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By Root 411 0

of his working years—thirty-four to be exact—Archie worked for the Polk County Highway Department. However, as often happens with Indian elders, Archie in his retirement was more active than in his working years. His new work included counseling people recovering from alcohol addiction at the Ain-Dah-Ing (Endaayang) Half Way House in Spooner, Wisconsin. Throughout his ninety-four years on earth, Archie Mosay had never used alcohol, a practice to which he attributed his good health and long life. Traveling frequently to conduct various ceremonies and to speak at pow-wows and conferences, Archie became a true servant of the Spirit—working hard for his people until his last day on earth.

At age ninety-four, Archie was still independent, driving himself and living alone. His children looked after him, bringing food to his house and washing his clothes, but Archie lived his own life every day, never residing in a nursing home. He died in 1996.

Thousands of people approached Archie over the years—from his maternal grandmother’s reservation, Lac Courte Oreilles, from his father’s place of origin, Mille Lacs, and from many other places as well. Archie gave hundreds of people their Indian names. He initiated over a thousand people into the Medicine Lodge. He spoke at countless pipe ceremonies and Big Drum feasts.

Archie’s stories collected here are rich and varied. Archie remembered the first time he saw a car and the first time he saw a black man. He remembered what it was like when his children were born in wiigiwaams.5 He also recalled how Ojibwe people traveled long distances on foot to participate in the Medicine Dance at other communities. Frequently his family walked to Lac Courte Oreilles for this purpose, a one-way journey of three days on foot. His father journeyed by foot from Mille Lacs to Balsam Lake, six days round trip, in order to court Archie’s mother. Archie also remembered hunting in the St. Croix River Valley’s tall pine forests before logging decimated them—trees so large and canopies so dense that no other plant life grew on the forest floor and one could walk on the pine needles more quietly than on pavement. All these stories as well as several jokes and remembrances are included in this collection.

The stories presented here were usually recorded at the home of Archie Mosay.6 Sometimes I would arrange special trips to visit Archie for this purpose. More often, we would record a few stories before or after a ceremonial event that had brought me to Balsam Lake, such as the naming ceremony for my daughter, a funeral, a drum ceremony, or a Medicine Dance. The story “Mii Sa Iw” was written down through dictation. All others were recorded and then transcribed. Archie died before the transcription work was complete. For this reason, the titles for all of the stories presented here are of my creation. They are usually derived from lines in the stories themselves, but they are not part of the oral tradition they label. They are used here for ease of reading and differentiating stories. In the process of translating stories and selecting titles, I consulted Archie’s friends and family members as well as Ojibwe linguist Earl Otchingwanigan.

Usually, Archie selected the topics for discussion or the stories he wished to tell. Occasionally, one of his daughters or I would encourage him to share a story we had heard him tell before. In all cases, however, Archie, his daughter Dora Ammann, and I were careful to choose topics appropriate for recording and publication. No sacred legends from the Midewiwin were ever recorded. Archie always strictly maintained that those stories could only be learned in the Medicine Lodge itself and that they had to be passed on through oral tradition, without the aid of modern technology.

Archie’s dialect of Ojibwe differs somewhat from that of most other speakers in this book. Although two of Archie’s grandparents were from East Lake, his language was more heavily influenced by his grandmother from Lac Courte Oreilles and his grandfather from Balsam Lake. Thus, Archie uses zaaga’egan