Gluskap
North American Indian Mythology. Cottie Burland, Hamlyn Publishing, 1965.
Two brothers lived at the beginning of time. Gluskap represented righteousness. He made the plains, food plants, animals and humans. Malsum represented destruction. He made rocks, thickets and poisonous animals. Malsum tried to find magic to kill his brother, Gluskap. He asked Gluskap "what is your weakness, what would kill you." Unsuspecting of Malsum's evil intention, Gluskap replied "an owl feather." To this Malsum mistakenly admitted that only a fern root would kill him. One night Malsum took the feather of an owl's wing and used it in place of an arrowhead to kill his brother. Gluskap fell to his death, but he summoned his own magic and was reborn again. Believing that it was Malsum who tried to kill him, Gluskap went into the forest stream declaring that only a flowering reed would kill him. A toad heard this and hopped away. The toad searched for Malsum in the forest. When he found Malsum he asked him for the power to fly in exchange for his secret. Malsum refused, for a toad with wings is foolish. In anger and humiliation, the toad sought revenge and returned to Gluskap to warn him of the danger. Gluskap plucked a large-rooted stem. With it he struck down Malsum and his evil magic into the earth. Malsum did not have the power to be reborn like Gluskap. Instead he became a vindictive wolf. Left in peace Gloskap was able to finish creating the earth from his mother's body.
source: [1]
Gluskap, a culture heromythical figure who gives people the tools of civilization, such as language and fire of the Algonquian-speaking people of North America, created the world and has helped his people in many situations. According to Native American mythology, Gluskap was responsible for making all the good things in the universe—the air, the earth, the animals, and the people—from his mother's body. His evil brother Malsum created the mountains and valleys and all the things that are a bother to humans, such as snakes.
There are many tales about Gluskap's adventures and how he serves his people, teaching them to hunt, fish, weave, and do many other useful things. In one story, a giant monster steals all the water and will not share it with anyone else. At the end of the story, Gluskap fights the monster and turns it into a bullfrog.
source: [2]
Gluskap had fashioned the fishes from dirt. Then he breathed life into them to populate the rivers and the sea. The first few fishes that he made were crude and ugly, but he improved with practice. Soon he could create beautiful fishes. One day just as Gluskap had finished his most perfect fish, his evil twin stomped it flat. That is how the flounder came to be.
Gluskap also made the Indians, corn to feed them, and food for the other creatures. Gluskap wanted to make sure the other animals wouldn't harm his favorite creation, so he gathered together all the animals he had made and said, "Man!" The prudent ones ran and hid. But the squirrel, which at that time was very large, became very upset. It began to run around wildly, screeching loudly and knocking down large trees in its path. Obviously the squirrel would not be a friend to man. Gluskap patted the squirrel to calm it. With each stroke he made it smaller and smaller, until it became the size of a man's hand. Even today, whenever a squirrel sees man, it still runs up and down trees, scolding and chattering in a very quarrelsome way.
The Indians of Maine depended on the woods, the rivers, and the sea for all their needs. In the winter they lived inland where the hunting was good. In the spring they moved to the coast and the islands. They camped together in large groups until early fall. Along the shore, they enjoyed the cool breezes, the fresh fish and lobsters, and some relief from stinging black flies and mosquitoes. These are some of the reasons people still visit the coast of Maine today.
The Native Americans invented stories to explain the world around them, to teach their children, and to amuse their friends. Each person had his or her own special style of storytelling so each story had many versions, each slightly different from the rest.
source: [3]