cannot find some lodges." After walking some time he saw a lodge at a
distance. The children were playing at the door. When they saw him
approaching they ran into the lodge, and told their parents that
Manabozho was coming. It was the residence of the large redheaded
Woodpecker. He came to the lodge door and asked him to enter. He did
so. After some time, the Woodpecker, who was a magician, said to his
wife, "Have you nothing to give Manabozho? he must be hungry." She
answered, "No." In the centre of the lodge stood a large white
tamarack-tree. The Woodpecker flew on to it, and commenced going up,
turning his head on each side of the tree, and every now and then
driving in his bill. At last he drew something out of the tree, and
threw it down, when, behold! a fine, fat raccoon on the ground. He drew
out six or seven more. He then descended, and told his wife to prepare
them. "Manabozho," he said, "this is the only thing we eat. What else
can we give you?" "It is very good," replied Manabozho. They smoked
their pipes and conversed with each other. After eating, the great
spirit-chief got ready to go home. The Woodpecker said to his wife,
"Give him what remains of the raccoons to take home for his children."
In the act of leaving the lodge he dropped intentionally one of his
mittens, which was soon after observed. "Run," said the Woodpecker to
his eldest son, "and give it to him. But don't give it into his hand;
throw it at him, for there is no knowing him, he acts so curiously."
The boy did as he was bid. "Nemesho" (my grandfather), said he, as he
came up to him, "you have left one of your mittens--here it is." "Yes,"
said he, affecting to be ignorant of the circumstance, "it is so. But
don't throw it, you will soil it on the snow." The lad, however, threw
it, and was about to return. "List," said Manabozho, "is that all you
eat--do you eat nothing else with the raccoon?" "No," replied the young
Woodpecker. "Tell your father," he answered, "to come and visit me, and
let him bring a sack. I will give him what he shall eat with his
raccoon meat." When the young one reported this to his father, the old
man turned up his nose at the invitation. "What does the old fellow
think he has got!" exclaimed he.
Some time after the Woodpecker went to pay a visit to Manabozho. He was
received with the usual attention. It had been the boast of Manabozho,
in former days, that he could do what any other being in the creation
could, whether man or animals. He affected to have the sagacity of all
animals, to understand their language, and to be capable of exactly
imitating it. And in his visits to men, it was his custom to return,
exactly, the treatment he had received. He was very ceremonious in
following the very voice and manner of his entertainers. The Woodpecker
had no sooner entered his lodge, therefore, than he commenced playing
the mimic. He had previously directed his wife to change his lodge, so
as to inclose a large dry tamarack-tree. "What can I give you?" said he
to the Woodpecker; "but as we eat, so shall you eat." He then put a long
piece of bone in his nose, in imitation of the bill of this bird, and
jumping on the tamarack-tree, attempted to climb it, doing as he had
seen the Woodpecker do. He turned his head first on one side, then on
the other. He made awkward efforts to ascend, but continually slipped
down. He struck the tree with the bone in his nose, until at last he
drove it so far up his nostrils that the blood began to flow, and he
fell down senseless at the foot of the tree. The Woodpecker started
after his drum and rattle to restore him, and having got them, succeeded
in bringing him to. As soon as he came to his senses, he began to lay
the blame of his failure to his wife, saying to his guest, "Nemesho, it
is this woman relation of yours--_she_ is the cause of my not
succeeding. She has rendered me a worthless fellow. Before I took her I
could also get raccoons." The Woodpecker said nothing, but flying on the
tree, drew out several fine raccoons. "Here," said he, "this is the way
we do," and left him with apparent contempt.
Severe weather continued, and Manabozho still suffered for the want of
food. One day he walked out, and came to a lodge, which was occupied by
the Moose (Möz). The young Mozonsug[27] saw him and told their father
Manabozho was at the door. He told them to invite him in. Being seated,
they entered into conversation. At last the Moose, who was a Meeta,
said, "What shall we give Manabozho to eat? We have nothing." His wife
was seated with her back toward him, making garters. He walked up to
her, and untying the covering of the armlet from her back, cut off a
large piece of flesh from the square of her shoulder.[28] He then put
some medicine on it, which immediately healed the wound. The skin did
not even appear to have been broken, and his wife was so little
affected by it, that she did not so much as leave off her work, till he
told her to prepare the flesh for eating. "Manabozho," said he, "this
is all we eat, and it is all we can give you."
After they had finished eating, Manabozho set out for home, but
intentionally, as before, dropped one of his _minjekawun_, or mittens.
One of the young Moose took it to him, telling him that his father had
sent him with it. He had been cautioned not to hand it to him, but to
throw it at him. Having done so, contrary to the remonstrance of
Manabozho, he was going back, when the latter cried out, "Bakah!
Bakah![29] Is _that_[30] the only kind of meat you eat? Tell me." "Yes,"
answered the young man, "that is all; we have nothing else." "Tell your
father," he replied, "to come and visit me, and I will give him what you
shall eat with your meat." The old Moose listened to this message with
indignity. "I wonder what he thinks he has got, poor fellow!"
He was bound, however, to obey the invitation, and went accordingly,
taking along a cedar sack, for he had been told to bring one. Manabozho
received him in the same manner he had himself been received--repeating
the same remarks, and attempted to supply the lack of food in the same
manner. To this end he had requested his wife to busy herself in making
garters. He arose and untied the covering of her back as he had seen
the Moose do. He then cut her back shockingly, paying no attention to
her cries or resistance, until he saw her fall down, from the loss of
blood. "Manabozho," said the Moose, "you are killing your wife." He
immediately ran for his drum and rattle, and restored her to life by
his skill. He had no sooner done this than Manabozho began to lay the
blame of his ill success on his wife. "Why, Nemesho," said he, "this
woman, this relation of yours--she is making me a most worthless
fellow. Formerly, I procured my meat in this way. But now I can
accomplish nothing."
The Moose then cut large pieces of flesh off his own thighs, without the
least injury to himself, and gave them to Manabozho, saying, with a
contemptuous air, "This is the way _we_ do." He then left the lodge.
After these visits Manabozho was sitting pensively in his lodge one
day, with his head down. He heard the wind whistling around it, and
thought, by attentively listening, he could hear the voice of some one
speaking to him. It seemed to say to him: "Great chief, why are you
sorrowful? Am not I your friend--your guardian Spirit?" He immediately
took up his rattle, and without leaving his sitting posture, began to
sing the chant which at the close of every stanza has the chorus of
"Whaw Lay Le Aw." When he had devoted a long time to this chant, he laid
his rattle aside, and determined to fast. For this purpose he went to a
cave, and built a very small fire, near which he laid down, first
telling his wife that neither she nor the children must come near him
till he had finished his fast. At the end of seven days he came back to
the lodge, pale and emaciated. His wife in the mean time had dug through
the snow, and got a small quantity of the root called truffles. These
she boiled and set before him. When he had finished his repast, he took
his large bow and bent it. Then placing a strong arrow to the string, he
drew it back, and sent the arrow, with the strength of a giant, through
the side of his bark lodge. "There," said he to his wife, "go to the
outside, and you will find a large bear, shot through the heart." She
did so, and found one as he had predicted.
He then sent the children out to get red willow sticks. Of these he cut
off as many pieces, of equal length, as would serve to invite his
friends to a feast. A red stick was sent to each one, not forgetting
the Moose and the Woodpecker.
When they arrived, they were astonished to see such a profusion of meat
cooked for them, at such a time of scarcity. Manabozho understood their
glances, and felt a conscious pride in making such a display. "Akewazi,"
said he, to one of the oldest of the party, "the weather is very cold,
and the snow lasts a long time. We can kill nothing now but small
squirrels. And I have sent for you to help me eat some of them." The
Woodpecker was the first to put a mouthful of the bear's meat to his
mouth, but he had no sooner begun to taste it, than it changed into a
dry powder, and set him coughing. It appeared as bitter as ashes. The
Moose felt the same effect, and began to cough. Each one, in turn, was
added to the number of coughers. But they had too much sense of decorum,
and respect for their entertainer, to say anything. The meat looked very
fine. They thought they would try more of it. But the more they ate the
faster they coughed and the louder became the uproar, until Manabozho,
exerting his former power, which he now felt to be renewed, transformed
them all into the Adjidamo, or squirrel, an animal which is still found
to have the habit of barking, or coughing, whenever it sees any one
approach its nest.
* * * * *
The story of this chief of northern myths is dropped in my notes 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 were found, as
episodes, detached from the original story. To collect all these and
arrange them in order would be an arduous labor; 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
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 labors 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
the 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 may be perceived some ideas
probably derived from Asiatic sources. It will be found in the legends
of the visitors to the Sun and Moon, and of the white stone canoe, that
Manabozho was met on the way, and he is represented as expressing a
deep repentance for the bad acts he had committed while on earth. He
is, however, found exercising the vocation of a necromancer; has a
jossakeed's 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 divine 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 obliterated, in the course of their long, dark, and
hopeless pilgrimage in the forests of America. The prevalence of this
legend, among the Indian tribes, is extensive.
The character, the place, which he holds in the Indian mythology are
further denoted in the 5th vol. of my _Hist._, p. 417, where he is
represented as giving passage to souls on their way through the regions
of space, to the Indian paradise; and also in the legend of the White
Stone Canoe. The general myth, is recognized in the legend of the
Iroquois, under the name of Hiawatha, and Tarenyawazon. See _Notes on
the Iroquois_, page 270 (1846), and also in the 3d vol. _Hist._, p. 314.
Mr. Longfellow has given prominence to it, and to its chief episodes, by
selecting and generalizing such traits as appeared best susceptible of
poetic uses.
[6] An abbreviated term for "my grandmother," derived from
no-kó-miss.
[7] This is a term for the west wind. It is a derivative from
_Kabian-oong_, the proper appellation for the occident.
[8] An interjection indicating pain.
[9] The scirpus, or bulrush.
[10] Do not--do not.
[11] 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."
[12] 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 genábik, 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.
[13] The wampum or pearl feather.
[14] An interjection equivalent to shame! shame!
[15] Animal tail, or bottom upward.
[16] A free translation of this expression might be rendered,
noble scratchers, or grabbers.
[17] 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.
[18] 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.
[19] The tuft feathers of the red-headed woodpecker are used to
ornament the stems of the Indian pipe, and are symbolical of
valor.
[20] Abbreviated from Neshomiss, my grandfather.
[21] 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.
[22] The Alcedo or Kingfisher.
[23] This bird has a white spot on the breast, and a tufted head.
[24] Shau-go-dai-a, _i.e._, a Coward.
[25] The war-cry.
[26] A burrow.
[27] Diminutive form, plural number, of the noun Möz.
[28] The dress of the females in the Odjibwa nation, consists of
sleeves, open on the inner side of the arm from the elbow up, and
terminating in large square folds, falling from the shoulders,
which are tied at the back of the neck with ribbon or binding.
The sleeves are separately made, and not attached to the breast
garment, which consists of square folds of cloth, ornamented and
sustained by shoulder straps. To untie the sleeves or armlets, as
is here described, is therefore to expose the shoulders, but not
the back--a simple device, quickly accomplished, by which the
magician could readily exercise his art almost imperceptibly to
the object.
[29] Stop! stop!
[30] It is difficult to throw into the English pronoun the whole
of the meaning of the Indian. Pronouns in this language being,
like other parts of speech, transitive; they are at once
indicative both of the actor, personal, and relative, and the
nature of the object, or subject of the action, or relation.
This, and that, are not used in the elementary form these
pronouns invariably possess in the English. Inflections are put
to them indicating the class of natural objects to which they
refer. A noun masculine or feminine, requiring an animate
pronoun, a noun inanimate, a pronoun inanimate.
PAUP-PUK-KEEWISS.
The vernal equinox in the north, generally takes place while the ground
is covered with snow, and winter still wears a polar aspect. Storms of
wind and light drifting snow, expressively called _poudre_ by the
French, and peewun by the Indians, fill the atmosphere, and render it
impossible to distinguish objects at a short distance. The fine powdery
flakes of snow are driven into the smallest crannies of buildings and
fixtures, and seem to be endowed with a subtle power of insinuation,
which renders northern joinerwork but a poor defence. It is not
uncommon for the sleeper, on waking up in the morning, to find heaps of
snow, where he had supposed himself quite secure on lying down.
Such seasons are, almost invariably, times of scarcity and hunger with
the Indians, for the light snows have buried up the traps of the
hunters, and the fishermen are deterred from exercising their customary
skill in decoying fish through orifices cut in the ice. They are often
reduced to the greatest straits, and compelled to exercise their utmost
ingenuity to keep their children from starving. Abstinence, on the part
of the elder members of the family, is regarded both as a duty and a
merit. Every effort is made to satisfy the importunity of the little
ones for food, and if there be a story-teller in the lodge, he is sure
to draw upon his cabin lore, to amuse their minds, and beguile the
time.
In these storms, when each inmate of the lodge has his _conaus_, or
wrapper, tightly drawn around him, and all are cowering around the
cabin fire, should some sudden puff of wind drive a volume of light
snow into the lodge, it would scarcely happen, but that some one of the
group would cry out, "Ah, Pauppukkeewiss is now gathering his harvest,"
an expression which has the effect to put them all into good humor.
Pauppukkeewiss was a crazy brain, who played many queer tricks, but
took care, nevertheless, to supply his family and children with food.
But, in this, he was not always successful. Many winters have passed
since he was overtaken; at this very season of the year, with great
want, and he, with his whole family, was on the point of starvation.
Every resource seemed to have failed. The snow was so deep, and the
storm continued so long, that he could not even find a partridge or a
hare. And his usual resource of fish had entirely failed. His lodge
stood in a point of woods, not far back from the shores of the
Gitchiguma, or great water, where the autumnal storms had piled up the
ice into high pinnacles, resembling castles.
"I will go," said he to his family one morning, "to these castles, and
solicit the pity of the spirits who inhabit them, for I know that they
are the residence of some of the spirits of Kabiboonoka." He did so,
and found that his petition was not disregarded. They told him to fill
his mushkemoot, or sack, with the ice and snow, and pass on toward his
lodge, without looking back, until he came to a certain hill. He must
then drop it and leave it till morning, when he would find it filled
with fish.
They cautioned him, that he must by no means look back, although he
would hear a great many voices crying out to him, in abusive terms, for
these voices were nothing but the wind playing through the branches of
the trees. He faithfully obeyed the injunction, although he found it
hard to avoid turning round, to see who was calling out to him. And
when he visited his sack in the morning, he found it filled with fish.
It chanced that Manabozho visited him on the morning that he brought
home the sack of fish. He was invited to partake of a feast, which
Pauppukkeewiss ordered to be prepared for him. While they were eating,
Manabozho could not help asking him, by what means he had procured such
an abundance of food, at a time when they were all in a state of
starvation.
Pauppukkeewiss frankly told him the secret, and repeated the
precautions which were necessary to insure success. Manabozho
determined to profit by his information, and as soon as he could, he
set out to visit the icy castles. All things happened as he had been
told. The spirits seemed propitious, and told him to fill and carry. He
accordingly filled his sacks with ice and snow, and proceeded rapidly
toward the hill of transmutation. But as he ran he heard voices calling
out behind him, "Thief! thief! He has stolen fish from Kabiboonoka,"
cried one. "Mukumik! mukumik! Take it away! Take it away!" cried
another.