Maxa'xâk, the Great Horned Serpent, is a powerful and dangerous water being in Lenape tradition, an underwater serpent bearing horns who lurks in deep lakes and devours the unwary. He personifies the chaotic and hostile powers of the waters, and the Thunder Beings are charged by the Creator with protecting people against him and his kind. In the recorded creation narrative he contends with the Great Toad, the appointed keeper of the waters, for mastery over them; their battle ends in mutual destruction and unleashes a great flood upon the young earth. Parts of his body, such as his horns or scales, were regarded as sources of extraordinary medicine power.