\u2019s\nwigwam and saw a great quantity of food. Skunk said, \u201cWe don\u2019t have\nmuch. It is long since I hunted. But come outside.\u201d There Wemicus saw a\npiece of ground fenced in. Skunk then produced a little birch bark horn\n[30] and said, \u201cWhat will you have?\u201d Skunk now blew on his horn and all\nkinds of game came inside the enclosure. Skunk deinde pepedit and\nkilled whatever kind Wemicus wanted. They then skinned what he killed\nand fried it for supper.\n\nIn the morning Skunk said to Wemicus, \u201cI\u2019ll give you three shots and a\nhorn. You can make a fence for yourself. This horn will last forever,\nas long as you don\u2019t lose it. If you do, it will be bad.\u201d Then Skunk\ngave Wemicus three shots to be used in the future, and he did this\nurinando super eum to load him up three times. He did not give him any\nfood, because he would be able to get enough for himself. Then Wemicus\nthought, \u201cNow I am going to do something.\u201d As Wemicus was on his way\nhome he said to himself, \u201cI wonder if it will go off!\u201d So, just as he\nwas passing a tree stump, pepedit at the stump and blew it up. \u201cThat\u2019s\nfine, but I have only two more shots left,\u201d said he. Later he tried the\nsame thing and then only had one left. A little while after this he saw\na big pine tree, and thought he would try a shot at this. So he blew up\nthe pine tree, and so used up all his shots.\n\nWhen he reached his wigwam, he showed his wife the horn which Skunk had\ngiven him, saying, \u201cSkunk gave me that.\u201d Then he built a large fence of\npoles. He told his wife to hold the horn and stay near by, while he got\na club to kill the game with. Then he blew on the horn and the fence\nwas filled with bear, deer, and all kinds of animals. Although he had\nno shots left, Wemicus managed to kill one caribou, and his wife was\nvery happy. He cut the fat from the breast of the caribou, made a fire,\nand got some grease from it. He then spilled the caribou grease in his\nwater hole in order to deceive Skunk and make him believe that he had a\ngreat quantity of meat. Not long after this Skunk started out to visit\nWemicus and, on his way, he passed the three stumps which Wemicus had\nblown up and knew that he had no more shots left. When he reached\nWemicus\u2019 water hole he said, \u201cI guess he got one any way.\u201d When he came\nto the wigwam, he found that Wemicus and his family had hardly any meat\nleft, so he said to Wemicus, \u201cCome out and let me see your fence.\u201d They\nwent out and Wemicus blew his horn, and inside the fence it became full\nof game. Skunk pepedit and killed all of them, and then Wemicus and his\nfamily had plenty. Skunk stayed over night and departed the next\nmorning.\n\nWemicus had another son-in-law who was a man. This man\u2019s wife, the\ndaughter of Wemicus, had had a great many husbands, because Wemicus had\nput them to so many different tests that they had been all killed off\nexcept this one. He, however, had succeeded in outwitting Wemicus in\nevery scheme that he tried on him. Wemicus and this man hunted beaver\nin the spring of the year by driving them all day with dogs. The man\u2019s\nwife warned him before they started out to hunt, saying, \u201cLook out for\nmy father; he might burn your moccasins in camp. That\u2019s what he did to\nmy other husbands.\u201d [31] That night in camp Wemicus said, \u201cI didn\u2019t\ntell you the name of this lake. It is called \u2018burnt moccasins lake.\u2019\u201d\nWhen the man heard this, he thought that Wemicus was up to some sort of\nmischief and was going to burn his moccasins. Their moccasins were\nhanging up before a fire to dry and, while Wemicus was not looking, the\nman changed the places of Wemicus\u2019 moccasins and his own, and then went\nto sleep. Soon the man awoke and saw Wemicus get up and throw his own\nmoccasins into the fire. Wemicus then said, \u201cSay! something is burning;\nit is your moccasins.\u201d Then the man answered, \u201cNo, not mine, but\nyours.\u201d So Wemicus had no moccasins, and the ground was covered with\nsnow. After this had happened the man slept with his moccasins on.\n\nThe next morning the man started on and left Wemicus there with no\nshoes. Wemicus started to work. He got a big boulder, made a fire, and\nplaced the boulder in it until it became red hot. He then wrapped his\nfeet with spruce boughs and pushed the boulder ahead of him in order to\nmelt the snow. In this way he managed to walk on the boughs. Then he\nbegan to sing, \u201cSpruce is warm, spruce is warm.\u201d When the man reached\nhome he told his wife what had happened. \u201cI hope Wemicus will die,\u201d she\nsaid. A little while after this, they heard Wemicus coming along\nsinging, \u201cSpruce is warm, spruce is warm.\u201d He came into the wigwam and,\nas he was the head man, they were obliged to get his meal ready.\n\nThe ice was getting bad by this time, so they stayed in camp a while.\nSoon Wemicus told his son-in-law, \u201cWe\u2019d better go sliding.\u201d He then\nwent to a hill where there were some very poisonous snakes. The man\u2019s\nwife warned her husband of these snakes and gave him a split stick\nholding a certain kind of magic tobacco, which she told him to hold in\nfront of him so that the snakes would not hurt him. Then the two men\nwent sliding. At the top of the hill Wemicus said, \u201cFollow me,\u201d for he\nintended to pass close by the snakes\u2019 lair. So when they slid, Wemicus\npassed safely and the man held his stick with the tobacco in it in\nfront of him, thus preventing the snakes from biting him. The man then\ntold Wemicus that he enjoyed the sliding.\n\nThe following day Wemicus said to his son-in-law, \u201cWe had better go to\nanother place.\u201d When she heard this, the wife told her husband that, as\nit was getting summer, Wemicus had in his head many poisonous lizards\ninstead of lice. She said, \u201cHe will tell you to pick lice from his head\nand crack them in your teeth. But take low-bush cranberries and crack\nthem instead.\u201d So the man took cranberries along with him. Wemicus took\nhis son-in-law to a valley with a great ravine in it. He said, \u201cI\nwonder if anybody can jump across this?\u201d \u201cSurely,\u201d said the young man,\n\u201cI can.\u201d Then the young man said, \u201cCloser,\u201d and the ravine narrowed and\nhe jumped across easily. When Wemicus tried, the young man said\n\u201cWiden,\u201d and Wemicus fell into the ravine. But it did not kill him, and\nwhen he made his way to the top again, he said, \u201cYou have beaten me.\u201d\nThen they went on.\n\nThey came to a place of hot sand and Wemicus said, \u201cYou must look for\nlice in my head.\u201d \u201cAll right father,\u201d replied the son-in-law. So\nWemicus lay down and the man started to pick the lice. He took the\ncranberries from inside his shirt and each time he pretended to catch a\nlouse, he cracked a cranberry and threw it on the ground, and so\nWemicus got fooled a second time that day. Then they went home and\nWemicus said to his son-in-law, \u201cThere are a whole lot of eggs on that\nrocky island where the gulls are. We will go get the eggs, come back,\nand have an egg supper.\u201d As Wemicus was the head man, his son-in-law\nhad to obey him.\n\nSo they started out in their canoe and soon came to the rocky island.\nWemicus stayed in the canoe and told the man to go ashore and to bring\nthe eggs back with him and fill the canoe. When the man reached the\nshore, Wemicus told him to go farther back on the island, saying,\n\u201cThat\u2019s where the former husbands got their eggs, there are their\nbones.\u201d He then started the canoe off in the water by singing, without\nusing his paddle. Then Wemicus told the gulls to eat the man, saying to\nthem, \u201cI give you him to eat.\u201d The gulls started to fly about the man,\nbut the man had his paddle with him and he killed one of the gulls with\nit. He then took the gulls\u2019 wings and fastened them on himself, filled\nhis shirt with eggs, and started flying over the lake by the aid of the\nwings.\n\nWhen he reached the middle of the lake, he saw Wemicus going along and\nsinging to himself. Wemicus, looking up, saw his son-in-law but mistook\nhim for a gull. Then the man flew over him and defecated in his face,\nand Wemicus said, \u201cGull\u2019s excrement always smells like that when they\nhave eaten a man.\u201d The man flew back to camp and told his wife to cook\nthe eggs, and he told his children to play with the wings. When Wemicus\nreached the camp, he saw the children playing with the wings and said,\n\u201cWhere did you get those wings?\u201d \u201cFrom father,\u201d was the reply. \u201cYour\nfather? Why, the gulls ate him!\u201d Then he went to the wigwam and there\nhe saw the man smoking. Then Wemicus thought it very strange how the\nman could have gotten home, but no one told him how it had been done.\nThought he, \u201cI must try another scheme to do away with him.\u201d\n\nOne day Wemicus said to his son-in-law, \u201cWe\u2019d better make two canoes of\nbirch-bark, one for you and one for me. We\u2019d better get bark.\u201d So they\nstarted off for birch-bark. They cut a tree almost through and Wemicus\nsaid to his son-in-law, \u201cYou sit on that side and I\u2019ll sit on this.\u201d He\nwanted the tree to fall on him and kill him. Wemicus said, \u201cYou say,\n\u2018Fall on my father-in-law,\u2019 and I\u2019ll say, \u2018Fall on my son-in-law\u2019, and\nwhoever says it too slowly or makes a mistake will be the one on whom\nit will fall.\u201d But Wemicus made the first mistake, and the tree fell on\nhim and crushed him. However, Wemicus was a manitu [32] and was not\nhurt. They went home with the bark and made the two canoes. After they\nwere made, Wemicus said to his son-in-law, \u201cWell, we\u2019ll have a race in\nour two canoes, a sailing race.\u201d Wemicus made a big bark sail, but the\nman did not make any, as he was afraid of upsetting. They started the\nrace. Wemicus went very fast and the man called after him, \u201cOh, you are\nbeating me.\u201d He kept on fooling and encouraging Wemicus, until the wind\nupset Wemicus\u2019 canoe and that was the end of Wemicus. When the man\nsailed over the spot where Wemicus had upset, he saw a big pike\n(ki\u00b7n\u0173\u2032je) there, into which Wemicus had been transformed when the\ncanoe upset. This is the origin of the pike.\n\n\n\n\n(5) Ci\u014bgibis.\n\nAt the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are\nhere. In the winter time they used birch bark wigwams. All animals\ncould then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked\nfoolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe,\nmade their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The\nvery fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish\nthey were.\n\nOne of these girls asked the other, \u201cWith what star would you like to\nsleep, the white one or the red one?\u201d The other girl answered, \u201cI\u2019d\nlike to sleep with the red star.\u201d \u201cOh, that\u2019s all right,\u201d said the\nfirst one, \u201cI would like to sleep with the white star. He\u2019s the\nyounger; the red is the older.\u201d Then the two girls fell asleep. When\nthey awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world.\nThere were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had\nbecome men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed,\nwhile the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed\na long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white\nstar was very sorry, for he was so old.\n\nThere was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky,\nand, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, \u201cThat\u2019s\nwhere you came from.\u201d They looked down through and saw their people\nplaying down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very\nhomesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way\nfrom the hole. [33]\n\nThe younger girl heard the noise of the mite\u2032win down below. When it\nwas almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the\nnoise of mite\u2032win stopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She\nwas the guardian of the mite\u2032win.\n\nOne morning the old woman told the girls, \u201cIf you want to go down from\nwhere you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather\nroots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of\nrope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be\nenough.\u201d The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this.\nThey made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got\ninto the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down.\nThey descended right into an Eagle\u2019s nest, but the people above thought\nthe girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were\nobliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help\nthemselves.\n\nSaid one, \u201cWe\u2019ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.\u201d\nBear passed by. The girls cried out, \u201cBear, come and get us. You are\ngoing to get married sometime. Now is your chance!\u201d Bear thought, \u201cThey\nare not very good-looking women.\u201d He pretended to climb up and then\nsaid, \u201cI can\u2019t climb up any further.\u201d And he went away, for the girls\ndidn\u2019t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, \u201cLynx, come\nup and get us. You will go after women some day!\u201d Lynx answered, \u201cI\ncan\u2019t, for I have no claws,\u201d and he went away. Then an ugly-looking\nman, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke to him. \u201cHey, Wolverine,\ncome and get us.\u201d Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a\nvery fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he\nreached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then\nWolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one\ndown and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two\nwives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would\nhave him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and\nbegan to talk. \u201cOh!\u201d cried one of the girls, \u201cI forgot my hair\nribbons.\u201d Then Wolverine said, \u201cI will run back for it.\u201d And he started\noff to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees,\nwhenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, to answer him\nby whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his\nwives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine,\nrealizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed\nvery angry.\n\nThe girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh,\nlate in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house.\nEverything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped\nclean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither\nsmoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said,\n\u201cThe person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such\na clean house.\u201d There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside\nthe house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said to the\nother, \u201cWe\u2019d better cut a little wood.\u201d So they cut wood and made the\nfire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was\nbeginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out,\n\u201cWho spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?\u201d The owner of the\nwigwam didn\u2019t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the\ntwo girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme\n\u201cpileated woodpecker\u201d). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was\nbeaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as\nwood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave\none to the girls, saying, \u201cYou can have this.\u201d He then cooked the other\none for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place\nwhere they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not\nmarry either of them.\n\nNext morning, after breakfast, he said to them, \u201cGo! Don\u2019t stay here.\nYou go that way and you will find a big river. There you\u2019ll find lots\nof people and maybe you\u2019ll get married.\u201d So the girls went on. They\nleft Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and\nbeheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White\nDuck (wa\u2032b\u0259ci\u00b7p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in\nhis canoe, the girls said to him, \u201cPut us in your canoe, you are going\nto get married sometime.\u201d White Duck answered, \u201cMy canoe is too small.\nOther people are coming; they will marry you.\u201d And he passed on. Next\ncame Fish Duck (azi\u2032k), a good looking man. They cried out, \u201cPut us in\nyour canoe, you are going to get married anyway.\u201d \u201cNo, my canoe is too\nsmall,\u201d replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them\nsaid that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where\nthey were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the\nvillage of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni\u2032nicip). He was\nalso nice looking. \u201cCome over and get us; you will get married\nsometime,\u201d cried the girls. \u201cNo, My canoe is too small. Ci\u014bgibis is\ncoming soon and he will marry you.\u201d He was going to be the last person\nto pass. At last Ci\u014bgibis came along.\n\nWhen they saw him, one of the girls said, \u201cHe is a very ugly man, but\nwe will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village, we\u2019ll get rid\nof him.\u201d So they called out to him, \u201cCome over and get us; you will get\nmarried anyway.\u201d Ci\u014bgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he\npaddled over and got the two girls. They said, \u201cYour canoe is a very\nsmall canoe.\u201d \u201cOh no,\u201d said Ci\u014bgibis, \u201cmy canoe is a magic canoe. It is\nenough.\u201d So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream.\nBy and by one girl said, \u201cI\u2019m getting hungry.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d said Ci\u014bgibis,\n\u201cnot far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull\nroots for lunch.\u201d So Ci\u014bgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled\nroots and made a string out of them. \u201cThat\u2019s enough,\u201d said Ci\u014bgibis to\none of the girls. \u201cTie the string to my leg and I\u2019ll dive for something\nto eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.\u201d They did this, and\nhe dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled\nhim up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked\nthe beaver for lunch; then Ci\u014bgibis and his two wives continued their\njourney. Soon Ci\u014bgibis said, \u201cWell, we are not far from the village\nnow. I am going to place my caribou snare.\u201d He meant rabbit when he\nsaid caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, \u201cAt the\nvillage your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Ma\u014bg (Loon) is\nthe name of the chief of the village. But we won\u2019t camp near them;\nwe\u2019ll camp a little to one side.\u201d They went down the river until they\ncame to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.\n\nAll the people yelled when they saw Ci\u014bgibis, for he was a great man,\nalthough he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, \u201cEe Ci\u014bgibis!\nHe has two wives.\u201d So they all laughed and the sister of Ci\u014bgibis came\nto shake hands with his two wives. Then Ci\u014bgibis pitched his wigwam.\nSoon a man who was a second chief came to Ci\u014bgibis and said, \u201cChief\nMa\u014bg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.\u201d Ci\u014bgibis\nsaid to his wives, \u201cStay here and don\u2019t go to the dance. There are too\nmany nice-looking men there.\u201d On account of this the two wives became\nangry with him. Ci\u014bgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.\n\nBy and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they\ndecided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ci\u014bgibis should not see\nthem. They did this and peeped in through the bark, and there they saw\nLoon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine\nclothes. Ci\u014bgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast\nto him. The wives said, \u201cIt is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.\u201d\nThey then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they\nwere to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.\n\nCi\u014bgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping\nwith his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep.\nBut his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began\nto bite Ci\u014bgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, \u201cDon\u2019t do that.\u201d At\nlast he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went\nto the chief\u2019s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his\ntwo wives. \u201cYou are a dead man for this!\u201d said Ci\u014bgibis.\n\nHe then went to his grandmother. \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d asked she. \u201cI want\na chisel and a flint.\u201d \u201cWhat do you want with them, grandchild? Are you\ngoing to be in mischief again?\u201d said the grandmother. However, she gave\nthem to him, and Ci\u014bgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the\nchisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle\nfeathers (but this was a wiske\u00b7djak (Canadian Jay) feather). He got\nthem and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot,\nthe old grandmother said, \u201cSay, Ci\u014bgibis, don\u2019t do any mischief again,\u201d\nbut Ci\u014bgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of\nLoon.\n\nLoon always slept with his mouth open. When Ci\u014bgibis reached the\nwigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into\nLoon\u2019s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it,\nand paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would\nsuspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon\nalways has a black mouth\u2014from where he was burned. Ci\u014bgibis found a\nrabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and\ntied the hay to his stomach.\n\nWhen he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon.\nCi\u014bgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, \u201cCi\u014bgibis will be very\nsorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend.\nWe must tell him before he arrives.\u201d Then the people called to\nCi\u014bgibis, \u201cEe Ci\u014bgibis, the chief is dead.\u201d \u201cWhat!\u201d said Ci\u014bgibis, \u201cthe\nchief is dead!\u201d Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of\nrabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had\nkilled himself. Ci\u014bgibis then dived into the water and the people came\nout in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the\nwater and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another\nchief, Goose (nixka\u2032), since both Loon and Ci\u014bgibis were dead.\n\nTen days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard\nsomebody singing near the shore three times, \u201cWho killed our chief? I\nam the one.\u201d They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, \u201cI was thinking\nthat that Ci\u014bgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill\nhim.\u201d Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When\nCi\u014bgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother\nhad given him, but they could not catch him. Ci\u014bgibis said to them,\n\u201cYou are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.\u201d Then\nthe Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ci\u014bgibis among\nthe rocks, and thought that they would catch him. \u201cNo, no,\u201d laughed\nCi\u014bgibis, \u201cI know some more tricks yet.\u201d So he ran about and kicked the\nrocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were\nfastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered\neverything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their\nlives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When\nthe people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are\nswimming yet.\n\n\n\n\n(6) Beaver Gives a Feast.\n\nAll the animals, once upon a time, were camped together\u2014the Beaver, the\nOtter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once\nin a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite\nall the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them,\n\u201cWell, I want to give a feast.\u201d Then they would come in, sit around the\ninside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the\nother. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one\ntime, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease supply into\ncakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake\nto a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he\nwould go and cut a new block of grease. [34] Now every time the Beaver\nbroke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would\noffend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests\ntold the Otter, \u201cYou mustn\u2019t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our\nchief.\u201d Despite this, every time they went to a feast, castore pedente,\nthe Otter laughed at him.\n\nSo one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another\nfeast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told\nthe Otter this time, \u201cYou must not come; you never keep your mouth\nshut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the\nrest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.\u201d \u201cOh\nwell, all right,\u201d said the Otter, \u201cI\u2019ll stay back.\u201d All went to the\nfeast except the Otter. But he asked the others, \u201cYou will have to\nbring my share to me, since I can\u2019t come. Tell the chief to send me my\nshare.\u201d The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked\nhim, \u201cHow big a piece of grease do you want?\u201d The Otter replied, \u201cBring\nme a piece the size of my forearm.\u201d (The otter has a very small\nforearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw\nthat the Otter was not with them. Said he, \u201cWhere, indeed, is Otter? I\nlike him because he is so funny.\u201d They informed him that the Otter had\nnot come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as\nlarge as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to\nthe Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because\nhe had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.\n\n\n\n\n(7) Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs.\n\nTcaka\u00b7b\u012fs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey\nand was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant\nwomen who were scraping frozen beaver skins, \u201ck\u0105c, k\u0105c.\u201d He returned\nhome and told his grandmother, \u201cI heard the giant women scraping beaver\nhides.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t go near them,\u201d said his grandmother. And she repeated\nthis warning often to Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs.\n\nHowever, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and\nwhen he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice.\nWhen he came up, they knew him and cried out, \u201cEe, come on, come on,\nTcaka\u00b7b\u012fs!\u201d So he went over to them and they said, \u201cThere is a beaver\nhere and you must pull him up.\u201d Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs was small and they thought\nthe beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught\nhold of the beaver\u2019s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they\nasked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the\nbig beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When\nhe got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, \u201cDid you steal it?\u201d\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the\ntail.\n\nSoon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. \u201cTcaka\u00b7b\u012fs, you\nare a dead man!\u201d They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs and his\ngrandmother. Then the grandmother said, \u201cI told you not to go there.\nNow they say you are a dead man.\u201d But Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs said, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid,\ngrandmother. I will take care of you.\u201d Then he took his witch stone\n[35] and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to\nstone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through.\nThe stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women\npounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs\nlay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because\nhe had eaten too much beaver fat.\n\nSome time after this, Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs went back again to the giant women and\nfound them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came\nup, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There\nhe stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the\npot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed\ngrease, they dipped up Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs with a wooden spoon and threw him\noutside. Then Tcaka\u00b7b\u012fs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin,\nbecause he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That\u2019s\nthe end; he was a small fellow.\n\n\n\n\n(8) Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye, [36] the Giant Skunk, and the Origin of Skunks.\n\nAniw\u0254\u00b7ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world,\ntrying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took\nthe form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would\napproach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them,\nkilling the people malo ejus odore. In those days there was no other\nsickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.\n\nOnce upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of\na big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye near one of their\ntrails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned\nback from their object because they were afraid Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye would see\ntheir own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On\nthis account they started off in every direction in order to lead\nAniw\u0254\u00b7ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly\nthemselves. Said they, \u201cWe will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big\nFisher lives.\u201d So they started off. But there was one old woman who\ncould hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave\nher, as nobody could carry her.\n\nSoon Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to\nthe wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the\ndoor and saw her sitting near the fire. \u201cWhere are all your people?\u201d he\nasked her. \u201cThey have gone away,\u201d she answered. \u201cThey saw Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye\u2019s\ntrack and departed. But I am too old. I can\u2019t see, I can\u2019t walk; so\nthey left me here.\u201d This poor old woman thought it was a young man who\nspoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye himself.\nThen Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye spoke, \u201cIf you can\u2019t walk, I can cure you, so that you\nwill be as well and strong as you ever were.\u201d So he turned his back to\nher et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.\n\nThen Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked\nthem to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because\nthere was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw\nwhere Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip\nand begged Big Fisher for protection from Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye. So fast had they\ntravelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the\nyounger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached\nBig Fisher\u2019s camp kept watching for Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye to appear across the lake\non their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come\ntowards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the\npeople who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were\ndead. Now, when Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, \u201cWe\nwill go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we\nwill approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him\nsee me, sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass\nyou to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.\u201d\nThey did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet\nAniw\u0254\u00b7ye, who also approached them slowly.\n\nWhen they were near enough ut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye turned\nslowly. When his back was toward them, et cum pediturus esset, they\nopened ranks and Big Fisher ran forth et prius anum Aniw\u0254\u00b7yei cepit\nquam hie pedere posset. He pinched anum ejus dure. \u201cAyu!\u201d exclaimed\nAniw\u0254\u00b7ye. \u201cAyu, ayu! Let go of me! Non iterum pedam!\u201d But Big Fisher\nheld on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big\nFisher held fast, and at last Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye died because he could not\ndischarge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that\nhe was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the\nbits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran\noff into the bush. That was the end of Aniw\u0254\u00b7ye, the Monster Skunk, but\nthere are plenty of small skunks now.\n\n\n\n\n(9) The Man Who Transformed a Doll into a Woman and Followed Her into\nthe World Above.\n\nThere was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he\nlived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He\ndid not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young\npeople, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think\nthat he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled\nall over, but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of\nwood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and\nafter a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a\nlittle. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.\n\nSaid the doll to him, \u201cPut me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not\nlook at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I\nwon\u2019t be here.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove\nhimself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by\nhimself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and\nbegan wondering to himself. \u201cIf I sleep here,\u201d thought he, \u201cI might,\nindeed, be tempted to look.\u201d The more he pondered, the more he\nweakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside\nthe wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then,\ngaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night\nalone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he\ncame near the camp, he went to the water-hole. [37] There he saw a\nwoman\u2019s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself,\n\u201cAlas! my wife has gone.\u201d He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and\nfound that the woman had actually gone. [38]\n\nHe now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of\ncedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he\nstarted\u2014this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very\nfast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying\nstill and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow\nacross, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake\nbefore the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp\nwas located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there.\n\u201cOh, my grandchild,\u201d said she, \u201cdon\u2019t stand there looking in the door.\nCome in and eat.\u201d So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen\na woman pass there. She answered, \u201cYesterday, about noon.\u201d And the old\nwoman gave him a mess of corn and said, \u201cMy dear grandchild, it is very\nhard where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road\nleads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking\ntheir lives. But I will help you.\u201d Then she gave him a leg-bone of a\nlynx. \u201cWhen you are in trouble, you may need this,\u201d she told him. Then\nhe started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to\na lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at\nfirst. He was fast indeed.\n\nSoon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into\nthe first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the\nfirst, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she\nhad seen the woman pass by. \u201cA little after noon time,\u201d she replied.\nNow, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he\nate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, \u201cWhere you\nare going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but\nnever succeed. They die.\u201d And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told\nhim, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on\nhis journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake,\nuntil it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that\nhe felt very tired.\n\nBy and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the\nsame question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten\nhere, the old woman gave him a squirrel\u2019s tail to help him overcome the\ndangers which she warned him against. Said she, \u201cFrom now on you won\u2019t\nsee any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree\nwith a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you\nwon\u2019t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife\nclimbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will\nnot be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.\u201d\n\nSo he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken\nabout. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the\nbase he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but\nhad fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he\nrecollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each\nhand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he\nascended so high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so\nshort that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so\nhigh that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the\ntree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he\nhad his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he\ncried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a\nspirit nearby which murmured to him, \u201cClose your eyes and look through\nthe tree. You will see steps to climb on.\u201d Then he did as the voice\nsaid and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started\nrunning up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes\nclosed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun\nto climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he\nbethought himself of the squirrel\u2019s tail, and at the same moment found\nhimself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the\ngreat tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he\ncame to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree\nprotruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it\nfrom the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across\nfrom the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the\nedge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his\nupper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his\nlower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the\nsquirrel.\n\nThen he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world\ntoward him. Said she, \u201cYou should not have come here, because, after\nall your trouble, you will die anyway.\u201d She took hold of him and made\nshift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little\nwhile. \u201cNow,\u201d she said to him, \u201cwe always play ball up here. There are\nmen here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will\nwant you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill\nyou; but if you beat them, you will survive.\u201d\n\nThen she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White\nBears. This was the great White Bear\u2019s home and his family. Now the old\nBear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, \u201cYou take this ball\nand go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will\nrace with you, to see who gets back here first.\u201d So they started. The\nBear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the\nman jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop\nthe ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the\ntrick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting\nback first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, \u201cYou\nseem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you\nto perform. If you win, you can stay.\u201d\n\nAnd they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White\nBears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in\nmoving it a little. \u201cNow, you try,\u201d said they, \u201cand if you can\u2019t move\nit, you are a dead man.\u201d Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot\nit at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. \u201cIndeed, you\nare a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and\nlive with us,\u201d said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him,\nafter a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow\nlonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very\nmuch.\n\nOne afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met\nseemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a\nlittle ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some\nanimal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the\nice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he\ntook it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer\nfell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He\nkilled the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place.\nThere he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at\nanother place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this\nworld. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he\nthought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of\nleather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance\nahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had\nbrought. [39] Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag, \u201cI\nwonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.\u201d She saw some blood\non the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a\nmistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went\nout crying to her people, \u201cThis man has killed our otters!\u201d When the\nold White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, \u201cWe should\nhave told this man about our otters, because he didn\u2019t know. On this\naccount it is all right.\u201d He said no more, because he was afraid of the\nmagic possessed by his new son-in-law.\n\n\n\n\n(10) Ayas\u00b7e and the Origin of Bats.\n\nThe Ayas\u00b7e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often\nthey used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country\nwhere berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get\nlost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a\nprey of them and ate them.\n\nOne time one of the Ayas\u00b7e men was travelling. On his way he came\nacross a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising\nand in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now\nthis Ayas\u00b7e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching\nthe skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any\nnoise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to\npass. When Ayas\u00b7e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as\nthey became aware of his presence, one of them said, \u201cWe had better\nbegin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas\u00b7e is passing\nhere.\u201d Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of\nthem put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this,\nAyas\u00b7e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon\nto taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the\ndish. Ayas\u00b7e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was\ngone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said,\n\u201cAyas\u00b7e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas\u00b7e was going to\npass. He must have passed now.\u201d Then she took a stick which she used to\npoke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners\nof the wigwam to find if Ayas\u00b7e were there. Every time she came near\npoking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not\nreach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took\noff his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the\ndoor-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they\nthought it was Ayas\u00b7e trying to escape through the door. Now these old\nwomen had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone\nthey began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas\u00b7e, and\npretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each\none thinking she was stabbing Ayas\u00b7e. They killed each other. One of\nthe old women said before she died, \u201cI believe you hit me by mistake.\u201d\nIt was too late; they both died.\n\nNow Ayas\u00b7e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then\nhe dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the\nwigwam he saw the men\u2019s and women\u2019s bones, the bones of the victims of\nthese two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had\nbeen killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the\nshape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas\u00b7e\ntook their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw\ninto the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see\nthem to-day. I did not see any more.\n\n\n\n\n(11) Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major). [40]\n\nThe Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world.\nNobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was\nwinter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere,\nbut it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.\n\nNow, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are called\nni\u00b7b\u0259nis\u00b7e \u201csummer (guardian) birds.\u201d He tied them in bundles and kept\nthem with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually\nwinter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer\nto the North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about\nfreeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody\ndiscovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one\nwould go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring\nlived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.\n\nThe Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer\nwould come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the\ncaptor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring\nalone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that\nhe could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried\nto break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at\nlast he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the\nair. Then the pitch broke from the Herring\u2019s mouth and he cried out,\n\u201cFisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles\nwith his teeth! The Summer-birds!\u201d Two or three times he cried out,\nuntil their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he\narrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.\n\nThe Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and\narrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into\nthe sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still\ntrying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in\nshooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.\n[41] Although they chased him continually, they never got him.\n\n\n\n\n(12) The Young Loon.\n\nOnce in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the\nsouth for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go\nwith the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, \u201cI cannot go back\nsouth with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all\nwinter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will\nmeet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here,\nit will be on a misty morning.\u201d So they all flew away to the south, and\nthe young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad\nbecause she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go\nwith them.\n\nIn the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it\nbecomes misty, the Indians say, \u201cThe Loon is coming back from her\nwinter sojourn in the South.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(13) The Giant Pike.\n\nAt that time there were two people living who got married and had some\ndaughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married\nand had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the\nfather and mother died, and left the children with only their\ngrandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to\nshoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to\nset the night lines [42] for fish. They lived only by fishing, because\nthe grandmother was too old to do anything else.\n\nSo these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for\nfun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake.\nThen their grandmother would say to them, \u201cDon\u2019t swim in that lake.\nThere is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.\u201d The older boy\nbelieved his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while\nthey were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the\nlake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his\nclothes to swim to it. But his brother said, \u201cYou know what grandmother\ntold you. The big pike might swallow you.\u201d But the boy started to swim\nnevertheless, saying, \u201cKoga\u2032miko\u201d (\u201cswallowed in the water\u201d) with each\nstroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came\nand swallowed him.\n\nHis brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam,\nsaying, \u201cMy little brother is koga\u2032miko, \u2018swallowed in the water\u2019.\u201d\nThen his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together.\nSoon after this they again set their night lines. When they looked\ntoward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together\nand the boy said, \u201cWe have a fish.\u201d But the grandmother cried and would\nnot look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went\nalong in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a\nvery large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of\nsomething. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the\ncanoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the\nshore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently\nclean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the\nyounger brother. \u201cI\u2019m scalded with the intestines! (Nin\u00adbabe\u2032n\u0259s,)\u201d\n[43] he cried. \u201cI\u2019m scalded. I\u2019ve been here three days.\u201d He was already\nbeginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her\ngrandson back again. That is the end.\n\n\n\n\n(14) Lynx and His Two Wives.\n\nThere was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the\nother a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove\nbeaver during the winter time. [44] Rabbit was a very good hunter. But\nLynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx\nbeat his wives because they couldn\u2019t find the beaver. He said to them,\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t get some beaver for me, I\u2019ll eat both of you.\u201d At this\nthey became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and\nputting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went\nhome and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save\ntheir lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was\npulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters,\nLynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver\nescaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, \u201cIf you don\u2019t get some\nbeaver, I\u2019ll kill you tonight.\u201d\n\nRabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside\nthe wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole\nbehind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives,\nbut he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull up testes\nsuos in se and then he began dancing. [45] He said to himself, \u201cWhen\nthey hear this funny thing, they will laugh.\u201d Pretty soon Marten\nlaughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her.\nSoon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much\nafraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and\nfinally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking\nout some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he\nhad eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at\nthis, \u201cHuk, huk\u201d! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled at it\nso hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of\nLynx have testicles as they are to-day.\n\n\n\n\n(15) Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami.\n\nOnce upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went\nashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock,\nwhile she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was\ngone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a\nrock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child\u2019s father was\nalso a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his\nbaby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the\nbaby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two\nmiles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He\ndove and followed, as he was mi\u00b7te\u00b7\u2032 and came to the big rock where the\nseal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal\nescaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.\n\n\n\n\n(16) Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher.\n\nAt the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp\nnose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high\nas a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him\nand jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as\nit is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. \u201cKwe, kwe,\u201d Lynx\nasked Rabbit, \u201cwhere are you going?\u201d Rabbit answered, \u201cI am going to\nthe short flat-faced country.\u201d Lynx did not understand the joke, and he\nlet Rabbit pass.\n\nLynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw\nsome flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself\nin the water. He discovered how ugly he was. \u201cI\u2019m so ugly. That is what\nRabbit meant when he met me. I\u2019ll fix him.\u201d So he went back, struck\nRabbit\u2019s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it\nwent into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw\nRabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, \u201cHas anybody been\npassing here lately Hee!\u201d Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this\nquestion twice and at last Rabbit spoke, \u201cTsc, tsc, it\u2019s Sunday\nto-day.\u201d Lynx asked the same question again and received the same\nreply. Then Rabbit said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go around and find his track?\u201d.\nWhen Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run,\nhe chased him and caught him.\n\n\u201cCan you talk English?\u201d said Lynx. \u201cYes,\u201d answered Rabbit. \u201cWell, can\u2019t\nyou talk white?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d answered Rabbit. \u201cWell, if you don\u2019t talk\nwhite, I\u2019ll kill you.\u201d So Rabbit had to talk white. \u201cWell, what do you\ncall \u2018fire\u2019 in English.\u201d \u201cWaya\u02bbkabi\u00b7\u2032te\u201d (people sitting around a\nfire), answered Rabbit. \u201cHow do they say \u2018axe\u2019 there?\u201d\n\u201cMe\u2032ma\u00adtowes\u2035i\u014bg\u201d (\u201cnoise of chopping\u201d). \u201cWhat do you call knife?\u201d\nasked Lynx. \u201cTaya\u2032tacki\u00b7\u2035w\u0259gis\u00b7e\u201d (\u201csliced meat\u201d), answered Rabbit.\n\u201cYou are a liar\u201d, said Lynx. \u201cKi\u00b7ni\u014bgwa\u2035z\u0259m, you are a liar.\u201d And he\nkilled Rabbit.\n\n\n\n\n(17) Snaring the Sun.\n\nThere was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day\nhe saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided\nto set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So\nhe set his snare and went away. That track was the sun\u2019s track, and\nwhen the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn\u2019t rise the\nnext day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled.\n\u201cWhere did you set your snare?\u201d they asked him. He told them, and they\nwent to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near\nenough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all\ngot burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth\nand freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are\nbrown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.\n\n\n\n\n(18) Homo Excrementi.\n\nThere were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by\nhimself. He was a young man and he tried to get his neighbour\u2019s\ndaughter to marry him, but she wouldn\u2019t have him, saying that he was\nnot good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get\na wife.\n\nThen the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting\nspring, but the young man stayed back. He was full of mite\u00b7\u2032win. [46]\nHe planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He\ncollected omne excrementum quod invenire potuit and made it into the\nshape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had\nrefused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man\nalive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature\nwas frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.\n\nAnd so Homo excrementi came, early in the morning, crunching through\nthe snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming,\nthey cried, \u201cSomebody\u2019s coming. Make a fire.\u201d And when he reached the\ncamp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice\nfellow. \u201cWhere do you come from? Who is your father?\u201d they asked him.\n\u201cHump-back,\u201d said he. \u201cWho is your mother?\u201d \u201cFlat-set excrementum,\u201d\nanswered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable\nto stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to\nstay at the camp, but he couldn\u2019t, so he hurried away.\n\nThen one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage\nfollowed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow\nwarmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later\nhis hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he\nhad melted altogether et ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined\nthe hat, internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back\nhome saying, \u201cGood for him, he\u2019s melted. I\u2019m glad he is melted.\u201d She\ncouldn\u2019t catch him anyway, so she was angry.\n\nSo young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but\ntake the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for\na lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a\n\u201cstinker.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(19) The Origin of Snakes.\n\nA man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to\ncross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he\nsaw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. \u201cWill\nyou carry me across?\u201d asked the hunter. \u201cYes,\u201d answered the Snake. \u201cBut\nit looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me\nif it thunders while we are crossing.\u201d The hunter got on the Snake\u2019s\nback and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along,\nthunder began rumbling, \u201ck\u03b1x k\u03b1x,\u201d and the lightning flashed. \u201cMah,\nmah, listen!\u201d said the Snake in fear. \u201cI hear something.\u201d Just as they\nreached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of\nlightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which\nbegan swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not\nkilled, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about\nto-day.\n\n\n\n\n(20) Muskrat Warns the Beaver.\n\nThe Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters.\nThey were real people who could talk to one another. They started out\none day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and\nfamilies. It was early in the winter. They said, \u201cThat\u2019s a good lake to\ndrive the beaver, as it\u2019s all rocky and they can\u2019t escape. The season\nis right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.\u201d The Beavers were in\ntheir houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn\u2019t hear the\ntalking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told\nthem. \u201cYou must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you\nare very easy to catch.\u201d Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the\nIndians\u2019 wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet\ngot so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he\nhad heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.\n\nThe next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver\u2019s\nhouses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, \u201cWhen you see a dog\npassing, whistle.\u201d So the young Beavers went to different places under\nthe ice and when they saw a dog passing, they whistled and all were\nthus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn\u2019t whistle,\nand he escaped. The Indians said, \u201cWhere\u2019s the big Beaver?\u201d Then they\nwent back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days\npeople used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and\nthrow it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn\u2019t get it. These\nhunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They\nlost it. [47]\n\nSo the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the\nwater, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his\nparents. He said to them, \u201cI had a fine time, father. They hung me over\nthe fire, and I danced for them.\u201d Shortly all the Beavers came back,\nbut one of them said, \u201cI\u2019m very sick, father. They didn\u2019t use me\nright.\u201d This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters\nhad lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the\nfresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked\nhim what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became\nangry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk\nabout the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a\nbeaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And\nalso, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the\nice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.\n\n\n\n\n(21) Story of a Hunter.\n\nThere were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the\nband. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track\na moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night.\nHe was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began\nto think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his\naxe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until\nmorning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had\nshot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was\nthere, but the skin was gone. Looking around they saw a fire not far\noff. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had\nrolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it\nhad frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed\nout the skin and all went back to camp.\n\n\n\n\n(22) A Timagami Story.\n\nOnce there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife\ngrew very fond of another man et voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione\nmariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the\nbark near her bedding ut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept\nnear the hole et omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid\nfieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when\nthey slept, et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per\norificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife\nwhat had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and\ntook its intestine end [described like an appendix], secuit penem in\nfragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the\nwhole. [48] Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she\nhad eaten it, he said, \u201cNunc edisti penem amatoris tui.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(23) Story of a Fast Runner.\n\nOnce a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a\nbeaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch\nthe beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until\nthe arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.\n\n\n\n\n(24) The Hunter and the Seven Deer.\n\nThere once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very\ndry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however,\nalthough the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One\nday he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other\u2019s tail in\nits mouth. The leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others.\nSo he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer\u2019s nose,\nand so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.\n\n\n\n\n(25) Story of a Conjurer.\n\nThere was a conjurer (mi\u00b7te\u2032w), [49] whose name was Gitcikwe\u2032we\n(\u201cbuzzing noise\u201d), his wife Pi\u00b7dje\u2032\u02bbkwe [50] and their children,\ncamping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of\nwhere they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the\nwigwam to this lake.\n\nOne evening, while Gitcikwe\u2032we was sitting in his wigwam, he became\nvery much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him,\nbut on account of his mi\u00b7te\u2032w feeling he became afraid and knew that\nsomething was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped\ninto his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the\ncamp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning,\nhe found that a Windigo [51] had been there and had smashed his wigwam.\n\nThen the family started to take the portage which led across to the big\nlake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe\u2032we took the portage, he sent\nhis wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they\ncould, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, \u201cWhen you\nhear \u2018Meat bird\u2019 (Wiske\u00b7djak [52]) flying above you, that means\n\u2018Hurry\u2019, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be\nyour warning.\u201d They reached the other end of the portage and got into\nthe canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the\nend of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to\nview. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not\ncross. After Gitcikwe\u2032we put up his camp, he said to his wife, \u201cI am\nnot yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us\nall winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at\ncamp all the time, watching out for you and the children.\u201d\n\nThen he made his mi\u00b7te\u2032o wigwam with its seven poles and covered it\nwith bark. [53] He went into it and it began to work and move, while a\nband of spirits could be heard singing inside. [54] Then Windigo came\nthere and Gitcikwe\u2032we said to his wife, \u201cWe will clinch him and take\nhim away out west where he came from.\u201d When he clinched him, the\nconjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children\nfainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they\nrecovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their\nfather had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while\nafter this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe\u2032we was back\nagain from his trip out west. He said to his family, \u201cWe will be all\nright now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he\nwill stay there now.\u201d\n\nThere was another mi\u00b7te\u2032 Indian one day\u2019s journey from where\nGitcikwe\u2032we was camping. This Indian was so full of mi\u00b7te\u2032 also that,\nwhile he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great\nmoaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except\nthis man, because they were not mi\u00b7te\u2032.\n\nNext morning Gitcikwe\u2032we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no\nwind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing\nanother winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great\nnoise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where\nthey had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe\u2032we heard\nthis, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he\nhad come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the\nonly way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this\npurpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing\nright in the portage. It was Gitcikwe\u2032we\u2019s wife\u2019s nephew. He had left\nhis canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry\nit, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So\nhe got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp. [55]\n\n\n\n\n(26) Legend of Obabika Lake.\n\nObabika lake is called Ma\u2032nitu Pi\u00b7pa\u2032gi\u00b7, \u201cSpirit Echo.\u201d On the eastern\nshore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live.\nWhenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry\nand growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when\nhe is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it;\nand they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or\nshoot their guns near its shores.\n\n\n\n\n(27) Iroquois Pictographs.\n\n\u201cThe Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the\nAmericans had driven them from their homes in the States and the\nIroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North.\nIn their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted\npictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends,\nif they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had\nbeen there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell\nwhat had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their\npeople, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.\u201d\n[56]\n\nThe Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady\nEvelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in\ncanoes.\n\n\n\n\n(28) An Iroquois Legend.\n\nAt that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young\nbaby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their\nfather had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was\nwinter and the sons had two rabbit snares\u2019 trails, one to the east and\nthe other to the north, and they went to different lines on different\ndays. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped\nin a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons would\nhunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.\n\nWhen they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with\nthem spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used\nto bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the\nmen wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as\nten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than\nthey, so they asked her, \u201cWhat did you do it with?\u201d They never went\nwith their mother to where she had her snares, but they were\ncontinually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, \u201cI\ncut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck,\nsince I have no bow.\u201d But they didn\u2019t believe her, as they often saw\narrow wounds in the partridges\u2019 breasts. They looked at these wounds\nand said, \u201cSomebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the\nIroquois?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d answered the mother, \u201cI caught them with a pole snare\nand poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they\nwill make more bouillon.\u201d But still they didn\u2019t believe her and they\nsaid to each other, \u201cMother doesn\u2019t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I\nguess, are going to kill us. We\u2019ll fool our mother and these Iroquois.\nWhen we go to bed, we\u2019ll sleep with our baby.\u201d\n\nSo that night they said to their mother, \u201cWe want to sleep with our\nbrother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.\u201d They dried their\nmoccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they\nwere preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place\nthe day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them,\nthus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up\nin a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When\nthey left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried\nout, \u201cMadja\u2032w\u03b1k they are going!\u201d She did this to help the Iroquois find\nthem. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a\ngreat number of branch trails in order to deceive them.\n\nThe three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed\nand waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail\nand followed until they finally reached them. The three in the cave\ncould hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a\nhole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three\nwere there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the\nsons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they\ncould use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more\nIroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying.\nFinally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to\nlook around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the\nwigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails.\nOne of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with\nthe baby.\n\nWhen they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the\npoles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut\noff her breasts and made babiche strings [57] of it. These two Iroquois\nwho were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all\nthe way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The\nmother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if\nshe didn\u2019t tell her sons of their whereabouts.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTIMAGAMI FOLK-LORE.\n\n\n(1)\n\nIt is not proper to tell stories in summer, lest one die; but, if\nstories are told, they must be told for ten successive evenings in\norder to prevent the evil.\n\n\n\n\n(2)\n\nIn order to foretell the sex of the child about to be born, the first\nvertebra of a moose or deer may be used. The appearance of one side of\nthis bone resembles a man\u2019s face, while the other resembles a woman\u2019s.\nThe seeker for information may place this bone on top of his head and\nlet it drop to the ground. Whichever face turns upward like a die\nindicates the sex of the child. This bone is called uta\u2032backo\u2035k\u00b7e \u201cback\nneck-bone\u201d.\n\n\n\n\n(3)\n\nA little device to bring rain: suck the flat side of a green leaf until\nit snaps, or slap one hand with the palm of the other, holding the leaf\nin the fist of the first.\n\n\n\n\n(4)\n\nNorthern Lights: Wase\u2032tibik\u00b7an, \u201clight of night.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n(5)\n\nBine\u00b7\u2032s\u00b7i\u00b7wi\u00b7mi\u00b7\u2032k\u00b7\u2035an, \u201cbirds\u2019 path\u201d. This is the Milky Way, which is\nbelieved to be the guide to the birds in their spring and autumn\nmigrations.\n\n\n\n\n(6)\n\nW\u0259t\u03b1\u2032gwanobi\u00b7\u2035s\u00b7an \u201cmist from the water\u201d (?). This is the rainbow,\nwhich is thought to be caused by mist generated in the air by waves of\nsome great sea.\n\n(The Matachewan Indians of Montreal river call the rainbow\nAni\u2032miki\u00b7unujea\u2035bi \u201cthunder\u2019s legging string\u201d!)\n\n\n\n\n(7)\n\nThe whippoorwill (wa\u2032hone\u00b7\u2035s\u00b7i) is very rarely heard in Bear island,\nalthough the bird frequents some parts of the lake. Its cry is\nconsidered an omen of ill fortune or of death. Another idea connected\nwith the whippoorwill\u2019s cry is that it is the signal cry of the\nIroquois (Ma\u2032djina\u2035dowes\u00b7i \u201cbad Iroquois,\u201d referring to the tribes of\nthe League as distinct from those of Caughnawaga) and that it indicates\nthe proximity of enemies.\n\n\n\n\n(8)\n\nWhen robins (gwi\u00b7\u2032ckwe) sing noticeably during the day it is a sign of\ncoming rain. The toad\u2019s (om\u03b1\u2032k\u00b7\u03b1ki) song in the daytime has the same\nportent.\n\n\n\n\n(9)\n\nTo kill blue-bottle flies will bring rain.\n\n\n\n\n(10)\n\nIf anyone finds or sees a live mole it is a sign that some member of\nthe family will die soon. Moles are very rare in the Timagami\nneighbourhood and quite a stir is raised when one is encountered.\n\n\n\n\n(11)\n\nHiccoughing is a sign that the victim has been stealing something. If\nit is true and the victim is accused of it, he will stop hiccoughing\nfrom fright.\n\n\n\n\n(12)\n\nIf a child is born feet first he is gifted with curing powers for\npeople with sore backs. They let him jump on the patient\u2019s back.\n\n\n\n\n(13)\n\nThe method of cooking squirrels (dji\u00b7\u2032t\u0254\u2032m\u01eb) has an influence upon the\nweather forces. Squirrels are usually cooked by splitting the carcass,\nafter it has been skinned, and roasting it in the flames until done.\nShould the animal, however, be boiled instead, it will bring rain. When\nrain is needed, squirrels are boiled purposely to bring it.\n\n\n\n\n(14)\n\nTo bring on a snowstorm an infant is allowed to make its moccasin print\nin the snow.\n\n\n\n\n(15)\n\nIf an infant warms its hands before the fire, it is a sure sign of cold\nweather coming.\n\n\n\n\n(16)\n\nA red sunset with red clouds is a sign of wind.\n\n\n\n\n(17)\n\nA whirling buzzer, made by spinning a bone or wooden disk on a string\noperated by the two hands, will cause the wind to rise.\n\n\n\n\n(18)\n\nA divination device is used before the hunt to foretell what kind of\ngame is going to be killed. It is as follows. The metacarpal bone of a\nbeaver\u2019s hind leg, with its sinew covering, is taken and cut nearly\nthrough, so that it will break easily.\n\nThis is stuck upright in the ground near the fire and a series of lines\nradiating from it are traced in the ashes or ground, each line being\nnamed for some game animal: moose, beaver, caribou, deer, bear, otter,\nmartin, fisher, etc. Then, as the heat shrinks the sinew, it breaks the\nbone at the cut and the upper piece points along one of the lines\nmarked. This answers what kind of game is going to be gotten. The lines\nsometimes also are used to denote the direction to be followed to get\nthe animals designated.\n\n(A variation of this operation was noted from the Mattagami band. Here\na stick is used instead of a beaver bone and the base of the stick is\nburned. When this falls, it denotes the direction to be taken to secure\ngame).\n\n\n\n\n(19) Supernatural Creatures.\n\nPa\u00b7\u2032g\u03b1k. This is a personification of a human skeleton without the\nflesh, which wanders about the country. When he travels, he goes as\nfast as he thinks. When he wishes himself to be in a place, he is there\nas soon as he thinks of it. When he is heard by the people, it is a\nsign that someone will die. It is thought that he is heard occasionally\nthree times in succession, making his peculiar noise, once at the\nhorizon, once at the zenith, and again at the opposite horizon.\n\nMe\u00b7\u2032megwe\u00b7\u2035s\u00b7i. A species of creature which lives in the high remote\nledges. They are small and have hair growing all over their bodies. The\nIndians think they are like monkeys, judging from specimens of the\nlatter they have seen in the picture-books. These dwarf-like creatures\nhave ugly faces and seek to hide them when they meet with people. A\nlittle narrative of a meeting with these creatures is told by some\nTimagami Indians who had been to Lake Timiskaming. The Indians were\npassing the high ledge of rock a few miles below Haileybury, where the\nwater was very deep and where they had set their nets. They found that\nsomebody had been stealing fish. They proceeded to watch the nets and\nsoon saw three Me\u00b7\u2032megwe\u00b7\u2035s\u00b7i come out astride of an old log for a\ncanoe, using sticks for paddles. The Indians pursued them, the fairies\nmeanwhile hiding their faces. Finally the Indians caught one. Then one\nIndian said, \u201cLook behind!\u201d When the fairy turned quickly they got a\nglimpse of how ugly he was. The Indians then took a knife from this\nfairy and the rest disappeared, riding their log through the rock wall\nto the inside, where they could be heard crying, as this was where they\nlived. The Indians then threw the knife at the rock and it went right\nthrough to the inside to its owner.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX: NOTES ON TIMAGAMI FOLK-LORE.\n\n(By Neil C. Fergusson.)\n\n\n[Note.\n\nUnder date of August 30, 1913, Mr. Neil C. Fergusson, Timagami Fire\nRanger, wrote from Bear island, Lake Timagami: \u201cWhile at Bear Island I\nmet Mr. Speck, who was gathering Indian lore and legends for the\nVictoria Memorial Museum. His work interested me greatly.\u201d He then\nproceeds to communicate some folk-lore material which he had himself\ncollected from Timagami Indians. This, kindly put by Mr. Fergusson at\nthe disposal of the Geological Survey, is here added as a supplement to\nDr. Speck\u2019s own data.\n\nE. Sapir.]\n\n\n\n(1) Whisky Jack and the Markings on Birch Bark.\n\n\u201cOne Indian told me a few incidents about Whisky Jack (Anglicised form\nof native Wiske\u00b7djak) and ended by saying that he had seen the outline\nof that strange personage imprinted on a rock along the Ottawa river.\nHe said that the markings on the birch bark were caused by Whisky Jack\nwhen he struck the bark, which was once clear, with a balsam bough and\nthen threw a bird at the tree. Hence the knots give the appearance of a\nbird with outstretched wings, as seen on the enclosed piece of bark\n(see Figure 2).\u201d\n\n\n\n(2) The Two Girls, Hell-Diver, and Loon. [58]\n\nOnce upon a time two girls who were out in the woods climbed a tall\nspruce tree, but when they wanted to descend, they found that it was\nimpossible. Just then a Moose passed near the tree and both girls\ncalled to him for help. The Moose, however, passed on without aiding\nthem. Likewise a Deer, an Otter, and a Lynx all went by, but from none\ndid they receive any help. At last a Wolverine came along and listened\nto the girls\u2019 entreaties. He finally climbed the tree and brought the\ngirls safely to the ground, after which all three walked along\ntogether. The girls didn\u2019t wish the Wolverine as a companion, so one of\nthem said that she had dropped her hair-ribbon near the spruce tree and\nasked the unwelcome companion to go back for it, saying that they would\nwait where they were until he returned. The kind Wolverine went off on\nhis errand, and, as soon as he was out of sight, the two girls made\ntheir departure. So the Wolverine came back and saw no girls. He heard\na whistle and went in that direction. Then he heard another whistle\nbehind him, and so on, but still he failed to find the girls, for the\ntrees were whistling one after another in order to fool the poor\nWolverine. The Wolverine went his own way, feeling very much grieved.\n\nThe girls walked on swiftly until they came to a little wigwam built in\nthe bush. It was a very pretty wigwam and looked so inviting to the\ntired girls that they went inside to rest. Soon a Bird, who was the\nowner, came along and demanded their business in his wigwam. They told\nhim that they had lost their way, so he gave them a cup of tea and\ndirected them on their journey. The girls travelled on and came at last\nto a river at the end of which was a lake. A Beaver was paddling his\ncanoe down the stream, but wouldn\u2019t take the girls in. Next a Loon, who\nwas the king of all water animals, came along in his canoe, but he also\nrefused to take them with him. Finally a \u201cHell-diver\u201d came paddling by.\nHe was very kind and took the two girls down to the lake where he dwelt\nand told them that they might sleep in his wigwam that night. He gave\nthem some blankets and then went out on business.\n\nThe girls, however, couldn\u2019t go to sleep, for they heard music and knew\nthat a dance must be going on. They got out of their bed and went to\nthe house where they heard the music. Looking in at the window, they\nsaw the Loon playing the fiddle and all the dancers enjoying\nthemselves, so they returned to their bed and placed two logs under the\nblankets to deceive their kind friend, the \u201cHell-diver,\u201d into thinking\nthat they were still where he had left them.\n\nWhile the two girls were dancing, the \u201cHell-diver\u201d returned and lay\ndown under the blankets, but the logs happened to be partly rotten and\nwere filled with ants, so that it wasn\u2019t long before he discovered the\ntrick that had been played on him. At once he went to the Loon\u2019s house,\nthinking that the girls had been to the dance. All was dark in the\nhouse, as the dancers had left, but he could see that the two girls and\nthe Loon were lying there asleep. The Loon was snoring with his mouth\nwide open. The \u201cHell-diver\u201d was seized with anger and went swiftly back\nto his wigwam, where he heated a piece of iron until it was red hot. He\nhastened with this to the Loon\u2019s house and crammed it down the\nsleeper\u2019s mouth.\n\nKnowing that he had killed the Loon and that the murder would soon be\ndiscovered on the next day, he made ready to go on a hunting trip and\ntold his old grandmother that he\u2019d be back on the following evening.\nWhen the murdered Loon was discovered, his murderer was far away in the\nbush and had already caught one deer in his trap. He filled a portion\nof its entrails with blood and hung it around his neck, then started\nfor home. As his canoe neared the village in the evening, all the\npeople ran down to the water\u2019s edge and cried, \u201cOur chief is dead!\u201d The\n\u201cHell-diver\u201d pulled his knife and cut the bladder of blood which hung\nabout his neck, upsetting the canoe at the same time. The people\nlamented, saying, \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have told the \u2018Hell-diver,\u2019 for he has\nkilled himself from grief.\u201d\n\nBut far out in the middle of the lake the \u201cHell-diver\u201d came swimming to\nthe surface and called aloud. \u201cIt was I who killed our king, the Loon.\u201d\nRevenge took hold of all the people and they at once gave chase, but\nwere unable to catch the murderer, and, as darkness was upon them, they\nsaid, \u201cWe will build a dam and in the morning, when the lake is dry, we\nwill catch him.\u201d In the morning the lake was dry and all the villagers\nwent in pursuit. The chase was a long one and the \u2018Hell-diver\u2019 was in\nthe last stages of fatigue when he ran to the dam and quickly kicked it\ndown. The waters came running in and all the people were turned into\nwater animals, but became friends with one another.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPHONETIC KEY.\n\n\na, as in father, of medium length; a\u00b7, lengthened.\n\ne, open; \u025b\u00b7, long as in North German B\u00e4r.\n\ne\u00b7, longer than e and close in quality.\n\ni and i\u00b7, short and long close vowels.\n\no, close and of medium length.\n\n\u0254\u00b7, longer than o and with lips more protruded, almost like au of\nEnglish taut.\n\n\u03b1, dulled form of short a, like u of English but.\n\n\u0259, short obscure vowel of uncertain quality.\n\n\n\nb\u2013p, bilabial stops varying between true sonant and intermediate\nsurd-sonant.\n\nd\u2013t, alveolar stops varying between true sonant and intermediate\nsurd-sonant.\n\ng\u2013k, medial palatal stops varying between true sonant and intermediate\nsurd-sonant.\n\ns and z, surd and sonant dorsal sibilant pronounced with tip of tongue\ndeflected to lower alveolar (applies only to Timiskaming Algonquin; in\nTimagami Ojibwa s and z are normal).\n\nc and j, surd and sonant sibilant corresponding respectively to English\nsh and z of azure.\n\ntc and dj, surd and sonant sibilant affricative corresponding\nrespectively to English ch and j.\n\nx, voiceless palatal spirant like ch of German Bach.\n\nm, as in English.\n\nn, as in English.\n\n\u014b, palatal nasal like ng of English sing.\n\nw, as in English.\n\ny, as in English.\n\nh, as in English.\n\n\n\n\u02db, nasalized vowel.\n\n\u02bb, aspiration following vowel or consonant.\n\n\u00b7, denotes that preceding vowel or consonant is long.\n\n\u2032, main stress.\n\n\u2035, secondary stress.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] This band is known locally as Ki\u00b7we\u00b7\u2032gomani\u2035c\u0259na\u2035bi \u201cTurn back lake\nIndians.\u201d Their rendezvous was at Fort William. Their range extended\naround Lake Dumoine and down Dumoine river to the Ottawa river.\n\n[2] Cf. A. B. Skinner, Notes on the Eastern Cree and Northern\nSaulteaux, Anth. Papers of Amer. Mus. of Nat. Hist., N.Y., vol. IX, pt.\ni, 1911.\n\n[3] Ci\u014bg\u0259bis is the grebe, a well known character in Ojibwa mythology,\nsharing the trickster exploits of Wiske\u00b7djak. He appears again as the\nquasi-hero of a subsequent story in this cycle.\n\n[4] Formal way of ending a narration; the narrator is assumed to have\nbeen a spectator. The informant temporarily discontinued his story\nhere.\n\n[5] Ejus.\n\n[6] Ejus.\n\n[7] The Indians often use the red willow bark to mix with tobacco. It\nis called m\u0259skwa\u2032\u00adbi\u00b7\u2035mij \u201cred willow tree.\u201d The yellow spots seen on\nthe red of the bark are where Wiske\u00b7djak, in walking over them, got\nthem between his legs and left yellow matter in the blood from the\nscabs. The \u201crock weed,\u201d wa\u2032kwund (rock tripe) is often eaten in the\nbush when other foods fail. It is scraped off the rocks with a flat\nstick into a blanket, then washed and boiled and eaten. The water\nbecomes a little slimy, but it makes a nourishing soup.\n\n[8] P\u03b1gwa\u2032k\u00b7wut pug\u0259ma\u2032gan \u201carrow-head hammer,\u201d an old style of war\nclub with a stone set in a big wooden head attached to a handle and\nswung by a thong from the warrior\u2019s elbow to leave his hand free.\n\n[9] It is a most remarkable thing that practically the same legend is\nfound among all the northern and eastern Algonkians: Cree, Montagnais,\nAbenaki, Penobscot, Malecite.\n\n[10] This is the version of the Kingfisher clan of the Timagami band.\n\n[11] This refers to the old custom of seclusion during puberty.\n\n[12] By doing so she became pregnant. Magical conception occurs in the\nculture-hero story of the Algonkian, Iroquoian, and Yuchi tribes.\n\n[13] An episode strikingly similar to one found among the Penobscot and\nother Eastern Algonkians.\n\n[14] Fire drill.\n\n[15] Onomapoetic term in diminutive.\n\n[16] Rock-tripe, an edible fungus made into soup and eaten in time of\nfamine. Nenebuc had this experience on a ledge near the eastern shore\nof Smoothwater lake (see map).\n\n[17] This big snake became a high rocky ridge on the portage south of\nSmoothwater lake (see map above referred to).\n\n[18] The lake is Smoothwater lake, C\u0173cawa\u2032gami \u201csmooth lake\u201d (see map\nabove referred to). This is the scene of the world transformation.\n\n[19] The cave is in a high bluff on the west shore of Smoothwater lake.\nOn the eastern shore is where Nenebuc fell down the rocks and made\nwa\u2032kwan.\n\n[20] The medicine people always do that now.\n\n[21] Abi\u00b7nd\u0259sa\u2032gan \u201csomething to sit or lie on the water with.\u201d The\nevent occurred near the previously mentioned cave.\n\n[22] This is called Koko\u2035kowikwe\u00b7\u2035tu\u0254k \u201cOwl bay,\u201d now known as Kokoko\nbay, the northeastern arm of Lake Timagami (see map). The event\noccurred on the western shore of the bay.\n\n[23] This fragment has probably come from some neighbouring band of\nOjibwa, possibly Mattagami.\n\n[24] This is a fragment of the culture-hero cycle of the Mattagami band\nof Ojibwa, which has become known among the Timagami people, but does\nnot form a part of their own version.\n\n[25] Every wigwam has horizontal poles crossing near the smoke hole.\nThis is a drying rack and support for the pot hook.\n\n[26] The Ojibwa formerly cooked in stone vessels as well as in birch\nbark.\n\n[27] A very scarce animal in northern Ontario.\n\n[28] The Indians often had much trouble to get food in the winter and\nlooked forward eagerly to spring, when the ice leaves the rivers,\nmaking \u201copen water,\u201d thus enabling them to seek new hunting places.\n\n[29] An opening in the ice near the camp for the supply of water in\nwinter.\n\n[30] An affair resembling a megaphone or moose call.\n\n[31] By doing this he would prevent them from travelling and cause them\nto freeze or starve to death.\n\n[32] Magic.\n\n[33] The hole is a circle composed of seven stars (Pleiades). This was\nthe first mite\u2032win or \u201cconjuring\u201d lodge. Seven poles are necessary to\nbuild this lodge. Unless seven are used, the conjurer\u2019s tent will not\nrock. The old woman tends the mite\u2032win. When she moves from the hole,\nthere is sure to be mite\u2032win somewhere here below. The stars form the\nrim of the hole through which she lowered the two girls.\n\n[34] Etiam hodie castor saepe pedit.\n\n[35] Kcki\u00b7\u2032man, a magic fetish which will secure the owner his wish.\n\n[36] Also called Mici\u00b7\u2032ci\u00b7ga\u2035k \u201cMonster Skunk\u201d.\n\n[37] In winter-time, the Indians keep a hole chopped through the ice\nnear their camp for the water supply.\n\n[38] If he had obeyed her and not looked until the third day, she would\nstill have been there.\n\n[39] It is the custom for a hunter returning to hand his game bag to\nhis wife before he enters the wigwam, without speaking, so that she can\nsee for herself whether he has had good luck or not.\n\n[40] The constellation Ursa Major is called w\u0259tci\u00b7\u2032gan\u00b7\u03b1\u014bg \u201cFishing\nStar.\u201d The story accounts for this constellation name.\n\n[41] This is the bend in the handle of the Great Dipper. The small star\nAlcor in this constellation is the wound.\n\n[42] Night lines are set for lake fish. The hook of bone formerly was\nfastened into a shank of wood and this tied to a line by a leather\nleader which the teeth of the fish could not sever. Then the line was\nfastened to another line adjoining the two float sticks by a knot and\nwrapping, which would pay out after a little jerk. The float sticks\nwere anchored by a stone. The bait was tied to the hook, which later\nwas kept horizontal by a line running from the leader to a pin stuck in\nthe bait. This ingenious device is shown in Figure 1. As the story\nmentions, when the float sticks are together it is a sign that a fish\nis on the hook.\n\n[43] Archaic form.\n\n[44] To drive beaver is to hunt them by driving them from their cabins\nbeneath the ice.\n\n[45] At this time Lynx testes habuit just like those of animals, but\nnow they are like those of the cat, invisible.\n\n[46] Conjurer\u2019s magic.\n\n[47] They used to suspend the beaver by a swinging string and roast\nhim, saving all the bones from the dogs in order to throw them into the\nlake, as they thought that there would be just as many beavers there\nagain in the autumn as the number of bones thrown in. This story\nexplains the ceremonial treatment of beaver remains.\n\n[48] This intestine sausage is a great delicacy among the Indians.\n\n[49] One of the ranks of shamans.\n\n[50] Mi\u00b7te\u2035\u02bbkwe, \u201cmedicine woman\u201d.\n\n[51] A cannibal monster.\n\n[52] Gitcikwe\u2032we intended to assume this guise.\n\n[53] Seven poles are always required for this kind of a wigwam. See\nstory of Ci\u014bgibis.\n\n[54] The usual procedure of the conjurer.\n\n[55] This is related as a true story. One of Gitcikwe\u2032we\u2019s daughters is\nstill living in the Timagami band; she is known as Pi\u00b7dje\u2032\u02bbkwe.\n\n[56] Quoted verbatim from Chief Aleck Paul.\n\n[57] Thongs of rawhide.\n\n[58] Mr. Fergusson writes: \u201cAnother Indian told me some stories that he\nhad heard from his grandmother, who could speak the Ojibwa tongue. I\nwill write out the one that I thought most interesting.\u201d The story\ngiven by Mr. Fergusson is evidently a close variant of the second part\nof No. 5 of Dr. Speck\u2019s Timagami series.\n\nE. Sapir.","title":"Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":34917}