Tibik-kìzis - Tales From The Great Lakes & Canada

By Clive Gilson

Among many Native cultures, "storytelling" was normally restricted to the long winter evenings. The Cree were one culture with a strict belief in this regard: "During the summer, no stories founded on fiction were ever told, the Indigenous peoples believing that if any 'fairy' tales were told during that season when they w

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clive Gilson
• Release date: Dec 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781913500689

Book preview

I have edited Clive Gilson’s books for over a decade now – he’s prolific and can turn his hand to many genres. poetry, short fiction, contemporary novels, folklore and science fiction – and the common theme is that none of them ever fails to take my breath away. There’s something in each story that is either memorably poignant, hauntingly unnerving or sidesplittingly funny. 

Lorna Howarth, The Write Factor

Tales From The World's Firesides is a grand project. I've collected ‘000’s of traditional texts as part of other projects, and while many of the original texts are available through channels like Project Gutenberg, some of the narratives can be hard to read by modern readers, & so the Fireside project was born. Put simply, I collect, collate & adapt traditional tales from around the world & publish them as a modern archive. This is the 2nd book in Part 2 – North America, following on from the 19 titles in Part 1 covering a host of nations & regions across Europe. I'm not laying any claim to insight or specialist knowledge, but these collections are born out of my love of story-telling & I hope that you'll share my affection for traditional tales, myths & legends.

Cover image by David Mark from Pixabay

Tibik-kìzis

-oOo-

Tales From The Great Lakes & Canada

Traditional tales, fables and sagas from the First Nations of North America

Compiled & Edited by Clive Gilson

Tales from the World’s Firesides

Book 2 in Part 2 of the series: North America

Tibik-kìzis - Tales From The Great Lakes & Canada,

edited by Clive Gilson, Solitude, Bath, UK

www.clivegilson.com.com

First published as an eBook in 2019

2nd edition © 2019 Clive Gilson

3rd edition © 2023 Clive Gilson

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by United Kingdom copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Printed by IngramSpark

ISBN: 978-1-913500-24-5

Planet

SOLITUDE

Contents

Preface

Origin Of Light

Eroneniera

The Story Of Manabush

Mishemokwa

The Great Flood

The Legend Of The Thunder Birds

Creation Of Light

Mishosha

The Origin Of Tobacco

Peeta Kway

Origin Of Maple Sugar

The Celestial Sisters

Coming Of Fire

At-O-Sis, The Serpent

How Grizzly Bear And Coyote Made Light And The Seasons

The Partridge

Origin Of Light And Fire

The Invisible One

How Fire Was Secured

The Weewillmekq'

Manabush And The Great Fish

Fish-Hawk And Scapegrace

Old One

The Wonderful Exploits Of Grasshopper

The Great Fire

The Giant Magicians

Why The Sun Is Bright

The Cliff Of Sinikielt

The Departure Of Manabush

Osseo, The Son Of The Evening Star

Sun And Moon

The Woman In The Moon

The Request For Immortality

Moon

War With The Sky People

How Two Sisters Got Out Of Sky Land

The Star Hunters

Rabbit And Panther

The Great Bear And The Hunter

Origin Of The Chinook Wind

Why Deer Never Eat Men

How Shewish Became A Great Whale Hunter

When Glacier Married Chinook’s Daughter

Mink’s War With The Southeast Wind

Capture Of Wind

The Porcupine And The Two Sisters

Why Lightning Strikes The Trees

Origin Of Tsilhqot’in Cañon

Origin Of Death

Turtle

How Death Came

Origin Of Arrowheads

How The Indians First Obtained Blankets

Ball-Carrier And The Bad One

Hunting In The Snow Mountains

Coyote’s Gift Of The Salmon And The Cañon Of The Fraser River

The Finding Of The Tsomass

Coyote And The Salmon

Wiske-Djak And The Geese

Wiske-Djak And The Partridges

Wiske-Djak And Great Beaver

Weendigoes And The Bone-Dwarf

The Legend Of Eut-Le-Ten

Coyote And Fox

Beaver And Porcupine

Further Adventures Of Eut-Le-Ten

The Bird Lover

How Ball-Carrier Finished His Task

Eagle’s Feast

When Chickadee Climbed A Tree

Chipmunk

War Of The Four Tribes

The Destruction Of Monsters

Historical Notes

About The Editor

ORIGINAL FICTION BY CLIVE GILSON

Songs of Bliss

Out of the Walled Garden

The Mechanic’s Curse

The Insomniac Booth

A Solitude of Stars

AS EDITOR – FIRESIDE TALES – Part 1, Europe

Tales From the Land of Dragons

Tales From the Land of The Brave

Tales From the Land of Saints And Scholars

Tales From the Land of Hope And Glory

Tales From Lands of Snow and Ice

Tales From the Viking Isles

Tales From the Forest Lands

Tales From the Old Norse

More Tales About Saints and Scholars

More Tales About Hope and Glory

More Tales About Snow and Ice

Tales From the Land of Rabbits

Tales Told by Bulls and Wolves

Tales of Fire and Bronze

Tales From the Land of the Strigoi

Tales Told by the Wind Mother

Tales from Gallia

Tales from Germania

EDITOR – FIRESIDE TALES – Part 2, North America

Okaraxta - Tales from The Great Plains

Tibik-Kìzis – Tales from The Great Lakes & Canada

Jóhonaaʼéí –Tales from America’s Southwest

Qugaaĝix̂ - First Nation Tales from Alaska & The Arctic

Karahkwa - First Nation Tales from America’s Eastern States

Pot-Likker - Folklore, Fairy Tales, and Settler Stories from America

EDITOR – FIRESIDE TALES – Part 3, Africa

Arokin Tales – Folklore & Fairy Tales from West Africa

Hadithi Tales – Folklore & Fairy Tales from East Africa

Inkathaso Tales – Folklore & Fairy Tales from Southern Africa

Tarubadur Tales – Folklore & Fairy Tales from North Africa

Elephant And Frog – Folklore from Central Africa

Preface

I’ve been collecting and telling stories for a couple of decades now, having had several of my own works published in recent years. My particular focus is on short story writing in the realms of magical realities and science fiction fantasies.

I’ve always drawn heavily on traditional folk and fairy tales, and in so doing have amassed a collection of many thousands of these tales from around the world. It has been one of my long-standing ambitions to gather these stories together and to create a library of tales that tell the stories of places and peoples from the four corners of our world.

One of the main motivations for me in undertaking the project is to collect and tell stories that otherwise might be lost or, at best forgotten. Given that a lot of my sources are from early collectors, particularly covering works produced in the late eighteenth century, throughout the nineteenth century, and in the early years of the twentieth century, I do make every effort to adapt stories for a modern reader. Early collectors had a different world view to many of us today, and often expressed views about race and gender, for example, that we find difficult to reconcile in the early years of the twenty-first century. I try, although with varying degrees of success, to update these stories with sensitivity while trying to stay as true to the original spirit of each story as I can.

I also want to assure readers that I try hard not to comment on or appropriate originating cultures. It is almost certainly true that the early collectors of these tales, with their then prevalent world views, have made assumptions about the originating cultures that have given us these tales. I hope that you’ll accept my mission to preserve these tales, however and wherever I find them, as just that. I have, therefore, made sure that every story has a full attribution, covering both the original collector / writer and the collection title that this version has been adapted from, as well as having notes about publishers and other relevant and, I hope, interesting source data. Wherever possible I have added a cultural or indigenous attribution as well, although for some of the tiles, the country-based theme is obvious.

This volume, Tibik-kìzis covers stories originating broadly from North America’s Great Lakes communities and what are now largely Canadian provinces. As ever, it's been a simple but rewarding pleasure to discover just how deep and rich are the veins of folk and tribal lore across the Americas. There is a deep sense of nature, of the seasons, weather, plants, animals, earth, water, fire, sky and the heavenly bodies, together with common elements such as all embracing, universal and omniscient Great Spirit.

While some of the classic definitions of folklore were created by Europeans such as William Thoms, who coined the term in 1846 to refer to manners, customs [...] of the olden times, the study of folklore has grown substantially out of the European concept of folk, often understood to mean common, uneducated people mostly in villages or rural communities. This definition, however, falls short of capturing the formal aspect of many Indigenous traditions. Even 19th century folklorists collecting and attempting to translate Indigenous oral literature recognised the immense challenge of bridging the culture gap. Ethnographer Horatio Hale wrote in 1874 that creation myths and myths explaining the origin of sacred ceremonies, were, in a certain sense, articles of religion and were handed down with scrupulous exactness.

One quoted First Nation chief is reported to have said, It is very difficult for a stranger to rightly understand the morals of [our] stories [...] And when you have learned all that language can convey, there are still a thousand images, suggestions and associations recurring to [our people], which can strike no chord in your heart. The myriad voices of nature are dumb to you, but to [us] they are full of life and power.

Among many Native cultures, storytelling was normally restricted to the long winter evenings. The Cree were one culture with a strict belief in this regard: During the summer, no stories founded on fiction were ever told, the Indigenous peoples believing that if any 'fairy' tales were told during that season when they were supposed to use their time to best advantage, the narrator would have his life destroyed by the lizard, which would suck his blood.

Some broad themes can be identified in Indigenous Canadian mythology. Creation myths are among the most sacred to many Indigenous cultures. Haida myths of the Raven, a celestial being, explain the creation of the sun. The Haida word for Raven means the one who is going to order things, and it was Raven who established the laws of nature and was present when people were first created.

One creation myth from the North-eastern Woodlands tribes describes the creation of North America, or Turtle Island, by Muskrat and Turtle. Myths about the origins of landscape features, such as mountains and rivers, are common in several Indigenous peoples oral traditions.

Supernatural beings are prominent in many myths about the origin of places, animals, and other natural phenomena. Manabozho is the trickster spirit and hero of Ojibwa mythology (part of the larger body of Anishinaabe traditional beliefs). Glooscap, a giant gifted with supernatural powers, is the hero and transformer of the mythology of the Wabanaki peoples. Supernatural experiences by ordinary mortals are found in other myths. For example, the Chippewa have myths explaining the first corn and the first robin, triggered by a boy's vision. Some myths explain the origins of sacred rituals or objects, such as sweat lodges, wampum, and the sun dance.

A characteristic of many of the myths is the close relationship between human beings and creatures of the natural world, often featuring shape- shifting between forms. Although most Native American myths are profound and serious, some use light-hearted humour. Another common theme is the making of a journey, often to a supernatural place across the landscape or to the sky world.

Folktales have been a part of the social and cultural life of Native American regardless of whether they were sedentary agriculturists or nomadic hunters. As they gathered around a fire at night, Native Americans could be transported to another world through the talent of a good storyteller. The effect was derived not only from the novelty of the tale itself but also from the imaginative skill of the narrator, who often added gestures and songs and occasionally adapted a particular tale to suit a certain culture. As I said at the beginning of this short preface, it's been a delight to get to know these tales just a little, and I still have a long way to walk amongst the stories of so many more tribes and peoples across North America.

Notes in this preface are taken from Wikipedia and the online Britannica

Clive

Bath, 2023

Origin Of Light

This adaptation is taken from a story told by Katharine Berry Judson. Myths and Legends of British North America was originally published by A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, in 1917. This is a Nlaka'pamux tale.

A LARGE DEAD TREE STOOD NEAR Spence’s Bridge. It was full of magic and possessed the power of giving light. At that time the world was always dark. Now Chipmunk did not like the continual darkness, and his friends did not like it, but some of the animals did. And some of the other animals were undecided.

Chipmunk knew that if he set fire to the magic tree near Spence’s Bridge, the world would become light again, so he set fire to the roots, and kept poking the ashes away with a stick that the wind might fan the flames. When the tree fell, the earth became light.

Now Grizzly Bear and his friends wanted continual darkness. When that tree fell, Grizzly appeared in a great rage and began to put out the fire by throwing earth on the log and on Chipmunk.

Grizzly Bear cried, Le pa, Le pa! Dimness, dimness!

Chipmunk would poke the fire and brush the earth and ashes away and sing, Tse ka, tse ka! Light, light, light!

And immediately the fire would flame up and light would come, but when Grizzly Bear threw on more earth it became dark again.

Now both Grizzly and Chipmunk sang as loud and as hard as they could, and sometimes it was light and sometimes it was dark. After a while they both grew tired. Then they agreed that it should be dark part of the time, and light part of the time.

But Grizzly Bear was angry at Chipmunk and chased him into a hole. As Chipmunk scampered into the hole, Grizzly scratched his back. That is the reason Chipmunk has stripes on his back.

Eroneniera

This adaptation is taken from a story told by Henry R. Schoolcraft, Ll.D.. The Myth Of Hiawatha, And Other Oral Legends, Mythologic And Allegoric, Of The North American Indians was originally published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, in 1856. This is an Algonquin tale.

A DELAWARE, CALLED ERONENIERA, ANXIOUS TO know the Master of Life, resolved, without mentioning his design to anyone, to undertake a journey to Paradise, which he knew to be God's residence. But, to succeed in his project, it was necessary for him to know the way to the celestial regions. Not knowing any person who, having been there himself, might aid him in finding the road, he commenced juggling, in the hope of drawing a good augury from his dream.

The man, in his dream, imagined that he had only to commence his journey, and that a continued walk would take him to the celestial abode. The next morning very early, he equipped himself as a hunter, taking a gun, powder-horn, ammunition, and a boiler to cook his provisions. The first part of his journey was pretty favourable. He walked a long time without being discouraged, always having a firm conviction that he should attain his aim. Eight days had already elapsed without his meeting with anyone to oppose his desire.

On the evening of the eighth day, at sunset, he stopped as usual on the bank of a brook, at the entrance of a little prairie, a place which he thought favourable for his night's encampment. As he was preparing his lodging, he perceived at the other end of the prairie three very wide and well-beaten paths and he thought this somewhat singular. He, however, continued to prepare his wigwam, so that he might shelter himself from the weather. He also lighted a fire. While cooking, he found that, the darker it grew, the more distinct were those paths. This surprised, nay, even frightened him. He hesitated a few moments. Was it better for him to remain in his camp, or seek another at some distance?

While in this incertitude, he remembered his juggling, or rather his dream. He thought that his only aim in undertaking his journey was to see the Master of Life. This restored him to his senses. He thought it probable that one of those three roads led to the place which he wished to visit. He therefore resolved upon remaining in his camp until the morning, when he would, at random, take one of them. His curiosity, however, scarcely allowed him time to take his meal, so he left his encampment and fire, and took the widest of the paths.

He followed it until the middle of the next day without seeing anything to impede his progress, but, as he was resting a little to take breath, he suddenly perceived a large fire coming from underground. It excited his curiosity, so he went towards it to see what it might be, but, as the fire appeared to increase as he drew nearer, he was so overcome with fear, that he turned back and took the widest of the other two paths.

Having followed this second path for the same space of time as he had the first, he perceived a similar spectacle. His fright, which had been lulled by the change of road, awoke once more in him, and he was obliged to take the third path, in which he walked a whole day without seeing anything. All at once, a mountain of a marvellous whiteness burst upon his sight. This filled him with astonishment, but nevertheless, he took courage and advanced to examine it.

Having arrived at the foot, he saw no signs of a road. He became very sad, not knowing how to continue his journey. In this conjuncture, he looked on all sides and perceived a woman seated upon a boulder on the mountainside. Her beauty was dazzling, and the whiteness of her garments surpassed that of snow. The woman said to him in his own language, You appear surprised to find no longer a path to reach your wishes. I know that you have for a long time longed to see and speak to the Master of Life, and that you have undertaken this journey purposely to see him. The way which leads to his abode is upon this mountain. To ascend it, you must undress yourself completely, and leave all your accoutrements and clothing at the foot. No person shall injure them. You will then go and wash yourself in the river which I am now showing you, and afterward ascend the mountain.

The man obeyed punctually the woman's words, but one difficulty remained. How could he arrive at the top of the mountain, which was steep, without a path, and as smooth as glass? He asked the woman how he was to accomplish it. She replied, that if he really wished to see the Master of Life, he must, in mounting, only use his left hand and foot. This appeared almost impossible to the man. Encouraged, however, by the female, he started the climb, and succeeded after much trouble.

When he reached the top, he was astonished to see no one at all, the woman having disappeared. He found himself alone, and without a guide. Three unknown villages were in sight. They were constructed on a different plan from his own, much handsomer, and more regular. After a few moments' reflection, he took his way towards the most handsome. When he was about halfway to the village, he recollected that he was naked, and was afraid to proceed, but a voice told him to advance, and have no apprehensions. As he had washed himself, he might walk in confidence.

He proceeded without hesitation to a place which appeared to be the gate of the village, and stopped until someone came to open it. While he was considering the exterior of the village, the gate opened, and the man saw coming towards him a handsome man dressed all in white, who took him by the hand, and said he was going to satisfy his wishes by leading him to the presence of the Master of Life.

The man let himself be conducted, and they arrived at a place of unequalled beauty. The man was lost in admiration. He saw the Master of Life, who took him by the hand, and gave him for a seat a hat bordered with gold. The man, afraid of spoiling the hat, hesitated to sit down, but, being again ordered to do so, he obeyed without reply.

The man being seated, God said to him, I am the Master of Life, whom you wish to see, and to whom you wish to speak. Listen what I will tell you for yourself and for all the people. I am the Maker of Heaven and earth, the trees, lakes, rivers, men, and all that you see or have seen on the earth or in the heavens, and because I love you, you must do my will. You must also avoid those things that I hate. I hate that you drink as you do, until you lose your reason. I wish you not to fight one another. If you take two wives, or run after other people's wives, then you do wrong. I hate such conduct. You should have but one wife, and keep her until death. When you go to war, you juggle, you sing the medicine song, thinking you speak to me. You deceive yourselves. It is to the Manito that you speak. He is a wicked spirit who induces you to evil, and for want of knowing me, you listen to him.

The Master of Life then continued, "The land on which you are, I have made for you, not for others. Why then do you suffer the white men to dwell upon your lands? Can you not do without them? I know that those whom you call the children of your great Father supply your wants. But, were you not wicked as you are, you would not need them. You might live as you did before you knew them. Before those whom you call your brothers had arrived, did not your bow and arrow maintain you? You needed neither gun, powder, nor any other object. The flesh of animals was your food, their skins your raiment. But when I saw you inclined to evil, I removed the animals into the depths of the forests, that you might depend on your brothers for your necessaries for your clothing. Again become good and do my will, and I will send animals for your sustenance. I do