Misipisiw, the Great Lynx
Cree · deity · myth age and present · Recorded classification
Misipisiw, the Great Lynx, is the underwater panther of Cree cosmology, a giant cat-being of the deep water that raises storms and rapids and drags the unwary under. In the sacred-story flood cycle it is the underwater cats who kill the Wolf, the younger brother of Wîsahkêcâhk, and the trickster's vengeance on them looses the flood that drowns the first world, after which the earth is remade from mud brought up by the diving animals. George Nelson's Cree and Ojibwa informants at Lac la Ronge in 1823 described the being, under the name Michi-Pichoux, as among the most feared of the water powers, and Rock Cree hunters in twentieth-century Manitoba still spoke of misipisiw dwelling in their lakes.
Domains
- underwater realm
- rapids and storms
Powers
- to raise storms, waves, and rapids on lakes and rivers
- to seize and drown people and animals that venture onto its waters
Relations
- slayer of: Wolf, the Trickster Younger BrotherIn the Cree flood story the giant underwater cats (joined in some tellings by the horned serpents) kill the Wolf, Wîsahkêcâhk's younger brother; the trickster's revenge upon them lets loose the deluge that drowns the first world.Ahenakew, Edward. 'Cree Trickster Tales.' Journal of American Folklore 42, no. 166 (1929): 309–353. (secondary); Brightman, Robert A. Ācaðōhkīwina and ācimōwina: Traditional Narratives of the Rock Cree Indians. Canadian Museum of Civilization Mercury Series, Ethnology Paper 113. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1989. (secondary)
Sources
- Misipisiw, the Great Lynx or underwater panther, is the feared master water being of Cree cosmology, dwelling beneath lakes and rapids and central to the flood story of the trickster cycle.: Brightman, Robert A. Grateful Prey: Rock Cree Human-Animal Relationships. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. (secondary); Brown, Jennifer S. H., and Robert Brightman. 'The Orders of the Dreamed': George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth, 1823. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1988. (secondary)