Glooscap came to earth from the land of the sky and defeated his wicked brother Malsum. He created the people and the animals, and the land was warm and pleasant. Trees were thick with leaves. Sunlight sparkled over golden fields. The people were called Wabanaki, for they lived nearest the sunrise and Wabanaki means "Children of Light." Glooscap was their god and hero. He was kind and good and did many things for his people.
But soon after he created the world, Glooscap departed for his secret place. Everything changed when he went away. Suddenly the world was dark and cold. Snow fell from the sky. The lakes grew hard with ice. Flowers wilted, and vanished. Leaves fell to the ground. The animals hid from the cold, and the people grew weak with hunger.From his lodge, Glooscap saw all this, and his heart grew heavy. He knew that the cold and dark were created by the giant known as Winter, the ice king who breathed his icy breath upon the land and froze everything. And so Glooscap tied on his snowshoes and set out for the far north to find the ice king.
After many days of travel, Glooscap came to the lodge of the giant Winter. He called out a greeting, "Kwah-ee!" and entered. He found himself looking into the cold blue eyes of the ice king. The giant's long white hair glistened and the icicles in his beard tinkled when he shook his head.
"Come in," said Winter, "share a pipe with me."
Now Glooscap was a gentle man, and so he entered the lodge and shared a pipe with Winter. Winter began to tell tales of the old times when he ruled everywhere and all the time. "The world was silent then," he sighed. "Everything was white and soft and beautiful." Glooscap loved stories and could not help but listen.
But Glooscap did not know that Frost and Slumber were working a charm on him while Winter spoke. Before he knew what was happening, his eyes grew heavy. Soon he was fast asleep. He slept peacefully while outside the world remained cold and frozen. But Gloos-cap was very strong. After six months, his strength broke the spell.
Glooscap awoke filled with anger at the trick. He had to find a way to break Winter's strength.
He rose and hurried to the lodge of a brother giant known as Cool-pu-jot. "I need your help," he said. Coolpujot was huge and fat with no bones at all, but he did have magical powers. "You must help me make the world warm again, Coolpujot."
"I might make the world warm, but the ice king's power is greater than mine. He will quickly overpower me."
Glooscap called his servant Marten and together they rolled the giant over on his side. When Coolpujot turned, the sun broke through the gray clouds. The world was warm again.
"It will not last," Coolpujot moaned. "The ice king will roll me over again and the sun will vanish."
Just as Glooscap wondered what to do next, Loon, his tale carrier, brought him news. Loon described a place far to the south where it was always warm. "There lives the powerful Queen of Summer, who can overcome the giant Winter."
"Let us find her," Glooscap said.
"She lives far, far away," Loon told the hero.
Glooscap ran to the shore and sang the song the whales obey. To the surface came Bootup, his old friend, the whale who could carry him out to sea.
"You must shut your eyes while I carry you," Bootup warned. "If you do not, I must go aground."
Glooscap climbed upon Bootup's back. They traveled for many days. Each day the water grew warmer and the air softer and filled with the perfume of flowers. They could no longer smell the salt of the northern sea. Soon they smelled fruit and spices.
They came to shallow water. Down below the sand they could hear the clams singing a song. "Hurry along, over the water as fast as you can," the clams sang.
The whale asked Glooscap what the clams were singing, for Gloos-cap understood every creature's language.
"They are telling us to hurry, Bootup."
And so the whale hurried on. Glooscap opened his left eye to peek at the land they approached, and suddenly the whale stuck hard on the beach. Glooscap leaped from Bootup's head and walked onto the dry land.
Thinking she couldn't get back to the sea, Bootup was angry. But Glooscap put one end of his bow against the whale's jaw and taking the other in his hands, he placed his feet against the bank. With a mighty push, he sent her into deep water.
Far inland Glooscap strode. Hot sun warmed his face and soothed his tired bones. He came to a grove of orange trees where maidens danced. In the middle of the dancing maidens, he saw the Queen of Summer, a beautiful woman with long brown hair crowned with flowers.
Hiding, Glooscap touched his magic belt and began to sing a song so beautiful even Summer could not resist. She turned to him. Glooscap leaped to catch her, and when he had, he would not let her go.
"I will travel with you," she said, "but how will I find my way home?"
"Do not worry," he said, and he took a huge moosehide. To its end he attached a single cord. This he wound into a coil. "We will travel upon this hide, letting out the cord as we go. When you wish to return, all you have to do is rewind the cord, and you will find your way home." And this they did.
"Kwah-ee!" he called when they reached Winter's lodge. Glooscap told the Queen of Summer to hide.
Winter welcomed Glooscap. He had planned to entrance him again. But this time Glooscap did not listen to Winter's stories. Instead he talked. And while he talked, Summer entered the lodge. Sweat began to pour down Winter's face. His cloak of frost began to melt. He heard water trickling down the rocks outside into a thousand brooks. A bird sang.
Summer used her special power and everything around them awoke. The grass peeked out of the ground. The melting snow ran into the rivers and carried away the dead leaves. Winter wept as he watched his power melting away.
But Summer said: "Now that I have proved my power, I will make you a deal. Six months of every year you may return to Glooscap's country and reign over the land. During the other six months, I will come from the south and rule the land." And she called upon Coolpujot. "You will turn over at the end of Winter's six months, and the world will become warm enough to welcome me."
Old Winter agreed. Ever since that time, Winter appears in Glooscap's country each year for six months. When he comes, the Queen of Summer returns to her southern land. When she returns, she sends Old Winter away, and she awakens the north with her warmth.
- THE WABANAKI (later called the Abenaki by the French) were migratory people of the Eastern woodlands, speaking dialects of the Algonquin language, and include the Micmacs and Malecites of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes of Maine and Massachusetts. The central figure in Wabanaki mythology was Gloos-cap, a hero, demigod and trickster.