Some myths and tales of the Ojibwa of Southeastern Ontario / collected by Paul Radin.

  • Radin, Paul, 1883-1959.
Date:
1914
    (33) THE WOMEN WHO OWNED THE BEAVER’S HEAD. Told by Mr. French, Muncie. Once there lived two women who were very rich. They had very much to eat and to wear. They had a beaver which, if they ever lost it, would make them become very poor. Now, near them lived an old man and his grandson, and they were likewise very poor. Very often the boy used to come to these women to beg for some- thing to eat and to wear. When the boy grew up, he became very desirous of stealing this beaver, but was afraid to do so. One day a man came to his house who had heard of these women, but he was not permitted to go near them. He told the boy that if he would kill the beaver and put its head into a birch-bark bag, he would become very rich and the women very poor. One day, when the boy was returning from a hunting trip, he passed by the house where the two women lived and saw the beaver straight ahead of him. He shot the beaver, cut off its head, and threw it into a bag which he had made for the purpose. The body he threw into a pile of brushwood. Then he started off again, and he saw that everything the women pos- sessed was following him. There were berries of all kinds, animals, and clothing. He ran home as fast as he could and told his grandfather that he had with him the beaver’s head and all the riches that belonged to the two women. The old man became frightened and told the boy to take it back, for they would surely die if they kept what they had stolen. The boy, however, refused. The next day, before the boy went away, three women came to him. One of them was very beautiful. They told him that they would give him the beautiful woman if he gave up the beaver’s head, but he refused. Then one of them struck him a blow which knocked him unconscious. Then the women took from him the beaver’s head and all the riches. When the boy came to, he saw his grandfather lying on the floor, with his head cut off, and the beaver’s head gone. He made up his mind that he would get that head again. Now, no’one was allowed to go near the head, which was hanging in some basswood-bark and was protected on all sides by stakes which were instructed to tell if anyone came near.
    The boy was afraid to go near the head, and for a long time he wondered how he could manage to get there. Then a thought struck him—he would get a mouse to go and chew the basswood- bark off and bring him the head. The next evening, as he was walking towards the head, he met a mouse. He asked the mouse if he would not go and chew off the bark which held the beaver’s head, and when he brought him the head he would give him a pumpkin. So, after dark, the mouse was at his work, chewing off the bark, and before daylight the boy had the head in his hands. He took it home, and now he and his grandfather are very rich. (34) THE WOMEN WHO OWNED THE BEAVER’S HEAD—SECOND VERSION1 Told hj John Henry, Kettle Point. Once there were two women whose name was Broken Noses. These women were very rich, for they had berries of all kinds, corn, wild pumpkins, wild potatoes, and animals. They also kept a marten which they guarded very carefully, for if they lost him they would lose everything they had. There were many who tried to steal this animal, but they could never get to the place where it was kept. Every time anyone was seen going towards the place, the two women would call him into the house and give him some corn soup, which would make him forget what he had come after. Near these women lived a man who had a son. He made this son fast, so that he might find out how he could get the marten. One day the boy said that he knew how to get the marten, and that he would bring the marten’s head home. Then the old man started to make birch-bark pails to hold the berries. When he had these ready, the boy told his father how he expected to kill the marten. “First, I’ll cut its head off with my knife, and then I’ll shoot it under the tail with my bow and arrow. When that is done, I’ll put the head into a bag and run home with it.” The next morning the boy started off, hunting near the place where the animal was kept. When he went by the house of the women, they called him in to have some corn soup, but he refused to go, for he knew that if he ate the soup he would not be able to kill the marten. Soon he came to the spot, and saw the animal 1 Cf. Tale 33.
    sitting on a tree. He shot at it and when it dropped to the ground, he cut off its head. Then he started running home and every- thing which the two women had began to follow him. When he reached home, all he had to do was to fill the pails with the berries. One day, when the old man was home alone, the two women came to the house and brought the old man a very beautiful woman whom they said he could marry, if he gave them the marten’s head. While they were talking to him, one of them struck him on the head, leaving him senseless on the floor. Then they walked off with the animal’s head. When the boy came home, he found the old man holding a pumpkin. He asked him what had become of the marten’s head, and the old man said, “I must have been killed and then the head taken from me, while the pumpkin was put here instead.” Then the boy said, “I’ll get that head back again.” When the women got home, they placed sticks all around the head, which would kill anybody who went near it. The boy said to himself, “Tomorrow night I’ll go after that head. But first I must get someone who can carry the head off, through the sticks.” He found a mouse, who said that he would do that for him, if he gave him some pumpkin seeds. Then the boy told the mouse that just about daylight he should bite off the basswood- bark where the head was tied. At daylight, the mouse began gnaw- ing at the bark-string, and when the head dropped, the boy grabbed it and took it home. There the boy must be living with his father and all the berries. (35) THE FATHER WHO WAS JEALOUS OF HIS YOUNGEST SON. Told by Sam Lute, Chemung Lake. Once there was a man who had three sons and one daughter. These sons wrere so lazy and good-for-nothing that, although there was plenty of game about that could easily have been killed, the family was emaciated and almost starving. In fact, they were so lazy that they would shut their eyes when any game passed their house. The youngest boy, however, when he grew up, became a
    good hunter. He used to kill birds and get dried meat, which the family ate during the winter. After a time he learned to kill deer, bear, and mink, so that his folks had plenty of dried meat. After a while the father became jealous of his son, and he said to the other two boys, “That little brother of yours will soon kill all the game that there is around here and won’t leave any of it for us to hunt. We must get rid of him in some way. I will go over to the white giant and ask him to hide a little distance from the house, and then I’ll send the boy out there.” So the father went over and spoke to the giant, and the giant was willing to do as he said. In the evening the giant passed by the father’s house, but the boy was not in. When the boy came back, the father said to him, “Someone must have passed our house, for the tracks are very large. You had better chase him immediately.” The boy answered, “There is no hurry, I’ll go in the morning.” The father tried to persuade him to go then, but the boy refused. In the morning the boy got up very early and told his sister where he was going. The sister did not know that her father and her brothers were planning to kill him. When the boy got outside the house, he shot his arrow in the direction of the giant’s tracks and then went on. The arrow went quite a distance and when it dropped, the boy, looking around, saw a great white giant sleeping. When the giant opened his eyes and began to rise, the boy shot at him with his bow and arrow and killed him. Then he went back, leaving the giant there, and when he reached home he told his father that he had killed the great giant whose tracks they had seen the night before. Then all four went out to skin the giant. After they had him skinned, the boy gave the hide to his father and kept the meat for himself. The next day, when the boy had gone out to hunt, the father went to a lion and asked him to hide himself at some distance, so that when the boy came out to look for him, he could tear him to pieces. When the boy got home in the evening, the father told him that someone had passed by in front of their house. The boy said, “Well, I will look for him in the morning.” In the morn- ing the boy again shot and followed his arrow, and thereby came to the place where the lion was sleeping. He shot him with his arrow and killed him. Then he immediately skinned him and brought
    the skin home for his father to lie upon. Then the father said to himself, “I must kill him or before long he will have killed all the game and left nothing for us to hunt. I’ll go and get a great sea-serpent and have him lie in the river, and when the boy goes for water, he will most likely walk across the creek and step upon the sea-serpent’s horn which will hold him fast.” When the father thought that the sea-serpent would be in the river, he sent the boy to get some water. The boy jumped across the creek and landed upon the sea-serpent’s horn. Immediately he thought of his mother who, upon dying, had blessed him and had given him a little box about the size of a bee, which he always carried about him and which contained a sword and a little dog. He now opened this box, took out the dog and, rubbing him down and up, said, “Grow big.” The dog grew and became very big. Then he told him to go and bite off the sea-serpent’s horn. The dog snapped the horn right off, pulled it out of his master’s foot, and then licked the wound until it was fully healed. Then the boy went home with the water. The father was very angry, for the boy had been gone a long time. The boy told his father all that had happened, and the father again said to himself, “Well, I’ll kill that boy next winter. I’ll get a moose to run by this house and then go straight north. I’ll let a week pass before I tell the boy that the moose passed this way.” When winter came, the boy went out to hunt again, but for some days he brought back nothing, nor had he seen any game pass the house. About a week later, the father told the boy that someone’s tracks were to be seen in front of the house. The boy said that he would go after the game in the morning. So the following morn- ing he got up very early and set out. He shot his arrow due north and followed it through the air for one day, when he saw a moose running j ust ahead of him. He quickly descended, killed the moose and then proceeded to skin it. When he got through, it was dark, and he decided to stay there for the night. He hung the body upon a branch and, wrapping himself up in the hide, he went to sleep. As the hide was still wet, it froze upon his body, and in the morning he found that he couldn’t get it off. When the father saw that the boy did not return, he said, “Now we have at last got rid of him, for he would have killed all the ani- mals around here.” The girl overheard him and said, “As you