A chief had ten offspring the youngest of which was his only daughter. The youngest brother was especially good tempered and well liked by everyone. People were constantly visiting him, and they often referred to him as "our chief." Kunu, the eldest son of the chief, was bitter that they should give him this title, and he tried to persuade his other brothers to kill him, but each brother spoke against it. Nevertheless, Kunu kept urging them to change their minds until finally he had persuaded all his brothers. They held a council to plot how they might cause his death without drawing suspicion on themselves. The eldest said that they should have a diving contest to see who could go under the farthest. He would see to it that the youngest never came up. When the day came, the brothers told the youngest, "Come, we shall make a sweat bath. Kunu wants to teach you the songs, for whenever you are called upon to sing, you suddenly have a coughing fit." He reluctantly agreed. So they made a sweat bath and the eldest taught the songs. When they were through they all agreed to a diving contest and assembled at a cliff overlooking the nearby lake. The youngest always won this contest, so he was confident. Then they all jumped in, but the eight brothers pulled up short, and while the youngest was still submerged, Kunu shouted a prayer: "Waterspirits! You are always asking for human offerings, so here is one!" And the waters swallowed the boy up, and never a trace was found of him. The whole village mourned his loss. His sister and mother cried incessantly, but the brothers seemed not to react. His sister could not stem her tears, and was unable to eat. The people decided it would be better to move the whole village from the accursed site, but when they began to move the sister could not be found. Two of the brothers were sent out to hunt for their sister, and finally found her hiding inside a hollow log. Her brothers poked her with a pole until she was badly bruised, and they jeered, saying, "There's a bear in there!" The girl went back to the old village and stayed behind there.

When she was alone in the old village, a man with a blackened face suddenly appeared. He told the girl, "I bless you. When they called you a bear and bruised you with their poles, it made my heart sore. The one that you would see, you shall see again." Then he left, saying that he would build a lodge in which she could live. He was gone but a short while, when he returned and led her off. And there unexpectedly was a grand lodge, its interior filled with dried corn and every manner of provisions. "I will marry you," said the man, "and when you die, you shall come to my home in Spiritland." He was no ordinary man, but a Bear Spirit. That night he slept with her and they became married. That morning the Bear Spirit blessed her with a great "dream" (blessing): "When the lake freezes over in the winter, then shall you see your brother. Whatever you see in the middle of the lake, that you must cut from the ice and take back with you." Then he prophesied all that was to happen. Finally he told her, "And you shall bear a boy child, but I leave you with this warning: under no circumstances are arrows to be made for him, no matter how much the child cries for them." And with that he returned to Spiritland. Soon thereafter the lake froze over, and the girl fetched a sled and dragged it to the shore. From there she could see something in the middle of the lake, and when she approached it, it was her missing brother standing upright with his feet frozen in the ice. She cut him out and dragged his frozen body back to her lodge. There, in accord with her instructions, she made a sweat bath, using bear oil over the heated stones. She placed her frozen brother inside, and soon he spoke, saying, "Sister you are going to kill me with this heat. Let me out!" But she would not open the door, despite many entreaties. Then, after a time, he blew on himself and said, "There, it is done." Then, unexpectedly, a full set of clothes were thrust through the lodge door, and these the resurrected brother donned. When the sister returned to the lodge and saw her brother revived, she noticed that as handsome as he had been when he disappeared, he was even more so now. He told her of the treachery that had cost him his life, and she told him of the miraculous encounter with the Bear Spirit and the "dream" he had given her. The next day her brother went hunting, and as great a hunter as he had been before he was even greater now.

Not long after, she gave birth to a boy, making her brother an uncle. As they sat wondering where they should put him, a metal cradle was suddenly thrust through the lodge door. It made a jingling sound. In time the boy grew to be a very lively child. He was not like other boys, for he had tufts of bear fur here and there about his body. Nevertheless, the boy and his uncle loved each other very much. One day the boy asked for arrows from his uncle, but his mother told them they were forbidden by her husband. Often the boy would cry and ask for arrows, so the uncle went ahead and made some for the lad. The boy got progressively more skilled in their use, and soon was shooting small birds with them. One day the boy told his mother: "It's about time we went to visit my father." The boy and his mother set out for the journey and finally came to the foot of a hill. Then, unexpectedly, a door suddenly opened to the hill, and inside they could see three bears sleeping, one small one and two larger ones. The boy said, "Now then, father, we have come." One of the bears got up and said, "Ah, my son, you are here!" The other two bears were not human. The small one disliked humans and would look askance at the visitors from time to time. The father said to the small bear, "Why do you do that? He is your older brother." Soon the boy and the small bear grew used to one another. They went outside to play, and in time went farther and farther afield. The human boy would dominate his ursine brother. He would make the bear stand on his hind legs, and if he failed to comply, the boy would threaten him with his arrows. Because the bear was made to walk like a man whenever he was out with his brother, all bears ever since have walked more on their hind legs than any other four legged animal. While the boys were out, the mother would pack wood. Her husband warned her: "Never drop the wood you carry on the lodge floor: my she-bear wife is very temperamental and if you startle her, you will make her furious." However, one day the wife lost her grip on the strap which she used to carry the wood, and it fell with a loud clatter on the woodpile. At this, the she-bear jumped up and mauled the woman to death. When the boy returned, he discovered that the bear had killed his mother, so he shot her dead. His father scolded him: "You have done wrong. You are not a woman and should not join in women's affairs." The boy protested: "But she killed my mother!" At that, the father picked up each of the women, and as soon as he had them on their feet, they were revived. One day when the boy and his brother were out, the boy came back giving the yell that is now called "shouting at bears." He had killed and packed his younger brother. He tried to excuse himself by saying, "I have seen my uncle do this many times, that is why I did it." The father revived his ursine son just as he had the women. The boy would kill his brother four times and the she-bear four times, but the Bear Spirit would keep reviving them. The father said to his wife, "This is why I forbade you to give him arrows." One day the boy told his father, "It is about time we went home: my uncle is expecting us. Father, I would like to take my brother back with me." The father replied, "He is not like the humans, and does not belong there." Although the father was against it, in the end he relented and gave his consent. As they were about to leave, the Bear Spirit said to his human family, "It is a rare thing to visit here, but when you die you will come back, and the boy's uncle may come here as well."

They finally arrived at the old village where the boy's uncle lived. The boy introduced his brother bear to the uncle, who thought he was a very strange child, but he loved them both very much. They were not there long before a man with blackened face appeared at the door and said, "Shaggy Man you are challenged to a game." So both brothers went to play. As always, the Shaggy Man made his brother walk all the way on two legs. When they got there, they found that they would be racing against long legged bears, who proposed that the stakes be human lives. The boy replied, "I can't remember my uncle ever saying anything about betting his life when he ran in races. I don't think we should do it either." The bears replied, "Maybe you're too cowardly to compete against us." This made the boy mad, so the brothers bet their lives on the outcome. The boy asked, "Where are we going to run the race?" The bears responded, "In the open country here." What they referred to as "open country" was in fact a thicket of logs, trees, and briars. The boy responded, "This is what we call a 'jungle,' but we will outrun you just the same." With a shout, they began the race, and the bears crashed through the woods breaking sticks underneath them, but the boy and his upright brother had to skirt the thickets. Just the same, the boy got to the end of the thicket first, and pulled an arrow on the bears as they came out, and threatened to shoot them unless they slowed to a walk. This they did, so that as they approached the finish line, the boy and his brother were able to outrun them. Thus the bears were defeated and the lives of their two runners were forfeit. So the Shaggy Man lined the bears up to shoot them, telling them to stand sideways. As he slowly drew back the bow string, he stopped and said, "Oooh! Wait. Let's have you turn this way instead." He adjusted the way the bear was turned. He did the same thing over and over again, until finally a big tear welled up in the bear's eye. Then the boy jeered, "If you were not brave, why did you insist on wagering your lives on this race?" Then he shot the bear with such force that the arrow came out the other side, and the bear took two steps and fell dead. He did exactly the same thing with the other bear. The boy and his brother packed home the bear meat and had a feast with their uncle. The next day a runner arrived with his face blackened and challenged them to a second game. They were to play ball. The goal was a tall oak tree, and the "ball" was a large black stone. When the Shaggy Man hit the tree with the stone ball, the bears ran to it and stood behind it. However, as they peeped around the tree, the boy threw the stone ball at each of them in turn, killing them. The bears objected vehemently, but the boy said that it could not be helped as it was already done. So he packed the meat and skins off, and that evening shared humorous stories with his uncle. The next day saw the third challenge: this time they were to play the kicking game. Again the boy objected to his opponents: he just came up to the knees of the long legged bears. However, the bears coaxed him into it. At first there was nothing but dodging, and no one got kicked. The boy stopped a moment and pretended to tie his moccasin, but what he really did was to attach an arrow point to his heel. When he got up, he kicked each bear in its chest, killing it. Again the meat was packed up, and as always the bear brother of the boy was made to walk home on his hind legs. The next day they were challenged to the fourth game. This time the game was water dunking. As the contest began the bears were able to dunk the two brothers under water for a long time, but every time the boy was able to come up for a breath of air, he threatened the bear with his bow. So they gave him a short respite during which he pretended to tie his moccasins, but again he attached an arrow point to his heel. He killed each of the bears and the brothers pretended that they had drowned the bears by placing one of their feet on the neck of their bear and shoving its head into the water.

Then the Shaggy Man shot a great thicket of arrows at the bears standing about, and many were felled. The inhabitants of the bear village scattered in every direction. There was an orphan bear who lived at the edge of the village. As he hurriedly tried to put his moccasins on, he put them on the wrong feet. So ever after the feet of bears have been turned out the wrong way. Once all bears had short legs, but when the village of the long legged bears was scattered over the earth, they intermixed with the common bears so that today some bears have longer legs than others. Then Shaggy Man yelled after the fleeing bears: "You were wrong to abuse the humans. Therefore, you shall no longer live in villages, but you shall be scattered over the face of the earth. You shall take up your abode in desolate areas, and when humans approach, you shall flee for your lives, just as you have this day." Then he went home and told his mother and his uncle, "My brother and I will now return to the land of our father. Whenever you wish, you both may make your home there with us." And his kinfolk consented to his leaving, so they parted ways.

The village where the brothers now lived was stalked by famine. Even the crows that lived on the outskirts were in want of food. One crow said to another, "Let's go visit the princess in the old village, maybe there are still some sinews left on her." As they flew into the old village, as far as the eye could see meat rack after meat rack was stacked with bear meat. Bearskin rugs were laying everywhere and bear intestines were hanging over the meat racks. The first crow said, "The princess must have dreamed. I particularly want to eat the intestines." Afterwards, the crows returned and told the others of what they had seen. The crows began to feed their chicks in secret so the humans would not find out about their new food source. But the chicks chirped when they ate, so the humans sent spies to see what was going on. When a spy looked in, the crows would quickly substitute pieces of bark for the bear fat. This happened a second and a third time, but on the fourth attempt the spies saw the crows eating bear fat. Finally the crows confessed to them: "The princess has dreamt. Even the youngest son of the chief is alive and living in the old village. They say that you may go back if you want to." However, the princess had acquired powerful medicine from her Bear Spirit husband and now poisoned the meat in two of the racks. When the brothers returned they asked that bygones be bygones, and she consented, giving them two racks of meat to show her forgiveness. That night, back in the new village, the brothers were stricken with the poison, and their stomachs burst. The parents moved back with their son and daughter. The old village was again filled with people, and the youngest son was made chief. He was so successful in the hunt that he could supply the whole village with meat. In due time he and his sister went off to dwell with her husband. Even now they live in Spiritland. [1]

Commentary. The gaming contests are a largely inverted version of the contests against the Giants of other myths. Now the human-bear victors eat those whom they have defeated, just as the Giants intended to eat the humans. And given the nature of the "humans" in this myth, there is clearly an element of cannibalism in their eating of the defeated bears.

Comparative Material. A Kickapoo story has interesting parallels to the beginning and ending of the Hotcâk story. Here the jealous brother is replaced by a grandfather. An old man had nine sons and one daughter, the youngest born. The youngest son was a prodigious hunter. Soon the grandfather became jealous of him. The old man asked Antelope to lead this son into a trap waiting for him at the waterfall where they got their water. However, when the son tracked the antelope, he shot it before it reached its destination. He killed many more on the way back and packed only the tongues. The grandfather then enlisted the support of Elk, but with the same disappointing results. The attempt to get Bear to join the conspiracy only led to the same results. The old man then went to a pond where enlisted the support of a Waterspirit Manitou, one with a green horn on one side and the red one on the other. According to plan the grandfather broke camp and moved to the pond. There he had his sons race to see who was the fastest. During the race, the youngest son was snagged by the manitou's horn and could not be freed, so the grandfather took his sons and left the area. The daughter, however, would not leave her brother. The young man told his sister to run back to the old lodge and fetch his medicine bundle. All the while the young man was slowly sinking in the water. She rushed back with the medicine. The young man created a medicine which he poured around himself, and this caused the manitou to freeze as he leapt thundering from the water. When he crashed down, ice flew everywhere, but the Waterspirit was dead. The young man and his sister decided not to join their family but to build their own lodge somewhere else. As the young man knew in advance, it rained for ten days, then snowed for ten days, but he had a huge supply of meat stocked up. One day a starving crow showed up. He fed the crow and told him to tell the grandfather that when the snow melted to come hither. So the crow took off with much provender and fed his young, then he told the old man what his grandson had said. Once the snow melted the crow showed up with the old man and the brothers. The crow cooked up a meal but put a certain kind of fat in it, and the old man and the brothers became sick and collapsed. "Well, they like the water so much," said the youngest son, "go ahead and put them in it." So the crow laid them all in the pond, and there they turned into bull frogs. [2]

The second part of a long Cheyenne story is similar to the beginning and end of the Hotcâk tale. In the first part of the story, a girl and her little brother have been fooled by their father into eating their own mother. After escaping their mother's rolling head, they come to a teepee in which their father now lives. He denounces his children as cannibals, and after tying them up, the whole village moves away leaving them behind. An old dog, who hid during the move, comes back and frees the children. Whenever the girl merely looks at a game animal, it falls over dead. Soon they have an immense store of meat, and by merely imagining it first, she is able to cause such things as meat racks to appear. They always fed the dog the heart of the dead animal. Meanwhile the people who had moved had fallen into want and hunger. The girl called a crow to her and gave the bird a piece of meat with the instructions to carry it conspicuously to the other camp. There the people saw the meat, and the crow informed them that there was much more to be had where the old village had been. The girl created by her powers of imagination a puma and a bear that sat in her teepee. When the people came back, she fed them all except her father. He was invited into the teepee where the girl instructed the bear and puma to kill and eat him. This they proceeded to do. (For the first half of this story, see the Wild Rose.) [3]

Links: Bear Spirits, Waterspirits, Were-grizzles and other Man-bears, Kaghi, Bird Spirits.

Stories: featuring were-bears as characters: The Were-Grizzly, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, Partridge's Older Brother, Turtle's Warparty, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, The Roaster, Wazûka, Porcupine and His Brothers; mentioning (spirit) bears (other than were-bears): White Bear, Blue Bear, Black Bear, Red Bear, Bear Clan Origin Myth, Bear Offers Himself as Food, Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Hotcâk Clans Origin Myth, The Messengers of Hare, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Hotcâk Migration Myth, Red Man, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Two Boys, Creation of the World (v. 5), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Brown Squirrel, Snowshoe Strings, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, The Spider's Eyes, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Trickster's Tail, Old Man and White Feathers, cf. Fourth Universe; in which Waterspirits occur as characters: Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Green Waterspirit of Wisconsin Dells, The Lost Child, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Bluehorn's Nephews, Holy One and His Brother, The Seer, The Mulberry Picker, The Creation of the World (vv. 1, 4), The Sioux Warparty and the Waterspirit of Green Lake, The Waterspirit of Lake Koshkonong, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, Devil's Lake -- How it Got its Name, Old Man and White Feathers, The Diving Contest, The Lost Blanket, Redhorn's Sons, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Great Walker's Warpath, White Thunder's Warpath, The Descent of the Drum, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Snowshoe Strings, The Thunderbird, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (v. 2), The Two Children, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Earthmaker Sends Rucewe to the Twins, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, Warughápara, Ocean Duck, The Twin Sisters, Trickster Concludes His Mission, The King Bird, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Great Walker's Medicine, V. 2, Peace of Mind Regained, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Woman who Married a Snake (?), Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I; 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), The Red Feather, 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 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; mentioning kaghi (crows & ravens): Kaghíga and Lone Man, Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 2, 3), The Hotcâk Arrival Myth, The Spider's Eyes, The Old Man and the Giants, Turtle's Warparty, Trickster's Tail, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Ocean Duck; mentioning oak: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, Turtle's Warparty, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, Old Man and White Feathers, Warughápara, The Creation Council, Young Man Gambles Often, Sun and the Big Eater, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Roaster, The Human Head, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Peace of Mind Regained, The Dipper (leaves); mentioning bear entrails: Grandfather's Two Families, Kaghíga and Lone Man, The Brown Squirrel; mentioning lacrosse (kísik): Redhorn's Father, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Morning Star and His Friend, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Roaster, Redhorn's Sons, The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, How the Thunders Met the Nights; mentioning the Diving Contest: The Diving Contest; mentioning sweat lodges or sweat baths: The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Lost Blanket, The Green Man, Bladder and His Brothers, v. 1, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, The Thunderbird, Snowshoe Strings, Warughápara, The Red Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Birth of the Twins, v.2, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, The King Bird, The Human Head, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, The Dipper, The Two Boys, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, v. 2, The Cave of Herok'a.

The waikâ The Mulberry Picker has many points of similarity to this story.

Themes: a girl grows up with numerous (nine or ten) brothers as her only siblings: The Chief of the Herok'a, The Human Head, Warughápara, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy; a group of young men plot to trick one of their number into falling victim to a Waterspirit: Warughápara, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers; a group of brothers plots with a Waterspirit against the youngest (who is the most favored): Îtcohorucika and His Brothers; someone dives into a body of water and disappears into its depths: The Red Feather, The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys, The Two Brothers, The Woman who Married a Snake; summoning the spirits to take an opponent as a sacrifice: Bluehorn's Nephews, Ocean Duck; someone is offered to a Waterspirit: River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, White Thunder's Warpath, Warughápara, Old Man and White Feathers, The Seer; a Waterspirit kills a human: River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Warughapara, The Two Children, The Waterspirit of Lake Koshkonong, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Seer, The Twin Sisters, The Sioux Warparty and the Waterspirit of Green Lake, The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, The Lost Blanket; someone is disconsolate over the death of a relative: White Flower, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Blessing of Kerexûsaka, The Lost Child, Holy One and His Brother; although a group of brothers moves their village, abandoning one of their number for dead, a loyal sister remains behind until the missing brothers returns: Kaghíga and Lone Man; someone takes shelter in a hollow log (in order to escape enemies): Brave Man, The Man with Two Heads, Redhorn's Father, The Spirit of Maple Bluff, The Thunder Charm, Trickster Loses Most of His Penis; a human marries a spirit: The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy (a Thunderbird, a Nightspirit, and two Waterspirits), The Thunderbird (a Thunderbird), How the Thunders Met the Nights (a Nightspirit), White Wolf (a Wolf Spirit), The Woman who Married a Snake (a Snake Spirit), The Human Head (a Louse Spirit), He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (Buffalo Spirit); 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 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, The Nightspirits Bless Tciwoit'éhiga; a newlywed goes to the home of her husband to live among his kind, a race of Animal Spirits: The Wild Rose (wolves), The Woman who Married a Snake; the reviving sweat bath: The King Bird, The Red Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Dipper, Snowshoe Strings, The Old Man and the Giants; someone returns from the dead: Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Two Brothers, The Two Boys, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, The Red Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Warughápara, The Lost Blanket, The Old Man and the Giants; a man dies in the water, but when he is later revived, his qualities have improved: The Red Feather; persons brought back from the dead are more attractive in appearance than before their death: The Red Feather, Partridge's Older Brother; a cradle for a newborn is thrust through the lodge flap (by the mother's mysterious spirit husband): Warughápara, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head; gifts are thrust through the flap of the lodge by someone that is not seen: The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Red Feather; a human is covered with tufts of animal hair:The Skunk Origin Myth; a human turns into a (spirit) animal: How the Thunders Met the Nights (Thunderbird), Warughápara (Thunderbird), The Dipper (hummingbird), Keramanic'aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), Elk Clan Origin Myth (elk), Young Man Gambles Often (elk), Sun and the Big Eater (horse), The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Were-Grizzly, Partridge's Older Brother (bear), The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother (bear), Porcupine and His Brothers (bear), The Roaster (bear), Wazûka (bear), White Wolf (dog, wolf), Worúxega (wolf, bird, snake), He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (buffalo), The Brown Squirrel (squirrel), The Skunk Origin Myth (skunk), The Fleetfooted Man (otter, bird), The Diving Contest (Waterspirit), The Woman who Married a Snake (snake, Waterspirit), The Omahas who turned into Snakes (four-legged snakes), The Twins Get into Hot Water, v. 3 (alligators), Snowshoe Strings (a frog), How the Hills and Valleys were Formed, v. 3 (earthworms), The Woman Who Became an Ant, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ant); contests with the Giants: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Redhorn's Father, White Wolf, The Roaster, Young Man Gambles Often, The Human Head, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Redhorn's Sons, Morning Star and His Friend, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants, The Old Man and the Giants, Shakes the Earth, The Origins of the Milky Way, Grandfather's Two Families; two opponents play the game Kicking Each Other (Nâkîxdjage): The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, Young Man Gambles Often, The Twins Get into Hot Water, V. 3, Bladder and His Brothers; in a game in which the contestants kick one another, a hero secretly ties weapons to his moccasins and thereby kills his opponent when he kicks him: Young Man Gambles Often; threatening four times to shoot a bear, and causing the bear to cry: Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting; eating Giants: Ocean Duck; anthropophagy and cannibalism: A Giant Visits His Daughter, Turtle and the Giant, The Witch Men's Desert, The Were-Grizzly, Grandfather's Two Families, The Roaster, Redhorn's Father, Wonághire Wâkcik Clan Origin Myth, The Lost Blanket, Young Man Gambles Often, White Wolf, The Twins Get into Hot Water, Partridge's Older Brother, The First Fox and Sauk War, The Fox-Hotcâk War, The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants, Morning Star and His Friend, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Seven Maidens, Cûgepaga, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, Shakes the Earth, The Stone Heart, Thunder Cloud is Blessed; scattering of animals from their primordial village into permanent exile: Wolves and Humans, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The War among the Animals; a doorway is unexpectedly found in the side of a hill which serves as a lodge for a powerful spirit: He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Thunderbird and White Horse; a young man leaves his uncle and mother behind and goes off to visit the father he has never met in the spirit abode where he lives: The Children of the Sun, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head; a human being physically travels to Spiritland without having died: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Snowshoe Strings, The Thunderbird, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Warughápara, How the Thunders Met the Nights, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, Aratcgéga's Blessings, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Petition to Earthmaker, The Boy who would be Immortal, Thunder Cloud Marries Again, Rainbow and the Stone Arch, v. 2, Trickster Concludes His Mission; shouting at bears: The Brown Squirrel; boys playing with spirit children, killing them, and having the spirit chief revive them: The Mulberry Picker; bringing someone back to life by picking them up and putting them on their feet: The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Two Boys; a mortal is returned to earth from the spirit village that he is visiting: Warughápara, The Thunderbird, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Snowshoe Strings, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, White Wolf, The Foolish Hunter, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Petition to Earthmaker; starvation: The Brown Squirrel, White Wolf, The Red Man, The Old Man and His Four Dogs, A Man and His Three Dogs, Sun and the Big Eater, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Kaghíga and Lone Man, The Bungling Host, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head; kaghi (crows, ravens) are starving, so one of them goes looking for sinews left on the meat racks of the old village: Kaghíga and Lone Man; kaghi (crows, ravens) find their favorite food, bear entrails: Kaghíga and Lone Man; a hero kills iniquitous people by feeding them poison that bursts their stomachs: Ocean Duck, The Dipper.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, "The Hairy Man," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (American Philosophical Society Library) #9, pp. 1-89.

[2] Kickapoo Tales, collected by William Jones, trs. by Truman Michelson. Publications of the American Ethnological Society (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1915) IX:55-67.

[3] Henry Tall Bull and Tom Weist, The Rolling Head (Billings: Montana Indian Publications, 1971) 14-18.