WEBVTT 00:00:10.051 --> 00:00:20.353 My name is Clifford Bearskin, I come from a place called Chisasibi in Cree. 00:00:20.353 --> 00:00:24.107 This is where I was raised. 00:00:24.816 --> 00:00:28.862 I was asked to tell a legend. 00:00:28.862 --> 00:00:36.494 I decided to tell a legend about a certain person. 00:00:37.245 --> 00:00:51.259 These are the adventures of this person who existed before we were born. 00:00:51.259 --> 00:01:05.065 The story of his adventures were very important to me while I was growing up. 00:01:06.274 --> 00:01:21.706 I thought about the teachings of his adventures while I was out on the land. 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:27.796 He was respectful in some of the things he did, 00:01:27.796 --> 00:01:37.097 but sometimes he would use his power to face challenges. 00:01:38.223 --> 00:01:42.769 That’s why I thought I would tell the legend about him. 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:50.902 I know the young people of today don’t hear these legends anymore. 00:01:51.277 --> 00:02:03.915 The adventures of this person is one of these legends. 00:02:03.915 --> 00:02:13.091 In the past, there were legends of many different people and their adventures. 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:19.347 I want to tell this legend because I think it still has an impact of the life we live today, 00:02:19.347 --> 00:02:24.018 but the teachings are not being followed as much. 00:02:24.394 --> 00:02:37.282 This is because the children are not told these legends anymore. 00:02:37.282 --> 00:02:45.540 This is why I want to tell the adventures of this person. 00:02:45.665 --> 00:02:57.010 There are many different stories about him but I will not be able to tell all of them. 00:02:57.010 --> 00:03:12.025 Some of these stories are important and this person mentioned future generations 00:03:12.025 --> 00:03:23.077 and those generations of people are us. 00:03:23.745 --> 00:03:35.882 He called these future generations Nishiiyiyiu, not Iiyiyiu as we do today. 00:03:36.049 --> 00:03:42.472 So I will start my legend during this point in time. 00:03:42.805 --> 00:04:03.409 He lived with his older sister and his parents. 00:04:03.409 --> 00:04:15.463 He did not remember the time their parents were killed because he was just too young. 00:04:16.673 --> 00:04:26.140 He thought about what could have happened. Later he asked his sister, 00:04:26.140 --> 00:04:37.694 “Sister, who killed our father and mother? Did we have a father and mother?’’ 00:04:38.278 --> 00:04:50.581 “Yes, we had a mother and father. They were both killed by someone," she answered him. 00:04:51.165 --> 00:05:01.134 He began to wonder who was the person that killed their parents. 00:05:02.343 --> 00:05:07.724 He was known to do amazing things. 00:05:08.266 --> 00:05:15.857 He went out hunting. He went on his way singing as he walked. 00:05:15.857 --> 00:05:29.078 He sang about the person he was looking for, but I don’t not recall what he called him. 00:05:29.495 --> 00:05:36.294 He sang, “I am looking for signs of him.” 00:05:37.003 --> 00:05:51.726 Later he came upon some people who he thought had killed his mother and father. 00:05:52.018 --> 00:06:00.818 Because he lived with only his sister, he knew that someone had killed his mother and father. 00:06:01.235 --> 00:06:12.455 One day he left to go hunting and when he came back he told his sister 00:06:12.455 --> 00:06:29.263 “I heard some people chiselling out on the ice.” 00:06:29.263 --> 00:06:38.898 His sister told him he should stay away from them. 00:06:38.898 --> 00:07:00.253 "They tend to harm and kill people," she told him. 00:07:00.962 --> 00:07:09.178 He didn’t listen to her and went on his way out again. 00:07:09.178 --> 00:07:17.603 He went to the place where he had heard the chiselling noises and sure enough, there they were. 00:07:17.603 --> 00:07:27.363 They were busy trying to catch beaver. 00:07:27.363 --> 00:07:40.460 He ventured onto the ice and he remembered his sister’s warnings but continued walking. 00:07:40.460 --> 00:07:47.925 As he went further onto the ice, he knew that they were watching him. 00:07:48.134 --> 00:07:54.557 The young giants were with their fathers and they said 00:07:54.557 --> 00:08:08.779 “Look at that person walking onto ice. Who is that?” 00:08:09.238 --> 00:08:16.537 They watched him and tried to figure out who this person was. 00:08:16.537 --> 00:08:23.836 As they watched him, the person began to get smaller in size as he walked towards them. 00:08:24.295 --> 00:08:31.594 His snowshoes got bigger and bigger as he got smaller. 00:08:31.594 --> 00:08:42.980 As he came closer the large snowshoes started to make him stumble because of his small size. 00:08:42.980 --> 00:08:50.988 They laughed at him whenever he would stumble over his oversized snowshoes. 00:08:52.198 --> 00:09:04.669 He reached the group and the fathers of the young giants told them not to do any harm to him. 00:09:04.669 --> 00:09:22.061 “It might be Chihkaapaash, who was said he would do amazing and incredible things as he gets older.’’ 00:09:22.061 --> 00:09:25.356 This is what was said. 00:09:25.356 --> 00:09:33.281 They did not listen to their fathers and Chihkaapaash came to them. 00:09:33.864 --> 00:09:37.994 They asked him where he had come from. 00:09:38.786 --> 00:09:45.751 He told them, “I came from my home where I live with my sister.” 00:09:46.794 --> 00:09:55.845 They accepted his reply, “But whose big snowshoes are you wearing?” 00:09:55.845 --> 00:10:05.646 “Nuuhchaawii (my father),” he replied. He did not tell them the truth. 00:10:06.105 --> 00:10:15.906 Because of his small size, the young giants thought of him as a child. 00:10:15.906 --> 00:10:23.247 They started to make fun and laugh at him. 00:10:23.539 --> 00:10:31.797 Their fathers told them quietly not to bother or try to hurt him. 00:10:31.797 --> 00:10:39.347 But the young giants kept on talking and laughing at him in secret. 00:10:39.347 --> 00:10:44.268 They had been busy trying to prepare and block the hole where the beavers came out 00:10:44.268 --> 00:10:47.980 and the area where they would try and push him into the water. 00:10:47.980 --> 00:10:53.903 His sister had warned him beforehand, "Do not go near them." 00:10:53.903 --> 00:11:02.536 “When people get to them while they are trying to catch the beaver, they try to kill them.” 00:11:03.245 --> 00:11:10.670 “They order that person to sit and try to catch the beaver as it swims through the tunnel.” 00:11:11.337 --> 00:11:19.178 His sister had warned him. He remembered what she told him, but he ignored her advice. 00:11:19.178 --> 00:11:28.187 The young giants continued to prepare the place where they would tell him to sit 00:11:28.187 --> 00:11:39.198 and try to catch the beaver as it was frightened out of its lodge and swam through the tunnel. 00:11:39.907 --> 00:11:48.207 When they finished getting ready, they told him to sit and wait to catch the beaver when it swam by. 00:11:48.207 --> 00:11:57.550 He agreed but the fathers of the young giants did not agree to what their sons were telling him to do. 00:11:58.467 --> 00:12:07.309 His sister had warned him that when a person caught the beaver it would drag the person into the water 00:12:07.309 --> 00:12:15.276 and swim away with him until that person was drowned. 00:12:15.276 --> 00:12:22.700 He remembered but he did not do as she had told him. 00:12:23.743 --> 00:12:33.794 He sat down. put his hand in the water and got ready to catch the beaver when it swam in the tunnel. 00:12:34.754 --> 00:12:40.593 When he was ready to grab the beaver, the young giants caught it. 00:12:40.593 --> 00:12:46.557 They told him to try and grab the beaver and this is what he did. 00:12:46.557 --> 00:12:58.611 As he grabbed the beaver, he could feel the young giants trying to push him into the water. 00:12:58.611 --> 00:13:03.699 He fought against them as they tried to push him into the water 00:13:03.699 --> 00:13:07.661 he hung on so they couldn’t push him. 00:13:07.661 --> 00:13:16.796 When he caught the beaver, he stood up holding it. The young giants could not push him into the water. 00:13:16.796 --> 00:13:23.344 He got the beaver out of the water, dropped it on the ice, hit it and killed it. 00:13:23.344 --> 00:13:29.642 After he threw it further away from the hole, near his bow and snowshoes. 00:13:29.642 --> 00:13:38.108 As he threw it to the side, he said to himself, “You prevented me from doing what I wanted to do.” 00:13:38.108 --> 00:13:52.957 He took the string from his bow and proceeded to tie the beaver to pull it as he went on his way 00:13:52.957 --> 00:14:01.048 “Yes, you really disturbed me in doing what I wanted to do.” The young giants started to run after him. 00:14:01.048 --> 00:14:09.723 The young giants told him to stop and not take their beaver. They tried to pull it from him. 00:14:10.307 --> 00:14:14.854 “Stop that,” he told them, “you’re really bothering me.” 00:14:15.729 --> 00:14:28.701 They did not stop even when their fathers told them to stop. Later he started to... 00:14:29.285 --> 00:14:38.919 It was said that the giants had arms with no elbows 00:14:38.919 --> 00:14:46.260 so their arms were straight from their shoulders to their hands. 00:14:47.011 --> 00:14:49.680 This is how they were. 00:14:49.680 --> 00:14:54.059 Suddenly he turned around towards them and said they were really bothering him. 00:14:54.059 --> 00:15:03.319 He grabbed them by their arms and started to break them. 00:15:03.319 --> 00:15:05.905 Of course they started to scream in pain. 00:15:06.322 --> 00:15:13.579 He did this to all the young giants who tried to take his beaver. 00:15:13.913 --> 00:15:24.006 After he broke their arms they stopped, he went home to his sister with his beaver. 00:15:24.924 --> 00:15:33.599 As he left he could hear the young giants screaming in pain. 00:15:33.599 --> 00:15:39.063 He ignored their cries and continued his way. 00:15:39.063 --> 00:15:41.649 When he got to their camp, he went inside. 00:15:41.649 --> 00:15:46.070 His sister said, knowing he had gone against her advice 00:15:46.070 --> 00:15:59.750 “Darn him! I bet he went to the people who I said not to approach.” 00:16:01.335 --> 00:16:09.593 He replied to his sister, “They were really annoying me!” 00:16:09.802 --> 00:16:18.644 His sister went ahead and started to skin the beaver he brought home. 00:16:18.644 --> 00:16:29.113 As she was doing this, they could hear noises from the giants approaching their home. 00:16:30.739 --> 00:16:39.790 His sister said to him, “I bet the people we hear are going to kill us.” 00:16:39.790 --> 00:16:46.505 He just pretended not to hear her. “Hurry up and skin the beaver,” he told her. 00:16:46.505 --> 00:16:49.925 She did as he told her. 00:16:49.925 --> 00:16:56.640 When the voices seemed near to their home... 00:16:57.391 --> 00:17:10.195 Something happened to their home, and the sister felt that their home had changed in some way. 00:17:10.404 --> 00:17:21.331 Their whole home was covered with rock. There was no place to go in or out. 00:17:21.331 --> 00:17:30.382 It was enclosed in rock. He was inside with his sister and the beaver. 00:17:30.382 --> 00:17:42.102 When the voices came closer he said to his sister, “Spin the beaver, spin the beaver.” 00:17:43.437 --> 00:17:52.237 He said it in a loud voice to make sure they heard him. 00:17:52.237 --> 00:17:57.367 It was time for her to take the beaver down from roasting beside the fire. 00:17:57.367 --> 00:18:13.383 The forearms of the beaver are cut separately and the rendered fat is dripped into a container. 00:18:13.383 --> 00:18:22.101 When they had finished eating, he asked her, “What did you do with the beaver fat?” 00:18:22.101 --> 00:18:24.853 In the morning he asked her again 00:18:24.853 --> 00:18:35.447 “What did you do with the beaver fat?’’ She told him she had put it away. 00:18:35.447 --> 00:18:42.412 He told her to give it to him. She did as she was asked and handed it to him. 00:18:42.412 --> 00:18:53.674 He told her, “Sister, I will bring this to them.” 00:18:54.133 --> 00:18:58.095 He left and came to their home. 00:18:58.095 --> 00:19:05.811 He went inside and saw the young ones lying close to the fire, 00:19:05.811 --> 00:19:13.277 still moaning in pain from their broken arms. 00:19:13.277 --> 00:19:24.037 He told them to stop moaning and to be quiet. “I will heal you,” he told them. 00:19:24.580 --> 00:19:34.548 He took out the beaver fat he had brought and sat down beside them. 00:19:35.549 --> 00:19:45.809 He rubbed the fat on their arms. He did this to every one of them. 00:19:46.351 --> 00:19:54.193 After he rubbed the fat on their arms he would move them close to the fire to get heat on them. 00:19:54.193 --> 00:20:00.782 As their arms got warm, he would move and bend them up and down where they had been broken. 00:20:00.782 --> 00:20:07.664 He moved them up and down like this. 00:20:07.664 --> 00:20:11.627 He kept doing this and asked them if the pain was subsiding. 00:20:11.627 --> 00:20:20.469 After a while they told him that the pain was diminishing. 00:20:20.469 --> 00:20:27.017 Later, they said that the pain was gone. 00:20:27.851 --> 00:20:40.030 He told them to try and move their arms up and down on their own to see if the pain was gone. 00:20:40.030 --> 00:20:56.004 They did as they were told. They were happy because the pain was all gone. 00:20:56.546 --> 00:21:06.431 He asked them again, “Is the pain all gone for sure?” They assured him that the pain was gone. 00:21:07.391 --> 00:21:13.313 This is the way their arms are now. 00:21:13.313 --> 00:21:23.073 “You will be able to move your arms this way as you work.” 00:21:24.533 --> 00:21:37.504 “As for Nishiiyiyiu, who will come in the future, this is the way he will be.” 00:21:37.504 --> 00:21:49.391 He already heard that we would be coming into existence. 00:21:49.391 --> 00:22:00.027 When he comes, would his arms be straight like this, without bends? 00:22:00.027 --> 00:22:12.956 His arms wouldn’t have bends and wouldn’t be useful. 00:22:14.207 --> 00:22:21.631 “This is how you will be.” What he did was an amazing miracle. 00:22:21.631 --> 00:22:34.144 He had righted the wrong he did to them, when he broke their arms. 00:22:34.936 --> 00:22:43.445 He healed them and they were able to use their arms in any way they wanted. 00:22:43.987 --> 00:22:58.752 As for all of us, the Nishiiyiyiu, this is how we got to have arms like this, that move up and down. 00:22:58.752 --> 00:23:08.136 This legend tells us on how we came to have arms that could bend. 00:23:09.012 --> 00:23:16.937 This is why I decided to tell this legend that I was told when I was young. 00:23:16.937 --> 00:23:25.821 I told my children this legend before they were taken to the Residential Schools. 00:23:25.821 --> 00:23:33.036 I used this legend to teach them the value of not hurting others, no matter where they were, 00:23:33.036 --> 00:23:41.962 the children you play with, you have to remember not to hurt them in any way. 00:23:42.379 --> 00:23:50.095 In this legend, it is said that he who hurt people, must heal them. 00:23:50.095 --> 00:24:02.274 This is how it was, he healed them after he had harmed them. 00:24:02.274 --> 00:24:08.947 He didn’t kill them even when they tried to get the beaver, 00:24:09.406 --> 00:24:15.871 but he did hurt them by breaking their arms. 00:24:15.871 --> 00:24:21.960 There is a teaching in this legend. He managed to heal the people he had harmed. 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:25.464 This was Chihkaapaash. 00:24:25.464 --> 00:24:33.472 He had the power to heal while he was still here. 00:24:34.014 --> 00:24:52.157 It was prophesied that he would have these healing powers when Chihkaapaash comes into this world. 00:24:52.157 --> 00:25:02.918 This prophecy came true as it was foretold before he was born to this world. 00:25:02.918 --> 00:25:13.887 I used to tell my children and other kids this legend when we are out on the land. 00:25:13.887 --> 00:25:21.853 I tell them the moral of the legend: to try not to hurt and harm anyone in any way. 00:25:21.853 --> 00:25:30.946 We’re not given the power that was given to him. 00:25:30.946 --> 00:25:45.877 Even when he hurts people, he was given the power to heal them back. 00:25:45.877 --> 00:25:57.764 He was given the power to give us the ability to make our bodies work better. 00:25:57.764 --> 00:26:10.777 It was Chihkaapaash who had that special power. 00:26:11.653 --> 00:26:18.034 This is what I tell them and this is what you should also remember. 00:26:18.034 --> 00:26:26.376 If you injure a person on the leg or the arm, you do not have the power to heal that person. 00:26:26.376 --> 00:26:32.382 The only way the person can get better is to go to a doctor. 00:26:32.382 --> 00:26:46.646 But Chihkaapaash was given a unique power and this was foretold way back in the past. 00:26:47.230 --> 00:26:52.861 He would be able to perform certain miracles and this was one that was told in this legend, 00:26:52.861 --> 00:26:56.948 the power that he had. 00:26:57.490 --> 00:27:11.671 Children today should be reminded not to cause harm to others 00:27:11.671 --> 00:27:22.057 but to carry this teaching and moral of this legend. 00:27:22.057 --> 00:27:30.899 My grandchildren, they don’t understand the legend because they understand more English than Cree. 00:27:30.899 --> 00:27:38.990 This is why I wanted to tell this legend.