CHAPTER XII 



MYTHS OF THE WOOD CREES 



THE Grand Rapids natives seemed quite willing to aid me 

 in recording their myths, yet the number of these tales 

 was much less than I had expected. "Old Joe" 1 was always 

 pleased when he found "a new story" among his "band" for 

 me, after the more common myths had been written, and, as he 

 was one of the most influential men in the tribe, I think that 

 most of the myths known to them were told to me. Not all 

 of the mass of exceedingly vulgar material which was offered 

 has been rewritten for publication. To the credit of the nar- 

 rators be it said that they apologized for the coarseness of 

 many of the tales, saying, "It is not fit to tell a bourgeois (the 

 term applied to officers of the company and travelers passing 

 through the country, all other whites being known as 'servants' 

 or voyageurs) but then I did not make the story you know." 



The myths are written as nearly as possible in the words of 

 the interpreters. I did not acquire a sufficient acquaintance 

 with the language to consider it advisable to attempt to write 

 the Cree text. 



Wisagatchak is the central figure in their mythology; the 

 tales relating his marvelous adventures "would take a summer 

 and a winter in the telling." 



Petitot gives a brief account of the Wisagatchak creation 

 myth, 2 and then states 8 that the history of Wisagatchak con- 

 tinues and blends with that of Efwa-ehe of the Hares. He 

 caused the animals to suffer, the buffaloes to die through loss 

 of breath, he flattened the face of the lynx, produced touch- 

 wood by burning his own flesh, and, finally, he assembled all 



1 See p. 2, ante. 



* Traditions Indiennes du Canada Nord-Ouest, p. 472. 



8 Ibid, p. 474. 



201 



