Ice heart
cold flesh
the chill wind blows
Hunger,
all it feels
is hunger
Eyes hollow
sunken skin pale
Ashen gray
stretched taut over its straining ribs
mouthed slathering
covered in blood
It
is
Famine
it is the hunger
that should never be
and far to the north
by the lakes
That should be seas.
It stalks
the people
When the bitter winds blow
and the snows come
and the game
runs scarce
the craving comes to some
The desire
for human flesh
and as this thought possesses a person
their heart
becomes ice
and they turn
Wendigo
they forget that people are people
and not just animals to be consumed
and they become a danger
to all who pass
them by
so the people put out a call for warriors
to do away with the cannibals
one day a man came to them a
Stranger
not from the people
and he said
I'm here to do the job
He was Anwe the killer
a man
skilled in death
The people told him of cannibals
and he merely nodded and left.
He was a meticulous practiced killer
he was not haphazard
nor a believer merely in tales
and so he went to the woods
hid and
Observed every family.
Where did they go?
What
did they do?
There was one group that stood out to him from the rest
a large clan
Consisting of an old man
his wife
and their seven sons
He watched them hunt
and fish and go about their lives like ordinary people
But he knew that cannibals
don't simply eat human flesh
They live like everyone else
until the craving comes on them
Then
they kidnap a person and carve them up
just like wild game
and once they've eaten
They think of it just as a meal
no different from any other
and go back to their ordinary lives
So he observed this family.
They seemed somehow
off
Somehow disturbing and different to him
so he continued to watch them until at last
he witnessed the aftermath
of one of their meals
Finally, he was sure
and he began to dedicate all of his time to observing them
studying their patterns
and preparing
his attack
He decided the old man was the weakest of them.
So it would be him he would approach first
each day
He followed the old man
silently in the woods and each day
while his sons were out hunting
the old man would check an abandoned beaver den to see if
any of the beavers had returned
that he might catch one for his family to eat and
When at last he was ready
Anwe snuck up and met him there.
Hello, brother
He called to the old man
You see
he used his powers
to make him look not like the powerful warrior
he was
but thin
frail and hungry
the old man was surprised
but greeted him
and Anwe said
Come help me prepare to catch this beaver
The old man knew there was nothing in the beaver den
but he played along
thinking that this frail man would be easy for his sons to kill
and for them to make a meal of
Then Anwe says to him
lend me your poncho
so that I may fix the hole in the dam
That way when the water rises
the beavers will take to their den
So the old man does this
and they both part ways agreeing to meet there again at dawn
when the old man arrives home
He tells his sons that he met a man by the beaver den
and they gasp
They say it could be Anwe
because they'd heard that he'd been sent by the people
to kill them
But the old man says
no, no, it couldn't possibly be him
He was nearly frozen and half starved
his sons though. Just become more suspicious
I don't know
Anwe's very tricky
they say
so the old man says
he is to meet us
at sunrise
Let us go to the beaver den before sunrise
and ambush him
Then
he can be our meal
his sons wary
finally agree
So in the bitter cold that comes before dawn,
they hike out to the beaver den
and once there
see a strapping man
full muscled and
Strong
he calls out to them
and waves them over
the sons think they should spread out
and try to take him by surprise
But the old man says no
after all
he might not know that they are the cannibals
So they approach as if to help
and Anwe tells them that he and the old man will chisel a hole in the ice
While the seven sons
go into the forest
and get some sticks he prepared last night
to use to get to the beaver
So the sons go off to retrieve the sticks
and Anwe and the old man chisel at the lake
Once they made a sizable hole Anwe says Ugh
This has been thirsty work
and leans down to drink
Now the old man thinks about knifing him right there
But as he hesitates
Anwe gets back up
and says to him
you must be thirsty too
go ahead
have a drink
So slowly
the old man gets down to drink
and as he does
Bang! Anwe stabs him in the back and kicks his body into the hole in the ice
But all seven sons can tell that their father is dead and rushed to the beaver dam Anwe, though
Put the sticks that he had sent them to fetch at all different distances
So they arrive one at a time. The first son rushes in Anwe dodges the charge and stabs him with his ice
Chisel then he whirls around just in time to catch the second brother under the jaw
Right after that the third brother shows up and tries to stab Anwe
But he is too fast and dispatches him as well brothers four and five quickly approached
But now Anwe has his bow and with one arrow each he dispatches them
Next comes the second youngest brother that's number six for those of you keeping score at home and this brother has true
Wendigo powers vicious and cruel he hurls branches at Anwe like javelins
But Anwe weaves between them and hits him with arrow after arrow each time shouting feel what you made the people feel
Finally the Wendigo topples and Anwe is left with only one more
Brother number seven is the youngest and begs Anwe for mercy
But Anwe says how many times did you show mercy to the people who begged for their lives and the cannibal replies:
Never
and with one lightning fast motion Anwe slits his throat
Then he hid the bodies and crawled into the beaver den
Knowing that there was one more foe
The old man's wife would be along that evening to appraise the meat she was to cook and as dusk began to settle in
She arrived with a train of women wives and servants of the seven boys
Anwe called out to her to come into the beaver den
But she was too smart for that and asked where her husband was
In the silence it began to dawn on her what had happened. So with a mighty scream she threw the stone mallet
She tenderized the meat with an Anwe if he had not been so supernaturally quick
it would have killed him but instead it merely grazed him as he charged and
Once he was upon her he split her head open with a stone
He then cried to the women those of you who are captives step aside and many women stepped back
however
a handful of Wendigo women remained
They fought and fought but finally he slew the last of them and said to the women who had been captives
You know what we must do
So they cut up the bodies and piled the pieces on a great bonfire so they wouldn't come to life again
But as the bonfire roared the hearts wouldn't burn they just sat there
continuing to beat in the middle of the blaze so filled with ice they were
So they gathered more wood and continued to feed the fire until the last frozen heart gave way
But that's not the end of the tale
so join us next time for our mythology matters segment for the history behind the Wendigo tale because seriously
It's gonna shock you now would one of you poke the fire and make sure there's no frozen hearts in there
You