A little boy lived with his grandfather in a long lodge. He always wore a coonskin fur coat, complete with ears and nose which projected over his forehead, and with a tail that hung down just as if it were the boy's own. He even had mittens of raccoon fur. His favorite toy was a coonskin ball with its raccoon tail still attached to it. He would take the ball and throw it through the air by its tail, making all kinds of noise as he played. One day a bird perched near the lodge and began to sing. The boy asked his grandfather, "What is he saying?" The grandfather, who could understand the language of birds, said, "He is looking for boys." Some time later a bird perched nearby and sang the same song, but the grandfather spoke to it and said, "Yes, there is one here, but he doesn't amount to anything." But the boy grabbed a poker and threw it at the bird, yelling, "I am here!" The boy busied himself making clubs, and when a bird arrived a third time to sing, the boy chased it with a club. When again, a fourth time, a bird sang this song, the boy did not fail, but clubbed the bird to death. When he brought it back to his grandfather the old man said, "It is good," and boiled it for them to eat.

One day as the boy was walking through the long lodge he wondered why there were so many arrow quivers hanging from the wall. He thought to himself, "All these arrows cannot be just for grandfather." He went outside and played with his raccoon tail ball, but when he got back, he noticed that a great pile of firewood had been stacked inside. "How could grandfather have done all that work in so short a time?" he wondered. When he later asked his grandfather about this, the old an said, "Grandson, all the arrows and all the wood you see are mine. I did all the work." The boy's thoughts turned to something else that bothered him: "Grandfather, where did we come from?" "All right then," he said reluctantly, "as you are now old enough, I will have to tell you something. You have a brother who lives behind that partition, it is he who chopped the wood. The arrows belong to your ten older brothers who were taken away one by one. So the last of your brothers is fasting. Tomorrow, you shall meet your older brother." The next day the brothers finally met. The boy was overjoyed and the two of them when out and played ball together. The younger brother said "Older brother, there is no point in your continuing to fast, since it is not likely that you will dream anything." When they returned, the grandfather told them, "From now on you boys must play inside the lodge, as it may prove dangerous to be outside." When grandfather took a nap, the little boy persuaded his brother to play outside anyway. When their grandfather awoke, he called the boys in from the snow. He pointed to the great open space not far form the lodge and said, "There is where our village once stood. It was completely wiped out. It is the one who looks in on you in the form of a bird that caused its destruction. He is checking to see if you have grown big enough yet. He has a special interest in you boys, for your parents were the chiefs of this village." Then, unexpectedly, they could hear a man's voice saying, "The dog must scent something out of the ordinary." When the man and his dog appeared, the little boy exclaimed, "You had better hold your dog in check." The man replied, "It's not you I'm here for. I come for our older brother." But the little boy replied, "You won't take anything," and with that he slammed his raccoon ball down on the dog and drove it into the ground. The man attempted to pull his dog out of the ground, but could not budge him. The boy told him, "I'll get our dog back on its feet if you'll agree to take me with you." "All right," the man replied. The boy then pulled the dog out of the ground, picked up his ball, and together with his brother, went off with the man. Their grandfather wept with bowed head as they walked out of sight.

After walking some time they finally arrived at a place where a metal boat with metal oars was docked. The man warned the boy in the coonskin coat not to sit at the front of the boat, but he did so anyway. The man got in and scratched the side of the boat with an oar and unexpectedly the boat began to move under its own power. Then suddenly, the man struck the little boy with his oar and knocked him unconscious. "Thus it was with your older brothers," he murmured to himself. Then he returned to the shore and placed the prostrate boy on the ground. As he sped off he expected that he would not hear from the boy again, but he regained consciousness, and when he saw the boat leaving without him, he threw his ball at it. When it landed in the boat, the boat suddenly reversed course, and under its own power returned to the shore. "What's the idea?" demanded the boy, but the man dismissed it as an accident. All these things happened three more times. Finally, the boy said, "If you don't want me to come along, why don't you just say so, and I'll stay behind?" The boy got back in the boat, but this time he faced the man with his raccoon tail ball firmly in his grasp. The man scratched the boat with his oar and off they went again. The little boy whispered to his brother: "Pay attention to the landscape so that we can find our way back again." It was dark in the direction they were headed, but they could not see anything behind them. When they landed the man pointed to a long lodge and said, "That one is yours." The other house, an oval lodge, is where the man and his family resided. When the brothers entered the lodge, they found it full of men with broken bones. The man who brought them there would break their bones after they had become weakened from hunger. The little boy asked his brother if he could go out and beg for food, so that the people might not perish utterly; but he refused. So the little boy went out himself and entered into the oval lodge. Inside he saw a young man sitting and a young woman grinding corn and meat together. The young man gestured to the boy to sit next to him, but the boy sat next to the girl instead. While she was grinding a kernel of corn popped out and the boy scooped it up for himself. Then he asked them if he could borrow a kettle, which they readily granted. The boy took the kettle back to the long lodge and there he began to boil his single piece of corn. Unexpectedly, the kettle was found to be full of corn which proved enough to feed everyone. The boy urged the people to move around if they now had the strength to manage it. When the boy returned with the kettle empty and clean, the man ridiculed him as a fool. When the boy returned to the long lodge, he said to his brother, "There is a beautiful girl in the oval lodge, why not go over and court her?" But the young man refused. So the little boy went over himself and slept with the girl. He whispered to her, "The next time you grind corn and meat scatter as much of it about as you can, and when you are done, bang the kettles together noisily." The next day the boy heard the clang of the kettles, and went over to borrow one of them. While he was at it, he scooped up as much of the corn meal as he could without being too obvious. Again the boy was able to feed everyone in the lodge, and they all began to regain some of their strength. That night the boy again went to sleep with the young woman. As they lay there she touched him and felt his coonskin ball and raccoon tail. As she felt around his neck she touched something and asked him, "What is this?" "It is a knife I hang around my neck," he replied. She felt his heart throb, but when the boy felt for her heart, he could not feel anything at all." "Where is your heart?" he demanded to know. "Our father," she told him, "keeps our hearts hidden in the middle of the sea." Then he told her, "If you do everything that I say, you will live. Your brother must say, 'I make an offering of my sister and of myself,' then he too shall be spared." The woman agreed, for she had long tried to persuade her father to give up his evil ways.

The next day the boy turned himself into a cobweb strand and floated high into the air. When he was aloft he could see over almost the whole of creation, and he espied in the far distance in the middle of the sea, a place where there was something like a bird's nest. Laying there with five feathers over them were five hearts, the fifth being that of the dog. There also he saw that Loon and Soft-Shelled Turtle stood guard. He descended where the hearts were kept and landed on them with both feet. Soft-Shelled Turtle cried out, "It is the chief!" Back in the lodge, the man said, "I thought I heard someone say 'chief'." The young man who lived in the lodge said, "I didn't hear anyone say anything." The old woman, the man's wife, said, "Yet I think he has really gotten hold of something. I sense that something is going to happen." The boy in the raccoon coat then took up the hearts and brought them back to the center of the oval lodge. Then he took out his knife and stabbed the center of the dog's heart, and just that instant the dog yelped, ran into the lodge, and fell dead over his own heart. Then he stabbed the man's heart, and the man cried out and fell dead on top of his dog. The same thing happened to the old woman. Seeing this, the young man became frightened, but remembered to say, "I make an offering of my sister and myself to you." In return, the boy put the young man's heart back in him, spit on his hands, and rubbed the wound. No sooner had he done this, than the wound was instantly healed. He did the same for the girl, and her heart was thus restored to her. They offered four white deerskins, just as the boy had commanded them, after which the bodies of the evil doers were taken outside and burned until nothing was left but bones. The boy told them, "We must pound these bones to powder before sunset." They did everything just as the boy had directed them, and they finished just before sunset. Then the boy said to the girl, "Since I am too young for marriage, I recommend you to my brother to marry." The girl consented and that night the brother consummated his marriage with her.

The boy in the meantime had gathered the bone powder and put it into the four deerskins. Then he ran about the whole island scattering the bone powder everywhere, yelling, "Hoooo!" as he went. When he had scattered all the bone powder, he ran about the island yelling, "Hooo! Run, they are about to shoot us with arrows!" And again he cried out, "Run! A whole corner of the hill is about to collapse on us!" As he ran about, he called out, "Run! The sky is about to fall on us!" As the sun rose, he yelled, "Run! Enemies are upon us!" Much commotion could be heard around the island, as countless people emerged into the sunlight. Even those whose backs were broken walked about. As these people wandered about it came back to them that they had been killed, and they said to one another, "It is our youngest chief who has brought us to life." He gathered up the people and filled the metal boat full of them, and when he rubbed it with the oar, it sped across the surface of the sea. After they reached the other shore, they shoved the boat back and it returned automatically to the island. For four days he transported the resurrected people, but the boy in the coonskin coat and his brothers were the last to leave. While they traveled together for four days to the east, the people carried their young chief, the boy in the raccoon coat. The first night, he killed only a single young deer, yet when it was prepared all the people had more than enough to eat. The second day they killed an antelope, yet that was sufficient for everyone. The third day everyone had enough to eat even though all they he killed was a two year old antelope. The fourth day he killed a three year old buck and all were able to eat. It was noon and grandfather's place when the old man felt the earth shake, and said to himself, "Thus, the evil one returns." Grandfather could not see, so the boys let him feel them and he was overjoyed to discover that they had safely made it home. The boy chief spit on his hand and rubbed them across his grandfather's eyes, and unexpectedly, the old man could now see better than he ever could. He saw all his grandson and the whole village restored alive. The boy asked him, "Grandfather, who has done this to you?" He replied, "It was Coyote. He threw hot coals at my eyes and blinded me." So they set out to track down Coyote and when they caught him they hung him over the fire on the kettle hook. Coyote cried out in pain, but they did not release him until he had become completely exhausted.

The next day they began four days of feasting in which ten deer and ten bears were offered up to the Creator who had sent him to rescue the humans. He moved the village to the bank of a creek where game abounded. Then the boy in the raccoon coat told them, "Brothers, I have done what I came here to do. Therefore, I shall return home above. A child will be born to my brother. When he is old enough to walk, I will take him, my brother's wife, and his brother-in-law with me to my celestial abode." After this, grandfather spoke and told them, "I too am going back to where I came from and there I will settle down. I will not be far from you, as I will remain on earth as long as there is an earth. I shall be happy if the children play upon me." Then he went to the outskirts of the village and there he turned into a great stone of marble. The stone grew, then it grew again, and finally it became a great flat slab of rock. It is upon this rock that the children of the village were wont to play. Once the stone laughed out loud which made the children run home in fear and tell their parents of the wonder. They told the children, "This rock is your grandfather, who is an old man. That is why it is called 'Grandfather Rock'." Finally, the brother's son became old enough to walk, and the boy in the raccoon coat came back. He told them, "My nephew shall go with me. He shall be the substance we call 'copper'. The rest shall follow only after they have died. My nephew's father, my brother, shall be live iron (a magnet), and his brother-in-law shall be blue iron." Thus he spoke, and the two of them ascended into the air, walking ever upward until they vanished from sight, for they had crossed over into the realm of the Creator, their journey complete. [1]

Commentary. When the man says that his dog must have scented something out of the ordinary, he may be referring to the odor that holy people are said to exude. Inasmuch as very holy people do not marry, this is probably why the boy in the raccoon coat gave the girl to his next oldest brother.

Comparative Material: To the episode of the captives' resurrection is a very close Kickapoo parallel. A young man went out to seek a giant, ten-headed manitou who had taken his betrothed. When he found him, he killed him. There were many captive woman, and many of these had died, so he took their bones and said over them, "Hey! Run for your lives, we are under attack!" After he had done this four times, they became whole and alive again. He told all these women that they could go back to the villages whence they had come. [2] A more complete account of the Kickapoo story is found elsewhere.

Links:

The Meteor Spirit, Raccoons, Celestial Spirits, Loons, Rock Spirits, Iron Spirits, Coyote, Wolf & Dog Spirits.

Stories. featuring Wodjidjéga (The Meteor Spirit) as a character: The Roaster, Wodjidjé, The Green Man; mentioning Rock Spirits: The Big Stone, The Green Man, The Creation of the World, The Commandments of Earthmaker, The Seer, The Roaster, Wodjidjé, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Hare Kills Flint, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle; featuring Fat Rock Spirits as characters: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth; featuring Iron Spirits as characters: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Cûgepaga; mentioning live iron: How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Lost Blanket, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Lame Friend; about stars and other celestial bodies: The Dipper, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, The Seven Maidens, Morning Star and His Friend, The Human Head, Turtle and the Witches, Sky Man, Wodjidjé, 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; relating to dogs or wolves: The Gray Wolf Origin Myth, A Man and His Three Dogs, White Wolf, Wolves and Humans, The Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Old Man and His Four Dogs, Worúxega, The Dogs of the Chief's Son, The Dog that became a Panther, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Wild Rose, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, The Canine Warrior, Wodjidjé, The Big Eater, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Trickster Loses His Meal, Sun and the Big Eater, Redhorn's Sons, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Hog's Adventures, Holy One and His Brother, The Messengers of Hare, Grandmother's Gifts, The Hotcâk Migration Myth, Bladder and His Brothers, The Old Man and the Giants, Rich Man, Boy, and Horse, Peace of Mind Regained (?); mentioning coyotes: Wodjidjé, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Redhorn's Sons, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Trickster and the Eagle; featuring loons as characters: Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Great Walker's Medicine, Old Man and White Feathers, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth; featuring raccoons as characters: The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Were-fish, Lake Wâkcikhomîgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Spirit of Maple Bluff, Bladder and His Brothers, Raccoon and the Blind Men; mentioning people with broken backs: The Green Man, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.

The Raccoon Coat is a variant of the story Wodjidjé.

Themes: spirits come to earth in order to rescue humanity from enemies who threaten their existence: The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Bladder and His Brothers, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Grandfather's Two Families, The Hare Cycle, The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Redhorn's Sons, The Redhorn Cycle, The Roaster, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Spirit of Gambling, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Trickster Cycle, Wodjidjé, Redhorn's Father, Turtle and the Merchant; possessing a raccoon blanket: The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster; someone is abducted and led off into captivity: The Captive Boys, A Man's Revenge, Bluehorn's Nephews, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bladder and His Brothers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Green Man, Brave Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, Cûgepaga, Hare Gets Swallowed, Wodjidjé, Wolves and Humans, The Woman Who Became an Ant, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Boy who Flew, Testing the Slave; a man understands the language of certain animals: A Man and His Three Dogs, The Dogs of the Chief's Son, The Canine Warrior; the youngest offspring is superior: The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Young Man Gambles Often, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Twins Cycle, The Two Boys, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Children of the Sun, The Creation of the World, V. 12, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Wodjidjé, How the Thunders Met the Nights, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Sun and the Big Eater, Buffalo Clan Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 4, 7), Snake Clan Origins, South Enters the Medicine Lodge, Snake Clan Origins, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth; a small item set on or driven into the ground by a great man cannot be lifted by anyone else: The Twins Visit Their Father's Village (packs), The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension (warclub), The Shawnee Prophet -- What He Told the Hotcâgara (a warclub), Wodjidjé (a dog), The Roaster (a pack); prisoners have their bones broken by their captors: The Green Man, Old Man and White Feathers; one small morsel of food when put in a kettle becomes sufficient to feed everyone present: Redhorn's Father (bean), Ocean Duck (bean), The Chief of the Herok'a (deer tail), The Red Man (deer tail), cf. The Lost Blanket (food > tobacco, kettle > tobacco pouch); an organ of the body is removed and left somewhere (for safekeeping): Ocean Duck (heart), The Stone Heart (heart); The Green Man (heart), Hare Kills Wildcat (an eye); an evil spirit thinks that he has detected the presence of his enemy, but his partner dissuades him: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Holy One and His Brother, The Thunderbird; a man kills an adversary by getting rid of the external object that serves as the seat of the adversary's soul: The Green Man, Ocean Duck; a prisoner escapes by killing (some of) his captor(s): Wears White Feathers on His Head, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Hare Acquires His Arrows, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Boy who Flew, Hare Gets Swallowed, Wodjidjé, The Captive Boys; an inanimate object expands upon command: Kunu's Warpath, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Wodjidjé, A Mink Tricks Trickster, The Elk's Skull; inanimate things automatically respond to human commands: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (corn plant), The Old Man and the Giants (boat), Wodjidjé (metal boat), Big Eagle Cave Mystery (canoe), The Sky Man (knots), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (everything), cf. How the Thunders Met the Nights (pontoon boat); a hero wins a girl but decides to let one of his brothers marry her: The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Kunu's Warpath, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, The Seduction of Redhorn's Son; an evil spirit throws hot coals upon someone: Wolves and Humans; Coyote abuses someone: Wodjidjé; blindness: A Raccoon Tricks Four Blind Men, Raccoon and the Blind Men, Big Eagle Cave Mystery, Thunderbird and White Horse; someone is brought back from the dead when a man gathers together all his bones and voices calls of alarm over them: Redhorn's Sons, White Wolf; an old man is, or becomes, a rock: Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Seer, The Big Stone; a person turns to stone: The Twin Sisters, The Seer; a man is cured when someone spits on his own hands and rubs them on the wound: Redhorn and His Brothers Marry.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, "Coon Skin Fur Coat," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (American Philosophical Society Library) #59, pp. 1-122.

[2] Kickapoo Tales, collected by William Jones, trs. by Truman Michelson. Publications of the American Ethnological Society (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1915) IX:45-53.