A Catalogue of Themes
Themes and story types are probably not logically distinct categories, but in most cases it is possible to separate them. Nevertheless, the reader is encouraged to examine "A Catalogue of Story Types," in addition to the present file.
The themes of this collection do not well resemble their counterparts in Aarne-Thompson, and no attempt has been made to fit them into that mold. The reason for their divergence lies in the fact that most of the stories in this collection are myths, not folktales, a fact that makes a very big difference to their thematic content.
Note: This catalogue is not yet exhaustive. The process of adding themes to the list is ongoing, and new themes will occasionally be introduced when they are adduced from the material.
Contents
The Sacred Realm
Supernatural Beings
The Otherworld
Magical Powers, Wonders, and Supernatural Occurrences
Metamorphosis and Transformation
Sacrifice, Fasting, and Blessings
Man and Society
The Physical Body
Bodily Functions
Birth, Death, and Resurrection
Medicine
The Hocągara
Social Relations
Symbolism
Artifacts and Costumes
Virtues, Vices, and Taboos
Trickery and Humor
Games and Athletic Competitions
War, Combat, and Captivity
Hunting and Food
The Natural World
The Earth, Cosmos, and Time
Physical Objects
Natural Phenomena
Animals
Plants
The Sacred Realm
someone in danger prays to Earthmaker for rescue: The Fatal House, The Wild Rose.
Earthmaker acts against those who are not doing right: The Fatal House, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, Turtle and the Giant, Šųgepaga, The Seven Maidens, The Origins of the Milky Way.
visiting Earthmaker: The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, The Journey to Spiritland, The Lame Friend, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Petition to Earthmaker, Trickster Concludes His Mission, EarthmakerSends Rušewe to the Twins.
Earthmaker appoints one being after another to accomplish a mission, but must recall each in turn save the last: The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Spider's Eyes.
the fallibility of Earthmaker: Creation of Man (v. 2), Bladder and His Brothers (v. 1), Lost Lake.
spirits meet in a council: The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, Black and White Moons, Holy One and His Brother, The Creation Council, The Children of the Sun, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, Traveler and the Thunderbird War (v. 5), The Gift of Shooting, East Shakes the Messenger, The Descent of the Drum, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, South Enters the Medicine Lodge, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Petition to Earthmaker, The Boy who would be Immortal.
spirits come together to pool their resources to give humans power over their enemies: Waruǧábᵉra, Maize Origin Myth, The Children of the Sun.
spirits come to earth in order to rescue humanity from enemies who threaten their existence: The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Bladder and His Brothers, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Grandfather's Two Families, The Hare Cycle, The Hocągara Contest the Giants, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Raccoon Coat, Redhorn's Sons, The Redhorn Cycle, The Roaster, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Spirit of Gambling, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Trickster Cycle, Wojijé, Redhorn's Father, Turtle and the Merchant.
good spirits rescue women held by an evil spirit: Hare Gets Swallowed, The Spirit of Gambling, The Green Man, The Spotted Grizzly Man, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Iron Staff and His Companions.
a malevolent spirit chases after a group of women: The Woman Who Became an Ant, Little Human Head, The Seven Maidens.
a spirit comes into existence as a fully mature human being but in a state of total amnesia: Morning Star and His Friend, The Nannyberry Picker, Wears White Feather on His Head, Little Human Head.
a spirit-being comes from a stump or hollow log: The Spirit of Maple Bluff, Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Were-fish, The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys, The Dipper.
spirits can be followed by stepping in their first four footprints: Waruǧábᵉra, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Chief of the Heroka, Snowshoe Strings.
when an animal spirit takes a symbolic step forward, he sinks into the surface up to his leg joint: The Buffalo's Walk, The Four Steps of the Cougar.
a young man leaves his uncle and mother behind and goes off to visit the father he has never met in the spirit abode where he lives: The Shaggy Man, The Children of the Sun, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head.
Morning Star is a fast runner: Morning Star and His Friend (v. 2), Grandfather's Two Families.
Trickster takes care of someone else's children, but causes their death: Trickster and the Mothers, Trickster and the Children.
Hare knocks out the teeth of an animal that threatened humans so that its kind ceases to pose a threat ever again: Hare and the Dangerous Frog, The Animal who would Eat Men (v. 1) (an elk), The Animal who would Eat Men (v. 2) (an eel).
Turtle has a sacred, double-edged knife: Turtle and the Giant, Redhorn's Sons, The Chief of the Heroka, Turtle's Warparty, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Turtle.
Turtle jingles as he walks from the small bells tied to his leggings: The Chief of the Heroka, Trickster Soils the Princess, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married.
Turtle interrupts his gambling game to go meet friends he says that he was expecting yesterday: Redhorn's Father, Trickster Soils the Princess, The Nannyberry Picker, Morning Star and His Friend.
bad women ridicule Turtle for his appearance: The Skunk Origin Myth, The Chief of the Heroka.
Turtle courts a chief's daughter with his friend, but is rebuffed by being pushed off her platform bed: Trickster Soils the Princess, The Nannyberry Picker, The Father of the Twins Attempts to Flee.
Turtle carries a number of people on his body: The Hocąk Migration Myth, Redhorn's Sons, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.
Turtle overhears ordinary conversations at a remote distance: Redhorn's Father, Turtle's Warparty.
Turtle conceals himself completely except for the tip of his nose: Turtle's Warparty, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.
Turtle agrees to avenge the losses of those who have petitioned his aid as a warrior: Trickster Soils the Princess, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Turtle and the Witches, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
Turtle leads a warparty out immediately, without any planning or approval: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
Turtle attacks from below: Turtle's Warparty, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.
Turtle remains submerged under water for a very long time: Porcupine and His Brothers, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
Turtle acts improperly to influence in his favor the outcome of a game of chance: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Spirit of Gambling, Redhorn's Sons, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
Turtle wrongfully tries to take the chief's daughter who has been given (as a prize) to someone else to marry: The Chief of the Heroka, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.
Turtle is killed: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
each son of Earthmaker is appointed to rule over his own paradise: Cosmography, Trickster Concludes His Mission, The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara.
the Twins rescue Turtle from certain death: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.
the Twins disobey the commands of someone with fatherly authority over them: The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Two Boys, The Lost Blanket, The Two Brothers.
a mortal thwarts Disease Giver's purpose: The Man who Defied Disease Giver, Bow Meets Disease Giver.
the oldest brother anounces that he is so great a spirit that his brothers have nothing to fear: Holy One and His Brother, Turtle's Warparty, Įcohorucika and His Brothers, Bladder and His Brothers.
a doorway is unexpectedly found in the side of a hill which serves as a lodge for a powerful spirit: Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Shaggy Man, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Thunderbird and White Horse.
a powerful spirit lives in a cave: Big Eagle Cave Mystery, Blue Mounds Cave, Silver Mound Cave, Heną́ga and Star Girl, The Woman Who Married a Snake, Little Human Head, The Waterspirit of Sugar Loaf Mounds.
some of a group of brothers are Stellar Spirits and others are animals: Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Grandfather's Two Families.
powerful spirits eat snakes (even though they are sacred): The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Two Boys, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Dipper.
the human incarnation of the sun eats enormous amounts of food: Sun and the Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families.
a spirit has living faces on each earlobe: Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Dipper (hummingbirds), Redhorn's Father, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Morning Star and His Friend, The Hocągara Contest the Giants.
a spirit has four arms: Įcorúšika and His Brothers, The Forked Man.
a spirit is of a red color: Wears White Feather on His Head, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka, The Man who was Blessed by the Sun.
a man uses flint growing out of his arm to kill (or behead) someone: The Man with Two Heads, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow, The Children of the Sun, The Man with Two Heads.
boys playing with spirit children, killing them, and having the spirit chief revive them: The Shaggy Man, The Nannyberry Picker.
an evil spirit uses snow as a weapon: Holy One and His Brother, Waruǧábᵉra.
an evil spirit throws hot coals upon someone: Wolves and Humans, The Raccoon Coat.
someone about to be killed cries out to a spirit to whom he is related, and is saved: Porcupine and His Brothers, Waruǧábᵉra, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Seven Maidens.
someone aided by a spirit friend is left for dead by his colleagues, only to be saved by his friend and brought back alive to the grief of those who left him for dead: Waruǧábᵉra, The Dog that became a Panther, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion.
wearing the skin of a spirit bird: Holy One and His Brother, Hare Acquires His Arrows, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Boy who Flew, The Lost Blanket.
a Bird Spirit escapes his pursuers through the smoke hole of his lodge: The Markings on the Moon, Crane and His Brothers.
a human marries a spirit: The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy (a Thunderbird, a Nightspirit, and two Waterspirits), The Thunderbird (a Thunderbird), How the Thunders Met the Nights (a Nightspirit), The Shaggy Man (a Bear Spirit), White Wolf (a Wolf Spirit), The Woman who Married a Snake (a Snake Spirit), The Star Husband (stars), Little Human Head (a Louse Spirit), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (Buffalo Spirit), The Phantom Woman (Waterspirit).
a cradle for a newborn is thrust through the lodge flap (by the mother's mysterious spirit husband): Waruǧábᵉra, The Shaggy Man, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head.
gifts are thrust through the flap of the lodge by someone that is not seen: The Shaggy Man, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Red Feather.
a human is transformed into a Thunderbird (or vice-versa): Waruǧábᵉra (human > Thunder), The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird (Thunder > human).
a human joins up with the Thunderbirds: The Thunderbird, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Waruǧabᵉra, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Dipper.
a mortal is an affine of the Thunderbirds: The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Thunderbird, Waruǧábᵉra, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed (v. 3).
a human is a reincarnated Thunderbird: The Nightspirits Bless Ciwoit’éhiga, The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird, Black Otter's Warpath.
Thunderbirds capture a boy who is out looking for material with which to make arrows: Hare Acquires His Arrows, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds.
the Thunders seek to eat a human being: The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, Bluehorn's Nephews, Hawk Clan Origin Myth, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds.
a man injured by the Thunderbirds regenerates (in four days): Waruǧabᵉra, Redhorn's Sons, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, Bluehorn's Nephews.
a hero kills Thunderbirds and uses their feathers to make arrows: The Twins Disobey Their Father, Hare Acquires His Arrows.
handling a thunder weapon adversely affects bystanders: The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow, The Stone that Became a Frog.
a small bird's call causes the Thunderbirds to come forth thundering: Turtle's Warparty, The Quail Hunter.
someone kills Thunderbird nestlings and makes use of their feathers: Hare Acquires His Arrows, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Disobey Their Father.
Thunderbirds are reduced to using grass or weeds when they smoke their pipes: The Thunderbird, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Dipper.
Thunderbird people are ignorant of tools: The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
Thunderbird people roast meat over the fire on sharpened sticks: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (v. 3), How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Dipper.
walking like the Thunders: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Kunu's Warpath.
Storms as He Walks leads scouts by walking in the air: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Kunu's Warpath.
in order to get wives (from the Nightspirits) the Thunders must fly over a region where they are attacked: The Dipper, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
the war between Thunderbirds and Waterspirits: Traveler and the Thunderbird War, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Brave Man, The Lost Blanket, Ocean Duck, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, The Thunderbird, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Waruǧábᵉra, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Waterspirit of Sugar Loaf Mounds.
a mortal tips the balance in lethal combat between a Thunderbird and a Waterspirit (or Wood Spirit): Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Lost Blanket, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts.
a giant (Serpent-) Waterspirit carved out channel to form great rivers and lakes that are extant today: Lakes of the Wazija Origin Myth, The Green Waterspirit of Wisconsin Dells.
powerful spirits (who are brothers) set out for the Mississippi where they kill a Waterspirit: Trickster Concludes His Mission, The Two Children, Earthmaker , Bluehorn's Nephews.
many objects float to the surface of a lake just before a Waterspirit rises from the depths: The Seer, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth.
a Waterspirit demands a human sacrifice: The Seer, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Phantom Woman.
someone is offered to a Waterspirit: The Shaggy Man, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, White Thunder's Warpath, Waruǧábᵉra, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Seer.
a Waterspirit kills a human: The Shaggy Man, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Waruǧabᵉra, The Two Children, The Waterspirit of Lake Koshkonong, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Seer, The Twin Sisters, The Sioux Warparty and the Waterspirit of Green Lake, The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, The Lost Blanket.
a Waterspirit sucks under men in canoes: The Waterspirit of Lake Koshkonong, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Sioux Warparty and the Waterspirit of Green Lake.
a Waterspirit takes a child: The Lost Child, The Two Children, Old Man and Wears White Feather.
someone is captured by Waterspirits: Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Holy One and His Brother, Traveler and the Thunderbird War (v. 5), Redhorn's Sons, Heną́ga and Star Girl, The King Bird.
a human lives with Waterspirits: The Nannyberry Picker, The King Bird, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Phantom Woman.
Waterspirits lay a man on his back and bind him down: The Thunderbird, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
a group of brothers plots with a Waterspirit against the youngest (who is the most favored): The Shaggy Man, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
a group of young men plot to trick one of their number into falling victim to a Waterspirit: Waruǧábᵉra, The Shaggy Man, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
a Waterspirit that has been killed for food is called a "beaver" by spirits: The Thunderbird, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Waruǧábᵉra, The Twins Disobey Their Father, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Bluehorn's Nephews.
a hero shoots two Waterspirits in the heart: Holy One and His Brother, The Thunderbird.
a powerful spirit burns down the abode of a Waterspirit: Įcorúšika and His Brothers, The Lost Blanket, The Two Children.
a Waterspirit tells a young man that another man close to him will have immortal life in the Waterspirit's company, but this comes to be denied because the other man fails to abide by the conditions of the blessing: The Seer, Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name.
in human form, Waterspirit women are extraordinarily beautiful: The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Phantom Woman, The Nannyberry Picker, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (v. 2).
traveling by riding atop a water monster (or Waterspirit): Ocean Duck, Hare Gets Swallowed.
two Waterspirits sleep while basking in the sun: Holy One and His Brother, The Thunderbird, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty.
a green (co) Waterspirit inhabits Devil's Lake: River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, Devil's Lake — How it Got its Name.
a powerful being kills an Island Weight: Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, Šųgepaga.
good people (and spirits) completely annihilate a race of bad spirits except for two, whom they allow to live (so that they do not undo the work of the Creator): Grandfather's Two Families, Sun and the Big Eater, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Redhorn's Father, Morning Star and His Friend, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
long eared monsters: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.
flame throwing monsters: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Two Boys.
men whose bodies are (partly) covered with pieces of flint: Bluehorn's Nephews, Hare Kills Flint, Hare Gets Swallowed, The Children of the Sun, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka.
in order to get him to take refuge in his lodge, a great spirit causes another spirit to think that someone dangerous is pursuing him: Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, Bluehorn's Nephews.
powerful spirit beings act somewhat dim witted: How the Thunders Met the Nights, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow, The Thunderbird, Partridge's Older Brother, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Dipper.
an evil spirit thinks that he has detected the presence of his enemy, but his partner dissuades him: The Raccoon Coat, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Holy One and His Brother, The Thunderbird.
an evil spirit unexpectedly appears to humans and is believed by them to be one of their own relatives: The Quail Hunter, The Big Stone.
a hero drives evil subterranean spirits deeper into the lower world: Trickster Concludes His Mission, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (v. 4), The Necessity for Death.
good spirits try to intercede with bad spirit allies to save the life of a captured human: Įcohorucika and His Brothers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds.
an old man is told by a Giant that his grandsons are challenged to a contest, but he keeps forgetting to tell them until the Giants (attempt to) club him, then he remembers by repeating it all day long: Sun and the Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families, Bladder and His Brothers (v. 4) (old man > youngest brother).
a Giant (Wągerucge) princess has her game disturbed by her attraction to a hero: Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Roaster, Redhorn's Father, Morning Star and His Friend, Redhorn's Sons.
marriage to a Giant: The Stone Heart, A Giant Visits His Daughter, Young Man Gambles Often, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Roaster, Redhorn's Sons, Redhorn's Father, White Wolf.
certain spirits help the Giants in a (lacrosse) game with human lives at stake because they have married Giant women: Redhorn's Father, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Morning Star and His Friend, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Redhorn's Sons.
a hero and his friends are killed because the Giants are victorious in a wrestling match: Redhorn Contests the Giants, White Wolf.
the Giants massacre an entire village, but spare at least one child to eat later in life: Waruǧábᵉra, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Old Man and the Giants.
Giants have ice in the pit of their stomachs: Young Man Gambles Often, Redhorn's Father, The Stone Heart.
Giants cease eating men after they vomit up an ice cube: Young Man Gambles Often, Redhorn's Father.
humans (or good spirits in human form) eating Giants: The Shaggy Man, Ocean Duck.
the heads of Giants are found to be full of wampum: Young Man Gambles Often, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, Morning Star and His Friend (v. 2), Turtle and the Giant.
the bodies of Giants wagered in a game, are burned up using cattail floss as fuel: The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Roaster, Redhorn's Father, Grandfather's Two Families.
lilliputian people with great hunting skills: The Chief of the Heroka, The Red Man.
humans pray to a tree in order to obtain needed wood: Children of the Sun, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Blessing of the Bow.
a newlywed goes to the home of her husband to live among his kind, a race of Animal Spirits: The Wild Rose (wolves), The Woman who Married a Snake, The Shaggy Man (bears).
a hungry young man accidentally finds his way to the lodge of the daughter of a spirit and soon marries her: The Old Man and the Giants, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
(removing a tent pole and) entering another world through a hole in the ground: Įcohorucika and His Brothers, The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Redhorn's Sons, Iron Staff and His Companions.
animals enter Spiritland through a spring: Trail Spring, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Merrill Springs.
a fruitless visit to the upper and lower worlds: The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds, The Lost Blanket, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
after his death, the brother of a holy spirit goes west to rule over a Spiritland village of the dead: Holy One and His Brother, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth.
a human being physically travels to Spiritland without having died: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Sunset Point, Snowshoe Strings, The Thunderbird, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Star Husband, White Wolf, Waruǧábᵉra, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Shaggy Man, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, Aracgéga's Blessings, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Petition to Earthmaker, The Boy who would be Immortal, Thunder Cloud Marries Again, Rainbow and the Stone Arch (v. 2), The Friendship Drum Origin Myth, Trickster Concludes His Mission.
a traveler on the road to Spiritland comes to what appears to be an impassible obstacle, but when he forges ahead, he succeeds in overcoming it: The Journey to Spiritland, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts.
four spirit beings help those who travel to Spiritland: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, The Lame Friend, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Petition to Earthmaker.
a man travels west following a departed loved one in order to prevent him/her from residing forever in Spiritland: Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Holy One and His Brother, Snowshoe Strings.
in order to return a soul to life from Spiritland, a hero must avoid joining in the festivities of the ghosts: Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Sunset Point, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts.
ghosts try to snatch away a living man's blanket: Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Difficult Blessing.
ghosts chase after someone: The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Little Human Head, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Little Fox and the Ghost.
ghosts are averse to ashes: Ghost Dance Origins II, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Hare Steals the Fish.
people are tempted by the dead to give into their purposes, but (could) succeed by following the advice of a friendly spirit and resisting with their utmost power: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Little Human Head, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Sunset Point, Snowshoe Strings.
a ghost is instructed to say that it will not be soon that others of his clan shall follow: The Journey to Spiritland (v. 3), The Four Slumbers Origin Myth.
a messenger leads a man to Spiritland: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Foolish Hunter, Aracgéga's Blessings, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, Blessing of the Yellow Snake Chief.
a messenger summons an evil doer to Spiritland where he is reprimanded: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Foolish Hunter.
otherworld journeys inside an animal skin sack: How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, cf. Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads.
a mortal is returned to earth from the spirit village that he is visiting: Waruǧábᵉra, The Thunderbird, Two Roads to Spiritland, The Shaggy Man, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Snowshoe Strings, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, White Wolf, The Foolish Hunter, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Petition to Earthmaker.
Magical Powers, Wonders, and Supernatural Occurrences
the remains of a dead man speak to, bite, and chase after someone: Little Human Head, Little Fox and the Ghost.
a person endows an inanimate object with the power of speech and orders it to speak for him/her while he/she escapes: Ocean Duck (an arrow), Little Human Head (a doll), Hare Kills Wildcat (acorns), cf. Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear (piles of dung).
someone runs away at full speed, but despite running for some time, he finds himself only a short distance from where he started: Redhorn's Father, The Father of the Twins Attempts to Flee, The Two Boys.
Grandmother's back caves in: Earthmaker Creates the World and Gives Turtle and Hare Their Missions, The Necessity for Death (v. 1), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, vv. 1, 4, The Creation of Man (v. 6).
a small, black stone serves as a soul (container): The Green Man, Tecumseh's Bulletproof Skin.
a being is invulnerable: Worúxega, Tecumseh's Bulletproof Skin, The Canine Warrior, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird, Battle of the Night Blessed Men and the Medicine Rite Men.
a spirit being cannot be killed because his death lies outside his body: Ocean Duck, Partridge's Older Brother, The Green Man.
a being is vulnerable in a highly unusual way: River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Snowshoe Strings, The Green Man, Partridge's Older Brother, The Dipper, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, Migistéga's Death (v. 2), The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension.
certain beings are thought to be invulnerable (but may not be): The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Great Walker's Warpath, Partridge's Older Brother.
as part of a blessing, a spirit orders the beneficiary to kill him and make magical use of his body: A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, White Wolf, The Seer, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, The Elk's Skull.
an empty hide comes to life: White Wolf, Mijistéga and the Sauks, Migistéga’s Magic, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother.
when someone throws moss into the water, it transforms into an abundance of beavers: Redhorn's Father, Old Man and Wears White Feather.
solitary children feed themselves on an inexhaustible boiled deer tail: The Chief of the Heroka, Waruǧábᵉra, The Red Man.
one small morsel of food when put in a kettle becomes sufficient to feed everyone present: Ocean Duck (bean), The Chief of the Heroka (deer tail), The Red Man (deer tail), The Raccoon Coat (kernel of corn), Wojijé (kernel of corn), Redhorn's Father (bean).
food is magically created from something inedible: Migistéga’s Magic, Mijistéga and the Sauks, Potato Magic.
a woman is placed in an arrow quiver: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.
Trickster is taught a magical command to cause something to expand, but when he uses it, it works against him: The Elk's Skull, A Mink Tricks Trickster.
a spirit makes his dish grow larger: Kunu's Warpath, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.
an inanimate object expands upon command: Kunu's Warpath, Wojijé, The Raccoon Coat, The Elk's Skull, A Mink Tricks Trickster, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth.
inanimate things automatically respond to human commands: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (corn plant), The Old Man and the Giants (boat), Wojijé (metal boat), The Raccoon Coat (metal boat), Big Eagle Cave Mystery (canoe), The Sky Man (knots), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (everything), cf. How the Thunders Met the Nights (pontoon boat).
striking an object to make it move faster in the water: Wojijé (a boat), Ocean Duck (Waterspirit).
an old man has a disc shaped object which when rolled makes him the fastest man in any race: Sun and the Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families.
a body of water is created by tears falling from above: The Creation of the World, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Holy One and His Brother, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed (v. 1).
setting water ablaze by striking it with a weapon: Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Redhorn's Sons.
walking on water: Bear Clan Origin Myth (v. 3), Bird Clan Origin Myth, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Otter and Beaver Create Progeny, Otter Comes to the Medicine Rite, The Chief of the Heroka, Redhorn's Sons, Partridge's Older Brother.
someone dives into a body of water and disappears into its depths: The Red Feather, The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys, The Two Brothers, The Woman who Married a Snake, The Shaggy Man.
ascending to heaven in a storm: The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, Fourth Universe, The Man Who Fell from the Sky, cf. Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, The Glory of the Morning.
ascending to heaven with a clap of thunder: Fourth Universe, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, The Man Who Fell from the Sky, cf. The Glory of the Morning.
leaving for the heavens by rising up through the smoke hole of a lodge: The Chief of the Heroka, The Markings on the Moon.
someone is able to exert supernatural power upon an object by concentrating his mind upon it: Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Petition to Earthmaker, The Messengers of Hare, South Enters the Medicine Lodge, Otter Comes to the Medicine Rite, The Blessing of Kerexųsaka.
a person (or spirit) aids someone in a task by concentrating his mind upon it: Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Petition to Earthmaker, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter.
a person of supernatural power is able to kill a soaring hawk merely by pointing at it: Paint Medicine Origin Myth, The Magical Powers of Lincoln's Grandfather.
a spirit causes someone to fall asleep: Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads, Waruǧabᵉra, Brave Man.
a hypnotic command for enemies to sleep works on the fourth utterance: Brave Man, Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads.
hypnotic commands issued at a distance: The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, Brave Man.
someone is charmed to sleep: Trickster Takes Little Fox for a Ride, Brave Man.
a woman sings a song that brings the buffalo to her: The Woman Who Became an Ant, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.
even though it is cold enough to freeze a man, two people (one of whom is a spirit) have the supernatural power to stay warm: White Wolf, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
a group of female spirits can command the wind to blow: The Chief of the Heroka, The Dipper.
having the power to control the winds and/or the weather: Deer Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 1, 5), Blue Bear, The Gray Wolf Origin Myth, The Chief of the Heroka, East Enters the Medicine Lodge (v. 2), East Shakes the Messenger, South Seizes the Messenger, The Dipper.
a powerful spirit sweeps away evils to the bad place (the arctic north): North Shakes His Gourd, The Descent of the Drum (v. 2), The Buffalo's Walk, East Shakes the Messenger, South Seizes the Messenger, The Four Steps of the Cougar.
a man continues to function without his head: The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Man with Two Heads, The Children of the Sun, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 1a), The Red Man, White Fisher, The Chief of the Heroka.
a man goes about the heavens with a severed head in his possession: The Markings on the Moon, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Man with Two Heads, The Children of the Sun.
a severed head (in a fireplace) is not dead: The Chief of the Heroka, The Red Man, The Children of the Sun.
a man reunites the still living head and body of his relative: The Red Man, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Man with Two Heads, The Children of the Sun, The Chief of the Heroka.
an heroic spirit recaptures a man's head or scalp and restores the victim's unity by throwing it exactly in its correct position on his body: Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, The Man with Two Heads.
the severed head of an enemy chatters its teeth: The Children of the Sun, Wears White Feather on His Head.
a severed head speaks: Little Human Head, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head.
a spirit has so much speed that he tears down trees trying to come to a stop: Sun and the Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families.
a seer makes true predictions down to unusual details: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Witches, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Fox-Hocąk War, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, A Prophecy, The Shawnee Prophet Predicts a Solar Eclipse, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, The Claw Shooter, Waruką́ną, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store.
two (groups of) holy men contest one another with supernatural power: The Claw Shooter, Battle of the Night Blessed Men and the Medicine Rite Men, Great Walker and the Ojibwe Witches, The Tap the Head Medicine.
a rejected sister prophesies that her brother will never see his village again: The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Partridge's Older Brother.
an aquatic creature eats cervids whole: The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Great Fish.
being swallowed whole: The Hill that Devoured Men and Animals, Hare Gets Swallowed, The Great Fish, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Bungling Host, The Dipper.
talking fish: The Greedy Woman, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, Redhorn's Father, Trickster's Adventures in the Ocean.
a man has the lower body of a fish: Traveler and the Thunderbird War (v. 5), The King Bird.
a man is accompanied by a flock of swallows: The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, Red Cloud's Death.
birds are called by a warparty to drink up a lake in which their enemies are hiding: Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers.
a small item set on or driven into the ground by a great man cannot be lifted by anyone else: The Twins Visit Their Father's Village (packs), The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension (warclub), The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara (a warclub), Wojijé (a dog), The Raccoon Coat (a dog), The Roaster (a pack).
shooting claws: The Claw Shooter, Mijistéga and the Sauks, Battle of the Night Blessed Men and the Medicine Rite Men, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
Earthmaker forms the "arrow" (shell) of the Medicine Rite by taking a piece of blue sky and rolling it together with white clouds: The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men, The Gift of Shooting
someone excretes shells (or wampum): The Markings on the Moon, Little Human Head.
someone pounds on his chest and coughs up birds: The Coughing Up of the Black Hawks, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Redhorn's Sons, The Roaster.
the future victims of a magical agent can be heard moaning: Waruǧábᵉra, Bow Meets Disease Giver.
someone hears a disembodied voice and only later discovers its source: Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts.
a voice, which appears to be disembodied, speaks to Trickster: Trickster Loses Most of His Penis, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb.
someone is, or can become, invisible: Sunset Point, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, Partridge's Older Brother.
a boy has a burnt chest: White Wolf, The Roaster.
a little boy is made chief: Young Man Gambles Often, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, Ocean Duck.
cannibal were-grizzlies: The Were-Grizzly, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, The Roaster, Were-grizzlies and Other Man-bears, Partridge's Older Brother.
Metamorphosis and Transformation
a great spirit changes his form in order to deceive someone: The Skunk Origin Myth (Turtle), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Man with Two Heads, The Children of the Sun, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster's Tail, Trickster Gets Pregnant, The Elks Skull, Trickster Soils the Princess, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Seven Maidens.
a spirit assumes the form of another person: Old Man and Wears White Feather, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Trickster and the Mothers.
a spirit turns into a person of radically different age: Morning Star and His Friend, The Messengers of Hare, The Dipper, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Chief of the Heroka.
as someone is about to be killed, someone changes into the kind of person that his opponent cannot bring himself to kill, and is thereby spared: The Dipper (a baby), Old Man and Wears White Feather (a beautiful woman).
a spirit transforms himself into a symbolic representation of what is destined to happen in the future: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Peace of Mind Regained, The Messengers of Hare.
someone impersonates a man whom he has killed, but the man's mother is suspicious of the impersonator: The Green Man, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp.
a spirit presents himself in an ugly guise: The Skunk Origin Myth, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse.
two (spirit) women twist the mouth and deform the face (and other body parts) of a sleeping man: Snowshoe Strings, Old Man and Wears White Feather;
a repulsive looking, but holy person, is transformed into an attractive person after gaining the support (or rejection) of his or her lover: The Red Feather, The Skunk Origin Myth, The Chief of the Heroka, Old Man and Wears White Feather.
a man is transformed when he dives into the water from a particular place: Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Woman who Married a Snake, The Diving Contest, The Nannyberry Picker.
a man who has been turned into a spirit invites his friend or relative to visit him at the place where he was transformed: The Omahas who turned into Snakes, The Were-fish (v. 1).
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), Whiskey Making (grizzly, dog, turkey, blackhawk, owl), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (buffalo), 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).
as a punishment, a spirit decrees that someone be transformed into an animal: The Skunk Origin Myth (skunk), The Brown Squirrel (squirrel), How the Hills and Valleys were Formed (v. 3) (worm), Old Man and Wears White Feather (owl), Brass and Red Bear Boy (grizzly), Waruǧábᵉra (owl), The Chief of the Heroka (owl), Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ant).
someone can transform himself into a buffalo at will: The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
a woman struck with a bow turns into a frog: Snowshoe Strings, The Woman Who Became an Ant.
a spirit turns into an arrow and shoots himself from his own bow: The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins (v. 2), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head.
a man becomes the sort of thing that he has eaten: Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Were-fish, The Omahas who turned into Snakes.
a being is able to enlarge himself: Hare and the Grasshoppers, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (v. 1), The Canine Warrior.
future offspring of the same species can be generated from a small piece of a devoured animal: Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, The Animal Spirit Aids of the Medicine Rite.
a human is covered with tufts of animal hair: The Skunk Origin Myth, The Shaggy Man.
someone traveling long distances assumes successive animal forms as each becomes fatigued, until he finally reaches his destination: The Thunderbird, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Witches, The Journey to Spiritland.
an evil spirit is turned into an owl: Old Man and Wears White Feather, Waruǧábᵉra, The Chief of the Heroka.
a man is able to turn into a spotted grizzly: The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Spotted Grizzly Man.
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), Whiskey Making (blackhawk, turkey, owl).
a young man turns into a bird and flies off through the smoke hole in his lodge: The Boy Who Became a Robin, The Markings on the Moon, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I.
a hero floats down upon his enemies in the form of a feather: The Thunderbird, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, Partridge's Older Brother.
someone is transformed from the waist down into a cold blooded creature: The Woman who Married a Snake, The King Bird.
creatures turn into fish: Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Were-fish, The King Bird, Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads, The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds, The Greedy Woman.
a man who is metamorphosing into a fish (or other water creature) suffers from so extreme a thirst that he must live in water: Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Spirit of Maple Bluff, The Were-fish, The King Bird.
a person's body turns into a plant: Fourth Universe (white flower), White Flower (white flower), The Boy who would be Immortal (tree), The Woman who Became a Walnut Tree, Aracgéga's Blessings (inverse: log > human), cf. The Wild Rose, Deer Clan Origin Myth (v. 2).
a Waterspirit has vegetation growing out of his body: The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells (trees for fur), Snowshoe Strings (grass growing from his face).
Grandmother (Earth) causes the first maize plant to grow from her left breast: Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Grandmother's Gifts.
a person obsessively craves for himself what a tree possesses, and as a consequence is transformed into a tree: The Boy who would be Immortal, The Woman who Became a Walnut Tree.
an old man is, or becomes, a rock: The Raccoon Coat, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Seer, The Big Stone, Red Cloud's Death.
a being is transformed into stone: The Twin Sisters, The Seer, A Woman Turns into a Rock, Heną́ga and Star Girl, The Raccoon Coat.
someone is, or becomes, a star: The Seven Maidens, The Dipper, Grandfather's Two Families, Morning Star and His Friend, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Turtle and the Witches, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, The Star Husband.
someone turns into a cloud: Bladder and His Brothers, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension.
Sacrifice, Fasting, and Blessings
a human being receives a blessing directly from Earthmaker: Šųgepaga, The Wild Rose, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega).
a dog is killed in order to send it as a messenger to one of the great spirits: Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Disease Giver.
a sacrificial meal ("Fast Eating Contest") whose object is to insure that none of the enemy will escape alive: Turtle's Warparty, Redhorn's Sons, Kunu's Warpath.
summoning the spirits to take an opponent as a sacrifice: Ocean Duck, The Shaggy Man, Bluehorn's Nephews.
someone volunteers to offer himself to a spirit: The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons (Thunderbirds), Redhorn's Sons (Thunderbirds), The Seer (Waterspirit).
a person is killed so that his skin can be used to make a sacred bundle: The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle.
burying something sacred in purified ground in conjunction with tobacco offerings: The Twins Disobey Their Father, Disease Giver, cf. The Two Boys (negation).
someone fasts to achieve human immortality: The Necessity for Death, The Boy who would be Immortal.
someone fasts a long time without receiving a blessing: The Seer, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna, The Boy Who Became a Robin, The Nightspirits Bless Jobenągiwįxka.
only when someone breaks his fast does he receive a blessing from the spirits: The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, The Man with Two Heads.
excessive fasting leads to adverse consequences: The Boy who would be Immortal, The Boy Who Became a Robin.
a person who fasts receives blessings from the spirits: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Nightspirits Bless Jobenągiwįxka, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, Redhorn's Sons, The Boy Who Became a Robin, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Seer, Maize Comes to the Hocągara, The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Boy who would be Immortal, The Thunderbird, Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Waterspirit Guardian of the Intaglio Mound, Great Walker's Medicine, Šųgepaga, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna, Heną́ga and Star Girl, A Man's Revenge, Aracgéga's Blessings, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Man who was Blessed by the Sun, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, The Man Who Lost His Children to a Wood Spirit, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, The Man who Defied Disease Giver, White Thunder's Warpath, Black Otter's Warpath, A Man and His Three Dogs, The Oak Tree and the Man Who was Blessed by the Heroka, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Diving Contest, The Plant Blessing of Earth, Holy Song, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Blessing of Šokeboka, The Completion Song Origin, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, The Nightspirits Bless Ciwoit’éhiga, Sunset Point, Song to Earthmaker, First Contact (v. 1), The Horse Spirit of Eagle Heights.
someone must stay awake for a long time in order to receive a blessing: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Snowshoe Strings, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing.
a man rejects a blessing because it is too powerful: The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing.
a spirit has a (fasting) dream of a human: White Wolf, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Thunderbird.
two girls dream (have a fasting vision) of a particular spirit: The Markings on the Moon (v. 2), Old Man and Wears White Feather.
a young man, who later turns out to be holy, is criticized by his elders for not conducting his puberty fast: The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Moiety Origin Myth, Origin of the Decorah Family.
false promises of blessings from a spirit: The Greedy Woman, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, The Nightspirits Bless Jobenągiwįxka, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna, The Diving Contest.
a creature sings a song from the water that promises a blessing in exchange for a favor: The King Bird, The Greedy Woman.
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, Whiskey Making.
blessings from Buffalo Spirits: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, Brass and Red Bear Boy, The Blessing of Šokeboka, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth.
spirits bless someone with an artifact: Waruǧábᵉra (warbundle, warclub), The Warbundle of the Eight Generations (warbundle, flute), The Blessing of a Bear Clansman (warbundle), The Thunderbird (warclub), The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds (warclub), The Rounded Wood Origin Myth (ceremonial object), Origin of the Decorah Family (drum), The Friendship Drum Origin Myth (drum), Paint Medicine Origin Myth (magical paint), The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth (flute and gourd), Disease Giver Blesses Jobenągiwįxka (flute), Ancient Blessing (pot, ax, spoon), The Blessing of the Bow (bow and arrows), Heną́ga and Star Girl (Thunderbird Medicine, arrow).
a spirit blesses a man with knowledge of a sacred dance: Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, The Origins of the Sore Eye Dance.
a spirit blesses a man with knowledge of sacred songs: Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), Holy Song, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, The Island Weight Songs, A Snake Song Origin Myth, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Song to Earthmaker, The Completion Song Origin, The Origins of the Nightspirit Starting Songs, The Sweetened Drink Song, The Origins of the Sore Eye Dance, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth.
a witch blesses someone with (things of) power: Great Walker and the Ojibwe Witches, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, The Woman's Scalp Bundle.
powerful beings give a human a charm which they say will bring him benefits: White Wolf, The Lost Child, The Thunder Charm, Witches, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
a spirit is quoted as he gives someone a blessing: Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Nightspirits Bless Jobenągiwįxka, Disease Giver Blesses Jobenągiwįxka, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, Aracgéga's Blessings, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, The Friendship Drum Origin Myth, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, Great Walker's Medicine, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Plant Blessing of Earth, The Completion Song Origin, The Man who was Blessed by the Sun, Thunder Cloud is Blessed, The Difficult Blessing, The Blessing of Šokeboka, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Bow Meets Disease Giver, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Sunset Point, The Rounded Wood Origin Myth, A Peyote Vision, The Healing Blessing.
Man and Society
because of what was done to the body of a primordial spirit, a human organ has the form and shape that it does today: Turtle's Warparty (testicles), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks (anus), Trickster Loses Most of His Penis (penis).
a man's organ acts as though it had a will of its own: Trickster's Penis, Trickster's Buffalo Hunt, Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks.
someone inflicts harm on one of his own organs because it seems to have a contrary will of its own: Trickster's Buffalo Hunt, Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks.
someone talks to his own organs as though they were people: Trickster's Penis, Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, Trickster Loses Most of His Penis.
an organ of the body is removed and left somewhere (for safekeeping): Ocean Duck (heart), The Stone Heart (heart); The Raccoon Coat (heart), The Green Man (heart), Hare Kills Wildcat (an eye).
someone has a very pale complexion: The Woman Who Became an Ant, Big Eagle Cave Mystery, The Roaster, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
a being has red hair: Redhorn's Sons, Redhorn's Father, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (vv. 1 & 2), The Hocągara Contest the Giants, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Heną́ga and Star Girl, A Wife for Knowledge, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
a being has curly hair: Redhorn's Father, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
two people look (almost) exactly alike: The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, The Green Man, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Redhorn's Father, Big Eagle Cave Mystery.
someone has to guess the identity of a person from among a group of people all of whom look exactly alike: Redhorn's Father, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
somatic dualism: The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, Disease Giver, The Chief of the Heroka, Bear Clan Origin Myth, Wears White Feather on His Head, The Red Man, The Forked Man, The Man with Two Heads.
the skin of an old man is so wrinkled and loose that he cannot see unless he pulls it up above his eyes: The Dipper, Esau was an Indian.
internal stones: How the Thunders Met the Nights, Tecumseh's Bulletproof Skin, The Big Stone.
someone's rectum is prepared for a very special function: Trickster's Tail, The Bungling Host.
anal shame: Trickster Soils the Princess, Ocean Duck, Mink Soils the Princess.
Trickster defecates uncontrollably after taking a natural laxative: Trickster Soils the Princess, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb.
someone defecates on a blanket: Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, Little Human Head.
someone soils a princess: Trickster Soils the Princess, Mink Soils the Princess.
someone uses flatulence as a weapon or deterrent against animals: Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, The Bungling Host.
someone flatulates with superhuman force: Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Bungling Host.
eating something has predictably dire consequences: White Wolf, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb.
Birth, Death, and Resurrection
multiple births: The Birth of the Twins, The Twin Sisters, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Man with Two Heads, The Children of the Sun, The Two Boys, The Lost Blanket, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Two Brothers.
death enters the world for the first time: Holy One and His Brother, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Necessity for Death, The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Death Enters the World, Deer Clan Origin Myth.
someone who is exhausted, struggles to reach the summit of a hill, where (s)he is content to die: Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, The Healing Blessing, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth.
an evil spirit, who is an in-law of a young man, tries to kill him in the wilderness by causing him to die of exposure to the cold: Waruǧábᵉra, The Old Man and the Giants.
because the spirits make clear that it is a necessity, a man volunteers to die: Redhorn's Sons, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, The Man who Defied Disease Giver, The Phantom Woman.
a man under risk to his life states the proverb that he is already dead: The Boy who Flew, Testing the Slave, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One.
someone travels to each of the four corners of the world seeking help from the spirit who resides there in averting death from his relatives, but each spirit in turn confesses that he can do nothing: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Death Enters the World, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth.
when someone who had been missing for a long time returns to his village, he finds that they are in mourning over his presumed death: Ocean Duck, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy.
someone is disconsolate over the death of a relative: White Flower, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Blessing of Kerexųsaka, The Lost Child, The Shaggy Man, Holy One and His Brother, Sunset Point, The Message the Fireballs Brought.
a woman expresses grief for her slain husband by altering her hair: Redhorn's Sons, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth.
a man who has been killed sees his own dead body: The Lame Friend, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth (full version), The Man Whose Wife was Captured.
a great spirit's human friend sacrifices his life for him only to be revived later: Redhorn's Sons, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow.
the reviving sweat bath: The Shaggy Man, The King Bird, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka, The Dipper, Snowshoe Strings, The Old Man and the Giants.
a person who has died longs to come back to life: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth.
someone returns from the dead: Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Sunset Point, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, White Fisher, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Shaggy Man, The Two Brothers, The Two Boys, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, The Prophet Forgives a Killer, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Waruǧábᵉra, The Lost Blanket, The Old Man and the Giants.
a man dies in the water, but when he is later revived, his qualities have improved: The Shaggy Man, The Red Feather.
persons brought back from the dead are more attractive in appearance than before their death: The Red Feather, The Shaggy Man, Partridge's Older Brother.
a man brings back to life the young woman he loves: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Sunset Point.
the howling of a spirit wolf four times brings someone back to life: The Man Whose Wife was Captured, White Wolf, cf. The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter.
ground up bones of evil spirits are used to resurrrect their victims: Partridge's Older Brother, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, Grandfather's Two Families.
someone is brought back from the dead when a man gathers together all his bones and voices calls of alarm over them: Redhorn's Sons, The Raccoon Coat, White Wolf.
in order to win a woman that he loves back from the dead, a man must endure supernatural temptations: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Sunset Point.
ghosts annoy a hero so that, by reacting to them, he will thereby fail to retrieve his (future) wife from among them: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II.
two friends who are killed in action are reborn in their own village: The Lame Friend, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth.
something is caused to live again on earth by being thrown to the side (or over the shoulder) by a spirit (or ghost): Redhorn's Father, The Journey to Spiritland.
bringing someone back to life by picking them up and putting them on their feet: The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Two Boys, The Shaggy Man.
death viewed in positive terms: The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Necessity for Death, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth, Death Enters the World.
a bird(-man) is regenerated from a single feather: Waruǧábᵉra, The Red Feather, Bird Origin Myth.
platform burials: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Holy One and His Brother, Little Fox and the Ghost, Snowshoe Strings.
a tree (branch) at the head of a grave: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, The Boy who would be Immortal.
someone is blessed with a medicine: The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Fourth Universe, Great Walker's Medicine, Bow Meets Disease Giver, The Seven Maidens, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Seer, The Healing Blessing, A Weed's Blessing, A Snake Song Origin Myth, Young Man Gambles Often, The Origins of the Sore Eye Dance, The Elk's Skull, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, A Peyote Vision, The Sweetened Drink Song.
a Waterspirit is killed and his body is used as medicine: A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Great Walker's Warpath, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Seer.
a man is cured when someone spits on his own hands and rubs them on the wound: Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, The Raccoon Coat, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth.
a doctor successfully extracts an arrow from someone's body by shaking it while he pulls it out: Holy One and His Brother, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry.
an old person informs a young man living with him that in a nightmare he was told that a certain animal should be killed and made into a Sick Offering for him or he would die: The Chief of the Heroka, The Dipper.
bear oil is used to create steam in a reviving sweat bath: The Red Man, The Dipper, The Old Man and the Giants, Snowshoe Strings.
animals begin as humans, then turn into humans again when they establish a Hocąk clan: Wolves and Humans, Elk Clan Origin Myth, Great Walker's Warpath.
clan names arise from incidents attendant upon the founding of the clan by its Animal Spirit progenitors: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (v. 1), Story of the Thunder Names, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth, vv. 2a, 4, 7, Deer Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, vv. 1, 4, Snake Clan Origins.
the Hocągara are the first human beings: The Hocągara Migrate South, The Creation of Man (vv. 2, 11).
Hocąk is the first language: Hocąk Clans Origin Myth, The Creation of Man (vv. 2, 11).
the Hocągara are the parent tribe from which other (Siouan) tribes separated: Oto Origins, Quapah Origins, Ioway & Missouria Origins.
the Hocąk nation arrives from another (warmer) place: The Hocąk Migration Myth, The Hocąk Arrival Myth, The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells.
four brothers, each of whom founded a Hocąk clan, are associated with a different color: Bear Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Pigeon Clan Origins.
bear people eating with their left hands: Bear Clan Origin Myth, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear.
the Hocągara arrive in the Wazija by crossing a great body of water: The Hocąk Migration Myth, The Hocągara Migrate South, The First Fox and Sauk War, The Hocąk Arrival Myth.
Proto-Hocągara arrive at Red Banks in the form of ravens: Hocąk Arrival Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth.
the clan progenitors generate waves of water as they arrive on earth: Bear Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth (v. 2).
one of the Hocąk (sub)clans originated from another tribe: Snake Clan Origins, Pigeon Clan Origins, Fish Clan Origins, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Fourth Universe.
a particular clan was claimed to have been the last to arrive at the Creation Council: Snake Clan Origins, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth.
a Hocąk (sub)clan was founded by a single foreign man: Fourth Universe, Bird Clan Origin Myth.
the Hocągara as the People of Turtle: Hocąk Migration Myth, The Creation of Man.
the Hocągara encounter Giants: The Hocągara Contest the Giants, The Stone Heart.
a boy lives alone with his grandfather: Old Man and Wears White Feather, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Dipper.
a brother and sister live alone together: The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Green Man, The Nannyberry Picker.
a girl grows up with numerous (nine or ten) brothers as her only siblings: The Chief of the Heroka, Little Human Head, The Shaggy Man, Waruǧábᵉra, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2).
a large group of brothers (usually ten) live alone together: Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, The Quail Hunter, Bladder and His Brothers, Wojijé, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, The Spotted Grizzly Man.
brothers meet by chance and decide to lodge together: Trickster Gets Pregnant, Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers, Crane and His Brothers.
although a group of brothers moves their village, abandoning one of their number for dead, a loyal sister remains behind until the missing brother returns: The Shaggy Man, Kaǧiga and Lone Man.
a sister entertains an illicit love for her brother: The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Partridge's Older Brother.
a sister, from whom a young man is fleeing, keeps mysteriously appearing in his boat even after he ejects her: The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Partridge's Older Brother.
a person's life will be spared if and only if she can tell a stranger what his true biological relationship is to her: The Woman Who Became an Ant, Little Human Head.
a schism develops between one clique of brothers and the oldest and youngest pair: Įcohorucika and His Brothers, Crane and His Brothers.
a (step-)father is too demanding of his son: Moiety Origin Myth, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Boy Who Became a Robin, Origin of the Decorah Family.
a powerful man becomes tyrannical: Wazųka, The Spotted Grizzly Man, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Manawa Village Origin Myth, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Iron Staff and His Companions.
a chief's young son bullies everyone to the embarrassment of his father: The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, Iron Staff and His Companions.
someone kills his own kinsman: The Chief of the Heroka (wife), The Red Man (wife), Worúxega (wife), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2) (wife), Bluehorn's Nephews (mother), The Green Man (mother), Waruǧábᵉra (mother), Partridge's Older Brother (sister), The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother (sister), The Were-Grizzly (sister), Crane and His Brothers (brothers), White Wolf (brother), The Diving Contest (brother), The Twins Get into Hot Water (grandfather), The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter (daughter), The Birth of the Twins (daughter-in-law), The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle (daughter-in-law), Snowshoe Strings (father-in-law).
someone kills a close female relative for her betrayal of him or his uncle: Bluehorn's Nephews (mother); Waruǧábᵉra (sister), The Red Man (wife), The Chief of the Heroka (wife), The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion (wife), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2) (wife).
a chief gives away his daughter as a prize for achievement: The Red Feather, The Chief of the Heroka, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Thunderbird and White Horse.
a chief offers his daughter in marriage in exchange for the hide of a very rare and beautiful animal: The Red Feather, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse.
a hero wins a girl but decides to let one of his brothers marry her: The Raccoon Coat, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, The Seduction of Redhorn's Sons, Kunu's Warpath.
an Indian woman marries a white man (fur trader): The Glory of the Morning, Origin of the Decorah Family, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, Migistéga’s Magic.
attempting to procure a bride through intimidation: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Spotted Grizzly Man, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Thunder Cloud Marries Again.
a woman faced with the choice of marrying an evil spirit or death, runs away: The Woman Who became an Ant, Little Human Head, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.
Trickster wants to have sex with a princess (yųgiwi): Trickster's Penis, Trickster Soils the Princess.
marriage to a yųgiwi (princess): The Nannyberry Picker, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Big Stone, Partridge's Older Brother, Redhorn's Sons, The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, The Roaster, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, The Two Boys, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Shaggy Man, The Thunderbird, The Red Feather, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, The Birth of the Twins (v. 3), Trickster Visits His Family, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, Redhorn's Father, Old Man and Wears White Feather, Morning Star and His Friend, Thunderbird and White Horse, Rich Man, Boy, and Horse, Shakes the Earth, The Nightspirits Bless Ciwoit’éhiga.
polygamy: Bladder and His Brothers (v. 2), The Spotted Grizzly Man, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Green Man, Wazųka, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Markings on the Moon, Redhorn's Sons, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow, Hare Gets Swallowed, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, The Spirit of Gambling.
a woman runs away from her polygamous betrothed out of fear: Wazųka, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.
a suitor rendezvouses with a young woman at a spring where she draws water: The Wild Rose, Wazųka, The Stone Heart.
(three or) four young women, one of whom is a princess, encounter a suitor while they are bringing wood to an old woman's lodge: Redhorn's Father, Morning Star and His Friend, Trickster Soils the Princess, The Nannyberry Picker, The Two Boys, The Father of the Twins Attempts to Flee.
a lover sneaks into a lodge every night, but conceals his/her identity: Waruǧábᵉra, Partridge's Older Brother.
the wilderness as a lover's tryst: White Flower, Trickster Soils the Princess.
frustrated love: White Flower, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, The Twin Sisters, The Phantom Woman, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Old Man and Wears White Feather, Partridge's Older Brother, The Stone Heart, Snowshoe Strings, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Trickster Soils the Princess, Sunset Point, The Message the Fireballs Brought, Rainbow and Stone Arch.
spirits take pity on women deprived by death of their lovers: White Flower, The Twin Sisters.
a woman takes the initiative in courtship: The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, Old Man and Wears White Feather, (see also, Redhorn's Father).
a woman abuses someone with whom she is living: Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Quail Hunter, Snowshoe Strings, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka, Bluehorn's Nephews, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Were-Grizzly.
a woman not only rejects a suitor, but kicks him: The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
someone is rejected by at least one member of his family: Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, The King Bird, Grandfather's Two Families, Kaǧiga and Lone Man, Moiety Origin Myth, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, The Story of the Medicine Rite.
a holy young man is given an insulting name, but later makes known his true name (given to him by the sprints) in conjunction with a great feat: The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Moiety Origin Myth.
blowing upon a person: The Red Man, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, The Two Children, Wears White Feather on His Head, The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds, The Chief of the Heroka, Aracgéga's Blessings.
an unseen creature hisses (blows puffs of air) at someone: Wears White Feather on His Head, The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Brown Squirrel, The Dipper, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane.
the youngest offspring is superior: The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Young Man Gambles Often, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Twins Cycle, The Two Boys, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Children of the Sun, The Creation of the World (v. 12), The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, The Raccoon Coat, Wojijé, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Sun and the Big Eater, The Story of the Medicine Rite, Buffalo Clan Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 4, 7), Snake Clan Origins, South Enters the Medicine Lodge, Snake Clan Origins, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth.
the eldest and youngest brothers dominate: Įcohorucika and His Brothers, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Bladder and His Brothers, The Story of the Medicine Rite.
an orphan rises from obscurity to become chief: The Red Man, Partridge's Older Brother, The Red Feather, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Roaster, The Chief of the Heroka, The Nannyberry Picker.
an old woman scolds her orphan grandson for being presumptuous even though he later turns out to be the most capable person in the village: White Wolf, The Roaster, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, Brass and Red Bear Boy, The Red Feather.
the chief's son lives behind a partition in the lodge and never goes outside except out of necessity: Ocean Duck, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy.
the origin of the berdache: Berdache Origin Myth, The Chief of the Heroka.
a man assumes the role of a woman: Berdache Origin Myth, Old Man and Wears White Feather, Trickster Gets Pregnant.
Trickster turns into a woman and goes courting: Trickster Soils the Princess, Trickster Gets Pregnant.
a (grand)father abandons his family: The Father of the Twins Attempts to Flee, The Two Boys, Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families, The Birth of the Twins, The Two Brothers, Trickster Visits His Family.
a man devoted to an infant tries repeatedly to leave the infant behind alone while going out, but must return to comfort him: Waruǧábᵉra, The Birth of the Twins.
someone depressed by prospects at home goes (at a run) into the wilderness to die: White Wolf, The Moiety Origin Myth, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.
a young man becomes angry and runs off into the wilderness without knowing what he will do there: Redhorn's Father, Moiety Origin Myth.
to escape a dangerous person, someone runs into the wilderness: The Father of the Twins Attempts to Flee, Bluehorn's Nephews, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, The Two Boys.
a man is adopted into a family who live in a distant village: Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families, Moiety Origin Myth, Origin of the Decorah Family, The Captive Boys.
a man flees until he reaches a lodge belonging to ten brothers with whom he then lives: Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families.
in the course of his travels, a man enters a lodge where he finds a grandmother who helps him: The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, Waruǧábᵉra, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster Soils the Princess, Wojijé, Ocean Duck.
someone goes out searching for a missing person who was dear to them: The Woman who Married a Snake, Waruǧábᵉra, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, A Man's Revenge, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Old Man and Wears White Feather, Snowshoe Strings, Brass and Red Bear Boy.
a woman is forbidden to join her husband when he goes off to a place kept secret from her: The Markings on the Moon, The Chief of the Heroka, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Man who Defied Disease Giver, cf. The Sky Man.
a man forbids his female relative from looking at him when he is engaged in a secret activity, but she cannot resist the temptation and does it anyway to his detriment: The Markings on the Moon, Redhorn's Father, The Man who Defied Disease Giver, Sunset Point (sex role reversal).
someone tries to deceive a woman into thinking that he is her husband: The Markings on the Moon, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
a medallion necklace is symbolic of chieftainship: Moiety Origin Myth, Deer Clan Origin Myth.
something is of a (symbolic) pure white color: White Bear, Deer Spirits, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4), White Flower, Big Eagle Cave Mystery, The Fleetfooted Man, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, Worúxega, The Two Boys, The Lost Blanket (white spirits), Skunk Origin Myth, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, A Man and His Three Dogs, The Messengers of Hare, The Brown Squirrel, The Man Who Fell from the Sky, Bladder and His Brothers, White Thunder's Warpath, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Dipper, Great Walker's Medicine (v. 2), Creation of the World (v. 12), Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Descent of the Drum, Tobacco Origin Myth (v. 5), The Diving Contest, Otter Comes to the Medicine Rite, The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men, The Animal Spirit Aids of the Medicine Rite, Grandmother's Gifts, Four Steps of the Cougar, The Completion Song Origin, North Shakes His Gourd, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, Thunder Cloud is Blessed, Peace of Mind Regained, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers (wolf, bird), The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers (wolf, bird).
red as a symbolic color: The Journey to Spiritland (hill, willows, reeds, smoke, stones, haze), The Gottschall Head (mouth), The Chief of the Heroka (clouds, side of Forked Man), The Red Man (face, sky, body, hill), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (neck, nose, painted stone), Redhorn's Father (leggings, stone sphere, hair), The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father (hair, body paint, arrows), Wears White Feather on His Head (man), The Birth of the Twins (turkey bladder headdresses), The Two Boys (elk bladder headdresses), Trickster and the Mothers (sky), Rich Man, Boy, and Horse (sky), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Spirit), Bluehorn Rescues His Sister (buffalo head), Wazųka (buffalo head headdress), The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (horn), The Brown Squirrel (protruding horn), Bear Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Hawk Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Deer Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (stick at grave), Pigeon Clan Origins (Thunderbird lightning), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks (eyes), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (scalp, woman's hair), The Race for the Chief's Daughter (hair), The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy (hair), Redhorn Contests the Giants (hair), Redhorn's Sons (hair), The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle (hair), A Wife for Knowledge (hair), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (hair), The Hocągara Contest the Giants (hair of Giantess), A Man and His Three Dogs (wolf hair), The Red Feather (plumage), The Man who was Blessed by the Sun (body of Sun), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2) (body of the Warrior Clan Chief), Red Bear, Eagle Clan Origin Myth (eagle), The Shell Anklets Origin Myth (Waterspirit armpits), The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty (Waterspirits), The Roaster (body paint), The Man who Defied Disease Giver (red spot on forehead), The Wild Rose (rose), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (warclub), Įcorúšika and His Brothers (ax & packing strap), Hare Kills Flint (flint), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head (edges of flint knives), The Nannyberry Picker (leggings), The Seduction of Redhorn's Son (cloth), Yųgiwi (blanket).
a class sorts into the four colors: blue, white, red, and black: Hare Kills Flint, Pigeon Clan Origins, Bear Spirits, Bear Clan Origin Myth (v. 7), Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, Eagle Clan Origin Myth.
a group of spirit animals sort into four different colors: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, Bear Clan Origin Myth, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Gray Wolf Origin Myth, The Old Man and His Four Dogs.
heroes leave a lasting impression of their exploits on the face of a rock: Trickster Concludes His Mission, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins.
description of a courtship outfit: The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, Redhorn's Father, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster Soils the Princess, The Dipper, The Nannyberry Picker.
someone is confronted by a man dressed completely in black: The Pointing Man, The Man Who Lost His Children to a Wood Spirit, Visit of the Woodspirit, Turtle's Warparty.
in a chase, a group of people lose articles of clothing as they run until finally they become naked: The Dipper, The Chief of the Heroka.
a group of women are reduced to going to a lodge naked: The Dipper, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster.
possessing a raccoon blanket: The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, The Raccoon Coat.
a man wears a buffalo head: Wazųka, White Fisher, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.
men who wear a single eagle feather in their hair: Redhorn's Father, Moiety Origin Myth, The Lost Blanket.
a young man has a living bird with a clear voice as his headdress: Old Man and Wears White Feather (loon), The Dipper (blackhawk).
acquiring a holy arrow: Hare Acquires His Arrows, Morning Star and His Friend, Owl Goes Hunting, Little Human Head.
when a young man is sent out to get the material for making a bow and arrows, he fails to get the right things the first time: Redhorn's Father, Hare Acquires His Arrows.
preoccupation with making arrows: The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds, The Woman Who Became an Ant, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Brave Man.
a young man who has never shot an arrow before, fixes it in his bow and orders it to go (then later places it in a fork of a tree and issues it the same command): Redhorn's Father, Hare Acquires His Arrows, Morning Star and His Friend.
someone possesses a gourd rattle of great magical powers: North Shakes His Gourd, East Shakes the Messenger, The Brown Squirrel, South Seizes the Messenger, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth.
a warclub is a threat to creation: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Waruǧábᵉra.
the Chief of the Thunders rewards a human with the Thunderbird Warclub for killing a Waterspirit: The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Waruǧabᵉra, The Thunderbird.
unerring warclubs: The First Snakes, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
a spirit's brother is killed and his hide is used as an artifact by his killer: Holy One and His Brother (door flap), White Wolf (bracelets), Bladder and His Brothers (bladders).
only after repeated tries does an old woman succeed in making a net strong enough for her grandson to capture a spirit being: The King Bird, Hare Burns His Buttocks.
a house is made of logs: The Fatal House, Iron Staff and His Companions, Hog's Adventures.
shooting shells in connection with the Medicine Rite: Otter Comes to the Medicine Rite, The Gift of Shooting, The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men.
vanity: The Skunk Origin Myth, The Baldness of the Buzzard, The Blue Jay.
arrogance: The Skunk Origin Myth, The Blue Jay, The Fatal House, The Creation of Evil, Holy One and His Brother, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Foolish Hunter.
adultery: Worúxega, The Red Man.
jealousy: The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Diving Contest, Hog's Adventures, Wazųka, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Fleetfooted Man, Bluehorn's Nephews, Redhorn's Sons, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Lost Blanket.
a person petitions spirits for a greedy end: The Greedy Woman, Little Fox and the Ghost, The Boy who would be Immortal, The Star Husband.
greed spoils the blessing given by a spirit: The Greedy Woman, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, The Foolish Hunter.
a greedy person who wants far more than his share is punished by being left with nothing: The Markings on the Moon, The Greedy Woman, The Brown Squirrel, Trickster and the Honey.
persons seeking blessings are not satisfied with what the spirits have given them: Little Fox and the Ghost, The Greedy Woman, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna.
Hocąk men try to steal whiskey from a trader, but are driven off: Chief Wave Tries to Take the Whiskey, Brawl in Omro.
a great spirit makes the outer nature of a being of beautiful appearance reflect the ugliness of its inner nature: The Blue Jay, The Skunk Origin Myth.
spirits take action against a man for killing game animals for reasons other than food: The Twin Sisters, The Foolish Hunter.
gluttony: Grandfather's Two Families, Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear.
someone eats so much that his closest relatives flee from him (to avoid starvation): Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families.
a witch is attacked while he is drunk: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Migistéga's Death (v. 1).
violating the prohibitions laid down by an elder brother leads to disaster: White Wolf, Bladder and His Brothers (v. 3), The Green Man, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun.
a woman violates her husband's prohibitions: Worúxega, The Red Man.
failure to observe ritual practice or taboo has fatal consequences: The Masaxe War, The Osage Massacre, Sunset Point.
violating the terms of a blessing does harm: The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Necessity for Death, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, White Wolf, The Dog that became a Panther, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Disease Giver Blesses Jobenągiwįxka, The Greedy Woman, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark (meadow lark), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
a creature boasts that he is afraid of nothing, only to reveal later that he fears a (certain) arrow: Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear, The Brown Squirrel.
someone who is otherwise fearless is deeply afraid of just one thing: Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins (a turkey), The Brown Squirrel (a red horn), Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear (a thunder-arrow).
(attempted) suicide: The Osage Massacre, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth.
someone's death would be caused by looking at someone whom spirits have forbidden to be seen: Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Creation of Man, The Man who Defied Disease Giver.
a person is told by a spirit that he should not look upon someone during a particular period of time, but curiosity gets the better of the person and he looks anyway, causing the object of his gaze to be injured: The Man who Defied Disease Giver, Snowshoe Strings, The Dog that became a Panther, Sunset Point.
a knowledgeable person tells someone not to go to a certain place because of the danger, but that person goes there anyway: The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Fox-Hocąk War, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Two Boys, The Two Brothers, The Lost Blanket, Bladder and His Brothers, The Thunderbird, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
a young man follows the detailed instructions of a wise woman and as a result succeeds in a difficult mission: Waruǧábᵉra, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Trickster Soils the Princess; The Message the Fireballs Brought (sexual role reversal).
intimate contact with women during their menses: The Roaster, Hare Kills Wildcat, Young Man Gambles Often.
menstrual pollution has dangerous consequences: The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Red Man.
incest: Hare Kills Wildcat, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka, Snowshoe Strings.
Coyote abuses someone: Wojijé, The Raccoon Coat.
a woman strikes a man with a poker for his misbehavior: Moiety Origin Myth, Hare Burns His Buttocks.
a woman opens a man's forbidden bundle: The Sky Man, The Red Man.
people make a lot of noise in order to divert someone from his goal: Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Trickster and the Geese, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth.
the (peace) chief of the tribe goes on a warpath: Trickster's Warpath, Young Man Gambles Often.
Trickster is the victim of a trick: Trickster Soils the Princess, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Elk's Skull, A Mink Tricks Trickster, Trickster and the Honey, The Markings on the Moon, Trickster and the Eagle.
some Hocąks trick white people: The Tavern Visit, The Shrewd Winnebagoes of Dixon's Crossing.
a good spirit tricks a woman: The Woman Who became an Ant, The Spirit of Gambling.
a man's meal is stolen before he can eat it: Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, Trickster Loses His Meal, A Mink Tricks Trickster, A Raccoon Tricks Four Blind Men.
someone tries to throw an adversary off his track by making countless tracks leading everywhere: Crane and His Brothers, The Green Man, Hare Kills Wildcat (v. 2).
people are led astray by a raccoon: A Raccoon Tricks Four Blind Men, Bladder and His Brothers, Raccoon and the Blind Men.
a spirit tricks men into fighting one another: A Raccoon Tricks Four Blind Men, Hare Visits the Blind Men, Raccoon and the Blind Men.
people who can't see are misdirected: Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, Raccoon and the Blind Men.
an evil woman pretending to help a man is actually using a trick to kill him: The Thunder Charm, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
someone tricks an enemy into a hole in order to kill and eat him: Trickster and the Mothers, Hare Kills Wildcat.
posing as a benefactor, someone tricks a game animal into making a fatal mistake so that he can make a meal out of it: Trickster's Buffalo Hunt, Porcupine and His Brothers.
Trickster wins a contest by cheating: The Spirit of Gambling, The Green Man, The Scenting Contest.
a person falsely claims to be able to scent human beings: The Scenting Contest, How a Whiteman was Sniffed Out.
Trickster fools Little Fox: Trickster Takes Little Fox for a Ride, The Scenting Contest.
Trickster takes someone's clothes so that they are forced to return to their village naked: The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, Trickster Soils the Princess.
someone is deceived by a spirit: The Greedy Woman, The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Seven Maidens, Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, The Lost Blanket.
Games and Athletic Competitions
a challenger comes shaking a gourd rattle: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Roaster, Grandfather's Two Families, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn Contests the Giants, White Wolf.
contests with the Giants: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Redhorn's Father, White Wolf, The Roaster, Young Man Gambles Often, Little Human Head, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Redhorn's Sons, Morning Star and His Friend, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, The Hocągara Contest the Giants, The Old Man and the Giants, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, Shakes the Earth, The Origins of the Milky Way, The Shaggy Man, Grandfather's Two Families.
racing to the end of the world and back: Old Man and Wears White Feather, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Green Man, The Roaster, Young Man Gambles Often, Morning Star and His Friend (v. 2), Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater.
contestants race to an oak tree at the edge of the world and back: Old Man and Wears White Feather, Young Man Gambles Often, Morning Star and His Friend (v. 2), Sun and the Big Eater, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Roaster.
racing around (the edge of) the world: Grandfather's Two Families, Elk, Origin of the Hocąk Chief, Pigeon Clan Origins, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, .Elk Clan Origin Myth
an old man wins a race: Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families.
in a foot race one runner derides the other by suggesting that he is practicaly standing still: Sun and the Big Eater, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Roaster.
one man finishes so far ahead of the competition in a foot race that he has time to smoke a pipe before they reach the finish line: Old Man and Wears White Feather, Sun and the Big Eater, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Moiety Origin Myth.
a prize is claimed by someone who cheated in a race by doubling back before reaching the midway turn-around point: Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, The Race for the Chief's Daughter.
a game of lacrosse is played with a stone ball (painted red): Redhorn's Father (red), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (red), Morning Star and His Friend (black).
during a lacrosse game people are killed when they are struck with the stone that is being used as the ball: Redhorn's Father, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse.
good and bad spirits play the game, See who can Dive Deepest into the Earth: The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, The Green Man, The Roaster.
an evil spirit engages in a contest designed to knock his opponent into the air with fatal consequences: Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Children of the Sun, Bladder and His Brothers.
two opponents play the game Kicking Each Other (Nąkįxjage): The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, Young Man Gambles Often, The Twins Get into Hot Water (v. 3), The Shaggy Man, Bladder and His Brothers.
in a game in which the contestants kick one another, a hero secretly ties weapons to his moccasins and thereby kills his opponent when he kicks him: The Shaggy Man, Young Man Gambles Often.
in an athletic competition, one side throws objects at the other to impede their progress: The Green Man, Old Man and Wears White Feather, Sun and the Big Eater.
the chief of the tribe spends his time gambling: Young Man Gambles Often, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear.
turtles used as implements in a game of chance: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Redhorn's Sons, The Roaster, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
birds used as implements in a game of chance: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Roaster, The Spirit of Gambling, Redhorn's Sons, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
a Giant pounds on his chest and coughs up birds that he intends to use as dice: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Redhorn's Sons, The Roaster.
an evil spirit wins everything that humanity owns and keeps it to himself until he is defeated by a coalition of good spirits: The Green Man, The Spirit of Gambling.
descriptions of human warfare: Black Otter's Warpath, Annihilation of the Hocągara II, The Warbundle Maker, The First Fox and Sauk War, Great Walker's Medicine, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Little Priest's Game, Wazųka, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath, The Fox-Hocąk War, Great Walker's Warpath, White Fisher, The Lame Friend, White Thunder's Warpath, The Osage Massacre, A Man's Revenge, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, They Owe a Bullet, The Spanish Fight, Origin of the Name "Milwaukee," The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2), Tobacco Man and Married Man, The Scalping Knife of Wakąšucka, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, The Unlucky Horse.
a man proves his power by moving a weapon that no one else can budge: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara (a club), The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension (a club), Hare Kills Sharp Elbow (an arrow).
someone expresses concern about the military danger of the area where someone has erected his lodge: Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear, A Man's Revenge, The Warbundle Maker, White Fisher, The Dog Who Saved His Master.
Little Fox goes on the warpath: Little Fox Goes on the Warpath, Little Fox and the Ghost.
dogs rescue humans from their enemies: Wolves and Humans, A Man and His Three Dogs, The Dog that became a Panther, The Old Man and His Four Dogs, The Dogs of the Chief's Son, The Canine Warrior, The Dog Who Saved His Master.
coming across a warparty traveling in column and falling in at the rear: The Thunderbird, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Dipper.
two boys (or young men) out cutting wood are attacked: The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, The Lame Friend, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds.
seeing the approach of an enemy warparty in a dream: The Moiety Origin Myth, The Dog that became a Panther, Wazųka, Porcupine and His Brothers, The Dogs of the Chief's Son.
a man is blessed with the ability to foresee the approach of enemies: Wazųka, White Fisher, The Moiety Origin Myth, The Dog that became a Panther, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath, The Fleetfooted Man.
a group of men leave one of their own comrades behind alone to fight against an overwhelming force of enemy warriors: The Dog that became a Panther, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Fighting Retreat.
while a man fights a large enemy force, others go off to get reinforcements: How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, White Fisher, The Warbundle Maker, The Dog Who Saved His Master, A Man and His Three Dogs.
using body paint stored in a warbundle: Waruǧábᵉra, The Red Man, Black Otter's Warpath, White Thunder's Warpath, Paint Medicine Origin Myth.
scouts spy on the enemy (from a hill) without being seen: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Moiety Origin Myth, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, White Thunder's Warpath, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Worúxega.
spirits bless someone with the right to kill a man ("give him a man"): White Thunder's Warpath, Šųgepaga, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, A Man's Revenge, Great Walker's Warpath, The Masaxe War, Little Fox and the Ghost, Thunderbird and White Horse.
a warleader is given two very holy men by the spirits, and in spite of their powers, these men have no idea that they are being approached by a warparty: White Thunder's Warpath, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons.
in a conflict between the Hocągara and the Sioux, a Waterspirit helps rub out the entire Sioux warparty while they are crossing its lake: The Sioux Warparty and the Waterspirit of Green Lake, Great Walker's Warpath.
a warparty gives its leader tobacco so that he might reveal to them what victories the spirits have placed in his hands: The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, White Thunder's Warpath, Šųgepaga, Great Walker's Warpath, The Dogs of the Chief's Son.
a warleader sets out to capture alive an enemy spirit: Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers, Šųgepaga.
a warleader appoints men to do the killing in a planned attack: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Moiety Origin Myth.
a warleader asks his followers for scalps and appoints two men for a special mission: Kunu's Warpath, The Moiety Origin Myth, cf. The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty.
a tough warleader and a man of his tribe come into conflict: Wazųka, Manawa Village Origin Myth.
when a Hocąk warrior's friend is killed in action, he rushes recklessly upon the enemy, killing a number of their warriors: The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Wazųka, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I.
a warrior shows devotion to his fallen friend by attacking the enemy until he himself is killed: Wazųka, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth.
a Hocąk warrior single handedly fights an overwhelming enemy force (taking at least one enemy head or scalp): The Warbundle Maker, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier (Arapaho), Little Priest's Game (Sioux), The Man who Fought against Forty (Dakota), Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath (Osage), The Osage Massacre (Osage), Fighting Retreat, The Scalping Knife of Wakąšucka.
failing to blow a fragile creature over with a puff of air: Hare Kills a Man with a Cane, Hare Acquires His Arrows.
being unable to hide, despite a great effort: The Children of the Sun, The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys, Holy One and His Brother, The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2).
hiding under leaves: The Chief of the Heroka, The Friendship Drum Origin Myth, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
someone takes shelter in a hollow log (in order to escape enemies): Brave Man, The Man with Two Heads, The Shaggy Man, Redhorn's Father, The Spirit of Maple Bluff, The Thunder Charm, Trickster Loses Most of His Penis.
someone fleeing enemies hides in a crevice of a cliff: The Woman Who Became an Ant, Shakes the Earth, Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers, Little Human Head, Heną́ga and Star Girl.
someone changes himself into a snake in order to hide from enemies: Worúxega, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, The Man with Two Heads.
two brothers transform themselves to conceal themselves from the view of the enemy from whom they would retrieve their relative's head: The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Man with Two Heads, The Children of the Sun.
someone notices some small object that had not been there before, and although it is the foreseen enemy, no one takes it seriously: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I.
finding refuge in a hole in the ground: Hare Kills Wildcat, White Fisher, Little Fox and the Ghost, The Boy and the Jack Rabbit, Redhorn's Sons.
a spirit gives someone something to cast at her pursuers that will prevent them from catching her: Rich Man, Boy, and Horse, The Wild Rose, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II.
a group (of brothers), a few at a time, go out looking for one of their number who is missing, but each searcher disappears in turn: Wojijé, Waruǧábᵉra, Bladder and His Brothers, Big Eagle Cave Mystery.
an evil woman goes on the rampage with an elkhorn club: The Green Man, The Quail Hunter.
a woman causes a hero to fall down a great crevasse: Ocean Duck, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
a hero kills iniquitous people by feeding them poison that bursts their stomachs: The Shaggy Man, Ocean Duck, The Dipper.
newlyweds are attacked by enemies: Kunu's Warpath, Shakes the Earth.
a warparty attacks evil spirits whose bodies are made of iron: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, Šųgepaga.
despite the assistance of a great spirit, and a determined fight, a group of brothers must flee to a place of safety: Wears White Feather on His Head, Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers, The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds.
people being chased miniaturize themselves and attempt to escape by passing through to the other side of a leaf: The Chief of the Heroka, Bladder and His Brothers, Įcohorucika and His Brothers.
people chase one another underground: Įcorúšika and His Brothers, The Seduction of Redhorn's Son, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Redhorn's Sons, Iron Staff and His Companions.
pursuits across the ice: The Warbundle Maker, A Mink Tricks Trickster, The Fleetfooted Man.
warriors following the scattered tracks of enemies, go down one track, kill all they followed, then go down each of the other tracks in turn until they have made casualties of all the enemy: Grandfather's Two Families, Redhorn's Sons, Young Man Gambles Often.
an enemy warparty breaks through successive barricades, but is not victorious: Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
concentric fortifications: Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
a spirit avenges the ill treatment meted out to his younger brother: Porcupine and His Brothers, Crane and His Brothers, Turtle's Warparty, The Brown Squirrel.
the eldest brother (Turtle) realizes that one of his brothers has been abused but has said nothing to him, so he gets his brother to tell him about it, after which he avenges him upon his tormentor: Turtle's Warparty (Porcupine), Porcupine and His Brothers (Red Breasted Turtle), The Brown Squirrel (Henu).
a young man who has been abused by someone comes home showing signs of sorrow, but when his eldest brother asks him about it, he does not tell him what really happened: Turtle's Warparty, The Brown Squirrel, Porcupine and His Brothers.
a nephew avenges the quasi-death of his uncle: Waruǧábᵉra, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Man with Two Heads, The Children of the Sun, Bluehorn's Nephews.
striking of an enemy whose body scatters over the face of the earth as a shower of stones: Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Hare Kills Flint, The Big Stone.
powerful beings attack someone, but break their arms on the stones that he has placed on his body to protect himself: The Old Man and the Giants, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow.
an evil spirit is smashed to pieces by a club: The Red Man, Waruǧábᵉra, Hare Kills Flint, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane, The Big Stone.
a man kills an adversary by getting rid of the external object that serves as the seat of the adversary's soul: The Raccoon Coat, Ocean Duck, The Green Man.
two friends are both killed in action: The Lame Friend, Wazųka, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth.
men who are killed by an enemy warparty do not realize that they are dead: The Lame Friend, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth.
head hunting: White Fisher, Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath, A Man's Revenge, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Little Priest's Game, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Young Man Gambles Often, Morning Star and His Friend (v. 2), The Dipper, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Porcupine and His Brothers, Turtle's Warparty, Ocean Duck, The Markings on the Moon, Wears White Feather on His Head, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Man with Two Heads, Brave Man, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, Redhorn's Sons, Fighting Retreat, The Children of the Sun, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, The Were-Grizzly, Winneconnee Origin Myth.
a young warrior gives the head/scalp of a man he has killed in battle to someone else: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (warleader), White Fisher, (chief), The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion (warleader), Fighting Retreat (wife), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2) (oldest brother-in-law).
someone's head is used as the lodge flag or its base: Porcupine and His Brothers, Turtle's Warparty, Redhorn's Sons.
a man long abused by his enemy comes to dance with his enemy's head in his hand singing to himself as he does so: Wears White Feather on His Head, The Children of the Sun.
a hero recaptures a red-haired scalp: The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp.
a warrior captures an enemy's horse: James’ Horse, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits.
falsely claiming first war honors: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Moiety Origin Myth.
after wheedling out how a man is going to proceed, a spirit kills him, puts on his skin, and thus attired goes on to impersonate his victim: Holy One and His Brother, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp.
someone gets into a fight but says nothing about it to his lodge mates: Iron Staff and His Companions, Porcupine and His Brothers.
men fight one another over women: Iron Staff and His Companions, The Green Man, A Man's Revenge, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.
someone is abducted and led off into captivity: The Captive Boys, A Man's Revenge, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Lost Child, Wears White Feather on His Head, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bladder and His Brothers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Black Otter's Warpath, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Green Man, Brave Man, The Chief of the Heroka, Šųgepaga, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, Hare Gets Swallowed, Hare Acquires His Arrows, The Raccoon Coat, Wojijé, Wolves and Humans, The Woman Who Became an Ant, Thunderbird and White Horse, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Brass and Red Bear Boy, Traveler and the Thunderbird War (v. 5), The Boy who Flew, Testing the Slave, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One.
a male survives execution by assuming the attributes of a female: Annihilation of the Hocągara II, Berdache Origin Myth, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Big Stone (inverse: male/female).
a Sioux leader asks for quarter: Great Walker's Warpath, Berdache Origin Myth.
a war escalates when villagers massacre the foreign chiefs sent to them as emissaries to smoke for peace: The Fox-Hocąk War, The Masaxe War, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I (v. 2).
a death song makes reference to "grass widows": Turtle's Warparty, Little Fox and the Ghost.
the Prisoner's Dance: Turtle's Warparty, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Brave Man.
a warleader will not return to his people (because he has lost so many of his men): Great Walker's Warpath, The Dipper.
prisoners have their bones broken by their captors: The Green Man, The Raccoon Coat, The Meteor Spirit and the Origin of Wampum, Old Man and Wears White Feather.
a prisoner escapes by killing (some of) his captor(s): Wears White Feather on His Head, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Hare Acquires His Arrows, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Boy who Flew, Hare Gets Swallowed, The Raccoon Coat, Wojijé, The Captive Boys.
a leader orders his men to capture their enemy so that they can torture him with fire: The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2), Turtle's Warparty, The Markings on the Moon.
making the enemy "play with fire": The Fox-Hocąk War, Redhorn's Sons, The Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Bird Clan Origin Myth.
someone stuffs dry grass down the opening of a hole in which a person is trapped, then lights it on fire: Trickster and the Mothers, Hare Kills Wildcat.
someone kills children, then sets them upright in front of their lodge with smiles on their faces so that their parents will think that they are greeting them: A Man's Revenge, Trickster and the Mothers.
anthropophagy and cannibalism: A Giant Visits His Daughter, Turtle and the Giant, The Witch Men's Desert, The Were-Grizzly, Grandfather's Two Families, The Roaster, Redhorn's Father, Hawk Clan Origin Myth, The Lost Blanket, Young Man Gambles Often, White Wolf, The Shaggy Man, The Twins Get into Hot Water, Partridge's Older Brother, The First Fox and Sauk War, The Fox-Hocąk War, The Hocągara Contest the Giants, Morning Star and His Friend, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Seven Maidens, Šųgepaga, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, Shakes the Earth, The Stone Heart, Thunder Cloud is Blessed.
uttering the sacred syllable gu brings a battle to an end: The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Wazųka, The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2), White Fisher, Thunderbird and White Horse.
someone has an arrow that never misses its mark: Morning Star and His Friend, The Chief of the Heroka.
someone kills an elk with an arrow that fires bolts of light: Owl Goes Hunting, Hare Kills Sharp Elbow.
someone fires a "blind shot" with an arrow and fells a deer: Morning Star and His Friend, Old Man and Wears White Feather.
a deer is killed with a club: White Wolf, Fireman's Brother.
a human has an easy time hunting something that the spirits find hard to get: Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Thunderbird, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Waruǧábᵉra, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds.
a man pleases his father-in-law with his hunting prowess: The Thunderbird, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Little Human Head, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle.
hunters kill so much game that they can only pack the tongues: The Twins Visit Their Father's Village, The Roaster, The Nannyberry Picker, Redhorn's Father, Grandfather's Two Families.
hunters kill an entire herd of animals: Redhorn's Father, The Roaster, The Twins Visit Their Father's Village, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Nannyberry Picker, Snowshoe Strings, Morning Star and His Friend, The Two Boys.
hunters kill an entire four cornered herd of buffalo: The Roaster, The Twins Visit Their Father's Village, The Nannyberry Picker.
Trickster hunts buffalo: The Woman Who Became an Ant, Trickster's Buffalo Hunt.
many people shoot at an animal in the trees, but only an outsider succeeds in hitting it: Wears White Feather on His Head, The Red Feather.
the fruit of the hunt is stolen: Porcupine and His Brothers, Crane and His Brothers, The Spotted Grizzly Man, Old Man and Wears White Feather, White Wolf, The Brown Squirrel.
after a young man kills an animal, someone comes along and wrongfully claims it as his own: The Red Feather, Porcupine and His Brothers.
when the kill is divided one person unjustly gets only the feet: Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Brown Squirrel.
a canine makes hunting good for a human in exchange for a small left over portion of the kill: White Wolf (deer livers), A Man and His Three Dogs (deer lungs), The Dogs of the Chief's Son (leftovers).
some part of what a man kills must be left for an Animal Spirit according to an agreement made between them: The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion (the headless bodies of humans), White Wolf (deer livers), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (a whole deer).
each member of a group of brothers specializes in the hunting of just one kind of game animal: The Quail Hunter, Grandfather's Two Families, The Brown Squirrel.
a group of brothers goes down a common hunting trail and split up when they reach the end: Waruǧábᵉra, The Quail Hunter.
a group of brothers return from the hunt in the order of their birth: Sun and the Big Eater, The Quail Hunter, Grandfather's Two Families, The Old Man and His Four Dogs.
a group of brothers disappear while following the tracks of a giant spirit animal: Wojijé (otter), Bladder and His Brothers (giant raccoon).
a group of men hunt a raccoon and in the process are led to a spirit being: Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Were-fish, The Spirit of Maple Bluff, Bladder and His Brothers.
hunters track an animal that turns out to be a spirit being: Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name (raccoon), The Spirit of Maple Bluff (raccoon), The Were-fish (raccoon), Bird Clan Origin Myth (bear), The Wild Rose (wolf), The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter (deer).
hunters corner an animal hidden from view, but when they go to take it, they find another kind of animal in its place: The Boy and the Jack Rabbit, The Spirit of Maple Bluff, Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, The Were-fish.
strange things happen to an animal that has been struck by a hunter: The Choke Cherry Wild Cat, Fireman's Brother.
a man kills a game animal by simply striking the knoll (or stump) in which it is hiding: Redhorn's Father, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Old Man and Wears White Feather, Trickster and the Children, Snowshoe Strings.
someone strikes a post or pillar with a sharp instrument and a game animal falls out dead: The Bungling Host, Little Children Spirits, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head.
an animal volunteers to be food for humans: Bear Offers Himself as Food, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting.
animals volunteer to be eaten: River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake (a sturgeon), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (beavers), Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting (bears).
obtaining meat by merely reaching out and having an animal come to hand: Bear Offers Himself as Food, The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth.
dragging a deer to the kill by hand: Morning Star and His Friend (v. 2), The Dipper, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
dragging a bear to the kill by his hair: Bear Offers Himself as Food, The Green Man, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
hunters are sent out for bears and each comes back with one: Turtle's Warparty, Great Walker's Warpath, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara.
shouting at bears: The Brown Squirrel, The Shaggy Man.
threatening four times to shoot a bear, and causing the bear to cry: The Shaggy Man, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting.
a hero goes to the corner of the world and takes a black (or white) otter that lives there: The Chief of the Heroka, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Dipper.
a song taunting a predator to kill or eat the singer: Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, Wolves and Humans, Hare Gets Swallowed.
children are given deer tails to eat: The Redman, The Chief of the Heroka, Waruǧábᵉra, The Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys.
a woman (or old man) states a good reason for hunting a particular kind of animal, but when it is produced, she attempts to make use of it for some other, self-indulgent purpose: White Wolf, The Dipper, The Chief of the Heroka.
hunting is bad because of the misconduct of a man's wife (or mother-in-law) towards that which aids the hunt: Sun and the Big Eater, White Wolf, The Red Man, The Dogs of the Chief's Son, A Man and His Three Dogs.
an old woman cooks a meal of rice which turns out in reality to be lice: Ocean Duck, Journey to Spiritland (v. 8).
starvation: The Brown Squirrel, White Wolf, The Red Man, The Old Man and His Four Dogs, A Man and His Three Dogs, Sun and the Big Eater, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Kaǧiga and Lone Man, The Shaggy Man, The Bungling Host, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, Jarrot and His Friends Saved from Starvation, Jarrot and His Friends Saved from Starvation.
stars lose their place in the sky: Sky Man, The Fall of the Stars.
traveling over the whole earth: Deer Clan Origin Myth, The Pointing Man, Trickster and the Dancers, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Necessity for Death, Death Enters the World, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Twins Cycle, The Two Boys, The Lost Blanket, The Two Brothers, Bluehorn's Nephews.
fourfold division of the cosmos (space vs. time): Cosmography, The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara, The Descent of the Drum.
having a role in starting the first fire: Hawk Clan Origin Myth, The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (v. 2), Deer Clan Origin Myth.
a (magical) round, black stone: How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Green Man, Tecumseh's Bulletproof Skin, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Dipper, Partridge's Older Brother.
the red of the sky disappears when someone is about to die: The Chief of the Heroka, Trickster and the Mothers (inverted), Red Man.
the sky turning red indicates misfortune: Rich Man, Boy, and Horse, Trickster and the Mothers.
flames that stand upright and unwaving are propitious: East Shakes the Messenger, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, South Seizes the Messenger, North Shakes His Gourd, Four Steps of the Cougar, The Descent of the Drum (v. 2).
evil clouds are swept away (to the north): North Shakes His Gourd, The Four Steps of the Cougar, The Buffalo's Walk, East Shakes the Messenger, The Descent of the Drum (v. 2), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (v. 4), The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men (v. 2), South Seizes the Messenger.
animals assemble in a great council: The Creation Council, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Snake Clan Origins, Why Dogs Sniff One Another.
animal messengers are sent out to invite spirits to a council: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Messengers of Hare, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth.
animals evolve into humans: Wolves and Humans, Hawk Clan Origin Myth.
a (spirit) animal uses one of its body parts as an arrow(head): Porcupine and His Brothers, Redhorn Contests the Giants.
scattering of animals from their primordial village into permanent exile: Wolves and Humans, The Shaggy Man, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The War among the Animals.
crossing a body of water on the back of an animal: Ocean Duck (Waterspirit), Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads (crabs), The Seduction of Redhorn's Sons (leeches), The Hocąk Migration Myth (turtle), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (beaver), Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts (horse), cf. The Shaggy Man.
crossing a river by summoning the aid of water creatures: The Seduction of Redhorn's Son (leeches), Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads (crabs).
crossing a body of water by using a plant or animal as a ship and commanding the wind: The Thunderbird, How the Thunders Met the Nights, Hare Visits the Bodiless Heads.
several animal brothers of a human help him in his escape and return to his village: The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Partridge's Older Brother.
as punishment for its temerity, a spirit knocks the teeth out of an animal's mouth: Holy One and His Brother, Hare and the Dangerous Frog.
animals insult Trickster as he sojourns on earth: Trickster's Warpath, Trickster Loses Most of His Penis, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (v. 4).
powerful spirits refer to strong animals by names denoting smaller and weaker animals: How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Two Boys, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Waruǧábᵉra, The Thunderbird, The Lost Blanket, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, Bluehorn's Nephews, Redhorn's Sons (cf. the inverse theme, Buffalo Spirits calling grass "bears" in, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle).
a spirit's "dogs" turn out to be another kind of animal: Old Man and Wears White Feather (human), Porcupine and His Brothers (frogs), Turtle's Warparty (frogs), Chief of the Heroka (grizzly, wolf, otter, beaver), The Red Man (alligators), Bladder and His Brothers (giant raccoon).
wolves are associated with water: The Wild Rose, The Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter.
a spirit punishes a fox and its kind by condemning them to lead a life of privation: Redhorn's Father, Įcorúšika and His Brothers.
when a bad spirit is killed, his body disintegrates into a myriad of insects: Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ants), The Green Man (crickets).
animals that are not now carnivorous, in primordial times sought to eat human flesh: Hare and the Dangerous Frog, The Animal who would Eat Men, The War among the Animals, The Two Boys.
a small animal was once dangerous, but was rendered innocuous in primordial times: The Green Man (cricket), Hare and the Dangerous Frog, The War among the Animals (mouse), The Two Boys.
rodents gnaw on parts of people's bodies: Trickster Loses Most of His Penis, Ocean Duck, Hare Kills Wildcat.
a young man grows up with one or more birds whom he loves very much: Partridge's Older Brother, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds.
a young man comes to own a very remarkable bird: The Red Feather, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds.
a small bird flies right at a man's face (almost) hitting him: Holy One and His Brother, Wazųka.
a woodpecker uses an awl for a bill: The Bungling Host, Holy One and His Brother.
in order to save his own life, a bird(-man) flies away through the smoke hole of a lodge: Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, The Markings on the Moon, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I.
birds grant someone's wish to fly like them: The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster and the Geese.
being carried (off) by a bird: The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Boy who Flew, Hare Acquires His Arrows, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (v. 1), Heną́ga and Star Girl, The Old Man and the Giants.
someone falls from the sky while trying to fly with the birds: The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, Trickster and the Geese, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster and the Eagle.
a flock of birds are a man's constant companions: Old Man and Wears White Feather (sparrows), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head (black swallows).
a swan is sent to the upper world as a messenger: The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Messengers of Hare.
a spirit sends one or more kaǧi (crows, ravens) to the upper world as messengers: Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth.
kaǧi (crows, ravens) are starving, so one of them goes looking for sinews left on the meat racks of the old village: The Shaggy Man, Kaǧiga and Lone Man.
kaǧi (crows, ravens) find their favorite food, bear entrails: The Shaggy Man, Kaǧiga and Lone Man.
friendship between wolves and bears: Bear Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth.
bears prefer the pitch dark of night: Bear Offers Himself as Food, The Woman Who Fought the Bear.
Bear is rejected because of his temper: Bear Offers Himself as Food, The Spider's Eyes.
Turtle and his brothers kill an enemy who had been harassing them but find out that he is a prince among the bears: Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers.
a mountain lion fights alongside a man in battle: The Dog that became a Panther, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion.
a wildcat who frightened someone later dies at his hands: The Choke Cherry Wild Cat, Hare Kills Wildcat.
a herd of buffalo attack someone: The Woman Who Became an Ant, Holy One and His Brother.
an Animal Spirit transforms himself from one kind of animal into another: The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse (Thunderbird > horse), Bear Clan Origin Myth (bear > blackbird > bear), White Wolf (wolf > dog), A Man and His Three Dogs (wolf > dog), The Dog that became a Panther, The Were-fish (raccoon > fish), Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name (raccoon > fish), The Spirit of Maple Bluff (raccoon > fish).
an animal spirit was so shamed while living in a human village, that he ever after led a solitary life away from the haunts of men: Trickster Takes Little Fox for a Ride, Mink Soils the Princess.
a group of animals is preparing for the cold of winter by looking for a more suitable place to live: Trickster and the Geese, Porcupine and His Brothers; Trickster Gets Pregnant.
four brothers, Turtle, Porcupine, Squirrel, and Little Red Turtle, live together and go to war together: Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers.
someone sticks his head into an oriface of a dead animal, and it tightens around his neck: The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster's Tail, The Elk's Skull.
someone makes an insulting remark to an animal, then pretends he said something else that sounds similar: Trickster and the Mothers, Hare Kills Wildcat, Holy One and His Brother.
a man understands the language of certain animals: The Raccoon Coat, A Man and His Three Dogs, The Dogs of the Chief's Son, The Canine Warrior, The Dog Who Saved His Master.
snakes are used as poles in the construction of a lodge: Waruǧábᵉra, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Story of the Medicine Rite.
a man asks several fish in succession to direct him to something: Redhorn's Father, Trickster's Adventures in the Ocean.
a sturgeon talks to a man who not long afterwards catches a sturgeon: Redhorn's Father, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake.
Earthmaker gives humanity control over tobacco (to compensate for its powerlessness): Tobacco Origin Myth, Hocąk Clans Origin Myth (v. 2), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (vv. 1, 3), The Creation of Man (v. 11).
trees talk to people and give them advice: Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Children of the Sun, The Old Woman and the Maple Tree Spirit, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I.
a small plant speaks to someone: A Weed's Blessing, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb.
trees cause Trickster to suffer: Trickster Loses His Meal, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb.
the spirits bless a fasting man with a special plant: Maize Comes to the Hocągara, The Plant Blessing of Earth, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, Great Walker's Medicine.
a man acquires knowledge of a medicinal plant through a vision given to him by the spirits: The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, Great Walker's Medicine, The Plant Blessing of Earth, The Origins of the Sore Eye Dance.
someone takes peyote and has visions: A Peyote Vision, White Shirt, The Death of Henry Harris’ Daughter.
a woman digs for Indian potatoes: The Lost Child, The Children of the Sun, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head.
artichokes are used as a laxative: Trickster Soils the Princess, Mink Soils the Princess.
Trickster mistakes the covering of vegetation for human clothing: Trickster and the Dancers, The Pointing Man.
Trickster thinks that people are ignoring him while performing a certain activity, so he competes with them in this activity only to learn later that the "people" were actually just vegetation seen at a distance: Trickster and the Dancers, The Pointing Man.
a leader of a cardinal direction first enters the Creation Lodge of the Medicine Rite: South Enters the Medicine Lodge, East Enters the Medicine Lodge.
a young man builds and maintains a very large fire at the behest of a woman, and in order to stay awake, he tells her stories throughout the night: The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, Hare Burns His Buttocks (v. 2).
a young hero (becomes depressed and) sits in silence with a blanket over his head: Turtle's Warparty, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Necessity for Death, Moiety Origin Myth, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II.
men enter the water inside a bearskin: The King Bird, How the Thunders Met the Nights.
a princess is the sole survivor of a group of friends that she persuaded to travel with her: The Woman Who Became an Ant, The Little Human Head.
someone falls through a hole in the ice into the water below: A Mink Tricks Trickster, Black Otter's Warpath, The Ice Hole.