🧚 Opening, part 3 · page 2

The anecdote of a cannibalistic feast is highly interesting.53 The wizards here eat their murdered comrade, evidently with the idea of absorbing into themselves some or all of his power.54 The cannibalistic orgies of the South Sea Islanders should be compared with this practice.55 For example, the Fijis and the New Zealand Maoris ate their enemies with the same object in view, viz., to become as brave as the fallen foe had been.56 All authorities tend to show, however, that cannibalism was extremely rare among the American races, and was only resorted to in isolated cases like the one here noted.57

In the Delaware tale given below, a similar instance of cannibalism is cited; only in this case, the wizard, who is evidently a being similar in nature to the Passamaquoddy _Kiwaʿkw_ or the Micmac _Chînu_, desires to devour a very old, worn-out man.58 I can only look upon this feature as a highly interesting relic from very primitive times, when it was probably not unusual to devour the aged, perhaps for a double purpose: both to get rid of them, as was the case until recently among the islanders of Tierra del Fuego, and also, perhaps, to absorb sacramentally into the living members of the family the essence of the dead parent, whose soul is thus prevented from becoming entirely extinct.59 The fact that a giant ghoul desires to eat the Delaware old man is, however, a distinctly Algonkin feature, quite in accord with the ideas prevalent among the Passamaquoddies, Penobscots and Micmacs regarding the _Kiwaʿkw-Chînu_.60

The Passamaquoddy tale given below of the _Kiwaʿkw_ or snow demon is one of a great number.61 The Algonkin Indian believed in many spirits, some benevolent like the _Wʾnagʾmeswuk_ or “little people,” who were wont to warn the tribesmen of impending danger; some neutral, like the wandering _Kiwaʿkw_ in this tale, or the _Chibelaʿkwe_, the tree sprite who sits in the crotch of the large branches; and some again distinctly malevolent, like the _Appodumken_ or spirit of the deep water, who lurks in the lakes to drag down the unwary swimmer.62 The _Kiwaʿkw_, however, as remarked above, was often an evil being.63 Compare also Leland’s wonderful tales of the _Chînu_ (Algonquin Legends, pp.64 233 ff).65

The reader’s attention should be called at this point to the remarkable ideas prevalent among the Wabanaki regarding the cohabitation of women and serpents (see below, and also Leland, _op. cit.66 _, pp.67 268 ff).68 These may seem strange coming from a land where there are no ophidians large enough to warrant such a superstition.69 It is not impossible, however, that in these hideous tales we have some relic of far distant prehistoric days when huge serpents were not unknown.70 It should be added, moreover, that in every case of such sexual relations between snakes and man among the Wabanaki the serpent was always a wizard (_Mʾdeolin_) in disguise, a fact which shows that in the later superstition at least the unusual character of such monstrous serpents was fully appreciated.71

The following points should be noted with regard to the pronunciation of the Indian words herein given.72 The vowels have the Italian values, except that _ö_ = German _ö_ in _schön_.73 The apostrophe ʾ is a very short _u_-vowel.74 The consonants are equivalent to the same consonants in English, except that _ñ_ represents the French nasal _n_ in _mon_, and the final combination _kw_ or final _q_ must be uttered as a _k_ followed by _w_ accompanied by a gentle indeterminate short vowel.75 The inverted apostrophe ʿ has the value of a softly breathed _h_.76 Thus _kiwâʿkw_ must be pronounced _kee-wah-kwᵘ_.77

As explained the name of the culture-hero is spelled _Kulóskap_ for the sake of uniformity, but so far as possible, the Indian expressions used in the different stories have been kept in harmony with the original languages.78 The reason for this discrepancy lies in the fact that some of the Passamaquoddy and Micmac tales were related by Penobscots, who frequently inadvertently used their own forms.79 For the same reason, in some stories labelled as Micmac, Passamaquoddy words will occasionally be found.80 In every such case the Micmac tales came through a Passamaquoddy medium, who, whenever he was ignorant of the proper Micmac word, used the corresponding Passamaquoddy expression, but elsewhere employed Micmac words.81 The Indian headings to the stories are nearly all in Passamaquoddy because the _raconteurs_ generally began in this dialect, even when they broke into Micmac or Penobscot in continuing the tale in question.82 The Glossary explains every Indian word occurring in the midst of the English text.83

We present these selections from the still vast storehouse of Wabanaki lore, not to prove any preconceived theory as to their origin, or as to the origin of the eastern coast tribes themselves.84 No man can ever know now whence the Algonkin races came.85 Whether they with other peoples were emigrants from palaeolithic Europe, crossing by way of some long since vanished land-bridge, or whether they wandered into their present habitat from the western part of our own continent, having had their origin in pre-historic Asia, it is impossible to say and, in view of the absolute darkness in which we grope, all theories are futile.86 I cannot see a meaning in the word _Wabanaki_, “land of the dawn or east,” which points to any period further back than the time of these peoples’ first tribal centralization on the present eastern coast of North America.87

Let then our labor in this work suffice merely to present to the English-speaking public a few interesting and characteristic specimens of the traditions of a rapidly perishing race--a race which fifty years from now will have hardly a single living representative.88

JOHN DYNELEY PRINCE.89

FOOTNOTES:90

[5] Cf.91 J. W. Tims, “Grammar and Dictionary of the Blackfoot Language,” London, 1889.92

[6] Cf.93 Horden, “Grammar of the Cree Language,” London, 1881; Wilson, “The Ojebway Language,” Toronto, 1874.94

[7] Cf.95 Prince, in _Misc.96 Linguistica Ascoliana_, Turin, 1901, p. 344.97

[8] See Prince, Annals N.98 Y.99 Academy of Sciences, XI., No. 15, pp.100 370–374.101

[9] See Prince, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XXXVI., pp.102 479 ff.103

[10] See Prince, American Anthropologist, IV., No. 1.104

[11] See Prince, American Journal of Philology, XXI., pp.105 295, 296.106

[12] See also Prince, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XXXVIII., pp.107 181–189.108

PART FIRST109

=The Epic of Kulóskap=110

=Canto First=111

CREATION LEGENDS112

I113

THE BIRTH OF KULÓSKAP, THE LORD OF BEASTS AND MEN, AND THE DEATH OF MALSUM THE WOLF114

[_Passamaquoddy_]115

_Yut nit nʾkani akʾnodʾmâgon Uch Kulóskap elaknotmotits piche.116 _[13]117

Wonderful traditions Of the olden time; Very old indeed, Ere the world began:118

The great lord Kulóskap Who in after days Was worshipped everywhere By the Wabanaki Or Children of the Dawn, Was as yet unborn, Living as a twin With another named Malsumsis--the Wolf.119 Wolf, the lesser one, As his brother was good So was this one bad; One, the Lord of Light, One, of Darkness dire.120