IV. MISCELLANEOUS MALECITE TALES
*The Lost
Hunters
I (Solomon)
[1]
There were these two
hunters [and] they got lost in the woods. While they were
hunting there came a big storm and they got lost, but they came
to this deserted maple sugar camp, so they had to stop there for
the night. One of them said, “I don't feel like going in that
place. [It] seems to be haunted by something. . . . I
don't feel right going in there.”
[The other one] said,
“We'll have to stop somewhere overnight rather than walk in that
storm or freeze to death. We might as well stop here for the
night and dry out our clothes, and we'll start first thing in
the morning.”
So anyway they went in and
built a fire [and] got themselves warm. They always
carried some dried meat with them anywaysome dried deer meat and
moose meat for their lunch. And they seen this dead man laying
in one of the bunks (bunkswhatever you call them. They made [them]
out of fir boughs. The Indians used to make them. They used to
use fir boughs for their bedding.) They seen this dead man lying
there. [One of them says], “I'm not going to sleep here.”
“I say what harm can a dead man
do us? He'll never [hurt us]. I'm going to stay rather than walk
in this storm.”
So one of the hunters there
couldn't sleep. The other one soon fell asleep and was snoring.
But [the first one] he almost fell asleep once and he put
in some more wood on the fire. And he could hear some noise,
kind of a gurgling noise, and he looked behind and seen this
dead man sucking the blood out of the other hunter. He'd come to
lifemust have been a werewolf. Now this [first] man he uh
threw this bone. . . behind his left shoulder to kind of ward
off this uh weird creature. So he put on his snowshoes and left
as fast as he could travel.
Before he came near this Indian
reservation he had to cross some ice. Every once in a while he'd
look behind, and for a while he seen this big ball of fire
coming after him. Already he was crossing the lake, but this
ball of fire was coming so fast that it was almost catching up
with him. When he crossed this lake he seen this ball of fire
was coming too near him. . . . Well, he started hollering to
draw the other Indian's attention. When they heard him. . .
.they seen this ball of fire. So they all took their bows and
arrows and fired at this ball of fire. That's the only way that
would make him turn back.
Well, [the hunter] he
fell right there in their arms. He was unconscious. They carried
him home [and] after they made him come to, why he told
them the story about that dead man they seen in the camp. . . .
Next morning they all went. . . to that place, and they found
this dead man laying on the bunk right where they left him and
they found this other one all [with] his jugular vein all
broke open [and] the blood drained out of him. Well, they
took him and buried him in the Indian burying ground, but this
other one they burnt him. . . . They tied him to a pile of wood.
. . and burned him. That's the only way they could kill him so
he wouldn't bother any more people. During the last, when he was
burning there they could hear the bones cracking. Pretty soon
they could hear a voice screeching way off into the air. That's
the only way they could get rid of him. . . .
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* * * * * *
The
Lost Hunters II (Black)
Two fellows went hunting and
they got lost. They saw an empty cabin in the woods, so they
went in for shelter. They could look for their way home
tomorrow.
When they went in, they looked
around and saw a corpse lying on the bunk. Figuring that the
corpse could not do anything to them, they put the corpse in the
corner and they took the bunk. They built a fire, had a meal,
and then went to bed. During the night one of the fellows woke
up hearing strange gurgling sounds. So he got up and looked
around, and there was the corpse sucking the blood from his
friend's throat. This guy got so scared that he started running
and by chance he found his way home. Right behind him he heard
this “WHOOO” sound, and he looked around and this ball of fire
following him. Just before the bell of fire caught up with him,
he got to his front yard and ran into the house and slammed the
door on the ball of fire, and then he passed out.
When he woke up, they asked him
what happened and he told them all about it. So they formed a
search party to go into the woods and find out about it. They
found the cabin (they took a priest along too), and sure enough
there was the corpse where they had placed him, and they found
the buddy with his throat all chewed up, and the corpse had
blood all around his mouth. They took the buddy out, and the
priest said to them “Burn the place to the ground.” So they set
fire to the place. While it was burning, they heard the
screaming, “Help me! Let me out!” The priest said to ignore the
cries, and they did. Just as the cabin was about to fall down
they heard a final scream and they saw this big ball of fire
disappear in the sky and they never saw it again.
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* * * * *
*The Man Who
Married
The Nun (Solomon)
[2]
MRS. HEGEMAN: Well now what's
this one about--uh---who married the nun?
MRS. SOLOMON: Well, that's not
a story about the Indians. That was a story about the white
settlers. . . . It was in old Québec. You know, them French
people used to have a lot of stories too. . . . When they first
came to settle the country [there were] all these French
priests and sisters and nuns. And they said that if there was a
single man wanted to marry one of the nuns they could. They had
to have permission, though, from the priest. And one of the men
there had lots of cleared land. He built himself a camp in the
woods somewhere. He heard about these nuns and he went to see
the priest or the bishop. Well, he got permission to marry one
of the nuns. Well, this nun didn't want to leave the convent,
but that was the law then. That was the rule: that if there was
a man wanted to marry them they had to. . . . I don't think that
happens now. . . .
Anyway, he took this nun in the
woods and that's where they lived. He wouldn't take her into the
settlement to the church or anything. Well, this nun used to
pray for him. Now this man wouldn't let her pray or anything.
Burnt all her rosaries and burnt all her prayer books and
everything. One day this man took sick. This nun, which was his
wife, tried her best to cure him. He had some kind of a fever;
it might have been pneumonia, I don't know. He had this high
fever and she couldn't break the fever. He kept on getting worse
and getting worse. So one day she couldn't help it. She had to
go to the settlement to get a priest. She harnessed up the old
horse and she went. [She told] the priest how bad off her
husband was and the priest . . . went to this man.
When they came back, there came
a big stormrain and wind and everything. They could hardly get
back to the camp. And when they got there they found out this
man was really bad, and when they went in the house he refused
the priest. And the priest took out the crucifix and showed it
to the sick man. This sick man jumped right out of his bed and
landed on the floor on his hands and knees. . . on all fours. He
cried and he kicked [? and his eyes were?] just like two
balls of fire. He turned [wicked] right there and he. . .
turned black and everything. The wind blew the door open and
then [in] came something like a big tom cat, great big
tom cat. And this man jumped on this cat's back and the cat
jumped right back and went off in the woods, and they never
heard from him [any further].
So it was coming daylight and
the priest told this woman, “Come on, you'd better pack up and
come with me. I can't leave you here in the woods.” So they
burnt the camp down and they went. It took them two or three
days to get back to the settlementtrees falling across the road
and everything. It's a wonder they got through that night. . . I
don't know how true it is, but they used to tell that.
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* * * * * *
*How The
Trappers
Broke The Spell (Solomon)
[3]
These two hunters they used to
go hunting every falltrapping, you know. They weren't hunters,
they were trappers. They had to take their winter supplies, and
when they went they had to portage their canoe. . . . quite a
few miles until they got to another lake or pond [at a place]
which would be a good place for trapping. They might've seen a
lot of beaver and mink tracks and beaver dams. So they made
ready. They made their camp ready and next day they set out
their traps.
But they couldn't catch
anything. They seemed to have bad luck right from the start.
They couldn't even kill a deer or a moose or anything for their
meat supply, and their food supply was running short. Well, they
stayed in there a long time without catching anything. So one
day they decided they would talk things over. They said, “We got
to go back without anything. We just got enough food supply to
last until we get back to the (I suppose they call it a trading
post, where they do their trading). How will we get stuff? We
haven't got no fur or anything to trade with.”
“Well, we might have better
luck in a different place.” Anyway, they got ready to leave camp
the next day.
Just coming dark there came
another hunter. And [he said], “Boys, I'm lost in the
woods. Can I stay the night with you?”
They said, “Yes, you may stay
the night. We ain't got much to eat, though.”
He says, “I got my own.” He
says, “You've been having bad luck, haven't you?”
He says, “Yes, I have. We're
going back without anythingnot even one beaver pelt and no mink
or anything.”
“Well,” he says, “there's
somebody been giving you bad luck. . . . Somebody's cast a spell
over you. . .” He says, “I'll tell you what. You go out and cut
a tree down, like a fir, and you hew it out in the form of a
man, you know, in the form of a person, and hew out the
shoulders and the head and everything. And the first thing in
the morning you go and plant this [figure] along the
shore. Make sure that it's standing in the water.”
They said, “We'll do that right
now.”
He said, “Are all your traps
set?”
They said, “Yes, we're going to
take them up in the morning.”
Well, anyway, they cut down the
tree, fir tree, and they put it in the water like this man told
them to. Well, that man stayed there overnight with them, and
come daylight he told them to go and take a shot at it. . . .
They could see the post or tree or whatever it was, and they
shot at it. My God, they could hear that ring of the bullet and
they could hear somebody crying. . . and this tree dropped in
the water and went down the river.
“Now,” he says, “I'm going to
leave you boys and go back to my trap line. But you're going to
walkyou're going to [see all your] traps before you leave.”
The boys went and every trap
was full! They caught a lot of minks and beaver and all kinds of
fur-bearing animals. So they wasn't there any more than a week
or ten days before they got. . . more than they could carry in
their boats. And [also] they had meat for supper. Just as
they were getting near the town there was a big moose standing
around there, so they shot it, and they had plenty of meat then.
But this man [had] told
them, “Now I'm going to tell you. When you get back to the
reservation, maybe you'll hear about a sick man, and they'll
want some of your meat. Don't you give them any moose meat or,
deer meat or whatever you're taking home with you. . . . That'll
make the spell come back on you, but this time you'll both be
sick.”
Well, when they did [get
home], they found out that this man [i.e. a man in the
village] was very sick. All at once he had a sore shoulder.
He said, “If you would come and give me just a little bit of
your moose meat maybe that would cure me.”
No, they wouldn't do it.
He said, “Even just a little
taste of the broth.”
No, they wouldn't give him
nothing, not even a drop. So that kind of broke the spell and
they had good luck after that. But this man was sick a long
time, but that shoulder finally got the best of him and he died.
. . .
MRS. HEGEMAN: Is this a true
story?
MRS. SOLOMON: That's supposed
to be true.
MRS. BLACK: I don't know. I
never heard that one.
MRS. SOLOMON: Well, I didn't
know if I'd ever told you about it.
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* * * * * *
The Man Who Sold His
Daughter
To The Devil (Black)
[4]
There was a man who sold his
daughter to the Devil and did not even know what he was doing.
He was a poor struggling farmer who could not make ends meet. So
one day he went to town to borrow money to buy feed for his
stock and food for his family. He was really desperate. No
matter where he turned, he could not get anybody to help him.
He started home with a heavy
heart and he met this man who looked like he was very rich.
Seeing the farmer so downhearted, he asked what was the trouble
and the farmer poured out his troubles to the stranger. After he
heard the farmer's situation, he asked him if he would like to
make a bargain. The farmer asked him what he wanted. The man
said, “If I gave you all the riches you wanted for seven years,
would you give me something that is standing outside your
kitchen window?” The farmer stopped to think, but thought only
of the old apple tree standing there and thought it was a pretty
good trade for all the riches he needed for seven years. So he
made the bargain with the man. Then he told the Devil he could
come back in seven years to pick up what he had bargained for.
So they both agreed to meet in the same spot in seven years, and
at that time the farmer would bring complete the bargain. During
the seven years the farmer would not want anything.
The farmer thought this would
be great until he got home and told his wife he had traded the
old apple tree with the Devil for all these riches. The wife
asked what time it was and the farmer told her. The wife began
to cry and told the farmer that at the same time their daughter
had been standing under the tree, and without knowing it, he had
traded his daughter for seven years of wealth.
For the next seven years
everything went fine until it came near the time when the Devil
would return. Then the farmer became upset and wondered how he
could cheat the Devil out of his share. Finally the day came
when the Devil returned to pick up the daughter. The girl cried
and cried. The Devil asked, “Are you ready to give me what you
promised?” The farmer told him he thought at the time he was
trading the apple tree, and he couldn't give his daughter to
him. The Devil was very angry, and he asked the farmer if he had
not kept his part of the bargain and if the farmer had not had
everything that he wanted. The farmer said, “Yes” but he wanted
to keep his daughter. The Devil asked him, “You would do
anything to keep your daughter?” The farmer said he most
certainly would.
So the Devil said he would give
him another chance and would make another bargain with him. This
is what the Devil said to the farmer: “You are not to cut your
finger nails for the next seven years.” The farmer agreed. The
farmer let his finger nails grow and grow. He did not tell his
wife of his agreement with the Devil and allowed his finger
nails to grow until almost time for the Devil to return.
One night they were invited to
a party, and his wife asked him to cut his finger nails, but he
would not. He went to sleep and his wife decided to cut his
finger nails. Then she woke him and they got ready for the
party. When he woke up and saw his fingernails, he stood crying
and crying. He told his wife why, and she began to cry and cry.
Then the Devil returned and
asked the farmer if he was ready to give up his daughter. He
said, “No” and tried to explain that he had not cut the finger
nails. The farmer decided he might just as well give up. So he
went in the house to call his daughter, and she appeared all
cleaned up. The Devil said he would return for her in a week,
but she was not to wash her face and hands in that time. So she
did not clean up for a week, and the Devil appeared to get her
in his carriage.
She was all ready and waiting
for him. She got into the carriage, and she was saying good-by
to her parents, and she was crying so hard that the tears washed
her face. The Devil got so mad that he told her he could not
take her. That was because she was too clean to go with him. He
drove off and left her standing there with her parents.
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* * * * *
A Task The
Devil
Cannot
Perform (Black)
[5]
This man had made a pact with
the Devil. When the Devil came to collect his due, the man
didn't want to pay off. The Devil told him that if he could
create a task that he (the Devil) couldn't do he would let him
go free. The man handed the Devil a paper bag. The Devil asked
what he was supposed to do with the paper bag. The man bent over
and gave a big fart and said to the Devil, “If you can put all
the stink in that paper bag, you can have my soul.” The Devil
could not collect all that stink, so the man went free.
* * * * *
The Devil And
The Card
Players
(Black)
[6]
There was one place where they
played poker and gambled every night. The priest was dead set
against gambling. They'd just as soon gamble as go to church.
One night these children were playing outside the home where
they were gambling. William LaPorte was waiting for his father,
who was in there gambling. He went in to get his father, who he
wanted to go home before it got dark, but his father told him to
go outside and play awhile. They had kerosene lamps in those
days, and it was dark enough to light the lamps. The little boy
sat outside waiting for his father. Pretty soon he saw someone
lying on the grass. He went to take a closer look, thinking it
was a dog. When he got there it was a little red devil with a
prong on his tail. He had thorns all over him. He also had two
horns and was lying with his head in his hands and his eyes were
full of fire. He was watching the people gambling with a grin on
his face. The boy ran to the house and told his father to get on
home because the Devil was watching them gamble. He described
what he saw and they went outside, but they could not see
anything. He got his father home, and they still did not believe
he saw it. Up until the day he died he still swore he saw it,
and he was always afraid of the Devil.
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* * * * *
A
Witch
Tale (Black)
[7]
This woman is a daughter to the
man who saw the Devil, William LaPorte. She died about two years
ago, in the fall of 1960. She used to say that she could put a
hex on people. . . . She had a few milking cows and a couple of
pigs. She would let them roam all over the reservation, and they
would chew in all the vegetable gardens until one day one of her
cows came home because someone had thrown boiling water and
scalded the cow's face. And oh! she got so mad because she
thought a lot of her cows. She was a nice old lady, but she had
a temper, and she said, “I know what I will do. I'm going to
boil some needles and stick them in the red flannel and whoever
burned my cow, tomorrow [will] get a burn the same way,
with hot water.”
The very next day a little boy
upset a pan of boiling water on his arm. He lived on the other
side of the reservation. It was Mrs. Black's little brother. He
did not like the cows chewing up all his garden, and that is why
he threw the boiling water at the cows. He was about six years
old, when he had thrown the boiling water on the cow. He had to
have his arm treated for burns.
* * * * *
Jack
LaPorte
The Great (Black)
[8]
Jack LaPorte the Great was
honest. (The Medeulin are all honest). Jack would soon go
into the woods to hunt and cut lumber for his livelihood. One
year in the fall he went into Perth and went to the General
Store and asked for credit until spring, when he would get paid
for his winter's work. The grocer would not let him have credit.
Jack got disgusted and walked out the back way. Out in the back
yard he saw some wood chips, picked some up, and put [them]
in his pocket. He went back into the store, took the chips out
of his pocket, and paid for the groceries like they were money,
and they were money. He took off for the woods with his family
and supplies. Come spring he went back to the town [and]
sold all his furs. The first thing he did was to go to this
grocery store and ask the man how much money he owed him. The
grocer said, “Nothing.” Jack asked if he remembered finding any
wood chips mixed up with his money. The grocer said yes, and
Jack explained that he had fooled the grocer long enough, but he
now wanted to pay him. He could have fooled him, but he paid for
the supplies, and Jack could always have credit with the grocer
after that.
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* * * * *
A
Forerunner
(Black)
[9]
[This] happened to
Henrietta's uncle twenty-two years ago. Her uncle and his wife
and their three girls lived in a two story house, one room
upstairs and one room downstairs. They were very poor people.
This happened in the spring of the year when he got home from
the woods. There was he and his wife and the baby all sleeping
in one bed. The baby was between them. They had two cots
upstairs for the two other daughters. They were all sleeping,
and suddenly he was awakened by the sound of little feet. He
thought it was one of the girls, so he decided to wake up his
wife to have her go and see what she wanted. As he opened his
eyes he got the shock of his life. Standing before him was a
shroud, and also there the skull of death. This thing that he
saw had his arms around her aunt and [another] around the
baby and was looking over [at] the cot of the second
daughter. The uncle asked him, “What are you doing here?” He
grabbed for the thing but it was gone by then. He took the baby
with him. In July the second daughter died of yellow jaundice.
The Uncle kept thinking about
what he seen. Then one night the thing returned and told him he
had only two more to go. Soon after that the aunt came down with
T.B., and they sent her to the St. John San. She came home just
before Christmas and stayed home until after the holidays. Not
long after she took sick again and kept on getting worse and in
February she died.
The uncle [was]
convinced the oldest girl would die even though she was very
healthy. He put her in the care of one of his sisters and went
to work in the woods. Not long after he went to work in the
woods, his wife appeared to him in a dream and told him that he
[i.e. the spectre] was going to return for the daughter.
Then about a month later the little girl was playing in a
rocking chair and she fell over. By the time her aunt reached
her she was dying. She died in her aunt's arms. As the father
was coming out of the woods he heard the death toll, and when he
arrived home she was dead.
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* * * * * *
The Little
People
(Black)
[10]
Giewludmooseeug or
Giewludmooseeesug. These are ways of calling the little
people that they [the Indians] believe in. We would know
them as Leprechauns. They believed that if these little people
come and braid the tails and manes of the horses or your apron
strings, it is going to bring you bad luck.
This is all she could tell us
about these people. In the middle of the night the horses
started neighing and getting very restless. Everyone wondered
what was the matter with them. In the morning when they went out
to the barn to feed the horses, their tails were braided in real
fine braids. They could not unbraid them either, because the
braids were so fine. This happened to a woman at home on the
Malecite Reservation at New Brunswick. Mrs. Black's mother saw
the braids. After they braided the tails, they came back and
braided the manes and also the clothes she had hanging on the
lines.
Some people have claimed they
did see these little people. Mrs. Black says she has never seen
one. They are little men about three feet high, long white
beard, just like the little dwarfs in Snow White. They also wore
clothes like Rip Van Winkle used to wear: red pants, green
jackets, and green shoes with the toes all curled up. One girl
who said she saw one, said he just stood and looked at her. It
scared the dickens out of her, and he just turned and walked
down the road.
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