Mikchich the Mud-Turtle leaping over his father-in-law’s lodge, after Tomah Joseph’s design
The caption identifies the Mud-Turtle’s leap over his father-in-law’s lodge. Leland combines several Mi’kmaq and Passamaquoddy versions of the transforming relative’s story; this illustration is one particular representation.
Overview
At Piktook the poor older Turtle hosts Glooskap, who values his good humour. The hero lends him a belt and fine clothing, making him young and handsome, then arranges his marriage to the chief’s youngest daughter. Rival young men try to trample him during a ball game. He escapes by leaping over the lodge twice, but on the third leap becomes caught on its poles.
Glooskap hardens him with smoke and promises exceptional endurance on land and in water. A note distinguishes John Gabriel’s Passamaquoddy tobacco-smoke version from the tent-fire smoke in Rand’s manuscript. Later, Turtle’s successful moose hunt further angers his rivals. They burn him without harm, then throw him into water after he pretends to fear drowning. He survives and slips from a rock when they find him basking. The turtle’s quick descent from a basking place is connected to this narrated escape.
The domestic ending returns to his wife and baby. Glooskap jokes that the child’s sounds ask for eggs, and Turtle discovers eggs in the sand. Leland identifies the Mi’kmaq name as Mikchich and the Passamaquoddy name as Chick-we-notchk; these belong in one comparison rather than duplicate profiles. Whether his kinship with Glooskap is original or adoptive is explicitly uncertain in the printed account.
Origins & earliest records
Leland expressly compiled this narrative from six versions: Tomah Josephs, an Anglo-Indian manuscript, two Rand manuscript accounts, an uncredited Maritime Provinces account and Mrs. W. Wallace Brown’s material. John Gabriel appears in the smoke-variant note. The 1884 edition is a composite, not one narrator’s verbatim performance.
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
“Turtle lived happily with his wife, and she had a babe.”
How Glooskap made his Uncle Mikchich the Turtle into a Great Man, and got him a Wife ...; whole Turtle narrative and notes · Leland English collected retelling; source-specific credits retained
Glooskap makes an older poor man a handsome bridegroom; he marries the chief’s youngest of three daughters. Hostile suitors attack him in ball play; smoke gives him a shell and endurance. He outdoes them in hunting, survives fire and deceives them into throwing him into water. Later he suns himself and drops safely into water. His wife and baby remain in the egg-finding coda. Whether he is a biological or adopted uncle is explicitly disputed.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Algonquin Legends of New England
How Glooskap made his Uncle Mikchich the Turtle into a Great Man, and got him a Wife; complete relevant narrative and contributor notes.
- 02
The Algonquin Legends of New England — complete six-version Turtle composite
Original work1884; Gutenberg6803 selected transcription, exact source print impression and pages unidentified. Full Preface and Authorities read.
Family, evolution & connections
Mikchich’s wife and baby — Leland’s six-version composite
The complete composite Turtle chapter, expressly assembled from six versions by Leland.
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- Piktook chief, explicitly father of three daughters
- One of two older daughters
- The other older daughter
- Her unnamed baby, sex unstated
The chief’s three daughters and the youngest daughter’s completed marriage and later baby are directly stated. This represents Leland’s edited composite, not an independently recovered single narrator’s version. The baby’s sex is unstated. The uncle–nephew relation with Glooskap is explicitly disputed as biological versus adoptive and is excluded from this branch. No real turtle ancestry is inferred.
The Piktook chief’s youngest daughter
The chief has three daughters, and Mikchich marries the youngest. Her mother explicitly accepts the proposal; this is the completed marriage in Leland’s composite narrative, rather than an unattached offer.
Mikchich’s wife and her unnamed baby
After describing Turtle living with his wife, the narrative says she has a baby. Its sex and personal name are unstated; the ensuing egg explanation is a narrated origin motif, not a biological observation.
Glooskap in Leland’s Turtle composite
The opening says Mikchich is called Glooskap’s uncle but that others regard the tie as adoption. Repeated uncle and nephew addresses do not resolve that stated disagreement into certain biological parentage.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
The Algonquin Legends of New England
Original work1884; Gutenberg6803 selected transcription, exact source print impression and pages unidentified. Full Preface and Authorities read.
- Glooskap makes an older poor man a handsome bridegroom; he marries the chief’s youngest of three daughters. Hostile suitors attack him in ball play; smoke gives him a shell and endurance. He outdoes them in hunting, survives fire and deceives them into throwing him into water. Later he suns himself and drops safely into water. His wife and baby remain in the egg-finding coda. Whether he is a biological or adopted uncle is explicitly disputed.
No entire volume, independent oral record or separate cited manuscript/comparative edition reviewed. Variant/narrator boundaries preserved; no earliest, medical or diffusion proof claimed.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textLeland 1884: How Glooskap made his Uncle Mikchich the Turtle into a Great Man, and got him a WifeResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
Historical illustrationMikchich the Mud-Turtle leaping over his father-in-law’s lodge, after Tomah Joseph’s design
The caption identifies the Mud-Turtle’s leap over his father-in-law’s lodge. Leland combines several Mi’kmaq and Passamaquoddy versions of the transforming relative’s story; this illustration is one particular representation.