Ojibwe Tale: Papase

The term Ojibwe comes from Utchibou, name given to the XVIIe century to a group that lived north of what is now Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Here is one of their stories: Papase.

The Ojibway were part of a series of very close, but distinct groups, occupying a territory located between the northeast of the bay Georgian and eastern Lake Superior. These peoples who gathered near present-day Sault Ste. Mary are also called Saulteaux, a term that today refers primarily to the Ojibway peoples of northwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba.

Ojibway Papase

Contents

Papase

A woman wearing a red scarf, a black dress, and a white apron was
cooking in her kitchen early one morning when an old man approached
her. “May I have some bread, please? he asked. " Safe, "
she said.

The woman had just prepared a big batch of dough to make fry bread
(a traditional Ojibwe bread), so she put a nice big piece of dough
in the fry pan. It turned out to be a really nice piece and she
thought, “I can't give him this one – it's much too nice. »
For the second piece, she put a smaller amount of dough in the pan.
Well, this piece turned out much better than the first and she thought,
“Oh, this one is also too nice to give to this old man. »
So, she started on a third piece. This time, she could hardly any
dough in the pan. When it was ready, she was very surprised, for
this piece had turned out even more beautiful than the all the others.

Finally, the old man asked, "Is there any bread ready yet?" »
So she threw some crumbs in the pan and they produced by far the
most beautiful piece of fry bread. This made her angry. "Quit
begging,” she cried. "Get out of here!" You can't have
any of my bread! The old man stopped begging all right. Hey
stomped his foot a few times and said, "From now on you're
going to have to hunt and search for your food. » And he turned
the woman into a woodpecker.