Native Languages of the Americas: Gluskabi/Gluskap Stories and other Wabanaki Legends
This is our collection of links to Wabanaki folktales and traditional stories that can be read online.
We have indexed our Native American legends section
by tribe to make them easier to locate; however, variants on the same
legend are often told by American Indians from different tribes, especially if those tribes are kinfolk or neighbors to
each other. On this page, we have included myths and legends from the five tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy:
the Abenaki Tribe,
Penobscot Tribe,
Micmac Tribe,
Maliseet Tribe, and
Passamaquoddy Tribe.
These five related tribes of northeast New England and the Canadian Maritimes speak similar languages
and share many cultural similarities, including much of their folklore.
Enjoy the stories! If you would like to recommend a Wabanaki legend for this page or think one of the ones on here
should be removed, please contact us and let us know.
Gluskabi (also spelled Gluskap, Glooskap, Gluscabe, Koluscap, and several other ways.)
Gluskabi is the benevolent culture hero of the Wabanaki tribes (sometimes referred to as a "transformer" by folklorists.) His name is spelled so many different ways because
the other Wabanaki languages were originally unwritten, so English speakers just spelled it however it sounded to them at the time.
The correct pronunciation in Abenaki and Penobscot is similar to glue-skaw-buh, and in Mi'kmaq,
Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy it sounds more like klue-skopp (but with very soft k and p sounds.) Gluskap shares
some similarities with other Algonquian heroes such as the Anishinabe
Manabozho, Blackfoot
Napi, and Cree
Wesakaychak, and many of the same stories
are told in different Algonquian tribes with only the identity of the protagonist differing.
The Creator or Great Spirit.
These are English translations of the names for God in the various Wabanaki languages (Gici Niwaskw or Dabaldak in Abenaki,
Kci Niwesq or Keluwosit in Maliseet-Passamaquoddy, and Kisϊlkw in Mi'kmaq.)
In Wabanaki traditions, the Creator/Great Spirit is a divine spirit with no human form or attributes (including gender), and is almost never personified in
Wabanaki folklore.
Nokomes (also spelled Nuhkomoss, Nokomis, Nukumi, etc.)
Gluskabi's wise old grandmother (her name simply means "grandmother" in the Wabanaki languages.) In the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet
tribes, Nokomes is often associated with a woodchuck (and sometimes called Grandmother Woodchuck.) In the Mi'kmaq tribe she is a more abstract elder figure
who was created specifically to be Gluskap's grandmother.
Trickster Animals. Many Wabanaki folktales feature clever animal heroes
playing tricks on each other or on Wabanaki people. Usually these are lighter, less sacred stories, and like modern cartoon animals, the tricksters sometimes die and
spontaneously come back to life. Raccoon, Rabbit, and Otter are the most common Wabanaki trickster characters.
Lox (also spelled Loks, Luks, etc.) Wolverine, who is a malevolent
figure in Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy folklore. Sometimes he merely models uncivilized behavior, such as gluttony, rudeness, and sexual impropriety.
Other times he plays the role of a dangerous and violent villain who may kill incautious people. After the adoption of Catholicism by the northern Wabanaki
tribes, Lox was often associated with the Devil.
Malsum (also spelled Molsum, Malsumsa or Malsumis.) This name,
which simply means "wolf" in Abenaki, is sometimes given as belonging to an evil wolf who is Gluskabi's twin brother. However, this does not seem to be a
genuine Wabanaki myth: the name does not appear in older texts,
the wolf does not play a malevolent role in any other Wabanaki legend, and some Abenaki and Mi'kmaq
elders have stated that this story has foreign origins. It was probably an Anglo corruption of Chippewa and other Great Lakes Algonquian legends -- their
culture hero, Nanabozho, does have a twin brother who is a wolf (though still not an evil one). As far as we can tell the character first appeared in
Charles Leland's 1884 collection of Wabanaki folktales and may have been some combination of the Chippewa wolf-brother legend, the Passamaquoddy tales
about the evil wolverine Lox, and Leland's own bizarre fixation with relating every body of folklore to Norse mythology somehow.
Here is an academic article about some of Leland's Nordic embellishments.
Whatever its origins, some modern Wabanaki storytellers do tell tales about the character today (although Micmacs often say that it came from the Abenakis,
and Abenakis that it came from the Micmacs or Maliseets!)
Cannibal Monsters. Wabanaki folklore includes many horror stories
about man-eating monstrous giants (most commonly known as Chenoo in Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy, and Giwakwa in Abenaki and
Penobscot.) They are similar to the Windigo of the Cree and other northern tribes.
Little People (Mikumwesuk, Wunagmeswook, Geow-lud-mo-sis-eg)
Known by a variety of names, the Little People of the Wabanaki tribes can be dangerous if they are disrespected but are generally
benevolent nature spirits.
Native American culture
Gluskabe 
Gluskab 
