The people prayed to Earthmaker to give them better hunting grounds, so the Creator sent a green (tco) Waterspirit to a lifeless land of snow and ice. The warmth of the Waterspirit melted the ice, and by dint of great effort he clawed and bit out channels for streams and lakes. When the melt collected, the Waterspirit churned up from his body all the game that anyone could want. He fired green quills from his skin, and they became trees that stood in their thousands from one horizon to the other. Thus was created the Wisconsin Dells, which is called Nîc-haki-sûtc-ra, "Where the Cliffs Strike Together." [inset] When he finished his great work, the green Waterspirit leapt into the bottomless depths of Devil's Lake (De Wákâtcâk). Even though the Hotcâgara were far distant, so great was the shock wave of the Waterspirit's final plunge, they were able to follow the sound to their new hunting grounds. [1]

Others say that the Wisconsin River was created by a great serpent. In origin, he was a denizen of the dark forests that surround Big Lake. His powers made him universally feared. One day he set out for the sea. As he dragged his immense body along the ground, he rent the earth apart, creating a channel as wide and deep as his body. As he moved, water followed in his path, and as he thrashed about his tail, huge torrents of water fell in thunderous splashes to form the countless lakes that dot the landscape. The other great serpents that lived in this distant antiquity were no match for him, and fleeing before him, they too created channels through which the many lesser streams now flow. As he crashed off cliffs to the ground below, he created waterfalls and the deep pits into which they pour. Their great noise is an echo of the primordial crash that created them. Then he came to a wall of solid rock in which there was but a small crack. He pried his way through by a myriad of contortions, creating the meandering chasm that is now the Wisconsin Dells. Thus the name of the Dells is Neechahkecoonahorah, "Where the Rocks Strike Together." Finally, the great serpent reached the Mississippi and his goal. [2]

Comparative Material. An Anishinaabe version of this story, essentially identical to Version 2, says that a giant serpent carved the channel of the Wisconsin River when it attempted to reach the sea from its home in the forests. [3]

Links: Devil's Lake, Earthmaker, Waterspirits, Traveler, Thunderbirds.

Stories: about the origins of bodies of water: Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, Lost Lake; in which Waterspirits occur as characters: Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Lost Child, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Bluehorn's Nephews, Holy One and His Brother, The Seer, The Mulberry Picker, The Creation of the World (vv. 1, 4), The Sioux Warparty and the Waterspirit of Green Lake, The Waterspirit of Lake Koshkonong, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, Devil's Lake -- How it Got its Name, Old Man and White Feathers, The Diving Contest, The Lost Blanket, Redhorn's Sons, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Great Walker's Warpath, White Thunder's Warpath, The Descent of the Drum, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Snowshoe Strings, The Thunderbird, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (v. 2), The Two Children, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Earthmaker Sends Rucewe to the Twins, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, Warughápara, Ocean Duck, The Twin Sisters, Trickster Concludes His Mission, The King Bird, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Great Walker's Medicine, V. 2, Peace of Mind Regained, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Shaggy Man, The Woman who Married a Snake (?), Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I; about the migration of the Hotcâgara: The Hotcâgara Migrate South, The Hotcâk Migration Myth, The Hotcâk Arrival Myth, Quapah Origins, cf. Introduction, Hotcâk Clans Origin Myth; about the origins of the Hotcâk nation: Introduction, The Hotcâk Arrival Myth, The Hotcâk Migration Myth, The Creation Council, Great Walker's Warpath, The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I; 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 Dipper, The Stone that Became a Frog, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Origin of the Hotcâk Chief, The Spirit of Gambling, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Aratcgéga's Blessings, Kunu's Warpath, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, The Nightspirits Bless Tciwoit'éhiga, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Big Stone, The Origins of the Milky Way; mentioning Green (tco) Waterspirits: River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake; set in the Wisconsin Dells: The Twin Sisters, White Flower; set at Devil's Lake (De Wákâtcâk): Devil's Lake -- How it Got its Name, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Traveler and the Thunderbird War (v. 1), The Lost Blanket; set on the Wisconsin River (Nîkúse Xonúnîgra): Turtle and the Merchant, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Lame Friend, The King Bird, The Sioux Warparty & the Waterspirit of Green Lake, v. 1, Gatschet's Hotcank hit'e.

Themes: the Hotcâk nation arrives from another (warmer) place: The Hotcâk Migration Myth, The Hotcâk Arrival Myth; a green (tco) Waterspirit inhabits Devil's Lake: River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Devil's Lake -- How it Got its Name; a Waterspirit kills a human: The Shaggy Man, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Warughapara, The Two Children, The Waterspirit of Lake Koshkonong, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Seer, The Twin Sisters, The Sioux Warparty and the Waterspirit of Green Lake, The Lost Blanket; a Waterspirit has vegetation growing out of his body: Snowshoe Strings (grass growing from his face).

Map: Devil's Lake.

Pictures: of Devil's Lake: Devil's Doorway, Scene 1, Scene 2, Balanced Rock.

Notes:

[1] Capt. Don Saunders, When the Moon is a Silver Canoe. Legends of the Wisconsin Dells (Wisconsin Dells, Wisc.: Don Saunders, 1947) 5-6. His informant was Albert Yellow Thunder.

[2] Dorothy Moulding Brown, Wisconsin Indian Place-Name Legends, Wisconsin Folklore Booklets (Madison: 1947) 18.

[3] Henry Ellsworth Cole, Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's Lake Region (Baraboo: Baraboo Publishing Co., 1920) 7-8.