~KRANDLEKEEP~
The Wisconsin Gnomelore Database
The Wematigunis
"Why do we have such women? Let's drive them away. Let's send them to some other nation."
From There Be Hodags, by C.A. McAllister:
The wemategunis are the little people of the Munsee, standing as tall as a man’s waist. They are capable of becoming invisible, they have incredible strength relative to their size, and they sometimes serve as messengers for the Great Spirit. Like many of the different types of gnomes, they are portrayed as generally good natured, if prone to pranks and mischief, including calling out to mislead and confuse hunters trying to find their companions in the wilderness.
One notable Munsee story mentions a group of twelve little women who dwelled in the cliffs at the mouth of the river. Whenever any man passed by on the river, the little women would come out and ask the man where he came from, where he was going, and how his crops were growing. If the traveler responded kindly, they let him go with a blessing of good luck. If he was rude or unkind towards them, they would chase him down, catch him, and pluck all of his body hair out of his body. If they were unable to catch him, they’d instead call upon their uncle, a great horned serpent, who would draw in the water of the river with a deep breath and would catch the man in his mouth, devouring them.
From the hair they plucked from the men they caught, they wove baskets that they used to store fish, which could seemingly a limitless quantity of fish The little women would ask passing fishermen for offerings of the fish he had caught, and if he generously gave them all his fish, he would later catch “so many he wouldn’t know what to do with them.” If the fisherman refused, they were cursed with bad luck and would catch no more fish for the rest of their days.
From The Deekatoo, by John Bierhorst:
In the cliffs at the mouth of the Delaware River, on the right bank, were four openings, or caves, leading inside the rocks where twelve little women lived. People used to bring them articles of value and leave them for safekeeping in these caves.
​
When any man passed by on the river, the little women would come out and ask where the man came from, where he was headed, and how his crops were growing. If they received a kind answer, they let him go with their good wishes. They were satisfied.
​
If he was impudent in his answers, they immediately ran down to the river and chased him. And if they caught him, they plucked every hair from his body except the hair of his head.
​
If they were unable too catch him, they called on their uncle, a great serpent, who lived in a deep hole in the ocean outside the mouth of the river. Their uncle would come at once, and draw a breath that would sweep the man into his mouth.
​
All the older and better people gave kind answers to the little women, but younger and thoughtless men were sometimes insolent.
​
One day a young man was passing by, and the twelve little women asked him where he was going. "I won't tell you," he said. Then they started after him, and when they caught him, they pulled out all the hair but the hair of his head and sent him home bleeding.
​
When he got back home, he went to the chief and complained, "Why do we have such women?" Let's drive them away. Let's send them to some other nation."
​
"Oh, never mind," said the chief. "They don't hurt good people. Let them stay where they are."
​
So matters went on. All good-minded people gave kind answers to the little women, had good lick, and went on their way undisturbed, while others were plucked, or swallowed by the serpent.
​
From the hair that they collected, the little women wove bags and took them to the deep water where fish were caught. They would ask each fisherman for something to put in their bags, and no matter how many fish the man had in his canoe, the little bags could hold them all and were never full.
​
If the fisherman gave his fish willingly, he would later catch so many that he wouldn't know what to do with them. If he grumbled, he caught no more and had bad luck.
​
When the twelve little women went home and emptied their bags, the fish that had become so small that thousands of them would fill a little bag regained their natural size and were just as large as they had been before.
​
One time a number of young men were insolent to the little women and went home all bleeding from the loss of their hair. They began to complain, and the other young men said, "We must get rid of these women. They cause too much trouble."
​
Just then, one of them said, "I can put an end to them all by myself."
​
So the next day he passed by the caves and was insolent to the little women. They chased him over the flats opposite their caves. But they couldn't catch him. Then they called on their uncle, who rose out of the water and began to draw in his breath.
​
​The young man was willing to be swallowed by the serpent. And letting himself be carried by the current, he went into the huge open mouth. Inside the serpent was like a great room. Its ribs were like planks in a house.
​
With his flint knife the man made a cut between two ribs and sliced his way out. Then he ran around behind the rocks where the little women had their house.
​
When they saw that the serpent was wounded, the women began to cry and weep, saying, "Our uncle is dying! Our uncle is dying!" They hurried down to where he lay and continued to groan and cry till he died.
​
While they were crying, the young man went into their house, where he found a great quantity of bear's oil; and taking dry weeds, he piled them up in all the rooms, poured oil on them, and set fire to everything. In no time the whole place was burning.
​
The little women, seeing their house in flames, ran home and began to make water on the fire.
​
But it was no use. Everything burned. The walls fell in, and the house itself was completely destroyed except the four entrances.
​
By this time a great many people had gathered on the far bank of the river, looking up at the cliff where the fire was burning. From the top of the cliff the little women called down to them and said, "If you had left us in peace, we would have taught you many things, taught you all the things those strangers know who live on the other side of he ocean.
​
"A hundred years from now they will come here and drive you away, and you will have no land.
​
"You will be poor, no people.
​
"This is what will come to you for driving us away."
​
After that they disappeared. And no one knows to what place they went.
Also Documented In: