Native American Legends
Story of the three strong men
A Micmac Legend
There was a chieftain in the days of yore. He had a great desire
for a poor girl who was a servant, and who worked for him. To win
this girl he first must lose his wife. He took his wife afar into
the woods to gather spruce-gum, and then left her there.
She soon found out that she had lost her way, and, wandering, she
lost it more and more for many days, until she came at last to a
bear's den, where, going in, she found the Chief of all the bears,
who welcomed her, provided for her wants, and furnished her with
pleasant food; but as the meat was raw he went into a neighboring
town for fire. And as she lived with him she was to him in all things
as he wished, and as a wife.
So that it came to pass, as time went on, that a new-comer was
expected, and she bade the Bear provide the baby's clothes. And
when the long-expected infant came it was a boy, large, beautiful,
and strong; he was in everything beyond all other boys.
And as the child was born in a strange way, he very soon displayed
a magic power. No baby ever grew so rapidly: when four months old
he wrestled with the Bear and threw him easily upon the floor. And
so the mother saw that he would be a warrior, and the chief of other
men.
She loathed the life she led, and wished to leave, and live as
she had done in days of old. To this the Bear would in nowise consent,
and as her son was human, like herself, he loved his mother best,
and thought with her.
One day he said, "Now I can wrestle well and throw the Bear as
often as I choose. When I next time cast him upon the ground, catch
up a club; the rest remains for you!"
They waited yet a while till he had grown so strong that the Bear
was nothing in his grasp. One day they wrestled as they ever did,
and then the woman, with a vigorous blow, strengthened by hate and
famishing desire of freedom and a better human life, laid him in
death upon the mossy floor.
They went their way back to the chieftain's town, and found him
married to the servant-girl. The mother only spoke, and the wild
boy tore down the wigwam of the Indian chief just with a blow, and
then he called aloud unto the Lightning in the sky above, "Come
down to me and help me in my need! Build a grand wigwam such as
man ne'er saw! Build it, I say, and for my mother here!"
The Lightning came, and with a single flash built such a home as
man had never seen.
And then he said, "Mother, I mean to go and travel everywhere,
until I find another man who is as strong as I. When he is found
I will return to thee."
So on he went afar until he saw a man who lifted up a vast canoe
with many people in it. This he did, raising it in the water; but
the boy bore it ashore, and lifted it on land.
And so the two agreed that they would go on together until they
found a third equal to them in strength, if such a man were living
anywhere in all the world.
So traveling by hill and lake, they went, until one day, far in
a lonely land, they saw a man rolling a mighty rock, large as the
largest wigwam, up a hill. But the Bear's son, lifting the stone
with ease, threw it afar over the mountain-top, threw it afar beyond
the rocky range; they heard it thunder down the depths below.
Then the three strong men went to hunt the moose. He who had tossed
the ship remained in camp to do the cooking, while the others went
with bow and spear afar to find their game.
Now when the sun was at the edge of noon, just balancing to fall,
there came a boy, a little wretched, elfish-looking child, as sad
and sickly as a boy could be, who asked the man for food. He answered
him, "Poor little fellow! there, the pot is full of venison, so
go and eat your fill."
He ate, indeed, the dinner for the three. When he had done he did
not leave a scrap; then walked into the stony mountain-side, as
any man might walk into the fog, and in a second he was seen no
more.
Now when the two returned and heard the tale they were right angry,
being hungry men. The man who rolled the stone stayed next in turn,
but when the little fellow came to him he seemed so famished and
he shed such tears that this one also gave him leave to eat. Then,
in a single swallow, as it seemed, he bolted all the food, and yelled
aloud with an insulting laugh. The man, enraged, grappled him by
the throat, but the strange boy flung him away as one would throw
a nut, and vanished in the mountain as before.
Oin the third day the mighty man himself remained at home, and
soon the starveling child came and began to beg, with tears, for
food. "Eat," said the chief, "as other people eat, and no more tricks,
or I will deal with you." But as it was with him the day before,
so it went now; he swallowed all the meat with the same jeering
yell. Then the strong man closed with the boy. It was an awful strife;
they fought together from the early morn until the sun went down,
and then the Elf--for elf he was--cried out, "I now give in!" So
both his arms were tightly bound behind, and with a long, tough
cord of plaited hide the strong man kept his prey, the lariat fast
noosed about his neck. The child went on, the strong man ever following
behind, holding the cord well twisted round his hand.
And so they went into the mountain-side, and ever on, a long and
winding way, down a deep cavern, on for many a mile,--the light
of sorcery shining from the elf made it all clear,--until at last
the guide stopped in his course, and said:--
"Now list to me. I am the servant of a frightful fiend, a seven-headed
devil, whom I deemed no man could ever conquer, he and I being of
equal strength; but I believe that thou mayst conquer him, since
I have found, by bitter proof, that thou canst conquer me. Here
is a staff, the only thing on earth that man way smite him with
and give him pain. Now, do your best; it is all one to me which
of you gains, so one of you be slain, for well I wot 't will be
a roaring fight."
In came the evil being with a scream, and clutched the Indian with
teeth and claws. There, in the magic cavern, many a mile from the
sun's rays, they fought for seven days, the stubborn devil and the
stubborn man, whose savage temper gave him fresher strength with
every fresh wound; the more his blood ran from his body all the
more his heart grew harder with the love of fight, until he beat
away the monster's seven heads. And so he slew him, and the watching
elf burst into laughter at the victory.
"Now," said the Elf, "I have a gift for thee. I have three sisters:
all are beautiful, and all shall be thine own if thou wilt but unbind
my hands." The strong man set him free. And so he led the man to
another cave, and there he saw three girls so strangely fair they
seemed to be a dream. The first, indeed, was very beautiful, and
yet as plump as she was lovely; then the second maid was tall, superb,
and most magnificent, in rarest furs, with richest wampum bands,
the very picture of a perfect bride; but fairer than them both,
as much more fair as swans outrival ducks, the youngest smiled.
And the young chieftain chose her for his own.
With the three girls he went into the day. Par on the rocks above
him he could see his two companions, and a sudden thought came to
his mind, for he was quick to think; and so he called, "I say, let
down a rope; I have three girls here, and they cannot climb." And
so the two strong men let down a cord: then the first fairy-maid
went up by it, and then the second. Now the chief cried out, "It
is my turn; now you must pull on me!" And saying this, he tied a
heavy stone, just his own weight, unto the long rope's end, then
bid them haul. It rose, but as it came just to the top the traitors
let it fall, as he supposed they would, to murder him.
And then the chieftain said unto the elf, "You know the mountain
and its winding ways: bear me upon thy back, and that in haste,
to where those fellows are!" The goblin flew, and in an instant
he was by their side.
He found the villains in a deadly fight, quarreling for the maids;
but seeing him they ceased to wrestle, upon which he said, "I risked
my life to bring away these girls; I would have given each of you
a wife: for doing this you would have murdered me. Now I could kill
you, and you both deserve death at the stake, vile serpents that
you are; but take your lives,--you are too low for me,--and with
them take these women, if they wish to wed with such incarnate brutes
as you!
They went their way; the women followed then, along the forest
paths, and ever on. Into this story they return no more.
And then the strong man said to his young bride, "I must return
unto my village; then I'll come again to you; await me here." But
she, as one to elfin magic born, replied, "I warn you of a single
thing. When you again are at your wigwam door a small black dog
will leap to lick your hand. Beware, I say; if he succeed in it,
you surely will forget me utterly." As she predicted so it came
to pass.
And so she waited in the lonely wood beside the mountain till a
month was gone, and then arose and went to seek her love. All in
the early dawn she reached the town, and found the wigwam of the
saga, more. She sought a neighboring hiding-place, where she might
watch unseen, and found a tree, a broad old ash, which spread its
stooping boughs over the surface of a silent pool.
An old black Indian had a hut hard by. His daughter, coming, looked
into the spring, and saw a lovely face. The simple girl thought
it was hers, her own grown beautiful by sorcery which hung about
the place. She flung away her pail, and said, "Aha! I'll work no
more; some chief shall marry me!" and so she went to smile among
the men.
Then came the mother, who beheld the same sweet, smiling, also
girlish face. She, said, "Now I am young and beautiful again; I'll
seek another husband, and at once." She threw her pail afar and
went away, losing no time to smile among the men.
And then in turn the old black Indian came, and looking in the
spring beheld the face. He knew right well that it was not his own,
for in his youth he never had been fair. So looking up above he
saw the bride, and bade her come to him; and then he said, "My wife
has gone away; my daughter, too. You were the cause of it; it is
but right that you should take the place my wife has left. Therefore
remain with me and be my own."
He fares but ill who weds unwilling witch. When night came on they
laid them down to sleep, and then the bride murmured a magic prayer,
begging the awful Spirit of the Wind, the giant Eagle of the wilderness,
to do his worst. A fearful tempest blew, and all night long the
old black Indian was out-of-doors, working with all his power to
keep the lodge from being blown away. As soon as he had pinned one
sheet of bark into its place another blew away, and then a tent
pole rattling in the rain bounded afar. It was a weary work, but
all night long the young bride slept in peace, until the morning
came, and then he slept.
Then she arose, and, walking to the wood, sat down beside a stream
and sang a song:--
"There are many men in the world,
But only one is dear to me.
He is good and brave and strong.
He swore to love none but me;
He has forgotten me.
It was a bad spirit that changed him,
But I will love none but him."
And as she sat and sang, the sagamore her husband, paddling by
in his canoe, heard the sweet song intoned in magic style, and all
at once recalled what had been lost,--the two strong giants, the
cavern and the elf, the seven-headed monster and the fight, the
sisters and the evil-minded men, and the black dog who leaped to
lick his hand: it flashed upon him like some early dream brought
out by sorcery. He saw her sit beside the stream, and still he heard
her song, soft as a magic flute. He went to her, and in a minute
he was won again.
And then she said, "This world is ever false. I know another, let
us go to it." So then again she sang a magic spell, and as she sang
they saw the great Culloo, the giant bird, broad as a thunder cloud,
winging his way towards them. Then he came; they stepped upon him,
and he soared away. But to this earth they never came again.
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