Koluscap and the Water Monster

(Micmac and Maliseet Maritime Provinces)

Once there was a great drought.

The rain stopped falling and the earth became dry.
Finally, the streams themselves stopped flowing.
There was a village of people who lived by the side of a stream,
and life now became very hard for them. They sent someone
upstream to see why the stream had stopped.
Before long, the man came back.

“There is a dam across the stream,” he said.
“It is holding back all the water. There are guards on the dam.
They say their chief is keeping all the water for himself.”

“Go and beg him for water,” said the elders of the village.
“Tell him we are dying without water to drink.”
So the messenger went back again. When he returned,
he held a bark cup filled with mud.

“This is all the water their chief will allow us to have,” he said.

Now the people were angry. They decided to fight.

They sent a party warriors to destroy the dam.
But as soon as the warriors came to the dam,
a great monster rose out of the water. His mouth was big
enough to swallow a moose. His belly was huge and yellow.
He grabbed the warriors and crushed them with his long fingers
which were like the roots of cedar trees. Only one warrior escaped
to come back to the people and tell them what happened.

“We cannot fight a monster,” the people said.
They were not sure what to do. Then one of the old chiefs spoke.
“We must pray to Gitchee Manitou,” he said. “Perhaps he will
pity us and send help.” Then they burned tobacco and sent their
prayers up to the creator.

Their prayers were heard. Gitchee Manitou looked down and saw
he people were in trouble. He decided to take pity and help them and
he called Koluscap. “Go and help the people,” Gitchee Manitou said.

Koluscap then went down to the earth.
He took the shape of a tall warrior, head and shoulders taller than
any of the people. Half of his face was painted black and half was
painted white. A great eagle perched on his right shoulder and by
his side two wolves walked as his dogs, a black wolf and a white wolf.
As soon as the people saw him they welcomed him.
They thought surely he was someone sent by the creator to help them.

“We cannot afford you anything to drink,” they said.

“All the water in the world is kept by the monster and his dam.”

“Where is this monster?” Koluscap said, swinging his war club,
which was made of the root of a birch tree.

“Up the dry stream bed,” they said

So Koluscap walked up the dry stream bed.
As he walked he saw dried up dead fish and turtles and
other water animals. Soon he came to the dam,
which stretched between tow hills.

“I have come for water,” he said to the guards on top of the dam.

“GIVE HIM NONE, GIVE HIM NONE!” said a big voice from
the other side of the dam. So the guards did not give him water.

Again Koluscap asked and again the big voice answered.
Four times he made his request, and on the fourth request
Koluscap was thrown a bark cup half-full of filthy water.

Then Koluscap grew angry, He stomped his foot and dam
Began to crack. He stomped his foot again and he began to
Grow taller and taller. Now Koluscap was taller then the dam,
Taller even than the monster who sat in the deep water.

Koluscap’s club was now bigger than a great pine tree.
He struck the dam with his club and the dam burst open and the water flowed out.

Then he reached down and grabbed the water monster.
It tried to fight back, but Koluscap was too powerful.
With one giant hand Koluscap squeezed the water monster and its eyes
Bulged out and its back bent. He rubbed it with his other hand and it
grew smaller and smaller.

“Now, “ Koluscap siad, “no longer will you keep others from having water.
Now you’ll just be a bullfrog. But I will take pity on you and you can live
in this water from now on.” Then Koluscap threw the water monster back
into the stream. To this day, even though he hides from everyone because
Koluscap frightened him so much, you may still hear the bullfrog saying,
” Give Him None, Give Him None.”

The water flowed past the village. Some of the people were so happy to see
the water they jumped into the stream. They dove so deep and stayed in so long
that they became fish and water creatures themselves.
They still live in the river today, sharing the water which no one
person can ever own.