Monsters and
Monster Slayers
Glooscap Fights
the Water Monster
[Passamaquoddy, Micmac, and Maliseet]
Glooscap yet lives, somewhere at the
Glooscap is a spirit, a medicine man,
Glooscap made all the animals, creating
Glooscap had also created a village and
The village had one spring,the only
This man walked a long time until at
"We can't give you any water,"said the
"Where is your chief?" asked the man.
"You must follow the brook further up,"
The man walked on and at last met the
The monster had a mile-wide, grinning
The man was terrified, but he said: "I
The monster blinked at him a few times.
Do as you please,
I don't care,
If you want water,
Go elsewhere!
The man said, "We need the water. The
I don't care,
Don't bother me,
Go away,
Or I'll swallow you up!
The monster opened his mouth wide from
Back at his village the man told the
The people were in the despair. "What
Then Glooscap girded himself for war.He
"I want water," he told them. Looking
Ho! Ho!
All the waters are mine!
Go away!
Or I'll kill you!
"Slimy lump of mud! "cried Glooscap.
The monster opened its huge mouth wide
"That should be enough water for the
--Retold from
southern edge of the world. He never
grows old, and he will last as long as
this world lasts. Sometimes Glooscap
gets tired of running the world, ruling
the animals, regulating nature,
instructing people how to live.Then he
tells us: "I'm tired of it. Good-bye;
I'm going to make myself die now." He
paddles off in his magic white canoe
and disappears in misty clouds. But he
always comes back. He cannot abandon
the people forever, and they cannot
live without him.
a sorcerer. He can make men and women
smile. He can do anything.
them to be peaceful and useful tohumans.
When he formed the first squirrel, it
was as big as a whale. "What would you
do if I let you loose on the world?
Glooscap asked, and the squirrel
attacked a big tree, chewing it to
pieces in no time."You're too
destructive for your size," said
Glooscap, and remade him small. The
first beaver also was as big as a whale,
and it built a dam that flooded the
country from horizon to horizon.
Glooscap said, "You'll drown all the
people if I let you loose like this."
He tapped the beaver on the back, and
it shrank to its present size. The
first moose was so tall that it reached
to the sky and looked altogether
different from the way it looks now. It
trampled everything in its path forests,
mountains, everything."You'll ruin
everthing," Glooscap said. "You'll step
on people and kill them." Glooscap
tapped the moose on the back to make it
small, but the moose refused to become
smaller. So Glooscap killed it and
recreated it in a different size and
with a different look. In this way
Glooscap made everything as it should be.
taught the people there everything they
needed to know. They were happy hunting
and fishing. Men and women were happy
making love. Children were happy
playing. Parents cherished their
children, and children respected their
parents. All was well as Glooscap had
made it.
source of water far and wide, that
always flowed with pure, clear, cold
water.But one day the spring ran dry;
only a little bit of slimy ooze issued
from it. It stayed dry even in the fall
when the rains came, and in the spring
when the snows melted. The people
wondered, "What shall we do? We can't
live without water." The wise men and
elders held a council and decided to
send aman north to the source of the
spring to see why it had run dry.
last he came to a village. The people
there were not like humans; they had
webbed hands and feet. Here the brook
widened out. There was some water in
it, not much, but a little, though it
was slimy, yellowish, and stinking. The
man was thirsty from his walk and asked
to be given a little water,even if it
was bad.
peope with the webbed hands and feet,
"unless our great chief permits it. He
wants all the water for himself."
they told him.
big chief. When he saw him he trembled
with fright, because the chief was a
monster so huge that if one stood at
his feet, one could not see his head.
The monster filled the whole valley
from end to end. He had dug himself a
huge hole and dammed it up, so that all
the water was in it and none could flow
into the stream bed, and he had fouled
the water and made it poisonous, so that
stinking mists covered its slimy
surface.
mouth going from ear to ear. His dull
yellow eyes started out of his head
like huge pine knots. His body was
bloated and covered with warts as big
as mountains. The monster stared dully
at the man with his, protruding eyes
and finally said in a fearsome croak:
"Little man,what do you want?"
come from a village far downstream. Our
only spring ran dry, because you're
keeping all the water for yourself. We
would like you to let us have some of
this water. Also, please don't muddy
it so much."
Finally he croaked:
Do as you please,
I don't care,
If you want water,
people are dying of thirst." The
monster replied:
I don't care,
Don't bother me,
Go away,
ear to ear, and inside it the man could
see many things that the creature had
killed. The monster gulped a few times
and smacked his lips with a noise like
thunder. At this the man's courage broke,
and he turned and ran away as fast
as he could.
people: "Nothing can be done.If we
complain, this monster will swallow us
up. He'll kill us all."
shall we do?"They cried. Now, Glooscap
knows everthing that goes on in the
world, even before it happens. He sees
everthing with his inward eye. He said:
"I must set things right.I'll have to
get water for the people!"
painted his body with paint as red as
blood. He made himself twelve feet tall.
He used two huge clamshells for his
earrings. He put a hunderd black eagle
feathers and a hundred white eagle
feathers in his scalp lock. He painted
yellow rings around his eyes. He twisted
his mouth into a snarl and made himself
look ferocious. He stamped, and the
earth trembled. He uttered his fearful
war cry, and it echoed and re-echoed
from all the mountains. He grasped a
huge mountain in his hand, a mountain
composed of flint, and from it made
himself a single knife sharp as a
weasel's teeth. "Now I am going," he
said, striding forth among thunder and
lightning, with mighty eagles circling
above him. Thus Glooscap came to the
village of the people with webbed
hands and feet.
at him, they were afraid. They brought
him a little muddy water. "I think I'll
get more
and cleaner water," he said. Glooscap
went upstream and confronted the
monster. "I want clean water," he said,
"alot of it, for the people downstream."
Ho! Ho!
All the waters are mine!
Go away!
"We'll see who will be killed!" They
fought. The mountains shook. The earth
split open. The swamp smoked and bursted
into flames. Mightly trees were shivered
into splinters.
to swallow Glooscap. Glooscap made
himself taller than the tallest tree,
and even the monster's mile-wide mouth
was to small for him. Glooscap seized
his great flint knife and slit the
monster's blotted belly. From the wound
gushed a might stream, a roaring river,
tumbleing, rolling, foaming down, down,
down, gouging out for itself a vast,
deep bed,flowing by the village and on
to the great sea of the east.
people," said Glooscap. He grasped the
monster and squeezed him in his mighty
palm, squeezed and squeezed and threw
him away, flinging him into the swamp.
Glooscap had squeezed this great
creature into a small bullfrog, and
ever since, the bullfrog's skin has
been wrinkled because Glooscap squeezed
so hard.
several nineteenth-century
sources.
Little-Man-With-Hair-All-Over
[Metis]
Little-Man was hairer than a skunk.
Hair grew out of his nose and nostrils.
He was not particularly good-looking
and he smelled as if he didn't wash
often, but he was a merry fellow who
laughted a lot, and he never had any
trouble finding pretty girls to share
his blanket. He was always on the move,
eager to discover new things.
Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over was small,
but he succeeded in everything he did.
He was tough to fight, so they called
him whenever there was something
dangerous to do. When a bear monster
went on a rampage, ripping up lodges with
his huge claws and eating the people
inside, Little-Man-with Hair-All-Over
had no trouble killing it. For this his
grateful people gave him a magic knife.
One time when Little-Man was traveling,
he met two brothers and asked what they
were up to. "We're looking for
adventure," they answerd.
"That's exactly what I'm doing. Let's
join up and travel together," said
Little-Man. "What do they call you?"
"My name is Smoking Mountain," said
one. I'm the oldest. This one here
is Broken War Club."
The three wandered on together and
after a while came to a fine, large
lodge with plenty of buffalo robes
laying around. Outside there were racks
with jerk meat, and someone had left
a large cooking kettle. But the lodge
was deserted; there was no trace of
any human beings.
"I like this place," said Little-Man.
"Let's stay a while."
"Somebody must own it," said Smoking
Mountain.
"Well," said Little-Man, "if someone
comes and claims it. I won't mind; and
if nobody shows up I won't mind either."
So they stayed.
Little-Man said to Smoking Mountain:
"Let's go hunting. Broken War Club can
stay and cook some of that jerk meat
for supper." So the two of them took
their bows and arrows and went.
But when the hunters came back to camp
there was no supper. Broken War Club
was lying under a buffalo robe moaning
and groaning.
"What's the matter with you?" asked
Little-Man. "You look as if you've
been in a fight.
"I'm to embarrassed to tell," answered
Broken War Club.
"Suit yourself," said Little-Man, and
they ate some cold jerk meat.
The next day Little-Man-with-Hair-All-
Over said to Broken War Club: "Let's
go out and hunt. Smoking Mountain can
stay hear and cook." But when the
two came back, they found Smoking
Mountain also lying under a buffalo
robe moaning and groaning. "What
happened to you, friend?" asked
Little-Man. "You look as if you been
in a fight."
"I'm too ashamed to tell," answered
Smokng Mountain.
"You two are some fine cooks." remarked
Little-Man. Again they ate their jerk
meat cold.
The next morning Little-Man told the
brothers: "You go out and hunt; I'll
stay and cook." And when the brothers
came home with their meat, they found
a fine supper waiting.
"Has anybody been here?" Smoking
Mountain asked.
"Under that robe over there." said
Little-Man, pointing to a buffalo robe
on the floor, "there's a large flat
stone, and under the stone there's a
hole. Someone lifted the stone, came
out of the hole, and crept out from
under the robe."
"And what happened then?" asked the
brothers.
"The same thing that happened to you.
An ugly dwarf, only as big as my hand
but monstrously strong, tried to beat
me up with his whip. So that's why you
were moaning and groaning. And you were
ashamed to tell because he was so small."
"Ah," said the brother, "he whiped you
too."
"No," said Little-Man, "I didn't give
him the chance. I killed him and threw
him down the hole."
Smoking Mountain pushed aside the robe,
lifted up the stone, and peeked down.
"This is a very deep hole," he said."It
must lead to that dwarf's home. I wish
I could go down and find out."
Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over said
That's easy." He took hold of the big
cooking kettle and fastened a long
rawhide rope to its handle. "Climb
into this kettle," he told Smoking
Mountain, "and we'll let you down. Then
we'll draw you up and you can tell us
about it." They lowered Smoking
Mountain down the hole and after a
while pulled him up.
Smoking Mountain reported: "I landed
right on top of that darwf; you really
fixed him good. It was dark and damp
down there, and I could hear a strange
noise like an animal snorting. I didn't
feel comfortable in that place."
"Let me down," said Broken War Club.
I'm not afraid".
So thay let him down and after a while
pulled him up. He said: "I went a
little farther. There's a door down
there. a kind of hole in a cave wall,
covered with a rock. I heard the noise
too-it sounds like a deep growl rather
than a snort. I didn't want to go
in there."
"Let me down," said Little-Man-with-
Hair-All-Over.
After they had lowered him, Little-Man
found the entrance door and listened
to the growling snort, or snorting
growl. He rolled the rock out of the
way and found himself in a cave-like
room face to face with a two-headed
monster. The monster growled: "Where
is my son? Have you seen him? He is
only so big. . ."
"That must be the dwarf I killed," said
Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over. "I left
his body outside."
At this the monster roared and attacked.
Little-Man manage to cut off one of his
heads with his magic knife, but the
monster continued fighting just as
savagely. They struggled until Little-
Man succeeded in cutting off the other
head.
Looking past the monster's corpse,
Little-Man saw another door opposite
the frst one. It too was stopped up with
a big rock. From behind came a truly
terrifying growling, snorting, and
snuffing, as from a horde of strange
beasts.
"I wonder who that can be," he thought,
rolling the rock out of the way. In
the next room he found a scaly man-
monster with three heads, all three
of which were snorting and growling
and snuffing at the same time.
"Where is my son, the one with the two
heads?" asked the monster asked.
Grandfather-or is it grandfathers?-he
is dead. I had to kill him, because
otherwise, I think he would have killed
me. He was mad because I killed his son-
your grandson, probably-the evil little
dwarf with the whip."
At this the three-headed monster hurled
himself at Little-Man. The three heads
foamed at the lips, snarled and bit.
"One at a time, one at a time," said
Little-Man as he cut the three heads
off one after the other.
"They really made me sweat,"said
Little-Man, looking around. He
discovered yet another door, behind
which he heard howling, shuffing,
snarling, and growling. "This is
getting boring," he said as he rolled
the rock aside and met a horny-skinned,
four-headed man monster. This one asked
no questions but immediately jumped at
Little-Man with four sets of teeth
biting, snapping, and tearing. The
monster's skin was so tough, especialy
at the necks, that it resisted the
magic knife. Even when Little-Man had
finally cut off three of the four heads.
the man-monster fought as fiercely as
ever. The forth head was the toughest;
it bit a good-sized piece out of
Little-Man's shoulder before he managed
to cut it off. Panting, exhausted,
Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over kicked
the giant body of the monster and said,
"There you wicked little thing!"
Again he looked around and saw a door.
"Not again!" he said. But he listened
and behind it he heard a sweet song of
young girls. "This is much better,"
said Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over as
he rolled the last rock aside. He
stepped into the last chamber and found
three very pretty young women.
"Are the monsters out there relatives
of yours?" asked Little-Man.
"No, no, in no way!" answered the
madens. "These horrible monsters have
been keeping us prisoner for their own
pleasure. We've been having a hard
life."
"I belive it," he said.
"Handsome young warrior," said one of
the girls, "surely you've come to
free us."
"I don't know about handsome," said
Little-Man, "but free you I will."
"And you are handsome," said the bold
girl. "I like a little, hairy, lusty
fellow."
"Then you've met the right man," he
said. He looked around and saw
wonderful things that the monsters had
taken from their victims: buckskin
robes decorated with multicolored
porcupine quills, well-made weapons,
war bonnets of eagle feathers, and
much wore.
"Enough here for three friends to
divide," said Little-Man, "and isn't
it a lucky coincidence that there are
three of you and three of us? For I
have two friends waiting in the lodge
above."
"Better and better," said the three
good-looking girls.
Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over gathered
up the many fine things in a bundle
and walked to the hole underneath the
lodge. "Ho, friends," he hollered,
here are some good things for us to
divide!" He placed the bundle in the
kettle, and the two brothers in the
lodge pulled it up. They called down,
"Are you coming up now?"
"Not yet," he answered. "First pull up
the three young pretty ones well worth
meeting." The brothers lowered the
kettle and, one by one, drew up the
women. Then Little-Man called out:
"I'm coming up now." He climbed into
the kettle. When thay had pulled him
halfway up, Broken War Club said to
Smoking Mountain: "Let's drop him
back down. Then we can keep these
pretty girls and all the fine things
for ourselves."
"No," said Smoking Mountain, "Little-
Man-with-Hair-All-Over has been a good
friend to us." But Broken War Club had
already cut the rawhide rope, and
Little-Man fell all the way down with
a big clatter. He was stunned, but
recovered quickly, saying: "Some fine
friends I chose!"
Without the rope and kettle, Little-
Man-with-Hair-All-Over had a hard time
climbing up into the lodge. He tried
four times before he finally did it.
"Now I'll find these no-good brothers,"
he said.
Traveling along what he belived to be
the trail of Smoking Mountain and
Broken War Club, Little-Man heard some
people quarreling. He followed the
sound and came upon a body of a big
elk, over which a wasp, a worm, and a
woodpecker were squabbling. "My
friends," Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over
told them, "there's enough here for all.
Let me settle this for you and stop all
the fuss." He gave the bones to the
woodpecker, the fat to the wasp, and
the meat to the worm, and everone was
satisfied.
"Thank you, uncle, for settling this
matter and making peace between us,"
they said. "In return, if you ever find
yourself in trouble, you can assume any
shape: you can turn yourself into a
worm, a wasp, or a woodpecker."
"Thank you, I appreciate it," said
Little-Man.
Always following the trail, he came at
last to a lodge standing in a clearing
of the forest. At once he turned
himself into a woodpecker, flew up to a
pole above the smoke hole, and looked
down. "Ah," he said to himself, "Here
are the two no-good brothers talking
to the three girls." Nobody noticed him.
The bold girl said: "I'm still angry
with you men. It was mean to drop that
nice little fellow. He was brave, and
I was fond of him. I hope he's well
wherever he is.
Smokng Mountain added. "Yes, it wasn't
right. I tried to stop it, but this one
here had already cut the rope."
Broken War Club just lauhged. "Brother,
don't talk like a fool. It was so funny,
dropping that hairy, useless man down
there and listening to him squeal.
Look all the riches I got for us, and
look at the pretty girls who, thanks
to me, make our night pleasant. Yes, I
still have to laugh when I think of
the hairy one clattering down,
squealing.
"I don't remember having squealed,"
said Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over,
quickly turning back into a man. "Let's
see who'll be squealing now."
Broken War Club tried to run away, but
Little-Man seized him by the hair and
cut his throat with the magic knife.
Then he kicked Smoking Mountain in the
backside. "Coward! You could have
defied you younger brother and gotten
me out of the hole. If you ever cross
my path agin, I'll kill you the way I
killed this one." Smoking Mountain
slunk away.
Then Little-Man turned to the women.
"Good-looking girls, will you take me
for a husband? I'm man enough for three.
I'm small, but not everwhere."
"Handsome one," said the bold girl,
"since we three are sisters, it's only
fitting for us to have one husband." So
Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over married
the girls, and they were all very
happy together.
After Little-Man had lived with them
for a while, he said "My dears, I'm
not made to stay always in one place.
Now and then I just have to roam and
discover things. I've left enough meat,
pemmican, tongues, and back fat to last
you a good many days. I won't be away
for long, so don't be afraid,"
Thus Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over went
traveling again. He came to a lodge,
inside which a pretty woman was crying.
He went in and asked: "Good-looking one,
what's the matter?"
"A slimy water monster is keeping me
prisoner, and I hate his embraces. I've
tried and tried to run away, but he
always catches me and drags me back."
"Dry your tears," said Little-Man,
I'll kill this monster and marry you.
I already have three wives, but I can
easily take care of one more."
"I'd like that," said the woman, "but
no one can kill him."
"I can kill any monster with my magic
knife. I am forever rescuing pretty
maidens imprisoned by evil monsters;
I'm quit uesd to it."
"You can't kill this one, even with
a magic knife, because he's many
monsters in one. There's a secret way
to kill him, and if you don't happen
to know it, he'll kill you."
"And what is this secret way?"
"I don't know; I've never had a chance
to ask. But tonight the monster comes
back, an I'll try to get it out of him.
Hide yourself in the meantime."
"That's easy," said Little-Man, turning
into a woodpecker and flying to the top
pole above the smoke hole.
At nightfall the water monster returned.
Looking down from his perch, Little-Man
thought: "This is indeed an ugly, slimy
monster!"
The creature threw some meat to the
girl, saying: "I just drowned and ate
some humans, so I'm full, but here's
some antelope meat for you."
"Just what I like," said the girl.
"You know, the horn coming out of your
forehead is dirty; let me clean it for
you. It's really quite handsome."
"You're plaeasant today for a change,"
said te monster, "insted of scowling
and sour-faced. Perhaps you're
beginning to appreciate me."
"How could anyone not appreciate you?"
said the girl. "Tell me, so that in
case of trouble I can help you: what's
the only way to kill you?"
The monster grinned horribly and said:
"Well, here I am, the great water
monster. If you kill me, a huge grizzly
bear will come out of me, and out of
him a smaller brown bear, and out of
him a panther, and out of the panther,
a wolf, and out of the wolf a wolverine,
and out of that a fox, and out of that
a rabbit. Out of the rabbit wll come
a quail, and out of the quail an egg.
Only by dashing this egg against the
horn in my forhead can I be killed."
Little-Man heard it all. At once he
flew down into the lodge, resumed his
own shape, and attacked the great water
monster with his magic knife. One after
the other, he killed all the animals
coming out of the monster, and at last
dashed the egg against the monster's
horn.
"You're brave and powerful," said the
girl. "I'm yours."
So Little-Man-with-Hair-All-Over took
her as his fourth wife and carried
her home to his lodge, together with
all the treasures which the monster
had amassed through robbing and
murder. And Little-Man had been right:
He was man enough for four wives, with
a little left over.
-Told by Jean Desjarlais in
Jean Desjarlais also calls himself
New York City, 1971, and recorded
by Richard Erdoes.
"Oohosis"-the owl-because the owl is
a messenger. He was one of many
Native Americans who occupied Alcatraz
Island in 1970-1971, and he now lives
in the Arctic regions of northern
Canada.
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