Abenaki

Noñwat mʾzi mʾdaulinowak nadialoldowak.

In ancient days when wizard power was great There were two mighty men who knew these arts And understood full well unholy skill. Once on a time it chanced that these great twain Did quarrel for a certain hunting ground. The one had set up deadfalls in the paths Where run the timid deer, all ignorant Of man, and man’s desire to slaughter them. The other wizard straightway came along And, ruthless, snapped these deadfalls every one, To irritate his fellow wizard’s heart. Twice did the mischief-maker do this deed, Till, finally, the injured man bethought Him that he must consult the secret powers How he should catch and punish well the foe. So crawling into petegwîgun′s shade— This was the magic round-house where the gods Give wisdom unto man—he lay in trance Until he saw a cruel wolverine, Which he at once knew well to be the foe. Then, leaping from the house of magic arts, He followed fast the trail of Wolverine Who was the evil-hearted enemy. This mischief-making wizard straightway knew That he was being followed, so he changed Himself into a hooting, snowy owl That wakes the echoes of the forest night. Thus he escaped and forthwith went again And full of glee the other’s deadfalls broke. At last the injured wizard in despair Went to consult his uncle in the glade Where hang the alders drooping by the stream. “O Uncle, aid me in my direst need And find for me this rascal foe,” he cried, “Who changes into every living thing, And thus escapes my burning righteous wrath.” His uncle was a wizard full of power, So he at once departed for a time And then, returning, said: “I’ve found thy foe, He lives within thy shanty in the woods, He’s taken his abode within the cracks Where thou hast sewn the bark upon thy roof.” “How then shall I be able to outwit A foe so wily and so full of skill?” The nephew asked. The uncle told him all. And then the injured wizard went his way Unto his barken shanty in the woods.

When he was sitting by the fire that night An evil bat of monstrous size flew forth From underneath the shanty’s sloping roof. Straightway the wizard seized and held the bat So close unto the glowing fiery coals That all his filthy, vermin-reeking hair Was clean consumed—then let him fly away, Feeling that vengeance had been wreaked full well. No more thereafter was there mischief wrought And all his hunting met with fortune fair. Then later in the year the wizard came Home to the village laden down with spoils And trophies of the chase, and there he saw A man he knew with skin all scarred and burned. Quoth this one to the wizard: “O my friend I have been duly punished for my sin. Do thou now heal me quickly and forgive That I have caused thee trouble in the chase.” The wizard then took pity on his foe And healed his burns and made him whole again. P.