The Knife Attack

by Mark J. Green (Wą́nihegá)
translated by Bill Hall (Hų̄ka)

William Hall, ca. 1895

I

The man named "Moose" and the others stepped outside, when the light was very bright. They were going to step outside and shoot me. Then they did this: when I had left, he took a piece of bark from a tree, and there he laid face down and was sleeping. He woke and wrapped himself up. There was someone there and he looked at him, this man [who] was bundled up. Surprisingly, he had a knife called a "yellow handled knife." They were long handled knives. Then there was a "red handled knife," a "yellow handled knife" is what he strapped to his waist. He grabbed the other's knife handle, he leaned over and pulled the knife out quickly and stabbed him on the upper part of his back. This done, he then said "pooh." Although the man was dead, he stabbed him repeatedly. The dead man quickly turned to him and said, "You have killed me, you no good dog." He said this although he was dead. Having done this, he said to himself, "I should not be sitting here. I must be trying to get somewhere," he thought. He took the knife and began to crawl outside. Nearby was a lake toward which he went.¹

II

When he got to the lake he stepped into the water. He looked along the lake shore as far as he could see, but could see no boat. So there was no place where he could hide. After a time he found he could not travel as fast as before and the ground near the lake was covered by thick brush. The people still did not know about him. After a while he sat down and thought, then he started for home. It was just spring.

Sometime later he laid down and slept a little, then unexpectedly he saw an object called "Wa-con-jah-quick," perhaps there is no English translation for this. He was told that he was one of them. There may have been others also. "You did not do me any good," he told them. "Some part of [it] you still have because we did you good," they told him. The group called "Burden Carriers" said, "That may be so, but then, it is not what we said to you. It is nearly morning. You are ready to go I see," he said. "Hą̄. That tamarack, since spring, this is what I was to see, I knew all the time."²

III

"As of now, I cannot go to any place to hide or for refuge, that I know. I do not know how I can stay alive. There is the fight, in the direction of the sunset." He thought of those who had said these things. There was a roar in the West. As they said these things, at once the clouds turned black as the storm approached. It was like this and then the winds came and when the wind was upon them it was very much distracting.

But he recalled, it was at this lodge that he had once killed a man with a knife. Then a crowd of men were standing there. Then as they came in the lodge and they made fires. After they did this, they walked out side by side. Then, when they did this, they saw [that] he was laying in the water face up. This was when they lighted up their fires, but the wind blew them out. They were still standing there. Then they scattered here and there, [as] they were sleeping. After they had done this, they were standing. Next, they were stumbling over legs, and laid where they had stumbled.³

Commentary

"Moose" — Casépga, which literally means "Black Deer." This is a Deer Clan name.

"me" — the text here does not identify who is narrating the story. However, it was made clear that Young Bald Eagle Head is Mark Green's primary informant, as he says here:

Everything related in this paragraph is by Mark Green ... I do not know these events myself, but I heard them told often. An old man by the name of "The Head of a Bald Eagle", when I was young, I used to see this old man. He used to be called "Little Cook", he used to tell of some incidents relating to this homeland of the Winnebagoes. Another man whose name was "Good Natured" told of many things.⁴

Elsewhere, it is said: "[There was] a man named "Ho-lah-pah-nik-ka" [Xorapanįka], meaning "The Head of a [Young] Bald Eagle." The narrator of this story [Mark Green], was great nephew to this man."⁵ Their relationship can be seen in this diagram:

The maternal uncle and his nephew had a very close bond and were "joking relations." The "joking" in question is called jic, and to engage in the joking relation is hįrajic. Jic means, "to tease, show disrespect, court." The joking relation obtained for one's father's sister's children, mother's brother's children, mother's brothers, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law. Radin tells us,

In the two cases last named not only was a man permitted to joke with those relatives but he was supposed to do so whenever he had an opportunity. Under no circumstances were any of these individuals supposed to take offense. This relationship was of course reciprocal.⁶

If the maternal uncle had a Warbundle, the nephew would carry it on the warpath. If the uncle were killed in action, his nephew would be expected to die with him. So Mark Green will have been the natural beneficiary of numerous stories told by his esteemed uncle.

"he grabbed the other's knife handle" — the story shifts from using the first person ("I," "me"), to the third person. However, it would seem from the introductory sentence that the victim of the stabbing was Moose, who was stabbed by Young Head of a Bald Eagle because he was plotting to kill the latter, as mentioned earlier in the story. Perhaps the shift to the third person narrative was designed to protect Xorapanįka from accusations of murder.

Eugene W. Donaldson
A Cedar Knife

"pooh" — spelled loAo in syllabic script, we might expect it to be pronounced pū, where in "Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks," it represents the sound of flatulence. However loAo can also be pronounced pų, which Susman recorded as meaning, "thunder sound, report of a gun, resonant sound."⁷ Given the connections he has to the Thunders, as developed later in the story, he may be making the sound of thunder. Before steel knives appeared at trading posts, knife blades used to be made of stone (flint, chert, obsidian) or cedar. When lightning strikes, the tip of the lightning strike is thought to be a stone, so that a swift stab with a stone blade would seem to mimic a lightning bolt. A knife made of cedar is comprised of the wood that is sacred to the Thunders, who wear a wreath of it on their heads much like the ancient Greeks wore laurel wreaths on their heads.

"he could hide" — if the canoes were placed on the shore upside down, he could conceal himself completely by sliding under one.

"an object" — given what follows, this is not a mere object as opposed to a sentient being of some kind.

"Wa-con-jah-quick" — this would be, in the present orthography, Wakąjakwik. The term could be analyzed as Wakącą́k-wik, where wakącą́k means, "sacred, holy"; or far more likely, Wakąjá-kwik, where Wakąjá means "Thunderbird." The meaning of kwik is unknown.

"one of them" — if he, Xorapanįka, were one of "them," then the "object" was not an inanimate thing, but a group of beings. This would be a case of being a reborn form of one of these Spirits.

"some part of [it] you still have" — they seem to be telling him that despite the fact that he is now in human form, his essence as a Wakąjakwik still persists in him. However, what is said thereafter implies that he was the recipient of a blessing from the Wakąjakwik because they said "we did you good." However, the narrative seems to suggest that the original blessing has partly worn off, although he retains some remainder of it nevertheless.

"Burden Carriers" — a hitherto unheard of class of Thunderbirds.

"hą̄" — an emphatic "yes."

	junebab
	Tamaracks

"tamarack" — Larix laricina (DuRoi). In Hōcąk, this tree is called cāsák (ttA rK). The gum of this tree is used on wounds, and the bark is also considered medicinal. From the larger trees, the bark is used for the construction of lodges.⁸ Throughout most of the world, the tamarack is a symbol of death. This is the case among the Hōcągara as well. At the grave of two warriors who had killed each other with their knives, "in the center of the mound, it is related, stood a tamarack pole, fifteen feet high and five inches in diameter nearest the ground."⁹ Juliette Kinzie mentions these trees in her account of the funeral of Four Legs:

After the interment of the body, a stake was planted at its head, on which was painted in vermilion a series of hieroglyphics, descriptive of the great deeds and events of his life. The whole was then surrounded with pickets of the trunks of the tamarack-trees, and hither the friends would come for many successive days to renew the expression of their grief, and to throw over the grave tobacco and other offerings to the Great Spirit.¹⁰

The reason that tamarack is associated with death (and resurrection) is that alone among conifers, with the approach of winter, its needles turn a saturated yellow and fall off, leaving the tree bare of foliage as if it were dead. When spring returns it regenerates its needles.¹¹ Since it is made explicit in this story that the season is spring, the tamarack that gained the attention of Xorapanįka would have been regenerating its needles, and therefore was a symbol of renewed life. So in witnessing the tamarack, Xorapanįka now realizes that the Thunders are going to renew his threatened life and insure his protection from reprisal by the friends of Moose.

"the fight, in the direction of the sunset" — the Thunderbirds reside in the west where the Sun sets. The "fight" would refer to a distance thunderstorm on the western horizon, as the next two sentences make clear. It is characterized as a "fight" since the Thunderbirds are conceived as striking their enemies, chiefly Waterspirits, with their bolts of lightning.

"once" — an odd choice of words from the standpoint of standard English. Ordinarily, "once" connotes a time in the more distant past than the past day. It would have been more appropriate here to say "recently."

"in the water" — the element of water is the antithesis of fire. This may be intended as a symbol of his being incombustible, inasmuch as the Thunders have control over the element of fire.

"they lighted up their fires" — their intention was to make him "play with fire," that is, to burn him alive.

"the wind blew them out" — in other words, the Thunders, who have control over the storm wind, used it to suffocate the fire intended to consume their protégé. There is an element of irony here, as Moose was a member of the Deer Clan, a clan that has itself a strong command over the winds. With Moose dead, it may have been the case that no one was present who could counter-control and mitigate the force of the hurricane winds.

	The National Photo Co.
	A Forest Flattened by Wind

"stumbling over legs" — it is almost certainly the case that "legs" a misprint for "logs." If so, the thunderstorm was so fierce as to uproot trees and killed people with large pieces of flying timber.

"laid" — meaning that they lay there dead.

Comparative Material. ...

Links: Thunderbirds.

Stories: 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, The Quail Hunter, 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, Kunu'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 Red Medicine Dance, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, Song to Earthmaker, The Origins of the Milky Way; about a knifing: Double Homicide, Rasdall's Fight, The Road to Tippecanoe, Wazųka, Hare Gets Swallowed, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Ocean Duck, Birth of the Twins, The Two Boys, A Drunkard's Self-Reflections, The Man with Two Heads, Turtle and the Giant, Porcupine and His Brothers, The Fox-Hocąk War, The Markings on the Moon, The Raccoon Coat, Trickster's Buffalo Hunt, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head; mentioning trees or Tree Spirits: The Creation of the World, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, Visit of the Wood Spirit, The Boy who would be Immortal, The Man Who Lost His Children to a Wood Spirit, The Commandments of Earthmaker, The Woman who Became a Walnut Tree, The Old Woman and the Maple Tree Spirit, The Oak Tree and the Man Who was Blessed by the Heroka, The Pointing Man, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, Trickster Loses His Meal, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 2), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Waruǧábᵉra, The Chief of the Heroka, The Red Man, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Blessing of the Bow, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, The Spirit of Gambling, Peace of Mind Regained, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, The Necessity for Death, The Knife Attack, The Story of the Medicine Rite; mentioning trees or Tree Spirits: The Creation of the World, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, Visit of the Wood Spirit, The Boy who would be Immortal, The Man Who Lost His Children to a Wood Spirit, The Commandments of Earthmaker, The Woman who Became a Walnut Tree, The Old Woman and the Maple Tree Spirit, The Oak Tree and the Man Who was Blessed by the Heroka, The Pointing Man, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, Trickster Loses His Meal, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 2), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Waruǧábᵉra, The Chief of the Heroka, The Red Man, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Blessing of the Bow, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, The Spirit of Gambling, Peace of Mind Regained, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, The Necessity for Death, The Story of the Medicine Rite; mentioning tamarack: Double Homicide.

Themes: a dead man speaks: Little Human Head, Little Fox and the Ghost.

Notes

¹ "A man who was about to build a fire is knifed to death by an enemy with his own knife," Archives of Traditional Music (ATM), Indiana University, translation by William Hall, Original Typescript (Black River Falls: ca. 1960-1970) E9-10, recording by Milford G. Chandler of Mark J. Green - vocals, bef. 1922, Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin. ATL no. 527.10 8742.24, Recording 59.SCY 18240156, Collection number (collection identifier): 54-196-F, p. 62 of 87; OT 7696; APS accession number 7253.

² "The enemy tries to escape, comes to a lake, finds no boat and contemplates about his obviously being lost," Archives of Traditional Music (ATM), Indiana University, translation by William Hall, Original Typescript (Black River Falls: ca. 1960-1970) E11-12, recording by Milford G. Chandler of Mark J. Green - vocals, bef. 1922, Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin. ATL no. 527.13 8742.27, Recording 62.SCY 18270153, Collection number (collection identifier): 54-196-F, p. 65 of 87; OT 7696; APS accession number 7236.

³ "The man who thought he was lost calls to Thunder for the help once promised him and receives it," Archives of Traditional Music (ATM), Indiana University, translation by William Hall, Original Typescript (Black River Falls: ca. 1960-1970) F2-3, recording by Milford G. Chandler of Mark J. Green - vocals, bef. 1922, Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin. ATL no. 528.3 8742.31, tr. 2, Recording 65.SCY 18310159, Collection number (collection identifier): 54-196-F, p. 68 of 87; OT 7696; APS accession number 7243.

⁴ "The beginning of the Winnebago," Archives of Traditional Music (ATM), Indiana University, translation by William Hall, Original Typescript (Black River Falls: ca. 1960-1970) D9, recording by Milford G. Chandler of Mark J. Green - vocals, bef. 1922, Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin. ATL no. 526.10 8742.11, Recording 46.SCY 18110148, Collection number (collection identifier): 54-196-F, p. 49 of 87; OT 7695; APS accession number 7250.

⁵ "The woman who would stop the war," Archives of Traditional Music (ATM), Indiana University, translation by William Hall, Original Typescript (Black River Falls: ca. 1960-1970) C9, recording by Milford G. Chandler of Mark J. Green - vocals, bef. 1922, Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin. ATL no. 525.10 8742.38, tr. 1, Recording 34.SCY 17980154, Collection number (collection identifier): 54-196-F, p. 37 of 87; OT 7694; APS accession number: 7246.

⁶ Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 85.

⁷ Words taken from linguistic notes and wordlists in Amelia Susman, Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1939).

⁸ Kelly Kindscher and Dana P. Hurlburt, "Huron Smith's Ethnobotany of the Hocąk (Winnebago)," Economic Botany, 52, #4 (Oct. - Dec., 1998), 352-372. At the Hocąk Wazijaci Language and Culture Program, Sheila Shigley and Kenneth Funmaker, Sr. corrected the spelling of Hōcąk plant names and informed us of the history of the Hocąk people and the meaning of their name. Kenneth Funmaker also provided the Hocąk translation of his statement. This list was thoroughly revised, and extended from Smith's original notebooks, by Sheila Shigley in August 2019.

⁹ The History of Sauk County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1880) 555.

¹⁰ Juliette Augusta McGill Kinzie, Wau-Bun, The "Early Day" in the North-west (Chicago & New York: Rand, McNally & Company, 1873 [1856]) 71.

¹¹ Ronald J. Uchytil, "Larix laricina". Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (1991). William F. Johnston, Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch, "tamarack," in Russell M. Burns, and Barbara H. Honkala (technical coordinators), Silvics of North America, vol. 1, "Conifers," Agricultural Handbook 654 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 1990) 141-151.