The Ojibway Indians, also known as the Chippewa
or the Anishinaubaek (pronounced nish-NAHbek,
meaning “the good people”) people, inhabited
the Great Lakes region of North America in the
late 17th century. For most of the year, the Ojibway
spent their time farming and hunting for food and
pelts for the fur trade. However, because the winters
in the Great Lakes region are so bitterly cold
and snowy, the Ojibway people spent these months
gathered around fires indoors. It was around their
fires that the Ojibway oral tradition developed. In
fact, their myths were told only during the winter
months.
One of the central characters in many Ojibway
myths is Wenebajo, also known as Manabozho.
Wenebajo was a mythical figure, not quite human
and not quite animal.He was alternately portrayed
as a trickster (a common character in Native
American mythology), a kind of superhero, and
the creator of the Ojibway people.He fought many
monsters and protected humans against danger
and disease.
Other Ojibway myths and legends include “A
Gust ofWind,”which tells the story of how the first
males were born; “The Foolish Girls,” which tells
the story of how two girls learn not to be foolish;
“The Father of Indian Corn,” which tells the story
of a boy named Wunz who asks the Chief of Sky
Spirits to help him find a way to feed his people;
“How Dog Came to the Indians,” a tale about a
giant who gives his pet dog to a pair of men so they
can find their way home; and stories of supernatural
spirits called the Manitous.
The Ojibway myths and creation stories were
among the first such Native American tales to be
collected by white American settlers. Henry Rowe
Schoolcraft from Michigan published two books of
Ojibway tales in the early 19th century. These
books also served as source material for the poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem The
Song of Hiawatha.
See also ORAL LITERATURE/TRADITION.
Works of Ojibway Myths
Broker, Ignatia.Nightflying Woman: An Ojibway Narrative.
St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society,
1983.
Johnston, Basil H. Tale of the Anishinaubaek. Toronto:
Royal Ontario Museum, 1993.
———.The Manitous: The Supernatural World of the
Ojibway. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.
Schoolcraft,Henry Rowe. The Myth of Hiawatha, and
Other Oral Legends, Mythologic and Allegoric, of
the North American Indians. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott,
1856.