Skinner. Menomini: False Doctor and Second Deluge

Book: Skinner, A. Folklore of the Menomini Indians. (1915) 

Story: False Doctor and Second Deluge. Skinner also provides cross-references.

Characters: Manabus, woman doctor, manitous, garter snake, woodchuck

Plot (this is the abstract provided by Skinner):  (a) Manabus meets old woman going to doctor wounded [underground] powers [and he pretends to be someone else]. Kills her [after he gets all the information he needs about her work], shifts skin, and goes himself. In this disguise Manabus goes to their lodge, others go out to set snares for him, he kills the wounded manitous [by pushing in the arrows instead of pulling them out]. (b) The garter snake is sent to spy on him, he bribes it [with food] to keep quiet. (c) He flees, is discovered, second deluge. [He climbs a rock.] (d) Takes refuge with a woodchuck [who at first he thinks is an old woman] who burrows away and he escapes [emerging from the hole made by the woodchuck]. [He rewards the woodchuck with a grey coat which woodchucks wear to this day, and woodchucks still live in holes.]

Manabus enjoys the suffering of the wounded manitous that he is supposedly curing:

As soon as the others were out of sight Mä'näbus began his doctoring. He took hold of the arrows and shoved them in a little farther, whereupon the gods writhed and cried out for pain. Mänäbus went about their murder very deliberately, pausing every now and then to enjoy their groans and gloat over their sufferings. At last, however, they both died, and his revenge was complete.

Skinner. Menomini: Deluge

Book: Skinner, A. Folklore of the Menomini Indians. (1915) 

Story: Deluge. Skinner also provides cross-references.

Characters: Manabus, Beaver (Noma), Muskrat (Osus), Pine Tree (Nase)

Plot (this is the abstract provided by Skinner): (a) [lacrosse game between beings above and beings below] Manabus turns himself into a tree to deceive the gods who slew his brother. (b) He watches them play lacrosse until an opportunity offers, when he shoots two of them. (c) They flee, wounded, and cause a deluge. (d) Manabus takes refuge in a tree, which grows higher until it reaches four times its original height. (e) Surrounded by water [Manabus defecates and his own excrement floats around him], Manabus gets Beaver and Muskrat to join him. He persuades them to dive for earth, [Beaver dies in the attempt, but Muskrat also dies but brings back some earth] which Manabus takes and makes into an island. [He brought Beaver and Muskrat back to life.]

[When Manabus scraped the dirt from Muskrat's paws, it left white marks; now Osus is called Wapinikat, White Palm. Skinner notes that this has to do with a clan family name, and now pine trees that grow in the shape of branches like the nest that sheltered Manabush are called Manabus Trees.]

The idea is that this is reparation for the trouble he caused:

"Well," said Mä'näbus, "now I've finished, so I guess I'll go back to my home, and you my little brothers, will have to take care of yourselves, since I have made reparation for all the trouble I caused."

Skinner. Menomini: Wolf Brother

Book: Skinner, A. Folklore of the Menomini Indians. (1915) 

Story: Wolf Brother. Skinner also provides cross-references.

 
Characters: Manabus, Muhwase (his twin wolf-brother), wolf-nephew

Plot (this is the abstract provided by Skinner): (a) Manabus meets Wolf brother on the ice. (b) Hunts with them several days; when he departs Wolf brother gives Manabus his son for a servant. (c) The [jealous underground] gods plot against them. Manabus overhears [in his sleep], warns brother not to cross over water on ice. (d) . Wolf brother disobeys, and is dragged down and drowned. [Manabus overhears underground gods mocking his grief, and he vows revenge.]

Skinner. Menomini: Bear Paramour

Book: Skinner, A. Folklore of the Menomini Indians. (1915) 

Story: Bear Paramour. Skinner also provides cross-references.

Characters: Grandmother, Manabus, Bear

Plot (this is the abstract provided by Skinner): (a) Manabus and his grandmother are driven away from their hunting grounds [Manabus was building a dam to trap and hunter beavers] by the powers below [including underground bears and panthers]. (b) He carries his grandmother on his back [which is hard because things troubled his feet], discovers and names various berries, dumps grandmother off and nearly kills her [from his careless eagerness to get the food, and because he foolishly took her command literally: he is a "colossal blunderer"]. (c) Discovers that grandmother has a bear paramour [she is scared to refuse the bear's sexual advances, but the next time she welcomes bear gladly, using paint from Manabus's sacred bundle]. (d) Manabus slays bear [after tracking him to his den]. (e) Cuts bear up, grandmother refuses to carry any [she objects to head, to feet, etc., and then she fondles the bear's hind quarters], Manabus throws her into the sky [where a crescent moon was hanging], where she now is.

[another source, Hoffman, has this story gives the origin of menstruation.]

Here is how Grandmother rebukes Manabus:

"An'ämekût Mänäbus! Doggone that fellow! What a chump he is," she stormed, "when anyone tells him to do anything he has to go to extremes." She gathered herself up and saw Mä'näbus picking acorns, "Why do you always go so far in everything?" she demanded, "I was only joking with you." "Well see how much I have gathered alone while you have been snoozing there," answered Mä'näbus. "Snoozing? What did you expect when you threw me down so hard that I was stunned?" raged the old lady, "it's all your fault." "Well get busy then, commence to do your share," growled Mä'näbus, and she fell to work. 

Skinner. Menomini: Origin of Tobacco

Book: Skinner, A. Folklore of the Menomini Indians. (1915) 

Story: Origin of Tobacco. Skinner also provides cross-references.

Characters: Manabus, Grandmother, old god-man (keeper of tobacco), grasshopper

Plot (this is the abstract provided by Skinner): (a) Manabus steals tobacco from the old god man who guards it for the powers. [he almost kills the old god man when he chases Manabus, but then he spared him] (b) He turns the guardian into a grasshopper [an "evil shape"], accounting for the fact that grasshoppers “spit tobacco.”  

Skinner. Menomini: Theft of Fire

Book: Skinner, A. Folklore of the Menomini Indians. (1915) 

Story: Theft of Fire. Skinner also provides cross-references.

Characters: Grandmother, Manabus, Manabus's Grandfather (fire-keeper, a giant named Manupao), old woman (Grandfather's wife, Manabus's other grandmother), Grandfather's daughters

Plot (this is the abstract provided by Skinner): (a) Manabus, learning fire is kept by an old man across the sea, transforms himself into various animals, etc., and goes after it. (b) Arrived at fire-keeper’s spring he becomes a young rabbit. He is found by fire-keeper’s daughters and brought in to warm. (c) Escapes with spark which he causes to fly up and light in fur. Brings fire to grandmother for people. [Also brings fire to the old woman / grandmother he met where fire-keeper lived.]

In Version 2 (only a fragmentary version), a giant named Manupao keeps the fire; he travels across the water in an oak-apple. 

Skinner. Menomini: Birth of Manabus

Book: Skinner, A. Folklore of the Menomini Indians. (1915) 

Story: Birth of Manabus. Skinner also provides cross-references.

Characters: Mate Hawatuk (Supreme God), Masakomekokiu (Earth / earth-mother, grandmother), Pitakamikokiu (Masakomekokiu's daughter, mother of Manabus), the winds, Manabus (rabbit)

Plot (this is the abstract provided by Skinner): Great Spirit creates world by placing islands in the waters. Moulds earth and makes Jesus for ruler of one island, and Manabus for the other. (b) Our grandmother, the earth, takes a bowl and turns it upside down and waits until her daughter comes into being beneath it. (c) The Four Gods Beneath enter the body of daughter to be born in human shape, but cause her to burst. Grandmother places fragments under bowl, and then becomes a little rabbit, which afterwards is Manabus. (d) His tracks, as a man, are to be seen in the rock on the shores of Lake Michigan. 

God creates Jesus who is Manabozho's brother: 
Then he took up some earth like wax and moulded in his hand the image of a human being. Then he blew his breath four times upon it and it came to life and it was his son, Jesus. He placed him across the great waters on the other islands and old German country and gave them to him to protect and rule. Then the Supreme God took up red clay, made a tiny image and blew his breath upon it four times. The last time he blew life into the clay and made Mänäbus, his servant, to protect this island and his grandmother's people and he decreed that Jesus and Mä'näbus should be friends and brothers, each to remain on his separate island and to take care of his people. All went well until Columbus crossed the ocean and brought his poor bitter smoking tobacco. Then everything began to conflict so that now no one in this world can ever understand it.

Skinner. Menomini: Birth of Manabus

Book: Skinner, A. Folklore of the Menomini Indians. (1915) 

Story: Birth of Manabus. Skinner also provides cross-references.

Characters: old woman (grandmother of Manabus), old woman's daughter (mother of Manabus), Manabus, and Muhwase (wolf brother of Manabus), the wind

Plot (this is the abstract provided by Skinner): (a) Masakomekokiu and her daughter are the sole inhabitants of the earth. The mother takes girl out to dig potatoes, warning her not to face away from south. (b) Girl forgets and faces north and is rendered pregnant by wind. (c) Girl gives birth to Manabus, a little wolf [Muhwase], and a flint. The latter cuts her so she dies. (d) Grandmother disowns wolf brother [because of his desire to wander].

Hill. Glooscap: Rabbit Calls a Truce

Book: Hill, K. Glooscap and His Magic: Legends of the Wabanaki Indians. 1973

Story: Rabbit Calls a Truce

Characters: Ableegumooch (rabbit), Keoonik (otter), Uskoos (weasel), Abukcheech (mouse), Penobscot Indians

Plot 1: Rabbit and Keoonik the Otter used to trick each other. One day, rabbit stole otter's eels. Otter chased rabbit through snow and found only an old woman sitting by fire. He asked if she saw rabbit; she asked what a rabbit was, then said no and asked him to get wood for her fire. When he came back with the wood, he saw rabbit's footprints! Otter saw rabbit with Penobscot Indians in their village; then, when rabbit returned to the woods, he hit rabbit on the head, but rabbit said the Indians were starving because someone was stealing their food. 

Plot 2: Then rabbit and otter decided to find who had been stealing the Indians' food. They saw Uskoos the weasel and Abukcheech the mouse, who were always up to no good; they also promised the Indian chief they would find the thieves. Rabbit and otter spy on the weasels and mice and hear about their plans to conquer the Indians with the help of larger animals. Uskoos sneezed, and they were caught. Rabbit pretended to join their cause, pretending to know where the Indians stored their food. Rabbit led a stampede of weasels and mice to the edge of a cliff and in their rush they plunged off. Then rabbit and otter went back to their usual tricks which were all in good fun, not like the mice and weasels.

illustration by Robert Frankenberg

Hill. Glooscap: Ableegumooch, the Lazy Rabbit

Book: Hill, K. Glooscap and His Magic: Legends of the Wabanaki Indians. 1973

Story: Ableegumooch, the Lazy Rabbit

Characters: Ableegumooch (rabbit), Noogumee ("Old Woman," rabbit's grandmother), Glooscap, Keoonik (otter), Antawaa (woodpecker), Mooin (bear)

Plot: Rabbit was being lazy, not gathering food for himself or his grandmother Noogumee. Glooscap decided to teach him a lesson. Invisible Glooscap said, "Take care, Ableegumooch, or your lazy ways will bring you pain and sorrow." That goes rabbit's attention! But then he got lazy again. Meanwhile, Keoonik the Otter invited him to dinner; he plunged in icy water, caught eels, and fed Rabbit. Rabbit was impressed and invited Otter to dinner, planning to do the same, and he nearly drowned. Koonik rescued him and went home hungry and angry. Next: he saw woodpeckers (Antawaas) get worms from trees, so he imitated them and failed again. Noogumee keeps warning him, but he never listens. Finally he saw Mooin the bear cut food off his feet (it's because bears squash berries which dry into cakes on their feet that they can carve off), but rabbit's feet just bleed when he cuts them. Finally rabbit resolved to gather food in his own way, and he stayed busy, winning Glooscap's approval.

illustration by Robert Frankenberg