Melissa McNeil
In the waters of Thunder Bay, a group of mariners found three islands which provided safe shelter from the storms that lashed Lake Superior. According to the legend, the aptly named "Welcome Islands" had a strange origin:
Of the six children of the great Ojibway chieftain, only the youngest was of tender and dreamy nature, constantly speaking with spirits of the forest to her family. Although endeared by her father because of her sweet nature, the girl was ridiculed by the elder sisters.
One day the young maiden heard the great and kindly voice of Nanna Bijou. Nanna Bijou had chosen her to be the bride of his son, North Star. That evening, she told her family when and where she was to meet the Great Spirit’s son. The sisters laughed mockingly and accused her of being sick in the head. The Chief, angered by their cruel treatment of his youngest daughter, beat the daughters with a strip of deer hide.
Full of hate because of the punishment, the sisters planned the younger girl's death. Recalling the place and time of the meeting, they followed their sister into the woods. North Star, being a spirit, could not be seen by the elder sisters. Thus, as the young sister embraced North Star and they shot their arrows into her heart, the arrows also pierced North Star’s heart. Instead of falling, their sister was borne gently upward into the sky by the spirit. Frightened by what they saw, the sisters ran wildly through the woods. Nanna Bijou, furious at their deed, turned them into stone and hurled them into the waters of Thunder Bay.
There today lay the three islands.