also all its virtues, went out upon the prairie to hunt, but returned
unsuccessful. The dog went out the same day a hunting upon the banks of
a river. He drew a stone out of the water, which immediately became a
beaver. The next day the giant followed the dog, and hiding behind a
tree, saw the manner in which the dog went into the river and drew out
a stone, which at once turned into a beaver. As soon as the dog left
the place, the giant went to the river, and observing the same manner,
drew out a stone, and had the satisfaction of seeing it transformed
into a beaver. Tying it to his belt, he carried it home, and, as is
customary, threw it down at the door of the lodge before he entered.
After being seated a short time, he told his wife to bring in his belt
or hunting girdle. She did so, and returned with it, with nothing tied
to it but a _stone_.
The next day, the dog, finding his method of catching beavers had been
discovered, went to a wood at some distance, and broke off a charred
limb from a burned tree, which instantly became a bear. The giant, who
had again watched him, did the same, and carried a bear home; but his
wife, when she came to go out for it, found nothing but a black stick
tied to his belt.
The giant's wife determined she would go to her father, and tell him
what a valuable husband she had, who furnished her lodge with
abundance. She set out while her husband went to hunt. As soon as they
had departed, the dog made signs to his mistress to sweat him after the
manner of the Indians. She accordingly made a lodge just large enough
for him to creep in. She then put in heated stones, and poured on
water. After this had been continued the usual time, he came out a very
handsome young man, but had not the power of speech.
Meantime, the elder daughter had reached her father's, and told him of
the manner in which her sister supported a dog, treating him as her
husband, and of the singular skill this animal had in hunting. The old
man, suspecting there was some magic in it, sent a deputation of young
men and women to ask her to come to him, and bring her dog along. When
this deputation arrived, they were surprised to find, in the place of
the dog, so fine a young man. They both accompanied the messengers to
the father, who was no less astonished. He assembled all the old and
wise men of the nation to see the exploits which, it was reported, the
young man could perform. The giant was among the number. He took his
pipe and filled it, and passed it to the Indians, to see if anything
would happen when they smoked. It was passed around to the dog, who
made a sign to hand it to the giant first, which was done, but nothing
affected. He then took it himself. He made a sign to them to put the
white feather upon his head. This was done, and immediately he regained
his speech. He then commenced smoking, and behold! immense flocks of
white and blue pigeons rushed from the smoke.
The chief demanded of him his history, which he faithfully recounted.
When it was finished, the chief ordered that the giant should be
transformed into a dog, and turned into the middle of the village,
where the boys should pelt him to death with clubs. This sentence was
executed.
The chief then ordered, on the request of the White Feather, that all
the young men should employ themselves four days in making arrows. He
also asked for a buffalo robe. This robe he cut into thin shreds, and
sowed in the prairie. At the end of the four days he invited them to
gather together all their arrows, and accompany him to a buffalo hunt.
They found that these shreds of skin had grown into a very large herd
of buffalo. They killed as many as they pleased, and enjoyed a grand
festival, in honor of his triumph over the giants.
Having accomplished their labor, the White Feather got his wife to ask
her father's permission to go with him on a visit to his grandfather.
He replied to this solicitation, that a woman must follow her husband
into whatever quarter of the world he may choose to go.
The young men then placed the white feather in his frontlet, and,
taking his war-club in his hand, led the way into the forest, followed
by his faithful wife.
PAUGUK,
AND
THE MYTHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF HIAWATHA.
In a class of languages, where the personification of ideas, or
sentiments, frequently compensates for the paucity of expression, it
could hardly be expected that death should be omitted. The soul, or
spirit, deemed to be an invisible essence, is denominated _Ochichaug_;
this is the term translators employ for the Holy Ghost. There is
believed to be the spirit of a vital and personal animus, distinct from
this, to which they apply the term Jeebi or _Ghost_. Death, or the
mythos of the condition of the human frame, deprived of even the
semblance of blood, and muscle, and life, is represented by the word
Pauguk. Pauguk is a horrible phantom of human bones, without muscular
tissue or voice, the appearance of which presages speedy dissolution.
Of all the myths of the Indians, this is the most gloomy and fearful.
In strict accordance, however, with aboriginal tastes and notions,
Pauguk is represented as a hunter. He is armed with a bow and arrows,
or a pug-gamagan, or war-club. Instead of objects of the chase, men,
women, and children are substituted as the objects of pursuit. To see
him is indicative of death. Some accounts represent him as covered with
a thin transparent skin, with the sockets of his eyes filled with balls
of fire.
Pauguk never speaks. Unlike the _Jeebi_ or ghost, his limbs never
assume the rotundity of life. Neither is he confounded in form with the
numerous class of Monedoes, or of demons. He does not possess the power
of metamorphosis, or of transforming himself into the shapes of
animals. Unvaried in repulsiveness, he is ever an object of fear; but
unlike every other kind or class of creation of the Indian mind, Pauguk
never disguises himself, or affects the cunning of concealment--never
effects to be what he is not.
Manabozho alone had power to invoke him unharmed. When he had expended
all his arts to overcome Paup-Puk-Keewiss, who could at will transform
himself, directly or indirectly, into any class or species of the
animal creation, going often, as he did, as a jeebi, from one carcass
into another, at last, at the final conflict at the rock, he dispatched
him with the real power of death, after summoning the elements of
thunder and lightning to his aid. And when thus deprived of all
sublunary power, the enraged Great Hare, Manito (such seems the meaning
of Manabozho), changed the dead carcass of his enemy into the great
_caniew_, or war eagle. Nothing had given Manabozho half the trouble
and vexation of the flighty, defying, changeable and mischievous
Paup-Puk-Keewiss, who eluded him by jumping from one end of the
continent to the other. He had killed the great power of evil in the
prince of serpents, who had destroyed Chebizbos his grandson--he had
survived the flood produced by the great Serpent, and overcome, in
combat, the mysterious power held by the Pearl, or sea shell Feather,
and the Mishemokwa, or great Bear with the wampum necklace, but
Paup-Puk-Keewiss put him to the exercise of his reserved powers of
death and annihilation. And it is by this act that we perceive that
Hiawatha, or Manabozho, was a divinity. Manabozho had been a hunter, a
fisherman, a warrior, a suppliant, a poor man, a starveling, a laughing
stock and a mere beggar; he now shows himself a god, and as such we
must regard him as the prime Indian myth.
This myth, the more it is examined, the more extensive does it appear
to be incorporated in some shape in the Indian mythology. If
interpreted agreeably to the metaphysical symbols of the old world, it
would appear to be distilled from the same oriental symbolical
crucible, which produced an Osiris and a Typhon--for the American
Typhon is represented by the Mishikinabik, or serpent, and the American
Osiris by a Hiawatha, Manabozho, Micabo, or great Hare-God, or Ghost.
This myth, as it is recognized under the name of Hiawatha by the
Iroquois, is without the misadventures over which, in the person of
Manabozho, the Algonquins laugh so heartily, and the particular
recitals of which, as given in prior pages, afford so much amusement to
their lodge circles. According to the Iroquois version, Tarenyawagon
was deputed by the Master of Life, who is also called the Holder of
Heaven, to the earth, the better to prepare it for the residence of
man, and to teach the tribes the knowledge necessary to their
condition, as well as to rid the land of giants and monsters. Having
accomplished this benevolent labor, he laid aside his heavenly
character and name, assuming that of Hiawatha; took a wife, and settled
in a beautiful part of the country. Hiawatha having set himself down to
live as one of them, it was his care to hold up, at all times, the best
examples of prudential wisdom. All things, hard or wondrous, were
possible for him to do, as in the case of the hero of the Algonquin
legend, and he had, like him, a magic canoe to sail up and down the
waters wherever he wished.
Hiawatha, after he had performed the higher functions appertaining to
his character, settled down in the Iroquois country, and was
universally regarded as a sage. He instructed the tribes how to repel
savage invaders, who were in the habit of scourging the country, and
was ever ready to give them wise counsels. The chief things of these
good counsels to the tribes were to attend to their proper vocation, as
hunters and fishermen, to cultivate corn, and to cease dissensions and
bickerings among themselves. He finally instructed them to form a
general league and confederacy against their common enemies. These
maxims were enforced at a general council of the Iroquois tribe, held
at Onondaga, which place became the seat of their council fire, and
first government. This normal council of Iroquois sages resulted in
placing the tribes in their assembled, not tribal capacity, under the
care of a moderator, or chief magistrate of the assembled cantons,
called Atatarho.[72]
Tradition recites many particulars of the acts of Hiawatha. It is
preserved in their recitals, that after his mission was virtually
ended, or, rather, drawing to a close, how he proceeded, in great
state, to the council, in his magic canoe, taking with him his favorite
daughter. With her he landed on the shore of the lake of Onondaga, and
was proceeding to the elevated grounds appointed for the council, when
a remarkable phenomenon appeared in the heavens, which seemed, in its
symbolical import, to say to Hiawatha: "Thy work is near its close." A
white bird, the bird of Heaven, appeared to come as a special messenger
to him and to his daughter, appearing as a small speck high in the
higher atmosphere. As it descended and revealed its character, its
flight was attended with the greatest swiftness and force, and with no
little of the impetuosity of a stroke of lightning. To the dismay of
all, it struck the daughter of Hiawatha with such force as to drive her
remains into the earth, completely annihilating her. The bird itself
was annihilated in annihilating Hiawatha's daughter. All that remained
of it were its scattered white plumes, purely white as silver clouds,
and these plumes the warriors eagerly gathered as the chief tokens, to
be worn on their heads as symbols of their bravery in war--a custom
maintained to this day. Hiawatha stood aghast. He did not know how to
interpret the terrible token. He deeply mourned his daughter's fate;
for a long time he was inconsolable, and sat with his head down. But,
in the end, and by persuasion, he roused himself from his reverie. His
thoughts revolved on his original mission to the Indian tribes. The
Great Spirit perhaps tells me, he said to himself, that my work here
below is finished, and I must return to him. For a while, he had not
heeded the invitations to attend the largely gathered council which
waited for him, but as soon as his grief would enable him to attend, he
roused himself for the task. After tasting food, he assumed his usual
manly dignity of character, and assumed the oratorical attitude.
Waiting till the other speakers had finished, he addressed his last
counsels to the listening tribes. By his wisdom and eloquent appeal, he
entranced them. By this valedictory address, replete with political
wisdom, he closed his career. Having done this, he announced the
termination of his mission; then, entering his magic canoe, he began to
rise in the air--sweet strains of music were heard to arise as he
mounted, and these could be heard till he was carried up beyond human
sight.
[72] Cusic tells us there were thirteen of these magistrates
before America was discovered. Here mythology takes the shape of
historical tradition.
IËNA, THE WANDERER,
OR
MAGIC BUNDLE.
A CHIPPEWA ALLEGORY.
There was once a poor man called Iëna,[73] 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 had 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,"[74] said he, "I will
leave my game with you, that you may feast on it."
He then took up his bundle and departed. After walking some time he
came to another tree, on which he suspended his bundle as before, and
went in search of game. Success again rewarded his efforts, and he
returned bringing a deer, but found, as before, that a lodge had sprung
up in the place where he had suspended his bundle. He looked in, and
saw, as before, a beautiful female sitting alone, with his bundle by
her side. She arose, and came out to bring in the deer, which he had
deposited at the door, and he immediately went into the lodge and sat
by the fire, as he felt fatigued with the day's labors. Wondering, at
last, at the delay of the woman, he arose, and peeping through the door
of the lodge, beheld her eating all the fat of the deer. He exclaimed,
"I thought I was blessed, but I find I am mistaken." Then addressing
the woman, "Poor Wabizhas,"[75] said he, "feast on the game that I have
brought." He again took up his bundle and departed, and as usual, hung
it up on the branch of a tree, and wandered off in quest of game. In
the evening he returned with his customary good luck, bringing in a
fine deer, and again found a lodge occupying the place of his bundle.
He gazed through an aperture in the side of the lodge, and saw a
beautiful woman sitting alone, with a bundle by her side. As soon as he
entered the lodge, she arose with alacrity, brought in the carcass, cut
it up, and hung up the meat to dry. After this, she prepared a portion
of it for the supper of the weary hunter. The man thought to himself,
"Now I am certainly blessed." He continued his practice of hunting
every day, and the woman, on his return, always readily took care of
the meat, and prepared his meals for him. One thing, however,
astonished him; he had never, as yet, seen her eat anything, and kindly
said to her, "Why do you not eat?" She replied, "I have food of my own,
which I eat."
On the fourth day he brought home with him a branch of uzadi[76] as a
cane, which he placed, with his game, at the door of the lodge. His
wife, as usual, went out to prepare and bring in the meat. While thus
engaged, he heard her laughing to herself, and saying, "This is very
acceptable." The man, in peeping out to see the cause of her joy, saw
her, with astonishment, eating the bark of the poplar cane in the same
manner that beavers gnaw. He then exclaimed, "Ho, ho! Ho, ho! this is
Amik;"[77] and ever afterward he was careful at evening to bring in a
bough of the poplar or the red willow, when she would exclaim, "Oh,
this is very acceptable; this is a change, for one gets tired eating
white fish always (meaning the poplar); but the carp (meaning the red
willow) is a pleasant change."
On the whole, Iëna was much pleased with his wife for her neatness and
attention to the things in the lodge, and he lived a contented and
happy man. Being industrious, she made him beautiful bags from the bark
of trees, and dressed the skins of the animals he killed in the most
skilful manner. When spring opened, they found themselves blessed with
two children, one of them resembling the father and the other the
mother. One day the father made a bow and arrows for the child that
resembled him, who was a son, saying, "My son, you will use these
arrows to shoot at the little beavers when they begin to swim about the
rivers." The mother, as soon as she heard this, was highly displeased;
and taking her children, unknown to her husband, left the lodge in the
night. A small river ran near the lodge, which the woman approached
with her children. She built a dam across the stream, erected a lodge
of earth, and lived after the manner of the beavers.
When the hunter awoke, he found himself alone in his lodge, and his
wife and children absent. He immediately made diligent search after
them, and at last discovered their retreat on the river. He approached
the place of their habitation, and throwing himself prostrate on the
top of the lodge, exclaimed, "Shingisshenaun tshee neeboyaun."[78] The
woman allowed the children to go close to their father, but not to
touch him; for, as soon as they came very near, she would draw them
away again, and in this manner she continued to torment him a long
time. The husband lay in this situation until he was almost starved,
when a young female approached him, and thus accosted him: "Look here;
why are you keeping yourself in misery, and thus starving yourself? Eat
this," reaching him a little mokuk containing fresh raspberries which
she had just gathered. As soon as the beaveress, his former wife,
beheld this, she began to abuse the young woman, and said to her, "Why
do you wish to show any kindness to that _animal_ that has but two
legs? you will soon repent it." She also made sport of the young woman,
saying, "Look at her; she has a long nose, and she is just like a
bear." The young woman, who was all the time a bear in disguise,
hearing herself thus reproached, broke down the dam of the beaver, let
the water run out, and nearly killed the beaver herself. Then turning
to the man, she thus addressed him: "Follow me; I will be kind to you.
Follow me closely. You must be courageous, for there are three persons
who are desirous of marrying me, and will oppose you. Be careful of
yourself. Follow me nimbly, and, just as we approach the lodge, put
your feet in the prints of mine, for I have eight sisters who will do
their utmost to divert your attention and make you lose the way. Look
neither to the right nor the left, but enter the lodge just as I do,
and take your seat where I do." As they proceeded they came in sight of
a large lodge, when he did as he had been directed, stepping in her
tracks. As they entered the lodge the eight sisters clamorously
addressed him. "Oh, Ogidahkumigo[79] has lost his way," and each one
invited him to take his seat with her, desiring to draw him from their
sister. The old people also addressed him as he entered, and said, "Oh,
make room for our son-in-law." The man, however, took his seat by the
side of his protectress, and was not farther importuned.
As they sat in the lodge, a great rushing of waters, as of a swollen
river, came through the centre of it, which also brought in its course a
large stone, and left it before the man. When the water subsided, a
large white bear came in, and taking up the stone, bit it, and scratched
it with his paws, saying, "This is the manner in which I would handle
Ogidahkumigo if I was jealous." A yellow bear also entered the lodge and
did the same. A black bear followed and did the same. At length the man
took up his bow and arrows, and prepared to shoot at the stone, saying,
"This is the way I would treat Odanamekumigo[80] if I was jealous." He
then drew up his bow and drove his arrow into the stone. Seeing this,
the bears turned around, and with their eyes fixed on him, stepped
backward and left the lodge, which highly delighted the woman. She
exulted to think that her husband had conquered them.
Finally, one of the old folks made a cry, and said, "Come, come! there
must be a gathering of provisions for the winter." So they all took
their _cossoes_, or bark dishes, and departed to gather acorns for
the winter. As they departed, the old man said to his daughter, "Tell
Ogidahkumigo to go to the place where your sisters have gone and let
him select one of them, so that, through her aid, he may have some food
for himself during the winter; but be sure to caution him to be very
careful, when he is taking the skin from the animal, that he does not
cut the flesh." No sooner had the man heard this message, than he
selected one of his sisters-in-law; and when he was taking the skin
from her, for she was all the while an enchanted female bear, although
careful, he cut her a little upon one of her arms, when she jumped up,
assumed her natural form, and ran home. The man also went home, and
found her with her arm bound up, and quite unwell.
A second cry was then made by the master of the lodge: "Come come! seek
for winter quarters;" and they all got ready to separate for the
season. By this time the man had two children, one resembling himself
and the other his wife. When the cry was made, the little boy who
resembled his father was in such a hurry in putting on his moccasins,
that he misplaced them, putting the moccasin of the right foot upon the
left. And this is the reason why the foot of the bear is turned in.
They proceeded to seek their winter quarters, the wife going before to
point the way. She always selected the _thickest_ part of the forest,
where the child resembling the father found it difficult to get along;
and he never failed to cry out and complain. Iëna then went in advance,
and sought the open plain, whereupon the child resembling the mother
would cry out and complain, because she disliked an _open_ path. As
they were encamping, the woman said to her husband, "Go and break
branches for the lodge for the night." He did so; but when she looked
at the _manner_ in which her husband broke the branches, she was very
much offended, for he broke them _upward_ instead of _downward_. "It is
not only very awkward," said she, "but we will be found out; for the
Ogidahkumigoes[81] will see where we have passed by the branches we
have broken:" to avoid this, they agreed to change their route, and
were finally well established in their winter quarters. The wife had
sufficient food for her child, and would now and then give the dry
berries she had gathered in the summer to her husband.
One day, as spring drew on, she said to her husband, "I must boil you
some meat," meaning her own paws, which bears suck in the month of
April. She had all along told him, during the winter, that she meant to
resume her real shape of a female bear, and to give herself up to the
Ogidahkumigoes, to be killed by them, and that the time of their coming
was near at hand. It came to pass, soon afterward, that a hunter
discovered her retreat. She told her husband to move aside, "for," she
added, "I am now giving myself up." The hunter fired and killed her.
Iëna then came out from his hiding-place, and went home with the
hunter. As they went, he instructed him what he must hereafter do when
he killed bears. "You must," said he, "never cut the flesh in taking
off the skin, nor hang up the feet with the flesh when drying it. But
you must take the head and feet, and decorate them handsomely, and
place tobacco on the head, for these animals are very fond of this
article, and on the _fourth day_ they come to life again."
[73] From Ienawdizzi, a wanderer.
[74] The night-hawk.
[75] A marten.
[76] The common poplar, or P. tremuloides.
[77] The beaver.
[78] Here I will lie until I die.
[79] This term means a man that lives on the surface of the
earth, as contradistinguished from beings living underground.
[80] He who lives in the city under ground.
[81] People who live above ground.
MISHOSHA,
OR