Death of Chikabash

Told by Elsie Duff, Chisasibi
Transcribed and translated by Brian Webb

This is quite a short legend. It seems this legend is not told very often, but I’ve heard someone tell this legend. This is short and this is how it goes.

The legend of Chikabash has many tales. He got into everything. It was said that Chikabash had gotten very ill. In the tales of Chikabash, he would always tried to conquer and defeat anything that got in his way.

At this time, he had gotten terribly sick. From this illness, he perished. He left on his journey into the afterlife and saw two paths.

One path was good and straight. The other path was not as straight.

He carried a sack on his back holding it from his shoulder. It was filled with all the bad deeds he had done while he on earth. He lugged this sack as he walked in the afterlife.

He continued walking. He eventually reached a door when he followed one of the paths.

Someone from the other side of the door opened the door for him. Through the doorway, he saw horrifying fire all over. Just the sight of this was so disturbing.

Chikabash quickly shut the door. He left and walked on the other path. He eventually reached another door and could hear a voice from the other side. “You cannot come in here,” the voice proclaimed.

Chikabash was shown a paper. “Look at this list. These are all the bad deeds you have done while you walked the earth. These are the bad things you have done to others.” Chikabash was not allowed to enter even though he really wanted to go in.

Chikabash left again and went back to the first door where he saw the terrifying fire. He saw the horror of the fire as the door opened. He knew for certain that this was not a place he wanted to stay.

He walked back to the second door, where he was not allowed to enter. He still had his sack of bad deeds flung over his shoulder.

He reached the second door. The voice proclaimed again, “You cannot come in here. You have done bad deeds while you were on earth.”

As the door opened a bit, he hurled his sack of bad deeds through the doorway. Chikabash declared, “I’ll have to stay where my sack is.”

He had flung his sack all the way through the doorway. It was said that Chikabash always tried to surpass and defeat anything that obstructed him.

He even surpassed the Great Spirit. This was how this story was told. This is the end of the legend.