The stories differ. Some say that it is caused by a very large deer
which dwells in the mountains; others, that there are large cattle in
the mountains, who roar loudly and thus cause the wind to blow; and
again others, that it is caused by a large bird flapping its wings in
the mountains. The prevailing form is the following:
Napioa at one time had with him the wolf as his companion. He also had
with him an owl, which he employed to look for things for him when it
was dark. As he was travelling around he saw a lodge in which were a man
and a woman. In this lodge were two bags; one contained the winter and
the other the summer. He told the owl to look in and see what there was
inside the lodge, and when he looked he saw the two bags. Napioa said
that he was going to place some months in each bag, and make the summer
and winter of equal length. He went inside, and the woman had a long
piece of ice. He failed to accomplish his purpose. He came out of the
lodge determined to gain possession of the summer and winter bags. He
told the prairie chicken to steal the bags, and it got hold of the
summer bag and escaped. Being pursued by the man and woman, the prairie
chicken hid in the long grass. The man and woman cut the long grass to
get the bag. The chicken clung close to the earth, and had part of the
extremity of its body taken off. In the struggle the bag burst, and a
very strong wind sprang up.
Some time after this, Napioa, having burnt himself, was anxious for a
wind to blow to cool himself. He went up to the top of a mountain and
began “making medicine,” and the wind soon began to blow. It blew so
hard that he had to hold on to the bushes, but they were torn up by the
roots. At last he caught hold of a birch tree and firmly clung to it, so
that by the force of the wind and his weight marks were left upon the
bark of the tree.