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Updated: May 10, 2025
Mooka shivered a bit when she remembered the uncanny scene, and felt again the strong pressure of her mother's arms holding her close; but Old Tomah brushed away her fears with a smile and a word, as he had always done when, as little children, they had showed fear at the thunder or the gale or the cry of a wild beast in the night, till they had grown to look upon all Nature's phenomena as hiding a smile as kindly as that of Old Tomah himself, who had a face wrinkled and terribly grim, to be sure, but who could smile and tell a story so that every child trusted him.
Now, well fed and good-natured, but more curious than ever, he had followed the trail of these little folk to learn something about them. Mooka as she watched him was brim full of an eagerness which swept away all fear. "Tomah says, wolf and Injun hunt just alike; keep ver' still; don't trouble game 'cept when he hungry," she whispered.
That night, in the cabin under the cliffs, Old Tomah had to rehearse again all the wolf lore learned in sixty years of hunting: how, fortunately for the deer, these enormous wolves had never been abundant and were now very rare, a few having been shot, and more poisoned in the starving times, and the rest having vanished, mysteriously as wolves do, for some unknown reason.
On his arrival at Fort Winnebago, our first care was to furnish him with a complete wardrobe, which, having been placed in a box in his sleeping-apartment, was put under his charge. Words cannot express his delight as the valuable possessions were confided to him. Every spare moment was devoted to their contemplation. Now and then Tomah would be missing.
The idea pleased him much, and, his mother having given her sanction to the arrangement, he was packed in a wagon, with the two gentlemen and their travelling gear, when they set forth on their return-journey. Tomah had been equipped in jacket and trousers, with the other articles of apparel necessary to his new sphere and character. He asked leave to get out of the wagon and walk a little way.
The cook came to inquire what was to be done. I was under the necessity of calling in my husband's aid as interpreter. He sent for Tomah. When he came into the parlor Mr. Kinzie said to him, in Pottowattamie, "There are some fish, Tomah, in the kitchen, and we want you to scale them." "Now?" exclaimed Tom, with an expression of amazement. "It is very late."
To this lady, who has a great influence over the Indians, and is much interested in their folk-lore and legends, I am indebted for a large collection of very interesting material of the most varied description. Noel Neptune, Penobscot, Oldtown, Maine. The Story of Glooskap. A curious manuscript in Indian-English, obtained for me by Tomah Josephs. The Dominion Monthly for 1871.
Worst of all, the instinct of direction, which often guides an Indian through the still fog or the darkest night, seemed benumbed by the cold and the tumult; and not even Old Tomah himself could have told north or south in the blinding storm.
I have given this story accurately as it was told to me by Tomah Josephs, a Passamaquoddy Indian. How one of the Partridge's Wives became a Sheldrake Duck, and why her Feet and Feathers are Red. N'karnayoo, of the old time, there was a hunter who lived in the woods. One day this hunter, returning, saw a very beautiful girl sitting on a rock by a river, making a moccasin.
"I have often thought I should feel interested in seeing an educated native of the forest," remarked Avis, after the civilities of the introduction had been exchanged. Tomah." "Yes, many curious things in books," replied Tomah, indifferently. "And also much valuable knowledge?" rejoined Avis, interrogatively.
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