Maushop: The Giant and the Pygmies

 Maushop (sometimes spelled Moshop) is a creator/hero in Wampanoag lore. He created Nantucket with ashes from his pipe. Thats quite a giant pipe. To understand the attitude towards pukwudgies in this part of the country, you have to understand the history between Maushop and the pukwudgies.

There was a time when the pukwudgies lived side by side with humans in peace. When the giant, Maushop, came to the area he quickly got the attention of the Wampanoag people. The pukwudgies were jealous of this attention so much like little kids, they decided any attention is good attention and decided to act up to get the attention back on them. They began upping the ante on their mischief and pranks and just being annoying in general. They seem like real high risk/high reward types.

After a while, the Wampanoag people got fed up with the bratty behavior. And since humans have always been the same since the beginning of the universe, if you want something done, you go to the wife. They went to Squannit, Maushop's wife, with their complaints about the ankle biters. 

I want to pause here for a side story- In the book The Narrow Land by Elizabeth Reynard (1934), Squannit (called Quaunt in that book) was described as a nag to her husband and quarrelsome. She also said Squannit was "not so good-natured as these menfolk with whom she lived" talking about Maushop and their 5 sons. I'd like to call BS on this. History hasnt been kind to women, she was out numbered and we have no way to get her side of the story. From my perspective, maybe she was grouchy because she had to get all of them to act right. But anyway....

Squannit went to Maushop with the Wampanoag people's concerns. Its unclear to me if there was an escalation of events or if Maushop immediately popped off but what he did was gather up all the pukwudgies and threw them as far as he could. I've also heard that he kind of shook them to disorient them first. But he was a giant and could throw real far so they ended up all over the country.

Some of the pukwudgies found their way home but they were PISSED. After this they hated humans (and possibly had CTE or a traumatic brain injury to make them violent) and this is when they began attacking and murdering humans. There is also a story of them killing Maushop's sons but that story deserves its own post.

Who are the bad guys here? Everyone certainly sucked at communicating and could have benefited from therapy.