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The Wisconsin Gnomelore Database
The Memegwesi
"Best known and best loved of the little manitous were the maemaegawaehnssiwuk, little people, beloved for their special care and regard for children."
From There Be Hodags, by C.A. McAllister:
The memegwesi are part of the beliefs of the indigenous Menominee, as well as a part of the beliefs of the Ojibwe who would later come to the State. They are described as being very ugly and the size of small children, but with large heads, hairy faces and bodies, and a strange voice that sounds like the whine of a dragonfly. According to Menominee stories, the memegwesi also do not have noses. Some Ojibwe stories differ from this description, instead stating that the memegwesi resembled children. According to these stories, accounts that say that the memegwesi as hairy and ugly were merely confusing the memegwesi with the mizauwabeekum, another type of manitoussiwuk, or little spirit.
They dwell along the banks of rivers, where they mark their presence by carving symbols on rocks. They are also capable of traversing the rivers, either using logs as canoes, or else carving canoes from stone. They are invisible, except to children and medicine men.
Memegwesi are generally benign, and will help people in exchange for offerings of tobacco, food, or small articles of clothing. If the memegwesi are disrespected, they will turn mischievous, often stealing things or blowing away canoes to get back at those who have wronged them.
Among the Ojibwe, the memegwesi were the best beloved of the little spirits, specifically because they cared for and protected children. The memegwesi would guide lost children back to home, or would comfort sad and despondent children, giving them strong parallels to the elves of New Glarus. Occasionally, a deceased parent would even return to life as a memegwesi in order to provide supernatural care for their surviving child.​
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 The Manitous, by Basil Johnston:
Best known and best loved of the little manitous were the maemaegaweahnssiwuk, little people, beloved for their special care and regard for children. Adults who claim to have seen them described the little people as shaggy, hairy, unkempt miniature grown-ups, but these adults may have mistaken them for the mizauwabeekummoowuk, who live in the mountainous regions and escarpments, deriving their name and appearance from the gold, copper, and pyrite embedded in the rock. It may well be that these were maemaegaweahnssiwuk that had disguised themselves to keep their identity secret. This description conflicts with the report og children and grown-ups who had the company and protection of these little manitous, who say that they appeared to them as children, full of play, laughter, and mischief. The maemaegawaehnssiwuk did not appear to all children, only those who lost their way and needed to be brought home and restored to their families...
The maemaegawaehnssiwuk also look after grieving, despondant childrend, as exemplified by the story of the Little Boy and the Tree.
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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