--- title: Opening, part 3 — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · full text with trees · page 2 description: Opening, part 3, «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems»: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: The Micmacs are the easternmost and by far the most numerous of the Wabanaki remnants. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/3/page/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kulóskap the master, and other Algonki…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/) / Opening, part 3 # Opening, part 3 · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/3/) **2** The anecdote of a cannibalistic feast is highly interesting.[53](../../53/ "tree and pragmatics") The wizards here eat their murdered comrade, evidently with the idea of absorbing into themselves some or all of his power.[54](../../54/ "tree and pragmatics") The cannibalistic orgies of the South Sea Islanders should be compared with this practice.[55](../../55/ "tree and pragmatics") For example, the Fijis and the New Zealand Maoris ate their enemies with the same object in view, viz., to become as brave as the fallen foe had been.[56](../../56/ "tree and pragmatics") All authorities tend to show, however, that cannibalism was extremely rare among the American races, and was only resorted to in isolated cases like the one here noted.[57](../../57/ "tree and pragmatics") In the Delaware tale given below, a similar instance of cannibalism is cited; only in this case, the wizard, who is evidently a being similar in nature to the Passamaquoddy \_Kiwaʿkw\_ or the Micmac \_Chînu\_, desires to devour a very old, worn-out man.[58](../../58/ "tree and pragmatics") I can only look upon this feature as a highly interesting relic from very primitive times, when it was probably not unusual to devour the aged, perhaps for a double purpose: both to get rid of them, as was the case until recently among the islanders of Tierra del Fuego, and also, perhaps, to absorb sacramentally into the living members of the family the essence of the dead parent, whose soul is thus prevented from becoming entirely extinct.[59](../../59/ "tree and pragmatics") The fact that a giant ghoul desires to eat the Delaware old man is, however, a distinctly Algonkin feature, quite in accord with the ideas prevalent among the Passamaquoddies, Penobscots and Micmacs regarding the \_Kiwaʿkw-Chînu\_.[60](../../60/ "tree and pragmatics") The Passamaquoddy tale given below of the \_Kiwaʿkw\_ or snow demon is one of a great number.[61](../../61/ "tree and pragmatics") The Algonkin Indian believed in many spirits, some benevolent like the \_Wʾnagʾmeswuk\_ or “little people,” who were wont to warn the tribesmen of impending danger; some neutral, like the wandering \_Kiwaʿkw\_ in this tale, or the \_Chibelaʿkwe\_, the tree sprite who sits in the crotch of the large branches; and some again distinctly malevolent, like the \_Appodumken\_ or spirit of the deep water, who lurks in the lakes to drag down the unwary swimmer.[62](../../62/ "tree and pragmatics") The \_Kiwaʿkw\_, however, as remarked above, was often an evil being.[63](../../63/ "tree and pragmatics") Compare also Leland’s wonderful tales of the \_Chînu\_ (Algonquin Legends, pp.[64](../../64/ "tree and pragmatics") 233 ff).[65](../../65/ "tree and pragmatics") The reader’s attention should be called at this point to the remarkable ideas prevalent among the Wabanaki regarding the cohabitation of women and serpents (see below, and also Leland, \_op. cit.[66](../../66/ "tree and pragmatics") \_, pp.[67](../../67/ "tree and pragmatics") 268 ff).[68](../../68/ "tree and pragmatics") These may seem strange coming from a land where there are no ophidians large enough to warrant such a superstition.[69](../../69/ "tree and pragmatics") It is not impossible, however, that in these hideous tales we have some relic of far distant prehistoric days when huge serpents were not unknown.[70](../../70/ "tree and pragmatics") It should be added, moreover, that in every case of such sexual relations between snakes and man among the Wabanaki the serpent was always a wizard (\_Mʾdeolin\_) in disguise, a fact which shows that in the later superstition at least the unusual character of such monstrous serpents was fully appreciated.[71](../../71/ "tree and pragmatics") The following points should be noted with regard to the pronunciation of the Indian words herein given.[72](../../72/ "tree and pragmatics") The vowels have the Italian values, except that \_ö\_ = German \_ö\_ in \_schön\_.[73](../../73/ "tree and pragmatics") The apostrophe ʾ is a very short \_u\_-vowel.[74](../../74/ "tree and pragmatics") The consonants are equivalent to the same consonants in English, except that \_ñ\_ represents the French nasal \_n\_ in \_mon\_, and the final combination \_kw\_ or final \_q\_ must be uttered as a \_k\_ followed by \_w\_ accompanied by a gentle indeterminate short vowel.[75](../../75/ "tree and pragmatics") The inverted apostrophe ʿ has the value of a softly breathed \_h\_.[76](../../76/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus \_kiwâʿkw\_ must be pronounced \_kee-wah-kwᵘ\_.[77](../../77/ "tree and pragmatics") As explained the name of the culture-hero is spelled \_Kulóskap\_ for the sake of uniformity, but so far as possible, the Indian expressions used in the different stories have been kept in harmony with the original languages.[78](../../78/ "tree and pragmatics") The reason for this discrepancy lies in the fact that some of the Passamaquoddy and Micmac tales were related by Penobscots, who frequently inadvertently used their own forms.[79](../../79/ "tree and pragmatics") For the same reason, in some stories labelled as Micmac, Passamaquoddy words will occasionally be found.[80](../../80/ "tree and pragmatics") In every such case the Micmac tales came through a Passamaquoddy medium, who, whenever he was ignorant of the proper Micmac word, used the corresponding Passamaquoddy expression, but elsewhere employed Micmac words.[81](../../81/ "tree and pragmatics") The Indian headings to the stories are nearly all in Passamaquoddy because the \_raconteurs\_ generally began in this dialect, even when they broke into Micmac or Penobscot in continuing the tale in question.[82](../../82/ "tree and pragmatics") The Glossary explains every Indian word occurring in the midst of the English text.[83](../../83/ "tree and pragmatics") We present these selections from the still vast storehouse of Wabanaki lore, not to prove any preconceived theory as to their origin, or as to the origin of the eastern coast tribes themselves.[84](../../84/ "tree and pragmatics") No man can ever know now whence the Algonkin races came.[85](../../85/ "tree and pragmatics") Whether they with other peoples were emigrants from palaeolithic Europe, crossing by way of some long since vanished land-bridge, or whether they wandered into their present habitat from the western part of our own continent, having had their origin in pre-historic Asia, it is impossible to say and, in view of the absolute darkness in which we grope, all theories are futile.[86](../../86/ "tree and pragmatics") I cannot see a meaning in the word \_Wabanaki\_, “land of the dawn or east,” which points to any period further back than the time of these peoples’ first tribal centralization on the present eastern coast of North America.[87](../../87/ "tree and pragmatics") Let then our labor in this work suffice merely to present to the English-speaking public a few interesting and characteristic specimens of the traditions of a rapidly perishing race--a race which fifty years from now will have hardly a single living representative.[88](../../88/ "tree and pragmatics") JOHN DYNELEY PRINCE.[89](../../89/ "tree and pragmatics") FOOTNOTES:[90](../../90/ "tree and pragmatics") \[5\] Cf.[91](../../91/ "tree and pragmatics") J. W. Tims, “Grammar and Dictionary of the Blackfoot Language,” London, 1889.[92](../../92/ "tree and pragmatics") \[6\] Cf.[93](../../93/ "tree and pragmatics") Horden, “Grammar of the Cree Language,” London, 1881; Wilson, “The Ojebway Language,” Toronto, 1874.[94](../../94/ "tree and pragmatics") \[7\] Cf.[95](../../95/ "tree and pragmatics") Prince, in \_Misc.[96](../../96/ "tree and pragmatics") Linguistica Ascoliana\_, Turin, 1901, p. 344.[97](../../97/ "tree and pragmatics") \[8\] See Prince, Annals N.[98](../../98/ "tree and pragmatics") Y.[99](../../99/ "tree and pragmatics") Academy of Sciences, XI., No. 15, pp.[100](../../100/ "tree and pragmatics") 370–374.[101](../../101/ "tree and pragmatics") \[9\] See Prince, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XXXVI., pp.[102](../../102/ "tree and pragmatics") 479 ff.[103](../../103/ "tree and pragmatics") \[10\] See Prince, American Anthropologist, IV., No. 1.[104](../../104/ "tree and pragmatics") \[11\] See Prince, American Journal of Philology, XXI., pp.[105](../../105/ "tree and pragmatics") 295, 296.[106](../../106/ "tree and pragmatics") \[12\] See also Prince, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XXXVIII., pp.[107](../../107/ "tree and pragmatics") 181–189.[108](../../108/ "tree and pragmatics") PART FIRST[109](../../109/ "tree and pragmatics") =The Epic of Kulóskap=[110](../../110/ "tree and pragmatics") =Canto First=[111](../../111/ "tree and pragmatics") CREATION LEGENDS[112](../../112/ "tree and pragmatics") I[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") THE BIRTH OF KULÓSKAP, THE LORD OF BEASTS AND MEN, AND THE DEATH OF MALSUM THE WOLF[114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics") \[\_Passamaquoddy\_\][115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Yut nit nʾkani akʾnodʾmâgon Uch Kulóskap elaknotmotits piche.[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") \_\[13\][117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics") Wonderful traditions Of the olden time; Very old indeed, Ere the world began:[118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") The great lord Kulóskap Who in after days Was worshipped everywhere By the Wabanaki Or Children of the Dawn, Was as yet unborn, Living as a twin With another named Malsumsis--the Wolf.[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics") Wolf, the lesser one, As his brother was good So was this one bad; One, the Lord of Light, One, of Darkness dire.[120](../../120/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/3/) **2** - ← previous: [page 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/3/) - next →: [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/4/) - ↑ back to [Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/)