The daughter of a chief had nine girl friends who were greatly loved and respected by the whole village, so much so that they were often asked to decide things. Soon they began to run the village. One day the princess called her friends together and said, "It is not right that we should be chiefs in our village, my brothers are far better qualified than we are. What if we had a crisis? We are not warriors, so how are we to protect the village? Let us go on an extended visit to another village, for only in our absence can the people learn to rely on others." They all agreed that this would be for the best, and they further agreed that if anyone decided to turn back, it would not be held against her. Four days later, they slipped out of the village and walked until evening overtook them, whereupon they built themselves a grass lodge for the night. The next morning when they woke up they found that one of the girls was no longer there. "She must have turned back," they said. So they took up her pack and went on. Every morning this happened, until the fifth morning they realized that the women who had disappeared had in fact been killed. Now they were carrying two packs each. This went on and on, night after night, until finally only the princess herself was left. She set out by herself carrying everyone's pack. In the evening she came to a hill, where she found a small hole that she was able to enter and stop up with a stone. There she felt safe, but in the darkness she could here something outside. It tried to get in, but the stone was enough to stop it. In the morning it was still there, and spoke to her: "I will be back tomorrow. When I return you will either be my wife, or your life is forfeit!" Then he left. After it became quite, she pushed out the stone, then fled with all the speed her legs could muster.

Then, unexpectedly, she saw ahead of her a man who was making arrows from the sticks he was gathering. In her distress she sought his aid with all she had to offer: "Husband, something is after me!" Nevertheless, he kept silent. She spoke again, "Brother-in-law, something is after me!" He said nothing. A third time she appealed to him, "Uncle, something is after me!" He did not react. Finally she said, "Brother, something is after me!" He looked up and said, "All right, my sister!" He took her and placed her within the blanket he was wearing. Then her pursuer came singing,

You One Legged One,
Give back the woman to me,
Legs stuck together,
Legs stuck together.

He sang this three times, and each time the man ignored him as if he were not even there. But the fourth time the pursuer ridiculed him, the man pulled out his warclub and smashed him to bits. All that was left was a small animal. Unexpectedly it was a crawfish. The victor uttered his decree: "You will ever after live in mud. You shall walk backward as befits such as you." For walking backward is the devil's walk, the walk of Herecgúnina. Then the man addressed the princess: "I waited here for you, as I pitied your plight: you had no refuge."

They walked together to his abode, which was a great hill. He declared to her there, "Sister, I am one of the great spirits, and you shall never again have to live in fear or want." After they went into the hill, he noticed that he was out of meat. He explained to her that all that was necessary to get meat was for her to stand atop their hill and sing a song, which he then taught her. So she went to the top of the hill and sang,

Buffalo come here,
My brother the One Legged One will shoot you;
Buffalo, come!

A great cloud arose in the west and the thunder that shook the ground became ever louder as a great herd closed upon them. The man merely sat in the doorway and shot them without even going outside. Of the many animals he killed, he took only their tongues. The rest he left to a great hoard of wolves and ravens who soon gobbled up all the remaining meat.

One day he told her, "It is not seemly that we should live here a man and a woman while I do not yet have a wife. I shall go away just long enough to get a bride, but while I am gone, beware of other spirits, for I am one of the greatest spirits that Earthmaker has created and I am held in great envy by many. Take care that you are not fooled: they may ask you to do things, but don't do anything that they suggest." With this advice, he set out in search of a wife. No sooner had he left than someone else entered. "Younger sister, has my older brother already left? After he hunts, I always come by for tongues," he said. So she cooked up some of the delicacy, and when he was finished with his meal he suggested that they stock up some meat, as his older brother might be gone for awhile. "So, sister," he said, "just go up the hill and sing to the buffalo, and I'll kill a dozen or so." She flatly refused. "I understand," he said, "for there are many spirits who are jealous of our family and will attempt to fool you. My brother and I are really the only great spirits." "Well, then," she replied, "let me see your arrows." He had his quiver behind his back, and from it he drew an arrow and showed it to her. Then he put it back and again he presented the next arrow, which was just like the first. He showed her many such arrows, and she became convinced that he was equal to the task. She finally consented, and went atop the hill and sang,

Buffalo come,
My brother the Trickster will shoot you;
Buffalo, come!

"No!" he objected, "sing 'One Legged One'." She then sang the correct song four times, and just as before the buffalo thundered towards the hill. When the buffalo came up, he shot only one arrow, for that was all he had. When she had demanded to see his arrows, he had shown her the same one over and over again. After he shot his single arrow, he turned and ran away. A buffalo squeezed the woman between his horns and they carried her off to their village.

Some time later, her brother was on his way home with a woman who was very white and well tattooed. He saw the buffalo's dust and knew immediately that his sister had been abducted. He tried to hurry, but he was being constantly held up by his bride. She stopped frequently to urinate until she had so exasperated her husband that he hit her with his bow. Instantly she turned into a spotted prairie frog.

When he got home he saw the door open, and recognizing the arrow he said, "Trickster has done this!" He called the buffalo four times, and only on the last call did they bring her back, carrying her between their horns. He shot each buffalo who had carried his sister, then scolded her, "You did not do as I told you!" "You are right, brother," she said, "it seems Trickster got the better of me." When the buffalo had carried her between their horns, her waist had been squeezed so narrow that it was like an ant's. Her brother therefore appointed her to be the spirit queen of the ants, and that is why ants have ever after had the narrowest of waists. [1]

Commentary. Trickster presents himself as One Legged One's younger brother -- the only man created before Trickster was Herecgúnina, the devil. It is no coincidence that he creates a backward walking crawfish out of the woman's pursuer: he himself was created by Earthmaker with his legs on backward. His avatar One Legged One also suffers from defects in the configuration of his legs, since they are fused together. His bride seems to be a lunar figure: she is white with markings on her. The fact that she constantly urinates is a reflection of the moon's governance of moisture in world mythology. In many myths the servants of the moon are also evil spirits. Her being struck with a bow, then turned into an earth-water creature, reflects the moon's decline as a bow in the sky destined to rest in the earth and waters. His association with aquatic animals, his dwelling place inside a hill, and his penchant for making arrows, allies him with the Waterspirits. Many Waterspirits are disposed to evil and form a race that is at best morally inconstant.

Comparative Material: The first half of this waikâ has a very close Omaha parallel. There the woman is pursued by a skull as in the Hotcâk story, The Human Head; but they both agree that she is saved by the man only when she correctly states her relationship to him. The relationship, however, is that of grandfather, not brother as in the Hotcâk waikâ. The Omaha story ends with the woman herself dying as a result of keeping forbidden valuables that jump out of the skull's funeral pyre, the latter episode finding a corresponding episode in the Hotcâk waikâ, The Human Head. The Omaha story mentions nothing at all about the events in the Hotcâk waikâ after the pursuer is transformed into a crawfish. [2]

Links: Herecgúnina, Trickster, One Legged One, Buffalo Spirits, Frogs, Ants.

Stories: mentioning ants: Hare Kills a Man with a Cane, Trickster and the Honey, The Markings on the Moon (v. 2); featuring Herecgúnina (the Bad Spirit or One Legged One) as a character: The Creation of the World, The Creation of Man, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Journey to Spiritland, Cûgepaga, The Spirit of Gambling, Bladder and His Brothers, The Two Brothers, The Origins of the Milky Way; see also Black and White Moons, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet -- What He Told the Hotcâgara; about One Legged One: The Creation of Man (v. 2), Bladder and His Brothers (in v. 2 as Wareksankeka), The Green Man; cf. The Spirit of Gambling; featuring white faced (lunar) women: The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Roaster; about buffaloes and Buffalo Spirits: Buffalo Clan Origin Myth, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Bluehorn's Nephews, Redhorn's Father, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, The Blessing of Cokeboka, The Creation of the World (v. 3), The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Red Feather, Wazûka, Holy One and His Brother, Old Man and White Feathers, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse; featuring Trickster as a character: The Trickster Cycle, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster's Warpath, Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, 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 Mothers, The Markings on the Moon, The Spirit of Gambling, 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, Warughápara, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge; mentioning frogs: The Stone that Became a Frog, Hare and the Dangerous Frog, The Two Boys, Snowshoe Strings, Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers.

Themes: a princess as the sole survivor of a group of friends that she persuaded to travel with her: The Human Head; a malevolent spirit chases after a group of women: The Human Head, The Seven Maidens; a person's life will be spared if and only if she can tell a stranger what his true biological relationship is to her: The Human Head; a woman faced with the choice of marrying an evil spirit or death, runs away: The Human Head, Bluehorn's Nephews, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister; someone fleeing enemies hides in a crevice of a cliff: Shakes the Earth, Turtle's Warparty, Porcupine and His Brothers, The Human Head; preoccupation with making arrows: The Man who went to the Upper and Lower Worlds, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, Brave Man; a good spirit tricks a woman: The Spirit of Gambling; Trickster hunts buffalo: Trickster's Buffalo Hunt; a herd of buffalo attack someone: Holy One and His Brother; someone is abducted and led off into captivity: The Captive Boys, A Man's Revenge, Bluehorn's Nephews, Wears White Feathers on His Head, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Man Whose Wife was Captured, Bladder and His Brothers, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, The Green Man, Brave Man, The Chief of the Herok'a, Cûgepaga, Hare Gets Swallowed, The Raccoon Coat, Wodjidjé, Wolves and Humans, Thunderbird and White Horse, The Boy who Flew, Testing the Slave; someone has a very pale complexion: Big Eagle Cave Mystery, The Roaster, He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle; a woman struck with a bow turns into a frog: Snowshoe Strings; a human turns into a (spirit) animal: How the Thunders Met the Nights (Thunderbird), Warughápara (Thunderbird), The Dipper (hummingbird), Keramanic'aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), Elk Clan Origin Myth (elk), Young Man Gambles Often (elk), Sun and the Big Eater (horse), The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Were-Grizzly, Partridge's Older Brother (bear), The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother (bear), Porcupine and His Brothers (bear), The Shaggy Man (bear), The Roaster (bear), Wazûka (bear), White Wolf (dog, wolf), Worúxega (wolf, bird, snake), He Who Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (buffalo), The Brown Squirrel (squirrel), The Skunk Origin Myth (skunk), The Fleetfooted Man (otter, bird), The Diving Contest (Waterspirit), The Woman who Married a Snake (snake, Waterspirit), The Omahas who turned into Snakes (four-legged snakes), The Twins Get into Hot Water, v. 3 (alligators), Snowshoe Strings (a frog), How the Hills and Valleys were Formed, v. 3 (earthworms), Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ant); a woman sings a song that brings the buffalo to her: Bluehorn Rescues His Sister.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, "The Woman Who Became an Ant," [unpublished] Winnebago Notebooks (American Philosophical Society Library) #52.

[2] Roger Welsch, Omaha Tribal Myths and Trickster Tales (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1981) 276-279.