How The Trappers Broke The Spell – Abenaki These two hunters they used to go hunting every falltrapping, you know. They weren't hunters, they were trappers. They had to take their winter supplies, and when they went they had to portage their canoe. . . . quite a few miles until they got to another lake or pond [at a place] which would be a good place for trapping. They might've seen a lot of beaver and mink tracks and beaver dams. So they made ready. They made their camp ready and next day they set out their traps. But they couldn't catch anything. They seemed to have bad luck right from the start. They couldn't even kill a deer or a moose or anything for their meat supply, and their food supply was running short. Well, they stayed in there a long time without catching anything. So one day they decided they would talk things over. They said, "We got to go back without anything. We just got enough food supply to last until we get back to the (I suppose they call it a trading post, where they do their trading). How will we get stuff? We haven't got no fur or anything to trade with." "Well, we might have better luck in a different place." Anyway, they got ready to leave camp the next day. Just coming dark there came another hunter. And [he said], "Boys, I'm lost in the woods. Can I stay the night with you?" They said, "Yes, you may stay the night. We ain't got much to eat, though." He says, "I got my own." He says, "You've been having bad luck, haven't you?" He says, "Yes, I have. We're going back without anythingnot even one beaver pelt and no mink or anything." "Well," he says, "there's somebody been giving you bad luck. . . . Somebody's cast a spell over you. . ." He says, "I'll tell you what. You go out and cut a tree down, like a fir, and you hew it out in the form of a man, you know, in the form of a person, and hew out the shoulders and the head and everything. And the first thing in the morning you go and plant this [figure] along the shore. Make sure that it's standing in the water." They said, "We'll do that right now." He said, "Are all your traps set?" They said, "Yes, we're going to take them up in the morning." Well, anyway, they cut down the tree, fir tree, and they put it in the water like this man told them to. Well, that man stayed there overnight with them, and come daylight he told them to go and take a shot at it. . . . They could see the post or tree or whatever it was, and they shot at it. My God, they could hear that ring of the bullet and they could hear somebody crying. . . and this tree dropped in the water and went down the river. "Now," he says, "I'm going to leave you boys and go back to my trap line. But you're going to walkyou're going to [see all your] traps before you leave." The boys went and every trap was full! They caught a lot of minks and beaver and all kinds of fur-bearing animals. So they wasn't there any more than a week or ten days before they got. . . more than they could carry in their boats. And [also] they had meat for supper. Just as they were getting near the town there was a big moose standing around there, so they shot it, and they had plenty of meat then. But this man [had] told them, "Now I'm going to tell you. When you get back to the reservation, maybe you'll hear about a sick man, and they'll want some of your meat. Don't you give them any moose meat or, deer meat or whatever you're taking home with you. . . . That'll make the spell come back on you, but this time you'll both be sick." Well, when they did [get home], they found out that this man [i.e. a man in the village] was very sick. All at once he had a sore shoulder. He said, "If you would come and give me just a little bit of your moose meat maybe that would cure me." No, they wouldn't do it. He said, "Even just a little taste of the broth." No, they wouldn't give him nothing, not even a drop. So that kind of broke the spell and they had good luck after that. But this man was sick a long time, but that shoulder finally got the best of him and he died. . . . MRS. HEGEMAN: Is this a true story? MRS. SOLOMON: That's supposed to be true. MRS. BLACK: I don't know. I never heard that one. MRS. SOLOMON: Well, I didn't know if I'd ever told you about it. Taken from Northeast Folklore, Volume VI: 1964, Malecite and Passamaquoddy Tales, Told by Mrs. Solomon, Nov. 14, 1962. See NAFOH Accession # 179, pg. 138, Tape # T228.