Frank G. Speck

“ All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. ”

“ Wiske·djak was always doing mischief in his lifetime among the Indians, so it is said. He was always doing everything he could to plague his countrymen, the Indians. He spent his life going about everywhere where there were Indians, to tease them and play mischief among them. Because he was so funny, it was thought good to have him going about in spite of his mischief. He had no canoe, so he always walked about, going great distances here and there and everywhere, until he had travelled almost all over the world, where he was heard of doing his mischievous pranks. ”

“ All the small animals came and got fat for themselves. Last of all the animals came the Rabbit, when nearly all the grease was gone—only a little left. So he put some on the nape of his neck and some on his groin and for this reason he has only a little fat in those places. So all the animals got their fat except Rabbit. Then they all went, and poor Nenebuc got free at last. He looked around and found a bear’s skull that was all cleaned except for the brain, and there was only a little of that left, but he couldn’t get at it. ”

“ They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.
By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. ”

“ Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.
Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. ”

“ So Nenebuc told her, “Let me hear you singing. Is that what you are going to do to cure her?” “Yes, I will sing and then pull out that arrow.” The Lions had sent for her at the foot of the lake to cure the queen. Nenebuc picked up a club and killed her, saying, “You are no doctor (macki·ki·′winini‵k·we ‘medicine-person woman’) at all.” Then he discovered that she was no person at all, but a big toad (omα′kαk·i·‵) . So he skinned her and put on the skin. The skin had a hole in the groin, and as he had no needle to sew it up with, his scrotum hung out when he put it on himself. ”

“ The Bear, now a Squirrel, said he would continue to eat people, but he was so small that he could not do anything. “That is good,” said Nenebuc. “Now you can’t do any harm to the Indians. But you had better change your food. Just run up that black-spruce tree and taste the acorn seeds and then see whether you want to eat people any more. You are too small to eat people as you used to do.” So the Squirrel ran up the black-spruce tree and tasted the sweet seed of the cone. ”

“ Then Nenebuc let all the animals go from the raft. He started west and is there yet, lying on his back, singing and hammering at his wigwam poles, in place of drumming, all the time. He will stay there until he gets up again three years before the end of the world, when he will travel all over the world to see the animals and the Ojibwa again. He will not die until the end of the world. ”

“ When a bear has been killed, the families in the neighbourhood assemble at a camp conveniently near. The hunter who has killed the bear becomes the host of the occasion, which is called mα′gwαce·‵ “feast.” Slabs of birch bark are spread upon a clear space of ground to serve as a sort of table. The carcass is then butchered, the head being cut off, including the first vertebra, the long piece of breast fat is also cut off with the head, so that the two remain together. The head with this mass of breast fat is then put into a separate cooking vessel. ”

“ On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores. ”

“ Wemicus was given a raccoon to take home. He left his mitten behind, and sent an invitation to Meme to visit him the next day. On the way home Wemicus thought to himself, “I wonder how this raccoon tastes cold.” So he ate the entire raccoon. When he got home, he told his wife that Meme was starving but that he was coming to visit them the following day. They put the wigwam in order and Wemicus fixed up a big pine like that belonging to Meme and cut two pieces of wood, which he pointed and shoved into his nose to imitate Meme. ”

“ The Giant Lynx Causes the World Flood and Gathers the Animals on a Raft; Muskrat Dives for Earth, which Nenebuc Transforms into a New World.
As soon as the queen died, a giant stream poured out of the cave and the lake began rising. “That is going to flood the world and be the end,” said Nenebuc. So he cut trees and made a kind of raft.12 So he had his raft ready, and the end of the world came. He couldn’t see any trees, water covered everything, and he made the flood. He saw all kinds of animals swimming toward his raft and he took them on. ”

“ And when the Indians get short of tobacco they will cut you and scrape the bark off you and dry you and use you to smoke for their tobacco.” He looked up higher toward the rocks where he fell down. There he saw his scabs sticking to the rocks where he had stuck, some large, some small. Said he to the rocks, “You will hold on to these scabs. Don’t ever let go. And when the Indians are hard put to it for something to eat, you will give them some of my scabs and tell them to wash them in cold water and boil them with rabbit meat or any kind of meat or fish. ”

“ After the feast the oldest and most venerable man in the camp is presented with the head and the attached breast fat, which he may either take home or distribute over again to the company. After the feast is over the chief must go around and consume what grease is left. This is to demonstrate his capacity as a man and hearty eater. After all is over, the lower jaw bone is tied to the skull in its proper position and black stripes are painted on the skull. This is then put on the stub end of a branch of a tree facing from some prominent point toward the river or lake, near the water’s edge. ”

“ Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. ”

“ Wemicus, looking up, saw his son-in-law but mistook him for a gull. Then the man flew [47] over him and defecated in his face, and Wemicus said, “Gull’s excrement always smells like that when they have eaten a man.” The man flew back to camp and told his wife to cook the eggs, and he told his children to play with the wings. When Wemicus reached the camp, he saw the children playing with the wings and said, “Where did you get those wings?” “From father,” was the reply. “Your father? Why, the gulls ate him!” Then he went to the wigwam and there he saw the man smoking. ”

“ I am Ciŋgəbis and alive.” “You cannot be Ciŋgəbis, because there is only one Ciŋgəbis, and we heard he was drowned. But if you are, you cannot marry the girl, because you have another wife.” Now Ciŋgəbis wanted the girl and stayed in the camp. He would not leave. So that night they put one of the girl’s brothers to sleep alongside of him, so that he could not secretly get to the wigwam where the girls slept. During the night he talked with the brother and told him that he would show them how he could stay under water if they would give him the girl. ”

“ When he is heard by the people, it is a sign that someone will die. It is thought that he is heard occasionally three times in succession, making his peculiar noise, once at the horizon, once at the zenith, and again at the opposite horizon. ”

“ Nenebuc Starts Travelling, Anum Suum Castigat for Deceiving Him, Changes the Colour of the Partridge Family, and Originates Rock Tripe from his Scabs for the Benefit of the People.
Now Nenebuc grew up and was alone. He was a man and began to travel. He knew all kinds of things concerning the trees, the world, and everything which his grandfather had taught him. He set out on his first journey and went toward the mountains. In one day’s walk he climbed over three great mountains, something that no man could do. When he reached the top of the first mountain he found a goose and killed it. ”

“ The trickster-transformer Wiske·djak “meat bird” is the personified Canada Jay or “Whisky Jack” (Perisoreus sp.) . He is not in the least altruistic, though he seems to have in mind some provision for the Indians, as appears more particularly in story number 4. For the most part his transformations are semi-accidental. It seems hardly worth while at the present time to comment in detail on the transformer concept here, as it is my intention to pursue investigations further in this general [2] area, in which the transformer appears under various titles. ”

“ They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. The season is right, so we will come tomorrow with dogs.” The Beavers were in their houses and they saw the Indians, but they couldn’t hear the talking. The Muskrat heard, however, and went to the Beaver and told them. “You must look out for yourselves, uncles. Those Indians say you are very easy to catch.” Now the Muskrat had stayed outside the Indians’ wigwam and listened to what they were saying, until his feet got so cold that he could stay no longer. ”

“ Now Ciŋgəbis suspected some trick and told his wife not to go to the dance. “If I have to go, you must stay here at home and not move away from the wigwam.”
When the night of the dance came, they got everything ready—the drum and rattles, and everybody was coming from every camp. They prepared a kind of drink out of boiled bark and herbs with tobacco juice in it, that would make people dizzy when they drank it. Ciŋgəbis did not want to go to the dance at first, but everybody coaxed him until he started. But he told his wife to stay at home and not leave for anything. ”

“ In order to foretell the sex of the child about to be born, the first vertebra of a moose or deer may be used. The appearance of one side of this bone resembles a man’s face, while the other resembles a woman’s. The seeker for information may place this bone on top of his head and let it drop to the ground. Whichever face turns upward like a die indicates the sex of the child. ”

“ Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the people malo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.
Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. ”

“ No Indian camp here.” At last he banged against a balsam and then a spruce. “I am getting on low ground now,” said he. Pretty soon he got into ragged bush and struck a rough-bark tree. “What’s your name?” he asked. “Cedar,” said the tree. “Aha! Now I’m in low ground and may strike a camp at last.” He went on and soon got into very tight bush and struck an alder. “Aha! Now, I am close to a lake. I will soon find a camp.” Next he got tangled up in knee-high twigs. He asked them what their name was and they told him willows. He said, “Am I near a lake?” “Yes,” they answered. “Can you see people?” ”

“ So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling. ”

“ When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” ”

“ The old woman went off into the woods to where there was a dead spruce stump that was full of ants. She cut off the stump and got a piece about the length of a person. The ants are asleep in the cold of night and will not rouse when disturbed. The stump she took with her to Ciŋgəbis’ wigwam and quietly called to her daughter inside. ”

“ You go to the west.” Then he sent one brother to the east, one to the south, and one to the north. So Nenebuc, the eldest of the five, was left. The old man told him to attend to the world and to keep the winds going just right lest the water get stagnant and bad. Then Nenebuc stayed, and his four brothers started to the four parts of the earth.
One day Nenebuc asked his grandfather, “Where have I been born? Had I a mother like other people?” His grandfather would not tell him, but his grandmother told him that he had been found. ”