Three Maine Trickster Tales
From the Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Penobscot Tribes

Glooskap Turns Men into Rattlesnakes (Passamaquoddy)

There was a certain tribe. Its people were rowdy and lecherous. Whatever they wanted to do, they did. They were disrespectful. They thought about nothing but copulating and gorging themselves with food.

Glooskap told those people, "A great flood is coming."

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They said, "We do not care."

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He told them, "The water will be so high, it will go way above your heads."

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They said, "We are good swimmers."

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"The flood will sweep you away," Glooskap told them.

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They said, "We like to take baths."

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Glooskap told them: "This will be a really tremendous flood."

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They said, "We don't mind."

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Glooskap told them, "Be good and pray."

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They said, "Don't bother us. Go away."

These people decided to have a big feast of eating, singing ,and dancing. They made rattles out of turtle shells filled with pebbles. They danced in rhythm with their rattles. It began to rain, but these people kept dancing. It thundered, but still they danced. Lightning struck the ground around them. They only laughed and kept dancing.

Glossskap became angry. He did not drown them in the flood. He turned them into rattlesnakes. So now, when the snakes hear somebody coming, they rise up and lift their heads, while their bodies sway as if in a dance. And they shake their rattles as they did when they were still human beings.

I like this kind of music," said Glooskap.

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Glooskap Grants Four Wishes  (Micmac)

Glooskap lived on an island shrouded in fog. The fog was the smoke from his great pipe. Gooskap sent out Rabbit with a message that those who could find and reach his island would be granted a wish. Rabbit brought the message to four men. The first who was short, wished to be taller than any man alive. The second wanted to be rich. The third wanted to live forever. The fourth was a poor man who longed to become a good hunter so that he could feed his family.

These four men launched their canoes upon the sea, paddling in the direction where they hoped to find Gloskap's island. It was hard going. The waves were high. They tossed the canoes backwards, threatening to sink them. The man who wanted to become taller than anyone else knew a song to calm the waters. The waves abated.

Then arose a great wind blowing the canoes back toward shore. The man who wanted to be rich and own many things made a tobacco offering, and the wind ceased to blow.

Then up came a great white whale, swimming around the canoes, churning the sea into white foam, threatening to smash canoes and men with his mighty fluke. The man who wanted to live forever had a whale charm carved from a whale tooth. He cast it into the swirling foam and at once the great whale swam away.

Then the four men in their canoes encountered a fog bank stretching from horizon to horizon. They knew that inside the impenetrable mist, Glooskap's island had to be. But how to find it inside that seemingly endless fog? The poor man who wanted to be a good hunter had a pipe. He lit and smoked it, and as he puffed the smoke into the fog, it dissolved and Glooskap's island was revealed. Thus, the four men appeared before Glooskap.

"I imagine," said Glooskap, "that you have come to have a wish fulfilled."

"That is why we have come.." said the four men.

Glooskap addressed the first man. "Tell me your wish."

"I am short," said the man, "I am puny. Women laugh at me. None of them wants to marry me. I wish to be taller than any man alive."

Glooskap gave him a small, fringed bag. "In this pouch," he said, "is contained what will make you tall. Take it, but under no circumstances open it until you are back to your own home."  

"I will do as you say," answered the man. 

Glooskap addressed the second man. "Tell me your wish."

"I want to be rich and to possess many things," said the man. If one is rich, and owns many possessions, it is easy to get a beautiful chief's daughter for a wife."

Glooskap gave him a small, fringed, rawhide bag. "In the pouch are contained the riches you desire. Under no circumstances open it before you are back to your own home."

"I will do as you say," said the man.

Glooskap turned to the third man. "Tell me your wish."

"I want to live forever," said the man. "I am afraid of death, I cannot bear t he thought of dying."

Glooskap handed him a small, fringed, rawhide bag. "In this pouch," he said, "is a medicine that will make you immortal. Take it, but under no circumstances  open it until you are back in your own home."

"I will do as you say." said the man.'

Finally, Glooskap addressed the fourth man, saying, "Tell me your wish."

"I am poor," said the man. I am a bad provider. I wish to become a good hunter so that I can feed my family."

"Your wish is granted," said Glooskap, giving the man a small fringed rawhide bag. "This pouch contains what will make you a great hunter. Do not open it until you are back in your own home."

"I will do as you say." answered the man.

The four men paddled their canoes back toward shore. The man who wanted to be rich steered his canoe so that it was soon out of sight of the others. "I cannot wait to find out what is in this little bag." he said to himself. "How can it contain all the riches I want?" His curiosity got the better of him. He opened the bag. At once, many things turned out of it: fine buckskin coats, decorated with quills, rich furs, beaver pelts, beaded moccasins, bags filled with corn tobacco, and jerky meat, shell ornaments, wampum belts--everything a man wanting to be rich could desire. The things piled up in the canoe and their weight threatened to sink it. Desperately, the man tried to close the pouch and prevent more things from pouring out.  He could not do it. The canoe sank and the greedy man, who wanted to be rich, drowned.

Of the others, the short man, who wanted to be tall, landed first. "I cannot wait to become taller than any man alive," he cried. "I cannot stop myself from opening this pouch. It is sure to contain some medicine that, when eaten, will make me tall." He opened the pouch and at once was changed into a pine tree, the tallest in the land.

The third man, who wanted to live forever, landed next. He set out for home. He was halfway there when curiosity overcame him. He said to himself:"Glooskap ordered us not to open our little bags until we went back inside our homes. But as I am to live forever, what can happen to me if I open it." He opened the pouch and at once was changed into a huge rock. It is still standing at t he spot where he opened the bag. It will stand there forever.

The fourth man, the one who was poor and wished to become a great hunter, did not open the pouch Glooskap had given him. He joined his wife and children.  He told them, 

"The little bag I am holding here was given to me by Glooskap.It contains a medicine that will make me a great hunter. But I will not open it. I think a man should become a skilled hunter by his own efforts." At once, he heard the voices of all the game animals--deer, elk, moose, beavers, rabbits, the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky, telling him their secrets, telling him the best way to catch them. And so this poor man became the mightiest hunter in the land and his wigwam was always full of good food and his wife's cooking fire was always burning.

If Glooskap tells you not to do certain things, don't do it!

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How the Lord of Men and Beasts Strove with the Might of Wases and was Shamefully Defeated  (Penobscot)

Now it happened, that when Glooskap had conquered all his enemie, even the Kewahqu, who were giants and sorcerers, and the M'teoulin, who were magicians, and the Pamola, who is the evil spirit of the night air, and all kinds of ghosts, witches, devils, cannibals, and goblins, that he thought upon what he had done and wondered if his work was at an end.

And he said this to a certain woman, but she replied, "Not so fast, Master for there yet remains One who noone has ever conquered or gotten t he better of in any way, and who will remain unconquered until the end of time."