Stories told by Ruby Dawson Cranmer
2.2 Dzunukwa
Dzunukwa sleeps in the day. She finally wakes up when supper is over. There is nowhere she doesn’t go wandering in our homeland, wandering looking for children. There’s a basket attached to her back, and she puts children inside it. My late great grandmother told me this legend. There was one child, called Hunchback. He was the first that Dzunukwa took into her basket. After him, she went and got the rest of the children and put them into her basket too. (She must have had a really big basket!) “All finished,” thought Dzunukwa. But the hunchbacked child had a knife, and cut the bottom of the basket. The children fell out of the basket, and there were no children in Dzunukwa’s basket anymore. The children started to run, but Hunchback couldn’t run. So he was given a piggyback. Dzunukwa had to go back home hungry, since there were no children in her basket. Amen.
1.2 Wild Man of the Woods
A long time ago, when the men used to go out fishing in their boats, once in a while their boats wouldn’t work—they would just stop. They would end up on the beach, far away from anywhere. The men would have no place to go. That’s what happened to the Wild Man of the Woods. He had no place to go. He ended up living on an island. He made a house there for himself to sleep in, he ate the fruits there on the island, and he would sometimes dig for his food. He went fishing to eat, also. He was there on the island a long time, and he grew a lot of hair on his body. There was a lot of it. He 2 Wild Man of the Woods would often go down to the beach to dig for his food, then he’d go back up to his house. There was a boat that came to that place of his. The men (in the boat) were out hunting. A father brought his son along. Then he (the father) said to his son, “Don’t leave my side. You might get taken by the Wild Man of the Woods.” But the child didn’t listen. He went off searching for everything on the island. Meanwhile his father and the others went out hunting deer. Soon the child saw the Wild Man of the Woods, and got scared of him. Then the Wild Man of the Woods said, “Don’t be afraid of me, child. Come here!” And so he went to the Wild Man of the Woods. “You’re going to be fine” (the Wild Man of the Woods said). Meanwhile, his father stopped searching for him, and returned home with his companions. He couldn’t find his son. And so the child was taken care of by the Wild Man of the Woods. He was fed, and he (the Wild Man of the Woods) made him a place to sleep. Before three days had passed on the island, the boy’s father came back. Then the child saw his father. Then he asked his father, “Can the Wild Man of the Woods come, can he come home with us?” “No! No! No!” said the Wild Man of the Woods. “I can’t go back home with you. I will stay here on the island to protect the children who get lost just like you did. Go away with your father, I’ll be okay.” So the child went back with his father. As for the Wild Man of the Woods, he is still living there on the island. He stays there to look after everyone who can’t get back to where they live. That’s why you should listen to your parents. If you listen, bad things won’t happen to you. Amen.