A story of the old time. In winter, while travelling, Leux met a
number of wolves, which were going in the same direction that he was.
At nightfall the old wolf built a fire and gave Leux supper. He gave
him skins to cover himself while he slept, but Leux said that the fire
was so warm that he did not need or wish a covering. At midnight Leux
awoke and was almost frozen with cold. The next morning Leux was
obliged to part with the wolves.[21]
[Footnote 21: It would seem, from Leland's account, that the wolf
admired Leux greatly because he cared so little for the cold or their
care.]
The old wolf said, "How far are you going?" Leux answered, "Three
days' journey." The wolf said then, "I will do for you the very best
thing I can. I will give you three fires, one for each night." The
wolf told him to gather some dry wood, put it in a pile, jump over it,
and it would burn.[22]
[Footnote 22: It was possible that the wolf gave him some charm or
medicine with which to accomplish this.]
Leux parted from the wolf, and as soon as he was out of sight he
thought he would try to make a fire as directed by the wolf, remarking
that he did not think it would burn. So he gathered some dry wood,
made a little pile, and jumped over it, as he had been directed. The
wood was ignited, as the wolf had predicted, much to the surprise of
Leux. Leux then put out the fire. After walking a short distance he
kindled another in the same way. This he put out as before, and at
noon tried again, kindling the fire as before and putting it out
immediately after. Now when night came Leux made a camp and collected
a pile of good dry wood and jumped over it, as he had done previously,
and as he had been directed by the wolf. But this time the wood did
not burn. He repeatedly jumped over the wood, but in vain. The wood
gave off a cloud of smoke, but no blaze appeared. That night it was
bitter cold,--so cold that Leux was nearly frozen to death.[23]
[Footnote 23: The above story is told substantially as here given by
Leland, but with many additions. The source from which Leland obtained
his account is not given. The account which I give is from Noel
Josephs. In Leland's account Leux froze to death.]
One day two young girls (in Leland's account the two girls are
weasels) were walking along, and k'Cheebellock came to them and
carried them to his home in another world high up in the sky. The
girls became homesick in the strange place, and every day they longed
more and more to get back to the earth. Every day they cried for their
homes. At last k'Cheebellock offered to carry them back to the earth,
and took them up to transport them to their native land. But
k'Cheebellock's wings were so large that he could not get to the
ground on account of the high trees. So he left them in the top of a
very high hemlock in the midst of the forest.[24]
[Footnote 24: Notice, also, that the thunder-birds were not able to
approach the trees, and the Indian who was turned into a thunder-bird
was warned not to approach the forest, for he moved so rapidly that he
would get caught in the crotch of a tree.]
The girls could not get down out of the tree. As time passed on, after
a long time they saw a young man walking in the woods. They cried out
to him to come and take them down. The first time they called, the
young man did not look up. Now this man was Leux: they called again,
and he replied that he was very busy building a road [trail], and he
said he could not take them down he was so occupied. After a long time
the girls saw Leux pass by again, and they begged him to take them
down from the tree. This time Leux replied that he would take them
down if one of them would consent to become his wife. To this they
agreed.
Now these girls had their hair tied with long shreds of eelskins. They
took off these strings, which bound their hair behind, and securely
tied them in hard knots on the top branches of the tree upon which
they were. Leux climbed the tree and brought the girls down safe and
sound. He then demanded one of them for his wife.[25]
[Footnote 25: It would be more in accord with the Indian words to say
"have one of them" instead of "have one of them for a wife."]
But the girls said, "First, it is necessary for you to untie and bring
down our hair bands for us." Leux climbed the tree to get the eelskin
hair bands, but they had tied them so securely that it took him a long
time to loosen the knots. When he came down the girls had built a
large and beautiful wigwam. They then made Leux blind[26] [how, the
narrator did not know].
[Footnote 26: The wigwam may have been so dark that he could not see
anything, or perhaps he was blinded by his admiration for the girls.]
Then the maidens call out to him, and now one and now the other
invites him to come to her. As he follows their voices one of them
leads him to fall into the water, and the other makes him stumble on
porcupine quills. Exhausted, Leux then goes to sleep, wearied out with
his exertions, but when he awoke the maidens had vanished.
The story of the Indian maids who were loved by k'Cheebellock, the
spirit of the air, is told in another way by Leland, although that
part of the story which pertains to Leux and the hair bands is the
same in both accounts. In Leland's account we have a beautiful legend,
Micmac and Passamaquoddy, in which two maids, called the weasels, are
loved by the stars, not by k'Cheebellock. It is interesting also to
note that the hair bands in this variant of the story were of eelskin,
a fact which is not brought in Leland's account. k'Cheebellock is a
superhuman deity of the Passamaquoddies, and is represented as a being
without body, but with heart, head, wings, and long legs. He is
stronger than the wind, and is the genius of the air. k'Cheebellock
has sometimes been confounded with Kewok, but Kewok is the cannibal
deity, or a cannibal giant. He is said to have a heart of ice, and to
afflict the Indians in many ways. It is he who tears the bark from the
wigwam, and who frightens men and women. Kewok is the being in whom a
Norse divinity has been recognized by one or two well-known scholars.
In olden times the hair of women was tied with hair strings which were
securely bound to a flat plate on the outside. This plate was formerly
of shell, or later of metal. To this hair string was ascribed certain
magic powers, especially in love affairs, and the possession of it was
a potent spell.