This here is a story, a retelling of a legend about Mackinac Island, that I typed up in hopes of posting to the group; I planned to write more about the other legends as well. As far as I can recall I didn't get the chance to share it there, so here it is for the first time. Intro mildly edited to remove unnecessary info.
I thought I would post one of the local native legends of Mackinac Island.
Although I like to think I'm somewhat decent at making up stories and writing them down, I'm not so good at retelling other people's stories; so I'm not sure how well I can do this one justice. Still, here goes.
This is a story of a location known as Devil's Kitchen, a sea cave on the west shore of Mackinac Island.
According to the story I've read about this site (two different versions of it)...
A long time ago an old man, Aikie-wai-sie, was left behind on Mackinac Island when the rest of the tribe departed for the winter hunting grounds on the mainland. Left behind with him was his young granddaughter, Willow Wand, and the old man was geatly [sic] upset that she too would have to remain with him since they had no canoe by which to escape the island. Still, Willow Wand had refused to leave the old man behind, since he was blind and couldn't fend for himself; but her decision pained him.
"You should have returned with them to the mainland, because Keewenaw will seek you there," he told her, referring to her beloved.
Willow Wand shook her head. "I've left a white deerskin with vermillion spots upon the cliff," she said. "The fishermen will see it, and Keewenaw will come to rescue us."
That having been done, they moved up onto a cliff projecting from the side of the bluff, to live upon until they should be rescued. This cliff, and the cave upon it, were just above a cave known as the Devil's Kitchen, for in this cave lived the Red Geebis, who were cannibal giants. The Geebis were known to roast and eat humans inside this cave, and so Willow Wand and her grandfather had to remain upon their ledge and out of the Geebis' sight in order to remain safe. Because of this, they could not even go down to the lake for water, even though the shore was just below. They had not been left with much food and so the old man knew that their time there would be rough.
As they prepared themselves a place to sleep in front of the upper cave, Willow Wand was startled by the sight of a large black bear coming out toward them. "Give me your bow and arrows!" she yelled to her grandfather. "I think I can kill it!"
But Aikie-wai-sie just shook his head. "There's room here for all of us," he said. "Let her be."
As if understanding him, the black bear turned and padded back into the cave, and Willow Wand and her grandfather were left in peace.
And so they settled down for the night, the bear inside the cave and the two of them out on the ledge. As they did not have much food, Willow Wand did not eat very much at all, and they had no water to sustain them, despite Lake Huron lying just below. Aikie-wai-sie remained awake all night, listening; eventually he heard the horrible laughter of the Geebis below, and the terrified screams of their victims being cooked over their fires, and was worried that should any of them discover their hiding place, he would not be able to defend Willow Wand because he could no longer see. Adding to his troubles was the fact that his granddaughter slept only fitfully, crying out for water as she tossed and turned. He had none to give her, without risking their lives to climb down to the lakeshore below.
He thought of what Willow Wand's mother, his daughter, had told him just before she had died. Willow Wand had inherited a great power from her father, and this power would gain her fame as a prophet and a healer. She would have the power to make springs of pure water appear just by touching the rock, but she could not have this information revealed to her until after she had undergone the fast to become a woman. Aikie-wai-sie wondered if this might not be that time, now that she was without food and water.
Willow Wand cried all night out of thirst, and for seven days they remained upon the ledge awaiting rescue. It broke the old man's heart that his granddaughter should suffer so, yet he hoped that she would gain the powers her mother had foretold so long ago.
One day Willow Wand finally leapt to her feet and struck her hand against the rock, yelling, "Water!" And as soon as she did this--a spring of pure water burst forth, and her fast was broken as she and her grandfather finally drank. He informed her now of her new powers as she sat and listened in wonder. He ordered her never to use her powers frivolously, to which she agreed.
As night came on, a storm arose over the lake, and Willow Wand herself heard now the screams and laughter from the cave below. It was as if a voice called out from nowhere, bidding her and her grandfather to beware of danger. Fearful, she leaned over the ledge to see what was happening, and caught sight of the Geebis dragging their captives in to be consumed. As she watched the bear came out of the cave and stood beside her, but she wasn't afraid of it; it seemed so human that she felt surely it was a person who had been enchanted with this shape. Willow Wand watched the carnage below and wondered if she should not try to help the poor people.
As soon as she thought this she saw a familiar face among the victims-to-be, and gasped in horror. It was Keewenaw!
Willow Wand immediately jumped to her feet. Her grandfather tried to stop her, but before he could the bear spoke in his ear.
"Do not worry about her," it said, and he immediately knew that this was her mother, his daughter, in bear form. "She has her power now, and will make great use of it. Just watch!"
The bear then turned and left, and the two of them were left on their own.
Willow Wand saw how close Keewenaw was to the mouth of the Devil's Kitchen, and how he might escape if given the chance. As such, she started laughing, loudly and mockingly, hoping to distract the Geebis from their task. They all glanced up at her in surprise, and immediately their chief recognized her as a bearer of great power which he himself wished to possess. He quickly disguised himself as an enemy warrior, and by magic appeared upon the ledge beside her, demanding her hand in marriage.
Willow Wand merely laughed at him again. "I see right through your disguise! Begone!" she snapped, and this infuriated the Geebi chief so much that he leapt up over the ledge, intent on jumping down and taking her with him.
Just as he jumped into the air, however, Willow Wand struck her fist against the rock--"Water!"--and a great gush of water shot out, striking the Geebi and flinging him down into the cave below. The water gushed through Devil's Kitchen and drenched the fires, though the rest of the Geebis did try their hardest to rekindle them.
Keewenaw was still trapped below, trying to seek a way up to the cliff, so Willow Wand sent down a rainbow mist to help him up. When he made it up to her she cut his bonds and gave him a pipe to smoke with her grandfather, then descended to Devil's Kitchen herself to finish the task she had started. While Aikie-wai-sie and Keewenaw sat up above and smoked, she busied herself in the cave, grabbing hold of the rest of the Geebis and tossing them in the lake so they drowned, and putting out the rest of their cooking fires. It was nighttime by the time she had finally finished, and returned, weary, to the ledge. When she reappeared, her grandfather gratefully granted Keewenaw her hand in marriage.
Keewenaw, for his part, related what had happened to him, and how he had ended up in such a precarious state. "I found you were not among the rest of the tribe," he said, "so I came to the island looking for you, and saw the deerskin upon the cliff. When the storm arose, my canoe sank, and I thought I would surely drown had not a strange pair of moccasins appeared, floating on the water. I put my feet in them and before I knew it, they had transported me here, to the cave."
Willow Wand in turn told him of her own powers. They had no way yet to return to the mainland, but now that the Red Geebis were no more, they were free to leave the ledge and gather what food and water they needed from the island. And so they remained here.
In spring when the tribe returned, they found the old man, his granddaughter, and her husband still living, now in Devil's Kitchen itself; they had used the firewood once used by the Geebis themselves, when they had consumed human flesh, for their own fires, and now that the Geebis had been killed, there was nothing more to fear from the cave. Thus ended the reign of terror of the cannibal giants on Mackinac Island.
For years driftwood was to be found in Devil's Kitchen, and even to this day there are still black marks upon its roof, which were caused by the Geebis' cooking fires. According to an old book I have read, there is/was a cave located above Devil's Kitchen, once called Fenwick's Cache. And yes, there are many springs on the island, one of which, Wishing Spring, was once well known and located right near Devil's Kitchen itself, but is no longer accessible to the public.
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