A long time ago it was told by
some of the elders that a certain young woman took a white man for her husband
and this man was very devoted to her and the people she grew up with.
It was said that he took her ways unto himself, learning the language and
he even attended the ceremonies of her people until the day she died and left
him alone among her people.
After her death, some of the
people wondered what he would do; would he go back to his own people, or would
he stay among the people of his deceased wife?
He answered the queries of the
people by continuing to show up at the ceremonies of the Neshnabék and praying
with them. He also stayed on at the
dwelling place they had made together during the time of her sojourn with her
people and took loving care of their garden and other things they had shared as
husband and wife, including a little dog she had loved.
Now this little dog was a
little rascal of a fellow and he followed the man everywhere, as he missed the
woman who was his mistress very much. One day a Neshnabé stopped by and gave the man some tobacco/séma
to come to a song service that evening. He
was told to make sure this dog did not follow him as the spirits didn’t take
kindly to animals around a ceremony. They might think you want to sacrifice this little dog to
them if you allow him to follow you, the Neshnabé told him, with a twinkle in
his eye. He assured his guest the
little dog would be locked up for the night inside his house where he would not
be able to follow anyone.
When it was time to leave, the
man locked the little dog inside the house, but he had forgotten to close the
window in his bedroom, so the little pet sneaked out and followed his master to
the drum doings. The song service
lasted until about 10 PM and the people gathered in the kitchen of the home they
had met in for some refreshments before returning to their homes.
The Shkabéwes of the drum also gave the men séma for the next doings and
debated with one of the others as to whether or not to give the white man some.
They assured him the man was all right and he gave him plenty of séma
with the admonition not to give it all away to the night spirits, should they
decide to follow him.
Some of the other men joked
with the man and told him about one of the spirits of the forest who liked to
follow folks at night just so he could get tobacco/séma from them.
They cautioned him to give any spirit an offering of tobacco whenever he
heard any distinct sounds in the woods. With
a final friendly warning not to give all his tobacco away to the spirits, they
all departed in various directions. The
man visited with his hosts for a little while before departing for his home
again, not knowing his little dog was waiting in the woods for him, so he could
secretly follow him again.
Upon exiting the home of his
hosts, he followed his favorite trail toward his home.
Presently he heard some sounds behind him which he took to be that spirit
they had told him about, and he quickly squatted down and gave a small offering
of séma to the forest spirit. He
began to walk with a faster gait toward his home thinking of his little dog he
had left there.
After walking for a few more
minutes, he heard a louder noise behind him.
Thinking it was the spirit of the forest the men had warned him about, he
quickly squatted and put down a bigger offering of tobacco this time.
He was to walk only a few more minutes and he again heard the same sound
behind him. I must have done something to displease this spirit he thought, and
he quickly placed a larger offering of tobacco beside the trail, this time
praying even; “Oh Spirit of the Woods,” he prayed, “Don’t hurt me, I
mean you no harm and I’ve given you a large offering of tobacco, as you can
see.” “I’ll give you even a
larger offering if you would like, even the whole bag of tobacco, should you
insist,” he further stated.
After getting back on his feet
and moving as swiftly as he could, he again heard a rather loud sound coming
from the woods. He quickly dumped
out the remaining tobacco he had in his bag and then took off running toward his
home. As he ran toward his house,
the little dog sped past him in an attempt to reach the house before him.
Realizing his “spirit of the woods” was none other than his own dog,
he quickly stopped, puffing hard, but laughing at himself for being so foolish
and becoming frightened as he had. This
will make a good story to tell the others when we meet again he thought to
himself as he scolded the little dog for following him yet again.
There are many stories like
this among the Neshnabék which we shall be sharing with you from time to time.
The period of time when they first met the white people was an especially
good time with many humorous happenings among them, learning the English
language.
Ahau, iw énajmoyan,
Gwi yayajmomen mine ngotek.
Neaseno.