Chapter V: The Blind Boy

A VERY OLD SONG

[_Passamaquoddy_]

_Nit neke epit pʾiche nitwechi moskesits
Poskaniknikok mechinechik etli-poskʿnot._[66]

There was a woman, long, long ago,
She came out of a pit
In which dead people were buried;
She made her home in a tree;
She was dressed in leaves;
All long, long ago.
When she walked among the dry leaves,
Her feet were so covered
That they could not be seen;
She walked in the woods
Singing all the time:
“I want company: I am lonesome!”
All long, long ago!

From afar o’er the lakes and mountains
A wild man heard her cry;
He came to her, she saw him,
Saw him and was afraid;
She tried to flee away,
For he was clothed with the rainbow,
Color and light were his garments.
She ran and he pursued her,
Pursued her rapidly,
Unto the foot of a mountain.
He spoke in a strange language,
She could not understand him.
He would make her tell where she dwelt.
They married and had two children
One of them was a boy,
A boy who was blind from his birth.
But he frightened his mother by his sight;
He could tell her what was coming:
What was coming from afar,
What was near he could not see.
He could see the bear and moose,
Far away beyond the mountains;
He could see through everything.

The father was a great being,
He was a mighty hunter;
His wife had magic gifts.
A boy was born to them
Alas, the boy was blind!
In time his sight returned,
He said that he could see.
The mother did not believe it,
She thought it was magic sight.
So one day she bade her husband
Put on him certain things
Which no one could behold
Who saw them not with eyes
As every one could see them.
And then she asked the boy
“What is it that your father
Uses to pull his sled?”
Promptly the child replied
“The rainbow.” Then she said:
“What has he for a bow-string?”
To which his answer was
“It is Ketaksuwauʿt
That is the Spirits’ Road”
(Meaning the Milky Way).
Yet once more she inquired:
“What has he on his sled?”
“A beaver,” he replied;
She knew that he could see.

It would appear from collateral indications of other songs in different tribes that this song is of very great antiquity. The first portion of it was chanted to Mrs. W. Wallace Brown by an old Indian woman; the remainder was recovered from the Passamaquoddy Thomas Josephs or Tamaquah. There appears to be in the myth, for such it undoubtedly is, a refinement of philosophic or theosophic speculation. This is shown in the conception of the young magician, or poet, so gifted though _blind_ that his mother could not determine whether he saw all things by _clairvoyance_ or natural vision. L.

FOOTNOTES:

[66] Long ago there was a woman who came out of a pit where dead people are buried.

V

PASSAMAQUODDY LOVE SONG

ORIGINAL TEXT

Anigowanotenu!
Boski ktabin elmi nelemwik
Elmi papkeyik; boski ktlabin,
Anigowanotenu!

Neket mpesel etli-nemiotyikw.
Etuchi wlinakwben sebayi sibuk;
Etuchi wli baquasketen.
Kʾmachtina nolithasiben.
Mechinoltena keppithamʾl.
Anigowanotenu!

Boski ktlabin elmi nelemwik
Elmi papkeyik; boski ktlabin,
Anigowanotenu!

Negetlo he eli-alnisukmekwben
Sibayi guspenik
Etuchi welanakwsititben wuchowek
He eli-machip klamisken mipisel.
Anigowanotenu!

Anigowanotenu!
Nittloch apch eli-alnisuknukw tan etuch apachyaie;
Tan etuch boski pʾkesik mipisel
Yut pemden nit kʾtlaskuyin.
Anigowanotenu!
Boski kʾtlabin elmi nelemwik
Elmi papkeyik;
Boski kʾtlabin,
Anigowanotenu!