Chapter I: Kulóskap and the Loons

[_Micmac and Passamaquoddy_]

_Kulóskap umimat netinniaspʾnil
Winpeul kʾchi mteolinul._[24]

While the Master was pursuing
Winpe the giant magician,
One day at Uktukâmkw
He saw afar in the distance
Over the silent water,
Far away in the sunset,
Kwîmûŭk (the Loons) a-flying.
Thence did their chief in a circle
Lead them around the lake;
Yet ever drawing nearer
To the Home of Beasts and Men;
And as he came, the Master
Said: “What is thy will, O Kwîmû?”

To whom the Loon replied
“I fain would be thy servant,
Thy servant and thy friend.”
Then the Master taught them a cry,
A strange long cry like the howl
Of a dog when he calls to the moon,
Or when, far away in the forest,
He seeks to find his master;
And told them when they required him
To utter this long strange cry.

Now it came to pass long after
The Master in Uktâkŭmkûk
(The which is Newfoundland)
Came to an Indian village
And all who dwelt therein
Were Kwîmûŭk, who had been
Loons in the time before;
And now they were very glad
As men to see once more
The Master who had blessed them
When they were only birds;
Therefore he made them his huntsmen,
Also his messengers;
Hence comes that in all the stories
Which are told of the mighty Master
The Loons are ever his friends;
And the Indians when they hear
The cry of the Loons, exclaim:
“_Kwîmû elkomtûejul
Kulóskapŭl_,” “The Loon is calling
Kulóskap,” the Master.

FOOTNOTES:

[24] Kulóskap used to fight with Winpe the great wizard.