Contribution to Passamaquoddy Folk-Lore | Page 8

this story by Leland, Pookjinsquess leaves Black Cat on
the island, and paddles away, singing songs. In his story, Black Cat was
carried off from the island by the Fox, who swam out to get him.

Black Cat called to the gulls to defile Pookjinsquess with their dung.
They flew over her, and as she looked up they covered her face with
bird-lime.[14] They then burst out in a laugh, which they still have,
when they saw how changed her face was.
[Footnote 14: According to the narrator, the bird that did this was a
very large one. Possibly it was Cooloo, the offended husband of
Pookjinsquess.]
Black Cat wandered about the island, until at last he found a wigwam
of the grandfather, the "Morning Star," who told him he was on a very
dangerous island. He told him it was the habit of the Great Beaver to
destroy every one who came to the island.[15]
[Footnote 15: Quahbet, or the Giant Beaver, was not on the best of
terms with Black Cat, for Glooscap had slain many of the beavers,
whose bones still exist, and are of giant size. This hatred probably arose,
says Leland, from the time when Quahbeetsis, the son of the Beaver,
inspired Malsumsis to kill Glooscap.]
He told the Black Cat to climb a tree, and when he needed help to call
out for him. Night coming on, water began to rise about the base of the
tree, and the Giant Beaver came and began to gnaw at its base. The
friendly ants[16] tried to keep the tree upright, but the water continued
to rise and the Beaver kept on gnawing. Then the Black Cat in his sore
dilemma called out, "Grandpa, come!" The grandfather responded, "I
am coming; wait till I get my moccasins." The water rose higher. Again
Black Cat called out, "Come, grandpa, come!" "I am coming," his
grandfather said; "wait till I get my cap." Again Black Cat called,
"Hurry, grandpa!" "Wait until I get my pipe," said the grandparent. But
the waters had reached him. The tree swayed to and fro. "Come,
grandpa, come!" said Black Cat for the last time. Then he said, "I am
coming; wait till I open my door;" and then he opened the door of his
wigwam and the Morning Star came forth, the water began to recede,
and the Beaver swam away.[17] Then Black Cat's grandfather told him
to come down, and he would send him over the water to the other shore
on the back of the Wewillemuck. Black Cat thought that Wewillemuck
was too small to carry him over, but his grandfather told him to seat

himself between his horns, and when he wished Wewillemuck[18] to
go faster he should tap him on the horns. The grandfather then gave his
grandson a small bow and arrows, and put him on the snail's back
between his horns.
[Footnote 16: The ants assisted Black Cat in many ways. They were
also friendly to Leux, and on one occasion are said to have gathered the
bones and fragments of the "Merry God" together and restored his life.
Whether in the present instance they tried to keep the tree upright by
piling the earth about its trunk or not, the narrator does not say.]
[Footnote 17: Possibly the gnawing of the Beaver is the ripple of the
waves around the base of the tree.]
[Footnote 18: Mrs. Brown has identified Wewillemuck as the snail.
Some of the Indians say that it is a large lizard like an alligator. The
bark picture of this creature, made by Noel Josephs, is that of a
nondescript difficult to identify.]
As they were crossing the channel, Wewillemuck said to the Black Cat,
"When we get near shore tell me." But Black Cat gave Wewillemuck a
sharp rap on the horns, and the snail jumped forward and went so far
that both went a far distance inland. Wewillemuck said, "Why did you
not tell me we were near the land? Now I cannot get back to the water
again." But Black Cat took his small bow and arrows, and with them
carried Wewillemuck back to the water. So pleased was he that he said,
"Scrape from my horns some fine dust, and, whatever you wish, put
this powder upon it and it is yours." So Black Cat scraped off some
powder from the horns of Wewillemuck.
The Raven was told to build a wigwam for Cooloo, who was chief.
Pogump (Black Cat) went to see the chief, and killed him with the
powder. Black Cat went to see Pookjinsquess; he scattered a ring of
powder around her wigwam, and then set it on fire. It blazed up and
ignited the wigwam, burning up the old woman Pookjinsquess; whose
ashes, blown about by the