Native American Legends
Glooscap Turns Bad Into Good
An Abenaki Legend
When Glooscap came in from the sea, he was riding his canoe, which
was made of stone. He ran aground near what we now call St. John.
He had been chasing two giant beavers. He was trying to stop them
from raising any trouble.
He tried to stop them right there, where the Reversing Falls is
today. He built a dam so they couldn't go up the river. But still,
the beavers managed to get past Glooscap, and traveled up the "Beautiful
River", which is now called the St. John River.
Glooscap took two stones and threw them at these beavers. One stone
landed a long way up the river and became Grand Falls.
The other stone hit the beaver. It landed in a rocky area, which
is now called Plaster Rock. To this day, you can still see the red
clay on the river bank. They say that this comes from the blood
of the beaver.
Glooscap often used animals who were bad to make something good.
He paddled up and down this Beautiful River (St. John) many times.
Even near Kingsclear where Glooscap came up, long before the Mactaquac
Dam was built, he used the ledges to hold on to when he fell. Glooscap
even left his image on those rocks. And where he left his snowshoes
is where they were transformed and turned into The Snowshoe Islands.
These are all sacred places. Even the little people lived near
the village of Kingsclear.
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