The Puglutmu’j
The Little People
By Joe Wilmot
Stories about the Puglatmu’jg, (“Little People”) goes back centuries, long before the first Europeans arrived to our lands. It is said that they live on the mountain tops and in the forests. The area known today as St.Omer and Carleton on the Gaspe Peninsula is where the Puglatmu’jg would go sliding down the mountainside for sport. This is something they would do all night long. No one lived in that area known as Tlaqatige’jg (a good camping ground) by the Mi’gmaq who camped there while on their fishing and hunting expeditions. The Mi’gmaq lived all up and down the Gaspe coast and they liked this area because they would be close to the sea as well as the forest. Since they never stayed for more than a few weeks, the Puglatmu’jg would never bother them and they pretty much stayed away from each other.
Soon after the French started to settle in the area they noticed that strange things happened at night while they slept. Everything from their livestock being turned loose, to having their horses tails and manes braided. It made the horses very difficult to work with after the Little People had spent the night with them. The cows stopped giving milk and the chickens wouldn’t lay eggs. Sometimes even their vegetable gardens and out building were tampered with.
This went on for years. The settlers worried that the Little People would come after them next. They asked the priests to pray to God for his help and drive the Little People away, so that they might live in peace. The priest and nuns could not drive them away with prayers. They set out to find where these Puglatmu’jg came from and to see if they could be persuaded to stop the harassment, but nobody knew where they lived. They knew that the Little People would disappear before dawn each morning and they could be seen heading towards the mountains. Eventually it was discovered that the Little People lived inside the mountain at Tlaqatige’jg and that the entrance into their mountain was on top of what the settlers called Mount St.Joseph.
Seeing that the Puglatmu’jg never came out in the daytime the priests and some of the settlers covered the entrance with boulders in hopes of keeping the Little People trapped inside. They soon found that the Little People would escape within a few nights and start causing problems for the settlers and priests all over again. It was then decided that a more permanent structure would have to be erected over the entrance to stop the Little People for good. They covered the opening with a concrete slab and placed a small monument to St.Joseph over it. This covered worked for a few years, but soon the Puglatmu’jg were out causing mischief and making the people worry about their safety again.
The settlers decided if the statue could stop the Little People for a while then a church should stop them forever. They erected a small church on top of the entrance around the turn of the last century and that kept the Puglatmu’jg trapped for more than forty years. However, by the early nineteen forty’s there were signs that they might be breaking out soon, cracks were appearing everywhere. A larger church with a much thicker foundation had to be built to keep the Little People in. This was done in the mid-nineteen hundreds; in fact the new church was built around the old one. This way the entrance would not be disturbed. To this day there has not been any Puglatmu’jg seen in the area.
This story is generally known by most elders in the Mi’gmaq Nation.
********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Puglatmu’jg
By Joe Wilmot
Sa’q gi’s Mi’gmewaq gejia’ tiji Puglatmu’jg i’mu’tinew, gesgmnaq wape’g waqei pegisinugweg ula gmitginaq.
Teluwejig na Puglatmu’jg wigultijig gmtnigtug aq nipugtug. Gisgug telwi’tmi’tij St.Omer (Gaqpesawe’gatig) aq Carleton (Tlaqatige’jg) ula enmigespe’g, na gigjiw na’te’l Puglatmu’jg i’tlnisateja’lu-gutipnig g’mtnigtug ugjit pas’g papuwaqan, lpa i’newtitpaqia’tipnig. Glapis ta’n tujiw Wenujg poqjiwigulti’titeg na’te’l mu’wen piluei pegitqatmugup. Mi’gmewaq telwi’tmi’tip Tlaqatige’jg, ‘welteg eltqatmu’ting’. Ta’n tujiw almijipjeweie’ga’timg na Mi’gmaq ta’n wigultipnig ula Gespe’g aqq giwtaw i’tlqatmu’tipnig na’te’l muta ms’t goqwei welgigj’teg’p.
Tepow ugta’n etegp aqq mu piamgnegtnug na nipugt ugjit netugu’limg wi’sisg aqq mu ne’gow piamqtmu’tim’g aqq newgl gis na nangl aqantie’uti’l na Puglatmu’jg mu wespaiwa’tigupni aqq mu gigja’sualtultigusnig.
Gatu ta’n tujiw Wenujg peita’titeg aqq negmow siawqatmu’tieg, na poqjinmitu’tisnn goqwe’l wi’guiaql wela’gwl ge’s nep’ti’tij. Ms’t goqwei weja’tegemg ugtue’mua se’ialta’niji, gisna ugte’sipowmua elisguatas’gtal ugsuguniwal aqq usapunual. Metua’lugi’tipni ugtue’mua ta’n tujiw Puglatmu’j giswigitgweia’tij newtitpa’q. Wenj’tia’mug mu mlagejg nugu’ elia’tigupnig aqq go’qli’gwej wa’wl mu penatmi’tug’pnn. We’gaw ugtiga’ta-qanual aqq tu’satimual milo’tasg’pm.
Gaqisipungeg na ula na teliaq’p, mimajuinu’g sespete’tmi’tip negmow pqojeiwaten tujiw. Na pipanima’tipni pa’tlia’s’g etawaqtmuwanew Nisgamal ugjit gigltesguan na Puglatmu’jg, me’ na sangewe’gttew ta’n telo’ti’tij. Na a’ls’tmewinu’g mu gisgigltesgua’tigupni. Na toqo gwilua’tipni glamen sangew gisipipanima’tia ugjit punajeiugsinew, pas’g na mu’wen gejiagupni ta’n tett tami wigulti’nij. Gejia’tipni ula Puglatmu’jg gs’gata’nita ge’s mu wapnianug te’siegsitpu’g aqq nmia’tita gmtnigtug elasgmulti’nniji.
Glapis gatu gisgjijia’tiji ta’n wigultinnij, na ula Puglatmu’jg ne’gaw wigultisnig gmtnigtug gigjiw Tlaqatige’jg aqq i’ugjipisgwita’niji asma ge’gunntaq’tug na mnt’n ta’n wenujg telwita’titl Mount St.Joseph.
Gatu na gejia’tipmni ula Puglatmu’jg ma’tuita’nigwi miawna’gweg, na pa’tlia’sg aqq igtigig gepijoqo’tu’tip enmaqei ta’n wejpisgwita’nij aqq gep’joqta’tiji Puglatmu’jg lame’g. Mu’gne’nug gatu na gisi apjituita’niji aqq gi’s app wela’gwgl alio’pla’taqatitgi’g, aqq git’nmeiwa’tiji pa’tlia’sg aqq mimajuinu’g. Na tujiw gisita’sultijig me’natgoqwei mesgi’g usgija’tunew elmaqeiigtug glamen ma’nugu’ Puglatmu’jg gistuita’nigwi.
Na tujiw gep’jo-qa’tu’tip na elmaqei e’wumi’tip conctete aqq wesgija’ltipm nnuoqta’w’l ugjiw St.So’sepal. A’na ula welu-gwegp pe’l tesipungeg gatu glapis na app Puglatmu’jg gistuita’jig aqq almi-lio’pla’taqatitgi’g aqq mimajuinu’g gi’s app sespete’lsultitgi’g.
Toqo tujiw mimajuinu’g gisita’sultijig, na newte’jit nnuoqta’w gisgiglnaj Puglatmu’jg na te’sipungeg, lpa als’tuo’guom giglnata iapjiw. Na tujiw als’tuo’guom eltas’g’p nige’ piamiw gasgip’naqanipugegeg aqq gennapni na Puglatmu’jg piamiw newisgegipungeg. Gatu na ap panae’mg nineteen fortyeg poqjinmitu’tis temina’sit na ula cement aqq app pugjij app na Puglatmu’jg alio’plaqatitaq, na amujpa me mesgi’g als’tuo’guom aqq me’ ajims’gi’g wesgiji’gamg ltas’gtew ugjit gnnan na Puglatmu’jg. Na ula tela’tas’g’p sa’quweiigtug glamen ma’ sama’tas’gtnug elmaqei ta’n iugjituita’jig. We’gaw nige’ gisgug me’ nmaq app igtig Puglatmu’jg etlnmiam’g na Tlaqatige’jg.