The following tale is added as an example of the kind of imaginative lore indicated by it.
ORIGIN OF THE WHITE-FISH.
In ancient times when the Indians were better than they now are, when their laws were enforced by the chiefs, and when every crime was promptly punished, there lived a noted hunter and a just man, at a remote point on the north shore of Lake Superior. He had a wife and two sons, who were usually left in the lodge, while he went out in quest of the animals upon whose flesh they subsisted. As game was then abundant, his exertions were well rewarded, and he lived in the enjoyment of every blessing. But there was at this time a venom preparing for his heart, which was not the less poisonous, because it was for a time kept in secret. His two little sons had observed the visits of a neighboring hunter, during the absence of their father, and they ventured to remonstrate with their mother on the propriety of receiving clandestine visits, but she was in no temper to be reasoned with. She rebuked them sharply, and finally, on their intimation of disclosing the secret, threatened to kill them if they made any disclosure They were frightened into silence. But observing the continuance of an improper intercourse, kept up by stealth as it were, they resolved at last to disclose the whole matter to their father. The result was such as might be anticipated. The father being satisfied with the infidelity of his wife, took up a war club at a moment when he was not perceived, and with a single blow despatched the object of his jealousy. He then buried her under the ashes of his fire, took down his lodge, and removed to a distant position.
But the spirit of the woman haunted the children who were now grown up to the estate of young men. She appeared to them in the shadows of evening. She terrified them in dreams. She harassed their imaginations wherever they went, so that their life was a life of perpetual terrors. They resolved to leave the country, and commenced a journey of many days towards the south. They at length came to the Poiwateeg falls. (St. Mary’s.) But they had no sooner come in sight of these falls, than they beheld the skull of the woman (their mother) rolling along the beach after them. They were in the utmost fear, and knew not what to do, to elude her, when one of them observed a large crane sitting on a rock in the rapids. They called out to the bird. “See, Grandfather, we are persecuted by a spirit. Come and take us across the falls so that we may escape her.”
This crane was a bird of extraordinary size and great age. And when first descried by the two sons, sat in a state of stupor, in the midst of the most violent eddies of the foaming water. When he heard himself addressed, he stretched forth his neck, with great deliberation, and then raising himself on his wings flew across to their assistance. “Be careful” said the crane, “that you do not touch the back part of my head. It is sore, and should you press against it, I shall not be able to avoid throwing you both into the rapids.” They were, however, attentive on this point, and were both safely landed on the south side of the river. The crane then resumed its former position in the rapids.
But the skull now cried out. “Come Grandfather and carry me over, for I have lost my children, and am sorely distressed.” The aged bird flew to her assistance, but carefully repeated his injunction, that she must by no means touch the back part of his head, which had been hurt, and was not yet healed. She promised to obey, but she soon felt a curiosity to know, where the head of her carrier had been hurt, and how so aged a bird could have acquired such a bad wound. She thought it strange, and before they were half way over the rapids, could not resist the inclination she felt to touch the affected part. Instantly the crane threw her into the rapids. The skull floated down from rock to rock, striking violently against their hard edges, until it was battered to fragments, and the sons were thus happily and effectually relieved from their tormentor. But the brains of the woman, when the skull was dashed against the rocks, fell into the water, in the form of small white roes, which soon assumed the shape of a novel kind of fish, possessing a whiteness of color peculiar to itself; and these rapids have ever since been well stocked with this new and delicious species of fish.
The sons meantime took up their permanent abode at these Falls, becoming the progenitors of the present tribe, and in gratitude to their deliverer adopted the Crane[25] as their Totem.
APPENDIX
I. NATURAL HISTORY.
APPENDIX.