grant the requests of the people on earth, and also respecting the
spirit's son-in-law. When the Spirit of Islands passed Wassamo, he
looked angrily at him. The guardian spirit of the Ottowa bands said, "it
is very strange that he can never appear anywhere without showing his
bad disposition."
When the company was dispersed, the Old Spirit told Wassamo that he
should once more visit his parents and relatives, and then it should be
only for a short time. "It is merely to go and tell them that their
wishes are granted, and then to bid them farewell for ever." Sometime
after Wassamo and his wife made this visit. Having delivered his
message, he said, "I must now bid you all farewell for ever." His
parents and friends raised their voices in loud lamentation. They
accompanied him to the Sand Banks, where they all seated themselves to
see them make their final departure. The day was mild; the sky clear;
not a cloud appeared, nor a breath of wind to disturb the bright surface
of the water. The most perfect silence reigned throughout the company.
They gazed intently on Wassamo and his wife as they waded out into the
water, waving their hands. They saw them go into deeper and deeper
water. They saw the waves close over their heads. All at once they
raised a loud and piercing wail. They looked again, a red flame, as if
the sun had glanced on a billow, marked the spot for an instant, but the
Feather of Flames and his wife had disappeared for ever.
[The preceding tale opens a chapter in Indian demonology, which was
narrated by the late chief Chusco, an Ottowa. This individual had
performed the office of a seer and necromancer for his tribe for a long
series of years, and had acquired notoriety and power among them from
the successful display of these arts. The story was related after his
conversion to Christianity, but he continued to affirm to the last, that
his power as a JOSSAKEED, or juggler, was derived from a _direct energy_
communicated by the Great Evil Spirit.]
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Sand mountains, usually called _La Grandes Sables_, a noted range
of SAND DOWNS, of oceanic formation, on the south shores of Lake
SUPERIOR.
[37] This speech was commenced by throwing the blame of his captivity
upon the daughters. But the Spirit soon reveals, that he had long wished
for such an event, and leaves it to be inferred that it was brought
about by his direct agency. This subterfuge, to call it by its lightest
name, shows that plain truth is not a point of character most
strenuously sought after by the OLD SPIRIT.
[38] This is a term applied by women to a son-in-law, &c.
[39] This is the present ceremonious custom of visiting among the
northern Indians, for strangers of their own, or other tribes Friends
proceed directly to the lodges, but it is the privilege of relations
only to enter them without invitation at the door.
[40] Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan.
[41] Family marks, or arms. This institution has been noticed among the
Algonquin tribes from an early day. It is a link in the genealogical
chain by which the bands are held together--and a curious trait, whether
it be regarded of ancient or modern usage. It has no reference to
personal names, but indicates the family or tribal name. All the
individuals of a particular family, as the deer, crane, beaver, &c. when
called upon for their signature, affix their respective family mark,
without regard to specific names. And it is precisely analogous to the
existing feudal institutions of coats of arms. _Totame_, or _totem_ is
the term, and it is a word appealed to by them with pride, and as
furnishing evidence of blood relationship. Whatever the institution may
be derived from, it is certain that a Benjaminite or an Ephraimite,
could not appeal to his tribal appellation with more emphasis and
dogmatism than do our northern Indians to their _totems_.
[42] This is an official personage, standing in the light of an aid, or
office help, to the chiefs. He carves at feasts, and lights the pipe at
councils or ceremonial occasions. He is the verbal messenger of state
messages, but not a messenger in the common acceptation of the term. He
is an important functionary in all formal business, or negotiations with
the chiefs.
[43] Grand Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan.
[44] The interjection Hob! is used by these tribes to imply approbation
and assent. The change in the word here indicated, is to be regarded as
one of the points of invention, in their tales of demonology.
OSSEO,
OR
THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR.
AN ALGONQUIN TALE.
There once lived an Indian in the north, who had ten daughters, all of
whom grew up to womanhood. They were noted for their beauty, but
especially Oweenee, the youngest, who was very independent in her way of
thinking. She was a great admirer of romantic places, and paid very
little attention to the numerous young men who came to her father's
lodge for the purpose of seeing her. Her elder sisters were all
solicited in marriage from their parents, and one after another, went
off to dwell in the lodges of their husbands, or mothers-in-law, but she
would listen to no proposals of the kind. At last she married an old man
called OSSEO, who was scarcely able to walk, and was too poor to have
things like others. They jeered and laughed at her, on all sides, but
she seemed to be quite happy, and said to them, "It is my choice, and
you will see in the end, who has acted the wisest." Soon after, the
sisters and their husbands and their parents were all invited to a
feast, and as they walked along the path, they could not help pitying
their young and handsome sister, who had such an unsuitable mate. Osseo
often stopped and gazed upwards, but they could perceive nothing in the
direction he looked, unless it was the faint glimmering of the evening
star. They heard him muttering to himself as they went along, and one of
the elder sisters caught the words, "Sho-wain-ne-me-shinnosa."[45] "Poor
old man," said she, "he is talking to his father, what a pity it is,
that he would not fall and break his neck, that our sister might have a
handsome young husband." Presently they passed a large hollow log, lying
with one end toward the path. The moment Osseo, who was of the turtle
totem, came to it, he stopped short, uttered a loud and peculiar yell,
and then dashing into one end of the log, he came out at the other, a
most beautiful young man, and springing back to the road, he led off the
party with steps as light as the reindeer.[46] But on turning round to
look for his wife, behold, she had been changed into an old, decrepit
woman, who was bent almost double, and walked with a cane. The husband,
however, treated her very kindly, as she had done him during the time of
his enchantment, and constantly addressed her by the term of
ne-ne-moosh-a, or my sweetheart.
When they came to the hunter's lodge with whom they were to feast, they
found the feast ready prepared, and as soon as their entertainer had
finished his harangue, (in which he told them his feasting was in honour
of the Evening, or Woman's Star,) they began to partake of the portion
dealt out, according to age and character, to each one. The food was
very delicious, and they were all happy but Osseo, who looked at his
wife and then gazed upward, as if he was looking into the substance of
the sky. Sounds were soon heard, as if from far-off voices in the air,
and they became plainer and plainer, till he could clearly distinguish
some of the words.
"My son--my son," said the voice, "I have seen your afflictions and pity
your wants. I come to call you away from a scene that is stained with
blood and tears. The earth is full of sorrows. Giants and sorcerers, the
enemies of mankind, walk abroad in it, and are scattered throughout its
length. Every night they are lifting their voices to the Power of Evil,
and every day they make themselves busy in casting evil in the hunter's
path. You have long been their victim, but shall be their victim no
more. The spell you were under is broken. Your evil genius is overcome.
I have cast him down by my superior strength, and it is this strength I
now exert for your happiness. Ascend, my son--ascend into the skies, and
partake of the feast I have prepared for you in the stars, and bring
with you those you love.
"The food set before you is enchanted and blessed. Fear not to partake
of it. It is endowed with magic power to give immortality to mortals,
and to change men to spirits. Your bowls and kettles shall be no longer
wood and earth. The one shall become silver, and the other wampum. They
shall shine like fire, and glisten like the most beautiful scarlet.
Every female shall also change her state and looks, and no longer be
doomed to laborious tasks. She shall put on the beauty of the starlight,
and become a shining bird of the air, clothed with shining feathers. She
shall dance and not work--she shall sing and not cry."
"My beams," continued the voice, "shine faintly on your lodge, but they
have a power to transform it into the lightness of the skies, and
decorate it with the colours of the clouds. Come, Osseo, my son, and
dwell no longer on earth. Think strongly on my words, and look
steadfastly at my beams. My power is now at its height. Doubt not--delay
not. It is the voice of the Spirit of the stars that calls you away to
happiness and celestial rest."
The words were intelligible to Osseo, but his companions thought them
some far-off sounds of music, or birds singing in the woods. Very soon
the lodge began to shake and tremble, and they felt it rising into the
air. It was too late to run out, for they were already as high as the
tops of the trees. Osseo looked around him as the lodge passed through
the topmost boughs, and behold! their wooden dishes were changed into
shells of a scarlet colour, the poles of the lodge to glittering wires
of silver, and the bark that covered them into the gorgeous wings of
insects. A moment more, and his brothers and sisters, and their parents
and friends, were transformed into birds of various plumage. Some were
jays, some partridges and pigeons, and others gay singing birds, who
hopped about displaying their glittering feathers, and singing their
songs. But OWEENEE still kept her earthly garb, and exhibited all the
indications of extreme age. He again cast his eyes in the direction of
the clouds, and uttered that peculiar yell, which had given him the
victory at the hollow log. In a moment the youth and beauty of his wife
returned; her dingy garments assumed the shining appearance of green
silk, and her cane was changed into a silver feather. The lodge again
shook and trembled, for they were now passing through the uppermost
clouds, and they immediately after found themselves in the Evening Star,
the residence of Osseo's father.
"My son," said the old man, "hang that cage of birds, which you have
brought along in your hand, at the door, and I will inform you why you
and your wife have been sent for." Osseo obeyed the directions, and then
took his seat in the lodge. "Pity was shown to you," resumed the king of
the star, "on account of the contempt of your wife's sister, who laughed
at her ill fortune, and ridiculed you while you were under the power of
that wicked spirit, whom you overcame at the log. That spirit lives in
the next lodge, being a small star you see on the left of mine, and he
has always felt envious of my family, because we had greater power than
he had, and especially on account of our having had the care committed
to us of the female world. He failed in several attempts to destroy
your brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, but succeeded at last in
transforming yourself and your wife into decrepit old persons. You must
be careful and not let the light of his beams fall on you, while you are
here, for therein is the power of his enchantment: a ray of light is the
bow and arrows he uses."
Osseo lived happy and contented in the parental lodge, and in due time
his wife presented him with a son, who grew up rapidly, and was the
image of his father. He was very quick and ready in learning every thing
that was done in his grandfather's dominions, but he wished also to
learn the art of hunting, for he had heard that this was a favourite
pursuit below. To gratify him his father made him a bow and arrows, and
he then let the birds out of the cage that he might practise in
shooting. He soon became expert, and the very first day brought down a
bird, but when he went to pick it up, to his amazement, it was a
beautiful young woman with the arrow sticking in her breast. It was one
of his younger _aunts_. The moment her blood fell upon the surface of
that pure and spotless planet, the charm was dissolved. The boy
immediately found himself sinking, but was partly upheld, by something
like wings, till he passed through the lower clouds, and he then
suddenly dropped upon a high, romantic island in a large lake. He was
pleased on looking up, to see all his aunts and uncles following him in
the form of birds, and he soon discovered the silver lodge, with his
father and mother, descending with its waving barks looking like so many
insects' gilded wings. It rested on the highest cliffs of the island,
and here they fixed their residence. They all resumed their natural
_shapes_, but were diminished to the _size_ of fairies, and as a mark of
homage to the King of the Evening Star, they never failed, on every
pleasant evening, during the summer season, to join hands, and dance
upon the top of the rocks. These rocks were quickly observed by the
Indians to be covered, in moonlight evenings, with a larger sort of PUK
WUDJ ININEES, or little men, and were called Mish-in-e-mok-in-ok-ong, or
turtle spirits, and the island is named from them to this day.[47] Their
shining lodge can be seen in the summer evenings when the moon shines
strongly on the pinnacles of the rocks, and the fishermen, who go near
those high cliffs at night, have even heard the voices of the happy
little dancers.
FOOTNOTES:
[45] Pity me, my father.
[46] The C. Sylvestris inhabits North America, north of latitude 46 deg.
[47] Michilimackinac, the term alluded to, is the original French
orthography of MISH EN I MOK IN ONO, the _local_ form (sing. and plu.),
of Turtle Spirits.
KWASIND,
OR
THE FEARFULLY STRONG MAN.
Pauwating[48] was a village where the young men amused themselves very
much in ancient times, in sports and ball-playing.
One day as they were engaged in their sports, one of the strongest and
most active, at the moment he was about to succeed in a trial of
lifting, slipped and fell upon his back. "Ha! ha! ha!" cried the lookers
on, "you will never rival Kwasind." He was deeply mortified, and when
the sport was over, these words came to his mind. He could not recollect
any man of this name. He thought he would ask the old man, the
story-teller of the village, the next time he came to the lodge. The
opportunity soon occurred.
"My grandfather," said he, "who was Kwasind? I am very anxious to know
what he could do."
Kwasind, the old man replied, was a listless idle boy. He would not play
when the other boys played, and his parents could never get him to do
any kind of labour. He was always making excuses. His parents took
notice, however, that he fasted for days together, but they could not
learn what spirit he supplicated, or had chosen as the guardian spirit
to attend him through life. He was so inattentive to his parents'
requests, that he, at last, became a subject of reproach.
"Ah," said his mother to him one day, "is there any young man of your
age, in all the village, who does so little for his parents? You neither
hunt nor fish. You take no interest in any thing, whether labour or
amusement, which engages the attention of your equals in years. I have
often set my nets[49] in the coldest days of winter, without any
assistance from you. And I have taken them up again, while you remained
inactive at the lodge fire. Are you not ashamed of such idleness? Go, I
bid you, and wring out that net, which I have just taken from the
water."
Kwasind saw that there was a determination to make him obey. He did not
therefore make any excuses, but went out and took up the net. He
carefully folded it, doubled and redoubled it, forming it into a roll,
and then with an easy twist of his hands wrung it short off, with as
much ease as if every twine had been a thin brittle fibre. Here, they at
once saw, the secret of his reluctance. He possessed supernatural
strength.
After this, the young men were playing one day on the plain, where there
was lying one of those large, heavy, black pieces of rock, which
Manabozho is said to have cast at his father. Kwasind took it up with
much ease, and threw it into the river. After this, he accompanied his
father on a hunting excursion into a remote forest. They came to a place
where the wind had thrown a great many trees into a narrow pass. "We
must go the other way," said the old man, "it is impossible to get the
burdens through this place." He sat down to rest himself, took out his
smoking apparatus, and gave a short time to reflection. When he had
finished, Kwasind had lifted away the largest pine trees, and pulled
them out of the path.
Sailing one day in his canoe, Kwasind saw a large furred animal, which
he immediately recognised to be the king of beavers. He plunged into the
water in pursuit of it. His companions were in the greatest
astonishment and alarm, supposing he would perish. He often dove down
and remained a long time under water, pursuing the animal from island to
island; and at last returned with the kingly prize. After this, his fame
spread far and wide, and no hunter would presume to compete with him.
He performed so many feats of strength and skill, that he excited the
envy of the Puck-wudj In-in-ee-sug, or fairies, who conspired against
his life. "For," said they, "if this man is suffered to go on, in his
career of strength and exploits, we shall presently have no work to
perform. Our agency in the affairs of men must cease. He will undermine
our power, and drive us, at last, into the water, where we must all
perish, or be devoured by the wicked Neebanawbaig."[50]
The strength of Kwasind was all concentrated in the crown of his head.
This was, at the same time, the only vulnerable part of his body; and
there was but one species of weapon which could be successfully employed
in making any impression upon it. The fairies carefully hunted through
the woods to find this weapon. It was the burr or seed vessel of the
white pine. They gathered a quantity of this article, and waylaid
Kwasind at a point on the river, where the red rocks jut into the water,
forming rude castles--a point which he was accustomed to pass in his
canoe. They waited a long time, making merry upon these rocks, for it
was a highly romantic spot. At last the wished-for object appeared,
Kwasind came floating calmly down the stream, on the afternoon of a
summer's day, languid with the heat of the weather, and almost asleep.
When his canoe came directly beneath the cliff, the tallest and stoutest
fairy began the attack. Others followed his example. It was a long time
before they could hit the vulnerable part, but success at length crowned
their efforts, and Kwasind sunk, never to rise more.
Ever since this victory, the Puck Wudj Ininee have made that point of
rock a favourite resort. The hunters often hear them laugh, and see
their little plumes shake as they pass this scene on light summer
evenings.
"My son," continued the old man, "take care that you do not imitate the
faults of Kwasind. If he had not so often exerted his strength merely
for the sake of _boasting_, he would not, perhaps, have made the fairies
feel jealous of him. It is better to use the strength you have, in a
quiet useful way, than to sigh after the possession of a giant's power.
For if you run, or wrestle, or jump, or fire at a mark, only as well as
your equals in years, nobody will envy you. But if you would needs be a
Kwasind, you must expect a Kwasind's fate."
FOOTNOTES:
[48] i.e. Place of shallow cataract, named _Sault de Ste Marie_ on the
arrival of the French. This is the _local_ form of the word, the
substantive proper terminates in EEG.
[49] Nets are set in winter, in high northern latitudes, through
orifices cut in the ice.
[50] A kind of water spirits.
MUDJEE MONEDO AND MINNO MONEDO,
OR
THE SPIRIT OF EVIL AND THE SPIRIT OF GOOD.
A SAGINAW TALE.
In a beautiful portion of the country, which was part forest and part
prairie, there lived a bloodthirsty Manito in the guise of an Indian,
who made use of all his arts to decoy men into his power for the purpose
of killing them. Although the country yielded an abundance of game, and
every other production to satisfy his wants, yet it was the study of his
life to destroy human beings, and subsist upon their blood. The country
had once been thickly populated, but he had thinned it off by his
wickedness, and his lodge was surrounded by the bleached bones of his
victims.
The secret of his success lay in his great speed. He had the power to
assume the shape of any quadruped, and it was his custom to challenge
persons to run with him. He had a beaten path on which he ran, leading
around a large lake, and he always ran around this circle, so that the
starting and winning point were the same. At this point stood a post,
having a sharp and shining knife tied to it, and whoever lost the race
lost his life. The winner immediately took up the knife and cut off his
competitor's head. No man was ever known to beat this evil Manito in the
race, although he ran every day; for whenever he was pressed hard, he
changed himself into a fox, wolf, or deer, or other swift-footed animal,
and thus left his competitor behind.
The whole country was in dread of him, and yet, such was the folly and
rashness of the young men, that they were continually running with him;
for if they refused, he called them cowards, which was a taunt they
could not bear. They would rather die than be called cowards. In other
respects, the Manito had pleasing manners, and visited the lodges around
the country, like others; but his secret object in these visits was to
see whether the young boys were getting to be old enough to run with
him, and he was careful to keep a watch upon their growth, and never
failed to challenge them to run on his race ground. There was no family
which had not lost some of its most active members in this way, and the
Manito was execrated by all the Indian mothers in the country.