Told by John York.
(A most curious blending of the old and the new. G. E. L.)
A good many years ago there were two brothers living in a camp away
back in the woods where nobody else was to be seen. Their father and
mother had died when they were little boys. The elder hunted all the
time and got a lot of deer and other kinds of game. The younger was
busy in looking after the venison, cutting it up and drying it. When he
got it all dried he pounded it up very fine, same as corn meal, and put
it away in bags for to use in the winter.
One time the younger tried to think of something that he ever did
before. He thought there must be some people some place nearby. He
thought, “this evening when my brother comes home I’ll ask him about
this.” His brother came home at night and after supper the younger
began to ask him if there were any Indians living nearby. “Well,” the
older boy said to his brother, “yes, there are some people living to
the west who are called ‘white men,’ and some people living east of us,
but it is a long way.” The younger boy began to get lonesome thinking
about these people whom he would like to see, so one day he asked his
brother if he would let him go and see some of the white people.
“Well,” his brother said, “it will take you four days to get there; you
go straight west all the time.” “Well, I will go to-morrow and I will
try and get back in a week,” the younger said. He got ready the night
before he started the journey. He left camp just about daylight and
walked all day. When night came he made camp for the night. The next
day he started early in the morning, the same as he did the first day.
On the fourth day while walking he noticed somebody had been cutting
some trees with a very sharp thing. He looked at the stumps for a long
time. He never saw an axe before. He went on a little farther. He heard
some one cutting something. He went on till he saw a man who was very
white. He thought, “this must be a white man.” He got to where this man
was working and sat down close by. They began to speak to each other.
The white man asked him where did he come from. The Indian told him
where he came from and said, “I just came to see the people and I am
going to camp near the city.” The white man said, “I have got a little
shanty here in the bush and if you like to stay in it you are welcome.”
The Indian said, “I don’t know what you call a shanty till I see it.”
The white man said, “I will show you the shanty. You come along,” and
they both went up to where the shanty was. The white man showed the
Indian all the “rigging,” such as dishes and pans, the like of which
the Indian never saw before. The white man gave him some meat, bread,
tea, and sugar, things this Indian never ate before.
The Indian would like to go to town one day and see the place. He went
out and looked around. He picked up some rags and made a very nice
quilt. He sold this quilt for $25.00. He made a lot of them and sold
them all at $25.00 each.
One day a nice-looking, young man came up to see him and told him that
there was going to be a big feast on Wednesday at the big hall up town.
He went down to it with this young man. The feast was a French one. The
King wanted to find a good cook, and every time the King had a feast
there was a different cook. When the hour came to eat they all sat down
and the King came out and also sat down and started to eat. He just
tasted and went away. This will show that he didn’t like it. The cooks
were all men. This King wanted to find a good cook for his only
daughter. When the feast was over the King came out again and said to
all the people, “Who will try again for next week’s feast?” Some of the
boys knew that the Indian boy was a good cook, and one of them went
over to the Indian boy and asked him if he would try. Well, the Indian
boy was a little shy at first, but he thought he would try. He went to
his little shanty and thought about it all the time, and how he would
make things look nice. The feast day came and he went over to the place
and started in to cook. When he got ready about four o’clock in the
evening he got some girls to help him with the tables. About six
o’clock he called the people to “come in.” All the boys and girls said
to one another “This Indian man is going to get his for sure.” The
waiter called to the King that everything was ready. The King came in
and saw everything was good. He started to eat and he ate a lot this
time. He told the people that he had found a good cook at last. He
called his daughter to come out; this girl was never seen, only from a
distance. She came out and stood by her father. The King called the
Indian young man to come to where they were. The Indian came up and the
King called a preacher and had the young couple married right there,
and they stayed there at the King’s house.
One day the people had an excursion out on the lake. There were about
five hundred people on board. They went a long ways out on the lake.
The Indian’s wife did not like to go on this excursion so she did not
go, but the Indian went, although his wife did not like him to go, but
he wanted to go badly. One of the boys thought that this would be a
good chance to kill the Indian, so three boys got together and made a
plan to throw the Indian overboard. They got him to go to the back end
of the steamboat and then grabbed him by the legs. Down he went into
the water. Nobody saw him, only the boys that thrust him down. He swam
around for a long time and then began to think about his wife and his
brother. He could not see land any place. He heard some bird up in the
air and on looking up he saw a hawk. He began to call the bird and the
bird came down to him. He asked the bird if there was an island close
by, and the bird said, “Yes, there is a rock not far from here.” The
Indian said, “I’d like to ask you if you could take me to the rock.” “I
will try,” said the bird. “Take hold of my legs and I will take you to
the rock.” The bird got so big that it had no trouble in taking the
Indian to the rock. When they got there the Indian sat on the rock not
knowing where to eat. Well, he thought he would get the bird to go to
the city and get him something to eat. So he called the bird and the
bird came near. He told the bird to go to a big house with a big
verandah. The bird flew away and she was away for two hours, then she
came back with a nice little parcel of nice cakes which the Indian’s
wife had given to the bird. The Indian had a good lunch. The wife did
not know where he was. There was a big reward to anybody that had seen
him or had seen him killed.
The big bird came to the rock, where the Indian was, in the evening,
and said to him, “Maybe I could take you home if you pay me what I
want. I would like to get the first baby you see when you get home.”
(While the Indian was away there was a baby born at home.) “Well,” the
Indian said, “I will do that.” They started to cross the big lake to
get home. They got close to shore when the bird got tired and had to
come down in the water about a hundred yards from shore. Anyway the
Indian swam to shore and went home. When he got there he saw a little
baby boy, for his wife had a child born. Well, he thought he had to
give it to the bird, which he did, and his wife was glad that he went
and gave up the boy to the big bird.