YOUNG HUNTER

How the Young Hunter

Caught the Sun

Because the youngest brother had restored to his sister her elder brothers, she made for him a fine robe of beaver skins trimmed with colored porcupine quills. He was very proud of this garment, and wore it almost constantly.

One day while the two elder brothers were out hunting in the forest, the youngest went away to hide himself and to mourn because he was not permitted to join them. He had with him his bow and arrows and his beaver-skin robe; but when the Sun rose high in the sky he became tired and laid himself down to weep, covering himself entirely with his robe to keep out the Sun. When the Sun was directly overhead and saw the boy, it sent down a ray which burned spots upon the robe and the boy wept more violently then before. He felt that he had been cruely treated both by his brothers and now by the Sun. He said to the Sun, "You have treated me cruelly and burned my robe, when I did not deserve it. Why do you punish me like this?" The Sun merely continued to smile, but said nothing.

The boy then gathered up his bow and arrows, and taking his burnt robe, returned to the wigwam, where he laid down in a dark corner and again wept. His sister was outside of the wigwam when he returned, so she was not aware of his presence when she reentered to attend to her work. Presently she heard someone crying, and going over to the place whence the sound came she found that it was her youngest brother who was in distress.

She said to him, "My brother, why are you weeping?" - to which he replied, "Look at me; I am sad because the Sun burned my beaver-skin robe; I have been cruelly treated this day." Then he turned his face away and continued to weep. Even in his sleep he sobbed, because of his distress.

When he awoke, he said to his sister,"My sister, give me a thread; I wish to use it."

She handed him a sinew thread, but he said to her, "No, that is not what I want; I want a hair thread." She said to him, "Take this; this is strong." "No," he replied, "that is not the kind of a thread I want; I want a hair thread."

She then understood this meaning, and plucking a single hair from her person handed it to him, when he said, "That is what I want," and taking it at both ends he began to pull it gently, smoothing it out as it continued to lengthen until it reached from the tips of the fingers of one hand to the ends of the fingers of the other.

Then he started out to where the Sun's path touched the earth. When he reached the place where the Sun was when it burned his robe, the little boy made a noose and stretched it across the path, and when the Sun came to that point the noose caught him around the neck and began to choke him until he almost lost his breath. It became dark, and the Sun called out to the mánidos, "Help me, my brothers, and cut this string before it kills me." The mánidos came, but the thread had so cut into the flesh of the Sun's neck that they could not sever it. When all but one had given up, the Sun called to the Koqkipikuqki (the mouse) to try to cut the string. The Mouse came up and gnawed at the string, but it was difficult work, because the string was hot and deeply embedded in the Sun's neck. After working at the string a good while, however, the Mouse succeeded in cutting it, when the Sun breathed again and the darkness disappeared. If the Mouse had not succeeded, the Sun would have died. Then the boy said to the Sun, "For your cruelty I have punished you; now you may go."

The boy then returned to his sister, satisfied with what he had done.

Menominee Myth

The Origin of Night and Day

THE RABBIT AND THE SAW-WHET(OWL)

In the following Menominee Myth the origin of day and night is accounted for.

One time as Wapus (the rabbit) was traveling along through the forest, he came to a clearing on the bank of a river, where he saw perched on a twig, Totoba, the Saw-whet owl. The light was obscure, and the Rabbit could not see very well, so he said to the Saw-whet, “Why do you want it so dark? I do not like it, so I will cause it to be daylight.” Then the Saw-whet said, “If you are powerful enough, do so. Let us try our powers, and whoever succeeds may decide as he prefers.”

Then the Rabbit and the Owl called together all the birds and the beasts to witness the contest, and when they had assembled the two informed them what was to occur. Some of the birds and beasts wanted the Rabbit to succeed, so that it might be light; others wished the Saw-whet to win the contest, so that it might remain dark.

Then both the Rabbit and the Saw-whet began, the former repeating rapidly the words “wabon, wabon”(light , light), while the Owl kept repeating “unitipaqkot, unitipaqkot”(dark, dark). Should one of them make a mistake and repeat his opponent’s word, the erring one would lsoe. So the rabbit kept on saying, “wabon, wabon,” and the Saw-whet “unitipaqkot, unitipaqkot,” each being watched and urged by his followers; but finally the Owl accidentally repeated after the Rabbit the word “wabon,” when he lost and surrendered the contest.

The Rabbit then decided that it should be light: but he granted that night should have a chance for the benefit of the conquered.

This was taken from an old manual written by a Mokahmon

Aurora Borealis

In the direction of the north wind live the manabai'wok (giants), of whom we have heard our old people tell. The manabai'wok are out friends, but we do not see them anymore. They are great hunters and fishermen, and whenever they are out with their torches to spear fish we know it, because then the sky is bright over the place where they are.

The Meteors

When a star falls from the sky, it leaves a fiery trail; it does not die, but its shade goes back to the place whence it dropped to shine again. The Indians sometimes find the small stars in the prairie where they have fallen. They are of stone, and are round, with a spot in the center, and four or five small points projecting from the surface. I have myself found some of these fallen stars.

The Moon

Once on a time Ke´so, the Sun, and his sister, Tipä´ke‘so, the Moon (“last-night sun”) lived together in a wigwam in the east. The Sun dressed himself to go hunting, took his bow and arrows and left. He was absent such a long time that when his sister came out into the sky to look for her brother she became alarmed. She traveled twenty days looking for the Sun; but finally he returned, bringing with him a bear which he had shot. The sun’s sister still comes up into the sky and travels for twenty days; then she dies, and for four days nothing is seen of her. At the end of that time, however, she returns to life and travels twenty days more. The Sun is a being like ourselves. Whenever an Indian dreams of him he plucks out his hair and wears an otter skin about his head, over the forehead. This the Indian does because the Sun wears an otter skin about his head.

Menominee Story of the Raccoon

One time the raccoon went into the woods to fast and dream. He dreamed that some one said to him, “When you awaken, you must paint your face and body with bands of black and white; that will be your own.”

When the raccoon awoke, he went and painted himself as he had been told to do, and so we see him even at this day.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO STORY OF RACOON AND THE BLIND MEN

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