IIB

Dramatis Personae

107-115

"Literally 'great spirit,' Kis^emanitow ... . ... Vecsey (1983) discusses the concept among Ojibwa groups."

"Seventeenth-century sources on Ojibwa and Ottawa religion mentioned cognate words referring to a spirit associated with lakes and rivers who was offered prayers and sacrifices for good fishing and safe water travel ... . The most detailed account was provided by Pachot in the early 1700s ... . He described ... the ... master of spirits of lakes as possessing the form of a

sea tiger with fins."

{perhaps the tigershark (seatiger) Galeocerdo cuvier}

"spiritually powerful serpents, often possessing one or more horns and viewed as enemies of thunder, ... widespread in American Indian religions in the eastern United States (Gatschet 1899; Beauchamp 1888)."

"the Hairy-Heart beings were the enemies of the transformer Wisahkecahk in a Plains Cree myth which resembles the story told by Nelson ... (Ahenakew 1929, 339-42)."

"the underwater spirits known to the Attawapiskat Swamp Cree (Honigmann 1956, 67-68) and the Montagnais-Naskapi (Speck 1935, 68-69)."

"Nelson's description of Mikkinakk agreed with others attesting his amiablity, humor, veracity, and popularity with audiences".

"Among Cree and Ojibwa groups who took up residence on the plains in the eighteenth century, the Buffalo emerged as a spirit strongly associated with shamanism (cf. Howard [1965], 118)."

"common to both Cree and Ojibwa, ... Shared attributes are their ability to fly, ... and the signalling of their presence by weird laughter, moans, or rattling bones. ...

Some Plains Cree conceptualized them as small creatures (Dion 1979, 56)".

{"the sorcerer had sat down with a tiny man who danced in the palm of his hand. "I'm Master Log," he said, "and this is Huitzilopochtli"" (ThTGOH, p. 80).

Among Plains Cree and Plains Ojibwa, pakahk is identified as the originator and patron of the Give Away Dance ... (Cree mahtahitowin) sponsored in its honor".

"North Wind appears in the Wisahkecahk myth as the transformer's benevolent grandfather ... . ... .

... the four wind spirits as brothers with distinct behavioral attributes is widely distributed in the Algonquian ... northeast (e.g., Tanner 1979, 95; Schoolcraft 1860, 337-38; Brown 1977)."

"The majesty and power ascribed to thunderbirds are hinted at by the conjurer's stipulation that they remain outside the lodge to avoid breaking it apart. ... Some groups, for example the Lake Nipigon Ojibway (Morriseau 1965, 4-14), recognized different classes of thunder beings."

"The "Foolish Woman" described by Landes (1968, 22) among the southwestern Ojibway may be a related character".

"Curtis (1928, 18:129-31) collected a Plains Cree myth in which the hero "Neyanimis" wins a magical contest with a giant and then creates from his body the four wind spirits."

"Mis^apos^ is Wisahkecahk's younger brother who meets his death at the hands of the Great Lynxes {Lynges} and thereby precipitates the events leading to the deluge."

"In some verions of the Ojibway transformer cycle, the Sun appears as the father of Nenapos^ (Speck 1915, 28)".

"Moon appeared as the originator {originatrix} of the first female in the post-deluge creation {the 2nd creation} of human beings. ... A myth representing the sun and moon as brother and sister exists among the Swamp Cree (Clay 1938, 24)."

For the Ojibway, "see also Morriseau 1965, 112".

p. 113

"Nelson ... encountered one of the four spirits associated with epidemic diseases in a visionary dream ... . One of his Lac la Ronge Cree acquaintances, who had one of them as a spirit guardian, was warned by it".

p. 114

"cf. Thompson 1962, pp. 92-93".

"In conjuring performances, he was ... the one spirit who could not become invisible : consequently those present were required to cover their heads when he approached."

"In the shaking lodge of the Berens River Saulteaux, the "Little Jack Fish" provoked amusement by its imperfect recitation {enunciation} of ... words called out to it from the audience (Hallowell 1942, 845)."

""Loon would call out ... a cry ... though to resemble Cree and Ojibwa verbs meaning, "I want to marry!""

{[Wabanaki -- NM, p. 196] "A brother and a sister who were in love with each other decided to run away together. ... The culprits were about to be caught on a frozen lake they were crossing, when ... they were seen to emerge in the form of a loon uttering its weird cry. In this form the lovers rose up into the sky, where they became the Orion constellation (Speck 5, p. 352).

The Penobscot variant (... Speck 3, p. 20; 10, p. 52) is thought ... to ... be a reference to Orion ... . The origin of this is given in a myth relating how a man fell in love with his cousin and married her against tribal custom."} {"The story of the Loon-woman ... is ... that of

love between a brother and sister" (IMSCC, p. 173). "The Loon Woman ... is also a story of incest between siblings." (Modoc, Shasta, Wintu -- HNAM, p. 125)}

"the spirit Wolverine of the shaking lodge was ... distinguished by its offenseive smell."

"The Flying-Squirrel apears as another animal visitor in the shaking lodge, distinguished, however, by the fact that its utterances must be construed in reverse to be properly interpreted. This speaking style provides an interesting parallel to the discourse of the Oglala Sioux Heyoka or "Contrary" Society".

{One of the deities of the Heyoka is the "whirlwind" ("SSC", p. 469, art. 219). "Flying Squirrel ... was in the center of the whirlwind." (Seneca -- "F-S&S")}

"Rock Cree today associate the flying squirrel with bad hunting and trapping prospects".

{"Flying-Squirrel ... could kill no game and he didn't know how to get food for his wife and children." (Seneca -- "F-S&S")}

"The Algonquian evaluation of the bear as the most ... spiritually-110powerful of terrestrial animals ... has been discussed comparatively by Hallowell (1926; cf. Speck 1935, 92-110; Skinner 1911, 68-76).

Rock Crees sometimes refer to bears as apihtawidiniw or 'half-human' and regard them as sources of power for ... curing."

There is an "antogonism between dogs and game animals exemplified by such rules as disposing of animal bones so that dogs cannot gnaw them".

"In contrast to ... other beings linked with winter and cold (North Wind, Ice), Rock Crees do not associate the Snow being with danger or wihtikow."

"Often the transformer rewards the Kingfisher with attractive plumage (e.g., Stevens 1985, 20); in other versions the bird is punished for its predatory intentions toward the brother's remains."

"among present-day Rock Crees of the Churchill River, Ice is a malignant being linked with the wihtikow disorder. ... Some Rock Crees localize Ice in Granville Lake".

"individual stones might ... turn out to be animate and responsive (Hallowell 1976:362-64). Rock Crees recognize particular ... rocky sites as possessing a spiritual component; one rocky ledge on the Laurie River, for example, was the pawakan or dream guardian of a woman and aided her in an encounter with a wihtikow monster".