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How Lox told a Lie. (Passamaquoddy.) Lox had a brother, who had
married a red squaw. When she was touched the red color rubbed off. The brother
kept this wife in a box. One day, returning, the
brother saw that Lox had red fingers. "Aha!" he cried, in a rage,
"you have taken my wife out of the box." But Lox denied it, so that
his brother believed him. The next time the husband
returned, Lox's fingers were again red. And again he was accused, and once more
he denied it. But as he swore with all his might that he was innocent,
something, as if on the floor, laughed, and said, "You lie. I was with
you; I helped you." Lox thought it was his right
foot. So he cut off the toes, and then the foot, but the accusation continued.
Thinking it was the other foot, he cut that off; yet as the testimony was
continued, he found that it was Taloose, even he himself, the bodily
offender in person, testifying against his lying soul. So in a rage he struck
himself such a blow with his war-club that he fell dead. I cannot give in full
all the adventures of Lox. I may, however, observe one thing of great
importance. Lox, in these tales, is the Evil Principle, that is, a giant by birth.
His two feet in this story are male and female; they talk as if they were
human. In the Edda, a giant's two feet beget together a six-headed son
(Vafthrudnismal): — "Foot with foot begot Of that wise Jotun, A six-headed son." Tuloose, literally translated, is the phallus.
The red squaw refers to the Newfoundland Indians, covered with red ochre. They
are believed to be now extinct. |