A World Of Legends

Storytelling to Educate

Nicole O’Bomsawin
January 18, 2011
Odanak

"It was a great audio book."

Nicole O’Bomsawin, Waban-Aki

In Indigenous cultures, legends aren’t used to put children to sleep, but to awaken them. They’re an integral part of education and are told from an early age and repeated many times. They provide knowledge about the territory and its wealth. Legends often include animals and give small life lessons by feeding the imagination. They warn fearless minds, teach obedience and instill respect for others. As a heritage of oral tradition, they now provide a platform for speaking out and shed light on current issues with their wisdom. Their goal remains the same, "to promote values", as Nicole O'Bomsawin nicely puts it.

Transcript

Nicole O'Bomsawin is sitting at a wooden table in front of a wall decorated with photographs, some in colour, others in black and white. On the table is a cup of coffee and a microphone. She’s wearing a blue knit sweater and a white turtleneck.

Interviewer

Could you explain to me the role of legends in the Abenaki culture? The function of legends? When do we tell them? Why?

Nicole O’Bomsawin

Oh! Well, uh, yes, I could tell you that there was a function, and there was a... in, in the past, which isn’t the same function today. You know, I mean, today, because, uh, legends, like everywhere else, I guess, legends, were... There was really an, an educational purpose, eh. They weren’t just... They weren’t just playful, to pass the time, to put kids to sleep. On the contrary, they were to keep the children awake. They had to learn. They were a way of... They were a way of educating... I often say that it’s another type of schooling, uh, a way of conveying values, of conveying... not just values, but also conveying knowledge, conveying... Thus, it was really a great oral book of… of a way of life, but in a playful manner to be able to, to... And, there were several levels in a legend. There were levels that were understood by younger ones, that could be interpreted by young children, and levels that could be understood by older ones. And there were levels that could be deciphered much later. But it was always the same legend told as, as faithfully as possible. Uh, so, uh... And when I talk about knowledge, it could be territorial knowledge... When you tell a legend, you give it a setting within a territory... So you say, “Well, it happened at such a mountain, such mountain that is located on the shore of the Saint-François River, in such a place.” So, we establish a location, uh... So, we define a territory. Uh... And then, uh, it could also be about geology... We talk about certain stones that were useful for such and such function, and so we convey this. For example, it's not just any stone that can make fire because they explode the... the stones... So, we explain without naming names, uh... Well, there are Abenaki names, but without naming the, uh, scientific names... It was Abenaki science that made us recognize each stone’s function.

Crossfade.

Because, yes, we can be faithful to the, to the legend, and repeat it as we have heard it, but at some point, we make it our own and then, well, we can essentially integrate other things without, without betraying the legend. So that's, I'd say that's the function... And also, well, there's, there's also the function of... Well, conveying knowledge, conveying values, of course, through the... through history, through the animals that will be present, through the plants that will be there... Uh... There will be values that will be, uh, that will be highlighted, when needed.

Close-up of Nicole O'Bomsawin's face.

So, let’s say that these values are the primary ones. These are the ones we prioritize. And if you don't follow these values, misfortunes will happen to you! You know, along the lines that if you don't go in that direction, you don't go in the direction of life. You go in the direction of death, and then, things happen to you. You know, so, there was this “notion of morality” that, I don't like to say this, but the moral of the story like La Fountain’s fables.

Interviewer

Or teachings

Nicole O’Bomsawin

Oh, yeah, teaching value. So there was still this idea of good and bad in the legends. There was, uh, how I could say, uh... Well, there was also a function, uh, of warning. For example, little warnings of good and bad, yet, if you want, uh, to warn the children, for example, of danger. Well, at that moment, uh, instead of saying, “Well, don't go there because something's going to happen to you,” we tell a legend that ensures that children will not want to go there because...

Interviewer

No. That's it. It has a greater impact...

Nicole O’Bomsawin

Because, because eh, at that moment, there’s danger, but it's... As long as children think it can be... And it's told over and over, with so much, well... And it's told to toddlers so that the children can essentially assimilate. So, at that point, well, you stay with.... It's a little like the, the former Quebecers, the French Canadians eh, who were afraid of the Devil, you know, who saw the Devil everywhere. Well, it's somewhat similar. You know, even when you're an adult, you still think the Devil may appear or you know...

Interviewer

It stems from early, early, childhood...

A Noisy Frog Story

John Mowatt — Steven Kistabish
June 29, 2011
Pikogan

"He was talking and we all listened."

John Mowatt, Anishinabe

It's easy to follow! It’s the story of a grandmother who tells her grandson a story, who then grows up and tells a man the same story, and then that last man tells a young man who has nothing to do with the story at the beginning. It’s a story of frogs, tolerance and respect; a little story that has a big lesson. Will the young man who hears it ever tell his children the story?

Transcript

Interview with John Mowatt and Steven Kistabish. A picture of them graces the soundtrack.

John Mowatt

Let me tell you a story. He's the one who told me. Y’know, uh... He said, “I was wondering about when I was young.” We all listened as he told us this. He said, “I remember when I was young.” He said, “You know, in the spring, you can hear frogs, right?”

Interviewer

Yeah.

John Mowatt

“At one point, it becomes tiring to our ears.”

Interviewer

Yeah, well, that’s how it is, screaming when there are little babies! [Laughter]

John Mowatt

“And at one point, I was sitting by, by the edge of the water,” he said. “I could hear the frogs,” he said. “"Ah, it was ringing in my ears,” he said. “I was tired of hearing them,” he said. “At one point, I was screaming! I was screaming,” he said. “My grandmother is upstairs. She's a kukum,” he said. “What's the matter?”, he said.

“Ah! I'm tired of hearing the frogs eh! I throw rocks, it, it stops a little of the croaking, it starts again later. My ears are ringing”, he said.

“Well, well, well! Come here,” he said. He said, “Come here. I'll tell you a little story.” His grandmother told him. “Sit down next to me. You know, the frogs there, what do you think they do in winter?

“Well, they hibernate.“

“Yeah, but happens in hibernation? What are they doing?”

“Well, they’re sleeping.”

“Yes... But, after that, what do they do in the spring?”

“Well, they wake up.”

“But what do you think they've been doing all winter?”

“Well they slept.”

“Yes, they slept, but they also dreamed. What do you think they’re doing now?”

“I don't know.”

“They’re sharing their dreams.”

Interviewer

Ah! Well, geez! That's a good one! [Laughter]

John Mowatt

That's why we hear them this way.

Interviewer

Well, yes. Well, it's, it's a way of accepting it and having respect for the frogs as well, you know.

John Mowatt

Well, that's it. That's how it is, I'm telling you. Legends like that, I wrote this one, but I have many legends like it.

Interviewer

Stories...

John Mowatt

Similar short stories for children.

Interviewer

... that always convey values, basically?

John Mowatt

Yes, that’s it. It's, well, it's a fable. It's something that says: well, it's because of that. You can't change it. You don't have any control over it, that's just the way it is. You can't change things that nature has decided. That's what it means.

John Mowatt

Look, Iroquois Falls, do you know why it's called Iroquois Falls?

Interviewer

No. Where’s that?

John Mowatt

It's in Ontario. It's a waterfall. It's called Iroquois Falls. It's in the area of Cochrane. And it's a legend. It has become a legend. They say that at some point, there was, uh, a war going on between the Iroquois and the Algonquins, back then, okay? And uh, they said that the Iroquois, well, they wanted to annihilate the Algonquins because of the fur war, and such, things like that. So, at some point, the Iroquois raided a community. They killed almost every Algonquin there. But at some point, the Algonquins were tired of it. Because before, they were close to the Lac des Deux Montagnes, the Algonquins, in the past. They were pushed back towards the, towards the north, here, in Abitibi, by the Iroquois. Because the Iroquois were somewhat recognized as radicals.

Interviewer

Yeah.

John Mowatt

Warriors.

So then, at some point, the Algonquins, well, they started to, they had shamans. They spoke to, I think, it was a moose, uh, a fox or a hare, anyways, it doesn't matter eh. “Could you go?” Uh, the shaman, said, uh, the Algonquin shaman, said, “Go count how many Iroquois are coming.” Okay. The fox leaves and returns. It says, “Two hundred of them are coming.” [The shaman]: “Two hundrend?” [The fox] said: “Yeah.“ [The shaman]: “So, we're going to, to wait for them, ambush them,” he said to the Algonquin. When you get to Iroquois Falls, it's like... The river does this, and there's a fall there. Along one of the mountainsides. So, the Algonquins hid up near the top. And they said, we'll wait for them here. They're coming this way anyway. They hid there. When the Iroquois arrived, there was an ambush by the Algonquins. All but one was massacred. When they started counting the bodies, they had 199.

Interviewer

Ah! Geez!

John Mowatt

But, when you go to Iroquois Falls, there are cups, sowajaks, in Algonquin. It's like holes in the river, because of erosion eh?

Interviewer

Yeah?

John Mowatt

There are holes in which a person can fit. They started looking for the missing Iroquois. At one point, they found him! So they said to him, “Are there any more coming?”. He answered “No, I don't know,” he said. “Tell us, or we'll kill you.” So then he said: “Yes, there are more coming.” So by saying that, pfft! They killed him.

So what they did is that at the top of the fall...

Interviewer

Yeah?

John Mowatt

... They put the Iroquois with the arrow right here, and like that, in the air. So that when the Iroquois got there, they'd see that. When they saw it, when they saw the Iroquois like that, the Iroquois turned around and left. And since then, this place has been called Iroquois Falls.

Interviewer

And is that a legend or...?

John Mowatt

It's a legend.

Interviewer

But were there any true elements in legends back then?

John Mowatt

I don't know. I've never looked into it. It's a legend. Some say it’s a legend. Others say it's true. And well, the elders are the ones to tell us these things, things like that.

Interviewer

Yeah.

Small Creatures, Big Questions

Donald Caplan
December 13, 2010
Listuguj

"I don't usually tell these things."

Donald Caplan, Mi'qmaq

How many realities are there? Who can say that one person's reality doesn’t exist, because it’s not their own? Are things beyond us just an illusion? Should mystery necessarily lead to doubt? How should we react when small creatures with funny smiles braid the manes of horses at night or ask us for tobacco and candy? "They must be honoured," Donald Caplan wisely advises. We have to trust him. He knows.

play_video

An interview with Donald Caplan

There’s a mountain out here called in proper English “Mount Carleton”. To us Mi’gmaq, that’s always been the Garaladjigetchk. There is a song about the little people that used to live up there, long time before the sailing vessels were coming in throughout the canal. The little people like to chew tobacco, oh they love it… They would spot on top of the mountain where they could see far away. And when they would see a vessel coming in, they would start singing, communicate with their families, saying that there’s a ship coming in.

[…]

It’s a song. The little people had a silly grin. And the first couple of words explain how silly grin they had on their faces. And then they see the vessels coming, and they know that they would try to get chewing tobacco from the captain. Anyway, the song looks like this, “We need some chewing tobacco, even the one in the spittoon”.

[…]

I heard that song when I was a little boy, my parents used to sing it all the time, it’s a very old song. All the Mi’gmaq know that song, it is very popular.

You can go to British Columbia, you talk to any elder, and you ask, “Is there some little people around?” If they feel good about it, they will tell you about the little people. There’s no difference all the way from here and the British Columbia. Even in all North America, you can go to Arizona and you can talk about little people and they’re gonna put a little smile on their face and say, “Yeah, yeah, I’m interested, I’ll talk about it.” Everybody knows somebody who sees them.

[…]

Suppose you’re scared or traumatized and you see a ghost right in front of you... How do you feel? How would you present yourself? Shocked, surprised and scared.

The little people, they select people. They know that you’re not gonna be mesmerized, shocked or panicked. Some people do when they see stuff like that. I’m cool, calm and collected because I heard them since I was five or six years old. My dad made stories about them. My grandfather had a farm with horses and cows. And every night, the horse would be kicking the walls and going wild in there. My dad would light up a kerosene lantern, go in there and every night, every night, every night, never miss, they braided the horse’s hairs, small little braids.

[...]

My oldest brother would say, “Jeez, these damn little people, I get so sick and tired of them. They braid the horses, I have to unbraid the horse’s hairs every morning, I get sick of it.” I didn’t find out until a long time, fifty years later, the elder tells me, “If the little people braided the horse’s hairs and tail, leave it there. It makes the horses stronger in the woods.” That was the reason.

We’ve had little people out here. I can honestly say I’ve seen hundreds. Hundreds of little people. I’ve seen some at my old house. One, that tall. The other one, that tall... They were holding hands with must have been their son or something. And I said, “Oh!” I said, “I know what you want!”

I’ve speak with a medicine man from the north, a Cree elder and he says, “You know, they are getting ready to give you some gifts. You better honour them. So they need tobacco, they need some candies, and they need some matches.” I said, “Why the matches?” He said, “They might want to light up, you know!” It’s like the old way, with tobacco and candy… Anyway, the elder told me, “Better get a red cloth like this, three by three or whatever, that’s what they are requesting.” So I put some matches there, and some tobacco and candies and I left it there. They are getting ready to give some gifts, I still don’t know what the gifts are… I have many, but one more is ok.

[...]

One day, my granddaughter birthday. It was about, I don’t know, maybe seven o’clock. They went to town to buy some balloons, and they came back, and they start blowing up the balloons, and they tied them up and put them on the ceiling. So, I’m sitting at this set and just watching them. Behind the chair, there was a little one, with a tiny little white balloon, and there was three or four of them, running back and forth in the living room. So I said, “Ha, thank you!” I didn’t tell my kids, the little people were celebrating by granddaughter’s birthday, very, very special. I was honored, I didn’t tell them anything until the next day. I’m not used to say stuff like that, by the way…

Another time, I was doing a sweat in Maria. Hot rocks come in the sweat lodge, and I sit western side facing the east. I had the rocks coming in, people all set to come in. I looked down, right in front of me, a little person sitting with gray spandex shorts, tiny little white towel, and he’s looking at the rocks too. I said, “Wow, I’m honored!” I was honored to have little people in the sweat lodge. I didn’t tell nobody then, and I said to myself, “What’s next? Gray spandex shorts!”

Small Creatures, Big Questions

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