âtanôhkân wêskac, pêyak kishê-'iniw ê-itâtanôhkâsot okisisa âyâs kâ-ishinihkâson'ci - The legend of Ayas

Simeon Scott

In this story, there is an old man who doesn't treat his wife properly and his son, Ayas, disapproves. One day, the father tricks his son into coming with him and leaves him on a faraway island with no way to return home. A horned water creature comes to Ayas's rescue but is killed when Ayas doesn't warn him of the approaching storm. Feeling guilty, Ayas meets his grandmother who feeds him and gives him items for the long and dangerous journey back home: a sleeping-skin, a mink-skin, and a pointed stick. Ayas leaves his grandmother and travels into many wigwams on his way home, tricking and killing the people he meets with his grandmother's tools until finally finding his way home to his mother. He discovers, however, that his mother was living idly because his father had found another woman and had a child by her. Therefore, he instructs his mother to build a fire and throws the child into it to kill it, and when it is done, the father comes out and is outraged until he sees his lost son, Ayas, whom he treats very finely now. Ayas, on the other hand, fashions two arrows and kills his father and his second wife and makes them burn in such a way that the father becomes the "Ghost-smokes", and the wife becomes a stone defaced with mud and white moss. Ayas becomes the tamarack alongside the lagoon, used for snow-shoes.

StoryTeller Simeon Scott Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level cycle 2 Language Swampy Cree (n dialect)
Year Recorded 1956-57 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
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Genre

mistâkanâsh kâ-kî-nipikopanê, êko mâka kâ-kî-wanishkâkopanê - Mistaganash who is supposed to have died and then to have risen

Simeon Scott

Mistaganash awoke from the dead and returned home to the delight of his mother. He returned to hunting and excelled at it, but someone tried to kill him again over a woman. Thankfully, Mistaganash's step-father intervened.

StoryTeller Simeon Scott Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level preschool Language Swampy Cree (n dialect)
Year Recorded 1956-57 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre

mêmishôsh kâ-mitêhkêkopanê - Memishoosh the conjuror

Simeon Scott

Memishoosh the conjuror adopted young orphan boys, raised them to be his sons-in-law, and then routinely killed them off. One of them, however, was also a conjuror and saved himself from Memishoosh's plans until he managed to reverse one of his father-in-law's plots and the man froze to death.

StoryTeller Simeon Scott Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level preschool Language Swampy Cree (n dialect)
Year Recorded 1956-57 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre

tipâcimôwin awahkânak ohci - About animals kept as pets

Xavier Sutherland

When Xavier, the narrator, was a child, his family had a beaver for a pet. During the day he slept but during the night he worked hard at cutting willow sticks until there was a pile blocking the door. He worked hard to close the door completely like he would on the river and in the morning he would be asleep.

StoryTeller Xavier Sutherland Community Peawanuck (Winisk)
Age/Level cycle 2 Language Swampy Cree (n dialect)
Year Recorded 1960-62 Year Last Edited 2010
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
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Teachings Genre

nikik ê-itâcimikosit - A story about an otter

Xavier Sutherland

Xavier, the narrator, used to have an otter as a pet. He slept at night and was up early in the morning but returned to bed in the afternoon. In winter, his family would cut two holes in the ice and tie a string around the otter's paw. The otter would dive into one hole and come out the other, effectively placing the string for the net under the ice.

StoryTeller Xavier Sutherland Community Peawanuck (Winisk)
Age/Level cycle 2 Language Swampy Cree (n dialect)
Year Recorded 1960-62 Year Last Edited 2010
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings Genre

ôko wîna okâshakaskiwêsiwak - About hawks

Xavier Sutherland

Xavier, the narrator, used to have hawks in his family's care from the time when they didn't even have feathers yet. They ate a lot of fish, once a day, and when they grew bigger they didn't want to leave. Also, the hawk was useful in keeping mice away.

StoryTeller Xavier Sutherland Community Peawanuck (Winisk)
Age/Level cycle 2 Language Swampy Cree (n dialect)
Year Recorded 1960-62 Year Last Edited 2010
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings Genre

Snatch of a conversation: to go up-river or not?

Sophie Gunner & James Gunner

Two people discuss traveling up-river.

StoryTeller Sophie Gunner & James Gunner Community Moose Factory
Age/Level preschool Language Moose Cree (l dialect)
Year Recorded 1964 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Doug Ellis
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Genre

pakwacililiw - The Bushman

Hannah Loon

Hannah Loon recalls hearing a bushman making noise in the forest as she and her sister and friend were in her father's canoe.

StoryTeller Hannah Loon Community Moose Factory
Age/Level preschool Language Moose Cree (l dialect)
Year Recorded 1965 Year Last Edited 2010
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
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Teachings
Genre

mêkwâc ê-awâshîshîwiyâpân - Childhood memories

Hannah Loon

Hannah Loon recalls several childhood memories and traumas. For example, while taking care of her older sister's children, she witnessed her friend's mother set herself on fire and had to protect the children against the spreading fire.

StoryTeller Hannah Loon Community Moose Factory
Age/Level preschool Language Moose Cree (l dialect)
Year Recorded 1965 Year Last Edited 2010
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings Genre

ayamihitowin - A conversation

Hannah Loon & Ellen McLeod

Ellen McLeod tells Hannah Loon how she left home to catch up to her brothers who were going to the settlement for Christmas. Her father, who didn't want to go, actually met them there.

StoryTeller Hannah Loon & Ellen McLeod Community Moose Factory
Age/Level cycle 2 Language Moose Cree (l dialect)
Year Recorded 1965 Year Last Edited 2010
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
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Teachings
Genre