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By Root 400 0

one old man named Medwe-ganoonind, he’s the one who told me what would happen with the Drum. We used to start driving to Big Drum ceremonies over there at Round Lake. And as we prepared to leave, that old man started talking. Over there when we arrived, he was still jabbering at me when we got there, even when we disembarked. He was there first thing that morning—unbelievable. That’s how the old man talked to me. And when we left again, he didn’t tell about the same things again, he always told me about something different. When we arrived here, that old man was still telling me about his knowledge of things as an elder man. That’s how I know about these Drums and why I was thought of to carry that Drum, as maybe I must have been known to have learned about these things from the old men who talked to me. Certainly those elderly men were always conversing with me, particularly that one old man.

The One Called Zhimaaganish

[11] There was one young boy whom I accompanied all the time—we were always together, and we went to school together too. One time we were standing around near the road, laughing with one another, as we were talking and laughing together there. Well that elder man named Zhimaaganish came walking by, and we were laughing together, letting ourselves say whatever [came to mind]. Wa, as that old man was walking, he turned around just startled there when he saw us. And he was holding onto those canes too. As he saw us, he thought we were laughing at him. “So why are you guys laughing,” that old man says to us. As he pointed at us with [his cane], we were scared. I didn’t tell that old man anything as he just stared at us the whole time, so we started to run away to go home. But no. I told my father and mother where they were, “That old man, Biindige-gaabaw and I were talking by the road. We were laughing together and that Zhimaaganish walked by. He thought we were laughing at him, he said. You shouldn’t laugh at elders; that’s what I was thinking. Then that old man got mad at us. Then he saw us again by the tree.” “Oh no,” my mom tells me. “Come quick, hurry up, go over and give that old man tobacco telling him you were not laughing at him. Hurry up. Go on. As fast as you can, go over to his house. Go inside,” she says.

[12] And so I went inside, wanting to be as timid as possible. As I entered I nudged that old man where he was sitting. Boy, he just stared at me, and kept an eye on his cane. So I told him, “Hey Zhimaaganish. You weren’t being laughed at over there. We were just laughing at one another again.” He was given tobacco then, “So I won’t be thought of in a bad way because I wasn’t laughing at you.” Boy, then that old man laughed too. “Ho, ho, ho, ho, grandson. It’s good, in a good way that you come to do this,” he said. “I don’t know you. But I think you guys were laughing in a good way,” that old man said. So for the first time again I was happy when I prepared to go home. Golly, I laughed [with] him and I was singing again as I left. That was the first time I gave him tobacco. Then my father told me, and my mother too, “Never ever laugh at those old men and old women when you’re standing around someplace,” he says. “Hold the elder in high regard,” he said. “One time the elders are going to watch over you. They’ll take care of you in various endeavors,” he told me. And they spoke the truth.

The Learned Ones

[13] And that’s why I’m so learned myself. I tell [people] about the things I know about. I can’t know everything. I think in a number of ways, a variety of ways in my thinking, the Spirits help me when I want to talk. I told you something about when I went in the dance hall there during the Big Drum Ceremony. I didn’t know anything. Yet I’m helped by the singing. One time I was thought of over there to give the speech, right at once I knew what I was going to say. It’s not necessary for me to remember what I’m going to say, when I come to that point there I simply speak.

[14] “You’ll fare this way yourself later on, and maybe this must be how things are with you right now. You will be