the wigwam lifted and fell again as each one entered. When all were
seated, Manabush said:
"My friends, why is it you have come so long a journey to see me? What
is it you wish?"
All but one answered, at once: "Manabush, we wish some hunting
medicine; thus we may supply our people with much food."
"You shall have it," said Manabush. Then he turned to the silent one.
He asked, "What do you wish?"
The Indian replied, "I wish no hunting medicine. I wish to live
forever."
Manabush rose and went towards the Indian. He took him by the
shoulders and carried him to his sleeping place. He set him down, and
said:
"You shall be a stone. Thus you shall be everlasting."
Immediately the other Indians arose and went down to the shore. In
their canoes they returned to their own land. It is from these seven
who returned that we know of the abode of Manabush.
PEBOAN AND SEEGWAN
_Ojibwa_
Long ago an old man sat alone in his lodge beside a frozen stream. The
fire was dying out, and it was near the end of winter. Outside the
lodge, the cold wind swept before it the drifting snow. So the old man
sat alone, day after day, until at last a young warrior entered his
lodge. He was fresh and joyous and youthful.
The old man welcomed him. He drew out his long pipe and filled it with
tobacco. He lighted it from the dying embers of the fire. Then they
smoked together.
The old man said, "I blow my breath and the streams stand still. The
water becomes stiff and hard like the stones."
"I breathe," said the warrior, "and flowers spring up over the plain."
"I shake my locks," said the old man, "and snow covers the land.
Leaves fall from the trees. The birds fly away. The animals hide. The
earth becomes hard."
"I shake my locks," said the young man, "and the warm rain falls.
Plants blossom; the birds return; the streams flow."
Then the sun came up over the edge of the Earth-plain, and began to
climb the trail through the Sky-land. The old man slept. Behold! The
frozen stream near by began to flow. The fire in the lodge died out.
Robins sat upon the lodge poles and sang.
Then the warrior looked upon the sleeping old man. Behold! It was
Peboan, the Winter-maker.[15]
[15] In his lodge beside a river,
Close beside a frozen river,
Sat an old man, sad and lonely,
White his hair was as a snow-drift;
Dull and low his fire was burning,
And the old man shook and trembled,
. . . .
Hearing nothing but the tempest
As it roared along the forest,
Seeing nothing but the snow-storm,
As it whirled and hissed and drifted.
All the coals were white with ashes
And the fire was slowly dying,
As a young man, walking lightly,
At the open doorway entered.
Red with blood of youth his cheeks were,
Soft his eyes, as stars in Spring-time.
--_Hiawatha_
THE GRAVE FIRES
_Ojibwa_
A small war party of Ojibwas fought, long ago, with enemies on an open
plain. Then their chief was shot by an arrow in his breast as he rode
after the retreating enemy. When his warriors found their chief dead,
they placed him, sitting, with his back against a tree. They left him
there with his bow and arrows.
But the chief was not dead. He saw the warriors leave him and he ran
after them as they rode the homeward trail. He followed closely in
their trail. He slept in their camp, yet they did not see him.
When the war party reached their own village, they sang the song of
victory, yet they sent up the death wail for those who were killed.
The women and children came out. The chief heard his warriors tell of
his death. He said, "No, I am not dead," but they did not hear him.
Then the chief went to his own wigwam. His wife was weeping, and
wailing for his death. "I am here," he said, but she did not hear him.
"I am hungry," he said. She made no answer. Only she raised again the
death wail.
Then the chief thought. Perhaps only his spirit had returned. Perhaps
his body was yet on the field of battle. So he followed the trail back
to the battle field. It was a four days' journey. For three days he
saw no one as he journeyed. The fourth day, on the edge of the plain,
he saw a fire in his trail. He walked to one side and the other; the
fire moved also and always burned before him. Then he turned in
another direction. The fire was again in his trail. Then he sprang
suddenly, and jumped through the flame.
At once he awoke. He was sitting on the ground, with his back against
a tree. Over his head in the branches sat a large war eagle. Now Eagle
was his guardian, because he had come to him in his fasting vision in
his youth.
Then the wounded chief arose. He followed the trail of the war party
to his village. Four days he followed the homeward trail. He came to a
stream which flowed between him and his wigwam, therefore he gave the
whoop which means the return of an absent friend. Then the Indians
began to think. They said, "No one is absent. Perhaps it is an enemy."
So they sent over a canoe with armed men. Thus the chief landed among
his own people.
Then the chief gave them instructions. He said it was pleasing to a
spirit to have a fire burning at the grave for four days after the
body was buried. This was because it is four days' journey on the
death trail to the Ghost-land; so the spirit needed a fire at his
camping place every evening.
Also he said the spirit needed his bow and arrow, his best robes, in
his journey. Therefore the Ojibwas burn a fire four nights at a new
grave, that the spirit may be happy in following the Trail of the Dead
to the Spirit-land.[16]
[16] Thus they buried Minnehaha.
And at night a fire was lighted,
On her grave four times was kindled,
For her soul upon its journey
To the Islands of the Blessed.
From his doorway Hiawatha
Saw it burning in the forest,
Lighting up the gloomy hemlocks;
From his sleepless bed uprising,
From the bed of Minnehaha,
Stood and watched it at the doorway,
That it might not be extinguished,
Might not leave her in the darkness.
--_Hiawatha_
THE DEATH TRAIL
_Choctaw_
After a man dies, he must travel far on the death trail. It journeys
to the Darkening-land, where Sun slips over the edge of the
Earth-plain. Then the spirit comes to a deep, rapid stream. There are
steep and rugged hills on each side, so that one may not follow a land
trail. The Trail of the Dead leads over the stream, and the only
bridge is a pine log. It is a very slippery log, and even the bark has
been peeled off. Also on the other side of the bridge are six persons.
They have rocks in their hands, and throw them at spirits when they
are just at the middle of the log.
Now when an evil spirit sees the stones coming, he tries to dodge
them. Therefore he slips off the log. He falls far into the water
below, where are evil things. The water carries him around and around,
as in a whirlpool, and then brings him back again among the evil
things. Sometimes evil spirit climbs up on the rocks and looks over
into the country of the good spirits. But he cannot go there.
Now the good spirit walks over safely. He does not mind the stones
and does not dodge them. He crosses the stream and goes to a good
hunting land. It is more beautiful there than on the Earth-plain.
There are no storms. The sky is always blue, and the grass is green,
and there are many buffaloes. Therefore there is always feasting and
dancing.
THE DUCK AND THE NORTH WEST WIND
_Ojibwa_
Once Shingebiss, the duck, lived all alone in his wigwam on the shore
of a lake. It was winter and very cold. Ice had frozen over the top of
the water. Shingebiss had but four logs of wood in his wigwam, but
each log would burn one month and there were but four winter
months.[17]
[17] And at night Kabibonokka
To the lodge came, wild and wailing,
Heaped the snow in drifts about it,
Shouted down into the smoke-flue,
Shook the lodge poles in his fury,
Flapped the curtain of the doorway,
Shingebis, the diver, feared not,
Shingebis, the diver, cared not;
Four great logs had he for firewood,
One for each moon of the winter,
And for food the fishes served him,
By his blazing fire he sat there,
Warm and merry, eating, laughing,
Singing, "O Kabibonokka,
You are but my fellow mortal!"
--_Hiawatha_
[Illustration: PICTURE WRITING. AN OJIBWA MEDA SONG.
_From Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology._]
Shingebiss had no fear of the cold. He would go out on the coldest
day. He would seek for places where rushes and flags grew through the
ice. He pulled them up and dived through the broken ice for fish. Thus
he had plenty of food. Thus he went to his wigwam dragging long
strings of fish behind him on the ice.
North West noticed this. He said, "Shingebiss is a strange man. I will
see if I cannot get the better of him."
North West shook his rattle and the wind blew colder. Snow drifted
high. But Shingebiss did not let his fire go out. In the worst storms
he continued going out, seeking for the weak places in the ice where
the roots grew.
North West noticed this. He said, "Shingebiss is a strange man. I
shall go and visit him."
That night North West went to the door of the wigwam. Shingebiss had
cooked his fish and eaten it. He was lying on his side before the
fire, singing songs.
He sang,
Ka neej Ka neej
Be in Be in
Bon in Bon in
Oc ee Oc ee
Ca We-ya Ca We-ya.
This meant, "Spirit of North West, you are but my fellow man."
Now he sang this because he knew North West was standing at the door
of his wigwam. He could feel his cold breath. He kept right on singing
his songs.
North West said, "Shingebiss is a strange man. I shall go inside."
Therefore North West entered the wigwam and sat down on the opposite
side of the lodge. Shingebiss lay before the fire and sang:
"Spirit of North West, you are but my fellow man."
Then he got up and poked the fire. The wigwam became very warm. At
last North West said, "I cannot stand this. I must go out. Shingebiss
is a very strange man." So he went out.
Then North West shook his rattles until the great storms came. Thus
there was much ice and snow and wind. All the flag roots were frozen
in hard ice. Still Shingebiss went fishing. He bit off the frozen
flags and rushes, and broke the hard ice around their roots. He dived
for fish and went home dragging strings of fish behind him on the ice.
North West noticed this. He said, "Shingebiss must have very strong
medicine. Some manito is helping him. I cannot conquer him. Shingebiss
is a very strange man."
So he let him alone.
HOW THE HUNTER DESTROYED SNOW
_Menomini_
Once a hunter with his wife and two children lived in a tepee. Each
day the hunter went out for game. He was a good hunter and he brought
back much game.
But one day, after autumn had gone and winter had come, the hunter met
Kon, Snow, who froze his feet badly. Then the hunter made a large
wooden bowl and filled it with Kon. He buried it in a deep hole where
the midday sun could shine down upon it, and where Snow could not run
away. Then he covered the hole with sticks and leaves so that Snow
would be a prisoner until summer.
Now when midsummer came, and everything was warm, the hunter came back
to this hole and pulled away the sticks and leaves. He let the midday
sun shine down upon Kon so that he melted. Thus the hunter punished
Kon.
But when autumn came again, one day the hunter heard someone say to
him, when he was in the forest: "You punished me last summer, but
when winter comes I will show you how strong I am."
The hunter knew it was Kon's voice. He at once built another tepee,
near the one in which he lived, and filled it full of firewood.
At last winter came again. When the hunter was in the forest one day,
he heard Kon say: "Now I am coming to visit you, as I said I should.
In four days I shall be at your tepee."
When the hunter returned home, he made ready more firewood; he built a
fire at the two sides of the tepee. After four days, everything became
frozen. It was very cold. The hunter kept up the fires in the tepee.
He took out all the extra fur robes to cover his wife and children.
The cold became more severe. It was hard not to freeze.
On the fifth day, towards night, the hunter looked out from his tepee
upon a frozen world. Then he saw a stranger coming. He looked like any
other stranger, except that he had a very large head and an immense
beard. When he came to the tepee, the hunter asked him in. He at once
came in, but he would not go near either of the fires. This puzzled
the hunter, and he began to watch the stranger.
It became colder and colder after the stranger had come into the
tepee. The hunter added more wood to each of the fires until they
roared. The stranger seemed too warm. The hunter added more wood, and
the stranger became warmer and warmer. Then the hunter saw that as he
became warm, he seemed to shrink. At last his head and body were quite
small. Then the hunter knew who the stranger guest was. It was Kon,
the Cold. So he kept up his fires until Kon melted altogether away.
THE PIPE OF PEACE
_Ojibwa_
In the olden days, so they say, the Indians fought much. Always they
followed the war trail. Then Gitche Manito, the Good Mystery, thought,
"This is not well. My children should not always follow the war
trail." Therefore he called a great council. He called all the tribes
together. Now this was on the upper Mississippi.
Gitche Manito stood on a great wall of red rock. On the green plain
below him were the wigwams of his children. All the tribes were there.
Gitche Manito broke off a piece of the red rock. He made a pipe out of
it. He made a pipe by turning it in his hands. Then he smoked the
pipe, and the smoke made a great cloud in the sky.
He spoke in a loud voice. He said, "See, my people, this stone is red.
It is red because it is the flesh of all tribes. Therefore can it be
used only for a pipe of peace when you cease to follow the war trail.
Therefore it is the Place of Peace. To all the tribes it belongs."
Then the cloud grew larger and Gitche Manito vanished in it.
Now therefore, because of the command of Gitche Manito, the Indians
smoke the pipe of peace when they cease to follow the war trail. And
because it is the Place of Peace, the tomahawk and the scalping knife
are never lifted there.[18]
[18] On the Mountains of the Prairie,
On the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry,
Gitche Manito, the mighty,
He the Master of Life descending,
On the red crags of the quarry,
Stood erect and called the nations,
Called the tribes of men together.
. . . .
"I am weary of your quarrels,
Weary of your wars and bloodshed,
Weary of your prayers for vengeance,
Of your wranglings and dissensions;
. . . .
Break the red stone from this quarry,
Mould and make it into Peace-pipes,
Take the reeds that grow beside you,
Deck them with your brightest feathers,
Smoke the calumet together."
--_Hiawatha_
THE THUNDER'S NEST
_Ojibwa_
Thunder had a Nest where a very small bird sits upon her eggs during
fair weather. When an egg hatches, the skies are rent with bolts of
thunder.
THE PIPESTONE
_Sioux_
Before there were any people on the earth, Gitche Manito hunted the
buffalo. He killed them and cooked them before his camp fire on the
Red Rocks, on the top of the Coteau des Prairies, the Mountain of the
Prairies. So the blood of the buffaloes ran over the rocks and made
them red.
Gitche Manito was then a very large bird. We can still see his tracks
in the red stone. Now it happened a large snake crawled out of its
hole to eat the eggs of the Bird. Then at once the egg hatched out in
a clap of thunder.
Gitche Manito took a piece of stone to throw at the snake. He shaped
it in his hands like to a man.
Now this man's feet stood fast in the ground where he was. Thus he
stayed for many ages; therefore he grew very old. He was older than a
hundred men at the present time. At last another tree grew beside him.
It grew a long while, until a snake bit off the roots. Then the two
people left the pipestone quarry. They wandered away. They were the
grandfathers of all the tribes.
THE PIPESTONE
_Knisteneaux_
A great flood came. Then the tribes met on the Coteau des Prairies, on
the Mountain of the Prairies, to get out of the way of the waters.
Then the waters rose higher; thus the tribes were drowned. Gitche
Manito made them into stone. Therefore the stone is red.
Now when the waters were rising, a young woman caught the foot of a
large bird flying near. It was War-eagle. He carried her to the top of
a large mountain. Thus she was saved. Then she married War-eagle.
Now all the tribes were drowned. Therefore the children of War-eagle
and the Indian woman were the ancestors of all the Indians.
PAU-PUK-KEE-WIS
_Ojibwa_
A man found himself standing alone on the prairie. He was very large
and strong. He thought to himself, "How did I come here? Am I all
alone on the earth? I must travel until I find the abode of men."
So he started out. After a long time he came to a wood. There were
decayed stumps there, very old, as if cut in the olden times. Again he
journeyed a long time. He came to a wood in which there were more
stumps, newly cut. Then he came to the fresh trail of people. He saw
wood just cut, lying in heaps. At sunset he came out of the forest. He
saw a village of many lodges standing on rising ground.
He said, "I will go there on the run." He ran. When he came to the
first lodge, he sprang over it. Those within saw something pass over
the smoke hole. They heard a thump on the ground.
They said, "What is that?" They ran out. They invited him to enter.
Many warriors were in the wigwam, and an old chief.
The chief said, "Where are you going? What is your name?"
He said, "I am in search of adventures. I am Pau-puk-kee-wis." Then
they laughed.
After a short time he went on. A young man went with him as his
_mesh-in-au-wa_, as his pipe bearer.
As they journeyed, Pau-puk-kee-wis did strange things. He leaped over
trees. He whirled on one foot until dust clouds were flying.
One day a large village of wigwams came in their trail. They went to
it. The chief told them of evil manitoes who had killed all the people
going to that village. War parties had been sent against them. The
warriors were all killed.
Pau-puk-kee-wis said, "I will go and visit them."
The chief said, "Oh, no. They are evil. They will kill you."
Pau-puk-kee-wis said, "I will go and visit them."
Then the chief said, "I will send twenty warriors with you."
So Pau-puk-kee-wis, with his pipe bearer and twenty warriors, started
off at once. They came near that lodge. Pau-puk-kee-wis said, "Hide
here. Thus you will be safe. You will see what I do." He went to that
lodge. He entered.
The manitoes were very ugly. They were evil looking. There were a
father and four sons. They offered him food. He refused it.
The old manito said, "What have you come for?"
"Nothing," said Pau-puk-kee-wis.
"Do you want to wrestle?" asked the manito.
"Yes," said Pau-puk-kee-wis.
At once the eldest brother rose and they began to wrestle. These
manitoes were very evil. They wished to kill Pau-puk-kee-wis in order
to eat him. But that man was very strong. He tripped the manito. Then
he threw him down. His head struck on a stone.
The next brother wrestled with Pau-puk-kee-wis. He fell. Then the
other two wrestled. All four fell on the ground. The old manito began
to run. Pau-puk-kee-wis pursued him. He pursued him in a very queer
way, just for fun. Sometimes he leaped over him and ran ahead.
Sometimes he pushed him ahead from behind.
All the twenty warriors cried, "Ha! ha! ha! Ha! ha! ha!
Pau-puk-kee-wis is driving him."
At last Pau-puk-kee-wis killed him. Thus all the evil manitoes were
dead.
Then they looked on the bones of the warriors and people who had been
killed by those evil ones. Then Pau-puk-kee-wis took three arrows. He
performed a ceremony to Gitche Manito. He shot one arrow. He cried,
"You who are lying down, rise up or you will be hit." At once the
bones all moved to one place.
He shot a second arrow. He cried, "You who are lying down, rise up,
or you will be hit." The proper bones moved together, toward each
other.
He shot a third arrow. He cried, "You who are lying down, rise up, or
you will be hit." The people became alive again. Then Pau-puk-kee-wis
led them back to the village of the friendly chief.
This one then came to him with his council. He said, "You should rule
my people. You only are able to defend them."
Pau-puk-kee-wis said, "I am going on a journey. Let my pipe bearer be
chief." So he was.
Pau-puk-kee-wis began his journey. "Ho! ho! ho!" cried all the people.
"Come back again. Ho! ho! ho!"
He journeyed on. He came to a lake made by beavers.[19] He stood on
the beaver dam and watched. He saw the head of a beaver peering out.
[19] With a smile he spake in this wise:
"O, my friend, Ahmeek, the beaver,
Cool and pleasant is the water;
Let me dive into the water,
Let me rest there in your lodges;
Change me, too, into a beaver!"
Cautiously replied the beaver,
With reserve he thus made answer,
"Let me first consult the others,
Let me ask the other beavers."
--_Hiawatha_
"Make me a beaver like yourself," said Pau-puk-kee-wis. He wanted to
see how beavers lived.
"I will go and ask what the others have to say," said Beaver.
Soon all the beavers looked out to see if he were armed. He had left
his bow and arrow in a hollow tree.
"Make me a beaver," said Pau-puk-kee-wis. "I wish to live among you."
"Yes," said Beaver chief. "Lie down." He lay down. He found himself a
beaver.
"You must make me large," he said.
"Yes," said Beaver chief. "When we get into the lodge, you shall be
made very large."
So they all dived down into the water again. They passed heaps of tree
limbs and logs lying on the bottom of the river.
"What are these for?" asked Pau-puk-kee-wis.
"For our winter food," said Beaver chief.
Now when they got into the lodge, they made Pau-puk-kee-wis very
large. They made him ten times larger than themselves.
Soon a beaver came running in. He cried, "The Indians are hunting us."
At once all the beavers ran out of the lodge door on the bottom of the
river. Pau-puk-kee-wis was too large. He could not get out. The
Indians broke down the dam. They lowered the water. They broke in the
lodge. They saw that one.
"_Ty-au! Ty-au!_" cried the Indians. "_Me-sham-mek_, the chief of the
beavers, is here."
So they killed him. Yet Pau-puk-kee-wis kept thinking. They placed his
great body on a pole. Seven or eight Indians carried it. They went
back to their lodges. They sent out invitations for a great feast.
Then the women came out to skin him on the snow. When his flesh became
cold, the _Jee-bi_ of Pau-puk-kee-wis went away. His spirit went away.
So Pau-puk-kee-wis found himself standing alone on a prairie. Soon
there came near by a herd of elk. He thought, "They are very happy. I
will be an elk." He went near them, and said, "Make me an elk. I wish
to live among you."
They said, "Yes. Get down on your hands and knees."
Soon he found himself an elk.
"I want big horns and big feet," said Pau-puk-kee-wis. "I want to be
very large."
"Yes, yes," said the elk. So they made him very large. At last they
said, "Are you large enough?" Pau-puk-kee-wis said, "Yes."
So he lived with the elks. One cold day they all went into the woods
for shelter. Soon some of the herd came racing by like a strong wind.
At once all began to run.
"Keep out on the prairies," they said to Pau-puk-kee-wis.
But he was so large he got tangled up in the thick woods. He soon
smelt the hunters. They were all following his trail. Pau-puk-kee-wis
jumped high. He broke down saplings. Then the hunters shot him. He
jumped higher. He jumped over the tree tops. Then all the hunters shot
him. So they killed him. Then they skinned him. When his flesh became
cold, the spirit of Pau-puk-kee-wis went away.
Thus Pau-puk-kee-wis had many adventures. After a long time Manabozho
killed him. Then he was really dead because he was killed in his human
form. Manabozho said, "You shall not be permitted to live on the earth
again. I will make you a war eagle."
Thus Pau-puk-kee-wis became a war eagle. He lives in the sky.
IAGOO, THE BOASTER[20]
_Ojibwa_
[20] From his lodge went Pau-puk-keewis,
Came with speed into the village,
Found the young men all assembled
In the lodge of old Iagoo,
Listening to his monstrous stories,
To his wonderful adventures.
. . . .
Homeward now returned Iagoo,
The great traveller, the great boaster,
Full of new and strange adventures,
Marvels many and many wonders.
--_Hiawatha_
Iagoo was a great boaster. Once he told the people of a water lily he
had seen. He said the leaf was large enough to make garments for his
wife and daughter.