A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Tomah Josephs’s lake-lover story concerns a woman whose successive husbands have died. Her sixth husband secretly follows her berry-gathering journey and sees a huge serpent rise through foam and coil around her. He concludes that poison passing through her caused the previous deaths. He sleeps separately, and she dies during the night; her body is sunk in the serpent’s pond. This is the causal belief within the tale, not an account of a communicable disease.
Origin of the Black Snakes gives At-o-sis a different relationship. A woman sees bright eyes through lake ice, then a handsome shining man with a silver breastplate. Her husband finds silvery traces and later witnesses the visits; when she refuses to leave, he departs. She tells her parents that her new husband treats her better and supplies game and furs. After bearing many serpents she warns that they may no longer recognize her. Years later hunters find the dwelling empty and upright-looking black snakes nearby, which withdraw without harming them.
Origins & earliest records
The lake-lover tale is expressly credited to Tomah Josephs of Peter Dana’s Point, Maine. The following Black Snakes story carries the Passamaquoddy label without its own named teller. Both appear in Leland’s 1884 collection; their outcomes are kept separate, and his comparative disease-origin speculation is not adopted.
Records & interpretation
Complete selected narrative and attached source notes were inspected. Leland’s editorial comparisons and theories remain separate from the narrated actions.
In the literature
“The creature was of immense size.”
Of the Woman who loved a Serpent who lived in a Lake · Leland English collector/reteller; individual teller qualification in attestation
The repeatedly widowed wife meets an immense snake in a hidden pond. Her sixth husband observes the embrace, infers the earlier husbands’ deaths from transferred venom and refuses shared sleeping; she dies that night and is sunk in the serpent’s pond. These are narrative causation and the observer’s inference, not current medical knowledge. No practical treatment or disease transmission method copied.
“a very tall and very handsome man, dressed in silver.”
Origin of the Black Snakes · Leland English collector/reteller; individual teller qualification in attestation
A bright-eyed silver-clad lake man explicitly identified as At-o-sis becomes the wife’s preferred partner. Her first husband leaves; parents receive gifts from the new partner, and she gives birth to many serpents. Years later hunters find no one in the lodge and harmless upright-looking black snakes nearby. She is not explicitly killed, and the serpent population is not turned into venomous attackers from the earlier tale.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Algonquin Legends of New England
Of the Woman who loved a Serpent who lived in a Lake; Origin of the Black Snakes; complete relevant narrative and contributor notes.
- 02
The Algonquin Legends of New England — At-o-sis selected lake narratives
Leland original work1884; selected Gutenberg6803 plain transcription lacks inspected printed-imprint/page data, exact print impression and page numbers unidentified. Full author Preface and Authorities read.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
The Algonquin Legends of New England
Leland original work1884; selected Gutenberg6803 plain transcription lacks inspected printed-imprint/page data, exact print impression and page numbers unidentified. Full author Preface and Authorities read.
- The repeatedly widowed wife meets an immense snake in a hidden pond. Her sixth husband observes the embrace, infers the earlier husbands’ deaths from transferred venom and refuses shared sleeping; she dies that night and is sunk in the serpent’s pond. These are narrative causation and the observer’s inference, not current medical knowledge. No practical treatment or disease transmission method copied.
- A bright-eyed silver-clad lake man explicitly identified as At-o-sis becomes the wife’s preferred partner. Her first husband leaves; parents receive gifts from the new partner, and she gives birth to many serpents. Years later hunters find no one in the lodge and harmless upright-looking black snakes nearby. She is not explicitly killed, and the serpent population is not turned into venomous attackers from the earlier tale.
Origin of the Black Snakes; complete bounded selected prose narrative and described appended note
No whole collection/introduction, independent oral recording or separate comparative work inspected; diffusion/antiquity/scientific interpretations not independently demonstrated. Lyrics, formulas and practical ritual/treatment instructions excluded.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textLeland 1884: Of the Woman who loved a Serpent who lived in a Lake; Origin of the Black SnakesResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.