Ixxii INTRODUCTION. 



ent class of beings. Besides the giants ana monsters of 

 legendary lore, other conceptions may be discerned, more 

 or less distinct, and of a character partly mythical. Of 

 these the most conspicuous is that remarkable personage 

 of Algonquin tradition, called Manabozho, Messou, Micha- 

 bou, Nanabush, or the Great Hare. As each species of 

 animal has its archetype or king, so, among the Algon- 

 quins, Manabozho is king of all these animal kings. 

 Tradition is diverse as to his origin. According to the 

 most current belief, his father was the West- Wind, and 

 his mother a great-granddaughter of the Moon. His 

 character is worthy of such a parentage. Sometimes he 

 is a wolf, a bird, or a gigantic hare, surrounded by a 

 court of quadrupeds ; sometimes he appears in human 

 shape, majestic in stature and wondrous in endowment, 

 a mighty magician, a destroyer of serpents and evil 

 manitous ; sometimes he is a vain and treacherous imp, 

 full of childish whims and petty trickery, the butt and 

 victim of men, beasts, and spirits. His powers of trans- 

 formation are without limit; his curiosity and malice 

 are insatiable ; and of the numberless legends of which 

 he is the hero, the greater part are as trivial as they are 

 incoherent.^ It does not appear that Manabozho was 

 ever an object of worship; yet, despite his absurdity, 

 tradition declares him to be chief among the manitous, 

 in short, the "Great Spirit." ^ It was he who restored 



1 Mr. Schoolcraft has collected many of these tales. See his Algic 

 Researches, Vol. I. Compare the stories of Messou, given by Le Jeune 

 {Relations, 1633, 1634), and the account of Nanabush, by Edwin James, 

 in his notes to Tanner's Narrative of Captivity and Adventures during a 

 Thirty-Years^ Residence among the Indians; also the account of the Great 

 Hart, in the Memoire of Nicolas Perrot, Chaps. I., II. 



2 *' Presque toutes les Nations Algonquines ont donne le nom de 

 Crranc? L/eyre au Premier Esprit, quelques-uns I'appellent Michahou (Mana- 

 bozho)." — Charlevoix, Journal Historique, 344. 



