<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Probably every Algonquian group had its little people legends — in Miami-Illinois, their word for little people is <i class="">páyiihsa</i>, which has cognates in Meskwaki and Potawatomi. They’re a kind of malevolent dwarf who live by rivers and terrorize travelers. They definitely have mouths, tho, since they speak normally. Jacob Dunn described them as a “small supernatural who is supposed to guide departed spirits to
the ‘happy hunting ground’”. Albert Gatschet went into more detail and said of them, “walk on top of water.
could be tracked on a rock. Live on the ground, in the air; there are only two
of them and they are twins (tchikamwáki). They are ½ men, ½ bears, being the
product mother human [sic], father a bear.” Gatschet also said “there are only two
dwarfs, and they have many stories about them. Swim around in water, rivers, timber
– are naked, and of the male sex only. They always stay together. Story how
they came into existence. There was a woman whose husband was away for a whole
day whenever he was hunting. She then went to a cave or hollow tree slanting up
where a bear lived. From this union originated two babies, and these were the
pá-issa or dwarfs.”<div class=""><br class=""><div class="">If you’re interested, the main Peoria story that was recorded about <i class="">páyiihsaki </i>is included in the “New Voices for Old Words” volume I edited for the University of Nebraska Press and which came out last year.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">best,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Dave Costa </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jun 3, 2016, at 6:36 AM, Bousquet Marie-Pierre <<a href="mailto:marie-pierre.bousquet@umontreal.ca" class="">marie-pierre.bousquet@umontreal.ca</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="">Kwe kakina, hi everyone,<br class=""><br class="">I am looking for documentation about specific little people. There are different kind of little people among the Algonquins: memegweshik, Anishinabeshishak, Nadoweshishak. I am looking for stories about little people who smell the food to get fed. They come during the night and you know they came because the food has no flavour. One of my informants told me they have no bums and apparently no mouth. I would like to know if someone has heard of that legend.<br class=""><br class="">Kitci mikwetc, many thanks,<br class="">———————————<br class="">Marie-Pierre Bousquet PhD<br class="">Directrice du Programme en études autochtones<<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pea.udem" class="">https://www.facebook.com/pea.udem</a>><br class="">Professeure titulaire/Full professor<br class="">Département d'anthropologie<br class="">Université de Montréal<br class="">C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-ville<br class="">Montréal (Qc) H3C 3J7<br class="">CANADA<br class="">Tel: 514-343-2152<<a href="tel://Tel:%20514-343-2152" class="">tel://Tel:%20514-343-2152</a>><br class=""><a href="mailto:marie-pierre.bousquet@umontreal.ca" class="">marie-pierre.bousquet@umontreal.ca</a><<a href="mailto:marie-pierre.bousquet@umontreal.ca" class="">mailto:marie-pierre.bousquet@umontreal.ca</a>><br class=""><a href="http://www.graaq.ca" class="">www.graaq.ca</a><<a href="http://www.graaq.ca/" class="">http://www.graaq.ca/</a>><br class=""><br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">Algonquiana mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:Algonquiana@listserv.linguistlist.org" class="">Algonquiana@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br class="">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/algonquiana<br class=""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></div></body></html>