Some myths and tales of the Ojibwa of Southeastern Ontario / collected by Paul Radin.

  • Paul Radin
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Some myths and tales of the Ojibwa of Southeastern Ontario / collected by Paul Radin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/104 (page 10)
    bless him. Then Nenebojo was told to go to a certain lake and cut a chunk of ice, take his bow-string, tie the ice on his back and carry it home. Then he was to put it in a hollow of the ground near his home. In the morning, if he went to the hollow, he would find something to eat. He was told that while carrying the ice home, he was on no account to look back, although he would hear voices saying, “This is Nenebojo. What is he going to do with that ice? Hit him! Hit him! Throw him down!” He was told not to take heed of these voices, for if he did, the blessing given by the man near the hill would not be fulfilled. In the morning, when Nenebojo went out to see the piece of ice he had brought home on the previous night, he saw a good many fine fishes in place of the ice. He picked them up and took them home, and his wife helped him to clean and dry them. After that they had plenty to eat throughout the winter. (c) Just about the time when Nenebojo was starving, Po'kwis’ supply ran out, so he started out hunting for food for his family. He had seen Nenebojo going out frequently in search of food and come back in the evening without anything. Now, he was in the same dilemma. Some days after, not seeing Nenebojo, he thought he would go over and visit him. He found Nenebojo at home with plenty to eat. Po’kwis asked him for some, but Nenebojo told him to go out and get his own fish. Po’kwis went home, but returned the next day and asked where he had gotten these fish. Nenebojo told him that he had met a man in the woods and that he had blessed him. (d) One day, as Po'kwis was going out in the same direction as Nenebojo, when he was starving and looking for food, he also saw an arrow dropping near him. Then he heard a voice from the top of the hill say, “Thief, thief, you have stolen my arrow, and also Nenebojo’s fish. Bring me my arrow, here to the place where I am standing.” Po’kwis picked the arrow up and brought it to him. Then the man asked him what he was doing, and Po'kwis answered that he was trying to kill a few animals, so that he might have something with which to feed his family, as all his supply of fish had become exhausted and he had nothing to eat. Then the man told him to go out to the lake, cut a piece of ice, take his bowstring and tie the ice on his back and then run straight home and leave the cake of ice outside his door. When he returned in the morning, he would find something to eat there. He was not, however, to look back while carrying the ice to his home, although