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Overview
Kaktoogwasees grows up knowing only his parents in a remote woodland home. His father is called Kaktoogwak, glossed Thunder; his own name is glossed Little Thunder. When his mother’s sight fails, she sends him west to find a wife who can help keep the household. The chief Keekwahjoo, or Badger, joins him and recruits a runner who binds one leg, a man who plugs his nostrils to restrain hurricanes and a pine-chopper whose strength works on a vast scale.
The companions’ abilities can cause trouble as well as solve it. To support the pine-chopper’s family during his absence, Badger arranges the theft of a barrel of money from a merchant. The wind-blower’s answer to pursuing soldiers scatters the party and buries the thief with his barrel, requiring a rescue. Later the pine-chopper alternates between an excessive fire and an enormous shelter with too small a fire. Glooscap receives the party, supplies abundant food from a little bone scraping, gives Badger powerful clothing and lends a rock-like canoe.
With a percussion instrument and song provided by Glooscap, Badger charms the skunk and beaver magicians guarding their route. At the destination, Little Thunder’s prospective father-in-law is Keukw, glossed Earthquake. The suitor’s introductory dance raises thunder, lightning, wind and rain until the alarmed chief asks him to stop. Badger kills a rival who appears as a huge dragon to seize the bride. Their runner completes a world-circling race without spilling his glass of water; the pine-chopper wins a deadly wrestling match at a cliff.
When an opposing magician sends a tempest after the wedding party, the wind-blower turns it back and leaves the canoe’s route calm. Badger again makes the beaver and skunk respond joyfully to music, allowing passage without killing them. Glooscap hosts another celebration with little Marten’s beautifully dressed companions, translated as fairies, and even joins their dancing. The party returns the canoe, each helper leaves at his own home, and Little Thunder brings Earthquake’s daughter to his delighted parents.
Origins & earliest records
Silas Tertius Rand, Legends of the Micmacs, edited by Helen L. Webster (1894), tale XIII. The chapter does not name its teller. The printed preface explains Rand’s English retelling and checking procedure and Webster’s later editorial work.
Records & interpretation
Complete XIII, The Adventures of Kaktoogwasees, pp.110–119. This plot is kept separate from Ben Brooks’s The Beautiful Bride, despite their similar specialist companions. Rand’s footnoted European fairy comparisons and migration deductions are not adopted as historical findings.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Legends of the Micmacs
Complete XIII, The Adventures of Kaktoogwasees, pp.110–119; prefacev–ix.
Family, evolution & connections
Little Thunder’s parents — Rand XIII
Opening parentage on p. 110 and the return to both parents on p. 119.
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- Kaktoogwak (Thunder) and unnamed wife
A jointly labelled parental branch records their only son. The mother is unnamed. Little Thunder’s bride is separately the daughter of Keukw; she is not a daughter of his own parents. Glooscap and the travelling helpers are hosts or companions, not additional parents. No further generations are supplied.
Earthquake’s daughter and Little Thunder’s marriage — Rand XIII
Keukw’s wedding reception on p. 116 and explicit daughter identification at the ending, p. 119.
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- Keukw (Earthquake)
- Unnamed daughter; wife of Kaktoogwasees (Little Thunder)
One father-to-daughter branch records the marriage on the daughter’s label. The bride and her mother are unnamed; no mother is reconstructed. Keukw’s son-in-law greeting agrees with the completed wedding and final narrator identification. No descendants are stated.
Kaktoogwak (Thunder) and an unnamed mother
The opening calls Little Thunder the couple’s only son and names his father Kaktoogwak. His mother remains unnamed. These are the particular narrative’s parents; the similarly meaningful names do not establish a universal genealogy for weather beings.
The unnamed daughter of Keukw (Earthquake)
Keukw receives Little Thunder as his son-in-law, and the wedding is celebrated. The ending again identifies the bride as Earthquake’s daughter and returns the couple to Little Thunder’s living parents. No offspring of the marriage are stated.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Legends of the Micmacs
New York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1894, Wellesley Philological Publications; Silas Tertius Rand’s English translations edited by Helen L. Webster. Preface dated November 1893 read completely; selected episodes independently read from retained original-volume OCR.
- Little Thunder’s marriage quest depends on an allied party, Glooscap’s assistance and repeated contests rather than thunder alone.
XIII, The Adventures of Kaktoogwasees, pp.110–119, complete narrative and notes
Unnamed bride and mother remain unnamed. Glooscap’s servant Marten is called a fairy by Rand’s explicit inference, not established biological classification; ethnogeographic and moralising notes are attributed, not adopted. No songs or ritual formula copied. Translation process and editor’s intervention retained; no original-language transcription claimed.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textRand1894 original collectionResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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