Native American Legends
The Empounded Water
A Malecite Legend
Aglabem kept back all the water in the world; so that rivers stopped
flowing, and lakes dried up, and the people everywhere began dying
of thirst.
As a last resort, they sent a messenger to him to ask him to give
the people water; but he refused, and gave the messenger only a
drink from the water in which he washed. But this was not enough
to satisfy even the thirst of one.
Then the people began complaining, some saying, "I'm as dry
as a fish," "I'm as dry as a frog," "I'm as
dry as a turtle," "I'm as dry as a beaver," and the
like, as they were on the verge of dying of thirst.
At last a great man was sent to Aglabem to beg him to release the
water for the people. Aglabem refused, saying that he needed it
himself to lie in. Then the messenger felled a tree, so that it
fell on top of the monster and killed him.
The body of this tree became the main river (St. John's River),
and the branches became the tributary branches of the river, while
the leaves became the ponds at the heads of these streams. As the
waters flowed down to the villages of the people again, they plunged
in to drink, and became transformed into the animals to which they
had likened themselves when formerly complaining of their thirst.
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