A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Numerous mythical stories explain Earth's creation and how it came to be.
Among the Algonquian folktales and traditional stories, which belong to 35 different Native American tribes from Long Island to California, there is one myth about Glooskap (also known as Gluskap, Gluskabe), a trickster god, a mythic hero who – according to some myths - made the whole world from the body of his mother.
Glooscap monument, Millbrook First Nation, Nova Scotia
It is said that Glooskap came from the East, though he had the form of a man. He taught the Indians everything they knew – everything from the names of the stars to how to hunt and fish – and is portrayed in most stories as a wise man.
His brother Malsum, a wolf-god, was also a creator god. Still, according to the Algonquians, he created all the evil things in this world that threatened and infuriated human beings.
Glooskap was considered the protector of humankind, while Malsum was constantly trying to harm people.
However, Glooskap could get very angry at those not following his advice. According to one Algonquian story, a young man goes to Glooskap asking for help finding a wife. The man is ugly and has been avoided by hundreds of women whom he asked to be his wife.
Glooskap gives him a small parcel with instructions not to open the package until he gets home.
Though the man's friends beg him not to open it on the way home, the man cannot resist his curiosity. He opens the package, and hundreds of beautiful young women fly out in all directions and bury the man beneath their weight.
He cries for help in vain; moments later, he is crushed into the Earth. The following day, all the women have vanished, and all that's left are remains of the young man's crushed bones lying on the ground.
Glooskap also had no mercy for those who asked him for immortality; he turned them into rocks or trees, though he is generally a benevolent deity who will grant the most reasonable requests.
In one version of this creation story, Glooskap's brother Malsum killed him with the feather of an owl – the only thing that could harm Glooskap, but the great benevolent hero returned to life and killed evil Malsum with a fern, so Malsum became a vicious wolf, Lox.
Still, Glooskap had to defeat evil sorcerers, Kewawkqu and Medecolin – Malsum's demon followers, who tried to avenge their leader's death.
The legend has it that Glooskap finally defeated the forces of evil, and when this was done, he gave a great feast for all the animals on the shores of Lake Minas and then sailed off in his canoe.
The animals, who had previously spoken the same language, discovered that each species spoke a different language once he had gone.
Glooskap is sometimes depicted as a rabbit, though he – as a shapeshifter – can take whichever shape he wants.
He is expected to return as his people's savior when they are most in need.
Written by A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com Staff Writer
Updated on January 27, 2024
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Expand for referencesSource: D. Jaffee, People of the Wachusett
