While canoeing, Tcigibis finds Otter feigning death by stuffing maggot-ridden punk into his nose and rectum, only for Otter to leap up and devour all but one Crawfish, explaining their lineage. Later, jealous of his wife’s brother Loon, Tcigibis kills him with a heated iron, hides the blood, and feigns suicide. After escaping a mob in the water, he survives and secures hell divers’ future.
Source:
Notes on the Eastern Cree
and Northern Saulteaux
by Alanson Skinner
The American Museum
of Natural History
Anthropological Papers
Volume IX, Part 1
New York, 1911
► Themes of the story
Origin of Things: The tale explains how Crawfish came to be, tracing their lineage to the sole survivor of Otter’s trickery.
Family Dynamics: Tcigibis’ jealousy of his brother Loon over his wife drives him to murder.
Revenge and Justice: Both Crawfish and Tcigibis enact reprisals—Otter against Crawfish, and Tcigibis against Loon—for past wrongs.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Cree people
Albany Cree
Tcigibis was out canoeing and as he went along he saw Otter lying on the bank. Otter knew that Tcigibis had seen him so he took some punk and put some up his nostrils and up his rectum and lay down again, feigning death. When Tcigibis returned he saw Otter lying there and went ashore to look at him. When he saw the rotted wood on Otter’s nose and anus, he said, “Well, it seems this otter is full of maggots.” Tcigibis turned back from there and hunted up Crawfish and told him he had just found Otter lying dead. Not long before this, Otter had tried to kill and eat Crawfish, but he had only succeeded in pulling all his legs and his claw off on one side.
When Crawfish heard that his enemy was dead, he was very glad. He called all the other crawfish together and said, “Let us go over and see the dead otter.”
► Continue reading…
They all went over and a whole lot of them went ashore to look at him. As soon as they saw the punk in Otter’s rectum, they commenced to pull it out. Otter was so amused at this that he could not help laughing. One of the crawfish then said, “I believe that that Otter is moving.” Crawfish, who had been pulling the punk out of Otter’s rectum replied, “Oh, I guess that was I, I must have moved Otter.” Then Otter jumped up and caught all the crawfish but one whose legs had all been pulled off on one side by Otter on a former occasion. He was afraid to go too near and that is how he was saved. From him, all the crawfish we have today are descended.
After this, Tcigibis went canoeing again. As he was traveling, he shot and killed a caribou. Tcigibis had a wife and he was jealous of Loon who was his brother on her account. “For,” he said, “I believe Loon is after my wife.” When he had killed the caribou, he went and found Loon sleeping. Then Tcigibis took an iron and heated it in the fire until it was red hot, and then he shoved it down Loon’s throat and killed him. When he had killed Loon, he went back and took some of the blood of the caribou and put it in his grease bag. Then he hid the grease bladder in his bosom. When Tcigibis had done these things he went home.
When Tcigibis reached home he went ashore and everyone came down to see what game he had. The people all knew (supernaturally) that he had killed his brother. They called out to him, “Your brother is dead now.” He pulled out his knife and stabbed himself in the bosom, piercing the bladder of blood which ran out all over his body. Then he fell over in the water and escaped by making a long dive.
At first, all the people really thought that Tcigibis had committed suicide but when they saw him reappear in the water, a long distance away, they were undeceived, and gave chase. Tcigibis escaped, however, and it is just as well, for had the people caught and killed him, there would have been no more hell divers to this day.
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