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Abenaki - How Glooskap Made Human Beings
Long, long ago the giant Glooskap began a journey. On a wild, stormy day he stepped into the Bay of Fundy. The waves and tides in the Bay of Fundy go in crazy directions. They even turn the water inside out! One minute the bay can be perfectly calm, the next a thousand waterspouts are spiraling over the surface and rainy winds are howling. Delighted with this challenge, Glooskap began to swim, and with a few strokes of his powerful arms, he traveled from Nova Scotia to the rocky shore of Maine. For many years Glooskap enjoyed himself. He walked through forests, climbed steep cliffs, paddled his canoe on lakes and rivers. He saw sleet, snow, hail, rain, sunshine, and every shape a cloud could take.
But one night, as he sat by his bonfire, he said to himself, "Something is wrong. I am lonely." At that moment Glooskap got a brainstorm. "I'll create human beings!" he said excitedly.
But Glooskap worried that the world would be too dangerous for them. He had already made all the animals, and had made them giants like himself. Glooskap knew he'd have to solve this problem before he created human beings. He thought up a plan.
"First," he said, "I'll question all the animals to find out how they might treat human beings."
The next morning, when Glooskap heard a moose bellowing in the distance, he got his first chance. In five steps he reached the lake. Slurping down lily pads by the dozens at the opposite shore was a moose, whose branching antlers cast a shadow over much of the lake. "Ho, moose!" Glooskap hollered. The moose looked up with astonishment. This was the first time he'd seen Glooskap, and the sight made him a little nervous.
"Ho, great Glooskap!" the moose called back. The moose's call caused a gale. Enormous waves crashed against Glooskap's legs, swirled trees up from their roots, and nipped boulders into the air.
"Easy does it!" Glooskap said. "I'll step closer so you don't have to shout."
"I'm surprised to see you," said the moose. "Moose," Glooskap said seriously, "what would you do if human beings swam amid your lily pads?"
The moose munched lily pads and thought it over.
"Do you intend to make these human beings giants like us?"
"No," said Glooskap.
"Then, to tell the truth," the moose said, "I'd dunk g them under water, scoop them up with my antlers, and fling them as high as the geese fly!" 'Just as I feared!" Glooskap said, realizing that he'd made the moose far too strong. He immediately spun the moose by his antlers, which was Glooskap's magic way of shrinking him; Glooskap set the moose down. When his dizziness went away, the moose said, "It's strange being so much smaller! The trees are so tall!"
"You'll get used to it," Glooskap said. Then Glooskap traveled around and made all the moose the size they are today.
It was grueling work. After he was finished, Glooskap slept for five days and nights in his cave by the Isea. When he woke, he decided to visit a forest of pine trees. As he was walking, he saw a squirrel with hundreds of pine nuts stuffed into his cheeks.
"Ho, squirrel!" Glooskap called.
"Ho!" the squirrel answered, spitting pine nuts all over the forest. "I heard a rumor that you might create human beings!"
"Who'd you hear that from?" Glooskap asked.
"Moose," the squirrel said.
"Well, what you heard is true," said Glooskap. "So tell me, if human beings walked in your forest what would you do?"
The squirrel chewed furiously on a bunch of pine nuts, mulling over Glooskap's question. "To be honest," he finally said, "I'd bombard them with sharp pine needles, gnaw trees to come crashing down on them, and bury them in the ground with all the pine nuts I save for winter!"
"Just as I feared!" Glooskap exclaimed. "You are too strong!"
Glooskap took the squirrel in his hands and smoothed him down until he was the size that squirrels are today. Then Glooskap traveled to every forest and made all the squirrels smaller. It was hard work. Once again Glooskap went to his cave by the sea. He slept for a week.
But a rumbling growl loud as thunder woke him. In those days, there were great white bears. They liked to lie on their backs in cool tidal pools and sunbathe all day long. They were the laziest animals on earth. With one huge paw they could flip a hundred salmon into the air and gulp them down all at once.
Whereupon their day's work would be done.
Glooskap peered out of his cave down the cliff to the beach. There sat a great white bear.
"Ho, lazy bear!" Glooskap called down.
The bear's tracks on the beach were the size of ponds.
"Ho, Glooskap!" the bear growled.
"Bear," said Glooskap, "did you talk to a squirrel recently?" '
"As a matter of fact," the bear replied, "I did The squirrel told me you might create human beings "
"That's right," said Glooskap, "and I'd like to know what you'd do if human beings fished for salmon in the sea."
The bear stood up to full size, so that he was face-to-face with Glooskap, opened his mouth, which was as wide as Glooskap's cave, and said, "With my paw Id flip them into the air and devour them without even thinking twice!"
"Just as I thought!" Glooskap said. He immediately pressed down on the bear until he was the size that polar bears are today. "Now," said Glooskap, "go off and live among the glaciers and ice storms where you'll have to work hard to make a living!"
Glooskap then shrunk all the great white bears and banished them to the far north. Shrinking great white bears was no easy task. Glooskap was worn out. He returned to his cave; this time he slept for two weeks.
When he woke, Glooskap decided to continue his journeying. But he didn't want to travel alone. So he chose two wolves, one black, one white, as companions. Everywhere Glooskap went, the wolves were by his side.
So it was that Glooskap went all over the earth, questioning the giant animals - beaver, fox, coyote, eagle, turtle, seal, and sea gull. The animals were head-strong and mischievous, and all told Glooskap what harm they would do to human beings, if they had the chance. So, using all sorts of magic, Glooskap changed them all to the size they are today. He worked hard for many years until, finally, he felt that human beings would be safe on the earth.
"Now," Glooskap announced, "it is time for me to make human beings." -he animals of the forest crowded around. "What I'm about to do," Glooskap said, "is mysterious." Glooskap used a powerful magic that he had saved for this moment. He waved his arms, smoke flew up from the ground, there was a blinding light so that the animals had to throw themselves to the ground, covering their eyes. They were afraid. But when they next looked up, they burst into laughter. They saw human beings setting out in all directions: north, south, east, and west. "Look!" a bear shouted, "they walk on two feet!" The animals were delighted with their new companions on the earth. "Human beings are quite an invention!" a wolf shouted. "Glooskap, you have a great sense of humor!" And that is what happened when animals first saw human beings.
(Abenaki – Micmac)
Taken from book - How Glooskap Outwits The Ice Giants and Other Tales of the Maritime Indians
Norman, Howard A., and Michael McCurdy. How Glooskap Outwits the Ice Giants; and Other Tales of the Maritime Indians. Boston: Little, Brown, 1989.
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