Contribution to Passamaquoddy Folk-Lore | Page 6

obtained from
Peter Selmore a story of the origin of the Thunder-Bird, which is
different from any mentioned by Leland. This story, I regret to say, I
was unable to get on the phonograph.
A story of the old times.[7] Two men desired to find the origin of
thunder. They set out and travelled north, and came to high mountains.
These mountains drew back and forth, and then closed together very
quickly. One of the men said to the other, "I will leap through the cleft
when it opens, and if I am caught you can follow and try to find the
origin of thunder." The first one passed through the cleft before it
closed, and the second one was caught. The one that went through saw,
in a large plain below, a group of wigwams, and a number of Indians
playing ball. After a little while these players said to each other, "It is
time to go." They went to their wigwams and put on wings, and took

their bows and arrows and flew away over the mountains to the south.
The old men said to the Indian, "What do you want? Who are you?" He
told his mission, and they deliberated what to do. Finally they took him
and put him in a mortar and pounded him up so that all his bones were
broken. Then they took him out and gave him wings and a bow and
arrows, and sent him away. They told him he must not go near the trees,
for if he did he would go so fast that he could not stop, but would get
caught in the crotch of a tree.
[Footnote 7: The Zuñi folk-tales always begin with a similar
introduction, which may be translated, "In the time of the ancients."
The Passamaquoddies often end a story by the words which, being
translated, mean "this is the end." The same occurs in other Indian
stories.]
He could not get to his home because the bird Wochowsen blew so
hard that he could make no progress against it. As the Thunder-Bird is
an Indian, the lightning from him never strikes one of his kind.[8]
[Footnote 8: The wind (Wochowsen) is represented as resisting the
Thunder-Bird. According to Chamberlain and Leland, "thunder beings
are always trying to kill a big bird in the south." It is said by the
Passamaquoddies that Wochowsen is the great bird which overspreads
all with his wings and darkens the sky. Often when he passes by, the
glare of the bright sun is ample to blind them.]
This is the same bird one of whose wings Glooscap once cut when it
had used too much force. There was for a long time, the story goes, no
moving air, so that the sea became full of slime, and all the fish died.
But Glooscap is said to have repaired the wing of Wochowsen, so that
we now have wind alternating with calm.
BLACK CAT AND THE SABLE.
The translation of the following tale of Pogump, or Black Cat and the
Sable, was given me by Mrs. W. Wallace Brown.[9] The original was
told into the phonograph in Passamaquoddy by Peter Selmore, in the
presence of Noel Josephs. A bark picture of Pookjinsquess leaving the

island, representing the gulls, and Black Cat on the back of the Snail,
was made by Josephs. A copy of this picture is given at the end of this
paper.
[Footnote 9: The version gives only the incidents as remembered, and
can hardly be called a translation.]
Mrs. Brown tells me there is a story which accounts for the hump on
the back of Pookjinsquess, as follows: While leaning against a tree,
some one cut off the tree above and below her shoulders, and she
consequently carries the hump on her back.
Cooloo, the great bird that overspreads all with his wings, was a chief.
His wife was named Pookjinsquess. The Sable and the Black Cat went
in a stone canoe to a place where they make maple sugar. In this
journey they were lost, and separated from each other. Sable in his
wanderings came to a peculiarly shaped wigwam. He went in and
found within a large Snake. The Snake said he was glad the Sable had
come, as he was very hungry. The Snake told him to go into the woods
and get a straight stick, so that when he pierced him he would not tear
open his entrails. Sable then went out and sang in a loud voice a song
which he hoped his brother the Black Cat would hear and come to his
aid.[10] The Black Cat heard him and came to him. Then the Sable told
the Black Cat the trouble he was in, and how the Snake was going to
kill