Water monsters

[Linda A Cumberland]

For what it's worth, I heard an animated account of a water monster in the
lake at Ft. Qu'Apelle (Saskatchewan) from one of my Assiniboine
consultants in the summer of 1998.  Told in English as we were
picnicking by the lake, and having the quality of an urban legend (she
didn't see it herself, but a classmate from Lebret School did when she
sneaked out at night - scared her so badly she never sneaked out
again...), the "monster" bore no resemblance to an alligator - it was
huge, snake-like, and had antlers! This appearance was affirmed by the
other Assiniboine listener (from accounts she had heard). The "sighting"
would have been in the 1960s.  I haven't pursued the story, but the
existence of the monster seems to be generally accepted in the area. Does
anyone know of a tradition involving such an antlered monster?

Linda


> The Great Lakes Algonquian tribes all have water monster legends. Even the
> Cheyennes have one. I think it's safe to say that any identification of this
> water monster with alligators is a later, post-contact attempt to assign an
> English name to the monster. (That said, tho, in the earliest contact times
> apparently there *did* used to be alligators in the lowest stretches of the
> Ohio river, and there are known specific words for 'alligator' in Miami,
> Shawnee, and Unami Delaware.)
>