In the center of a circular village lived a chief who had two very beautiful daughters. Near his lodge grew a great tree where, unexpectedly, there alighted a bird of bright red plumage, and when he landed there, a red glow seemed to fall upon all the lodges of the village. The chief greatly admired the bird's plumage and coveted its feathers for himself, so much so that he declared that whoever could shoot the bird for him would be given one of his daughters to wed. Among the best shoots was a man called "Ape", who was a notorious cheat. He came very close to hitting the bird, and the crowd gave out a shout of excitement every time an arrow whizzed by it. An orphan boy who lived at the edge of the village with his grandmother heard the commotion, and went to see what it was all about. When he returned that evening, he told his grandmother about the contest and said he should try his skill at it. His grandmother scoffed at him and said, "Don't be foolish. You are just an orphan, how can you possibly compete against real archers and men who have been blessed with great powers by the spirits?" Nevertheless, the next day he snuck out with his own bow and arrows. He noticed that when anyone shot at the bird, Ape would simultaneously shoot his own arrow. Finally, the orphan stepped up to shoot. Both he and Ape shot together, but the orphan's arrow hit the bird and shot him dead. However, when the orphan picked up the bird, Ape angrily shouted, "I was the one who shot him, so hand him over!" In their struggle, Ape pulled the bird away from the orphan and presented it to the chief. The chief gave Ape many thanks, and bestowed upon him his eldest daughter. However, the orphan had not come away empty handed, for when he had struggled for possession of the bird, he had pulled out a single red feather and this he took home concealed under his blanket. By the time he got home, this single feather had grown into a whole new bird, a bird with feathers of a far more brilliant hue than the first bird's.

The orphan told his grandmother all about what had happened, but she did not believe a word of what he said. So he took a rawhide hoop and told her to roll it across the floor of the lodge. When she did, he shot right through the center of the moving hoop, and the instant that the arrow crossed into the hoop, the rawhide unexpectedly changed into a young buffalo heifer who fell over dead. He told his grandmother to cook up the best meat from the heifer and bring it to the chief. When she had done this and arrived at the chief's lodge, instead of going in, she slipped it through the lodge door and said, "This is from your son-in-law." By the time the chief's attendants peeked out to see who it was, she was gone. Three more times she did this, but on the fourth occasion, they saw who it was. They followed her and soon discovered the orphan boy and his brilliant red bird. When all this was related to the chief, he decided to give him his second daughter, a woman who surpassed even her sister in beauty. However, the orphan was a mess: his hair was matted with his own hair grease, and he was covered with grime and dirt. Nevertheless, she loved him very much. When she took him with her to visit her sister, they would not allow her husband to so much as touch anything they owned. The younger sister scolded them, and told them that they should instead pity him. The next day, the orphan's wife cried all day out of pity for his condition.

The orphan decided to take his wife with him to the nearby lake, where he told her that he would jump in and emerge in far better condition. In fact, he expected to be so much improved by the bath that he showed her a unique scar on his leg by which she would be able to recognize him when he reappeared. Wasting no time, he jumped right in the water. However, much time went by, and he never came back to the surface. Soon it became apparent to his young wife that he had drowned. She knelt down by the lakeside and cried all day long until at last sleep overtook her grief. Then, unexpectedly, she was awakened by a handsome young man dressed in magnificent robes. He told her, "Let's go home, wife." She did not know what to make of the stranger's remark, and told him, "My husband dove into the lake this morning, and alas, he has drowned!" The mysterious man declared, "I am he. See the scar on my leg." Only when she saw it did she know who he was. He explained to her that he had transformed himself in the lake and that all of this had been undertaken to test her love for him. When he arrived back in the village, his sister-in-law recognized him immediately, and ever after she did not hesitate to address him as "brother." So good a shot was the young man that he was able to supply the village with meat almost on his own. When the chief died, the orphan became chief himself. [1]

Commentary. "a bird of bright red plumage, and when he landed there, a red glow seemed to fall" -- the tree is typically the axis mundi in this context, and the red bird is the sun, which turns red just before it sets or just after it rises. The red glow is a give-away that it radiates red light. The red glow is the glow of sunrise. So the bird is the sun, and its feathers should be the light, since it is they that convey the color.

"Ape" -- we know that in times past the metaphor "ape" could not have been in North American vocabularies, since actual apes are known only in the Old World. In this rendition for public school children, the name "Ape" has been introduced either to signify an original name such as Imitator, or as a substitute for some other name which would not be recognized by white children. Ape might also be Trickster, as the nearest parallel story features the Lakota trickster Iktomi (see Comparative Material below).

"he noticed that when anyone shot at the bird, Ape would simultaneously shoot his own arrow" -- this seems to mean that whenever another star rises or sets with the sun ("downs" it), so too does this star. Given the isomorphism to Wears White Feathers, it seems likely that this star is Morning Star, since whenever a star rises with the sun, necessarily Morning Star is nearby (if it is there at all). They are shooting up, which means from below (the horizon). This happens when the stars are rising after the sun, in which case they are below the horizon, but over time the sun gradually drops relative to their position until one day they rise with the sun and thereafter, they rise ahead of the sun. They are below the horizon and keep trying to down the sun. In the race to reach the sun from below the horizon, Morning Star usually gets there first. Ape is always around the bird like Morning Star is around the sun, but the Morning Star doesn't seem to pull the sun towards it like a star sitting on the ecliptic where the sun is destined to pass. The sun gradually falls to earth at the place where the star rises or sets, like a bird falling from a tree to the ground.

"but the orphan's arrow hit the bird" -- in other words the bird and the arrow made contact which was the bird's downfall. The word mâ means both "earth" and "arrow". When the sun is on the horizon, on earth, and the star is there with it, then the star is rising or setting with the sun. It is the star's mâ, his earth-position, his arrow, that brings the sun into the heliacal position. However, having the sun on one's mâ does not guarantee possession (greatest proximity). Furthermore, mâ means "time", and in the end it is time that brings the sun down to the position on the horizon where the star is destined to rise.

"Ape pulled the bird away" -- this describes the fact that although a star may rise or set with the sun, it does so for but a brief time, whereas Morning Star always stays close to the sun. From Morning Star's point of view, it is he who is controlling the sun whether or not the sun at some point "died" on the mâ (earth/arrow/time) belonging to the star. In the end, Morning Star and its competing heliacal star will soon part company and the sun will be with (in possession of) Morning Star as it passes on to other star systems.

"he had pulled out a single red feather and this he took home concealed under his blanket" -- he lives as an orphan with his grandmother. The context invites us to see his caretaker as Grandmother Earth (Mâ). Orphans and their grandmothers always live at the periphery of the village, in this case, the horizon, which belongs to Earth. This is where the star goes to live when it returns home. This is also a case of periphery = underworld. When he returns to Grandmother's place he is leaving the sky and passing below the horizon. He is living in the lodge of the Earth. This is merely restated when it is said that he concealed the feather under his blanket, another image of being under the surface of the earth. The word cu by itself can mean "feather", but the standard word is mâcu, "arrow feather"; but by pun it is also "earth-feather" and "time-feather". Time and earth conspire to draw the sun to the terrestrial position occupied by the star when it is rising again above the horizon. In time, of course, the Morning Star disappears from the sky altogether, and the sun rises with the star without the star's possession of the sun being contested by its usual companion, Morning Star. At such a time, therefore, the solar bird belongs entirely to the star, being reconstituted from that portion of him that belongs to that earth position and that place in time. The feather is the arrow by which he locomotes through time to become situated at that spot of earth, the vector of the sun's mâcu.

"the arrow crossed into the hoop, the rawhide unexpectedly changed into a young buffalo" -- in addition to the obvious sexual imagery, this scene may symbolize an asterism as well. Given that this story is isomorphic to Wear White Feathers, which is about Sirius and Morning Star, it should follow that this myth too pertains to celestial matters. As argued in The Cave of Herok'a, Sirius, Orion, and the Pleiades form a great asterism known as "Three Deer", based on reflexes in Sioux and Osage. This constellation is known to the Lakota as Ta-yamni, where ta refers ruminants generally, although they believe this asterism may be a buffalo. This is actually integrated into another asterism called Cañgleska Wakañ, "The Sacred Hoop" (also known as Ki Iñyañka Ocañku, the "Race Track"). The ecliptic (the path of the sun) goes through the center of this hoop, and therefore corresponds to the path of the arrow. As the sun/arrow passes into the hoop, it simultaneous enters into the buffalo asterism (Tayamni). Then the buffalo Tayamni immediately dies (lies prostrate on the horizon). For the Hotcâgara, the arrow is mâ, which also means "time, year", which is appropriate for the sun in its role as the definer not only of the year, but of various other times as marked by the heliacal rising and setting of certain stars. Back in May 2, 1492, this buffalo constellation, which in the past was really a deer asterism (Dakota, ta, "moose"; Osage, ta, "deer"; Hotcâk, tca, "deer"), lay nearly perfectly on the horizon when it was with the sun. So the ecliptic arrow passes just behind the "head" of the asterism, "killing" it, and causing to lie prostrate on the horizon. Thereafter, for a period of a few months, it is not seen. The tail of this asterism, formed by Sirius, rises with the sun on July 22, 1492. This neatly brackets the deer hunting season, which begins with the month of Mâîtawucira (May) and concluding at the end of Waxodjrawira (July). The personification of the arrow is Herok'a and his spirit tribe who govern the hunt. As the arrow-sun passes out of the hoop in early July (rising with Pollux), so the star of Herok'a, Alnilam, also rises with the sun. The precession has thrown this off by about a half month as of the present year. However, as long ago as 900 AD and earlier, it was still in good alignment with the deer hunting season. The sexual code makes the arrow-sun both the killer of the buffalo and the impregnator responsible for the generation of a buffalo from the rawhide hoop.

"the best meat" -- the best meat was considered to be the head, which at ritual feasts was always given to the greatest warrior. Here the chief himself is the beneficiary, and as is appropriate to the head of state, he too receives the highest portion, the head. This helps confirm the astronomical interpretation, since the head of the constellation among the Osage is known as Ta-pa, the Ta-head, where ta denotes deer. In the Lakota paradigm, it is thought to refer to the buffalo, and is known as Ta-yamni-pa, "Three-Ta Head". The Hotcâgara are here adopting the Lakota paradigm of the asterism. The Ta-[...]-pa asterism is the Pleiades for the Lakota, the Osage, and the Omaha. The Hotcâgara call the same star cluster Tcacîtc, "Deer Rump", turning it backward. As it happens, the ecliptic passes right between the head (Lakota, Osage, Hotcâk, pa), and the backbone of the asterism. So if the chief corresponds to the bird that he has claimed as his own, then he too is the sun, and the sun comes into conjunction with this asterism, which includes Sirius as its tail, right where its head (the Pleiades) is located.

"his second daughter" -- it is hard to say who the women are in this story. However, it is most likely that they are moons, here being treated as the daughters of the sun rather than his wives. When the moon lives in the chief's lodge, this expresses the near conjunction of the two. The moon is then in the proximity of Sirius who is played by the orphan. So the two are "married". The moon of the previous years was taken by Morning Star for the same reason.

"the orphan was a mess" -- this is because from about this date he is in the ground. However, so too is the moon, which will come into conjunction with the sun and also go to ground and not be seen in the sky for a couple of days.

"cried all day" -- the alternative view to the stars setting in the earth is that they set in the waters of the Ocean Sea. Since the moon is near conjunction, she is immersed in these waters completely and spend the whole day there. In the next sentence, the reference to the "nearby lake" is a repetition of the same idea.

"scar on his leg" -- this implies that he had once been wounded in the leg. The legs are the means for standing up and walking. In an allegorical sense, when Sirius is no longer visible in the sky for a period of months, his means of erect locomotion have failed him and he can no longer "walk" through the skies. Although the wound is periodically healed, this disability remains as part of his nature.

"much time went by" -- Sirius is missing from the sky for a little over three months.

"sleep overtook her" -- her eyes were closed, which in the case of the moon means that the whites of her eyes could not be seen. This allegorically describes the luna silens, the moon in conjunction with the sun. Her crying all day is another such description. See above.

"dressed in magnificent robes" -- in this case, white ones. The risen Sirius is resplendent in his "dress".

"he had transformed himself in the lake" -- just as the bird regenerates under a blanket into a more handsome version of itself from a single feather, so the orphan regenerates himself under a "blanket" of water into a more handsome version of himself. The rawhide hoop is of buffalo hide, and it too regenerates itself back into a whole buffalo, only one whose meat is a delicacy. The rawhide is the mammalian counterpart of the feather. Like the feather under the blanket, the buffalo hide regenerates itself under a lodge.

"when the chief died, the orphan became chief himself" -- the chief is the sun. His "death" is his setting (in the earth or sea). In the resultant night sky, only the moon and Morning Star are brighter, but ex hypothesi, Morning Star is not in the sky, and the moon is new, so Sirius in the present circumstances, is the brightest object in the night sky. Therefore, in the absence of the sun, he is chief of the sky. This tends to confirm the idea that the orphan is Sirius and the chief is the sun.

Comparative Material: See "White Feather, Red Feather Isomorphisms".

There is a Lakota story that has some interesting parallels with our Hotcâk tale. This story is about the Avenger, a young man sprung fully formed from a clot of buffalo blood. (For the beginning of this story, see Hare Visits Grandfather Bear.) A giant red eagle terrorized the people of a village, so their chief ordered that it be killed; but the warriors of the village could never seem to hit it. As an incentive, he offered his daughter in marriage to anyone who could down the bird. One day some hunters spied a man who killed many buffalo with a single shot of just one magic arrow. This was the Avenger. They reported the feat to their chief, who ordered them to bring him this man, whom the chief knew to be the Avenger, as surely he alone could kill the bird. However, the trickster Iktomi knew the way by which the Avenger was coming. Soon they met. Iktomi persuaded the Avenger to shoot a bird with his magic arrow, but the bird fell into the branches of a tree. He begged the Avenger to climb the tree to get the bird for him, which the man graciously consented to do. When he threw down the bird with the arrow in it, Iktomi had his chance to steal it. When he descended to the ground, while he still touched the tree, Iktomi cast a spell which caused the Avenger to be bound within the tree bark which held him fast. Iktomi fled with the magic arrow and headed for the village where he hoped to gain the young princess for himself. This very princess, however, was out gathering wood when she discovered the Avenger in his strange prison. She cut him loose, but Iktomi now had a big lead. When the men of the village spotted Iktomi they escorted him to the chief's teepee, where he was greeted as if he were the Avenger himself. Some remarked that he was surprisingly ugly for a man of such reputation. When the eagle finally appeared, the impostor fired all his arrows but not a one struck the red bird. While is was making his excuses, the princess arrived to announce that the Avenger was on his way. Now the chief knew that the man before them was an impostor who was aping the real Avenger. He had Iktomi thrown on top of a scaffold used for burial and bound there for quite some time while all the people laughed at his predicament. The true Avenger, handsome to behold, was now among them. When the eagle appeared he shot it so quickly none saw the arrow leave the bow, but the eagle was struck square in the breast and fell from the sky. The Avenger plucked out one red feather and placed it in his hair. Soon afterwards he took the beautiful princess to wife. [2]

The Teton Lakota have another version of the story. Blood Clot Boy (Weyóta) lived alone with Old Woman. In the mornings a red eagle circled over the village and at noon every day a red fox ran through the camp. The chief ordered that whoever could kill the red eagle and red fox, would have his eldest daughter Cokapatipi ("Middle of the Tipi") for his wife. The chief did this because he believed that only Weyóta could accomplish the feat and become his son-in-law. The grandmother was surprised that the boy was going to compete, but madee him a set of clothes anyway. On his way to the village, Weyota met Iktomi. When a prairie chicken alighted on a nearby tree, Iktomi asked Weyota to shoot the bird for him. So Weyota put an arrow into it, but the bird hung up in the branches. When Weyota climbed the tree to retrieve the bird, Iktomi said, "Stick, stick, stick," and Weyota became glued to the tree. Iktomi took all the clothing and other belongings of Weyota, and went to the village. He was mistaken for Weyota and married Cokapatipi. Iktomi tried to shoot the eagle and the red fox, but could not hit either one. Weyota changed himself into an ugly little boy. An old woman happened by and freed Weyota form the tree, taking him home with her to be a playmate for her little grandson. (The story of Waziya is inserted here.) The ugly little boy sent the old woman to Iktomi and instructed her to demand that he surrender Weyota's property to her. He sent her packing, but the second time he surrendered everything to her. The chief suspected that the ugly boy is the real Weyota, and let him marry his second daughter, Hakaktaki ("Youngest"). Her elder sister objected to him because he was so dirty. Weyota shot the red fox and eventually the red eagle as well. Weyota took his wife to a river. He threw her in, and she disappeared below the waters. Later she reemerged beautiful and wearing beautiful clothing. The young man also jumped in the river and disappeared into the waters. He later emerged as a handsome young man in magnificent clothing. When they returned the people in the village did not recognize them. When Cokapatipi saw him, she wanted to become his second wife, but Hakaktaki would not give her consent. [3]

The Ioway also have a story similar to this one. One day Blood Clot Boy left his own village dressed in a fine courting outfit. Just before reaching his destination, he took off his fine cloths and dressed in a breech cloth. When he came to the village he entered a lodge at the outskirt where an old lady lived alone. Now it happened that there was a mysterious bird that hovered motionless above the village. The chief promised his daughter to anyone who could shoot down the bird, so a great crowd showed up to try to win the prize. People said, "That's the old lady's grandson." They laughed at the idea that he wanted to take a shot too. The young man drew back his arrow and on his very first shot he killed the bird where everyone else had failed. The chief proclaimed the boy to be his son-in-law. The chief's first daughter, when she saw that he was poorly dressed, dirty, and even infested with lice, refused to take him, or even sleep anywhere near him, so the second daughter of the chief agreed to take him to husband just for the sake of their father's honor. Blood Clot Boy told his wife to come with him to a creek where nearby he had stowed his finer clothing. When they got there, he jumped into the creek, and when he emerged, he was very handsome and in perfect condition. His wife could not believe that this man was really her husband. However, he showed her the birth mark that he revealed before his left, so she realized that it was indeed her husband. He donned his finery, and when they returned to the village the older sister wanted to take the man back as her husband, but the younger sister refused to give him up. [4]

Another Ioway tale is strongly similar to the buffalo hoop episode. "When Coyote came back, he saw a lone buffalo standing at the edge of the timber near his friend's lodge. He asked his friend what it was doing there, and the old man replied, 'That is my buffalo; that is the one who gets me the meat.' The old man had a loop of buffalo hair that he put over his shoulder. As soon as he had put it on, he received supernatural power from the buffalo, and he would go out to his bison which would immediately vanish and become a buffalo horn headdress, while buffalo meat lay in piles before him. When Coyote saw the powerful loop of buffalo hair, he begged his friend to give him one like it, so that he could supply his family. 'You would abuse it and make it useless,' said the old man. 'Oh no, I'll take the greatest are of it,' said Coyote, so at last the old man reluctantly consented and made one for Coyote. 'When you are through hunting,' said the old magician, 'take this magic loop, and throw it down in a patch of rich grass, and it will again turn into a buffalo and feed there.' Coyote went home rejoicing. He threw his loop down by the tent and went in and told his wife that he had something wonderful that would always bring them meat. He showed the buffalo to his family, and his wife said, "Why, you are afraid of it?' but Coyote walked boldly up and although the buffalo bellowed and threatened him, he seized it, whereupon it vanished and became a buffalo-hair rope loop again. Thus Coyote was able to supply his family for months." [5]

The Blackfoot version is part of their Twin myths. One of the Twins, Beaver, was transformed into a small, dirty boy. He was taken in by an old grandmother who pitied him. Now the people had gathered at the base of a tree in whose branches a prairie chicken sat. It was decreed by the chief that whosoever shot the bird would have the hand of his eldest daughter. So the dirty little boy went out with his poorly constructed bow and arrows to try his luck. Despite the fact that everyone derided him, with his first shot he very nearly hit the bird. With his second try he did hit the bird, but another man, Crow Arrow, had shot at the same time, and he rushed over to the bird where it lay and put his own arrow in it. However, none of the spectators accepted that, but the chief, when he saw the dirty boy, said that such a person could hardly be allowed to be his son-in-law, so he made another contest to determine the winner of his daughter's hand. Beaver won this contest as well, so the chief had to give him his eldest daughter. However, the dirty boy so disgusted her that she refused to marry him, forcing the chief to send his second daughter to him. This daughter liked the boy very much, and never hesitated to clean him up. One day the young boy told his wife and grandmother that they must leave the lodge until he called for them. Once they had gone, he applied yellow paint to himself, and lengthened his hair, and when he was finished, he had become a handsome young man again. Then he called for his women to return. He gave his grandmother a dress, and as soon as she put it on, she became young again. He ran his hand over his wife's hair, and it became very long. After that, he was able to succeed in a buffalo hunt despite the magic of Crow Arrow, who had made the animals disappear from the land. [6]

A Pawnee tale is summarized by George Dorsey. "Coyote, a tricky man, lays claim to the achievement of a poor boy who has shot the wonderful red bird, and in the boy's place marries the chief's eldest daughter; after the boy has obtained from the animals magic garments, and married a second daughter of the chief, Coote steals these robes and impersonates hmi, but is detected and banished." [7]

Links: Bird Spirits, Buffalo Spirits, The Cave of Herok'a.

Stories: about Bird Spirits: Crane and His Brothers, The King Bird, Bird Origin Myth, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Old Man and White Feathers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird, Owl Goes Hunting, The Boy Who Became a Robin, Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Foolish Hunter, Ocean Duck, Earthmaker Sends Rucewe to the Twins, The Quail Hunter, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Hotcâk Arrival Myth, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster and the Geese, Holy One and His Brother (kaghi, woodpeckers, hawks), Porcupine and His Brothers (Ocean Sucker), Turtle's Warparty (Thunderbirds, eagles, kaghi, pelicans, sparrows), Kaghíga and Lone Man (kaghi), The Old Man and the Giants (kaghi, bluebirds), The Bungling Host (snipe, woodpecker), Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Warughápara, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Black and White Moons, The Markings on the Moon, The Creation Council, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Earthmaker Blesses Wagícega (Wecgícega), Hare Acquires His Arrows, Keramanic'aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), Worúxega (eagle), The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men (eagle), The Gift of Shooting (eagle), Hotcâk Clans Origin Myth, Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth, The Hotcâk Migration Myth, Blue Jay, The Baldness of the Buzzard, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster (buzzards), The Shaggy Man (kaghi), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (kaghi), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers (Loon), Great Walker's Medicine (loon), Roaster (woodsplitter), The Spirit of Gambling, The Big Stone (a partridge), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, The Fleetfooted Man, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4) -- see also Thunderbirds; about buffaloes and Buffalo Spirits: Buffalo Clan Origin Myth, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Bluehorn's Nephews, Redhorn's Father, The Woman who became an Ant, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, The Blessing of Cokeboka, The Creation of the World (v. 3), The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Wazûka, Holy One and His Brother, Old Man and White Feathers, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse; mentioning red feathers (as an offering to the spirits): Bear Clan Origin Myth, V. 4, Big Thunder Teaches Tcap'ósgaga the Warpath, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Elk's Skull, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, The Nightspirits Bless Djobenâgiwíñxga, Great Walker's Medicine, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Twins Visit Their Father's Village, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Were-fish, V. 1, Disease Giver.

Themes: red as a symbolic color: The Journey to Spiritland (hill, willows, reeds, smoke, stones, haze), The Gottschall Head (mouth), The Chief of the Herok'a (clouds, side of Forked Man), The Red Man (face, sky, body, hill), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (neck, nose, painted stone), Redhorn's Father (leggings, stone sphere, hair), The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father (hair, body paint, arrows), Wears White Feathers on His Head (man), The Birth of the Twins (turkey bladder headdresses), The Two Boys (elk bladder headdresses), Trickster and the Mothers (sky), Rich Man, Boy, and Horse (sky), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Spirit), Bluehorn Rescues His Sister (buffalo head), Wazûka (buffalo head headdress), The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (horn), The Brown Squirrel (protruding horn), Bear Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Deer Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (stick at grave), Pigeon Clan Origins (Thunderbird lightning), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks (eyes), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (scalp, woman's hair), The Race for the Chief's Daughter (hair), The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy (hair), Redhorn's Sons (hair), Redhorn Contests the Giants (hair), The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle (hair), A Wife for Knowledge (hair), He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (hair), The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants (hair of Giantess), A Man and His Three Dogs (wolf hair), The Man who was Blessed by the Sun (body of Sun), Red Bear, Eagle Clan Origin Myth (eagle), The Shell Anklets Origin Myth (Waterspirit armpits), The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty (Waterspirits), The Roaster (body paint), The Man who Defied Disease Giver (red spot on forehead), The Wild Rose (rose), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (warclub), Îtcorúcika and His Brothers (ax & packing strap), Hare Kills Flint (flint), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head (edges of flint knives), The Mulberry Picker (leggings), The Seduction of Redhorn's Son (cloth), Yûgiwi (blanket); an orphan rises from obscurity to become chief: The Red Man, Partridge's Older Brother, The Roaster, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Mulberry Picker; an old woman scolds her orphan grandson for being presumptuous even though he later turns out ot be the most capable person in the village: White Wolf, The Roaster; a young man comes to own a very remarkable bird: The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds; someone dives into a body of water and disappears into its depths: The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys, The Two Brothers, The Woman who Married a Snake, The Shaggy Man; a man dies in the water, but when he is later revived, his qualities have improved: The Shaggy Man; persons brought back from the dead are more attractive in appearance than before their death: The Shaggy Man, Partridge's Older Brother; a repulsive looking, but holy person, is transformed into an attractive person after gaining the support (or rejection) of his or her lover: The Skunk Origin Myth, The Chief of the Herok'a, Old Man and White Feathers; a chief gives away his daughter as a prize for achievement: The Chief of the Herok'a, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Thunderbird and White Horse; a chief offers his daughter in marriage in exchange for the hide of a very rare and beautiful animal: Thunderbird and White Horse, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse; 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 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, The Nightspirits Bless Tciwoit'éhiga; gifts are thrust through the flap of the lodge by someone that is not seen: The Shaggy Man, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head; a bird(-man) is regenerated from a single feather: Bird Origin Myth, Warughápara, many people shoot at an animal in the trees, but only an outsider succeeds in hitting it: Wears White Feathers on His Head; after a young man kills an animal, someone comes along and wrongfully claims it as his own: Porcupine and His Brothers.

Notes:

[1] Oliver LaMère and Harold B. Shinn, Winnebago Stories (New York, Chicago: Rand, McNally and Co., 1928) 49-56. Informant: Oliver LaMère (Bear Clan).

[2] Zitkala-Sa, "The Tree-bound" and "Shooting of the Red Eagle," Old Indian Legends (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1901) 76-98.

[3] Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indian: Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States, and Alaska, ed. by Frederick Webb Hodge. 20 vv. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1907-1930) 3.111-118.

[4] "5. Wabágre Waskike, the Blood Clot Boy," in Alanson Skinner, "Traditions of the Iowa Indians," The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 38, #150 (Oct.-Dec., 1925): 427-506 [452-453].

[5] "4. Manikáthi Tcágre, or Coyote and His Family," in Skinner, "Traditions of the Iowa Indians," 448-449.

[6] Clark Wissler and D. C. Duvall, Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995 [1908]) 47-53.

[7] George A. Dorsey, Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee. American Folk-lore Society (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1904) 239-245.