(1) There one lived with his older sister. They lived in an oval lodge. He loved her very much. This was a great man. There was nothing he could not get. He was prodigious in hunting. Every day he would pack home all kinds of animals. When he came back from hunting, when he got near home, this would always happen. (2) A great multitude of black swallows would rush into his lodge. They would always come in with a loud noise. These went in front of him wherever he went. And when he got home, when he threw his arrows against the back of the lodge, they would lay as various snakes coiled around one another. (3) Then again he took off his moccasins and when he hung them on the ceiling of the lodge, two bull snakes would begin to coil around one another. And they would always make a squeaking sound. They would always cry repeatedly, and he would always do it this way. It was done just this way. Whenever he came back and undressed himself, when he would put his things up somewhere, (4) it would always be that way.

Then one day when the older brother went out hunting, as soon as he had gone out of sight, the swallows returned again and came back in. Then he returned and came back in. He put his arrows back next to the wall. (5) The snakes then began to coil around one another, snakes of many different kinds. Again he took off his moccasins, and after he hung them up, two bull snakes began to coil around one another. And they made squeaking sounds. Unexpectedly, he began to tease her. All day long he teased her. The woman was embarrassed. (6) She never so much as looked at him all day long. She was very embarrassed. Thus it was that all day she sat down at work. And in the evening he said, "Hâhâ´, about now I will go home. I will have to do it, as something is not liked about me. She refused to even look at me," he said. (7) Then he left.

Then right away again it became boisterous with swallows. He returned with his pack. When he came in, it seemed that she had not done her usual boiling as the one for whom she used to boil had been here teasing her. That is why she did not boil anything. He carried his pack to the lodge and he boiled it and ate it. (8) His sister, in any case, sat facing the wall and thus she did. She also dreaded to look at her brother. She was greatly embarrassed.

The next morning he again went hunting. Once he was out of sight, the birds returned again. Again he came back in. Again he did it. When he would put his arrows back against the wall, the snakes began to coil around one another. (9) Again, after he hung his moccasins up, two bull snakes began to coil around one another. And they made squeaking sounds. Thus he did, and again he began to tease her. Even now he would also throw little things at her. Again she worked all day. (10) She sat facing the wall, and when it was evening, he said, "Hâhâ´, about now I will go home. Something is not liked about me. She will refuse to even look at me," he said, and he went out.

And again right away, it became noisy with black swallows. (11) Again her older brother came back. He arrived with his pack. Again, thus it was. Also, she did not look at him there. She sat with her face towards the wall, and thus it was. And again he boiled it and ate it, and in the morning, he went hunting. He did the same as he had done before. This time he threw charcoal at her for some time, (12) so that it was scattered around where she sat. Then again he went out, but right away he returned. And when he returned, he said, "My dear younger sister, you and I used to sit alone and talk freely to one another a little, (13) so why are you doing this? You have done this for three days now," he said. And his younger sister said, "What good are you doing? I am embarrassed, greatly," she said. And he said, "Hâhâ´ my younger sister, you ought to have known, but you didn't know it. I thought you would know, so I didn't say anything," he said. (14) "There is an evil thing on this earth, and all the most valued women, he is gathering all of them. He is marrying them, but he makes slaves out of them. He impoverishes them. He is the one who came. He is like me. He is one of the Great Ones. As to how it is going to be, my knowledge is not good. (15) Even though I am one of the Great Ones (Xede) whom Earthmaker created, will I overcome him? He means to take you away with him. It is tomorrow that he would take you. My dear younger sister, he will do it only if somehow he overcomes me here," he said.

The next morning he said, (16) "My dear younger sister, nothing will be like it. Go and offer tobacco to our Grandfather. "Grandfather, help us. Pity us, for we are taken with difficulties," you must say. "When you pour the tobacco, do it towards the south, there is an oak tree of smooth bark, (17) it is this one that the Creator of Things created first among trees. Go and ask that," he said to her. And there were four tobacco bags and four white deerskins. And again there were four eagle feathers, tail feathers. And she made buffalo hair and this was what she was working on. She was working on buffalo hair. (18) Then she went. And when she got there, she placed the offerings at the base of the tree. "Grandfather, help us. We are in difficulties," she said. And he nodded slightly in affirmation. And two pieces fell a short distance from him. These she packed and came home. When she got back, she threw them in the fire. (19) The fire burned intensely. It stood reaching up to the heavens.

"Hâhâ´, I am going, but I will come back when he comes," he said, and he went out. Right away he came in again. When the man came in again, the swallows also entered into the lodge. (20) He came in. "Hâhó young man, you have returned," he said. "Hâhâ'â," he said. "Young man, you have come," he said. "Hâhâ'â," he said. " Korá, young man, you are begrudging me your sister, or are you challenging me?" he said. "It will be whatever you say. (21) It is your sister that I will take away with me, this very day. As she is willing, she is a new one. They always do that sort of thing when their sister is being courted," he said. And he said, "Well young man, you also do not fill up the pipe. When men visit each other, they usually offer tobacco," he said. "I was thinking that you would fill it up for me. (22) It's the visitor, he is the one who fills it with tobacco for them," he said. On they talked, trying to induce one another to fill the pipe. Yet they were identical. Nowhere were they different. They painted themselves in exactly the same way. Then the visitor did this. (23) He wrapped his arms in leather, and when he unwrapped them, after he untied it, unexpectedly, they were inlaid with knives. The blades of the knives were terrifying. The blades were red. They were even with the wrists at the hands and came up to his elbows. They lay on the back of his arms. The knives were on both arms. (24) The one who lived with his sister also unwrapped his arms. They were wrapped in leather, and he was just like him. He was no different.

They were still saying it. They were asking one another to fill the pipe. Finally, they talked louder, "You are not my equal," they said to one another. "Of the Great Ones that the Creator created, I myself am one!" each would say. (25) On and on they talked. Finally, the one who lived with his sister got angry. It was not good. He took his pipe. He did it thinking, "I am one of the Great Ones who were created." It was not right, that's why he was enraged to hurt him a lot. He filled his pipe. (26) Then he lit it and took a few strong puffs. Then that man bounced up. The other one puffed and drew a long draft. Again he bounced up higher. Again for the third time he did it, and he bounced hard. The fourth time he drew on it very hard and (27) he fell into the fire. He tried to grab him, but he raised himself up, it is said.

This time the other one filled the pipe. The other puffed and took a draft. Then he bounced up. He did it again a second time. Then he bounced up still higher. (28) Again, when he did it for the third time, he came up very high. The fourth time he drew on it very hard. He fell into the fire. As soon as the other one began to fill his pipe, the fire started to darken. There he tried to blow off the coals to restart it, but now it was still going dark. (29) In any case, when he fell into the fire, he attacked him on the ground, and kicked his head off at the neck. Thus it was, and he gave a whoop, and ran away. Indeed the earth shook. The one whose head was cut off arose, it is said. With his body only, he chased after his head, but he kept his head away from him, (30) less it should get back into place. He would not let him get near it. He kept on chasing him. Also his sister was whimpering and holding on to her man. He kept on chasing him. To the fourth hill, that far he chased him. His sister did this from fear. (31) She thought his body might go off somewhere, so she held onto him. So there was as far as he went. Then they no longer kept chasing one another.

She brought her older brother back from there. The woman cried a great deal. She brought him back to the lodge. She would be crying every day there. Her headless man was sitting opposite her. (32) She never felt good. And she gave her older brother something to eat. One day she put a little soup into his throat hole, and she put it in there and he drank it. Again she mashed up meat and she put it in there and he swallowed it. Finally, when he was done, he made signs with his hands. (33) Thus he did. She always did it that way. There she would put food in for him. At his neck where it was cut off was his throat hole, and there she would feed him. In the course of time, it is said that four years had passed. Then they ate up all the dried venison that there was. (34) And furthermore, they ate up all that was on every meat rack that they had. There she did this again. She would break up the bones and make soup of them and she would make her older brother drink it. There, from that time on, she never ate. She would only feed her brother. She thought her brother must not be the first to die. The woman thought that she ought to die first. (35) If any single thing was not good, she did not want it to happen to her brother first. Then she finally boiled out all the bones. Again they began to do all the deerskins that remained there. She dug Indian potatoes and used it with this. Finally, now, she used it up. (36) She was using the leather as flavoring, but now it was exhausted. From that time on, they used only potatoes.

And there was one there who created one thing here on earth, a Creation Lodge that extended east-west for the entire breadth of the earth. And there he told them to gather. (37) There was a pure white blackhawk, and a pure white shrieking swan, those two he sent upwards. "Do not miss anything," he said to them. Then a wolf and a bear, these were the ones that were to travel the earth. He told them to go over the whole earth and even below it. (38) They were not to miss anything, not even the smallest insects. They went to everything, the trees and even the grass and weeds, as many of them as there were. Even though the longhouse reached from the very end of one side of the earth to the very end of the other, it was full to the brim. (39) Then Trickster, Turtle, Bladder, Hare, the Sun, Redhorn, and their Grandmother (Earth), these very ones were the Great Ones (Xedera).

Then Hare stood up and said, "Hehé, all you diverse spirits sitting here, I told you that I would point something out, therefore I told you to gather. (40) This you know, of all the ones whom the Maker of Things created great here on earth, the Great Ones (Xedera) are eight in number. One of them is injured. That should not be, I thought. That is why I told you to gather here. The Evil One (Wowâkra) did this. Herecgúnira did this. I thought it should not be this way. You have done it. (41) One of the beings among the evil spirits injured the one that he (Earthmaker) created. It is possible to fix a thing or two, I thought. If we take up a collection and go take it to the Creator himself, and if there we ask him to take pity, if he is willing, then we can make him live. "Hâhó," they said. (42) They all answered nodding their approval.

Then he did this. In the center of the lodge he spread out a white deerskin. Then he did this. He drew something from the seat of his heart. Much did it glitter. There on the head of the deer he put it. There it lay glittering and then the light rested there like daylight. "Hâhâ´ Kunu, you yourself ought to do it," he said to him. Trickster also did it. (43) As he did it, he made that sort of thing. Then he made one like what he had placed there. Then Turtle did it as well. Then he also made that sort of thing. When Bladder did it, he also made that sort of thing. When the Sun did it there, he also made that sort of thing. When Redhorn did it there, he also made that sort of thing. (44) Then when their Grandmother did it, she also made the same sort of thing. And when the others did it, they all made the same kind of thing, but they did less. They would always do but a small portion. Finally, they all finished up, all who were present. "Hâhâ´," he said, when they were finished, "you will get these back again sometime. (45) Now, Horecgúniga has injured one of the Great Ones. That we might avenge him, you have added bits and pieces of your powers. It cannot be defeated. It's power is the same as Earthmaker's, but the one who did it is of a like kind as he. He is one alike in powers to the Creator of Things. (46) Therefore, we should have a little more. Thus it is. Therefore, we are going to take it to the Maker of Things. If we are pitied there, we shall overcome him. If it is thus, we shall accomplish this," he said. Then the eight Great Ones left. Six of them were the ones who did it. (47) These were the ones who went to the Maker of Things -- Trickster it was, and also Turtle, and Bladder, and Hare, and Redhorn, and the Sun -- this many were the ones who did it. After they left for the Creator, finally they arrived. And when they arrived there, he permitted them to come into his lodge. "Hâhâ´," he said. (48) "It is not for nothing that you came here. It is not in any way for nothing, it is for a certain one that you came here now. It is on account of some great thing that you have come, I am thinking," he said. Then Trickster did this. He placed before him the white deerskin bundle of holiness. He looked at it. (49) "Hâhâ´, it is good, my dear children. I have known about the matter. I have been thinking about it, but I did not know [what to do]. It is good. Thus it is. When I created this one, I created him with good thinking qualities. Even I am not his equal. Without doubt his thinking qualities are good. It is good. (50) Hâhâ´, I also will help you," he said. He brought something blue forth from his seat-of-thought. He added twice as much to it as they had taken over there. Then he said, "You will do it. Your knowledge is good. That one I created great, I created one here whose powers remain equal to mine. (51) He injured one of them, and I knew it not should be so, but when it was time for something, I had not done well. It is good that you have come," said Earthmaker. Horecgúnira was to the left of where he was situated. His lodge was just the same.

(52) Then, having been thus, Trickster thanked him. "Father, it is good. You created exactly what we wanted, without hesitation, and my friend he himself will do it. He is the only one. They all listen to him. Where we came from, he is the only one who knows. His thoughts are good. (53) He alone has helped the two-legged walkers. He himself will do this. Again we shall have him take charge of what was donated," he said, and he gave him the white deerskin bundle. "Hâhó, it is good," he said. Hare thanked him. When we return to the Creation Lodge, I will give it to the one who will really do it. (54) In returning from here, I will bring it," he said. Then the Maker of Things thanked him.

Then the Maker of Things said, "Hâhâ´ my dear son Kunu, you are the oldest one. I made you a good man and holy (wákâtcâk). I made you go to earth. (55) When you went to earth, they were to listen to you, honor you, and obey you, and you were to tell them what they should live by. You are cursed. I created you for this. You brought this on yourself. You, on account of your own poor actions, have become the butt of everyone's ridicule. They abused you, (56) even the smallest insects; and this one who did what I told him that he should do, this one alone are you to hold in front. You have made light of my creation. You are the oldest, but it is childish. You yourself have done this. I did not tell you to do this. (57) It is on account of your deeds that they call you "foolish one" (Wakdjâkaga). Do as your friend Hare, it was for that that I created you. I did not create you thus to play around," he said. He also said it to Turtle. Again he gave good counsel to all those who had come there. (58) Then they came away.

Since then, it is as it was when he started to come. And the created ones still sat quietly in the lodge. Then they returned. Then Hare stood in the middle of the lodge. He stood holding the white deerskin bundle. "Hâhâ´ you best of spirits, what you have done here has become a reality. (59) Our father has made it a reality for us. And as much power as we took over there, he has doubled it, and there he filled it. And our friend, he himself will do it. I will give him what I have," he said. And he gave the white deerskin to Sun. And there it was.

(60) When the sun stood straight up, he stopped there. The woman dug up potatoes there as she went along. There at that place he caused the earth to dry out. She was on the hillside there. As the woman dug potatoes there, thus did he make the earth very warm. Thus as she brought out potatoes with her hoe, many remained to be dug out. (61) The really big ones she kept. As she stood on the hillside digging potatoes basking in the sun, she liked it very much. When she was basking her buttocks, she liked it a lot. And so the sun warmed her up everywhere, and standing there turning her buttocks as he did it, she liked it greatly. (62) Also the sun, having taken her buttocks, he did it. And there all the holiness that had been gathered together and sent, he caused to enter into her. There, at just one time, the woman became pregnant, but afterwards she was not aware of it. And the woman liked it very much. She became happy in her mind. (63) Also here she got many of the potatoes. As she went along she also dug up great big potatoes. As she went along she obtained potatoes that were new. Also the potatoes were smooth. She made the bag that she brought with her full. When she got back to her older brother, she let him eat them. He was very delighted. He was very happy. (64) He would use his hand and talk to his younger sister. She did the same to her older brother by taking hold of his hand, and whenever she said something, he would understand it. Heretofore, the woman had never eaten much. She only looked out for her brother. (65) He told her to eat, but she would not do it. Therefore, now the woman was also very thin. Therefore, the spirits with them took pity on them, and when she boiled, after she made it, she gave him some, and after making him eat, she told him to eat a lot. He ate a good deal. (66) Also she told him that she would eat. He liked that. From that time on, they ate as many potatoes as they liked.

And one day, it felt like something, something just then in her abdomen. And it was true. It began to get bigger. (67) Finally, after awhile, something would also move around in her abdomen. There she knew. She liked that she was pregnant. "If I am really thus, and have children, I will make it so that they will be companions to my older brother," she thought. She was thinking that she would tell her older brother. "What can I do to let him know?" she thought. (68) She held his hand and tried to tell him, but he did not understand. And now she did this. She took his hand and tried to have him touch her abdomen, but when he knew, he would take his hand and pull it away. He was afraid to touch his younger sister's abdomen. The woman was frightened. (69) She thought that he believed that she was doing something shameful. So she wanted him to know even more. Finally, he felt her. Unexpectedly, her abdomen was heavy with child. As a result, he was very pleased. Then she split wood and gave it to him, and he would try to make a cradle by feeling. (70) Finally, he made one. Every day he would be at it, so he made a good one. Finally, it was the ninth month. And when it was her time to be confined, unexpectedly, something was passed through the door. It made a ringing noise. It was an intense yellow color. It was a metal cradle, and it was gold. (71) It was completely full [of wrappings]. Again it was done. Again there was one like it, except that it was a brilliant white. It was of pure silver. She had her older brother feel them. He was very much delighted. He held the empty cradle. He also took a poker and began to tap on the fire rails. He was doing this [as music] for the child.

(72) And when she knew it was her time, the woman went out. After she had given birth, she washed them and put them in the cradles, and then she returned. And she had gone out a little way. She had given birth to two boys. (73) Again he was even more so [delighted]. He would never let go of them. He would always have them. Only when one of them would cry and she would nurse him, would she take him, and once she had nursed him, he would always take him back again right away. He loved him a great deal. He was delighted as he started to get larger. (74) They were getting used to him, and even their mother herself was not more to them than their uncle. Then after awhile, they began to crawl, and even then they were very mischievous. (75) They were always piling on top of him. Therefore, she was able to dig for Indian potatoes in peace. They themselves would rather be with their uncle. And as winter came on, they were even bigger. They were mischievous. They would not take a step away from their uncle. (76) Also, they would not pay any attention to their mother. Then finally, when they were good at shooting bows and arrows, then he said that he wanted to make them arrows. The woman split off some arrow wood. She put them there with her older brother, so he made arrows. And he made just four ruxînixîni arrows. (77) Then they were even more [mischievous].

And one of the boys said, "Why is uncle the way he is? He is not as we are. He does not have a head. It is difficult to feed him. It would be better if he had a head," he said. (78) "Mother, why is he that way?" he said. "My dear son, he is just naturally that way," she said. And thus he would be. Now they also came to understand well their uncle's motions. Yet again one of them asked her, "Mother, uncle's head seems to have been cut off. (79) Why is it thus?" he said. Again she said, "My dear son, he is just naturally that way," she said. Then they asked a third time. Again she would not tell them. They asked her yet again for the fourth time, and she would not tell them. Then they spoke, as they stood outside, and it was this, (80) "Kodé, let us go to the old man, mother is not going to tell us, but perhaps he might. I don't think that our uncle is naturally this way," they said. They said this very early in the morning. Their mother overheard them. She said to them, "Don't go anywhere far away; (81) don't stray too far from your uncle," she said to them, but they started off running anyway.

Unexpectedly, they entered. "Hohó, it is my sons," he said. "Djáha-á my dear sons, you must have come for something," he said. "Hâhâ'â," they said. "Uncle's head seems to have been cut off. (82) And so we asked our mother why he was thus, but she would never tell us. The reason that we ask is that it seems to have been cut off. It is hard to feed him. Therefore, we have come to ask you about that. Uncle has become very pitiable. Tell us father," they said. (83) "Hehé my dear sons, you are not yet grown up is why your mother would not tell you. However, no matter what happens, since you're going to find out anyway, I might as well tell you. Your uncle is one of the Great Ones (Xedera) here on earth. He alone is the good spirit. (84) Therefore, the Evil Spirit was jealous. He provoked your uncle with talk. Therefore, he did it to him. Therefore, he cut his neck in two with a knife there. The one who did it became very great. He does not leave the spirits in peace. Your uncle is the cause of it. He also used his head, (85) but he is trying to kill him. And now he is getting weaker. That is why your uncle is so poor in health, and when he kills the head, the body will fall down. Now his face is something unrecognizable. His face is all scratched up. (86) And if you wish to try him, I'll tell you what you should do. Just at noon, he comes here. On a sand bar in the middle of the Ocean Sea, he clears a spot and lies down. Precisely at noon he drinks there. Then he would do this. As he comes there, he would dive into the water, and right away he would come up again and say, (87) 'Djáha-á you dog, I seem to smell your nephews,' he would say, and then he would do this. He did it with his fingernails, and tore out pieces from his face. And he would say, 'If they were my nephews, able to come this far, if they came here, you would surely know it,' he would say. (88) Thus he would do four times and the fourth time he would dive in and drink for a long time. When he does it for the fourth time, it is the only time he does it there," he said.

Korá, when the youngest began to speak, he was mighty angry. Even right then he really wanted to go to him. (89) Then he asked them, "How would you do it?" he asked them. "When he clears the sandbar, we would make ourselves into small snakes under the earth and lie there," they said. "A, it will never work, he will see you," he said. "Well, we could lie in the water, making ourselves into fish," they said again. (90) "A, it is not to be, as he will see you as if it were broad daylight," he said. Well, we will do this, on a nice day, we'll be floating spiders, and in this way we will make ourselves," they said. "A, it is not to be, for he will see you plainly," he said. (91) Then again for the fourth time they said to him, "Well father, if you make it hot, we would make ourselves be that warmth," they said. "Hâhâ´ my sons, that is it, that is what I wanted you to say, is why I am saying this. It is the only way. But take your uncle's mirror and fill his paint bundle. (92) If you have these, if it were that way, your uncle would not say anything at this place. He himself is really on the alert. It is not likely that he will be taken by surprise," he said. "You should have them in front of you," he said. (93) "Hâhâ´ my sons, I will also help you," he said. "I will stop, and when I stop and smoke, just then he always comes," he said. "Hâhâ´, take these back. Have them ready to heat there. Tell your mother that the prayers that she went and said to grandfather, she must say again to him. (94) She knows it. Also her grandfather knows it." He let them bring back four irons. They were live iron. "Hâhâ´ my sons, go home. I am set to move west," he said. "Hâhó," they said and came away.

Unexpectedly, they had arrived back home. (95) As the sun first appeared, "Hâhâ´ mother, why did you keep it a secret? Didn't you know how it was that uncle was so pitiable? I know from father why he is thus," they said. "That homely one, the bad old man that said this, I was keeping it from them until they became old enough to run off someplace. One of them might be injured someplace, (96) he was in such a hurry to tell them," she said. And they said to her, "Mother, we will return at noon. Go and say it again to your grandfather that you prayed to before, and lay these there to be heated red hot," they said. (97) And by the sign you will know it at noon. He said to open the door and have uncle turn in the direction of the day. And now we will go," they said and went on out there.

And the woman took the tobacco and the offerings and went south. When she got to the tree, (98) "Grandfather, I have come to pray to you. Help us. Again the children have gone to try him," she said. After he said, "Korá," two pieces of wood fell off. She packed these and came home. When she got back, she put them into the fire. The light that came from the fire was intense. It stood reaching up to the fireplace of the Maker of Things. (99) As soon as she put the irons there, they already had become red hot.

And immediately they were there. They went and sat beneath their father. The younger one was very angry. So their father said this, (100) "That's what your uncle did. There he was taken unaware. Don't do that. Your uncle was one of the Great Ones, but he did it to him," he said. Then finally it was noon. Then his father put away his pipe. (101) Just after he had quit smoking, from above there came a loud noise. Doubtless he controlled it. Then it became foggy. The atmosphere became yellow. There was a roar. Then he alighted there on the island. There he lay and drank the water. But he got up in a hurry and was knocked down (?) they say. "Djáha-á you dog, there are nephews nearby," he said. (102) He did this. He tore out a piece of his face. He used his fingernails and, korá, the younger one could not help moving. He was very angry. They lay there forbidding him. Again a second time he did it. Again he did the same. Again a third time he did it. (103) The fourth time when he dove into the water, they started to go. His head was tied to his back. Therefore, there was also a face behind him. Then he saw his things. "Hohó, my mirror, my paint bundle that was taken to be filled," he said. "Hâhó," he said. He raised up and came back. "Why did you say that?" he said. (104) He replied, "Why would I say it? When I used my mirror, I used to like to look at my face. That's why I said it," he said. "Hoho-o, you frightened me for nothing," he said and he used both arms and scratched his face.

Thus he did, (105) and just before he dove into the water the eldest one did it. He sent his head tumbling off. And he held a head in each arm. Then he said to the younger one, "Fight him. I will take care of these," he said. Immediately he took off running. Then the earth rumbled. (106) The earth shook. The young one fought him there as he ran. And the old man sat there with him. There was nothing like it. He would stop there only when he was shot, and right away he would fight once again. When he shot him with one of the ruxînixîni arrows, he was becoming it. (107) And so even the first time, he plucked out his heart. They kept on doing it. "Hâhó, did you not seek his body? Now kill him," his father said. When he would say that, he would make his body into an arrow and he would take the things out from his stomach one by one. (108) And then the earth shook.

And as they got near their lodge, the older one started to shout as he went. So his mother did this. She put her older brother facing the door. Then the one having the head did this. He came there and threw the head. (109) "However strong you had been at first, be stronger now," he said. It struck him with a sound like a clapping hand. "Hohohowá," his uncle said. Then he gave his uncle the man's head. "This is the one who did it," he said to him. "Yes, you must have been made very weak from something," he said to him. Then right away the body had already come up.(110) Then he said to the woman, "Mother, you have said that you have been shamed for a long time. In whatever way you can make it suffer, do so," they said to her. Therefore, she took one of the heated irons and when the body came, she stabbed it over and over, many times. And she also did the same to the face. Finally, she exhausted them. Finally, she killed them.

Then their uncle thanked them. "It is good, my nephews." Thus he kept saying. "At the outset, I think that I had a lot of confidence in myself, but there he took me by surprise." He kept saying, "He is dead." Then he was as he used to be, but he was not fat. He was thin. Their mother was also this way. (112) Then the younger one did this. He stood up. "Let's eat," he said. Then he did this. He used a ruxînixîni arrow to shoot one of the standing poles there. And he shot down a bear there. They took hold of this and singed it. (113) They did this although it was small. They were made holy. No one was equal to them in strength. And when they had finished singeing it, they cut it up, placed it in a kettle, and put it on the fire. There they ate. The four of them did it. With all their xop they ate it. (114) Then the one whom they had killed, they burned in the fire there. And they even burned up his bones to nothing, along with his head and body.

And so because they did it that way, that's the reason it does it. When it has a vision, somewhere the fire of its own accord ignites, burning up everything in its path. (115) When the fire is angry there, it is thus. Because he was made to burn up one of the bad spirits, a Great One, it is for this reason that he does it, it is said. When this fire burns really hard someplace, when it burns in anger, it stops for nothing. Even now sometimes, when it burns someplace, it does it in anger, it is said. (116) Sometimes when the fire is angry, it destroys a part of a town. Therefore, when a fire burns a place very hard, they always say that it is because of the wind, that it is so intense. It is not because of the wind, but rather it is the fire itself that does it. (117) Therefore, thus it is. Sometimes it will get angry. In the large towns of the Big Knives, they never put tobacco with the fire and furthermore, they make it work very hard. Therefore, it is because they get it angry that it does it to them. It is because it burns villages that they tell of it. (118) If they put tobacco with it and sometimes one of the boiled food items, they would use it in peace. It would help them. This fire is a man. Of all things, tobacco is particularly his favorite. Tobacco is a habit. Thus it is, they say. It is said that there he is angry.

(119) There, they say, these boys killed many kinds of animals. Then, as their uncle used to be, thus he was again. And once more as their mother used to be, thus she was again. Then their uncle said, "Hâhâ my younger sister and my nephews, (120) about now I will go and sit down there and do what the Creator created me for," he said. "And I came to this earth, coming to help the humans because they were poor in life. But he overcame me, that most evil thing. It is because of what you did for me that I am alive," he said. Then the man went back. (121) He who spoke was the Red Star (Evening Star). He is the youngest of the eight Great Ones that the Creator fashioned with his own hands. That is he himself who is there, a red star that is visible at night. And the woman was the moon. (122) Therefore, the sun and the moon are married. Then the boys said, "Hâhâ, we will be going about the earth. Some bad things still remain. We will go and look them up. From time to time we will come and see you," they said. They have always told of the Twins. They are still there. They always tell of a ghost and Flesh. [1]

Commentary. "black swallows" -- these are called nârajojopgesepra in Hotcâk. The only black swallow is the Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) that nests along the banks of rivers or lakes. These birds are associated with Red Star (the uncle) because he is shown elsewhere to be a Waterspirit (in that context, he is called "Bluehorn"). Bank Swallows are a veritable avian counterpart to Waterspirits. They nest on the upper parts of banks flanking lakes or streams. "The holes look simple from a distance. But those who have examined them in detail have been amazed at the lengthy intricate tunnels the birds have excavated, leading to the nests." [2] Waterspirits, of course, like to sun themselves on the banks of bodies of water, and have intricate tunnels under the earth. Waterspirits are also known for traveling far and wide through these tunnels, and the birds mimic this propensity for travel by being migratory. They begin arriving from mid-April through mid-May, and return south from early July to mid-September. [3] Bank Swallows seem to be particularly numerous in the region around Lake Winnebago. [4] The black swallows may not just be the counterpart to Red Star, but to the host of stars that rise and set in the great surrounding Ocean Sea (De Djâ). If the question be asked, "How can (a) star(s) be of the Waterspirit race?", it can be answered on the analogy of the black swallows, who are denizens of the underworld of tunnels and yet launch themselves aloft for extended periods. However, the swallows also fly ahead of Morning Star as well. The fact that they fly yet burrow in the earth, is also a model of what happens to stars like Morning Star and Evening Star who come into conjunction with the sun and do not rise for a period of time. Nature reveals that there are flyers who spend time residing in the earth, so the disappearance of Morning Star and Evening Star is less mysterious.

"they would lay as various snakes" -- the Hotcâk word for arrow is mâ, which is a rich homonym meaning, "earth", "spring (of water)", and "year, time". Red Star is Evening Star, also known as "Bluehorn" (Hetcoga). His return to his lodge after being out is a clear allegory of his return to earth after his 263 day period in the sky or his return after his nightly ascent. His arrows, mâ, become creatures of the earth (mâ), just as he himself does. These earth dwelling snakes slither through the underworld like the springs (mâ) that are the essence of the allied Waterspirits, who are often represented as if they were snakes with legs [inset]. They are the time (mâ) of Red Star, who over time is reborn (to rise again into the sky) just as the serpent is able to shed its skin and live anew. For the coiling of these snake, see below.

"the ceiling" -- that Red Star hangs his moccasins from one of the arching lodge poles of the ceiling, connects this footwear with the upper world. It may be said that moccasins do the walking although they are not the source of propulsion. They are the interface between the person and the ground. However, these moccasins are not touching ground. They are in midair. The ceiling of Red Star's lodge is an obvious metaphor for the over arching heavens, and it is to this upper region that Evening Star treks. His moccasins tread near the ceiling of the world. So they belong suspended from the ceiling of the lodge. However, he is no longer in them. The return to his home on earth is a setting from the sky, the place where he has been out "hunting". The symbolism of the Hotcâk treatment of stellar footwear appears to be an alternate way of capturing the same meaning as the winged sandals of Hermes in Greek mythology, for instance.

"bull snakes" -- the Pituophis melanoleucus, also called the "pine snake" or "gopher snake", reaches a length of 5 feet, and consequently is known in Hotcâk as wakâ´ seretcra, "the long snake". They have a large nose shield which aids them in burrowing. They typically eat burrowing mammals (mice, rabbits, gophers, and ground squirrels), as well as ground nesting birds and their eggs. They kill their prey by constriction. That they live and hunt in burrows makes them similar to Waterspirits, of which Red Star is one. Waterspirits travel through underground tunnels, so it is appropriate that Red Star's moccasins are bull snakes, which also travel through burrows. On particularly hot days, the bull snake may become active even through the first hour of darkness. This is also in conformity with the nature of Red Star, whose moccasins touch the evening sky. Just as the Evening Star never ascends very high into the sky, so the bull snake climbs only bushes and small trees. The lodge itself is a kind of bush, since it is fundamentally constructed of interwoven twigs and branches, many from bushes, and not reaching a height much surpassing the upper range of the climbing bull snake.

"to coil around one another" -- the Hotcâk expression for coiling is hirakiwedja mîgire, "they lay around each other", or hirakiwedja djirawi, "the two came to be around each other". The entwined snakes hanging from the ceiling form a double helix. Spirals, whether single or double helices, are widespread. It is said that in some Mississippian cultures, "they strike with fury and vengeance the spiral-striped war pole -- a symbolic axial conduit between the Sun and the sacred fire." [5] The spiral and its twinning form, the double helix, represent the supernatural force communicated from the world above to that below. This is particularly well illustrated among the Mississippian Timucua, as I noted in the Gottschall page:

The inset shows part of De Bry's engraving of Le Moyne's "Trophies and Ceremonies after a Victory". [6] Illustrated are three of the poles upon which "trophies" were suspended. Flanking a pole with a scalp at its top is a pole with an arm tied to it and another with a leg fastened to it in the same way. Of particular interest are rigid strands (vines?) that spiral down the poles, connecting the top of the trophy to the ground. The "trophies" are meant to be the surviving physical attachments to which the souls of the slain warriors remain fixed. The arm, scalp, and leg probably represent respectively, executive power, spirit, and motion. The two poles with limbs attached have single helices or power lines that send down the spiritual power possessed by the slain warrior in these appendages to the sacred earth of the victorious tribe.

In the Timucuan rite, there is one pole with a double helix descending from a detached human leg [not shown]. This is very similar to the two moccasins of Red Star transforming themselves into two entwining snakes, a kind of temporal version of the ritual structure erected by the Timucua. The coiling also unfolds in time as well as space. This downward double spiral expresses the circle in motion. The unfolding of holy power in the form of circular motion is seen in the seminal act of all creation. In the Hotcâk Genesis, Earthmaker sent the substance of the earth down from his perch in heaven with a spinning motion. If we traced two edges of the proto-earth as it plummeted into the lower world, they would inscribe a double helix of just the form that we see ritually realized in the Timucuan examples. Something similar is seen in the description of the journey to Spiritland of the Hotcâk Medicine Rite. The ghost in its trek to paradise encounters a ladder whose right side is "like a twisted frog's leg." Here the ghost himself is transported from the lower to the upper world by a ladder that exemplifies this very spiral of cosmic transmission (see the Commentary to "The Journey to Spiritland"). Among the Micmac, this process of the transmission of the ghost from one world to the other is shown using the double helix. This is found in a petroglyph occurring within their territory [see inset]. The Micmac tell us that it represents the Spirit Road of the Milky Way. [7] This is not a realistic representation of the Milky Way, but a symbolic rendering of a road of supernatural power, a connection between worlds like the twisted frog's leg of the Hotcâk Medicine Rite, the rotating, double helix pathway to the Otherworld. The double helix generated by the moccasins of Red Star displays the supernatural power of the Evening Star, whose moccasins suspend him in the air beneath the "lodge" (celestial vault). This is the power of his fleetness by which he is able to overtake and achieve conjunction with the sun, a fleetness that is homologized to the wind that knocks over trees. It is the power of being fleet afoot with which Red Star can bless those who suffer for his favor [8]. The serpentine double helix also represents the extraordinary power of the Evening Star to ascend night by night into the sky in a direction contrary to that of the surrounding stars. These are the powers of his moccasins, a power like the bull snake, who unlike the other snakes in regards to ascent and descent, can climb upwards from the ground, and not merely into and out of the subterranean realm. The squeaking snakes also exemplify the power of a light (a life power as hâp) that shines so brightly that it can even be seen in the day. This is a light that reaches down to earth and terminates there analogous to the way in which moccasins are the terminations of the downward extensions of the limbs.

The double helix, however, offers something more than the spiral or single helix. A double helix, like the blue and red stripes on a barber pole, can also run in parallel; yet every case of the double helix used as the symbol of the transmission of power takes the form of crossing spirals. These are spirals not in parallel or in concert, but configured in opposition to each other. This pattern is paradigmatically represented in the caduceus (kerykeion) of the Greek Hermes (Mercury), which like the Hotcâk example, is formed from the entwined bodies of serpents. There is an instructive myth on the origins of the caduceus.

According to the fable, Mercury, when traveling in Arcadia, saw two serpents fighting with one another, and threw the rod of peace between them, whereupon they instantly ceased from the contest, and wound themselves around the staff in friendly and lasting union. [9]

The two snakes are engaged in the ultimate form of opposition -- combat. They are physically opposing each other, attempting to engage in mutual annihilation. The herald's staff that he lays between them is symbolic of the power that the god has to create communication and harmony between worlds. Communication by its nature transcends and mediates the opposition between worlds, here symbolized by the serpentine combat. The worlds of heaven and earth remain distinct and opposed, but still capable of mutual transmissions of power and meaning. It is a transcendence of the boundary. The snakes themselves are not just in opposition, but by being entwined especially around the herald's staff, are also in unity. They represent coincidentia oppositorum. To unify what is separated by a boundary is the essential act of unifying opposites. Indeed, it is said that the entwined snakes of the caduceus trace back to the Middle East, where the snakes wrap around one another in copulation, the unity of two opposites into one. [10] Among the Hotcâgara, both the Evening and Morning Stars are here identified with the bull snake, as they are climbers who, when they reach conjunction, return to the ground. In the old theory, the two stars cross paths at conjunction, since both are with the sun and also on earth. When this happens, they are like the crossing bull snakes suspended from the lodge roof. They do a spinning dance from conjunction to opposition and back again. The Hotcâgara do not recognize the identity of the Morning and Evening Stars, only their coincidence. This must once have been true of the Greeks with respect to Mercury, the other inner orbit "star" which has a morning and evening phase. As "stars" the Greek Mercury (Hermes) has winged sandals, and the Hotcâk Morning and Evening Stars have moccasins that climb (in the form of climbing snakes). In the "Green Man", Bluehorn (Evening Star) acts just as he does in this story --

(14) Then he took off his moccasins and he tied them together and threw them up against the top of the lodge. (15) And two owls began to fly around one another, hooting as they did so. [11]

So the moccasins of the Hotcâk stars are in this variant much closer to the sandals of the Greek Hermes (Mercury). They even remind us of the wings so frequently found affixed to the caduceus. Among the Hotcâgara, owls, as night fliers, are frequently used to represent stars. The two moccasins illustrate the unity and opposition between left and right, bird and snake, top and bottom, center and periphery. Nothing so unites the center and periphery like the office of the herald. As Burkert observes,

As messenger of the gods, Hermes carries the herald's staff, the kerykeion [caduceus], which is really the image of copulating snakes taken over from ancient Near Eastern tradition. The same symbol is carried by earthly heralds who all stand under the protection of Hermes. Hermes is also the ancestor of the Eleusinian Kerykes, heralds and sacrificial priests. Successful communication with enemies and strangers is the work of Hermes, and the interpreter, hermeneus, owes his name to the god. [12]

In another story about Evening Star, we are told, "He was one of the chief Waterspirits, that was why he was called 'Bluehorn'. He was a Buffalo Spirit. He was the chief of the buffaloes, but he was a Waterspirit, it is said." [13] In the Hotcâk nation, the Waterspirit and Buffalo people are friendship clans. [14] Because of the wide roaming nature of buffalo, it is from the Buffalo Clan that the criers (heralds) are drawn. [15] It is their responsibility to announced to all the will of the chief. So Bluehorn (Evening Star) as chief of the buffalo, is the patron of the tribal heralds. It is the traversing of the ground, symbolized by the buffalo and the moccasin, that stands out in the Hotcâk mind in thinking of the office of herald. So it is fitting that it is the moccasins that form the Hotcâk counterpart to the wand of the Greek herald, the caduceus of their patron god Hermes. Like the crossing helices of serpents, the crier goes from center to periphery and back again, uniting these opposites in his person and office.

Another unexpected parallel between Hermes and Red Star is their power to induce a hypnotic-like sleep. By touching the myriad-eyed Argos with his caduceus, Hermes was able to cause him to fall asleep so that even his last eye shut, whereupon the god slew him, freeing the captive Io. [16] In the story "Brave Man", Bluehorn frees his uncle by merely uttering a command,

(9) Finally, he said to them, "Go to sleep." After he said this to them, some of them went to sleep. Having said it to them again, more again went to sleep. Again, after saying it to them for a third time, again nearly all of them went to sleep. (10) Again, the fourth time, after he said it to them, this time all of them went to sleep. [17]

Both Hermes and Bluehorn have the capacity to cause others to cross the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness. So Hermes is also Psychopomp, leader of the ghosts; and Bluehorn is the devoted leader of his nephews, Ghost and Flesh.

"a squeaking sound" -- this is an odd statement, as it is well known that snakes have no voice. However, the bull snake makes a very loud hiss which is likened to the bellow of a bull, although it could hardly be described as "squeaking", a sound more appropriate to birds. An attempt is made to clarify the matter in a gloss on page 9 which says the noise stems, "i.e., from pressure", that is, the tight squeezing of these constrictors is so strong that their skins squeak from rubbing against one another. The Hotcâk for this word is rugîgîc, here said to mean, "to squeak", but in Marino-Radin it is given the broader meaning, "to make a noise". Its stem is gîc, to which Marino gives the meaning, "to squeak", which is compared to gîs, "to squeak" (cf. gigîgîs, "to squeak"). Miner records gigîc´, "to be squeaky like shoes". The form gigîc, gîgîc is a mere reduplication. The prefix ru- is more puzzling. As an instrumental prefix it means, "with the hand, by pulling toward the body" (Lipkind). This does not seem to fit the meaning very well, as it could not explain the creaking of shoes, or the actions of snakes, who have no hands. On the other hand, we find a prefix ru- that seems not to have an effect much different than reduplication. Just as gis, gigis, and rugigis all mean, "full, round", so we find that gîc, gîgîc, and rugîgîc all mean, "to squeak". However, the idea that the squeaking is produced by the friction of skins rubbing together seems less likely given the next entry. It should also be observed that the stem forms an interesting pun with gíc, "to tie together, to hang" (Marino). The hanging (gíc) of the shoes, which we may imagine as having been tied together (gíc) at the laces, may have influenced the choice of words to describe the sound that the bull snakes made when they were hanging from the ceiling.

"cry repeatedly" (ghaghak) -- in one story ghaghak is translated as "he made some noise", but this is understood as noises coming from his voice. The crying isn't necessarily that of weeping, as the term is sufficiently broad to apply to the squawking of a goose (see the "Fox-Hotcâk War"). However, there are no examples where it is not a noise produced by a voice box, so it is difficult to understand the noise of the entwining snakes as the sound made by their flesh rubbing together under pressure. Since sound usually represents light, it may be supposed that the bull snakes' squeaking sounds are light. Snakes are often homologized to lightning bolts whose serpentine path evokes the image of the serpent itself. Perhaps the rays of light, which travel seemingly in a more direct route, are homologized to snakes because of their great length and narrowness. The moccasins are where Red Star touches the ground, which is to say, the termini of his light.

"went out hunting" -- this scene takes place when Evening Star and his sister the Moon are "living together", which is to say, they are in proximity to each other. This occurs as Evening Star is in the sky and the crescent moon is near the sun, leaving conjunction. Evening Star is out "hunting" -- in terms of his path across the sky, he trails the sun. It might be said that he is hunting light, since hâp means not only "light", but also metaphorically, "life". A hunter seeks to bag things having hâp, which he hopes to ingest. That Evening Star is a successful hunter is seen by the fact that as time progresses, he gets brighter (ingests more hâp). He also feeds the moon, who gradually gets fatter.

"out of sight" -- Evening Star is in the blue sky (partly why he is called "Bluehorn"), but is out of sight because of the light of the sun. He appears out of the blue as the sun begins to set.

"the swallows returned" -- the man who returns, of course, is not the brother but his mysterious doppelgänger. The identical twin of Red Star, elsewhere said to be the brother born just after him, is Morning Star, there being no other celestial body that is truly identical to Evening Star. In every detail they are the same, even the swallows precede the brother's double.

"he began to tease her" (rajidjire) -- rajitc refers to purely verbal teasing, in contradistinction to rujitc, which denotes teasing done through action (see below). The word derives from the stem, jitc, which means, "to tease, show disrespect, court." [18] Hîrajitc means "to practice the joking relation," [19] which is an institution, based on engaging in jitc, by which certain kinsman maintain an intimate relation with one another. The joking relation obtained for one's father's sister's children, mother's brother's children, mother's brothers, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law. Radin tells us, "In the two cases last named not only was a man permitted to joke with those relatives but he was supposed to do so whenever he had an opportunity. Under no circumstances were any of these individuals supposed to take offense. This relationship was of course reciprocal." [20]  Marriage to any joking relative was considered incest with the sole exception of the sister-in-law, although such a marriage might be considered improper on other grounds. [21] So in our story when her apparent brother approaches her engaging in jitc, because he is not a joking relation to her, he is getting very dangerously close to incest.

"all day long" -- this "day" is the period during which Evening Star is in the sky ("hunting"). Morning Star is thought to be in conjunction this whole time. Morning Star is now very close to where the moon sits in the "lodge" (sky), close enough to tease her by voice.

"embarrassed" -- as the moon moves towards conjunction, it tends east towards where the sun rises. She is still in the "lodge" of Evening Star (the sky), but now she is within range of Morning Star. This is low on the horizon, so she too is bathed in the red light of the nascent sun, which makes her blush.

"looked at him" -- if the moon is thought of as an eye, as it is apparently in Hare Kills Wildcat, it would be fully open at opposition (when she is full) and completely closed when she is in conjunction. This suggests that the moon at this point in the story is in conjunction.

"she sat down" -- that is, she never rose. The moon in conjunction, of course, never rises into the sky. It is only because both the moon and Morning Star are in conjunction, which is to say on earth by the sun, that they are meeting at all.

"I will go home" -- Morning Star's home is in the east, which is the only sky in which he is seen. Evening Star resides in the west where the moon will emerge from conjunction.

"right away" --Evening Star is now setting at the place where the moon resides in conjunction with the sun.

"his pack" -- as time progresses, Evening Star gets brighter, which is the opposite of what happens with Morning Star. It is as if Evening Star is collecting light. Once he sets, he consumes the light that he has hunted and adds that to his own body. Since Moon, once it emerges from conjunction is also waxing, it is as if he is feeder her on this light as well. Now, however, Moon is in conjunction, so she is not eating.

"she had not done her usual boiling" --when she was in the eastern sky, she would set nearby the sun. The sun would be the fire and the waters in which it set would be the water to which its heat was applied. The moon would be tending this fire. In this case, the moon is in conjunction, so she is not in the sky tending the fire.

"as the one for whom she used to boil had been here" -- The only way that she could be with Morning Star is if they were both in conjunction. I tis because she is in conjunction that she does not do her boiling.

"he boiled it" -- the Evening Star is getting sufficiently close to the sun that he has assumed the role and situation that his sister Moon had just before her conjunction.

"facing the wall" -- that is, she is facing a part of the lodge where there is no exit door. This expresses the fact that the moon is "locked in" during conjunction and cannot exit to rise in the sky. A Hotcâk lodge has the fire in the middle, so people tend to sit on opposite sides of the fire. We should understand also that Moon is on the other side of the sun ("Fire") from Evening Star. The door is in the west, so she is now on the eastern side of the sun (like Morning Star).

"he began to tease her" (p. 9) (rujidjire) -- this is the teasing of the rujitc sort, which is a teasing not of words, but of actions. The word rujidjire is the indefinite third person plural used as a passive voice. It is better translated as, "she was teased physically". The next sentence reveals that he does this by throwing little things at her. Some hands on rujitc could cross the line into incestuous behavior.

"charcoal" -- this image evokes in the Hotcâk mind the experience that everyone undergoes at puberty. When a person is old enough to fast, and to thereby gain blessings from the spirits, they need to stop eating and paint their face black with charcoal. If the young person is reluctant, a piece of charcoal may be thrown at them:

One old Indian informed the author [Paul Radin] that in former times the young boys and girls were offered either bread or charcoal for their fast. If they took the charcoal, well and good; but it they took the bread, they were unceremoniously kicked out of the house and the charcoal was thrown after them. ... My informant was of the opinion that the parents purposely treated their children roughly, so that they might feel all the more miserable while fasting and thus pray all the more intensely. [22]

The moon's face is already blackened -- she is in conjunction and cannot be seen. She is also completely starved, not even a crescent remaining, so the charcoal reminds us that her face is blackened and that she has nearly fasted herself to death, making herself, as the Hotcâgara say, "very pitiable".

"talk freely" -- the Hotcâgara use sound to symbolize light. When Evening Star and Moon were in the sky together, they would shine on each other, here expressed as conversation. Now that Moon is in conjunction, she is without light and therefore, in this symbolism, without voice.

"for three days" -- this is the maximum time that the moon is in conjunction.

"he is marrying them" -- Morning Star wants to "marry" her, which is to say, to come into conjunction with her, which sometimes happens. Conjunction is often homologized to sexual relations or "marriage". Once the moon comes close enough to the sun, it occupies almost the sameplace as Morning Star.

"slaves" -- the moons that have come to rest in conjunction are unable to rise for a period. It is as if Morning Star has held them in captivity.

"he impoverishes them" -- the Hotcâk is wanâdjodjaîsge, which means that he is making them poor, pitiable, and/or diminished in status. Morning Star only meets the moon when it is near conjunction. It is a slender, impoverished version of its full self, and it is destined to decline to nothing and disappear into the sun. This is put to the agency of Morning Star, who thus abuses his wives.

"the Great Ones" -- that is, one of the group of eight Great Spirits created by Earthmaker himself. For a list, see below. Critics might suppose that there are a number of candidates for Red Star's doppelgänger -- not only Morning Star, but Jupiter, Saturn, and Sirius all strongly resemble Evening Star. However, this passage excludes all of them, as only Morning Star could belong to the Great Ones where they include Evening Star (Bluehorn, Red Star).

"the south" -- in making circuits in religious rites such as the Medicine Rite, the established procedure is to begin in the east, then advance to the north, west, and south before returning to the east to complete the circuit. The south therefore represents the last stop in a circuit. In The Children of the Sun, the sister asks other Tree Spirits for help, but it is granted only by the last one that she asks, a small oak growing at the edge of a swamp.

"an oak" -- this oak is elsewhere said to be the Chief of Trees. The oak is of particular interest because it is the tree most often struck by lightning. From the common Indo-European root *perk- come various words for oak, and from this same root come names for the Thunder God (Fjörgynn, Perkunos, etc.). [23] Similarly, it is said among the Hotcâgara that the first fire was made on earth by the progenitors of the Thunder Clan, who were placed upon the branches of an oak tree for this purpose by their patrons, the Thunderbirds. So fire obtained from the oak might well be considered to be imbued with at least a tincture of the sacred fire of the clouds.

"smooth bark" & "smooth (potatoes)" -- Radin tells us, "Smoothness is an attribute of perfection and sacredness." [24] Perfection seems to be exemplified by that which extends in a uniform line. Roughness is a surface such that if a line were drawn over it, it would move up and down over the contours of the surface. Analogously, flames that are not straight over time, that waver due to the wind, are considered unpropitious (see below). Smoothness is the spatial counterpart to unwavering flames -- it exemplifies extension in a uniform line in every direction, just as propitious flames exemplify extension in a uniform line over time. This uniformity of extension need not be straight, as one of the sacred forms is a circle, which curves in a uniform direction (its curvature), and is especially sacred because it has neither beginning nor end. A spiral, which is also sacred, has uniform extension in two dimensions, in one a straight line, in the other, a uniform curvature. A funnel is also sacred, inasmuch as its curvature changes uniformly along its axis, and is to a tubular spiral as acceleration is to velocity. Perhaps more fundamentally, this uniformity is a kind of purity in the sense that it is unadulterated by alien influences. White, for instance, is the color of sacredness because it is "blank" or unadulterated, having neither tone nor tint (gray is not white), that is, having no intrusive color added to itself. All this is a special case of ritual purity, which Mary Douglas analyzed as everything being in its proper place. [25]

"Creator" & "Creator of Things" & "Maker of Things" -- there are three terms used in this story for Earthmaker: Wagûsra (pp. 24, 41, 47), Wajâgûsra (pp. 16, 45), and Wajâ'ûra (pp. 40, 46, 47, 54 [twice]). In all three, the suffix -ra is the definite article. Normally in names, the suffix -ka/-ga is used in all but the vocative (direct address). So if someone is speaking to Flesh, he will address him as Warora, but if he is speaking about him to someone else, he will mention him as Waroga. The striking exception to this is the set of names for the High God. It is always Mâ'ûna or Mâ'ûra, "(the) Earthmaker", and emphatically never Mâ'ûga. This is almost always true of his evil counterpart, Herecgúnina (Herecgúnira), but there are a very few instances of Herecgúniga. Wagûsra means, "the one such that (-ra) he created (gûs) it (wa-)", which is most naturally translated as "Creator". The stem gûs means, "to make, to create". The prefix wa-, as Lipkin puts it, "indicates the object of a transitive verb". It is best translated as "it" or "this", as in égi wa'ûje, "he did it" or "he did this: --". Wagûsra is not as common as Wajâgûsra (or Wajâgûzera), which replaces wa- with wajâ, "things". Consequently, I have translated it as "the Creator of Things". With the exception of the present story, the expression Wajâ'ûra is very rare, there being as yet only one other instance of it found ("Twins Get into Hot Water, V. 1"). The stem 'û means, "to be, to do, to make", so that Wajâ'ûra is best rendered as "the Maker of Things".

"buffalo hair" -- that is, yarn. Red yarn is one of the standard sacrificial offerings.

"he nodded slightly" (honîgíha) -- trees naturally nod only when a wind passes through them. Wind is, besides wood, the other fuel of fire. Although wind may cause the fire to be fanned, it also causes the flames to bend from their natural upward course, which makes wind in relation to fire an ill omen. Although the "nodding" causes wood to fall from the tree, it also functions to remind us that the flames of the fire which this wood fuels will not favor Moon's brother.

"she packed and came home [and] ... threw them in the fire" -- many lunar figures are depicted packing home wood, and this has two obvious sources: 1) lunar figures including Moon herself, are female, and packing wood is a woman's job; 2) the moon in its gibbous and crescent phases seems to be moving along with something on its "back", something dark like twigs and branches destined for the fire. Finally, all her light is converted into wood just as she unites with the sun in conjunction. It is as if her light were turned into "wood", that is, fuel for the Fire (Sun). The myth asserts that she feeds the fire with the dark things that she is carrying on her back, and we know that her return to the fireplace is a return to the sun and earth and to conjunction. This would be to say that the sun consumes the light of the moon, just as the evil spirits are said to do as the moon declines from full to dark. Her own cold light is somehow renewed during her stay on earth as the dark moon. Some of these themes are seen in radically different imagery in the story "Hare Kills Wildcat". There Hare mates with Grandmother (Earth) disguised as the one-eyed traveller, so strikingly like the one-eyed travelling Odhinn of Norse mythology. Hare's two eyes are the sun and the moon, and one of these he takes out and hides under a bush. This is the moon. So the moon in that story is buried under a stack of twigs, albeit the living twigs of a bush. This hidden, dark moon, is with the earth, lying prostrate upon the ground (and therefore not rising). The face of Hare is therefore the sky, and when he mates with earth in a hierogamy, he is the day sky laying over the earth. However, Grandmother is menstruating, which is to say, that she is with the moon, a co-incidence that we saw portrayed in the image of the second eye laying on the earth under the bush. The mice gnaw on the "eye" thus creating the mare that we see in the moon once it is put back into the head of Hare (see the Commentary to "Hare Kills Wildcat").

"I am going, but I will come back" -- the period of Evening Star's sojourn into the sky ("hunting") is becoming briefer and briefer, as he gets ever closer to conjunction. His return is the inferior conjunction.

"I will take away with me" -- Morning Star is making the proposition that when he ascends into the sky, the moon will emerge from conjunction along with him, and appear at his side. However, the opposite is the case: when the moon emerges from conjunction, it does so in the western sky, the region occupied by Evening Star. So the moon does not "run away" with Morning Star. This is one way in which Morning Star is actually defeated.

"painted" -- this paint is the red of the horizon at sunrise and sunset, whence Red Star gets his name.

"they were inlaid with knives" -- the knife pattern is found in the wings of many predatory birds, most particularly owls, such as the Snowy Owl illustrated in the inset. Knives were originally made of flint, and most of the knife-like patterns on the wings of owls look like flint. Stars are always likely to be homologized to owls since they are both night flyers. Both Red Star and Morning Star are warlike and therefore are predatory by nature.

"the blades were red" -- the knives are said to be red no doubt because it is meant to suggest that they were used for cutting flesh. However, flint, obsidian, and steel all have their shine and glint from the borrowed light of the sun. So if they are red, it is from the sun low on the horizon, where its light becomes red. Like the two arms, the red glow extends to the right and the left of each star. At the horizon, where these stars come into conjunction with the sun, the sky is bathed in red.

"wrapped" -- it is only when the Morning and Evening Stars get close to the horizon, which is to say, close to the sun, that they are bathed in red. This occurs just before and just after conjunction. So, at all other times, the shining red knives that form the arms of each of these stars are under wraps, which is to say, not visible. Since the scene is set before the fireplace (the place of the sun), the two stars are coming into conjunction with the sun, and consequently, their red arms are now exposed. For more on the question of the somatic knives, see below.

"then he lit it and took a few strong puffs" --the head controls the soul, as we see in the idea that even in death a warrior who has been beheaded by the enemy will, in the form of his ghost, chase after his triumphant opponent. However, whoever owns the head has control over that soul, and in the funerary theology, the victim whose head belongs to another must serve him, and may be compelled to guide the victor's kinsmen along the path to Spiritland. The pipe unites the fire with the head, and by extension, the pipe makes the fire part of the head. This is another way of saying that the Morning and Evening Stars are in conjunction with the sun-as-fire. Furthermore, both the passage of air and the rise of smoke also play into themes associated with these stars. In Grandfather's Two Families, where the grandfather is Sun, it is said,

(32) And he [Red Star] came running home, he even knocked all the trees down in his path, it is said. So they told him to come slower, so he stopped and the wind became calmer. ... (40) The second to the youngest said, "Grandfather! the Red (41) Star blessed me with fleetness," he said. "Hohó grandson, it is quite fair, but not the best," he said. Then he asked the youngest one, "Grandson, how are your running qualities?" he asked. "Grandfather, the Morning Star blessed me with fleetness," he said. (42) "Hâhâ'â grandson, that is the one, so stop right there," he said. ... (93) The two youngest ones were stars. So they went back up above. They were the Big Star [Morning Star] and the Red Star [Evening Star]. It is ended. [26]

So the motion of the Evening Star is associated with the wind, and is expressed in the image of his motion knocking over trees, which is what high winds do. This is no doubt an esoteric doctrine that the motion of at least certain celestial bodies is effected by the action of the wind, the only invisible agent of imparted motion that is known to common experience. Yet as fast as Evening Star is, his (twin) brother Morning Star is fleeter still. The pipe, besides associating fire and wind with heads, also creates clouds of smoke that can be rather obviously homologized to clouds. The Morning Star is know as He Who is Wrapped in Clouds. Similarly, it can only be the reddening of the thin clouds at sunset that could given Evening Star the name "Red Star". The pipe, therefore, is a powerful image that unites Sun with his grandsons Morning and Evening Star through the agency of fire, wind, cloud, and heads.

"again he bounced up higher" -- the peculiarity of the 8 year Venus cycle is that some years the Morning or Evening Star "bounces" up higher in the sky than other years; but eventually is drawn back into the "fire" (conjunction with the sun).

"he tried to grab him, but he raised himself up" -- in other words, he was not able to get him on the ground before he could get up. In the Venus Code, as we might term it, this is easily explained. Both Evening and Morning Stars are at the fireplace (the sun), and are therefore in solar conjunction. Venus has two conjunctions, a superior conjunction in which it is on the far side of the sun for 50 days, and an inferior conjunction, in which it is in front of the sun for a mere 8 days. Clearly this episode makes allegorical reference to the inferior conjunction. Both stars are together at the fire, but very quickly Morning Star is able to extract himself from this situation before Evening Star can behead him. Once the Evening Star comes into conjunction, it is only 8 days before the Morning Star rises and separates itself from the sun. Therefore, his reaction time is quicker than Red Star's.

"the fire started to darken" -- here we begin to encounter the astronomical code in which the two doppelgängers act out their cosmic parts as the Morning and Evening Stars. Bluehorn, the brother (as we learn from other parallel stories), is the Red Star, the name that the Hotcâgara give to the Evening Star. His identical looking opponent is the exact counterpart of the Evening Star, the "Great Star", as the Hotcâgara call the Morning Star. However, Bluehorn is a complex deity also identified with the blue sky and is by his essential nature a Waterspirit. The fire is the sun. To purely naked eye astronomy, the Morning Star leads the sun, but disappears ahead of it as the sun gains its ascendancy. The Evening Star is in the sky, it appears as if it were trailing behind the sun. So the Morning Star and the Evening Star are on opposite sides of the "fire", as they are on opposite sides of the celestial vault (the "lodge"), and indeed are on opposite sides of time. They are never in the sky at the same time. When the Evening Star is present, the Morning Star never rises, and when the latter is seen, the Evening Star is missing from the night sky. There are two periods in which neither is seen: inferior conjunction (8 days), and superior conjunction (90 days). During these periods, they are with the sun, and are here portrayed as being seated together on opposite sides of the fire. When the Morning Star falls into the fire, the sun and its light are in their ascendancy and there is no question of the fire going out. However, Morning Star regains his footing and manages to come up again on the horizon the next day. Being in the fire does not stop it from moving: it still has the power of its feet. Evening Star, however, falls into a fire that is going out. This is the setting sun. The blue sky in like manner follows after the setting sun, its blueness fading at last in the west. The Evening Star cannot relight his pipe as the fire-sun has set. Morning Star, as always, runs away from the fire (sun). It is now his turn to rise after having been with Evening Star in conjunction with the sun. Evening Star is left behind, and Morning Star now possesses his head, just as any warrior who is victorious will possess the head of his enemy, who is now reduced to being his slave. When Evening Star pulls himself out of the ashes, he finds that he no longer has the means to go hunting, a metaphor for being able to ambulate into the sky. It is now Morning Star alone who can travel about.

"to blow off the coals" -- the whole clause is expressed by a hapaxlegomenon, boxînîxî. The stem is xî´nî, reduplicated for emphasis, and means, "to knock off coals to make a better blaze" (Lipkind). The prefix bo- in this context means, "by blowing". So the brother attempts to restart the fire by blowing on the coals hard enough to remove a surface of ash.

"kicked his head off" -- the translation says only that "he cut his head off". However, the word translated is nâkûnûknehi (for nâkûnûkrehi), which J. O. Dorsey's informant, who was identified as "D" (David StCyr ?), defined as, "to kick and knock off a large piece from an object", which essentially agrees with Miner's nâkûnûk, "to break with the foot something having length, making a clean break." Nâ- is an instrumental prefix meaning "by use of the foot", showing that although the brother's opponent has arms inlaid with knives, he does not use them to sever the brother's head, but actually kicks it off. This recalls the beheading and kicking contests in Bladder and His Brothers. In the version of Charlie Houghton, Bladder and Herecgúnina confront each other and have a smoking incident just as in our present episode. When they are done, they have a kicking contest in which Bladder ends up kicking Herecgúnina to pieces. In the Meeker version, the contest is between Bladder and One Legged One, who is an avatar of Herecgúnina. There they bat each other's heads with lacrosse sticks, until finally Bladder gets permission from Earthmaker to push One Legged One's body away as his head falls. As a result he is destroyed. Our story mediates between these versions, having Herecgúnina kick off the head of Red Star and flee with his head, leaving the body behind.

"he gave a whoop, and ran away" -- in Hotcâk symbolism, sound can function as a symbol of light, since sound and light are analogous. His whoop therefore indicates his renewed visibility in the sky just ahead of the sun. Indeed, his brother's head has been extracted from the fire that Morning Star leaves behind him. Coincident to his renewed visibility is the fact that he is running away from the horizon and the earth generally.

"he chased after his head" -- this recapitulates the last sequence of events in a new imagery. As Evening Star approaches conjunction, as always, he follows after the sun, getting closer and closer to it. Every day, however, he trails the sun as it sets below the horizon, which is the darkening of the fire of the last image. At this time his sister, who is the moon, is also approaching him, as she is coming into conjunction herself. She too is now setting in the west near the sun. They both come to ground "arm in arm" so to speak. So she too is chasing the "head" (which is in conjunction with Morning Star).

"whimpering" -- the Hotcâk is idjanîk, from i, "mouth"; dja, "to exert"; and nîk, "small" -- "a small exertion of the mouth". It is translated as, "to cry out, to whine"; and of horses, "to whinny". Since it is a small vocalization, I have translated it in this context as "to whimper". In Hotcâk, as noted above, sound can symbolize light. On her way to conjunction, the moon is but a sliver of her former light, a lamentable condition expressed in the weakened sound of whimpering that escapes her lips.

"the fourth hill" -- in funerary allegories, the fourth hill is the last hill before entering Spiritland. Four is the number of completion, exemplified most paradigmatically by the four cardinal points. His failure to exceed the limit of the last hill shows that he was unable to escape earth. He is now on earth and will not rise for 271 days. Arithmatically, the numbers 3 and 4 can come into play here. In a four season system, each season lasts 91 days, and three seasons essentially are the time at which Evening Star remains on earth. However, it is impossible to believe that the Hotcâgara had even this level of arithmetic. Both Morning Star and Evening Star are in (inferior) conjunction with the sun and therefore "in" the sun as it seems to visible astronomy. However, this shared conjunction lasts only 2 x 4 days before Morning Star rises with augmented light, and separates itself from the sun.

"cried a great deal" -- the Evening Star is in the earth for an extended period of time (271 days), while the moon waxes and wanes as it nightly rises and sets. Inasmuch as sound symbolizes light, she continues to shine in cycles, but always sets in the west where her brother's body lies. Her visibility is her crying.

"headless man" -- with the loss of his head, Evening Star has lost his light, which is like his life, although strictly speaking he is still alive. He has become like the Moon, his sister, since in conjunction he lives yet has no light (head). The head is strongly identified with the ghost, and light (hâp) is identified with life as well. It is like the dichotomy of ghost and flesh, the flesh has a kind of life, but it is not the life of speech and hearing. It seems to be the life of touch. For spirits, the head : the body :: ghost : flesh. The irony is that Evening Star is at the peak of his powers when he falls into the fire (sun) and is beheaded, that is, separated from the light in his existence. What happened to this light? Briefly (about 8 days), it was in the fireplace (sun), but then it comes into the possession of is doppelgänger, the Morning Star. The basic problem in the theories of conjunction is the brute fact that the Evening Star and the Morning Star are just temporal segments of the single planet Venus. This was unknown in the north. It seemed that Evening Star at the height of its luminance suddenly disappeared from the sky for 271 days, apparently falling into the sun and the earth simultaneously. This too leads to a dichotomy. So where is he, in the earth or in the sun? The solution to the puzzle is to suggest that like humans, spirits have a kind of ghost/flesh duality, and the flesh resides with the earth, something like the human corpse, and the ghost goes off with the light. Here is where the theory takes on a new wrinkle. The superficially obvious solution is to say that the head of Evening Star must go off with the sun, its small light augmenting that of the Day Luminary (Hâp-wi-ra). However, that leaves another puzzle unsolved. In the case of the Moon, when it goes into conjunction, there is no light left for which to account; but when Evening Star falls, he does so at the height of his powers. As we now know, Venus is closest to the earth at inferior conjunction, and so relative to visual astronomy, it is at its brightest. So where did this light go? Furthermore, Morning Star begins its life in the sky by starting off at its brightest, then gradually fading. This is very unlike the moon as well, which starts off as a thin crescent, barely visible, then gradually builds to its crescendo of light. Where did Morning Star get all this light? The answer is clever. It must be that the Evening Star does not add its light to the sun, but to the Morning Star. It is not Sun who holds the head of Evening Star, it is his doppelgänger, Morning Star. Succinctly, this is the theory that Evening Star comes into conjunction with Morning Star. This explains Morning Star's magnitude at its rebirth in the sky. There is no way to settle the issue by observation -- the "head" of Evening Star is last seen falling into the fire (the sun), but it is out of this same fire a few days later that Morning Star emerges. It is like a celestial cup-and-ball game, under what cup the ball is hidden is not open to direct observation. However, given the great light of Morning Star at its inception, the obvious deduction, once this is appreciated as a problem, is that the head of Evening Star is with Morning Star. This is a window into the early science of North America, which cannot be disentangled from religion. For more on this theory, see below.

"she would feed him" -- the mystery is how Evening Star's earthly existence in the flesh alone is led and sustained. His light is suddenly gone, carried off by Morning Star. Clearly the theory is that he is "fed" by the moon. Somehow, when the moon is waxing, every night it rises larger and brighter than when it set the night before. So where did this light come from? Somehow, in the underworld, there must be a source of sustenance that restores luminance. Likewise, when the moon wanes, it is said to be eaten by evil spirits. So light is something that can be eaten and can be lost when the luminous body sojourns in the underworld in the earth. If the moon is feeding Evening Star, she must be feeding him her light which is lost little by little every night that she wanes. As we see below, she is out digging Indian potatoes when she is waxing, that is, when she is not in Evening Star's lodge. Otherwise, she is there feeding him (with the light whose loss is her waning).

"four years" -- four is the number of completion, like three among the Indo-Europeans and 7 or 40 among the Hebrews. All that is being asserted is that a complete unit of time has passed. The actual time that Evening Star is missing from the sky is, 8 (inferior conjunction) + 50 (superior conjunction) + 263 (Morning Star's ascendancy) = 321 days.

"she never ate" -- as the moon wanes it wastes away. Allegorically, it seems to suggest that she is feeding her brother on her own light. The things that they eat in desperation, bones, deerskin, and even Indian potatoes, are all white like the moon and Evening Star. Somehow, in the underworld, Evening Star cdan feed on mysterious sources of light to keep him alive until the radiance of his head is restored to him. See above.

"Indian potatoes" -- (Hotcâk, do; Omaha, nu; Dakota, mdo; Menomini, mátcetaupä´niûk, "Indian potato"; Potawatomi, mûkwópînik, "bear potato"; Delaware, hopniss; Pawnee, its, openauk by unknown Virginian tribes. [27]) This plant has a host of names in English: groundnut, groundnut vine, ground pea, wild bean, Indian bean (New Jersey), American potato bean, pig potato, Dakota potato (Minnesota), Dakota peas, traveler's delight (Mississipi), penac (Canada). [27.1] Its scientific name is Apios americana Medikus (also, Apios tuberosa Moench, Glycine apios Lynnaeus, but the binomial A. americana is found as early as Canut, who was the first to make an illustration of the plant [see below] [27.2]). A relative of the soybean [27.3], it is actually a legume, and has small clumps of long pods rather like string (green) beans, but containing a fruit like a pea. [27.4] That the beans were also eaten is attested by a Mr. Bartram, "who told me that the Indians who live farther in the country do not only eat these roots, which are equal in goodness to potatoes, but likewise take the peas which lie in the pods of this plant and prepare them like common peas." [28] In the Twins Cycle, Ghost is said to eat wild beans, so there is here a connection between the plant and one of the Twins. The Indian potato grows as a climbing vine, reaching a maximum height of eight feet. They are often found growing at the edge of muskegs where trail over alders and cattails. [28.1] In Wisconsin they are seen growing in tussock meadows formed by sedge grasses. [28.2] A single leaf is formed of five leaflets in perfect twin pairs, except for the last, which points in the same direction as the stalk. The "fragrant, dark purple flowers" [28.3] occur in clusters, blooming from July to September, and have a fragrance similar to violets. The "potatoes" are actually found not on the roots, but on rhizomes, which are branches that send shoots underground. Shown in the inset is a photograph of a single rhizome of Indian potatoes collected by the neighboring Menomini tribe. H. H. Smith, in connection with their use among the Menomini, says, "The root-stocks are moniliform, that is, like a chain of beads, running in every direction for from fifteen to twenty-five feet, at five or six inches below the surface. ... They run from marble size to three inches in diameter." [29] Because of their structure, they called them "rosaries" in New France. [30] Early explorers found this moniliform structure remarkable, and one enthusiastically declared that they were found "fortie together on a string, some of them as bigge as hennes egges; they grow not two inchs under ground: the which nuts we found as good as Potatoes," [30.1] and goes on to say that, "boiled or sodden they are very good meate." [31] Earlier on, Hariot when he was in Virginia in 1584 described the plant as "a kind of round root, some as big as walnuts, some far greater, found in moist and marshy grounds, growing many together in ropes as though they were fastened with a string." [31.1] In the XVIIIth century, "the Swedes ate them for want of bread and that in 1740 some of the English ate them instead of potatoes." [32] The English colonists in Massachusetts subsisted on groundnuts and mussels their first year in America (1621). [32.1] They are generally eaten during the winter, and in contemporary times, where they are cultivated, they are harvested around the time of the first frost. In France as early as 1635, attempts were made to cultivate them, but their tubers grew too slowly to make them a commercial success [32.2], although "... in preliminary trials at Louisiana State University some plants have annually yielded more than a kilogram of tubers" [32.3] Nevertheless, they were cultivated by the Creek Indians. [32.4] The tubers are either boiled or roasted, and taste rather like a white potato. "These 'potatoes' are sweet, starchy and quite palatable raw. They are peeled, parboiled, sliced and dried for winter use." [33] Perrot says of the neighboring Potawatomi, "That country also produces potatoes; some as large as an egg, others are the size of one's fist, or a little more. They boil these in water by a slow fire, during twenty-four hours; when they are thoroughly cooked, you will find in them an excellent flavor, much resembling that of prunes—which are cooked the same way in France, to be served with desert." [34] The Dakota like to prepare them by boiling them with dried buffalo meat. [34.1] They are a good source of nutrients, being about 18% protein. [34.2] Humans are not the only ones interested in groundnuts. "Major Long ... tells in his journal of his soldiers' finding the little tubers in quantities of a peck or more hoarded up in the brumal retreats of the field mice against the lean days of winter." [35] Dakota women used to collect as much as a half bushel from a single mouse nest. [35.1] This anecdote also connects the potato to Ghost, who in the story of the lost blanket (see its Commentary), is said to wear a wrap made of mouse fur. For more on the symbolism of the Indian potato, see below.

"they used only potatoes" -- the potatoes or groundnuts (do) (see above) are white, at least inside, like the light of the moon. Also like her, they are round. Her holiness is expressed not only in their roundness, but in their smoothness (see above). As she collects them, she becomes whiter and whiter, each one a little mirror of her own being adding its pale color to her own. During this gibbous phase, as the sun diurnally declines in the sky, the moon rises. After the moon sets it is absent from the sky for a time, but when it rises again, mysteriously, it is a little fuller than it was the day before. It is as if while she was on earth, she had collected to herself a little potato of light, a light not seen in the sky at the time that she collects it. So every day she is pulling a little bit more of her lunar light out of the ground whence she springs as she rises just before sunset. Furthermore, the light of the moon is also thought to be a kind of food, as it is said that the evil spirits, after the moon achieves fullness, begin to eat her until they finally consume her utterly (at conjunction). Thus the light of the moon, like its image the potato, is literally a food. The theory is that she is feeding this food, a round, smooth tuber made in her own image, to her brother. However, this image of the moon here stands for her light as she wanes. She comes to Evening Star with a full load of her white light, but she feeds it all to him one small piece at a time, leaving nothing for herself. Thus, as Evening Star sustains himself with light while on earth, a light hidden in his stomach, his sister Moon gets thinner and thinner. The Indian potato represents the light of the moon as it exists within the earth.

As we learn elsewhere, Evening Star, under the name Bluehorn, is a Waterspirit. Waterspirits are creatures that dwell in underground caverns lined in a luminous white substance. The caverns extend throughout the earth like a subterranean highway system through which the Waterspirits travel. The Indian potato behaves in a way reminiscent of this cavernous network. Its rhizomes extend underground for an immense distance, as much as 25 feet, radiating from the plant stalk like a network of highways. So the potato is not only like the moon, but grows in a way that reflects the living space of the Waterspirit race.

The Indian potato is also like the bull snake into which Red Star's moccasins turn (see above). The bull snake has the longest of tails, just as does the ground nut, whose rhizome extends upwards of 25 feet underground. The plant itself, like the bull snake, is a climber, but also like its herpetological counterpart, it only climbs bushes and shrubs, climbing no higher than 8 feet. It has tendrils that form the counterpart to constrictor snakes like the bull snake. Like the progeny of serpents, its offspring is the legume pod, in shape much like a snake, and inside which are found egg-shaped offspring. Just as the bull snake corresponds to the footwear of Red Star, so the Indian potato rhizomes are the footwear of the ground nut vine.

"and there was one there who created one thing here on earth" -- this is Hare. He was made ruler of this earth, as opposed to various super- and sub-terranean paradises ruled over by his brothers. Hare was created directly by Earthmaker to rescue mankind from the depredations of the evil spirits.

"Creation Lodge" -- this is a meeting place where something is created, whether it is a physical being of some kind or an institution such as a religious rite.

"east-west" -- this is, of course, the path of the sun and stars.

"a wolf and a bear" -- it is likely that these are paired because the Wolf and Bear Clans of the Hotcâk nation are friendship clans, probably on account of the similar nature of wolves and bears. However, wolves and bears in the wild are not on good terms since they often compete for the same game.

"the Great Ones (Xedera) are eight in number" -- that is, Evening Star (the injured brother), Trickster, Bladder, Turtle, Redhorn, Hare, Sun, and Grandmother Earth. Lists of the Great Spirits seldom agree completely. The choice of the number eight may be of interest. It is twice the number of completeness which is itself exemplified most prominently by the four quarters. However, the meeting of Evening and Morning Stars and the subsequent loss of the former to the spirits has a special tie to the number eight. From the standpoint of visual astronomy, both stars at conjunction with the sun appear to approach the sun and to reside on earth. This is like their meeting on opposite sides of the fireplace in a lodge on earth. Evening Star disappears from view after inferior conjunction, and is replaced in the sky by Morning Star. The inferior conjunction lasts eight days.

"a white deerskin" -- white deerskins are among the more important offerings to the spirits. In making a medicine bundle like the one described, it is important to house it in a vehicle suitable to a Great Spirit.

"then the light rested there like daylight" -- in the Medicine Rite, hâp, "light," also means "life." This power is conceived as a kind of life-force which physically expresses itself in terms of light.

"you have added bits and pieces of your powers" -- Radin finds this scene somewhat alien to Hotcâk thought. However, it is really a physical reflection of a typical blessing in which the vision seeker asks the spirits to take pity on him and is rewarded by a number of spirits each of whom gives him some measure of power. The mechanics of this transfer are not spoken of in other myths, but here it is understood that something is given up by the spirits at least temporarily and transferred to the recipient. Presumably, once the recipient dies, these powers return whence they came. Since these powers are destined to be used to create the Twins, they must also be conceived on the model of the creation of man by Earthmaker. This was, in one variant, done by his having taken some physical substance near his heart and fashioning the first man out of it. The heart, of course, is the seat of emotion, intellect, and life itself. Anything created from it, therefore, will possess its essential characteristics.

"Horecgúniga" -- it is easy to mistake an /e/ for an /o/, but here and elsewhere (pp. 45, 51), where the form Horecgúni-ra/-ga (Ao se doKo ni s/K.) occurs, there is no question that the vowel of the first syllable is /o/. The standard form is Herecgúnina. The terminal suffixes -ga, -ra, -na, are all forms of the definite article, and have the force of "the one such that ...". The penultimate suffix is -cguni, which expresses a degree of epistemological hesitation, and is often translated as "perhaps". The stem of the standard version of the name is here-, which is the verb "to be", which also means, "he is". So the name is usually taken to mean, "He who Might Be". Horecguniga ought to represent horé-cgúni-ga, where horé means "to set (as the sun), to go down", and as a noun, it means "west", which is also the meaning of wi-[h]ore-ra, literally, "sun - it goes down - the [place where]". So this whole version of the name ought to mean, "he who is perhaps at the place where the sun goes down", or even, "perhaps the one who sets" as if he were tentatively viewed as being the solar disc itself. This is consistent with what Meeker reports about the duel between Bladder and One Legged One, an avatar of Herecgúnina. In this story, Bladder bats the head of One Legged One into the heavens, and with Earthmaker's permission, pushes aside his body, so that the head fails to land back on its own neck. This is the death of One Legged One, but Meeker adds that it is an esoteric fact that the head bounced back into the heavens and continues to do so even today as the solar disc. [36] This would make the head of Herecgúnina the solar disc and make sense of the name Horecguniga. This latter, then, would be the older name, with Herecgúnina being disguised to conceal the esoteric truth about his solar nature. But in this story, the head of Horecgúniga is not the sun, but the visible disc of the Morning Star. When this star sets, it does so in the sun itself.

"these were the ones" -- Grandmother Earth is the only one who has stayed behind.

"even I am not his equal" -- the supposition that Herecgúniga is more powerful than Earthmaker himself is required to explain why Earthmaker did not take action to rectify matters himself. However, the two are thought at best to be equal, so what is being referred to here is Herecgúnina augmented by the head of Evening Star.

"blue" -- the Hotcâk is tco, which spans the spectrum from green through blue (sometimes called "breen" or "grue"). The translator adds, "(with lightning)". However, it might be the stuff of the sky as well.

"his seat-of-thought" -- wiwewi homînâkedja. Wiwewi denotes "mind, intelligence, thought" (Marino). The seat of intellection is the heart. It is said that the first man was created from a substance taken from the body of Earthmaker, near his heart. An earlier version says that the flesh used to create the first man came directly from Earthmaker's heart.

"I created one here whose powers remain equal to mine" -- this is perhaps a more recent notion in which the powers of Herecgúnina, the Devil, are the same as that of the Creator. Nevertheless, it can hardly be of Christian provenience. It may contribute to solving the Problem of Evil, for which see the next entry.

"I had not done well" -- this reveals Earthmaker to be a fallible god. His fallibility is best illustrated in his creation of man. His first attempt was defective, either because he put his legs on backward, or because one of his legs broke off (both symbols of an inability to properly navigate the Road of Life and Death). That Earthmaker is limited and finite offers an obvious solution to the Problem of Evil which so vexes the major monotheistic religions -- evil is possible because the greatest of the Good Spirits does not have the power to completely prevent it. In fact, given the great power of Herecgúnina, there is about as much evil in the world as there is good. Apart from mankind, the Moon is probably the best illustration of the dynamic of good and evil as it operates in the world -- Earthmaker created the Moon full, but the evil spirits eat it away, so that the Creator has to make it anew every month.

"the two-legged walkers" -- this is a formulaic expression used in the Medicine Rite to denote human beings. This shows that some aspects of this myth, inasmuch as they are influenced by the Medicine Rite, are probably of recent vintage.

"the sun stood straight up" -- the Hotcâk is wirarotcâdje. This breaks down as wira, "the sun"; rotcâ, "straight"; dje, "he stood". This is the normal expression meaning "noon". However, in this context it serves well as a double entendre, referring to Sun's sexual excitement. Noontime represents the sun's interstitial state between ascent and descent at which it has achieved it greatest height, its zenith. It is in this border time, when the sun is neither ascending nor descending, that magical potentiality is at its maximum. It is also at this moment that the sun's rays are their most potent, which is analogous to sexual potency. It is in this moment of both potency and suspension that Sun gives expression to its mysterious powers of magical impregnation for which it is known the world over.

"on the hillside" -- while all this is going on, Evening Star is on the earth with the Sun, that is, in conjunction with the sun. Whenever his sister Moon is with him, she is also in conjunction. Therefore, when she is not with him, she is moving away from conjunction. This may be thought of as climbing a hill. Unlike her crescent stage, which she exhibits when near the earth and sun, she is now higher above the horizon, just as if she had climbed a hill.

"digging potatoes basking in the sun" -- during the late gibbous to full phase, the moon is seen during the daytime, so she is literally "basking in the sun".

"basking her buttocks" -- the roundness of the female buttocks especially is analogous to the full moon, itself conceived as being female. It is interesting that in recent times in America the expression "mooning" means "presenting one's bare buttocks to someone". However, in animal species particularly, this female presenting is a sexual invitation.

"everywhere" -- when the moon is full, the light of the sun touches all of her. This is not the theory that the moon shines by the sun's borrowed light, nor that the moon is full because it is in opposition to the sun, but the idea that all there is to the moon, its maximum physical being, is present for a time in daylight and is therefore touched everywhere by the rays of the sun.

"turning her buttocks" -- when the moon is fully in opposition to the sun, it rises as the sun sets. In days prior to this, however, the moon is slightly gibbous and