Chapter I: What Kulóskap DID for the Indians

[_Passamaquoddy_]

_Piche mesogw Kulóskap nemiquosikw._[17]

In the very olden time
Before Kulóskap the Master,
The Lord of Beasts and Men,
Had come into the world,
Or man was by him instructed,
All lived in wonderful darkness;
Men could not even see
To slay their enemies;
But the Lord brought light unto them,
The daybreak and the dawn.
Therefore, for this his people
Are known as the Wabanaki,
The Men of the Early Dawn.

And many a thing he taught them:
The noble art of hunting,
How to build huts and canoes,
And weirs to catch the fishes,
And how to trap the beaver,
And net the shad and salmon.
Before he came they knew not
How to make nets or weapons;
Then he, the Mighty Master,
Showed them the hidden virtues
Of plants and roots and blossoms,
And all the herbs which Indians
Could use for any purpose;
And also every creature,
Beasts, birds, and all the fishes,
All things which could be eaten
Or serve for joy to man.

Then, pointing to the heaven,
He taught the names of the stars,
With all the wonderful stories,
The very old traditions,
Of all that the planets had been.

He greatly loved mankind,
And wherever he might be,
Though afar in the wilderness,
He never was far away,
Away from his Indian children.
He dwelt in a lonely land,
But whoever went to seek him
The Master ever found. L.

FOOTNOTES:

[17] Long ago before Kulóskap was seen.