Full Description
Because the elderly chief wanted his visitor to understand the Ojibwe world, and because Hallowell was deeply interested in his subject matter and was such a good listener, Berens freely related his dreams and other stories about encounters with powerful beings. The fact that he also shared traditional myths in summer, when Ojibwe people thought it dangerous to discuss such things, shows the depth of his relationship with Hallowell. Berens' reminiscences and story and myth texts are unparalleled as sources for the life, experiences, and outlook of this important Ojibwe leader, and for the insights they provide into the history and culture of his people. Rooted in the collaboration between Berens as steward of his oral traditions and Hallowell as creator and guardian of their written versions, Memories, Myths, and Dreams of an Ojibwe Leader draws the reader into the world - and world view - of Chief Berens, showing how an Aboriginal Christian of the early twentieth century could simultaneously take part in "modern" and "traditional" Ojibwe life.
Contents
Illustrations; Foreword by Maurice Berens; Preface; Acknowledgments Introduction; Reminiscences of William Berens: "A Place in your Mind for Them All" Introduction; Childhood Memories; Mission and Treaty at Berens River; Hunting and Traveling with my Father; Helping to Survey Lake Winnipeg; Fishing and Hauling on the Lake; Working for the hbc, Berens River; Surveying up the Berens River; Little Grand Rapids and Pikangikum; Back to hbc Service; Return to the Fishing Business; Bargaining over Fish; Getting Engaged and Travelling Again to Selkirk; Working for Inspector McColl; A Mysterious Leg Injury; Home for a Cure; To Selkirk, Emerson and the States; Travelling with Agent Short; Marriage and a Winter Trip to Selkirk; To Cross Lake and Norway House with Agent Short; To Selkirk Again; Two Frightening Experiences; In Charge at Poplar River; Fishing and Free Trading, 1903-1904: Cat and Mouse; Dibaajimowinan, Stories and Dreams for Living Introduction; Misdeeds and Consequences; 1 Murder Followed by a Daughter's Sickness; 2 Teasing and Retaliation; The Rolling Head; 3 "The Animals Know When They Are not Used Right"; 4 The Boys Who Tormented the Pelicans; The Dreamed Ones; Challenges, Danger, Gifts and the Power of the Mind; 5 The Medicine Stone; 6 The Steer with Meta l-Tipped Horns; 7 The Boy in the Red Tuque; 8 Memegweci, The Man in the Rock; 9 A Fight with Micipijiu, the Water Lion; 10 The Priests and the Furnace; Love Medicine, Courtship, and Cross-Cousin Joking; 11 A Love Charm at Pikangikum; 12 Love Magic Captures a Girl (and Her Husband); 13 Dreaming of "The Girl Who Will Be Your Wife"; 14 "Of Course You Can Joke with Kinim"; Windigowak and Other Sightings in Waking Life; 15 The Pawaganak of Yellow Legs Defeat a Windigo; 16 A Windigo Voice in Summer; 17 A Windigo Winter Gale; 18 Rescuing a Woman Windigo Rescue; 19 Hearing Pagak; 20 Giant Frog Tracks; 21 A Giant Snake; Auspicious Dreams of Travel and Hunting; 22 Otters and River Rescue; 23 The Girls and the Fisher; 24 Meeting a Man with Money; Foreshadowings of Loss; 25 An Apparition, Poplar River; 26 "My Time Has not yet Come"; A Challenge to Narrative Categories; 27 The Boy and the Trout; Commentary: "The Boy and the Trout" and the Problem; of Categories; Aadizookaanag,Myths; Introduction; Creations and Re-creations; 1 The Birth of the Winds; Flint and the Great Hare; 2 South Wind Enters a Contest with the North Wind; 3 The Origin of Summer; 4 Wiskedjak and the Water Lions; 5 Aasi; Other-Than-Human Beings and Humans: Blessings and Struggles; 6 Matcikiwis; 7 Mikinak; 8 Misabe; 9 Wiskedjak Flies with the Geese; 10 Wiskedjak Discovers Women; 11 Four Men Visit Wiskedjak and Have Their Wishes Granted; Humans and Animals; Using One's Power to Save, Kill or Survive; 12 Rolling Head; 13 Big Mosquito; 14 The Bear, the Hare and the Lynx; 15 The Wolf and the Wolverine; Humans Against Cannibals; 16 The Eleven Brothers; 17 Wemtigoze Afterword; Appendix; Notes; References; Index
