Dunno how quick,--
mebbe long time; all be dead then, mebbe,--guess it will be long time."
"_Are any to be saved by any one_?" "Dunno. _Me hear_ how
some say world all burn up some day, water all boil all fire; some good
ones be taken up in good heavens, but me dunno,--me just _hear_
that. Only hear so."
It was owing to a mere chance question that this account of the Last
Day was obtained from an Indian. It was related to Mrs. W. Wallace
Brown, of Calais, Maine, by Mrs. Le Cool, an old Passamaquoddy Indian.
It casts a great light on the myth of Glooskap, since it appears that a
day is to come when, like Arthur, Barbarossa, and other heroes in
retreat, he is to come forth at a new twilight of the gods, exterminate
the _Iglesmani_, and establish an eternal happy hunting-ground.
This preparing for a great final battle is more suggestive of Norse or
Scandinavian influence than of aught else. It is certainly not of a
late date, or Christian, but it is very much like the Edda and
Ragnarok. Heine does not observe, in the Twilight of the Gods, that
Jupiter or Mars intend to return and conquer the world. But the
Norsemen expected such a fight, when arrows would fly like hail, and
Glooskap is supposed to be deliberately preparing for it.
A very curious point remains to be noted in this narration. When the
Indians speak of Christian, or white, or civilized teachings, they say,
"I heard," or, "I have been told.
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