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mi’kmaq The Great Fire Introduction by Franziska von Rosen It was a July afternoon in 1991. During a filming session for Micmac Storyteller: River of Fire, Michael William Francis (1923–95) spoke about the importance of the environment for lending credibility to his stories. Mike, a Mi’kmaq elder, was sitting on the beach looking out at the calm waters of the Northumberland Strait. Flocks of tiny sandpipers were darting among the flotsam and jetsam, while in the distance gannets hovered, eyeing the waters below for signs of mackerel.1 ‘‘They’ll want to see the atmosphere,’’ he said, ‘‘see the environment, such as water, sun and all that stuff, goes along with the story; that’s what they want: to prove what I am saying’’ (von Rosen and Francis 1991, videocassette). For Mike place and stories are indivisible: the land gives his stories their authority, the stories in turn re-create the land, as he experiences it. From 1985 to 1993 I spent a few months each year working with Mike and members of his extended family on documenting stories. Mike was born in Big Cove, New Brunswick, the fifth child of a family of seven. At age five, Mike and his two remaining siblings (others had died) left the reserve to live in transient work camps with his father, grandfather, and a few other men from Big Cove.The men were making axe handles for the Canadian National Railway. Mike’s grandfather did all the cooking in camp, and at night he would tell stories around the campfire. Sometimes drifters would stop at the camp and bring stories as well. Here Mike learned his wealth of stories.2 They included the myths about the origin of the Mi’kmaqs and the initial birth and deeds of some of the powerful spiritual beings (Mi’kmwesu, Tune’l, Kluskap). There were also stories that tell of the Vikings, of tribal and intertribal histories (wars with the Mohawks and the Wabanaki Confederacy), of contact and conflict with the Europeans, of local histories (hunting, shipbuilding, working in lumber camps; stories about gatherings and celebrations). Then there were the family or personal histories (life stories and family anecdotes ). Mike’s memory encompassed five generations (including his own) of the Francis family. He knew of Brown’s Yard, just up the Richibucto River, where great-great-grandfather Peter Andrew Francis (born circa 1780) freed the Mi’kmaq ‘‘slaves’’ from the British ‘‘pirates.’’ He also learned humorous and satirical stories, ghost stories, devil stories, and spiritual experience stories. Finally there the great fire 113 were the stories inspired by radio, television, or books that Mike retold in ways that reflected his personal values and philosophy. In Big Cove the telling of stories was a family event, and stories would be passed on from one generation to the next within the extended family circle. Ektaanuk , the sand-dune island at the mouth of the Richibucto River, was Mike’s favorite place for storytelling. There, in a simple shelter made of driftwood and seaweed, Mike and his family would often spend their summer months. Evenings they would sit around the campfire and listen to Mike tell his stories. Jesse Simon, Mike’s great nephew, remembered one such event: Most of the legends that I heard were from Uncle Mike. In one particular moment we were at Ektaanuk, a little island right off the Atlantic Ocean, and all seventeen of us [Simons] were there. One moment I remember is near a fire; we were all sitting on the rocks. Everybody was quiet. We could hear the waves crashing between the rocks and Uncle Mike talking in pitch darkness. His cigarette lighting up every time he takes a puff. And one [story] in particular is the Lobster and the Eel. It was so cool ’cause we were by the ocean, hearing the crashing, and I was visualizing the lobster flapping his tail and making that big noise. And today I try and remember that legend, and I even tell it to my nephews and nieces. (von Rosen and von Rosen 1995, videocassette) The Great Fire story had a special significance for Mike. At the time we recorded it in the summer of 1991, I had not heard him tell it before, nor did I find any written records of it. In the introduction to his English translation of the Great Fire story, Lorne Simon, Mike’s nephew explained the importance of this tale...

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