tântê kâ-ohci-wîhcikâtêkopanê cîpayi-sîpiy - How Ghost River got its name

John Wynne

Ghost River got its name from an ambush in which Cree people killed a lot of Iroquois. Divination had allowed them to determine the enemy's position in advance.

StoryTeller John Wynne Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level preschool Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1956-58 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings Genre

nîsho ililiwak ê-nakishkawâcik wâpaskwa - Two men meet a polar bear

John Wynne

As two men hunted in their canoe (without their moose-shot rifle), they saw a polar bear passing close to them. They quickly got to shore and ran away but when the faster of the two looked back, the polar bear was running away across the water.

StoryTeller John Wynne Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level preschool Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1956-58 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre

ê-pâshiwâtahk kîwêtinohk - A northern blizzard

John Wynne

Four people were once trapped by a blizzard that buried both them in their tent and their dogs outside. They only managed to dig out their dogs the next day.

StoryTeller John Wynne Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level preschool Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1956-58 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre

atimwak ê-kotaskâtitocik - A dog-team race

John Wynne

The Attawapiskat dogs were thought to be smarter than the Albany dogs but the latter proved to be faster and they won the race.

StoryTeller John Wynne Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level preschool Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1956-58 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre

ê-'nâtawimôswâniwahk kwêtipawahikani-sîpîhk - Moose-hunting on the Kwetabohigan River

Joel Linklater

Joel Linklater and a companion were hunting moose and as soon as one of their prey waded into the water, they shot at it. They only managed to wound it, however, and they continued to chase it until at last Linklater shot it and it went into the willows to die.

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

ê-âhkwatâhkwacit môs'-wayânihk - Stuck frozen in a moose-hide

Joel Linklater

One winter, a hunter shot a moose and killed him, but night was approaching and he was far from home so he decided to skin the animal to keep from freezing. When morning came, however, he was stuck in the frozen hide and remained there for three days until someone came to thaw him out.

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

ayâkwâmsîtotaw môs! - Beware of the moose!

Joel Linklater

During mating season, two hunting companions decide to play a trick on a nearby moose.

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

ê-wanishininâniwahk nôhcimihk - Lost in the bush

Joel Linklater

Joel Linklater got lost at night in unknown territory and finally decided to spend the night in the muskeg. When his three companions went out looking for him, they too almost got lost but eventually found their home again. When Linklater awoke the next morning, he could see that he'd only been about 2 miles from his tent.

StoryTeller Joel Linklater Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level preschool Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1957-57 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre

ê-kî-kîwê-miskahk kâ-kî-wanitâspan opâskisikan - Retrieval of a lost rifle

Joel Linklater

While trapping beaver with a young companion on the Pagashi river, Joel Linklater's gun fell into the water. He fashioned a hook out of a stick but couldn't grab it, so he stripped down and swam for it. He finally found it about six feet below the surface.

StoryTeller Joel Linklater Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level preschool Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1956-57 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre

wîsakêcâhk kâ-wayêshihâkopane maskwa - Weesakechahk tricks the bear

Isaiah Sutherland

Weesakechahk sees a bear walking along and asks him if he can see a tent in the distance. The bear cannot and Weesakechahk tells him that if he slept, his vision would improve. As the bear is sleeping, however, Weesakechahk throws a stone at his head, kills him, and begins to cook him. But because he had eaten so many berries earlier, he can't stomach eating more right away so he tries to suspend himself from a tree but the tree comes to life and traps him so that all the other animals can eat the bear until all that is left is bones. The reason, they say, that some trees are twisted is because Weesakechahk struggled against the tree and shaped it that way. Later, Weesakechahk tries to cool the grease from the bones by giving it to a beaver to dive with. In his anger, he tries to kill the beaver but a partridge startles him and he falls into the water. Now starving and having nothing to eat, Weesakechahk eats the parts of him that were burnt by the explosion.

StoryTeller Isaiah Sutherland Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level cycle 2 Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1957 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings Genre

wîsakêcâhk ê-oshihât kê-kâkikê-pimâtisinici ililiwa - Weesakechahk creates an immortal

Isaiah Sutherland

Two people hear Weesakechahk singing and find him. The first person asks to live to around average age and Weesakechahk grants this wish by blowing on his head. The second person wishes to be immortal and Weesakechahk pulls and spins him and throws him onto the ground where there is now a stone.

StoryTeller Isaiah Sutherland Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level cycle 2 Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1957 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre

cahkâpêsh kâ-kohcipalihikot mistamêsa - Chahkabesh is swallowed by the giant fish

Isaiah Sutherland

Chahkabesh asks his big sister about the fins he saw breaking out of the water of the lake and she warns him never to go into that water because there are giant fish who can swallow him. Chahkabesh doesn't believe his sister and when his arrow falls into the water, he goes in after it and is swallowed whole by a giant fish. For three nights, Chahkabesh is trapped until his sister throws her moccasin into the water for the fish to swallow. She drags it ashore and cuts it open to free her brother. Then, Chahkabesh tells his sister that he saw tracks but she tells him not to bother with them because the sun caused those tracks. Chahkabesh doesn't believe her and lays his snares and, as his big sister predicted, it didn't dawn the next day. He asked all the animals to free the sun but only the sharply pointed mouse could gnaw through the snare and release it. NOTE: the sound file is damaged at the end.

StoryTeller Isaiah Sutherland Community Kashechewan (Fort Albany)
Age/Level cycle 2 Language Kashechewan Cree (mixed n-l dialect)
Year Recorded 1957 Year Last Edited 2009
Described by Marie-Odile Junker & Doug Ellis
Topics
Teachings
Genre