Kluskap—name of Medeulin meaning “bewitched” or “in cahoots with the devil.” This is the belief of the St. John River Indians, from St. John, New Brunswick to Edmunston. This man was considered to know more than anyone else and was more or less chief of the tribe. He had one enemy and he was called the “Beaver,” whose name was Gwabid. One day they had a big battle at Grand Falls which is called Gupsquick. The Kluskap was trying to catch the beaver on the riverbank. Since the beaver lived on water he could travel faster than Kluskap. He gave up trying to keep up with him, and went to the riverbank and picked up a large rock and threw it at the beaver, thinking that if he hit him he would kill him on the spot. After he threw it he found out that the beaver was farther away than he had thrown the rock. The rock landed at the mouth of the Tobique River. When Kluskap saw that, he picked up another rock and threw it with more force, only this time the rock was much bigger. The rock is still at the mouth of the river. The Indians still believe that it is the very rock Kluskap had thrown at the Gwabid.
He gave up trying to get the beaver with a rock and decided to call upon the powers that he possessed and try to catch him by jumping along the riverbank. The jump he took was one-half mile long, so it took him fifty-four jumps along the riverbank. Finally he was on the other side of the river and the beaver was in the water. He jumped in the river and went to the bottom. When he got his hand on the beaver he turned himself into another beaver, and they fought like beavers until they got tired. That didn't prove anything, because their strength was evenly matched, so the first beaver decided to turn himself into a snake, thinking he could choke the other beaver. When the other beaver saw he had turned himself into a snake, he also decided to turn himself into a snake. They fought until they were tired. Neither one could overpower the other. When they could not get the best of each other, the first one turned himself into a Budeb, an Indian name for some kind of monster. When the second one saw this he turned himself into a Budeb, and they fought for 4 weeks. The pool of water where they fought is so muddy now and the underneath keeps boiling up. We don't know who won the battle, because people still think that they are still fighting.
[2] Told by Mrs. Black, Loring, ME, Oct., 1962. NAFOH Accession # 179, pg. 89-90. Mrs. Black was told the story by her mother, Mrs. Solomon. See the preceding section for notes on the fight with the beaver. Mrs. Black's text seems to combine this tale with a rather well known tale of an encounter between a medeulin and a water monster, the Wiwiliamecq, a story that is often told to explain the roily waters of a particular lake. For a discussion of this tale (and a bibliography) see Eskstorm II, 39-48, 89-95. See also Speck IV, 282-283; Leland and Prince, 253. There are, by the way, three manuscript boxes bulging with Adney's ingenious and (I believe) mistaken theorizings on the significance of this monster (Adney Mss, Peabody Museum). Mrs. Black's having the combat as still continuing is unique but logical.
NORTHEAST FOLKLORE Volume VI: 1964
MALECITE AND PASSAMAQUODDY TALES
Permission given to use given by Maine Folklife Center, University of Maine.
This does not convey the right to republish them in any other form or for profit.
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