Algonquin Indian Tales Part 14

"Then the wolverine, whose head was not crushed under the rock, cried out:

"'Get off! go away! you are hurting me. You are crushing my bones.'

"But the rock replied:

"'You tormented me and told me I was telling a falsehood, and you challenged me to a race with you; and now that I have caught you I will not stir until some one stronger comes and takes me off.'

"Then the wolverine lifted up his voice and cried to his relatives, the wolves and foxes, to come and remove the rock.

"When these animals came and saw him in such a plight, they asked him:

"'How came you to get under the rock?'

"The wolverine replied:

"'I challenged the rock to catch me, and it rolled on me.'

"When the wolves and the foxes heard this they were not very sorry. They knew how conceited the wolverine had been about his speed, indeed they were all smarting because of the ease with which he had beaten them, and so, instead of helping him at once, they said he deserved his punishment.

"After a time, however, they began to be sorry for the poor wolverine, who was crying out piteously for help, but they found they were not able to remove the rock. They could not even stir it in the least.

"'Get out of the way,' said the wolverine, 'and I will call my other friends, the thunder and the lightning.'

"In a few minutes a great black cloud was seen rapidly coming out of the west. As it came rushing along the foxes and the wolves were very much frightened by the great noise it made. However, they had courage enough to ask the lightning to take off the fine coat of the wolverine but not to kill him. Then they ran back and watched to see the lightning do its work.

The lightning promised to do what had been asked of him; for he had heard of this proud, conceited wolverine, who had boasted that he could run like lightning, and now he was just going to teach him a lesson. So he darted back a distance to gather force, and then he came on with a rush and struck the rock and knocked it into small pieces. He also completely stripped the skin from the back of the wolverine but did not kill him. When the wolverine got up and stood there naked, with all his beauty gone, he was very angry at the lightning.

"'You are like other so-called friends I have heard about,' he said; 'you cannot do a thing but you must overdo it and spoil all. You had no need to tear my beautiful fur coat from my back when you knew I only asked you to come and strike the rock.'

"Then the poor, shivering wolverine gathered the pieces of his coat and carried them to his sister the frog, who dwelt in a marsh, and he asked her to sew them together. The frog had sore eyes, and when she sewed them together she did not do it properly. Hence the wolverine was very angry, and he hit her a crack on the head and knocked her into the water. Then he took up the coat and went and found his youngest sister, the mouse. He told her of his troubles, and how the frog had so badly done her work. Then he showed the mouse how he wanted the coat to be sewed. His little sister felt badly for her big brother, and so she set to work and with great care sewed all the pieces together in their right places. When the wolverine saw how nicely she had done her work he was much pleased.

"'You mice may live everywhere,' he said, in real grat.i.tude, 'and in spite of all your enemies you will never be destroyed.'

"Then the wolverine tried to put on his coat, but, alas! he found his legs had been shortened and his feet very much flattened out by the terrible crushing he had had under that big stone which he had been so foolish as to challenge to a race."

"Guess he didn't run many more races," said Sagastao.

"No, indeed," was the reply; "he was so mortified and angry that from that day to this the wolverine has always been a sulking, solitary animal, and playing all the mean tricks he can on all kinds of animals as though he had a spite against them. He now has not one friend who ever cares for him, unless it is his little sister the mouse."

CHAPTER XVI.

The Legend of the Twin Children of the Sun--How They Rid the Earth of Some of the Great Monsters--Their Great Battle with Nikoochis, the Giant.

One pleasant summer day, when the children had the pleasure of a canoe outing with Mary and Kennedy, they decided to visit the wigwam of their old friends, Kinnesasis and his wife. They had not seen them for some time, and as Souwanas was away on a long hunting excursion they could not expect any Nanahboozhoo stories until his return. Kinnesasis was a capital story-teller, and they were eager to reach his wigwam. There, after making both him and his wife happy with some gifts, they knew they could get some interesting stories in return.

They met with a hearty welcome and spent a happy day there. Among the stories Kinnesasis told them, as handed down by his forefathers, the following is perhaps the most interesting:

"Long ago there were great monsters on this earth. Some of them were enormous animals and fiercer than any that now exist. Then there were magicians, and other evil spirits, like windegoos, some of whom were tall, giant cannibals, that filled the people with terror. They lay in wait and caught the children, and even the grown-up people, as the wild beasts now catch their prey. Then they kindled up great fires and roasted them and ate them.

"Often, when the parents went to look for their children, they also were caught and eaten.

"The people were rendered very miserable not only by these great monsters in human form, but also by the attacks of the enormous animals that then lived. Indeed they began to fear that they would all soon be killed, unless help came to them.

"These people were worshipers of the sun, whom they called the great Sun Father, and some tribes still have their sun dances in his honor. When he saw that the people were in such great trouble and were likely to be all killed by their cruel enemies he resolved to deliver them from their foes.

So he disguised himself and came down to the earth and married a beautiful woman of the Northland. They had lovely twin boys, whose names were Sesigizit, the older, and Ooseemeeid, the younger. They grew so rapidly that they were able to walk when only a few days old. Their sun father disappeared as soon as they were born, going to the far Eastland.

"Strange to say, although these two boys grew so rapidly at first, they as suddenly ceased growing, and so remained quite small. But they were very intelligent, and were ever asking questions.

"'Who is our father?'" they inquired of their mother one day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sun dance lodge of the Blood Indians.]

But she ignored the question, and although they kept bothering her it was a long time before she would give them any information at all, and that was very little. However, she did tell them that they were more than ordinary children and finer than other boys, but then there are lots of mothers who say such things to their own little ones.

"As they were now big enough, she brought out of hiding a couple of bows, and quivers full of arrows, and some magic rabbit sticks, and gave them to the boys.

"'These were left for you by your father,' said the mother, ere he went away, and he gave commands that they were to be given to you as soon as you were able to use them.'

"The children were, of course, anxious to try their bows and arrows and these magic sticks. So very soon after they had received them they resolved to go off on a hunting expedition.

"The mother, who was anxious about them, warned them of the various monsters in human shape, great windegoos and cannibals, that were ever lying in wait to catch and roast and eat little boys. She also told them of the animals that were so enormously large that they could catch them up and swallow them as easily as a turkey does a gra.s.shopper.

"Thus she tried to put them on their guard against the terrible foes that had devoured so many of their people. The boys, however, were not much frightened, and they eagerly set off on their journey.

"They were especially warned by their anxious mother not to go to the east, as there was a narrow lake there to which many of these evil creatures came for water, especially a great monster wolf that had devoured many people. Yet they immediately started off in that direction, for, like some other boys, they did not obey even their mother. It was noon before they reached the lake. At first, as they examined it, everything seemed very quiet and still.

"'Mother must have been mistaken,' said Sesigizit; 'I do not see any living thing here.'

"But as they wandered farther along the sh.o.r.e, suddenly Ooseemeeid cried out:

"'O see that great wolf on the other side!'

"They dropped down as quickly as they could, but the fierce brute had already caught sight of them. He was very much larger than any of the wolves that now howl in the dark forests. He not only destroyed many of the people, but when he came to springs, or small streams, he either drank up all the water or so spoiled it that it was unfit for use.

"The boys shot their arrows at him, but his sides were so tough, for he had bones like jointed armor upon them, that he was only slightly wounded. He was, however, made very angry by their attacks, and he picked up a magic stick and threw it at them. They would have fared badly if they had not so suddenly thrown themselves upon the ground that it pa.s.sed over them.

"When the boys saw that their arrows were not swift enough to kill such a great animal they decided to use the magic rabbit sticks which their father, the sun, had given them, with orders that they were only to be used when the arrows failed.

"The wolf, when he saw that one of his magic sticks had missed its aim, was more savage than ever, and he seized his remaining one, for he only had two, and he threw it with all his power at the boys. This time they both jumped high up from the ground and the stick pa.s.sed under them.

"It was their turn now, and so they both threw their magic sticks with such force that the great bony armor of the wolf was crushed in and he was killed.

"Sesigizit quickly ran around the lake to the spot where the great body lay and cut out the heart of the wolf, while Ooseemeeid secured the two magic sticks that the wolf had thrown at them, as well as their own weapons, and then with these trophies they returned to their own home.

"'Where have you been?' asked the anxious mother when they appeared.