~KRANDLEKEEP~
The Wisconsin Gnomelore Database
The Bagwajiwinini
“When one of these manidog threw a rock, it was a bolt of lightning.”
From There Be Hodags, by C.A. McAllister:
The bagwajiwininis, or puckwudgies, are a type of magical, little wild men who dwell in the forests. Stories of them first entered Wisconsin upon the arrival of the Ojibwe in the 1600s, their name literally translating to “wild men”. They are also called “apa'iins” or “pai'iins,” simply meaning “little people.” In Ojibwe stories, the bagwajiwinini is generally benevolent, but mischievous, and is considered master of the bow and the canoe. In Mohican stories, they may help people who treat them kindly, but they are also capable of being capricious and dangerous. They stand about knee-high, and have the ability to turn invisible, confuse humans, and transform into dangerous animals.​
From There Be Hodags, by C.A. McAllister:
When the Ojibwe came to Wisconsin in the 17th century, they brought with them legends of no less than four different types of manitoussiwuk, or “little spirits,” spirit beings that took the form of little men...
Some Ojibwe stories simply refer to manitoussiwuk in general, without specifying which of the four types of little spirits is being referred to by the legend. Some legends say there are both good manitoussiwuk and evil manitoussiwuk. The evil manitoussiwuk attempt to steal children, but the good manitoussiwuk protect children from such attempts.
In one Ojibwe story, a group of manitoussiwuk fought against a windigo with the help of a thunderbird. The manitoussiwuk fought by throwing rocks, which were then transformed into lightning bolts that struck the windigo.
Marble Point on the shores of Lake Superior is said to be a sacred place for little people as well, though the specific type of little people found at this location is uncertain. It is said that no one may cut a tree or kill an animal at Marble Point without incurring the displeasure of the little people. They are also said to be the source of concretions, strange, round lumps of hardened clay found on the southern shore of Lake Superior, especially around the Marble Point area. These concretions are known as grandfather stones, and are believed to have their own souls as well. The little people create these grandfather stones during thunderstorms and leave them upon the beach as evidence of their existence.
From Wigwam Tales, by Charles Brown:
The "Little Indians", or fairies, have both good and harmful characters. The largest are only about two feet high. When an Indian sees one he knows something is going to happen. They bring good luck to some people. They are not seen often now. Some lure people into the forests with their calls, and these are never seen again. They are experts with the bow, and with the canoe. They sometimes bless hunters with success in hunting.
A very old Indian woman, who was trudging along a forest trail, saw a little child just ahead of her. She tried to catch it but it disappeared. Where it did she smelled a nice perfume. So she knew that the child was a Puckwidjini. She knew that someone was going to die. She lost her husband.
Two Indians were gathering ginseng roots in the woods. They were camping and running out of food. One went to get some provisions. The other Indian began to prepare the food which remained. He made a fire and placed some meat and roots in the kettle. When he looked up he saw a Little Indian. He was so small that the Indian became frightened and ran away. He found his friend and they returned to the camp together. No one was to be seen, and the food was not burned. The Little Wild Indian had taken care of the Indian's cooking while he was away.
An Indian girl left her father's village one day and wandered into the forest. When night came she had not returned. Her Indian lover feared that something had happened to her. He went out into the woods to search for her. While following a forest trial he saw a faint glow in a little clearing, and hgeard the beating of an Indian drum. Creeping nearer to the spot he saw a group of Little Indians and their women dancing about the drum. Dancing with them was the Indian maiden whom he loved. Drawing nearer he spoke to herand asked her to return with him to her father's village. This she refused to do. That he might be always with her he also joined the Puckwidjini. Neither he nor his sweetheart ever returned to their homes.
From The Woodland Indians of the Western Great Lakes, by Robert E. Ritzenthaler and Pat Ritzenthaler:
One winter a newly married couple went hunting with the other people. When they moved to the hunting grounds a child was born to them. One day, as they were gazing at him in his cradleboard and talking to him, the child spoke to them. They were very surprised because he was too young to talk. "Where is that manidogisik (Sky Spirit)?" asked the baby. "They say he is very powerful and some day I am going to visit him."
His mother grabbed him and said, "You should not talk about that manido that way."
A few nights later, they fell asleep again with the baby in his cradleboard between them. In the middle of the night the mother awoke and discovered that her baby was gone. She woke her husband and he got up, started a fire and looked all over the wigwam for the baby. They searched the neighbor's wigwam but could not find it. They lit birchbark torches and searched the community looking for tracks. At last they found some tiny tracks leading down to the lake. Halfway down to the lake, they found the cradleboard and they knew then the baby himself had made the tracks, had crawled out of his cradleboard and was headed for the manido. The tracks leading from the cradle down to the lake were large, far bigger than human feet, and the parents realized that their child had turned into a windigo, the terrible ice monster who could eat people. They could see his tracks where he had walked across the lake.
The manidogisik had fifty smaller manidog or little people to protect him. When one of these manidog threw a rock, it was a bolt of lightning. As the windigo approached, the manidog heard him coming and ran out to meet him and began to fight. Finally they knocked him down with a bolt of lightning. The windigo fell dead with a noise like a big tree falling. As he lay there he looked like a big Indian, but when the people started to chop him up, he was a huge block of ice. They melted down the pieces and found, in the middle of the body, a tiny infant about six inches long with a hole in his head where the manidog had hit him. This was the baby who had turned into a windigo. If the manidog had not killed it, the windigo would have eaten up the whole village.
From Wisconsin Folklore, by Dee Bainbridge:
At Waverly Beach, that's out near Odana, we talk about little people. You have leprechauns and gnomes and fairies. The Indian people have their little people too. They're supposed to be little miniature Indian people. They live at Waverly Beach. And during thunderstorms, when it's lightning and thundering, they're busy making concretions.
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I don't know if you know what concretions are? Little round stones. Some are large, some are small. They vary in size. Now to prove they've been on the beach, you walk along you'll find little rock formations that are shaped just like tiny feet. And you find those on Waverly Beach.
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They say at one time that was considered a sacred area because the little people lived there. You weren't allowed to cut any trees or do any hunting or desecrate the land in any way.
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Now it's a public beach and no longer do the people honor or give respect to that particular area. But concretions are pretty popular. I'm sure you've seen them.
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