Why The Loon Calls : A Micmac-Passamaquoddy Indian Legend

36 Pages·1987·3.529 MB·English

by  Ellen M. Dolan

Why
the
LOON
Milliken Publishing Company • St. Louis, Missouri

WHY THE LOON CALLS
A Micmac-Passamaquoddy Indian Legend
Retold by Ellen M. Dolan
Milliken Publishing Company, St. Louis, Missouri
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COPYRIGHT © 1987 MILUKEN PUBLISHING CO. All rights reserved.
am Tenskwatawa, the storyteller.
I
Come and sit around the campfire to listen.
This tale is told by the Micmac and Passamaquoddy tribes.
It is the story of a great hero and his friend the loon.
Long ago the Great Spirit sent a
mighty hero to his people.
His name was Gluskap.
His totem was a white owl.
I
^
t
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At that time, animals and birds could speakjust as people did.
They talked to Gluskap because he was their friend.
The Great Spirit had told the hero to hunt only for food.
And so he did. The animals knew this, so they listened as
he taught.
In the villages, Gluskap taught the hunters to use bows and arrows.
He showed them how to track an animal in a hunt.
**The Great Spirit has given you animals for food and clothing.
Do not take more than you need," said the mighty Gluskap.
Gluskap also taught tribes the ways of peace.
"You should fight only to defend your lives or villages.
You should be friends to other tribes of the land."
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Gluskap took people out into the fields.
He showed them how to grow food.
Then they would not go hungry when meat was hard;