And ever as they went the maiden talked to him, answering his thoughts, so that he spoke not aloud. "Have no fear," said she, "but advance boldly!" So he obeyed, and lo! the rock was as the air, and it gave way as he went on. Gaining his confidence, she invited him into the rocky face of the mountain to her home: The hunter had followed mysterious snow-shoe tracks up the mountain until reaching a virtual road of tracks leading to “a high ledge, like an immense wall, on a platform at its foot.” A beautiful girl then stepped out of the rock face and demonstrated great m'téoulin (or magic), as she could read the hunter’s thoughts. ( ) Mount Katahdin as a Home to Thunder BeingsĬharles Leland (1885: 259-261) recorded a Passamaquoddy tale of a hunter who encountered the thunder beings of Mount Katahdin. The water monster which the Thunderers fought resembled a rattle snake, but he had short legs and rusty-yellow fur.Ĭarl Ray : Thunderbird and Serpent, acrylic on canvas (circa 1970). The next morning the shore was covered with the bodies of all kinds of fish, some of which were larger than men, and there were also some huge serpents. That very night the Thunderers came, and the crashing sounds were so terrible that many people fainted. When one gazed in that direction he saw a huge eye as bright as the sun, which caused him to vomit something resembling black earth moistened with water, and death soon followed. They noticed that at night, even when there was no breeze, the water in the middle of the lake was constantly roaring. Long ago, the Tetons encamped by a deep lake, whose shore was enclosed by very high cliffs. Dorsey (1889: 135-136) reported the following account of a battle between the Thunderbirds and the serpents obtained from the Lakota Sioux: In many traditions, humanity survives only because the Thunderbirds keep the serpents at bay. The Thunderbirds wage an endless war against the serpents, which pass from the underworld into the domain of man through caves, springs, rivers, lakes, and other watery places in order to cause calamities and forge alliances with wicked humans. ![]() Cedar, pigment, leather, nails, metal plate, Open: 48 x 71 x 15 in. Thunderbird Transformation Mask, 19th century.
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