Glooscap the Great Chief, and Other Stories; Legends of the Micmacs

** * ri-f*HE GREAT CHIEF LEGENDS:OF TH! : 41* MICMAC INDIANS PARTRI D GE *> >*,%** * GLOOSCAP THE GREAT CHIEF AND OTHER STORIES Commended in the highest terms by the highest authorities. STORY-TELLING IN SCHOOL and HOME A Study in Educational Esthetics By Emelyn Newcomb Partridge Story-Teller for the Bancroft School and G. E. Partridge, Ph.D. Author of Genetic Philosophy of Education," etc. \2rno. Illustrated. $1.25 net. All a teacher or story-teller needs to know about story-telling, and plenty of good stories of various types to tell. The Rev. Dr. Silas Tertius Rand and two Mic-mac Indian boys From a photograph loaned by Mrs. Enos CJmchill of Darmouih, Nova Scotia. GLOOSCAP THE GREAT CHIEF AND OTHER STORIES LEGENDS OF THE MICMACS BY EMELYN NEWCOMB PARTRIDGE STORY-TELLER FOE BANCROFT SCHOOL AND GARDEN CITIES, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS; AND AUTHOR (WITH G. E. PARTRIDGE) OF "STORY-TELLING IN SCHOOL AND HOME." ILLUSTRATED STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY 1913 Copyright, 1918 BY STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published S ptember. 1913 TO MY DEAR MOTHER AND FATHER THESE MICMAC LEGENDS ARE LOVINGLY INSCRIBED M190312 PEEFACE One of my earliest recollections is of being alone on the playhouse steps learning to fly. It may have been the roar of the Bay of Fundy for we lived beside it or because I was so engrossed in my task, that I did not hear the approach of any one, until suddenly a great ter ror seized me and I saw close beside me several giant dogs, and behind them a group of Indians with baskets on their backs. Then there is the memory of being comforted by my mother and of my surprise and interest at seeing the strange people partaking of her hospitality. This was my first acquaintance with the Mic- macs. Afterwards such scenes became fa miliar. I frequently heard my parents talk about the work of Dr. Eand the first protes- tant missionary among these Indians; and whenever Dr. Rand was in that locality he was a visitor in our home, for he was a kinsman. It was then that I learned of the legends of Glooscap. With such recollections hovering in conscious ness it was natural, when a few summers ago I was searching for new stories to tell to my playground children, that I should turn back to vi PREFACE the memories of childhood, and consider how I could make use of these but little known legends. I was surprised to find how eagerly the children listened to the tales, and how in sistently they clamoured for more. Since that summer I have told them to many others of all ages, in many places, and finding that they have always aroused deep interest, I decided to re tell them for a wider public than they have hith erto reached. And so I am sending them out for the use of children, parents, and teachers the story lovers and the story tellers. The main source from which I have drawn is Rand s Legends of the Micmacs, published by Wellesley College from the manuscripts of Dr. Band purchased for that institution by Profes sor E, N. Horsford. I have also made some use of Leland s The Algonquin Legends of New England, and of Kuloskap the Master by Le- land and Prince. And I have had access to the Band manuscripts in the possession of the de partment of comparative philology of Wellesley College. Acknowledgments are gratefully made, fore most of all, to my husband, who has helped me, step by step, from the beginning to the end of the book : To Wellesley College and to the familv of PREFACE vii Professor E. N. Horsford for permission to use the Band publication and manuscripts: To the librarians of Clark University and of the Free Public Library of Worcester for their never failing courtesy and aid: To Dr. Alexander F. Chamberlain of Clark University who has obligingly answered per plexing questions about the Indians : To Mrs. John Bentley of Halifax who kindly loaned me her copy of the now rare Legends of the Micmacs: To Miss Hattie Band who gave me an inti mate view of her father s life and work: To my dear father, for many talks about his own acquaintance with Micmac Indians, and for numerous anecdotes about Dr. Band, both of which gave me a better equipment for the prep aration of these legends: And last, my indebtedness is reverently acknowledged to her whose life was an inspira tion to those who knew her, and whose teach ings were consistent with her life. EMELYN NEWCOMB PARTRIDGE. Worcester, Massachusetts, January 16, 1913. INTEODUCTION "This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and pro phetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neigh bouring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest." The stories told in this book will be read with greater sympathy and understanding if one knows something about the people who pro duced them about their history and the ori gin of their legends. For these tales are not merely stories; they are fragments of the men tal life of an ancient race. If one is to enter into the spirit of the stories, he must, so far as he can, forget for the moment the environment of civilised life; he must place himself, in fancy, in the ancient forest before the coming of the white man, and partake of the life and the thought and the feelings of its people. ix x INTRODUCTION The Micmac Indians, from whom these legends were gathered, lived chiefly in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. How numerous they once were no one can tell, but there are now about four thousand to bear witness to their former greatness, of which they still boast. The Micmacs, with the Penobscot, the Passamaquoddy, the Maliseet, and a few smal ler tribes make up the Wabanaki family, a branch of the Algonquin Nation, the most widely extended of the six great divisions of North American aborigines. The Passama quoddy are of New Brunswick and Maine, and the Penobscot of Maine and lower New Eng land. The most important fact about the Wa banaki is that they were united by the common possession of a deity or demi-god called Gloos- cap, about whom developed an exceedingly rich and imaginative mythology. Little was known about the Micmacs in a defi nite way until 1846, when Dr. Silas T. Rand of Nova Scotia began his work as missionary among them. Dr. Band was a man of broad learning, and one of the best linguists America has produced. Throughout a long and remark ably industrious life his interest in these peo ple never waned. He translated the Bible into their language, and with great care accumu lated a dictionary of forty thousand of their Words. He wrote articles about their language INTRODUCTION xi and customs, in which he manifested his grow ing admiration for their intelligence and char acter. Dr. Rand s wide knowledge of many lan guages naturally led him to a close study of the language of the Micmacs; and his opinion must be accepted as of the highest value. In stead of finding this language poor and limited, as he had expected, he soon discovered it to b^ quite the reverse, remarkably flexible and ex pressive. "In declension of nouns, and in con jugation of verbs it is as regular as the Greek, and twenty times as copious !" he exclaims; and to a profound student of Greek this must indeed have excited wonder and admiration, for in that day much less was known than now about the languages of primitive peoples. It is not surprising that he was astonished when he found that a single verb of this language, if given in all its modifications, would fill a vol ume; that there were indicative, imperative, subjunctive, potential, and infinitive moods, and in the indicative the forms of eleven tenses ; that there were active, passive and middle voices, and great flexibility in compounding words, as in the German and Greek; that al most any word in the Micmac could take on the verbal form, and then could be inflected throughout all moods and tenses for it was quite natural then for a scholar to suppose that xii INTRODUCTION language had grown up to meet the needs of civilisation and the writing of books, and to fail to see how rich and varied was the life in the primitive forest, and how ancient and deep were its thoughts. This was before the day of Darwin. The Indian who moves through these stories we must think of as dressed in skins, painted of body, decorated with brightly coloured shells and feathers. His weapons were the bow and arrows with heads of stone. His days were spent in hunting and fishing and in warfare. His home was the wigwam, and one has but to hear his stories to know how great a part this place of shelter played in his daily life and in all his thoughts. The Micmac s land was cold in the winter; his lodge was firmly framed of strong trunks of trees, and made tight with rows of bark, and lined with boughs of spruce against the winter winds. Smaller branches he used for carpets, cushions and beds, and springing boughs closed the doorway.

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