The White of Day

The small kettle-hole ponds were still frozen each morning, kept this way by a relentless cold wind from the North; yet each day small patrols checked the river which flowed to the larger ponds east of the lodges, watching for the arrival of the scotans.* These fish of the great ocean come each spring to spawn in the ponds of their origin, and this event marks the beginning of a New Year for the little people.  When the eldest has sufficient evidence that the first fish has arrived, the first day of the calendar year is recorded. ** 

On this day, the early morning patrol found no fish at the great pond, but did come upon some wompis, or "that with the white beak".***  The birds came out of the water to greet the little men, and Resmis, who could now speak to fowl, asked them about their journey.  The birds responded in scratchy clucking sounds, but Resmis understood them and learned that this group had come to the pond on their way back North, where they will breed in the marshes near the great river which runs from the landlocked oceans to the west.  Resmis wished them well on their journey and bowed to them as they swam off along the edge of the pond.

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*Scotan, the Nubbin word for alewife, is likely derived from the old Irish term for herring, scatan, another indication of the possible Celtic background of the Nubbins.

**What is not known at this point is which river was chosen to be the sentinel site for the New Year announcement, but several journal entries indicate it might be that which flows through the valley of great stones.  Our interpretation of those entries would be the site of Stony Brook in Brewster, though it is some distance from the present location of their lodges.  However, we do know some patrols have gone great distances in a single night, so this may well be the site.

***Wompi is a Nubbin term for the American coot, best identified by its white bill and darkish gray body.  Of interest is the term being very similar to the Wampanoag word whompey, meaning white.  It is not yet known why the little people use terminology for fowl that so often bears this seemingly Native American influence, when at other times their words are so closely related or derived from Northern European cultures.