A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The downstream community first notices its brook shrinking even after autumn rains. A messenger follows the dry channel to another settlement, where a dam serves an enormous chief with projecting yellow eyes, a broad mouth and long-toed feet. He dismisses the suffering and allows only a temporary trickle through the obstruction. The villagers prepare a desperate armed appeal, but Glooskap intervenes. At the upper village he receives only a small cup of dirty water and confronts the chief.
Glooskap strikes the chief's belly, releasing the river contained within him, then squeezes his back and throws the resulting bullfrog into the stream. The wrinkles on the frog's back are explained as marks of that grip. Meanwhile the thirsty villagers have imagined different ways of living in water during an hour when wishes come true. They become a leech, frog, crab, fish and other aquatic beings and are carried toward the sea. The hoarding chief and transformed villagers have different origins; the episode does not simply make all water animals fragments of the defeated monster.
Origins & earliest records
Leland's1884 chapter heading names Passamaquoddy and Micmac traditions, but its source note credits the full telling to Tomah Josephs. A separate unnamed older Passamaquoddy woman supplied the monster name Hahk-lee-be-mo. That later naming statement is not silently attributed to Josephs.
Records & interpretation
Complete Great Bull-Frog chapter and its source note read. Leland interprets the monster as winter ice penetrated by solar power; this is his comparative explanation, not a separately documented narrator statement. The spelling in this edition is retained without manufacturing additional aliases.
In the literature
“the river which has become incarnate in him.”
How Glooskcap conquered the Great Bull-Frog, and in what Manner all the Pollywogs, Crabs, Leeches, and other Water Creatures were created; full attached note · English collector/reteller Leland; source boundaries in context
The monster chief’s dam deprives a downstream village; a token release fails, then Glooskap confronts him, releases a mighty river from his body and compresses him into the Bull-Frog shape. The saved villagers independently become leech, spotted frog, crab and fish when their wishes are granted, rather than being changed as punishment by the chief. The note interprets the river as incarnate in the monster, not merely drunk.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Algonquin Legends of New England
How Glooskap conquered the Great Bull-Frog: complete chapter and separate name-attestation footnote.
- 02
The Algonquin Legends of New England — How Glooskcap conquered the Great Bull-Frog, and in what Manner all the Pollywogs, Crabs, Leeches, and other Water Creatures were created
The Algonquin Legends of New England, first work1884; selected Gutenberg plain transcription6803 lacks a printed imprint/page sequence in the inspected frontmatter, so exact source impression and printed pages unidentified. Complete author preface and Authorities read; chapter headings used as locators.
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
The Algonquin Legends of New England, first work1884; selected Gutenberg plain transcription6803 lacks a printed imprint/page sequence in the inspected frontmatter, so exact source impression and printed pages unidentified. Complete author preface and Authorities read; chapter headings used as locators.
- The monster chief’s dam deprives a downstream village; a token release fails, then Glooskap confronts him, releases a mighty river from his body and compresses him into the Bull-Frog shape. The saved villagers independently become leech, spotted frog, crab and fish when their wishes are granted, rather than being changed as punishment by the chief. The note interprets the river as incarnate in the monster, not merely drunk.
No entire collection/introduction, separate cited manuscript or contemporary community account reviewed. Author’s Norse/Eskimo diffusion and racial hierarchies are historical claims, not endorsed or independently proved.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- ResearchLeland: located primary collection with source notesResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
