Algic Researches, Comprising Inquiries Respecting the Mental Characteristics of the North American Indians, First Series. Indian Tales and Legends, Vol. 1 of 2
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Title: Algic Researches, Comprising Inquiries Respecting the Mental Characteristics of the North American Indians, First Series. Indian Tales and Legends, Vol. 1 of 2
Author: Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Release date: February 3, 2011 [eBook #35152]
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALGIC RESEARCHES, COMPRISING INQUIRIES RESPECTING THE MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, FIRST SERIES. INDIAN TALES AND LEGENDS, VOL. 1 OF 2 ***
Produced by Julia Miller, Josephine Paolucci and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This
file was produced from scans of public domain material
produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.)
ALGIC RESEARCHES,
COMPRISING
INQUIRIES RESPECTING THE MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
FIRST SERIES.
INDIAN TALES AND LEGENDS.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
BY HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT.
Author of a Narrative Journal of Travels to the Sources of the Mississippi;
Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley;
An Expedition to Itasca Lake, &c.
NEW-YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET.
1839.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839,
By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT,
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.
TO
LIEUT. COL. HENRY WHITING,
OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY.
SIR,
The position taken by you in favour of the literary susceptibilities of
the Indian character, and your tasteful and meritorious attempts in
imbodying their manners and customs, in the shape of poetic fiction, has
directed my thoughts to you in submitting my collection of their oral
fictions to the press. Few have given attention to the intellectual
traits and distinctive opinions of these scattered branches of the human
family, without finding the subject interesting and absorbing. But in an
age of multifarious excitement, in which topic after topic, and
invention after invention, have poured in upon us with an almost
overwhelming rapidity, the interest felt on the subject, and the tribes
themselves, and their strong claims to attention, have been thrown into
the background and nearly lost sight of.
It is a pleasing coincidence, that, in addressing one whose feelings and
sentiments, in relation to them, have preserved their equanimity, amid
the din of the intellectual and moral novelties of the day, I can, at
the same time, appeal to the ties of literary sympathy and of personal
friendship. Accept these expressions of my respect, and believe me,
Most truly yours,
HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
Page
General Considerations 9
Preliminary Observations on the Tales 31
* * * * *
Ojeeg Annung; or, the Summer-maker 57
The Celestial Sisters 67
Tau-Wau-Chee-Hezkaw; or, the White Feather 74
Peboan and Seegwun. An Allegory 84
The Red Lover 87
Iamo; or, the Undying Head 96
Mon-Dau-Min; or, the Origin of Indian Corn 122
Peeta Kway; or, the Tempest 129
Manabozho 134
Bokwewa; or, the Humpback 175
Iena; or, the Magic Bundle 181
Sheem; or, the Forsaken Boy 191
Paup-Puk-Keewiss 200
Iadilla; or, the Origin of the Robin 221
The Enchanted Moccasins 226
The Broken Wing 233
The Three Cranberries. A Fable 238
Paradise opened to the Indians; Pontiac's Tale 239
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
It is proposed by the author to publish the result of his observation on
the mythology, distinctive opinions, and intellectual character of the
aborigines. Materials exist for separate observations on their oral
tales, fictitious and historical; their hieroglyphics, music, and
poetry; and the grammatical structure of the languages, their principles
of combination, and the actual state of their vocabulary. The former
topic has been selected as the commencement of the series. At what time
the remaining portions will appear, will depend upon the interest
manifested by the public in the subject, and the leisure and health
necessary to the examination of a mass of original papers, the
accumulation of nearly twenty years.
The character and peculiarities of the tribes have been studied under
favourable circumstances and new aspects; offering, it is believed, an
insight into their mental constitution, as yet but imperfectly
understood. Hitherto our information has related rather to their
external customs and manners, their physical traits and historical
peculiarities, than to what may be termed the philosophy of the Indian
mind. Such an examination required time and diligence. Much of the
earlier part of it was necessarily devoted to clearing the ground of
inquiry, by acquiring the principles of the languages, and obtaining
data for generalization. This was to be done, too, at remote points of
the Continent, away from all the facilities and encouragements of
literary society, and with the aid of persons profoundly ignorant of the
grammatical principles of the languages they spoke, and incapable of
discriminating the fabulous from the true in the histories they related.
The severe axioms of commerce had, from the first, caused the Indians to
be regarded merely as the medium of a peculiar branch of trade, which
was pursued at great hazards, excited deep animosity in the breasts of
the respective commercial factors, and gave an absorbing interest to all
that took place in the Indian country for two centuries. The
interpretership of the languages became, of necessity, the business of a
class of men who were generally uneducated, and who, imbued strongly
with the feelings and prejudices of their employers, sought no higher
excellence in their profession than to express the common ideas
connected with the transactions of trade. The result was, then as now,
that they comprehended the scope and genius of none of the languages
they spoke. Whoever will submit to the labour of a critical examination
into the subject, will soon become satisfied that the mediums of
communication he is compelled to use are jargons, and not languages. It
is impossible not to attribute to this imperfect state of oral
translation, a considerable share of the errors and misunderstandings
which have characterized our intercourse, political and commercial, with
the tribes. Made sensible of this defect in the mode of communication,
at an early period after my entrance into the Indian territories, my
collections in Indian lexicography have been withheld from my journals
of travel for further opportunity to examine the principles of the
languages themselves. Notwithstanding this impression, and the care
adopted to ensure accuracy, much of my earlier information, derived
through the ordinary channels of interpretation, proved either wholly
fallacious, or required to be tested and amended by a diligent course of
subsequent scrutiny.
Language constituted the initial point of inquiry, but it did not limit
it. It was found necessary to examine the mythology of the tribes as a
means of acquiring an insight into their mode of thinking and reasoning,
the sources of their fears and hopes, and the probable origin of their
opinions and institutions. This branch of inquiry connected itself, in a
manner which could not have been anticipated, with their mode of
conveying instruction, moral, mechanical, and religious, to the young,
through the intervention of traditionary fictitious tales and legends;
and naturally, as the next effort of a barbarous people, to hieroglyphic
signs to convey ideas and sounds. Rude as these characters were,
however, they furnish very striking illustrations of their intellectual
efforts, and exhibit evidences of that desire, implanted in the minds of
all men, to convey to their contemporaries and transmit to posterity the
prominent facts of their history and attainments. Nothing in the whole
inquiry has afforded so ample a clew to their opinions and thoughts, in
all the great departments of life and nature, as their oral imaginative
tales; and it has, therefore, been deemed proper to introduce copious
specimens of these collections from a large number of the tribes,
embracing three of the generic stocks of language.
In adopting an original nominative for the series, the object has been
to convey definite general impressions. The term ALGIC[1] is introduced,
in a generic sense, for all that family of tribes who, about A.D. 1600,
were found spread out, with local exceptions, along the Atlantic,
between Pamlico Sound and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, extending northwest
to the Missinipi of Hudson's Bay, and west to the Mississippi. The
exceptions embrace the Yamassees and Catawbas on the coast, and the
Tuscaroras, Iroquois, Wyandots, and Winnebagoes, and a part of the
Sioux, in the interior, all of whom appear to have been intruders within
the circle, and three of which, namely, the Tuscaroras, Iroquois, and
Wyandots, speak dialects of a generic language, which we shall
denominate the OSTIC.[2] The Winnebagoes are clearly of the Abanic[3]
stock, and the Yamassees and Catawbas--extinct tribes, of whom but
little has been preserved, of the restless and warlike Muscogee race.
The latter, who, together with the Cherokees and Choctaws, fill up the
southern portion of the Union, quite to the banks of the Mississippi,
exist in juxtaposition to, and not as intruders within, the Algic
circle. The Chickasaws are a scion of the Choctaws, as the Seminoles
are of the Muscogees. The Choctaw and Muscogee are, radically, the same
language. The Cherokees do not appear to have put forth any distant
branches, and have come down to our times, as a distinct people. It thus
appears that four mother stocks occupied the entire area of North
America, east of the Mississippi, and lying between the Gulf of Mexico
and Hudson's Bay, with the exception of a single tribe and a portion of
another. The Winnebagoes, who are of the Abanic race, had, however,
merely crossed from the west to the east banks of the Mississippi, but
never proceeded beyond the shores of Green Bay. The Dacotahs had crossed
this stream higher north, and proceeded to the west shores of Superior,
whence they were beat back by the van of the Algics under the name of
Odjibwas.
The object of inquiry is thus defined with general precision, although
it is not intended to limit the inquiry itself to geographical
boundaries. It will be perceived that the territory formerly occupied by
the Algic nations comprehended by far the largest portion of the United
States east of the Mississippi, together with a large area of the
British possessions. They occupied the Atlantic coast as far south as
the river Savannah in Georgia, if Shawnee tradition is entitled to
respect, and as high north as the coast of Labrador, where the tribes of
this stock are succeeded by the Esquimaux. It was into the limits of
these people [Algics] that the Northmen, according to appearances,
pushed their daring voyages previous to the discovery of Columbus;[4]
and it was also among these far-spreading and independent hordes that
the earliest European colonies were planted. Cabot, and Hudson, and
Verrizani made their principal landings among the tribes of this type.
The Pilgrims first set foot ashore in their midst, and they landed near
the spot where, several centuries before, Thorwald Ericson had fallen a
sacrifice to the spirit of Norwegian and Icelandic discovery. If the
country had ever been occupied by Esquimaux, as indicated by
Scandinavian history, there was not an Esquimaux there at that period.
The entire coast of New-England was possessed by the Algics. They
extended north of it to Cape Breton. Cartier found them in the Bay of
Chaleur, the Pilgrims at Plimouth, Hudson at the island of Manhattan,
Barlow and Amidas on the coasts of Virginia. They lined the seaboard;
they appear to have migrated along its borders from southwest to
northeast, and were probably attached to the open coast by the double
facility which it afforded of a spontaneous subsistence, having the
resources of the sea on one side and of the forest on the other. It is
probable that these advantages led them to underrate the interior,
which, being left unguarded, their enemies pushed in from the west, and
seated themselves in Western New-York and Pennsylvania on the sources of
the principal streams. It is evident that the Algics did not penetrate
the interior to a great extent, their camps and towns forming, as it
were, but a hem or cordon along the Atlantic. At the only points where
this edging was penetrated, the discoverers found tribes of the Ostic
stock, a fierce and indomitable race, of a sanguinary character, and
speaking a harsh and guttural language. Such were the Iroquois, who were
encountered on the Upper Hudson and the Mohawk, and the Wyandots found
by Cartier at the islands of Orleans and Hochelaga. Regard these two
leading races of the north in whatever light we may, it is impossible to
overlook the strong points of character in which they differed. Both
were dexterous and cunning woodsmen, excelling in all the forest arts
necessary to their condition, and having much in their manners and
appearance in common. But they spoke a radically different language, and
they differed scarcely less in their distinctive character and policy.
The one was mild and conciliating, the other fierce and domineering.
They were alike in hospitality, in their misconception of virtue, and
their high estimate of bravery. Independence was strikingly
characteristic of both; but the one was satisfied with personal or
tribal freedom, while the other sought to secure it by general
combination. And if the two races be closely compared, there appears to
be grounds for the opinion, that one is descended from a race of
shepherds or pastoral nomades, and the other from a line of adventurers
and warlike plunderers. It may, perhaps, be deemed among the auspicious
circumstances which awaited the Europeans in this hemisphere, that they
planted their earliest colonies among the former race.
In giving this enlarged signification to the terms Algic and Ostic,
reference has been had to the requisitions of a general philological
classification. But it is proper to remark of the Algic tribes, to whom
our attention is to be particularly directed, that they were marked by
peculiarities and shades of language and customs deemed to be quite
striking among themselves. They were separated by large areas of
territory, differing considerably in their climate and productions. They
had forgotten the general points in their history, and each tribe and
sub-tribe was prone to regard itself as independent of all others, if
not the leading or parent tribe. Their languages exhibited diversities
of sound, where there was none whatever in its syntax. Changes of accent
and interchanges of consonants had almost entirely altered the aspect
of words, and obscured their etymology. Some of the derivates were
local, and not understood beyond a few hundred miles, and all the roots
of the language were buried, as we find them at this day, beneath a load
of superadded verbiage. The identity of the stock is, however, to be
readily traced amid these discrepancies. They are assimilated by
peculiar traits of a common physical resemblance; by general coincidence
of manners, customs, and opinions; by the rude rites of a worship of
spirits, everywhere the same; by a few points of general tradition; and
by the peculiar and strongly-marked features of a transpositive
language, identified by its grammar, alike in its primitive words, and
absolutely fixed in the number and mode of modification of its radical
sounds.
One or two additional remarks may be made in relation to the general
traits of the Algic race. It was the chiefs of these nomadic bands who
welcomed the Europeans to the shore. They occupied the Atlantic States.
They everywhere received the strangers with open arms, established
pacific relations with them, and evinced, both by their words and their
policy, the abiding sense they had of the advantages of the intercourse.
They existed so completely in the hunter state as to have no relish for
any other kind of labour, looking with an inward and deep contempt on
the arts of husbandry and mechanics. They had skill enough to construct
their canoes; knew sufficient of the elementary art of weaving to make
bags and nets of bark, and the simple tapestry or mats to cover their
lodges; and, above all, they were expert in fabricating the proper
missiles of war and hunting. They had no smiths, supplying their place
by a very considerable skill in the cleavage of silicious stones. They
knew enough of pottery to form a mixture which would stand the effects
of repeated and sudden heating and cooling, and had probably retained
the first simple and effectual arts of the human race in this branch.
They had but little knowledge of numbers, and none of letters; but found
a substitute for the latter in a system of hieroglyphics of a general
character, but quite exact in their mode of application, and absolutely
fixed in the elements. They were formal, and inclined to stateliness in
their councils and public intercourse, and very acute and expert in the
arrangement and discussion of minor matters, but failed in comprehensive
views, deep-reaching foresight, and powers of generalization. Hence they
were liable to be called cunning rather than wise. They were,
emphatically, men of impulse, capable of extraordinary exertions on the
instant, but could not endure the tension, mental and physical, of
long-continued exertions. Action appeared to be always rather the
consequence of nervous, than of intellectual excitement. Above all, they
were characterized by habits of sloth, which led them utterly to despise
the value of time; and this has appeared so constant a trait, under
every vicissitude of their history, that it may be regarded as the
probable effect of a luxurious effeminacy, produced upon the race under
a climate more adverse to personal activity. It should be borne in mind,
that the character first drawn of the Algic race is essentially that
which has been attributed to the whole of the North American tribes,
although it is not minutely applicable to some of the interior nations.
The first impressions made upon the strangers from the Old World, sank
deep; and there was, naturally, but little disposition to re-examine the
justice of the conclusions thus formed. These people were, from the
outset, regarded as of eastern origin; and, if nothing before adverted
to had been suited to give colouring to the idea, it would have
resulted, almost as a matter of course, from their having, in all their
tribes and every band of them, a class of Magii, who affected to exert
the arts of magic, offered sacrifices to idolatrous things, and were
consulted as oracles both in peace and war. These pseudo priests were
called _Powows_ by the English, _Jongleurs_ by the French, and by
various other terms by themselves and by others; but their office and
general character were identical. They upheld a spurious worship, and
supported it by all sorts of trick and deception. There was no regular
succession in this priesthood, so far as is known; but the office, like
that of the war-captain, was generally assumed and exercised by men of
more than ordinary acuteness and cunning. In other words, it was
conferred by the election of opinion, but not of votes.
The Algics entered the present limits of the United States from the
southwest. They appear to have crossed the Mississippi at the point
where the heavy formations of boulder and gravel, southwest of the
Alleghanies, are heaved up close along its banks. They were followed, at
distinct eras, by the Ostic, the Muskogee, and the Tsallanic[5] hordes,
by the first of whom they were driven, scattered, and harassed, and
several of the tribes not only conquered, but exterminated. The
Iroquois, who, in their sixfold dialects, constitute the type of the
Ostics, appear to have migrated up the Valley of the Ohio, which they
occupied and named; and, taking a most commanding and central position
in Western New-York, interposed themselves between the New-England and
the Algonquin sub-types, and thus cut off their communication with each
other. This separation was complete. They pushed their conquests
successfully down the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the St.
Lawrence, and westward up the great lakes. The Wyandots, an Ostic tribe,
who, at the discovery of the St. Lawrence by the French, were posted as
low down as the island of Orleans, formed an alliance with the French
and with the Algonquins north of that stream. This exposed them to
dissension with their warlike and jealous relatives the Iroquois, and
led to their expulsion into the region of the upper lakes, even to the
farther shores of Lake Superior. They were, however, supported by all
the influence of the French, and by the whole of the confederate Algic
tribes, and finally fixed themselves upon the Straits of Detroit, where
they were privileged with a high political power, as keepers of the
great council fire, and enjoyed much respect among the Western tribes
through the whole of the eighteenth century. It was this tribe whom it
required most address to bring over, in the combined struggle which the
lake tribes made for independence under the noted Algic leader Pontiac,
between 1759 and 1764.
History first takes notice of the Algics in Virginia, and some parts of
the Carolinas and Georgia. The Powhattanic tribes were a clearly-marked
scion of this stock. They occupied all the streams of Virginia and
Maryland flowing into the Ocean or into Chesapeake Bay. They were ever
prone to divide and assume new names, which were generally taken from
some prominent or characteristic feature in the geography or natural
productions of the country. The farther they wandered, the more striking
were their diversities, and the more obscure became every link by which
identity is traced. Under the name of Lenawpees and of Mohegans, they
extended along the seashore through the present limits of Delaware,
Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, and New-York, and various petty independent
tribes of the same race swept round the whole coast of New-England, and
the British provinces beyond it, to Cape Breton and the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. The traditions of all these tribes pointed southwest as the
place of their origin, and it was there that they located the residence
of their God. The Odjibwas and Algonquins proper, and their numerous
progeny of tribes in the west and northwest, date their origin in the
east, and to this day call the north and northwest winds the _home
wind_,[6] indicating, probably, that it blows back on the track of
their migration. Whether this be considered in a local or general sense,
it is equally interesting of a people, whose original terms are simple
in meaning, and constitute, as it were, so many links in the
investigation of their history. The whole of these tribes, interior and
Atlantic, spoke branches of one radical language. Scattered as they were
in geographical position, and marked by peculiarities of language and
history, they are yet readily recognised as descendants from a common
stock. Wherever the process of philological analysis is applied, the
Algic roots are found. The tribes coincide also in their general
characteristics, mental and physical. They employed the same
hieroglyphic signs to express names and events; possessed the same
simple, and, in some respects, childlike attainments in music and
poetry, and brought with them to this Continent, and extensively
propagated, a mythology, the strong belief in which furnishes the best
clew to their hopes and fears, and lies at the foundation of the Indian
character. Simple although their music is, there is something strikingly
characteristic in it. Their Pib-e-gwun is but another name for the
Arcadian pipe; but they did not appropriate the same music to love and
religion. The latter was of a totally different, and of a louder and
harsher kind. Their hieroglyphics, bearing quite a resemblance to the
Egyptian, express a series of whole images, without adjuncts, and stand
as general memoranda to help the recollection, and to be interpreted
according to the mythology, customs, and arts of the people. There is
nothing whatever in this system analogous to the Runic character. Nor
does there appear to be, in either language or religion, anything
approximating either to the Scandinavian or to the Hindoo races. With a
language of a strongly Semitic cast, they appear to have retained
leading principles of syntax where the lexicography itself has changed;
and while they fell into a multiplicity of bands from the most common
causes, they do not appear to have advanced an iota in their original
stock of knowledge, warlike arts, or political tact, but rather fell
back. The ancient bow and arrow, javelin, and earth kettle, remained
precisely the same things in their hands. And whatever mechanical skill
they had in architecture, weaving, or any other art, dwindled to a mere
knowledge of erecting a wigwam, and weaving nets and garters. At least,
if they possessed superior attainments in the Southern portions of this
Continent, where they certainly dwelt, these were lost amid the more
stern vicissitudes and frigid climate of the North. And this was
perfectly natural. Of what use were these arts to a comparatively
sparse population, who occupied vast regions, and lived, very well, by
hunting the flesh and wearing the skins of animals? To such men a mere
subsistence was happiness, and the killing of a few men in war glory. It
may be doubted whether the very fact of the immensity of an unoccupied
country, spread out before a civilized or half civilized people, with
all its allurements of wild game and personal independence, would not be
sufficient, in the lapse of a few centuries, to throw them back into a
complete state of barbarism.
But we will not anticipate the results of research, where the object is
merely to direct attention to the interest of the inquiry itself. To
discover and fix the comprehensive points of their national resemblance,
and the concurring circumstances of their history and traditions; to
point out the affinities of their languages, and to unveil the
principles of their mythology, are conceived to be essential
prerequisites to the formation of right notions of their probable origin
and mental peculiarities. And it is obvious that the true period for
this inquiry must be limited to the actual existence of the tribes
themselves. Every year is diminishing their numbers and adding to the
obscurity of their traditions. Many of the tribes and languages are
already extinct, and we can allude to at least one of the still existing
smaller tribes who have lost the use of their vernacular tongue and
adopted the English.[7] Distinct from every benevolent consideration,
weighty as these are, it is exceedingly desirable that the record of
facts, from which they are to be judged, should be completed as early as
possible. It is conceived that, in rescuing their oral tales and
fictitious legends, an important link in the chain has been supplied.
But it is believed that still higher testimony remains. History,
philosophy, and poetry regard with deep interest these recorded and
accumulating materials on the character and origin of races of men, who
are associated with the geographical nomenclature of the country, and to
whom at least, it may be assumed, posterity will render poetic justice.
But revelation has a deeper stake in the question, and it is one
calculated to infuse new energy in the cause of benevolence, and awaken
fresh ardour in the heart of piety.
It is not the purpose of these remarks to excite the expectation that a
long residence in the Indian country, and official intercourse with the
tribes, have given the author such access to the Indian mind, or enabled
him to push his inquiries so far into their former history and mental
characteristics, as to clear up fully the obscurities referred to; but
the hope is indulged that data have been obtained of a new and authentic
character, which will prove important in any future researches on these
topics.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Derived from the words Alleghany and Atlantic, in reference to the
race of Indians anciently located in this geographical area, but who, as
expressed in the text, had extended themselves, at the end of the 15th
century, far towards the north and west.
[2] From the Algic Oshtegwon, a head, &c.
[3] Denoting occidental. From Kabeyun the west--and embracing the tribes
who, at the commencement of 1800, were located west of the Mississippi.
The Sioux, Otoes, Omahaws, Osages, and Quapaws, constitute the leading
members of this group.
[4] For some remarks on this question, see Am. Biblical Repository,
second series, No. 2, April, 1839.
[5] From _Tsallakee_--the name by which, according to David Brown, the
Cherokees call themselves.
[6] Keewaydin.
[7] The Brothertons.
INDIAN TALES AND LEGENDS,
MYTHOLOGIC AND ALLEGORIC.
RENDERED FROM THE ORAL TRADITIONS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS BY
COMPETENT INTERPRETERS,
AND WRITTEN OUT
FROM THE ORIGINAL NOTES.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE TALES.
The following tales are published as specimens of an oral imaginative
lore existing among the North American aborigines. In the long period of
time in which these tribes have been subjects of observation, we are not
aware that powers of this kind have been attributed to them. And it may
be asked, Why the discovery of this peculiar trait in their intellectual
character has not been made until the first quarter of the nineteenth
century? The force of the query is acknowledged; and, in asserting the
claim for them, the writer of these pages proposes first to offer to the
public some proofs of the correctness of his own conclusions on this
point.
The era of the discovery was the era of maritime adventure. The master
spirits of those times were men of shrewd, keen sense and adventurous
tempers, who wished to get ahead in the world, and relied for their
success, rather upon the compass and sword, than upon their pens. It was
the age of action and not of research. Least of all, had they the means
or the inclination to inquire into the mental capacities of fierce and
warlike races of hunters and warriors, who claimed to be lords of the
soil, and actually exterminated the first settlement made in St. Domingo
and in Virginia. They set out from Europe with a lamentable want of true
information respecting them, and were disappointed in not finding them
wild animals on two legs. Long after the discovery, it was debated
whether any faith ought to be kept with them; and the chief point of
inquiry was, not whether they had any right to the soil, but how they
could be turned to the best account in the way of trade and merchandise.
The Spaniards, who occupy the foreground in the career of discovery,
began by selling the Indian and compelling him to feudal servitude, and
would probably have driven as profitable a traffic as was subsequently
carried on with the Africans, had it not soon appeared that the Indian
was a lazy man, and not a productive labourer. He sank under the
overwhelming idea of hopeless servitude, lingered a few years an
unprofitable miner, and died. The project was therefore relinquished,
not because of the awakened sensibilities of the conquerors, but because
it was (in the mercantile acceptation of the term) a bad business. The
history of the manners, customs, and languages of the ancient nations,
and particularly of the oriental branches of the human family, from whom
they were thought to have descended, was deeply in the dark. Comparative
philology was unknown, and the spirit of critical and historical acumen,
which has evinced itself in Germany in modern days, and is rapidly
extending itself over the world, still slumbered under the intellectual
darkness which spellbound the human mind after the overthrow of Greece
and Rome, and the dispersion of the Jews. To expect, therefore, that the
hardy commanders of exploring voyages should have, at the opening of the
sixteenth century, entered into any minute inquiries of the kind
referred to, would be to expect that the human mind should reverse its
ordinary mode of operation. These men do not appear to have troubled
themselves with the inquiry whether the Indians _had_ a history:
certainly they took no pains to put on record facts in the department of
inquiry to which our attention is now directed. This view results from
an attentive examination of the earlier voyages and histories of
adventure in this hemisphere, in which is exhibited the coldest air of
mercantile calculation. The journals themselves are mere logbooks, rigid
and dry in their details, destitute of any powers of reflection upon the
events they narrate, and unrelieved by exact research, tact of
observation, or high-souled sentiment.
History is required to pass a less censorious judgment on the moral
character of those of the colonists who settled north of the latitudes
of the West Indies. The great Anglo-Saxon stock, which spread along the
shores of the North Atlantic, carried with it notions of liberty and
justice, which shielded the aboriginal tribes from the curse of slavery.
They treated them as having a just right to the occupancy of the soil,
and formed treaties with them. They acknowledged, by these acts, their
existence as independent political communities, and maintained, in their
fullest extent, the doctrine of political faith and responsibility. Some
of the colonies went farther, and early directed their attention to
their improvement and conversion to Christianity. The two powers were,
however, placed in circumstances adverse to the prosperous and
contemporaneous growth of both, while they occupied a territory over
which there was a disputed sovereignty. It must needs have happened,
that the party which increased the fastest in numbers, wanted most land,
and had most knowledge (to say nothing of the influence of temperance
and virtue), should triumph, and those who failed in these requisites,
decline. It is believed that this is the true cause why the
transplanted European race overspread the land, and the Indians were
driven before them. And that the result is by no means owing to a proper
want of sympathy for the latter, or of exertions both to better their
condition and avert their fate. The Indians could not, however, be made
to understand this. They did not look to causes, but reasoned wholly
from effects. They saw the white race occupying the prominent harbours,
pushing up the navigable streams, spreading over the uplands, and
multiplying in numbers "like sands on the seashore." And they attributed
to hostile purpose, breach of faith, and cupidity, what was, to a very
great extent, owing to their own idle habits, vices, and
short-sightedness. The two races soon came to measure swords; and this
contest extended, with short periods of intervening peace, from about
A.D. 1600 to the close of 1814. The Indians staked stratagem and the
geographical obstacles of a vast unknown wilderness, against knowledge,
resources, and discipline. Their policy was to fly when pursued, and
pursue when relieved from pursuit; to avoid field fights, and carry on a
most harassing war of detail. By avoiding concentration in camps, and
occupying a comparatively large area of country, they have compelled
their assailants, at all times, to employ a force entirely
disproportioned to that required to cope with the same number of
civilized troops. The result of this long-continued, and often renewed
contest for supremacy, it is only necessary to advert to. It has been
anything but favourable to the production of right feelings and a
reciprocal knowledge of real character on both sides. The Indians could
never be made to appreciate the offers of education and Christianity by
one portion of the community, while others, were arrayed against them in
arms. Their idea of government was, after all, the Eastern notion of a
unity or despotism, in which everything emanates from the governing
power, and is responsible to it. Nor has their flitting and feverish
position on the frontiers been auspicious to the acquisition of a true
knowledge of their character, particularly in those things which have
relation to the Indian mind, their opinions on abstract subjects, their
mythology, and other kindred topics. Owing to illiterate interpreters
and dishonest men, the parties have never more than half understood each
other. Distrust and misapprehension have existed by the century
together. And it is, therefore, no cause for astonishment, that the
whole period of our contemporaneous history should be filled up with so
many negotiations and cessions, wars and treaties.
These remarks are offered to indicate, that the several periods of our
colonial and confederate history, and wars, were unfavourable to the
acquisition of that species of information respecting their mental
capacities and social institutions, of which it is our purpose to speak.
The whole tendency of our intercourse with them has been, to demonstrate
rather the physical than moral capabilities of the Indian, his
expertness in war, his skill, stratagem, powers of endurance, and
contempt of suffering. Indian fortitude has been applauded at the stake,
and Indian kindness and generosity acknowledged in the wigwam, and in
the mazes of the wilderness. Admiration had been excited by his noble
sentiments of independence and exaltation above personal fear. Above
all, perhaps, had he been accredited for intellect in his acuteness in
negotiation and the simple force of his oratory. But the existence of an
intellectual invention had never been traced, so far as it is known, to
the amusements of his domestic fireside; nor could it well have been
conjectured to occupy so wide a field for its display in legendary tales
and fables.
My attention was first arrested by the fact of the existence of such
tales among the Odjibwa nation inhabiting the region about Lake Superior
in 1822. Two years previous, I had gone out in that quarter as one of
the members of a corps of observation, on an exploratory expedition to
the head waters of the Mississippi. The large area of territory which
it was found this tribe occupied, together with their number and warlike
character, induced the department of war to extend a military post to
the Falls or _Sault_ of St. Mary's, near the outlet of Lake Superior, in
the year above named. I accompanied this force, and assumed, at the same
time, an official relation to this tribe, as Agent of Indian Affairs,
which led me to inquire into their distinctive history, language, and
characteristic traits. It was found that they possessed a story-telling
faculty, and I wrote down from their narration a number of these
fictitious tales;[8] some of which were amusing merely, others were
manifestly intended to convey mythologic or allegoric information. The
boundaries between truth and fiction are but feebly defined among the
aborigines of this Continent, and it was found in this instance, that
the individuals of the tribe who related the tales were also the
depositories of their historical traditions, such as they were; and
these narrators wove the few and scattered incidents and landmarks of
their history into the web and woof of their wildest tales. I
immediately announced this interesting discovery in their moral
character to a few friends and correspondents, who were alike interested
in the matter; and a new zest was thus given to the inquiry, and the
field of observation greatly extended. The result was the finding of
similar tales among all the northwestern tribes whose traditions were
investigated. They were also found among some of the tribes west of the
Mississippi, and the present state of the inquiry demonstrates that this
species of oral lore is common to the Algic, the Ostic, and some tribes
of the Abanic stock. It is conjectured to exist among the rather
extended branches of the Muskogee, and also the Cherokee, although no
actual proof is possessed. And it becomes a question of interest to
ascertain how far a similar trait can be traced among the North American
tribes, and where the exceptions and limitations are to be found. To
find a trait which must hereafter be deemed characteristic of the mental
habits of these tribes, so diffused, furnishes a strong motive for
extending inquiries farther and wider. It may be asked whether the South
American aborigines possessed or still possess, this point of
intellectual affinity with the tribes of the North. Did Manco Capac and
Montezuma employ this means to strengthen political power, inspire
courage, or console themselves under misfortune? Do the ice-bound and
impoverished natives of the Arctic circle draw inspiration in their
cruel vicissitudes from a similar intellectual source? What sound
deductions can be drawn from a comparison of Eastern with Western fable,
as thus developed? And, finally, is this propensity connected, in other
of the American stock tribes, with a hieroglyphic system of notation, as
we find it in the Algic, which will bear any useful comparison with the
phonetic system of Egypt, the Runic of Iceland and Norway, or with any
other mode of perpetuating the knowledge of events or things known to
the human race?
A few remarks may be added respecting the character of the tales now
submitted to inspection. And the first is, that they appear to be of a
homogeneous and vernacular origin. There are distinctive tribal traits,
but the general features coincide. The ideas and incidents do not appear
to be borrowed or unnatural. The situations and circumstances are such
as are common to the people. The language and phraseology are of the
most simple kind. Few adjectives are used, and few comparisons resorted
to. The style of narration, the cast of invention, the theory of
thinking, are eminently peculiar to a people who wander about in woods
and plains, who encounter wild beasts, believe in demons, and are
subject to the vicissitudes of the seasons. The tales refer themselves
to a people who are polytheists; not believers in one God or Great
Spirit, but of thousands of spirits; a people who live in fear, who
wander in want, and who die in misery. The machinery of spirits and
necromancy, one of the most ancient and prevalent errors of the human
race, supplies the framework of these fictitious creations. Language to
carry out the conceptions might seem to be wanting, but here the
narrator finds a ready resource in the use of metaphor, the doctrine of
metamorphosis, and the personification of inanimate objects; for the
latter of which, the grammar of the language has a peculiar adaptation.
Deficiencies of the vocabulary are thus supplied, life and action are
imparted to the whole material creation, and every purpose of
description is answered. The belief of the narrators and listeners in
every wild and improbable thing told, helps wonderfully, in the
original, in joining the sequence of parts together. Nothing is too
capacious for Indian belief. Almost every declaration is a prophecy, and
every tale a creed. He believes that the whole visible and invisible
creation is animated with various orders of malignant or benign spirits,
who preside over the daily affairs and over the final destinies of men.
He believes that these spirits must be conciliated by sacrifices, and a
series of fasts and feasts either follow or precede these rites, that by
the one they may be rendered acceptable, and by the other, his gratitude
may be shown. This constitutes the groundwork of the Algic religion: but
superstition has ingrafted upon the original stock, till the growth is a
upas of giant size, bearing the bitter fruits of demonology, witchcraft,
and necromancy. To make the matter worse, these tribes believe that
animals of the lowest, as well as highest class in the chain of
creation, are alike endowed with reasoning powers and faculties. And as
a natural conclusion, they endow birds, and bears, and all other animals
with souls, which, they believe, will be encountered in other shapes in
another state of existence. So far the advantages of actual belief come
in aid of their fictitious creations, and this is the true cause why so
much importance is attached to the flight and appearance of particular
birds, who, being privileged to ascend in the air, are supposed by them
to be conversant with the wishes, or to act in obedience to the mandates
of the spirits: and the circumstance of this belief deserves to be borne
in mind in the perusal of their tales, as it will be found that the
words put into the mouths of the actors express the actual opinions of
the natives on life, death, and immortality, topics which have
heretofore been impenetrably veiled.
The value of these traditionary stories appeared to depend, very much,
upon their being left, as nearly as possible, in their original forms of
thought and expression. In the original there is no attempt at ornament.
Great attention is paid, in the narration, to repeating the
conversations and speeches, and imitating the very tone and gesture of
the actors. This is sometimes indulged at the risk of tautology. Moral
point has been given to no tale which does not, in the original, justify
it; and it is one of the unlooked-for features connected with the
subject, that so considerable a proportion of them possess this trait.
It is due to myself, and to those who have aided me in the collection
and translation of the materials, to say, that the advantages enjoyed in
this respect have been of the most favourable character. The whole
examination, extending, with intervals, through a period of seventeen
years, has been conducted not only with the aid that a public station,
as an executive officer for the tribes, has supplied, but with the
superadded intelligence and skill in the languages existing within the
range of my domestic and affiliated circle.
Of the antiquity of the tales, the surest external evidence may probably
be drawn from the lexicography. In a language in which the actor and
the object are riveted, so to speak, by transitive inflections, it must
needs happen that the history of its names for objects, whether
preserved orally or by letters, is, in fact, the history of the
introduction of the objects named, and this fixes eras in the
enlargement of the vocabulary. Although it is true, that without letters
these eras cannot be accurately fixed, yet valuable inferences may be
drawn from an examination of this branch of the inquiry. Words are like
coins, and may, like them, be examined to illustrate history. It has
been found that those of the highest antiquity are simple and brief.
Most of the primitive nouns are monosyllabic, and denote but a single
object or idea. A less number are dissyllabic; few exceed this; and it
may be questioned, from the present state of the examination, whether
there is a single primitive trisyllable. The primitives become
polysyllabic by adding an inflection indicating the presence or absence
of vitality (which is the succedaneum for gender), and a farther
inflection to denote number. They also admit of adjective terminations.
Pronouns are denoted by particles prefixed or suffixed. The genius of
the language is accumulative, and tends rather to add syllables or
letters, making farther distinctions in objects already before the mind,
than to introduce new words. A simple word is thus oftentimes converted
into a descriptive phrase, at once formidable to the eye and the ear.
And it is only by dissecting such compounds that the radix can be
attained.
Judged by this test, most of the tales are of the era of flint
arrow-heads, earthen pots, and skin clothes. Their fish-nets are
represented as being made of the bark of trees. No mention is made of a
blanket, gun, knife, or any metallic instrument; we do not hear of their
cutting down trees, except in a single instance, yet there is nothing to
indicate that their economical labours were not well performed. _Au_ is
an original, causitive particle, and appears to be the root of a
numerous class of words, sometimes with, and sometimes without a
consonant added. _Aukee_ is earth, and may be, but is rather too remote
for a derivative from [**Hebrew]. By adding _k_ to this root the term is
made specific, and denotes an earthen pot or kettle. _Aubik_ is the
radix for metal, ore, rock. By prefixing the particle _Pe_, we have the
name for iron, _Misk_ for copper, and so forth; but as euphony requires,
in forming compounds, that two vowels should not come together, the
sound of _w_ is interposed in these particular instances. _Gunzh_ is the
radix for plant; _Tig_ for tree; _Asee_ for animal, &c.; and either by
suffixing or prefixing syllabical increments, the terminology of the
three great departments of nature is formed. The terms of consanguinity
are derived from _Ai_, a heart, hence _Si-ai_, elder brother,
_Sheem-ai_, younger brother, or younger sister, &c. _Konaus_, a loose
wrapper, is the most ancient and generic term for a garment which has
been found. The principal female garment, leggon, &c., are derivatives
from it. _Muttataus_, a beaver robe, is from the same root. _Wyaun_, a
furred skin, and _Waigin_, a dressed skin, appear to form the bases of
the nomenclature for the Indian wardrobe. Blanket is a modern term,
meaning white furred skin. Woollen cloth took the name of dressed skin,
and its various colours and qualities are indicated by adjective
prefixes. Calicoes or printed cottons are named from a generic, meaning
speckled or spotted. All these are modern terms, as modern as those for
a horse, a sheep, or a hog, and, like the latter, are descriptive and
polysyllabic. Tobacco and the zea mays, both indigenous productions, are
mentioned. The latter is the subject of a simple allegoric tale.
These particulars may suffice to indicate the importance of etymological
analysis in examining the antiquity of the tales. Narrations of a later
era are denoted by the introduction of the modern compounds, such as
their names for the domestic animals of Europe, a gun, a rifle, a ship,
a spyglass, compass, watch, hat, &c. The bow and arrow, club and lance,
are the only species of arms actually described as in use, except in a
single instance, and this tale is manifestly an interpolated version of
an ancient story. The father of the winds makes battle with a huge
flagroot, and the king of reptiles is shot with a dart.
Geographical terms and allusions to the climate supply another branch of
comparison. Some of the grand features of the country are referred to by
their modern Indian names, but this is nearly restricted to what may be
termed the historical legends. There are frequent allusions to the
Northern hemisphere. Snow, ice, and lakes are referred to. Warm
latitudes are once or twice mentioned, and the allusions are coupled
with admonitions against the danger of corrupt and effeminate manners
and habits.
Astronomy and cosmogony constitute subjects of frequent notice; and this
might naturally be expected from a people who are quick in their
perceptions of external nature, and pass a large share of their time
under the open sky. The phenomena of thunder, lightning, the aurora
borealis, meteors, the rainbow, the galaxy of the milky way, the morning
and evening stars, and the more prominent groups of the fixed and minor
stars, are specifically named and noticed. The cardinal points are
accurately distinguished. They entertain the semi-ancient theory that
the earth is spheroidal, and the sun and moon perform their circuits
round it. The visiters to these luminaries, described in the text,
personify the former as a male and the latter as a female, under the
idea of brother and sister. We are left to infer, from another passage,
that they believe the sky revolves. Nothing, however, in the "open
firmament," is a subject of more constant and minute observation, and a
more complex terminology, than the clouds. Their colour, shape,
transparency or obscurity, movements, and relative position to the sun
and to each other, constitute objects of minute notice and deep
importance. A large proportion of the names of individuals in the Algic
tribes is drawn from this fruitful source of Indian observation. The
Great Spirit is invariably located in the sky, and the Evil Spirit, and
the train of minor malignant Spirits, in the earth. Their notions of the
position of seas and continents are altogether vague and confused. Nor
has it been observed that they have any knowledge of volcanic action.
The idea of a universal deluge appears to be equally entertained by the
tribes of North and South America.[9] The Algics certainly have it
incorporated in their traditionary tales, and I have found the belief in
these traditions the most firmly seated among the bands the farthest
removed from the advances of civilization and Christianity.
It is the mythology, however, of these tribes which affords the deepest
insight into their character, and unfolds, perhaps, some of the clearest
coincidences with Oriental rites and opinions. Were the terms Baalim and
Magii introduced into the descriptions of their worship, instead of
Manito and Meeta, this coincidence would be very apparent. Medical magic
spread the charms of its delusion over the semi-barbaric tribes who, at
a very early epoch, spread from the Persian and the Arabian Gulfs to the
Mediterranean; and it would not be a light task to find branches of the
human race who are more completely characterized by its doctrines and
practices than the wide-spreading members of the Algic stock of this
Continent. Their prophets, jugglers, and meetays occupy the same
relative importance in the political scale. They advise the movement of
armies, and foretell the decrees of fate to individuals. They interpret
dreams, affect the performance of miraculous cures, and preside over the
most sacred rites. Oracles alike to chiefs and kings, warriors and
hunters, nothing can be accomplished without their aid, and it would be
presumptuous and impious to attempt anything, in war or peace, which
they had decreed to be wrong. But our more immediate object is the class
of oral fictions among the Western tribes, and for the growth and
development of which their peculiar belief in the doctrine of spirits
and magicians has furnished so wide a field. Come from what quarter of
the world they may, the propensity to amusing and serio-comic fiction
appears to have been brought with them. What traits, if any, of the
original threadwork of foreign story remain, it would be premature, in
the present state of these collections, to decide. The character and
incidents of the narrations are adapted to the condition they are now
in, as well as the position they now occupy. There is, it is true, a
spirit of reminiscence apparent which pleases itself in allusions to the
past; they speak of a sort of golden age, when all things were better
with them than they now are; when they had better laws and leaders; when
crimes were more promptly punished; when their language was spoken with
greater purity, and their manners were freer from barbarism. But all
this seems to flit through the Indian mind as a dream, and furnishes him
rather the source of a pleasing secret retrospection than any spring to
present and future exertions. He pines away as one that is fallen, and
despairs to rise. He does not seem to open his eyes on the prospect of
civilization and mental exaltation held up before him, as one to whom
the scene is new or attractive. These scenes have been pictured before
him by teachers and philanthropists for more than two centuries; but
there has been nothing in them to arouse and inspire him to press onward
in the career of prospective civilization and refinement. He has rather
turned away with the air of one to whom all things "new" were "old," and
chosen emphatically to re-embrace his woods, his wigwam, and his canoe.
Perhaps the trait that was least to have been anticipated in the tales
is the moral often conveyed by them. But, on reflection, this is in
accordance with the Indian maxim, which literally requires "an eye for
eye, and a tooth for a tooth." And the more closely this feature of
poetic justice is scrutinized, the more striking does it appear.
Cruelty, murder, and sorcery are eventually punished, although the
individual escapes for the time and his career may be long drawn out.
Domestic infidelity meets the award of death in the only instance
narrated. Religious vows are held inviolate. Respect for parents and for
age, fraternal affection, hospitality, bravery, self-denial, endurance
under fatigue or suffering, and disinterestedness, are uniformly
inculcated. Presumption and pride are rebuked, and warnings given
against the allurements of luxury and its concomitant vices. With a
people who look back to some ancient and indefinite period in their
history as an age of glory, an adherence to primitive manners and
customs naturally occupies the place of virtue. The stories are
generally so constructed as to hold up to admiration a bold and
independent spirit of enterprise and adventure. Most of their heroes are
drawn from retired or obscure places, and from abject circumstances.
Success is seen to crown the efforts of precocious boys, orphans, or
castaways. But whatever success is had, it is always through the
instrumentality of the spirits or Manitoes--the true deities worshipped
by all the Algic tribes.
The legend of Manabozho reveals, perhaps, the idea of an incarnation. He
is the great spirit-man of northern mythology. The conception of the
character reveals rather a monstrosity than a deity, displaying in
strong colours far more of the dark and incoherent acts of a spirit of
carnality than the benevolent deeds of a god. His birth is shrouded in
allegoric mystery. He is made to combine all that is brave, warlike,
strong, wise, and great in Indian conception, both of mortal and
immortal. He conquers the greatest magician, overcomes fiery serpents,
and engages in combats and performs exploits the most extravagant. He
has no small share in the Adamic-like labour of naming the animals. He
destroys the king of the reptile creation, is drawn into the mouth of a
gigantic fish with his canoe, survives a flood by climbing a tree, and
recreates the earth from a morsel of ground brought up in the paws of a
muskrat. In contrast with these high exploits, he goes about playing low
tricks, marries a wife, travels the earth, makes use of low subterfuges,
is often in want of food, and, after being tricked and laughed at, is at
one time made to covet the ability of a woodpecker, and at another
outdone by the simple skill of a child. The great points in which he is
exultingly set forth in the story-telling circle, are his great personal
strength, readiness of resource, and strong powers of necromancy.
Whatever other parts he is made to play, it is the Indian Hercules,
Samson, or Proteus that is prominently held up to admiration. It is
perhaps natural that rude nations in every part of the world should
invent some such mythological existence as the Indian Manabozho, to
concentrate their prime exploits upon; for it is the maxim of such
nations that "the race _is_ always to the swift, and the battle to the
strong."
In closing these remarks, it will not be irrelevant to notice the
evidence of the vernacular character and antiquity of the tales, which
is furnished by the Pontiac manuscript, preserved in the collections of
the Historical Society of Michigan. By this document, which is of the
date of 1763, it is shown that this shrewd and talented leader of the
Algic tribes, after he had formed the plan of driving the Saxon race
from the Continent, appealed to the mythologic belief of the tribes to
bring them into his views. It was the Wyandots whom he found it the
hardest to convert; and in the general council which he held with the
Western chiefs, he narrated before them a tale of a Delaware magician,
which is admirably adapted in its incidents to the object he had in
view, and affords proof of his foresight and powers of invention. It is
deemed of further interest in this connexion, as carrying back the
existence of the tales and fables to a period anterior to the final fall
of the French power in the Canadas, reaching to within a fraction more
than sixty years of their establishment at Detroit.[10] While, however,
the authenticity of this curious politico-mythologic tale is undisputed,
the names and allusions would show it to be of the modern class of
Indian fictions, were not the fact historically known. The importance of
this testimony, in the absence of any notice of this trait in the
earlier writers, has induced me to submit a literal translation of the
tale, from the original French MS., executed by Professor Fasquelle.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] Some specimens of these tales were published in my "Travels in the
Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley" in 1825, and a "Narrative of
the Expedition to Itasca Lake" in 1834, and a few of them have been
exhibited to literary friends, who have noticed the subject. Vide Dr.
Gilman's "Life on the Lakes," and Mrs. Jameson's "Winter Studies and
Summer Rambles," received at the moment these sheets are going through
the press.
[9] Humboldt found it among the traditions of the Auricanians.
[10] Although Quebec was taken in 1759, the Indians did not acquiesce in
the transference of power, in the upper lakes, till the _raising of the
siege_ of Detroit in 1763. This is the true period of the Pontiac war.
NOTE.
The materials of these tales and legends have been derived from the
aborigines, and interpreted from their languages by various individuals,
among whom it is deemed important to name the following: Mrs. Henry R.
Schoolcraft, Mr. William Johnston, of Mackinac; Mrs. James Lawrence
Schoolcraft, Henry Connor, Esq., of Detroit; Mrs. [Rev.] William
M'Murray, of Dundas, George C. Martin, of Amherstburg, U. Canada; Mrs.
La Chapelle, of Prairie du Chien; Mr. John Quinney, Stockbridge Reserve,
Wisconsin; John H. Kinzie, Esq., of Chicago; Miss Eleanor Bailly, of
Konamik, Illinois; Mr. George Johnston, Miss Mary Holiday, of Sault Ste.
Marie, Michigan. These persons are well versed in the respective tongues
from which they have given translations; and being residents of the
places indicated, a reference to them for the authenticity of the
materials is thus brought within the means of all who desire it.
It is also deemed proper to refer, in this connexion, to Gen. Cass,
American Minister at Paris, and to C. C. Trowbridge, Esq., of Detroit,
and James D. Doty, Esq., Green Bay, whose inquiries have been, at my
instance, respectively directed to this new feature in the oral
traditions of the Indians.
New-York, January 31, 1839.
OJEEG ANNUNG;[11]
OR,
THE SUMMER-MAKER.
AN ODJIBWA TALE.[12]
There lived a celebrated hunter on the southern shores of Lake Superior,
who was considered a Manito by some, for there was nothing but what he
could accomplish. He lived off the path, in a wild, lonesome place, with
a wife whom he loved, and they were blessed with a son, who had attained
his thirteenth year. The hunter's name was Ojeeg, or the Fisher, which
is the name of an expert, sprightly little animal common to the region.
He was so successful in the chase, that he seldom returned without
bringing his wife and son a plentiful supply of venison, or other
dainties of the woods. As hunting formed his constant occupation, his
son began early to emulate his father in the same employment, and would
take his bow and arrows, and exert his skill in trying to kill birds and
squirrels. The greatest impediment he met with, was the coldness and
severity of the climate. He often returned home, his little fingers
benumbed with cold, and crying with vexation at his disappointment.
Days, and months, and years passed away, but still the same perpetual
depth of snow was seen, covering all the country as with a white cloak.
One day, after a fruitless trial of his forest skill, the little boy was
returning homeward with a heavy heart, when he saw a small red squirrel
gnawing the top of a pine bur. He had approached within a proper
distance to shoot, when the squirrel sat up on its hind legs and thus
addressed him:
"My grandchild, put up your arrows, and listen to what I have to tell
you." The boy complied rather reluctantly, when the squirrel continued:
"My son, I see you pass frequently, with your fingers benumbed with
cold, and crying with vexation for not having killed any birds. Now, if
you will follow my advice, we will see if you cannot accomplish your
wishes. If you will strictly pursue my advice, we will have perpetual
summer, and you will then have the pleasure of killing as many birds as
you please; and I will also have something to eat, as I am now myself on
the point of starvation.
"Listen to me. As soon as you get home you must commence crying. You
must throw away your bow and arrows in discontent. If your mother asks
you what is the matter, you must not answer her, but continue crying and
sobbing. If she offers you anything to eat, you must push it away with
apparent discontent, and continue crying. In the evening, when your
father returns from hunting, he will inquire of your mother what is the
matter with you. She will answer that you came home crying, and would
not so much as mention the cause to her. All this while you must not
leave off sobbing. At last your father will say, 'My son, why is this
unnecessary grief? Tell me the cause. You know I am a spirit, and that
nothing is impossible for me to perform.' You must then answer him, and
say that you are sorry to see the snow continually on the ground, and
ask him if he could not cause it to melt, so that we might have
perpetual summer. Say it in a supplicating way, and tell him this is the
cause of your grief. Your father will reply, 'It is very hard to
accomplish your request, but for your sake, and for my love for you, I
will use my utmost endeavours.' He will tell you to be still, and cease
crying. He will try to bring summer with all its loveliness. You must
then be quiet, and eat that which is set before you."
The squirrel ceased. The boy promised obedience to his advice, and
departed. When he reached home, he did as he had been instructed, and
all was exactly fulfilled, as it had been predicted by the squirrel.
Ojeeg told him that it was a great undertaking. He must first make a
feast, and invite some of his friends to accompany him on a journey.
Next day he had a bear roasted whole. All who had been invited to the
feast came punctually to the appointment. There were the Otter, Beaver,
Lynx, Badger, and Wolverine. After the feast, they arranged it among
themselves to set out on the contemplated journey in three days. When
the time arrived, the Fisher took leave of his wife and son, as he
foresaw that it was for the last time. He and his companions travelled
in company day after day, meeting with nothing but the ordinary
incidents. On the twentieth day they arrived at the foot of a high
mountain, where they saw the tracks of some person who had recently
killed an animal, which they knew by the blood that marked the way. The
Fisher told his friends that they ought to follow the track, and see if
they could not procure something to eat. They followed it for some
time; at last they arrived at a lodge, which had been hidden from their
view by a hollow in the mountain. Ojeeg told his friends to be very
sedate, and not to laugh on any account. The first object that they saw
was a man standing at the door of the lodge, but of so deformed a shape
that they could not possibly make out who or what sort of a man it could
be. His head was enormously large; he had such a queer set of teeth, and
no arms. They wondered how he could kill animals. But the secret was
soon revealed. He was a great Manito. He invited them to pass the night,
to which they consented.
He boiled his meat in a hollow vessel made of wood, and took it out of
this singular kettle in some way unknown to his guests. He carefully
gave each their portion to eat, but made so many odd movements that the
Otter could not refrain from laughing, for he is the only one who is
spoken of as a jester. The Manito looked at him with a terrible look,
and then made a spring at him, and got on him to smother him, for that
was his mode of killing animals. But the Otter, when he felt him on his
neck, slipped his head back and made for the door, which he passed in
safety; but went out with the curse of the Manito. The others passed the
night, and they conversed on different subjects. The Manito told the
Fisher that he would accomplish his object, but that it would probably
cost him his life. He gave them his advice, directed them how to act,
and described a certain road which they must follow, and they would
thereby be led to the place of action.
They set off in the morning, and met their friend, the Otter, shivering
with cold; but Ojeeg had taken care to bring along some of the meat that
had been given him, which he presented to his friend. They pursued their
way, and travelled twenty days more before they got to the place which
the Manito had told them of. It was a most lofty mountain. They rested
on its highest peak to fill their pipes and refresh themselves. Before
smoking, they made the customary ceremony, pointing to the heavens, the
four winds, the earth, and the zenith; in the mean time, speaking in a
loud voice, addressed the Great Spirit, hoping that their object would
be accomplished. They then commenced smoking.
They gazed on the sky in silent admiration and astonishment, for they
were on so elevated a point, that it appeared to be only a short
distance above their heads. After they had finished smoking, they
prepared themselves. Ojeeg told the Otter to make the first attempt to
try and make a hole in the sky. He consented with a grin. He made a
leap, but fell down the hill stunned by the force of his fall; and the
snow being moist, and falling on his back, he slid with velocity down
the side of the mountain. When he found himself at the bottom, he
thought to himself, it is the last time I make such another jump, so I
will make the best of my way home. Then it was the turn of the Beaver,
who made the attempt, but fell down senseless; then of the Lynx and
Badger, who had no better success.
"Now," says the Fisher to the Wolverine, "try your skill; your ancestors
were celebrated for their activity, hardihood, and perseverance, and I
depend on you for success. Now make the attempt." He did so, but also
without success. He leaped the second time, but now they could see that
the sky was giving way to their repeated attempts. Mustering strength,
he made the third leap, and went in. The Fisher nimbly followed him.
They found themselves in a beautiful plain, extending as far as the eye
could reach, covered with flowers of a thousand different hues and
fragrance. Here and there were clusters of tall, shady trees, separated
by innumerable streams of the purest water, which wound around their
courses under the cooling shades, and filled the plain with countless
beautiful lakes, whose banks and bosom were covered with water-fowl,
basking and sporting in the sun. The trees were alive with birds of
different plumage, warbling their sweet notes, and delighted with
perpetual spring.
The Fisher and his friend beheld very long lodges, and the celestial
inhabitants amusing themselves at a distance. Words cannot express the
beauty and charms of the place. The lodges were empty of inhabitants,
but they saw them lined with mocuks[13] of different sizes, filled with
birds and fowls of different plumage. Ojeeg thought of his son, and
immediately commenced cutting open the mocuks and letting out the birds,
who descended in whole flocks through the opening which they had made.
The warm air of those regions also rushed down through the opening, and
spread its genial influence over the north.
When the celestial inhabitants saw the birds let loose, and the warm
gales descending, they raised a shout like thunder, and ran for their
lodges. But it was too late. Spring, summer, and autumn had gone; even
perpetual summer had almost all gone; but they separated it with a blow,
and only a part descended; but the ends were so mangled, that, wherever
it prevails among the lower inhabitants, it is always sickly.[14]
When the Wolverine heard the noise, he made for the opening and safely
descended. Not so the Fisher. Anxious to fulfil his son's wishes, he
continued to break open the mocuks. He was, at last, obliged to run
also, but the opening was now closed by the inhabitants. He ran with all
his might over the plains of heaven, and, it would appear, took a
northerly direction. He saw his pursuers so close that he had to climb
the first large tree he came to. They commenced shooting at him with
their arrows, but without effect, for all his body was invulnerable
except the space of about an inch near the tip of his tail. At last one
of the arrows hit the spot, for he had in this chase assumed the shape
of the Fisher after whom he was named.
He looked down from the tree, and saw some among his assailants with the
totems[15] of his ancestors. He claimed relationship, and told them to
desist, which they only did at the approach of night. He then came down
to try and find an opening in the celestial plain, by which he might
descend to the earth. But he could find none. At last, becoming faint
from the loss of blood from the wound on his tail, he laid himself down
towards the north of the plain, and, stretching out his limbs, said, "I
have fulfilled my promise to my son, though it has cost me my life; but
I die satisfied in the idea that I have done so much good, not only for
him, but for my fellow-beings. Hereafter I will be a sign to the
inhabitants below for ages to come, who will venerate my name for having
succeeded in procuring the varying seasons. They will now have from
eight to ten moons without snow."
He was found dead next morning, but they left him as they found him,
with the arrow sticking in his tail, as it can be plainly seen, at this
time, in the heavens.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] There is a group of stars in the Northern hemisphere which the
Odjibwas call _Ojeeg Annung_, or the Fisher Stars. It is believed to be
identical with the group of the Plough. They relate the following tale
respecting it.
[12] This term is used, in these tales, as synonymous with Chippewa.
[13] Baskets, or cages.
[14] The idea here indicated is among the peculiar notions of these
tribes, and is grafted in the forms of their language, which will be
pointed out in the progress of these researches.
[15] Family arms, or armorial mark.
THE CELESTIAL SISTERS.
A SHAWNEE TALE.
Waupee, or the White Hawk, lived in a remote part of the forest, where
animals and birds were abundant. Every day he returned from the chase
with the reward of his toil, for he was one of the most skilful and
celebrated hunters of his tribe. With a tall, manly form, and the fire
of youth beaming from his eye, there was no forest too gloomy for him to
penetrate, and no track made by the numerous kinds of birds and beasts
which he could not follow.
One day he penetrated beyond any point which he had before visited. He
travelled through an open forest, which enabled him to see a great
distance. At length he beheld a light breaking through the foliage,
which made him sure that he was on the borders of a prairie. It was a
wide plain covered with grass and flowers. After walking some time
without a path, he suddenly came to a ring worn through the sod, as if
it had been made by footsteps following a circle. But what excited his
surprise was, that there was no path leading to or from it. Not the
least trace of footsteps could be found, even in a crushed leaf or
broken twig. He thought he would hide himself, and lie in wait to see
what this circle meant. Presently he heard the faint sounds of music in
the air. He looked up in the direction they came from, and saw a small
object descending from above. At first it looked like a mere speck, but
rapidly increased, and, as it came down, the music became plainer and
sweeter. It assumed the form of a basket, and was filled with twelve
sisters of the most lovely forms and enchanting beauty. As soon as the
basket touched the ground, they leaped out, and began to dance round the
magic ring, striking, as they did so, a shining ball as we strike the
drum. Waupee gazed upon their graceful forms and motions from his place
of concealment. He admired them all, but was most pleased with the
youngest. Unable longer to restrain his admiration, he rushed out and
endeavoured to seize her. But the sisters, with the quickness of birds,
the moment they descried the form of a man, leaped back into the basket
and were drawn up into the sky.
Regretting his ill luck and indiscretion, he gazed till he saw them
disappear, and then said, "They are gone, and I shall see them no
more." He returned to his solitary lodge, but found no relief to his
mind. Next day he went back to the prairie, and took his station near
the ring; but in order to deceive the sisters, he assumed the form of an
opossum. He had not waited long, when he saw the wicker car descend, and
heard the same sweet music. They commenced the same sportive dance, and
seemed even more beautiful and graceful than before. He crept slowly
towards the ring, but the instant the sisters saw him they were
startled, and sprang into their car. It rose but a short distance, when
one of the elder sisters spoke. "Perhaps," said she, "it is come to show
us how the game is played by mortals." "Oh no!" the youngest replied;
"quick, let us ascend." And all joining in a chant, they rose out of
sight.
The White Hawk returned to his own form again, and walked sorrowfully
back to his lodge. But the night seemed a very long one, and he went
back betimes the next day. He reflected upon the sort of plan to follow
to secure success. He found an old stump near by, in which there were a
number of mice. He thought their small form would not create alarm, and
accordingly assumed it. He brought the stump and sat it up near the
ring. The sisters came down and resumed their sport. "But see," cried
the younger sister, "that stump was not there before." She ran
affrighted towards the car. They only smiled, and gathering round the
stump, struck it in jest, when out ran the mice, and Waupee among the
rest. They killed them all but one, which was pursued by the youngest
sister; but just as she had raised her stick to kill it, the form of
White Hawk arose, and he clasped his prize in his arms. The other eleven
sprang to their basket and were drawn up to the skies.
Waupee exerted all his skill to please his bride and win her affections.
He wiped the tears from her eyes. He related his adventures in the
chase. He dwelt upon the charms of life on the earth. He was incessant
in his attentions, and picked out the way for her to walk as he led her
gently towards his lodge. He felt his heart glow with joy as she entered
it, and from that moment he was one of the happiest of men. Winter and
summer passed rapidly away, and their happiness was increased by the
addition of a beautiful boy to their lodge. Waupee's wife was a daughter
of one of the stars, and as the scenes of earth began to pall upon her
sight, she sighed to revisit her father. But she was obliged to hide
these feelings from her husband. She remembered the charm that would
carry her up, and took occasion, while the White Hawk was engaged in
the chase, to construct a wicker basket, which she kept concealed. In
the mean time she collected such rarities from the earth as she thought
would please her father, as well as the most dainty kinds of food. When
all was in readiness, she went out one day, while Waupee was absent, to
the charmed ring, taking her little son with her. As soon as they got
into the car, she commenced her song and the basket rose. As the song
was wafted by the wind, it caught her husband's ear. It was a voice
which he well knew, and he instantly ran to the prairie. But he could
not reach the ring before he saw his wife and child ascend. He lifted up
his voice in loud appeals, but they were unavailing. The basket still
went up. He watched it till it became a small speck, and finally it
vanished in the sky. He then bent his head down to the ground, and was
miserable.
Waupee bewailed his loss through a long winter and a long summer. But he
found no relief. He mourned his wife's loss sorely, but his son's still
more. In the mean time his wife had reached her home in the stars, and
almost forgot, in the blissful employments there, that she had left a
husband on the earth. She was reminded of this by the presence of her
son, who, as he grew up, became anxious to visit the scene of his birth.
His grandfather said to his daughter one day, "Go, my child, and take
your son down to his father, and ask him to come up and live with us.
But tell him to bring along a specimen of each kind of bird and animal
he kills in the chase." She accordingly took the boy and descended. The
White Hawk, who was ever near the enchanted spot, heard her voice as she
came down the sky. His heart beat with impatience as he saw her form and
that of his son, and they were soon clasped in his arms.
He heard the message of the Star, and began to hunt with the greatest
activity, that he might collect the present. He spent whole nights, as
well as days, in searching for every curious and beautiful bird or
animal. He only preserved a tail, foot, or wing of each, to identify the
species; and, when all was ready, they went to the circle and were
carried up.
Great joy was manifested on their arrival at the starry plains. The Star
Chief invited all his people to a feast, and, when they had assembled,
he proclaimed aloud, that each one might take of the earthly gifts such
as he liked best. A very strange confusion immediately arose. Some chose
a foot, some a wing, some a tail, and some a claw. Those who selected
tails or claws were changed into animals, and ran off; the others
assumed the form of birds, and flew away. Waupee chose a white hawk's
feather. His wife and son followed his example, when each one became a
white hawk. He spread his wings, and, followed by his wife and son,
descended with the other birds to the earth, where his species are still
to be found.
TAU-WAU-CHEE-HEZKAW;
OR,
THE WHITE FEATHER.
A SIOUX TALE.
There was an old man living in the centre of a forest, with his
grandson, whom he had taken when quite an infant. The child had no
parents, brothers, or sisters; they had all been destroyed by six large
giants, and he had been informed that he had no other relative living
besides his grandfather. The band to whom he belonged had put up their
children on a wager in a race against those of the giants, and had thus
lost them. There was an old tradition in the band, that it would produce
a great man, who would wear a white feather, and who would astonish
every one with his skill and feats of bravery.
The grandfather, as soon as the child could play about, gave him a bow
and arrows to amuse himself. He went into the edge of the woods one day,
and saw a rabbit; but, not knowing what it was, he ran home and
described it to his grandfather. He told him what it was, that its
flesh was good to eat, and that, if he would shoot one of his arrows
into its body, he would kill it. He did so, and brought the little
animal home, which he asked his grandfather to boil, that they might
feast on it. He humoured the boy in this, and encouraged him to go on in
acquiring the knowledge of hunting, until he could kill deer and larger
animals; and he became, as he grew up, an expert hunter. As they lived
alone, and away from other Indians, his curiosity was excited to know
what was passing in the world. One day he came to the edge of a prairie,
where he saw ashes like those at his grandfather's lodge, and
lodge-poles left standing. He returned and inquired whether his
grandfather had put up the poles and made the fire. He was answered no,
nor did he believe that he had seen anything of the kind. It was all
imagination.
Another day he went out to see what there was curious; and, on entering
the woods, he heard a voice calling out to him, "Come here, you destined
wearer of the White Feather. You do not yet wear it, but you are worthy
of it. Return home and take a short nap. You will dream of hearing a
voice, which will tell you to rise and smoke. You will see in your dream
a pipe, smoking-sack, and a large white feather. When you awake you
will find these articles. Put the feather on your head, and you will
become a great hunter, a great warrior, and a great man, capable of
doing anything. As a proof that you will become a great hunter, when you
smoke the smoke will turn into pigeons." The voice then informed him who
he was, and disclosed the true character of his grandfather, who had
imposed upon him. The voice-spirit then gave him a _vine_, and told him
he was of an age to revenge the injuries of his relations. "When you
meet your enemy," continued the spirit, "you will run a race with him.
He will not see the vine, because it is enchanted. While you are
running, you will throw it over his head and entangle him, so that you
will win the race."
Long ere this speech was ended he had turned to the quarter from which
the voice proceeded, and was astonished to behold a man, for as yet he
had never seen any man besides his grandfather, whose object it was to
keep him in ignorance. But the circumstance that gave him the most
surprise was, that this man, who had the looks of great age, was
composed of _wood_ from his breast downward, and appeared to be fixed in
the earth.
He returned home, slept, heard the voice, awoke, and found the promised
articles. His grandfather was greatly surprised to find him with a
white feather on his forehead, and to see flocks of pigeons flying out
of his lodge. He then recollected what had been predicted, and began to
weep at the prospect of losing his charge.
Invested with these honours, the young man departed the next morning to
seek his enemies and gratify his revenge. The giants lived in a very
high lodge in the middle of a wood. He travelled on till he came to this
lodge, where he found that his coming had been made known by the _little
spirits who carry the news_. The giants came out, and gave a cry of joy
as they saw him coming. When he approached nearer, they began to make
sport of him, saying, "Here comes the little man with the white feather,
who is to achieve such wonders." They, however, spoke very fair to him
when he came up, saying he was a brave man, and would do brave things.
This they said to encourage, and the more surely to deceive him. He,
however, understood the object.
He went fearlessly up to the lodge. They told him to commence the race
with the smallest of their number. The point to which they were to run
was a peeled tree towards the rising sun, and then back to the
starting-place, which was marked by a CHAUNKEHPEE, or war-club, made of
iron. This club was the stake, and whoever won it was to use it in
beating the other's brains out. If he beat the first giant, he was to
try the second, and so on until they had all measured speed with him. He
won the first race by a dexterous use of the vine, and immediately
despatched his competitor, and cut off his head. Next morning he ran
with the second giant, whom he also outran, killed, and decapitated. He
proceeded in this way for five successive mornings, always conquering by
the use of his vine, and cutting off the heads of the vanquished. The
survivors acknowledged his power, but prepared secretly to deceive him.
They wished him to leave the heads he had cut off, as they believed they
could again reunite them with the bodies, by means of one of their
_medicines_. White Feather insisted, however, in carrying all the heads
to his grandfather. One more contest was to be tried, which would decide
the victory; but, before going to the giant's lodge on the sixth
morning, he met his old counsellor in the woods, who was stationary. He
told him that he was about to be deceived. That he had never known any
other sex but his own; but that, as he went on his way to the lodge, he
would meet the most beautiful woman in the world. He must pay no
attention to her, but, on meeting her, he must wish himself changed into
a male elk. The transformation would take place immediately, when he
must go to feeding and not regard her.
He proceeded towards the lodge, met the female, and became an elk. She
reproached him for having turned himself into an elk on seeing her; said
she had travelled a great distance for the purpose of seeing him, and
becoming his wife. Now this woman was the sixth giant, who had assumed
this disguise; but Tau-Wau-Chee-Hezkaw remained in ignorance of it. Her
reproaches and her beauty affected him so much, that he wished himself a
man again, and he at once resumed his natural shape. They sat down
together, and he began to caress her, and make love to her. He finally
ventured to lay his head on her lap and went to sleep. She pushed his
head aside at first, for the purpose of trying if he was really asleep;
and when she was satisfied he was, she took her axe and broke his back.
She then assumed her natural shape, which was in the form of the sixth
giant, and afterward changed him into a dog, in which degraded form he
followed his enemy to the lodge. He took the white feather from his
brow, and wore it as a trophy on his own head.
There was an Indian village at some distance, in which there lived two
girls, who were rival sisters, the daughters of a chief. They were
fasting to acquire power for the purpose of enticing the wearer of the
white feather to visit their village. They each secretly hoped to engage
his affections. Each one built herself a lodge at a short distance from
the village. The giant, knowing this, and having now obtained the valued
plume, went immediately to visit them. As he approached, the girls saw
and recognised the feather. The eldest sister prepared her lodge with
great care and parade, so as to attract the eye. The younger, supposing
that he was a man of sense, and would not be enticed by mere parade,
touched nothing in her lodge, but left it as it ordinarily was. The
eldest went out to meet him, and invited him in. He accepted her
invitation, and made her his wife. The younger invited the enchanted dog
into her lodge, and made him a good bed, and treated him with as much
attention as if he were her husband.
The giant, supposing that whoever possessed the white feather possessed
also all its virtues, went out upon the prairie to hunt, but returned
unsuccessful. The dog went out the same day a hunting upon the banks of
a river. He drew a stone out of the water, which immediately became a
beaver. The next day the giant followed the dog, and, hiding behind a
tree, saw the manner in which the dog went into the river and drew out a
stone, which at once turned into a beaver. As soon as the dog left the
place, the giant went to the river, and observing the same manner, drew
out a stone, and had the satisfaction of seeing it transformed into a
beaver. Tying it to his belt, he carried it home, and, as is customary,
threw it down at the door of the lodge before he entered. After being
seated a short time, he told his wife to bring in his belt or hunting
girdle. She did so, and returned with it, with nothing tied to it but a
_stone_.
The next day, the dog, finding his method of catching beavers had been
discovered, went to a wood at some distance, and broke off a charred
limb from a burned tree, which instantly became a bear. The giant, who
had again watched him, did the same, and carried a bear home; but his
wife, when she came to go out for it, found nothing but a black stick
tied to his belt.
The giant's wife determined she would go to her father, and tell him
what a valuable husband she had, who furnished her lodge with abundance.
She set out while her husband went to hunt. As soon as they had
departed, the dog made signs to his mistress to sweat him after the
manner of the Indians. She accordingly made a lodge just large enough
for him to creep in. She then put in heated stones, and poured on water.
After this had been continued the usual time, he came out a very
handsome young man, but had not the power of speech.
Meantime the elder daughter had reached her father's, and told him of
the manner in which her sister supported a dog, treating him as her
husband, and of the singular skill this animal had in hunting. The old
man, suspecting there was some magic in it, sent a deputation of young
men and women to ask her to come to him, and bring her dog along. When
this deputation arrived, they were surprised to find, in the place of
the dog, so fine a young man. They both accompanied the messengers to
the father, who was no less astonished. He assembled all the old and
wise men of the nation to see the exploits which, it was reported, the
young man could perform. The giant was among the number. He took his
pipe and filled it, and passed it to the Indians, to see if anything
would happen when they smoked. It was passed around to the dog, who made
a sign to hand it to the giant first, which was done, but nothing
effected. He then look it himself. He made a sign to them to put the
white feather upon his head. This was done, and immediately he regained
his speech. He then commenced smoking, and behold! immense flocks of
white and blue pigeons rushed from the smoke.
The chief demanded of him his history, which he faithfully recounted.
When it was finished, the chief ordered that the giant should be
transformed into a dog, and turned into the middle of the village, where
the boys should pelt him to death with clubs. This sentence was
executed.
The chief then ordered, on the request of the White Feather, that all
the young men should employ themselves four days in making arrows. He
also asked for a buffalo robe. This robe he cut into thin shreds, and
sowed in the prairie. At the end of the four days he invited them to
gather together all their arrows, and accompany him to a buffalo hunt.
They found that these shreds of skin had grown into a very large herd of
buffalo. They killed as many as they pleased, and enjoyed a grand
festival, in honour of his triumph over the Giants.
Having accomplished their labour, the White Feather got his wife to ask
her father's permission to go with him on a visit to his grandfather. He
replied to this solicitation, that a woman must follow her husband into
whatever quarter of the world he may choose to go.
The young man then placed the white feather in his frontlet, and, taking
his war-club in his hand, led the way into the forest, followed by his
faithful wife.
PEBOAN AND SEEGWUN.
AN
ALLEGORY OF THE SEASONS.
FROM THE ODJIBWA.
An old man was sitting alone in his lodge, by the side of a frozen
stream. It was the close of winter, and his fire was almost out. He
appeared very old and very desolate. His locks were white with age, and
he trembled in every joint. Day after day passed in solitude, and he
heard nothing but the sounds of the tempest, sweeping before it the
new-fallen snow.
One day, as his fire was just dying, a handsome young man approached and
entered his dwelling. His cheeks were red with the blood of youth, his
eyes sparkled with animation, and a smile played upon his lips. He
walked with a light and quick step. His forehead was bound with a wreath
of sweet grass, in place of a warrior's frontlet, and he carried a bunch
of flowers in his hand.
"Ah, my son," said the old man, "I am happy to see you. Come in. Come,
tell me of your adventures, and what strange lands you have been to see.
Let us pass the night together. I will tell you of my prowess and
exploits, and what I can perform. You shall do the same, and we will
amuse ourselves."
He then drew from his sack a curiously-wrought antique pipe, and having
filled it with tobacco, rendered mild by an admixture of certain leaves,
handed it to his guest. When this ceremony was concluded they began to
speak.
"I blow my breath," said the old man, "and the streams stand still. The
water becomes stiff and hard as clear stone."
"I breathe," said the young man, "and flowers spring up all over the
plains."
"I shake my locks," retorted the old man, "and snow covers the land. The
leaves fall from the trees at my command, and my breath blows them away.
The birds get up from the water, and fly to a distant land. The animals
hide themselves from my breath, and the very ground becomes as hard as
flint."
"I shake my ringlets," rejoined the young man, "and warm showers of soft
rain fall upon the earth. The plants lift up their heads out of the
earth, like the eyes of children glistening with delight. My voice
recalls the birds. The warmth of my breath unlocks the streams. Music
fills the groves wherever I walk, and all nature rejoices."
At length the sun began to rise. A gentle warmth came over the place.
The tongue of the old man became silent. The robin and bluebird began to
sing on the top of the lodge. The stream began to murmur by the door,
and the fragrance of growing herbs and flowers came softly on the vernal
breeze.
Daylight fully revealed to the young man the character of his
entertainer. When he looked upon him, he had the icy visage of
Peboan.[16] Streams began to flow from his eyes. As the sun increased,
he grew less and less in stature, and anon had melted completely away.
Nothing remained on the place of his lodge fire but the miskodeed,[17] a
small white flower, with a pink border, which is one of the earliest
species of Northern plants.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] Winter.
[17] The Claytonia Virginica.
THE RED LOVER.
A CHIPPEWA TALE.
Many years ago there lived a warrior on the banks of Lake Superior,
whose name was Wawanosh. He was the chief of an ancient family of his
tribe, who had preserved the line of chieftainship unbroken from a
remote time, and he consequently cherished a pride of ancestry. To the
reputation of birth he added the advantages of a tall and commanding
person, and the dazzling qualities of personal strength, courage, and
activity. His bow was noted for its size, and the feats he had performed
with it. His counsel was sought as much as his strength was feared, so
that he came to be equally regarded as a hunter, a warrior, and a
counsellor. He had now passed the meridian of his days, and the term
AKKEE-WAIZEE, i. e., one who has been long on the earth, was applied to
him.
Such was Wawanosh, to whom the united voice of the nation awarded the
first place in their esteem, and the highest authority in council. But
distinction, it seems, is apt to engender haughtiness in the hunter
state as well as civilized life. Pride was his ruling passion, and he
clung with tenacity to the distinctions which he regarded as an
inheritance.
Wawanosh had an only daughter, who had now lived to witness the budding
of the leaves of the eighteenth spring. Her father was not more
celebrated for his deeds of strength than she for her gentle virtues,
her slender form, her full beaming hazel eyes, and her dark and flowing
hair.
"And through her cheek
The blush would make its way, and all but speak.
The sunborn blood suffused her neck, and threw
O'er her clear brown skin a lucid hue,
Like coral reddening through the darken'd wave,
Which draws the diver to the crimson cave."
Her hand was sought by a young man of humble parentage, who had no other
merits to recommend him but such as might arise from a tall and
commanding person, a manly step, and an eye beaming with the tropical
fires of youth and love. These were sufficient to attract the favourable
notice of the daughter, but were by no means satisfactory to the father,
who sought an alliance more suitable to the rank and the high
pretensions of his family.
"Listen to me, young man," he replied to the trembling hunter, who had
sought the interview, "and be attentive to my words. You ask me to
bestow upon you my daughter, the chief solace of my age, and my choicest
gift from the Master of Life. Others have asked of me this boon, who
were as young, as active, and as ardent as yourself. Some of these
persons have had better claims to become my son-in-law. Have you
reflected upon the deeds which have raised me in authority, and made my
name known to the enemies of my nation? Where is there a chief who is
not proud to be considered the friend of Wawanosh? Where, in all the
land, is there a hunter who has excelled Wawanosh? Where is there a
warrior who can boast the taking of an equal number of scalps? Besides,
have you not heard that my fathers came from the East, bearing the marks
of chieftaincy?
"And what, young man, have _you_ to boast? Have _you_ ever met your
enemies in the field of battle? Have _you_ ever brought home a trophy of
victory? Have _you_ ever proved your fortitude by suffering protracted
pain, enduring continued hunger, or sustaining great fatigue? Is your
_name_ known beyond the humble limits of your native village? Go, then,
young man, and earn a name for yourself. It is none but the brave that
can ever hope to claim an alliance with the house of Wawanosh. Think
not my warrior blood shall mingle with the humble mark of the
Awasees[18]--fit totem for fishermen!"
The intimidated lover departed, but he resolved to do a deed that should
render him worthy of the daughter of Wawanosh, or die in the attempt. He
called together several of his young companions and equals in years, and
imparted to them his design of conducting an expedition against the
enemy, and requested their assistance. Several embraced the proposal
immediately; others were soon brought to acquiesce; and, before ten suns
set, he saw himself at the head of a formidable party of young warriors,
all eager, like himself, to distinguish themselves in battle. Each
warrior was armed, according to the custom of the period, with a bow and
a quiver of arrows, tipped with flint or jasper. He carried a sack or
wallet, provided with a small quantity of parched and pounded corn,
mixed with pemmican or maple sugar. He was furnished with a PUGGAMAUGUN,
or war-club of hard wood, fastened to a girdle of deer skin, and a stone
or copper knife. In addition to this, some carried the ancient
_shemagun_, or lance, a smooth pole about a fathom in length, with a
javelin of flint, firmly tied on with deer's sinews. Thus equipped, and
each warrior painted in a manner to suit his fancy, and ornamented with
appropriate feathers, they repaired to the spot appointed for the
war-dance.
A level, grassy plain extended for nearly a mile from the lodge of
Wawanosh along the lake shore. Lodges of bark were promiscuously
interspersed over this green, and here and there a cluster of trees, or
a solitary tall pine. A belt of yellow sand skirted the lake shore in
front, and a tall, thick forest formed the background. In the centre of
this plain stood a high shattered pine, with a clear space about,
renowned as the scene of the war-dance time out of mind. Here the youths
assembled, with their tall and graceful leader, distinguished by the
feathers of the bald eagle, which he wore on his head. A bright fire of
pine wood blazed upon the green. He led his men several times around
this fire, with a measured and solemn chant. Then suddenly halting, the
war-whoop was raised, and the dance immediately began. An old man,
sitting at the head of the ring, beat time upon the drum, while several
of the elder warriors shook their rattles, and "ever and anon" made the
woods re-echo with their yells. Each warrior chanted alternately the
verse of a song, all the rest joining in chorus.
FIRST VOICE.
The eagles scream on high,
They whet their forked beaks:
Raise--raise the battle cry,
'Tis fame our leader seeks.
SECOND VOICE.
'Tis fame my soul desires,
By deeds of martial strife:
Give--give me warlike fires,
Or take--ah take my life.
THIRD VOICE.
The deer a while may go
Unhunted o'er the heath,
For now I seek a nobler foe,
And prize a nobler death.
FOURTH VOICE.
Lance and quiver, club and bow,
Now alone attract my sight;
I will go where warriors go,
I will fight where warriors fight.
Thus they continued the dance, with short intermissions, for two
successive days and nights. Sometimes the village seer, who led the
ceremony, would embrace the occasion of a pause to address them with
words of encouragement.
In the dreamy hours of night
I beheld the bloody fight.
As reclined upon my bed,
Holy visions crowned my head;
High our guardian spirit bright
Stood above the dreadful fight;
Beaming eye and dazzling brand
Gleamed upon my chosen band,
While a black and awful shade
O'er the faithless foeman spread.
Soon they wavered, sunk, and fled,
Leaving wounded, dying, dead,
While my gallant warriors high
Waved their trophies in the sky.
At every recurrence of this kind, new energy was infused into the dance,
and the warriors renewed their gesticulations, and stamped upon the
ground as if they were trampling their enemies under their feet.
FIFTH VOICE.
Now my heart with valour burns,
I my lance in fury shake;
He who falters, he who turns,
Give him fagot, fire, and stake.
SIXTH VOICE.
See my visage scarred and red--
See my brows with trophies bright--
Such the brows that warriors dread,
Such the trophies of the fight.
At length the prophet uttered his final prediction of success; and the
warriors dropping off, one by one, from the fire, each sought his way to
the place appointed for the rendezvous, on the confines of the enemy's
country. Their leader was not among the last to depart, but he did not
leave the village without seeking an interview with the daughter of
Wawanosh. He disclosed to her his firm determination never to return,
unless he could establish his name as a warrior. He told her of the
pangs he had felt at the bitter reproaches of her father, and declared
that his soul spurned the imputation of effeminacy and cowardice implied
by his language. He averred that he never could be happy, either with or
without her, until he had proved to the whole tribe the strength of his
heart, which is the Indian term for courage. He said that his dreams had
not been propitious, but he should not cease to invoke the power of the
Great Spirit. He repeated his protestations of inviolable attachment,
which she returned, and, pledging vows of mutual fidelity, they parted.
All she ever heard from her lover after this interview was brought by
one of his successful warriors, who said that he had distinguished
himself by the most heroic bravery, but, at the close of the fight, he
had received an arrow in his breast. The enemy fled, leaving many of
their warriors dead on the field. On examining the wound, it was
perceived to be beyond their power to cure. They carried him towards
home a day's journey, but he languished and expired in the arms of his
friends. From the moment the report was received, no smile was ever seen
in the once happy lodge of Wawanosh. His daughter pined away by day and
by night. Tears and sighs, sorrow and lamentation, were heard
continually. Nothing could restore her lost serenity of mind.
Persuasives and reproofs were alternately employed, but employed in
vain. She would seek a sequestered spot, where she would sit under a
shady tree, and sing her mournful laments for hours together.
It was not long before a small bird of beautiful plumage flew upon the
tree under which she usually sat, and with its sweet and artless notes
seemed to respond to her voice. It was a bird of strange character, such
as had not before been observed. It came every day and sang, remaining
until dark. Her fond imagination soon led her to suppose it was the
spirit of her lover, and her visits were repeated with greater
frequency. She passed her time in fasting, and singing her plaintive
songs. Thus she pined away, until that death she so fervently desired
came to her relief. After her decease the bird was never more seen, and
it became a popular opinion that this mysterious bird had flown away
with her spirit.
But bitter tears of regret fell in the lodge of Wawanosh. Too late he
regretted his false pride and his harsh treatment of the noble youth.
FOOTNOTES:
[18] Catfish.
IAMO;
OR,
THE UNDYING HEAD.
AN OTTOWA TALE.
In a remote part of the north lived a man and his only sister, who had
never seen human being. Seldom, if ever, had the man any cause to go
from home; for, as his wants demanded food, he had only to go a little
distance from the lodge, and there, in some particular spot, place his
arrows, with their barbs in the ground. Telling his sister where they
had been placed, every morning she would go in search, and never fail of
finding each struck through the heart of a deer. She had then only to
drag them into the lodge and prepare their food. Thus she lived till she
attained womanhood, when one day her brother, whose name was Iamo, said
to her, "Sister, the time is near at hand when you will be ill. Listen
to my advice. If you do not, it will probably be the cause of my death.
Take the implements with which we kindle our fires. Go some distance
from our lodge, and build a separate fire. When you are in want of food,
I will tell you where to find it. You must cook for yourself, and I will
for myself. When you are ill, do not attempt to come near the lodge, or
bring any of the utensils you use. Be sure always to fasten to your belt
the implements you need, for you do not know when the time will come. As
for myself, I must do the best I can." His sister promised to obey him
in all he had said.
Shortly after, her brother had cause to go from home. She was alone in
her lodge, combing her hair. She had just untied the belt to which the
implements were fastened, when suddenly the event, to which her brother
had alluded, occurred. She ran out of the lodge, but in her haste forgot
the belt. Afraid to return, she stood for some time thinking. Finally
she decided to enter the lodge and get it. For, thought she, my brother
is not at home, and I will stay but a moment to catch hold of it. She
went back. Running in suddenly, she caught hold of it, and was coming
out when her brother came in sight. He knew what was the matter. "Oh,"
he said, "did I not tell you to take care? But now you have killed me."
She was going on her way, but her brother said to her, "What can you do
there now? the accident has happened. Go in, and stay where you have
always stayed. And what will become of you? You have killed me."
He then laid aside his hunting dress and accoutrements, and soon after
both his feet began to inflame and turn black, so that he could not
move. Still he directed his sister where to place the arrows, that she
might always have food. The inflammation continued to increase, and had
now reached his first rib; and he said, "Sister, my end is near. You
must do as I tell you. You see my medicine-sack, and my war-club tied to
it. It contains all my medicines, and my war-plumes, and my paints of
all colours. As soon as the inflammation reaches my breast, you will
take my war-club. It has a sharp point, and you will cut off my head.
When it is free from my body, take it, place its neck in the sack, which
you must open at one end. Then hang it up in its former place. Do not
forget my bow and arrows. One of the last you will take to procure food.
The remainder tie to my sack, and then hang it up, so that I can look
towards the door. Now and then I will speak to you, but not often." His
sister again promised to obey.
In a little time his breast was affected. "Now," said he, "take the club
and strike off my head." She was afraid, but he told her to muster
courage. "_Strike_" said he, and a smile was on his face. Mustering all
her courage, she gave the blow and cut off the head. "Now," said the
head, "place me where I told you." And fearfully she obeyed it in all
its commands. Retaining its animation, it looked around the lodge as
usual, and it would command its sister to go to such places as it
thought would procure for her the flesh of different animals she needed.
One day the head said, "The time is not distant when I shall be freed
from this situation, but I shall have to undergo many sore evils. So the
Superior Manito decrees, and I must bear all patiently." In this
situation we must leave the head.
In a certain part of the country was a village inhabited by a numerous
and warlike band of Indians. In this village was a family of ten young
men--brothers. It was in the spring of the year that the youngest of
these blackened his face and fasted. His dreams were propitious. Having
ended his fast, he sent secretly for his brothers at night, so that none
in the village could overhear or find out the direction they intended to
go. Though their drum was heard, yet that was a common occurrence.
Having ended the usual formalities, he told them how favourable his
dreams were, and that he had called them together to know if they would
accompany him in a war excursion. They all answered they would. The
third brother from the eldest, noted for his oddities, coming up with
his war-club when his brother had ceased speaking, jumped up. "Yes,"
said he, "_I_ will go, and this will be the way I will treat those we
are going to fight;" and he struck the post in the centre of the lodge,
and gave a yell. The others spoke to him, saying, "Slow, slow,
Mudjikewis, when you are in other people's lodges." So he sat down.
Then, in turn, they took the drum, and sang their songs, and closed with
a feast. The youngest told them not to whisper their intention even to
their wives, but secretly to prepare for their journey. They all
promised obedience, and Mudjikewis was the first to say so.
The time for their departure drew near. Word was given to assemble on a
certain night, when they would depart immediately. Mudjikewis was loud
in his demands for his moccasins. Several times his wife asked him the
reason. "Besides," said she, "you have a good pair on." "Quick, quick,"
he said, "since you must know, we are going on a war excursion. So be
quick." He thus revealed the secret. That night they met and started.
The snow was on the ground, and they travelled all night, lest others
should follow them. When it was daylight, the leader took snow and made
a ball of it; then tossing it into the air, he said, "It was in this way
I saw snow fall in a dream, so that I could not be tracked." And he told
them to keep close to each other for fear of losing themselves, as the
snow began to fall in very large flakes. Near as they walked, it was
with difficulty they could see each other. The snow continued falling
all that day and the following night. So it was impossible to track
them.
They had now walked for several days, and Mudjikewis was always in the
rear. One day, running suddenly forward, he gave the _Saw-saw-quan_,[19]
and struck a tree with his war-club, which broke into pieces as if
struck with lightning. "Brothers," said he, "this will be the way I will
serve those whom we are going to fight." The leader answered, "Slow,
slow, Mudjikewis. The one I lead you to is not to be thought of so
lightly." Again he fell back and thought to himself, "What, what: Who
can this be he is leading us to?" He felt fearful, and was silent. Day
after day they travelled on, till they came to an extensive plain, on
the borders of which human bones were bleaching in the sun. The leader
spoke. "They are the bones of those who have gone before us. None has
ever yet returned to tell the sad tale of their fate." Again Mudjikewis
became restless, and, running forward, gave the accustomed yell.
Advancing to a large rock which stood above the ground, he struck it,
and it fell to pieces. "See, brothers," said he, "thus will I treat
those whom we are going to fight." "Still, still," once more said the
leader; "he to whom I am leading you is not to be compared to that
rock."
Mudjikewis fell back quite thoughtful, saying to himself, "I wonder who
this can be that he is going to attack." And he was afraid. Still they
continued to see the remains of former warriors, who had been to the
place where _they_ were now going, some of whom had retreated as far
back as the place where they first saw the bones, beyond which no one
had ever escaped. At last they came to a piece of rising ground, from
which they plainly distinguished, sleeping on a distant mountain, a
mammoth bear.
The distance between them was very great, but the size of the animal
caused him plainly to be seen. "There," said the leader, "it is he to
whom I am leading you; here our troubles only will commence, for he is a
MISHEMOKWA[20] and a Manito. It is he who has that we prize so dearly
(i. e., _wampum_), to obtain which, the warriors whose bones we saw
sacrificed their lives. You must not be fearful. Be manly. We shall
find him asleep." They advanced boldly till they came near, when they
stopped to view him more closely. He was asleep. Then the leader went
forward and touched the belt around the animal's neck. "This," he said,
"is what we must get. It contains the wampum." They then requested the
eldest to try and slip the belt over the bear's head, who appeared to be
fast asleep, as he was not in the least disturbed by the attempt to
obtain the belt. All their efforts were in vain, till it came to the one
next the youngest. He tried, and the belt moved nearly over the
monster's head, but he could get it no farther. Then the youngest one
and leader made his attempt, and succeeded. Placing it on the back of
the oldest, he said, "Now we must run," and off they started. When one
became fatigued with its weight, another would relieve him. Thus they
ran till they had passed the bones of all former warriors, and were some
distance beyond, when, looking back, they saw the monster slowly rising.
He stood some time before he missed his wampum. Soon they heard his
tremendous howl, like distant thunder, slowly filling all the sky; and
then they heard him speak and say, "Who can it be that has dared to
steal my wampum? Earth is not so large but that I can find them." And
he descended from the hill in pursuit. As if convulsed, the earth shook
with every jump he made. Very soon he approached the party. They however
kept the belt, exchanging it from one to another, and encouraging each
other. But he gained on them fast. "Brothers," said the leader, "has
never any one of you, when fasting, dreamed of some friendly spirit who
would aid you as a guardian?" A dead silence followed. "Well," said he,
"fasting, I dreamed of being in danger of instant death, when I saw a
small lodge, with smoke curling from its top. An old man lived in it,
and I dreamed he helped me. And may it be verified soon," he said,
running forward and giving the peculiar yell, and a howl as if the
sounds came from the depths of his stomach, and which is called
_Checaudum_. Getting upon a piece of rising ground, behold! a lodge,
with smoke curling from its top, appeared. This gave them all new
strength, and they ran forward and entered it. The leader spoke to the
old man who sat in the lodge, saying, "_Nemesho_,[21] help us. We claim
your protection, for the great bear will kill us." "Sit down and eat, my
grandchildren," said the old man. "Who is a great Manito?" said he,
"there is none but me; but let me look," and he opened the door of the
lodge, when lo! at a little distance he saw the enraged animal coming
on, with slow but powerful leaps. He closed the door. "Yes," said he,
"_he_ is indeed a great Manito. My grandchildren, you will be the cause
of my losing my life. You asked my protection, and I granted it; so now,
come what may, I will protect you. When the bear arrives at the door,
you must run out of the other end of the lodge." Then putting his hand
to the side of the lodge where he sat, he brought out a bag, which he
opened. Taking out two small black dogs, he placed them before him.
"These are the ones I use when I fight," said he; and he commenced
patting, with both hands, the sides of one of them, and he began to
swell out, so that he soon filled the lodge by his bulk. And he had
great strong teeth. When he attained his full size he growled, and from
that moment, as from instinct, he jumped out at the door and met the
bear, who in another leap would have reached the lodge. A terrible
combat ensued. The skies rang with the howls of the fierce monsters. The
remaining dog soon took the field. The brothers, at the onset, took the
advice of the old man, and escaped through the opposite side of the
lodge. They had not proceeded far before they heard the dying cry of one
of the dogs, and soon after of the other. "Well," said the leader, "the
old man will share their fate; so run, run, he will soon be after us."
They started with fresh vigour, for they had received food from the old
man; but very soon the bear came in sight, and again was fast gaining
upon them. Again the leader asked the brothers if they could do nothing
for their safety. All were silent. The leader, running forward, did as
before. "I dreamed," he cried, "that, being in great trouble, an old man
helped me who was a Manito. We shall soon see his lodge." Taking
courage, they still went on. After going a short distance they saw the
lodge of the old Manito. They entered immediately and claimed his
protection, telling him a Manito was after them. The old man, setting
meat before them, said, "Eat. Who is a Manito? there is no Manito but
me. There is none whom I fear." And the earth trembled as the monster
advanced. The old man opened the door and saw him coming. He shut it
slowly, and said, "Yes, my grandchildren, you have brought trouble upon
me." Procuring his medicine sack, he took out his small war-clubs of
black stone, and told the young men to run through the other side of the
lodge. As he handled the clubs they became very large, and the old man
stepped out just as the bear reached the door. Then striking him with
one of the clubs, it broke in pieces. The bear stumbled. Renewing the
attempt with the other war-club, that also was broken, but the bear
fell senseless. Each blow the old man gave him sounded like a clap of
thunder, and the howls of the bear ran along till they filled the
heavens.
The young men had now ran some distance, when they looked back. They
could see that the bear was recovering from the blows. First he moved
his paws, and soon they saw him rise on his feet. The old man shared the
fate of the first, for they now heard his cries as he was torn in
pieces. Again the monster was in pursuit, and fast overtaking them. Not
yet discouraged, the young men kept on their way; but the bear was now
so close, that the leader once more applied to his brothers, but they
could do nothing. "Well," said he, "my dreams will soon be exhausted.
After this I have but one more." He advanced, invoking his guardian
spirit to aid him. "Once," said he, "I dreamed that, being sorely
pressed, I came to a large lake, on the shore of which was a canoe,
partly out of water, having ten paddles all in readiness. Do not fear,"
he cried, "we shall soon get to it." And so it was, even as he had said.
Coming to the lake, they saw the canoe with the ten paddles, and
immediately they embarked. Scarcely had they reached the centre of the
lake, when they saw the bear arrive at its borders. Lifting himself on
his hind legs, he looked all around. Then he waded into the water; then
losing his footing, he turned back, and commenced making the circuit of
the lake. Meanwhile, the party remained stationary in the centre to
watch his movements. He travelled around, till at last he came to the
place from whence he started. Then he commenced drinking up the water,
and they saw the current fast setting in towards his open mouth. The
leader encouraged them to paddle hard for the opposite shore. When only
a short distance from land, the current had increased so much, that they
were drawn back by it, and all their efforts to reach it were vain.
Then the leader again spoke, telling them to meet their fates manfully.
"Now is the time, Mudjikewis," said he, "to show your prowess. Take
courage, and sit in the bow of the canoe; and when it approaches his
mouth, try what effect your club will have on his head." He obeyed, and
stood ready to give the blow; while the leader, who steered, directed
the canoe for the open mouth of the monster.
Rapidly advancing, they were just about to enter his mouth, when
Mudjikewis struck him a tremendous blow on the head, and gave the
saw-saw-quan. The bear's limbs doubled under him, and he fell stunned by
the blow. But before Mudjikewis could renew it, the monster disgorged
all the water he had drank, with a force which sent the canoe with great
velocity to the opposite shore. Instantly leaving the canoe, again they
fled, and on they went till they were completely exhausted. The earth
again shook, and soon they saw the monster hard after them. Their
spirits drooped, and they felt discouraged. The leader exerted himself,
by actions and words, to cheer them up; and once more he asked them if
they thought of nothing, or could do nothing for their rescue; and, as
before, all were silent. "Then," he said, "this is the last time I can
apply to my guardian spirit. Now if we do not succeed, our fates are
decided." He ran forward, invoking his spirit with great earnestness,
and gave the yell. "We shall soon arrive," said he to his brothers, "to
the place where my last guardian spirit dwells. In him I place great
confidence. Do not, do not be afraid, or your limbs will be fear-bound.
We shall soon reach his lodge. Run, run," he cried.
Returning now to Iamo, he had passed all the time in the same condition
we left him, the head directing its sister, in order to procure food,
where to place the magic arrows, and speaking at long intervals. One day
the sister saw the eyes of the head brighten, as if through pleasure. At
last it spoke. "Oh, sister," it said, "in what a pitiful situation you
have been the cause of placing me. Soon, very soon, a party of young
men will arrive and apply to me for aid; but, alas! how can I give what
I _would_ have done with so much pleasure. Nevertheless, take two
arrows, and place them where you have been in the habit of placing the
others, and have meat prepared and cooked before they arrive. When you
hear them coming and calling on my name, go out and say, 'Alas! it is
long ago that an accident befell him. I was the cause of it.' If they
still come near, ask them in and set meat before them. And now you must
follow my directions strictly. When the bear is near, go out and meet
him. You will take my medicine sack, bows and arrows, and my head. You
must then untie the sack, and spread out before you my paints of all
colours, my war eagle feathers, my tufts of dried hair, and whatever
else it contains. As the bear approaches, you will take all these
articles, one by one, and say to him, 'This is my deceased brother's
paint,' and so on with all the other articles, throwing each of them as
far from you as you can. The virtues contained in them will cause him to
totter; and, to complete his destruction, you will take my head, and
that too you will cast as far off as you can, crying aloud, 'See, this
is my deceased brother's head.' He will then fall senseless. By this
time the young men will have eaten, and you will call them to your
assistance. You must then cut the carcass into pieces, yes, into _small_
pieces, and scatter them to the four winds; for, unless you do this, he
will again revive." She promised that all should be done as she said.
She had only time to prepare the meat, when the voice of the leader was
heard calling upon Iamo for aid. The woman went out and said as her
brother had directed. But the war party, being closely pursued, came up
to the lodge. She invited them in, and placed the meat before them.
While they were eating they heard the bear approaching. Untying the
medicine sack and taking the head, she had all in readiness for his
approach. When he came up she did as she had been told; and, before she
had expended the paints and feathers, the bear began to totter, but,
still advancing, came close to the woman. Saying as she was commanded,
she then took the head, and cast it as far from her as she could. As it
rolled along the ground, the blood, excited by the feelings of the head
in this terrible scene, gushed from the nose and mouth. The bear,
tottering, soon fell with a tremendous noise. Then she cried for help,
and the young men came rushing out, having partially regained their
strength and spirits.
Mudjikewis, stepping up, gave a yell and struck him a blow upon the
head. This he repeated till it seemed like a mass of brains; while the
others, as quick as possible, cut him into very small pieces, which they
then scattered in every direction. While thus employed, happening to
look around where they had thrown the meat, wonderful to behold! they
saw starting up and running off in every direction small black bears,
such as are seen at the present day. The country was soon overspread
with these black animals. And it was from this monster that the present
race of bears derived their origin.
Having thus overcome their pursuer, they returned to the lodge. In the
mean time, the woman, gathering the implements she had used and the
head, placed them again in the sack. But the head did not speak again,
probably from the effects of its great exertion to overcome the monster.
Having spent so much time and traversed so vast a country in their
flight, the young men gave up the idea of ever returning to their own
country, and game being plenty, they determined to remain where they now
were. One day they moved off some distance from the lodge for the
purpose of hunting, having left the wampum with the woman. They were
very successful, and amused themselves, as all young men do when alone,
by talking and jesting with each other. One of them spoke and said, "We
have all this sport to ourselves; let us go and ask our sister if she
will not let us bring the head to this place, as it is still alive. It
may be pleased to hear us talk and be in our company. In the mean time,
take food to our sister." They went, and requested the head. She told
them to take it, and they took it to their hunting-grounds and tried to
amuse it, but only at times did they see its eyes beam with pleasure.
One day, while busy in their encampment, they were unexpectedly attacked
by unknown Indians. The skirmish was long contested and bloody. Many of
their foes were slain, but still they were thirty to one. The young men
fought desperately till they were all killed. The attacking party then
retreated to a heighth of ground, to muster their men, and to count the
number of missing and slain. One of their young men had strayed away,
and, in endeavouring to overtake them, came to the place where the head
was hung up. Seeing that alone retain animation, he eyed it for some
time with fear and surprise. However, he took it down and opened the
sack, and was much pleased to see the beautiful feathers, one of which
he placed on his head.
Starting off, it waved gracefully over him till he reached his party,
when he threw down the head and sack, and told them how he had found
it, and that the sack was full of paints and feathers. They all looked
at the head and made sport of it. Numbers of the young men took the
paint and painted themselves, and one of the party took the head by the
hair and said, "Look, you ugly thing, and see your paints on the faces
of warriors." But the feathers were so beautiful, that numbers of them
also placed _them_ on their heads. Then again they used all kinds of
indignity to the head, for which they were in turn repaid by the death
of those who had used the feathers. Then the chief commanded them to
throw all away except the head. "We will see," said he, "when we get
home, what we can do to it. We will try to make it shut its eyes."
When they reached their homes they took it to the council lodge, and
hung it up before the fire, fastening it with raw hide soaked, which
would shrink and become tightened by the action of the fire. "We will
then see," they said, "if we cannot make it shut its eyes."
Meanwhile, for several days the sister had been waiting for the young
men to bring back the head; till at last, getting impatient, she went in
search of it. The young men she found lying within short distances of
each other, dead, and covered with wounds. Various other bodies lay
scattered in different directions around them. She searched for the
head and sack, but they were nowhere to be found. She raised her voice
and wept, and blackened her face. Then she walked in different
directions, till she came to the place from whence the head had been
taken. There she found the magic bow and arrows, where the young men,
ignorant of their qualities had left them. She thought to herself that
she would find her brother's head, and came to a piece of rising ground,
and there saw some of his paints and feathers. These she carefully put
up, and hung upon the branch of a tree till her return.
At dusk she arrived at the first lodge of a very extensive village. Here
she used a charm, common among Indians when they wish to meet with a
kind reception. On applying to the old man and woman of the lodge, she
was kindly received. She made known her errand. The old man promised to
aid her, and told her that the head was hung up before the council fire,
and that the chiefs of the village, with their young men, kept watch
over it continually. The former are considered as Manitoes. She said she
only wished to see it, and would be satisfied if she could only get to
the door of the lodge. She knew she had not sufficient power to take it
by force. "Come with me," said the Indian, "I will take you there."
They went, and they took their seats near the door. The council lodge
was filled with warriors, amusing themselves with games, and constantly
keeping up a fire to smoke the head, as they said, to make dry meat.
They saw the head move, and not knowing what to make of it, one spoke
and said, "Ha! ha! it is beginning to feel the effects of the smoke."
The sister looked up from the door, and her eyes met those of her
brother, and tears rolled down the cheeks of the head. "Well," said the
chief, "I thought we would make you do something at last. Look! look at
it--shedding tears," said he to those around him; and they all laughed
and passed their jokes upon it. The chief, looking around and observing
the woman, after some time said to the man who came with her, "Who have
you got there? I have never seen that woman before in our village."
"Yes," replied the man, "you have seen her; she is a relation of mine,
and seldom goes out. She stays in my lodge, and asked me to allow her to
come with me to this place." In the centre of the lodge sat one of those
young men who are always forward, and fond of boasting and displaying
themselves before others. "Why," said he, "I have seen her often, and it
is to his lodge I go almost every night to court her." All the others
laughed and continued their games. The young man did not know he was
telling a lie to the woman's advantage, who by that means escaped.
She returned to the man's lodge, and immediately set out for her own
country. Coming to the spot where the bodies of her adopted brothers
lay, she placed them together, their feet towards _the east_. Then
taking an axe which she had, she cast it up into the air, crying out,
"Brothers, get up from under it, or it will fall on you." This she
repeated three times, and the third time the brothers all arose and
stood on their feet.
Mudjikewis commenced rubbing his eyes and stretching himself. "Why,"
said he, "I have overslept myself." "No, indeed," said one of the
others, "do you not know we were all killed, and that it is our sister
who has brought us to life?" The young men took the bodies of their
enemies and _burned_ them. Soon after, the woman went to procure wives
for them, in a distant country, they knew not where; but she returned
with ten young females, which she gave to the young men, beginning with
the eldest. Mudjikewis stepped to and fro, uneasy lest he should not get
the one he liked. But he was not disappointed, for she fell to his lot.
And they were well matched, for she was a female magician. They then
all moved into a very large lodge, and their sister told them that the
women must now take turns in going to her brother's head every night,
trying to untie it. They all said they would do so with pleasure. The
eldest made the first attempt, and with a rushing noise she fled through
the air.
Towards daylight she returned. She had been unsuccessful, as she
succeeded in untying only one of the knots. All took their turns
regularly, and each one succeeded in untying only one knot each time.
But when the youngest went, she commenced the work as soon as she
reached the lodge; although it had always been occupied, still the
Indians never could see any one. For ten nights now, the smoke had not
ascended, but filled the lodge and drove them out. This last night they
were all driven out, and the young woman carried off the head.
The young people and the sister heard the young woman coming high
through the air, and they heard her saying, "Prepare the body of our
brother." And as soon as they heard it, they went to a small lodge where
the black body of Iamo lay. His sister commenced cutting the neck part,
from which the head had been severed. She cut so deep as to cause it to
bleed; and the others who were present, by rubbing the body and applying
medicines, expelled the blackness. In the mean time the one who brought
it, by cutting the neck of the head, caused that also to bleed.
As soon as she arrived, they placed that close to the body, and by the
aid of medicines and various other means, succeeded in restoring Iamo to
all his former beauty and manliness. All rejoiced in the happy
termination of their troubles, and they had spent some time joyfully
together, when Iamo said, "Now I will divide the wampum;" and getting
the belt which contained it, he commenced with the eldest, giving it in
equal proportions. But the youngest got the most splendid and beautiful,
as the bottom of the belt held the richest and rarest.
They were told that, since they had all once died, and were restored to
life, they were no longer mortals, but _spirits_, and they were assigned
different stations in the invisible world. Only Mudjikewis's place was,
however, named. He was to direct the _west wind_, hence generally called
Kabeyun, there to remain for ever. They were commanded, as they had it
in their power, to do good to the inhabitants of the earth; and
forgetting their sufferings in procuring the wampum, to give all things
with a liberal hand. And they were also commanded that it should also be
held by them _sacred_; those grains or shells of the pale hue to be
emblematic of peace, while those of the darker hue would lead to evil
and to war.
The spirits then, amid songs and shouts, took their flight to their
respective abodes on high; while Iamo, with his sister Iamoqua,
descended into the depths below.
* * * * *
Some of the incidents of this tale furnish references to both Occidental
as well as Oriental customs, which are appropriate subjects of comment.
This is not the place to enter into their discussion. It may be
sufficient to mention, that the burning of the dead is an Eastern, and
not an Algic custom. Burying with the feet towards the east is common to
the present and to many Eastern tribes; but there are tumuli or barrows
in the Northwest, in which the bones lie north and south, indicating its
occupancy by tribes of a prior race. The idea of the immortality of man
is clearly indicated; but an idea more clearly shadowed forth here, than
perhaps in any other of these fictions, is the necessity of a great boon
or Saviour to render men happy. This is placed symbolically in this tale
in wampum, the most sacred of all objects known to these tribes, and its
acquirement is the work of the Indian Mudjikewis or heir. It is not
presumable that they possess, or ever possessed, the true idea of the
Saviour of mankind, as revealed by Holy Writ. The allusions are thought
rather to show the original tendency of the human mind, unenlightened
and uninstructed, to seek for some moral or physical panacea which is
to introduce happiness to the race. Such an idea appears compatible with
the condition of the erratic nations immediately at, and posterior to,
the great biblical era of the introduction of new languages, and the
consequent dispersion of men over the world. For it is rather to this
era, than to the comparatively newer one of the fall of the Israelitish
kingdom, that we are to look as the _first_ point of historical and
philological comparison. It is hence that the Hebrew, the initial
language, becomes so important in the investigation. We may, indeed,
regard it as furnishing a key to the principles of grammatical utterance
in the East.
It has been observed, that the custom of female separation, upon the
violation of which the present tale is founded, is a Hebrew custom,
identified with the written institutions of the Pentateuch. A lodge of
separation is established at these periods by all the Algic tribes.
Nothing is better attested, by those who have given attention to this
subject, than that everything touched by the female during this period
is polluted and rendered unclean. To cross her pathway even, is to fall
under the bane of impurity; and a hunter or a warrior who should thus
trespass, would feel his hopes blighted and his prospect of success
destroyed.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] War-cry.
[20] A she-bear--also a male having the ferocity of a she-bear.
[21] My grandfather.
MON-DAW-MIN;
OR,
THE ORIGIN OF INDIAN CORN.
AN ODJIBWA TALE.
In times past, a poor Indian was living with his wife and children in a
beautiful part of the country. He was not only poor, but inexpert in
procuring food for his family, and his children were all too young to
give him assistance. Although poor, he was a man of a kind and contented
disposition. He was always thankful to the Great Spirit for everything
he received. The same disposition was inherited by his eldest son, who
had now arrived at the proper age to undertake the ceremony of the
Ke-ig-uish-im-o-win, or fast, to see what kind of a spirit would be his
guide and guardian through life. Wunzh, for this was his name, had been
an obedient boy from his infancy, and was of a pensive, thoughtful, and
mild disposition, so that he was beloved by the whole family. As soon as
the first indications of spring appeared, they built him the customary
little lodge, at a retired spot some distance from their own, where he
would not be disturbed during this solemn rite. In the mean time he
prepared himself, and immediately went into it and commenced his fast.
The first few days he amused himself in the mornings by walking in the
woods and over the mountains, examining the early plants and flowers,
and in this way prepared himself to enjoy his sleep, and, at the same
time, stored his mind with pleasant ideas for his dreams. While he
rambled through the woods, he felt a strong desire to know how the
plants, herbs, and berries grew, without any aid from man, and why it
was that some species were good to eat, and others possessed medicinal
or poisonous juices. He recalled these thoughts to mind after he became
too languid to walk about, and had confined himself strictly to the
lodge; he wished he could dream of something that would prove a benefit
to his father and family, and to all others. "True!" he thought, "the
Great Spirit made all things, and it is to him that we owe our lives.
But could he not make it easier for us to get our food, than by hunting
animals and taking fish? I must try to find out this in my visions."
On the third day he became weak and faint, and kept his bed. He fancied,
while thus lying, that he saw a handsome young man coming down from the
sky and advancing towards him. He was richly and gayly dressed, having
on a great many garments of green and yellow colours, but differing in
their deeper or lighter shades. He had a plume of waving feathers on his
head, and all his motions were graceful.
"I am sent to you, my friend," said the celestial visiter, "by that
Great Spirit who made all things in the sky and on the earth. He has
seen and knows your motives in fasting. He sees that it is from a kind
and benevolent wish to do good to your people, and to procure a benefit
for them, and that you do not seek for strength in war or the praise of
warriors. I am sent to instruct you, and show you how you can do your
kindred good." He then told the young man to arise, and prepare to
wrestle with him, as it was only by this means that he could hope to
succeed in his wishes. Wunzh knew he was weak from fasting, but he felt
his courage rising in his heart, and immediately got up, determined to
die rather than fail. He commenced the trial, and, after a protracted
effort, was almost exhausted, when the beautiful stranger said, "My
friend, it is enough for once; I will come again to try you;" and,
smiling on him, he ascended in the air in the same direction from which
he came. The next day the celestial visiter reappeared at the same hour
and renewed the trial. Wunzh felt that his strength was even less than
the day before, but the courage of his mind seemed to increase in
proportion as his body became weaker. Seeing this, the stranger again
spoke to him in the same words he used before, adding, "To-morrow will
be your last trial. Be strong, my friend, for this is the only way you
can overcome me, and obtain the boon you seek." On the third day he
again appeared at the same time and renewed the struggle. The poor youth
was very faint in body, but grew stronger in mind at every contest, and
was determined to prevail or perish in the attempt. He exerted his
utmost powers, and after the contest had been continued the usual time,
the stranger ceased his efforts and declared himself conquered. For the
first time he entered the lodge, and sitting down beside the youth, he
began to deliver his instructions to him, telling him in what manner he
should proceed to take advantage of his victory.
"You have won your desires of the Great Spirit," said the stranger. "You
have wrestled manfully. To-morrow will be the seventh day of your
fasting. Your father will give you food to strengthen you, and as it is
the last day of trial, you will prevail. I know this, and now tell you
what you must do to benefit your family and your tribe. To-morrow," he
repeated, "I shall meet you and wrestle with you for the last time; and,
as soon as you have prevailed against me, you will strip off my garments
and throw me down, clean the earth of roots and weeds, make it soft, and
bury me in the spot. When you have done this, leave my body in the
earth, and do not disturb it, but come occasionally to visit the place,
to see whether I have come to life, and be careful never to let the
grass or weeds grow on my grave. Once a month cover me with fresh earth.
If you follow my instructions, you will accomplish your object of doing
good to your fellow-creatures by teaching them the knowledge I now teach
you." He then shook him by the hand and disappeared.
In the morning the youth's father came with some slight refreshments,
saying, "My son, you have fasted long enough. If the Great Spirit will
favour you, he will do it now. It is seven days since you have tasted
food, and you must not sacrifice your life. The Master of Life does not
require that." "My father," replied the youth, "wait till the sun goes
down. I have a particular reason for extending my fast to that hour."
"Very well," said the old man, "I shall wait till the hour arrives, and
you feel inclined to eat."
At the usual hour of the day the sky-visiter returned, and the trial of
strength was renewed. Although the youth had not availed himself of his
father's offer of food, he felt that new strength had been given to him,
and that exertion had renewed his strength and fortified his courage. He
grasped his angelic antagonist with supernatural strength, threw him
down, took from him his beautiful garments and plume, and finding him
dead, immediately buried him on the spot, taking all the precautions he
had been told of, and being very confident, at the same time, that his
friend would again come to life. He then returned to his father's lodge,
and partook sparingly of the meal that had been prepared for him. But he
never for a moment forgot the grave of his friend. He carefully visited
it throughout the spring, and weeded out the grass, and kept the ground
in a soft and pliant state. Very soon he saw the tops of the green
plumes coming through the ground; and the more careful he was to obey
his instructions in keeping the ground in order, the faster they grew.
He was, however, careful to conceal the exploit from his father. Days
and weeks had passed in this way. The summer was now drawing towards a
close, when one day, after a long absence in hunting, Wunzh invited his
father to follow him to the quiet and lonesome spot of his former fast.
The lodge had been removed, and the weeds kept from growing on the
circle where it stood, but in its place stood a tall and graceful
plant, with bright-coloured silken hair, surmounted with nodding plumes
and stately leaves, and golden clusters on each side. "It is my friend,"
shouted the lad; "it is the friend of all mankind. It is
_Mondawmin_.[22] We need no longer rely on hunting alone; for, as long
as this gift is cherished and taken care of, the ground itself will give
us a living." He then pulled an ear. "See, my father," said he, "this is
what I fasted for. The Great Spirit has listened to my voice, and sent
us something new,[23] and henceforth our people will not alone depend
upon the chase or upon the waters."
He then communicated to his father the instructions given him by the
stranger. He told him that the broad husks must be torn away, as he had
pulled off the garments in his wrestling; and having done this, directed
him how the ear must be held before the fire till the outer skin became
brown, while all the milk was retained in the grain. The whole family
then united in a feast on the newly-grown ears, expressing gratitude to
the Merciful Spirit who gave it. So corn came into the world, and has
ever since been preserved.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] The Algic name for corn. The word is manifestly a trinary compound
from _monedo_, spirit; _min_, a grain or berry; and _iaw_, the verb
substantive.
[23] The Zea mays, it will be recollected, is indigenous to America, and
was unknown in Europe before 1495.
PEETA KWAY;
OR,
THE TEMPEST.
AN ALGIC TALE.
There once lived a woman called Monedo Kway[24] on the sand mountains
called "the Sleeping Bear" of Lake Michigan, who had a daughter as
beautiful as she was modest and discreet. Everybody spoke of the beauty
of this daughter. She was so handsome that her mother feared she would
be carried off, and to prevent it she put her in a box on the lake,
which was tied by a long string to a stake on the shore. Every morning
the mother pulled the box ashore, and combed her daughter's long,
shining hair, gave her food, and then put her out again on the lake.
One day a handsome young man chanced to come to the spot at the moment
she was receiving her morning's attentions from her mother. He was
struck with her beauty, and immediately went home and told his feelings
to his uncle, who was a great chief and a powerful magician. "My
nephew," replied the old man, "go to the mother's lodge, and sit down in
a modest manner, without saying a word. You need not ask her the
question. But whatever _you think_ she will understand, and what _she
thinks_ in answer you will also understand." The young man did so. He
sat down, with his head dropped in a thoughtful manner, without uttering
a word. He then thought, "I wish she would give me her daughter." Very
soon he understood the mother's thoughts in reply. "Give you my
daughter?" thought she; "_you_! No, indeed, my daughter shall never
marry _you_." The young man went away and reported the result to his
uncle. "Woman without good sense," said he, "who is she keeping her
daughter for? Does she think she will marry the Mudjikewis?[25] Proud
heart! we will try her magic skill, and see whether she can withstand
our power." The pride and haughtiness of the mother was talked of by the
spirits living on that part of the lake. They met together and
determined to exert their power in humbling her. For this purpose they
resolved to raise a great storm on the lake. The water began to toss and
roar, and the tempest became so severe, that the string broke, and the
box floated off through the straits down Lake Huron, and struck against
the sandy shores at its outlet. The place where it struck was near the
lodge of a superannuated old spirit called Ishkwon Daimeka, or the
keeper of the gate of the lakes. He opened the box and let out the
beautiful daughter, took her into his lodge, and married her.
When the mother found that her daughter had been blown off by the storm,
she raised very loud cries and lamented exceedingly. This she continued
to do for a long time, and would not be comforted. At length, after two
or three years, the spirits had pity on her, and determined to raise
another storm and bring her back. It was even a greater storm than the
first; and when it began to wash away the ground and encroach on the
lodge of Ishkwon Daimeka, she leaped into the box, and the waves carried
her back to the very spot of her mother's lodge on the shore. Monedo
Equa was overjoyed; but when she opened the box, she found that her
daughter's beauty had almost all departed. However, she loved her still
because she was her daughter, and now thought of the young man who had
made her the offer of marriage. She sent a formal message to him, but he
had altered his mind, for he knew that she had been the wife of another.
"_I_ marry your daughter?" said he; "_your_ daughter! No, indeed! I
shall never marry her."
The storm that brought her back was so strong and powerful, that it tore
away a large part of the shore of the lake, and swept off Ishkwon
Daimeka's lodge, the fragments of which, lodging in the straits, formed
those beautiful islands which are scattered in the St. Clair and Detroit
rivers. The old man himself was drowned, and his bones are buried under
them. They heard him singing as he was driven off on a portion of his
lodge; some fragments of his words are still repeated, which show what
his thoughts were in the midst of his overthrow.
ISHKWON DAIMEKA'S LAMENT.
The waves, the waves, the angry waves,
Have borne my bless'd away,
And cast me forth all reft and lone,
With wrecks of wood and clay.
My power is gone, my guardian dead,
My loved, my cherish'd lost,
And every dream of pleasure fled,
And every bright hope cross'd.
I go--I go, a floating ball,
A speck of earth at best;
But with my dying breath I call
On Peeta Kway the bless'd.
Oh! was it kind in spirits high,
Who rule these waters free,
To call the vengeance of the sky,
And turn its wrath on me?
Yet shall I triumph; for the storm
That sounds my funeral knell,
Shall lands, and coasts, and islands form,
Where joy and peace shall dwell.
And every vestige of my lodge,
And all my simple store,
Shall turn to pastures green and sweet,
And many a winding shore.
There other tribes of men shall dwell,
Who serve a purer power,
And oft of me the story tell,
To while away the hour.
So shall I live, though now I'm toss'd,
A poor, dishonour'd thing,
And where one Peeta Kway was lost,
A thousand more shall spring.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] Female spirit or prophetess.
[25] A term indicative of the heir or successor to the first place in
power.
MANABOZHO;
OR,
THE GREAT INCARNATION OF THE NORTH.
AN ALGIC LEGEND.
_Introductory Note._--The accounts which the Indians hand down of a
remarkable personage of miraculous birth, who waged a warfare with
monsters, performed the most extravagant and heroic feats, underwent a
catastrophe like Jonah's, and survived a general deluge, constitute a
very prominent portion of their cabin lore. Interwoven with these
leading traits are innumerable tales of personal achievement, sagacity,
endurance, miracle, and trick, which place him in almost every scene of
deep interest that could be imagined, from the competitor on the Indian
playground, to a giant-killer, or a mysterious being of stern,
all-knowing, superhuman power. Whatever man could do, he could do. He
affected all the powers of a necromancer. He wielded the arts of a
demon, and had the ubiquity of a god. But in proportion as Manabozho
exercises powers and performs exploits wild or wonderful, the chain of
narration which connects them is broken or vague. He leaps over
extensive regions of country like an ignis fatuus. He appears suddenly
like an avater, or saunters over weary wastes a poor and starving
hunter. His voice is at one moment deep and sonorous as a thunder-clap,
and at another clothed with the softness of feminine supplication.
Scarcely any two persons agree in all the minor circumstances of the
story, and scarcely any omit the leading traits. The several tribes who
speak dialects of the mother language from which the narration is taken,
differ, in like manner, from each other in the particulars of his
exploits. But he is not presented here as an historical personage, or in
any other light than as the native narrators themselves depict him, when
they have assembled a group of listeners in the lodge, and begin the
story of Manabozho. His birth and parentage are obscure. Story says his
grandmother was the daughter of the moon. Having been married but a
short time, her rival attracted her to a grapevine swing on the banks of
a lake, and by one bold exertion pitched her into its centre, from which
she fell through to the earth. Having a daughter, the fruit of her lunar
marriage, she was very careful in instructing her, from early infancy,
to beware of the west wind, and never, in stooping, to expose herself to
its influence. In some unguarded moment this precaution was neglected.
In an instant, the gale, invading her robes, scattered them upon its
wings, and accomplishing its Tarquinic purpose, at the same moment
annihilated her. At the scene of this catastrophe her mother found a
foetus-like mass, which she carefully and tenderly nursed till it
assumed the beautiful and striking lineaments of the infant Manabozho.
Very little is told of his early boyhood. We take him up in the
following legend at a period of advanced youth, when we find him living
with his grandmother. And at this time he possessed, although he had not
yet _exercised_, all the anomalous and contradictory powers of body and
mind, of manship and divinity, which he afterward evinced. The timidity
and rawness of the boy quickly gave way in the courageous developments
of the man. He soon evinced the sagacity, cunning, perseverance, and
heroic courage which constitute the admiration of the Indians. And he
relied largely upon these in the gratification of an ambitious,
vainglorious, and mischief-loving disposition. In wisdom and energy he
was superior to any one who had ever lived before. Yet he was simple
when circumstances required it, and was ever the object of tricks and
ridicule in others. He could transform himself into any animal he
pleased, being man or manito, as circumstances rendered necessary. He
often conversed with animals, fowls, reptiles, and fishes. He deemed
himself related to them, and invariably addressed them by the term "my
brother;" and one of his greatest resources, when hard pressed, was to
change himself into their shapes.
Manitoes constitute the great power and absorbing topic of Indian lore.
Their agency is at once the groundwork of their mythology and
demonology. They supply the machinery of their poetic inventions, and
the belief in their multitudinous existence exerts a powerful influence
upon the lives and character of individuals. As their manitoes are of
all imaginary kinds, grades, and powers, benign and malicious, it seems
a grand conception among the Indians to create a personage strong enough
in his necromantic and spiritual powers to baffle the most malicious,
beat the stoutest, and overreach the most cunning. In carrying out this
conception in the following tale, they have, however, rather exhibited
an incarnation of the power of Evil than of the genius of Benevolence.
* * * * *
Manabozho was living with his grandmother near the edge of a wide
prairie. On this prairie he first saw animals and birds of every kind.
He there also saw exhibitions of divine power in the sweeping tempests,
in the thunder and lightning, and the various shades of light and
darkness, which form a never-ending scene of observation. Every new
sight he beheld in the heavens was a subject of remark; every new animal
or bird an object of deep interest; and every sound uttered by the
animal creation a new lesson, which he was expected to learn. He often
trembled at what he heard and saw. To this scene his grandmother sent
him at an early age to watch. The first sound he heard was that of the
owl, at which he was greatly terrified, and, quickly descending the tree
he had climbed, he ran with alarm to the lodge. "Noko! Noko!"[26] he
cried, "I have heard a monedo." She laughed at his fears, and asked him
what kind of a noise it made. He answered, "It makes a noise like this:
Ko-ko-ko-ho." She told him that he was young and foolish; that what he
had heard was only a bird, deriving its name from the noise it made.
He went back and continued his watch. While there, he thought to
himself, "It is singular that I am so simple, and my grandmother so
wise, and that I have neither father nor mother. I have never heard a
word about them. I must ask and find out." He went home and sat down
silent and dejected. At length his grandmother asked him, "Manabozho,
what is the matter with you?" He answered, "I wish you would tell me
whether I have any parents living, and who my relatives are." Knowing
that he was of a wicked and revengeful disposition, she dreaded telling
him the story of his parentage, but he insisted on her compliance.
"Yes," she said, "you have a father and three brothers living. Your
mother is dead. She was taken without the consent of her parents by your
father the West. Your brothers are the North, East, and South, and,
being older than yourself, your father has given them great power with
the winds, according to their names. You are the youngest of his
children. I have nourished you from your infancy, for your mother died
in giving you birth, owing to the ill treatment of your father. I have
no relations besides you this side of the planet in which I was born,
and from which I was precipitated by female jealousy. Your mother was my
only child, and you are my only hope."
He appeared to be rejoiced to hear that his father was living, for he
had already thought in his heart to try and kill him. He told his
grandmother he should set out in the morning to visit him. She said it
was a long distance to the place where Ningabiun[27] lived. But that had
no effect to stop him, for he had now attained manhood, possessed a
giant's height, and was endowed by nature with a giant's strength and
power. He set out and soon reached the place, for every step he took
covered a large surface of ground. The meeting took place on a high
mountain in the West. His father was very happy to see him. He also
appeared pleased. They spent some days in talking with each other. One
evening Manabozho asked his father what he was most afraid of on earth.
He replied, "Nothing." "But is there not something you dread here? tell
me." At last his father said, yielding, "Yes, there is a black stone
found in such a place. It is the only thing earthly I am afraid of; for
if it should hit me or any part of my body, it would injure me very
much." He said this as a secret, and in return asked his son the same
question. Knowing each other's power, although the son's was limited,
the father feared him on account of his great strength. Manabozho
answered, "Nothing!" intending to avoid the question, or to refer to
some harmless object as the one of which he was afraid. He was asked
again and again, and answered "Nothing!" But the West said, "There must
be something you are afraid of." "Well! I will tell you," says
Manabozho, "what it is." But, before he would pronounce the word, he
affected great dread. "_Ie-ee_--_Ie-ee_--it is--it is," said he, "yeo!
yeo![28] I cannot name it, I am seized with a dread." The West told him
to banish his fears. He commenced again, in a strain of mock
sensitiveness repeating the same words; at last he cried out, "It is the
root of the _apukwa_."[29] He appeared to be exhausted by the effort of
pronouncing the word, in all this skilfully acting a studied part.
Some time after he observed, "I will get some of the black rock." The
West said, "Far be it from you; do not do so, my son." He still
persisted. "Well," said the father, "I will also get the apukwa root."
Manabozho immediately cried out, "_Kago! kago!_"[30] affecting, as
before, to be in great dread of it, but really wishing, by this course,
to urge on the West to procure it, that he might draw him into combat.
He went out and got a large piece of the black rock, and brought it
home. The West also took care to bring the dreaded root.
In the course of conversation he asked his father whether he had been
the cause of his mother's death. The answer was "Yes!" He then took up
the rock and struck him. Blow led to blow, and here commenced an
obstinate and furious combat, which continued several days. Fragments of
the rock, broken off under Manabozho's blows, can be seen in various
places to this day.[31] The root did not prove as mortal a weapon as his
well-acted fears had led his father to expect, although he suffered
severely from the blows. This battle commenced on the mountains. The
West was forced to give ground. Manabozho drove him across rivers, and
over mountains and lakes, and at last he came to the brink of this
world.
"Hold!" cried he, "my son, you know my power, and that it is impossible
to kill me. Desist, and I will also portion you out with as much power
as your brothers. The four quarters of the globe are already occupied;
but you can go and do a great deal of good to the people of this earth,
which is infested with large serpents, beasts, and monsters,[32] who
make great havoc among the inhabitants. Go and do good. You have the
power now to do so, and your fame with the beings of this earth will
last for ever. When you have finished your work, I will have a place
provided for you. You will then go and sit with your brother
Kabibboonocca in the north."
Manabozho was pacified. He returned to his lodge, where he was confined
by the wounds he had received. But from his grandmother's skill in
medicines he was soon recovered. She told him that his grandfather, who
had come to the earth in search of her, had been killed by
MEGISSOGWON,[33] who lived on the opposite side of the great lake.
"When he was alive," she continued, "I was never without oil to put on
my head, but now my hair is fast falling off for the want of it."
"Well!" said he, "Noko, get cedar bark and make me a line, whilst I make
a canoe." When all was ready, he went out to the middle of the lake to
fish. He put his line down, saying, "Me-she-nah-ma-gwai (the name of the
kingfish), take hold of my bait." He kept repeating this for some time.
At last the king of the fishes said, "Manabozho troubles me. Here,
Trout, take hold of his line." The trout did so. He then commenced
drawing up his line, which was very heavy, so that his canoe stood
nearly perpendicular; but he kept crying out, "Wha-ee-he! wha-ee-he!"
till he could see the trout. As soon as he saw him, he spoke to him.
"Why did you take hold of my hook? Esa! esa![34] you ugly fish." The
trout, being thus rebuked, let go.
Manabozho put his line again in the water, saying, "King of fishes, take
hold of my line." But the king of the fishes told a monstrous sunfish to
take hold of it; for Manabozho was tiring him with his incessant calls.
He again drew up his line with difficulty, saying as before, "Wha-ee-he!
wha-ee-he!" while his canoe was turning in swift circles. When he saw
the sunfish, he cried, "Esa! esa! you odious fish! why did you dirty my
hook by taking it in your mouth? Let go, I say, let go." The sunfish did
so, and told the king of fishes what Manabozho said. Just at that moment
the bait came near the king, and hearing Manabozho continually crying
out, "Me-she-nah-ma-gwai, take hold of my hook," at last he did so, and
allowed himself to be drawn up to the surface, which he had no sooner
reached than, at one mouthful, he took Manabozho and his canoe down.
When he came to himself, he found that he was in the fish's belly, and
also his canoe. He now turned his thoughts to the way of making his
escape. Looking in his canoe, he saw his war-club, with which he
immediately struck the heart of the fish. He then felt a sudden motion,
as if he were moving with great velocity. The fish observed to the
others, "I am sick at stomach for having swallowed this dirty fellow
Manabozho." Just at this moment he received another more severe blow on
the heart. Manabozho thought, "If I am thrown up in the middle of the
lake, I shall be drowned; so I must prevent it." He drew his canoe and
placed it across the fish's throat, and just as he had finished the fish
commenced vomiting, but to no effect. In this he was aided by a
squirrel, who had accompanied him unperceived until that moment. This
animal had taken an active part in helping him to place his canoe
across the fish's throat. For this act he named him, saying, "For the
future, boys shall always call you Ajidaumo."[35]
He then renewed his attack upon the fish's heart, and succeeded, by
repeated blows, in killing him, which he first knew by the loss of
motion, and by the sound of the beating of the body against the shore.
He waited a day longer to see what would happen. He heard birds
scratching on the body, and all at once the rays of light broke in. He
could see the heads of gulls, who were looking in by the opening they
had made. "Oh!" cried Manabozho, "my younger brothers, make the opening
larger, so that I can get out." They told each other that their brother
Manabozho was inside of the fish. They immediately set about enlarging
the orifice, and in a short time liberated him. After he got out he said
to the gulls, "For the future you shall be called Kayoshk[36] for your
kindness to me."
The spot where the fish happened to be driven ashore was near his lodge.
He went up and told his grandmother to go and prepare as much oil as she
wanted. All besides, he informed her, he should keep for himself.
Some time after this, he commenced making preparations for a war
excursion against the Pearl Feather, the Manito who lived on the
opposite side of the great lake, who had killed his grandfather. The
abode of this spirit was defended, first, by fiery serpents, who hissed
fire so that no one could pass them; and, in the second place, by a
large mass of gummy matter lying on the water, so soft and adhesive,
that whoever attempted to pass, or whatever came in contact with it, was
sure to stick there.
He continued making bows and arrows without number, but he had no heads
for his arrows. At last Noko told him that an old man who lived at some
distance could make them. He sent her to get some. She soon returned
with her conaus or wrapper full.[37] Still he told her he had not
enough, and sent her again. She returned with as much more. He thought
to himself, "I must find out the way of making these heads." Cunning and
curiosity prompted him to make the discovery. But he deemed it necessary
to deceive his grandmother in so doing. "Noko," said he, "while I take
my drum and rattle, and sing my war songs, go and try to get me some
_larger_ heads for my arrows, for those you brought me are all of the
same size. Go and see whether the old man cannot make some a little
larger." He followed her as she went, keeping at a distance, and saw the
old artificer at work, and so discovered his process. He also beheld the
old man's daughter, and perceived that she was very beautiful. He felt
his breast beat with a new emotion, but said nothing. He took care to
get home before his grandmother, and commenced singing as if he had
never left his lodge. When the old woman came near, she heard his drum
and rattle, without any suspicion that he had followed her. She
delivered him the arrow-heads.
One evening the old woman said, "My son, you ought to _fast_ before you
go to war, as your brothers frequently do, to find out whether you will
be successful or not."[38] He said he had no objection, and immediately
commenced a fast for several days. He would retire every day from the
lodge so far as to be out of reach of his grandmother's voice. It seems
she had indicated this spot, and was very anxious he should fast there,
and not at another place. She had a secret motive, which she carefully
hid from him: Deception always begets suspicion. After a while he
thought to himself, "I must find out why my grandmother is so anxious
for me to fast at this spot." Next evening he went but a short distance.
She cried out, "A little farther off;" but he came nearer to the lodge,
and cried out in a low, counterfeited voice, to make it appear that he
was distant. She then replied, "That is far enough." He had got so near
that he could see all that passed in the lodge. He had not been long in
his place of concealment, when a paramour in the shape of a bear entered
the lodge. He had very long hair. They commenced talking about him, and
appeared to be improperly familiar. At that time people lived to a very
great age, and he perceived, from the marked attentions of this visiter,
that he did not think a grandmother too old to be pleased with such
attentions. He listened to their conversation some time. At last he
determined to play the visiter a trick. He took some fire, and when the
bear had turned his back, touched his long hair. When the animal felt
the flame, he jumped out, but the open air only made it burn the
fiercer, and he was seen running off in a full blaze.
Manabozho ran to his customary place of fasting, and, assuming a tone of
simplicity, began to cry out, "Noko! Noko! is it time for me to come
home?" "Yes," she cried. When he came in she told him what had taken
place, at which he appeared to be very much surprised.
After having finished his term of fasting and sung his war-song--from
which the Indians of the present day derive the custom--he embarked in
his canoe, fully prepared for war. In addition to the usual implements,
he had a plentiful supply of oil. He travelled rapidly night and day,
for he had only to will or speak, and the canoe went. At length he
arrived in sight of the fiery serpents. He stopped to view them. He saw
they were some distance apart, and that the flame only which issued from
them reached across the pass. He commenced talking as a friend to them;
but they answered, "We know you, Manabozho, you cannot pass." He then
thought of some expedient to deceive them, and hit upon this. He pushed
his canoe as near as possible. All at once he cried out, with a loud and
terrified voice, "What is that behind you?" The serpents instantly
turned their heads, when, at a single word, he passed them. "Well!"
said he, placidly, after he had got by, "how do you like my exploit?" He
then took up his bow and arrows, and with deliberate aim shot them,
which was easily done, for the serpents were stationary, and could not
move beyond a certain spot. They were of enormous length and of a bright
colour.
Having overcome the sentinel serpents, he went on in his canoe till he
came to a soft gummy portion of the lake, called PIGIU-WAGUMEE, or
Pitch-water. He took the oil and rubbed it on his canoe, and then pushed
into it. The oil softened the surface and enabled him to slip through it
with ease, although it required frequent rubbing, and a constant
reapplication of the oil. Just as his oil failed, he extricated himself
from this impediment, and was the first person who ever succeeded in
overcoming it.
He now came in view of land, on which he debarked in safety, and could
see the lodge of the Shining Manito, situated on a hill. He commenced
preparing for the fight, putting his arrows and clubs in order, and just
at the dawn of day began his attack, yelling and shouting, and crying
with triple voices, "Surround him! surround him! run up! run up!" making
it appear that he had many followers. He advanced crying out, "It was
you that killed my grandfather," and with this shot his arrows. The
combat continued all day. Manabozho's arrows had no effect, for his
antagonist was clothed with pure wampum. He was now reduced to three
arrows, and it was only by extraordinary agility that he could escape
the blows which the Manito kept making at him. At that moment a large
woodpecker (the ma-ma) flew past, and lit on a tree. "Manabozho," he
cried, "your adversary has a vulnerable point; shoot at the lock of hair
on the crown of his head." He shot his first arrow so as only to draw
blood from that part. The Manito made one or two unsteady steps, but
recovered himself. He began to parley, but, in the act, received a
second arrow, which brought him to his knees. But he again recovered. In
so doing, however, he exposed his head, and gave his adversary a chance
to fire his third arrow, which penetrated deep, and brought him a
lifeless corpse to the ground. Manabozho uttered his saw-saw-quan, and
taking his scalp as a trophy, he called the woodpecker to come and
receive a reward for his information. He took the blood of the Manito
and rubbed it on the woodpecker's[39] head, the feathers of which are
red to this day.
After this victory he returned home, singing songs of triumph and
beating his drum. When his grandmother heard him, she came to the shore
and welcomed him with songs and dancing. Glory fired his mind. He
displayed the trophies he had brought in the most conspicuous manner,
and felt an unconquerable desire for other adventures. He felt himself
urged by the consciousness of his power to new trials of bravery, skill,
and necromantic prowess. He had destroyed the Manito of Wealth, and
killed his guardian serpents, and eluded all his charms. He did not long
remain inactive. His next adventure was upon the water, and proved him
the prince of fishermen. He captured a fish of such monstrous size, that
the fat and oil he obtained from it formed a small lake. He therefore
invited all the animals and fowls to a banquet, and he made the order in
which they partook of this repast the measure of their fatness. As fast
as they arrived, he told them to plunge in. The bear came first, and was
followed by the deer, opossum, and such other animals as are noted for
their peculiar fatness at certain seasons. The moose and bison came
tardily. The partridge looked on till the reservoir was nearly
exhausted. The hare and marten came last, and these animals have,
consequently, no fat. When this ceremony was over, he told the
assembled animals and birds to dance, taking up his drum and crying,
"New songs from the south, come, brothers, dance." He directed them to
pass in a circle around him, and to shut their eyes. They did so. When
he saw a fat fowl pass by him, he adroitly wrung off its head, at the
same time beating his drum and singing with greater vehemence, to drown
the noise of the fluttering, and crying out, in a tone of admiration,
"That's the way, my brothers, _that's_ the way." At last a small duck
(the diver), thinking there was something wrong, opened one eye and saw
what he was doing. Giving a spring, and crying "Ha-ha-a! Manabozho is
killing us," he made for the water. Manabozho followed him, and, just as
the duck was getting into the water, gave him a kick, which is the cause
of his back being flattened and his legs being straightened out
backward, so that when he gets on land he cannot walk, and his tail
feathers are few. Meantime the other birds flew off, and the animals ran
into the woods.
After this Manabozho set out to travel. He wished to outdo all others,
and to see new countries. But after walking over America and
encountering many adventures, he became satisfied as well as fatigued.
He had heard of great feats in hunting, and felt a desire to try his
power in that way. One evening, as he was walking along the shores of a
great lake, weary and hungry, he encountered a great magician in the
form of an old wolf, with six young ones, coming towards him. The wolf,
as soon as he saw him, told his whelps to keep out of the way of
Manabozho, "for I know," continued he, "that it is him that we see
yonder." The young wolves were in the act of running off, when Manabozho
cried out, "My grandchildren, where are you going? Stop, and I will go
with you." He appeared rejoiced to see the old wolf, and asked him
whither he was journeying. Being told that they were looking out for a
place, where they could find most game, to pass the winter, he said he
should like to go with them, and addressed the old wolf in the following
words. "Brother, I have a passion for the chase; are you willing to
change me into a wolf?" He was answered favourably, and his
transformation immediately effected.
Manabozho was fond of novelty. He found himself a wolf corresponding in
size with the others, but he was not quite satisfied with the change,
crying out, "Oh, make me a little larger." They did so. "A little larger
still," he exclaimed. They said, "Let us humour him," and granted his
request. "Well," said he, "_that_ will do." He looked at his tail.
"Oh!" cried he, "do make my tail a little longer and more bushy." They
did so. They then all started off in company, dashing up a ravine. After
getting into the woods some distance, they fell in with the tracks of
moose. The young ones went after them, Manabozho and the old wolf
following at their leisure. "Well," said the wolf, "who do you think is
the fastest of the boys? can you tell by the jumps they take?" "Why," he
replied, "that one that takes such long jumps, he is the fastest, to be
sure." "Ha! ha! you are mistaken," said the old wolf. "He makes a good
start, but he will be the first to tire out; this one, who appears to be
behind, will be the one to kill the game." They then came to the place
where the boys had started in chase. One had dropped his small bundle.
"Take that, Manabozho," said the old wolf. "Esa," he replied, "what will
I do with a dirty dogskin?" The wolf took it up; it was a beautiful
robe. "Oh, I will carry it now," said Manabozho. "Oh no," replied the
wolf, who at the moment exerted his magic power; "it is a robe of
pearls!" And from this moment he omitted no occasion to display his
superiority, both in the hunter's and magician's art, above his
conceited companion. Coming to a place where the moose had lain down,
they saw that the young wolves had made a fresh start after their prey.
"Why," said the wolf, "this moose is poor. I know by the tracks, for I
can always tell whether they are fat or not." They next came to a place
where one of the wolves had bit at the moose, and had broken one of his
teeth on a tree. "Manabozho," said the wolf, "one of your grandchildren
has shot at the game. Take his arrow; there it is." "No," he replied;
"what will I do with a dirty dog's tooth?" The old man took it up, and
behold! it was a beautiful silver arrow. When they overtook the
youngsters, they had killed a very fat moose. Manabozho was very hungry;
but, alas! such is the power of enchantment, he saw nothing but the
bones picked quite clean. He thought to himself, "Just as I expected,
dirty, greedy fellows!" However, he sat down without saying a word. At
length the old wolf spoke to one of the young ones, saying, "Give some
meat to your grandfather." One of them obeyed, and, coming near to
Manabozho, opened his mouth as if he was about to vomit. He jumped up,
saying, "You filthy dog, you have eaten so much that your stomach
refuses to hold it. Get you gone into some other place." The old wolf,
hearing the abuse, went a little to one side to see, and behold, a heap
of fresh ruddy meat, with the fat, lying all ready prepared. He was
followed by Manabozho, who, having the enchantment instantly removed,
put on a smiling face. "Amazement!" said he; "how fine the meat is."
"Yes," replied the wolf; "it is always so with us; we know our work, and
always get the best. It is not a long tail that makes a hunter."
Manabozho bit his lip.
They then commenced fixing their winter quarters, while the youngsters
went out in search of game, and soon brought in a large supply. One day,
during the absence of the young wolves, the old one amused himself in
cracking the large bones of a moose. "Manabozho," said he, "cover your
head with the robe, and do not look at me while I am at these bones, for
a piece may fly in your eye." He did as he was told; but, looking
through a rent that was in the robe, he saw what the other was about.
Just at that moment a piece flew off and hit him on the eye. He cried
out, "Tyau, why do you strike me, you old dog?" The wolf said, "You must
have been looking at me." But deception commonly leads to falsehood.
"No, no," he said, "why should I want to look at you?" "Manabozho," said
the wolf, "you _must_ have been looking, or you would not have got
hurt." "No, no," he replied again, "I was not. I will repay the saucy
wolf this," thought he to himself. So, next day, taking up a bone to
obtain the marrow, he said to the wolf, "Cover your head and don't look
at me, for I fear a piece may fly in your eye." The wolf did so. He then
took the leg-bone of the moose, and looking first to see if the wolf was
well covered, he hit him a blow with all his might. The wolf jumped up,
cried out, and fell prostrate from the effects of the blow. "Why," said
he, "do you strike me so?" "Strike you!" he replied; "no, you must have
been looking at me." "No," answered the wolf, "I say I have not." But he
persisted in the assertion, and the poor magician had to give up.
Manabozho was an expert hunter when he earnestly undertook it. He went
out one day and killed a fat moose. He was very hungry, and sat down to
eat. But immediately he fell into great doubts as to the proper point to
begin. "Well," said he, "I do not know where to commence. At the head?
No! People will laugh, and say 'he ate him backward.'" He went to the
side. "No!" said he, "they will say I ate him sideways." He then went to
the hind-quarter. "No!" said he, "they will say I ate him forward. I
will commence _here_, say what they will." He took a delicate piece from
the rump, and was just ready to put it in his mouth, when a tree close
by made a creaking noise, caused by the rubbing of one large branch
against another. This annoyed him. "Why!" he exclaimed, "I cannot eat
when I hear such a noise. Stop! stop!" said he to the tree. He was
putting the morsel again to his mouth, when the noise was repeated. He
put it down, exclaiming, "_I cannot eat_ with such a noise;" and
immediately left the meat, although very hungry, to go and put a stop to
the noise. He climbed the tree and was pulling at the limb, when his arm
was caught between the two branches so that he could not extricate
himself. While thus held fast, he saw a pack of wolves coming in the
direction towards his meat. "Go that way! go that way!" he cried out;
"what would you come to get here?" The wolves talked among themselves
and said, "Manabozho must have something there, or he would not tell us
to go another way." "I begin to know him," said an old wolf, "and all
his tricks. Let us go forward and see." They came on, and finding the
moose, soon made way with the whole carcass. Manabozho looked on
wishfully to see them eat till they were fully satisfied, and they left
him nothing but the bare bones. The next heavy blast of wind opened the
branches and liberated him. He went home, thinking to himself, "See the
effect of meddling with frivolous things when I had certain good in my
possession."
Next day the old wolf addressed him thus: "My brother, I am going to
separate from you, but I will leave behind me one of the young wolves to
be your hunter." He then departed. In the act Manabozho was
disenchanted, and again resumed his mortal shape. He was sorrowful and
dejected, but soon resumed his wonted air of cheerfulness. The young
wolf who was left with him was a good hunter, and never failed to keep
the lodge well supplied with meat. One day he addressed him as follows:
"My grandson, I had a dream last night, and it does not portend good. It
is of the large lake which lies in _that_ direction (pointing). You must
be careful never to cross it, even if the ice should appear good. If you
should come to it at night weary or hungry, you must make the circuit of
it." Spring commenced, and the snow was melting fast before the rays of
the sun, when one evening the wolf came to this lake, weary with the
day's chase. He disliked to go so far to make the circuit of it.
"Hwooh!" he exclaimed, "there can be no great harm in trying the ice, as
it appears to be sound. Nesho[40] is over cautious on this point." But
he had not got half way across when the ice gave way and he fell in, and
was immediately seized by the serpents, who knew it was Manabozho's
grandson, and were thirsting for revenge upon him. Manabozho sat
pensively in his lodge.
Night came on, but no son returned. The second and third night passed,
but he did not appear. He became very desolate and sorrowful. "Ah!" said
he, "he must have disobeyed me, and has lost his life in that lake I
told him of. Well!" said he at last, "I must mourn for him." So he took
coal and blackened his face. But he was much perplexed as to the right
mode. "I wonder," said he, "how I must do it? I will cry 'Oh! my
grandson! Oh! my grandson!'" He burst out a laughing. "No! no! that
won't do. I will try so--'Oh! my heart! Oh! my heart! ha! ha! ha!' That
won't do either. I will cry 'Oh my grandson _obiquadj_!'"[41] This
satisfied him, and he remained in his lodge and fasted, till his days of
mourning were over. "Now," said he, "I will go in search of him." He set
out and travelled some time. At last he came to a great lake. He then
raised the same cries of lamentation for his grandson which had pleased
him. He sat down near a small brook that emptied itself into the lake,
and repeated his cries. Soon a bird called _Ke-ske-mun-i-see_[42] came
near to him. The bird inquired, "What are you doing here?" "Nothing," he
replied; "but can you tell me whether any one lives in this lake, and
what brings you here yourself?" "Yes!" responded the bird; "the Prince
of Serpents lives here, and I am watching to see whether the obiquadj of
Manabozho's grandson will not drift ashore, for he was killed by the
serpents last spring. But are you not Manabozho himself?" "No," he
answered, with his usual deceit; "how do you think _he_ could get to
this place? But tell me, do the serpents ever appear? when? and where?
Tell me all about their habits." "Do you see that beautiful white sandy
beach?" said the bird. "Yes!" he answered. "It is there," continued the
Kingfisher, "that they bask in the sun. Before they come out, the lake
will appear perfectly calm; not even a ripple will appear. After midday
(na-wi-qua) you will see them."
"Thank you," he replied; "I am Manabozho himself. I have come in search
of the body of my son, and to seek my revenge. Come near me that I may
put a medal round your neck as a reward for your information." The bird
unsuspectingly came near, and received a white medal, which can be seen
to this day.[43] While bestowing the medal, he attempted slyly to wring
the bird's head off, but it escaped him, with only a disturbance of the
crown feathers of its head, which are rumpled backward. He had found out
all he wanted to know, and then desired to conceal the knowledge of his
purposes by killing his informant.
He went to the sandy beach indicated, and transformed himself into an
oak stump. He had not been there long before he saw the lake perfectly
calm. Soon hundreds of monstrous serpents came crawling on the beach.
One of the number was beautifully white. He was the prince. The others
were red and yellow. The prince spoke to those about him as follows: "I
never saw that black stump standing there before. It may be Manabozho.
There is no knowing but he may be somewhere about here. He has the power
of an evil genius, and we should be on our guard against his wiles." One
of the large serpents immediately went and twisted himself around it to
the top, and pressed it very hard. The greatest pressure happened to be
on his throat; he was just ready to cry out when the serpent let go.
Eight of them went in succession and did the like, but always let go at
the moment he was ready to cry out. "It cannot be him," they said. "He
is too great a weak-heart[44] for that." They then coiled themselves in
a circle about their prince. It was a long time before they fell asleep.
When they did so, Manabozho took his bow and arrows, and cautiously
stepping over the serpents till he came to the prince, drew up his arrow
with the full strength of his arm, and shot him in the left side. He
then gave a saw-saw-quan,[45] and ran off at full speed. The sound
uttered by the snakes on seeing their prince mortally wounded, was
horrible. They cried, "Manabozho has killed our prince; go in chase of
him." Meantime he ran over hill and valley, to gain the interior of the
country, with all his strength and speed, treading a mile at a step. But
his pursuers were also spirits, and he could hear that something was
approaching him fast. He made for the highest mountain, and climbed the
highest tree on its summit, when, dreadful to behold, the whole lower
country was seen to be overflowed, and the water was gaining rapidly on
the high lands. He saw it reach to the foot of the mountain, and at
length it came up to the foot of the tree, but there was no abatement.
The flood rose steadily and perceptibly. He soon felt the lower part of
his body to be immersed in it. He addressed the tree: "Grandfather,
stretch yourself." The tree did so. But the waters still rose. He
repeated his request, and was again obeyed. He asked a third time, and
was again obeyed; but the tree replied, "It is the last time; I cannot
get any higher." The waters continued to rise till they reached up to
his chin, at which point they stood, and soon began to abate. Hope
revived in his heart. He then cast his eyes around the illimitable
expanse, and spied a loon. "Dive down, my brother," he said to him, "and
fetch up some earth, so that I can make a new earth." The bird obeyed,
but rose up to the surface a lifeless form. He then saw a muskrat.
"Dive!" said he, "and if you succeed, you may hereafter live either on
land or water, as you please; or I will give you a chain of beautiful
little lakes, surrounded with rushes, to inhabit." He dove down, but he
floated up senseless. He took the body and breathed in his nostrils,
which restored him to life. "Try again," said he. The muskrat did so. He
came up senseless the second time, but clutched a little earth in one of
his paws, from which, together with the carcass of the dead loon, he
created a new earth as large as the former had been, with all living
animals, fowls, and plants.
As he was walking to survey the new earth, he heard some one singing. He
went to the place, and found a female spirit, in the disguise of an old
woman, singing these words, and crying at every pause:
Literal translation.
Ma nau bo sho, Manabosho.
O do' zheem un, His nephew.
Ogeem' au wun, The king (or chief).
Onis' sa waun, He killed him.
Hee-Ub bub ub bub, (crying).
"Noko," said he, "what is the matter?" "Matter!" said she, "where have
you been, not to have heard how Manabozho shot my son, the prince of
serpents, in revenge for the loss of his nephew, and how the earth was
overflowed, and created anew? So I brought my son here, that he might
kill and destroy the inhabitants, as he did on the former earth. But,"
she continued, casting a scrutinizing glance, "N'yau! indego Manabozho!
hub! ub! ub! ub! Oh, I am afraid you are Manabozho!" He burst out into a
laugh to quiet her fears. "Ha! ha! ha! how can that be? Has not the old
earth perished, and all that was in it?" "Impossible! impossible!" "But,
Noko," he continued, "what do you intend doing with all that cedar cord
on your back?" "Why," said she, "I am fixing a snare for Manabozho, if
he should be on this earth; and, in the mean time, I am looking for
herbs to heal my son. I am the only person that can do him any good. He
always gets better when I sing,
"'Manabozho a ne we guawk,
Koan dan mau wah, ne we guawk,
Koan dan mau wah, ne we guawk.'"
Manabozho's dart,
I try to get his dart,
I try to get his dart.
Having found out, by conversation with her, all he wished, he put her to
death. He then took off her skin, and ass
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