The Quail Hunter
by Oliver Lamere and Harold Shinn
(65) Once there was a long, ten-fireplace lodge in which lived ten brothers, each one having a separate fireplace for himself. When they went out to hunt, it was the custom of the brothers to go all together along a single trail to a place some distance from the lodge. Here they would stop, seating themselves in a circle. They would smoke together, and then all would depart in different directions in search of game. In the evening they would return to this same place and come home over the single trail. The eldest brother (Kų̄́nų) would always bring a buffalo, then would follow the next younger brother with a moose, and the third with a bear. The fourth brother would bring a black-tailed deer, and so on down to the youngest brother, who would always bring a quail. Thus they lived, each day going on the chase.
(66) One day, as the eldest brother returned in the evening with his usual pack of buffalo, he discovered a woman sitting outside the lodge, so he rushed the last few steps home and greeted her. "Oh, sister, I am so glad you have come," said he, and, after inviting her into the lodge, he hurried about and he cooked the tongue of the buffalo that he had just brought. When it was ready, he placed it before her, but said, "Sister, it would seem as if I meant to discourage your eating, but, little sister, please do not eat too much, for my brothers are yet to come." So, after taking only a few bites from the tongue, she put it aside.
And sure enough, she had no more than stopped eating when the second brother came. As soon as he came within hearing distance, the eldest brother shouted to him and told him about the arrival of their sister. The second brother rushed home, and, after greeting her, he also quickly cooked for her the tongue of the moose that he had brought. Thus it went on with each (67) brother. As he came home, each brother cooked for her the tongue of the animal that he had brought, until at last there was only the tenth, or youngest, brother left.
Finally, late in the evening, he came home and the eldest brother told him also of the arrival of their sister and of how each brother had cooked something for her. Each of the brothers did the same except for the last, who did not make any reply or even cook for his sister.
Thus things went on until one day the ninth brother asked the youngest why he ignored their sister. The youngest brother replied, "Our eldest brother has counseled us from the time we were little, and he has told us all the things that he knew, but not until the arrival of this woman did I know that I had a sister. She may not be what she seems. Maybe she is not really our sister."
Thus they argued with him day after day as they sat in the woods before they (68) separated for the hunt. At first they were angry with him, then they laughed at his doubts, but at last they admitted that he might be right after all.
He finally won over all his brothers except the eldest one, who still continued to regard the woman as his sister. But at last, one day, as they sat smoking before they departed on the chase, he asked his brothers their reasons for suspecting her. They told him that he was the eldest and had told them from time to time all that he knew of things in general, but that he had never mentioned a sister. For that reason they supposed that she was an impostor.
And thus, at last, the eldest brother, too, was won over to their way of thinking, and they decided to send back a spy to see what the woman was doing in their absence. They decided to send their youngest brother, so he turned himself into a little bird and flew to the top of their lodge, where he alighted and listened. Lo and behold, the woman was talking over to herself her (69) plan for killing them all that same evening. " I will waylay them on their way home and kill them one at a time, which will be easy, but I wonder if I will be able to kill the youngest brother. Ah! He might even now be somewhere around listening to me," said she.
The little brother then flew back to the others and reported the woman’s plan to kill them that evening. The brothers held a hurried council and decided to leave for other parts of the country right then and there. They agreed to travel in different directions in order not to leave such a plain trail. Each evening they were to come together, and start again in the same fashion the following morning. Having decided all this, the ten brothers took their departure at once.
In the meantime the woman waited for their return to kill them, but they did not come. She grew more and more impatient and finally realized that they must have run away. Raising her skirts up to her (70) knees to enable her to run freely, she took an elk horn war club and gave chase, muttering all the while threats that they should not escape her. She ran over the single trail to the place where they always had separated, and, sure enough, there were their (71) trails leading in different directions. When the brothers arrived at their rendezvous point she rapidly followed it.
The brothers had traveled ever so far, and were coming together for the night when the woman finally came in sight of them. As she ran, she called to them, "You might as well give up, for I will overtake you no matter where you go."
"Brothers," said the eldest one, "it is going to be very difficult, so come together here." And as they came into a group, Kunu, the eldest brother, exerted himself and changed them all into buffaloes, and they started to run on again. As they ran they mingled with other buffaloes which were running wild, and these animals soon got tired and stopped. But the brothers continued to run on for a great distance until they were tired of being buffaloes, when once more they ran on as people. Even then the woman gained upon them.
The second brother then called them together, and this time they ran away as a herd of moose , mingling with other wild (72) moose to cover their tracks. After a time the third brother exerted himself, and they were turned into bears and then, of course, ran through thick timber and brush land as bears are wont to do. The fourth brother helped them to run as black-tailed deer, and then, as each brother in turn exerted himself, they ran as different animals.
But the woman gained upon them constantly until each one of the brothers save the tenth had tried his power. Then the eldest cried, "Oh, little brother, I beseech you to try to do something to help us!"
So the little brother, by whistling,
Bobwhite, bobwhite!
changed the brothers into a flock of quail, and thus they flew off. But the eldest brother was heavy and had to run for some distance before he was able to rise from the ground, and the woman nearly caught him.
They flew for a long way until finally they alighted in a very tall tree on top of a high cliff. There they were resting in the branches when the woman came up and (73) struck the tree with such force that they nearly dropped off. This she continued to do until the eldest brother again appealed to the youngest to try to do something, so the youngest brother began to whistle again,
“Bobwhite, bobwhite,
bobwhite, bobwhite!.”
At the fourth whistle there appeared in the west a dark cloud. Before long there came a heavy storm with lightnings and thunders, and struck the woman dead, thus saving the ten brothers.
Coming down from the tree, they started back for their home and, though it was a great distance away, finally reached it safely. There they held a council, and the eldest brother said, "Well, brothers, we came here on earth to enjoy its food, and we have had our fill so far as meat is concerned, but as yet we have tasted little of the vegetation, so let us henceforth go out as beings which eat such things."
And they started forth in the form of different animals. The eldest brother was (74) a buffalo, the second was a moose, the third was a bear, the fourth was a black-tailed deer, each brother taking the form of one of the animals they had been when they fled. The youngest brother went forth as a quail, and even to this day the Indians say that it is a sure sign of rain when a quail whistles . And the fact that the eldest brother was not able to rise quickly from the ground, but ran so far before flying, is the reason given for quail sometimes running so far before they begin to fly.1
Commentary. "ten brothers" — this story has strong affinities to "Grandfather's Two Families." In the latter story, all ten of the brothers are named, whereas here, unfortunately, the list is confined to only five, the oldest four, and the very youngest. The order of the brothers is also different here, as may be seen when they are aligned:
The list given in "Grandfather's Two Families" is complete and more likely to be rigorously correct. It may be appreciated that the only real difference is that the Bear is placed third rather than first, and the Elk is omitted. An interesting feature of this correlation is that fact that the quail is aligned with Morning Star as the tenth and most powerful brother.
It is often maintained that in North America the quail (Colinus virginianus) is one and the same as the partridge (Perdix perdix), but this is not correct. The partridge is always denoted by the term sīkáksik, which Helmbrecht-Lehmann say not only denotes the partridge, but also is used for the grouse, which is of some interest given what is said below. The quail, on the other hand, is consistently denoted by the term wanį́k žožoc(ge) (w niKi. do dotto Ke). Wanį́k (w niKi) is the standard term for "bird," and žōžóc (do dott) means, "to whistle." So the quail (also called "bobwhite") is the "whistling bird." The partridge (sīkáksigera), on the other hand, is an Old World bird imported to the state of Virginia in 1889, but is now found in the Great Lakes region and the plains to the west.
In "Partridge's Older Brother," the partridge is identified with Mars in the astronomy allegory, whereas here the quail is at least correlated with the Morning Star of Venus by matching the lists given in "Grandfather's Two Families."
"a separate fireplace" — as we see from the kindred myth, "Grandfather's Two Families", the fireplace represents the Sun. Each of these brothers is an asterism which is near the Sun as it travels the ecliptic.
"seating themselves in a circle" — these asterisms are associated with the circular ecliptic (the Sun's path across the background stars). Their distribution can be seen in this diagram in "Grandfather's Two Families."
"they would smoke together" — in a lodge a group of people are arranged in a circle around the central fire. When a single pipe is presented by the host for the group to smoke, it is necessarily passed around in a circle. Here we are told explicitly that the ten brothers are arranged in a circle. They play the role of asterism arrayed along the circular path of the ecliptic. Therefore, the fiery bowl of the pipe represents the Sun whom each hosts in succession. The smoke is akin to the clouds that populate the sky.
"in different directions" — each of these asterisms are more or less evenly distributed over the circular ecliptic, each occupying its own nonant (1⁄9 sector). Therefore, radiating out from a central location, they would all head in different directions (see the diagram at "Grandfather's Two Families").
"in the evening" — stars sleep during the day, so for them evening is daytime.
"come home" — return to the earth.
"the single trail" — the ecliptic, on the supposition that they are asterisms close to the path of the Sun.
"a moose" — known to the Hōcągara as cāsép, "the black deer" (see picture below). It likely stands for an asterism near the zodiac, probably identical to the Mōs Constellation of the neighboring Ojibwe. For more on this see "Grandfather's Two Families", and also below.
"a black-tailed deer" — this species of deer (Odocoileus hemionus) is only found far to the west of Wisconsin, and would not have been familiar to Hōcąk hunters, reflected in the fact that there is no known Hōcąk word for it. Unlike the familiar Virginia deer with its bright white tail, this species has, as its name indicates, a black tail. Was this deer confused with the moose, known as the "black deer"? Or was it selected because its tail might better reflect the dark of night in which the stars associated with it will have dwelt? Given the non-native status of the black-tailed deer, one wonders whether this story, despite its affinities to other Hōcąk tales, was not borrowed from a tribe living farther to the west.
"tongue" — the tongue was considered a delicacy and the choicest part of an animal. On the supposition that the sister is a Waterspirit (supported in the commentary following below), the tongue is of further interest because it is seated in the orifice that contains saliva, which Hōcągara call "mouth water" (i-nį́). So the mouth becomes an image of the cave in which the Waterspirit dwells, complete with its water. The tongue itself then becomes a counterpart to the Waterspirit inside its cave.
"did not make any reply or even cook for his sister" — presumably, only the youngest comes home with a bird, the rest have more substantial game, which is to say, mammals. The Lower Moiety of the Hōcąk nation is made up of those clans descended from animals of the earth and waters, including the Waterspirits, whose clan by some accounts, is the leader of the Lower Moiety. So the last and youngest brother is associated with the Bird Clans, or Upper Moiety. They are the opposites of the Lower Moiety and the Waterspirit Clan in particular. In the spirit world, the opposition between the Waterspirits and the greatest of the birds, the Thunders, is one of eternal conflict. The tongue of the quail makes the whistle of the wind, and the "mouth water" of its Thunderbird kin is the rain. To the other brothers, the Waterspirit is in some sense a sister, but not to the youngest avian brother.
"elk horn war club" — the woman is almost certainly a Waterspirit, the opponent of the Thunders who eventually kill her. The elk horn represents the cladistic nature of water tributaries that branch out like a cervid antler. They are the counterpart of the branching of lightning, the latter being the weapon of the Thunders. Waterspirits are said to have horns including elk horns, giving rise to a variety known as an "Elk Waterspirit."2 In terms of the astronomical code, it is easy to pick out the brachiating elk horn in the branching dark cloud that makes up the Great Rift that forms the spine of the Sagittarius-Scorpius Milky Way. As can be seen below, this is just above the likely placing of the Waterspirit.
"the woman finally came in sight of them" — Waterspirits are believed to have countless "roads" in their subterranean world on which they travel everywhere. This is an expression of the idea that the underworld is honeycombed with caves which act as channels for water. Water travels everywhere in the underworld and spills out at places as springs. The word mąnį, "earth water," also is a homonym meaning, "to walk." So noted are the Waterspirits for their travels around the world, one of the most famous of them is called "Traveler." So the brothers could hardly expect to escape a Waterspirit.
"buffaloes" — buffalo are also famous for traveling over vast distances, so much so that the earth itself is said to be a buffalo. The stars are also said to be buffalo, since they travel across the great plains of the sky. However, when they set, they enter into the subterranean abode of the Waterspirits until the whole herd emerges on the opposite horizon when the stars with which they are identified rise again. Only one of the brothers is actually associated with the buffalo. As we know from the diagram established by the allegory "Grandfather's Two Families," the buffalo is the constellation near which the Sun resides from early January through the first week of February, The idea that all the brothers, each of whom is associated with a different place on the zodiac could now all be buffaloes it seems could only mean that they all now exist at the Buffalo's time of year. In this telling of the story, we find that the list of brothers is not only incomplete, but the Bear, who should be first, comes third. The temporal interpretation is possible only if we accept the order given in "Grandfather's Two Families," and view the present story as a corruption of the order given there.
"moose" — the moose, whom Hōcągara call the "black deer" (ca-sep), in "Grandfather's Two Families" is the fourth brother, corresponding to a constellation in which the Sun is found from early April to the end of that month. It follows the Elk, which in this story's list is omitted altogether.
In the present story, the list of animal alloforms taken by the brothers consists of mammals particularly noted for their proclivity to roam over an extensive territory. That the Elk is omitted probably reflects the fact that this version of the story is not the full and complete version which will have been purchased at a substantial price, but a cheaper redacted version and one, furthermore, that has not been perfectly reproduced. The remaining animals named in "Grandfather's Two Families" are not known for roaming over an extensive territory: marten, beaver, otter, and raccoon.
In the mythology of the Deer Clan, Black Deer is said to have traveled the whole world and to have arrived, in the end, right back at the center of it. So the moose is also a great traveler. That it ended up in the center is symbolic of a claim to sovereignty, made explicitly by the Deer Clan when they claim "partial sovereignty" for having blown on the first fire (a symbol of sovereignty as well) causing it to light up. (The breath is the wind of the deer, and the winds emanate from the four quarters, and in the deer from its lungs, which are the Centre, and he who has charge of the four quarters and the Centre, has charge of all.) However, it is the Waterspirit Clan that lays claim to sovereignty, not over the tribe as a whole, but over the Lower Moiety of which the Deer Clan is a member. So the moose cannot escape the power of the Waterspirit either.
"bears" — as has been noted, the Bear is out of order. In the canonical list given in "Grandfather's Two Families," the Bear is first, representing the period from late November to very early January.
"struck the tree with with such force" — the idea is that the impact caused the tree to shake. In this engraving from Spiro Mound3 depicted at the right is a set of four piasas recalling the Hōcąk story of how Earthmaker (whose cross is in the center) created the earth from his perch above only to find that it swirled about continuously. To correct this, he sent down four Waterspirits who were designated "Island Anchors" in order to stabilized the swirling earth and keep it still. The Hōcąk successor to the Piasa is the Waterspirit. Waterspirits can come in many bodily forms: Snake Waterspirits,4 Beaver Waterspirits (Rap Wákcexi),5 Elk Waterspirits (Hųwą́kcexi), Deer Waterspirits (Ca Wákcexi),6 and Bear Waterspirits.7 However, they do not represent anything in the Above World, and are not said to have wings. However, there is a widespread Watersprit-like constellation in the night sky that Lankford has termed "the Great Serpent."8 Inasmuch as it "flies" across the night sky, it would only be appropriate that it have the wings necessary to do this. In the Hōcąk concept, we have a Waterspirit astride what is most often homologized as a course of water. Its eye is the red star Antares in the Western Scorpius Constellation. Now that the Milky Way is homologized to a tree, which it is frequently elsewhere, this stellar Waterspirit is conceived as colliding with it. As we saw above, this flock of quails correlates with the tenth and most holy of the brothers, the Morning Star of Venus.
The shaking of the impact may also represent an earthquake, which it is reasonable to think is force at the disposal of the underground Waterspirit whose weapon is symbolic of the force of water. There are Old World parallels to the idea that a god of subterranean waters can also be responsible for earthquakes (see below), the supposition, apparently, being the earthquakes are caused by the power of underground springs to shift the earth above them. The image of the tree quivering from being struck by the symbol of water, the elk horn, is captured by another homonym: cax means "saliva, foam, marsh," but also means "to quiver."
"lightnings and thunders" — in other words, the Thunderbirds responded to the call of distress and shot lightning by blinking their eyes.
"struck the woman dead" — the Thunders generally attack Waterspirits, which makes it rather more probable that the sister here represents one of that spirit tribe.
"a quail whistles" — it's a pity that we don't have a Hōcąk text for this story, as one might suppose that the bird is not the quail, but the greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), a kind of grouse. Range maps show that they once lived within the Hōcąk lands, where tall grass prairies were found. In Hōcąk these birds are called k'o. This very same word also means "thunder," creating the most intimate connection between these birds and thunder. It is no coincidence that they are associated in name with thunder: "During breeding season, the birds gather at a dancing ground called a lek, where males inflate yellow sacs near their throats, raise feathers on their heads like pointed ears, and send booming calls across the prairie."9
Comparative Material. Among the Greeks, the god of waters also had the power to cause earthquakes, which gave rise to Poseidon's by-name "Earthshaker."
Links: Partridge (Quail) I, Thunderbirds, Lightning, Moose. See Glossary, sv. Quail.
Stories: featuring partridges (quails) as characters: The Big Stone, Black and White Moons, The Spirit of Gambling, Partridge's Older Brother; mentioning Thunderbirds: The Thunderbird, Waruǧábera, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, Thunderbird and White Horse, Bluehorn's Nephews, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed (vv. 1, 2), The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird, The Thunder Charm, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Story of the Thunder Names, The Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Pigeon Clan Origins, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, Brave Man, Ocean Duck, Turtle's Warparty, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Heną́ga and Star Girl, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Redhorn's Sons, The Dipper, The Stone that Became a Frog, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Origin of the Hocąk Chief, The Spirit of Gambling, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Black Otter's Warpath, Aracgéga's Blessings, Kų̄́nų's Warpath, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, Black Otter’s Sacrifice to a Thunder, The Glory of the Morning, The Nightspirits Bless Ciwoit’éhiga, The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Little Red Bird's Story, The Big Stone, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, Song to Earthmaker, The Origins of the Milky Way; about Bird Spirits: Crane and His Brothers, The King Bird, Bird Origin Myth, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Wears White Feather on His Head, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird, Owl Goes Hunting, The Boy Who Became a Robin, Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, The Foolish Hunter, Ocean Duck, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Hocąk Arrival Myth, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster and the Geese, Holy One and His Brother (kaǧi, woodpeckers, hawks), Porcupine and His Brothers (Ocean Sucker), Turtle's Warparty (Thunderbirds, eagles, kaǧi, pelicans, sparrows), Kaǧiga and Lone Man (kaǧi), The Old Man and the Giants (kaǧi, bluebirds), The Bungling Host (snipe, woodpecker), The Red Feather, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Waruǧábera, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Black and White Moons, The Markings on the Moon, The Creation Council, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna (chicken hawk), Hare Acquires His Arrows, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), Heną́ga and Star Girl (black hawk), The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth (black hawk, kaǧi), Worúxega (eagle), The Arrows of the Medicine Rite Men (eagle), The Gift of Shooting (eagle), Hocąk Clans Origin Myth, Hawk Clan Origin Myth, The Hocąk Migration Myth, Blue Jay, The Baldness of the Buzzard, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster (buzzards), The Shaggy Man (kaǧi), The Healing Blessing (kaǧi), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (kaǧi), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Įcorúšika and His Brothers (Loon), Great Walker's Medicine (loon), Roaster (woodsplitter), The Spirit of Gambling, The Big Stone (a partridge), Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, The Story of the Medicine Rite (loons, cranes, turkeys), The Fleetfooted Man, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4), The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers (little white bird) — see also Thunderbirds, and the sources cited there; mentioning moose: Deer Clan Origin Myth, Grandfather's Two Families, Hunting at Green Lake.
Themes: a large group of brothers (usually ten) live alone together: Sun and the Big Eater, The Big Eater, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Bladder and His Brothers, Wojijé, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, The Spotted Grizzly Man; each member of a group of brothers specializes in the hunting of just one kind of game animal: Grandfather's Two Families, The Brown Squirrel; a group of brothers return from the hunt in the order of their birth: Sun and the Big Eater, Grandfather's Two Families, The Old Man and His Four Dogs; an evil spirit unexpectedly appears to humans and is believed by them to be one of their own relatives: The Big Stone; a woman abuses someone with whom she is living: Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother, 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 group of brothers goes down a common hunting trail and split up when they reach the end: Waruǧábera; an evil woman goes on the rampage with an elkhorn club: The Green Man; people turn into birds: Waruǧábera (owl, Thunderbird), Worúxega (eagle), The Thunderbird (black hawk, hummingbird), The Dipper (black hawk, hummingbird), Keramaniš’aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), The Hocąk Arrival Myth (ravens), The Annihilation of the Hocągara I (turkey), 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 small bird's call causes the Thunderbirds to come forth thundering: Turtle's Warparty.
Songs. Bladder, Song about the Older Brother (v. 2), Bladder, Song about the Older Brother (v. 3), Buffalo Dance Songs, Clan Songs, Bear Clan, Clan Songs, Bear Clan, Song for Returning, Clan Songs, Bear Clan, Song for Starting Out, Clan Song, Bear Clan, Song of the Youngest, Clan Songs, Buffalo Clan, Clan Songs, Buffalo Clan, The Four Songs of Hojanoka, Clan Songs—Deer Clan, Clan Songs—Wolf Clan, Clan Songs—Wonáǧire Wąkšik Clan, The Crawfish's Song, Duck Song, Farewell Songs, The Four Services Songs, Grandfather Sparrow's Rain Songs, Grizzly Bear Songs, Hare's Song to Grasshopper, Hare's Song to the Wągepanįgera, Hare's Song to Wildcat, Hawk's Song, Heroka Songs, Holy Song, Holy Song II, Little Fox's Death Song, Little Fox's Death Song (for the Warpath), Little Fox's Tail Song, Love Song I (female), Love Song II (female), Love Song III (female), The Mouse Song, Nightspirit Songs, The Quail's Song, Redman's Song, Slow Song of the Heroka, Soldier Dance Songs, Song for Calling the Buffalo, Song from the Water, Song from the Water (King Bird), The Song of Bluehorn's Sister, Hocąk Text — The Song of Sun Caught in a Net, The Song of the Boy Transformed into a Robin, Song of the Frog to Hare, Song of the Thunder Nestlings, The Song of Trickster's Baby, Song to Earthmaker, The Song to the Elephant, The Sun's Song to Hare, Three Warrior Songs, Turtle's Call for a Warparty (v. 1), Turtle's Call for a Warparty (v. 2), Turtle's Four Death Dance Songs, Twins, Ghost's Song (v. 1), Twins, Ghost's Song (v. 2), Twins, Ghost's Song (The Two Brothers), Twins, the Songs of Ghost and Flesh, Twins, Song of the Father-in-Law, Victory Song, Wailing Song, Warrior Song about Mącosepka, What a Turtle Sang in His Sleep, Wolf-Teasing Song of the Deer Spirits. Songs in the McKern collection: Waking Songs (27, 55, 56, 57, 58) War Song: The Black Grizzly (312), War Song: Dream Song (312), War Song: White Cloud (313), James’ Horse (313), Little Priest Songs (309), Little Priest's Song (316), Chipmunk Game Song (73), Patriotic Songs from World War I (105, 106, 175), Grave Site Song: "Coming Down the Path" (45), Songs of the Stick Ceremony (53).
Notes
1 Oliver LaMère and Harold B. Shinn, Winnebago Stories (New York, Chicago: Rand, McNally and Co., 1928) 65-74. Informant: Oliver LaMère (Bear Clan).
2 Paul Radin, The Road of Life and Death: A Ritual Drama of the American Indians. Bollingen Series V (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973 [1945]) 140. For the original handwritten interlinear text, see Winnebago III, #1: 109-111. A hand written phonetic text is found at Winnebago II, #1: 133-134, and its revised typed version is found at Winnebago II, #5: 141-143. Oliver LaMère (trs.), "Wakjąkaga," in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1912) Winnebago V, # 7: 317-349. A published translation is found in Paul Radin, The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology (New York: Schocken Books, 1956) 32-35. Natalie Curtis Burlin, The Indians' Book: an Offering by the American Indians of Indian Lore, Musical and Narrative, to Form a Record of the Songs and Legends of Their Race (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1907) 245-247. W. C. McKern, Winnebago Notebook (Milwaukee: Milwaukee Public Museum, 1927) 108-112.
3 Henry W. Hamilton, "The Spiro Mound," The Missouri Archaeologist, v.14 (1952) plate 111; Philip Phillips and James A. Brown, Pre-Columbian Shell Engravings from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 1984) pt. 2: plate 229.
4 See, for instance, "Hinacax Ruwiná," in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Winnebago III, #2, Section 7: XV-XVI. W. C. McKern, Winnebago Notebook (Milwaukee: Milwaukee Public Museum, 1927) 108.
5 "Story of the Flood and the Origin of the Spirit Home" ("Holy One and His Brother"), in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks, Freeman #3897 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Winnebago V, #24: 1-51, 24.
6 W. C. McKern, Winnebago Notebook (Milwaukee: Milwaukee Public Museum, 1927) 108.
7 RS [Rueben StCyr ?], "Snowshoe Strings," in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Notebook #60: 4-33 [20].
8 George Lankford, "The Great Serpent in Eastern North America," in Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms: Interpretations of Mississippian Iconography, edd. F. Kent Reilly III and James F. Garber (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007) 107-135 [128-132]. With respect to the constellation of the Great Serpent in Scorpius, see Fig. 5.5 on p.129.
9 From a Sierra Club web page no longer extant.
