Algonquian Spirit: Contemporary Translations of the Algonquian Literatures of North America

Pine Root

plains cree Pine Root Introduction by Stan Cuthand ‘‘Pine Root,’’ or ‘‘Wa ta pi wi yin,’’ is one of the myths my father used to tell us when we were children. My father was a Plains Cree storyteller and told us many stories in the winter months, which was the time to tell stories. I was born in 1918 on Little Pine’s Reserve in Saskatchewan. Growing up in the 1920s, I knew many elders who were storytellers. Some of these men had fought the Canadians at Cutknife Hill during the rebellion of 1885 in Saskatchewan, and some had fought the Blackfeet. I became a storyteller myself when, teaching at the University of Manitoba in the mid-1970s, I came across Leonard Bloomfield’s book The Sacred Stories of the Sweet Grass Cree and found some of my father’s stories in it! (Bloomfield had come to the Sweet Grass Reserve in 1925). ‘‘Pine Root’’ is a ‘‘long-ago’’ story, or atayohkewin, and its function was to teach the role of different age groups. Grandfathers, for instance, are supposed to be knowledgeable in weaponry, hunting, and spiritual power for survival. A grandmother is a kindhearted woman who has wisdom and power. Kinship relations are often the central theme in these stories. Much of the content of this story focuses on spiritual beliefs concerning the forces of creation, which we call Atayohkanak, or the First People. The Atayohkanak were numerous and lived together for ages in harmony. But in some mysterious fashion they changed as they developed, and eventually differences were sufficient to cause conflict, so they split into two camps. From the good camp originated different kinds of foods. They established institutions, arts, games, amusements, dances, and religious ceremonies for the coming race. They felt the approach of friends or enemies from a distance. For instance, Pine Root’s grandfather says, ‘‘I am alarmed that someone will come for you.’’ They knew what others thought in their hearts. If one of these beings expressed a wish, it immediately happened. The bad camp was cunning and deceitful and had harmful powers.The two sisters come from the bad camp and try to destroy Pine Root,who comes from the good camp.They mock him, calling him ‘‘sweetheart.’’ Therewere great conflicts between these two camps until all in the bad camp were turned into things, animals, vegetable, and mineral. These things are either helpful or harmful to humankind, and thus Creation is accomplished. For instance, the old woman, after she is defeated by Pine Root, becomes a dead stump. Thence came 432 plains cree the custom of shredding a rotten stump to make a moss bag, which kept an infant warm and dry. I have chosen to translate the story in short sentences, using the Cree style of telling. When I translated the spoken word to the page, I broke the lines where I did because I liked the way they appeared, seeming to create tension and energy, slowing down and quickening up the pace. Some parts of the story might need explanation. For instance, some men had more than one wife, and sometimes they married two sisters, who addressed each other by a term translated here as ‘‘sister-wife.’’ In olden times, when a man took a woman home, they were accepted as married; the same if a woman came home with a man. Also, it was taboo to speak to or touch your mother-in-law, and so Pine Root hits her with a stick to wake her. The part about naming shows each person trying to defeat the other by the spirit of the name. A person’s name is a guardian spirit. Some are more powerful than others. The ‘‘dart’’ is a throwing stick, or atlatl, flat and pointed at one end. pine root Written and Translated by Stan Cuthand There was an old man and his grandson, a young man, who lived by themselves. And the old man was very fond of his grandson. He was always hunting. Then one day: ‘‘Now, my grandson, I will try and kill something that you may use as a hat.’’ That’s what he said to his grandson. ‘‘Yes,’’ answered the other. ‘‘I am alarmed that someone will come for you,’’ the old man said to his grandson. He killed a jack rabbit and skinned it. ‘‘Now then, Grandson, I...