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,
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.
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.
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
Ojibwa
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.
One evening Iagoo was sitting in his wigwam, on the bank of the river. He heard ducks quack on the stream. He shot at them, without aiming. He shot through the door of the wigwam. Behold! His arrow pierced a swan flying by. It killed many ducks in the stream. The arrow flew farther. It killed two loons, just coming up from beneath the water. Then it killed a very large fish.
Iagoo went hunting. He followed the trail of the deer through the forest. He shot a deer and skinned it. He lifted the meat upon his shoulders. As he came from his hunting place, Iagoo saw a person on a prairie before him. He pursued that person. Iagoo ran half a day after that one. Then he remembered the meat upon his shoulders. He remembered he carried the body of the deer.
Iagoo had many adventures. He found mosquitoes in a bog-land. They were very large. The wing of one he used for a sail for his canoe, when the breeze blew. The nose of that insect was as large as his wife’s digging stick.
One day Iagoo watched a beaver’s lodge. He watched for the peering head of a beaver. Behold! An ant went by. She had killed a hare. She dragged hare’s body on the ground behind her.
Ojibwa
OJEEG was a great hunter. He lived on the southern shore of Lake Superior. Ojeeg had a wife and one son.
Now the son hunted game as the father taught him. He followed the trails over the snow. For snow lay always on the ground. It was always cold. Therefore the boy returned home crying.
One day as he went to his father’s wigwam in the cold and snow he saw Red Squirrel, gnawing the end of a pine cone. Now the son of Ojeeg had shot nothing all day because his hands were so cold. When he saw Red Squirrel, he came nearer, and raised his bow.
Red Squirrel said, “My grandson, put up your arrow. Listen to me.”
The boy put the arrow in his quiver.
Red Squirrel said, “You pass my wigwam very often. You cry because you cannot kill birds. Your fingers are numb with cold. Obey me. Thus it shall always be summer. Thus you can kill many birds.”
Red Squirrel said again, “Obey me. When you reach your father’s wigwam, throw down your bow and arrows. Begin to weep. If your mother says, ‘My son, what is the matter?’ do not answer her. Continue weeping. If she says, ‘My son, eat this,’ you must refuse the food. Continue weeping. In the evening when your father comes in he will say to your mother, ‘What is the matter with my son?’ She will say, ‘He came in crying. He will not tell me.’ Your father will say, ‘My son, what is the matter? I am a spirit. Nothing is too hard for me.’ Then you must answer, ‘It is always cold and dreary. Snow lies always upon the ground. Melt the snow, my father, so that we may have always summer.’ Then your father will say, ‘It is very difficult to do what you ask. I will try.’ Then you must be quiet. You must eat the food they give you.”
Thus it happened.
Ojeeg then said, “I must make a feast. I must invite my friends to go on this journey with me.” At once Ojeeg killed a bear. The next day he had a great feast. There were Otter, Beaver, and Lynx. Also Wolverine and Badger were at the feast.
Then they started on their journey. On the twentieth day they came to the foot of a high mountain. There was blood in the trail. Some person had killed an animal. They followed the trail of that person. They arrived at a wigwam.
Ojeeg said, “Do not laugh. Be very quiet.”
A man stood in the doorway of the wigwam. He was a great manito. He was a head only. Thus he was very strange. Then he made a feast for them. He made very curious movements, so Otter laughed. At once the manito leaped upon him. He sprang on him, but Otter slipped out from under him and escaped.
The manito and the animals talked all night. The manito said to Ojeeg, the Fisher, “You will succeed. You will be the summer-maker. But you will die. Yet the summer will come.”
Now when they followed the trail in the morning, they met Otter. He was very cold and hungry, therefore Fisher gave him meat.
Then they journeyed on. On the twentieth day, they came to the top of a lofty mountain. Then they smoked their pipes.
Then Ojeeg, the Fisher, and the animals prepared themselves. Ojeeg said to Otter, “We must first make a hole in the Sky-cover. You try first.”
Otter made a great spring. He did not even touch the Sky-cover. He fell back, down the hill, to the bottom of the hill. Then Otter said, “I will go home.” So he did.
Then Beaver tried. He fell. Also Lynx and Badger fell.
Then Wolverine tried. He made a great leap and touched the sky. Then he leaped again. He pressed against the Sky-cover. He leaped a third time. The Sky-cover broke, and Wolverine went into the Sky-land. Fisher also sprang in quickly after him.
Thus Wolverine and Fisher were in the Sky-plain, in the summer land. There were many flowers and streams of bright water. There were birds in the trees, and fish and water birds on the streams. Many lodges stood there, but they were empty. In each lodge were many mocuks, many bird cages, with birds in them.
At once Ojeeg began to cut the mocuks. The birds flew out. They flew down through the hole in the Sky-cover to the Earth-plain below. They carried warm air down with them.
Now when the people of the Sky-land saw these strangers, and their birds escaping, they ran to their wigwams. But they were too late. Spring, and summer, and autumn had slipped down the hole in the Sky-cover. Endless summer was just passing through, but they broke it in two with a blow. Therefore only a part of endless summer came down to the Earth-plain.
Now when Wolverine heard the noise of the sky people, running to their lodges, he jumped down the hole and escaped. Fisher also tried to jump, but the people had shut the cover. Therefore Fisher ran and the people pursued him. He climbed a great tree in the north, and the people began shooting at him. Now Fisher was a spirit; he could not be hurt except in the tip of his tail. At last they shot him in his tail.
Fisher called to the Sky People to stop shooting. But they did not stop until darkness came. Then they went away. Fisher climbed down. He went towards the north. He said, “I have kept my promise to my son. The seasons will now be different. There will be many moons without snow and cold.”
Thus Fisher died, with the arrow sticking in his tail. It can be seen there, even to this day.[21]
Cherokee
RABBIT was very boastful. One day he met Otter. Otter said, “Sometimes I eat ducks.”
“Well, I eat ducks, too,” said Rabbit.
So they went up the stream until they saw several ducks in the water. They followed the trail softly. Then they stood on the river bank.
Rabbit said, “You go first.” At once Otter dived from the bank. He swam under water until he reached a duck; then he pulled it under quickly so that the other ducks were not frightened. While he was under water, Rabbit peeled bark from a sapling and made a noose.
“Now, watch me,” he said, when Otter came back. He dived in and swam under water until he was nearly choked. So he came to the top to breathe. He did this several times. The last time he came up among the ducks and threw the noose over the head of one.
Duck spread her wings and flew up, with Rabbit hanging to the end of the noose. Up and up flew the duck, but Rabbit could not hold on any longer. Then he let go and dropped.
Rabbit fell into a hollow sycamore. It was very tall, and had no hole at the bottom. Rabbit stayed there until he was so hungry he ate his own fur, even as he does to this day.
After many days, he heard children playing around the tree. He began to sing,
The children at once ran home to tell their father. He came and cut a hole in the tree. As he chopped away, Rabbit kept singing,
So they made the hole larger. Then Rabbit told them to stand back so they could get a good look at him. They stood back. Then Rabbit sprang out and leaped away.
Biloxi
RABBIT aided his friend the Frenchman with his work. They planted potatoes. Rabbit looked upon the potato vines as his share of the crop and ate them all.
Again Rabbit aided his friend the Frenchman. This time they planted corn. When it was grown, Rabbit said, “This time I will eat the roots.” So he pulled up all the corn by the roots, but he found nothing to satisfy his hunger.
Then the Frenchman said, “Let us dig a well.” Rabbit said, “No. You dig it alone.”
The Frenchman said, “Then you shall not drink water from the well.”
“That does not matter,” said Rabbit. “I am used to licking off the dew from the ground.”
So the Frenchman dug his well. Then he made a tar baby and stuck it up close to the well. One day Rabbit came near the well, carrying a long piece of hollow cane and a tin bucket. When he reached the well he spoke to the tar baby; it did not answer.
“Friend, what is the matter? Are you angry?” asked Rabbit.
Tar baby did not answer. So Rabbit hit him with a forepaw. The forepaw stuck there.
“Let me go,” said Rabbit, “or I will hit you on the other side.”
Tar baby paid no attention, so Rabbit hit him with the other forepaw, and that stuck fast.
“I will kick you,” said Rabbit. But when he kicked him the hindpaw stuck.
“Very well,” he said, “I will kick you with the other foot.” So he kicked him with the other foot and that stuck fast. By that time Rabbit looked like a ball, all four paws sticking to the tar baby.
Just then the Frenchman came to the well. He picked Rabbit up, tied his paws together, laid him down and scolded him. Rabbit pretended to be in great fear of a brier patch.
“If you are so afraid of a brier patch,” said the Frenchman, “I will throw you into one.”
“Oh, no, no!” said Rabbit.
“I will throw you into the brier patch,” repeated the Frenchman.
“I am much afraid of it,” answered Rabbit.
“Since you are in such dread of it, I will throw you into it,” said the Frenchman. So he picked up Rabbit and threw him far into the brier patch. Rabbit fell far away from the Frenchman.
Then he picked himself up and ran off, laughing at the trick he had played on the Frenchman.
Cherokee
ONCE the weather was dry for so long that there was no more water in the springs and creeks. The animals held a council to see what to do about it. They decided to dig a well, and all agreed to help, except Rabbit who was a lazy fellow.
Rabbit said, “I don’t need to dig for water. The dew on the grass is enough for me.”
The others did not like this, but they all started to dig the well. It stayed dry for a long while and even the water in the well was low. Still Rabbit was lively and bright.
“Rabbit steals our water at night,” they said. So they made a wolf of pine gum and tar. They set it by the well to scare the thief.
That night Rabbit came again to the well. He saw the black thing there.
“Who’s there?” he asked. But Tar Wolf did not answer. Rabbit came nearer. Yet Tar Wolf did not move. Rabbit grew brave and said, “Get out of my way.”
Tar Wolf did not move. So Rabbit hit him with his paw; but it stuck fast in the gum.
Rabbit became angry and said, “Let go my paw!” Still Tar Wolf said nothing. So Rabbit hit him with his hind foot; that stuck in the gum.
So Tar Wolf held Rabbit fast until morning. Then the other animals came for water. When they found Rabbit stuck fast, they made great fun of him for a while. At last Rabbit managed to get away.
Menomini
RABBIT was a great boaster. He wanted a medicine lodge and to have people think he was a great medicine man.
Now one day, Wabus, the Rabbit, and his wife were traveling. They came to a low hill covered with poplar sprouts. They were green and tender. Therefore Rabbit decided to make his home there.
Rabbit went first to the top of a hill and built a wigwam. He made trails from it in all directions, so he might see anyone who approached.
When the wigwam was finished, Rabbit told his wife he was going to dance; but first he ran all about the hill to see if anyone was watching him. He found no trail. Then he returned and began his song.
Now just as Rabbit returned to his wigwam, Panther reached the base of the hill, and he found Rabbit’s trail. He followed it until he reached the place where Rabbit and his wife were dancing. Here he hid to watch Rabbit.
Now Rabbit told his wife to sit at one end of the lodge while he went to the other. He took his medicine bag. Then he approached her four times, chanting,