Algonquin Legends of New England | Page 4

Bear and the Black Cats, and
performed other Notable Feats of Skill, all to his Great Discredit
How Lox deceived the Ducks, cheated the Chief, and beguiled the Bear
The Mischief-Maker. A Tradition of the Origin of the Mythology of the
Senecas. A Lox Legend
How Lox told a Lie
THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF MASTER RABBIT.
How Master Rabbit sought to rival Kecoony, the Otter
How Mahtigwess, the Rabbit, dined with the Woodpecker Girls, and
was again humbled by trying to rival them

Of the Adventure with Mooin, the Bear; it being the Third and Last
Time that Master Rabbit made a Fool of himself
Relating how the Rabbit became Wise by being Original, and of the
Terrible Tricks which he by Magic played Loup-Cervier, the Wicked
Wild-Cat
How Master Rabbit went to a Wedding and won the Bride
How Master Rabbit gave himself Airs
The Young Man who was saved by a Rabbit and a Fox
THE CHENOO LEGENDS.
The Chenoo, or the Story of a Cannibal with an Icy Heart
The Story of the Great Chenoo, as told by the Passamaquoddies
The Girl-Chenoo
THUNDER STORIES.
Of the Girl who married Mount Katahdin, and how all the Indians
brought about their own Ruin
How a Hunter visited the Thunder Spirits who dwell on Mount
Katahdin
The Thunder and Lightning Men
Of the Woman who married the Thunder, and of their Boy
AT-O-SIS, THE SERPENT.
How Two Girls were changed to Water-Snakes, and of Two others that
became Mermaids
Ne Hwas, the Mermaid

Of the Woman who loved a Serpent that lived in a Lake
The Mother of Serpents
Origin of the Black Snakes
THE PARTRIDGE.
The Adventures of the Great Hero Pulowech, or the Partridge
The Story of a Partridge and his Wonderful Wigwam
How the Partridge built Good Canoes for all the Birds, and a Bad One
for Himself
The Mournful Mystery of the Partridge-Witch; setting forth how a
Young Man died from Love
How one of the Partridge's Wives became a Sheldrake Duck, and why
her Feet and Feathers are red
THE INVISIBLE ONE
STORY OF THE THREE STRONG MEN
THE WEEWILLMEKQ'
How a Woman lost a Gun for Fear of the Weewillmekq'
Muggahmaht'adem, the Dance of Old Age, or the Magic of the
Weewillmekq'
Another Version of the Dance of Old Age
TALES OF MAGIC.
M'teoulin, or Indian Magic
Story of the Beaver Trapper

How a Youth became a Magician
Of Old Joe, the M'teoulin
Of Governor Francis
How a Chiefs Son taught his Friend Sorcery
Tumilkoontaoo, or the Broken Wing
Fish-Hawk and Scapegrace
The Giant Magicians

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
MIK UM WESS, THE INDIAN PUCK, OR ROBIN GOOD-FELLOW
GLOOSKAP KILLING HIS BROTHER, THE WOLF
GLOOSKAP LOOKING AT THE WHALE SMOKING HIS PIPE
GLOOSKAP SETTING HIS DOGS ON THE WITCHES
THE MUD-TURTLE JUMPING OVER THE WIGWAM OF HIS
FATHER-IN-LAW
GLOOSKAP AND KEANKE SPEARING THE WHALE
GLOOSKAP TURNING A MAN INTO A CEDAR-TREE
LOX CARRIED OFF BY CULLOO
THE INDIAN BOY AND THE MUSK-RAT. SEEPS, THE DUCK
THE RABBIT MAGICIAN
THE CHENOO AND THE LIZARD

THE WOMAN AND THE SERPENT

INTRODUCTION
Among the six chief divisions of the red Indians of North America the
most widely extended is the Algonquin. This people ranged from
Labrador to the far South, from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains,
speaking forty dialects, as the Hon. J. H. Trumbull has shown in his
valuable work on the subject. Belonging to this division are the
Micmacs of New Brunswick and the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot
tribes of Maine, who with the St. Francis Indians of Canada and some
smaller clans call themselves the Wabanaki, a word derived from a root
signifying white or light, intimating that they live nearest to the rising
sun or the east. In fact, the French-speaking St. Francis family, who are
known par eminence as "the Abenaki," translate the term by point du
jour.
The Wabanaki have in common the traditions of a grand mythology,
the central figure of which is a demigod or hero, who, while he is
always great, consistent, and benevolent, and never devoid of dignity,
presents traits which are very much more like those of Odin and Thor,
with not a little of Pantagruel, than anything in the characters of the
Chippewa Manobozho, or the Iroquois Hiawatha. The name of this
divinity is Glooskap, meaning, strangely enough, the Liar, because it is
said that when he left earth, like King Arthur, for Fairyland, he
promised to return, and has never done so. It is characteristic of the
Norse gods that while they are grand they are manly, and combine with
this a peculiarly domestic humanity. Glooskap is the Norse god
intensified. He is, however, more of a giant; he grows to a more
appalling greatness than Thor or Odin in his battles; when a Kiawaqu',
or Jotun, rises