Story of the Clam
based on an Algonquin legend "Tchikabesh"
Long ago when the giants were hunting people and eating them, the
people made their houses deep in the woods so the giants wouldn’t
find them.
One day Tchikabesh wanted to go see these giants his
sister had been talking about. "Sister,” Tchikabesh said, " I want to visit the land of the giants to see how they live."
She was scared for her brother but she knew that he was
different from the other people. Her brother was a special boy who was
gifted to understand the creatures and the creatures had helped him on
the many journeys he had taken before. "Be very careful, Tchikabesh, the giants could smell you and chase you until they catch you," she said.
He left early the next day, walking along the lake.
He decided to go for a swim. He jumped into the cold water and jumped right out. A clam was stuck on his big toe.
"LET GO!" Tchikabesh yelled out, tugging at it.
The clam let go of the boy. "You stuck your toe in my mouth as I was yawning and I just snapped," said the clam.
Chuckling at the boy, the clam knew it was an accident. Tchikabesh excused
himself and told him he was going to the land of the giants. The clam
asked the boy if he could tag along. The boy put him in his bag and he
started to walk to the land of the giants.
After days of walking they began to see great big moccasin tracks.
Tchikabesh stepped into one track and he started to count for every step he took. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," he counted.
The clam saw the tracks and said, " If the tracks are that size, the giant
should be as tall as the biggest tree we have back home." They followed
the tracks, hiding behind the trees for protection. Tchikabesh came out of the
woods and saw a great big lake. Across this great big lake they could see
the house of the giants. It was so big. He could hear the giants talking.
They were talking about hunting the people on their next hunting trip.
"I could almost smell him," the giant woman told her husband.
"Me too,” he said and stepped out of his house.
"It is one of the people. Where is my hunting club‘?" said the giant.
Tchikabesh heard what the giant was saying so he started to run. For seven days and seven nights he ran and he could hear the giant’s foot steps. Thump, thump, thump. They were getting closer and closer and Tchikabesh could almost see him when he ran into his house. The clam told him to put him on the roof.
That’s when the giant found their house. The giant hit the roof
with his giant hunting club, but his club broke. He grabbed his big ice
chisel and hit the roof and the chisel broke. He tried hitting with his
arrow and the arrow broke. He hit with his hand and broke his fingers.
The giant went home because he knew the house was protected by a
strong spirit.
One that could not be broken.
