Chapter I: Kulóskap and Winpe; Or, the Master’s First Victory

[_Micmac_]

_Piʾche ktagudimol._[35]

All in the olden time,
Or in the first of all,
Of all things here on earth,
Men were as animals
And animals as men.
But how this mystery was,
No one can understand,
Though some explain it thus:
As Man was made the first,
All creatures first were men,
But as they gave themselves
To this or that desire
Like that of animals,
And all their souls to it,
So were they changed to brutes.

Yet ere this came to pass
There was a middle time
When they could change their forms
To beasts or men at will;
Yet more and more and more
Even as men, they showed
In all, the Animal.

Then Kulóskap the Great
Lived on a wooded isle
With many Indians
Whose names and natures, too,
Were all of beasts and birds.

These men, and most of all
The one called Pulowech,
The Partridge, had attained
To certain magic power.
These, as they found him great,
Grew jealous of the Lord,
He who was ever Man;
And so they all resolved
To leave him in the isle.
But with them take away
His grandmother, likewise
Marten, the boy, who served
The Master in his lodge.
In Micmac Marten’s name
Is Abistanēūch; he
Was of the Elfin kind,
One who could change his form
To what he pleased. For all
Relating to the Lord
Was wonderful and strange.

This Marten ever ate
From a small dish of bark
Called Witchkwîdlakunchich.
Whene’er he left this plate
Kulóskap always knew
The place where it was laid,
And by a glance thereat
Could tell whate’er had happed
Unto his family.
Kulóskap had, beside,
A wondrous magic belt
Which gave him endless strength
And untold mystic power.
Yet to increase his might,
Even he, the Lord of Men,
Must often all alone,
Dwell in the wilderness,
And fast and pray and dream,
Until by penance strong
He gained once more his power.

Among his enemies
Who dwelt upon the isle,
Was one named Winpe, who
Of all was terrible;
So he and all the rest,
With Marten as a slave,
Likewise the grandmother,
One day when Kulóskap
Was hunting in the North
Got into their canoes
With all their worldly gear,
And sailed, far, far away.

Now when the Lord returned
And saw that all were gone,
He sought and found the dish
Which Marten had concealed,
And on it read the truth:
How he had been deceived
And whither all had fled.

Now, it is said, the Lord
To gain tremendous power,
Or such grand mastery
As man had never won,
Went to the wilderness,
And there for seven years
So trained his mighty mind
By penance into will,
That when the time was o’er
He knew that he had won,
And that no thing on earth
No sorcerer nor fiend,
Giant nor devil grim,
Could now resist his power.
So when the time had come
He called his dogs, and went
Down to the shore and looked
Far o’er the rolling sea,
And sang the magic song
Which all the Whales obey.
Soon in the distance rose
A small dark spot, which grew
In size as it drew near.
’Twas but a little whale;
It came unto the Lord,
But he was now a giant;
He stepped upon the whale.
It sank beneath his feet;
He laughed and said, “Begone!
Thou art too small for me!”

He sang again the song,
But now with all his power;
And then there came the Queen
Of all the whales, and she
Was as a giantess
Even among her kind;
She bore him easily
Unto Kespūgitk, then
She paused and said, “O Lord!
I dare not further go,
For I shall run ashore.”
And this he wished because
He would not wet his feet,
And so he lied and said:
“The land is far away.”
So she went boldly on,
Till she beheld below,
The bottom of the sea
With many shells on it;
And then she said in fear:
“The land, does it not seem
To thee like a bow-string?” “No!”
He answered, “Land is far.”

The water grew so shoal
That soon she heard the song
Of many Clams, who lay
Deep shelled below the sand.
They were the enemies
Of Kulóskap the Man,
Their only enemy,
And so they sang to her:
“Hasten and throw him off,
And drown him in the sea.”
But great Putúp the whale
Who did not know their tongue,
Asked what the words might mean?
And he replied in song
“They tell you to make haste;
_Nenagimk_, ’to hurry’;
To hurry, to hurry along,
Away--as fast as you can.”

The whale like lightning flew
Until she found herself
High up upon the shore,
Then she, too, cried in woe:
“Alas, alas! Nujich!
My grandchild, you have been
My death at last--for now
I cannot leave the land;
I shall swim in the sea no more!”

But Kulóskap answered her:
“Nʾgumi, have no fear!
You shall not suffer, for
You shall swim in the sea once more.”
Then with a push of his bow
Against her head, he sent
The whale into the sea,
Into the deep once more.

And then the whale rejoiced,
But ere she went she said:
“O darling grandson mine!
O Master! Hast thou not
Tobacco in thy pouch,
Therewith a pipe to spare?”
And he replied, “Ah yes!
I see you want a smoke,
I have what you require.”

He gave the whale a pipe,
Tobacco and a light
And so she sailed away
Rejoicing as she went,
A-smoking as she swam;
While Kulóskap, the Lord,
Leaning upon his bow
Beheld the long low cloud
Which trailed behind her, till
She vanished far away.

So to this very day,
The Indians, when they see
A whale who blows, cry out:
“Behold, it smokes a pipe,
The pipe of Kulóskap.”

And so the Lord went on,
Meeting at every step
Adventures wild and strange;
Witches and sorcerers
Sought to delay his steps,
Until at last he came
To Uktâkumkuk, or
Néwfoundland, where his foes
Had been, then fled away.

Again he sang his song,
And once again a whale
Carried him far away,
Away unto the North;
And now he found indeed
That he had gained his end,
Since by the shore he saw
A wigwam, and therein
His sorrowing grandmother
And Marten well-nigh dead;
Winpe the sorcerer
Had treated them full ill.
Greatly did they rejoice
To see their Lord once more;
And then Kulóskap said:
“When Winpe shall return
Do all that’s in your power
To irritate the man
To make him mad with wrath;
So shall he lose his power,
For anger weakeneth will.”

They did what he required
When Winpe came again,
Till in a roaring rage
He sought to take their lives;
When lo! before their eyes
The Master stood and gazed
In aspect terrible,
Upon his angry foe.
Winpe fell back a pace
To gain once more his power;
It came and it was great.
With all his evil will
The sorcerer raised his strength
And as it came he grew
In giant stature, till
His head was o’er the pines;
And truly in those days
The pines were higher far
Than those we have to-day:

But Kulóskap the Great
The Lord of Men and Beasts,
Laughed as the thunder roars.
And grew until his head
Was far above the clouds,
Until he reached the stars,
And ever higher still,
Till Winpe seemed to be
A child beneath his feet.

Then, holding him in scorn,
Kulóskap the great lord
Smote Winpe with his bow
As one might strike a dog;
Down fell the sorcerer dead!

FOOTNOTES:

[35] I will tell you of long ago.