(_From Tales of the American Indians_)
UPON the borders of a wide and lonely lake lived an Indian with his
wife and two children.
Every day the Indian went off into the forest in search of game, and
after he had gone the woman always sent the two boys down to play by
the edge of the lake. This she did because she had a lover who came to
visit her while her husband was away and she was afraid if her children
saw him they might speak of him before their father.
One day the husband came back from his hunting earlier than usual. He
heard voices in the lodge and stole up to it and peeped in. There he
saw a strange man sitting with his wife and talking to her. The Indian
was so angry that he threw the game down before the door, and strode
off into the forest never to return.
So silently had he come and gone that his wife did not know he had
been there until she came out and saw the game lying near the door
where he had thrown it and his bow and arrows beside it. Then she was
frightened, for she thought he would return later when she was alone
and beat her. She begged her lover to take her with him, and as he
was willing they stole away together, with not a thought of the two
children left playing down by the lake.
After some time had passed the two boys tired of their play and
wondered why their mother did not call them as usual. They grew hungry
and at last came up to the lodge for food. There all was silent and
deserted. There was no sound nor movement except among the leaves
overhead. The boys called aloud, but there was no answer. Beside the
door still lay the game that their father had brought, and to satisfy
their hunger the older brother cut some pieces from it and cooked them
at the fire. When night came they crept into a corner of the lodge and
began to weep. They knew now that they were deserted.
After this the two brothers lived all alone. The older, Panigwun knew
how to shoot, and every day he took his father's bow and arrows and
went off into the forest for game. Almost always he was able to bring
something home with him.
The younger brother did nothing but play. He was very mischievous. One
day when Panigwun was making a fire he carried the bow and arrows down
to the lake, and began to amuse himself by shooting them into the
water. Presently the elder brother saw what he was doing and called to
him not to waste the arrows. The boy only ran further along the shore
and kept on shooting. The elder brother ran after him and took the bow
and arrows from his hands. Out in the lake a number of arrows floated
on the water, and not wishing to lose them Panigwun waded out to get
them. Some were quite far from the shore and by the time he reached the
last one the water was up to his armpits. The younger brother stood on
the shore laughing.
Suddenly from around a bend in the lake appeared a canoe, and in it
sat an old man with streaming gray hair. He held no paddle, but the
canoe swept onward of its own power, for it was a magic canoe, and the
old man was Mishosha, the magician of the lake. When it reached the
spot where Panigwun still stood the magician leaned over the side and
lifted the boy into it. Then he slapped the side of the canoe. "CHEMANN
POLL," he cried. Immediately it turned and sped away toward a large
island that lay in the middle of the lake.
The little boy, when he saw his elder brother being carried away from
him, ran down to the edge of the lake, crying piteously. "Take me
with you! Take me too!" he called. But the canoe still swept onward.
He waded out into the lake as far as he dared, and stood there for
some time weeping and calling his brother's name; but there was no
answer, the canoe had disappeared. At last he turned and waded back to
the shore. Then he threw himself down and wept bitterly. He was now
entirely deserted.
Meanwhile the elder brother had been carried to the island where the
magician lived. It was in vain that he begged to be taken back to his
little brother, or even that the little boy might be taken with them;
the magician made no answer. When the canoe reached the shore of the
island, Mishosha stepped from it, and motioned to Panigwun to follow
him. He led the way back from the water and through bushes and past
rocks and stopped at last before a lodge where two young girls were
busy preparing a meal. They did not speak, but they cast looks of pity
at the companion the magician had brought with him.
Mishosha spoke to the older of the two girls in a harsh voice. "I have
brought you a youth who shall be your husband when you are old enough
to marry. Take him to an empty lodge, and mind, no chattering on the
way or you will be sorry for it."
The girl started when Mishosha spoke to her, and looked at him with
terror. When he had ended she turned to obey him with such haste that
she tripped over a root and fell. The magician laughed a cruel laugh
at the sight of her terror.
When the girl had picked herself up she led the way through the bushes,
Panigwun following her, to where several empty lodges were. Here she
paused, standing with her eyes cast down, and motioned to him to choose
one. The boy looked about him, and was about to enter the one that
seemed the most convenient, but the girl caught him by the arm with
every sign of terror, and dragged him away from it. Panigwun looked
at her with surprise, but she again stood with her eyes bent on the
ground, waiting for him to choose.
"Since you do not wish me to have that one, I will take this," said
Panigwun. He was about to enter another lodge, but again the girl
caught him by the arm and dragged him from it. "Very well," said the
boy impatiently, "since you will not let me choose for myself you
shall choose for me. Which shall I take?"
The girl motioned him to a smaller lodge that stood a little way off by
itself. "I will take that lodge," said Panigwun, "if you will tell me
why you choose it. If you do not tell me I will take one of the larger
ones."
The girl looked about to make sure that no one was near. Then she
whispered hurriedly, "Those are ill-omened lodges. Those who lived in
them went out with Mishosha in his canoe and never returned. But none
has ever stayed in the smaller lodge. Take it." Immediately and without
another word, she slipped away and disappeared in the bushes.
Panigwun entered the lodge, threw himself on the ground and began to
lament. "Oh, my poor little brother! what will you do now?" he cried.
"How will you live now that I have left you. You have not even the
arrows to shoot game, for I carried them away with me. My poor little
brother!"
He lay grieving for a long time, until the light faded and the stars
came out. Suddenly he felt a light touch on his shoulder, and looking
up he again saw the girl who had shown him to the lodge standing beside
him. She laid her fingers on her lips as a sign for silence, and said
in a voice as soft as a breath, "Mishosha is asleep. If we whisper he
will not awaken, for the leaves whisper about him all night, and he
is used to the sound. Down on the beach lies the magic canoe. Take it
and go to visit your brother. Strike it on the side and say CHEMANN
POLL and it will carry you wherever you wish. Only return soon, for if
Mishosha awakens and finds you gone he will suspect me of helping you
and punish me for it."
Panigwun would have thanked the girl, but she had disappeared like a
shadow in the night.
Stealing down to the beach, he stepped into the canoe; he slapped it
on the side and uttered the magic words, and immediately it shot out
over the dark and silent lake, and did not pause until it ran up on the
shore from which Panigwun had waded that morning.
Panigwun leaped from it, and hurried up the beach to the lodge and
looked in. By the faint starlight he could see his little brother lying
asleep near the door, the bow clasped tightly in his hand. The older
brother would have awakened him, but he remembered what the girl had
said, and feared if his brother saw him he would not have the heart
to leave him again. Very quietly he placed beside the child the sheaf
of arrows, and also the food that the magician had sent to his wigwam
for his supper. A moment he lingered, and then, as silently as he had
come, he returned to the canoe, and soon was speeding back again across
the water to the island.
But in the little while that Panigwun had been away the weather had
changed. The sky was overcast, and the first breath of a coming
storm ruffled the dark waters of the lake. He sprang from the canoe
and hastened to his lodge. He had scarcely entered when there was a
brilliant flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by a crash of
thunder.
In the silence that followed Panigwun heard the sound of feet running
toward his lodge, and the next flash of lightning showed him the
magician standing in the doorway. His face was drawn and haggard with
terror. He ran to Panigwun and caught hold of him, and the youth could
feel how he was shaking.
"Oh, my good Panigwun, you are not asleep, are you?" he cried with
chattering teeth. "I could not sleep either. I came to see whether
you were comfortable. Let us sit down and talk. I am not afraid--not
afraid. I have had a curious dream, and I came to talk about dreams."
Again there came a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder. Mishosha
fell on the floor and caught the boy by the feet. "I have never done
you any harm! Say I have never done you any harm. It is the storm
king. He is mightier than I. He is searching for me. Ah!" A flash of
lightning brighter than the rest filled the lodge with light. "Hide me!
hide me, Panigwun. What I did to-day was only in joke. To-morrow I will
take you back to your brother. I always intended to. Only hide me till
this terrible storm is past."
Panigwun took up a blanket and threw it over Mishosha, and the magician
rolled himself up in it, and lay shaken and trembling with fear,
groaning aloud at each flash of lightning brighter than the rest.
Gradually the storm died away; the thunder reverberated more dully
among the distant hills; the lightning grew fainter; the terror of the
storm was over.
Mishosha freed himself from the blanket, rose and walked to the door of
the lodge. There he stood looking out. "The storm has passed," he said
in his ordinary voice. "About dreams, I came to tell you of one I had
had, but it grows late. Some other time I will tell it."
"And you will take me back to-morrow to my brother?" asked the boy.
Mishosha laughed harshly. "We will make no promises to-night. To-morrow
we might think them dreams we had dreamed. Another thing I would say.
Beware how you touch my canoe. And do not have a dream that you can do
anything on this island without my knowing of it." He cast an evil
glance at Panigwun and strode away through the night toward his own
lodge.
The next morning Mishosha said to the boy, "I am going to an island to
gather gulls' eggs, and you will go with me."
"But will you not take me to see my little brother first?"
"Some other time," answered the magician. "We must make an early start
if we are to reach the gulls' island." He stepped into the canoe and
Panigwun followed him. "CHEMANN POLL," he cried, and away they sped
over the water.
The wooded island dropped out of sight behind them, and another island
rose to view. This one was bleak and rocky; over it hovered thousands
of sea gulls, filling the air with their harsh cries. The canoe stopped
beside a rocky ledge, and the magician said to the boy, "Do you go
ashore and gather the gulls' eggs, and I will await you here."
Fearing no evil, Panigwun stepped out on the rocks. Immediately the
canoe slipped out into the deep water. "Oh, gulls," shouted Mishosha
in a loud voice, "I have long wished to make you an offering. Take
this youth as a gift from me. He will serve as food for you and your
children." Then he slapped his canoe upon the side and cried "CHEMANN
POLL." The canoe shot away and was lost to sight, and Panigwun was left
alone on the island.
The gulls rose and circled about him in a cloud. Their harsh cries
deafened him. For a moment he was terrified; then he drew his knife and
called upon his guardian spirit. With one blow he killed the nearest
gull and hung it from his belt. "Man is the master of the birds," he
cried aloud. "Ye are my servants. Take me upon your wings and carry me
back to where I came from."
Immediately the birds settled about him upon the rocks. Panigwun
stepped upon them, and they rose with him in a dense cloud, and carried
him swiftly back to Mishosha's island. As he swept along through the
sky he looked down and saw the canoe speeding across the lake below him.
When the magician reached the island Panigwun was already there and
came to meet him. "You did not wait long enough for me to gather the
gulls' eggs," he said.
Mishosha was wonder-struck at finding him safe when he supposed the
gulls were already feasting upon him.
"I am so forgetful," he stammered. "I forgot I had left you upon
the island. I should have remembered before long, however, and have
returned for you." Within himself he thought, "This boy must have a
very powerful guardian spirit, but all the same to-morrow he shall not
escape me."
The next morning he said to Panigwun, "To-day I am going to take you
to an island covered with precious stones of all kinds. There you may
gather all you wish, and this time I will be careful and not forget
you."
"Will you not take me to see my little brother to-day?" asked Panigwun.
The magician shot an evil glance at him from under his brows. "Some
other day," he answered. "To-day we must go to the treasure island."
Panigwun followed him into the canoe, and again they sped over the
waters of the lake, but this time in a different direction. Soon they
reached a small island as steep and bare as the back of a fish. Among
it's rocks lay a quantity of precious stones of all kinds, diamonds,
emeralds and rubies.
"Look, my son!" said the magician. "Here are all the treasures you
could wish. Step out and gather them."
Panigwun knew that the magician was planning some evil, but it was
useless to disobey him. He landed, and immediately the canoe moved too
far away from the shore for him to reach it.
"Rise, oh, king of the fishes," called the magician in a terrible
voice. "I have long been wishing to offer up a victim to you. Here is a
youth for you. Accept him as my offering." Then he slapped the canoe on
the side and disappeared in the direction of the island.
A moment after the waters were disturbed, they broke in waves upon
the island, and the head of a gigantic pike appeared. He came on
toward Panigwun, his mouth open wide as if to swallow him. The youth
did not lose his courage. He called upon his guardian angel, and then
flourishing his knife he cried, "Man is the master of the fishes. You
are my servant. Come here and take me on your back, and carry me to
Mishosha's island."
At this command the pike came closer and floated beside the island.
Panigwun stepped upon his back and the fish bore him away. So swiftly
they went that they out-sped the canoe. When Mishosha reached the beach
the youth was already there waiting to help him out. The magician
looked at him with surprise and terror. "You here!" he muttered. "I am
so forgetful; but I would soon have remembered you were on the island
and have returned for you."
"I thought I would save you the trouble," answered Panigwun mockingly.
The next morning the magician again called Panigwun to go with him in
his canoe. "And this time I will not forget you," he promised.
Panigwun gave him a look of scorn but said nothing.
On and on the canoe bore them over the surface of the lake further than
they had ever gone before. At last they came to an island upon which
stood one stark pine, and far up near the top of it was a nest. "Look,
my son, in that nest the eagles have their eggs. Do you climb up and
get them for me."
Still in silence Panigwun landed and began to climb the tree, but
before he had more than reached the first branches the pine shot up
to enormous height. Panigwun felt himself being carried further and
further from the earth and toward the sky. From far below he heard the
magician's voice: "Rise, oh, eagles, and take the victim I have brought
you. Ye are the king of the birds and it is proper you should receive
offerings." Then, striking his canoe upon its side he shot rapidly away
over the lake.
Two enormous eagles rose and circled about Panigwun; their wings beat
the air with a sound like thunder and they shrieked fiercely. For a
moment the boy closed his eyes, dizzy with the height from the ground
and the noise; then gathering his courage and commending himself to
his guardian spirit, he drew his knife and flourished it.
"The eagle is the king of birds," he cried, "but man is the king of the
eagles. I am the master and you are the servants. Take me upon your
wings and carry me to the magician's island."
For a moment the eagles hesitated. Then they drew together so that
their wings crossed. Panigwun stepped upon them, and away they soared,
so fast that the wind sang past his ears, and they landed at the island
before the canoe had come in sight.
When the magician found that Panigwun had returned to the island his
face grew pale, and his heart quaked within him. "This boy will prove
too much for me," he thought. "His guardian spirit is very powerful.
But my magic shall still conquer him."
The next morning he said to Panigwun, "To-day I have planned a little
hunting expedition. We will go together, and when you land I will
accompany you, that there may be no danger of my forgetting you."
Panigwun looked at him with a scorn he did not try to hide. "Then you
will not take me to see my little brother to-day?"
"No," answered the magician harshly, and he turned away in the
direction of the canoe. The boy followed him, and away they sped
together toward the hunting grounds that Mishosha had chosen.
They landed and drew up the canoe and started off together. The
magician kept looking up toward the sky and muttering to himself. They
went on and on until many miles lay behind them, and at nightfall they
reached a lodge in the midst of a wilderness. "It is here we spend the
night," said the magician.
They made a fire and cooked their supper, and after they had eaten they
took off their moccasins and leggings and laid them near the fire.
Then they rolled them in their blankets and lay down for the night. The
magician waited until he was sure from Panigwun's breathing that he was
asleep. Then he arose very quietly and crept over to where Panigwun had
left his moccasins and leggings. He took one of each and threw them in
the fire, and then by his magic he caused the weather to turn cold, and
a deep snow to cover the ground. Having done this he rolled himself in
his blanket again and fell into a deep sleep. All night the snow fell
and the wind howled across the plains, heaping the snow in deep drifts.
When Panigwun awoke the next morning Mishosha was already up, and was
tying on his leggings. "Make haste," he said to the boy, "for it is
morning and we have far to travel."
The boy arose and looked for his moccasins and leggings, but he could
find only one of each where the night before he had left two. The
magician watched him with a malicious look. At length he said, "Are you
looking for your other legging and moccasin? I fear you will not find
them. I smelled something burning in the night, and this is the month
when fire draws things into itself."
Then Panigwun knew that the magician had burned them. He said nothing,
but sat down and drew his hood over his head and communed with his
guardian spirit. After a time he arose and took a charred piece of
wood, and blackened his foot and leg with it for as far up as the
legging would have covered him. Then he told the magician he was ready.
Outside the cold was bitter. A keen wind drove the sleet into their
faces so that they were almost blinded. They stumbled on through the
drifts, and every now and then Mishosha looked around expecting to see
Panigwun overcome with the cold. But his guardian had heard him and
the black upon his leg was as warm as though it were his moccasin and
legging that he wore.
Toward the end of the day the magician in despair led the way back to
the canoe. "This boy's guardian spirit is too powerful," he said to
himself. "Nevertheless I will still find some way to destroy him."
When they reached the island the elder girl could not hide her joy at
seeing Panigwun had returned. Mishosha looked from one to the other
suspiciously, but said nothing. He had begun to fear Panigwun as well
as to hate him.
The next morning it was Panigwun's turn. He came early to the
magician's lodge. "Grandfather," he said, looking him boldly in the
face, "every day I have gone with you without question. Now the time
has come when you must redeem your promise and take me to see my little
brother."
The magician dared not refuse, so the two entered the canoe and sped
away toward the mainland. When they landed, Panigwun went up to the
lodge in advance of the magician. He approached it noiselessly and
looked in. The little boy was seated there busily re-feathering one
of his father's arrows. The crackling of a twig made him look up, and
there was the face of his brother looking in. He sprang up with a
loud cry of joy, scattering the arrows around him. The magician was
still far behind, and in a few hurried words Panigwun told the little
brother of a plan by which he hoped they might escape from the power of
Mishosha. They then went down to meet the magician.
"Here is my brother," said Panigwun; "and now we will take him back to
the island with us."
Mishosha cast a glance of hate at the two, but he dared not refuse.
They went back to the canoe together, but the magician was slower than
the two boys. They reached the beach first and sprang into the canoe.
Panigwun slapped it upon the side and cried "CHEMANN POLL." Immediately
they shot away in the direction of the island, leaving Mishosha behind
them.
Panigwun was very proud of his exploit.
As he drew the canoe upon the shore the girl who had aided him before
appeared beside him.
"What have you done, and where is Mishosha?" she asked. She did not
deign to glance at the younger brother, who on his part gazed at her
with admiration.
Panigwun told her how he had tricked the magician, and had escaped from
him in the magic canoe. Instead of being pleased the girl was filled
with terror.
"You cannot escape from him as easily as that," she cried. "The canoe
will not allow itself to be tied, and his power over it is so great
that at any moment he can cause it to return to him wherever he may
be."
When Panigwun heard that he sat down by the canoe and laid his hand
upon it. "I will hold it," he said. "Then let Mishosha call as he will;
it shall not slip away."
The girl shook her head doubtfully, but she went away to the lodge and
returned with food, that Panigwun might not go hungry while guarding
the canoe. All evening he sat there and on into the night, with the
little brother, who would not leave him, by his side.
Presently the little brother fell asleep, and after a while, in spite
of himself Panigwun began to nod. His hold upon the canoe loosened, and
at last his head sunk upon his breast, and he too slept heavily.
When he awoke it was morning and the magician stood beside him looking
at him with an evil glance. Panigwun sprang to his feet. "So you are
here, grandfather!" he cried. "This island makes one forgetful. I had
forgotten that we had left you behind us, but to-day I would have
remembered and would have returned for you."
The magician said nothing, but motioned him to take his brother up to
the lodge.
Panigwun thought, "After all, I need not fear this magician so much. It
is my turn now, and we will see what I can do."
With this idea he said one morning, "Grandfather, I enjoyed our last
hunting expedition so much that I would like to take another."
The magician looked at him suspiciously, but he could not refuse to
go. They stepped into the canoe, and soon they were speeding over the
waters of the lake toward a distant hunting ground.
When they landed, Panigwun took the lead. He led the way back from the
water on and on, over plains and through unbroken forests. At night he
stopped and said, "Here we will build a shelter, and in the morning we
will return."
Soon they had woven together some boughs and saplings, and had made a
fire, and after they had eaten they rolled themselves in their blankets
and lay down, but this time Panigwun took the precaution of keeping on
his moccasins and leggings. In the middle of the night he arose, and
bent over Mishosha to make sure that he was asleep. When he was certain
of this he took both of the magician's leggings and moccasins and threw
them in the fire. He called upon his guardian spirit to send a deep
snow, and then he lay down and went to sleep.
The magician was awakened the next morning by the piercing cold; he
shivered in his blanket, and the teeth chattered in his head. He arose
and looked for his moccasins and leggings. They were not where he had
left them, and as he sought for them in vain a terrible fear came upon
him. He looked at the boy beseechingly.
"Are you looking for your leggings and moccasins, grandfather," asked
Panigwun. "You know this is the month when fire attracts. I very much
fear they have been drawn into it and burned."
The magician made no answer but his legs failed under him.
Panigwun opened the door. "Come, grandfather," he said. "It is time for
us to start."
He stepped out into the cold and Mishosha followed him, dragging his
feet heavily. If it had been cold before, it was ten times more so now.
The wind cut like a knife, and the sleet was like whips across their
faces. Panigwun strode along bravely, and Mishosha stumbled after him,
shuddering in the wind. Twice he stumbled in the snow, but he struggled
up again, and still followed. But at last he could go no further. The
cold seemed to strike from his feet up through all his limbs. His arms
stiffened to branches; his gray hair turned to blowing boughs. Panigwun
hearing no longer any sound behind him turned and looked. The magician
had disappeared; in his place the boy saw only a stark gray sycamore
tree, its branches rattling and moaning in the wind.
So ended the life of Mishosha, the magician of the lake. But Panigwun
returned to the island where his brother and the two girls were
awaiting him. Great was their rejoicing when they heard the magician
was dead, and for many years they all lived there happily together.
In time the two brothers married the girls, and then it was not long
before the voices of children sounded in their lodges. The magic canoe
still remained and often it sped to and fro across the waters, bearing
the brothers or their families, and still obedient to the magic words,
CHEMANN POLL.
[Illustration]