204 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [| Vou. INO, 
his back he carried it to the place named, but thinking that he could carry 
it further, had only advanced a little when he found the weight of the 
whale pressing so heavily upon him that he could not move. The other 
animals in terror came to Glooscap and told him what had happened, he 
said to them not to mind but to cut up the whale, this they did. Then 
the Turtle came out stretching his legs and saying that he was tired and 
sleepy, the great load which he had carried made the Turtle very proud, 
so that he began to hold councils on his own account with the other 
animals; at one of these he proposed that Glooscap should be killed and 
he become their ruler. All the animals even to the toad took part in 
these councils. Glooscap in order to defeat the tricks of the Turtle 
turned himself into an old squaw and made his way to the council house, 
At the door he found another squaw in the shape of a porcupine, she was 
sitting on one side while a toad sat on the other. Glooscap said to the 
porcupine what does all this mean? it is none of your business was the 
reply, so Glooscap took the porcupine’s nose off between his fingers, and 
turning in a rage to the toad and making the same inquiry and receiving 
the same reply treated it in the same manner. As soon as Glooscap was 
gone the porcupine said to the toad, where is your nose? at this the toad 
looking at the porcupine said, where is yours? they were then satisfied 
that it was Glooscap who had been talking with them. After the council 
was over the Turtle said in a friendly manner to Glooscap, we will sleep 
together to night. After they had gone to bed and when the Turtle 
thought that Glooscap was asleep he attempted to stab him, but only 
wounded himself. At this Glooscap jumped up saying, let me have a 
cut at him, and wounded the Turtle badly; after this the animals all got 
fighting with one another, the Turtle quarreling with them all. One of 
them at last said to Glooscap, the Turtle will kill us all; then help your- 
selves by giving him a kick in the breast whenever he becomes trouble- 
some. They did so and he appeared as one stunned. After this 
Glooscap called all the animals to him and transformed them to men and 
women. The wolf ran off and the loon flew away, both sorry enough to 
leave their master. When the Turtle came to his senses, seeing no one, 
he said I will return to my natural life, and retreating to the water he has 
remained there ever since.” 
The Melicites have many legends regarding Glooscap. There is 
a place about half a mile below what is known on the St. John 
River as Boar's Head; here they point out what appears to them 
to be the form of a man’s head: this they say is Glooscap’s image 
in the rocks, and they note this as the place where he first came to the 
St. John on his way down to kill the great beaver who had built a dam at 
the falls close to the city of St. John, where the suspension bridge now 
a 
