🧚 Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 1 · page 2

When Nenebuc awoke, anum suum interrogavit, “Did any one come?”96 “I don’t know,” anus ejus respondit.97 “As soon as you fell asleep, I slept.98 I don’t know.”99 Nenebuc then pulled up the legs of the geese and found nothing else.100 “It’s well cooked,” said he.101 He made a big fire.102 “Now I’ll punish you,” ano suo dixit and he held it over the fire.103 “Tcį·′įį!” clamavit anus ejus.104 “You can cry all you want to.105 I’ll punish you,” said Nenebuc, ano suo strepitum urendi faciente.106 He didn’t feel the burns then.107 Then he started walking.108

Next day he felt a little sick and anus ejus scabi osus fuit.109 In walking he got turned around and saw his own tracks.110 “Somebody’s passed here,” he said to himself, when he saw them.111 Then he saw some kind of meat lying on the ground, and he tasted it.112 “Somebody had some meat here,” he said.113 Then the little bird Gitci·′gi·‵tci·gane‵cįc [15] (Tom-tit) cried out, “Nenebuc scabies suas edit!”114 “Oh no, those are not my scabs.115 Some old woman passed by and left some dry meat,” said he.116 But at last he discovered se scabies suas edisse, but even then he didn’t care.117 He kept on walking and felt very sick.118

By and by he came upon a brood of young partridges and said, “Where is your mother?”119 “Our mother is away,” said they.120 “What’s your names?”121 They answered “Kαckuŋge′s·i” (“Jump out and frighten”).122 Nenebuc turned around upon hearing this and super totam familiam defaecavit.123 Up to this time the Partridges had been white, but after this they have always been brown.124

Then Nenebuc went to a high bluff near by.125 He was tired, sick, and hungry, and he lay upon the bluff sleeping.126 Partridge came home and said to his young when he saw what Nenebuc had done to them, “Who did this?”127 “A man came along and asked us our name and, when we told him ‘Kαckuŋge′s·i,’ super nos defaecavit.128 He said he wasn’t frightened by us.”129 And so the young Partridges told their father where Nenebuc had gone.130 The old Partridge followed his tracks until he came to where Nenebuc lay on the cliff.131 He saw him lying right on the edge, so he walked up slowly to him and then suddenly buzzed his wings, and Nenebuc jumped up and fell over the cliff.132 As he slid down, anum suum in lapidibus scabit and all the scabs rubbed off.133 As he lay on the ground he saw the scabs and said, “These Indians will call this wa·′kwαní [16] and when they go hungry they can make soup for themselves, these Ojibwa, forever.”134 Then he was cured.135

(d) Nenebuc Prepares a Feast and Gets Caught Between Two Trees, While the Animals Receive a Distribution of Fat.136

After this Nenebuc began travelling again.137 One time he feasted a lot of animals.138 He had killed a big bear, which was very fat and he began cooking it, having made a fire with his bow-drill.139 When he was ready to spread his meat, he heard two trees scraping together, swayed by the wind.140 He didn’t like this noise while he was having his feast and he thought he could stop it.141 He climbed up one of the trees and when he reached the spot where the two trees were scraping, his foot got caught in a crack between the trees and he could not free himself.142

When the first animal guest came along and saw Nenebuc in the tree, he, the Beaver, said “Come on to the feast, Nenebuc is caught and can’t stop us.”143 And then the other animals came.144 The Beaver jumped into the grease and ate it, and the Otter did the same, and that is why they are so fat in the belly.145 The Beaver scooped up the grease and smeared it on himself, and that is the reason why he is so fat now.146 All the small animals came and got fat for themselves.147 Last of all the animals came the Rabbit, when nearly all the grease was gone—only a little left.148 So he put some on the nape of his neck and some on his groin and for this reason he has only a little fat in those places.149 So all the animals got their fat except Rabbit.150 Then they all went, and poor Nenebuc got free at last.151 He looked around and found a bear’s skull that was all cleaned except for the brain, and there was only a little of that left, but he couldn’t get at it.152 Then he wished himself to be changed into an ant in order to get into the skull and get enough to eat, for there was only about an ant’s meal left.153

(e) Nenebuc Gets Caught in the Bear’s Skull.154

Then he became an ant and entered the skull.155 When he had enough he turned back into a man, but he had his head inside the skull; this allowed him to walk but not to see.156 On account of this he had no idea where he was.157 Then he felt the trees.158 He said to one, “What are you?”159 It answered, “Cedar.”160 He kept doing this with all the trees in order to keep his course.161 When he got too near the shore, he knew it by the kind of trees he met.162 So he kept on walking and the only tree that did not answer promptly was the black spruce, and that said, “I’m Se·′se·ga‵ndαk” (black spruce).163 Then Nenebuc knew he was on low ground.164 He came to a lake, but he did not know how large it was, as he couldn’t see.165 He started to swim across.166 An Ojibwa was paddling on the lake with his family and he heard someone calling, “Hey!167 There’s a bear swimming across the lake.”168 Nenebuc became frightened at this and the Ojibwa then said, “He’s getting near the shore now.”169 So Nenebuc swam faster, and as he could understand the Ojibwa language, he guided himself by the cries.170 He landed on a smooth rock, slipped and broke the bear’s skull, which fell off his head.171 Then the Ojibwa cried out, “That’s no bear!172 That’s Nenebuc!”173 Nenebuc was all right, now that he could see, so he ran off, as he didn’t want to stay with these people.174