Herecgúnina is the evil counterpart to Earthmaker. Inasmuch as evil is a flaw in creation, the evil of Herecgúnina is attributable to some flaw in his make-up. When Earthmaker was assembling the first living things, he accidentally put Herecgúnina's legs on backwards. The defect could not be entirely repaired, leaving Herecgúnina to walk with a limp. Since this first attempt at creating man was a failure, Earthmaker threw it away; and so it was that an evil spirit first entered into the world. [1] Herecgúnina landed in the north [2], and there he began to imitate Earthmaker's other creations, resulting in the horde of evil spirits which now infest the cosmos. [3]

Other traditions say that, like Earthmaker, Herecgúnina simply awoke into existence. When he saw what Earthmaker had done, he attempted to imitate him. He tried to make a black bear, but it came out as a grizzly; he tried to make snakes, but they were all venomous. Herecgúnina fared no better in botany: he made all the worthless trees, the thistles, and the weeds. [4] Some say that Herecgúnina and Earthmaker live side by side each in his own great lodge. Because the earth would become overcrowded if humans lived too long, Earthmaker put Herecgúnina in charge of shortening human lives. For this purpose he has a book (probably in origin a calendar stick) in which he shortens the marks that stand for individual life spans. Once the Twins, who are more powerful even than Herecgúnina, took the book from him and lengthened the marks standing for human life spans. [5]

Early on, Herecgúnina visited evil upon the human race in the form of gambling. As he was the spirit in control of gambling, he won virtually everything humanity owned. All women were combined into a single female and Herecgúnina was even able to win her. It was only through the intervention of the good spirits led by Hare that human beings were able to win back what they lost in gambling. Despite their power, it was only through trickery that Hare was able to recapture women from Herecgúnina. [6]

In primordial times Herecgúnina became jealous of Red Star (the Evening Star) who was also known as "Bluehorn." Indeed, he looked just like Red Star, including the strange row of flint blades that covered both sides of his arms. One day the Evil Spirit came to the lodge of Red Star, hoping to seduce his sister (Moon). He only succeeded in offending her. Eventually he challenged Red Star to a smoking contest in which each tried to draw so hard on his pipe that he would suck the other right into the fire that lay between them. This is just what happened to Red Star, and the Evil Spirit promptly jumped up and beheaded his opponent. He would run through the heavens with the head tied on behind him, stopping only at the end of the world to drink in the Ocean Sea. So Hare called together all the spirits, and they combined each of them some power that he possessed, and Hare took this to Earthmaker who added his own power. This power was given to Sun who impregnated the sister of Red Star with the Twins. The Twins, therefore, were more powerful than any beings in the world. They tracked down the Evil Spirit as he was drinking, and beheaded him. The retrieved Red Star's head and reconnected it to his body. That form of Herecgúnina they burnt up completely, so that he could never return in that form. [7]

Like most great spirits, Herecgúnina sojourned on earth where he was known as "One Legged One." He was a great hunter and created a number of devilish things, such as the crawfish, which walks backward like its creator. [8] Eventually, this avatar was killed by Bladder, but not before he killed all but one of Bladder's brothers. [9]

Links: One Legged One, Giants, Earthmaker, Spirits, The Sons of Earthmaker, Bluehorn (Evening Star), The Twins, Gottschall, Bladder, Cosmography, Ghosts, Turtle, Fire, Buffalo Spirits, Herok'a, Moon, Sun, Supernatural & Spiritual Power, Ants, Sleets as He Walks.

Stories: featuring Herecgúnina (the Bad Spirit or One Legged One) as a character: The Creation of the World, The Creation of Man, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Woman Who Became an Ant, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Journey to Spiritland, Cûgepaga, The Spirit of Gambling, Bladder and His Brothers, The Two Brothers; see also Black and White Moons, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet -- What He Told the Hotcâgara.

Notes:

[1] Walter W. Funmaker, The Bear in Winnebago Culture: A Study in Cosmology and Society (Master Thesis, University of Minnesota: June, 1974 [MnU-M 74-29]) 30. Dr. Funmaker is a member of the Bear Clan of the Winnebago tribe. Oliver LaMère and Harold B. Shinn, Winnebago Stories (New York, Chicago: Rand, McNally and Co., 1928) 75-86. Informant: Oliver LaMère of the Bear Clan.

[2] LaMère and Shinn, Winnebago Stories, 75.

[3] Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 391.

[4] Henry Schoolcraft, Information respecting the Historical Conditions and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1852-1854) 4:230.

[5] Paul Radin, Winnebago Hero Cycles: A Study in Aboriginal Literature (Baltimore: Waverly Press, 1948) 147.

[6] LaMère and Shinn, Winnebago Stories, 75-86.

[7] Paul Radin, The Evolution of an American Indian Prose Epic. A Study in Comparative Literature, Part I (Basil: Ethnographical Museum, Basil Switzerland, 1954) 24-41.

[8] Paul Radin, "The Bladder," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (American Philosophical Society Library) #27, pp. 1-61.

[9] Paul Radin, "The Woman Who Became an Ant," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (American Philosophical Society Library) #52.