Wesuhkechahk the Medicine Man
Collected and Illustrated By: James Ratt
Told By: Charles Roberts
All content © 1985 Lac La Ronge Indian Band Education Branch
One
day while Wesuhkechahk was out walking, he saw his little brother,
the chickadee, lying on his back underneath a huge pine tree. Wesuhkechahk
approached him and watched what he was doing there. He noticed that his
little brother didn't have any eyes, and he wondered what was wrong with
him.
The
little bird started moving around and finally kicked the trunk of
the tree. Wesuhkechahk heard little noises as something bumped down through
the branches. Upon closer inspection he discovered that they were little
eyes. He asked the chickadee what he was doing.
The
bird told him that his actions were a sure cure for a headache. "It's
very hard to do since one has to lie down for four days like I've been
doing here." said the bird. "But after four days you'll never have another
headache." Wesuhkechahk replied, "Well, little brother, I get terrible
headaches, so I know why you want to stop yours." The chickadee repeated,
"Well, try it if you like, big brother. As I said, the cure works everytime."
Wesuhkechahk
traveled on and soon got one of his headaches. He was in terrible
pain and kept crying, "Oh! Oh!" Soon he reached a huge pine tree. He lay
on his back under the tree, removed his eyes, and trew them up into the
branches. He lay like this for four days. He didn't mind staying put because
he was a lazy sort of character.
So
at the end of four days he kicked the trunk of the tree and his eyes
came down. He put them in and went on with his journey. However, knowing
Wesuhkechahk, he wanted an excuse to rest again and along came another
of his headaches.
He cried, "Oh!" and soon came another huge pine tree. He lay underneath the tree and threw his eyes into the branches. So at the end of four days he got his eyes from the tree branches and went in his journey.
Not
even two days had elapsed when yet another headache came along. He
found another huge pine tree to lie under. So at the end of four days
he kicked the trunk of the tree as usual, but this time his eyes missed
their sockets! He groped around under the tree searching for his eyes.
By
and by a fox spied Wesuhkechahk crawling around underneath the tree.
The fox asked, "Hey, big brother, what are you doing?" Wesuhkechahk explained
the situation to him. The fox offered to guide him by leading him on a
leash.
Off
they went. "Just a minute," said the fox, "You shouldn't go around
with empty eye sockets. We must find something to replace your eyes for
the time being."
Wesuhkechahk
replied, "Okay, but hurry and don't lie to me." "Don't worry,"
said the fox, "I'm not fooling you, big brother. I feel very sorry for
you because you can't see, and I'm trying my best to help you."
The fox ran off and soon found some moose dropping. He hurried back and placed the droppings in Wesuhkechahk's eye sockets. Then, wonder of wonders, Wesuhkechahk was able to see!
The
fox gave Wesuhkechahk some advice. "Don't ever do such a foolish
thing like throwing your eyes up to the branches and expecting them to
fall into their sockets again." Wesuhkechahk left his brother, the fox,
and went on his way.
Wesuhkechahk
was well known all over the land because he was always on the move.
He was everyone's big brother.
Wesuhkechahk continued on his way, looking for work to earn a living. He collected moose droppings on his way and soon he had filled half a sack.
Finally
he reached a village, and of course the people knew him right away.
One of the men asked him what he was carrying in his pack sack and he
replied, "I'm carrying eye medicine."
The man was overjoyed to hear this because most of the village people were suffering from an outbreak of eye-sores and failing eye-sight.
Wesuhkechahk was voted eye-doctor by the village people. He was very happy because he needed a job.
Wesuhkechahk
set up a clinic where the people came to be treated for their eye
problems. When Wesuhkechahk took off his eye glasses the people thought,
"What strange looking eyes he has." Then someone removed one of his eyes
and realized that they were only moose droppings.
The
people treated by Wesuhkechahk soon died. He was sentenced to be locked
up in a sort of prison for the rest of his life.
So ended Wesuhkechahk's travels.
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Write: Lac la Ronge Indian Band Education, Box 480, La Ronge, SK. S0J 1L0