It is in accounting for the unaccountable crowing
of Baby that the point of the Penobscot story lies. Of this there is no
mention made in the Western tale, which is utterly wanting in any
feeling as to the power of childhood or its charm over the strongest. A
real Indian tale may always be assumed to be ancient when it is told to
set forth an _origin_. This gives the origin of a baby's crowing.]
_How the great Glooskap fought the Giant Sorcerers at Saco, and
turned them into Fish._
(Penobscot.)
_N'karnayoo_, of old times: _Woodenit atok hagen_
_Glusgahbe_. This is a story of Glooskap (P.) There was a father
who had three sons and a daughter: they were _m'teoulin_, or
mighty magicians; they were giants; they ate men, women, and children;
they did everything that was wicked and horrible; and the world grew
tired of them and of all their abominations. Yet when this family was
young, Glooskap had been their friend; he had made the father his
adopted father, the brothers his brothers, the sister his sister.
[Footnote: The Indians make formal adoptions of relatives of every
grade, and in addition to this use all the terms of relationship as
friendly greetings. This is in fact made apparent in all the stories in
this collection.] Yet as they grew older, and he began to hear on every
side of their wickedness, he said: "I will go among them and find if
this be true.
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