Oral Literature (cont.)
Characteristics of Ojibwa Stories
"Neither sound nor stories go out into oblivion" (Diamond 152). Stories are received and reciprocated. Stories live and breathe and change. Those who tell them give them life. Storytelling has been a very important aspect of Chippewa culture. They have many kinds of stories, legends, instructive stories, medicine stories; these are stories that define their tribe. These can be old stories or new ones. Stories are like a body in the way that they are the heart of the people and they enclose people at the same time. Learning more about the Ojibwa means "listening" to some of the stories by which they live.
Stories are distinct to an exclusive tribe. Even though peoples that occupied areas around The Great Lakes, Sault Ste. Marie, Portage Lake, and Manitoulin, are closely related and categorized as belonging to the same linguistic family, Algonquin, they keep distinct differences in language and story. Tribes such as Ottawa, Illinois, and Cree, are friendly, closely related tribes but �their language is somewhat different, so as not to be readily understood�(James 31). John Tanner notices that, �Though they are not relations, nor natural allies, they are sometimes at peace, and are more or less intermixed with each other�(James 31). Named Shaw-shaw-wa Be-na-se (The Falcon), he was a captive, resident, and interpreter of Ojibwa culture. Living among the Ojibwa�s for 30 years, Tanner grew accustomed to their way of life and subsequently, their distinct stories. And they are as much distinct as they are definitive.
Ojibwa stories define, for instance, names. These stories are usually taken from dreams, and then the name represents an event in the dream that holds great meaning. When the child is small, until they have such dreams, they may be called pet names or nicknames. These nicknames �might indicate resemblance to an object, animal, or event of the first day of life� (Hilger 35). These were usually humorous��I heard a little girl who was very spry called Grasshopper� (Hilger 35). But as they took on names from dreams, these took on great importance, and rarely did the Ojibwas reveal the stories of these names.
�One of the things about the Ojibwas that seems strange to us is the mystical importance attached to a name, and the concealment of names. No Ojibwa man or woman will tell his name, unless he has become very much Americanized. If a name has to be given, say to be put in some document, and the am is asked his name, he will not give it; but, after a long period of hesitation and embarrassment, he will indicate some other name who will tell his name. That man, finally, after prolonged consideration, mentions it, and when it comes out, a sensation lies over the assembly as if some great secret had been let out. So in a store, if the name of the intending debtor be not known to a storekeeper, and he has to know it to charge the goods, he asks, with a manner indicating profound secrecy, some one else to tell him the man�s name, and it is given to him in a whisper, as a great secret� (Hilger 36-37).
Names held spiritual significance; they were not to be mocked for this would be a disgrace. Great importance was attached to their names and to the stories of how they came to be called by them.
Other stories of great importance were those that held instructions of survival. These teachings were sometimes legends �that taught young children the things in nature that they were to respect�. �These legends have an important bearing on the character of the children of our Nation� (Hilger 57). For instance, �The Summer Maiden� tells of a star that travels to earth to become a water lily. This story emphasizes the delicate wonders of earth and the awe and respect that all its living inhabitants deserve. In addition, the story describes the origin of water lilies. Other stories of great importance were used in a more practical way, such as hunting stories.
In Red World and White, John Rogers or Chief Snow Cloud tells memories of his boyhood. This Chippewa boy named Way Quah, as he was called in youth, speaks of two hunting stories his mother told him when he was a young boy. She explains a hunting trip that she and his father had taken at night. Rowing their birch bark canoe quietly across the lake they saw a porcupine, which is not a good omen. But deciding to continue with their pursuit, they soon found a great moose. When they got close enough, Way Quah�s father took a shot and put out the lantern on the front of the canoe. The moose lunged toward them and broke the canoe. They got away without harm and the next day they found out that the gun had had fine shot in it, which is suitable for smaller game. Way Quah�s mother said �surely the Great Spirit was watching over us� (Rogers 24). She stopped in her story to be sure that we understood if anything out of the ordinary ever happened, like meeting a porcupine, we must be sure to take warning� (Rogers 24).
Another story tells of the importance of nature. Encountering a coyote, Way Quah�s mother and sister throw clubs over their shoulders to make him think they had guns. The coyote disappeared. �Remember how useful a tree can be. It protects the animal by giving it shelter and protects us if we know how to use it. The tree gives us bark for almost anything� (Rogers 33). Such warnings are passed down from generation to generation to protect young men and women from things that they may encounter. In this way, not only are stories told to define the Chippewa tribe but also to protect the members of that tribe.
Stories of medicines are also very important when protecting loved ones. In the Anishnabe Creations Story (Anishnabe means �men� in Ojibwa and they often refer to themselves as such), Eddie Benton-Benai describes the origin of our Earth Mother when the Creator was forming her.
She was beautiful, the greatest beauty that you can imagine. But at a certain time the Creator said, I should like to send my children to the Earth and where did he turn, where did he look? (When I use the term �he,� I do not know if that�s correct because the Creator is neither man nor woman. He is both.) At that time, when the creation begins, he reached out to this beautiful Earth and he took four handfuls, four handfuls of earth. What was in that. Those ingredients�what were they? Well science can tell us what our body is made of. He missed nothing. In his total creation, he forgot nothing. Nothing is forgotten. In those four handfuls, he took that, and he moulded it. When I say that he forgot nothing, he knew that [in] what he was creating, what was going to be set on Earth, what was going to have tracks on the Earth, there would be physical sickness. And so all of the things, of those things he held in his hand, that fell back down through his fingers, are all the medicines you will ever need. (Diamond 36)
Chippewa stories of these medicines that fell to earth display the extraordinary degree to which Ojibwa peoples knew their natural surroundings, and how to treat illness by using the Creator�s gift. Way Quah remembers falling ill with a sickness that made it seem his shoulders and lungs were paralyzed; and he found it hard to breathe. The school doctor said that surely he would die. But Way Quah prayed to the Great Spirit. Soon his mother and sister arrived at the school hospital and took him carefully to a medicine man.
I watched as they made a small wigwam in the big room, and in the center of this they placed some big rocks which were heated. I was told to crawl in and curl around these rocks, but was warned not to touch them. On these hot rocks were certain kinds of herbs that made fumes. This soon gave relief to my tortured lungs. For some time I lay there and the sweat began to form on my body. When finally I was put back to bed I was so weak they had to carry me to the mattress� For three days they continued the treatments. Then I knew that Pan Guk, who had beckoned me to the sky trail that led to death, had departed from my sick bed there in the house of the medicine man and that he would not return again to take me. (Rogers 88-89)
To get these herbs, sometimes there would be medicine dances. On this important occasion, many people travel to a chosen place to build a Medicine Dance Village with a wigwam in the center for ceremonies. On the second day, �receiving day,� people gathered to offer gifts of a skin or hide of some fish, animal, or fowl that had been stuffed with rice or dried food to the medicine man as a symbol of gratitude for the food. Everyone in line was received by him, and then in the procession, �there was a certain step, which, [Way Quah] learned, was the medicine dance step. It was something like a hesitation step and was meant to tell the Great Spirit that they were coming. If they just stepped along quietly the Great Spirit would not �feel� them, but in this way they sent out a sort of vibration� (Rogers 150). They continued giving thanks and asking the Great Spirit for a blessing. The fourth day was medicine day. The medicine man beat the drum inside the wigwam as a petition to the Great Spirit to make know whether each medicine or herb placed in the large basket was a good medicine for a particular ailment. Participants would then go to the cross in prayer, where they would get a returned vibration that showed them their medicine was a cure. Each was willing to share these medicines with any that wished them. In this way, medicines and knowledge were shared among close communities such as Way Quah�s.
Other times, when curing sickness, a medicine man would not accept payment but would accept gifts instead if his recipients desired to give him thanks. But medicines and stories revealing their use and strength were sometimes so personal that the medicinal value of a plant would not be shared without good pay; in extreme cases, the knowledge of a medicine �dies with the one possessing it� (Hilger 91). But usually, medicine stories are passed down through parents or grandparents.
Mentors, such as uncles, braves, or fathers pass down rites of passage stories. This is a very exciting period of a young brave�s life. He is taken on a hunting expedition and taught how to set traps and how to further his understanding of the ways of the animals. This is a great honor and apt pupils show great respect, pleasure, and interest for tradition and storytelling. As well as coming to the perspective of animals that a hunter understands, the young brave hears of ancient legends. For instance, Way Quah�s friend Mack Quah, the appointed storyteller for one evening tells the story of Red Willow and a Chippewa superman named Nana Bush. In this story, Nana Bush catches many ducks for dinner by tricking them to come down from the sky. Then he takes a nap while he cooks them, depending on his �Watching Eye� to warn him of thieves. But he was too tired to heed the following warnings and his ducks were stolen. Upon waking and finding it so, he sat on a hot coal to punish his �Watching Eye.� Then, thinking this to be too light a punishment, he squirmed in the underbrush by the lakeshore. This brush turned red with the blood from Watching Eye�s punishment. So that is how Red Willow got its name.
Another hunting story tells of the origin of summer. A father named Ojeeg wanted to comply with his son�s wishes and sought out to make the weather warmer so that his son could succeed in hunting animals. Accompanied by his friends, Otter, Beaver, Lynx, and Wolverine, he climbed a mountain and found Manitou who told them the way to find birds that would set summer free. In doing this, Ojeeg set the birds free but was captured in the sky. Chippewa peoples believe that every summer he would �look down and see everything that was happening in the world. He watched his family and friends at home. He saw his son grow up and become a great hunter. And every year Ojeeg watched the birds come flying in with the warm winds to melt the snow and bring Summer�. Learning legends such as these and the techniques of trapping contributed to the young braves� rite of passage.
Stories were also told simply for pleasure. For this reason, Way Quah decides to tell some listeners a story he heard when he went to the white man�s school; it is about a red wolf. He begins, �There was a little girl called Red Riding Hood,� and continues to tell of the trickster taking the grandmother�s place. But in his version, Red Riding Hood �got out of the house before he could grab her and never stopped running until she ran in through the door of her own home. She told her terrible story of how a big bad wolf had eaten her grandmother� (Rogers 125). His Chippewa listeners loved to hear stories of animals, and especially wolves.
Although Way Quah�s version of �Red Riding Hood� may differ from other documented, traditional versions, it serves the purpose of entertaining his audience. This shows the �flexible� nature that stories have. �Stories overlap; time overlaps. You add your personal recollections; you listen to future predictions. The circle doesn�t always expand outwards. But there is always a sense of repetition, connection, movement� (Diamond 152).
This repetition is clearly shown in one of the biggest traditions in America, Thanksgiving. Today, most people do not know any specific story about the origin of Thanksgiving, only a general tale of giving thanks for food abounding from native methods. Way Quah experiences a certain recreation of this event that suggests how this tradition started. While on a hunting expedition, Way Quah and the other braves encounter a white man named Henry who was good friends with the one among them named Snow Cloud. Henry invites them to dinner at his house. �And what a feast that was. There was steak, mashed potatoes, string beans and gravy. We finished with peaches for dessert. And the pleasure we got from eating was matched by Henry�s joy over having us share his cooking. He said he was thus having the chance to return all that Uncle had done in teaching him about the ways of the forest and the wild life that made its home there" (Rogers 112). Chippewa peoples have a very close relationship with the land, and they are able to teach such things. They relay stories of the earth and learn from every day instruction with her, Mother Earth.
Finally, the earth herself and all she provides tells stories. It is important to listen to her. She evolves as stories do and people need to notice these changes to attain a more complete understanding of her. Way Quah once again captures this feeling when he declares.
I could read more in the swaying of the trees and the way they spread their branches and leaned to the wind that I could read in any books that they had at school. I could learn much more from the smiling, rippling waters and from the moss and the flowers than from anything the teachers could tell me about such matters. I could study the ways of the birds, the wild things of field and forest. I could gain knowledge from my daily walks under the trees where the shadows mixed with the shifting sunlight and the wind fanned my cheek with its gentle caress or made me bend, as it did the trees, to its mighty blasts. (Rogers 108)
The stories of nature were the original stories. It is important to have a relationship with this aged ancestor and to listen to her speak her knowledge.
All of these stories connect Chippewa people with their culture, religion, and surroundings. Their stories represent who they are. Way Quah's narrative demonstrates the identity of the Ojibwa as he learns and makes his own stories. Realizing the distinctive connection between oral literature and Chippewa culture, one can gain a better understanding of this indigenous clan.
