The Thunderbird

The Thunderbird

by James St. Cyr
from a story told to him by a Frenchman

translated by Richard L. Dieterle
based on the translation of Oliver LaMère

Hocąk Syllabic Text with English Interlinear Translation

(1) There this was, an oval lodge. An old man and a wife he had were together. And he had two daughters, and he also had one son. Thus they were. (2) The old man never arose from his bed. For as long as the children knew him, he always remained supine. Even when he ate, he would be lying down. Then he would groan wind. (3) Then one day the man said, "My son, I think that it is about time that you should find companions for your sisters," he said. "All right, as you wish," he said. (4) Then he got ready. They gave him everything that he would need. Then, when he was ready to go, he said to him, "Some of them you will see on your way. (5) Those you will travel with," he said to him. Then he left, and his sisters began to cry. He turned back. "Brother, it was for nothing that we were crying. It's just that we will be lonesome, that's why we were crying. (6) So you must go on your way," they said, so he left. Again they cried, so again he turned back. Four times he turned back, then finally, thus he went on.

Then on his way there, unexpectedly, he had walked by a road. (7) A short time before, some had gone on the road. He chased after them. He ran. Finally, he caught up to them. He followed behind them, but they were not aware of him. (8) Finally, then the one ahead of him saw him. They walked through a mist of drizzling rain. Then they saw him. "Hohó, the human is clever," they said. (9) "There is someone following us as we go," he said. Only then did they see him. "Hohó, it's okay, it's our friend. We can use him with us," it was said. "Ho, let's smoke here. (10) Let's stop where our friend has caught up to us," they said. So they sat there. They broke out their pipes. Unexpectedly, they had weed bowls with grass stems, and these they meant. (11) Then they mashed up leaves, and smoked them. Then the human did this: he took out his pipe. He filled it. While he smoked, as they smelled it, (12) immediately they put their pipes away somewhere. They sat there observing. Then he did it. He placed it in the mouth of the one next to him. "Howo," said he, and grabbed hold of it. Then he did not permit the smoke to escape. (13) He swallowed the smoke. Then he passed it to the next one, and he did the same. All four of them did it thusly. They thanked him profusely. When they were done using the pipe, (14) they fumigated with cedar leaves, and returned it to him. "Hohó, it is good my friend, never in recorded history have we tasted of this sort of thing. When the humans did in this way, (15) we used to envy them, [but now] it is good," they said. Then he also gave them each some of the tobacco. They were very pleased.

Then they started out again. As they went along they came to a large body of water. (16) Then they said, "Hohó, we will not be able to take our friend with us. Then the weaker ones are usually drawn down at the midpoint. (17) We have never been allowed to pass in peace, even when we went high above it," they said. "Just don't worry about me. If there's a way, I'll be there," he said. Then when they were ready to go, they said, (18) "Hohó, well, we will get our friend wet, but that's possible," they said. Then he said, "That doesn't matter. So do whatever you are in the habit of doing," he said. (19) Then they started. To the upper reaches they went. They thundered as they went. When they tried, as they got high up, then they started out. Then it rained very hard. (20) Then the midpoint of which they had spoken, when they had gotten around there, thus they remained there a long time thundering greatly. Then this man did this: he made a hole in a weed bulb and scraped out the insides. (21) Then he said, "You wind, to to the other side, do it!" And just as he had said, it began to blow to the other side. Then he sat inside, and covered it back up, and went on. There he remained. (22) Finally, then, he was thrown to one side, so he peeped out, and unexpectedly, he had drifted to the land. And there he came out. Unexpectedly, there were his friends. Hohó, it is good, our friend," they said. (23) They say that he, the human, is clever. Thus it is true," they were saying.

Then again they went on. When they had gone a ways, there a rocky precipice reached upwards, vanishing from sight. The rocky precipice was completely perpendicular. (24) So there again they said, "My friend, we will not be able to take you along. At this place, some of us are unable to reach the end," they said. "Just keep going, if I can, I will also come," he said. (25) Then they started on again, and he did this: he turned into a small-faced woodpecker. On he went. Finally, he got tired, so again from there he used a hummingbird as himself. On he went. Finally, he got tired, so there again he used himself as a hummingbird. (26) Again he went on. Again there he tired himself out. Again a pigeon hawk he used there. Once more he went on. Again, after awhile, he was not like anything. There again he used a black hawk. (27) On he went again. Now he approached what was left to do, and there he was not like anything. There he stood on a point of the rocky precipice. "Our friend must have done something by now, better go look for him," they said, so they went to look for him, (28) and then, unexpectedly, he was standing there. Two of them came and held him on each side, and went to the top. Then when they went on from there, they said, (29) and they said it to him, "We will have to part from our friend here. From here you will have to go over there. There a woman is fasting where a grove is visible. (30) The chief's daughter is trying to dream of you. The reason that you have come along is that there you are to bless her," they said to him, so he went there instead.

Unexpectedly, there sat an oval lodge. When he got there, he peeped through the door. (31) Unexpectedly, there was a woman wearing a woolen belt there. She turned and looked at him. Then there came a rattling sound towards him. Then the second time he did it, and then the fourth time he did it, then the woman said, "You have come. (32) Why don't you come in instead of doing that? My look is naturally that way, is why I do that," she said. Then he went in. "It is good that you have come," she said. Then she asked him, "What do you eat?" (33) she said to him. The man said to her, "I always eat deer," he said. "What do you mean?" she said, so he said, "They are called 'deer': their hair is bitter; their hooves are forked." (34) "Hą, I know. You mean grasshoppers," she said. She went outdoors. She brought back one. She held it by the ears and said, "Kill it for yourself, in whatever way you are in the habit of killing them," she said to him, so he took the arrows, (35) and when he shot, he sent the arrow forth so that it stuck on the opposite side. And then she skinned it, and the woman boiled the ribs combining them with dried corn. She cooked it. She dished it out for him. There was a plate there. (36) They knew that he was going to be there, so they had made ready a plate to be left there for him. They told the woman, "Don't touch it." And that is what she used. The deer ribs were made very greasy by her for the man to eat. (37) The woman really longed for it, so she asked him for a piece. He gave her a deer rib. She didn't think it tasted very good. (38) Indeed, she could not eat it, as much as she would like to. So the man told her, "The other things that you eat, are why you are thus. If you really want to eat, were you to cast away what you are eating, then we would be using the same food. (39) Then he did this: he held that woman and put a piece into her mouth. Since he did this, their food was made the same. The woman liked it very much. (40) After that, their food was the same.

Then she said, "My brothers will come by soon," she said. "Kųnųga will be the first one to go by," she said. "They always come by this way. (41) They always come by to see me." In a short time, he came on thundering. A man outside was talking. "My sister, you who fast, when you want to eat, tell me," he said. (42) But the woman said, "Older brother, I have eaten, as a human came by and blessed me. I ate his own kind of food with him," she said. "Hohó, it is good my dear little sister. Let me see him. (43) "My brother-in-law," he said, and came in. "Hohó, my brother-in-law, it is good!" he kept saying. "I will hurry and tell our parents," he said, and he went home. Then they all came. (44) They were very thankful. She had been fasting for something. There the woman had sat fasting there.

Then every day his brothers-in-law would be out hunting. They would come back, (45) and they would be packing home things for their relatives to eat. They would bring back such things as large snakes and large creeping things. Also Wood Spirits, that sort of thing, they would pack home. (46) One day his brother-in-law, Kųnųga, told him, "My brother-in-law must never go over this way where there is a lake, because a married beaver couple resides there. They might even have come close to catching me," he must have said. (47) "All right, he understands," the woman said. After awhile, he went to where he had meant. When he arrived there at the lake, unexpectedly, in the middle was a subsided sandbar. (48) There lay the red ones. They were Red Waterspirits. There he made one of his own arrows black. Then another one he made red. (49) He turned himself into a feather and went up above there. Once he had gotten above them, there he made himself fall towards them. The female said, that is, the Waterspirit female, "Old Man, niží, someone must have spied on us, I think," she said. (50) "If someone spied on us, I would have seen them," he said. Again she said, "Niží, old man, I think Kųnųga's brother-in-law is above us, and has turned himself into a fine feather and is about to drop himself on us," she said. (51) "I am trying to sleep. What do you mean by talking to me? In any case, I would have seen. You are waking me up," he said. So she stopped. Then, when they were sound asleep, (52) there he lit. The male's heart throbbed against his side as it beat, so he aimed carefully, and shot right at it, and also the female. Thus he did, and turned himself into a black hawk, and headed for home. (53) Onward they came, chasing him. As they came on, they almost swallowed him. Then again he used the hummingbird. He hummed on as he went. (54) Just as they were about to swallow him, he re-entered through the top of his lodge.

Then he said, "You told me of something that my brother-in-law would take great delight in. I have killed them," he said, but she doubted it. "Even my older brother was unable to kill these," he said. (55) "Those are the only easy things to kill. Go out and look at them. They are outside," he said, so she went out. Unexpectedly, there they were. They looked as if they were burned. "What a good one. (56) My brother, since the beginning of time, has longed for these. You have benefited my brother. The flesh, in any case, is edible, but my brother would really like the hide for a blanket," she said. (57) Then she said to her husband, "You must say to my brother, you must say, 'Brother-in-law, one of them I brought you that you may wear its hide, and I will make it for your food. I will make a boil for you, but you must eat it. However, again with respect to the other, (58) you must say the same thing to my father," she said to him. Then they put them in the lodge. Then Kųnųga returned from his hunting trip. Then his brother-in-law said, "Brother-in-law, I have killed a little beaver with its mate. From the male I shall make for you a hide to wear and food. (59) And the other I present as food for your father, and the hide to wear," he said. Thus saying, they showed thanks to the brother-in-law. Unexpectedly, the things he had always longed for, these very things are what they meant. "Hohó, my brother-in-law, it is good. (60) For a long time I have always longed for these. Hohó, my little sister, it is good. Thus it is that we have longed for this all the time. You have dreamed for the village, my little sister," he said with deep gratitude. (61) He packed it on his back and went home. Once he got home, they came to fetch the other one. Then the old man said, "Hohó, in any case, it is edible, but I will give a feast with mine," he said. Then the attendants came, (62) and there they had already put it on (the fire). Then the inviter extended an invitation to those on earth and those above. Soon they had assembled filling the lodge. Then the old man told them what he had done for them, (63) and the good he had done, and he spoke about that. He had a human son-in-law, and because it was he himself who had done these things for him, that was the reason why he was speaking. Then he said, "My son-in-law has done good for us. Therefore, we will give him one of the Warbundles. (64) That is why he gave me this to eat," he said, "but I gave this feast. Thus, I wanted to ask you about this."

The old man was the Thunderbird chief. (65) So Warbundles encircled the interior of his lodge. It was a longhouse, and a long pole encircled the lodge, and there they stood. They were all around the lodge. (66) He was a keeper of this kind of Warbundle. And when the feast was over, they said to him, "Hahi, you should examine them. Whatever one around the lodge that you take, no one will have anything to say about it," they said to him. (67) Here they were. He went and looked at them. Finally, there was this one that stood at a spot at the back of the lodge. It was nothing to look at. Then he said, "Good ones there are aplenty, (68) but then I would make your hearts small. Besides, it would be something that I couldn't take care of. So let it be this little one," he said, and he took that one. Then all of them slumped over and bowed their heads. It alone was the foremost. (69) So it was the only one that they thought the most of, therefore they wept. "Hąhó, it just happens that you've done it. It was the greatest of them all. Therefore, all those who are in the lodge thought the most of it, (70) but we have given our word. Never will you fail to get anything," they told him.

So he packed it and came home. (71) Then they said, "It's about time our brother-in-law should go home. About now they will be getting lonesome for him," they said. He had been there a long time. As a result, he also had a child, a boy. Then they returned to earth, coming from the Thunderbird Village. (72) There, with the Warbundle on his back, he came home. They camped one night, then they got home. He returned with a child. Then one day she said, the woman to her husband said, "Why is it that your father never rises," she said. (73) For as long as I've known him, he was just this way," he said. Then they queried him. Then he said, "In the beginning, I was like you, going about the earth. (74) I never failed to get a single thing. It was the Underwater Beings who did this to me. They tried to kill me, but they didn't kill me. I am undergoing a difficult thing, (75) but I will persevere. Yet I am living. Don't worry about it," he said. Then the daughter-in-law would come to see, so he showed her. (76) A great tree root came from the ground. It pierced through his body and out the other side and entered back into the ground. He was bound to the earth. Then she said, "I can bring this to an end for him," she said. (77) "Hąho, daughter-in-law, if you think it's for the best, do so," he said.

Then she did this: she brought a stone there. Then she made a sweat lodge. (78) Then she did this, she took a knife and worked hard on the tree roots. He uttered many groans. Once she had cut them, the groans stopped. He had died. Nevertheless, she put him inside the sweat lodge. (79) And into the lodge she put a stone, red hot. Then she closed it up. Thus she did, and she poured oil on the stone. After awhile, there was groaning. (80) "Hąho, daughter-in-law, open it for me! You have saved my life, but you will kill me again," he said, but she continued to pour oil on the stone. He pleaded with her, but she could not be deterred. (81) Then, after awhile, he stopped. The others thought that she must have killed him. Then, after awhile, he began to blow on himself. "Hąho, I am through," he said, so then she opened it for him. (82) The clothes that he was to wear were made ready before she started, and they handed them to him, so he took them, and went outside to put them on. After awhile, he came back in. There he was. The way he was now was not the way the old man used to be. (83) He was handsome. Then he thanked her. "It is good, my daughter-in-law. My son, it is good. This is what I wanted (84) and meant when I told you to try for this. Only this would do is why I have said this. Sure enough, I have become the same as you. It is good," he said. They all thanked him. They loved him very much.

(85) He could command them. And it was a Thunderbird village, and there he was the Thunderbird chief, and she was his daughter, and she had married a human. Therefore, the greatest one among the Warbundles that the Thunderbirds had was brought to earth. (86) Therefore, the Thunderbirds were always nearby watching the Warbundle. As the Warbundle had come from there, of the various Spirit that there are, (87) only the greatest made themselves intimate with the humans. They came and were mingled with them. (88) Also, whenever it rained too long, whenever they wished to stop it, they could. That is what they do. They can control the rain. Therefore, the Thunderbirds like him. (89) Then this man also went to live among the Thunderbirds. The other, the Thunderbird that the human took in marriage, had been around there, living from the time the world began.

(90) Various Spirits once lived here. They were on earth subjugating things. All things that were not subjugated, they subjugated. That is why at the present time, animals that eat humans are extinct, (91) so that now only humans roam the earth here. Afore time, they used to be living here on earth. (92) The various Spirits who did this have returned up above. They are the ones to whom they offer tobacco. Some of them have returned to the underworld. (93) All of these are the ones. At first the man-eaters were all the insects that bite us, but they were defeated. As a result, they are now small, but they still eat us. (94) All these on earth came to war on us.

These very Spirits, in their multiplicity, really existed. Once they were just as they were in these stories. (95) Therefore, stories like this are from the beginning of the world, as stories have come, they were handed down to us over here. Therefore, if they will not extend their thought back, (96) and to think of them as always being the same way as present day things, he would doubt these living stories. (97) What these stories eternally relate is still visible on earth. And still in the future they are always climbing, others going there to grow. (98) These were way back in olden times. They were very different. Therefore, there is much doubt. Perhaps everyone doubts it. It was true only for those who saw it, since they knew it. (99) Nothing much predates this story. And also in the course of time as we go into the future, it will not be as it is now. If someone there told how we were going along, they would also doubt it, (100) as it would not be like what they were doing. They would be doing all they could, so therefore it would be around their own time. If someone said what he was doing at the time he was doing it, (101) if he could not do these things, he would doubt them. If he believes that he could do all things, then if they are that way, he will believe that he could do them, (102) so therefore, if one thought he knew really a lot, then if there was one thing he didn't understand, he would doubt it immediately. This is because he knows all, even if it is perhaps not true.

(103) Nowhere has anyone written down the place where this near-earth island has its beginnings. These really are the only accounts near at hand. (104) They have told that history. This is the reason why I have told this historical waíką. They have related the initial beginnings of this continent.¹

Commentary. "drawn down" — what causes the weakest Thunderbirds crossing the ocean to drown is the attacks of their enemies, the Waterspirits. They thunder as they cross because the lightning bolt is the weapon that they use against the Waterspirits below.

"they thundered" — the word so translated is Lo ttx n di ne de which can be transliterated as rucxanąžįneže. This word would seem to be analyzed as, ruc, "to consume"; xa, "plant" or "hill"; nąžį́, "to stand"; -ine, third person plural suffix; and -že, a suffix terminating a clause whose content is hearsay. This would mean, "they consumed standing vegetation or hills." When the Thunderbirds shot lightning from their eyes it was thought that what the lightning bolt struck was not only burnt on the ground, but the contents of the burned part was taken up the lightning column and consumed or "eaten" by the Thunderbird. Thus the Thunders were said to eat whatever vegetation they struck, which was more often found on high ground.

American Woodpeckers

Connecticut Dept. of Energy & Environmental Protection

Downy
Woodpecker

Hairy
Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker

Northern
Flicker

Red-bellied
Woodpecker

Pileated
Woodpecker

Red-headed
Woodpecker

"woodpecker" — the woodpecker is a small bird which has a number of things in common with the Thunders:

Thunderbirds	Woodpeckers
a kind of bird	a kind of bird
strike trees	peck trees
make a loud noise from their eyes	make a loud noise by pecking
a tongue of fire (lightning) jets out of their eyes	an enormously long tongue jets out of their bill
eat what they reach with lightning	eat what they reach after pecking
associated with the color red/orange through lightning	all American varieties of woodpecker have a red or orange patch

Clearly, anyone who can change himself into a natural diminutive counterpart to a Thunderbird is not an ordinary human. The bird into which he changed was the nąraxgąxgąpage hišjanįk, "the small-faced woodpecker." Hišja can mean either "eye" or "face," and hišja-nįk "small eyes" is also an expression meaning "blind." So this could be understood as the small-faced woodpecker, or the small-eyed woodpecker, or even the blind woodpecker. Of the various American woodpeckers, the red-headed woodpecker seem to have the most compressed face, with its eyes low and to the front. It may be this species that is intended.

"pigeon hawk" — Falco columbarius, better known today as the merlin, a kind of falcon. In Hocąk this bird is called kirikírisgé, "the striped kind." As can be seen from the Audubon painting [inset], the merlin certainly answers to this description. Yet this name has been applied by by Dorsey to the yellow hawk (sharp-shinned hawk, Accipiter striatus), Miner to the downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), and by Jipson to the sparrow hawk (Falco sparverius). However, the important mythological character (Little) Pigeon Hawk bears the name Kírikirisgé(nį)ka (see Pigeon Hawk).

"he was not like anything" — a Hocąk expression, hąké wažą žesganįže, meaning that his condition was incomparable. In this context it expresses the idea that he was once again on the verge of exhaustion.

"fasting" — a strange feature of this myth is the inversion of the relation of blessing. Normally a human fasts and receives blessings from the spirits, including the Thunderbirds. Here the sister of the Thunderbirds fasts to receive a blessing from a human. One of the things beside tobacco that the spirits crave is human food, so this is something with which the human can bless the spirit. However, the "dream" in which the spirit encounters the human is unlike that in which the human would encounter a spirit. A fasting "dream" is a vision brought on by the presence of a spirit to the faster; but for the Thunderbird's sister, the dream is a prophetic vision of the human's arrival. Humans, we are told, cannot, without the aid of the spirits, see even one day into the future, so our visions must perforce be of a different character from those of the spirits.

"my look" — Hosgé hoją́bᵋra žeisgege, "naturally my look is that way," is the relevant phrase. This is a clever double entendre. Here the superficial context compels the understanding that hoją́bᵋ-ra means, "the look," with the pronoun being implied. Normally, the word hoją́p is used as a verb to mean, "to behold, to see," but it occurs elsewhere as a noun with the more subtle meaning, "the force (power) of looking at one another." The word hoją́p has a not completely unrelated meaning of "lightning" as a noun (Gatschet, Miner), and as a verb, "to be struck by lightning (Helmbrecht-Lehmann), to strike (as with lightning)" (Marino, Miner, Helmbrecht-Lehmann). As a result of the homonymous nature of hoją́p, the phrase will also mean, "naturally lightning is that way." Indeed it is. In nature, the rattling sound made by the woman is perhaps found exclusively in the appendage to the tail of a rattlesnake. Lightning is seen as analogous to a serpent, particularly the "yellow snake" (waką-zí) as the Hocągara call the rattlesnake. The analogy is evident in the serpentine path which lightning takes through the sky and the devastating "bite" that its head executes upon whatever it strikes. Lightning launches like a poisonous snake with a sudden strike, and is thought to "eat" what it has impacted and killed. The name, "Blowsnake," now converted into a surname, is not a Snake Clan name, but a personal name in the Thunderbird Clan. So the author of this mythic image has cleverly evoked the presence of lightning in the physical makeup of the Thunderbird woman who has been dreaming of the human visitor. Our sentence is covertly saying, "Naturally, lightning is that way, is why I do it," or, more idiomatically, "I do this because that's the way lightning is."


Wisconsin DNR		Tom Friedel
A Deer Flagging		The American Grasshopper

"grasshoppers" — the vocabulary of the Thunderbirds diminishes the size and status of all potentially dangerous animals, in this case, as if to say, "deer are but grasshoppers to us." Nevertheless, there is more to it than that. The Hocągara like to think of every animal as having its particular counterpart in another zoological class. To a modern urban dweller, the analogy between a deer and grasshopper is at best obscure. However, one behavioral feature jumps out at us: both grasshoppers and deer are particularly noted for their leaping gates. However, to the Hocągara what stands out more, at least in the case of grasshoppers, is their spindly legs. They are called zazác-ke, the "spindly legged species." It may be noted that deer also are zazác, with legs that are very slim in relation to their overall body size. Also, deer and grasshoppers are typically brown, although some varieties of the latter are green. Deer also have "antennae" in the form of horns. A grasshopper's wings are not as dis-analogous as might be thought. When a Virginia deer flees, it raises its tail in an action called "flagging." The white tail is shaped rather like a wing, and is employed this way only in flight.

"Wood Spirits" — diabolical creatures, about the size of a house cat, who are here euphemistically called Nóci, "Tree Dwellers." The gaze from their eyes, which glow in the dark, will bring misfortune upon whomever it falls. Even to so much as dream about them will lead to adversity. That the brothers-in-law would hunt them and bring them back with them, illustrates the degree of their power and disregard for supernatural dangers.

"beaver" — once again the Thunderbirds belittle formidable creatures by homologizing them to smaller and innocuous animals. However, at the same time, they acknowledge the daunting challenge that an encounter with one of these opponents presents to them.

da Vinci

A Red Waterspirit

"Red Waterspirits" — elsewhere, where a battle with Red Waterspirits is described, they are distinguished from other Waterspirits by their ability to shoot not merely jets of water upwards at their lightning-wielding enemies, but geysers of flame.

"red" — red and black symbolize light and darkness, fire and ash, day and night, life and death, and male and female. This last pair of opposites is accentuated by the association of red with the fire inherent to the nature of the Thunderbirds, which is in contradistinction to the color black, which is particularly the color of the Nightspirits with whom the Thunderbirds exclusively intermarry.

BAE 37: Pl. 57

The Contents of a Thunderbird Clan Warbundle

"Warbundles" — both this myth and its companion myth, "Waruǧábᵉra, or The Thunderbird Warbundle," deal, in an odd way, with both the origins of the Thunderbird War-Bundle and the Thunderbird War-Club. The companion myth is told by Joseph LaMère, the older brother of Oliver LaMère, the translator of our present myth. In Joseph's story, throughout, until the very end, the story relates how the human-made-Thunderbird chooses among a myriad of Warclubs owned by the celestial Thunderbirds. However, its power is out of place on earth, and the Thunders have to recall it for the sake of restoring the balance of the cosmos. At the end of that story, and only then, is the acquisition of the Thunderbird Warbundle narrated. This coda is somewhat disjoint, as it is not clear what precisely had gone on. We are told that the old Warclub was recalled by the Thunders, and a new one given to replace it, then we are told how he had in this occasion acquired the Thunderbird Warbundle. This bundle is explicitly stated to contain at least one Warclub. So the Thunderbird Warclub would seem to be the Warclub contained within the Thunderbird Warbundle. This explains why Oliver attempted to translate Waruǧáp as "Warclub" throughout, when it never means that, but always means "Warbundle." In our myth, the choice is not among Warclubs, but among Warbundles. The particularly efficacious element of this Warbundle, as we understand from Joseph's companion myth, is the Warclub contained within, or perhaps more commonly, strapped to its outer cover (q.v.). It is this sacred object that projects the killing power of the Thunderbirds themselves, augmented in its might by the supernatural power wielded by the spiritual chiefs of the various creatures whose pelts are contained within the Warbundle. We only come to understand this in light of Joseph's myth, where the Warclubs of the Thunderbirds are integral to their Warbundles.

"Underwater Beings" — ni Ko A Le Ki (Nįkųhą́regi), an indirect reference to the Wakjexi or Waterspirits. This aligns the family of the Thunderbird woman's human mate with the Thunderbirds generally since they share a common archenemy.

"this near-earth island" — mą-tégi wíc, a reference to the ground, land, or earth near us, as opposed to the lands that lie on the other side of the encircling Ocean Sea and hold it in. The interlinear translation has, "this continent," a modernized rendering of the more ancient notion of the land inhabited by human beings as being a vast island.

Comparative Material. An Iroquois story has essentially the same plot. "A hunter in the woods was once caught in a thunder shower, when he heard a voice calling upon him to follow. This he did until he found himself in the clouds, the height of many trees from the ground. Beings which seemed to be men surrounded him, with one among them who seemed to be their chief. He was told to look below and tell whether he could see a huge water serpent. Replying that he could not, the old man anointed his eyes, after which he could see the monster in the depths below him. They then ordered one of their number to try and kill this enemy to the human race. Upon his failing, the hunter was told to accomplish the feat. He accordingly drew his bow and killed the foe. He was then conducted back to the place where he had sought shelter from the storm, which had now ceased. This was mankind's first acquaintance with the Thunder God and his assistants, and by it he learned that they were friendly toward the human race, and protected it from dragons, serpents, and other enemies."²

Links: Thunderbirds, Waterspirits, Black Hawks, Hummingbirds, Bird Spirits, Wood Spirits, The Thunderbird Warclub, Hawks, Tobacco.

Stories: mentioning Thunderbirds: 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, The Big Stone, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Song to Earthmaker, The Origins of the Milky Way; mentioning the Thunderbird Clan: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Hocąk Clans Origin Myth, Origin of the Hocąk Chief, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Pigeon Clan Origins, The Creation Council, Waruǧábᵉra, The Greedy Woman, Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth (v. 5); mentioning Great Black Hawk: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Chief of the Heroka, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Waruǧábᵉra, The Lost Blanket, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Redhorn's Sons, The Nightspirits Bless Ciwoit’éhiga, Black Otter's Warpath (head of the Thunders); mentioning black hawks: Hawk Clan Origin Myth (v. 2), The Dipper, Partridge's Older Brother, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Waruǧábᵉra, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Morning Star and His Friend, The Coughing Up of the Black Hawks, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, Heną́ga and Star Girl, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing, The Race for the Chief's Daughter; mentioning hawks: Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Old Man and Wears White Feather, Holy One and His Brother, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, Partridge's Older Brother, Creation Council, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Waruǧábᵉra, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, The Magical Powers of Lincoln's Grandfather; mentioning hummingbirds: The Dipper, Tobacco Origin Myth (v. 5), The Race for the Chief's Daughter; mentioning tobacco: Tobacco Origin Myth, Hare and the Grasshoppers, Hocąk Clans Origin Myth (v 2), How the Thunders Met the Nights, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Grandmother's Gifts, First Contact, Peace of Mind Regained, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, The Dipper, The Masaxe War, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth; in which Waterspirits occur as characters: Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Green Waterspirit of Wisconsin Dells, The Lost Child, River Child and the Waterspirit of Devil's Lake, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Bluehorn's Nephews, Holy One and His Brother, The Seer, The Nannyberry Picker, The Creation of the World (vv. 1, 4), Šųgepaga, The Sioux Warparty and the Waterspirit of Green Lake, The Waterspirit of Lake Koshkonong, The Waterspirit of Rock River, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, Devil's Lake — How it Got its Name, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Waterspirit of Sugar Loaf Mounds, Lakes of the Wazija Origin Myth, Waterspirits Keep the Corn Fields Wet, The Waterspirit Guardian of the Intaglio Mound, The Diving Contest, The Lost Blanket, Redhorn's Sons, The Phantom Woman, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Great Walker's Warpath, White Thunder's Warpath, The Descent of the Drum, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, Snowshoe Strings, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (v. 2), The Two Children, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, Waruǧábᵉra, Ocean Duck, The Twin Sisters, Trickster Concludes His Mission, The King Bird, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Great Walker's Medicine (v. 2), Heną́ga and Star Girl, Peace of Mind Regained, The Story of the Medicine Rite, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Spiritual Descent of John Rave's Grandmother, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Shaggy Man, The Woman who Married a Snake (?), Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, The Sacred Lake, Lost Lake; mentioning Red Waterspirits: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty; 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, 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, The Quail Hunter, 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) — see also Thunderbirds; mentioning grasshoppers: The Green Man, Hare and the Grasshoppers, The Two Boys, The Dipper, How the Thunders Met the Nights; about journeys to and from Spiritland: The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, The Journey to Spiritland, Sunset Point, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Lame Friend, Two Roads to Spiritland, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Holy One and His Brother, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, The Foolish Hunter, Waruǧábᵉra, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, White Wolf, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Two Brothers, The Lost Blanket, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds, The Petition to Earthmaker, Wears White Feather on His Head, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, Thunder Cloud Marries Again, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Friendship Drum Origin Myth, Aracgéga's Blessings, The Blessing of a Bear Clansman, The Man Whose Wife was Captured; mentioning the Thunderbird Warclub: Waruǧábᵉra, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, cf. Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth; mentioning sweat lodges or sweat baths: The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Lost Blanket, The Green Man, Bladder and His Brothers (v. 1), Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Snowshoe Strings, Waruǧábᵉra, The Red Man, The Chief of the Heroka, The Birth of the Twins (v. 2), Lifting Up the Bear Heads, The King Bird, Little Human Head, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, White Wolf, The Shaggy Man, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, The Dipper, The Two Boys, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (v. 2); mentioning feasts: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (Chief Feast), The Creation Council (Eagle Feast), Hawk Clan Origin Myth (Eagle Feast), Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth (Waterspirit Feast), A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga (Mąką́wohą, Waną́cĕrehí), Bear Clan Origin Myth (Bear Feast), The Woman Who Fought the Bear (Bear Feast), Grandfather's Two Families (Bear Feast), Wolf Clan Origin Myth (Wolf Feast), Buffalo Clan Origin Myth (Buffalo Feast), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Feast), Buffalo Dance Origin Myth (Buffalo Feast), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (Buffalo Feast), The Blessing of Šokeboka (Feast to the Buffalo Tail), Snake Clan Origins (Snake Feast), Blessing of the Yellow Snake Chief (Snake Feast), Rattlesnake Ledge (Snake Feast), Turtle's Warparty (War Weapons Feast, Warpath Feast), Porcupine and His Brothers (War Weapons Feast), Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega) (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), White Thunder's Warpath (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), The Fox-Hocąk War (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), Šųgepaga (Winter Feast = Warbundle Feast), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2) (Warbundle Feast, Warpath Feast), Black Otter's Warpath (Warpath Feast), Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (Warpath Feast), Kunu's Warpath (Warpath Feast), Trickster's Warpath (Warpath Feast), The Masaxe War (Warpath Feast), Redhorn's Sons (Warpath Feast, Fast-Breaking Feast), The Girl who Refused a Blessing from the Wood Spirits (Fast-Breaking Feast), The Chief of the Heroka (Sick Offering Feast), The Dipper (Sick Offering Feast, Warclub Feast), The Four Slumbers Origin Myth (Four Slumbers Feast), The Journey to Spiritland (Four Slumbers Feast), The First Snakes (Snake Feast), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (unspecified), Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts (unnamed); mentioning the Ocean Sea (Te Ją): Trickster's Adventures in the Ocean, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (v. 1), Otter Comes to the Medicine Rite, The Rounded Wood Origin Myth, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Trickster and the Children, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, Wears White Feather on His Head, White Wolf, How the Thunders Met the Nights (Mąznį’ąbᵋra), Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 2a, 3), Wolf Clan Origin Myth (v. 2), Redhorn's Sons, Grandfather's Two Families, Sun and the Big Eater, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4), The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father (sea), The Dipper (sea), Wojijé, The Twins Get into Hot Water (v. 1), Redhorn's Father, Trickster Concludes His Mission, Berdache Origin Myth, Thunder Cloud is Blessed, Morning Star and His Friend, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed.

Another version of the story of the acquisition of the Thunderbird Warclub is found in Waruǧabᵉra.

Notes

¹ Paul Radin, "The Thunderbird," Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Notebook #16: 1-103 (syllabic text with interlinear translation); Paul Radin, "The Thunderbird," Winnebago Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Winnebago IV, #8o, Version 1: 1-12, Version 2: 1-11. Interlinear Hocąk and English on unnumbered pages. Told by James St. Cyr (Thunderbird Clan?), who obtained it from an unidentified Frenchman.

² Erminnie A. Smith, "Hinųⁿ Destroying the Giant Animals," in Myths of the Iroquois, Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, vol. 2 (1880-1881): 49-116 [54].