The Story of Raccoon (Esiban)

Nanabush lived in a village, he'd built two lodges, one for himself and another for two very old brothers who were blind. He tied a rope from their lodge to the water's edge so they could follow the rope to get water when they needed. One day Raccoon (Esiban) decided to play a trick on the brothers, he saw the one brother coming down the path to fetch water, Racoon quickly untied the rope and threw it up near the trees.

When the brother got to the end of the rope, he discovered there was no water, Raccoon laughed. The brother returned to the lodge and said he couldn't find the water; the other brother took the pail and began to follow the rope to the lakes edge. Racoon saw the other brother coming, he quickly grabbed the rope and placed it back in the water, brother found the water, retrieved some and walked back to the cabin.

When brother returned, he said " your lazy brother, you wanted me to get the water”, the other brother replied, " I could not find the water, I'm glad you did, let’s have some tea". As the brothers were sitting down to drink their tea, Nanabush entered their lodge and announced he'd brought them some fresh deer stew and corn, the brothers were pleased, Nanabush made sure each brother had 2 pieces of deer meat in each of their bowls.

Raccoon had smelled the deer stew and followed Nanabush to the brother’s lodge, after Nanabush left, Raccoon crept up upon the table, took the deer meat from one brothers bowl, he scurried to the corner of lodge where he quickly enjoyed his fresh deer meat. As the brothers began to eat, the one brother said, "your greedy brother, you've taken my deer meat”, the other brother exclaimed " I have done no such thing, Nanabush gave us two pieces each”.

While the brothers were arguing, Raccoon crept up on the table and took the last two pieces of deer meat, he gleefully ran to the corner of the lodge and enjoyed his deer meat. When the brothers resumed eating, the other brother yelled" You took my deer meat ", the other brother yelled back " I did not, you must've eaten them already". The brothers began to yell louder and began to wrestle and fight, raccoon was very happy to watch the brother fight.

Nanabush had heard the yelling and ran over the lodge to find the two-brothers wrestling on the floor, Raccoon saw Nanabush coming and tried to leave the lodge without being seen. Nanabush saw Raccoon and grabbed him by the scuff, " What have you been up too?".

Nanabush listened to the brother’s story, he was angered by Raccoon's behavior and the troubles he'd caused the brothers.

Nanabush decided the world would know of Raccoon's misery, he told Raccoon, "I am going to take away half your eyesight, you will see but not very well, you will only be able to hunt at night, when you do find food, you will have to find water to wash it before you eat".

Nanabush took some so soot from the fire and rubbed it across Raccoon's face, he took more and wiped it across Raccoon tale. " From now on, people will see your mask and know to be weary of you, the four stripes on your tail will remind you of the meat you took from the brothers".

The Moose, the Horsefly and the Lakes

Many years ago, a great lake covered much of Turtle Island, all the animals shared the lake for its fresh water and abundance of fish. One day a great Moose appeared at the edge of the lake, he began to drink the water in great amounts, so much that the lake level began to drop. The next day, the Mooz returned and began to drink again, his great thirst was slowly draining the lake, this worried the beavers, the water around their lodges was draining away exposing their underwater entrances.

Many of the animals like the Muskrats, fish and birds were also worried the great Mooz would drain the lake they depended upon for a living. The Mooz continued to drink every day, the lake water level was getting very low, some animals could eat on land but not the many fish in the lake. The animals came together, they all agreed they needed to drive the Mooz away from the great lake, they were all afraid of him including the great Bear (Mukwa). While the animals were deciding what to do, a small horse fly (Mi) came to circle and said he would drive the great Mooz away, some of the animals were amazed by his bravery but many also laugh out loud. The small horse fly flew away, he could be heard saying “you’ll see, you’ll see what I can do”.

The very next day the great Mooz appeared on the lake shore and began to drink the lake’s water, the Mizizaak spotted him and flew towards the leg of the great Mooz. The small horse fly found a soft spot and bit down as hard as he could, the great Mooz stamped his hoof and tried to shake off the irritating horse fly.

The Mizizaak flew up and landed behind the ear of the great Mooz, he bit down again, this time the Mooz stomped furiously, making great holes with his stomping hooves. Each time the small horse fly bit down the Mooz would stomp, the holes would then fill with water. The horse fly flew around the Mooz and bit him over and over, the Mooz was getting angry, he ran up the shore line towards the trees stomping all the way, water filling each great hole he left behind.

The small horse fly did not give up, the great Mooz was shaking his head, stomping and running in circles snorting and blowing. The animals on the other shoreline watched as the Mizizaak flew bravely around the great Mooz continuing to bite him over and over.

The great Mooz tried with all his might but he could shake off the biting horsefly; the great Mooz couldn’t take it anymore and ran off stomping back towards his northern territory where he came from.

The great Mooz had made thousands of holes with all the stamping, thrashing and running about, each one filled with water as the Mooz ran northward. Today, much of the Turtle Island has thousands of lakes thanks to Mizizaak and the great Mooz. When the great Mooz returned home, he told his story about the terrible Mizizaak’s in the south, today, most Mooz lives in the north. The Mizizaak was very proud of his work, he’d saved the great lake and saved the future generations of animals.

The animals were very gracious, they made a promise to the Mizizaak, should any animal die of old age or disease, the Mizizaak may have the entire body the feed and lay their eggs to raise future generations.

Richard E. Jaques

Richard E. Jaques

Nanabush Tales and Other Stories

Richard E. Jaques

Richard E. Jaques