SMITH ON MICHIGAN FOLK-LORE. 



SCIENTIFIC USE8 FOR MICHIGAN FOLK-LORE. 



ItY IIARLAX I. SMITH. 



The Indian iiibes of Micliijj;an have a considerable literature, oou- 

 sisting- of legends and myths which, since they had no written language, 

 have been preserved by frecjucnt repetition. As literature, these are not 

 of the highest type, although i)r(»bably better than is generally supposed. 

 The scieutitic use of this material is not necessarily impaired by its 

 lack of literary merit. 



The following talc which is an example of this folk-lore was collected 

 in October. 1S!)4, at Peomigowink, an Ojibwa Indian community, situated 

 on the west side of the Flint river in Saginaw county, Michigan. It was 

 told in broken English by an old Shaman, now an exhorter in the Indian 

 Methodist church: 



My ancestors told me that at one time eleven Ojibwas went on the 

 warpath beyond the Rocky mountains. Their leader, when a young 

 man, had been painted with black coal and, with other young men, had 

 fasted from ten to twenty days, until the^' began to dream of what to 

 do in life when they went to war. If a war party would be successful 

 it should take the exact number of men indicated by the dream. This 

 man had not been in the habit of dreaming. He led his party westward, 

 fultilling all the directions he had received in his dream until on a 

 mountain thev saw a nest surrounded bv water, like an island. There 

 they saw two birds as white as snow, which their leader told them not 

 to harm. One of the party, lingering in the rear, foolishly attempted to 

 shoot the birds with his bow and an arrow. Whenever he aimed at 

 one of the birds it winked and the arrow was split by a slight stroke 

 of lightning accompanied by a little thunder. The party went on. 

 They saw black clouds gathering in the east and heard heavy thunder. 

 The leader told his men to separate and stand under the large trees. 

 The thunder apjjroached rapidly and became terrific. The man who 

 Iiad attempted to shoot the birds was struck by lightning which left 

 only his skin. The party was frightened and feared that they would be 

 punished because that member of their party had done wrong in trying 

 to kill the birds. The leader was successful in obtaining some scalps 

 and returning home, at which time they had a dance. 



Tliis tale is a curious combination of mythological and legendary 

 characters and also contains unmistakable references to puberty rites. 

 The narrator, although an old man, could not explain the story, which 

 like all folk-lore preserves ideas and traces of philosophy long forgotten 

 by his people. 



The references to the thunder bird, the painting of the face and fasting 

 when young, show that the same influence was present with his people 

 as with people even as far west as British Columbia. There is folk-lore 

 evidence showing a continuous line of influence transferred from tribe 

 to tribe from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the head waters of the 

 Columbia. ^lichigan folk-lore is one of the links in this chain. 



