The MicMac (Mikmaq) tribe of eastern Canada is part of the Wabanaki Confederacy whose language is of the Algonquian family. Some of their imaginative and forceful mythic stories have been retold and collected into a delightful little book entitled Six MicMac Stories (Halifax: Nova Scotia Museum, 1989) by Canadian ethnologist Ruth Holmes Whitehead of the Nova Scotia Museum in Halifax. The book is beautifully illustrated by Harold McGee of St. Mary's University in Halifax.
MicMac Legends of the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy
The following two legends retold by Whitehead contain an incredibly imaginative depiction of how the giant tides of the Bay of Fundy and its muddy waters were formed. Glooscap, a great native giant, wanted to take a bath and commanded Beaver to build a dam across the mouth of the Bay of Fundy to trap the high water so that he could bathe. But after Beaver completed the dam, Whale became unhappy because the waters ceased to flow. Whale became so annoyed that he began to break apart the dam with his great tale. Through his anger he caused the salt water to slosh back and forth with such power that it continues to this day with extremely high tides reaching up to forty feet.
MicMacs relate that in the beginning the waters of the Pet-Koat-Kwee-ak (Petitcodiac River) were clear and sparkling. But one day in ancient times Eel swam down from the headwaters and his great body pushed everything before him into the cold waters of the great bay. Turtle told Glooscap that something had to be done. So the native giant instructed Lobster to fight Eel. Lobster drove Eel out into the bay, but so great was the struggle that the once clear water became disturbed and muddy as it is to this day.
The Story of Jenu is a Realistic Depiction of the Human Mind Under Extreme Stress
The story of Jenu is richly reflective of a unique psychological approach of choosing kindness instead of fear and anger when dealing with someone who is horribly frightening and threatening.
A trapper takes his wife and young son on a food-seeking expedition deep into the interior of what is today New Brunswick. They prepare a wigwam home in the deep woods. While the husband is gone, a giant cannibal known as Jenu comes to kill and eat the human wife and child. Since the wife remains totally powerless, she elects kindness as her approach to Jenu whom she calls "Father." She cooks a meal for this mean giant and treats with with a loving gentleness. Amazingly, Jenu offers to cut some firewood.
When she sees her husband returning from the forest, she stops him and whispers"Jenu is here. He is in the wigwam. I am calling him 'My Father.' He has not eaten us. He has cut wood." The man nods. "I will call him father-in-law" (p. 40). This ugly, horrible monster gradually assumes the role of family helper and protector instead of remaining a ruthless cannibal with a "heart made of ice." He assists the husband in trapping and defends his "adopted" family from other monsters in the forest.
Over the course of time this isolated monster called Jenu gradually becomes more and more human; he no longer frightens people. He becomes one with them and is even baptised in a church back in civilization before he dies of old age.
Richard Fleck - Richard Fleck is an avid hiker and writer with particular interest in the ancient Anasazi cultures.
Join the Conversation