THE RACOON

Ho wi ye a hi

and all the Wolves danced forward. When he shouted “Yu!” they turned and danced back in line.

“That’s fine,” said Groundhog, after the first dancewas over. Then he went to the next tree and began the second song. He sang,

Hi ya yu we,

and the Wolves danced forward. When he shouted “Yu!” they danced back in a straight line.

At each song, Groundhog took another tree, getting closer and closer to his hole under a stump. At the seventh song, Groundhog said,

“Now this is the last dance. When I shout ‘Yu!’ all come after me. The one who gets me may have me.”

Then he sang a long time, until the Wolves were at quite a distance in a straight line. Then he shouted “Yu!” and darted for his hole.

At once the Wolves turned and were after him. The foremost Wolf caught his tail and gave it such a jerk he broke it off. That is why Groundhog has such a short tail.

Menomini

ONE day Racoon went into the woods to fast and dream. He dreamed that someone said to him, “When you awaken, paint your face and body with bands of black and white. That will be your own.”

When Racoon awoke, he painted himself as he had been told to do. So we see him, even to the present day.

Biloxi

THE Ancient of Opossums thought that he would reach a certain pond very early in the morning, so that he might catch the crawfish on the shore. But someone else reached there first, and when Opossum reached there the crawfish were all gone.

This person did this every day. Opossum did not know who it was, so he lay in wait for him. He found it was the Ancient of Racoons.

They argued about the crawfish and the pond. They agreed to see which could rise the earlier in the morning, go around the shore of the pond and catch the crawfish.

Racoon said, “I rise very early. I never sleep until daylight comes.”

Opossum said the same thing. Then each went home.

Now Opossum lay down in a hollow tree and slept there a long time. He arose when the sun was very high and went to the pond. But Racoon had beenthere ahead of him, and had eaten all the crawfish. Racoon sang the Song of the Racoon as he was going home. Opossum stood listening. He, too, sang. He sang the Song of the Opossum, thus:

Hí nakí-yuwus-sé-di

He met the Racoon who had eaten all the crawfish.

“Ha!” said Racoon. “I have been eating very long, and I was going home, as I was sleepy.”

Opossum said, “I, too, have been eating so long that I am sleepy, so I am going home.”

Opossum was always telling a lie. People say this of the Opossum because if one hits that animal and throws it down for dead, soon it gets up and walks off.

Cherokee

POSSUM used to have a long, bushy tail and he was so proud of it that he combed it out every morning and sang about it at the dance. Now Rabbit had had no tail since Bear pulled it off because he was jealous. Therefore he planned to play a trick on ’Possum.

The animals called a great council. They planned to have a dance. It was Rabbit’s business to send out the news. One day as he was passing ’Possum’s house, he stopped to talk.

“Are you going to the council?” he asked.

“Yes, if I can have a special seat,” said ’Possum. “I have such a handsome tail I ought to sit where everyone can see me.”

Rabbit said, “I will see that you have a special seat. And I will send someone to comb your tail for the dance.” ’Possum was very much pleased.

Rabbit at once went to Cricket, who is an expert hair cutter; therefore the Indians call him the barber. He told Cricket to go the next morning and comb’Possum’s tail for the dance. He told Cricket just what to do.

In the morning, Cricket went to ’Possum’s house. ’Possum stretched himself out on the floor and went to sleep, while Cricket combed out his tail and wrapped a red string around it to keep it smooth until night. But all the time, as he wound the string around, he was snipping off the hair closely. ’Possum did not know it.

When it was night, ’Possum went to the council and took his special seat. When it was his turn to dance, he loosened the red string from his tail and stepped into the middle of the lodge.

The drummers began to beat the drum. ’Possum began to sing, “See my beautiful tail.”

Every man shouted and ’Possum danced around the circle again, singing, “See what a fine color it has.” They all shouted again, and ’Possum went on dancing, as he sang, “See how it sweeps the ground.”

Then the animals all shouted so that ’Possum wondered what it meant. He looked around. Every man was laughing at him. Then he looked down at his beautiful tail. It was as bare as a lizard’s tail. There was not a hair on it.

He was so astonished and ashamed that he could not say a word. He rolled over on the ground and grinned, just as he does today when taken by surprise.

Choctaw (Bayou Lacomb)

VERY little food there was for Deer one dry season. He became thin and weak. One day he met ’Possum. Deer at once exclaimed, “Why, ’Possum, how fat you are! How do you keep so fat when I cannot find enough to eat?”

’Possum said, “I live on persimmons. They are very large this year, so I have all I want to eat.”

“How do you get the persimmons?” asked Deer. “They grow so high!”

“That is easy,” said ’Possum. “I go to the top of a high hill. Then I run down and strike a persimmon tree so hard with my head that all the ripe persimmons drop on the ground. Then I sit there and eat them.”

“That is easily done,” said Deer. “I will try it. Now watch me.”

’Possum waited. Deer went to the top of a nearby hill. He ran down and struck the tree with his head. ’Possum watched him, laughing. He opened his mouth so wide while he laughed that he stretched it. That is why ’Possum has such a large mouth.

From Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.Shell Pins Made and Used by Indians of the Mississippi Valley. Found in Graves.

From Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Shell Pins Made and Used by Indians of the Mississippi Valley. Found in Graves.

Menomini

ONCE there dwelt in a village two sisters, who were the swiftest runners in the Menomini tribe. Towards the setting sun was another village, two days’ walk away.

The sisters wished to visit this village. They began to run at great speed. At noon they came to a hollow tree lying across the trail. In the snow on the ground, there, behold! lay the trail of Porcupine, leading to the hollow tree. One of them broke off a stick and began to poke into the log, that Porcupine might come out. She said, “Let’s have some fun with him.”

“No,” said the other sister, “he is a manido. We should leave him alone.”

But the girl with a stick poked into the hollow log until Porcupine came out. Then she caught him and pulled out his long quills and threw them in the snow. The other said, “No, it is cold. Porcupine will need his robe.”

At last the sisters ran on. The village was still far away.

Now when they left Porcupine, he crawled up a tall pine tree until he reached the very top. Then he faced the north and began to shake his small rattle, singing in time to its sound.

Soon the sky darkened. Snow began to fall. Now the sisters could not run rapidly because of the deepening snow.

One looked back and saw Porcupine in the tree top, shaking his rattle. She said, “We must go back to our own village. I am afraid some harm will overtake us.”

The other answered, “No, let us go on. We need not fear Porcupine.” The snow became deeper, so they rolled up their blankets as they ran on.

When the sun followed the trail over the edge of the world, the sisters could not even see the village. Still they ran on. Then in the late evening they came to a stream which they knew was near the village.

Behold! It was dark. The snow was very deep. The sisters no longer had strength. They could hear voices in the village. They could not call loud enough to be heard. Thus they perished in the snow.

One should never harm Porcupine because he is a manido.

Cherokee

IN THE beginning, so they say, Dog was put on the mountain side and Wolf beside the fire. When winter came, Dog could not stand the cold, and drove Wolf away from the fire. Wolf ran into the mountains and he liked it so well that he has stayed there ever since.

Menomini

ONCE when the Catfish were all together in one place in the water, the Catfish chief said, “I have often seen a moose come to the edge of the water to eat grass. Let us watch for him and kill him and eat him. He always comes when the sun is a little way up in the sky.”

The Catfish agreed to attack Moose. So they went to watch. They crept everywhere in among the grass and rushes when Moose came down to the water’s edge, slowly picking at the grass. All the tribe watched to see what the Catfish chief would do. He slipped slowly through the marshy grass to where Moose was standing. He thrust his spear into Moose’s leg.

Moose said, “Who has thrust a spear into my leg?” He looked down and saw the Catfish tribe. At once he began to trample upon them with his hoofs. He killed many, but others escaped and swam down the river.

Catfish still carry spears, but their heads are flat, because Moose tramped them down in the mud.

Menomini

THERE was a large camp in which Miqkano, the Turtle, took up his abode. He built a wigwam but he had no one to keep house for him. He thought he needed a wife.

Now Turtle found a young woman whom he liked. He said, “I want you to be my wife.”

She said, “How are you going to provide for me? You cannot keep up with the rest of the people when they move.”

Turtle replied, “I can keep up with the best of your people.”

Then the young woman wanted to put him off. She said, “Oh, well, I will marry you in the spring.”

Turtle was vexed with this. At last he said, “I shall go to war and take some captives. When I return in the spring, I shall expect you to marry me.”

Then Turtle prepared to go on the war path. He called all his friends, the Turtles, to him. He left camp, followed by a throng of curious Indians. Theyoung woman he wanted to marry laughed as the Turtles moved away. They were so very slow.

Turtle was vexed again. He said, “In four days from now you will surely mourn for me because I shall be at a great distance from you.”

“Why,” said the girl, laughing, “in four days from this time you will scarcely be out of sight.”

Turtle immediately corrected himself, and said, “I did not mean four days, but four years. Then I shall return.”

Now the Turtles started off. They traveled slowly on until one day they found a great tree lying across their trail.

Turtle said, “This we cannot pass unless we go around it. That would take too long. What shall we do?”

Some said, “Let us burn a hole through the trunk,” but in this they did not succeed.

Therefore they had to turn back home, but it was a long time before they came near the Indian village again. They wanted to appear as successful warriors, so as they came near, they set up the war song. The Indians heard them. They at once ran out to see the scalps and the spoils. But when they came near, the Turtles each seized an Indian by the arm and said,

“We take you our prisoners. You are our spoils.”

The Indians who were captured in this way were very angry. Now the Turtle chief had captured the young woman he said he was going to marry. He said to the Indian girl, “Now that I have you I will keep you.”

Now it was necessary to organize a dance to celebrate the victory over the Indians. Everyone dressed in his best robe and beads. Turtle sang,

“Whoever comes near me will die, will die, will die!” and the others danced around him in a circle. At once the Indians became alarmed. Each one fled to his own lodge, in the village. Turtle also went to the village, but he arrived much later because he could not travel so fast.

Someone said to him, “That girl has married another man.”

“Is that true?” stormed Turtle. “Let me see the man.”

So he went to that wigwam. He called, “I am going for the woman who promised to be my wife.”

Her husband said, “Here comes Turtle. Now what is to be done?”

“I shall take care of that,” said his wife.

Turtle came in and seized her. He said, “Come along with me. You belong to me.”

She pulled back. She said, “You broke yourpromise.” The husband said also, “Yes, you promised to go to war and bring back some prisoners. You failed to do so.”

Turtle said, “I did go. I returned with many prisoners.” Then he picked up the young woman and carried her off.

Now when Turtle arrived at his own wigwam, the young woman went at once to a friend and borrowed a large kettle. She filled it with water and set it on to boil. Turtle became afraid. He said, “What are you doing?”

She said, “I am heating some water. Do you know how to swim?”

“Oh, yes,” said Turtle. “I can swim.”

The young woman said, “You jump in the water and swim. I can wash your shell.”

So Turtle tried to swim in the hot water. Then the other Turtles, seeing their chief swimming in the kettle, climbed over the edge and jumped into the water. Thus Turtle and his warriors were conquered.

Ojibwa

LONG ago, an Ojibwa Indian and his wife lived on the shores of Lake Huron. They had one son, who was named “O-na-wut-a-qui-o, He-that-catches-the-clouds.”

Now the boy was very handsome, and his parents thought highly of him, but he refused to make the fast of his tribe. His father gave him charcoal; yet he would not blacken his face. They refused him food; but he wandered along the shore, and ate the eggs of birds. One day his father took from him by force the eggs of the birds. He took them violently. Then he threw charcoal to him. Then did the boy blacken his face and begin his fast.

Now he fell asleep. A beautiful woman came down through the air and stood beside him. She said, “I have come for you. Step in my trail.”

At once he began to rise through the air. They passed through an opening in the sky, and he found himself on the Sky-plain. There were flowers on the beautiful plain, and streams of fresh, cold water. Thevalleys were green and fair. Birds were singing. The Sky-land was very beautiful.

There was but one lodge, and it was divided into two parts. In one end were bright and glowing robes, spears, and bows and arrows. At the other end, the garments of a woman were hung.

The woman said, “My brother is coming and I must hide you.” So she put him in a corner and spread over him a broad, shining belt. When the brother came in, he was very richly dressed, and glowing. He took down his great pipe and his tobacco.

At last, he said, “Nemissa, my elder sister, when will you end these doings? The Greatest of Spirits has commanded that you should not take away the children of earth. I know of the coming of O-na-wut-a-qui-o.” Then he called out, “Come out of your hiding. You will get hungry if you remain there.” When the boy came out, he gave him a handsome pipe of red sandstone, and a bow and arrows.

So the boy stayed in the Sky-land. But soon he found that every morning, very early, the brother left the wigwam. He returned in the evening, and then the sister left it and was gone all night. One day he said to the brother, “Let me go with you.” “Yes,” said the brother, and the next morning they started off.

The two traveled a long while over a smooth plain.It was a very long journey. He became hungry. At last he said, “Is there no game?”

“Wait until we reach the place where I always stop to eat,” said the brother. So they journeyed on. At last they came to a place spread over with fine mats. It was near a hole in the Sky-plain.

The Indian looked down through the hole. Below were great lakes and the villages of his people. He could see in one place feasting and dancing, and in another a war party silently stealing upon the enemy. In a green plain young warriors were playing ball.

The brother said, “Do you see those children?” and he sent a dart down from the Sky-plain. At once a little boy fell to the ground. Then all the people gathered about the lodge of his father. The Indian, looking down through the hole, could hear theshe-she-gwanof themeta, and the loud singing. Then Sun, the brother, called down, “Send me up a white dog.”

Immediately a white dog was killed by the medicine men, and roasted, because the child’s father ordered a feast. All the wise men and the medicine men were there.

Sun said to the Indian, “Their ears are open and they listen to my voice.”

Now the Indians on the Earth-plain divided the dog, and placed pieces on the bark for those who were atthat feast. Then the master of the feast called up, “We send this to thee, Great Manito.” At once the roasted dog came up to Sun in the Sky-plain. Thus Sun and the Indian had food. Then Sun healed the boy whom he had struck down. Then he began again to travel along the trail in the Sky-plain, and they reached their wigwam by another road.

Then O-na-wut-a-qui-o began to weary of the Sky-land. At last he said to Moon, “I wish to go home.”

Moon said, “Since you like better the care and poverty of the earth, you may return. I will take you back.”

At once the Indian youth awoke. He was in the very plain where he had fallen asleep after he had blackened his face and begun his fast. But his mother said he had been gone a year.

Choctaw (Bayou Lacomb)

TASHKA and Walo were brothers. They lived a long while ago, so they say. Every morning they saw Sun come up over the edge of the earth. Then he followed the trail through the sky.

When they were four years old, they started to follow Sun’s trail. They walked all day, but that night when Sun died, they were still in their own country. They knew all the hills and rivers. Then they slept.

Next morning they began again to follow Sun, but when he died at the edge of the earth, they could still see their own land.

Then they followed Sun many years. At last they became grown men.

One day they reached a great sea-water. There was no land except the shore on which they stood. When Sun went down over the edge of the earth that day, they saw him sink into the waters. Then they crossed the sea-water, to the edge. So they came to Sun’s home.

All around there were many women. The stars are women, and Moon also. Moon is Sun’s wife.

Moon asked them how they had found their way. They were very far from their own land. They said, “For many years we have followed Sun’s trail.”

Sun said, “Do you know your way home?” They said, “No.” So Sun took them up to the edge of the water. They could see the earth, but they could not see their own land.

Sun asked, “Why did you follow me?” They said, “We wished to see where you lived.”

Sun said, “I will send you home. But for four days you must not speak a word to any person. If you do not speak, you shall live long. You shall have much wealth.”

Then Sun called to Buzzard. He put the two brothers on Buzzard’s back. He said, “Take them back to earth.” So Buzzard started for the earth.

Now the clouds are halfway between heaven and earth. The wind never blows above the clouds, so they say.

Buzzard flew from heaven to the clouds. The brothers could easily keep their hold. Then Buzzard flew from the clouds to the earth. But now Wind blew them in all directions. Then at last they came to earth. They saw the trees around their own village. They rested under the trees. An old man passing by knew them. So he went down the trail and told theirmother. She at once hastened to see them. When she met them, she began to talk. She made them talk to her. They told her. So they spoke before the four days were ended. Therefore Sun could not keep his promise.

Menomini

ONCE upon a time, Ke-so, the Sun, and his sister, Tipa-ke-so, the Moon, the “last-night sun,” lived together in a wigwam in the East. One day Sun dressed himself to go hunting, took his bows and arrows, and left. He was gone a long time. When he did not return, his sister became frightened, and came out into the sky to look for her brother. At last he returned, bringing with him a bear which he had shot.

Moon still comes up into the sky and travels for twenty days. Then she disappears, and for four days nothing is seen of her. At the end of the four days, she comes into the sky again, and travels twenty days more.

Sun is a being like ourselves. He wears an otter skin about his head.

Biloxi

IN OLDEN days, the Moon Person used to make visits to the Indians. One day a child put out a dirty little hand and made a black spot on Moon Person. Therefore Moon felt ashamed and when night came he disappeared. He went up above. He stays up above all the time now, so they say. Sometimes he is dressed altogether in a shining robe, and therefore he is bright at night. But immediately afterwards he disappears. You can still see the black spot, so they say.

Cherokee

ONE night hunters in the mountains noticed two shining lights moving along the top of a distant ridge. After a while the lights vanished on the other side. Thus they watched many nights, talking around the camp fire.

One morning they traveled to the ridge. Then they searched long. At last they found two round creatures covered with soft fur or downy feathers. They had small heads.

Then the hunters took these strange creatures to their camp. They watched them. In the day, they were only balls of gray fur; only when the breeze stirred their fur, then sparks flew out. At night they grew bright and shone like stars.

They kept very quiet. They did not stir, so the hunters did not fasten them. One night they suddenly rose from the ground like balls of fire. They went above the tops of the trees, and then higher until they reached the Sky-land. So the hunters knew they were stars.

Menomini

WHEN a star falls from the sky it leaves a fiery trail. It does not die. Its shade goes back to its own place to shine again. The Indians sometimes find the small stars where they have fallen in the grass.

Menomini

IN THE Land of the North Wind live themanabaiwok, the giants of whom our old people tell.

Themanabaiwokare our friends, but we do not see them any more. They are great hunters and fishermen. Whenever they come out with their torches to spear fish, we know it because the sky is bright over that place.

Chitimacha

ALITTLE boy named Ustapu was one day lying on the shore of a lake. His people had just reached the shore from the prairies, but the wind was too high for them to cross.

As he lay there, he suddenly saw another boy fanning himself with a fan of turkey wings. This was the boy who made the West Wind. Ustapu said to his tribe, “I can break the arm of the boy who makes West Wind.” But they laughed at him. He took a shell and threw it at the boy and struck his left arm.

Therefore when the west wind is high, the Indians say that the boy is using his strong arm. When the west wind is a gentle breeze, they say he is using his injured arm. Before that, the west wind had always been so strong it was very disagreeable, because Wind-maker could use both arms. Now it is much gentler.

The Indians think this boy also made the other winds.

Ojibwa

AT ONE time an orphan boy whose uncle was very unkind to him ran away. He ran a long way. He ran until night. Then because he was afraid of wild animals, he climbed into a tree in the forest. It was a high pine tree, and he climbed into the forked branches of it.

A person came to him from the upper sky. He said, “Follow me. Step in my trail. I have seen how badly you are treated.” Then at once as the boy stepped in his trail, he rose higher and higher into the upper sky. Then the person put twelve arrows into his hands. He said, “There are evil manitoes in the sky. Go to war against them. Shoot them with your bow and arrows.”

The boy went into the northern part of the upper sky. Soon he saw a manito and shot at him. But that one’s magic was too strong. Therefore the shot failed. There was only a single streak of lightning in the northern sky, yet there was no storm, and not even a cloud.

From Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.Ojibwa Dancer’s Beaded Medicine Bag.

From Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Ojibwa Dancer’s Beaded Medicine Bag.

Eleven times the boy thus failed to kill a manito, and thus he had but one arrow left. He held this in his hands a long while, looking around. Now these evil manitoes had very strong medicine. They could change their form in a moment. But they feared the boy’s arrows because they were also strong magic. And because they had been given to him by a good manito, they had power to kill.

At last the boy saw the chief of the evil manitoes. He drew his bow and shot his last arrow; but the chief saw it coming. At once he changed himself into a rock. And the arrow buried itself in a crack of the rock. The chief was very angry. He cried, “Now your arrows are all gone! And because you have dared to shoot at me, you shall become the trail of your arrow.”

Thus at once he changed the boy into Nazhik-a-wawa, the Lone Lightning.

Cherokee

THE Great Thunder and his sons, the two Thunder boys, live far in the West, above the Sky-plain. The lightning and the rainbow are their beautiful robes. Medicine men pray to Thunder, and call him the Red Man because there is so much red in his dress.

There are other thunders that live lower down, in the cliffs and mountains, and under waterfalls. They travel on bridges from one peak to another, but the Indian cannot see these bridges. The Great Thunders above the sky are kind and helpful when we make medicine to them, but the others are always plotting mischief. One must not point to the rainbow.

Natchez

THE Natchez begin the year in March, each being a lunar month. Therefore there are thirteen.

1 Deer month2 Strawberry month3 Little Corn month4 Watermelon month5 Peach month (July)6 Mulberry month7 Great Corn month (maize)8 Turkey month (October)9 Bison month10 Bear month11 Cold meal month (January)12 Chestnut month13 Nut month (nuts broken to make bread, at the close of winter, when supplies run low)

Fox

ONCE on a time, long ago, when it was winter, so they say, it snowed for the first time. And while the very first snow lay on the ground, so they say, three men went early in the morning to hunt for game.

In a thick growth of shrub on a side hill, a bear had entered in. They could see the trail in the snow. One went in after him, and started him going in flight.

“Away from The-place-whence-comes-the-cold he is making fast!” he called to the others.

But the one who had gone round by way of The-place-from-whence-comes-the-cold, cried, “In the direction From-whence-comes-the-source-of-midday is he hurrying away.” Thus he said.

The third, who had gone round by way of The-place-whence-comes-the-source-of-midday, cried out, “Towards-the-place-where-the-sun-falls-down is he hastening.”

Back and forth for a long while did they keep the bear fleeing from one to another. After a while, one ofthe hunters who was coming behind looked down. Behold! The earth below was green. For it is really true, so they say, that up into the Sky-land were they led away by the bear. While they were chasing him about the dense growth of shrubs, that was surely the time that up into the Sky-land they went.

Then quickly he called, “Oh, Union-of-rivers, let us turn back. Truly into the Sky-land is he leading us away.” So he called to Union-of-rivers, but no answer did he receive from that one.

Now Union-of-rivers, who went running between the man ahead and the man behind, had a little puppy, Hold-tight.

Now in the autumn, they overtook the bear. Then they slew him. After they had slain him, many boughs of an oak did they cut, also of sumach. So with the bear lying on top of the boughs, they skinned him, and cut up the meat. Then they began to scatter the pieces in all directions.

Towards The-place-whence-comes-the-dawn-of-day they hurled the head. In winter, when dawn is nearly breaking, stars appear which are that head, so they say.

Also to the east flung they his backbone. In winter time, certain stars lie close together. These are the backbone, so they say.

And it has also been told of the bear and the huntersthat the group of four stars in front are the bear and the three hunters. And between the front star and the star behind, a tiny little star hangs. That is the little dog, Hold-tight, which was the pet of Union-of-rivers.

And so often as autumn comes, the oaks and sumachs redden at the leaf because their boughs were stained with the blood of the bear.

Cherokee

ONCE when the people were burning the woods in the fall, a poplar tree began to burn. It burned until the fire went down into the roots; and then down into the ground. It burned and burned until there was a great hole in the ground, and the people began to be afraid the whole world would burn. They tried to put out the fire, but it was too deep in the ground.

At last someone said, “There is a man living in a house of ice, far toward the Frozen Land. He can put out the fire.”

So messengers were sent. They traveled many sleeps until they came to the house of the Man of Ice. He was a little fellow with long braids of hair, hanging to the ground.

He said at once, “Oh, yes, I can help you,” and began to unbraid his hair. When it was all loose, he took it in one hand and struck the ends against the other hand. The messengers felt a wind blow against their cheeks.

He struck the ends of his hair again across his hand. A light rain began to fall. A third time he struck the open hand with his hair. Sleet began to fall with the rain. The fourth time, and large hailstones fell. They fell as though they came out of the ends of his hair.

“Now go home,” said the medicine man. “I shall be there tomorrow.”

So the messengers returned. They found the people standing around the burning hole.

The next day, as the people stood again at the burning hole, watching the fire, a light wind came from the north. They were afraid because they knew the medicine man had sent it. The wind made the flames sweep higher. Then a light rain began to fall. It but made the fire hotter. Then came sleet with a heavy rain, and hail. The flames died down but clouds of smoke and steam arose.

Then the people fled to their wigwams for shelter. A great wind arose which blew the hail into the depths of the fire and piled up a great heap of hailstones. Then the fire died out and the smoke ceased.

Now when the people went to look again—a lake stood where flames had been. Yet from below the water came the sound of embers still crackling.

Cherokee

THE Nunnehi are The People Who Live Anywhere. They were spirit people who lived in the highlands of the Cherokee country, and they liked the bald mountain peaks where no timber ever grows.

No one could see the Nunnehi except when the spirit-people let themselves be seen, and then they looked and acted just like other Indians. But they like music and dancing, and hunters in the mountains often could hear the dance songs and the drum; yet when they went towards the sound, it would suddenly shift behind them or in some other direction. They were a friendly people, too. Some Indians have thought they were the same as the Little People; but those are no larger than little children.

Once a boy was with the Nunnehi. When he was about ten or twelve years old, he was playing one day near the river, shooting at a mark with his bow and arrow. Then he started to build a fish trap in thewater. While he was piling up the stones in two long walls, a man came and stood on the bank.

The man said, “What are you doing?” The boy told him. The man said, “That’s pretty hard work. You ought to rest awhile. Come and take a walk up the river.”

The boy said, “No. I am going to the lodge to get something to eat.”

“Come to my lodge,” said the man. “I’ll give you good food and bring you home again in the morning.”

So the boy went to the man’s lodge with him. They went up the river. The man’s wife and all the other people were glad to see him. They gave him plenty to eat. While he was eating, a man that the boy knew very well indeed came in and spoke to him. So he did not feel strange.

Afterwards he played with the other children and slept there that night. In the morning, their father took him down the trail. They went down a trail that had a cornfield on one side and a peach orchard on the other, until they came to a cross trail. Then the man said,

“Go along this trail across that ridge and you will come to the river road that will take you straight to your home.”

So he went back to his house. The boy went downthe trail, but soon he turned and looked back. There was no cornfield there; there were no peach trees or house—nothing but trees on the mountain side. Still he was not frightened. He went on until he came to the river trail in sight of his home. He saw many people standing about talking. When they saw him, they ran towards him shouting, “Here he is! He is not drowned or killed in the mountains!”

Then they said, “Where have you been? We have been looking for you ever since yesterday noon.”

“A man took me over to his house, just across the ridge,” said the boy. “I thought Udsi-skala would tell you where I was.”

Udsi-skala said, “I have not seen you. I was out all day in my canoe looking for you. It was one of the Nunnehi who made himself look like me.”

His mother said, “You say you had plenty to eat there?”

“Yes,” said the boy.

“There is no house there,” his mother answered. “There is nothing there but trees and rocks, but we hear a drum sometimes in the big bald peak above. The people you saw were the Nunnehi.”

Cherokee

THERE is another race of spirits, the Little People. They live in rock caves and in the mountain side. They hardly reach to a man’s knee, but they are very handsome, with long hair falling to the ground. They work wonders, and are fond of music. They spend half their time drumming and dancing. If their drum is heard in lonely places in the mountains, it is not safe to follow it. They do not like to be disturbed and they throw a spell over people who annoy them. And even when such a person at last gets back home, he seems dazed.

Sometimes the Little People come near a house at night, but even if people hear them talking, they must not go out. And in the morning, the corn is gathered, or the field cleared, as if a great many people had been at work.

When a hunter finds a knife in the woods, he must say, “Little People, I want to take this,” because it may belong to them. Otherwise, they may throw stones at him as he goes home.

There are other spirits. The Water Dwellers live in the water and fishermen pray to them.

There are also the hunter spirits who are very handsome. Sometimes they help the hunters, but when someone trips and falls, we know one of these hunter spirits tripped him up.

Then there is Det-sata. Det-sata was once a boy who ran away from his home. He has a great many children who are all just like him and have his name. When a flock of birds flies up suddenly as if frightened, it is because Det-sata is chasing them. He is mischievous and sometimes hides an arrow from the bird hunter who may have shot it off into a perfectly clear space, but looks and looks without finding it.

Then the hunter says, “Det-sata, you have my arrow. If you do not give it up, I’ll scratch you.” When he looks again, he finds it.

Ojibwa

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