The Turtle Insults The Chief Of The Birds

So Gluskabe was walking along the ocean when he killed a whale. After he’d done it, he went to tell his uncle, Turtle, the news: “Good luck for us, I’ve brought down a whale.” Turtle was pleased, and said they should go at once and fetch the meat.

They went to the shore where the whale lay, and they took as much as they wanted. Then Turtle called all the birds of the world to a feast. The sky filled with wings, the ground shook, and the flock was so thick it almost hid the sun. Everyone ate.

But Turtle did a foolish, nasty thing. He took his knife and cut the chief eagle behind, and the eagle didn’t even feel it at first. When the other birds saw what had been done, they were furious, and they agreed to kill Turtle.

Gluskabe warned his uncle that he’d acted badly, and that the birds would come for them. Turtle asked what they could do. Gluskabe said he would build a nest up in a tree, and told Turtle to climb up. Turtle tried, but couldn’t, so Gluskabe grabbed him and tossed him into the nest.

After a while, Turtle said he needed to pass water. Gluskabe told him to lean over the edge, and Turtle did. The water ran down below, and the warriors spotted him up in the nest. They looked up, saw Turtle there, and shot an arrow so he tumbled out. They jeered at him as he fell, calling him a hunched coward.

Turtle hit the ground and vanished. They searched, but couldn’t find him. Later, one of the leaders noticed an overturned bark basket, kicked it aside, and found Turtle hiding underneath. They held a trial and decided Turtle must die. They argued over how to kill him, cutting, burning, drowning, and Turtle answered each time, sometimes boasting, sometimes insisting it would not work.

At last they dragged him to a small pond, leaving the earth torn and rutted where he’d been hauled. They threw him into the water, and he sank, then rolled belly-up, stirring the pond until it turned muddy. He pushed his head above the surface and cried out that their land might kill them, but his own land did not kill him. The ducks heard his noise, and the warriors chose a diver, a loon, to go after him. After diving again and again, the loon found Turtle, and they hauled him out onto the shore.

This time they finished it. They knocked Turtle dead, and that was the end of the story.