Native American Myth - The Wendigo - The Omushkego Tribe - Extra Mythology

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

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Views: 3,557,991

Rating: 4.9243884 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, extra credits, extra credits mythology, extra mythology, james portnow, joe maslov, matt krol, video essay, wendigo myth, omushkego, native american myth, native american mythology, what is the wendigo, wendigo mythology, wendigo stories animated, wendigo mythos, wendigo mythological creature, anwe the killer

Id: 8j-R71s5044

Length: 9min 12sec (552 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 25 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/TheAmazingWalrus]

Hell yeah, I love Extra Credits

[u/howtobeast101]

Ya good thing they don’t credit where they got the story but screw me right?