Origin of the Thunderbird
Passamaquoddy
This is a legend of long, long ago times. Two
Indians desired to find the origin of thunder. They travelled
north and came to a high mountain. These mountains performed
magically. They drew apart, back and forth, then closed together
very quickly.
One Indian said, "I will leap through the cleft
before it closes. If I am caught, you continue to find the
origin of thunder." The first one succeeded in going through the
cleft before it closed, but the second one was caught and
squashed.
On the other side, the first Indian saw a large
plain with a group of wigwams, and a number of Indians playing a
ball game. After a little while, these players said to each
other, "It is time to go." They disappeared into their wigwams
to put on wings, and came out with their bows and arrows and
flew away over the mountains to the south. This was how the
Passamaquoddy Indian discovered the homes of the thunderbirds.
The remaining old men of that tribe asked the
Passamaquoddy Indian, "What do you want? Who are you?" He
replied with the story of his mission. The old men deliberated
how they could help him.
They decided to put the lone Indian into a large
mortar, and they pounded him until all of his bones were broken.
They moulded him into a new body with wings like thunderbird,
and gave him a bow and some arrows and sent him away in flight.
They warned him not to fly close to trees, as he would fly so
fast he could not stop in time to avoid them, and he would be
killed.
The lone Indian could not reach his home because
the huge enemy bird, Wochowsen, at that time made such a
damaging wind. Thunderbird is an Indian and he or his lightning
would never harm another Indian. But Wochowsen, great bird from
the south, tried hard to rival Thunderbird. So Passamaquoddies
feared Wochowsen, whose wings Glooscap once had broken, because
he used too much power.
A result was that for a long time air became
stagnant, the sea was full of slime, and all of the fish died.
But Glooscap saw what was happening to his people and repaired
the wings of Wochowsen to the extent of controlling and
alternating strong winds with calm.
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