Rainy River lives: stories told by Maggie Wilson

301 Pages·2009·1.78 MB·English

by  Maggie Wilson, Sally Cole

RAINY RIVER LIVES
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© 2009 by the Board of Regents
of the University of Nebraska. All
rights reserved. Manufactured in
the United States of America.

Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wilson, Maggie, 1879–1940.
Rainy River lives : stories told by
Maggie Wilson / Maggie Wilson;
compiled, edited, and with an
introduction by Sally Cole.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references
and index.
isbn 978-0-8032-2062-1 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Ojibwa Indians—Anecdotes.
2. Ojibwa Indians—Social life and
customs—Anecdotes. 3. Ojibwa In-
dians—Folklore. 4. Tales—North
America. I. Cole, Sally C. II. Title.
e99.c6w64 2009
398.2089'97333—dc22
2008047613
Set in Sabon by Kim Essman.
Designed by Ashley Muehlbauer.
Some images have been masked due to copyright limitations.
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For my daughter,
Isabella,
in memory of
our women’s winter
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C ONTENTS

List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Introduction xxix
Historical Context and Chronology lvii
ONE Men and Women
1. She Got In with Him Again After They
Were Widows 3
2. Why Didn’t You Take Good Care of Her While
I Was Away? 15
3. You Can Have Him All to Yourself 21
4. He Made Up His Mind to Look After Her 25
5. The Wind Took the Canoe Right Across the Lake 35
TWO Parents and Children
6. We Will Take You and Love You as Our Very
Own Daughter 43
7. Her Father Was Sitting with His Head Down
with Tears in His Eyes 49
8. I’ll Show That Man That Stole My Daughter
Away from Me 55
9. A Very Young Man Adopted Them for Parents 61
10. They Moved On to Different Places 67
THREE Siblings
11. Oh, Can’t You Find a Place in Your Heart for Me? 73
12. They Made Up Their Mind Not to Let Their
Son-in-Law Go 79
13. If You Stop Along, I Will Give Youse a Lunch 83
14. She Liked Him as a Brother 89
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FOUR Women Alone
15. Cloud Woman, the Fast Runner 97
16. Her Dead Grandmother Told Her to
Straighten Up 103
17. She Was Left There to Starve, but She Was Too
Smart for That 111
18. Let Them Stay Single All They Want To 117
19. Why Do I Have to Die Now When I Have a
Man and Children to Live For? 123
20. Leave Me Here to Starve Alone 127
21. The Old Woman Doctor 133
22. She Used to Make All Kinds of Little Things for
Her Boy 139
FIVE Friends and Foes
23. I Have a Pawahgun That Gives Me the Power 147
24. It Won’t Be Her That Will Know 159
25. I Knew I Could Go There and Bring Home a Man
for Myself 163
26. He Gave Her a Folded Birch-Bark Map 167
27. The Moose Was Wise Enough to Bring the
Boy Back 175
28. She Knew the Bear Wanted Her to Go Someplace 181
29. She Knew That This Woman She Dreamed
Was the Bear 191
30. I Want to Be Your Pawahgun 197

Acknowledgments 203
Notes 205
Glossary 215
References 221
Index 227
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ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
1. Sample of handwritten story xix
2. Sample of editor’s verbatim transcription xx
3. Sample of last page and postscript of
story 28 xxi
4. Maggie Wilson, 1932 xxii
5. Manitou Rapids, 1920 xxii
6. Maggie Wilson and daughter Christina,
1920 xxiii
7. Maggie Wilson’s daughter Christina, 1920 xxiii
8. Maggie Wilson, daughter Christina,
and baby, 1920 xxiv
9. Maggie Wilson’s son Leonard and
daughter Janet, 1932 xxv
10. Maggie Wilson’s daughter Janet, 1932 xxv
11. Maggie Wilson’s daughter Christina,
with her husband, children, and
mother-in-law, 1932 xxvi
12. Maggie Wilson at Manitou Rapids, 1932 xxvi
13. Birch-bark wigwam at Manitou
Rapids, 1920 xxvii
14. Cooking fi re at Manitou Rapids, 1920 xxviii
15. At the maple-sugar camp, ca. 1930 2
16. Canoes in the wild-rice beds, ca. 1912 2
17. Family traveling by canoe, 1911 42
18. Selling blueberries in Kenora, ca. 1912 42
19. Drying fi sh at Lake of the Woods, ca. 1912 72
20. Spreading rice to dry, ca. 1920 72
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