Name: Kuku Tribal affiliation:Maliseet,
Passamaquoddy,
Mi'kmaq Alternate spellings: Gougou, Googoo, Gugu, Ku Ku, Kuhkw Pronunciation: koo-goo or goo-goo, depending on tribal dialect Type:Monster, giant Related figures in other tribes:Basket Ogress (Northwest Coast tribes)
Kuku is a kind of man-eating giant, usually (but not always) described as female. She is so huge that she
carries the people she catches in a bag over her shoulder the way human hunters carry rabbits.
Her name may derive from the Mi'kmaq word for "earthquake," kiwkw,
since she is so large her footsteps shake the earth. According to some legends, Kuku is a
sea monster
covered in scales who preys mostly on people paddling canoes or walking along the beach.
In other legends, she lives in the mountains and is often mistaken for a boulder until it is too late.
Kuku Stories
Canadian Word of the Day: Gougou:
Article about the Gougou monster including early French accounts of First Nations legends about it.
Recommended Books of Related Native American Legends
Giants of the Dawnland:
A good collection of Wabanaki legends told by a Penobscot Indian author.
Algonquian Spirit:
Excellent anthology of stories, songs, and oral history from the Maliseet and other Algonquian tribes.
When the Chenoo Howls:
Eerie collection of Native American ghost stories and monster tales, told by a Native American storyteller.
Indian cultures
Canadian Word of the Day: Gougou:
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