(15)Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami.Once upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went ashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock, while she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was gone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a rock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child’s father was also a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his baby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the baby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two miles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He dove and followed, as he wasmi·te·′and came to the big rock where the seal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal escaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.(16)Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher.At the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp nose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high as a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him and jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as it is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. “Kwe, kwe,” Lynx asked Rabbit, “where are you going?” Rabbit answered, “I am going to the short flat-faced country.” Lynx did not understand the joke, and he let Rabbit pass.Lynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw some flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself in the water. He discovered how ugly he was. “I’m so ugly. That is what Rabbit meant when he met me. I’ll fix him.” So he went back, struck Rabbit’s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it went into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw Rabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, “Has anybody[69]been passing here lately Hee!” Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this question twice and at last Rabbit spoke, “Tsc,tsc, it’s Sunday to-day.” Lynx asked the same question again and received the same reply. Then Rabbit said, “Why don’t you go around and find his track?”. When Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run, he chased him and caught him.“Can you talk English?” said Lynx. “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, can’t you talk white?” “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, if you don’t talk white, I’ll kill you.” So Rabbit had to talk white. “Well, what do you call ‘fire’ in English.” “Wayaʻkabi·′te” (people sitting around a fire), answered Rabbit. “How do they say ‘axe’ there?”“Me′matowes‵iŋg” (“noise of chopping”). “What do you call knife?” asked Lynx. “Taya′tacki·‵wəgis·e” (“sliced meat”), answered Rabbit. “You are a liar”, said Lynx. “Ki·niŋgwa‵zəm, you are a liar.” And he killed Rabbit.(17)Snaring the Sun.There was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day he saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided to set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So he set his snare and went away. That track was the sun’s track, and when the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn’t rise the next day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled. “Where did you set your snare?” they asked him. He told them, and they went to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near enough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all got burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth and freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are brown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.(18)Homo Excrementi.There were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by himself. He was a young man and he tried to get[70]his neighbour’s daughter to marry him, but she wouldn’t have him, saying that he was not good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get a wife.Then the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting spring, but the young man stayed back. He was full ofmite·′win.37He planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He collectedomne excrementum quod invenire potuitand made it into the shape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had refused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man alive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature was frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.And soHomo excrementicame, early in the morning, crunching through the snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming, they cried, “Somebody’s coming. Make a fire.” And when he reached the camp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice fellow. “Where do you come from? Who is your father?” they asked him. “Hump-back,” said he. “Who is your mother?” “Flat-setexcrementum,” answered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable to stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to stay at the camp, but he couldn’t, so he hurried away.Then one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage followed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow warmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later his hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he had melted altogetheret ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined the hat,internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back home saying, “Good for him, he’s melted. I’m glad he is melted.” She couldn’t catch him anyway, so she was angry.So young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but take the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”[71](19)The Origin of Snakes.A man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to cross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he saw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. “Will you carry me across?” asked the hunter. “Yes,” answered the Snake. “But it looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me if it thunders while we are crossing.” The hunter got on the Snake’s back and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along, thunder began rumbling, “kαx kαx,” and the lightning flashed. “Mah, mah, listen!” said the Snake in fear. “I hear something.” Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not killed, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about to-day.(20)Muskrat Warns the Beaver.The Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters. They were real people who could talk to one another. They started out one day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and families. It was early in the winter. They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he had heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.The next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver’s houses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, “When you see a dog passing, whistle.” So the young Beavers went to different places under the ice and when they saw a dog[72]passing, they whistled and all were thus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn’t whistle, and he escaped. The Indians said, “Where’s the big Beaver?” Then they went back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days people used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and throw it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn’t get it. These hunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They lost it.38So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.(21)Story of a Hunter.There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking[73]around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.(22)A Timagami Story.Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another manet voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her beddingut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the holeet omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept,et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix],secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole.39Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”(23)Story of a Fast Runner.Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.(24)The Hunter and the Seven Deer.There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The[74]leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.(25)Story of a Conjurer.There was a conjurer (mi·te′w),40whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe41and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of hismi·te′wfeeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo42had been there and had smashed his wigwam.Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak43) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”[75]Then he made hismi·te′owigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark.44He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside.45Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”There was anothermi·te′Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full ofmi·te′also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were notmi·te′.Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp.46[76](26)Legend of Obabika Lake.Obabika lake is calledMa′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.(27)Iroquois Pictographs.“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.”47The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.(28)An Iroquois Legend.At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons[77]would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαkthey are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them.[78]The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings48of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.
(15)Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami.Once upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went ashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock, while she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was gone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a rock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child’s father was also a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his baby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the baby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two miles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He dove and followed, as he wasmi·te·′and came to the big rock where the seal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal escaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.(16)Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher.At the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp nose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high as a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him and jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as it is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. “Kwe, kwe,” Lynx asked Rabbit, “where are you going?” Rabbit answered, “I am going to the short flat-faced country.” Lynx did not understand the joke, and he let Rabbit pass.Lynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw some flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself in the water. He discovered how ugly he was. “I’m so ugly. That is what Rabbit meant when he met me. I’ll fix him.” So he went back, struck Rabbit’s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it went into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw Rabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, “Has anybody[69]been passing here lately Hee!” Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this question twice and at last Rabbit spoke, “Tsc,tsc, it’s Sunday to-day.” Lynx asked the same question again and received the same reply. Then Rabbit said, “Why don’t you go around and find his track?”. When Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run, he chased him and caught him.“Can you talk English?” said Lynx. “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, can’t you talk white?” “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, if you don’t talk white, I’ll kill you.” So Rabbit had to talk white. “Well, what do you call ‘fire’ in English.” “Wayaʻkabi·′te” (people sitting around a fire), answered Rabbit. “How do they say ‘axe’ there?”“Me′matowes‵iŋg” (“noise of chopping”). “What do you call knife?” asked Lynx. “Taya′tacki·‵wəgis·e” (“sliced meat”), answered Rabbit. “You are a liar”, said Lynx. “Ki·niŋgwa‵zəm, you are a liar.” And he killed Rabbit.(17)Snaring the Sun.There was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day he saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided to set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So he set his snare and went away. That track was the sun’s track, and when the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn’t rise the next day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled. “Where did you set your snare?” they asked him. He told them, and they went to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near enough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all got burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth and freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are brown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.(18)Homo Excrementi.There were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by himself. He was a young man and he tried to get[70]his neighbour’s daughter to marry him, but she wouldn’t have him, saying that he was not good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get a wife.Then the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting spring, but the young man stayed back. He was full ofmite·′win.37He planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He collectedomne excrementum quod invenire potuitand made it into the shape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had refused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man alive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature was frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.And soHomo excrementicame, early in the morning, crunching through the snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming, they cried, “Somebody’s coming. Make a fire.” And when he reached the camp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice fellow. “Where do you come from? Who is your father?” they asked him. “Hump-back,” said he. “Who is your mother?” “Flat-setexcrementum,” answered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable to stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to stay at the camp, but he couldn’t, so he hurried away.Then one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage followed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow warmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later his hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he had melted altogetheret ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined the hat,internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back home saying, “Good for him, he’s melted. I’m glad he is melted.” She couldn’t catch him anyway, so she was angry.So young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but take the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”[71](19)The Origin of Snakes.A man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to cross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he saw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. “Will you carry me across?” asked the hunter. “Yes,” answered the Snake. “But it looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me if it thunders while we are crossing.” The hunter got on the Snake’s back and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along, thunder began rumbling, “kαx kαx,” and the lightning flashed. “Mah, mah, listen!” said the Snake in fear. “I hear something.” Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not killed, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about to-day.(20)Muskrat Warns the Beaver.The Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters. They were real people who could talk to one another. They started out one day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and families. It was early in the winter. They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he had heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.The next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver’s houses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, “When you see a dog passing, whistle.” So the young Beavers went to different places under the ice and when they saw a dog[72]passing, they whistled and all were thus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn’t whistle, and he escaped. The Indians said, “Where’s the big Beaver?” Then they went back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days people used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and throw it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn’t get it. These hunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They lost it.38So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.(21)Story of a Hunter.There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking[73]around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.(22)A Timagami Story.Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another manet voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her beddingut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the holeet omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept,et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix],secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole.39Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”(23)Story of a Fast Runner.Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.(24)The Hunter and the Seven Deer.There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The[74]leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.(25)Story of a Conjurer.There was a conjurer (mi·te′w),40whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe41and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of hismi·te′wfeeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo42had been there and had smashed his wigwam.Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak43) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”[75]Then he made hismi·te′owigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark.44He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside.45Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”There was anothermi·te′Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full ofmi·te′also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were notmi·te′.Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp.46[76](26)Legend of Obabika Lake.Obabika lake is calledMa′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.(27)Iroquois Pictographs.“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.”47The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.(28)An Iroquois Legend.At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons[77]would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαkthey are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them.[78]The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings48of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.
(15)Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami.Once upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went ashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock, while she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was gone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a rock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child’s father was also a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his baby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the baby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two miles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He dove and followed, as he wasmi·te·′and came to the big rock where the seal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal escaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.(16)Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher.At the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp nose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high as a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him and jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as it is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. “Kwe, kwe,” Lynx asked Rabbit, “where are you going?” Rabbit answered, “I am going to the short flat-faced country.” Lynx did not understand the joke, and he let Rabbit pass.Lynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw some flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself in the water. He discovered how ugly he was. “I’m so ugly. That is what Rabbit meant when he met me. I’ll fix him.” So he went back, struck Rabbit’s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it went into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw Rabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, “Has anybody[69]been passing here lately Hee!” Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this question twice and at last Rabbit spoke, “Tsc,tsc, it’s Sunday to-day.” Lynx asked the same question again and received the same reply. Then Rabbit said, “Why don’t you go around and find his track?”. When Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run, he chased him and caught him.“Can you talk English?” said Lynx. “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, can’t you talk white?” “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, if you don’t talk white, I’ll kill you.” So Rabbit had to talk white. “Well, what do you call ‘fire’ in English.” “Wayaʻkabi·′te” (people sitting around a fire), answered Rabbit. “How do they say ‘axe’ there?”“Me′matowes‵iŋg” (“noise of chopping”). “What do you call knife?” asked Lynx. “Taya′tacki·‵wəgis·e” (“sliced meat”), answered Rabbit. “You are a liar”, said Lynx. “Ki·niŋgwa‵zəm, you are a liar.” And he killed Rabbit.(17)Snaring the Sun.There was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day he saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided to set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So he set his snare and went away. That track was the sun’s track, and when the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn’t rise the next day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled. “Where did you set your snare?” they asked him. He told them, and they went to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near enough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all got burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth and freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are brown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.(18)Homo Excrementi.There were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by himself. He was a young man and he tried to get[70]his neighbour’s daughter to marry him, but she wouldn’t have him, saying that he was not good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get a wife.Then the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting spring, but the young man stayed back. He was full ofmite·′win.37He planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He collectedomne excrementum quod invenire potuitand made it into the shape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had refused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man alive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature was frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.And soHomo excrementicame, early in the morning, crunching through the snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming, they cried, “Somebody’s coming. Make a fire.” And when he reached the camp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice fellow. “Where do you come from? Who is your father?” they asked him. “Hump-back,” said he. “Who is your mother?” “Flat-setexcrementum,” answered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable to stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to stay at the camp, but he couldn’t, so he hurried away.Then one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage followed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow warmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later his hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he had melted altogetheret ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined the hat,internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back home saying, “Good for him, he’s melted. I’m glad he is melted.” She couldn’t catch him anyway, so she was angry.So young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but take the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”[71](19)The Origin of Snakes.A man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to cross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he saw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. “Will you carry me across?” asked the hunter. “Yes,” answered the Snake. “But it looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me if it thunders while we are crossing.” The hunter got on the Snake’s back and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along, thunder began rumbling, “kαx kαx,” and the lightning flashed. “Mah, mah, listen!” said the Snake in fear. “I hear something.” Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not killed, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about to-day.(20)Muskrat Warns the Beaver.The Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters. They were real people who could talk to one another. They started out one day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and families. It was early in the winter. They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he had heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.The next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver’s houses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, “When you see a dog passing, whistle.” So the young Beavers went to different places under the ice and when they saw a dog[72]passing, they whistled and all were thus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn’t whistle, and he escaped. The Indians said, “Where’s the big Beaver?” Then they went back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days people used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and throw it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn’t get it. These hunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They lost it.38So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.(21)Story of a Hunter.There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking[73]around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.(22)A Timagami Story.Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another manet voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her beddingut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the holeet omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept,et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix],secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole.39Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”(23)Story of a Fast Runner.Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.(24)The Hunter and the Seven Deer.There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The[74]leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.(25)Story of a Conjurer.There was a conjurer (mi·te′w),40whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe41and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of hismi·te′wfeeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo42had been there and had smashed his wigwam.Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak43) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”[75]Then he made hismi·te′owigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark.44He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside.45Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”There was anothermi·te′Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full ofmi·te′also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were notmi·te′.Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp.46[76](26)Legend of Obabika Lake.Obabika lake is calledMa′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.(27)Iroquois Pictographs.“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.”47The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.(28)An Iroquois Legend.At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons[77]would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαkthey are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them.[78]The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings48of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.
(15)Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami.Once upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went ashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock, while she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was gone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a rock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child’s father was also a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his baby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the baby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two miles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He dove and followed, as he wasmi·te·′and came to the big rock where the seal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal escaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.(16)Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher.At the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp nose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high as a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him and jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as it is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. “Kwe, kwe,” Lynx asked Rabbit, “where are you going?” Rabbit answered, “I am going to the short flat-faced country.” Lynx did not understand the joke, and he let Rabbit pass.Lynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw some flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself in the water. He discovered how ugly he was. “I’m so ugly. That is what Rabbit meant when he met me. I’ll fix him.” So he went back, struck Rabbit’s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it went into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw Rabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, “Has anybody[69]been passing here lately Hee!” Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this question twice and at last Rabbit spoke, “Tsc,tsc, it’s Sunday to-day.” Lynx asked the same question again and received the same reply. Then Rabbit said, “Why don’t you go around and find his track?”. When Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run, he chased him and caught him.“Can you talk English?” said Lynx. “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, can’t you talk white?” “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, if you don’t talk white, I’ll kill you.” So Rabbit had to talk white. “Well, what do you call ‘fire’ in English.” “Wayaʻkabi·′te” (people sitting around a fire), answered Rabbit. “How do they say ‘axe’ there?”“Me′matowes‵iŋg” (“noise of chopping”). “What do you call knife?” asked Lynx. “Taya′tacki·‵wəgis·e” (“sliced meat”), answered Rabbit. “You are a liar”, said Lynx. “Ki·niŋgwa‵zəm, you are a liar.” And he killed Rabbit.(17)Snaring the Sun.There was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day he saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided to set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So he set his snare and went away. That track was the sun’s track, and when the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn’t rise the next day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled. “Where did you set your snare?” they asked him. He told them, and they went to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near enough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all got burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth and freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are brown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.(18)Homo Excrementi.There were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by himself. He was a young man and he tried to get[70]his neighbour’s daughter to marry him, but she wouldn’t have him, saying that he was not good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get a wife.Then the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting spring, but the young man stayed back. He was full ofmite·′win.37He planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He collectedomne excrementum quod invenire potuitand made it into the shape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had refused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man alive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature was frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.And soHomo excrementicame, early in the morning, crunching through the snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming, they cried, “Somebody’s coming. Make a fire.” And when he reached the camp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice fellow. “Where do you come from? Who is your father?” they asked him. “Hump-back,” said he. “Who is your mother?” “Flat-setexcrementum,” answered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable to stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to stay at the camp, but he couldn’t, so he hurried away.Then one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage followed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow warmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later his hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he had melted altogetheret ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined the hat,internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back home saying, “Good for him, he’s melted. I’m glad he is melted.” She couldn’t catch him anyway, so she was angry.So young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but take the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”[71](19)The Origin of Snakes.A man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to cross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he saw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. “Will you carry me across?” asked the hunter. “Yes,” answered the Snake. “But it looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me if it thunders while we are crossing.” The hunter got on the Snake’s back and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along, thunder began rumbling, “kαx kαx,” and the lightning flashed. “Mah, mah, listen!” said the Snake in fear. “I hear something.” Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not killed, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about to-day.(20)Muskrat Warns the Beaver.The Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters. They were real people who could talk to one another. They started out one day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and families. It was early in the winter. They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he had heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.The next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver’s houses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, “When you see a dog passing, whistle.” So the young Beavers went to different places under the ice and when they saw a dog[72]passing, they whistled and all were thus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn’t whistle, and he escaped. The Indians said, “Where’s the big Beaver?” Then they went back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days people used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and throw it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn’t get it. These hunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They lost it.38So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.(21)Story of a Hunter.There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking[73]around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.(22)A Timagami Story.Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another manet voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her beddingut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the holeet omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept,et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix],secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole.39Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”(23)Story of a Fast Runner.Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.(24)The Hunter and the Seven Deer.There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The[74]leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.(25)Story of a Conjurer.There was a conjurer (mi·te′w),40whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe41and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of hismi·te′wfeeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo42had been there and had smashed his wigwam.Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak43) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”[75]Then he made hismi·te′owigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark.44He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside.45Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”There was anothermi·te′Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full ofmi·te′also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were notmi·te′.Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp.46[76](26)Legend of Obabika Lake.Obabika lake is calledMa′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.(27)Iroquois Pictographs.“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.”47The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.(28)An Iroquois Legend.At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons[77]would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαkthey are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them.[78]The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings48of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.
(15)Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami.Once upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went ashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock, while she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was gone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a rock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child’s father was also a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his baby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the baby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two miles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He dove and followed, as he wasmi·te·′and came to the big rock where the seal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal escaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.(16)Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher.At the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp nose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high as a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him and jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as it is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. “Kwe, kwe,” Lynx asked Rabbit, “where are you going?” Rabbit answered, “I am going to the short flat-faced country.” Lynx did not understand the joke, and he let Rabbit pass.Lynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw some flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself in the water. He discovered how ugly he was. “I’m so ugly. That is what Rabbit meant when he met me. I’ll fix him.” So he went back, struck Rabbit’s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it went into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw Rabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, “Has anybody[69]been passing here lately Hee!” Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this question twice and at last Rabbit spoke, “Tsc,tsc, it’s Sunday to-day.” Lynx asked the same question again and received the same reply. Then Rabbit said, “Why don’t you go around and find his track?”. When Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run, he chased him and caught him.“Can you talk English?” said Lynx. “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, can’t you talk white?” “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, if you don’t talk white, I’ll kill you.” So Rabbit had to talk white. “Well, what do you call ‘fire’ in English.” “Wayaʻkabi·′te” (people sitting around a fire), answered Rabbit. “How do they say ‘axe’ there?”“Me′matowes‵iŋg” (“noise of chopping”). “What do you call knife?” asked Lynx. “Taya′tacki·‵wəgis·e” (“sliced meat”), answered Rabbit. “You are a liar”, said Lynx. “Ki·niŋgwa‵zəm, you are a liar.” And he killed Rabbit.(17)Snaring the Sun.There was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day he saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided to set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So he set his snare and went away. That track was the sun’s track, and when the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn’t rise the next day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled. “Where did you set your snare?” they asked him. He told them, and they went to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near enough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all got burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth and freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are brown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.(18)Homo Excrementi.There were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by himself. He was a young man and he tried to get[70]his neighbour’s daughter to marry him, but she wouldn’t have him, saying that he was not good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get a wife.Then the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting spring, but the young man stayed back. He was full ofmite·′win.37He planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He collectedomne excrementum quod invenire potuitand made it into the shape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had refused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man alive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature was frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.And soHomo excrementicame, early in the morning, crunching through the snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming, they cried, “Somebody’s coming. Make a fire.” And when he reached the camp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice fellow. “Where do you come from? Who is your father?” they asked him. “Hump-back,” said he. “Who is your mother?” “Flat-setexcrementum,” answered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable to stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to stay at the camp, but he couldn’t, so he hurried away.Then one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage followed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow warmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later his hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he had melted altogetheret ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined the hat,internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back home saying, “Good for him, he’s melted. I’m glad he is melted.” She couldn’t catch him anyway, so she was angry.So young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but take the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”[71](19)The Origin of Snakes.A man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to cross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he saw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. “Will you carry me across?” asked the hunter. “Yes,” answered the Snake. “But it looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me if it thunders while we are crossing.” The hunter got on the Snake’s back and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along, thunder began rumbling, “kαx kαx,” and the lightning flashed. “Mah, mah, listen!” said the Snake in fear. “I hear something.” Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not killed, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about to-day.(20)Muskrat Warns the Beaver.The Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters. They were real people who could talk to one another. They started out one day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and families. It was early in the winter. They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he had heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.The next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver’s houses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, “When you see a dog passing, whistle.” So the young Beavers went to different places under the ice and when they saw a dog[72]passing, they whistled and all were thus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn’t whistle, and he escaped. The Indians said, “Where’s the big Beaver?” Then they went back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days people used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and throw it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn’t get it. These hunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They lost it.38So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.(21)Story of a Hunter.There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking[73]around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.(22)A Timagami Story.Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another manet voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her beddingut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the holeet omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept,et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix],secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole.39Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”(23)Story of a Fast Runner.Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.(24)The Hunter and the Seven Deer.There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The[74]leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.(25)Story of a Conjurer.There was a conjurer (mi·te′w),40whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe41and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of hismi·te′wfeeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo42had been there and had smashed his wigwam.Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak43) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”[75]Then he made hismi·te′owigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark.44He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside.45Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”There was anothermi·te′Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full ofmi·te′also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were notmi·te′.Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp.46[76](26)Legend of Obabika Lake.Obabika lake is calledMa′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.(27)Iroquois Pictographs.“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.”47The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.(28)An Iroquois Legend.At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons[77]would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαkthey are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them.[78]The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings48of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.
(15)Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami.Once upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went ashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock, while she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was gone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a rock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child’s father was also a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his baby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the baby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two miles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He dove and followed, as he wasmi·te·′and came to the big rock where the seal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal escaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.
(15)Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami.
Once upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went ashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock, while she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was gone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a rock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child’s father was also a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his baby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the baby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two miles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He dove and followed, as he wasmi·te·′and came to the big rock where the seal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal escaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.
Once upon a time, on a small island in Lake Timagami, some people went ashore, and one of the women left her baby in a cradle-board on a rock, while she went a short distance off. When she came back, the baby was gone; it had been taken by a big manitu (magic) seal who lived in a rock and he had taken the child inside with him. The child’s father was also a manitu, so he began burrowing and digging into the rock for his baby and he dug a channel. This hole is there yet. When he reached the baby, it was dead, and the seal was gone. It had dived and crossed two miles under water to Seal island and gone into a big rock there. He dove and followed, as he wasmi·te·′and came to the big rock where the seal had gone in. With his chisel he split the rock, but the seal escaped. The rock is there yet, split down the centre.
(16)Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher.At the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp nose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high as a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him and jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as it is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. “Kwe, kwe,” Lynx asked Rabbit, “where are you going?” Rabbit answered, “I am going to the short flat-faced country.” Lynx did not understand the joke, and he let Rabbit pass.Lynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw some flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself in the water. He discovered how ugly he was. “I’m so ugly. That is what Rabbit meant when he met me. I’ll fix him.” So he went back, struck Rabbit’s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it went into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw Rabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, “Has anybody[69]been passing here lately Hee!” Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this question twice and at last Rabbit spoke, “Tsc,tsc, it’s Sunday to-day.” Lynx asked the same question again and received the same reply. Then Rabbit said, “Why don’t you go around and find his track?”. When Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run, he chased him and caught him.“Can you talk English?” said Lynx. “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, can’t you talk white?” “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, if you don’t talk white, I’ll kill you.” So Rabbit had to talk white. “Well, what do you call ‘fire’ in English.” “Wayaʻkabi·′te” (people sitting around a fire), answered Rabbit. “How do they say ‘axe’ there?”“Me′matowes‵iŋg” (“noise of chopping”). “What do you call knife?” asked Lynx. “Taya′tacki·‵wəgis·e” (“sliced meat”), answered Rabbit. “You are a liar”, said Lynx. “Ki·niŋgwa‵zəm, you are a liar.” And he killed Rabbit.
(16)Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher.
At the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp nose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high as a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him and jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as it is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. “Kwe, kwe,” Lynx asked Rabbit, “where are you going?” Rabbit answered, “I am going to the short flat-faced country.” Lynx did not understand the joke, and he let Rabbit pass.Lynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw some flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself in the water. He discovered how ugly he was. “I’m so ugly. That is what Rabbit meant when he met me. I’ll fix him.” So he went back, struck Rabbit’s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it went into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw Rabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, “Has anybody[69]been passing here lately Hee!” Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this question twice and at last Rabbit spoke, “Tsc,tsc, it’s Sunday to-day.” Lynx asked the same question again and received the same reply. Then Rabbit said, “Why don’t you go around and find his track?”. When Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run, he chased him and caught him.“Can you talk English?” said Lynx. “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, can’t you talk white?” “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, if you don’t talk white, I’ll kill you.” So Rabbit had to talk white. “Well, what do you call ‘fire’ in English.” “Wayaʻkabi·′te” (people sitting around a fire), answered Rabbit. “How do they say ‘axe’ there?”“Me′matowes‵iŋg” (“noise of chopping”). “What do you call knife?” asked Lynx. “Taya′tacki·‵wəgis·e” (“sliced meat”), answered Rabbit. “You are a liar”, said Lynx. “Ki·niŋgwa‵zəm, you are a liar.” And he killed Rabbit.
At the time of which my story speaks Lynx and Fisher had the same sharp nose and face. Fisher used to jump right through a big boulder as high as a man whenever he wanted to. One day he told Lynx to try to beat him and jump through. So Lynx tried to do it and smashed his face flat, as it is now. He went away very sore. Soon he met Rabbit. “Kwe, kwe,” Lynx asked Rabbit, “where are you going?” Rabbit answered, “I am going to the short flat-faced country.” Lynx did not understand the joke, and he let Rabbit pass.
Lynx went on and came to a stream into whose waters he looked, and saw some flints. He tried to reach some to pick them up and beheld himself in the water. He discovered how ugly he was. “I’m so ugly. That is what Rabbit meant when he met me. I’ll fix him.” So he went back, struck Rabbit’s trail, and followed him. So he followed the trail until it went into a hole in the snow under a bush. Lynx looked in and saw Rabbit sitting there, reading. He asked Rabbit, “Has anybody[69]been passing here lately Hee!” Rabbit made no answer. Lynx asked this question twice and at last Rabbit spoke, “Tsc,tsc, it’s Sunday to-day.” Lynx asked the same question again and received the same reply. Then Rabbit said, “Why don’t you go around and find his track?”. When Lynx went around, Rabbit ran out and off. When Lynx saw him run, he chased him and caught him.
“Can you talk English?” said Lynx. “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, can’t you talk white?” “Yes,” answered Rabbit. “Well, if you don’t talk white, I’ll kill you.” So Rabbit had to talk white. “Well, what do you call ‘fire’ in English.” “Wayaʻkabi·′te” (people sitting around a fire), answered Rabbit. “How do they say ‘axe’ there?”“Me′matowes‵iŋg” (“noise of chopping”). “What do you call knife?” asked Lynx. “Taya′tacki·‵wəgis·e” (“sliced meat”), answered Rabbit. “You are a liar”, said Lynx. “Ki·niŋgwa‵zəm, you are a liar.” And he killed Rabbit.
(17)Snaring the Sun.There was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day he saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided to set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So he set his snare and went away. That track was the sun’s track, and when the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn’t rise the next day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled. “Where did you set your snare?” they asked him. He told them, and they went to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near enough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all got burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth and freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are brown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.
(17)Snaring the Sun.
There was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day he saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided to set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So he set his snare and went away. That track was the sun’s track, and when the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn’t rise the next day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled. “Where did you set your snare?” they asked him. He told them, and they went to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near enough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all got burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth and freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are brown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.
There was once a boy who used to set his snares for his living. One day he saw a track where the snow was melted, and after a while he decided to set his snares there and catch the animal that made the tracks. So he set his snare and went away. That track was the sun’s track, and when the sun came by next day, it got caught. The sun didn’t rise the next day and there was steady darkness. The people began to be puzzled. “Where did you set your snare?” they asked him. He told them, and they went to look. There they saw the sun caught, but no one could go near enough to loosen it A number of animals tried to do this, but they all got burned. At last the Beaver-mouse managed to cut it with his teeth and freed it. But his teeth got burned with the heat, and so they are brown to this day, but the sun is here and we have the daylight.
(18)Homo Excrementi.There were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by himself. He was a young man and he tried to get[70]his neighbour’s daughter to marry him, but she wouldn’t have him, saying that he was not good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get a wife.Then the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting spring, but the young man stayed back. He was full ofmite·′win.37He planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He collectedomne excrementum quod invenire potuitand made it into the shape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had refused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man alive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature was frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.And soHomo excrementicame, early in the morning, crunching through the snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming, they cried, “Somebody’s coming. Make a fire.” And when he reached the camp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice fellow. “Where do you come from? Who is your father?” they asked him. “Hump-back,” said he. “Who is your mother?” “Flat-setexcrementum,” answered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable to stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to stay at the camp, but he couldn’t, so he hurried away.Then one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage followed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow warmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later his hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he had melted altogetheret ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined the hat,internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back home saying, “Good for him, he’s melted. I’m glad he is melted.” She couldn’t catch him anyway, so she was angry.So young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but take the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”[71]
(18)Homo Excrementi.
There were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by himself. He was a young man and he tried to get[70]his neighbour’s daughter to marry him, but she wouldn’t have him, saying that he was not good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get a wife.Then the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting spring, but the young man stayed back. He was full ofmite·′win.37He planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He collectedomne excrementum quod invenire potuitand made it into the shape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had refused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man alive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature was frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.And soHomo excrementicame, early in the morning, crunching through the snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming, they cried, “Somebody’s coming. Make a fire.” And when he reached the camp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice fellow. “Where do you come from? Who is your father?” they asked him. “Hump-back,” said he. “Who is your mother?” “Flat-setexcrementum,” answered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable to stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to stay at the camp, but he couldn’t, so he hurried away.Then one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage followed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow warmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later his hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he had melted altogetheret ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined the hat,internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back home saying, “Good for him, he’s melted. I’m glad he is melted.” She couldn’t catch him anyway, so she was angry.So young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but take the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”[71]
There were a number of people camping, and one man was camping by himself. He was a young man and he tried to get[70]his neighbour’s daughter to marry him, but she wouldn’t have him, saying that he was not good enough. And so the young man went back and forth trying to get a wife.
Then the people went away to another place to camp, as it was getting spring, but the young man stayed back. He was full ofmite·′win.37He planned to have revenge upon the girl who would not have him. He collectedomne excrementum quod invenire potuitand made it into the shape of a man. He was determined to settle with the girls who had refused him, for he was full of revenge. When he had made the man alive, he sent him to where the girls were camping. The new creature was frozen nice and hard, he was nice-looking, and he could talk.
And soHomo excrementicame, early in the morning, crunching through the snow to where the girls were in camp. When they saw him coming, they cried, “Somebody’s coming. Make a fire.” And when he reached the camp every one received him in fine style, as he was such a nice fellow. “Where do you come from? Who is your father?” they asked him. “Hump-back,” said he. “Who is your mother?” “Flat-setexcrementum,” answered he. But the old people did not understand him. He was unable to stay near the fire long, for fear he would melt. They wished him to stay at the camp, but he couldn’t, so he hurried away.
Then one of the girls who had refused the young man in marriage followed him and he led her a long chase. She began to feel it grow warmer (it was April) and soon she found one of his mittens and later his hat. At last it became so warm that she came to the place where he had melted altogetheret ibi erat agger excrementi. When she examined the hat,internum ejus excrementi illitum invenit. So she went back home saying, “Good for him, he’s melted. I’m glad he is melted.” She couldn’t catch him anyway, so she was angry.
So young girls should not try always to get a nice-looking man, but take the man selected for them. The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”[71]
(19)The Origin of Snakes.A man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to cross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he saw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. “Will you carry me across?” asked the hunter. “Yes,” answered the Snake. “But it looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me if it thunders while we are crossing.” The hunter got on the Snake’s back and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along, thunder began rumbling, “kαx kαx,” and the lightning flashed. “Mah, mah, listen!” said the Snake in fear. “I hear something.” Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not killed, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about to-day.
(19)The Origin of Snakes.
A man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to cross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he saw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. “Will you carry me across?” asked the hunter. “Yes,” answered the Snake. “But it looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me if it thunders while we are crossing.” The hunter got on the Snake’s back and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along, thunder began rumbling, “kαx kαx,” and the lightning flashed. “Mah, mah, listen!” said the Snake in fear. “I hear something.” Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not killed, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about to-day.
A man was one time walking along and came to a lake which he wanted to cross. But he had no canoe, and so he walked along the shore until he saw a big Snake lying in the water with his head on the shore. “Will you carry me across?” asked the hunter. “Yes,” answered the Snake. “But it looks cloudy and I am afraid of the lightning, so you must tell me if it thunders while we are crossing.” The hunter got on the Snake’s back and they started to swim across the lake. As they went along, thunder began rumbling, “kαx kαx,” and the lightning flashed. “Mah, mah, listen!” said the Snake in fear. “I hear something.” Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. The great Snake was not killed, but his pieces turned into small snakes which we see all about to-day.
(20)Muskrat Warns the Beaver.The Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters. They were real people who could talk to one another. They started out one day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and families. It was early in the winter. They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he had heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.The next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver’s houses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, “When you see a dog passing, whistle.” So the young Beavers went to different places under the ice and when they saw a dog[72]passing, they whistled and all were thus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn’t whistle, and he escaped. The Indians said, “Where’s the big Beaver?” Then they went back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days people used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and throw it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn’t get it. These hunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They lost it.38So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.
(20)Muskrat Warns the Beaver.
The Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters. They were real people who could talk to one another. They started out one day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and families. It was early in the winter. They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he had heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.The next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver’s houses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, “When you see a dog passing, whistle.” So the young Beavers went to different places under the ice and when they saw a dog[72]passing, they whistled and all were thus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn’t whistle, and he escaped. The Indians said, “Where’s the big Beaver?” Then they went back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days people used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and throw it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn’t get it. These hunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They lost it.38So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.
The Muskrat, Beaver, Dog, and some Ojibwa were companions and hunters. They were real people who could talk to one another. They started out one day and came to a small lake and there they saw Beaver houses and families. It was early in the winter. They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. So that this was all that he had heard to tell his uncle the Beaver.
The next morning the Indians came to the lake and broke the Beaver’s houses, and the big Beaver told the young ones, “When you see a dog passing, whistle.” So the young Beavers went to different places under the ice and when they saw a dog[72]passing, they whistled and all were thus caught and killed by the men. But the big Beaver didn’t whistle, and he escaped. The Indians said, “Where’s the big Beaver?” Then they went back and had a big feast on those they had caught. In those days people used to cut a flat bone from the hind foot of the beaver and throw it into the water, so that the dogs wouldn’t get it. These hunters, however, made a mistake and forgot to save that bone. They lost it.38
So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.
(21)Story of a Hunter.There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking[73]around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.
(21)Story of a Hunter.
There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking[73]around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.
There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking[73]around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.
(22)A Timagami Story.Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another manet voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her beddingut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the holeet omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept,et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix],secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole.39Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”
(22)A Timagami Story.
Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another manet voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her beddingut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the holeet omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept,et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix],secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole.39Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”
Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another manet voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her beddingut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the holeet omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept,et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix],secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole.39Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”
(23)Story of a Fast Runner.Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.
(23)Story of a Fast Runner.
Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.
Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.
(24)The Hunter and the Seven Deer.There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The[74]leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.
(24)The Hunter and the Seven Deer.
There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The[74]leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.
There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The[74]leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.
(25)Story of a Conjurer.There was a conjurer (mi·te′w),40whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe41and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of hismi·te′wfeeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo42had been there and had smashed his wigwam.Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak43) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”[75]Then he made hismi·te′owigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark.44He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside.45Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”There was anothermi·te′Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full ofmi·te′also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were notmi·te′.Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp.46[76]
(25)Story of a Conjurer.
There was a conjurer (mi·te′w),40whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe41and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of hismi·te′wfeeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo42had been there and had smashed his wigwam.Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak43) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”[75]Then he made hismi·te′owigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark.44He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside.45Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”There was anothermi·te′Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full ofmi·te′also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were notmi·te′.Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp.46[76]
There was a conjurer (mi·te′w),40whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe41and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.
One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of hismi·te′wfeeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo42had been there and had smashed his wigwam.
Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak43) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”[75]
Then he made hismi·te′owigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark.44He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside.45Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”
There was anothermi·te′Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full ofmi·te′also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were notmi·te′.
Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp.46[76]
(26)Legend of Obabika Lake.Obabika lake is calledMa′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.
(26)Legend of Obabika Lake.
Obabika lake is calledMa′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.
Obabika lake is calledMa′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.
(27)Iroquois Pictographs.“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.”47The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.
(27)Iroquois Pictographs.
“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.”47The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.
“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.”47
The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.
(28)An Iroquois Legend.At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons[77]would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαkthey are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them.[78]The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings48of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.
(28)An Iroquois Legend.
At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons[77]would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαkthey are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them.[78]The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings48of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.
At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons[77]would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.
When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”
So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαkthey are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.
The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them.[78]The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.
When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings48of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.