The areal position of Yurok
and Wiyot, distant relatives of Algonquians, is a unique but a serious
argument in favor of a western (Plateau?) homeland for proto-Algonquian
itself. Here I review the available folklore evidence, motifs exclusively
or primarily shared by the Algonquians and different Pacific groups
to the west of the continental watershed. The data on Central Algonquians
is especially important, Menomini, Ojibwa, Swampy Cree, Sauk and Fox
playing crucial role in this research. Both Atlantic groups and Plains
Algonquians (Blackfoot, Gros Ventres, Arapaho, Cheyenne) moved into
their areas relatively recently and were intensively influenced by local
ad- and substrata. The Central Algonquians are considered to have lived
in the Great Lakes region for several millennia and not to have been
in recent contact with Salish, Kutenai, Wakashan, Chemakum, Tsimshian
or other Pacific Indians.
Traits shared exclusively by Central Algonquians
and Pacific groups can be explained by early cultural contacts or by
common origins. Because there is no evidence of any former presence
of any Pacific group to the east of the Rockies, we should consider
the possibility that proto-Algonquian was once somewhere to the west.
I do not include in the following list
those motifs which, on the Algonquian side, are found mostly or exclusively
among the Plains groups, whether it be Blackfoot and Gros Ventres or
Plains Cree. Though only the Blackfoot were in immediate contact with
Plateau Indians, the possibility of such a contact for the Plains Cree
is not completely excluded.
Water-carrier in the Moon.
A person who goes to fetch water, or has a container for water in
their hands, is seen in the Moon.
This is one of the most widespread North
Eurasian motifs. It is known from Scandinavia to Kolyma (Yukaghir),
the Lower Amur, Sakhalin, and the Ryukyu Islands. The southernmost Central
Eurasian occurrence is among the Kirghiz, who probably brought the motif
from their Southern Siberian homeland. The motif is not recorded among
the northern Samoyeds (Nenets, Enets, Nganasan) but is common among
most Finno-Ugric groups. A typical Eurasian version is an orphan girl
who had been sent to fetch water at night and asked the Moon to take
her to the sky -- but there are also versions with the Moon taking a
girl or woman against her will. Chukchi, Koryak, Kamchadal, and Alaskan
Eskimo (Yupik and Inupiaq) do know the motif of a girl, boy or woman
taken to the Moon, but the person is not the water-carrier. More exact
parallels with Siberian legends appear farther from Siberia, on the
NW Coast and the northern Plateau. Here are short abstracts of the these
tales.
Tlingit. 1) A boy goes after water in
a storm, and is blown up to the moon where he can be seen today (De
Laguna 1972: 796). 2) One of two girls says "That moon looks like
my grandmother's labret." Both are taken up into the moon. The
one who has spoken is smashed to pieces, while the other one is seen
holding her bucket (Swanton 1908: 453).
Tsimshian (Ness River). A woman points
at the Moon and at its reflection in water. She is taken up by the Moon
while she is carring a bush of salad-berries. She is visible in the
Moon carrying the bush and a pail (Boas 1916: 894). The motif of the
bush in hands of the person in the Moon is another popular Siberian
motif.
Bella Coola. A woman lives in the moon.
Can be seen carrying a bucket of water (McIlwraith 1948(2): 225).
Heiltsuk (Awikyenoq). A mother goes to
fish, while the sister remains with her small brother. He is crying.
She puts him outdoors, gives him a toy pail to play with, and warns
him that the Moon will take him away. The Moon descends and takes him.
He is now seen in the Moon with a pail in his hand (Boas 1895, no.XX/4:
217).
Nootka (Newetee). The male Moon descends
to earth and asks for some water. A girl goes out with a pail, and he
abducts her. Now she is seen in the moon (Boas 1895, no. XVIII/9: 191).
Shuswap. 1) In winter the Moon travels
constantly. His wife Wala carries birch-bark buckets and a
shovel. She asks where they are going to camp. The Moon tells her "Camp
on my face." She jumps on his face and it becomes desfigured. He
turns into the Moon, but cannot shine brightly. Wala is still
seen with her buckets and shovel (Teit 1909a, no.5: 653).
Thompson. The Moon is handsome man, Hare
(variant: Frog) is his younger sister. His house is full of guests,
who are stars. The Pleiades form a cluster. He sends his sister to fetch
some water. When she comes back, there is no place for her. He tells
her to sit on his face, and she does so. The Moon becomes dull. A woman
holding her water-buckets is now seen on his face (Teit 1898, no.XXXVI:
91-92).
The motif of a Frog who jumped on the
Moon's face is known to other Salishan groups and beyond but the water-buckets
motif is not.
There are at least two cases of the motif
woman with buckets in Central Algonquian sky lore.
Ojibwa. Some women are making sugar. One
of them urinates in the pail for maple sap which she has in her hand.
The female Moon is outraged, and puts the woman with the pail into her
basket. The Moon's husband Sun punishes Moon, who must permanently carry
the victim with herself. A woman with a pail is now seen on the lunar
disc (Jones 1919, no.499: 637).
Sandy Lake Cree. Old Nokomis gives birth
to a boy. His father is a stranger, who predicts that his son will be
in danger when he grows up. Nokomis sends the boy to bring water, warning
him not to look at the moon. He disappears, is seen in the moon with
his ladle and water pail (Ray, Stevens 1971: 81).
Summary: These Algonquian
folklore parallels with the northern Plateau and the NW Coast are not
especially detailed, and the motif itself is rather simple. However,
it is unknown in any Indian or Eskimo group other than those mentioned
above. Even using the more general definition of a motif man in
the moon with some objects in hands, examples are unknown to the
south of Micmac (man with a carrying basket), Santee (two men with a
cut off head and with a knife in their heads), and Iowa (man with two
cut off heads in his hands) and Northern Shoshoni (cannibal holding
a blanket).
Stolen harpoon (D657.1).
A person transforms himself into a fish and provokes fisherman to
hit him. A harpoon sticks to his body without injuring him, and he carries
it away.
This motif was known to Maritime Koryak
(Bogoras 1902, no.55: 666-667; Jochelson 1908, no.98: 285-286), North
Alaskan Inupiaq (Ostermann 1952: 245-246), Tanaina (Tenenbaum 1984:
125-127), Tanana (De Laguna 1995, no.9: 125), Kutchin (Schmitter 1910:
21-23), Kaska (Teit 1917a, no.1: 434), Tlingit (Swanton 1909, no.3,
31: 22-23, 101), Haida (Boas 1916: 608), Bella Coola (McIlwraith 1948(1):
669-670, 672-675), Nootka (Boas 1895, no.1: 201), Chilcotin (Farrand
1900, no.1: 111-112), Shuswap (Boas 1895, no.7: 659-661), Thompson (Boas
1895, no.2: 15; Teit 1898, no.II: 42-43), different groups of Coastal
Salish (Boas 1895, no.1: 23-24; 1916: 607; 1916: 607), Kalapuya (Jacobs
195, no.3: 92-96), Klikitat (Jacobs 1934, no.28: 68-69), and Karok (Kroeber
and Gifford 1980, no.II34: 186-187). At Koyukon (De Laguna 1995, no.22:
188) man steals hook and line, at Coos (Saint Clair 1909a, no.1: 27-28)
man turns into sea otter and carries away arrows. The motif is widely
known in South America to the east of the Andes (where the things stolen
are usually fishing hooks or arrows) and it is unknown in North America
outside the Northwest. The Ojibwa version is the only exception (Radin
1914, no.1: 5). Here the trickster and culture hero Nanabojo turns into
a white-fish to tease fishermen. He is speared, recovers, acquires his
usual form, and goes away. Though his attempt to steal the harpoon fails,
the story is still very similar to its typical Northwestern form. As
far as we know, the Ojibwa were not ever in recent contact with any
group for which the motif Stolen fishing tool has been recorded,
so this parallel can be viewed as a survival of an earlier cultural
configuration.
Processed objects turn back into
animals (E161, E168). After breaking some sort of tabu,
dried meat or fish, tanned hides, etc. turn back into animals or fish
and escape.
This motif is widespread among western
Northern Athabascans (Koyukon, Kutchin, Hare, Tahltan, Tsetsaut, Carrier),
across the NW Coast (Tlingit, Bella Voola, Heiltsuk) and the Plateau
(Shuswap, Thompson, Lillooet, Cowlitz, Clackamas, Western Sahaptin,
Nez Percé). It was also known to the Chugach Eskimo (Birket-Smith
1953: 156-157) and in Siberia to the Samoyed, Chukchi, and Gilyak. The
Ojibwa version is the only one to the east of the Rockies. Here a girl
who has her first menses must fast in a seclusion hut. Her mother promises
to bring her sturgeon to eat. At night all people, dogs and dried fish
have entered the lake as living sturgeon (Radin, Reagan 1928, no.19:
108-109).
Two giants. Man
meets a dangerous giant who prooves to be friendly to him. Another giant
fights with the first one, man helps his friend to kill him.
The motif is widely known across the American
Arctic and Subarctic, being recorded among the Inupiaq Eskimo (Jenness
1924, no.36: 66-67; Ostermann 1952: 237-239), Copper Eskimo (Jenness
1924, no.79: 83; Rasmussen 1932: 218-219, 258-259), Netsilik (Rasmussen
1931: 229-231), Tanaina (Tenenbaum 1984: 73-83), Ahtna (Smelcer 1997:
97-98), Kutchin (McKennan 1965: 107-108), Upper Tanana (McKennan 1959:
197-199), Kaska (Teit 1917a, no.7: 445-448), Hare (Petitot 1886, no.12:
132-141), Chipewyan (Lowie 1912: 188; Petitot 1886, no.18: 423), Tahltan
(Teit 1919-1921, no.69: 346-349), Carrier (Jenness 1934, no.1: 100-104)
and among the Tlingit (Swanton 1909, no.57: 212-214). The southernmost
in this series are the Lillooet Salish of the northern Plateau (Elliott
1931: 172-175). In all these cases a friendly giant picks up a man or
a boy, carries him to his place and asks him to hit the foot of his
enemy. This stroke is crucial for the outcome of the fight. The lack
of Alaskan and Siberian Yupik, of Eastern Inuit as well as of Northwest
Coastal versions (besides Tlingit) makes the Northern Athabaskan origin
of the motif the most probable. The Lillooet case evidences, however,
the spread of the motif also to the Plateau Salish.
Algonkian texts are represented by Menomini
(Skinner, Satterlee 1915, _ II.7: 332-337) and Micmac and Passamaquoddy
(Leland 1968: 233-242, 246-249) versions. Despite the great distance
between New England and Wisconsin, all these texts are similar. When
ogre comes, woman does not show her fear but names him her relative
and they become friends. Later her husband helps the friendly ogre to
kill his enemy. I do not know any similar texts among Cree, therefore
borrowing from the Athabaskans does not seem plausible. The only case
outside of North America is among the Western Siberian Xanty.
Food baked in the Sun.
Before fire was known, people prepared food on stones heated by sunshine.
Typical for South America and known in
New Guinea, this motif is absent in Siberia and rare in North America.
It is not difficult to suggest ecological reasons for such a global
distribution but they are not sufficient to explain the concentration
of North American versions inside a restricted area to the west of the
continental watershed. Food baked in the Sun was known to Coastal
and Interior Salish, particularly to Lummi (Clark 1953: 147-148; Stern
1934: 108-109), Cowichan (Boas 1895, no.1: 45-47; Harris 1901: 10-12
in Clark 1960: 23), and Sanpoil (Clark 1953: 189). Two other cases are
further to the south at Yurok (Kroeber 1976, no.P2: 363) and Owens Valey
Paiute (Steward 1936, no.9: 370-371). The Algonquians are represented
by Menomini (Skinner, Satterlee 1915, no.1: 239-241).
A runaway awakes in the same
place. A man escapes from the house of a powerful person.
In the morning he awakens in it again.
This motif is found across the Plateau and among the Blackfoot who,
as was mentioned above, were in contact with the Plateau Indians. In
the versions in Kutenai (Boas 1918, no.56: 133-141, 298-299), Western
Sahaptin (Farrand and Mayer 1917, no.12: 173-175), Nez Percé
(Spinden 1917, no.7: 186-187) and Blackfoot (Josselin de Jong 1914:
7-9; Wissler and Duvall 1908, no.14: 31-32), the owner of the lodge
is the Sun or the Moon and the person who tries to escape is Coyote,
or some other trickster traditional in the folklore of the area. The
same details occur in a Kiowa-Apache tale, though it is territorially
isolated (McAllister 1949, no.21: 73-74). It is plausible that the Kiowa-Apache
had picked it up somewhere before their recent movement to the south.
In the Salishan Tillamook version from coastal Oregon, the wife of the
South Wind cannot go away because all the world is his house (Jacobs
1959, no.26: 92-93).
The Midwestern cases of Sauk and Fox (Lasley
1902: 176-178; Skinner 1928, no.16: 155-156) are different. In one of
them the runaway is the father of the hero twins, in another he is Turtle
in the house of Wisakä (trickster and deity). The lack of close
parallels with Plateau variants and a restricted distribution of the
motif itself, unknown outside of North America, is evidence against
recent borrowing.
Anus on guard. Before
falling asleep, Trickster tells his anus to awaken him if somebody comes
to steal the meat he is roasting. Anus does not warn him, or Trickster
himself does not react to it. The meat is stolen.
This motif is one of those most specific
to the Algonquians and is recorded at Naskapi – Montagnais (Desbarats
1969: 81-83), Algonquin proper (Speck 1915d, no.4: 10-15), Menomini
(Hoffman 1896: 162-164; Skinner, Satterlee 1915, no.8: 267-270), different
groups of Ojibwa – Chippewa (Barnouw 1977: 27-28; Hoffman 1896:
205; Josseling de Jong 1913, no.13: 23-25; Radin 1914, no.1, 9: 7-8,
21-22; Radin, Reagan 1928, no.14: 97-101; Speck 1915d, no.1: 28-31),
Eastern Cree (Skinner 1911: 84-86), Sandy Lake Cree (Ray, Stevens 1971:
39-40, 44), Fox (Jones 1907, no.10: 279-289), Kikapoo (Jones 1915, no.3:
17-19), Potawatomi (Skinner 1924: 339-340), Plains Cree (Skinner 1916,
no.1(11): 351), Plains Ojibwa (Skinner 1919, no.1: 280-281), Blackfoot
(Jossselin de Jong 1914: 10-12; Wissler, Duvall 1908, no.10, 23: 25-27,
39), and Gros Ventres (Kroeber 1907b, no.14: 71). It is absent from
records only of the Eastern Algonquians, Shawnee (whose folklore is
more Southeastern than Midwestern), Cheyenne and Arapaho. The non-Algonquian
Midwest and Plains cases are rare and recorded among groups which were
in close contact with Algonquian neighbors, namely among the Winnebago
(Radin 1956, no.13-14: 16-18), the Assiniboin (Lowie 1909a, no.18: 115-116)
and the Santee (Riggs 1893: 113-114; Wallis 1923, no.24: 93-94). Anus
on guard is one of several episodes in a chain of Trickster's adventures
which are shared by most of these groups. It is an alternative to other
explanations of how Trickster had lost his meal.
The same motif in the same context (linked
to the hoodwinked dancers, K826) is recorded among the Salishan Bella
Coola (McIlwraith 1948(2): 432-433). If this parallel is due to a recent
borrowing, the specific mechanisms of such a dissemination would be
enigmatic because Bella Coola and the Algonquians are separated by a
Plateau area where the motif is not reported. But even if the Bella
Coola case is not a true relative, anus on guard has more distant
parallels farther to the Northwest where the eyes on guard
motif is recorded at Koryak (Bogoras 1902, no.18: 652), Kerek (Menovschikov
1974, no.116: 368), St. Lawrence Island Yupic (Slwooko 1979: 14-20),
Central Yupic (Barker 1995: 81-83; Gillham 1943: 76-85; Smelcer 1992:
77-78), Ingalik (Chapman 1914: 41) and Upper Tanana (McKennan 1959:
194). The usual protagonist in this area is Fox or Raven and the episode
is similarly inserted into a chain of the Trickster's adventures.
These two versions of the basic body
part on guard motif may be historically unconnected. However, with
complete lack of anything similar across all other parts of Siberia
and America, the existence of historical connections between them looks
like a more plausible hypothesis.
Rattle tied to the tail (J2155).
Trickster sees that another person has something tied to his tail.
He wants the same toy for himself, runs, but his intestines fall out
as a result.
This is another motif with Trickster as
a protagonist. Every tradition possesses its own typical character for
the role of Trickster but the sets of episodes connected with them coincide
to a large degree across all North America. This way Mänäbus
among the Menomimi always corresponds to Coyote among the Shuswap and
Thompson and to Wisûkejak and the like (probably identified with
the bluejay) among the Cree. The episode in question is recorded among
the Shuswap (Boas 1895, no.2: 5), Thompson (Teit 1917b, no.17: 8), Menomini
(Hoffman 1896: 164; Skinner, Satterlee 1915, no.10: 270-271), Ojibwa-Chippewa
(Barnouw 1977: 22-23; Jones 1916, no.31: 379), Plains Ojibwa (Skinner,
Satterlee 1915: 272), and Plains Cree (Skinner 1916, no.1(4): 348).
The Salishan and Algonquian texts are almost identical though no Cree
or Ojibwa group have been reported to contact Shuswap, not to say Thompson.
However, it would be prudent to consider the possibility that territorially
intermediate versions among the Blackfoot, Gros Ventres or Stoney have
not been recorded or are simply not in my database.
Abnormal birth (T584).
Females' wombs were cut open to get a child. Somebody provides instructions
how to give birth or makes giving birth possible.
This motif was popular across Alaska,
western and northern Canada where it was known both to Eskimo (who brought
it to Greenland) and to Athabascans. It was recorded among the Kodiak
(Lantis 1938: 153), Central Yupic (Fienup-Riordan 1983, no.19: 247),
Bering Strait and North Alaskan Inupiaq (Gubser 1965: 39-42 in Oswalt
1967: 215; Hall 1975, no.PM39: 212-214; Jenness 1924, no.40: 69; Ostermann
1952: 235-237; Rooth 1971: 15), Copper (Rasmussen 1932: 207), Netsilik
(Rasmussen 1931: 232-236), Iglulik (Rasmussen 1930a: 77-80), Baffin
Land (Boas 1901-1907, no.4: 170-171), Polar Eskimo (Holtved 1951, no.37:
152-165), Tanaina (Osgood 1937: 173), Kutchin (McKennan 1965: 132-136),
Tanana (De Laguna 1995, no.1: 84), Upper Tanana (McKennan 1959: 189),
Tahltan (Teit 1919-1921, no.8: 206-207), Carrier (Jenness 1934, no.6:
133-136), and Chilcotin (Farrand 1900, no.1: 111-112). In Western Beringia
it is recorded among the Koryak, more precisely among the Alutor (Kibrik
a.o. 2000, no.15: 71). Across the Plateau area it was known to northern
Interior Salish, i.e. to Shuswap (Teit 1909a, no.4, 54: 652, 746-748),
Thompson (Teit 1917b, no.3: 20), and Lillooet (Teit 1912b, no.1, 49:
294-295, 368). Another area of its concentration was Northern California
where it was recorded among the Yurok (Kroeber 1976, no.F2, K2, O1,
P1, Q3, X4: 281-283, 327, 353-354, 361-363, 375-376, 424), Karok (Harrington
1932, no.9: 26-27; Kroeber, Gifford 1980, no.C2: 33), Wiyot (Kroeber
1906a, no.4: 96-97), and Hupa (Goddard 1904, no.1, 32: 126, 279). These
northern Californian groups form a compact cluster which share many
other motifs. All other cases are South American (with parallels in
New Guinea too). Algonquian Fox (Jones 1907, no.5: 75-77) is a spectacular
exception in eastern North America. Here a man meets dwarves who cut
open their wives to receive a child. He instructs them how to deliver.
Dwarfs have no anuses, are amazed to see him. Geese and cranes attack
the dwarves. For dwarves they are a dangerous enemy, but the man easily
kills them and cooks the meat.
Inhabitants of the other world
without mouth or anus. A race of people who have no anus
or no mouth lives in the underworld, in the sky, on the other side of
the ocean, or in a far away country.
The story among the Fox resembles most
of all not Californian and Plateau but Eskimo tales. A Kutchin legend
also belongs to this group. California and Plateau texts describe the
deeds not of a traveller to distant lands but of a Transformer who walks
around "correcting" people and nature. In texts of the Eskimo
group the traveller finds people (often dwarves) who cut open the bellies
of their wives, who have no anuses or mouths and smell their food instead
of eating it. Some birds or animals are dangerous enemies of these people
but the hero easily overcomes them. It is the same combination of traits
as among the Fox.
The no-anus (or no-mouth) motif
was recorded in Northern Eurasia and among many groups to the west of
the Rockies (Plateau, California, Great Basin, Great Southwest). Siouan
Mandan on the Middle Missouri (Bowers 1950: 204) is the only Plains
group in this list, and no cases are known in eastern North America.
If we consider Abnormal birth alone, the Fox evidence can be
explained by specific Plateau – Algonquian connections. But comparing
the entire tale with its Eskimo and other, even more distant parallels,
it seems that it might also be a trace of a an early spread of cultural
elements across the New World, possibly dating to time of its initial
peopling.
Bear's penis. An
old woman refuses to take any part of a bear or elk killed by her grandson.
She says that they are too hard for her, or that they do her some harm.
She takes the penis and masturbates with it.
This motif is recorded across the Coast
– Plateau among the Lillooet (Teit 1912b, no.20: 324), Upper Chehalis
(Adamson 1934: 33-38), Cowlitz (Adamson 1934: 185-188, 220-221), Upper
Cowlitz (Jacobs 1934, no.2: 179-183), Lower Chinook (Boas 1894, no.8:
119-122), Clackamas (Jacobs 1958, no.25: 202-207), Tillamook (Jacobs
1959, no.16: 62-64), and Coos (Jacobs 1940, no.24: 173-174). Most of
these groups are Salish or Chinook, others (Coos, Upper Cowlitz) were
in contact with the Salish. In the Midwest the motif was known to the
Algonquian Menomini (Skinner, Satterlee 1915, no.4: 251-253) and to
Degiha Siouan, i.e. to Iowa (Skinner 1925, no.37: 497) and to Omaha
and Ponca (Dorsey 1890: 22). Probably it was present also in the insufficiently
known Winnebago foklore. The motif is not known outside of North America
except for one Southeastern Brazilian case (Ofaié) which demonstrates
only general analogies to North American ones. Despite the relative
complexity of the motif, all North American versions are so similar
that we can be practically sure of their common origin. The Coast –
Plateau versions have additional common details (grandmother is killed
or at least thrown into the water and floats downriver). The two Degiha
versions (Iowa and Omaha – Ponca) are also more similar to each
other than to other versions (the grandson is Rabbit; the old woman
is not killed or sent away to a distant place). In the Algonquian Menomini
legend the grandson throws his grandmother to the moon, which is a unique
detail.
Bear's penis might have been
brought to the Great Lakes region by proto-Algonquians, survived among
Menomini and later been borrowed by Degiha. However, it's absence among
other Algonquians besides Menomini is worring.
Three other motifs are the most controversial
for our purposes, though for different reasons.
A boy under the bulb. A
woman digs roots. Her mother warns her against digging out a special
bulb or tuber. She breaks the tabu and after digging the root conceives
or finds a baby boy.
This motif has a very restricted distribution.
It is shared by the inhabitants of northern California – western
Oregon and is found among the Yurok (Kroeber 1986, no.A7, F6: 55-56,
293-294), Wiyot (Reichard 1925, no.13: 163), Karok (Kroeber, Gifford
1980, no.I3: 121-122), Hupa (Goddard 1904, no.2: 146-147), and Coos
(Jacobs 1940, no.12: 150-152). A Menomini version (Skinner, Satterlee
1915, no.1: 239-241) does not contain the direct parallel. Here a lonely
woman lives with her daughter. The woman tells her always to look to
the South while digging edible roots. The girl breaks the tabu, and
a strong wind blows. She gives birth to Manäbus (the culture hero
and a trickster), to Wolf and to Flint. Flint cuts her open, and she
dies. With only one matching Menomini text in hand, it is difficult
to decide whether digging up a tuber is an essential or unimportant
detail of the plot.
The news precedes the man. A
person does something shameful or obscene. Presumably, nobody could
see him doing it. When he asks people what is the news, they answer
that such-and-such a person (actually this same person) has done such
a thing.
This motif has the same trickster protagonists
and a rather similar areal distribution as the preceding one. Among
Upper Chekalis, Cowlitz and Clackamas the two motifs form parts of the
same texts. In addition to these groups, it was known to the Kwakiutl
(Boas 1910 in 1916: 706), Shuswap (Teit 1909a, no.18: 678-679), Coos
(Jacobs 1940, no.23: 172-173), Kalapuya (Jacobs 195, no.2: 91) , Plains
Cree (Skinner 1916, no.1(10): 350-351), Ojibwa (Josselin de Jong 1913,
no.12: 19-23), Hidatsa (Beckwith 1938, no.39: 287-290) and Iowa (Skinner
1925, no.13: 477). With such a distribution recent borrowing is not
excluded.
The running earthquake. The
Earthquake is anthropomorphic. When he runs or walks, the earth trembles.
This motif is a rare alternative to a
much more widespread one of a person who supports the earth trembling
under the burden. It is not the best one for our purposes because the
earth does not tremble across most of the territories ocuupied by Algonquians.
The running earthquake was known almost exclusively to southern Plateau
– northern or north-central California groups including Upper
Chehalis (Adamson 1934: 160, 172), Modoc (Curtin 1912: 122-124), Yurok
(Kroeber 1906c: 322; 1976, no.B5, C1: 174-175, 216), Wiyot (Reichard
1925, no.13: 165), Hupa (Goddard 1904, no.2: 149), and possibly Patwin
(Kroeber 1932a, no.2: 305), though in this last case it is not specifically
mentioned that the Earthquake person is running. There are
only two cases outside of this region. One is South American Cashibo
(Frank et al. 1990: 49-50), which is of course too far away to consider
related. Another is Eastern Algonquian Micmac (Leland 1968: 96-97).
Because no other specific details connect this version with western
North American ones, this Micmac case may be an accidental coincidence.
Rooted to the Ground.
A man gets into the dwelling of a demon where he sees a human being
whose body is rooted to the floor, stuck to a stump, stone, or is completely
absent. Along the NW Coast the motif was known to the Haida (Swanton
1905: 336-338), Bella Coola (Boas 1898: 88-90; McIlwraith 1948(2): 446-450,
495-498), and Kwakiutl (Boas 1910, no.29: 385-401); We might guess that
Tsimshian, Heiltsuk, and possibly Nootka cases also exist. Further to
the south, it was recorded among the Chinook (Boas 1894a, no.1: 19-20).
The Algonkian cases are among the Menomini (Skinner, Satterlee 1915,
no.II5: 317-327) and Ojibwa-Chippewa (Barnouw 1977, no.45: 64-68).
Summary of article:
If we consider the specific content of
motifs and the degree of their exlusive connection with Algonquians
and with Plateau – NW Coast groups, Water-carrier in the Moon,
Stolen harpoon, Processed objects turn back into animals, Two giants,
and perhaps A runaway awakes in the same place and Abnormal
birth would look like the most solid pieces of evidence of western
connections of Central Algonquian culture. Trickster motifs like Rattle
tied to the tail, or Bear's penis are probably easily
borrowed even during very superficial contacts. Food baked in the
sun is very simple and possibly could emerge independently. Inhabitants
of the other world without mouth or anus is relatively widely spread
across the New World and its dissemination may have begun long before
the time of the split between the Algonquian and the Ritwan (Yurok and
Wiyot). This does not exclude the possibility that this motif reached
the Great Lakes thanks to an Algonquian migration, but such a suggestion
can hardly be proven.
Some motifs demonstrate more northern
and others more southern direction of links. Parallels for No-anus
people, Anus on guard, and Two giants extend
as far as Alaska. Water-carrier in the Moon, Stolen harpoon, Processed
objects turn back into animals and some others connect the Algonquians
with the NW Coast and Northern Plateau, i.e. with such Inner Salish
peoples as Thompson, Lillooet and Shuswap. This evidence is the strongest
(8 of 14 cases are recorded among these Inner Salishan groups). Could
it be that proto-Algonquians were pushed out of their place by Salish
peoples moving from the Coast to the Plateau, and that the two groups
were in contact somewhere in the basins of the Middle Fraser or Upper
Columbia rivers? There are also motifs which have parallels in northern
California among the Yurok and Wiyot. These are Abnormal birth,
Food baked in the Sun, A boy under the bulb and The running
earthquake. No one of these motifs is very reliable and their combination
cannot yet be taken as an analog in folklore to the demonstration of
Algonquian-Ritwan unity in linguistics. Taking into consideration the
tiny territorial dimensions of Yurok and Wiyot, it is probable that
these groups were especially heavily influenced by their substratum
and by neighboring cultures.
Not one of the motifs in our list is shared
by the Iroquois and other eastern North American peoples. This fact
can be explained both by the greater geographical distance between the
East and the Plateau that prevented borrowing, and by the lack of any
linguistic relationships between these groups.
The ultimate interpretation of the data
presented here depends on what the linguists decide. I would consider
the available folklore evidence as an argument in favor of early contacts
of the ancestors of the Central Algonquians (i.e. proto-Algonquians
as a whole) with Pacific groups. But taken alone, this evidence, by
its very nature (folklore materials have no inner chronology of their
own) is not enough to postulate such contacts.
Email to the Author Dr. Yuri
Berezkin, Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia |