Quote:
"Very interesting knife...PAUGUK is a horrible phantom of human bones devoid of skin with firey eyes! The appearance of which presages Death!"
""the eyes of Pauguk Glare upon me in the darkness, I can feel his icy fingers Clasping mine amid the darkness! Hiawatha! Hiawatha!" (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
The two quotes about are from the "Song of Hiawatha"
In reality most of the indian tribes had a different opinion of Pauguk vs the white man Longfellow.
"The cosmology of certain eastern Native American tribes placed two powerful manitous, representatives of the Great Spirit, on duty in the Land of the Departed. One of the manitous, Chibiabos, was master over the realm of the dead and escorted the newly arriving souls into their new environment. Sometimes there was a process of judgment involved, in which the worthy souls would be allowed to dwell in the Land of the Departed and the unworthy would be set adrift in space. The other manitou, Pauguk, protected the realm of the dead from unwelcome intruders with his bow and arrows."
Protected the dead from unwelcome intruders?
"The Ojibwa would work hard during their life in their time to build a great store house of Spirits so they could enjoy their life in the Land of the Shadows or "Ponemah". To prepare for this great event in their lives they formed a great ceremony around the burial of one of their loved ones. They made great preparations for the Ojibwa spirit of death called "Pauguk". When he came to call one of their loved ones, a great feast was prepared and the preparation of the body begun."
A great feast was prepared? They did not run away in fear?
"Many Native American tribes believed that spirits of the dead lingered among the living until certain rites had been performed that would aid the spirits in their passage to the other world. Among the Ogallala Sioux, it was maintained that the spirit of the dead passed into the spirit world, by degrees, at the completion of necessary rituals that became the duty of the deceased person's family. Like fleeting shadows, the spirits of the dead slowly migrated to the Land of the Grandparents, gaining strength for their journey from the energy received from their living relatives, who performed a long and demanding rite known as the Shadow or Ghost Ceremony. The time needed to complete the ritual successfully could amount to as long as two years, during which period the immediate family and close relatives endured great privation to ensure the safe passage of the departed spirit."
Just my opinion, but the knife could have been made for a Native American warrior at one time prior to going to war. Which war, (based on Joe's evaluation) might be the Vietnam war.
In my opinion not a CIA Spook's knife but possibly a warrior's knife.
Tom V.
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