A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
In a village of Black Cats or Fishers, Pook-jin-skwess envies the chief who supplies everyone with game. Taking male form for the plan, the rival invites him to gather seabird eggs, abandons him on an island and assumes leadership. The stranded chief calls a Fox with magical hearing, who swims out and helps him return while Pook-jin-skwess raises a storm. The leader secretly rejoins his mother and younger brother Sable.
The revenge is severe: Sable destroys Pook-jin-skwess’s child on the returned chief’s orders, provoking a pursuit that ends at the chief’s hiding place. The chief magically fastens the adversary to a tree. Pook-jin-skwess cuts free but still carries wood on the back and becomes the community’s target of ridicule. Fleeing to Bar Harbor, the figure wishes to torment all people and becomes a mosquito. Notes give differing locations and motives for this transformation; they do not form one continuous itinerary.
A separate anecdote, explicitly attributed to Noel Josephs, describes Pook-jin-skwess stealing children whose appearance differs from the figure’s other offspring. When a stolen boy questions his parentage, he receives an evasive distinction between children of night and day. That brief story is a second witness to the figure’s conduct, not an explanation of the island episode.
Origins & earliest records
Leland’s 1884 chapter labels the principal tale Passamaquoddy and identifies its chief as Pogumk, whom the editor associates with Glooskap. The immediately following stolen-child anecdote names Noel Josephs as teller. The main narrative itself does not provide that same direct narrator credit.
Records & interpretation
The complete island betrayal, return, revenge and transformation were read. The narrative’s fluid bodily forms are magical characterization, not a claim about modern gender identities. Leland’s racial-origin speculation and his preferred reconciliation of conflicting place traditions are excluded.
In the literature
“she could be man or woman”
Of the Dreadful Deeds of the Evil Pitcher ...; complete chapter and all notes · Leland English collected retelling; source-specific credits retained
Pitcher pursues Glooskap as a giant and obstructs his rescue of Win-pe’s captives. In hag form her vermin become dangerous toads and porcupines. Later alluring daughters and an old magician threaten him; his dogs drive off the women and he kills the old magician. Notes record versions treating these as separate sorcerers, while Leland unifies them as Pitcher; the latter is qualified collector interpretation.
“she became a mosquito”
How the Story of Glooskap and Pook-jin-skwess ... is told by the Passamaquoddy Indians; complete main account and variants · Leland English collected retelling; source-specific credits retained
Pitcher strands the Black Cat chief Pogumk to take his office. Fox helps him return after thirty days; he rejoins his mother and younger brother Sable. The burning of Pitcher’s babe provokes pursuit. The chief fixes Pitcher to a tree; she cuts herself free with wood stuck to her back, is mocked and flees. She becomes a mosquito after wishing to torment people. Bar Harbor petrified-moose and Freshwater-location details are variants.
“you are a child of the day and of light.”
How the Story of Glooskap and Pook-jin-skwess ...; complete appended stolen-boy anecdote and note · Leland English collected retelling; source-specific credits retained
Pitcher’s children by giants and monsters are ugly, and she steals beautiful human babies. A stolen boy questions why he differs from her other children. Her answer calls him a child of day and light and them children of night. It is her explanation, not proof of his biological parents, and no escape is narrated.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Algonquin Legends of New England
How the Story of Glooskap and Pook-jin-skwess, the Evil Pitcher, is told by the Passamaquoddy Indians; complete chapter and following Noel Josephs anecdote.
- 02
The Algonquin Legends of New England — three distinct Pitcher witnesses
Original work1884; Gutenberg6803 selected transcription, exact source print impression and pages unidentified. Full Preface and Authorities read.
Family, evolution & connections
Pook-jin-skwess’s own children — Noel Josephs’s appended anecdote
The separately attributed stolen-boy anecdote appended to Leland’s Passamaquoddy Pitcher narrative.
Scroll sideways to see all branches. With a keyboard, focus the tree and use the arrow keys.
- Her unnamed own children, number unstated
Narrator distinguishes the witch’s own children from abducted children raised in her household. No child’s personal name or individually named father is supplied. The stolen boy is excluded from the biological branch. Noel Josephs’s attribution is not extended to the whole preceding Pitcher narrative; the chief’s bear mother is a separate family.
Pogumk’s bear mother and younger brother Sable
This account says the Black Cat chief is born to a bear mother, then identifies Sable as his younger brother. These relations belong to this particular Pogumk narrative, not an inferred maternal family for every Glooskap account.
Glooskap in the Passamaquoddy Pitcher account
Leland’s introductory note and the narrative identify Pogumk as Glooskap in this account. That editorial identification does not make every separately collected character called Black Cat the same individual.
Pook-jin-skwess’s unnamed own children
The appended account explicitly distinguishes the witch’s own children from infants she steals and raises. It names no individual child or individual father; the named contributor Noel Josephs belongs to this anecdote.
The unnamed boy stolen by Pook-jin-skwess
In Noel Josephs’s appended anecdote, a boy questions whether the witch is his mother. Her explanation does not override the narrator’s statement that he was stolen; her own children and the abducted child remain distinct.
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.
- Pitcher pursues Glooskap as a giant and obstructs his rescue of Win-pe’s captives. In hag form her vermin become dangerous toads and porcupines. Later alluring daughters and an old magician threaten him; his dogs drive off the women and he kills the old magician. Notes record versions treating these as separate sorcerers, while Leland unifies them as Pitcher; the latter is qualified collector interpretation.
Of the Dreadful Deeds of the Evil Pitcher ...; complete chapter and all notes
- Pitcher strands the Black Cat chief Pogumk to take his office. Fox helps him return after thirty days; he rejoins his mother and younger brother Sable. The burning of Pitcher’s babe provokes pursuit. The chief fixes Pitcher to a tree; she cuts herself free with wood stuck to her back, is mocked and flees. She becomes a mosquito after wishing to torment people. Bar Harbor petrified-moose and Freshwater-location details are variants.
- Pitcher’s children by giants and monsters are ugly, and she steals beautiful human babies. A stolen boy questions why he differs from her other children. Her answer calls him a child of day and light and them children of night. It is her explanation, not proof of his biological parents, and no escape is narrated.
How the Story of Glooskap and Pook-jin-skwess ...; complete appended stolen-boy anecdote and note
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: complete located narrative and contributor notesResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
