Whiskey Making

by Jasper Blowsnake

Jasper Blowsnake

Hōcąk-English Interlinear Text

(1) And they said to me that they did a great deal of fire-water drinking. All of the Medicine Rite men, as many as were in the Medicine Rite Lodge, were doing it, everyone of them drank. Some of them, it can be said, were drunk when they went in. Then indeed there was great medicine. Therefore, there was no one who could say anything. So he was drunk, but there he was. Then I went there and they tried to make me [participate]. "You're going to sing, use your gift, do it!" I was told, and they asked me to drink whiskey. Not once did I ever use to do it. "If you are to make a speech, if the speech is any good, you'll make it for yourself," they would always tell me. "Now, let it go. K’ārēsgē, if I were to do such a thing, I might overdo the speech." Finally, again, my leader also said, "Kunú, truly I am tired out from drinking. You yourself will do it tonight. So you are not to be bashful," he said to me. (2) Yet I told him that I refused.

Then I gave in. They offered me whiskey. "The middle two bottles, these you take along with you. You should teach the ones that you love as you go along," he said to me. I took them, and that's the sort of thing I did. Loving them, I gave it to them. "How you have treated us (to drinks), but you haven't had a drink," I was told. "Then I think I'll have just a little." From that time on I drank.

At that time, there I stayed and helped my Medicine Rite leader. When I got up in the morning, he used to give me a full dipper of whiskey. Once I was really drunk, then I'd go to work. In the evening, when I came back, he would say to me, "You're too tired, you must come back," and right away he would spit whiskey into the drinks we used. When we were really drunk, then we would go to sleep. He always treated me that way. (3) That I was doing, and we ran out of whiskey. We bought a great deal more again, and these are what we used. Then he made me get into the whiskey habit. I wanted to get back to God, but he made me forget about it. From then on, despite the knowledge that I thought I had of the Medicine Rite, I was thereafter only a drunk.

To begin with, a woman to whom I was married, died. The two children I had, both of them died. And with these, thus I had been, to be a widower. I was grieving for four years. Then I got married again. Of our three children, two of them died. Then again their parent died. After she died, they blamed me for her death. Then I quit the Medicine Dance there. When I think of it, I believe that the Medicine Rite was the cause of this. Then again I took care of the Feasts, both of them together. These were a life, (4) so they said, but I did not find any bit of life. Feasts were not held that often, and if I hadn't joined the Medicine Rite, I would have had lots of children, and I would not have lost my wife a second time. This rite is the cause of it, and very much to the bad if I had not quit the feast.

And the great medicine men, the ones who had poisons, all the time they used to tell us to poison. I never did that. If I made some human eat something lethal, he would die. For this reason they used to call me, but I never did it. I know something about one of the medicine men: if I were to try something, the first thing that they would tell me is they would tell me of a particular poison, "Night Traveler" they called it, they said that it was this kind that they tried to give to me, they said. At first they were doing night traveling, at that time when they first thought of it, when they did night travel, four nights' distance, that far, they would travel very near. (5) They would transform themselves into dogs, and again into bears, and again they used the blackhawk, and again they used the nąnaworášošopgē, and then again owls, turkeys, ghosts, this many they could transform themselves into. This is what they told me, but at that time they had this sort of thing. At the present time, we can't do anything of that kind, nevertheless they are good experienced housekeepers, so you can make him into a housekeeper. If you have it there in back what they use, that is made for night walking, if you were sleeping at night, none of the night walkers would come near you. Night walkers would be afraid of the one that you have.

These kinds of people used to say, "These night walkers of the Medicine Rite are dying off," they said, and these are liars, but, "These night walkers are not like that," he said, they are saying. "In the old days, the Medicine Rite men really killed each other. They would really do it," he said. They are not speaking the truth. It's always been that way, (6) but they are saying it (just the same). What they said is not true, and if they say it, they have lied a great deal; for those who are saying it, it is a thing made for them by the Devil. Night walkers say, "Higų̄́į̄, like at first these night walkers were really turning into bears, and as their powers fade, they employ something else and are going about (that way). They transformed themselves into dogs, and again birds they transformed themselves into, and they would fly away." They have really been doing this from the beginning. At present they can't do anything of the kind, but initially they were really like that. They were saying that therefore they are still holy. What they said was not the truth, and what they were saying was very much a lie, that's the sort of thing they were saying.

(7) Finally, he did it. A man who dreams of grizzly bears said he could make whiskey. I heard that in time they thought he was a wonder. He was holy, but there was one who doubted that he could make some whiskey. He had said that he was holy, we all know we have seen, if doubting one of them will be, we would doubt. If someone would happen to doubt it, from the grizzly bear he has holy standing, he would offer something he has from his open hand, úsgē, does one have a right to doubt him? If we doubt him, (8) he is (still) holy, but we are not like he is. Why should we doubt him? He could do it, that's why he says it. As for me, I'm unable to doubt it.

It is said that at one time a man picked him up as a companion, and then again one of the brothers of the holy man, the three of them went traveling on foot. They made ready whiskey mixed with water for the holy man and his brother. They took a bottle in there, and they washed it, and there he filled it half full, and then the other half with water. Both of them he tasted, and one of these bottles tasted of lamp oil. Something was the matter with one or the other of them.

Then they came. Both of them drank up a half pint. They also say that he drank some with him. "This bottle is the last," they said. (9) He knew that they had lied about it. They had the bottle mixed with water, the one that had a taste of lamp oil, before this they hadn't drunk it. Inasmuch as they were hiding one of the bottles, they must have said that they don't want to give me any. Then they said, "I really want some whiskey to drink," they said. The other man said, "Korá, we can't do anything, but I wish I had some myself," but then the young man had had the whiskey diluted with water, knowing all about the half pint that is left, but the man and his friend with him said to the holy one, "Hohó, I wish I had some," both of them said, and the other man did this: he poured tobacco to the holy man. "Hąhą, I pour tobacco. I think that I wish to drink some whiskey," he said to him. "Hó," he said, "make a Mąnuserek for me, and fill one of the bottles with water and place it on the mound," he said. Then the boy asked him to do it. "Let's drink some of the whiskey," he said. Then an empty bottle was handed to him by the younger man. "Put water in it, place it there," they told him. When he looked at the bottle, a piece of the mouth of the bottle had broken off. When he came back, "Bring it here, let's look at it," they told him. Then he handed them the bottle. And he filled it with water, and they said to him, "Put it there," they told him. When he looked, the mouth of the bottle was broken off; it was not the same, but he left it there. He knew it (the piece) was gone from there. They were going to fool him. (11) They used a different bottle, but he left it there that way.

And, now then, they sang grizzly bear songs, and danced, and performed miracles. There they stood up and shook the bottle. Finally, they shook it four times, and, "Hąhą, now we're through. Take it, and drink it," they said. The boy opened it, and he knew that this very one would be the whiskey mixed with water that he had had. He knew all about how it was going to taste like lamp oil, and he tasted it. So sure enough, that's what it was. It tasted of lamp oil. "Korá, it is good, although it is real whiskey, however, it tastes of lamp oil," said the two men. (12)

They tried to fool a man, but he knew well what they were doing. They who went to see the whiskey, they are saying, there he changed the whiskey that they left in the contents of the bottle and they kept the water, they didn't make the whiskey by holy means. They did it to trick him. These were of that sort.¹

Commentary. "fire-water" — pec-ni, literally, "fire-water," on account of the burning sensation that the downing of whiskey has. This way of characterizing whiskey was almost universal among the diverse Indian tribes.

"Medicine Rite" — an extensive ritual performed by a select group designed to secure long life and success in Spiritland that was expressed in their ability to be reborn among the living. In some respects, it resembles the Greek Mystery Rites.

Seth Eastman

A Medicine Rite Lodge

"Medicine Rite Lodge" — here "lodge" means "organization." The Medicine Rite lodge itself is a very long structure built to house the ritual of the Medicine Rite, which requires space for a large number of people, many of whom would be, at one time or another, walking circular paths around the central fire. Additional space had to be provided for musicians and for the full membership of the rite.

"they would travel very near" — on the verso of page 4 Paul Radin clarifies this obscure remark: "They would travel 4 nights distance in a short time as though it was not far at all." Medicine Rite men could have the powers of warlocks. In fact, hąhioraja, "night walkers," was another term for "witch" as was wakk, which meant both "poisoner" and "witch".

"nąnaworášošōpgē" — above this word is written "sparrow?". However, nąnąžožopge, which is missing the infixed -worá-, means "swallow," although Marino has it also translated as "night bird." Marino also gives this latter designation to the worašošopke, but adds parenthetically, "a big owl". Elsewhere, Marino says that the variant term worasšóšopke refers to a "small owl." Marino speculates that šop means "owl." Jipson says that wašošopkera refers to the nightingale. The only conclusion that has a tincture of certainty is that a nąnaworášošopgē is some kind of night bird, most likely an owl.

"if you have it" — refers to an article or fetish possessed of medicine-power that is used in effecting night walking. At this point in the text, Radin inserts a comment: "i.e. The other night travelers would be afraid of the one you have. That is, your medicine would be more powerful than theirs."

"Devil" — the text uses the name of the chief bad Spirit in the old religion, Herešgúniga.

"fade" — Paul Radin adds this comment to the text here: "When a man transformed himself into a bear, etc., after awhile his powers would fade, and then he would have to transform himself into another animal. The powers give out."

"dreams" — hąté. This word, in the present context, does not likely refer to sleeping dreams, but visions acquired through fasting and crying to the Spirits.

"from the grizzly bear" — that is, he was blessed in a vision by a Grizzly Bear Spirit who granted him certain powers in the possession of that Spirit.

Kurzon		Kurzon
U.S. Sperm Oil Imports, 1805-19052 Enlarge		A Bottle of Sperm Oil Enlarge

"lamp oil" — at one point hiratážakerehíkīni is translated as "kerosene," but the lamp oil referenced here is more likely that of sperm whale oil, which was eventually superseded by kerosene. Kerosene, however, is poisonous and has a highly repellent taste, so it is not likely that the lamp oil bottle was originally a kerosene container. Sperm oil is a waxy liquid of a slightly yellowish tint that, when used in lamps, burns with a bright odorless flame. There was plenty of sperm oil extant in the early XXᵀᴴ Century when this account was collected, although the date of the events related may well have occurred quite some time earlier.

A Reconstruction of a Mąnusērek

"Mąnusērek" — literally, "Tear Open the Earth," a name given to a dual-mound that is constructed for the Buffalo Dance. In the appointed lodge they prepare for the dance by creating a loose mound of dirt which is called the "buffalo mound." On top of the mound, or Mąnusērek, they place a plate of maple sugar. Of the Mąnusērek, Alice C. Fletcher says,

In the Buffalo dance which is given four times in the month of May and early June, the dancers are four men and a large number of women. As the dancers enter, each woman brings in a handful of fine earth and in this way two mounds are raised in the centre at the east, that is between the eastern entrance and the fire, which is about fifteen feet from the eastern entrance. The mounds thus formed are truncated cones. ... The mounds were about four inches high and not far from eighteen inches in diameter.³

Puzzling, however, is the notation made in connection with the word Mąnúsēregᵉra. An arrow is drawn from the translation of this word past the next word to an icon, ⨁. No further explanation is offered. This symbol is found again here:

The next morning before they were to set out, the warleader said, "Now then, my attendants, whatever you have brought to strengthen yourselves, that you must now present." Therefore they placed before him all the things that they had that were wákącąk (holy). Turtle stuck his two edged knife there with the rest of the holy things, and Trickster placed his warclub there. Wolf set down a circle of wood with a cross of string within it; and attached to the center of this cross was a shrunken piece of buckskin [inset]. Many holy things were placed before the warleader. ... The holy object that he owned derived its power from this: the circle was the earth, and the cross was the path to anywhere on its surface. The shrunken leather at the center meant that whatever the distance to any place on earth, Wolf could shrink it so that there was no place that he could not quickly reach.⁴

So in the ⨁ symbol, the circle represents the earth, and the cross is a path to anywhere on its surface. Wolves are the main predators of buffalo, but it is clear that the buffalo are even more far-ranging than wolves. The ⨁ symbol's essential import in this context is found in the fact that the holy men were able to turn themselves into animals and while in theriomorphic form, were able to turn any great distance into a short excursus. As Night Walkers their initial preference seems to have been for the nocturnal bear, and it comes as no surprise that the holy man was blessed by a Grizzly Spirit. Blue Bear, who resides in the east where the Nights originate, is himself a grizzly. The fireplace is built to the west of the Mąnusērek, as though it was the setting sun. This identifies the mound itself with the cardinal direction governed by Blue Bear himself. Little Priest, the last war chief of the Hōcągara, believed that he was a reincarnated grizzly bear. After he was seriously wounded in battle, he performed a Grizzly Bear dance. As an essential part of the ritual, they built a mound for him, called a mą-wárupuru.⁵

In the middle of the room there was a mound. The second time he went around it walking faster. The third time he danced a little as he went around. Now then, the fourth time he danced hard around it. He came back to the middle of the room, put his hand on the mound, and rubbed all his wounds. There he was healed, but only on the back was it not quite well, so he reached it with great effort to make it well. So in the morning the Indians danced the Victory Dance.⁶

This mound is similar to an altar, but more powerful in its efficacy, perhaps due to its more intimate connection to the Grizzly Spirit. Its earth even partakes of the Soldier Clan's power to fight disease and disability. In myth two brothers go to the top of a hill where, like the priest of the Blue Bear Subclan, they have constructed a mound-altar, and there they are able to transform themselves into grizzly bears.⁷ These supernatural feats are made possible in part by the construction of an earthen mound. Such a mound is a model of a mountain, its shape and purpose giving it efficacy. As Eliade points out, "Mountains are often looked on as the place where sky and earth meet, a 'central point' therefore, the point through which the Axis Mundi goes, a region impregnated with the sacred, a spot where one can pass from one cosmic zone to another."⁸ Such seams in creation where disparate realms of creation meet, Eliade has termed a Center.⁹ The medicine men in our story have constructed a Center in the form of a mound where a spectator could expect that the full efficacy of the Grizzly Bear blessing would take effect for their benefit.

Comparative Material. A well known parallel between witchcraft and poisoning is found in the King James translation of Exodus 22:18: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The word translated as "witch" is the Hebrew mekhashepha (מְכַשֵּׁפָה), a word whose meaning is controversial in some circles, some contending that it should be translated as "poisoner."¹⁰ A better understanding of its meaning can be derived from its etymology. The Hebrew Khashep seems clearly to be cognate to Akkadian kašāpu, "to cast spells on someone," kaššāpu (𒅜), "sorcerer," kišpu (𒅜), "sorcery."¹¹ So prima facie there is some connection between mekhashepha and witchcraft/sorcery. When we examine how the Greeks translated this word, we encounter a more intimate connection to poisoning. In the Greek translation of the Septuagint, Exodus 22:18 reads, Φαρμακοùς οὐ περιποιήσετε, "You shall not spare the lives of sorcerers."¹² So here mekhashepha was translated as φαρμἄκóς (pharmăkós). A φαρμἄκóς is, "a poisoner, sorcerer, magician."¹³ What a pharmăkós uses is a φáρμἄκον (phármăkon), which "in the bad sense" means, "an enchanted potion, a philtre, so a charm, spell, enchantment,"¹⁴ and "a drug, poison."¹⁵ From the same stem is φαρμἄκíς (pharmăkís), "a sorceress, witch";¹⁶ φαρμἄκεúς (pharmăkeús), "a poisoner, sorcerer";¹⁷ φαρμἄκεíᾶ (pharmăkeíã), "the use of drugs, potions, spells,"¹⁸ and "poisoning, witchcraft";¹⁹ φαρμἄκάω (pharmăkáō), "to suffer from the effects of poison, to be ill or distraught."²⁰ We also have φαρμἄκεúω (pharmăkeúō), whose primary sense is, "to administer a drug," but also means, "to use enchantments, practice sorcery,"²¹ and "to use enchantments, to drug, to give someone a poisonous or stupefying drug";²² φαρμἄκ-ώδης (pharmăk-ṓdēs), "poisonous";²³ φαρμáσσω (pharmássō), "to bewitch by potions or philtres."²⁴ All these variants suggest that, at least among the Greeks, and probably among the Hebrews, there was a class of people whom we might call "drugsters" who, in the negative sense of the word, were sorcerers who specialized in poisoning people. The translation at issue should be, "You shall not spare sorcerer-poisoners." The mekhashepha, kaššāpu, and φαρμἄκóς present an interesting parallel to our present story, in which the Night Walkers, the sorcerers (wakąwą́x) of the Medicine Rite, were also infamous for using poisons (waką́wąx) on their opponents. This synonymy of terms for sorcerers and poisoners in disparate peoples, shows us that the arts of black magic were ineffacacious and required a more reliable mundane and pragmatic vehicle of transmitting their beligerent power. The appearance of black magic could be had more practically by slipping the victim a secret dose of poison and attributing its effects to the hidden powers that the sorcerer possessed from the spiritual realm.

Links: Wolf and Dog Spirits, Bears, Blackhawks, Turkeys, Ghosts, Herešgúnina.

Stories: pertaining to the Medicine Rite: The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Journey to Spiritland, Battle of the Night Blessed Men and the Medicine Rite Men, Holy Song, Holy Song II, Maize Origin Myth, The Necessity for Death, Hog's Adventures, Great Walker's Warpath; mentioning whiskey (fire water): Little Fox and the Ghost, Rich Man, Boy, and Horse, Turtle and the Merchant, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, Brawl in Omro, Chief Wave Tries to Take the Whiskey, Chief Wave and the Big Drunk, Sodom and Gomorrah; mentioning drunkenness: The Drunkard's Self-Reflections, Chief Wave and the Big Drunk, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, Chief Wave Tries to Take the Whiskey, The Brawl in Omro, Jerrot's Temperance Pledge — A Poem, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Version 1, Little Fox and the Ghost, Version 1, Migistéga's Death, Version 1, The Spanish Fight, Snowshoe Strings; mentioning witches or warlocks: The Witch Men's Desert, The Thunder Charm, The Wild Rose, The Seer, Turtle and the Witches, Great Walker and the Ojibwe Witches, The Claw Shooter, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, Migistéga’s Magic, Mijistéga and the Sauks, Migistéga's Death, The Mesquaki Magician, The Tap the Head Medicine, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing, Battle of the Night Blessed Men and the Medicine Rite Men, The Magical Powers of Lincoln's Grandfather, The Hills of La Crosse, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara (v. 2), Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Thunder Cloud Marries Again, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle, Potato Magic, Young Rogue's Magic; mentioning ghosts: The Journey to Spiritland, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Holy One and His Brother, Worúxega, Little Human Head, Little Fox and the Ghost, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, The Lame Friend, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Hare Steals the Fish, The Difficult Blessing, A Man's Revenge, Thunder Cloud is Blessed, Two Roads to Spiritland, Sunset Point, The Message the Fireballs Brought; mentioning poisons: Hare Visits the Blind Men, The Creation of Evil, The Island Weight Songs, The Seer, The Shaggy Man, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (v. 3), Thunder Cloud Marries Again, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth (v. 1), Ocean Duck, The Diving Contest, A Wife for Knowledge, Great Walker's Medicine (antidote); about turkeys: Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, Bluehorn's Nephews, Hog's Adventures, Black and White Moons, The Birth of the Twins, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Story of the Medicine Rite; mentioning black hawks: Origin Myth of the Hawk Clan (v. 2), The Dipper, The Thunderbird, Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Waruǧábᵉra, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Morning Star and His Friend, The Coughing Up of the Black Hawks, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, Heną́ga and Star Girl, The Animal Spirit Aids of the Medicine Rite, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing, The Race for the Chief's Daughter; in which owls are mentioned: Owl Goes Hunting, Crane and His Brothers, The Spirit of Gambling, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Glory of the Morning, The Chief of the Heroka, Partridge's Older Brother, Waruǧábᵉra, Wears White Feather on His Head, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, The Green Man; mentioning (spirit) bears (other than were-bears): White Bear, Blue Bear, Black Bear, Red Bear, Bear Clan Origin Myth, The Shaggy Man, Bear Offers Himself as Food, Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear, Grandmother Packs the Bear Meat, The Spotted Grizzly Man, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Redhorn's Sons, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Hocąk Clans Origin Myth, The Messengers of Hare, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Hocąk Migration Myth, Red Man, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Two Boys, Creation of the World (v. 5), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Brown Squirrel, Snowshoe Strings, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, The Spider's Eyes, Little Priest's Game, Little Priest, How He went out as a Soldier, Morning Star and His Friend (v. 2), How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Trickster's Tail, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Warbundle Maker, Whiskey Making, cf. Fourth Universe; mentioning grizzly bears: Blue Bear, Brass and Red Bear Boy, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Were-Grizzly, The Spotted Grizzly Man, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Roaster, Wazųka, Little Priest's Game, The Story of How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, Migistega's Magic, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, The Two Boys (giant black grizzly), Partridge's Older Brother, The Chief of the Heroka, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Dipper (white grizzly), Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, The Creation of Man (v. 9), The Creation of Evil, cp. The Woman Who Fought the Bear; relating to dogs or wolves: The Gray Wolf Origin Myth, A Man and His Three Dogs, White Wolf, Wolves and Humans, The Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Old Man and His Four Dogs, Worúxega, The Dogs of the Chief's Son, The Dog that became a Panther, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Wild Rose, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, The Canine Warrior, The Dog Who Saved His Master, The Raccoon Coat, Wojijé, The Big Eater, Why Dogs Sniff One Another, The Healing Blessing, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Trickster Loses His Meal, Sun and the Big Eater, Redhorn's Sons, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Hog's Adventures, Holy One and His Brother, The Messengers of Hare, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Grandmother's Gifts, The Hocąk Migration Myth, Bladder and His Brothers, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, The Old Man and the Giants, Rich Man, Boy, and Horse, Kunu's Warpath, Morning Star and His Friend, Black Otter's Warpath, Black Otter’s Sacrifice to a Thunder, Chief Wave and the Big Drunk, Peace of Mind Regained (?); mentioning feasts: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (Chief Feast), The Creation Council (Eagle Feast), Hawk Clan Origin Myth (Eagle Feast), Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth (Waterspirit Feast), A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga (Mąką́wohą, Waną́cĕrehí), Bear Clan Origin Myth (Bear Feast), The Woman Who Fought the Bear (Bear Feast), Grandfather's Two Families (Bear Feast), Wolf Clan Origin Myth (Wolf Feast), Buffalo Clan Origin Myth (Buffalo Feast), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Feast), Buffalo Dance Origin Myth (Buffalo Feast), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (Buffalo Feast), The Blessing of Šokeboka (Feast to the Buffalo Tail), Snake Clan Origins (Snake Feast), Blessing of the Yellow Snake Chief (Snake Feast), Rattlesnake Ledge (Snake Feast), The Thunderbird (for the granting of a war weapon), Turtle's Warparty (War Weapons Feast, Warpath Feast), Porcupine and His Brothers (War Weapons Feast), Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega) (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), White Thunder's Warpath (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), The Fox-Hocąk War (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), Šųgepaga (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2) (Warbundle Feast, Warpath Feast), Black Otter's Warpath (Warpath Feast), Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (Warpath Feast), Kunu's Warpath (Warpath Feast), Trickster's Warpath (Warpath Feast), The Masaxe War (Warpath Feast), Redhorn's Sons (Warpath Feast, Fast-Breaking Feast), The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits (Fast-Breaking Feast), The Chief of the Heroka (Sick Offering Feast), The Dipper (Sick Offering Feast, Warclub Feast), The Four Slumbers Origin Myth (Four Slumbers Feast), The Journey to Spiritland (Four Slumbers Feast), The First Snakes (Snake Feast), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (unspecified), Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts (unnamed).

Themes: a human turns into a (spirit) animal: How the Thunders Met the Nights (Thunderbird), Waruǧábᵉra (Thunderbird), The Dipper (hummingbird), Keramaniš’aka's Blessing (blackhawk, owl), Elk Clan Origin Myth (elk), Young Man Gambles Often (elk), Sun and the Big Eater (horse), The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Were-Grizzly, Partridge's Older Brother (bear), The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother (bear), Porcupine and His Brothers (bear), The Shaggy Man (bear), The Roaster (bear), Wazųka (bear), The Spotted Grizzly Man (bear), Brass and Red Bear Boy (bear, buffalo), White Wolf (dog, wolf), Worúxega (wolf, bird, snake), The Brown Squirrel (squirrel), The Skunk Origin Myth (skunk), The Fleetfooted Man (otter, bird), A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga (otter), The Diving Contest (Waterspirit), The Woman who Married a Snake (snake, Waterspirit), The Omahas who turned into Snakes (four-legged snakes), The Twins Get into Hot Water (v. 3) (alligators), Snowshoe Strings (a frog), How the Hills and Valleys were Formed (v. 3) (earthworms), The Woman Who Became an Ant, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ant); people turn into birds: Waruǧábᵉra (owl, Thunderbird), Worúxega (eagle), The Thunderbird (blackhawk, hummingbird), The Dipper (blackhawk, hummingbird), Keramaniš’aka's Blessing (blackhawk, owl), The Hocąk Arrival Myth (ravens), The Annihilation of the Hocągara I (turkey), The Quail Hunter (partridge), The Markings on the Moon (auk, curlew), The Fox-Hocąk War (goose), The Fleetfooted Man (water fowl?), The Boy Who Became a Robin (robin); blessings from a Grizzly Spirit: The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Little Priest's Game, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts.

Notes

¹ Jasper Blowsnake, "Whiskey Making," in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, n.d.) Notebook 64: 1-13.

² Walter Sheldon Tower, A History of the American Whale Fishery (Philadelphia: Pub. for the University, 1907) p. 126, Table 111.

³ Miss Alice C. Fletcher, "Symbolic Earth Formations of the Winnebagoes," Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 32 (1884): 396-397.

⁴ John Rave, "A Wakjonkaga Myth," in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Notebook #37: 1-70 [19-23].

⁵ This is essentially synonymous with mąnuserek, and comes from mą, "earth," and wá-rupurú, "to plow it up."

⁶ (q.v.) John Harrison, "The Story of Little Priest," Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks, Freeman #3892 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, June, 1908) Winnebago III, #11a: 224-241 (= 269-286), Winnebago III, #5: 74-82, Winnebago I, #7a: 53-77. The end of this was translated and published in Radin, The Winnebago Tribe, 300-301. Vide — W. C. McKern, Winnebago Notebook (Milwaukee: Milwaukee Public Museum, 1927) 92-103.

⁷ W. C. McKern, Winnebago Notebook, 273.

⁸ Mircea Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion (New York: New American Library [Meridian], 1958), 99-100; see also, Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, trs. Willard Trask. Volume 76 of the Bollingen Series (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964), 266-269.

⁹ For the concept of the Centre and its associated symbolism, see Mircea Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion, 81, 367-387; Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane. The Nature of Religion. The Significance of Religious Myth, Symbolism, and Ritual within Life and Culture (New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, Inc., 1959) 40-42, 49, 57-58, 64-65; Mircea Eliade, Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1969) 42-43; William C. Beane and William G. Doty, edd., Myths, Rites, Symbols: A Mircea Eliade Reader, 2 vols. (New York: Harper & Row, 1975) 2:373; Alwyn Rees and Brinley Rees, Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales (London: Thames & Hudson, 1961) Ch. VII.

¹⁰ see the discussion at Elizabeth Sloane, "Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: A Murderous Mistranslation?" Haretz, 17 August 2017.

¹¹ J. Black, A. R. George, N. Postgate, A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian. Second (corrected) printing. SANTAG Arbeiten und Untersuchungen zur Keilschriftkunde 5 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, ²2000) ss.vv. kašāpu I, kaššāpu I, KA×BAD.

¹² The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English, ed. Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1851) p. 99, Exodus 22:18.

¹³ All the examples that follow are from the "Middle Liddell," 855b, ss.vv. More examples with detailed citations can be found in the "Big Liddell": Henry George Liddell, A Greek-English Lexicon (New York: Harper, 1897) 1657a-b, ss.vv. As to the use of φαρμἄκóς in this sense, see Hippon, 4, 28. The Big Liddell also cites this very verse of Ex. 22:18 from the Septuagint. Cf. φαρμακíστατος, -άτη, "the most arrant sorcerer or sorceress," Suidas, s.v. Μηδεíα; Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 17. 4, 1.

¹⁴ Homer, Odyssey 4.220 sq., cf. Aristophanes, Plutus 302, Theocritus 2.15.

¹⁵ Sophocles, Trachiniae 685; Euripides, Medea 385; πιεῖν τὸ ϕ. Antiphon, In Oratores Attici 143.11, Plato, Phaedo init., 115 A; φάρμακα ἐσβάλλειν ἐς τὰ φρέατα, Thucydides 2.

¹⁶ Aristophanes, Nephelai 749; Demosthenes, 793.27; Aristotle, Historia animalium 6.22, 18.

¹⁷ Sophocles, Trachiniae 1140; Plato, Symposium 203 D, et alia.

¹⁸ Plato, De Legibus 933 B, Protagoras 354 A, Timaeus 89 B; Menander, Incerta 6.

¹⁹ Demosthenes, 1025.11; Polybius, 6. 13, 43.

²⁰ Demosthenes, 1133.26; Theophrastus, Fr. 105; Plutarch 2.1016 E, et alia.

²¹ φαρμακεúειν τι és τὸν ποταµόν, "to use it as a charm to calm the river," Herodotus, 7.114.

²² Euripides, Andromache 355.

²³ Plutarch, Antony 47, 2.974 C, etc.

²⁴ Appolonius of Rhodes 3.478, 4.61; and in 3.859.