The Fight with the Water Monster
"The Fight with the Water Monster" is a tale from Wabanaki mythology featuring Glooskap, a man-god who embodies both heroic and creator qualities. Known for his benevolence and as a protector of humanity, Glooskap is tasked with maintaining harmony in the world, including regulating the size of animals. The narrative unfolds when a village's only water source dries up, leading to a confrontation with a giant water monster that hoards the spring's water for himself. Glooskap, upon learning of the villagers' plight, transforms into a giant to engage the monster in an epic battle. Using a spear he crafts from a mountaintop, Glooskap defeats the creature, releasing water back to the village and reshaping the landscape in the process.
However, rather than receiving gratitude, Glooskap faces rebellion from the villagers and chooses to leave them, prompting sorrow among both people and animals. His story serves not only to explain natural phenomena but also to illustrate the consequences of ingratitude and the importance of maintaining harmonious relationships with the environment. Glooskap's myth reflects themes common in many cultures, showcasing a hero who balances various responsibilities while highlighting the interconnectedness of nature and humanity.
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The Fight with the Water Monster
Author: Traditional Wabanaki
Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE
Country or Culture: North America
Genre: Folktale
PLOT SUMMARY
The Wabanaki man-god Glooskap is a powerful immortal hero who protects the world from evil. Considered a spirit and a man of medicine, he is also responsible for making the animals that roam the earth today. For example, when Glooskap first came to the earth, he noticed that squirrels and beavers were far too large to live in the world without causing untold damage to it. He therefore shrank them to their present sizes. Glooskap is benevolent and willing to help humanity—he created a village, teaching the people who lived there how to hunt, fish, and happily live harmony with another—but occasionally tires of his many responsibilities and paddles away to rest in what is now Nova Scotia.
The village only has one water source, a spring containing fresh and clean water. One day, however, the spring ceases to flow, so a man from the village travels upstream to see what has happened. He comes across a tribe of amphibious people, who live along a lake of stinking, slime-covered water. The lake is the spring, dammed up in this area. The people tell the villager that they cannot give him any water because their chief wants all of the water for himself. The man asks to meet the chief and is brought before him, only to discover that the chief is in fact a gigantic water monster. When the man asks him to release the water downstream, the monster simply laughs and threatens to kill him. Unsuccessful in restoring the flow of water, the man returns to his village and reports that the situation is hopeless.
The man-god Glooskap, however, becomes aware of the situation and tells the people not to despair, saying that he will visit the monster. When Glooskap finds the monster, the giant bullfrog laughs at his request and threatens to swallow Glooskap whole. The hero becomes enraged, making himself into a giant, towering above the monster. He gets ready for war and removes a mountaintop, which he forges into a very sharp spear tip. The monster attempts to eat Glooskap, and a thunderous battle ensues. Glooskap uses the flint spear he has created to split wide open the beast’s stomach and all of the water the monster consumed flows downstream again in a great river. Glooskap takes the shrunken water monster in his hand and squeezes the water from it with great force—which is why frogs came to have bumps and wrinkles on their backs—eventually throwing the former monster into a swamp.
Glooskap returns to the village victorious. The people in the village, however, become rebellious, and Glooskap decides not to live among them anymore. He returns to the river in his canoe, leaving the village behind, as the loons and other water birds cry mournfully at his departure to the end of the world.
SIGNIFICANCE
The story of Glooskap’s fight with the water monster is demonstrative of this figure’s many abilities and characteristics. Glooskap is both a man and a god, capable of doing anything. He brings happiness and guidance to humanity and is capable of making people laugh and love one another. He is also a fierce warrior, imbued with great powers that he uses to defend the world against evil. Although he occasionally grows tired of his tasks, he never loses his love or dedication to the good inhabitants of the earth. In light of these many otherworldly abilities, Glooskap is similar to many legendary heroes of ancient Greece (such as Oedipus), Egypt (including Horus), and even the folklore of early Christianity (such as St. George, who slays a dragon to protect townspeople and convert them).
However, Glooskap is also a creator. He regulates the size of all animals, ensuring that they will live in harmony with humans. According to a continuation of this story (a version told by the Passamaquoddy and Micmac tribes), after Glooskap vanquishes the water monster, he returns to find the people of the village so joyful at life in the water that they wish to live in it. He therefore helps them become fish, crabs, leeches, and other water creatures, living in the river that he created by his battle.
This story of Glooskap was revealed to the rest of the world by Silas Tertius Rand, a Nova Scotian missionary traveling into Wabanaki territory (in a large portion along the Atlantic seaboard) during the late nineteenth century. Glooskap is said to have formed many of the region’s geographic features in addition to reducing the size of the animals there. This story provides examples of both actions. During his battle with the water monster, Glooskap levels a mountain peak to create a spear; when he vanquishes his enemy, he creates a slash a mile wide across the frog’s stomach, creating a mighty river that leads to the sea. Meanwhile, he squeezes the frog down to its unique size and appearance.
In addition to providing explanations for elements of the natural world, the story also invites people to follow Glooskap’s example. He is a benevolent figure but tires of the people when they become insolent or self-centered. When ordinary people fail to adhere to his teachings, Glooskap takes his leave of them and returns to his home. Although it is implied that he will never truly leave humanity, Glooskap’s departure at the end of this story leaves the people and animals mournful.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bastian, Dawn Elaine, and Judy K. Mitchell. Handbook of Native American Mythology. Goleta: ABC-CLIO, 2004. Print.
“Glooskap Fights the Water Monster.” First People—The Legends. First People, 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
Leeming, David, and Jake Page. Myths, Legends, and Folktales of America: An Anthology. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
Leland, Charles G. “How Glooskap Conquered the Great Bull-Frog, and in what Manner All the Pollywogs, Crabs, Leeches, and Other Water Creatures Were Created.” The Algonquin Legends of New England. Boston: Houghton, 1884. 114–19. Print.
Mathis, Andy, and Marion Wood. North American Civilizations. New York: Rosen, 2004. Print.
Rand, Silas Tertius. Legends of the Micmacs. Whitefish: Kessinger, 2006. Print.