Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks (§6 of the Trickster Cycle)

Translation Based on the Interlinear of John Baptiste

Version 1

Hocąk Syllabic Text with an English Interlinear Translation

(104) Away he walked. As he walked along there, unexpectedly, (105) there was a lake and unexpectedly, the lake was full of ducks. He ran back there. Secretly, before they had seen him, a swamp being there, he went there. (106) When he got there, he did a lot of grass cutting. He made a very big pack out of it. And he packed it, and he went there to this lake. He went along the edge of it. The ducks saw him. "Koté, Trickster is passing by over there. (107) Koté, ask him what he is doing," they said. They hailed him. "What are you carrying?" they asked him. He did not answer. They asked again. (108) When they asked for a fourth time, he stood up. "Weyi," he said. "What are you packing?" they said to him. "What a thing you have asked, my younger brothers. Now my stomach is filled up with songs. I'm packing along some bad songs that my stomach could not contain. (109) I have not sung them in a long time. Therefore, right now I have a great many songs in me. I am packing some. I have not seen any people on my trip. (110) Who will dance for me if I should sing? Therefore, I never did sing for a very long time." And those ducks said, "Koté, suppose we ask him to sing? Then we would dance, wouldn't we?" (111) "Koté, let it be so. I enjoy dancing very much. I haven't danced in a long time," some of them said. "Koté, let's do that," they said. And they said to him, (112) "Trickster, older brother, if you will sing for us, we will dance. We have been desiring to dance. We don't have any of these, the songs," they said, the ducks said to him. (113) "My younger brothers, you have spoken well. It will be so. I will make a dance lodge," he said. And they helped him. They made a long house there. They made a grass lodge. (114) And they made a round drum. Then he told all of them to come in. They all went in.

And when he was ready to sing, he said, "My younger brothers, this is the way to do it. (115) When I sing and have them dance, this dance is always the first that I have had them do. I am going to sing one song. Up to the end of it, not one of you shall ever open his eyes." (116) "Howo," they said. Then he began to sing. He said, "Ha, my younger brothers, if any of you should open your eyes, your eyes will turn red," he said. While he himself was sitting, yet he told them to dance. In time, one of them came with its wings flapping. "Gwo!" it said. "Gwo!" it said, again and again one of them would do the same. (118) In the singing, sometimes it would sound like his mouth tightened up. Sometimes again one would cry out. Then he would tell them to dance harder. Finally, a duck which they used to call by the name gįsge, (119) one of this kind, he secretly looked at him. He opened his eyes only the least bit. Unexpectedly, he was wrenching their necks, thus he was doing. He could bite them and also twist their necks. (120) Therefore, thus he did. His mouth was nearly closed. He sang and as many as he reached, he killed. And Gįsgenįka (Old Squaw Duck) said, "Hąho, he is killing us. (121) Some one of you try to save yourselves." He quickly went out through the smoke hole. There they crowded themselves out of the smoke hole. They also struck Trickster with their wings and they also scratched him. (122) With his eyes shut, when he put forth his hands in their midst in order to grab them, he grabbed one apiece with each hand. These he choked to death and he closed his eyes, whereupon they all suddenly escaped. (123) He had hold of two of them. When he looked at what he had, unexpectedly, he was holding a scabby mouthed duck by each side of its legs. He thought that he had hold of two of them. (124) Then, "Hąhó, this is the way that men do, and they will be drinking soup," he said.

Then he made fire, and he made himself sharp pointed sticks. And some he roasted in that manner. (125) And some he covered over with ashes. "And I shall be very anxious waiting for them. As it is, I shall sleep. When they are cooked thoroughly, I shall awaken," he said. (126) "My younger brother, you keep watch, I am going to sleep," he said. "If you should notice anything, drive them off," he said. He was talking to his anus. Then he lay with his anus towards the fire and he slept.

(127) As the little foxes came along, they scented something. "Hąho, there must be something here," they said. They turned their noses to the wind and as they were coming along, unexpectedly, a fire was smoking there. (128) When they had looked, there were pointed sharp sticks all around the fire. They came with stealth and when they had looked, (129) unexpectedly, there was someone sleeping. "Koté, this is Trickster. He is sleeping. Let's eat. Be very careful, you might wake him. We will eat," they said. (130) And then they came there. Unexpectedly, he quickly expelled gas. Po, he made it say. "Koté, he must be awake," they said, and then they ran back. "Koté, I think they are asleep," they said. (131) "Koté, it must be a bluff. He is always doing something," they said. Thus they were saying, and again they came towards him there. It did it again. He expelled gas. Again they ran back. (132) Thus they did three times. They came there again for the fourth time. Once again he expelled gas. Just the same, they did not run away. Still harder and stronger he expelled gas. (133) Just the same, they did not run away. He did this again the third time. Po! Po! Po! he made it say. It was very loud, but they did not run away. It did it again for the fourth time. (134) Po! Po! Po! Po! he made it say. Four times thus, but they began to eat the roastings one apiece. Now this, Trickster's anus, did thus — Po! — continuously. (135) It was very loud. Finally, they ate up all the roastings. They came again to the roastings under the ashes. And thus it was making, Po!, but they ate a great deal. Again they ate it all up.(136) Then they did it. They nicely replaced what he had cooked under the ashes only. Then they quit the place.

Then he awoke.(137) "Hohó, about now what I cooked must be cooked to a crisp," he said. As he felt around there, he got hold of a foot. When he pulled it out, he came away with only the foot. (138) "Hohó, thus the cooking usually is when they are thoroughly cooked," he said. He felt around again for another one. Again when he took hold of one and when he pulled it out, (139) it was only a foot that he came away with. Again he said, "Hohó, what I've cooked must be well done. I told my younger brother to watch the roast. Some good cook he is," he said. (140) He kept going on and on. When he sat up, unexpectedly, the roasts on sticks were gone. "Hohó, those covetous friends must have done me wrong," he said. (141) And when he had poked around the fire, unexpectedly, the fire was only full of bones. "Hohó," he said, (142) "surely these covetous homely things have disappointed me; but also, you homely thing, what have you done? I told you to watch. You shall know about this (punishment). (143) You have not done right. I shall burn your mouth. Consequently, you won't be doing anything with your mouth," he said. He took up a brand and burned the mouth. He burned himself in the anus. (144) Then repentantly, "Tuwį! tuwį! hagagasgeižą, I have made myself smart so. For this I am called wakjąka. The others have talked me into it. (145) It's just as though I had done something," he said. There Trickster had burned his anus. He put burning firewood to it.

Then he went somewhere there. (146) As he was going along there, unexpectedly, something went by. He trailed him. As he was going along, to his surprise, there he found a piece of fat. (147) "Hohó, someone has gone by here packing something. He must be packing something he had killed," he said. As he said this, he picked up that piece of fat and ate it. It was very delicious. (148) "Hohó, this fat is such a delicious thing," he said. Again as he was going along, he again found another piece. Again he ate it. "Hohó, these fat things are such a delicious thing," he said. (149) As he was going along, unexpectedly, it was he whom he had discovered. He was finding the fat parts of his own guts. The anus and the fat part of his guts had fallen out of him. Because he had burned it, the burning had contracted it. (150) "Hohó," he said. "Very truly have they spoken when they have called me wakjąka. The others, by such talking, have turned me into such." And he fixed it. A large part of the skin was lost. (151) Therefore, he had fixed it, but the skin pulled together in wrinkles. So he made it in ridges. So they are. The anuses of people are made in ridges they have said.¹

Version 2

by Oliver LaMère

Hocąk-English Interlinear Text

The following variant was given in the course of a homily presented during a service in the Native American Church.

(20) Trickster was going along there with his pack on, and at a point in his travels, they hollered at him. They wanted him to sing. "All right," he said, "what's on my back is a pack of songs." So they said, "We would like to dance." "Hoi, you should make a longhouse." They made an opening only at one end. When they were done, he commanded them to enter. After they all entered, Trickster came in and (21) sat by the door. They were birds. When he sang, he said, "If anyone opens his eyes, they will turn red," he told them. Therefore, they were afraid to look. Thus he did, and as one of the fat ones went by, he choked him. Then he would cry out, "That's it, that's it! Give a whoop. They usually give a whoop from time to time," he told them.

Now then, a certain sort of bird thought that something was happening. She opened her eyes a little, and saw that he was choking them. And so she said, "One must try to live! He's killing us all!" (22) And then they caused the lodge to fly open. As they tried to escape, their eyes became red, but they did survive. Trickster took the birds away somewhere and roasted them, but he himself did not eat them. Someone who was working for him ate them.

It is us, the Hocągara. Probably no one ever did such a thing in the past, and they said this. This was the sort of thing we were going to. So they told us not to do this. We were not to know. (23) If they forbid something, we feel that we must do it. We do the Medicine Rite and declare that it is good, and we keep it a secret. We forbid them to look at it. We tell them to speak of it only after the world has come to an end, and it is us, the Hocągara, who are Trickster's birds. We are working for Herešguninaga.²

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Commentary. "Gwo!" — it is interesting that gwo (probably with a long /o/) is also an exclamation that Radin says, "is used to express despair and utter helplessness."

"gįsge" — elsewhere, this name denotes an unknown species of bird, and in the translation it is described as "the little red-eyed duck." Given that we are told here that its eyes are red, we can identify it with good probability as the old squaw duck (Clangula hyemalis).

"in that manner" — the meat is skewered on a sharp pointed stick which is propped up at an angle over the fire. This method is mentioned in an episode of the story How the Thunders Met the Nights.

"wakjąka" (1 & 2) — this is the word that forms the stem of the name Wakjąkaga, "Trickster." The puzzle here is that if we suppose that it has the meaning "trickster," as it ought to in this case, then on what grounds would anyone call a fool or a dupe, "tricky"? In modern Hocąk, the word wakjąką means "clown" (Miner). Did the Hocągara possess clowns like certain other (more distant) tribes? Regardless of how this question is answered, there is something about the English word "clown" that applies to tricksters and fools alike. Modern (circus) clowns perform both tricks and foolery; yet to have a spirit-being embody both the qualities of perpetrator and dupe still leaves us with something of a paradox.

"a certain sort of bird" — apparently the narrator gave the name of a kind of bird, but its name, unfortunately, was omitted in the transcript. This bird is probably the gîsge mentioned above.

"someone who was working for him ate them" — this hints at a variant of this episode that is not publicly known. For the incident in question, see the next story in the Cycle, Trickster Loses His Meal.

"it is us" — that is, the Hocągara are like the ducks. Oliver LaMère is making reference to the Medicine Rite. He now views it as a kind of seductive trickery, which the candidates enter into with their eyes closed.

"no one ever did such a thing" — that is, what is told of Trickster is fiction. This is the view one might expect from a member of a Christian community, as Oliver LaMère was.

"the Medicine Rite" — this is a mystery rite by which the members are able to gain immortality by being reborn after death. It recalls in some way the rites of Eleusis among the ancient Greeks. Jasper Blowsnake memorized the entire rite and made it public on the supposition that it was not valid. His homily is partly a polemic against the secrecy surrounding the Medicine Rite.

"Herešguninaga" — this is the Hocąk Satan. The standard form of his name is Herešgúnina, which is understood as composed of here, "he is"; šguni, "perhaps"; and -na, "the (one such that)" — "the one that may be." In the present case, -ga, a definite article generally restricted to personal names, is added on to the definite article -na; but elsewhere this version is given as Herešguniga. For the form Horesgunina and the esoteric meaning of his name, see the Commentary to The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head.

Comparative Material. The Menominee, the friends and neighbors of the Hocągara, have created a variant of this story to account for the name "Winnebago," by which the Hocągara are known to the Algonquian tribes and the Anglos (for which, see the Menominee story, Origin of the Name "Winnebago"). They replace the foxes with the Hocągara, and call Wakjąkaga by the name of their own trickster figure, Mä́näbush.³ Since the Hocągara view foxes as creatures of want, the Menominee, by substituting them for foxes, are portraying the Hocągara as poverty stricken (for which, see The Hocąk Arrival Myth).

Another Menominee variant is strongly similar to the Hocąk story. One day Manabush came upon a large number of water fowls dancing joyfully in a circle. He walked up to them and said, "My dear friends, I know many songs, let me sing for you while you dance. Just one thing though, when you dance, you should keep your eyes closed." The birds agreed, but when a bird passed by Manabush, he wrung its neck. However, one bird, a kind of duck, opened his eyes, and when he saw the dead at the feet of Manabush, he gave the alarm. Manabush shouted after this duck, "From now on you will have red eyes!" So ever after this kind of duck has had a red ring around its eyes.⁴

The account of the Wisconsin Ojibwe is very similar to that of the Menominee. One day Wenebojo is walking about and sees a flock of birds by the shore of a river. He hits upon the idea of holding a dance. The birds are enthusiastic, so Wenebojo builds a very solid dance lodge. He tells them that they must make plenty of noise and that they must also dance with their eyes closed, for it they fail to do this, their eyes will become read. The loon and the hell-diver are standing by the door and hear some odd noises. They open the eyes only to discover that Wenebojo is wringing the necks of the birds as they dance by. They open their eyes and shout, "Wenebojo is killing us!" whereupon all the birds begin pecking him. This is why the loon and the hell-diver have red eyes today. The birds began pecking Wenebojo, who could not escape because he had made his lodge so strong. In the stampede, the hell-diver and the loon were trampled, and that is why today they have flat backs. After the surviving birds made good their escape, Wenebojo took all the fowls that he had dispatched and stuck them upside down in hot ashes so that only their feet stuck up above the ground. He decided to take a nap while the birds cooked, but told his anus to give him a loud warning if any of the South Wind Men should show up. Sure enough, they soon appeared, and his anus made a loud noise to warn him. However, the South Wind Men hid themselves well, so Wenebojo took it as a false alarm and went back to sleep. Then the South Wind Men took some red dye and stuffed it into Wenebojo's anus as he slept, then the ate all of the meat and quietly stole away. When Wenebojo awoke he began to pull up his much anticipated dinners by their legs only to find that nothing was left but the legs. This made him very angry with his buttocks, who had failed to do what he had told them, so as a punishment, he made a roaring fire and stood over it without his trousers, burning his buttocks severely for their failing.⁵

Another Ojibwe version is tells a similar story about Winabozho. "Winabozho was very hungry. He had no weapon and was obliged to depend on his wits to obtain animal food. Swimming in the lake near him were a lot of waterfowl. He decided to have some of these ducks. So he called to them — 'Ho! Ho! All of you feathered ones who want to sing and play with me come here!' He called several times. The ducks at first paid no attention. Then they listened to his invitation. After counseling with each other, they decided to accept it. They came flying to the shore where he stood. He had them standing a circle and dance around. 'Close your eyes and sing as loudly as you can,' said Winabozho. He lead the singing. When they were dancing and singing well, Winabozho grabbed one after another and wrung their necks. Soon he had a nice heap of ducks lying at his feet. The remaining ducks continued to sing and dance. They did not suspect what was going on. Finally one bird, the Helldiver, opened his eyes. He saw what was being done and yelled — 'We are betrayed! Winabozho is killing us!' This aroused the remaining ducks and with frightened cries they flew away. When they did so Winabozho in a rage cried — 'From this day, Helldiver, you and all your descendants shall always have red eyes.' And so they all have red eyes."⁶

The Ojibwe also tell a variant of this story about Manabozho (Hare). At a convocation of all the animals and birds, Manabozho broke out a drum and invited them to dance. They were to move in a circle around him and to keep their eyes closed at all times. When a fat fowl came near, he would wring its neck, drowning out the noise with the vehemence of his singing and drumming. The diver duck, however, opened his eyes, and see what was happening gave the alarm. While all the rest escaped, Manabozho got close enough to the duck to give it a good kick. This is why that duck has so few tail feathers and why it has such difficulty walking.⁷

The Kickapoo story is very close to the Hocąk version. One day Wiza'ka'a was walking along when he saw a flock of ducks. He had an idea. Pulling up bunches of grass, he put them in his pack and paraded in front of the ducks. The latter asked, "What have you got there, elder brother?" "I am packing songs," he replied. "Make us dance," the ducks demanded. "Well," said Wiza'ka'a, "I can sing for you, but you have to do exactly what the song says." They ducks readily agreed. So Wiza'ka'a sang, "Bunch your heads together!" and the ducks put their heads together. Then he sang, "Close your eyes," and all the ducks complied. Then Wiza'ka'a lassoed all of them and killed them. So he took them off to a thicket, built a fire, and began to roast his ducks. While they were cooking, he decided to catch some sleep, so he ordered his bottom to guard the ducks. While he was sleeping, wolves came up and were determined to steal the ducks, but Wiza'ka'a's bottom went, "Si'te!" and the wolves ran away in fear. The wolves came back, thinking that Wiza'ka'a was just pretending to be asleep. Just the same, they stole all the ducks. When he woke up and found his ducks missing, to blamed his bottom. He took a red poker from the fire and burnt his colon severely. As he walked away, he entrails had fallen out behind him. He gathered these up and rebuilt his bottom.⁸

The Lakota variant is almost exactly the same as the Hocąk right up to the point where Trickster, called Iktomi by the Sioux, begins cooking his ducks. After that, the story follows almost exactly the episode related in Trickster Loses His Meal.⁹

The Minneconjou band of the Lakota tell this version of the story. Iktomi, the trickster Spider Spirit, espied a flock of ducks in a nearby lake. Even though he had nothing but a stick, he hit upon a way that he might dine on duck that night. Suddenly he emerged from the reeds doing an elaborate dance. "I am Iktomi," he said, "and I am the greatest dancer of them all." He held them spell-bound with his fancy footwork. "Gather around me, and I'll teach you the duck songs; but you must keep your eyes closed in complete concentration upon every sound I make. Anyone who fails to do this will be transformed into an ugly mud hen with red eyes. Now, I'll beat time with my stick." The ducks crowded around Iktomi with their eyes closed, and as he sang, he began clubbing ducks one after another in perfect rhythm. One of the ducks became curious and decided to open just one eye, but when he did he saw that they had been fatally tricked. "Fly for your lives," he quacked, "or we'll all end up roasted!" So the ducks flew away, but Iktomi by then had quite a pile, enough for a feast. The duck that gave the alarm, true to Iktomi's threat, was turned into a mud hen. That is why mud hens keep to themselves and are always wary, for fear that Iktomi might sneak up on them and trick them again. As it is said, "Better an ugly mud hen than a dead duck."¹⁰

The Sioux (tribe unspecified) have an interesting variation on this story. Iktomi wants some rabbit meat, so he goes to see the rabbits who are intent upon having a dance. Iktomi tells them that he has a medicine bundle full of songs, and that he will allow some rabbit songs to slip out just for their dance. However, the rabbits must dance with their eyes closed, otherwise they will turn pink. They do as Iktomi has bidden them, and he clubs them one at a time as they dance by. Finally, one opens his eyes and gives a warning, and all the rest flee.¹¹

The Siouan Assiniboine also have three very similar tales, which Radin summarizes:

Sitcóⁿski arouses geese's curiosity by packing two sacks. He invites them to dance with closed eyes, and wrings their necks. He cooks the dead geese. Fox approaches, pretending to limp. Sitcóⁿski proposes a race for the food. Fox wins, and eats up all the food.¹²

Inktonmi pretends to mourn his brother's death and induces the ducks to accompany him on a warparty. First he bids them dance around Turtle with closed eyes. While they are dancing he kills most of them. The rest escape.¹³

Inktumni asks his rump to guard his eggs and wake him if anyone should approach. The rump fails to do so, and the eggs are eaten up by a stranger. Inktumni angrily burns his rump and walks off. He returns to the same place, mistakes his flesh for meat, and eats it.¹⁴

Sitcóⁿski is the same as the trickster figure Inktonmi.

The more closely related Ponca also tell a tale in which their trickster, Ictinike, instructs his anus to guard a roasted turtle.¹⁵

In the Osage version, the trickster figure, rather than being the victim, swindles his grandmother out of the meat. Grasshopper tells his grandmother that he is going to invite the turkeys to a dance. When they arrive, he persuades them to close their eyes as they dance. While they are dancing, he kills about 14 of them until one of them opens a single eye, and gives the alarm. Grasshopper persuades his grandmother to stand behind the teepee while he hold a feast for the chiefs. No one is called. Grasshopper pretends to be letting the chiefs in, and eats all the meat himself, leaving only the soup for his grandmother.¹⁶ The last episode of the story is akin to "Hare Kills Wildcat."

The Hidatsa replace the ducks with a single buffalo. One day First Creator (Coyote) approached a lone buffalo, and told him that people said he was the slowest creature on earth. The buffalo took umbrage, so Coyote challenged him to a race. As they were racing, they agreed to run with their eyes closed, but Coyote cheated by leaving one of his open. They ran right for the cliffs, and the buffalo sailed off the edge and crashed to his death. There was so much meat that Coyote invited Little Fox to join him in the feast. Every time Little Fox was sent to fetch water, he at the bag he was to carry it in. Finally, Coyote swatted him on the nose, leaving a black spot which is there to this day on all foxes. Little Fox went off in anger and persuaded the animals in the area that a vast amount of food was readily available for the taking. Coyote went to sleep next to his vast store of meat. So the whole troop of animals quietly snuck up to him. First, a single mouse approached to see if he was asleep, but he detected motion; so a second and third were sent in turn, but each reported that he may not have fallen to sleep. The fourth mouse, Yellow Belly, said that he was now sound asleep. So the animals ate every slice of meat, and even ate the buffalo robe on which Coyote reclined, right up to his body. When Coyote awoke, he found nothing but bones. He gathered them up and was going to eat what marrow could be scavenged when an ember from the fire popped out onto his leg, and with a reflexive jerk, he kicked the whole bag of bones into the fire so that nothing at all was left.¹⁷

The Arapaho have similar stories. Nih’āⁿçaⁿ (their Trickster) encountered a flock of ducks who asked him to drum for their dance. He told them to keep their eyes closed while they danced. During the dance he clubbed to death each duck that passed him. However, one of the ducks opened his eyes and saw what was going on, and giving the alarm, he caused the rest of the ducks to fly off. Nih’āⁿçaⁿ put the meat on poles and went to sleep. When he woke up, he found that all the meat was stolen. He cursed the first being that he met to be blind on the assumption that this would be the thief. The first creature he met was a bear who was blind. He persuaded this bear to hide under a lodge of grass, which Nih’āⁿçaⁿ set afire. He offered a pack of wolves a share of the meat, but they ate it all; and as they left, they taunted him, telling him that they were the ones who also stole his duck meat.¹⁸

In another Arapaho variant, Nih’āⁿçaⁿ and his friend Coyote induced ducks and other animals to dance on the edge of a precipice. He shoved them off the cliff except for one duck who opened his eyes and flew away. Nih’āⁿçaⁿ roasted all the meat, but while he was taking a nap, Coyote ate every bit of it.¹⁹

This Gros Ventre story is very close to the Hocąk version. "Nix’aⁿt was going along the river in the thick timber. Then he came to an opening in the woods. There he stopped and thought what to do. He sat with his head down. Suddenly he stood up. He shouted loudly, 'All ducks, prairie-chickens, and cottontail-rabbits come here! I will make a dance for you.' Then the birds came flying to him, and the rabbits ran up. He made them all stand in a circle and close their eyes. He said, 'You must keep your eyes shut when you dance.' The he sang, and they danced. He began to break the birds' necks. Meanwhile he sang, 'As you dance, you must not look!' At last a little prairie-chicken dancing at the end opened his eyes and saw him. It flew up crying, 'Nix’aⁿt is killing you all!' Then the remaining birds all flew off and the rabbits ran away. Nix’aⁿt said, 'Nix’aⁿt always accomplishes what pleases him. Nix’aⁿt is always fortunate. Now he has a feast.' Then he made a fire. He put the ducks and prairie-chickens and rabbits that he had killed into the ashes under the coals. Then he said, 'Nix’aⁿt is sleepy. I think I will sleep.' He ordered his anus, 'Wake me if anyone comes.' Then he went to sleep. Wolves and coyotes came. They smelled around. They at all the meat and left only the bones. At last Nix’aⁿt woke up. He coughed. He said, 'Now I shall have a feast.' He found only bones. He looked all around. There was nothing left. He spoke to his own anus, 'I told you to move and wake me if anyone came.' He took a firebrand, and rammed it into his own anus. It was badly affected so that it pouted out, breaking wind to cool itself off."²⁰

The Cree story is a blend of A Mink Tricks Trickster (q.v.) and Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks. It is otherwise very similar to the Menominee version. Wisakedjak, the Cree Trickster, builds himself a lodge in the wilderness. He invited all the birds to come in for a dance. The birds were instructed to keep their eyes closed while they danced. Whenever a fat duck came by, Wisakedjak wrung its neck. Soon he had a pile of ducks, but the hell diver opens its eyes and yelled, "Open your eyes, our elder brothers is killing us!" All the birds fled out the small door. He roasted all his ducks in hot coal buried in the ground, so that only the feet of the ducks stuck up above ground. Then he took a nap. He awakened to find a fox standing above him. The fox challenged him to a race to determine who should have all the meat to himself. Wisakedjak accepted, but the fox doubled back and ate everything while Wisakedjak was still running. When Wisakedjak returned, he discovered to his chagrin that he had been fooled and robbed.²¹

There is a Micmac story of this type involving Lox and his little brother. Lox had a plan to get meat for the winter. He and his brother built a grand lodge, and inside constructed a throne for Lox. Then his little brother went out and called the fowls together and said, "Your chief is here, come and hear what he has to say." They all assembled inside. They were told to close their eyes, for if they saw their king in all his magnificence, they would be blinded. So they did as they were ordered. Then Lox went about and crushed the head of one fowl after another with his teeth. However, the boy pitied the ducks sitting next to him, and whispered to a little one nearby, "Open your eyes." When the little duck opened them, much to his surprise he saw what had happened, and yelled, "We are being killed!" With this, they all scrambled out the door, knocking the boy over. Just the same, the two brothers had plenty of meat for the winter.²²

The people of the more distant Blackfoot tribe, which is of Algonquian speech, tell a similar story. Their Trickster figure is called "Old Man." One day Old Man encounters squirrels playing a game in which one of them is covered in hot embers, so he persuades them to let him cover them all in embers. After he does so, he refuses to remove the embers and the squirrels end up cooked. He hangs them on a scaffold, then instructs his anus to make a noise should any intruder chance upon the food. His anus makes a noise every time a mere insect happens by, so Old Man eventually ignores it. The lynx comes up and eats all the food, but Old Man later captures him. He bangs the nose of the lynx on a rock, and that is why they have flat faces today. Then he took pubic hair and shoved it into the lynx's nostrils, and that is why this kind has whiskers down to the present day. In order to punish his anus for its failings, he stuck a burning stick into it. This is why sticks of this kind smell the way they do today.²³

The Crow have a parallel to the cooked anus episode. Old Man Coyote once killed four men made entirely of fat, grease, and various berries. When he killed them, they immediately melted into a soup. Old Man Coyote called his partner over to partake of the delicacy, but noticed that he had left his lynx tail spoon behind, so he told his friend to go get it for him. His partner kept coming back with the same complaint, that his moccasins were worn out, so Old Man Coyote went back to get it himself. Meanwhile, his partner proceeded to eat all the soup by himself, then ran away. Old Man Coyote trailed him and found him sleeping with his anus up. He took a sharp stick and shoved it down his anus, then started a fire that moved towards him. He yelled, "Fire!" and his partner jumped up and fled. Unfortunately for him, the peg caused his intestines to uncoil from his body, and they lay strew out all over the burning landscape. Old Man Coyote began to eat them, and had just about gotten all his soup back; but he didn't know when to stop, and ended up vomiting the whole of it back up.²⁴

The Cherokee version lacks the anal episode. Wildcat caught Rabbit and was about to eat him, when Rabbit hit upon the idea of substituting something tastier than himself. He told Wildcat if he were patient, he would get him something truly delicious to eat. In order for the scheme to work, Wildcat had to play dead. Rabbit went over to a group of turkeys and told them that a wildcat lay dead nearby, and they could get revenge by kicking the body. So they went over to where the wildcat lay. Rabbit encouraged them to form a circle around him and act just as they do in the scalp dance. So they danced around the wildcat as Rabbit drummed. Rabbit urged them to tighten the circle and kick the body, so they circled about him tightly. Then Rabbit yelled, "Grab a turkey!" and Wildcat suddenly jumped up and seized one.²⁵

The Natchez story is almost identical to that of the Cherokee. Rabbit met up with Wildcat and told him that if he played dead, he could get himself some turkeys. So Wildcat went along with the suggestion and lay down with his mouth hanging open. Rabbit then went out to meet the turkeys and told them that their enemy Wildcat was dead. "Let me show you where he lies and you can dance over his body." So the turkeys followed Rabbit and they came to where Wildcat was sprawled out on the ground. The turkeys began to dance and sing around the body. As a turkey stepped on Wildcat's mouth, he sudden closed his jaws. When the turkeys saw that one of their number had been killed, they fled in panic. Rabbit too disappear. It was his plan all along to get something for Wildcat to eat so that this predator would not kill him.²⁶

The Chiricahua Apaches have a similar story about their trickster, Coyote. Coyote found an old blue soldier's coat and decided to keep it. As he was coming down the mountain, he came to a prairie dog town. Coyote began to brag about how he had a fight with the soldiers and had taken the coat off a soldier he'd killed. He called on the prairie dogs to celebrate with a great victory dance, so the prairie dogs made all the preparations. During the dance, Coyote instructed the prairie dogs to sing about how he had defeated the enemy, and while they were having a good time, he went off and carved a club out of a mulberry log. He returned and told the prairie dogs how to dance and what to sing, then he said that he was going to take a nap, but in reality he busied himself filling in all the prairie dog holes. When he returned, he had the prairie dogs line up with the fat ones on one side and the thin ones on the other. He had his warclub, and when the prairie dogs had let down their guard, he began killing them left and right. He put them in the fire to cook, then went to sleep. While he was sleeping, Mountain Lion came down and took away all the fat prairie dogs for himself. When Coyote awoke, he pulled the prairie dogs out of the fire by their tails and feet, but as there were only thin ones left, that was all he had.²⁷

The Hopi version also features a prairie dog. One day Fox caught himself a fat prairie dog, and after getting the embers properly glowing, he thrust the meat into the ashes and decided to take a nap while it roasted. Coyote happened to pick up the scent of the meat and came over to investigate. Coyote wasted no time in extracting the prairie dog meat, and ate every bit of it except for the bones. He took some of the fat and rubbed it on Fox's lips, then ran off. When Fox awoke, he found that his lips were greasy, and thought to himself, "I must have eaten the meal, but oddly enough, I don't remember doing it." When he found the bones, he was certain that he had eaten it. But Fox was ravenously hungry, and reasoned that he could not have eaten it after all. Then it dawned on him that it must have been that tricky Coyote who did this to him, and sure enough, he soon came upon his tracks.²⁸ [continuation of the Hopi story]

The Shasta have a similar story embedded in another context. Coyote was starving, so he paid a visit to his friends, the Shastas. He asked him if he could join them in catching salmon, and they readily agreed. Soon he had caught a great haul and was carrying them back to his home. On the way, he stopped for a nap, sleeping face down with his pack on his back. Before long, a hoard of hornets descended upon the pack, and soon stripped the salmon to the bone. When Coyote woke up, he had no idea what had become of his salmon, so he returned to the Shasta for help. They let him renew his supply of salmon, but on his return home the same thing happened again. So this time he was accompanied by the Shasta, who agreed to watch from hiding to see what was going on. While they were resting, along came Grandfather Turtle. Coyote picked an argument with him, and while they were all distracted by the verbal fight, the hornets quickly stripped the salmon of all their meat unseen. However, Grandfather Turtle did see what had happened and informed the party of the odd event. So they all took off, but had no idea where they were going. However, Turtle slowly plodded along until he found the entrance to the hive at the very top of Mt. Shasta. The Shasta and Coyote tried to smoke them out, but it was of no use until Turtle covered the top vent with his shell, causing the smoke to back up. Unfortunately, the pressure was so great that the top of the mountain blew up. Coyote was pleased to discover that all his salmon meat came down like rain, and it was already cooked. And that is the story of how Mt. Shasta first erupted.²⁹

The Innu of Labrador tell a version of the autophagic episode involving their trickster Lynx (Pishu). There was a lynx who married Innu women. And when he came home with nothing from the hunt, he used to kill them and eat them. One day an Innu woman said, "Since no one else can kill him, I will. He won't be able to kill me." The people told her, "If you think you can kill him, find him and marry him. So the woman went to where the lynx was living. She married the lynx and he thought to himself, "I will kill her, too." The lynx said to his wife, "I want you to cut some firewood, the best you can get. I will go fishing." While the lynx was gone, the woman cut wood, dry wood, very dry wood and very nice for firewood. When the lynx came back, he thought his wife was inside the tent and he stabbed with his spear through the tent. But his wife was hiding behind a tree. When the lynx went into the tent, his wife wasn't there. He looked for his wife under the branches that covered the floor of the tent but she wasn't there. He searched everywhere for his wife but he couldn't find her. And the lynx thought, "Where am I going to get something to eat?" After a while the lynx thought, "I wonder if I'm good to eat." He cut a piece from his leg and roasted it in the fire. When it was cooked, he ate it. And he said to himself, "I taste very good." He cut his leg again and put another piece in the fire and cooked it just a little bit. And he began to eat himself. And he began to sing. His song went like this: "I taste good." Finally there was no meat left on him. He had only one thing left now - his heart. And he thought, "I wonder what I'm going to do now." But he was still hungry and he thought, "I will grab my heart and take it out and cook it. I will take it out very fast and cook it and eat it very fast. Before I die, I will eat it." The lynx grabbed his heart, took it out, cut it in half and began to roast it. But the heart turned white over the fire and he died. His wife laughed at him while he was doing this to himself. When she returned to the people, she said, "I killed him but I didn't really kill him. He killed himself. When he was roasting his heart and it had almost turned white, he fell over backwards and he died," the woman told the people.³⁰

Kroeber gives a valuable set of parallels from numerous tribes — "The killing of birds by making them dance with closed eyes occurs in the myths of very many tribes, except on the Pacific Coast, where the incident is rarely found. Generally the trickster loses the meat soon after, usually through having gone to sleep. In many cases he then burns the part of the body he had told to watch. Cf. Rand, Legends of the Micmacs, 263; Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England, 186; Turner, Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. XI, 327 (Nenenot); Schoolcraft, Hiawatha, 30, 34; Hoffman, Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn., XIV-1, 162; Riggs, Contr. N. A. Ethn., IX, 110 (Dakota); J. O. Dorsey, Contr. N. A. Ethn., VI, 67, 579; Journal of American Folk Lore, XIII, 165, 166 (Cheyenne); Russell, Journal of American Folk Lore, XI, 264 (Jicarilla Apache); Russell, Explor. Far North, 212 (Cree). The Gros Ventre have the myth. See also Grinnell, Blackfoot Lodge Tales, 158, 171."³¹

George A. Dorsey also lists some other versions: "A similar tale of ducks or other dancing birds is found among the Pawnee; Ankara; Wichita; Grosventre; Cree (Russel, Explorations in the Far North p. 212); Apache (J. A. Folk-Lore, Vol. XL, p. 264); Cheyenne (J. A. Folk-Lore, XIII.. p. i6i); Arapaho (F. C. M., Anth. Ser.. Vol. V., Nos. 26, 27); Menominee (Rep. Bur. of Eth. Vol. XIV.. p. 162, 203); Micmac (Rand. Legends of the Micmacs, p. 263); Algonquin (Leland, p. 186); Eskimo (Rep. Bur. of Eth., Vol. XL, p. 327)."³²

Links: Trickster, Ducks, Bird Spirits, Foxes, The Sons of Earthmaker, Herešgúnina.

Links within the Trickster Cycle: §5. The Pointing Man, §7. Trickster's Penis.

Stories: featuring Trickster as a character: The Trickster Cycle, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster's Warpath, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Trickster Soils the Princess, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Trickster Concludes His Mission, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Elk's Skull, Trickster and the Plums, Trickster and the Mothers, The Markings on the Moon, The Spirit of Gambling, The Woman who Became an Ant, The Green Man, The Red Man, Trickster Takes Little Fox for a Ride, Trickster Loses His Meal, Trickster's Tail, A Mink Tricks Trickster, Trickster's Penis, Trickster Loses Most of His Penis, The Scenting Contest, The Bungling Host, Mink Soils the Princess, Trickster and the Children, Trickster and the Eagle, Trickster and the Geese, Trickster and the Dancers, Trickster and the Honey, Trickster's Adventures in the Ocean, The Pointing Man, Trickster's Buffalo Hunt, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, Trickster Visits His Family, The Coughing Up of the Black Hawks, The Petition to Earthmaker, Waruǧábᵉra, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge; featuring ducks as characters: Origin of the Name "Winnebago" (Menominee), Ocean Duck, The Foolish Hunter; 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, 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, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), Hare Acquires His Arrows, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), 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 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), 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 foxes: Trickster Takes Little Fox for a Ride, Little Fox and the Ghost, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, Redhorn's Father, The Scenting Contest, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans (v. 3), Little Fox Goes on the Warpath, Holy One and His Brother; about flatulence: Why Dogs Sniff One Another, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Bungling Host; mentioning drums: The Descent of the Drum, The Friendship Drum Origin Myth, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Buffalo's Walk, The Spirit of Maple Bluff, Tobacco Origin Myth (v. 5), Young Man Gambles Often, Trickster and the Dancers, Redhorn's Father, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, The Elk's Skull, Ghosts, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Great Walker's Medicine, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 1b), Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Trickster and the Geese, Turtle's Warparty, Snowshoe Strings, Ocean Duck, Įcorúšika and His Brothers, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Hog's Adventures, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts.

The Menominee story, The Origin of the Name "Winnebago," is a variant of the present story.

Themes: someone talks to his own organs as though they were people: Trickster Loses Most of His Penis, Trickster's Penis; a man's organ acts as though it had a will of its own: Trickster's Penis, Trickster's Buffalo Hunt; someone uses flatulence as a weapon or deterrent against animals: The Bungling Host; in order to save his own life, a bird(-man) flies away through the smoke hole of a lodge: The Markings on the Moon, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I; a man's meal is stolen before he can eat it: Trickster Loses His Meal, A Mink Tricks Trickster, A Raccoon Tricks Four Blind Men; Trickster is the victim of a trick: Trickster Soils the Princess, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Elk's Skull, A Mink Tricks Trickster, Trickster and the Honey, The Markings on the Moon, Trickster and the Eagle; because of what was done to the body of a primordial spirit, a human organ has the form and shape that it does today: Turtle's Warparty (testicles), Trickster Loses Most of His Penis (penis); red as a symbolic color: The Journey to Spiritland (hill, willows, reeds, smoke, stones, haze), The Gottschall Head (mouth), The Chief of the Heroka (clouds, side of Forked Man), The Red Man (face, sky, body, hill), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse (neck, nose, painted stone), Redhorn's Father (leggings, stone sphere, hair), The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father (hair, body paint, arrows), Wears White Feather on His Head (man), The Birth of the Twins (turkey bladder headdresses), The Two Boys (elk bladder headdresses), Trickster and the Mothers (sky), Rich Man, Boy, and Horse (sky), The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits (Buffalo Spirit), Bluehorn Rescues His Sister (buffalo head), Wazųka (buffalo head headdress), The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth (horn), The Brown Squirrel (protruding horn), Bear Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Hawk Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Deer Clan Origin Myth (funerary paint), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (stick at grave), Pigeon Clan Origins (Thunderbird lightning), Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (scalp, woman's hair), The Race for the Chief's Daughter (hair), The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy (hair), Redhorn Contests the Giants (hair), Redhorn's Sons (hair), The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle (hair), A Wife for Knowledge (hair), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (hair), The Hocągara Contest the Giants (hair of Giantess), A Man and His Three Dogs (wolf hair), The Red Feather (plumage), The Man who was Blessed by the Sun (body of Sun), The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2) (body of the Warrior Clan Chief), Red Bear, Eagle Clan Origin Myth (eagle), The Shell Anklets Origin Myth (Waterspirit armpits), The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty (Waterspirits), The Roaster (body paint), The Man who Defied Disease Giver (red spot on forehead), The Wild Rose (rose), The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth (warclub), Įcorúšika and His Brothers (ax & packing strap), Hare Kills Flint (flint), The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head (edges of flint knives), The Nannyberry Picker (leggings), The Seduction of Redhorn's Son (cloth), Yųgiwi (blanket); someone inflicts harm on one of his own organs because it seems to have a contrary will of its own: Trickster's Buffalo Hunt.

Notes

¹ John Baptiste (trs.), "Wakdjukaga," in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks, Freeman #3897 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, n.d.) Winnebago V, #7: 104-151. A published translation is found in Paul Radin, The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology (New York: Schocken Books, 1956) 14-18.

² Oliver LaMère, Untitled, in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks, Freeman #3862 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, n.d.) Winnebago I, #3: 20-23. Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 377.

³ Walter James Hoffman, The Menominee Indians, in the Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1892-1893 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896) 14:203-205.

⁴ Dorothy Moulding Brown, Manabush: Menomini Tales, Wisconsin Folklore Booklets (Madison: 1948) 5.

⁵ Tom Badger, "The Wenebojo Origin Myth," trs. by Julia Badger, in Victor Barnouw, Wisconsin Chippewa Myths and Tales (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977) Stories 12-13: 26-29.

⁶ Charles E. Brown, "The Helldiver has Red Eyes," in Winabozho (Madison: 1944).

⁷ "Manabozho, or the Great Incarnation of the North," in Henry R. Schoolcraft, Schoolcraft's Indian Legends, ed. Mentor L. Williams (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1991 [1956]) 72-73.

⁸ Kickapoo Tales, collected by William Jones, trs. by Truman Michelson. Publications of the American Ethnological Society (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1915) IX:17-19.

⁹ Zitkala-Ṣa, Old Indian Stories (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1901) 1-10.

¹⁰ Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz (edd.), American Indian Trickster Tales (New York: Penguin Putnam, 1998) 116-117.

¹¹ Erdoes and Ortiz, American Indian Trickster Tales, 94-95.

¹² Radin, The Trickster, 99, #15. These tales are collected in R. H. Lowie, The Assiniboine, in The Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History (New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1909) 4:239-244.

¹³ Radin, The Trickster, 99, #16.

¹⁴ Radin, The Trickster, 100, #18.

¹⁵ Radin, The Trickster, 128, #3. The Ponca trickster cycle is found in James Owen Dorsey, ¢egiha Texts, in Contributions to North American Ethnology (Washington, D. C.: 1890) vol. 6.

¹⁶ "2. The Grasshopper and the Dancing Turkeys," in George A. Dorsey, "Traditions of the Osage," Field Columbian Musem, Anthropological Series, 7, #1 (Feb., 1904): 9-10.

¹⁷ Mrs. Good Bear, "37a. A Race with Lone Buffalo," in Martha Warren Beckwith, Mandan and Hidatsa Tales: Third Series (Poughkeepsie: Vassar College, 1934) 285-286.

¹⁸ Philip Rapid, "Nih’āⁿçaⁿ and the Dancing Ducks," in George A. Dorsey and Alfred L. Kroeger, Traditions of the Arapaho (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997 [1903]) Story 26: 59-60.

¹⁹ Cut Nose, "Nih’āⁿçaⁿ and the Dancing Ducks," in Dorsey and Kroeber, Traditions of the Arapaho, Story 27: 60-61. In a note, Dorsey says, "In the Pawnee version turkeys are substituted for ducks; while in the Osage version Grasshopper has turkeys dancing. In a Cherokee tale (Mooney, Bureau of Eth. Ann. 19, p. 269) Rabbit persuades turkeys to dance for Wild-Cat." (p. 61).

²⁰ Assiniboine, "14. Nix’aⁿt and the Dancing Ducks," in Alfred Louis Kroeber, Gros Ventre Myths and Tales, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History (New York: Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History, 1907) Volume 1, Part 3: 71.

²¹ Albert Lightning, "Some Adventures of Wisakedjak," in Ella Elizabeth Clark, Indian Legends of Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1960) 11-12.

²² Charles G. Leland, The Algonquin legends of New England; or, Myths and folk lore of the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribes (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1884) 107-108.

²³ Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians, compiled and translated by Clark Wissler and D. C. Duvall (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995 [1908]) 25-27, 38-39.

²⁴ "Fat, Grease, and Berries," in Erdoes and Ortiz, American Indian Trickster Tales, 49-50.

²⁵ "How the Wildcat Caught the Gobbler," in James Mooney, History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (Asheville, North Carolina: Bright Mountain Books, 1992 [1891/1900]) Story 19, p. 269-270.

²⁶ "34. Rabbit and Wildcat," in John Reed Swanton, Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians, Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 88 (1929): 259.

²⁷ Morris Edward Opler, Myths and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994 [1942]) 37-39.

²⁸ Erdoes and Ortiz, American Indian Trickster Tales, 36-37.

²⁹ Why Mount Shasta Erupted, in David Welken's website, Indigenous Peoples' Literature (http://www.indians.org/welker/mountsha.htm).

³⁰ Joseph Rich of Davis Inlet, "Pishu, the Lynx," trs. by Matthew Rich, from Peter Desbarats, What They Used to Tell About: Indian Legends from Labrador (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1969) 55-56.

³¹ Dorsey and Kroeber, Traditions of the Arapaho, 60 nt. 2.

³² George A. Dorsey, "Traditions of the Osage," Field Columbian Musem, Anthropological Series, 7, #1 (Feb., 1904): 10 nt 1.