A Passamaquoddy Legend
This is a truly old Indian story from ancient times. Once, an Indian was whirled up by the roaring wind. He was taken up in a thunderstorm and set down again in the village of the Thunders. Later, he described them as being very much like human beings. They used bows and arrows (tah-bokque) and had wings.
These wings could be laid aside and kept for use. From time to time, their chief would order the Thunders to put on their wings, tell them where to go, and how long they were to be gone. He also warned them not to fly too low, as it would be sure death for them to be caught in the crotch of a tree.
The great chief of the Thunders, upon hearing of the stranger’s arrival, sent for him, received him kindly, and suggested that he join them. The man agreed, and soon after, the chief called all his people together to witness the ceremony of turning the Indian into a Thunder.
They told him to go into a square thing, or box, and while inside, he lost his senses and became a Thunder. Then they brought him a pair of wings, and he put them on. He flew about like the rest of the Thunders and adopted their ways. He said they always flew toward the south (sou’ n’ snook) and that the roar and crash of thunder were the sounds of their wings. Their great amusement was playing ball across the sky. When they returned, they carefully put away their wings for the next flight. There was a big bird in the south that they always tried to kill but never succeeded.
They made long journeys and always took him with them. After a long time, the Indian began to tire of his strange friends. He told the chief that he wished to see his family on Earth, and the sagamore listened kindly. The chief called all his people together and announced that their brother from the other world was lonesome and wished to return. They were very sorry to lose him, but because they loved him, they decided to let him go and carried him back to Earth, instructing him to close his eyes until he was safely returned.
The Indians on Earth saw a great thunderstorm approaching. They heard thunder like never before and saw something in the shape of a human being coming down with lightning. They ran to the spot where he landed, and it was their long-lost brother, who had been gone for seven years.
He had been in the Thunder-world and told them how he had played ball with the Thunder-boys and had been transformed into a real Thunder himself.
This is why the Indians to this day have a firm belief that thunder and lightning are caused by beings or spirits called “Bed-day yek” (or thunder) in their language. They claim to see them and have even picked up “bed-dags k’chisousan” or thunder-bullets, which are various types of stone, always in the same shape. The last one was picked up by Peter Sabattis, a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe. He found it in a crotch-root of a spruce tree at Head Harbor on Campobello Island. This stone is considered a sign of good luck to the one who finds it.
The thunder is the sound of the wings of the men who fly above, and the lightning we see is the fire and smoke from their pipes.
