"There was once a village, the chief of which would say to his son, "My son, you must fast for the sake of your village. Let your village benefit by you. For sometime a day will come when things will be difficult." Often the old chief would thus council his son.

After a time the chief's son grew up. Then one day they said, "A great warparty has come upon us." The chief said to his son, "Now, my son, this is what I told you to fast for." Then he took his arrows and pulled back and forth on his bow, did the chief's son. A second time someone came and said, "One is very great. It is very hard." They came and said. "All right," answered the chief's son. After awhile another came up and said, "It is very hard. One is very great. Every time he comes and one of us is left behind, he kills him." The chief's son answered, "All right," as he worked back and forth on his bow. Again one came and said, "It is getting very hard. He has killed all of the brave men." The fourth time another came to say, "Very hard it is getting. Into the village they are about to enter. They make us retreat." Then the old chief said, "Well my son, are you not going to try something? They are killing those of your village, they tell you." This the old man said with a grunt of impatience. The young man kept handling his arrows, tying them into a bunch. Then he threw them to the wall for safekeeping. This done, he took a warclub that he owned, and clad only in his moccasins and gee-string he approached them. As soon as he came, he gave a whoop and started for them. He chased them. One was left behind, and he killed him. He cut off his head and came back carrying it. Again he went, and did the same. And thus he did it to many of them, killing a great many. They also had one on their side that was doing the same. From the other side there was a warrior that did the same. Now when his village was being defeated, he had championed them. Finally, as he fought, he met this other one. With a grunt of impatience, they threw down their warclubs, and held each other by one arm. Very much they did swinging at each other. Finally, the other warriors quit fighting and looked at these two for they were going to depend upon the result of this contest. Finally, after awhile, they broke the chief's son in two pieces. This made a ringing sound, like that of iron.

Impatient they all became at once and they went into the village. They killed all of the people in it except one nice young man that was there. The leader told them not to kill him. Therefore they did not kill him. Then the leader said, "I will not go home, because I am ashamed. They have killed many of my attendants, that is the reason. Many men, I threw away. I will remain here, and live with this boy. He I will keep for company."

They tried to take him home, but they could not persuade him to go, so finally they had to leave him. So the man looked around at the homes until he found one that he liked. This they lived in. From the village he took everything that he needed, and then burned up the rest. He burned it up and there he lived with the young boy. Said the man, "My grandson, you had better fast, as the world is narrow in places. Fast, [so that] a spirit takes pity or awakens his pity upon you." The boy did this and fasted. As he fasted he would eat once a month, and thus he kept on. "Finally, he was able to hunt, and so he would hunt as he fasted. After a time his grandfather got old, and his eyes grew dim. He used to cook, but after a time, he was unable to do this. He became deaf, and could only hear his talk when he took a black round stone and held it to his ear and hit it. So when he (the grandson) got through cooking, the stone at his ear he would use, and at his ear he would knock them together. He would give a grunt and turn himself over on the other side and knock them together. He would say, "My grandson." His grandson would reply, "My grandfather, I have food for you." "All right, it is good, grandson," the old man would reply.

Then, after a time, again he was coming crying to the spirits, as he came in the evening. When he stopped just then, they hissed at him. He stopped still and looked around him, but he could see nothing anywhere. So he went on and again they said it to him. Again he stopped, but could see nothing. Again they said it to him. Three times they said it to him. Then it said, "My brother," and seemed to be up above, so he raised his eyes. There he saw something sitting on the stump of a tree that stood there. The top of it was a man, and the stump was the body. The tree was full of life. "You are my little brother," he said. "Now, my little brother, there are some things that I wish to tell you about. So I said that (hissed). The old man that you call your grandfather killed me. Where you live, and all the ground that is cleared around it was once the village. That town was mine. We were the chiefs of it, but your grandfather came with a great warparty which he led. He was going to kill all of us, so I killed some of them. but their leader also killed very many. So finally, we met and fought together. We combated each other, but he broke me in two. So thus above he sprung me. As I came here I landed, and here I am still." The spirit continued, "From now on, he will try and kill you. I wish to warn you, so I tell you this. There they will eat you. He will tell you to kill something. They will be his brothers. When you get home, he will say, 'Now then, my grandson, all day I have been thinking, I have thought of something. A name, I will name you, I thought. Sometimes, unexpectedly one sees people. You are without a name and I do not like it. What would they say, if they were to call you by name, if people saw you.' Thus he will say to you, and at night he will tell you a bad dream. He will say that only by giving a feast, only will he live. If you go, take plenty of tobacco with you and pour some tobacco for the lookouts and ask them to shield you, and they will do it. Just to give you pointers, I tell you this. It is not likely that you will lose as you have fasted very much."

Thus time went on. Thinking he went home. "Thus it is," he thought, "grandfather never told me." He began to dislike his grandfather a little then. When he got home, and had the food ready he hit him with the stone. He hit him very hard with it, indeed. Before he had used him very easy, but now he hit him with all his strength. "Ah," he said, and turned over on the other side, and on his side he cracked him. "Grandson, what?" he said. The young man replied, "Grandfather, I am giving you food." When he had finished eating and gone to bed, the old man gave a yell for he had bad dreams. "Grandson, grandson," he cried. He jumped up and hit him on the side of the head with the stones and then the other. "Grandfather, what?" "Ah," said he, "my grandson," and he began to weep. "Never mind, grandfather, tell it, what you dreamed of," said the boy. "Grandson, in the setting of the sun there is a white otter, and they say that I must singe it and give a feast. If I don't do it, I will die, they say to me." "Ah, grandfather, it is good. Why are you crying? You are to give a feast with it. That is why they gave it to you. In the morning, I will go after it," he said, and in the morning he started. Where he meant, there he got to, and unexpectedly there was a round prairie which was full of otters, and in the center of it there was a white one. When they saw him they began to rise but he said, "You shall have a smoke. Don't tell on me." The lookouts replied, "All right, it shall be as you wish. Never as long as we have lain on the earth have we ever smoked," and so they would not tell on him. He gave tobacco, and they even got out of his way, so he went on. Then he said, "Grandfathers, when I come back this way after me, close up the way for me." There was a very white one with a kind of red nose sound asleep. Its eyelids were a kind of red as well. Its heart was throbbing, and there he shot it. Over it turned itself and on the other side he shot it as well. This done, he ran. "A black hawk," it cried and flew, but he caught up to it and swallowed it. But from his nose-holes a humming bird flew out. The second time it would almost swallow it, but it would dodge, and it would miss it. Then unexpectedly his grandfather was saying, "Oh catch him, catch him. Human you always wanted, so one very good I raised for you and sent love to you. You do not act as you ought." As he got near home, there the door was unexpectedly very tight for it was tied, and was being held from the inside. As he neared home he flew towards (the lodge), and there a small opening it made. Then he came in. He went back opposite the door and laid down. He nearly broke the door and groaned. "Ugh, you say; ugh, you say. You will be another. You are even using hummingbirds in bunches. That on the first start I thought he would use, so I called him "Standing Looks at Black Hawk." Now will he. A spirit calls him and the other. Why should he come just to my door and eat. I thought you used to tell of your fleetness so much. My door you must have made bloody for me," he said, and was back in bed as he said all this. After a while he untied the door and looked at it, and there unexpectedly he was real white. It was very good.

Then he took the stones and as he lay on the side of his face, he struck him on both sides. The old man said, "What?" "Grandfather, I have brought it back," said the youth. "Oh, my grandson, let me see it," said the old man. His face was all wrinkled and at the back of his head he tied the scalp together. This done, he opened his eyes. Then he opened the door for him. He looked at it. "Ah, ah, my grandson, it is such a fine animal, my grandson. I am old now, let me enjoy myself. Skin the hide and make a mat for me. I will use it for a mat," he said. "Grandfather, I will not do it. Singed and boiled you dreamed of it. I don't want you to die," he said to him. "Never anything I say is so," he said and the back of his head he untied which caused his face to fly back with a noise. Then he singed it and not a bit did he waste in scraping it. Even the blood he did not waste, for fear it would come back to life again. He was doing just what his older brother had told him, so he put it in a big kettle. The old man said, "My grandson, if you skin him use that to carry him in," as he handed him a white cloth. He gave it back to him saying, "I am through with it." For if he used it, and some blood remained on it, he could bring it to life again. Then he said to him, "Grandfather, I have put on the kettle to boil. when they give a feast they generally sing, but aren't you going to say anything?" Unexpectedly, the old man began to weep and said, "My grandson, my tooth aches, so I am unable to say anything." Then, when it was cooked, he again said to him, "Grandfather, I have cooked it. Who are you going to invite, so I may invite them." But the old man replied, "My grandson, just pour it out, for who would come?" The youth replied, "There are a lot of people." He went out and said, "All above, that belong, you are invited. Our earth that belongs also." Then he went in, and unexpectedly the tent was full. Then he said, as he greeted them, "My grandfather had a bad dream. He dreamt that he can only live if he boils a white otter. So I went to hunt it. With it I came back, and here it is. The head, as is customary, they always call on someone for it. I will put it in the place of the old woman that is present -- there being no other women but her. My grandfather received a war prize from her, I believe, so I will put it in her plate," he finished. The woman was crying but he told them, "The bones you shall eat." She answered, "All right." They cracked the bones as they ate. The old woman who was his grandfather's sister was given the head. Therefore, she was crying, because he was feasting on her brother. She wanted to get even a piece of his bones, that is why she was there, but she was called on for the head; and they all ate up their portion. After eating the flesh, the old woman said, "The bone, I want to take home with me as my tooth aches, and I cannot grind it." The youth replied, "It is forbidden to take home anything from this feast," to the old woman. So he took the stones and pounded up the bone and mixed it with soup, and made her drink it up. Then he said, "I guess this is all we shall do." "Ho!" they said. They all disappeared at once.

"It will happen again," said his brother as he took him over for a smoke as he was wont to do. His brother would fill a pipe for him, and climb up and let him smoke it. Then he would tell the youth what they were going to do as well as what to do in return. What to do also he would tell him. The first time he had seen his brother was before the old grandfather had had his bad dream. When he said he would name him, then he said when he got home, "My grandson, something I think of. Today I was thinking a name I'll give you, I thought. In strange places, one sometimes meets people. When they call you, what could they say?" "Let me look at you," he said, and the skin on his forehead he shoved back. This done, he opened his eyes and looked at him. "Oh, oh, my grandson, what a promising looking young man. My grandson, 'Black Hawk Looking at Us as He Stands,' they shall call you." As he said this, on his head above stood a black hawk crying with a good voice.

And for the second time he dreamed bad things, and again in the night he cried out. Taking his stones, on the side of his dead he struck him, and again on the other side. "Grandfather, what?" "Ugh," he said to him. The old man said, "Oh grandson, I have had a bad dream. The only way I can prevent my death, they tell me, is to boil a white marten with the fur singed off." "All right, grandfather, it is good that they gave you an animal. In the morning I will go after it," he said. So in the morning the hummingbird on each side of his ears he wore and went forth. Finally he came in sight of a big prairie where unexpectedly there were many martens. In the center was a very white one. Again those around began to rise up, as they saw him. So he said to them, "Grandfathers, don't tell on me. You shall have a smoke." "All right let us not tell on him. As long as we have been on the earth never did we get near to that which they call tobacco." So they got out of his way. One he filled their pipes as he went. "Grandfathers, when I come back, you must crowd yourselves behind me," he said to them. He got to the one in the center, and saw that it lay asleep with its heart throbbing. He shot it right in the heart. It groaned and turned itself over, but he shot it in the other side. Right away he went saying, Kisik-a. The Black Hawk already. Finally, he swallowed him on, but from his nose out ran a hummingbird. On it came. The old man was sitting with his back to them. Again he swallowed him on. Again at his nose he came on out. Then he came home. There unexpectedly against the door there were piled logs and inside he was pushing on the door. Again he blew at him, and it opened a small place for a moment. Then he went on in. At the door he made a noise, "Oh, the bad flesh, bad, bad. It is my door that you must have made bloody. Well it is good to run, he used to talk about. You should have caught him on the start, and you are another. Very much I thought when I called you, "Black Hawk Stands and Looks At," I called you. Right on the start to run, I thought he would use it, that is why I called him that, but now it is a hummingbird that he has in bunches. He will be another," he was saying.

He went to bed and listened to him. When he got through he went and untied the door, and removed the logs also. Away from there (he then went). It was very handsome and white -- its a kind with a red nose and eyelids. Then he went in and took the stone. As the old man lay there, he struck him on the side of the head with it. He turned over and he struck him again on the side. "Grandson, how did you come home?" he asked. "Grandfather, as I went after it, I brought it back." The old man said, "Grandson, let me see it, as he shoved his forehead wrinkles and opened the door for him. When he saw the white marten he said, "My grandson, I am an old man, and it would make such a good fur. Make a mat for me." The youth replied, "Grandfather, I am not trying to kill you. Its hair must be singed, and it must be boiled, you have dreamed." Right away he built a fire, and singed it. He did with it as before not wasting a bit, even a drop of blood or the burned parts. Again he gave him the food, but he would not accept it. He was crying already. Again he asked him to sing, but he would not do it, saying that he had a tooth ache. Again the feasters that came were the same ones. They came, and as it was before, so it was the same.

Again the third time the grandfather had bad dreams. This time he wanted a white fisher to boil, he said. Again he went after it. Again it was the same as he had done before, but this was even a greater one. Three times he was swallowed before he got home. Again it was the same, and as he did before again it was the same. The fourth time he had bad dreams, and he would have to boil White Feather, he dreamed of. Again he killed it. Very much greater it was. Very often he was swallowed, but with great effort he got away. Again they had a feast. His grandfather had his usual cry and the old woman also cried, but he called on her for the head, and thus it was.

Every evening regularly he would take a smoke to his brother, who would give him pointers. Again he went. "My little brother, again he will try you. He will not feel satisfied until he kills you. His he is. You have killed his brothers so he is going to ask you again. This time it will be a greater one to overcome. There are all kinds of spirits being ended. He will tell you to marry a woman there. The old woman that you made eat the heads is killing many of her daughter's people. There he will ask you to go. He will ask you to take a warbundle with you, but the one that belongs to me is there. On the shield there is painted a little child's body and there is a small-headed warclub. Take these with you. He will object, but take them anyway. "It was only with great effort that he killed me, so he is afraid of you already, and wished to kill you right away." After this conversation he came home.

When he got back that night he said, "My grandson, all day I have thought, and I have thought of something." He replied, "All right." The old man continued, "My grandson, in the beginning I used to sew moccasins for you, but now I am not able to do anything. I used to cook something for you, but now, when you get home, you have to cook for yourself and also have to do for yourself. My grandson, I do not like it. I think you should marry a woman," he concluded. The youth said, "Grandfather, where are there any people among whom I could find a woman to marry?" The old man replied, "No, my grandson, there are many people around about. But you should choose the woman from your own choice. They only are good looking. If you can get her towards the rising sun, an old woman lives there who has two daughters who are very good looking women. They are good workers also. My grandson, they are just your mates. They are wanted all over the earth, but they fail to get them." "All right, I will try for them," he said. Then he got ready and became very happy. He tied up the back of his head to tighten his wrinkled face. All night he worked on something. In the morning he had made ready for him a black fur blanket. He had put porcupine quills on it, and in the center he put an ornament, and on all four corners, he tied the center feathers of an eagle's tail. Then he said, "Now, my grandson, I will get you ready. Then he put a lot of wampum beads around his neck, and then he painted his face. Then he would size him up, but he would not look to suit him (he would say), so he tried different ways. Finally, he put four strings of black wampum on him together with just a little paint. Just here and there he also touched him up with mud which he used on him. Then he looked at him. That was it. "Now my grandson that is it. You look desirable for any woman," he said. Then when he was ready to go, he said, "Now my grandson, you must take a warbundle along with you. Look at them, and which ever one you think the best, that one take with you." The one that his brother had mentioned was there, and that one he took. "My grandson, what kind did you take?" he said, so he told him. "Here, here, my grandson, that one is sacred. That is not to be used in courting women. There are other very good ones there. Take one of them instead." But the young man would not do it. He said, "Grandfather I have taken it already, so I will take it along with me. When one takes up a warbundle and puts it back again, it means he does not want to go," he said.

Then he went. Before he had gone very far he unexpectedly came upon a road that was there. It had been very recently made. He started to run, chasing them and before long caught up with them. There were ten men of them, and each of them had warclubs with them. They were all baldheaded. He was following behind when the leader said, "Well why don't some of you say something? I thought there was something." Then one ahead of him looked back, and unexpectedly saw a human following them. So he replied, "What should we say except that there is a human that has caught up to us and is following after us." "Ah, the humans, they are very clever!" And then after a short time the leader said, "Now then, about now let us fill our pipes." So they sat down and took out their pipes, which were weeds with bulbs. They smashed oak leaves with which they filled their pipes and smoked them. Damn, what a bad odor they had around. So then in turn he filled his pipe and none could look away from him. He took a few puffs and handed it to the one next to him. This one took it and arose. He then built a fire and put on it some cedar leaves and let the smoke and odor come to it. Then to the leader he put to his mouth. "Ho," he said, and help it to his mouth. He did not make any smoke come out, but swallowed the smoke. All of them did that. Then they smoked it again with cedar leaves and gave it back to him. They thanked him very much. They said, "If we could only have this even though we were to die, we would be satisfied."

Then they went on again until it was said, "Now here go and look for food." Some were called on for this and they went. They were told where they should meet again. When they got together at the appointed place they had many different things with them, even some big snakes and some big frogs and some little frogs. With such things they came with. So there they broiled much meat. For broiling they could not stick their sticks in the ground, so they went after big stones with which to place their sticks. Then they said, "Say, our friend the human, what does he eat? You better ask him." So they asked him, and he answered, "I eat deer." They then asked him, "How are they to look upon?" He replied, "Their hair is gray, and their bottom is white, and their hooves are forked," he said. "White furs (hîska) he means. Go and get one for him," they said. So one went into the brush, and came out with one, holding it by the ears. "Now kill it for yourself," they told him, and helped it sideways for him. He sent an arrow into its side through it. It jumped around for a bit and then rolled over. "Well he is such a good shot," they said. He then skinned it and broiled the ribs. He stuck the broiling stick into the ground, and they marveled at him. They could not stick anything in the ground, but he did. Then they slept.

In the morning they started again. Every time he smoked he would give them some. In four days they got there. As they had done on the first day, they did every night, even during their meals. Now here we are," they said, when they had come to a great valley in the center of which was visible a village. "That is it," they said. "Here we are being killed off, but we still come. Here in the center of this valley we go, and are chased and if we get back to the edge before we are caught, we obtain women. Always when we are chased, there we are caught," they said. Then one went, but he had no more than entered the valley than he turned back. Another went, but he did the same. Only the leader went the farthest. Finally, the human went. "Damn, he is a goner," they were saying, he ought to have left some tobacco anyway, it will not do him any good now," they said. Thus it was.

When he got there, there were two women combing their hair. He struck on the frame of the tent, saying, "I came to court you, but you do not say anything," and he knocked down an old woman. "Oh," they said, as they pulled her out. Thus he did and came on out. "Say he has come out again," the others were saying. The old woman also said, "Well when we get through combing, we can kill him. He can't get away anyhow." The Thunders were much worried, for he was very slow in coming back. "Damn, he ought to run," they were saying. After he had come back a ways they appeared from the tent, and began to run [after him]. When he saw this, he began a slow trot. Then they caught up with him. Just as they raised their clubs, a baby in a cradle [appeared and] began to kick and cry, so they did not strike it. There unexpectedly he went out a ways and again they went for him. The other one caught up first, this time. Again he did it to her. And again she would not strike him. The old man was already shouting at them, "You are in love with him. Why don't you strike him and kill him? You are always wanting humans, but now you weaken," he said. Finally he started to run, and ran away from them. His fleetness was like that of human thought. All over the earth he ran from them. Finally they wore out their moccasins and left them and even their skirts were worn out and left until they went naked as they chased him. Then he came back to his home. At the door they sat down and did not go in. He took his stone already and struck the grandfather very hard on both sides. "My grandson, how did you succeed on your trip?" He replied, "I came back with them, and they are at the door." The old man replied, "Oh, that is good. My daughters-in-law, come in. We are nothing to be respected." As he said this, they said to him, "You homely wrinkled face, you. Now a very nice fix you have put us into. You are the cause of our being in this condition. We are not fit to come in, as we are sitting here naked." The old man felt around at the back of the tent and brought forth some clothes, which he handed to the young man for them. They put on these clothes that the old man gave them. Then they came in.

Then right away he went to his brother's and filled his pipe and when he got there he climbed up and let him smoke. Then when he was through, he came down to the ground and then talked to him, telling him how he had brought them back, and thanking him. Then his brother said, "My little brother, this is good. You have accomplished it, but again he will say it. Probably he will try you himself. You ought to try him too. Finally, he might unexpectedly succeed. He will not quit until he kills you; that is what he means to do. If he would give up, we would expect him to quit sometime, but he will not give up at all. You also ought to try him." The young man replied, "My brother, that is so, but I guess he won't hurt me, I think. My grandfather has raised me, and I am used to him," he said. He returned home.

Then the women said to him, "We do not like your grandfather and do not wish to take his part. He expects us to, but we will not take his part. He is our uncle, and he was the cause of our other uncles being killed by you. Therefore, we do not like him. If you would kill him, we would like it better. You also ought to try him too. If he keeps on he will kill you, but he will never die unless you kill him. He used to say if he eats a young beaver with the hair singed he would die. You ought to say to him, and give a feast and have him eat it. If you do not do this, he will surely accomplish his wish." "Well, you are right, but I don't think he would hurt me, and also again, I have grown used to my grandfather as he has raised me." "He will try you himself," they told him, "he will tell you that again he has had bad dreams. He will tell you, and on each side we would hold you, he will say. There he will kill you, he thinks. He thinks that we will help him, but we will not do it."

Then right away that night he cried out, and immediately he tried to awaken his grandfather. As he was lying in bed they held him (the young man). "Don't awaken him. He will stop and besides he is going to say what we have told you already," they said, but he got loose, and with his stones he struck him on one side of the head and then the other. "Grandfather, what is it?" he said. "My grandson, bad dreams have I had." "What did you dream of? Tell me now." "My grandson, this is why I told you not to take the warbundle with you, although you took it anyhow. That warbundle was to be carried only in war, when there was shooting to be done. Therefore, you have taken it somewhere, and you did not do any shooting. Therefore, they are going to shoot you, they said in my dream. If I do not do that, my grandson, you will die," he said. "All right, grandfather, in the morning you can shoot me," he said. The old man said, "The new women will hold you on each side, while I shoot you, I was told." "All right, they can do it," he said. The youngest of the women was the only one that he had married, it was told.

All that night the old man filed something, it was told. He was sharpening two spears, grinding them with a stone. The spears were very big. They were the size of a cow-catcher on a railroad engine, they say. Then in the morning he said, "Well grandfather, however you meant, if you stand in the door the women will hold me on each side." Then he sat down in the back of the tent, and the women held him on each side. They whispered and said to him, "Throw yourself to the ground as we will throw you to the ground." So just as he was about to shoot the arrow, he threw himself to the ground. Great it was, and the arrow went on its way thundering. He said, "There I send him to you, Black Hawk Looks at as He Stands. I send you spirits a man, a human, that you always talk about." But the women said, "Where is this one going that you speak thus? Do you mean this one here?" they said to him. He saw him. Unexpectedly, he said, "Then I send it to you, the arrow my grandson. I shot to miss him."

And again a second time he was about to shoot him. So the women said again, "We will boost you up, so you must jump up." Now he was ready to shoot. The first time the young man had thrown himself to the ground the old man thought, so this time he would shoot near the ground. Again the arrow went thundering, going to the ends of the earth, thundering out of sight. Again the old man said, "There I send him to you, the holy man, Black Hawk Looks at as He Stands," the human you always talked about." Then the two women said to him, "Ah, you homely wrinkled old man that talks, what are you sending away that you talk thus? What is this standing here?" There, unexpectedly, he was still standing. "There I send you the arrow, my grandson, Black Hawk Looks at as He Stands. Just to fulfill the dream so to miss him, I shot at him." Then he went in and laid down.

Then the young man went to take his brother a smoke. When he had again finished smoking, they talked. "About now you should say it to him. If he keeps on he will accomplish his intentions. You can say to him that the warbundle you took with you gave you a bad dream. It is as the women told you, he will not die of anything else. Finally, when you are asleep he will harm you, before he says anything again, you had better speak first as he will say it again." Then he went home again. When he got there, the women said to him, "About now you ought to say something to him, or finally he will kill you." He replied, "Well now, the truth is that I dread to do it. Besides, I do no think that he can harm me, or I thought so. But now I will do it because you want me to, and for no other reason."

Then at night, a short time after they went to bed, Black Hawk Looks at as He Stands shouted in his sleep. Unexpectedly, the old man said, "Well my grandson has a bad dream. My daughters-in-law, wake him up," he said, but they would not do it. Finally, the old man jumped over to him and woke him up. "Grandson, what is the matter? What have you dreamt, you must tell me. Here is the stone." In haste he hit him with the stone and again on the other side. "Grandfather, I had bad dreams. It is as you told me because I took the warbundle when I went courting. You forbid it, but I took it anyhow. They say to me that I am to make a feast and that you are to eat it. They say that I am to boil [for] the warclub that I took with me. If you do not eat it, I am to hit you with it, they said in my dream." "Ho, my grandson, that is the reason that I forbid it, but I will do it as nothing is wrong with my eating. But my grandson, what warclub? Not anything from the earth do they boil for it. Nothing but those with wings, they always boil for it. Whatever is directed, I shall do," he said.

In the morning, right away, he went to hunt to where a creek ran. He went along it, looking for a beaver. He finally killed one. When he got home the women attended to it. They singed it all, and did not even scrape the hair off. Then in this condition they put all of it in the kettle. When it was cooked, then they put the warclub in the ground. Then they placed the food before him. "My grandson, you have already cooked it. You can pour it out. Then you will be through with it," he said. But he told him to eat it, or else he would hit him with the warclub. So he ate it. Then again he said, "The daughters-in-law I would like to have them eat with me." But the women said, "You homely wrinkled one that speaks, when you dream anything, does he try to change it for you? When you say anything, he does it." So the old man finally ate it all, and they made him drink the soup. He went to bed, and then began to groan, and finally he burst. His belly burst. Then they burned him together with the tent.

Then in another place they built a home. Then the woman said, "Your brother we can fix." "If they could do any good," he said. "My brother is across the seas. There it is eating humans. It is very fleet, and can go on the waters. If they think they can do it, but as it is, we can talk with one another which is good enough." Then he went home, and when he arrive they were glad. Then they did this: they made what they call "nets." They made four of them. Then they did thus: they took the older brother's pipe which he used to have, together with his tobacco pouch. These they took and they went and sat. Then she said, "Across blow," and as she said it, the wind blew across. Then the human butt [-end of the brother's body] as he was about, smelled the pipe. "Oh my," he said, "when I used to be human, I used to use that pipe. I used to smoke in my goings about. Well, what am I talking about? My brother, I will go and take a smoke." He started on the run. Then the women did thus: they stretched the nets one after the other. He ran into the first one, and rolled into it. Then into the other one they threw him, and rolled him into it. There he chewed them very much, cutting into them. But they had big stones heated. Before they started into this, they threw the hot stones into his mouth. He has teeth in his rectum, and [some of these he] managed to break out. Then he began to groan very much, "My younger brother, they are going to kill me," he said and shouted. Finally after a short time, he had broken out all of his teeth. Then he died.

Then they took him home, and heated some stones for the sweat bath. Then when that was done, they sent after the one in the tree. They told the other before they went, "Your brother we will bring to life if you are strong in mind -- but if your mind is weak, and you do what he says, then you will surely die. If we fail it will be your fault. Therefore, try your mightiest. Do whatever he may say, but don't listen to him. Whatever we say, that you must do. Thus your brother will become like yourself in the flesh, if you do what we have told you. Then again if you do not do as we say, he will die. That will be your fault. Mighty try you." This they said to him. Then they went to the one in the tree. When they got there, the man climbed up. His waist had grown into the tree, so he went to break him loose. The man began to groan, "My younger brother, you will kill me. We were able to talk to one another before, but now you will finish me. When they tried to kill you, I was here, and told you what they were trying to do to you. If you are alone they will kill you. Therefore, this is why these women have done this way. Now they have conquered both of us." The man stopped. "Hurry up, instead you will kill him, if you don't do as we say. So he started in again. Finally, he pried him loose, and gently let him down. The women had a blanket stretched, which they held. There they dropped him.

Then all over his waist there were sores that hurt. Over the sore part, they joined together the other part as it should be. Then they closed the bath house. The liquid for the hot stones was four bear pouches. There were four of them full of bear oil, which she used to pour over the stones. The oldest woman poured it on the stones for him. When they began this, he started to groan. After awhile he said, "Ho, open the tent for me now. You nearly killed me. With great effort have I lived. I am alive, brother, open it for me." When his brother said this to him, he began to walk towards him, but he then turned back. So finally the women said to him, "You had better go where you can't hear him." So he went away. But in a short time he would come and peep in. Now the other was pleading very hard. So she was using the oil from the fourth pouch; then he pleaded very hard. It was heart rending. Finally, when she had finished it all, he stopped all at once. "Oh my, my older brother, they must have killed him," he thought. Then they called to him. When he got there, he unexpectedly saw that inside he was blowing on himself. After awhile he said, "Ho, I am through. Then they said to him, "Ho, even before you tried to open it for him. Now you can have your fill." The clothes he was to wear were ready for him. Then the women came out. Then he opened it to him. There he was as young as he ever was, and also he was just the same as he had been. He was very handsome. Then when he was dressed, he said to him, "My older brother, that is your place there," meaning beside the woman that he had not married.

Then they came in, and the man began to thank them very much. Then there, Black Hawk Looks at as He Stands said, "Now at this time, what I would have been doing, I will go about and do. I stayed here among humans, but it is very hard," he said. Then with his wife he went out, and they became hummingbirds. A pair of them began to hum about. For some time he lived with his brother there before he did it, they say. She, the woman, was a marten, a female they say. She also went up into the heavens, in the sky. When the stars are visible, there it is. The white people, the "dipper with the handle," they call it. That is she, they say. A star there is very close to it, that is he, the husband. It only is the brightest star near.

It is ended." [1]

Commentary. Notes to the Text. (For the interpretation of this myth, see below.)

"the head, as is customary, they always call on someone for it" -- the head, being the highest part of the animal, and a delicacy, was offered to the most honored warrior. This is similar to the Celtic practice of offering the foremost man the Champion's Portion, the choicest portion of the meat. The honoraria at this feast should count as insults to the grandfather. The young man says that he must give this honor to the old woman because she is the only woman present, the very opposite of the standard procedure. Then he says that he believes that she once gave his grandfather a war prize. These actions and statements by the young man suggest that his grandfather is, and has always been, something of a woman.

"he was feasting on her brother" -- the narrative implies that the old man is the old woman's brother, and that furthermore, the white otter that had been killed for the feast was also her brother. Therefore, the white otter was the grandfather's brother as well. It can be shown that she is Grandmother Earth (see below).

"so in the morning the hummingbird on each side of his ears he wore and went forth" -- this apparently means that he wore (or had) living hummingbirds as earrings (or earbobs). This is very similar to Redhorn, who has living heads for his earbobs (or earlobes). This reinforces the association between hummingbirds and black hawks. On the face of it they seem to have nothing in common; but they are distinguished most particularly by the same thing: they are the most accomplished fliers among the race of birds.

"White Feather" -- the last animal that he is sent out to retrieve for his grandfather is called "White Feather." This would be Cusgaga in Hotcâk. Is this Wears White Feathers on His Head? It does not seem likely, since little is made of killing him, and he is one of the more remarkable spirits. It might refer to a crane or egret.

"they were all baldheaded" -- when the young man comes upon a column of Thunderbirds carrying warclubs, the narrator says, "They were all baldheaded." We don't know whether he means the clubs or the men; however, he must mean either or both, since the baldheaded warclub is the weapon of the Thunders, who in humanoid form are baldheaded men.

"a baby" -- when the young man is being chased by the women he turns himself into a baby. "Those who Turn Themselves into Babies" is a name for a class of spirits otherwise called the "Little Children Spirits." Is he one of them? As spirits can turn themselves into any form they choose, we cannot be certain.

"dipper with the handle" -- formerly I had identified this as the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) on account of its greater proximity to Polaris. However, clarification from two sources make it clear that the raconteur is actually referring to the Big Dipper. Radin, ca. 1908, made a few notes on stars in connection with the story The Origins of the Milky Way. He says, "wazuñgra -- dipper (marten). It resembles something of a marten. Real reason is because dipper goes around North Star. Wiragócge hañké diránina - star that moves not = North Star. Small dipper - héx síra = swan's feet." [1.1] In this case, because Radin refers in contradistinction to the "Small Dipper", he clearly means his first reference to refer to the other Dipper, the Big Dipper. Amelia Susman says, "wazâ´gara -- otter, mink, marten (Dipper). Tell time at night by it." [1.2] She is in good agreement with Radin, with both agreeing that this is to be identified with the animal called wazûgera, which in fact is the marten. Since in this myth the marten is identified with the dipper constellation in question, we are obliged to conclude that this constellation is the Big Dipper.

Interpretation. The myth expressed in this story is very long and contains many episodes. The whole forms a set of astronomical allegories which work under one assignment of characters. The raconteur has given us the assignment of two of these characters at least in part, the Big Dipper and the star to which two of its stars point, Polaris. The rest of the principal characters can also be assigned astronomical values:

The constellation that the Old World calls "Auriga" plays the central role of the myth, even though the major protagonist is Polaris, the Pole Star. Auriga is one of the easiest of constellations to spot: it is a conspicuous quadrangle ("kite") in the northern sky, whose major star Capella is the sixth brightest in the heavens. The Hotcâk Auriga is larger and takes in more stars, as will be seen below. As a consequence it crosses the ecliptic (the path of the sun through the stars) just between Gemini and Taurus. Therefore there are times of the year when the sun sets and rises in the "House of Auriga." That time includes both solstices, the summer solstice of June 20, and the winter solstice of December 20. On the former we have the shortest night of the year, on the latter the longest night. In June the sun is as far north as it will get. Therefore, on the summer solstice the sun sets in Auriga and comes as close to Polaris as it can. It first enters the area of Auriga after leaving Taurus around about June 13, and leaves Auriga for Gemini circa June 23. The events of the myth take place on the day of the summer solstice. In what follows, descriptions of the visual relationship between various celestial bodies is based on the latitude and longitude of Red Banks (44 degrees, 56 minutes north; 87 degrees, 51 minutes west), the place of mythical Hotcâk origins. The year selected was 1750, about 80 years before the Hotcâgara were dispossessed of their lands, and a time at which they were known to have lived at Red Banks on Lake Michigan.

The first episode of the story relates how a warparty, led by a man that we later realize is the sun, descends upon the village where the brother lives. Since the brother proves to be Auriga, we can understand this to mean that the sun is coming into conjunction with that constellation. This happens at the summer solstice. They nearly meet at the horizon as the sun sets. As the sun sets it is followed by the stars of the ecliptic. On the summer solstice, the time at which the events of the stellar allegory take place, the constellations that set right after the sun are Gemini, Cancer, Leo, etc. These are the enemy warrior's troops, inasmuch as they follow constantly after him. The place of their engagement is where the sun sets. As the sun sets, the sky is illuminated and the constellation with which the hero is identified, Auriga, cannot be seen on the "battlefield." Once the sun has set, it can be seen directly over it. Before Auriga sets, three of (our) constellations of the ecliptic set. Auriga descends upon, or "kills" the last of these. Since Auriga rises ahead of the sun in the morning, it can be deduced that around midnight, Auriga and the sun are in perfect alignment. Thus the two antagonists come to grips in a hand-to-hand struggle in the mythic telling of these events. It is at this point that the constellation Auriga, the Hotcâk version of which contains a few stars above its brightest star Capella, is cut in half. As Auriga starts to set, its lower stars, as viewed at Red Banks (the year 1750 chosen as the date), dip below the horizon. However, at this date, the star Capella and the stars above it, do not set at any time during the night. Its position at sunset is seen in the picture below:

These stars, in the allegory, form the upper body and head of the young man; the stars that have set form his lower body. Thus, his struggle with the sun, the enemy warrior has caused his body to be cleaved in two (by the horizon).This can be seen in the lowest position of Auriga at 1 a.m.:

However, the defeated warrior has a little brother, whom we eventually learn is the star Polaris. The handle of the Dipper points right at Auriga, so there is an interesting connection between them. When the morning comes, the sun leaves the stars of the ecliptic who have formed his warparty, and lives in the village of Polaris, which is to say the northernmost stars. The other stars of the ecliptic want the sun to stay with them, but he has lost too many of them, that is, almost all of them have disappeared below the horizon. As he rises, he "burns" the place where the bisected hero lives, that is, the place in the sky occupied by Auriga, inasmuch as Auriga stands directly above the sun and is in its path. Its position at sunrise can be seen in the picture below:


The sun on the solstice has its maximum northward declination, a declination in some sense defined by the position of the pole star, Polaris. Thus the sun is living in the boy's village.

As time moves on, the boy waxes as the man declines. Soon he is of an age to fast, and is encouraged to do so because "the world is narrow in places." This is certainly true of Polaris' situation, as the space between it and the northern horizon is always narrow, the more so the lower the latitude. So the boy fasts, and "as he fasted he would eat once a month ..." The month is the period marked off by the moon, and eating or ingestion consists of taking the food item and placing it inside the consumer. This act of consumption takes place from one phase of the moon to the next. As it happens the moon passes along the ecliptic, and the Hotcâk Auriga is one of the constellations of the ecliptic, situated between Gemini and Taurus. So at some point during the month, the moon (and indeed, the planets) pass through part of Auriga and are therefore contained within it, a kind of metaphorical ingestion. Thus once a month the moon is "eaten" by Auriga, the place where Polaris lives. It is said that the bad spirits eat the moon as it declines until it disappears completely. It follows that in those years in which Auriga eats the moon at the summer solstice, the moon is necessarily in decline, since in order to be in conjunction with Auriga, it must be in conjunction with the sun as well. However, although Auriga and Polaris are North Spirits, it need not follow from this allegory that their eating of the moon shows that they are bad spirits.

The strange episode of the ear and the black stone can be at least partly unraveled. There are many kinds of black stones: andesite, basalt, slate, shale, and coal; but the black stones of significance to Native Americans are flint (black chert) and obsidian. These stones are used both for arrowheads and to start fires, since striking them produces sparks. As I have suggested elsewhere, the hot, black stones swallowed by the Thunderbirds represent the lightning stones that they shoot from their eyes. The flint-tipped arrow is also shot from the eyes, in the sense that the base of the arrow shaft is aligned with the eye in the process of aiming. Thus the sparks of the flint or obsidian stone are married to the arrow in the image of lightning. In the present story, the black rock is also united with the ear. This recalls the hero Redhorn, one of the sons of Earthmaker. The ears of Redhorn probably have solar symbolism, as each earlobe has a miniature living head on it. These represent the rising and setting sun. The ear in world mythology usually represents the four quarters, since sound permeates media in all directions at once. Light, of course, is similar, but is less penetrating. When the sun was young, that is, when it was in the day sky, it could hear and see well, and cook for itself. Now, however, it is the boy, Polaris, who has grown up and is dominant, while the old man has declined. This describes the relative position of the two when the sun sets. When the sun completely sets, it has, as it were, become blind and deaf. Its light no longer extends to the four quarters (the ear). As an eye, its light no longer reaches the objects of perception. Nor does its heat any longer warm the world, which means that he has ceased to "cook" for himself. Here the image of the stone comes back into play. In cooking, a hot stone was often added to the water in a kettle to cause the water to boil. When corn was roasted, a hot black stone was used for the purpose. Naturally, then, the sun itself is highly analogous to such a stone. It is the same fiery substance as the lightning, which in essence is a black stone. When the black stone is heated enough, it turns red, just as the sun does. It is at that moment that it puts out its greatest heat. In lacrosse games, where the ball symbolizes the sun, we find a number of myths in which the ball is a red stone, or in one case a black stone painted red. The sun also moves across the sky like an arrow: a black stone containing fire that is moving in an arc, undeviating from its path, moving ever in a single direction and never doubling back. When the sun sets in Auriga at this time of the year, it is rather like placing a hot stone into a kettle of water to make it boil. Thus, since Polaris is in command at this time, it is he who puts the stone into the water. Thus, he does the "cooking." This is actually one and the same as the striking of his stone at the ear. As the sun rises, the heat/light is generated by the sparks that arise from striking a black stone at the ear, which is the place of the rising sun, as in the Redhorn image. When he awakens and the sparks arise over the horizon, his lost hearing, which was an image of his course below in the nether regions, is now restored. Afterwards, of course, he goes back to bed (sets) and his hearing disappears along with his consciousness.

Polaris' brother, whom we encounter in the next episode, is the constellation Auriga. As he explains again, he was split in two by the grandfather (sun). The scene of the meeting of Polaris and Auriga therefore takes place around midnight. When Polaris looks "up" at Auriga, he is really looking down from our perspective. What he sees is half a man mounted upon a stump. We can easily see such an image in Auriga as it is bisected by the horizon at that time.

Whatever falls below the horizon of earth in this allegory is dead, just like anything else fit to be buried. Stumps are usually dead, but we are told that this one is "full of life." We happen to know that it is destined for resurrection, as indeed would be the soul of any warrior who perished in battle as the brother had. His flesh is in this world (above the horizon) but his stump is in the Otherworld. This recalls the Divine Twins of the Hotcâk pantheon, Flesh and Stump (or Ghost). The stump in that context just is the soul, the twin of the flesh. We know that this "stump" or soul will rise again into this world as Earthmaker has ordained. The brother is prescient and tells us everything that is going to happen, for in fact, we who are privy to the astronomical code, know that what is to come must indeed follow as surely as day follows night. The sun has a dream in his sleep, that is, at night. He says that unless he singes and cooks a white otter that lives where the sun sets, he will not live. We know right away what this otter is. The constellation at the setting of the sun that has this form is precisely Auriga. What were roots of a stump beneath a man's head in the image of the previous episode, are now the four legs and tail beneath the body of an otter. The stars of Auriga and the adjacent areas can form the image of an otter without any difficulty, as can be seen from the picture below:

Indeed, unless he rises into the constellation of Auriga, which is to say, to singe and cook this otter, he will not rise at all, that is, he will not live again. When he reaches this spot he naturally sees a round prairie. This is the night sky which is round by the definition of the horizon and, of course, flat. In it he sees a hoard of otters in the middle of which is a white one. We know the white one is Auriga, the other otters, we see immediately, are the myriad of stars that form the Milky Way. Auriga rests right in the middle of these stars. Of course, when the otters first see Polaris they rise: when Polaris becomes visible it is night, and they too become visible. They say that as long as they have lain on the earth, they have not had a smoke. Smoke is just what the Milky Way looks like, and smoke is another image that it takes. As long as they are with the earth, the Milky Way is not visible, so there is no "smoke." However, as they now appear in the sky there is considerable "smoke." The reference to the otter's reddish nose and eyelids (irises?) makes it sound like an albino, which is to say, completely white. That it is; but the red comes in from the setting sun, which reddens precisely that part of the sky where Auriga resides. Since the sun sets in Milky Way's Ocean Sea, it is appropriate that the animal that lives there should be an aquatic otter. This otter soon descends into its native element as Auriga sets. The next set of images describes the path from the setting of Auriga to Polaris, as the latter escapes twice after shooting the otter. This shooting (with arrows) exactly duplicates the striking of the rocks by the ears of grandfather-sun, especially if we take the arrowheads to be made of black stone such as flint. He is shot in the body, however, since at sunset Auriga's lower portion also begins to set, so the otter's body suffers the blow.

Now Polaris must retrace his path from the place of the setting sun back to his central spot in the night sky. First he becomes a black hawk. What is this hawk? We know that in his escape he must start where the "otter" is. If we look there we see that same section of the Milky Way which was expressed in the image of the myriad of otter lookouts. When we look at it as a unit, however, it clearly forms the shape of a bird of prey, complete with beak.

This beak starts about where we find the bright star Capella, and extends to the right of that star. The constellation Auriga covers the head of this black hawk except for its "beak." The constellation in this allegory, as we have seen, is the white otter whom the hero has just shot. Auriga forms its belly, so that it is as if the otter has ingested part of the black hawk. However, Polaris escapes in the form of a hummingbird. It is in this form that he arrives at his place. The hummingbird, because of its ability to hover in flight, is the perfect image of the pole star, which "flies" without changing its position. The pointing handle of Ursa Minor at the end of which Polaris resides, points directly at the nose holes of the black hawk image in the Milky Way. So it is from there that his path lies. To the visual astronomer who can find the black hawk, all he need do to find Polaris is to look up from the nasal holes of the black hawk's beak, about where Capella lies. Next Polaris enters a small opening in the lodge where he lives and sits opposite the sealed door. This door, where the sun is, is the exit point that the sun will use when it rises. Now the handle of Ursa Minor points to just this place from the opposite position in the northeastern sky. He gets the name "Black Hawk Looks at Us as He Stands," which draws attention to the connection between the black hawk formed by the Milky Way and the position of Polaris. The grandfather complains of how his door is made bloody by the otter, a description of the sunrise into the constellation Auriga, the red glow about the sun being once again interpreted as blood. His door is where the sun rises after a night of slumber. When the sun looks out his door he sees the really white otter (Auriga). He wishes to use it as a mat, and since the sun does in fact rise right over part of Auriga, in some sense he does just that. However, it is necessary that he singe and cook it, after which he must ingest it. He also does that. The sun rises in Auriga, its fire and light causing the whole of the constellation to disappear. The sun itself is practically nothing but stomach, being round and having, both in Hotcâk and world mythology, the reputation of being a bottomless pit of appetite. When he plays the role of grandfather in another story, he eats so much that his sons abandon him for fear that they will starve to death just feeding him. The Chief of Horses, Big Eater, is said to be his offspring. So the grandfather in this story too ends up eating the animal that he burns away. The hero first puts the otter in a big kettle. This is the image of the Milky Way as water, and Auriga is now pictured as lying in water while the heat of the sun is applied to it as fire is applied to a kettle to boil water. The grandfather suggests that the otter be skinned and the hide should be used in which to carry the body. This is the image of the Milky Way as the hide of the otter which, in fact, does carry him, as the star group always remains within that white "hide." He then hands him a white cloth, which is the same thing. However, now he is done, as not even the blood (of the sunrise) is left. For if the sun could be locked in the position it is in when there is "blood" about Auriga, then these stars would never die, that is, they would never be ingested by the sun and thereby caused to disappear. However, it is destined that the sun rise and completely consume this "otter," blood and all. At this point the sun has not risen, so he is still without light. This is the complementary image to the ear, the receptor of sound. The sun reaches the four quarters in a way like sound, but through the similar medium of light. So when it emits light, it is as if it were producing sound. However, since the sun is not yet risen, it is "dumb." So the grandfather does not sing, even though this is a feast to the spirits. However, as he rises he does begin to make a "noise" in the form of some light. He does this as the medium of the Milky Way, which is the water in which the otter is boiling. Since he appears in sound in the medium of water, the image is made of the weeping grandfather. The stars, which as little bits of light of the same substance as the sun, are akin to his teeth, an image compelled by the context of ingestion. However, these teeth are destined to be lost, so at the point of the sun's initial rising, his teeth merely hurt. It is enough to make him weep, as the Milky Way is still visible, but not enough to make him sing, which is the full expression of his "voice" (source of light). The hero asks the grandfather to indicate which spirits to invite to the feast, but he says that there is no point, as none would come. He is right in a sense, inasmuch as he alone will ingest this "otter." At this point we reach the end of a brilliant series of what we might call "micro repetitions," one image after another that is a re-clothing of the first; yet the story moves right along so that the listener is not conscious of the intense cycling of the same process turning back on itself over and over again in one or two sentences at a time. This brilliant composition shows the skill of the Hotcâk mythographers at their finest, creating a canvass illuminated like the finest Persian miniatures. In all this we have not even left a single event, the rising of the sun on the summer solstice.

In what follows we encounter a completely different style of composition, although in the telling of the story, it appears to be a continuation of the events relating to grandfather's feast. In the next episode, the hero calls the spirits from above, who obviously belong; in addition he also calls "our earth," and makes a special point of saying that this spirit also belongs. Almost all Native Americans think of the earth as a female spirit, just as the ancient Greeks did, but with the difference that she is old, and therefore a grandmother. There is only one woman at the feast, and as earth is there and is a woman, it follows that this woman is earth. Earth certainly belongs, since she forms the horizon and it is into her that the stars seem to sink. But everything in this section is the opposite of what it should be. The hero says that because she is the only woman present, she should have the head. The head is a portion of the offering that is considered the choicest and which as befits the fact that it is the highest part of the animal, should go to the warrior of the highest standing among all those present. Therefore, he is suggesting that the only woman present is the greatest warrior at the gathering, the exact opposite of conventional social thinking which dictates that women are not warriors at all, and therefore would be the very last to be considered for such an honor. This honor corresponds exactly to what the ancient Celts called the "Champion's Portion," the choicest cut of meat that was always set aside for the greatest warrior. Just to hammer the point home, the hero is made to say, "My grandfather received a war prize from her, I believe ..." This too is an inversion. This refers to the prize of wampum given to the one who wins the first war honor, which is always given to his sister to display about the village. She is the grandfather's sister, but it is she to whom the victory is attributed, and the grandfather to whom the beautiful adornment is given. The true situation is the opposite. We have already seen the grandfather's youthful war exploits; as to the wampum, which is made of small white shells, whenever the sun makes a conquest, he obliterates the stars by the light of his presence. The stars are like the shells of wampum, so the grandfather always alienates these shells. In the end, it is to grandmother earth that the "shells" of grandfather sun's victory sink. When he was young, his victory was to pull down the opposing stars after him, which proved to be one and the same as giving them as shells to Earth. As to whether Earth is a warrior who ought to have the head from the feast, we have Grandmother's own words. In the story about Bear, Hare kills Bear and then asks Grandmother which part of him she would like to carry home: "Hare said, 'Grandmother, will you carry the head?' 'No,' said the old woman, 'I am not a man that I should be carrying heads. He who does the killing is the one to carry the head'." [3] Given the events of the myth, we know that the head of the otter and its successors in the story are made up of stars that never dip below the horizon. Therefore, as a matter of fact, Grandmother would never have been offered the head. She cannot ingest the head because it never enters into her, and she never covers it the way that the sun does when he ingests the otter. The story now turns to the symbolism of the bone, which as a white object like a shell, can also stand for a star. She does in truth wish to get a piece of the otter's bones for herself, but we know that she cannot get a one from his head. She wants to take it home with her, but this is physically impossible. She weeps because the otter is her brother, but he is really not, since he is an object of the air, like the sun, and is therefore alien to her. Her weeping like the sun is also impossible, since the Milky Way does not fall from her face, but rises upward from the horizon or falls down into it. Taking the otter's head bones and pounding them with a stone is another image of the sun obliterating the stars by his physical contact with them. The soup in which they reside is the Milky Way in which the constellation Auriga is found. However, these bones and soup do not get ingested by earth -- quite the contrary, they always stay out of her reach. So she never drinks the soup either. All the upper world spirits who belong at the feast are probably stars. When the feast is over, the otter has been completely devoured. This occurs only when the sun is fully risen. At this point it is said that all the spirits disappeared at once, something which does not in fact happen, as some stars persist in being visible for longer periods than others. Therefore, everything said in this section of the myth is the opposite of what happens. We can know this because the interpretation rules have also been inverted: we assign the opposite values to the actions while keeping the same assignments to the objects and people. This is what the Hotcâgara call a "false story." However, it is not simply other than what is true -- it has a clear and systematic relationship to the subject matter: everything is a precise opposite of the truth so that if we know what the universe of discourse is, we can do as we have done here, and discover the logic of the story.

The young man, Polaris, now goes to his brother. He hands his brother the pipe and the half-man smokes it. The pipe shape is found in the constellation Ursa Minor of which Polaris is the terminal member. The stem points to Auriga, and pipes are always passed stem first. The smoke is again the Milky Way which trails off from Auriga, the brother. Then the grandfather gives him a name, the same that he had given him in the earlier episode: "Black Hawk Looking at Us as He Stands." When the name is given, a black hawk "of good voice" appears on "his" head. The head should be the grandfather's, since the black hawk, as we have seen, is the Milky Way where it intersects with Auriga. It is into this part of the Milky Way that the sun sets and rises on the solstice. The black hawk stands above the head of the sun on both occasions. This hawk is pictured, as dictated by the layout of the stars, as being in a perched position, with his head lying between the sun's rising/setting point and Polaris. Thus the black hawk is looking simultaneously at both the sun, when it first rises and nearly sets, and Polaris.

The marten episode is essentially the same, only a white marten substitutes for the otter. The marten is an animal that can count as an aerial predator, since they generally hunt in an arboreal setting. Martens have much the same body contour as otters, so no adjustment is needed in the way the stars are grouped to get the same image. This time the Milky Way of that region is a group of martens. A new element is introduced into the story: Polaris tells the marten lookouts to bunch behind him after he kills the white marten. This is what the stars of the Milky Way do anyway. Again he takes the form of the black hawk and defines the path back to his place in the celestial sphere. The place of sunrise, where the sun's tent is pitch, has its door barricaded with logs. This reintroduces the image of the tree-man whose body is a stump; but it also reflects the facts of a wooded environment where the sun emerges from the trees. The episode proceeds in the same form as the one about the otter. The rest of the pursuit stories are regrettably abbreviated. We don't know who or what White Feather is, but the white fisher is an interesting choice of birds since it is both aerial and aquatic. They are probably alternate forms of the black hawk figure, whose actions could be made to coincide with those of Auriga since they physically overlap.

When he falls in with the Thunderbirds, they are going after women. We know that the Thunders always marry the Nights who live in the east, so the Thunderbirds start in the west and move east. The Thunders are identified physically with the clouds, so on a celestial "code" or allegory, their movement is that of the clouds. The motion of clouds from west to east is typical of the weather pattern of the upper Midwest. They always come to a "valley" that they must cross. The women who live there chase them and often catch up to them. These women also changed into hummingbirds, which tells us that they are stars. The "valley" would seem to be the Milky Way, the stars of which will invariably bisect the zenith at some time of the night, and will, owing to their westward apparent motion, seem to be running at clouds that travel from west to east. The episode of the women is another version of the marten episode, since we learn at the end of the story that the woman from among them that Polaris marries turns out to be a marten herself. Martens are aerial predators that sometimes feed upon birds. Now the Milky Way is viewed as a valley, and Auriga is therefore the town in its center. The image now shift to two women who are combing their hair. This occurs when Polaris comes to court them. When Polaris appears, the sun, of course, is setting. As the sun sets, the stars and constellations of Polaris' realm begin to emerge. As the sun sets more to the north at this time than any other, the "hair" of the two stellar women begins to appear out of the blue, until finally it is all "combed out." One of these women is the one that Polaris is to marry, as we learn later. She is identified with the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). She sits on one side of Polaris. As we soon learn, the women flank him, so that the other sister must sit on the opposite side of Polaris. This latter is the one who marries his brother, Auriga. Therefore, she is the set of stars between Auriga and Polaris. As Auriga sets with the motion directed as it were by Polaris, she falls towards earth. Thus she is "knocked down" by Polaris. The setting of the bulk of the Milky Way stars in Auriga is portrayed in the image of a tent in which they are concealed. At some point, they begin to emerge from this tent and begin to chase after Polaris, who himself, barely moves. Finally, like a Little Child Spirit, he turns himself into a baby lying in a cradle. This cradle is likely Ursa Minor, which has a box-like shape. He is but a single star, so he is like an infant. They cannot bring themselves to kill him, but of course they could not in any case, as they never really catch him in the sky. However, had Polaris been a constellation instead of just a "baby" he would have extended far enough to make contact with the Milky Way, and therefore could have been "killed" by the women. These two women-constellations stay above the horizon moving quickly in a motion around Polaris all night long, since they do not set. However, the bottom stars of the constellation do set, so it is as if they had worn out their moccasins. Then the Milky Way that envelopes the body of this constellation also set. Thus they are now left naked, yet they still chase him. When the sun is about the rise, there they are at his house, by the very door from which he is about to emerge. Polaris tells the sun that he has brought back the women and that they are at his door. As they rise, they regain their clothes, which are found at the back of his tent, where the tent is again an image of the subterranean abode of the celestial bodies at night. The sun is the cause of their nakedness, since it is his motion that causes the night to expose their nakedness. Once Auriga has risen, it is fully "clothed," just as it was when it had just begun to set after the sun. Now the sun rises, and the stars of this constellation begin to enter his house completely.

The next episode deals with the relationship between Polaris and the sun. The solar figure now declares that because Polaris went out with a warbundle but did not shoot anyone, that he himself must be shot. So the sun goes about making two arrows, as he gets two shots at Polaris. As per the discussion above, the black stone atop the arrow is an alloform of the sun itself. He shall now take a shot at Polaris, and the fact that the setting of the story is the summer solstice makes it clear that he has two shots, one corresponding to day and another to night. Just to make clear that these are solar arrows, they are described as "spears" each (arrowhead) as big as the old locomotive cow catchers. The arrow thunders incomparably as it moves, here as before, sound being the analogue of solar light. Polaris is held on each side by sidereal women. Since he is in the center of the sidereal sphere, it follows that any group of stars will be to his side. For the sun to hit Polaris, he would have to be in conjunction with him, that is, he would have to pass over him. When he first fires Polaris is near the ground, and the arrow passes over him. This is a description of the fact that during the day the ecliptic, the path of the sun, arches over Polaris. The second shot, which represents the nocturnal course of the sun, has the opposite result: Polaris is now above the ecliptic, so the sun-arrow passes underneath him.

In the next episode, there is to be a Warclub Feast for the warclub that Polaris took with him when he went courting. This warclub is probably another image of Ursa Minor, which looks like a flat headed warclub. The sun knows that he will be killed if he consumes a beaver, so he points out that the feast to the warclub must be of things that are not from the earth. Now the beaver is aquatic and is to be boiled. He is also found by a creek. This tells us that he is again on the Milky Way, and most likely the beaver is yet another image of Auriga. Just as Auriga is embedded in the Milky Way, so the beaver when singed still retains his hair. All of the beaver is in the kettle, just as all of Auriga is in the Milky Way, the latter once again being the water in which something is boiled. If the warclub is Ursa Minor, it comes closest to the ground about noon, since its handle points to the sun (and Auriga). When the sun rises on this day, it rises in Auriga, so it "eats" the whole constellation, here represented as a beaver (which has the same contours as a marten or an otter); and the sun also drinks the "soup," the Milky Way in which the beaver is boiled. It is of course a young beaver, since it emerges precisely at sunset to begin its nocturnal life. This beaver, as we know, is found near a creek, which is to say the Milky Way in which the constellation Auriga is embedded. It is there that it is killed. Now the women who live in the "valley" have a role to play that is similar to the role played by the otter and marten lookouts. They singe his fur, another evocation of the smoke image. Then they throw him in a kettle to be boiled. The water of the kettle is the same as the creek, and the boiling is done when the sun rises under Auriga, sitting under it like a fire under a kettle of water. At this point, the sun utterly consumes the beaver just as he had consumed his counterparts, the otter and the marten. Then after a time he sets, which is to say, dies, giving up what he ingested in the burst of red effusia from his dying body. The beaver is the perfect final image. It is an animal that creates stumps, recalling the image of the lower body of the brother when he was bisected. It is an aquatic animal like the otter. It builds lodges, which re-evokes the image of the place of the setting sun as its lodge, the same lodge in which the brother lived. Their lodges are built in water, which is identified symbolically with the Milky Way. The image is perfect in this setting, since the decline of the sun to the western horizon, the direction of the land of ghosts, causes the sky to turn red about it, as if the sun were spilling its contents forth into the sky. This is the bursting of the stomach. In this case, what materializes at the solstitial setting of the sun is the constellation Auriga, which gradually emerges out of the red of the sunset, as though it were the last thing that the sun had eaten. It is the contents of its stomach which are now released in a cloud of blood. He groans, which is another sound-for-light model, a scream would be too much light for sunset, leaving a groan as more appropriate since it is not a full expression of the voice (light). After this, he burns up, as does his "tent." At sunset the sun dies and is buried in the earth; but on this day the sun dies in another sense as well. On the solstice, the sun actually begins passing out of Auriga, but when it does so, it begins its post-solstitial decline, until it reaches its low point at the opposite side of the year.

As may be remembered, the solar figure had cut Polaris' brother in two, with Capella and the head stars forming his upper body, while the others stars closer to the horizon are its lower half. The bisection is really the sinking of the lower part of the constellation Auriga into the earth, while the upper part remains celestial. At the latitude of Red Banks, the top part of Auriga, which is the star Capella, the sixth brightest star in the heavens, never sets, and therefore remains just above the horizon. Thus the lower part is like a stump with its roots sunk into the underworld. It moves downward like the roots of a tree. This is by no means a dead stump: it is full of life because it stands in the Milky Way. Like the stump, with which it forms an isomorphic image in some respects, the lower, butt end of the brother also goes on living. He is fleet, which is true of all stars since they move quickly across the immense expanse of the night sky. The women, who live in the "valley" which is also the Milky Way cast in a different image, now help to catch him. They make a net, which is ordinarily used to catch aquatic creatures, and with this they snare him. The net is nothing more than another image of the Milky Way, and since Auriga is situated inside the Milky Way, it is necessarily caught in this "net." Notice, too, that four nets are needed to catch him. This would be one for each high magnitude star found below the horizon in Auriga's mid-night course. These stars, which are below the upper body star Capella (13 alpha Aurigæ), magnitude 0.07, are: (1) Menkalinan (34 beta Aurigæ), magnitude 1.89; (2) 37 theta Aurigæ, magnitude 2.61; and (3) El Nath (112 beta Tauri, magnitude 1.64, the brightest star in this section of the Milky Way; and (4) 3 iota Aurigæ, magnitude 2.69. [2] The "mouth" (rectum) of the butt end also comes equipped with teeth. The teeth, as small yellow-white objects, can also stand as images of stars. These are the non-visible teeth of the lower world, the rectum of the constellation as it has sunk part way below the earth. It is now in the antipode world where Herecgúnina rules, and the spirits are fond of human flesh. The mythographers appeal to the image of teeth when the otter and marten are brought in for the old man (sun) to eat. The butt end is drawn into the net by being tempted with tobacco smoke. This is another use of the smoke image of the Milky Way, whose ascension into the sky leads the way for Auriga. The lowest end of Auriga is represented as an anal mouth whose stars are teeth. These are broken out by hot stones. The hot stone that "kills" Auriga and breaks out the stars is the sun when it rises into Auriga. When the brother (Auriga) is rejoined, it is in the reviving sweat bath. We have already seen how the Milky Way, especially at this time of year, can be compared to a creek or the riverine sea that is the ocean; and how it can be compared to smoke. The two images are combined in the image of steam. The "steam" is the Milky Way ocean, created when the red hot black rock is dropped in the "water." As the sun declines in power during the night, Auriga gradually frees itself, until just before sunrise it rises whole and above the sun out of the "steam-bath" of the Milky Way.

At the end of the story we are told the esoteric identity of the characters. One of the women married the Polaris figure, and was identified as a marten; but both she and her husband turn into hummingbirds. The stars of the Marten Constellation are individually hummingbirds because this kind of bird can fly in a stationary and near-stationary position. They tend to hover about and to circle the flowering bushes that they tend. So it is with the pole star, Polaris, around which they circle. Polaris itself, of course, must be a hummingbird, since it hovers almost perfectly.

Comparative Material. It is said that the constellation Auriga plays an important part in the astronomy associated with Stonehenge. [4]

To the man whose lower body is a tree stump, compare the figure in the story of Caxpi told by the Dakota (in Old Man and White Feathers).

A number of Aztec myths bear some resemblance to the courting episode and the shooting at the hero. Two double-headed deer fall from heaven. They were pursued by two mixcoa ("cloud serpents"), Xiuhnel and Mimich. At night the two deer changed into women and tried to seduce the hunters. Only Xiuhnel succumbed, and the deer woman ate his heart out. Mimich, however, resists all the advances of the other woman, who is revealed to be the goddess Itzapapalotl ("Obsidian Butterfly"). Mimich captured Itzapapalotl and with the help of the fire gods, the Xiuhteteuctin, he burned her up. [5] Of greater similarity is another version. Iztac Mixcoatl ("White Cloud-serpent") began a series of conquests. When he arrived at the city of Uitznauac, he met Chimalman. She dropped her weapons and stripped naked to meet him. Iztac Mixcoatl had four spears. The first she dodged by ducking, the second by jumping to the right, the third she caught with her hand; but the fourth struck her in the cleft. Then Iztac Mixcoatl seized her and impregnated her on the spot. They became the parents of One Reed (Quezalcoatl), but she died giving birth. [6]

Links: Polaris, Celestial Spirits, Black Hawks, Hummingbirds, Little Children Spirits, Thunderbirds, Otters, Sun, Fishers.

Stories: about stars and other celestial bodies: Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, The Seven Maidens, Morning Star and His Friend, The Human Head, Turtle and the Witches, Sky Man, Wodjidjé, The Raccoon Coat, Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, The Origins of the Milky Way, The Fall of the Stars; about Polaris (Pole Star, North Star): The Seven Maidens; about the Little Dipper: The Seven Maidens; about two sisters: The Twin Sisters, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Old Man and White Feathers, The Old Man and the Giants, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Markings on the Moon, The Man Who Fell from the Sky; featuring otters as characters: Otter Comes to the Medicine Rite, The Fleetfooted Man, The Two Children, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Turtle's Warparty, The Origins of the Milky Way, Redhorn's Sons, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Kunu's Warpath, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, The Woman who Loved Her Half Brother, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Animal Spirit Aids of the Medicine Rite, The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men, V. 2, Wodjidjé, Morning Star and His Friend; mentioning beavers: Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, White Wolf, Old Man and White Feathers, The Animal Spirit Aids of the Medicine Rite, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men, Turtle and the Merchant; mentioning fishers: Redhorn's Father, Bladder and His Brothers; mentioning martens: Great Walker's Medicine, V. 2, Grandfather's Two Families; mentioning black hawks: The Thunderbird, Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Warughápara, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Morning Star and His Friend, The Coughing Up of the Black Hawks, The Animal Spirit Aids of the Medicine Rite, Keramanic'aka's Blessing, The Race for the Chief's Daughter; mentioning hummingbirds: The Thunderbird, Tobacco Origin Myth (v. 5), The Race for the Chief's Daughter; 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, Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, 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 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 Bird Spirits: Crane and His Brothers, The King Bird, Bird Origin Myth, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Old Man and White Feathers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird, The Boy Who Became a Robin, Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Foolish Hunter, Ocean Duck, Earthmaker Sends Rucewe to the Twins, The Quail Hunter, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Hotcâk Arrival Myth, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster and the Geese, Holy One and His Brother (blackbirds, woodpeckers, hawks), Porcupine and His Brothers (Ocean Sucker), Turtle's Warparty (Thunderbirds, eagles, kaghi, pelicans, sparrows), Kaghíga and Lone Man (kaghi), The Old Man and the Giants (kaghi, bluebirds), The Bungling Host (snipe, woodpecker), The Red Feather, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Warughápara, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Black and White Moons, The Markings on the Moon, The Creation Council, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Earthmaker Blesses Wagícega (Wecgícega), Hare Acquires His Arrows, Hotcâk Clans Origin Myth, Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth, The Hotcâk Migration Myth, Blue Jay, The Baldness of the Buzzard, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster (turkey buzzard), The Shaggy Man (blackbirds), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (blackbirds), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers (Loon), Great Walker's Medicine (loon), Roaster (woodsplitter), The Spirit of Gambling, The Big Stone (a partridge), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4); 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, Wolves and Humans, The Commandments of Earthmaker, The Children of the Sun, The Green Man, Holy One and His Brother, Partridge's Older Brother, The Brown Squirrel, 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; mentioning oak: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, Turtle's Warparty, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, Old Man and White Feathers, Warughápara, The Creation Council, Young Man Gambles Often, Sun and the Big Eater, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Roaster, The Human Head, The Shaggy Man, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Peace of Mind Regained; mentioning tobacco: Tobacco Origin Myth, Hare and the Grasshoppers, Hotcâk Clans Origin Myth (v 2), How the Thunders Met the Nights, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Grandmother's Gifts, The Thunderbird, Peace of Mind Regained, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, The Masaxe War; 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), Sun and the Big Eater (arrow), The Brown Squirrel (arrow), Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (log used as weapon); mentioning sweat lodges or sweat baths: The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Lost Blanket, The Green Man, Bladder and His Brothers, v. 1, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, The Thunderbird, Snowshoe Strings, Warughápara, The Red Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Birth of the Twins, v.2, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, The King Bird, The Human Head, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, The Shaggy Man, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, The Two Boys, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, v. 2, The Cave of Herok'a; mentioning feasts: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (Chief Feast), The Creation Council (Eagle Feast), Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth (Eagle Feast), Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth (Waterspirit Feast), Bear Clan Origin Myth (Bear Feast), The Woman Who Fought the Bear (Bear Feast), Grandfather's Two Families (Bear Feast), Wolf Clan Origin Myth (Wolf Feast), Buffalo Clan Origin Myth (Buffalo Feast), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Feast), Buffalo Dance Origin Myth (Buffalo Feast), He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (Buffalo Feast), The Blessing of Cokeboka (Feast to the Buffalo Tail), Snake Clan Origins (Snake Feast), Blessing of the Yellow Snake Chief (Snake Feast), The Thunderbird (for the granting of a war weapon), Turtle's Warparty (War Weapons Feast, Warpath Feast), Porcupine and His Brothers (War Weapons Feast), Earthmaker Blesses Wagícega (Wecgícega) (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), Big Thunder Teaches Tcap'ósgaga the Warpath (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), White Thunder's Warpath (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), The Fox-Hotcâk War (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (Warpath Feast), Kunu's Warpath (Warpath Feast), Trickster's Warpath (Warpath Feast), The Masaxe War (Warpath Feast), Redhorn's Sons (Warpath Feast, Fast-Breaking Feast), The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits (Fast-Breaking Feast), The Chief of the Herok'a (Sick Offering Feast), The Four Slumbers Origin Myth (Four Slumbers Feast), The Journey to Spiritland (Four Slumbers Feast), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (unspecified).

Themes: head hunting: Big Thunder Teaches Tcaposgaga the Warpath, A Man's Revenge, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Young Man Gambles Often, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Porcupine and His Brothers, Turtle's Warparty, Ocean Duck, The Markings on the Moon, Wears White Feathers on His Head, The Red Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Man with Two Heads, Brave Man, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, Redhorn's Sons, Fighting Retreat, The Children of the Sun, The Were-Grizzly, Winneconnee Origin Myth; a warleader will not return to his people (because he has lost so many of his men): Great Walker's Warpath; a boy lives alone with his grandfather: Old Man and White Feathers, How the Thunders Met the Nights; a (magical) round, black stone: How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Green Man, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Partridge's Older Brother; 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 Brown Squirrel, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane; a spirit-being comes from a stump or hollow log: The Spirit of Maple Bluff, Lake Wâkcikhomîgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Were-fish, The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys; an old person informs a young man living with him that in a nightmare he was told that a certain animal should be killed and made into a Sick Offering for him or he would die: The Chief of the Herok'a; a hero goes to the corner of the world and takes a black (or white) otter that lives there: The Chief of the Herok'a, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth; 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, 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; a young man has a living bird with a clear voice as his headdress: Old Man and White Feathers (loon); description of a courtship outfit: The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, Redhorn's Father, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster Soils the Princess, The Mulberry Picker; coming across a warparty traveling in column and falling in at the rear: The Thunderbird, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, How the Thunders Met the Nights; a human joins up with the Thunderbirds: The Thunderbird, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Warughapara, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds; Thunderbirds are reduced to using grass or weeds when they smoke their pipes: The Thunderbird, How the Thunders Met the Nights; powerful spirits eat snakes (even though they are sacred): The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Two Boys, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy; dragging a deer to the kill by hand: How the Thunders Met the Nights; Thunderbird people roast meat over the fire on sharpened sticks: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (v. 3), How the Thunders Met the Nights; powerful spirit beings act somewhat dim witted: How the Thunders Met the Nights, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow, The Thunderbird, Partridge's Older Brother, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle; in order to get wives (from the Nightspirits) the Thunders must pass over a region where they are attacked: How the Thunders Met the Nights; a spirit turns into a person of radically different age: Morning Star and His Friend, The Messengers of Hare, Old Man and White Feathers, The Chief of the Herok'a; as someone is about to be killed, he changes into the kind of person that his opponent cannot bring himself to kill, and is thereby spared: Old Man and White Feathers (a beautiful woman); in a chase, a group of people lose articles of clothing as they run until finally they become naked: The Chief of the Herok'a; a group of women are reduced to going to a lodge naked: The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster; a being is vulnerable in a highly unusual way: River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Snowshoe Strings, The Green Man, Partridge's Older Brother, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension; a hero kills iniquitous people by feeding them poison that bursts their stomachs: The Shaggy Man, Ocean Duck; having the power to control the winds and/or the weather: Deer Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 1, 5), Blue Bear, The Gray Wolf Origin Myth, The Chief of the Herok'a, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, V. 2, East Shakes the Messenger, South Seizes the Messenger; a group of women spirits can command the wind to blow: The Chief of the Herok'a; the reviving sweat bath: The Shaggy Man, The King Bird, The Red Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, Snowshoe Strings, The Old Man and the Giants; bear oil is used to create steam in a reviving sweat bath: The Red Man, The Old Man and the Giants, Snowshoe Strings; a human turns into a (spirit) animal: How the Thunders Met the Nights (Thunderbird), Warughápara (Thunderbird), 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 Brown Squirrel (squirrel), 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); people turn into birds: Warughápara (owl, Thunderbird), Worúxega (eagle), The Thunderbird (black hawk, hummingbird), Keramanic'aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), The Hotcâk Arrival Myth (ravens), The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I (turkey), The Quail Hunter (partridge), The Markings on the Moon (auk, curlew), The Fox-Hotcâk War (goose), The Fleetfooted Man (water fowl?), The Boy Who Became a Robin (robin); someone is, or becomes, a star: The Seven Maidens, Turtle and the Witches, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Grandfather's Two Families.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, "The Dipper," Notebook Winnebago IV, #8 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Library) Story 8r, pp. 1-29 = Paul Radin, "The Dipper," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society Library) #49-50, pp. 1-267.

[1.1] Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1908) Winnebago I, #3: 107b.

[1.2] Amelia Susman, Notebooks ...

[2] Data taken from Distant Suns, version 2.0 for the MacIntosh, under the graphic for each of the stars named.

[3] Paul Radin, The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology (New York: Schocken Books, 1956) §9, p. 71.

[4] Distant Suns, notes under Auriga.  

[5] Eduard Seler, Collected Works in Mesoamerican Linguistics and Archaeolo