Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa

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Original Title Page.

CANADA
DEPARTMENT OF MINES
Hon. Louis Coderre, Minister; R. W. Brock, Deputy Minister.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

MEMOIR 71

No. 9, Anthropological Series

Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa

BY
F. G. Speck

OTTAWA
Government Printing Bureau
1915
No. 1470

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
				PAGE
	Myths and folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin			1
	Introduction			1
	Wiske·djak cycle			2
	(1)	Wiske·djak pursues the Beaver		2
	(2)	Wiske·djak kills the Bear and gets his head fastened in the skull		4
	(3)	Wiske·djak invites the Ducks to a dance		8
	(4)	Wiske·djak anum suum urit and originates rock-weed and red willow from the scabs		10
	(5)	Wiske·djak disguises himself as a Lynx		15
	(6)	Wiske·djak’s love affair		16
	(7)	Ciŋgəbis		17
	(8)	Remarks about Wiske·djak		20
			Timiskaming Algonquin text	20
			Free translation	21
	(9)	Further comment on Wiske·djak		21
	Timiskaming folk-lore			22
	(1)	Wi′ndigo		22
	(2)	Pa·′guk‵		22
	(3)	Constellation Ursa Major		22
	(4)	Northern Lights		23
	(5)	Rainbow		23
	(6)	Milky Way		23
	(7)	White animals		24
	(8)	Dwarfed animals		24
	(9)	Partridge breast-bone as omen		24
	(10)	Wings of birds and skulls as amulets		24
	(11)	Blue bottle flies		25
	(12)	Rabbits’ hair thrown into fire		25
	(13)	Fish bone		25
	(14)	Left-handed people		25
	(15)	Bear feast		25
	(16)	Legend of Iroquois Falls		26
CHAPTER II.
	Myths and folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa			28
	Introduction			28
	Myths and tales [ii] [iii]			28
	(1)	Nenebuc, the transformer		28
		(a)	The magic birth of Nenebuc and his four brothers	28
		(b)	Nenebuc tempers the wind	30
		(c)	Nenebuc starts travelling, anum suum castigat for deceiving him, changes the colour of the Partridge family, and originates rock tripe from his scabs for the benefit of the people	31
		(d)	Nenebuc prepares a feast and gets caught between two trees, while the animals receive a distribution of fat	33
		(e)	Nenebuc gets caught in the Bear’s skull	33
		(f)	Nenebuc wounds the Giant Lynx, disguises himself in a Toad’s skin, and finally slays her	34
		(g)	The Giant Lynx causes the World Flood and gathers the animals on a raft; Muskrat dives for earth, which Nenebuc transforms into a new world	36
		(h)	Nenebuc sends Crow out, for disobedience changes him black and Gull partly black, then retires to the west, until he will return again	37
	(2)	Nenebuc fragment		38
	(3)	Nenebuc transforms the Bear		39
	(4)	Wemicus		39
	(5)	Ciŋgəbis		47
	(6)	Beaver gives a feast		53
	(7)	Tcaka·bįs		54
	(8)	Aniwɔ·ye, the Giant Skunk, and the origin of Skunks		56
	(9)	The man who transformed a doll into a woman and followed her into the world above		57
	(10)	Ayas·e and the origin of Bats		62
	(11)	Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major)		63
	(12)	The young Loon		64
	(13)	The Giant Pike		65
	(14)	Lynx and his two wives		67
	(15)	Story of Seal Rock in Lake Timagami		68
	(16)	Rabbit, Lynx, and Fisher		68
	(17)	Snaring the Sun		69
	(18)	Homo Excrementi		69
	(19)	The origin of Snakes		71
	(20)	Muskrat warns the Beaver		71
	(21)	Story of a hunter		72
	(22)	A Timagami story		73
	(23)	Story of a fast runner		73
	(24)	The hunter and the seven Deer		73
	(25)	Story of a conjurer		74
	(26)	Legend of Obabika lake		76
	(27)	Iroquois pictographs		76
	(28)	An Iroquois legend		76
	Timagami folk-lore			78
	(1)	Telling stories in summer		78
	(2)	Foretelling sex of child to be born		78
	(3)	How to bring rain		79
	(4)	Northern Lights		79
	(5)	Milky Way		79
	(6)	Rainbow		79
	(7)	Whippoorwill’s cry		79
	(8)	Rain omens		79
	(9)	Killing blue bottle flies		80
	(10)	Finding a live mole		80
	(11)	Hiccoughing		80
	(12)	Children born feet first		80
	(13)	Cooking squirrels		80
	(14)	How to bring on a snowstorm		80
	(15)	An infant warming its hands		80
	(16)	Red sunset		81
	(17)	Whirling buzzer		81
	(18)	Divining what game is to be killed		81
	(19)	Supernatural creatures:—
			Pa·g·αk	81
			Me·megwe·s·i	82
Appendix: Notes on Timagami folk-lore, by Neil C. Fergusson
(1)	Whisky Jack and the markings on birch bark			83
(2)	The two girls, Hell-diver, and Loon			83
Phonetic key				86

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ILLUSTRATIONS.

	Map: Hunting territories of the Timagami, Timiskaming, Kipawa, and Dumoine bands							in pocket.
	Figure 1. Night set-line							66
	Figure 2. Markings on birch bark							83

[1]

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa

CONTENTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.