When he was a young man the Mohawks were bad at that time. Nobody was
allowed to go out alone anywheres. He wanted to hunt very badly so he
and another young man went out one morning quite a long ways off the
Reserve to hunt bear and duck. They got to Mud Lake (Carden Township)
the next day about the middle of the afternoon. They shot about
twenty-five duck that night. The next morning early they heard
something across the narrows; they looked and saw a great, big, black
bear. They got in their canoe and got near enough to shoot and kill the
bear. While looking at the dead bear they heard another one coming down
to drink, near where they were standing. They both shot and killed this
one. They took the two bears in their canoe and started for home. After
going down the lake a little way he looked up and saw three bears in a
big oak tree. The two hunters got out of the canoe and went to the
tree. He shot the big one but did not kill him outright, but had to
shoot again. This left only one more shot ready for use, as they had
one double and one single-barrel shot guns. The other two bears came
down the tree. He shot one of these and killed it and the last bear had
to come down when there was no shot ready for him. He (York) grabbed
the bear by the legs till the other hunter got his gun loaded. The bear
was a cub but fought like an old bear, tearing the clothes off the man.
The hunters got the five bears and took them home. When they got home
there was a big feast and everybody came and ate some bear meat, for
their friends thought the hunters had been killed by the Mohawks.
The first of these following tales was told to me some eight or ten
years ago by Ben Simcoe, an elderly Indian from the Rama Reserve,
Ontario County, near Lake Couchiching, and is probably a modern version
of an older tale, as it introduces the negro and white man. The word
“He” in the story stands for “God” or the “Creator.” I could not get
definitely from the Simcoe who it did stand for. He seemingly did not
know much about earlier Indian beliefs and conditions.
The remaining three stories were told to me this summer by Jonas
George, Chippewa, of Rama Reserve, aged about sixty-four, professed
Christian. His Indian name is Wash-a-ghe-zik, which means “A clear
day.”
G. E. Laidlaw.
The sketch of the two little shiny men setting lightning at the tree,
also the “Monster,” were drawn by Wash-a-ghe-zik.