Penobscot Lore:
WHY WE NEED WIND
Long ago, Klouskap lived with his grandmother, Woodchuck, in a small lodge by the ocean. One day Klouskap was walking along the shore when he saw some ducks in the Bay. "I think it is time to go hunt some ducks," he said. So he took his bow and arrow and got out his canoe. Klouskap began to paddle out to the ducks and as he did he sang a song. Ki yo wah ji neh, yo ho hey yo, Ki yo wah hi neh, Ki yo way ji neh. A wind came up and it forced his canoe around and blew him back to the shore. He then began to paddle out to the ducks even harder and he sang a little harder. Again the wind came up and blew him back to the shore.
Frustrated, Klouskap went to his grandmother and asked her where the wind came from. Grandmother asked Klouskap why he wanted to know such a thing and felt that there might be trouble. Klouskap answered his grandmother, "Because." His grandmother knew that if she didn't tell him he would never stop asking so she told him. "Far from here, on top of the tallest mountain, a great bird stands. The bird's name is Wuchowsen, and when he flaps his wings he makes the wind blow." Klouskap then asked his grandmother where to find the place that Wuchowsen sits and she told him to face the wind and walk. Klouskap thanked his grandmother.
Klouskap began to walk across the fields and through the woods and the wind blew hard. Klouskap made it to the foothills and the wind blew even harder. He began to climb the mountain the closer he got to the top the harder the wind became. The wind became so hard that it blew all the hair and clothing off Klouskap's body. Klouskap took a deep breath. "GRANDFATHER," he shouted. The Wuchowsen stopped flapping his wings and answered, "Who calls me Grandfather." Klouskap answered Wuchowsen and told the Wind Eagle that he was doing a very good job at making wind. Wuchowsen puffed his chest out in pride and made the wind blow even harder. So hard it almost blew Klouskap off the mountain top. Klouskap told Wuchowsen that he could do an even better job if he were to move over to another peak. Klouskap took a carrying strap that he had made and wrapped it tight around the Wind Eagle. He picked up the eagle and carried him to the other peak but as he did he came across a large crevice, and as he stepped over it he let go of the strap and Wuchowsen fell in upside down and was stuck.
Klouskap returned home and all the way he felt no wind at his back. By now his hair grew back and when he finally got home he put on a whole new outfit and was ready to hunt for ducks. He paddled out to the ducks but the air was very dry and still and he began to sweat. The water began to grow dirty and smell bad and there was so much foam on the water he could hardly paddle. Klouskap was not happy so he went to his grandmother's lodge to ask for help. She told him that the wind was needed to keep the air cool and clean. The wind brings the clouds that give us rain and they keep the water fresh and sweet. Without the wind life would not be good for the people. Klouskap thanked his grandmother.
Klouskap went back to the place where he had dropped the Wind Eagle and this time he called out "UNCLE." Wuchowsen asked "Who calls me Uncle." "It is Klouskap, Uncle. I am up here but who put you down There?" Wuchowsen told Klouskap that a very ugly naked man with no hair had tricked him and dropped him in the crevice "Ah, Grandfath......um, Uncle, I will get you out." Klouskap climbed down into the crevice and pulled Wuchowsen free and placed him back on the mountain. "Uncle," Klouskap said, "It is good that the wind blow sometimes and other times it not." Wuchowsen looked at Klouskap and nodded. "Grandson, I hear what you say."
This story teaches myself and others the valuable lesson of the Wind element and through oral and written history, our children can learn from such a story also. Wind is the vehicle and origin of thought and action.
This is a traditional story
of the Penobscot Indian Nation
as told by Jason K. Brown
Arrowhead Finger: A Penobscot Legend
Generations ago, when the village relied on the forests and the rivers for food and medicine, there was a Penobscot girl who knew the woods and the rivers, and knew every plant which grew in them as well as she knew her own family. She always knew where to find the ripest berries in the summer and the juiciest roots in the winter. She knew the plants that could be used to cure the sick, and knew where to find them, as though they were calling out loud to her. With her spear and her basket of bark, she would wander the wild places, sometimes by herself, sometimes with her sisters and cousins, through the meadows and forests, along the rivers and streams. She worked hard for the people of her village, gathering food and herbs long after the other girls had gone home, or gone off to play. She would always bring home a basket filled with food when the day was done. Because she loved to gather plants, she was known as Gatherer.
The children laughed at Gatherer, but the old women loved her. They saw how she never took more than she needed, nor more than the plants could bear to give. They saw how she always gave thanks to the spirit of the plants she harvested, and they were pleased. They even said that the branches of the trees would bend low to let her pick leaves from them.
One day she was alone in the forest, far from the village, gathering muskrat roots. Gazing among the undergrowth in the forest on the river’s bank, she saw something--Maguak warriors! She ran toward the village to warn her people that their enemies were coming. The warriors saw her and ran after. As she grew closer to the village, the warriors were starting to gain on her. When they were almost upon her she cried out, "Maguak! Maguak!" so that the people in the village could hear her. The warriors caught her and covered her mouth, but even then they knew the people in the village would be taking up arms. Their surprise attack would be no surprise, and they would be outnumbered.
They took Gatherer back with them as a prisoner, running until nightfall and forcing her to keep up with them. When they camped for the evening and had built a fire, the warriors said, "Let us see how brave Gatherer is now!" and they stuck her hand into the fire. Gatherer did not cry out. She would not show pain or fear to them. She would show them how brave she was. One hand was thrust into the fire, then the other, but she made no sound. Finally they stopped. "She has fingers like arrowheads!" said one of her captors. And that was the name they called her by, "Arrowhead Finger"
After the warriors had fallen asleep, she took a root she had gathered from he dress and rubbed it on her sore, burned fingers. "Help me, little one", she said to the root. Soon the pain ebbed, and by morning her fingers were healed.
The next day, Her captors made her travel hard again all day, over hills and mountains. At the end of the day, they burned her fingers again, to see if she would cry out, but she showed neither fear nor pain. And when they slept, she rubbed the root on her fingers again, and healed.
When the warriors woke, they saw that her fingers were still not blistered from being burned. "Perhaps she is carrying some medicine", their leader said. "Find it and take it from her". But Arrowhead Finger did not want to lose the root that had helped her, so she swallowed it without anyone noticing. That way, her healing remained a mystery to them. Fearing her now, they decided not to burn her fingers anymore.
When they reached the Maguak village at last, all the people of the village came out to meet them and were proud to see that their warriors had taken a prisoner. In those days, it was the custom for people to adopt young prisoners, and an old couple who had lost their daughter recently offered to adopt Arrowhead Finger as their own. "No," said the leader of the war band, "This one spoiled our raid. We will hold a council to decide what will become of her".
When the council met, the warrior told his story, of how Arrowhead finger had saved her village and refused to cry out when she was burned. Many of the people in the village admired her courage. Others wanted to burn her, fearing she would use her powers against them. They decided that until a decision could be reached, she could stay with the old woman and man.
After many days of keeping council, the tribal leaders agreed that it would be safer to burn her. Not everyone in the village liked this idea, because she was a hard worker and had won the respect and admiration of many people in the village in the short time she had been there. So they decided that they would wait for a few moons before burning her.
As the seasons changed, Arrowhead Finger noticed that her body was changing as well. The root she had swallowed had become a child in her belly. When her foster-parents told the tribe’s leaders this, they decided they would wait even longer to burn her, until after the child was born.
As the moons waxed and waned, the people of the village grew to love Arrowhead Finger. She worked harder than anyone else, gathering food and medicine from the forest for the village. When her baby was born, most of the women of the village came to see her and her new child.
That night, as she slept, she heard a voice beside her. She awoke to find that her newborn son was speaking to her. "I am the root that you gathered in the forest long ago. Because you always respected the plants, I will help you. The day after tomorrow, your enemies plan to put you into the fire. Even now, they are gathering the wood. You must ask my grandmother to help you. She will know what to do. You must leave me here, for I have work to do here. One day, we will be together again, but for now you must leave me." Then the babe closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Arrowhead Finger got up and went to her foster-mother, asking her what to do. "Daughter," she said, "I have a plan to save you. When the women go to gather wood tomorrow, go with them, and leave your son with me. Take the path to the east, and it will take you home. No one will expect you to leave, because your baby is here".
In the morning, she cradled her son in her arms, and kissed him goodbye. She placed him in the arms of his grandmother, turned, and went into the forest with the women. When they were safely away from the village, she took the path to the east. She followed the rising sun for many days until she came to the river.
On the river she saw her father, who was waiting for her in a birch bark canoe. He told her how a child had come to him in his dreams, saying that he must cross the river and bring her home. She told him all that had happened to her, and when they returned to the village she was greeted joyfully.
Angered with her escape, the warriors of the Magauk were making plans to attack the Penobscot village again. As they were making their plans, all of them became sick. They grew so sick that they feared they would die, and no one knew how to cure them. Finally, the old woman who had adopted Arrowhead Finger came to them.
"It is my Grandson who is making such fierce warriors weak", she said. "He is protecting his mother by making her enemies fall ill. He is very powerful, and you could not defeat him, but perhaps if you beg mercy from him, he will take pity on you".
The leaders of the village decided to do as she said. They went to her house and found, to their surprise, that the baby was now a young man. "We have come to tell you that we are sorry for mistreating your mother. Do not kill our warriors, and we will make you the chief of our people".
"I was going to kill them", said the boy, "but now I will let them live. Go to the forest and I will give you the herbs that will make them well again. I am Gwelhb’hot, and when you need medicine you must come to me. I will not be your chief. Instead, I will be a spirit of the forest, and the forest will be my house. You will not see me, but if you have respect for the plants I will lead you to the ones that can heal you".
So it was that Gwelhb’hot taught the people about the medicine of plants. And when Arrowhead Finger went to gather herbs in the forest, she would hear the voice of her son leading her to the plants which would cure her people. That is the voice that the people who seek medicinal plants still hear in the forest when they treat the plants with respect.
