(1) There two brothers lived in an oval lodge. They were good hunters, they say. The big one they called "Kunu," and the small one they called "Henu." The oldest one would only kill bears, the youngest did not use to hunt. There stood caches all over as far as was visible. There were very many bear skin coverings, but Kunu would pack one home every day. Then finally, in the morning, he did not go out to hunt. "My brother, why do you not go hunting?" he said to him. "My younger brother, I do not feel good in my body," he said. (5) Again in the morning, he did not go. Again he asked him, and again he said it. Thus on it went, never any more did he go. Finally now he quit asking him. He used to ask him why he would not go hunting. It was thus. He never got over it. It was a long time, and all the things that they had saved up, all was used up, so now Henu would do thus: vegetation he would look for. Sometimes fruit (haz) he would pick. Finally now, he was getting very disabled. Henu had to get around with a cane, but he would go out every day to try to find something.

There one day, unexpectedly, someone shouted at a bear. He shouted at it with, "Oooooo." "He has gone towards the clumps of timber," he was saying. Where he meant, there he went. Just as he was about there, the shouting stopped. (10) Where it stopped, there he went to. When he was about there, unexpectedly, there stood a man. He went over to him. "Hâho, young man! Start in and build a fire. We shall roast, won't we?" he said. "I will skin them." He built a fire. When he got through skinning it, right away the intestines he cleaned, and that he roasted. "Now, young man, we will do the Fast Eating. The one that is the fastest eater, he will eat the most," he said. Then they bit into the intestines on opposites ends. "Already!" he said. As soon as he said, "Already," all he had in his mouth was all he got. He nearly bit him in his face. "Young man, I might bite you," he said. Henu was kind of ashamed there. When they got through, he said to him, "Ho, young man! (15) as much as you want to pack, ask for," he said. Two limbs that were there he walked over and stood by, and cut off their feet and threw them over to him. "Ho, you young man! that is what you choose," he said to him. Then he packed his bear and went home. The young man's heart became sad. There he wept. He took the bear feet and came home and besides, he did not swallow the mouth full of intestines that he had. That also he brought home. There near the lodge he put them in a hollow tree, then he went home.

Kunu said, "My brother, you have been weeping. What is the reason? You should not have wept, you are a man. Or did somebody do something to you? Tell it," he said. "No, not anything did anyone do to me. (20) I did not weep. I have a cold and I have been sneezing very much and my tears flowed, is the reason," he said. "Ha," he said.

Then in the morning, again he went supporting himself with a cane. There, as he went, he again came shouting. He was shouting at a bear, "Oooooo!" He had gone towards the clump of timber. "Ooooo!" he came saying. Again where he meant, there he went. Again, before he got there he stopped. When he stopped shouting, there he went to. As he got there, a man was there. "Hâho, young man! build a fire. I will skin it," he said. We shall roast some," he said. There he built a fire. Already he had it skinned. Again right away the intestines he roasted. "Hâho, young man! we shall do the Fast Eating. The one (25) who eats the fastest will have the most to eat," he said. On opposite ends they bit the intestines with their teeth. "Already!" he said. Right away he also nearly bit his face. "Hâho, young man! as much as you wish to pack, ask for that much," he said. Again on two limbs he stood. "All right," he said, and the feet he cut off and threw them to him. Hoho, young man! there they are, the ones that you wanted," he said, and he did it. Then he packed his bear and went home. Again then the young man's heart was very sad. There he wept. Finally, when he stopped, he went home with the little piece of intestines that he had bitten off, this he took with him as well as the bear feet that he took along home. Again near his lodge when he got where he had placed the others, again there he put them.

(30) Again right away, "Well, my brother, you have been weeping very much I think," he said. "Brother mine, I have a cold. I got my body cold, therefore I sneezed very much I did. My tears flowed, is why I am thus. Yesterday I was that way and today I was that way again," he said.

Again in the morning as he did, again the same he did. When he got home, "My brother, you are weeping," he said to him, and he answered, "My brother, it is so. When you first said it, you guessed it. I have cried. I went from here to the clump of timber and there someone shouted at a bear, so I headed it off, but before time he stopped. When he came shouting, then a man was standing when I came there. The bear was there. He said, 'Hâho, young man! (35) build a fire, we shall eat. I will skin it,' he said, so I built a fire. When I got through, already the intestines he had ready. He roasted it. He said, 'Young man, we shall do Fast Eating. Which ever one of us eats the fastest, he shall eat the most,' he said. Then on each end we bit. 'Already!" he said. Right way he nearly bit my face as well, he very narrowly missed it. 'Young man, I might bite you also,' he said. Then he said, 'Hoho, young man, as much as you want to carry, choose that much,' he said, so I did. On two of his limbs, stand on them he did. He cut off the foot only from the ankles and said, 'There it is young man, what you chose,' he said. Then his bear he packed on his back and went away. (40) Then my heart was sad. There I wept, then when I stopped crying, as much intestines as I had bitten off, and the feet, I took and came home. Then over here near the house is a hollow tree, there I would leave them." He said, "Hoho, my brother! long ago you should have told me of it, long ago we could have been eating," he said. "As I am sick, we are poor, but instead he abuses you. He shall know of it. Go after the things that you put away," he said. He went after them. He singed them and put them on as a night boil.

Early in the morning he ate in a hurry and then he went off to where he meant. Sure enough, all ready there, he came shouting at bears, "Ooooo!" He had gone to the clump of timber. "Ooooo!" he said. Where he meant, there Kunu went and headed him off, (45) but before he got there he stopped. Where he stopped shouting, there he went. As he went toward him, unexpectedly, there he was, and he had the bear there. "Hâho, young man! I will skin it, you can build a fire and we can have a roast," he said. "Howo!" said Kunu. He built a fire right away. He also had it skinned. The intestines he gave to Kunu. "Young man, that you can roast. We shall eat it," he said. He roasted it, then when he got through, he said, "Hiho! if you are through, we will have a Fast Eating Match. The one of us that can eat the fastest will eat the most," he said. "All right," said Kunu. Then on each end they bit. Then Kunu did. "You also I might bite," he said, and he instead very nearly bit the other's face. Then also he said to Kunu, "Haho! young man. (50) Choose whatever you wish to pack," he said. Kunu laid himself on the bear. He also laid his limbs on the limbs. Thus he did and all he packed on his back and went home. "Kodé! very much you have done," he said. "But you asked me to choose," said Kunu, and on he came home. After awhile, with the bear on his back he got home.

"Hâho, my little brother! We are not to be abused," he was saying. Thus it was. Very well they lived there. He said, "My little brother, I will look for him. I will go to where the one who does it lives," said Kunu. Then he went to hunt for him. Unexpectedly, there as he went, a flat platform lay stretched before him. Not any end could he see. Meat lay spitted on meat racks covered with bear skin. In the middle was a big oval tent. There he went. As he neared the place, unexpectedly, he was talking. He listened to him and unexpectedly, (55) he was talking about Kunu. "Kora! he will be another. Look out, I might bite you! He has first taken it and eaten it as he was about starved to death. Had he said 'I will eat it,' in a gentle way, I would have consented. What he chose, he laid on all of it. Kora! he is tricky. If he was that way, why was he starving to death? Kora! 'All of it I will pack home,' he ought to say, but instead, he laid on all he chose. Kora! he must think that I am afraid of him. He is about starved to death, so I let him take it. Kora! he must think I was afraid of him. There isn't anything that I am afraid of on this earth. Kunu must have thought I was afraid of him. He was about to die of starvation is why I let him. Kora! not anything am I afraid of. (60) Kora! one with a red horn protruding, that one only am I afraid of, that only of all things am I afraid of," he said. Kunu then turned back and came away. "You shall know who you are, you that speak," he said, and went home.

Then there was a hill there where there used to be some red cedar standing. There he went by. When he got there, a red cedar he cut down and took home. That he made a horn of. Then again he went over there. Again when he got there, unexpectedly, very much he was saying. He was talking about Kunu in the same way that he had been talking about him before. Then did Kunu push the protruding horn through the door. Still he talked very much, but he had not seen the horn yet, so he hissed at him (gidjijije). When he heard it, he looked towards the door. There, unexpectedly, a protruding red horn was seemingly about to jump for him. (65) He cried out, but did not know which way to run, as the horn was at the door. Finally, at the back of the lodge he took something and there ran out and away. Kunu went home.

"Kora! what a clever fellow, that homely thing is. I wonder where he has gone to," Kunu said. When he got home, he said, "My brother, the homely one has run away and left his home. There instead let us go and live," he said. "There are very many meat racks, so that we may not be in want," he said. They went there instead and lived. They had plenty. There in peace they lived. Finally the time had past. They ate up all the meat racks. Kunu said, "Kode! I will go and look for him and see where he is," he said, Kunu said. Then he went to hunt for him with his protruding horn and unexpectedly, as he was going along, as he was before, he was again. (70) The meat racks reached way over. As he neared the lodge, unexpectedly, he was saying very much. As he said before, he was saying again. He was talking about Kunu. Again at the door, he went and put the horn through part way. He cried out again. Finally at the back of the lodge he took something and finally at the side of the lodge he burst out and again he went away. Again when he got home, "Hâho, my little bother! Again he moved from there, and again as he lived before, that way they lived again. Again there they lived permanently. Again they ate it up. The second time, again the third time, they did it to him.

The fourth time he went to him again. He was saying very much. He was talking about Kunu. "Then what must I do?" he thought. "Something he must use. If he uses something, it must be in back of that partition," he thought. Thus he did. Through an opening in the back of the lodge (75) he let the horn protrude through. Then he hissed at him. He turned and looked. There, unexpectedly, the protruding horn, there it was protruding through. Again he cried out. At the back of the lodge he seemed to long for, there he would run to, but again the protruding horn he would shove in a little more. Back he would run again. Finally, he cried out, and ran out. On he went crying. In he went. He looked there in back of the lodge in the partition, and there, unexpectedly, a very small bear was. Very white it was, and with him a small gourd (pexexononikijâ) burnt black. It was a black gourd. Kunu said, "Kora! how he tried to be a spirit (waxopini). This must be what he used," he said, then he took them and went home. When he got home, again they moved there.

Then Kunu said, "The homely one, I will go and look for and see how he is doing," he said. Then he went to hunt for him. There as he went, unexpectedly, (80) there was a little fire from which the smoke was rising. Unexpectedly, again he was coming there with his protruding horn. He tried to run away, but he told him not to. He did not go. "Something I am going to ask you, so don't run away," he said to him. Then he got there. He said to him, "The [little] white bear (hûdjsganik) you ran away from and that gourd, how do you use them?" he said to him. "Well (égi), in the morning when I am going hunting, I ask it to tell him, so when I come to a bear track, the gourd (pexra) I use to rattle and the bear, wherever it had got to, then it would die," he said, "hâhâ, that is all," then the protruding horn he held towards him. He cried out and a brown squirrel (zikzi = red squirrel) ran up to a big pine tree (wazi xede) that was there. There it ran up. Humans you tried to abuse, so ever after will boys shoot you with protruding horns. Pine boughs (wazi hikâgra) will you eat always," he said to it. (85) There the squirrel was very great, but the humans got it away from him. So the humans have that. Hâhâ, it is ended. [1]

Commentary. The little (nik) white bear takes after its spiritual prototype, White Bear. White Bear is the chief of the Bear Spirits and therefore exercises control over them. Thus his smaller version, whom Kunu scarcely recognizes as a spirit at all, still has command over earthly bears that people are hunting. This is why it is important that he is said to be white.

At the end of the story, the red squirrel is said to have climbed up a cedar tree in the translation provided, but the Hotcâk text says that it is a wazi xede, "a big pine." Two sentences on, the translation has "cedar boughs" for wazi ?hikañgra, "pine boughs." Nevertheless, inasmuch as white cedar is called waziparas, "broad pine," it is recognized as a kind of pine tree.

The great importance of this story is that it calls arrows "red horns," making a connection to the mythical figure Redhorn, who is Chief of the Herok'a. The Herok'a are diminutive beings whose arrows never miss their mark. The red horn that is created by Kunu is made from red cedar, a wood sacred to the Thunderbirds, and much used in purification ceremonies. It is this that makes the squirrel run away. The squirrel is in origin a man. Squirrels and humans have in common that they are essentially by nature defenseless animals who must rely upon their wits to survive, as the squirrel seems to when it artfully dodges predators. When Earthmaker made humans, they were the last and least of his creation, so he gave them the gift of tobacco so that they could enlist spiritual aid. However, in practical terms, what really elevates man from being something like a squirrel is the fact that he possess the bow and arrow. This elevates him from the bottom to the top of the animal world. The proof of this promotion is the ability to kill bears, who are the natural pinnacle of the food chain. The squirrel, as a kind of man, is able to hunt bears himself, but not with a bow and arrows; rather, he gains spiritual help. This help might be considered more like sorcery, as it involves magic and the use of a lesser spirit to give him command over bears. Kunu scoffs at the little bear and does not recognize him as a proper spirit, even though he is, since as a white bear he has command over all bears on earth. However, as great as his power is, and despite its spiritual nature, there is one power that far exceeds it and gives him panic, and that is the power of the red horn. We learn at the end that this red horn is the arrow. With the arrow, humans can conquer everything. The story seems to teach that to be properly human, it is not enough to have fire and tobacco, one must also have the bow and arrow. This is what truly separates men from other animals. If squirrels had fire (the blackened gourd) and spiritual aid, they too could kill bears, but they could never dominate man who has the power of technology. Even boys could kill such a squirrel.

Squirrels are by nature hoarding animals, so in his human form the brown squirrel hoards the bear he has killed, not only giving the starving Henu the worst parts of the meat, but hardly any of it. Henu does just what a squirrel would do: he places his food in the hollow of a tree for future consumption. Kunu mildly scolds him for this, reminding him that they could have been eating all along. This underlines a difference in the nature of the squirrel and that of the human: humans share, not only food, but burdens of defense. Kunu despite ailing from an unknown disease, will still go out and confront the man who abuses his little brother. The punishment that Kunu exacts is total deprivation, the opposite of hoarding. Now the squirrel has no meat at all, even to this day. Thus the squirrel must subsist on pine cones and other such food. This is the price of the failure to cooperate. When Henu heads off the bear and builds the fire to roast it, he gets no recognition at all by the squirrel-man. Men can eat meat not only because they have bows and arrows, but because they have cooperative hunting, a sharing of the tasks for the successful acquisition and processing of food. Those who cannot curb their greed and self-centeredness are condemned to always live in want of meat.

Links: Squirrels, Bear Spirits, Redhorn, White Bear, Gourd Rattles.

Stories: mentioning squirrels: Old Man and White Feathers, Wears White Feathers on His Head, The Animal Spirit Aids of the Medicine Rite, Porcupine and His Brothers, The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men, Trickster and the Eagle; about two brothers: The Two Children, The Twin Sisters, The Captive Boys, The Twins Cycle, The Two Brothers, The Two Boys, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, The Lost Blanket, The Man with Two Heads, Bluehorn's Nephews, Snowshoe Strings, The Old Man and the Giants; mentioning (spirit) bears (other than were-bears): White Bear, Blue Bear, Black Bear, Red Bear, Bear Clan Origin Myth, The Shaggy Man, Bear Offers Himself as Food, Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Hotcâk Clans Origin Myth, The Messengers of Hare, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Hotcâk Migration Myth, Red Man, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Two Boys, Creation of the World (v. 5), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Snowshoe Strings, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, The Spider's Eyes, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Trickster's Tail, Old Man and White Feathers, cf. Fourth Universe; mentioning bear entrails: The Shaggy Man, Grandfather's Two Families, Kaghíga and Lone Man; mentioning red cedar (juniper, waxcútc): The Journey to Spiritland, vv. 4, 5 (used to ascend to Spiritland), The Seer (sacrificial knife), Redhorn's Sons (coronet of Thunders, lodge), Aratcgéga's Blessings (coronet of Thunders), The Twins Disobey Their Father (trees found on cliffs of Thunders), Partridge's Older Brother (smoke fatal to evil spirit), Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth, v. 2 (purifying smoke), The Creation Council (purifying smoke), The Dipper (incense), Sun and the Big Eater (arrow), Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (log used as weapon); mentioning sacred gourd rattles: North Shakes His Gourd, East Shakes the Messenger, South Seizes the Messenger, Holy One and His Brother; mentioning teeth: The Animal who would Eat Men, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Hare and the Dangerous Frog, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, The Two Boys, The Birth of the Twins, The Twins Disobey Their Father, Wears White Feathers on His Head, The Dipper, Wolves and Humans, The Commandments of Earthmaker, The Children of the Sun, The Green Man, Holy One and His Brother, Partridge's Older Brother, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge of the Medicine Rite, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, East Shakes the Messenger, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, White Wolf, Buffalo Clan Origin Myth.

Themes: each member of a group of brothers specializes in the hunting of just one kind of game animal: The Quail Hunter, Grandfather's Two Families; starvation: White Wolf, The Red Man, The Old Man and His Four Dogs, A Man and His Three Dogs, Sun and the Big Eater, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Kaghíga and Lone Man, The Shaggy Man, The Bungling Host, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head; shouting at bears: The Shaggy Man; when the kill is divided one person unjustly gets only the feet: He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle; the fruit of the hunt is stolen: Porcupine and His Brothers, Crane and His Brothers, Old Man and White Feathers, White Wolf; a young man who has been abused by someone comes home showing signs of sorrow, but when his eldest brother asks him about it, he does not tell him what really happened: Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers; the eldest brother (Turtle) realizes that one of his brothers has been abused but has said nothing to him, so he gets his brother to tell him about it, after which he avenges him upon his tormentor: Turtle's Warparty (Porcupine), Porcupine and His Brothers (Red Breasted Turtle); a greedy person who wants far more than his share is punished by being left with nothing: The Markings on the Moon, The Greedy Woman, Trickster and the Honey; someone who is otherwise fearless is deeply afraid of just one thing: Earthmaker Sends Rucewe to the Twins (a turkey), Bear Visits His Grandfather Bear (a thunder-arrow); a creature boasts that he is afraid of nothing, only to reveal later that he fears (a certain) arrow: Bear Visits His Grandfather Bear; something is of a (symbolic) pure white color: White Bear, Deer Spirits, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4), White Flower, Big Eagle Cave Mystery, The Fleetfooted Man, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, Worúxega, The Two Boys, The Lost Blanket (white spirits), Skunk Origin Myth, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, A Man and His Three Dogs, The Messengers of Hare, The Brown Squirrel, The Man Who Fell from the Sky, Bladder and His Brothers, White Thunder's Warpath, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Dipper, Great Walker's Medicine (v. 2), Creation of the World (v. 12), Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Descent of the Drum, Tobacco Origin Myth (v. 5), The Diving Contest, Otter Comes to the Medicine Rite, The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men, The Animal Spirit Aids of the Medicine Rite, Grandmother's Gifts, Four Steps of the Cougar, The Completion Song Origin, North Shakes His Gourd, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, Thunder Cloud is Blessed, Peace of Mind Regained; red as a symbolic color: The Journey to Spiritland (hill, willows, reeds, smoke, stones, haze), The Gottschall Head (mouth), The Chief of the Herok'a (clouds, side of Forked Man), The Red Man (face, sky, body, hill), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (neck, nose, painted stone), Redhorn's Father (leggings, stone sphere, hair), The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father (hair, body paint, arrows), Wears White Feathers on His Head (man), The Birth of the Twins (turkey bladder headdresses), The Two Boys (elk bladder headdresses), Trickster and the Mothers (sky), Rich Man, Boy, and Horse (sky), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Spirit), Bluehorn Rescues His Sister (buffalo head), Wazûka (buffalo head headdress), The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (horn), Bear Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Deer Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (stick at grave), Pigeon Clan Origins (Thunderbird lightning), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks (eyes), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (scalp, woman's hair), The Race for the Chief's Daughter (hair), The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy (hair), Redhorn's Sons (hair), Redhorn Contests the Giants (hair), The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle (hair), A Wife for Knowledge (hair), He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (hair), The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants (hair of Giantess), A Man and His Three Dogs (wolf hair), The Red Feather (plumage), The Man who was Blessed by the Sun (body of Sun), Red Bear, Eagle Clan Origin Myth (eagle), The Shell Anklets Origin Myth (Waterspirit armpits), The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty (Waterspirits), The Roaster (body paint), The Man who Defied Disease Giver (red spot on forehead), The Wild Rose (rose), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (warclub), Îtcorúcika and His Brothers (ax & packing strap), Hare Kills Flint (flint), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head (edges of flint knives), The Mulberry Picker (leggings), The Seduction of Redhorn's Son (cloth), Yûgiwi (blanket); someone possesses a gourd rattle of great magical powers: North Shakes His Gourd, East Shakes the Messenger, South Seizes the Messenger; an unseen creature hisses (blows puffs of air) at someone: Wears White Feathers on His Head, The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Dipper, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane; as a punishment, a spirit decrees that someone be transformed into an animal: The Skunk Origin Myth (skunk), How the Hills and Valleys were Formed, v. 3 (worm), Old Man and White Feathers (owl), Warughápara (owl), The Chief of the Herok'a (owl), Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ant); a human turns into a (spirit) animal: How the Thunders Met the Nights (Thunderbird), Warughápara (Thunderbird), The Dipper (hummingbird), Keramanic'aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), Elk Clan Origin Myth (elk), Young Man Gambles Often (elk), Sun and the Big Eater (horse), The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Were-Grizzly, Partridge's Older Brother (bear), The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother (bear), Porcupine and His Brothers (bear), The Shaggy Man (bear), The Roaster (bear), Wazûka (bear), White Wolf (dog, wolf), Worúxega (wolf, bird, snake), He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (buffalo), The Skunk Origin Myth (skunk), The Fleetfooted Man (otter, bird), The Diving Contest (Waterspirit), The Woman who Married a Snake (snake, Waterspirit), The Omahas who turned into Snakes (four-legged snakes), The Twins Get into Hot Water, v. 3 (alligators), Snowshoe Strings (a frog), How the Hills and Valleys were Formed, v. 3 (earthworms), The Woman Who Became an Ant, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ant).

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, "The Squirrel," Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) #22, pp. 1 - 85. Hotcâk syllabary text (by Sam Blowsnake?) with an interlinear translation by Oliver LaMère.