Chapter III: How Kulóskap Fought the Giant Sorcerers at Saco

[_Passamaquoddy_]

_Yut nʾkani aknodʾmâgon uch Kulóskap._[37]

This is a tale of Kulóskap,
An old one. There was a father
Who had three sons and a daughter,
And all were Mteolinwuk,
That is, they were magicians
Of terrible power, and giants;
They ate men, women, and children;
Yea, they did everything
That was wicked and horrible;
And the land grew tired of them
And of all their abominations.
Yet when this family
Was young, Kulóskap had been
Ever and truly their friend;
He had made their father his father,
The brothers his brothers, the sister
His sister by adoption,
As Indians often do.

But, as they all grew older,
And the Master began to hear
On every side of their sins.
He said: “I will go among them
And find if this be true;
If it be so, they shall die--
I will not spare one of those
Who oppress and devour mankind,
I care not who he may be.”

This evil family dwelt
Near the place that now is Saco,
Upon the sandy field
Which is in the Intervale,
Or the summer bed of the river,
Among the White Mountains, which lie
Between Kèzitwâzuch,
Or Mount Kearsarge the mighty,
And Kchibenabesk
The towering rock, and near
Wʾnâgʾmeswuk Wigît
The Home of the Water Elves.

Now the old man, the father
Of all these evil sorcerers,
Had only one eye, and he
Was half gray like a stony mountain;
Then the Master made himself
Like to the hoary old fellow;
There was not between them
The difference of a hair.
So having taken this form
He entered into the wigwam
And sat by the agèd man.

Then the murdering brothers
Who never spared a soul,
Hearing that some one was talking,
Peeped slyly in, and seeing
A stranger so like their father
That they knew not which was which,
Said: “This is a great magician,
But he shall be tried ere he goes,
And that right bitterly.”

Then the giantess sister took
The tail of a whale, and cooked it,
And gave it to the stranger
That he might eat it, when
Just as it lay before him
On the platter, and on his knees,
The elder brother entered
And saying: “This is too good
For a beggar like you,” took it
Away to his own wigwam.
And then the Master said:
“That which was given to me
Is mine--so I take it again.”
And sitting still he _willed_
Or wished for it to return.
And lo! the dish came flying
Again into his lap!
And he ate from it, undisturbed.
Then the brothers said: “This truly
Is a very great magician,
But he shall be tried ere he goes,
And that right bitterly!”

When he had eaten, they brought
A mighty bone; the jaw
Of a whale, and the elder brother
With great ado, and using
Both arms and all his strength,
Bent it a little, and proudly
He held it to the Master
Who with the thumb and finger
Of his right hand alone,
Snapped it like a green twig,
And crumbled it to powder.
Then the brothers said again:
“This is truly a great magician,
But he shall be tried ere he goes,
And that right bitterly.”

Then they brought an enormous pipe
Full of the strongest tobacco;
No man, not even a sorcerer
Could have smoked such fearful stuff.
And as it was passed around
All of them smoked. The brothers
Blew the smoke through their nostrils
As if it were light as air.
But the Master filled it full
And, lighting it, burned all
The tobacco into ashes
At one puff, with a single pull!
Blowing all the smoke through his nose
Even as they had done.
Then they said and now in anger:
“This is truly a great magician;
But he shall be tried ere he goes”--
They never said it again!

Yet still they tried to smoke.
They shut the door of the wigwam
Hoping to smother him.
But he puffed and puffed away
As if he had been on the top
Of a mountain in a breeze,
Till one said: “This is idle,
Let us go and play at ball!”

The place where they were to play
Was the sandy stony plain
Which lies on the bend of the river.
And so the game began.
Kulóskap discovered
That the ball with which they played
Was a hideous human skull,
A living thing which snapped at
His heels. Had the Master been
As other men, the monster
Would have bitten a foot away.
Then he laughed aloud, and said:
“So this is your style of foot-ball!
Well and good! But let us all play
With our own balls.” He stepped
Up to a tree by the river,
And broke off a hole or knot
And it turned to a living skull,
But one which was ten times greater,
And ten times more terrible
Than that which the sorcerers used.
And the three brothers ran
Before it as it chased them
As rabbits are chased by a lynx;
They were entirely beaten.
Then Kulóskap stamped in the sand,
And the waters rose and came rushing
Fearfully from the mountains
Adown the river bed;
The whole land rang with their roar.
Then the Master sang the song,
The magic song which changes
All creatures to other forms,
Which changed the Three and their father
Into the Chinames,
A fish which is long and broad
As a man, and they all went headlong
Down in the flood to the ocean
Where they must dwell forever
And are caught unto this day.

These three magicians wore
Each one a collar of wampum
Of purple beads and white,
Wherefore the Chinames
Has exactly round its neck
Or below its head, the same,
Distinctly marked and clear;
They were mighty men in their day
And great Mteolinwuk,
But were tried before they went
And that most bitterly.

Yes indeed, Nsîwes, my brother,
This story is really true,
For Kulóskap was very great
In his day--and a day will come
When I myself shall go to him. L.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] This is an old story about Kulóskap.