There once was a Hotcâk village over which a chief ruled with unquestioned authority. He had four daughters and two sons, but his older son was something of a disappointment to him. One day he took this son aside and said, "When young men reach your age, they always fast and go out to a remote place to seek the blessings of the spirits; yet you have never done this. How will you succeed in life without the blessings of spirits?" Some time later a warparty was organized with the permission of the chief and his eldest son was among the warriors. It was the practice in those days that those who took a scalp would be rewarded with a wampum belt, which they would give to their sister. The warparty was very successful, and the young man was third among those who had taken a scalp, but when his father saw him in third place in the line of march, he ridiculed him, saying, "As old as I am, if I had gone on the warpath myself, I still would have come back with the first war honor! My sisters would have marched around with the first prize belt." This so disheartened the young man that he left the file of victors and walked back dejected to his lodge. His mother set out a bowl of meat for him, but before he could eat, his father tossed a handful of ashes in it. So the boy ate nothing. The young man went on three more warparties, but only on the last occasion did he come back with first war honors. Even then his father threw ashes on his food. The young man was so depressed that he pulled a blanket over his head and sat apart, saying nothing. As he sat there he brooded over his father's apparent rejection, and he wished only to die.

The next morning he blackened his face and ran away. He did not stop running all day. For four days he blackened his face every morning and ran through the wilderness all day long, hoping to die there alone in the forest. On the fifth day it began to get foggy but when he got to the top of a hill, there he saw a village below him. He could spot the chief's lodge on account of the long pole that stood in front of it. He first thought how much he did not want to be killed in this village, but he remembered his resolve to die in the wilderness, so he decided he might as well die there as anywhere. So he descended the hill and walked right down to the chief's lodge. His face was still blackened, but by now the sweat had caused streaks to appear running down his face. The chief's lodge had been built on a platform supported by four forked tree stumps. When the chief's daughter stepped out, she saw the young man standing there before the lodge and screamed like she had seen a ghost. The chief said, "What are you screaming about?" "My brother has returned! He is standing outside," she said excitedly. Everything about the young man was identical to the chief's dead son, so the chief declared, "Let everyone cease their mourning -- my son has come back from the dead!" It was only yesterday that they had buried him. So the people painted their faces and celebrated. In ancient times the chief's lodge had a special platform behind it where the chief's son slept. It too was supported about four feet off the ground by four tree stumps, so that it was necessary to climb a small ladder to reach it. His new father advised him, "Whenever you need to go anywhere, be sure to let your younger sister (waitcgera) and my sister (tcunwin) know about it so that they can make you enough moccasins."

One day the young man's companion stopped by and said, "The word is that there is going to be an expedition soon; do you want to come along?" "Sure," said the young man, who had quite a reputation as a hunter already. The companion stopped by one evening and told him that the party had already left, so they caught up to them at the rendezvous point after dark. The rule is that the warparty forms a column and that place in line is determined by the order of arrival at the rendezvous point. Since the two companions were the last to arrive, they brought up the rear of the column. Now the order was given, in accord with traditional practice, that every man face in the direction from which they had come. When they set out that evening, the chief's son was found lying face down. One of the men said jokingly, "That one's a prisoner we picked up," but the warleader said, "Don't say that, for he may be our protection." They traveled all night until morning, when the warleader directed his nephew to place the warbundle gently on the ground. Then the warleader spoke: "We have the chief's son with us, but he has only one pair of moccasins, so each one of us should give him one pair of our own." Then he had plenty of moccasins. The warparty traveled for four days and four nights. When the sun rose the warleader stood up and said, "I am going to appoint those who will kill a man for me." The nephew took a handful of tobacco and presented it to the men. White Eagle Feather (Witcáwixcepsgagá) stepped forward and took the tobacco saying, "I am the only one who can kill a man in the center of his village." The man who lives in the center of the village is, of course, the chief. Again the nephew offered tobacco to each man in turn, but no one else would accept it. When he came to the one who joked about the chief's son, that one said, "Offer it to Prisoner." So the chief's son said, "Hâho! I will go with White Eagle Feather every step of the way; and I promise you this: I will bring back the scalp of the one who wears the chief's medallion necklace."

The two companions set out at a run and at noon they stopped at a large rock. "This is where I sharpen my knife," said White Eagle Feather. As they sharpened their knives against the rock, White Eagle Feather said, "Don't get it too smooth. A rough edge works better in scraping off the scalp." They ran all day, and as the sun was about to set, they arrived at the summit of a long hill where they could see a very large village spread out below them. White Eagle Feather said, "I can stand up and see them, but they cannot see me." Then the chief's son likewise stood up and said, "I can stand up and see them, but they cannot see me." When the sun set they went down to the village and walked among the people there, just like they lived there. When it became late, they bedded down in front of the chief's lodge. In the morning two men walked out of the lodge, and before they could say a word, the two Hotcâgara were upon them. The chief's son killed his man first, scalped him, and seized his chief's medallion. "I'm going," he told White Eagle Feather. Soon White Eagle Feather caught up to him and they ran slowly through the village. However, by the time they reached the outskirts, the enemy was in full pursuit. They were running around the perimeter of the village and the enemy was gaining on them. White Eagle Feather jumped ahead and said, "I'm going, do the best you can!" Now the two were running westward away from the village. By now, White Eagle Feather was so far in front that there were two hills between him and the chief's son. The young man sped up and ran his best. Soon he had caught up as they came over the third hill. The two ran together, but the chief's son was in front. When they came within sight of the rest of the warparty, White Eagle Feather said, "Whoever gets back first always gets to claim the first war honor, so when we arrive I shall call for my first prize, then you can claim your prize." However, the chief's son arrived first, took two or three puffs from the pipe that was offered him, then put on the wampum belt of the first victor. When White Eagle Feather finally came up, he declared to the whole warparty, "Until now I have been the only one to enter an enemy village and kill a man. All those who were with me failed to escape alive. But now I have met a man as brave as I am, and I shall this day make a solemn compact of friendship with him. He has been ridiculed because he is a stranger to us, but I say that he is the best among us." Then the chief's son arose, and said, "So be it, let us be friends forevermore. I am not named 'Prisoner,' but the spirits above and below, and of this earth, call me 'the Yankton' (Ihanktunhánga)." Then they broke camp and in six days reached their own village.

They danced with their scalps all summer. When they both got married, they lived in the same lodge. Each had a son born to him. When the enemy was on the warpath, they both would be able to see their approach in their dreams and be prepared for them. However, the young chief had been away from his people for many years, and the spirits told him that he should return, as his younger brother and sister were sick and pining away for him. White Eagle Feather left with the Yankton for his home. When he entered his old lodge, his father said with deep emotion, "My son!" but the Yankton's mother hit the old man with a poker and said, "You have no son, for you abused him when he lived here. He was invaluable to the people, for he could see the approach of the enemy in his dreams!" He stayed there for four years. After that, White Eagle Feather's band joined with his own. These two bands became the two moieties of the Hotcâk nation.

Commentary. A moiety is a basic subdivision of a tribe. Among the Hotcâgara it is necessarily composed of a set of clans. What particularly defines a moiety division is exogamy: no one marries within his or her own moiety. There is a single odd exception: the Wolf Clan may marry within its own clan, otherwise, it observes the strictures applying to the prohibition to marry within one's own moiety. Among the Hotcâgara, the two moieties were subdivided into two halves, forming a quadrupartite system exemplifying the sacred number four.

The Upper Moiety was divided into the First Thunderbird Family and the Second Thunderbird Family, the latter also known as the Air Family. The first consisted of the Thunderbird Clan; the second consists of the Eagle, Hawk (Warrior), and Pigeon Clans. [2] The Thunder Clan stands to the other Bird Clans as the Thunderbirds themselves stand to the visible birds of nature. The Lower Moiety was subdivided into the Land Family and the Water Family, corresponding in nature to terrestrial animals as opposed to aquatic animals, the amphibians being included in the latter. The Land Family clans are the Bear, Wolf, Elk, Deer, and Buffalo; the Water Family consists of the Waterspirit, Snake, and Fish Clans. [3]

Links: (none)

Stories: about the union of the two moieties: Bird Clan Origin Myth, Hotcâk Clans Origin Myth.

Themes: a father is too demanding of his son: The Boy Who Became a Robin; someone is rejected by at least one member of his family: Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, The King Bird, Grandfather's Two Families, Kaghíga and Lone Man; a young man, who later turns out to be holy, is criticized by his elders for not conducting his puberty fast: The Race for the Chief's Daughter; a young hero (becomes depressed and) sits in silence with a blanket over his head: Turtle's Warparty, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Necessity for Death; someone depressed by prospects at home goes (at a run) into the wilderness to die: White Wolf, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister; a young man becomes angry and runs off into the wilderness without knowing what he will do there: Redhorn's Father; men who wear a single eagle feather in their hair: Redhorn's Father, The Lost Blanket; a medallion necklace is symbolic of chieftainship: The Deer Clan Origin Myth; a holy young man is given an insulting name, but later makes known his true name (given to him by the sprints) in conjunction with a great feat: The Race for the Chief's Daughter; seeing the approach of an enemy warparty in a dream: The Dogs of the Chief's Son, Wazûka, The Dog that became a Panther, Porcupine and His Brothers; a man is blessed with the ability to foresee the approach of enemies: Wazûka, The Dog that became a Panther, The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I, Big Thunder Teaches Tcaposgaga the Warpath, The Fleetfooted Man; scouts spy on the enemy (from a hill) without being seen: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, White Thunder's Warpath, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Worúxega; a warleader appoints men to do the killing in a planned attack: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty; falsely claiming first war honors: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty; one man finishes so far ahead of the competition in a foot race that he has time to smoke a pipe before they reach the finish line: Old Man and White Feathers, Sun and the Big Eater, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse; an old woman strikes a man with a poker for his misbehavior: Hare Burns His Buttocks.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, "Winnebago Tales," Journal of American Folklore, 22 (1909): 303-307. Informant: Soloman Long Tail.

[2] Thomas Foster, Foster's Indian Record and Historical Data (Washington, D. C.: 1876-1877) vol. 1; #1, p. 4, coll. 1, 1. This is also confirmed by Radin Thunderbird Clan informant -- Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 161 and nt 1.

[3] Foster, Foster's Indian Record, 1; #1, p. 4, coll. 1, 1.