The Crees, living northwest of the Micmacs, call this divine personage, whom, as Father Lacombe tells us, they regard as “The principal deity and the founder of these nations,” by the name _Wisakketjâk_, which means “the trickster,” “the deceiver.”[165] The Chipeways apply to him a similar term, _Nenaboj_, or as it is usually written, _Nanabojoo_, and _Nanaboshoo_, “the Cheat,” perhaps allied to _Nanabanisi_, he is cheated.[166]
This is the same deity that reappears under the names _Manabozho_, _Michabo_, and _Messou_, among the Chipeway tribes; as _Napiw_ among the Blackfeet; and as _Wetucks_ among the New England Indians where he is mentioned by Roger Williams as “A man that wrought great miracles among them, with some kind of broken resemblance to the Sonne of God.”[167]
These appellations have various significations. The last mentioned is apparently from _ock_ or _ogh_, father, with the prefix _wit_, which conveys the sense “in common” or “general.” Hence it would be “the common father.”
_Michabo_, constantly translated by writers “the Great Hare,” as if derived from _michi_, great, and _wabos_, hare, is really a verbal form from _michi_ and _wabi_, white, and should be translated, “the Great White One.” The reference is to the white light of the dawn, he, like most of the other American hero-gods, being an impersonation of the light.
The name _Wisakketjâk_, though entirely Algonkin in aspect, offers serious etymological difficulties, so unmanageable indeed that one of the best authorities, M. Cuoq, abandons the attempt.[168] Its most apparent root is _wisak_, which conveys the sense of annoyance, hurt or bitterness, and the name would thus seem to be applied to one who causes these disagreeable sensations.
In all the pure and ancient Algonkin cosmogonical legends, this divinity creates the world by his magic powers, peoples it with game and animals, places man upon it, teaches his favorite people the arts of the chase, and gives them the corn and beans. His work is disturbed by enemies of various kinds, sometimes his own brothers, sometimes by a formidable serpent and his minions.
These myths, when analyzed through the proper names they contain, and compared with those of the better known mythologies of the old world, show plainly that their original purport was to recount, under metaphorical language, on the one hand the unceasing struggle of day with night, light with darkness, and on the other, that no less important conflict which is ever waging between the storm and sunshine, the winter and summer, the rain and the clear sky.