Everyone looked at Aaron, who sat with his arms folded and his lips sticking out.
"Please," Mary and Sarah said.
"Pretty please," said Lloyd.
"Double pretty please," Tammy said.
Phil just looked at Aaron and said nothing.
Aaron looked around at them all. Then he smiled. "Okay," he said. He got up, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, tiptoed over to the head of the stairs, and looked down. He turned back and bobbed his hand up and down. "All clear," he whispered.
Lloyd jumped up onto the bed with a pillow in his hand. He threw it back at Phil. Soon they were all playing, jumping up and down on the bed, throwing pillows. Mary grabbed Lloyd's leg, and Lloyd fell on his back. Phil grabbed one of his arms, and Sarah grabbed the other. Then Tammy and Aaron started tickling him. He tried not to laugh too loud. But how could Aaron be tickling him? Aaron was supposed to be on lookout duty at the head of the stairs!
"HAAA-RUUMPPHHH!"
The loud sound of an adult clearing his throat made them all stop what they were doing. Six sets of eyes turned toward the head of the stairs. Harold Little Deer, their father, stood there, his arms folded over his chest.
Lloyd waited for Dad to scold them. Then he noticed something strange. Dad wasn't looking at them. He was staring at the window.
"I think I saw one of them," he said. "Just outside your window." His voice was very serious.
"One of who, Dad?" Mary and Sarah said.
"You don't want to know," Dad said. "I just hope it didn't see you."
Lloyd couldn't stand it any longer. "What are you talking about, Dad?"
Harold Little Deer turned and looked at him. Then he shook his head. "The Big Tree People, son. That's who I'm talking about. Around this time of year they come down from the hills and head into town. They look like big trees, but they're really hungry giants. They have long arms like branches and skinny fingers like twigs. They look into the upstairs windows—just like that one there over your bed—to see if they can see any children. That's what they eat, you know, little children. If you lie real still in bed, they don't notice you. They tap against the windows then, like a branch being swayed by the wind. Tack-tacck Tack-tacck. Tack-tacck.
"If you sit up and move around, they will see you for sure. And if they do, they reach right in through the window and grab you"
Harold Little Deer sighed. "It's too bad, you know. Once they grab a child, there's nothing anyone can do about it. Some people say they tear the children up into little pieces. Others say they just swallow them whole. Sometimes people find bones here and there around the rez. They are so gnawed up, no one knows where those bones come from. Maybe they're from those kids who get grabbed. All that we know for sure is that once a Big Tree Person gets someone, they're never seen again."
Lloyd swallowed hard and looked over at Phil. They both remembered the chewed-up bones that he and Phil had found by the creek. The older kids had said they were just pig bones.
Harold Little Deer looked out the win dow. "Was that tree there before? It just doesn't look familiar to me. Hmm. Do you kids think that might be one of them?"
Harold Little Deer turned back and looked around at the children, who had all slowly climbed into bed as he talked. "Well, I got to go back downstairs now. Sleep good, kids."
The six children listened to the sound of his footsteps going down the stairs.
"Are there really Big Tree People?" Aaron said in a shaky voice.
Lloyd started to answer him, but he didn't get the chance.
Tack-tacck. Tack-tacck. Tack-tacck.
It was the tapping of a tree branch against the big window. Or was it?
"Everybody be quiet and don't move!" Phil whispered. And that was the last thing any of them said.
BIG TREE PEOPLE (ONONDAGA)
The Big Tree People are only one of many different creatures whose mission it is to look out for disobedient children and carry them away. In this case, they look like tall leafless trees and stand very still when anyone looks directly at them. They peer into windows late at night to reach in and grab children who are not yet asleep.
Sources:
Unpublished oral tradition: told to us by Mike Tarbell, an Onondaga Indian writer.
TOAD
WOMAN
It was late summer. Sozap and his two friends David and Billy quickly finished off their lunch. After thanking Sozap's mother, they headed toward the door.
"Remember to stay away from the cedar bog," Sozap's mother reminded the three boys as they went out the door.
"Yes, Mother!" Sozap called back from across the front yard.
Sozap, David, and Billy headed for their fort. It was deep in the forest behind Sozap's house. The three boys had been working on their fort all summer and were anxious to complete it. That morning David's father had given them just enough old lumber to finish off their roof.
When they reached the fort, the boys set to work. Climbing up on the roof next to his friend, David turned toward Sozap.
"Why is your mother always so worried about that cedar bog?"
"When I was younger she used to tell my brother and me stories about this . . . monster that lived there," Sozap said, continuing to hammer on a nail.
"What kind of monster?" Billy called up from below them.
"A creature named Toad Woman. My mother said she was a very evil old woman that would lure young children into the bog with her beautiful voice and then drown them," Sozap told the two boys, who had stopped hammering.
Billy climbed up the ladder and sat down on the other side of Sozap.
"Do you believe it?" Billy asked.
"Not really. She used to tell us lots of stories like that. I think she was just worried we might fall in the bog or something."
"So, have you ever been to that bog?" Billy asked.
Sozap paused for a moment before answering. He knew exactly what his friend was leading up to.
"Once, about five years ago. My father took me there."
"What was it like?" David asked.
"I don't remember very much because I was so young, but I do remember I was scared."
"I think we should go there. It sounds really cool." Billy said. His voice was excited.
"I thought you guys wanted to work on the fort." Sozap picked up a nail and went back to his hammering.
"I vote for the cedar bog," David said.
"Me, too," said Billy. "Let's go now."
Sozap looked at his friends. "I don't know. It's pretty far away. It'll be dark soon, and I promised my mother we wouldn't."
"What's the matter? Scared of the toad lady?" Billy began to laugh.
Sozap felt cornered. He didn't want to upset his mother. But he also didn't like being called a chicken.
"So? We going or what?" asked David.
At first Sozap said nothing. This is no time to be scared of childish stories, he thought. After all, I'll be eleven years old in a month. Still, Sozap didn't like the thought of upsetting his mother. Finally, he came to a compromise.
"O.K. We can go to the cedar bog. But first we finish off the roof. And you have to promise not to tell anyone." What his mother didn't know couldn't hurt her.
"We promise," both boys said. They all set to work. In a few hours they had finished the roof.
"Ready?" David said.
Sozap put down his hammer and sighed. "Okay."
Sozap led the two boys through the woods in the direction of the cedar bog. Although he hadn't been there since he was younger, Sozap knew exactly where it was. It was the only part of the forest that his parents considered off limits.
After walking for quite some time, the boys found themselves within a couple of hundred yards of the bog. As they crossed a small meadow, Sozap looked over at the sun. It was sinking lower in the sky. He began to rethink his decision. Even though the story of Toad Woman wasn't true, he felt a knot beginning to form in his stomach.
"Wow, this is pretty cool," said Billy, sta
nding at the edge of the bog.
In front of them, as far as the eye could see, were countless cedar trees. The tops of each tree's roots were just above water, forming hundreds of small green islands. Each island was surrounded by black swampy water filled with cedar needles.
"Check this out!" yelled David. He began jumping from one tree's roots to the next. It wasn't hard to do, for most were only three to four feet apart.
"I don't think that's a good idea, David," Sozap said in a concerned tone.
"Sure it is! Looks like fun to me," answered Billy.
He, too, began jumping from one island to the next. Within a few moments, both boys were far out into the bog. Each of them was heading in a different direction. Sozap, feeling the knot in his stomach grow tighter, remained where he was.
"How far back do you think this bog goes?" Billy yelled to David, who was now at least fifty yards away.
As his friends went deeper and deeper into the bog, Sozap, still standing at the edge of the bog, looked once again toward the we stern horizon. Through the thick forest, he could just barely make out the rays from the sun slowly slipping behind the mountains.
"Hey, guys. You better come back now! It's going to be dark soon!"
"Just a minute, I think I'm near the other side!" David yelled back.
Even with his hands cupped behind his ears, Sozap barely heard David's response. Both boys were now totally out of his sight.
Billy had stopped when he heard Sozap's shout. But David had continued on.
"Wow, this place is endless. Isn't it, Billy?" he said, after making another huge leap between islands. There was no response. David paused for a moment. "Billy, did you hear me? . . . Where are you?"
David looked around. There was no one there. He had gone much farther into the bog than he'd realized. "Hey, you guys?"
David tried to go back the way he had come. Darkness, however, was setting in. He soon lost track of where he was. His heart was pumping with fear. Sweat began to pour down the side of his face.
"Billy, Sozap! Where are you?" he yelled as loud as he could.
"Over here, David!" It was the voices of Sozap and Billy responding to him from the far edge of the bog. David sighed with relief. But they were so far away, and it was so much darker. It was hard to judge how far away each of the islands was.
"Keep yelling, so I know where to go!" David shouted. There was a desperate tone in his voice, even though he knew they couldn't be more than a hundred yards away. As he jumped from one small island to the next, David listened for the sound of his friends' voices. But as the last rays of sunlight slowly disappeared, he heard nothing, and each jump became more difficult. David's heart raced faster and faster. More sweat poured down his face. Then, as he paused to catch his breath, he began to hear a strange, sweet sound.
Standing on the shore, Sozap and Billy had been shouting for their friend for at least three minutes straight.
"Hey, David!" Sozap shouted. "Yell something back so we know where you are!"
There was no reply.
"We better go look for him," Sozap said, trying to remain calm. It was hard to catch his breath. He reached into his pocket. "I've got a penlight."
Staying close together, the boys headed in the direction they had last heard David's voice. Every other jump, they called out his name. Only a glimmer of light showed now from behind the horizon. Without the help of Sozap's little flashlight, they would have been lost. Then, about twenty yards to their left, there was a large splashing sound, followed by a cry.
"Help! Somebody help me!" It was David.
Jumping from one cedar island to the next as quickly as they could, Billy and Sozap headed toward the sound of his cries.
"Help! Something has my leg!" David yelled.
Less than ten yards away now, the boys saw David. His arms were splashing the water around him. Although he was only a few feet from a small marshy island, he appeared unable to reach it. He was struggling to keep his head above the water.
"Hold on, David. We're almost there!" Sozap shouted.
Before they could reach him, David's cries were replaced by a gargling sound as his head slipped under the black water.
"He's gone under!" Billy yelled.
Both boys jumped into the water and swam toward the place where David had disappeared. Bubbles from his mouth rising to the surface, David's right hand broke the surface as he desperately reached toward land.
Both boys grabbed hold of David's arm.
"Pull," Sozap shouted, grabbing the roots of a cedar tree with one hand as he held David's sleeve with the other.
"He won't budge!" Billy said. "He must be stuck under a root!"
"Pull harder!"
Like a rock released from a sling, Billy and Sozap fell back onto the island. David, freed at last from under the water, landed directly on top of them.
"Get away from the water! Something . . . pulled me under!" David gasped.
Looking down into the dark water, for a split second Sozap thought he saw something move just under the surface. It looked almost like a brown, long-fingered hand. Then it was gone. Sozap shone his light into the water. There was nothing to be seen, but a chill went down his spine. He moved farther back onto the little island.
Once David had caught his breath, all three boys, soaked to the bone but guided by Sozap's flashlight, headed for the edge of the bog as quickly as they could. When they had reached the safety of the field, David told Billy and Sozap about the strange sound he had heard before falling in.
"It was something," he said, "a lot like singing."
It had gotten so loud he no longer heard their voices from the shore. Trying to find his own way back, he had slipped and fallen into the bog.
"And when I fell in the water," he said, "something grabbed my leg and pulled me under."
"You sure it wasn't a tree root or something?" Billy asked in a nervous voice.
"No, I swear something had hold of me. It let go after you guys grabbed my arm!" David looked over at Sozap, but Sozap said nothing about what he thought he'd seen.
It was just my imagination, Sozap said to himself. But as he thought about that brown long-fingered hand, a chill went down his back again.
Once out of the woods, the boys headed for their separate homes. Each one agreed they wouldn't tell anyone about what had happened to them. And, even though Billy and Sozap were never quite sure if David's story was true, none of them ever returned to the cedar bog.
TOAD WOMAN (ABENAKI)
Toad Woman is a monster described as a combination of a giant toad and an old woman who lives in the deep cedar swamps. She lures people in with her sweet voice. Because she has no teeth, she pulls her victims down into the mud and leaves them there until she can suck the rotten flesh off their bones. However, she is a coward and will only attack someone when they are alone and unaware. Stories of Toad Woman were often a very effective means of keeping children out of the dangerous swamps.
Sources:
Unpublished oral tradition: told by Abenaki elders Maurice Dennis and Stephen Laurent.
The Algonquin Legends of New England, by Charles G. Leland (Boston: Houghton and Mifflin, 1884).
APPENDIX
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Abenaki (Abenaki) [Ab'-en-ah-key or Ah-ben'-ah-key] People of northern New England; literally "People of the Dawn Land"
Aglebemu (Abenaki) [Ag-luh-bem'-oo] Water monster
Aiyannoweh (Oneida) [Ay-yahn-no'-wey] "Swift Runner"
Akonrwara (Mohawk) [Ah-gohn-wah'-rah] "Ugly Face"
Amankamek (Lenape) [Ah-man'-kah-mehk] Giant horned snake
Awanootsak (Abenaki) [Ah-wah-noots' -ak] European Americans; literally, "Who are these people?"
Awasos (Abenaki) [Ah-wah'-sos] Bear
Azon (Abenaki) [Ah-zone'] John
Chenoo (Passamaq noddy) [Chay'-noo] Cannibal giant
Dagwaynonyent (Seneca) [Dah-gweh'-nohn-yent] Flying head
Genonsgwa (Seneca) [Geh-nohns'
-gwa] Stone giant; literally "flint coat"
Gluskabe (Penobscot) [Gloos-kah'-bey] Changer hero; literally, "The Talker"
Kahnesatake (Mohawk) [Kah-nuh-suh-dah; gey] Mohawk village; literally, "By the Rapids"
Kasko (Abenaki) [Kahs-ko'] A man's name
Keewahkwee (Penobscot) [Key-wah-kwee] Cannibal ogre
Kitselemukong (Lenape) [Kiht' -see-luh-moo-kong'] The Creator; literally, "Great Mystery
Kwanitewk (Abenaki) [Kwah-nee-tewk'] The Connecticut River; literally, "Long River"
Lenape (Lenape) [Leh-nah'-pay] People of the lower Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania; literally, "Human Beings"
Mahican (Mahican) [Ma-hee'-cun] Northern relations of the Lenape; literally, "Where the Tide Flows Upriver"
Mamuui (Lenape) [Mah'-moo-oo-ee] The Eater; cannibal monster
Mohawk (Algonquin) [Mo'-hawk] Easternmost Iroquois nation; "The Flint People"
Nolka (Abenaki) [Nol'-kah] Deer
Oneida (Oneida) [Oh-ni'-dah] Iroquois nation between the Mohawk and Onondaga; "Standing Stone People."
Onondaga (Onondaga) [On-on-dah'-gah] Central Iroquois nation; "People of the Hills"
Odanak (Abenaki) [Oh'-dah-nak] A northern Abenaki village near Quebec; literally, "Little Village"
Passamaquoddy (Passamaquoddy) (Pass-uh-mahkwah'-dey] People of eastern Maine; literally, "Plenty of Pollack"
Penobscot (Penobscot) [Pen-ahb'-skaht] Peopie of central and western Maine; literally, "Many Stones"
Pitolo (Abenaki) [Pih-to'-lo] Peter
Seneca (Algonquin) [Sen'-eh-ka] Westernmost Iroquois nation; "People of the Stone"
Skunny-Wundy (Seneca) [Skuh'-nee Wun'-dee] Seneca trickster hero; literally, "Cross-the-Creek"
Sozap (Abenaki) [So'-zap] Joseph
Wu (Seneca) [Woo] An exclamation equivalent to "Who's there?"
Yakwawiak (Lenape) [Yah-kwa'-wee-ahk] Giant mastodon
When the Chenoo Howls Page 6