Chapter IV: How the Master Showed Himself a Great Smoker

[_Passamaquoddy_]

_Piʿche Kulóskap kʾchî skitap._[38]

Kulóskap the Great,
Lord of Beasts and Men,
Was ever a boon companion
And a right valiant smoker.
In all the world was no man
Who loved a well-filled pipe
Of good and fragrant tobacco
So heartily as he did.

Now in that happy time,
The sun shone warmer and brighter,
The summers were far longer
In the land of the Wabanaki
Than they truly are to-day.
And the Indians raised _tomáwe_,
That is to say, tobacco,
Far better than the best
Which ever is seen to-day.
And they found a mighty solace
In burning the gold-brown leaves.

There came one day to the Master
A great and evil magician
Who sought to take his life,
As the Master at once perceived;
For he read the thoughts of men
As though they were strings of wampum--
Seeing deep into every heart.

Now this evil magician thought,
By first amazing the Master
Through some wonderful trick, to weaken
The will which gave him strength;
As they say a fish is frightened
When he sees that his foe swims faster,
And is too much alarmed to fight.

So the sorcerer sat to smoke
With a pipe whose bowl was bigger
Than the head of any man,
With a stem full ten feet long;
But ever that of Kulóskap
Grew to the size of a pumpkin,
And then like the ten-foot boulder
Which lies on the beach at Rye;
And the smoke which rose from his puffing
Was like that of a forest fire.

Then the sorcerer filled his pipe
Afresh with strong tobacco,
Such as would kill if they breathed it
A porcupine or a toad.
And at one pull he burned it
Leaving no spark behind;
And at one whiff he sent it
Out in one great round ball;
Then sat and looked at the Master.
And then the Lord Kulóskap,
Whose pipe was many times greater,
Also sent his tobacco
Out in a puff as round--
Out in a mighty ball
As hard as any flint,
And, blowing it on the ground
Which was of granite rock,
Split it asunder, so
That a valley yawned between them.
Then they both sat in silence
Until the Master said:
“Do that--and then take my life.”
But the wizard could do no more,
And returned in shame and anger
To the evil ones who had sent him. L.

FOOTNOTES:

[38] Long ago Kulóskap was a great man.