Suppliants, who came to Redhorn's village bearing the bloody shirts of the slain, asked Redhorn to avenge them. Redhorn consented and was very successful on the warpath. Some people suggested that the suppliant's pipe also be offered to the sons of Redhorn. The eldest took it and smoked. Then he turned to Storms as He Walks and said, "Now I shall need the weapon that you promised to give me, since I am going on the warpath." Storms as He Walks replied, "Ho! I promised it to you, so I shall go the Thunderbird spirit village and bring it back."

Three times he went there, and three times he came back empty handed. The fourth time his uncle, who owned the weapon, said, "Very well, I shall bring it to earth, but you must have something to wrap it in." Storms as He Walks came back with the good news, but before they could secure a wrap for it, it began to drizzle and soon the Thunderbirds were descending with the weapon in hand. "Where is the weapon's case?" they demanded, "this holy weapon cannot be allowed to touch the ground!" The boy cried when he heard these words. However, standing nearby in the lodge was a boy who had been a friend to Redhorn's sons for many years. He stepped forward and said, "Let my body be the weapon case." They all thanked him with heart felt gratitude. The boy laid down on his stomach in the middle of the lodge, and as he lay there blood started to ooze from his mouth, and he died. The Thunderbirds fell upon him and devoured his flesh until nothing was left but bones. Then the uncle of Storms as He Walks declared, "Put these bones in a deerskin. This warbundle has great power. On your first warpath you can take a whole family, and on your second, you can wipe out two families. On your third warpath it will give you three families, and on your fourth warpath, if you will it, an entire village can perish at your hands." Having given the humans the Thunderbird Warbundle, Storms as He Walks and the other Thunderbirds went back to their celestial abode.

After this the sons of Redhorn went on a raid with boys of their own age. On the way they killed a number of elk from which they took two elk bladders, inflated them, and attached them to their belts. They went on until they reached the place where the sky crashes loudly against the earth. There the brothers filled their elk bladders with their own followers. Then the sons of Redhorn removed the bones of their friend and brought him back to life. They waited for the sky to bounce back from the earth, then dashed through the gap. When they were on the other side, they released their comrades from inside the elk bladders. On the other side of the sky there was a village whose upper and lower moiety chiefs were made of iron and were thought to be invulnerable. They knew that Redhorn was holy, but they had warred upon his people nonetheless. It was against their people that Redhorn had launched vengeance raids, although he did not know of these chiefs. They were planning to go after Redhorn, which is why the boys had gone on the warpath in the first place. The iron spirits had foreknowledge that Redhorn's sons were coming after them, but in the fighting they were captured just the same. The boys bound them in irons and took them away. When they reached the sky's edge, they inflated the two bladders and put the prisoners in one and their followers in the other, then at the precise moment they crossed under the edge of the sky. On the other side, they let everyone out of the bladders and the resurrected boy led the way home carrying the Thunderbird Warbundle. After celebrating their victory, they made the prisoners "play with fire." It had been said that the iron spirits could not be killed, yet when they threw them into great bonfires they turned red hot and died. [1]

Commentary. "the suppliant's pipe" -- when people came to ask a great favor, they would prepare a pipe for smoking, then turn the stem towards the person from whom they wished the favor.

"play with fire" -- a species of tough humor describing the process of torturing someone with fire, then burning them alive.

Comparative Material. In a Cherokee story about the two sons of Kanáti, who correspond to the Hotcâk Twins, the following is said about the edge of the world: "He (Kanáti) soon got out of sight of the boys, but they kept on until they came to the end of the world, where the sun comes out. The sky was just coming down when they got there, but they waited until it went up again, and then they went through and climbed up on the other side." [2] In another story, men seek the place of the sun to see what it is like. "The young men traveled on until they came at last to the sunrise place where the sky reaches down to the ground. They found that the sky was an arch or vault of solid rock hung above the earth and was always swinging up and down, so that when it went up there was an open place like a door between the sky and ground, and when it swung back the door was shut. Sun came out of this door from the east and climbed along on the inside of the arch." [3]

Links: Redhorn, Sons of Redhorn, The Sons of Earthmaker, Thunderbirds, Turtle, Storms as He Walks, Bird Spirits, Giants, Iron Spirits.

Links within the Redhorn Cycle: §5 The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, §7 The Seduction of Redhorn's Son.

Stories: featuring the sons of Redhorn as characters: The Redhorn Cycle, Redhorn's Sons, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, Redhorn's Father; mentioning Redhorn: The Redhorn Cycle, Redhorn's Sons, The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Redhorn's Father, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Spirit of Gambling, The Green Man, The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants, cp. The Cosmic Ages of the Hotcâgara; mentioning Thunderbirds: The Thunderbird, Warughápara, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, Thunderbird and White Horse, Bluehorn's Nephews, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed (vv. 1, 2), The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird, The Thunder Charm, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Story of the Thunder Names, The Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Pigeon Clan Origins, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Brave Man, Ocean Duck, Turtle's Warparty, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Quail Hunter, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Redhorn's Sons, The Dipper, The Stone that Became a Frog, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Origin of the Hotcâk Chief, The Spirit of Gambling, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Aratcgéga's Blessings, Kunu's Warpath, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, The Nightspirits Bless Tciwoit'éhiga, The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Big Stone, The Origins of the Milky Way; about Flint: Hare Kills Flint, Wears White Feathers on His Head, The Red Man, Chief of the Herok'a, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth; featuring Iron Spirits as characters: How the Thunders Met the Nights, Cûgepaga, The Raccoon Coat, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth; mentioning Warbundles: Warughápara (Thunderbird), Redhorn's Sons (Thunderbird), The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty (Thunderbird), The Warbundle of the Eight Generations (Thunderbird), Wanihéga Becomes a Sak'î (Thunderbird), Cûgepaga (Eagle), The Masaxe War (Eagle?), The Blessing of a Bear Clansman (Bear), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo), The Blessing of Kerexûsaka (Sauk), A Man's Revenge (enemy); mentioning bladders: Bladder, Bladder and His Brothers, The Birth of the Twins (turkey), The Two Boys (elk).

This waikan has a strong counterpart in the worak Cûgepaga.

Themes: certain beings are thought to be invulnerable (but may not be): The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I, Great Walker's Warpath, Partridge's Older Brother; hypnotic commands issued at a distance: The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys, Brave Man; otherworld journeys inside an animal skin sack: How the Thunders Met the Nights; because the spirits make clear that it is a necessity, a man volunteers to die: Redhorn's Sons, The Man who Defied Disease Giver; a great spirit's human friend sacrifices his life for him only to be revived later: Redhorn's Sons, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow; the Thunders seek to eat a human being: Bluehorn's Nephews, Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds; a person is killed so that his skin can be used to make a sacred bundle: The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle; a man injured by the Thunderbirds regenerates (in four days): Warughapara, Redhorn's Sons, Bluehorn's Nephews; someone volunteers to offer himself to a spirit: Redhorn's Sons (Thunderbirds), The Seer (Waterspirit); a warleader is given two very holy men by the spirits, and in spite of their powers, these men have no idea that they are being approached by a warparty: White Thunder's Warpath; a warparty attacks evil spirits whose bodies are made of iron: Cûgepaga, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth; making the enemy "play with fire": The Fox-Hotcâk War, Redhorn's Sons, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Bird Clan Origin Myth.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, Winnebago Hero Cycles: A Study in Aboriginal Literature (Baltimore: Waverly Press, 1948) 132-134.

[2] "Kanáti and Selu: The Origin of Game and Corn," in James Mooney, History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (Asheville, North Carolina: Bright Mountain Books, 1992 [1891/1900]) Story 3, p. 247.

[3] "The Journey to the Sunrise," in Mooney, History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, Story 7, p. 256.