Abenaki Stories Continued

Pogunuk the Red and Blue man

This is a story of old. Now Gluskabe an Pogunuk had been good friends for a long time. On this one day, they sat smoking Gluskabe’s pipe. Gluskabe says to Pogunuk, “There is an mdawinno who lives beyond the people at Missisquoi, he is an evil mdawinno but he has a wonderful pipe that can be yours if you listen to me closely.” Now Pogunuk knows that Gluskabe is a great hero and has a clever plan so they can trick this mdawinno and get his wonderful pipe from him.

This mdawinno is very clevers. No one can trick him with lies as he can read men’s thoughts like reading a wampum belt. When men say one thing but are thinking another, he reads what in their mind. Great care must be taken, for he has the ability to turn people into logs or stones which he uses to cross streams.

So Gluskabe begins his plan. He digs a hole in the ground and makes a puddle of red clay. He then asks Pogunuk to lie in the red puddle on his right side. Then, Gluskabe makes a puddle of blue clay and Pogunuk lies in this on his left side. Now when Pogunuk stands he is both a blue and red man. Next Gluskabe explains to Pogunuk how to hid his thoughts by concealing them under other thoughts.

Gluskabe then helps Pogunuk pack what he needs to travel. Pogunik first travels to the north around Missisquoi, being very careful to keep his left side towards the village. When he passes by he makes noise and shouts, “Kwai Kwai.” Then when the people look, they see a blue man.

Now, when Pogunuk approaches this terrible mdawinno’s camp, he is careful to keep only his left side towards the wigwam. When he sits down he sits so only his left side can be seen. Then Pogunuk calls out, “Kwai Kwai.” When the mdawinno sees this blue man, he comes out. Pogunuk is careful not to think of the mdawinno’s pipe. Instead, he thinks of delicious dried meat. When the mdawinno asks him what he wants, Pogunuk replies, “I need a kettle to heat water in so I can bend wood for snares.” The mdawinno squints his eyes and sees dried meat boiling in the kettle as he reads Pogunuk’s mind. The mdawinno then becomes hungry and agrees to loan his kettle to this blue man for half the catch. He doesn’t have to be able to read minds to know that when one borrows kettles, it is to cook food.

When Pogunuk goes to set up his camp in the woods, the mdawinno follows at a safe distance. He watches carefully as Pogunuk sets the kettle on the fire. All the while, Pogunuk is careful to keep his blue side showing and only thinks of all this tasty dried meat boiling in the kettle, how good it tastes with blueberries and maple sugar. The mdawinno’s mouth starts to water as he reads Pogunuk‘s thoughts. Pogunuk now realizes that the mdawinno is preoccupied with thinking about the tasty meat and disappears into a thicket, all the while thinking of hidden dried meat. The mdawinno watches for him to return with the meat, and plans to take it all and turn this blue man into a blue rock.

But Pogunuk is running quickly to the old mdawinno’s wigwam, being careful to think only of tender boiled meat. Once at the mdawinno’s wigwam Pogunuk grabs the his great pipe from its rack and starts running fast back towards the north of Missisquoi. The pipe cries out to the mdawinno who suddenly realizes that he has been tricked. Pogunuk stuffs tobacco into the bowl of the pipe to keep it from calling out to the mdawinno. The mdawinno is furious as he chases this strange blue man, but he can hardly keep up with him. When Pogunuk reaches Missisquoi, he makes sure to stay to the north so the people there only see his red side. They see a strange red man running and making noise and shouting, “Kwai kwai.” they don’t know what to think of this red man but as quickly as he came he disappears to the east.

Now, when the mdawinno arrives, he asks angrily of the Missisquoi whether they have seen a blue man come this way. But the Missisquoi only reply, “We saw a strange blue man approach your camp before, but no blue man has come back this way.” The wizard squints his ugly eyes and can see that they are telling the truth. He is so angry that he jumps up and down. Steam rises from his nostrils as he says, ‘Whenever I catch this blue man, I will turn him into something to torment all of you, a mosquito!” then, confused and angry, he returns to his wigwam to hide his shame at being tricked.

In those days the summers are long among the Abenaki and plant great amounts of tobacco. Pogunuk likes to smoke, he loves his new pipe more than anything.

In the ancient times there was a dangerous warrior society, secret in nature called the Red and Blue Men. This story of Pogunuk, a megassewin, tells of how Pogunuk founded this society

Bear and Beaver

At the beginning of the world, all men and animals spoke the same language. Bear and Beaver are good friends. They spend very much time together among the trees of the great forest. At night they make fire and sit together.

When they sit together, bear often talks to beaver about good things to eat. Bear likes sweets and, most of all he loves the honey that bees make. They keep this in their hives that they build in the trees. Bear spends much time raiding the bees’ hives. He tears them apart and steals their honey. So much honey does bear steal from the bees that they are left hungry and they go about crying. The bee children and have nothing to eat, what can they do?

All the bee chiefs gather together. The great bee chiefs decide that something must be done quickly. They have a great wigwam and hold council to see what must be done. Many bee chiefs speak. Young Bee Chief says, “We must make our hives very strong so Bear can’t tear them apart. We can make them from baked clay as hard as stone.” Middle Aged Bee Chief says, “These baked clay nests will be too heavy to hang in the trees. We would bury them in the ground, but Bear would dig them up and smash them.” Old Bee Chief says, “We can make our nests lighter and then hang them much higher in the trees where Bear can’t climb. There the branches are too small and cannot hold his weight.” The Great Bee Chiefs then all agree that this must be done and done quickly.

Now, when Bear tries to climb to the tops of the trees, the small branches there cannot hold his weight. These branches bend or break and Bear falls to the ground. Many times he falls. Many times his bones are broken and he is bruised, but Bear has no honey to eat. He sits and cries while Beaver helps to heal his wounds, of which there are very many. The bees are happy again, they sing in the tops of the trees.

One night when they make a fire and sit together, Bear notices something about Beaver, that Beaver has great teeth. Beaver’s teeth are very long and sharp. Bear things about this and how Beaver could chop anything with those great teeth he has. Bear has many thoughts about this, none of them good. He thinks of the honey at the tops of the trees and of Beaver’s great teeth many times until he has a plan.

At last, Bear says to Beaver, “ You have great shape teeth. You could cut down a tree with those great teeth of yours. If you did that, the bee’s honey would be easy for me to reach.” Beaver doesn’t like this thinking. He knows that the trees belong to Tabaldak. He also knows that the bees are deserving of their honey. Tabaldak would be angry indeed to lose just one of his beautiful tress. It wouldn’t be wise to make Tabaldak angry, there is nothing that He can’t do.

Bear persists with Beaver. Many times he pleads. Many days, even weeks, he nags. “Please good friend, just one tree. There are so many, one will not be noticed. All I ask of you, my best friend, is one more taste of honey“. Finally, Beaver relents and says, “All right, but just one tree and no more than that. We cannot let Tabaldak catch us doing this”.

Bear picks out a tree with the largest bee hive. Beaver chews away the trunk while Bear stand some distance away where the top of the tree will land with its burden of honey. The tree begins to tilt. It falls slowly at first. Bear shakes with excitement as he catches the hive on its way to the ground. He tars open the hive and eats the honey. Then, licking his paws, Bear turns to Beaver and says, “That was god, but I’m not quite full. Cut down one more tree and I will be satisfied.” And so it is, trees all over the forest begin falling this way and that way all day long.

So many bees are crying that it can be heard a long way off, even where Tabaldak sits beyond the sky. So many trees have fallen that the forest begins to thin out. When Tabaldak looks to see why there is so much crying, the forest is noticeably thin, especially from above where Tabaldak can see. Tabaldak is angry at what is going on in His beautiful great forest. He calls out in a voice as mighty as thunder and says, “Who cuts down my trees?” when Tabaldak looks closer, there is Beaver frozen in terror at the base of a tree half chewed. Bear goes unnoticed where he stands some distance away, waiting for the top of the tree to fall. Then Tabaldak asks Beaver for an explanation, but there is only silence. Beaver can’t tell what is going on because it would get Bear in trouble too. Again the Creator asks and Beaver only stares in great surprise. Beaver, wishing to protect his friend, decides that silence is better thatn a lie. And so Tabaldak must punish Beaver.

So it is that beavers must do very hard work all day. They cut trees and drag them this way and that. They must pile trees up this way and that. They do hard work, piling up all this wood, until the end of creation time, however long that may be/ And now, whenever Bear and Beaver meet at the water’s edge, they only look at each other but are afraid to speak. They think Tabaldak will discover Bear’s part in those bad deeds done so long ago.

How First Man and First Woman follow Bear to find the Dawn Land

When Plawinno, the turtle, comes to the surface and his shell breaks the surface of the water it becomes land. Plawinno comes out of his shell and looks around. Then Plawinno sees that he is on the land, a great island in the water. He sees mountains and entire forests of trees. There is a world with everything on it. Plawinno thinks to himself “What a wonderful surprise!”

Then two others appear. They are First Man and First Woman. They ask, “where are we now?” Plawinno tells them, you are standing on my back; you are standing on Turtle Island ! Then they begin to travel, but Turtle Island is so big that they walk until they are to tired to walk any further. Now they do not know what to do. They do not know where to go and they are slowly starving.

Then they hear a strange noise and it is getting closer. It is Ogawinno, the bear. He is a black bear and he leaves black footprints wherever his great paws land. Ogawinno says to them “Follow me and I will take you to your land, there I will let you eat some of me.” Once they have gathered up their belongings they begin to follow Ogawinno. First Woman asks “Where is this land that you will lead us to?” Ogawinno simply replies “it is still far off.”

Ogawinno takes them on a white path, this path takes them to the north but soon they become cold. Then they follow him on a black path which leads them to the west. They walk until they come to black mountains. At this point they follow a red path that leads them to the south. They continue on this path until it become too hot. At this point First Woman asks again “Where is the land we are looking for?” But again Ogawinno replies “the land is still far off.”

For some time, nearly a month, they follow Ogawinno on a yellow path. This path takes them east to where the sun rises. This is where they began, where they started out, and it is here that they stop. Theis is the land that Ogawinno has lead them to, the morning land. This is a place called Waban Aki, the Dawn Land. Plawinno, First Man and First Woman lay down to rest for awhile and fall asleep.

While they sleep, Ogawinno cuts off his tail. With his tail he will feed them as promised. To this day, Ogawinno has but a tiny tail. Ogawinno takes his tail and makes a stew with it. He cooks it in a stone pot. Once the stew is ready First man and First Woman begin to awake as they can smell the stew. Once they have eaten and the stone pot is empty they scrub it with sand until it is clean. But as soon as they put the pot down, they begin to smell the stew again. To their surprise, when they look in the pot it is full again. It is only now that they realize that Ogawinno is a wizard. Now they know that the Black Bear of the Waban Aki has power.

How Gluskabe fought the Mdawinnoak at Saco.

This is a story of old times. There was a father who had three sons and a daughter: they were Kchi Mdawinnoak(great magicians), they were giants who ate men, women, and children; everything they did was wicked; and the people grew tired of them and of all their evil ways. Yet when this family was young, Gluskabe had been their friend; he had treated the father as his adopted father, the brothers as his brothers, the sister as his sister. Yet as they grew older, and he began to hear of their wickedness, he said: “I will go and see them to see if this is true. And if it is, they will be dealt with. I will not spare anyone who mistreats and devours men, I do not care who they are.”

This family was at Zawakwtegok(Saco River), on the sandy field which is in the Intervale or the summer bed of the Saco River, in the Wawôbadenik(the White Mountains), between Gawasiwajo (Mount Kearsarge) and K'chi penahbesk(Cathedral Rocks), and near Onahgemessuk k'tubbi, the Water Fairies' Spring(Diana's Bath). Now the old man, the father of the evil Mdawinnoak had only one eye, and was half gray. Gluskabe turned himself into the image of the father, there was not even the difference of a hair between them; and having taken this form, he entered the wigwam and sat down by the old man. Now the brothers, who killed everybody, not sparing one living soul, hearing voices, looked in through a small whole in the wigwam, and seeing the stranger, who looked so much like their father that they could not tell who was who, said, “This is a great Mdawinno. But he will be tested and when he leaves he will go bitterly.”

Then the sister took the tail of a whale, and cooked it for the stranger to eat. But just as she served it to the stranger, the elder brother entered, and saidrudely, “This is too good for a beggar like you,” and he took it to his own wigwam. Then Gluskabe spoke: “That which was given to me was mine; therefore I take it again.” And sitting still he simply wished for it, and it came flying back onto the platter where it was before and he ate it. Then the brothers said, “Indeed, this is a great Mdawinno. But he will be tested and when he leaves he will go bitterly.”

When Gluskabe had finished eating, they brought in a mighty jaw bone of a whale, and the eldest brother, who made a great show of it, using both arms and all his strength, bent it a little. Then he handed it to Gluskabe, who with his thumb and index finger, snapped it like a pipe-stem and the brothers said again, “Truly, this is a great Mdawinno. But he will be tested and when he leaves he will go bitterly”

Then they brought in a great pipe full of the strongest tobacco; no man not even a Mdawinno could have smoked it. And it was passed around and every one smoked. The brothers blew the smoke through their nostrils but Gluskabe filled it full and lighting it, burnt all the tobacco to ashes in one pull, and blew all the smoke through his nostrils in one puff. Then the brothers said again in anger, “This is indeed a great Mdawinno. But he will be tested and when he leaves he will go bitterly.” But they never said it again.

Foolishly they continued to try to smoke with him, and the wigwam smoke whole was closed as they had hoped to suffocate him in smoke. But Gluskabe sat and puffed away as if he was on a mountain-top, until the brothers couldn’t stand it any longer and one said, “This is foolish; lets go and play ball.” The place where they were to play was on the sandy plain of the Zawakwtegok(Saco River), on the bend of the river. As the game started Gluskabe noticed that the ball that they were playing with was a hideous skull; it was alive and snapped at his heels, and had he been a normal Alnoba and it bit him, it would have taken his foot off. Then Gluskabe laughed, and said, “So this is the game you want to play? Good, but lets all play with our own balls.” So he stepped up to a tree on the edge of the riverbed and broke off the end of a bough, and it turned into a skull ten times more horrifying than the brothers. The brothers ran as it chased them like a lynx chases a rabbit; they then realized that they had been entirely beaten. Then Gluskabe stomped on the sand, and the waters rose and came rushing from the mountains down the river-bed; the whole land rang from the roar. Now Gluskabe sang a magic song, which can change all things, and the three brothers and their father became the Kchi Namas, a great fish which is as long and large as a man, and they swam down on the flood to the deep sea to live there forever. The magicians each had on a wampum necklace and this necklace can still be seen on the Kchi Namas to this day. This family were all mighty Mdawinnoak in their time; but they were tested and when they left they left bitterly.

Gluskabe Changes Maple syrup (Senômoziimlases)

Long ago, the Creator made and gave many gifts to man to help him during his life. The Creator made the lives of the Abenaki People very good, with plenty of food to gather, grow, and hunt. The Maple tree at that time was one of these very wonderful and special gifts from the Creator. The sap was as thick and sweet as honey. All you had to do was to break the end off of a branch and the syrup would flow out.

In these days Gluskabe would go from native village to village to keep an eye on the People for the Creator. One day Gluskabe came to an abandoned village. The village was in disrepair, the fields were over-grown, and the fires had gone cold. He wondered what had happened to the People.

He looked around and around, until he heard a strange sound. As he went towards the sound he could tell that it was the sound of many people moaning. The moaning did not sound like people in pain but more like the sound of contentment. As he got closer he saw a large stand of beautiful maple trees. As he got closer still he saw that all the people were lying on their backs under the trees with the end of a branch broken off and dripping maple syrup into their mouths.

The maple syrup had fattened them up so much and made them so lazy that they could barely move. Gluskabe told them to get up and go back to their village to re-kindle the fires and to repair the village. But the people did not listen. They told him that they were content to lie there and to enjoy the maple syrup.

When Gluskabe reported this to the Creator, it was decided that it was again time that man needed another lesson to understand the Creator's ways. The Creator instructed Gluskabe to fill the maple trees with water. So Glukabe made a large bucket from birch bark and went to the river to get water. He added water, and added more water until the sap was that like water. Some say he added a measure of water for each day between moons, or nearly 30 times what it was as thick syrup. After a while the People began to get up because the sap was no longer so thick and sweet.

They asked Gluskabe "where has our sweet drink gone?" He told them that this is the way it will be from now on. Gluskabe told them that if they wanted the syrup again that they would have to work hard to get it. The sap would flow sweet only once a year before the new year of spring.

The People were shown that making syrup would take much work. Birch bark buckets would need to be made to collect the sap. Wood would need to be gathered to make fires to heat rocks, and the rocks would need to be put into the sap to boil the water out to make the thick sweet syrup that they once were so fond of. He also told them that they could get the sap for only a short time each year so that they would remember the error of their ways.

And so it is still to this day, each spring the Abenaki people remember Gluskabe’s lesson in honoring Creator’s gifts and work hard to gather the maple syrup they love so much. Nialach

Gluskabe and the destruction of the Wooly Mammoth and the Serpent

Gluskabe has the task of making the world better for mankind to live in, teaching them how to make fire, build canoes and other skills. He chips thousands of
stone arrows, which the people use, but not until much later does he teach them how to make them. Gluskabe decided the large wild animals were a threat to man
and requested most of them to make themselves smaller as an accommodation to mankind. Most of them did, including a giant beaver (Kchi Tmakwa). However the wooly mammoth (Ktchiawassak) refuses.

Ktchiawassak was very arrogant because he was so big and powerful. Gluskabe predicted that when a Tabaldak finished his work, there would be no
more of his kind. A voice then spoke to Gluskabe warning him to leave, there would be a roaring of the heavens to drown the howls of Ktchiawassak. There was
much lightening and then a great calm and the northern lights began to dance.

Then as Gluskabe returned to his people by way of the sea, he found the waters foul and stagnant, with no breeze following the destruction of the mammoth and the dancing of the Northern Lights. This was because a dreadful serpent lived in these waters. As he approached the monster, it raised its head and ran out his fire-like tongue; and Gluskabe knew he had to get rid of it. As the serpent reared up
and seemed about to crush the canoe, the Obasas (woodpecker) flew between them, landed on the end of the canoe and told him to shoot the arrow at the smallest part of the reptile’s body. Gluskabe tried, but the arrow rebounded. Each time he shot at the tail, but nothing happened; each time Obasas picked up the arrow and brought it back to him, telling him to aim near the tip of the tail. Still no luck. On the seventh try Obasas flew ahead to show him exactly where to aim. This time it was successful, the beast writhed and thrashed and died. The water was bloody but began to clear and the breeze blew gently. In gratitude, Gluskabe dipped his arrow in the bloody water and made the mark of an arrow on the head of Obasas and he became what we know today as the Red headed woodpecker.

The First Abenaki Council"

After first man, and first woman made their family, their many

Children scattered throughout Turtle Island, and multiplied their families by

many numbers. There was no law or order to bind them together. They lived

as the  animals did. They attacked each other wherever or whenever they met.

Strength was the rule. If a man had an argument with his brother, he would

attack him.  The strongest would win, and be called the leader. Manigedôba ta Manigebiskwa,

first man and first woman were sad to see what was happening to

their generations of   children. Madahôdo (the devil) had great power. He would

visit the villages of our people and give them bad advice. He would cause

problems, and  tell them to settle it by killing one another. There was no unity.

They could not get along with

 each other. This troublesome way of life went on

for centuries. Our Elders from all the villages agreed to meet secretly.

They choose a time and met together deep within the forest. When they all met, no

one knew what to do or say. They began by sitting in a circle. One spoke and

said, "There must be some laws or else our people will be no more. They are

killing each other. We must all agree on one decision". The old men were talking

matters over, and trying to come to some understanding. It suddenly became very

dark and a great storm broke directly over them. Heavy rains fell, and the

thunder rolled and rumbled. Then there came a big opening in the clouds and a great

ball of fire came from above and struck right in the center of the circle

where our Elders were sitting. The fire blazed way up high, and a voice said, "I

am the Creator.

 I order you to continue to meet in this great circle. This is

good. You will make a fire in the center each time you meet. While you are making

the laws  for your people the fire will burn. If the fire rises this means I

approve. If the fire stays low, I do not approve." When the voice had finished,

the Elders were glad, for now there was a power greater than them. They

continued their talks. They decided to stop the killing. While they were making the

laws of the land the fire would become high, and then it would go down again. That

is how our Elders knew if they were right or wrong. During the first meeting

of our Elders, there appeared a young man. No one knew where   he came from.

He just appeared. "Listen", he said, "I am Madahôdo. I am the greatest of all

things. My power is greater than that of the Creator. The laws you have made will

not do.  You must make other laws, and I will help you. I will prove my power

to you."  Just then a great moose came running with his head low. His antlers

ready to destroy anything in their path. The Elders were scared of this great

moose. To show his power Madahôdo grabbed the moose by his great antlers, and

pushed his head back so far that it caused a hump in his back. This hump on the

back of the moose still remains to this day. He

 ordered the moose to never

attack our people. While he said these things, he hit the chin of the moose with a

branch.  To this day that is why the moose has a hairy peice of skin hanging

from his chin. He said to our Elders, "Now do you see how strong I am. You must

obey me and not the Creator." On his way back to the rising sun the Creator

heard what Madahôdo was saying to the Elders. The Creator did not like what   he

heard. He came out of the fire, tall and strong. He told Madahôdo to be silent.

Madahôdo knew his power was less than that of the Creator, and disappeared. But

before he did, he told the Elders that all the plants and animals would die,

which would cause their people to starve. He said the only way to stop this great

event would be to give honor to him, the great Madahôdo! The Creator told

our Elders not to

 be afraid. He gave them strength. Before they departed this

secret place, the Creator told them, "When the leaves are red as the fire, come back

to this secret place. I will have a gift for you." Our Elders went back to

their villages and told our people what had happened. They told our people to

stop the killing and live in peace with one another. As time passed everyone

was happy.  The leaves had turned red. It was time. The Elders gathered their

people and led them to the secret meeting place. When they arrived at that spot,

everybody saw the great circle where our Elders met for the first time. At each spot

were our Elders sat, grew a tall weed. Our Elders cut the weeds and held them as

they sat in the same place they had the last time they met. As the weeds dried

in their hands they asked each other what good is this. One Elder said, "It

will make good smoke for the fire." They noticed that where the fire had been

there grew three stalks, and on each stalk were ten ears of   corn. The Elders cut

down the stalks and made a great pipe from the stalks of corn. They crumbled the

weeds in their hands. One of the Elders put the crumbled weeds into the pipe,

Lit it and began to smoke it. He passed it to another Elder. The pipe made it's

way around the great circle. Another Elder

 picked up an ear of corn and began to

eat it. It tasted good. He passed it around the great circle. The corn was so

good, that the Elders picked up the remaining ears of corn and passed it among

the people from the village, to plant, grow and share among all the people. With

these gifts the people and the Elders returned to their villages. They lived

happily.  To show their gratitude to   the Creator for the first council, every

year when the leaves turn red, our people gather and feast. They dance "The

Green Corn Dance". When the feast ends all our Elders sit in a circle and smoke

the pipe.