Partridge's Older Brother

as retold by Richard Dieterle

Partridge's Older Brother

based on the translation of Oliver LaMère

Hōcąk Syllabic Text with an Interlinear English Translation

There was once a village in which lived a chief who had an older boy and two younger daughters. As much as the sisters loved the boy, the chief's son loved them in turn even more. He spent much of his time making arrows, and had now reached an age where he began to fast. He had four birds, a robin, a partridge, an owl, and a black hawk. These were his prized companions whom he addressed as "brothers." They were very fond of him in turn. One morning the chef's son awoke to find that he had apparently wet his bed the night before. He was very embarrassed. Again the succeeding morning he found the same thing had happened, so when he went to bed that evening he resolved to stay awake all night long. Late that night a woman snuck up to his bed, stood over him and urinated. He said nothing, wondering who it could be. The next night he put wet arrow paint by his bed so that he could find out who was doing this by marking her with the indelible paint. That night, just as before, she came again, but this time the young man reached up and touched her face with the paint. The next morning and even the day after, he looked for the culprit in vain, so he told his father of all that had happened to him and what he had done to mark the woman. The chief commanded that all the young women be brought before him, but after a thorough search, none of them were found to have a mark on them. The next day the chief ordered that all the widows of the village present themselves, but none of them were found to be marked either. Then, on the third day, he decreed that all married woman be brought before him, but they too were found to be without blemish. Finally, the chief required all old women to appear before him, but none of them had a mark. This was very puzzling, since there were no other tribes or villages nearby. However, the young man recalled that he had never looked at his older sister. She had, in fact, always turned her face from him as of late. So one night he behaved clumsily with the fire brand so as to set her skirt on fire, and when she turned to put out the flames, he saw the arrow paint on her face. However, he was too ashamed to say anything.

The next morning he said to his father, "Today I am going away, so make ready a canoe for me." This he did, and they loaded everything that he owned into it, including his four birds. His older sister even helped in this work. So he pushed off and paddled away, but he had not gone very far when suddenly he noticed that his older sister was in the boat with him. He quickly paddled to the shore and told her, "You did a shameful thing to me, so get out!" He left her behind on the shore and went his way, but had not gone very far when, unexpectedly, she reappeared in his canoe. So he dropped her off on the shore once more. Nevertheless, the strange occurrence happened yet again, so this time when he left her he checked behind him in the canoe. There he found a small birch bark dish which he promptly threw out. Then from the shore he heard a female whoop: "Hey-yoo! You are a difficult man to get! You will never see your village again!"

After traveling all day, he stopped for the night and made himself a grass lodge. This place was full of cherry trees ripe with fruit, and this made Robin very happy indeed. As they were getting ready to leave the next morning, Robin sat there quietly and seemed depressed. The young man asked, "Younger brother, you are very quiet — what troubles you?" Robin replied, "This is such fine country for me, I would be happy if I could have stayed here." "So be it, then: you stay here and we'll manage all right without you." He thanked the young man, and the three remaining brothers pushed off to continue their journey. That evening he made a grass lodge in an area full of poplar trees and many other trees whose branches were loaded with buds. Partridge [inset] said, "Older brother this is a very nice country." The next morning as they were getting ready to leave, Partridge was quiet and seemed depressed. "You seem very quiet this morning," the young man observed, "is something bothering you?" Partridge answered, "I am so pleased with this country that I would like to stay here forever." "By all means," he said, "I see no harm in it." Then the young man went on with just two of his brothers. That evening they made camp. The area was a plain full of snipes and other little birds. During the night Owl went hunting, killing and eating many small birds. The next morning, he was very quiet and the young man noticed this. "What is troubling you Owl?" he asked. Owl replied, "My older brother, it is so nice here that I wish to remain behind." The young man told him, "You may certainly do so." They bid Owl farewell, and the two remaining brothers set off for their daily travels. That evening they made camp. Black Hawk would go out hunting ducks which he would kill in midair by pecking them. They ate many ducks for dinner, but the next morning Black Hawk was very quiet. The young man asked, "Why are you so quiet?" Black Hawk responded, "The hunting is so good here, I would like to stay behind." "All right," said the young man, and set off alone.

He had not traveled very far when he saw a man sitting on the edge of the water. He had a very large stomach, but his legs were very slim terminating in unusually long feet. He had a big head and very hairy arms. His teeth had human hair stuck between them. The boy came to shore, but thought to himself, "I will surely be killed, what can I do?" Then he got the idea of picking up oysters and boiling them in his kettle. With these aboard, he rowed up to the strange creature, who was fast asleep. He paddled right up to him and said, "My friend is here!" He awoke and replied, "My friend, I am traveling through this part of the country, and if I chance upon a deer, I have food for some time. Is the direction that I am going the direction that you came from?" The young man answered, "Yes it is. When I hunt, I usually just take the tongues of animals. I have some right here if you wish to have them." The stranger replied enthusiastically, "All right!" He ate all of them and liked them very much. As he had never eaten these before, he was very grateful. The stranger said, "My friend, there is a village over there not far away. I was there last night, that was why I was sleeping when you came up." The young man replied, "My friend, it is good. Let's go over there." The stranger said, "All right." The young man asked, "How long will it take to eat all these villagers up?" "Well," replied the stranger, "it is a very big village." The young man then told him, "Although you sleep, I never do. I can also make myself invisible even in the day time, and I cannot be killed. In my body there is no death, but if my boat is broken up and burned, then I shall die. How can they kill me then? How is it with you?" The stranger then revealed his own secrets: "They cannot kill me either. No human knows how I might be killed. If they burn things that have a bad odor, such as hair and dandruff, and burn red cedar with them, and when blowing a flute and shouting at me, then I would die." The young man said confidently, "Then clearly no one can kill either one of us. But before we proceed, we had better look into things at the village. When we go there, we will take just as many villagers as we need for that night and no more, otherwise they are liable to scatter. I will scout ahead, and as I go, I will get smaller. Then I will disappear." The young man crossed the lake, and just as he said, he looked smaller on the other side. As he progressed, he finally disappeared altogether. Then the stranger said to himself, "My friend is indeed clever: just as he said, he got smaller and smaller and finally disappeared completely. He must be wákącąk (holy) indeed, for I can't do that myself."

When the young man arrived in the village he immediately asked where the chief's lodge was. When he found it, he went inside and asked the chief, "Did anyone from your village turn up missing last night?" The chief replied, "Many people here have been killed. All that could be found of them was their heads. We think that no human could have done this, but that it must be some kind of animal." Then the young man told him everything that had happened and how he had tricked the strange being into revealing how he might be killed. Then the young man told him, "Since we now know how to kill him, gather together some warriors and I'll lead him into an ambush at the willow grove after dark." The chief replied, "Young man, it is good!" As he returned to the stranger, the young man gradually got bigger. When he arrived, the stranger said, "What a clever fellow you are. You spoke the truth about what you told me." Then the young man told him, "It is a large village indeed. I stayed there for awhile. They're lots of fat ones living there, so if we can get one we will be in food for some time." As soon as it was dark, they set out. While the young man was paddling the boat the stranger was walking on the water beside it. When they arrived on the other shore, the young man directed them to the willow grove. The stranger noted that the place was permeated by a strange odor. Then, suddenly, there was a loud shout and the sound of a flute. The strange being wobbled, then collapsed dead. They took his body and burned it up completely. The young man was greeted as a hero in the village, and they all wanted him to be their chief. They urged him to marry the chief's daughter. so he did, and became chief in his own right. He was a good hunter, a good chief, and much beloved of the people. In time, he had a baby boy. The old chief approached him and said, "Those whom you left behind will now be lonesome for you. You should return to them." The young man replied, "I had a sister who said I would never see my village again. She had turned into a devil." But the chief reiterated, "Nevertheless, you should return home now." So they made the necessary preparations and headed back for his native village.

That night they reached the place where he left the black hawk. After they had set up their lodge, the black hawk told him, "Your sister has eaten up the entire village. Only your youngest sister is still alive, and she is made a slave. Your older sister is looking for you so that she can kill you." Black Hawk had killed many ducks there and they had much duck meat for dinner that night. The next night they arrived at the place where he had left the owl. The owl also told him, "Older brother, your sister has eaten the whole village." That night they dined on many small birds. After another day's travel, they arrived at the place where he had left the partridge. The partridge told him the same bad news that his other brothers had related. The next night he arrived at the robin's place. The robin [inset] said much the same as the other birds, but added, "The bad woman had nearly gotten me. She has our other sister watching for you. She is suppose to say, 'My brother, my husband,' when referring to you, but when she refuses, she is raked with claws, for the older one has turned into a grizzly bear." Then the young man replied, "She will die when she meets me!" Robin added, "The problem is that she is invulnerable: no one knows how she might be killed." So the young man turned himself into a bird and flew very high, descending at last right next to his younger sister. She had no intention of informing her sister, and warned him instead, "It is no use, let's make a run for it." So he took her back with him.

When he got back, he took down his medicine bundle, and took out a round black stone and put it on the ground. Then he said to it, "My stone, get larger." Every time he spoke thus, it grew larger. It gradually grew taller and taller. Then he put his sister, his wife, his son, and his avian brothers on top of it. Finally, he made it grow so tall that the top of it reached the clouds. The top of the stone had the shape of a nest. Once again the young man turned into a bird. The older sister was asleep on ground into which she had cut four strips. She saw a bird flying above, and wondered to herself if that could be her brother, but in the end she dismissed it as being just a bird. Then he turned himself from a bird to a fluffy feather, and in that form he floated to the ground. As she slept her heart throbbed visibly against her side, so he shot her there. When her heart was struck with the arrow, she groaned and rolled over. Then she arose in a bad humor. She ambled back to the lodge and on the way bit a tree in two. The young man followed after and yelled, "You evil woman, you will die!" She burst into the lodge and said, "Sister, I thought I warned you to tell me when he got back!" But the sister was not there. She turned and chased after her brother as he fled back towards the rock. He escaped to the top, but she made a mighty leap, and almost made it to the top. As she slid back down, she wore down the rock a bit with her claws. She kept jumping up and wearing the rock down as she slid back. Finally, one of the birds asked, "Younger sister, did she say where her death lay?" She replied, "If the little finger on her left hand could be split down the middle, then she would die." The human brother said, "Ah, that will be easy!" Again the were-grizzly jumped up the face of the rock and was almost at them, but again she slid down. As she was sliding, the young man fired a shot that split her left hand's little finger exactly in two. She fell to the earth with a resounding thud. Then the young man made the stone shrink until they were all level with the ground once again. They built a great bonfire and burned her up completely until nothing was left of her but white bones. These they pounded into a fine powder. They took the powdered bone back to the deserted village and poured a little into each lodge. That night they all slept in the chief's lodge. Before sunrise they could hear the sound of people falling as they tried in vain to get up. It went on like that until daylight. At first they could not find the people, but after looking around, they found them all laying there asleep. They woke them up, and gradually they began to remember that they had been killed. They cried for joy on finding themselves alive once again. The young man even fixed up his sister. Before she was revived, she was quite pretty, but now she was even more beautiful than she had ever been.

In time they returned to his wife's village. This is where the birds made their home. Nevertheless, they came to wander over the whole earth as they do even to this day. The young man and his wife told everyone in the wife's village all the amazing things that had happened to them. They knew that he was holy. Thus he became chief over both villages, and would move back and forth from one to the other.¹

Radin's Translation

Notes

¹ Paul Radin, "Partridge's Older Brother," Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) #7.