Told by John York.
Once two Indians, a man and his wife, camped near a little lake. The
Indian was trapping. He had a dream one night never to cross on the ice
at night on any lake, but one day shortly afterwards he went too far
away hunting and got very tired. As he was coming home with his bag of
beaver on his back, and his ice chisel in his hand, he came to a narrow
place in the lake where he either had to cross on the ice or go a long
way around, so he thought he’d chance the ice (risk it for once), but
when he got about half way over he heard something coming down from
above, but could not see anything because it was dark. He fainted
(became unconscious) and dropped on the ice, and the next thing he knew
he found himself sitting inside a big bird’s hand (or claws) with all
his game, beaver, ice chisel and bag. He could not do anything except
to remain very still. After a while he saw something ahead, which was a
rock, and the big bird lit on the rock and let the man go and flew away
again.
The man saw two young ones (young Thunderbirds) coming towards him, and
when one of these got near enough it opened its mouth wide. The man got
up and got his chisel and knocked the young bird down and killed it.
This young bird was very big and heavy (as York expressed it, “it would
weigh easy a ton”). The man made up his mind what to do, as he had got
to die anyway, so he went to work and opened the young bird and took
all the insides out and got in himself. He found that he could stay
inside the bird in going down to earth again. He managed to get the
young bird to the edge of the rock. Then he got inside and fastened
himself in with his long sash, closed the open hole with strings and
rolled off. The young Thunderbird spread its wings and began to float
down through the air. The man fainted and when he came to he found
himself on the edge of a lake in a strange place, so he got up and
wandered about till he came on some man tracks which he followed up
till he came to two men and asked them where he was. They told him
where he was and the name of the place, and then he knew which way to
go to reach his own camp.
When he got near his own camp he saw that the place looked very old
anyway. He went nearer and got to the door and called “Who’s in there?”
Some one inside told him to “come in.” Inside he saw a very old lady.
He thought “this can’t be my wife, she’s too old. I’ve been only away a
few days.” He asked her “where was her man?” She said, “A good many
years ago my husband had a dream ‘never to walk across the ice of any
lake’ and he may have tried to go across some lake at night and was
taken by some big bird (Thunderbird) or somebody I never heard of. Here
I have been ever since he went away and nobody knows where he is.” The
man told her who he was and they kissed each other and lived together
the rest of their lives. This shows that he was away a long time, but
it seemed short to him. When on the Thunderbird’s rock he killed only
one of the young Thunderbirds. The other he did not touch.
Notes by G. E. L.—The word “Lady” used here is equivalent to
Ogemahkwee, which means a chief’s wife or daughter, or some female
relative of a chief. This word is also used in speaking of, or to a
white lady of quality.
Kissing is seldom met with in stories or tales of their own life by the
Indians, so I think it is a modern introduction.