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Before proceeding with the
history of the Ottawa and Chippewa some of their most important and
peculiar legends will be given. They have a tradition of a great flood,
as is recorded it the Bible History, and many other tribes of Indians
who speak dialect of the Ottawa and Chippewa languages have the same
story. The legends say it was caused, not by a rain, but by the great
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo, who was the most remarkable, wonderful, and supernatural
being that ever trod upon the earth. He could transfigure himself into
the shape of all animals and live with them for a great length of time.
He has done much mischief and also many benefits to the inhabitants of
the earth whom he called "his nephews;" and he shaped almost everything,
teaching his nephews what materials they should take for their future
utensils. This mischievous Ne-naw-bo-zhoo spoiled the sugar trees by
diluting their sap with water. The legends say, that once upon a time
the sugar trees did produce sap at certain season of the year which was
almost like a pure syrup; but when this mischievous Ne-naw-bo-zhoo had
tasted it, he said to himself, "Ah, that is too cheap. It will not do.
My nephews will obtain this sugar too easily in the future time and the
sugar will be worthless." And therefore he diluted the sap until he
could not taste any sweetness therein. Then he said, "Now my nephews
will have to labor hard to make the sugar out of this sap, and the sugar
will be much more valuable to them in the future time." In former times
the heart of every tree contained fat from which all inhabitants of the
earth obtained delicious oil to eat; but this mischievous Ne-naw-bo-
zhoo, in his supernatural way, pushed his staff into the heart of every
tree; and this is the reason why the heart of every tree has a different
color.
There was no great ark in which to float during the
great flood, but when Ne-naw-bo-zhoo could not find any more dry land to
run to when he was pursued with mountains of water, he said, "let there
be a great canoe." So there was a great canoe which he entered with his
animals and floated.
As to the origin of Ne-naw-bo-zhoo, the legend says,
that once upon a time there lived a maiden with her grandmother, who was
a very dutiful and obedient child, observing every precept which was
taught her by her grandmother, and she spent much time fasting; during
which time she had wonderful dreams which she related to her grandmother
every morning during her fast days. She very often had a vision of
holding conversation with some deities and finally she was assured in a
vision, that her children would be terrible and would redeem all the
inhabitants of the earth from their various calamities; and accordingly,
she bore two sons. The first born was like any other human child, but
the last one was a monster which caused the death of its mother, and,
although shaped like a human being, as soon as born ran off in the
wilderness and was never again seen by any person; but the first child
was nourished and reared by the grandmother. When this child grew to be
playful and talkative by the side of its grandmother, he was so strange
that very often she would say to him, "Your actions are like a
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo." Then the child would reply, "I am the great
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo on this earth." The meaning of this word in the Algonquin
language is "a clown" and therefore he meant that he was the great
"clown" of the world.
When Ne-naw-bo-zhoo became a man he was a great prophet
for his nephews and an expert hunter. His hunting dog was a great black
wolf. When he learned from his grandmother, that his mother was dead and
that his brother was a monster with a body like flint stone which caused
her death, Ne-naw-bo-zhoo was in a great rage after hearing the story
and he determined to seek for this evil being and slay him. Then he
immediately prepared for a long journey, and trimmed his ponderous war
club nicely and prepared to be in a great battle. So off he went with
his great black wolf on the war path. As he passed through the forest,
for a trial of his strength and the strength of his war club, he simply
made motions with it toward one of the tallest pines of the forest and
the gigantic tree came down all into slivers. "Ah," said Ne-naw- bo-zhoo,
"who could stand against my strength and the strength of my war club."
After many days journey going into every nook and loop hole of the
earth, he succeeded at last in having a glimpse of the object of his
search. Ne-naw-bo-zhoo ran to overtake him, and chased him all over the
world; and every now and then he would be close enough to reach him with
his war-club and to strike at him, but he would only break a piece of
the monster's stony body, which was like a mountain of hard flintstone.
So the legend says that whenever we find a pile of hard flints lying on
the face of the earth, there is where Ne-naw-bo-zhoo overtook his
brother monster and struck him with his tremendous war-club. At last he
vanquished him on the east shore of Grand Traverse Bay, Michigan, near
the place now called Antrim City, but formerly by the Ottawa and
Chippewa Indians, it was called "Pe-wa-na-go-ing," meaning "Flinty
Point," so called because there were great rocks of flint lying near the
edge of the lake shore. And so the Ottawas and Chippewas say it is there
where the old carcass of the monster is now lying--the brother of the
great Ne-naw-bo-zhoo. After that he traveled over almost every part of
this continent sometimes in the shape of an animal and then again in
human shape. There is an impression of human foot tracks on a very
smooth rock some where along the Ottawa river in Canada, and also a
round hole about as large and deep as a common brass kettle on this flat
rock near where the track is and every Ottawa and Chippewa calls these "Ne-naw-bo-zhoo's
track" and "Ne-naw-bo-zhoo's kettle where he dropped it when chasing his
brother," and then they would drop a piece of tobacco in the kettle as a
sacrifice, at the same time praying for luck and a prosperous journey to
Montreal and back again to Michigan, their native home, when passing
this place.
Now the cause of the great flood was this: The god of
the deep was exceedingly jealous about Ne-naw-bo-zhoo's hunting dog (the
great black wolf) and therefore, he killed it and made a feast with it
and invited many guests, which were represented as sea-serpents,
water-tigers, and every kind of monster of the deep, and they had a
great feast. When Ne- naw-bo-zhoo found out what had become of his
hunting dog, he was furiously enraged, and determined to kill this god
of the deep.
There was a certain place where he was accustomed to
come on the shore with his hosts, particularly on very fine days, to sun
themselves and enjoy the pleasure of being on a dry land. Ne-naw-bo-zhoo
knew this lovely spot very well. So right away he strung up his bow and
trimmed his arrows nicely, and went there to watch, transforming himself
into a black stump, near where these water gods usually lay down to
enjoy themselves. And therefore, one very fine day the sea-serpents and
water-tigers were very anxious to come on shore as usual and asked their
master to accompany them, but he replied: "I fear the great Ne-
naw-bo-zhoo might be lurking about there, and he will kill me because I
have killed and eaten up his black wolf." But he at last told them to go
on shore and examine the place and report if it was all clear; but they
found nothing unusual about the place except the old black stump, which
they never before observed to be there. Therefore, they went back to
their master and reported that nothing was there to be afraid of except
the old black stump which they never noticed before. "Go again," said
their master "and closely examine the stump; peradventure, it was he
transfigured into the shape of the stump." So again they came ashore and
one of the water-tigers climbed upon it, inserting his long, sharp claws
as he went up, but he saw nothing strange. So, also the sea- serpent
went up to it and coiled himself around the stump so tight that
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo nearly screamed with pain. At last the serpent uncoiled
himself and they went back to their master and reported to him that it
was nothing but an old stump. So the god of the sea concluded to come
ashore with all his hosts, slowly and cautiously looking in every
direction as he was still afraid that Ne-naw-bo-zhoo might be lurking
around there and watching. Soon they were dozing upon the hot sand of
the beach, then Ne-naw-bo-zhoo unmasked himself and fixed one of his
best arrows into his bow and shot the god of the deep right through the
heart. Then all the host started to pursue the slayer of their master.
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo fled for his life; but he was pursued by the host with
mountains of water. He ran all over the earth, still pursued with the
mountains of water. So when he could not find any more dry land to run
to he commanded a great canoe to be formed in which he and the animals
who were fleeing before the water, were saved. After they floated,
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo wondered very much how deep was the water. Therefore, he
ordered one of the beavers to go down to the bottom of the deep and
bring up some earth if he could, as evidence that he did go to the
bottom. So the beaver obeyed, and he went down, but the water was so
deep the beaver died before he reached the bottom, and therefore, he
came up floating as a dead beaver. Ne-naw-bo-zhoo drew him up into his
canoe and resuscitated the beaver by blowing into his nostrils.
So he waited a little while longer, and afterwards he
ordered the muskrat to go down; but the muskrat did not like the idea,
for he had seen the beaver coming up lifeless. So he had to flatter him
a little in order to induce him to go down, by telling him, "Now,
muskrat, I know that thou art one of the best divers of all the animal
creation; will you please go down and ascertain the depth of the water,
and bring up some earth in your little paws, if you can, with which I
shall try to make another world? Now go my little brother,"--the legend
says that he called all the animal creation his little brothers,--"for
we cannot always live on the waters." At last the muskrat obeyed. He
went down, and descended clear to the bottom of the water, and grabbed
the earth and returned. But the water was yet so deep that before he
reached the surface of the water, he expired.
As Ne-naw-bo-zhoo drew him up into his great canoe to
resuscitate him, he observed the muskrat still grasping something in his
little paws, and behold, it was a piece of earth. Then Ne-naw-bo-zhoo
knew that the muskrat went clear to the bottom of the deep. He took this
piece of earth and fixed it into a small parcel; which he fastened to
the neck of the raven which was with him. Now, with this parcel,
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo told the raven to fly to and fro all over the face of the
waters; then the waters began to recede very fast, and soon the earth
came back to its natural shape, just as it was before.
Again this same Ne-naw-bo-zhoo was once swallowed by a
fish, and after being carried about in the midst of the deep, he came
out again and lived as well as ever, like the Prophet Jonah. This Ottawa
and Chippewa legend is, that once upon a time there was a great fish
that resided in a certain lake, and as the people passed through this
lake in their canoes, this great fish was accustomed to come after those
crossing the lake and if he overtook them he would swallow them up,
canoe and all, like swallowing a little clam in its shell. So
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo said to himself, "This great fish will eat up all my
nephews. Now I must somehow dispose of him." And he went to the lake in
his canoe expressly to look for the fish, singing daring songs as he
went along. After he came in the midst of it, there he stopped, but kept
on singing the following words: "Mishe-la-me-gwe Pe-le-wi-ko-lishim,
Pe-la-wi-ko- lishim"--daring the fish to come and swallow him up. So at
last the great fish, Mishi-la-me-gwe, did come and swallow the great
Ne-naw-bo-zhoo. But this was just what he wanted. After being swallowed,
he was able to dispose of this big fish, for with his weapons he caused
the fish such pain that he ran on the shore and died. After which,
Ne-naw- bo-zhoo came out like the Prophet Jonah, and he went home and
sat down to smoke his pipe, perfectly satisfied that he had saved many
people by disposing of this great fish.
These are some of the legends told among the Ottawa and
Chippewa Indians, as related in their own language, which are in some
things quite similar to the records of the Bible.
Index
Chippewa History |
Ottawa History
Native American Nations
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