Sam Blowsnake told the following story about his forefather Tciwoit'éhiga as part of the ritual of the Thunderbird Warbundle Feast.

(456/457) Those who Walk in the Night, how they placed their breath within the reach of grandfather, when Tciwoit'éhiga (Kills within the Lodge) tried to learn how to sing the songs of Those who Walk in the Night. He fasted and thirsted himself to death for what our Grandfathers spread out for him beyond the earth once they had placed it within the grasp of his consciousness. Grandfather Tciwoit'éhiga said that where he came from, he thought, he sprung from those who are of the east, she herself was a princess of the Nights. The beloved son of the Chief of the Thunderbirds was his father. Thus his parents were from beyond the earth. However, when he fasted, they blessed him carefully. Thus, he said that if at any time he should die, he would be able to visit from beyond the earth, it is said. Thus he was taught their breath, the Nightspirit song, just how they said, that way is how we will try to sing it. [1]

Commentary. "their breath" -- a ritualistic expression meaning, "their songs."

"our Grandfathers" -- this is a reference to the spirits rather than to the ancestors.

"those who are of the east" -- the Nightspirits are meant -- they have a village in the east.

"Chief of the Thunderbirds" -- the chief of these spirits is Great Black Hawk. (The symbol of the Thunders is found in the inset to the left.)

"Thus his parents were from beyond the earth" -- Radin says, "What Tciwoit'éhiga means by saying that these spirits were his parents is that he is a reincarnated spirit that has chosen to be born of human parents. Such claims were by no means rare even in late Winnebago history and there is, as a matter of fact, a powerful shaman living in Wisconsin now [ca. 1923] who claims that he is the reincarnated Hare (Wacdjîgéga)." (see The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird) [2]

"they blessed him carefully" -- Radin remarks, "Before coming to the earth as a human being, he had of course been told that he would receive certain blessings, but nevertheless he had to fast for them just as a human being does. However, shamans who obtained their powers in this way were always supposed to obtain them more easily than other people." [3]

Links: Nightspirits, Thunderbirds, Great Black Hawk, Yûgiwi.

Stories: mentioning Nightspirits: The Nightspirits Bless Djobenagiwíñxga, The Big Stone, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Fourth Universe, Battle of the Night Blessed Men and the Medicine Rite Men, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Ocean Duck, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Sun and the Big Eater; 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 Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Big Stone, The Origins of the Milky Way; about the interrelationship between Thunderbirds and Nightspirits: How the Thunders Met the Nights, Ocean Duck, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Big Stone, Sun and the Big Eater; mentioning Great Black Hawk: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird, Warughápara, The Lost Blanket, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Redhorn's Sons.

Themes: marriage to a yûgiwi (princess): The Mulberry Picker, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Big Stone, Partridge's Older Brother, Redhorn's Sons, The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, The Roaster, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, The Two Boys, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Shaggy Man, The Thunderbird, The Red Feather, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, The Birth of the Twins, V. 3, Trickster Visits His Family, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, Redhorn's Father, Old Man and White Feathers, Morning Star and His Friend, Thunderbird and White Horse, Rich Man, Boy, and Horse, Shakes the Earth; a human is a reincarnated Thunderbird: The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird; a person who fasts receives blessings from the spirits: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Nightspirits Bless Djobenagiwíñxga, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, Redhorn's Sons, The Boy Who Became a Robin, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Seer, Maize Comes to the Hotcâgara, The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Boy who would be Immortal, The Thunderbird, Lake Wâkcikhomîgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, Great Walker's Medicine, Cûgepaga, Earthmaker Blesses Wagícega (Wecgícega), A Man's Revenge, Aratcgéga's Blessings, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Man who was Blessed by the Sun, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, The Man who Defied Disease Giver, White Thunder's Warpath, A Man and His Three Dogs, The Diving Contest, The Plant Blessing of Earth, Holy Song, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Blessing of Cokeboka, The Completion Song Origin, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, The Horse Spirit of Eagle Heights.

Notes:

[1] Sam Blowsnake, The Warbundle Feast of the Thunderbird Clan, in Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 399-481 [456-457].

[2] Ibid., 457, note 131.

[3] Ibid., 457, note 132. For more on this belief, see Paul Radin, "Reminiscences of a Winnebago Indian," American Journal of Folklore, 26 (1913).