Michabou, or the Great Hare, sat upon the face of the waters--he, and
his creatures, which were all four-legged. The form of this Being was
unlike that of any thing ever seen on the earth, before or since. He
had four legs, or rather two legs and two arms, but he used them all
as if they were legs, and he used the two arms for purposes for which
legs could not be used to advantage. So he had four legs and two arms,
and yet there were but four in all. Each of his creatures was unlike
the others: all were known and distinguished by something which did
not belong to another. Some had but one leg, some had twenty; some had
no legs, but many arms; and some had neither legs nor arms. The same
diversity prevailed with regard to the eyes, and mouth, and nose, and
ears. Indeed they were a strange crowd of creatures, and not the least
strange of all was Michabou himself, the head chief, or rather great
father of all the creatures which moved over the face of the mighty
waters.
Michabou was married to a woman quite as odd and deformed as himself,
who bore him many children, of strange and various shapes. When the
time had come for her to bring forth her one thousandth child, she
had a strange dream. She dreamed that the child within her refused
to see the light, till he had something firm and stable to stand
upon--something which would permit him to enjoy rest undisturbed by
motion. She told this dream to her husband, whom it puzzled very much.
At length he made out that he was to create a world. He knew before,
that the bottom of the ocean was covered with sand. So he dived down,
and brought up from thence a glittering grain to serve as the germ of
the world.
Having taken this grain of glittering sand into the hollow of his
hand, Michabou blew upon it until it so expanded, that it became a
little earth. He then set it afloat upon the waters, where it
continued increasing in magnitude, until it was large enough to
sustain, without sinking, the child which the wife of the great chief,
after bearing about her for forty seasons, brought forth to the light
of day. This child, upon being born, had the form of a man, and was
placed upon the earth thus created. He was the first being which had
ever borne the form of a man, and the first occupier of the earth.
They gave him the name of Atoacan, which signifies the "great father,
or beginner of a race." When he was born, he was larger in stature
than any man that has been born since, and he increased in size, until
his head towered above the tallest woods.
But Atoacan was alone, and life soon became a burthen to him. He was
solitary and sad, and found no pleasure in the beautiful things which
were daily, hourly, springing up on the earth. He saw the flowers
bloom, and scent the air, but they afforded no pleasure to his eyes,
no refreshment to his soul. Sweet fruits were bending the bushes to
the earth, or clustering on the boughs, but they were tasteless;
for it was in his nature to enjoy nothing, prize nothing, unless
participated in by another--the counterpart of himself. So he put
clay upon his head, and cried loud to his father, the Great Hare,
for a companion. Michabou, perceiving that he and his strange-shaped
creatures would be supplanted in power by the son whom he had begotten,
the new creature _man_, had ascended to the heavens: he heard the prayer
of his son, and listened to it.
There was among the people of the skies a beautiful maiden, whose name
was Atahensic. She was fairest of all the daughters of the air,
beautiful as the sun, mild as the moon, and sportive as the stars.
Michabou asked her if she would descend to the earth, and become the
companion and wife of his son; and she, delighted as women always are,
at the prospect of a journey, no matter whither, consented. So
Michabou made a long string of the sinews and tendons of the various
land animals, and by this string he lowered Atahensic into the arms of
his delighted son.
The man, no longer solitary, but furnished with the being, intended
by the constitution of nature and the Great Master of all for the
companion and comfort of his life, set about appropriating to his use
the various things he saw. He was no longer solitary, but met the
difficulties which spring up in the path of human life, and the
labours which he is compelled to bestow upon the procuring of food,
with cheerfulness and alacrity. He now went in the morning to the
forest glade to hunt the red deer, and his toils were not thought of,
because, when they were ended, when the woods, made dark by the coming
shades of night, rang shrill with the lay of the fire-bird, and his
shafts were all spent, he could bear home the spoils they had won, and
be rejoiced by the smiles of his companion and wife.
Atahensic bore her husband two children, a son and a daughter. These
two married, and built themselves a lodge far from their parents. They
had many children, but Michabou, who came down now and then, to see
how things were going on, observing the slow rate at which the world
was peopling, determined to adopt another plan. So he told Atoacan
that, upon the death of every animal, he must skin it. He must burn
the skin, drop a drop of his own blood upon the carcase, and cover it
up carefully with dry leaves from the forest trees. Upon the fourth
day after he had covered it with leaves, if he would remove the
leaves, he would find beneath them a sleeping infant, which, upon
waking, would utter a cry of surprise, at finding itself no longer a
beast but a human being. Each of these beings would possess the power
to assist in the like multiplication of the species, but be denied
other power of procreation. Having thus left directions for the speedy
peopling of the world, Michabou again ascended to the heavens, which
he has not left since.
Atoacan and his son carefully obeyed the commands which had been laid
upon them, and of every beast or four-footed creature that died he
formed a human being. These human beings were gifted with the
qualities and passions which belonged to them in life: these they have
retained, and thence it is that, at this day, the dispositions of men
are so various. We see one crafty and subtle--he has the blood of the
fox; another cruel, malicious, blood-thirsty--he is descended from
the wolf. The red skin is courageous--the horse was his father; the
white man is a coward--his mother was a sheep. One is full of
sprightliness and agility--he is of the blood of the mountain-cat;
another is clumsy--the musk-ox was his father. Strange and various are
the dispositions which men have--cunning, subtle, sly, wise, brave,
prudent, careless, cowardly, peaceable, blood-thirsty. These are
qualities derived from the beasts, which died as beasts, and became
men and the ancestors of the tribes living on the earth.