oak stump. He had not been there long before he saw the lake perfectly
calm. Soon hundreds of monstrous serpents came crawling on the beach.
One of the number was beautifully white. He was the prince. The others
were red and yellow. The prince spoke to those about him as follows: "I
never saw that black stump standing there before. It may be Manabozho.
There is no knowing but he may be somewhere about here. He has the power
of an evil genius, and we should be on our guard against his wiles." One
of the large serpents immediately went and twisted himself around it to
the top, and pressed it very hard. The greatest pressure happened to be
on his throat; he was just ready to cry out when the serpent let go.
Eight of them went in succession and did the like, but always let go at
the moment he was ready to cry out. "It cannot be him," they said. "He
is too great a weak-heart[44] for that." They then coiled themselves in
a circle about their prince. It was a long time before they fell asleep.
When they did so, Manabozho took his bow and arrows, and cautiously
stepping over the serpents till he came to the prince, drew up his arrow
with the full strength of his arm, and shot him in the left side. He
then gave a saw-saw-quan,[45] and ran off at full speed. The sound
uttered by the snakes on seeing their prince mortally wounded, was
horrible. They cried, "Manabozho has killed our prince; go in chase of
him." Meantime he ran over hill and valley, to gain the interior of the
country, with all his strength and speed, treading a mile at a step. But
his pursuers were also spirits, and he could hear that something was
approaching him fast. He made for the highest mountain, and climbed the
highest tree on its summit, when, dreadful to behold, the whole lower
country was seen to be overflowed, and the water was gaining rapidly on
the high lands. He saw it reach to the foot of the mountain, and at
length it came up to the foot of the tree, but there was no abatement.
The flood rose steadily and perceptibly. He soon felt the lower part of
his body to be immersed in it. He addressed the tree: "Grandfather,
stretch yourself." The tree did so. But the waters still rose. He
repeated his request, and was again obeyed. He asked a third time, and
was again obeyed; but the tree replied, "It is the last time; I cannot
get any higher." The waters continued to rise till they reached up to
his chin, at which point they stood, and soon began to abate. Hope
revived in his heart. He then cast his eyes around the illimitable
expanse, and spied a loon. "Dive down, my brother," he said to him, "and
fetch up some earth, so that I can make a new earth." The bird obeyed,
but rose up to the surface a lifeless form. He then saw a muskrat.
"Dive!" said he, "and if you succeed, you may hereafter live either on
land or water, as you please; or I will give you a chain of beautiful
little lakes, surrounded with rushes, to inhabit." He dove down, but he
floated up senseless. He took the body and breathed in his nostrils,
which restored him to life. "Try again," said he. The muskrat did so. He
came up senseless the second time, but clutched a little earth in one of
his paws, from which, together with the carcass of the dead loon, he
created a new earth as large as the former had been, with all living
animals, fowls, and plants.
As he was walking to survey the new earth, he heard some one singing. He
went to the place, and found a female spirit, in the disguise of an old
woman, singing these words, and crying at every pause:
Literal translation.
Ma nau bo sho, Manabosho.
O do' zheem un, His nephew.
Ogeem' au wun, The king (or chief).
Onis' sa waun, He killed him.
Hee-Ub bub ub bub, (crying).
"Noko," said he, "what is the matter?" "Matter!" said she, "where have
you been, not to have heard how Manabozho shot my son, the prince of
serpents, in revenge for the loss of his nephew, and how the earth was
overflowed, and created anew? So I brought my son here, that he might
kill and destroy the inhabitants, as he did on the former earth. But,"
she continued, casting a scrutinizing glance, "N'yau! indego Manabozho!
hub! ub! ub! ub! Oh, I am afraid you are Manabozho!" He burst out into a
laugh to quiet her fears. "Ha! ha! ha! how can that be? Has not the old
earth perished, and all that was in it?" "Impossible! impossible!" "But,
Noko," he continued, "what do you intend doing with all that cedar cord
on your back?" "Why," said she, "I am fixing a snare for Manabozho, if
he should be on this earth; and, in the mean time, I am looking for
herbs to heal my son. I am the only person that can do him any good. He
always gets better when I sing,
"'Manabozho a ne we guawk,
Koan dan mau wah, ne we guawk,
Koan dan mau wah, ne we guawk.'"
Manabozho's dart,
I try to get his dart,
I try to get his dart.
Having found out, by conversation with her, all he wished, he put her to
death. He then took off her skin, and assuming this disguise, took the
cedar cord on his back, and limped away singing her songs. He completely
aped the gait and voice of the old woman. He was met by one who told him
to make haste; that the prince was worse. At the lodge, limping and
muttering, he took notice that they had his grandson's hide to hang over
the door. "Oh dogs!" said he; "the evil dogs!" He sat down near the
door, and commenced sobbing like an aged woman. One observed, "Why don't
you attend the sick, and not set there making such a noise?" He took up
the poker and laid it on them, mimicking the voice of the old woman.
"Dogs that you are! why do you laugh at me? You know very well that I am
so sorry that I am nearly out of my head." With that he approached the
prince, singing the songs of the old woman, without exciting any
suspicion. He saw that his arrow had gone in about one half its length.
He pretended to make preparations for extracting it, but only made ready
to finish his victim; and giving the dart a sudden thrust, he put a
period to the prince's life. He performed this act with the power of a
giant, bursting the old woman's skin, and at the same moment rushing
through the door. The serpents followed him, hissing and crying out,
"Perfidy! murder! vengeance! it is Manabozho." He immediately
transformed himself into a wolf, and ran over the plain with all his
speed, aided by his father the West wind. When he got to the mountains
he saw a badger. "Brother," said he, "make a hole quick, for the
serpents are after me." The badger obeyed. They both went in, and the
badger threw all the earth backward, so that it filled up the way
behind.
The serpents came to the badger's wauzh,[46] and decided to watch. "We
will starve him out," said they; so they continued watching. Manabozho
told the badger to make an opening on the other side of the mountain,
from which he could go out and hunt, and bring meat in. Thus they lived
some time. One day the badger came in his way and displeased him. He
immediately put him to death, and threw out his carcass, saying, "I
don't like you to be getting in my way so often."
After living in this confinement for some time alone, he decided to go
out. He immediately did so; and after making the circuit of the
mountain, came to the corpse of the prince, who had been deserted by
the serpents to pursue his destroyer. He went to work and skinned him.
He then drew on his skin, in which there were great virtues, took up his
war-club, and set out for the place where he first went in the ground.
He found the serpents still watching. When they saw the form of their
dead prince advancing towards them, fear and dread took hold of them.
Some fled. Those who remained Manabozho killed. Those who fled went
towards the South.
Having accomplished the victory over the reptiles, Manabozho returned to
his former place of dwelling, and married the arrow-maker's daughter.
* * * * *
_Concluding Note._--The story of this northern Hercules is dropped at
this point of his triumph over the strongest of the reptile race. But
his feats and adventures, by land and sea do not terminate here. There
is scarcely a prominent lake, mountain, precipice, or stream in the
northern part of America, which is not hallowed in Indian story by his
fabled deeds. Further accounts will be found in several of the
subsequent tales, which are narrated by the Indians in an independent
form, and may be now appropriately left as they are found, as episodes,
detached from the original story. To collect all these and arrange them
in order would be an arduous labour; and, after all, such an arrangement
would lack consistency and keeping, unless much of the thread necessary
to present them in an English dress were supplied by invention,
alteration, and transposition. The portions above narrated present a
beginning and an end, which could hardly be said of the loose and
disjointed fragmentary tales referred to. How long Manabozho lived on
earth is not related. We hear nothing more of his grandmother; every
mouth is filled with his queer adventures, tricks, and sufferings. He
was everywhere present where danger presented itself, power was
required, or mischief was going forward. Nothing was too low or trivial
for him to engage in, nor too high or difficult for him to attempt. He
affected to be influenced by the spirit of a god, and was really
actuated by the malignity of a devil. The period of his labours and
adventures having expired, he withdrew to dwell with his brother in the
North, where he is understood to direct those storms which proceed from
points west of the pole. He is regarded as the spirit of the northwest
tempests, but receives no worship from the present race of Indians. It
is believed by them that he is again to appear, and to exercise an
important power in the final disposition of the human race.
In this singular tissue of incongruities will be perceived several ideas
probably derived from Asiatic sources. It will be found, in the tale of
the visiters to the Sun and Moon, that Manabozho was met on the way, and
he is represented as expressing a deep repentance for the sins he had
committed while on earth. He is, however, found exercising the vocation
of a necromancer; has a pointed lodge, from which he utters oracles; and
finally transforms on the spot two of the party, who had consulted him,
and asked the gift of immortality, the one into a cedar-tree, and the
other into a block of granite.
Manabozho is regarded by the Indians as a god and a benefactor, and is
admired and extolled as the personification of strength and wisdom. Yet
he constantly presents the paradox of being a mere mortal; is driven to
low and common expedients; and never utters a sentiment wiser or better
than the people among whom he appears. The conception of a divinity,
pure, changeless, and just, as well as benevolent, in the distribution
of its providences, has not been reached by any traits exhibited in the
character of this personage. And if such notions had ever been
conceived by the ancestors of the present race of Indians in the East,
they have been obscured, if not obliterated, in the course of their
long, dark, and hopeless pilgrimage in the forests of America. That the
tribes themselves are of Oriental origin, is probable, from the
grammatical structure of their languages, and their mode of expressing
thought. But it is apparent that their separation took place at a very
ancient period. Whether this event is of a date prior to the
organization of the Hebrew theocracy, or whether the American tribes
have originated, as some writers suppose, in a separation from the
latter sub-stock, there is not, at this time, sufficient data, stamped
with the character of sound investigation, to determine; but is rendered
manifest, by the present investigation into Indian opinions, that,
although they probably had, at the epoch of their expatriation, a
knowledge of the Creator and a tradition of the creation, and also of
the subsequent destruction of men by the deluge, this knowledge was
already corrupted and mixed with notions of materialism and carnality,
somewhat after the comparatively recent and grosser manner exhibited in
the existing legend of Manabozho.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] An abbreviated term for "my grandmother," derived from
_no-ko-miss_.
[27] This is a term for the west wind. It is a derivative from
_Ka-bian-oong_, the proper appellation for the occident.
[28] An interjection indicating pain.
[29] The scirpus or bulrush.
[30] Do not--do not.
[31] The Northern Indians, when travelling in company with each other,
or with white persons who possess their confidence, so as to put them at
ease, are in the habit of making frequent allusions to Manabozho and his
exploits. "There," said a young Chippewa, pointing to some huge boulders
of greenstone, "are pieces of the rock broken off in Manabozho's combat
with his father." "This is the duck," said an Indian interpreter on the
sources of the Mississippi, "that Manabozho kicked." "Under that
island," said a friend conversant with their language, "under that
island Manabozho lost a beaver."
[32] The term weendigo, translated here monster, is commonly applied, at
this time, by the Indians, to cannibals. Its ancient use appears,
however, to have embraced giants and anomalous voracious beasts of the
land, to the former existence of which, on this Continent, their
traditions refer.
The word genabik, rendered serpent, appears likewise to have been used
in a generic sense for amphibious animals of large and venomous
character. When applied to existing species of serpents, it requires an
adjective prefix or qualifying term.
[33] The wampum or pearl feather.
[34] An interjection equivalent to shame! shame!
[35] Animal tail, or bottom upward.
[36] A free translation of this expression might be rendered, noble
scratchers, or grabbers.
[37] The conaus is the most ancient garment known to these tribes, being
a simple extended single piece, without folds. The word is the apparent
root of godaus, a female garment. Waub-e-wion, a blanket, is a
comparatively modern phrase for a wrapper, signifying, literally, a
white skin with the wool on.
[38] Fasts. The rite of fasting is one of the most deep-seated and
universal in the Indian ritual. It is practised among all the American
tribes, and is deemed by them essential to their success in life in
every situation. No young man is fitted and prepared to begin the career
of life until he has accomplished his great fast. Seven days appear to
have been the ancient maximum limit of endurance, and the success of the
devotee is inferred from the length of continued abstinence to which he
is known to have attained. These fasts are anticipated by youth as one
of the most important events of life. They are awaited with interest,
prepared for with solemnity, and endured with a self-devotion bordering
on the heroic. Character is thought to be fixed from this period, and
the primary fast, thus prepared for and successfully established, seems
to hold that relative importance to subsequent years that is attached to
a public profession of religious faith in civilized communities. It is
at this period that the young men and the young women "see visions and
dream dreams," and fortune or misfortune is predicted from the guardian
spirit chosen during this, to them, religious ordeal. The hallucinations
of the mind are taken for divine inspiration. The effect is deeply felt
and strongly impressed on the mind; too deeply, indeed, to be ever
obliterated in after life. The father in the circle of his lodge, the
hunter in the pursuit of the chase, and the warrior in the field of
battle, think of the guardian genius which they fancy to accompany them,
and trust to his power and benign influence under every circumstance.
This genius is the absorbing theme of their silent meditations, and
stands to them in all respects in place of the Christian's hope, with
the single difference that, however deeply mused upon, the _name_ is
never uttered, and every circumstance connected with its selection, and
the devotion paid to it, is most studiously and professedly concealed
even from their nearest friends.
Fasts in subsequent life appear to have for their object a renewal of
the powers and virtues which they attribute to the rite. And they are
observed more frequently by those who strive to preserve unaltered the
ancient state of society among them, or by men who assume austere habits
for the purpose of acquiring influence in the tribe, or as preparatives
for war or some extraordinary feat. It is not known that there is any
fixed day observed as a general fast. So far as a rule is followed, a
general fast seems to have been observed in the spring, and to have
_preceded_ the general and customary feasts at that season.
It will be inferred from these facts, that the Indians believe fasts to
be very meritorious. They are deemed most acceptable to the Manitoes or
spirits whose influence and protection they wish to engage or preserve.
And it is thus clearly deducible, that a very large proportion of the
time devoted by the Indians to secret worship, so to say, is devoted to
these guardian or intermediate spirits, and not to the Great Spirit or
Creator.
[39] The tuft feathers of the red-headed woodpecker are used to ornament
the stems of the Indian pipe, and are symbolical of valour.
[40] Abbreviated from Neshomiss, my grandfather.
[41] That part of the intestines of a fish, which, by its expansion from
air in the first stage of decomposition, causes the body to rise and
float. The expression here means float.
[42] The Alcedo or Kingfisher.
[43] This bird has a white spot on the breast, and a tufted head.
[44] Shau-go-dai-a, i. e., a Coward.
[45] The war-cry.
[46] A burrow.
BOKWEWA;
OR,
THE HUMPBACK.
FROM THE ODJIBWA.
Bokwewa and his brother lived in a secluded part of the country. They
were considered as Manitoes, who had assumed mortal shapes. Bokwewa was
the most gifted in supernatural endowments, although he was deformed in
person. His brother partook more of the nature of the present race of
beings. They lived retired from the world, and undisturbed by its cares,
and passed their time in contentment and happiness.
Bokwewa,[47] owing to his deformity, was very domestic in his habits,
and gave his attention to household affairs. He instructed his brother
in the manner of pursuing game, and made him acquainted with all the
accomplishments of a sagacious and expert hunter. His brother possessed
a fine form, and an active and robust constitution; and felt a
disposition to show himself off among men. He was restiff in his
seclusion, and showed a fondness for visiting remote places.
One day he told his brother that he was going to leave him; that he
wished to visit the habitations of men, and procure a wife. Bokwewa
objected to his going; but his brother overruled all that he said, and
he finally departed on his travels. He travelled a long time. At length
he fell in with the footsteps of men. They were moving by encampments,
for he saw several places where they had encamped. It was in the winter.
He came to a place where one of their number had died. They had placed
the corpse on a scaffold. He went to it and took it down. He saw that it
was the corpse of a beautiful young woman. "She shall be my wife!" he
exclaimed.
He took her up, and placing her on his back, returned to his brother.
"Brother," he said, "cannot you restore her to life? Oh, do me that
favour!" Bokwewa said he would try. He performed numerous ceremonies,
and at last succeeded in restoring her to life. They lived very happily
for some time. Bokwewa was extremely kind to his brother, and did
everything to render his life happy. Being deformed and crippled, he
always remained at home, while his brother went out to hunt. And it was
by following his directions, which were those of a skilful hunter, that
he always succeeded in returning with a good store of meat.
One day he had gone out as usual, and Bokwewa was sitting in his lodge,
on the opposite side of his brother's wife, when a tall, fine young man
entered, and immediately took the woman by the hand and drew her to the
door. She resisted and called on Bokwewa, who jumped up to her
assistance. But their joint resistance was unavailing; the man succeeded
in carrying her away. In the scuffle, Bokwewa had his hump back much
bruised on the stones near the door. He crawled into the lodge and wept
very sorely, for he knew that it was a powerful Manito who had taken the
woman.
When his brother returned he related all to him exactly as it had
happened. He would not taste food for several days. Sometimes he would
fall to weeping for a long time, and appeared almost beside himself. At
last he said he would go in search of her. Bokwewa tried to dissuade him
from it, but he insisted.
"Well!" said he, "since you are bent on going, listen to my advice. You
will have to go south. It is a long distance to the residence of your
captive wife, and there are so many charms and temptations in the way, I
am afraid you will be led astray by them, and forget your errand. For
the people whom you will see in that country do nothing but amuse
themselves. They are very idle, gay, and effeminate, and I am fearful
they will lead you astray. Your journey is beset with difficulties. I
will mention one or two things, which you must be on your guard against.
In the course of your journey, you will come to a large grapevine lying
across your way. You must not even taste its fruit, for it is poisonous.
Step over it. It is a snake. You will next come to something that looks
like bear's fat, transparent and tremulous. Don't taste it, or you will
be overcome by the pleasures of those people. It is frog's eggs. These
are snares laid by the way for you."
He said he would follow the advice, and bid farewell to his brother.
After travelling a long time, he came to the enchanted grapevine. It
looked so tempting, he forgot his brother's advice and tasted the fruit.
He went on till he came to the frog's eggs. The substance so much
resembled bear's fat that he tasted it. He still went on. At length he
came to a very extensive plain. As he emerged from the forest the sun
was setting, and cast its scarlet and golden shades over all the plain.
The air was perfectly calm, and the whole prospect had the air of an
enchanted land. The most inviting fruits and flowers spread out before
the eye. At a distance he beheld a large village, filled with people
without number, and as he drew near he saw women beating corn in silver
mortars. When they saw him approaching, they cried out, "Bokwewa's
brother has come to see us." Throngs of men and women, gayly dressed,
came out to meet him. He was soon overcome by their flatteries and
pleasures, and he was not long afterward seen beating corn with their
women (the strongest proof of effeminacy), although his wife, for whom
he had mourned so much, was in that Indian metropolis.
Meantime Bokwewa waited patiently for the return of his brother. At
length, after the lapse of several years, he sat out in search of him,
and arrived in safety among the luxuriant people of the South. He met
with the same allurements on the road, and the same flattering reception
that his brother did. But he was above all temptations. The pleasures he
saw had no other effect upon him than to make him regret the weakness of
mind of those who were led away by them. He shed tears of pity to see
that his brother had laid aside the arms of a hunter, and was seen
beating corn with the women.
He ascertained where his brother's wife remained. After deliberating
some time, he went to the river where she usually came to draw water. He
there changed himself into one of those hair-snakes which are sometimes
seen in running water. When she came down, he spoke to her, saying,
"Take me up; I am Bokwewa." She then scooped him out and went home. In a
short time the Manito who had taken her away asked her for water to
drink. The lodge in which they lived was partitioned. He occupied a
secret place, and was never seen by any one but the woman. She handed
him the water containing the hair-snake, which he drank, with the snake,
and soon after was a dead Manito.
Bokwewa then resumed his former shape. He went to his brother, and used
every means to reclaim him. But he would not listen. He was so much
taken up with the pleasures and dissipations into which he had fallen,
that he refused to give them up, although Bokwewa, with tears, tried to
convince him of his foolishness, and to show him that those pleasures
could not endure for a long time. Finding that he was past reclaiming,
Bokwewa left him, and disappeared for ever.
FOOTNOTES:
[47] I. e., the sudden stopping of a voice.
IENA;
OR,
THE MAGIC BUNDLE.
A MASKEGO ALLEGORY.
There was once a poor man called Iena,[48] who was in the habit of
wandering about from place to place, forlorn, without relations and
almost helpless. One day, as he went on a hunting excursion, he hung up
his bundle on the branch of a tree, to relieve himself from the burden
of carrying it, and then went in quest of game. On returning to the spot
in the evening, he was surprised to find a small but neat lodge built in
the place where he had left his bundle; and on looking in, he beheld a
beautiful female sitting in the lodge, with his blanket lying beside
her. During the day he had been fortunate in killing a deer, which he
laid down at the lodge door. But, to his surprise, the woman, in her
attempt to bring it in, broke both her legs. He looked at her with
astonishment, and thought to himself, "I supposed I was blessed, but I
find my mistake. Gweengweeshee,"[49] said he, "I will leave my game with
you, that you may feast on it."