Chapter II: Part 2

The Mohawks were so bad that they used to kill for nothing. One time there were three Ojibwa brothers, and one day the Mohawks met one of the brothers and killed him. They hid him in the bush and took his scalp home. When the other two came to know that their brother had been killed they got mad (angry) and both got ready with war clubs and lots of shot and powder. When they got to the Mohawk village their enemies were waiting for them to come. These brothers did all they could; they killed about three to five hundred of the Mohawks. While the fight was going on, one of the two Ojibwas got shot in the leg, and the leg was broken below the knee, but he fought on till he got tired and sick. “Well,” he said to his brother, “we are going to get beaten. I will die in their hands, you run away and tell our people what has happened.” The other brother started back home and left his brother to be killed, who was killed some time later. The one that got home told all the people what had happened. Everybody got ready to go down and kill all the Mohawks. When they got to the place where the fight was they saw the dead man sitting up dressed in some very nice things, such as buckskin clothing, but his scalp was taken.

When the Ojibwas got to the Mohawk village their captain gave a big yell to show the Mohawks that there was going to be a fight, and started to kill everyone who was in the village. When they got through they searched the place for the scalp that was taken from the brother and when they found it they burnt the village and started back home. When they got there they had a big time over the recovered scalp.

NO. 22.

NANABUSH. (NO. 6.)

Told by John York.

It was never known how Nanabush was born, only that he was working for God for many years (York says 2,000 years, which is evidently his expression to denote a very long time) looking after the world, such as to regulate the weather, rain, snow, and other things.

Nanabush did have a wife once, but only one child which was a girl. While living together he made up his mind to send his wife away to look after the dead, those that died long years ago, where she is now.

The old man is here somewhere in the north. She looks after the dead and he looks after the living. He will not die, nor will be sick, and is the only man that will live as long as the world lasts. He never works and always has plenty to eat, and lots of tobacco which he keeps in a skunk-skin bag. (In those days skunks were as big as a big Porcupine.) Nanabush is getting very grey sitting all the time smoking his pipe.

If you look sometimes in the north sky you will see the sky white at night. This is the time that Nanabush is poking his fire or making his fire.

Note.—Nanabush is often referred to as “The Old Man.”

NO. 23.

NANABUSH AND HIS WIFE’S CHAIR. (NO. 7.)

Told by John York.

Nanabush went to hunt beaver one time. He placed his wife to watch for the beaver and she sat on a rock watching for the beaver to come out. She heard her man calling for her, he had killed the beaver. She went over and fixed the meat and dried it. This beaver was a great big one (a giant). His tail was very wide (about 5 feet). The rock on which she sat is just like a big chair and is on the Rama Reserve. Lots of people go to see it.

NO. 24.

THE TAILLESS STURGEON.

Told by John York.

One time there was a family camping at Sturgeon Lake (Victoria County). One day the old man went out to fish through the ice, and while fishing he saw a queer-looking fish. He speared it and killed it, then took it home and cooked it; all the family ate of it, and in a very short time they all took sick and died. These sturgeon from Sturgeon Lake are descended from a serpent which was cut in two a long time ago, but lived and bred young ones with no tails.

Note.—John York said he used to camp at Sturgeon Lake years ago. Had heard these sturgeon jumping at night, but had never caught any.

Sturgeon Lake has no sturgeon. The name may be given to it from its shape. There are no sturgeon in this chain of lakes, now known as the Kawartha Lakes.

NO. 25.

NANABUSH AND THE DUCKS. (NO. 8.)

Told by John York.

One time Nanabush was walking, very tired and hungry. He came to a lake and looking around he saw a very nice sandy beach. Well, he thought, this is a nice shore to kill some ducks. There were lots of ducks on the lake. He called one of the ducks which came to him. He asked the duck, “Is your Chief Duck here at any place?” “Yes. He is here at the present time. He is chief of all kinds of ducks,” the duck replied. Nanabush then said, “I would like to see him and have a talk.” The duck said, “If you would like to see him I will go and get him.” Nanabush said, “Yes, go and bring him here.” The Chief Duck came. “Well,” Nanabush said, “do you know what is going to take place here very soon?” “No,” said the Chief Duck. “Well,” said Nanabush, “there is going to be a big dance.” “Who is going to furnish the music?” said the Chief Duck. “I am going to furnish the music,” said Nanabush and he reached out his hand and got his drum and began to sing, which made the Chief Duck dance right there. “Well,” said the Chief Duck, “when is this big dance coming off?” Nanabush said, “If you like to have it to-night, we can have it to-night.” “Well, it just suits me, and I will tell all the kinds of ducks to come,” said the Chief Duck. This pleased Nanabush very much, and the Chief Duck went away.

Nanabush got everything ready. He made a big camp and made a big fire inside. Night came and all the ducks came in from all around. About dark Nanabush started to sing. He told the ducks that as soon as they came inside they would have to close their eyes. He started singing one of his songs which pleased all the ducks. He told them, “The time is now on” and all the ducks started to come in dancing with their eyes closed. He told them that they had to pass through right in front of him. Every one of them passed him and he grabbed them and twisted their necks. He got a lot of them, but one opened his eyes a little bit and saw what Nanabush was doing. This duck made a big yell and told all the (remaining) ducks what Nanabush was doing, and made for the door, but before he got out Nanabush kicked him and stepped on his feet (we now call this duck the Diver).

Nanabush picked up all the dead ones and buried them in the ashes to cook. When he got them all fixed he lay down and told his anus to watch. He went to sleep and it happened to be that there was a lion close by who ate all the ducks. When Nanabush woke up he went to work and looked for the cooked ducks, which were gone. He said to his anus, “I told you to watch, I will burn you for not doing what I told you to do.” He laid his anus towards the fire and began to shove all the hot coals in to it. He started off and went through where there were a lot of little trees, going right over them. He twisted around and looked at the little trees which were red with his blood and said, “In future people will call those trees red willows.” He went on to a rock which he slid down; on looking back he saw the blood-stains on the rock which he called “red granite” (i.e. which became the red granite of nowadays).

Note.—This lion was probably the American panther.

NO. 26.

ORIGIN OF BIRDS.

Told by John York.

One time a man shot another with his bow and arrow for stealing his wife. He watched the actions of his wife and this man and saw them sleeping together in a bush, when he shot them with his arrows and killed them both. He went to work and cut up about half the man into little bits and threw these up in the air. The pieces of meat did not fall back again, but became different birds, such as the blue jay, robins and others. He cut some more pieces a little bigger and threw these up in the air too, when they became gulls, cranes and such-like birds.

NO. 27.

THE PEOPLE WHO BECAME SERPENTS.

Told by John York.

Two families were camping out some years ago. One old man had a good boy who was hunting all the time, getting all kinds of game and always having plenty to eat. The other family had a daughter, and one time the two young people got married. The girl’s mother did not like this because the young man had good luck always. This old woman was a witch and she could do anything she liked. One time this bad old woman went out just a little way in the bush and put a bone on the road (trail), so to let this young man step on the bone and get hurt. When this young man came home in the evening he happened to step on the bone and got hurt, which laid him up nearly all winter, and they all got hard times. While this young man was in the camp before he got better, they got so poor that they had to go to some other place. The husband of the old witch went out alone to a little lake some miles away to see if there were any fish there. He cut a hole in the ice and let down his decoy. He did not take a spear with him. He saw some big fish and then went home and told his people that he saw a lot of fish. They all decided to move near the lake and that family went. Only the sick man did not like to go till he got better. He was just about getting better when the other family went away. He went out hunting and got some game for himself, wife, father and mother. They lived there till on towards spring when the ice went away. The other campers never came back to see them. One day his wife said, “I would like to go and see my mother.” “Well,” he said, “you can go and see her.” She went out and found the lake and saw the camp, but she could not see anybody, or no signs, or no smoke in the camp. She went near and spoke. After a while some one tried to speak inside the camp and said, “We have eaten a fish of some kind and I am sure it was a big snake; we have all got to be snakes.”

The young wife looked in and saw that her mother (the witch) was all snake except her head, and the rest of the family were the same way. She went home and told what she had seen but the rest did not go to see them for a long time. One day they went down to see what the others looked like. They looked in the camp but there was nobody home, then they went down to the lake and saw the others sunning themselves the same as other snakes. The two families all became big serpents.

NO. 28.

THE INDIAN BOY WHO MARRIED A KING’S DAUGHTER.

Told by John York.

(A most curious blending of the old and the new. G. E. L.)

A good many years ago there were two brothers living in a camp away back in the woods where nobody else was to be seen. Their father and mother had died when they were little boys. The elder hunted all the time and got a lot of deer and other kinds of game. The younger was busy in looking after the venison, cutting it up and drying it. When he got it all dried he pounded it up very fine, same as corn meal, and put it away in bags for to use in the winter.

One time the younger tried to think of something that he ever did before. He thought there must be some people some place nearby. He thought, “this evening when my brother comes home I’ll ask him about this.” His brother came home at night and after supper the younger began to ask him if there were any Indians living nearby. “Well,” the older boy said to his brother, “yes, there are some people living to the west who are called ‘white men,’ and some people living east of us, but it is a long way.” The younger boy began to get lonesome thinking about these people whom he would like to see, so one day he asked his brother if he would let him go and see some of the white people. “Well,” his brother said, “it will take you four days to get there; you go straight west all the time.” “Well, I will go to-morrow and I will try and get back in a week,” the younger said. He got ready the night before he started the journey. He left camp just about daylight and walked all day. When night came he made camp for the night. The next day he started early in the morning, the same as he did the first day. On the fourth day while walking he noticed somebody had been cutting some trees with a very sharp thing. He looked at the stumps for a long time. He never saw an axe before. He went on a little farther. He heard some one cutting something. He went on till he saw a man who was very white. He thought, “this must be a white man.” He got to where this man was working and sat down close by. They began to speak to each other. The white man asked him where did he come from. The Indian told him where he came from and said, “I just came to see the people and I am going to camp near the city.” The white man said, “I have got a little shanty here in the bush and if you like to stay in it you are welcome.” The Indian said, “I don’t know what you call a shanty till I see it.” The white man said, “I will show you the shanty. You come along,” and they both went up to where the shanty was. The white man showed the Indian all the “rigging,” such as dishes and pans, the like of which the Indian never saw before. The white man gave him some meat, bread, tea, and sugar, things this Indian never ate before.

The Indian would like to go to town one day and see the place. He went out and looked around. He picked up some rags and made a very nice quilt. He sold this quilt for $25.00. He made a lot of them and sold them all at $25.00 each.

One day a nice-looking, young man came up to see him and told him that there was going to be a big feast on Wednesday at the big hall up town. He went down to it with this young man. The feast was a French one. The King wanted to find a good cook, and every time the King had a feast there was a different cook. When the hour came to eat they all sat down and the King came out and also sat down and started to eat. He just tasted and went away. This will show that he didn’t like it. The cooks were all men. This King wanted to find a good cook for his only daughter. When the feast was over the King came out again and said to all the people, “Who will try again for next week’s feast?” Some of the boys knew that the Indian boy was a good cook, and one of them went over to the Indian boy and asked him if he would try. Well, the Indian boy was a little shy at first, but he thought he would try. He went to his little shanty and thought about it all the time, and how he would make things look nice. The feast day came and he went over to the place and started in to cook. When he got ready about four o’clock in the evening he got some girls to help him with the tables. About six o’clock he called the people to “come in.” All the boys and girls said to one another “This Indian man is going to get his for sure.” The waiter called to the King that everything was ready. The King came in and saw everything was good. He started to eat and he ate a lot this time. He told the people that he had found a good cook at last. He called his daughter to come out; this girl was never seen, only from a distance. She came out and stood by her father. The King called the Indian young man to come to where they were. The Indian came up and the King called a preacher and had the young couple married right there, and they stayed there at the King’s house.

One day the people had an excursion out on the lake. There were about five hundred people on board. They went a long ways out on the lake. The Indian’s wife did not like to go on this excursion so she did not go, but the Indian went, although his wife did not like him to go, but he wanted to go badly. One of the boys thought that this would be a good chance to kill the Indian, so three boys got together and made a plan to throw the Indian overboard. They got him to go to the back end of the steamboat and then grabbed him by the legs. Down he went into the water. Nobody saw him, only the boys that thrust him down. He swam around for a long time and then began to think about his wife and his brother. He could not see land any place. He heard some bird up in the air and on looking up he saw a hawk. He began to call the bird and the bird came down to him. He asked the bird if there was an island close by, and the bird said, “Yes, there is a rock not far from here.” The Indian said, “I’d like to ask you if you could take me to the rock.” “I will try,” said the bird. “Take hold of my legs and I will take you to the rock.” The bird got so big that it had no trouble in taking the Indian to the rock. When they got there the Indian sat on the rock not knowing where to eat. Well, he thought he would get the bird to go to the city and get him something to eat. So he called the bird and the bird came near. He told the bird to go to a big house with a big verandah. The bird flew away and she was away for two hours, then she came back with a nice little parcel of nice cakes which the Indian’s wife had given to the bird. The Indian had a good lunch. The wife did not know where he was. There was a big reward to anybody that had seen him or had seen him killed.

The big bird came to the rock, where the Indian was, in the evening, and said to him, “Maybe I could take you home if you pay me what I want. I would like to get the first baby you see when you get home.” (While the Indian was away there was a baby born at home.) “Well,” the Indian said, “I will do that.” They started to cross the big lake to get home. They got close to shore when the bird got tired and had to come down in the water about a hundred yards from shore. Anyway the Indian swam to shore and went home. When he got there he saw a little baby boy, for his wife had a child born. Well, he thought he had to give it to the bird, which he did, and his wife was glad that he went and gave up the boy to the big bird.

NO. 29.

JOHN YORK’S OWN STORY.

When he was a young man the Mohawks were bad at that time. Nobody was allowed to go out alone anywheres. He wanted to hunt very badly so he and another young man went out one morning quite a long ways off the Reserve to hunt bear and duck. They got to Mud Lake (Carden Township) the next day about the middle of the afternoon. They shot about twenty-five duck that night. The next morning early they heard something across the narrows; they looked and saw a great, big, black bear. They got in their canoe and got near enough to shoot and kill the bear. While looking at the dead bear they heard another one coming down to drink, near where they were standing. They both shot and killed this one. They took the two bears in their canoe and started for home. After going down the lake a little way he looked up and saw three bears in a big oak tree. The two hunters got out of the canoe and went to the tree. He shot the big one but did not kill him outright, but had to shoot again. This left only one more shot ready for use, as they had one double and one single-barrel shot guns. The other two bears came down the tree. He shot one of these and killed it and the last bear had to come down when there was no shot ready for him. He (York) grabbed the bear by the legs till the other hunter got his gun loaded. The bear was a cub but fought like an old bear, tearing the clothes off the man. The hunters got the five bears and took them home. When they got home there was a big feast and everybody came and ate some bear meat, for their friends thought the hunters had been killed by the Mohawks.

The first of these following tales was told to me some eight or ten years ago by Ben Simcoe, an elderly Indian from the Rama Reserve, Ontario County, near Lake Couchiching, and is probably a modern version of an older tale, as it introduces the negro and white man. The word “He” in the story stands for “God” or the “Creator.” I could not get definitely from the Simcoe who it did stand for. He seemingly did not know much about earlier Indian beliefs and conditions.

The remaining three stories were told to me this summer by Jonas George, Chippewa, of Rama Reserve, aged about sixty-four, professed Christian. His Indian name is Wash-a-ghe-zik, which means “A clear day.”

G. E. Laidlaw.

The sketch of the two little shiny men setting lightning at the tree, also the “Monster,” were drawn by Wash-a-ghe-zik.

THE CREATION OF MAN.

Told by Ben Simcoe, Chippewa (Ojibwa), of Rama Reserve, Ontario County.

He (the Creator) took some clay and made a man. He baked it; it was not done enough. He threw it away; it was no good. This was the white man.

He took some more clay and made another man and baked it. This one was baked too much, and was burnt. It was no good. He threw this away. This was the negro.

He took another bit of clay and made a third man. He baked this and it came out all right. It was just right. This was the Indian, better than the white man or the negro.

THUNDERBOLT.

This story was told to Wash-a-ghe-zik by his father, and was told to his father by his grandfather.

A young Indian, many years ago, went out to hunt early one morning, and coming on noon he got hungry and started back to camp. In passing a pine stub that had been struck by lightning he saw “something” sticking in the tree where the lightning hit. He pulled this “something” out and looked at it. It was about two fingers broad, and about one hand long. He put it back again in the tree exactly like he found it, and went on. When he came to camp he told his father about it, and his father and several other men, together with the young man, went back to examine it. Neither his father or the men with him could pull this “something” out, but the young man could; so he pulled it out, wrapped it up and took it to camp. This “something” would tell the young man some hours before a storm came up that the storm was coming, so that the Indians could make camp. The young man used to dream that he could split trees by pointing this “something” at them, but never tried it. He kept this for many years. He was about eighteen years old when he found it, and lived to be forty-seven. He died unmarried and his name was forgotten.

The “something” was shiny and quivering, and nobody knew what it was made out of. It was lost shortly before the man died. Wash-a-ghe-zik had no name for this “something,” and said the Indians could not make up a name for it.

NIM-MAH-KIE.

Once, a long time ago, before the white man came to Canada, an Indian struck out through the bush to hunt. It came on a storm and he took a line for camp, which was by a little lake away up north. It came on worse, and the Indian crawled under a projecting pine tree. He saw the lightning strike several trees, and looking very closely at one tree that was struck he saw a little man (about two feet high) standing by one side of the tree, and looking again at the tree he saw another little man standing at the other side of the struck tree. Both these men were fine little fellows, all black and shining, and are called Nim-Mah-Kie (Thunder). They climbed up in the air like they were climbing ladders, and disappeared. After they went up more lightning came down. These little men set the lightning at the trees and make the thunder. Thunder and lightning keep the monsters down on the land and in the lakes.

MONSTERS.

These monsters, which are about twelve feet long and about one and one-half to two feet thick, and which have long jaws full of teeth, and look like half fish and half snake, live in hills near lakes. They have underground passages from the hills to the water, and can sometimes be seen early in the morning. In small lakes and bays of larger lakes they move around with great swiftness, forcing the weeds and floating sticks, etc., up high on the shore, similar to swirling your hand around in a wash basin. Sometimes they do this with so much force that they leave the small lakes partially dry. One of these monsters lives in the hill just north of where the old Indian portage from Lake Simcoe enters West Bay, Balsam Lake (now Portage Road). Another lives in the hill at Atherley, Rama Reserve, Lake Couchiching, and another lives up north in a lake the name of which is now forgotten. Thunder and lightning kill these monsters.