Chapter IV: Kulóskap and the Turtle

[_Micmac and Passamaquoddy_]

_Nekke meiawet nektuk Piliomeskasik ktakʾmigw otlian Pikto._[27]

When the Master left _Uktâkumkûk_,
Called by the English Néwfoundlánd,
He went to Piktook or Pictou,
Which means “the rising of bubbles,”
Because at that place the water
Is ever strangely moving.
There he found an Indian village
And in the village a man
Whom he loved through all his life.

Yet it was not because this man,
Whose name in Micmac is Mikchik
And in our Passamaquoddy
Chikwenóchk “the Turtle,”
Was great or well favored or rich;
He was truly none of these,
Being very poor and lazy,
No longer young or lively,
Nor in any way clever or wise.
It is said he was the uncle
Of Kulóskap, but many declare
It was only by adoption.[28]
However, he always bore
His trials with such good nature,
His wants with such merry patience,
That the Master took strangely to him
With most unwonted affection,
As if he had determined
To make of the idler a man;
Which verily came to pass
Quite soon, and very quaintly,
As you shall presently hear.
When he came to Piktook,
A town of a hundred wigwams,
Kulóskap being a handsome
And very stately warrior
With the air of a great chief,
Was greatly admired by all,
Especially the women;
So that every one felt honored
Whose wigwam he deigned to enter;
Yet he saw the folk very seldom,
And dwelt with old uncle Mikchik
Delighting in his fancies,
Quaint ways and old time stories,
Very old songs of the fathers;
Such things were the joy of his heart.

Now ’twas the time for holding
The great and yearly feast
With dancing and merry games;
But Kulóskap cared not to go
As guest or as performer.
However, he asked his uncle,
“Wilt thou not go to the feast?
All the fair girls of the forest,
All the beautiful matrons,
All the bewitching widows
From far and wide will be there;
Why hast thou never married?
There are many nice women a-waiting,
’Tis evil living alone.”

Thus answered Uncle Turtle:
“I am poor and old and homely,
With no garments fit for a feast;
Therefore ’tis better for me
To smoke my pipe at home.”

“Well, if that be the only hindrance,
Uncle,” replied the Master,
“I can turn tailor I trow,
And fit you to a turn--
Fit you as if by magic,
Or in fact by magic itself;
Therefore have thou no care
As to your face or outside,
For to him who hath the art
’Tis as easy to make a man over
As any suit of clothes.”

“That may be true, my nephew,”
Quoth Turtle, “but what say you,
As to the making over
The _inside_ of a mortal?”

“By Kwâbît the immortal Beaver!”
Replied the Master, laughing,
“That is something harder to do,
Else I were not at work
So long in this world of ours.
Yet, ere I leave this town
For you I will do that also.
As for this present sport,
Do but put on this belt.”

And when he wore the girdle
Mikchik became so young
And so bewitchingly handsome
That never a man or woman
In the land had seen the like;
And as the Master arrayed him
In garments of great splendor,
He also gave him his word
That, as a man, he ever
Should be of men the comeliest,
And as animal, hardest to kill,
Most vital and enduring,
As it truly came to pass.
So Mikchik went to the feast.

Now the chieftain of the Piktook
Had three very beautiful daughters,
And of the three, the youngest
Was the loveliest in the land.
On her the old-young turtle
Cast his experienced eyes
With a boy-like, innocent look,
And said, “I think that damsel
Would exactly suit my complaint,
And therefore I think I will take her!”

Now all the young men in Piktook
Were of just the same opinion,
And all were firmly resolved
To kill the one who should win her.

So the next day the Master,
Taking a bunch of _wâbab_,
That is, of the finest wampum,
Went to the chief of the Piktook
Proposing that his uncle
Should marry the youngest daughter.
And truly the chief was willing,
While the mother at once cried, “Yes!”
To such a grand proposal;
So, without loss of time,
The maiden swept out a wigwam,
And made a bed of sprays,
Or of leaves, upon the floor,
Spreading out a great white bear skin
As a cover over all.
Then with Mikchik and the Master
They had dried meat for supper,
And so the pair were wed.

Now the Turtle seemed very lazy,
And for days after they were married
While other men were hunting
He lounged about at home
Smoking over the fire,
Till one frosty, sunny morning,
His wife said to him, “Mikchik,
If this goes on much longer
We two must certainly starve.”
So he put on his snow-shoes,
Taking his bow and arrows,
And she followed silently after
To see what he would do.
But in truth he did very little,
For he had not gone far forward
Ere he tripped and fell rolling over.
And the wife, returning disgusted,
Said in a rage to her mother:
“He is not in the least a hunter.
He can’t even walk on snow-shoes.”
But the mother said: “Be patient,
There is more in him than you dream.”

One day it came to pass
That the Master said to Mikchik
“To-morrow will be held
The very great yearly ball-play
And you must share in the game.
It will be sore for you,
A game of life and death,
For all the young men who live here
Are your enemies, and will seek
To slay you in the rush
By crowding close together,
And trampling you under foot.
But when they do this, ’twill be
Close by the Sagamore’s lodge,
And that you may escape them
I give you, Uncle, the power
To jump twice over the roof;
But if they chance to bring it
To a third attempt, ’twill be
A very terrible thing for you,
And yet it _must_ come to pass;
‘No honey without a sting;
No chase, no venison.’”

And all of it came to pass
As the Master had foretold;
For the young men of the village
All joined to kill the Turtle,
And to escape them, Mikchik
Jumped, when beset, so high
Over the Sagamore’s lodge
That he looked like an eagle flying.
But when for a third time he
Attempted another leap,
His scalp-lock caught on a pole,
And there he hung a-dangling
In the smoke which rose from below.

Then Kulóskap, who was sitting
On a skin in the tent beneath,
Said: “Uncle the hour is come,
Now will I make thee Sagem,
Grand Sagamore of the Tortoise,
The chief of the Lenni Lenâbe;
Thou shalt bear up a great nation
Which shall rest upon thy shell!”

Then he smoked Mikchik so long
That his skin became a shell,
A very hard round shell,
And the marks of the smoke from the pipe
May be seen thereon to-day.
And of all his entrails he left
But _one_ which was very short,
And then indeed Mikchik
Seeing himself so reduced
Cried out, “Beloved nephew,
You will kill me certainly!”
But the Lord replied, “Far from it,
I am giving you longer life--
A longer life than is given
To any other on earth;
From this time forth, my uncle,
You may pass through a glowing fire,
And never feel its breath,
You may live on land or in water,
Nay, though your head be cut off
It will live for nine days after,
And even so long shall beat
Your heart when cut from your body.”
Whereat Mikchik rejoiced.

And this came, indeed, betimes,
And not before it was needed;
For on the very next day
All of the men went hunting,
And the Master warned the Turtle
That they would attempt his life.
So the men all went before,
While the Turtle toiled slowly behind them;
But when they saw him no more,
He made a magic flight
Far over their heads, and deep
In the forest he slew a moose,
He drew it upon the track
Which he knew that they soon must take;
And when his foes came up,
There he sat on the moose
Smoking, and waiting for them.

Now Kulóskap the Wise
Had unto them foretold
That on that day they would see
Some one come out as first
Who they thought would be last of all.
And when this came to pass,
They were more enraged than before,
And so they planned again
To kill Mikchik, but his nephew
Who was on the point of leaving
The village and all therein,
Told him how it would be.

“First of all, my uncle,
They will build a mighty fire,
And throw you into the flame,
But endure it, and with joy;
For by my magic power
I will see that it does no harm.
Only beg as a dying favor
Not to be cast into water,
Into the water to drown,
Beg and implore and entreat them
To spare thee that terrible torture,
Yes, fight to the bitter end;
So will they certainly do it,
And so it shall come to pass.”
Then he bade farewell to the Turtle,
And they built up a blazing fire
And threw him at once into it;
Wherein, being very lazy,
He turned over and went to sleep,
And when the fire burned low
He called for more wood to rebuild it
Because it was bitterly cold.

Then they all called out, “Let us drown him!”
But hearing this, as in terror
He implored them not to do it.
“Cut me to pieces,” he said,
“Burn me again, or stab me,
But do not, I beg you, throw me
Into the water to drown!”

Therefore they swore they would drown him,
And dragged him down to the shore;
He screamed like a mad magician,
And fought like a wolverine,
Tearing up trees and roots,
Rending the rocks like a tempest;
Yet at length they overpowered him,
And took him in a canoe
To the middle of the lake
And throwing him in they watched him,
Watched him as he was sinking
Till he vanished far down below;
And thinking him surely dead
Returned to their homes rejoicing.

Now on the next day at noon
There was a glowing sunshine,
And something was seen basking
Upon a great flat rock
About a mile from the shore.
So two of the younger men
Took a canoe and went forth
To see what this might be.
And when they came to the rock
Just hanging over the water,
Whom should they see but Mikchik
A-dozing in the sunlight!
But, seeing them coming to take him,
He only said “Good-bye!”
And rolled over into the lake
Wherein it is said he is living
Unto this very day.
So in memory of this thing,
All turtles in swamps or rivers
When they see a man a-coming
Tip-tilt them into the water
With a _plump!_ which means “Good-bye!”--
Or which sounds like it in Indian[29]--
As their ancestor did of yore.

The Turtle lived with his wife
Happily, long and contented.
Then it happened in after years
That Kulóskap came one day
To visit his uncle, and saw
A babe which uttered a word.
As ’twere in a childish cry:
“Knowest thou what he is saying?”
Inquired the Master smiling.
“Truly not I,” said Mikchik,
“For I deem it is in the language
Which is spoken by the demons
Or spirits of the air,
Which ’tis said no mortal knoweth.”
“Well, I think,” replied Kulóskap,
“That he is talking of eggs
For he cries ‘_Huwâh, Huwâh_’
As if he were trying to say
_Wâhwun_--which means an egg
In the Passamaquoddy tongue.”
“But where are eggs to be found?”
Inquired the uncle amazed.
“Seek in the sand,” said the Master,
Where he sought and found full many
And greatly he marvelled at them.
In memory of which and the Master,
All the female turtles
Lay eggs to this very day. L.

FOOTNOTES:

[27] When the Master left Newfoundland he came to Pictou.

[28] It is usual to give as a mere matter of politeness terms of consanguinity to persons in conversation. Mikchik the Turtle appears in all the legends as a perfect Panurge or Falstaff, a worthless old scamp, who is nevertheless liked by everybody and privileged. P.

[29] It is curious that in Italy a stone thrown into water is supposed by the sound which it makes to answer Yes or No to questions.