The Glory of the Morning^nt

retold by Richard L. Dieterle

As the sun shown low on the horizon and lit the clouds of the coming dawn with the glorious colors of morning, the daughter of the great chief of the Hocągara came into this world. As the sun rolled on its celestial path, the Thunders swept away all the clouds that the sky might shine blue everywhere without blemish, and the winds might be stilled. What the web maker wrought seemed to stand suspended. The Thunders had blessed this event by holding the day and keeping back their dark, warlike clouds. At dawn during the Earth Digging Moon, a time of new life and new beginnings, was born in the Thunderbird Clan a girl named Hopokoekau, "Glory of the Morning."

She grew into the beauty of the heavenly Yųgiwi, who wraps herself in the glory of the evening. As an earthly yųgiwi, she was endowed with great wisdom that set her apart from all others, even her elders. In her eighteenth winter her father was struck down and walked the path west to the ancestors. The nation had to find a new chief, and only virtue could win this station. Compared to Glory of the Morning, her brothers were but dim lights. No one could be named that excelled her in wisdom, despite her youth. Her blessings could only mean that she must be chief, but never in history had a woman ascended to lead the nation. So at harvest time, when the Corn Popping Moon was a crescent in the morning sky, she was named chief. The violation of tradition caused a great schism, and nearly half the nation uprooted and lived apart. In time, however, many of them acceded to her elevation.

When the Fox clashed with the French, the Spirit People, she sided with her old allies and neighbors; but the French were a great power, and the nation could not find safety and prosperity by struggling against the inevitable. At that time there came to them a leader of men from the Spirit People, one whose name sounded like te-kara, "this my own." They fell in love. He cast away his own rank, resigning as an officer in the Great King's army, and settled into a life in the prosperous fur trade. Thus they came to be married in the romantic mating time of the Elk Whistling Moon. Seven years passed with war between her French brethren and her old allies, the Fox; but through her untiring efforts, the warclub was set aside. After two sons and a daughter were born to them, Dekorah began to feel a longing for his people in Quebec. As chief of the nation, she could not join him, but she let her daughter be his companion there. Many years passed, when she had the nation go again on the warpath against their most bitter enemies, the Illini. They struck hard against the Michigamea and the Cahokia. Although her husband was far away, she remained steadfast in her loyalty to the French, and when war broke out with the Zaganąš, she put her own nation on the warpath, striking the Big Knife settlements far to the east. Her eldest son, Cugiga, joined his father in Quebec that they might throw back the Zaganąš invasion, but there Dekorah met his end. After the overthrow of the French, she threw in her lot with the Zaganąš, refusing to join the campaign of Pontiac, and recieving kindly a Zaganąš captain just a few years later.

One day late in her life, Glory of the Morning was out in the stands of pine, there perhaps seeking a blessing. As she tried to commune with the spirits, an owl came hither, and from its perch it uttered her name. Such is an omen of the end, and she knew it. Not long afterwards, in the Deer Antler Shedding Moon, she had a vision in which her father called out to her from the beyond. That night, even though the snow fell, the sound of the Thunders was heard. When her sons entered her lodge, they found her lying dead wrapped in her furs with a smile on her face.¹

Commentary. "daughter" — most say that she was the daughter of the head chief of the tribe.² However, Grignon and others following him, asserted that she was his sister.³ According to Lyman Draper, One-Eyed Decorah (Wajxatega) (b. ca. 1772), the son of Cap’osgaga, told Judge Gale that he was descended from the chief of the tribe through his grandmother.⁴ All agree that their village was on Doty Island.

Two Views of Doty Island
from WorldIslandInfo.com

"the great chief" — he is likely to have been the last chief of the Hocąk nation as a whole.

"holding the day" — a power possessed by certain spirits and even by holy men that enables them to keep the sky free of weather disturbances. It is said that a human can, if blessed with powerful enough medicine, hold the day for a period of four days.

"born" — this is calculated to be in the year 1711.

"Thunderbird Clan" — her father was the chief, and all peace chiefs come from the Thunderbird Clan. Therefore, she is of the Thunderbird Clan. Her mother was said to have come from the Eagle Clan.⁵ This last contention is anomalous, since marriage (with the sole exception of the Wolf Clan) was between moieties, and the Thunder and Eagle Clans both belong to the Upper Moiety (known also as the "Bird Clan").

"named" — the traditions collected by David Lee Smith say that she was so named because of the character of the day.⁶ All primary historical sources agree that her name in English is "Glory of the Morning." The genealogical tradition, which is poorly documented (if at all), also adduces the name "The Coming Dawn," which is much the same. There is, however, significant variation in the Hocąk version of her name. The most frequently given Hocąk form of her name is Hopokoekau.⁷ Just one source gives Wa-ho-po-e-kau.⁸ More recently, Professor Lurie has given us Haarpokewinga.⁹ This would be, in the orthography used here, Hąpokewįga (where -wį is a feminine suffix). Yet another version will be considered at the end of this commentary entry; and see below for a radical departure from this interpretation of her name.

How should we understand the orthography of Hopokoekau? In English phonetic renderings, /e/ is usually the same as the /i/ used in the orthography adopted here. This would mean that /-oe-/ would not stand for a long /o/, but would be two distinct sounds as the rather odd Wa-ho-po-e-kau has it. We know that names all end in -ka/-ga, forms of the definite article used in indirect address to the person named. This leaves Hopokoe to be analyzed. We know, as from the example given by Lurie, that female names end with the penultimate syllable -wį, which indicates the feminine gender of the referent. The pursing of the lips when the vowels /o/ or /u/ are said is reflected in Hocąk spelling conventions using /w/, in which "he comes, and ..." is rendered Ko w n K, transliterated as guanąga or guwanąga, the former to be preferred. So conversely, naive English speaking listeners will sometimes miss a /w/ where it is present in Hocąk. (Lurie's version, Haarpokewinga (= Hąpokewįga), is probably derived by recognizing the terminal -kau of Hopokoekau to be -ka/-ga, and then inserting the appropriate penultimate feminine infix -wį- to make it a woman's name.) A name like Hopoko-wį-ga can easily be distorted to Hopoko-e-kau, with the rather odd /o-e/ combination as an understandable distortion of /o-wį/. We can now recognize that the -e-kau ending is just the familiar feminine -wį-ga that terminates all women's names. This leaves us with the puzzle of how Hopoko can mean "Glory of the Morning." The word for glory is seen easily enough. When the New Testament was translated into Hocąk, most instances of "glory" were left untranslated in Latin (gloria). However, at Luke 2:9, "glory" is the translation of ho-hąp-jį, an emphatic variant of hąp, "light, day, glory."¹⁰ Gatschet recorded this word as hohomp, reflecting the general tendency to hear the Hocąk nasal /ą/ as a short /o/. Given this tendency, hopoko could certainly be hąpoko, where we may translate hąp/hǫp as "glory." Such a result forces us to give the meaning "morning" to -oko-. Unfortunately, the word for morning is haini, which bears no resemblance at all to oko or any possible variant. In any case, the word is not likely oko, words beginning in /o/ being very rare, but hoko, as the /h/ in compounds in which it follows a consonant usually disappears, as with nųx-hopox, "ear-hole," which becomes nųxopox. The form hoko is spelled in Hocąk syllabic as Ao Ko, which is ambiguous among hoko, hoku, huko, huku, hogo, hogu, etc. As this example shows, not much attention is paid in most cases to the difference between /k/ and /g/ or /o/ and /u/. This is also reflected in the way in which Hocąk is heard by speakers of other languages who frequently confuse these phonemes. One of these alternant forms, hogu, does connect with the sense of "morning." Substituting hogu for hoko in our compound hąp-hoko, we get hąp-hogu. This yields hąbogú-ra (where -ra is merely the definite article), which is translated in one source as "the coming day." How we derive the meaning "coming day" is rather puzzling, since the word hąbogura everywhere else means "east." The solution to the puzzle can be found when we analyze hogu into the compound ho-gu. The suffix ho- means, "the place where, the time when" (Lipkind, Marino); and gu means, "to bring, to bring forth; to come" (Lipkind, Marino), and "to leave returning" (Miner). So hąp-ho-gu-ra (> hąbogura) means "east," when ho- means "the place where," giving us for the analytic meaning of the compound, "the place where day comes or is brought forth." When ho- is understood temporally, hąbogura becomes "the time when day comes." This time is, of course, morning.¹¹ In syllabic Hocąk, the word hąbogura is spelled, Al lo Ko L (hąbogura, hąbokora, hąpokora, etc.). The term hąpogura is therefore easily altered to hopokura, as we see, for instance, in some stories recorded by Sam Blowsnake, where we find hąpokureki (1, 2), hąpokura (1, 2, 3), and finally, hopokura. Given the common alternance between /o/ and /u/ in Siouan languages generally, we can easily come to hopoko(ra), "glory, (of) the time at which it comes." Therefore, the female name Hopokowįga can fairly be translated as "Glory of the Morning," although its alternate translation, "The Coming Dawn," is more apt. Having made this derivation, we can now see that the proper orthography of this name is Hąboguwįga. The source of corruption (not necessarily in this order) is substituting /k/ for /g/, /p/ for /b/, /o/ for /u/, and /o/ for /ą/, with the /w/ being assimilated into the preceding /o/. The following sequence would then exemplify a path of corruption: Hąboguwįga > Hąbokuwįka > Hąpokuwįka > Hąpokowįka > Hopokowįka > Hopokoika, which is rendered in another phonetic system as Hopokoekau. After I completed this analysis, I came across the variant Habogųįga, which can be seen as a sandhi variant of Hąboguwįga.¹² This more definitive variant confirms the analysis given here.

"yųgiwį" — a term that means "leader-woman," and usually refers to the chief's daughters, although it may also denote a queen. The alternant forms, hi-ųgiwį, and hųgiwį also exist, and all derive from the stem hųk, "chief."

Sunrise, August 22, 1729

"a crescent" — David Lee Smith states that her election to chief was accomplished "during the closing of the Corn Popping Month (August)." I've expressed this in terms of the moon and the morning: the end of the month, which is the end of the moon, is seen in the sky as the moon dwindling to a crescent and approaching ever closer to the sun in the morning just before sunrise. Not long after, it appears to fall into the sun and the earth (conjunction), bringing the month/moon to an end. As it happens, near the very end of the Corn Popping Moon in August, at the latitude of Madison Wisconsin (essentially the same as Doty Island), the moon falls into a straight line formed by Morning Star, Jupiter, the crescent moon, Mercury, and the sun. The line points to the coming dawn, the glory of the morning. This appears to be a unique event. Although something like this occured on September 20, 1729, it involved only Jupiter and Venus forming a line with the moon, and pointing somewhat east of the sun. So the powerful configuration is unique to that time in late August. The year is certainly plausible enough as the time of the events in question. Was the time of year chosen ex post facto from an astronomy program, or was it a remembrance of the tradition? There are some interesting coincidences associated with this date that may suggest the latter. The alternate form of her name, a form which cannot be reconciled with the meaning "Glory of the Morning," is Wa-ho-po-e-kau, given by de la Ronde, an early primary source.¹³ By a happy coincidence (or design?), wahąp means "green corn," the kind of corn harvested at the end of the Corn Popping Month. This version of the name could be analyzed as wahąp-ho-į-wį-ga, "the time at which green corn exists." This would not be a clan name, but a name given to her on account of some important incident of her life aptly expressed in her name. "Woman of the Green Corn Time" could be a name commemorating her ascension to the chieftainship, or commemorating the signal celestial event confirming her entitlement to the office. Also the very rare configuration of the planets, moon, and sun at just the right time of day, the dawn, would serve to explain how there could be such a radical departure from tradition with the election of a woman chief. With the greatest stars in the sky, led by the warrior deity Great Star, aligning with the goddess Moon, patron of women, all pointing to the coming dawn, would be an overpowering sign from heaven. The Great Star is a friend of the Thunders (some say the founder of the Thunderbird Clan), and bears the name, "He Who is Girded in Blankets (Clouds)." Under the patron of the chief's clan, the Thunderbird Clan, all these brilliant celestial bodies form a line that actually points to the very referent of her name, the coming dawn (hąpogu). Furthermore, the moon is one or two days from conjunction with the sun, a process that appears as the uniting of the moon with the sun's fire. Fire is the sacred possession of the Thunderbird Clan, symbolizing sovereignty. Therefore, the union of the lunar goddess with the celestial Fire is symbolic of the union of the female candidate named by the signs in the sky with the embodiment of sovereignty itself.

"whose name" — said by the sole primary source (de la Ronde) to be "Sabrevoir de Carrie."¹⁴ De la Ronde's life was about a century after that of de Carrie. However, the genealogical tradition (undocumented) asserts that he had the name "Joseph."¹⁵ This leads to the idea that one or the other was a middle name. To this end, the geneaologists give us Joseph Sabrevoir Décarrie, and Sabrevoir Joseph Décarrie. The name "Sabrevoir" is less common than its variant, "Sabrevois," with "Sabrevoie" sometimes seen, and "Sabrevoix" but rarely. In France it is a place name, and in Quebec it is an eliptic way of referring to the town Sainte-Anne-Sabrevois (also written "Sainte-Anne-Sabrevoie"). Otherwise, "Sabrevois" is common only as a surname. The "Sabrevois" in de Carrie's name could be in honor of the village in Quebec or of a sieur bearing that patronym. About the time of Sabrevois de Carrie's birth, a young officer (b. ca. 1665) of the name "Jacques-Charles de Sabrevois," had gained some recognition as a fine officer in the French Army in Quebec. He had immigrated to Quebec from France when he was only 15 years of age, so that by the 1690's he had already made a reputation for himself. It would seem that it was around this time that Sabrevois de Carrie was born, and on the assumption (not universally shared) that he had been born in Quebec, he may well have been named in honor of the notable Sabrevois, in whose footsteps he would eventually follow. Only later did French officers sour on Sabrevois, calling him "harsh and avaricious"; nevertheless, he continued to enjoy the support of both the governor and the king.

"married" — this is calculated to have occurred in the year 1730.

"her daughter" — this is said in Smith's text to be Oakleaf.¹⁶ Murphy cites the Hocąk version of this name as, Nąnoap.¹⁷ She obtained the Hocąk versions of her names from the HoCąk Wazija Haci Language Division of the HoChunk Nation.¹⁸ The full version should be Nąno'abᵋwįga (< Ną-no-'ap-wį-ga). The word nąno appears in Miner's wordlist as "oak wood." This would seem to have come from a very early *nǫ-nǫ, a reduplicated emphatic which literally means, "wood-wood," a way of emphasizing the hardness of oak. However, it is rather odd that the word "oakleaf" should be rendered as "oak-wood leaf," rather than cašgegu'ap, "oak leaf." In fact, it appears that the name "Oakleaf" comes from the play "Glory of the Morning" written by Prof. Leonard in 1912.¹⁹ The cast of characters consists of a medicine man called "Black Wolf," the "Chevalier" (= de Carrie), who is given the Indian name "Half Moon," Glory of the Morning, and their two children, Red Wing and Oak Leaf. All these names except "Glory of the Morning" appear to be made up. However, they are not without their source of inspiration. In one of the readily available sources for "Glory of the Morning" in 1912, the Recollections of Augustin Grignon, we find in a single sentence, the names "Leaf," "Red Wing," and "Black Wolf," with the former two (brother and sister in the play) occurring right next to each other.²⁰ The theater set contains an oak tree with oak leaves scattered about according to the stage directions, so there is not much of a leap from Leaf to Oak Leaf. Oakleaf, ex hypothesi, will have entered the "tradition" by some Hocąks inferring incorrectly from the play that this was the real name of the daughter and spreading this conclusion so that it soon became indistinguishable from the authentic elements of the oral tradition.

George B. Campion, The Battle of Sainte-Foy

"captain" — this was Capt. Jonathan Carver, a Connecticut Yankee in the service of the Crown. His remarks on Glory of the Morning, whom he visited in 1766, I reproduce here in full:

(32) On the 25th [of September] I left the Green Bay, and proceeded up Fox River, ſtill in company with the traders and ſome Indians. On the 25th I arrived at the great town of the Winnebagoes, ſituated on a ſmall iſland juſt as you enter the eaſt end of Lake Winnebago. Here the queen who preſided over this tribe inſtead of a Sachem, received me with great civility, and entertained me in a very diſtinguiſhed manner, during the four days I continued with her.

The day after my arrival I held a council with the chiefs, of whom I aſked permiſſion to paſs through their country, in my way to more remote nations on buſineſs of importance. This was readily granted me, the requeſt being eſteemed by them as a great compliment paid to their tribe. The Queen ſat in (33) the council, but only aſked a few queſtions, or gave ſome trifling directions in matters relative to the ſtate; for women are never allowed to ſit in their councils, except they happen to be inveſted with the ſupreme authority, and then it is not cuſtomary for them to make any formal ſpeeches as the chiefs do. She was a very ancient woman, ſmall in ſtature, and not much diſtinguiſhed by her dreſs from ſeveral young women that attended her. Theſe her attendants ſeemed greatly pleaſed whenever I ſhowed any tokens of reſpect to their queen, particularly when I ſaluted her, which I frequently did to acquire her favour. On theſe occaſions the good old lady endeavoured to aſſume a juvenile gaiety, and by her ſmiles ſhowed ſhe was equally pleaſed with the attention I paid her. ...

(38) Having made ſome acceptable preſents to the good old queen, and received her bleſſing, I left the town of the Winnebagoes on the 29th of September ...²²

"late in her life" — when Juliette Kinzie visited her in 1832, she was still alive. In that year she would have been 121 years of age, quite nearly a record. The only way to avoid this conclusion is to assume that she was pregnant at age 15 in 1730, in which case she still would have been 117 years of age. This is what Mrs. Kinzie had to say of her:

(278) There was among their number, this year, one whom I had never before seen—the mother of the elder Day-kau-ray. No one could tell her age, but all agreed that she must have seen upwards of a hundred winters. Her eyes dimmed, and almost white with age—her face dark and withered, like a baked apple—her voice tremulous and feeble, except when raised in fury to reprove her graceless grandsons, who were fond of playing her all sorts of mischievous tricks, indicated the very great age she must have attained.

She usually went upon all fours, not having strength to hold herself erect. On the day of the payment, having received her portion, which she carefully hid in the corner of her blanket, she came crawling along and seated herself on the door step, to count her treasure.

My sister and I were watching her movements from the open window.

Presently, just as she had unobserved, as she thought, spread out her silver before her, two of her descendants (279) came suddenly upon her. At first they seemed begging for a share, but she repulsed them with angry gestures, when one of them made a sudden swoop, and possessed himself of a handful. She tried to rise, to pursue him, but was unable to do more than clutch the remainder and utter the most unearthly screams of rage. At this instant the boys raised their eyes and perceived us regarding them. They burst into a laugh, and with a sort of mocking gesture they threw her the half dollars, and ran back to the play ground.

In spite of their vexatious tricks, she seemed very fond of them, and never failed to beg something of her Father, that she might bestow upon them.

She crept into the parlor one morning, then straightening herself up, and supporting herself by the frame of the door, she cried in a most piteous tone,—“Shaw-nee-aw-kee Wau-tshob-ee-rah Thsoonsh-koo-nee-noh!” [Žaniąki ho(kik)cąbira cųšgunįno] (Money-bringer I have no looking glass.) My husband smiling and taking up the same little tone, cried, in return,—

“Do you wish to look at yourself mother?”

The idea seemed to her so irresistibly comic that she laughed until she was fairly obliged to seat herself upon the floor and give way to her enjoyment. She then owned that it was for one of the boys that she wanted the little mirror. When her Father had given it to her, she found that she had “no comb,” then that she had “no knife,” then that she had “no calico shawl,” until it ended, as it generally did, by Shaw-nee-aw-kee paying pretty dearly for his joke.²³

The concluding word of the phrase that she gave "in piteous tones" would normally have been cų-šgunį-ną, but when the last syllable is drawn out, the terminal /ą/ changes to an /o/. Col. Kinzie's title, Shawneeawkee, is really Shawnee + (h)ąké, the latter word being Hocąk for "not." The title "Silver[-man]" is probably in Ojibwe, in which language zhooniya (žuniya) means "silver, money." This is no doubt akin to žura in Hocąk, of the same meaning. She is actually calling him Žuniya, "Silver" in Anishanaabe, the lingua franca of the time. As to her great age, Merrell claimed to have seen her even later than the Kinzies, and estimated her age at that time to be 143; but in a note, Lyman C. Draper showed that this woman had to have been a Sauk, and therefore the woman that Merrell saw could not have been Glory of the Morning.²⁴

Juliette Kinzie		John Kinzie		Henry Merrell

"pine" — a patriotic allusion, as the Hocąk homeland is called Wazija, the "Pinery."

Snowy Owls

Against this thesis is the idea that the name Hąpokuwįga is not a Thunderbird Clan name, but one more appropriate to the Hawk Clan, also a member of the Upper Moiety or "Bird Clan." The Hawk Clan was known in more recent times as the Warrior Clan. The Thunderbird Clan, which is the chief's clan, is associated with the Good Thunderbirds (Wakąja-pįra), whereas the Hawk/Warrior Clan is associated with the Bad Thunderbirds (Wakąja-šišigera). The relationship among the Upper Moiety clans is seen in this diagram based on the Bird Clan Creation Myth:

The Hawk Clan has names like "Man-Eater" to reflect this association. The reason why we might think that an owl name is appropriate to the Hawk Clan is an interesting result of comparing clans among the tribes most closely related to the Hocągara (see Table). The Chiwere (Missouria, Oto, and Ioway) separated from the Hocągara about the time of Columbus. The Missouria, like the Hocągara, have a Hawk Clan, but the Ioway have in its place an Owl Clan, and the Oto have a Hoot Owl Clan. That the Hocąk Hawk Clan is associated with the Bad Thunders and the forces of metaphorical darkness (holding prisoners, cannibalism), it would seem that the proto-clan was the Owl Clan, as the hawk is the bird of the sun, and the owl that of the night. No doubt there were Hawk and Owl sub-clans, and the dominance of one or the other was the outcome of competition or mere survival. We can say with confidence that Glory of the Morning was a member of the Thunderbird Clan, and if it is the case that the name "Owl Coming Hither" is a Hawk Clan name only, then it could not have belonged to her. However, we do not know this, even if it is probable, and furthermore, we cannot even be certain that such names did not circulate around all the Bird Clans, as there are numerous names shared by them. Therefore, it remains possible that the queen's real clan name was Hąpokuwįga, "Owl Coming Hither."

"omen" — owls are considered sinister, and their appearance is usually taken as an ill omen. Misbehaving children are often kept in line by telling them "the owls will get you."

"called out to her" — in stories of visits to Spiritland, where the protagonist tries to make it back to the living, he must at all hazard avoid succumbing to the ghosts who call out to him to join in their activities. Those whom the ghosts successfully summon never return to the living.

"snow" — thunder is almost never heard during snow storms. The frequency of lightning strikes in winter can be guaged by the number of deaths from lightning during each month of the year. This statistic was tabulated for the years 1890-1900.²⁶

The significance of such an event in this context is that the Thunders, those who blessed her, are signalling her departure (see "Themes" below). Her intimate relationship with the Thunders would suggest to the religious that she may have been an incarnated Thunderbird.

Comparative Material. For the marriage of fur traders and women of the host tribe, see Origin of the Decorah Family.

Links: Thunderbirds, Owls, Yųgiwi, The Wazija.

Stories: mentioning the Decorah family: Origin of the Decorahs, The Origin of Big Canoe's Name, The Tavern Visit, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, The Hocągara Contest the Giants; about the (post-Columbian) history of the Hocągara: The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara, The Hocągara Migrate South, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, Annihilation of the Hocągara II, First Contact, Origin of the Decorah Family, The First Fox and Sauk War, The Fox-Hocąk War, The Masaxe War, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Black Otter's Warpath, Great Walker's Medicine, Great Walker's Warpath, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Little Priest's Game, The Spanish Fight, The Man who Fought against Forty, The Origin of Big Canoe's Name, Jarrot's Aborted Raid, They Owe a Bullet, Origin of the Name "Milwaukee," A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Origin of the Hocąk Name for "Chicago"; about entitlement to chieftainship: Origin of the Hocąk Chief, Deer Clan Origin Myth, Origin of the Decorah Family, Pigeon Clan Origins, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Snake Clan Origins; mentioning the Big Knives (white Americans): The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Brawl in Omro, The Scalping Knife of Wakąšucka, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, A Prophecy, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, The First Fox and Sauk War, The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara, Turtle and the Merchant, The Hocągara Migrate South, Neenah, Run for Your Life, First Contact, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, Migistéga’s Magic, Yellow Thunder and the Lore of Lost Canyon, Mighty Thunder, The Beginning of the Winnebago, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One; mentioning Thunderbirds: The Thunderbird, Waruǧábᵉra, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, Thunderbird and White Horse, Bluehorn's Nephews, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed (vv. 1, 2), The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird, The Thunder Charm, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Story of the Thunder Names, The Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Pigeon Clan Origins, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, Brave Man, Ocean Duck, Turtle's Warparty, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Quail Hunter, Heną́ga and Star Girl, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Redhorn's Sons, The Dipper, The Stone that Became a Frog, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Origin of the Hocąk Chief, The Spirit of Gambling, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Black Otter's Warpath, Aracgéga's Blessings, Kunu's Warpath, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, Black Otter’s Sacrifice to a Thunder, The 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; in which owls are mentioned: Owl Goes Hunting, Crane and His Brothers, The Spirit of Gambling, Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle, The Chief of the Heroka, Partridge's Older Brother, Waruǧábᵉra, Wears White Feather on His Head, Keramaniš’aka's Blessing, Old Man and Wears White Feather, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, The Green Man; mentioning snow: Waruǧábᵉra, Holy One and His Brother, Wolves and Humans, Grandfather's Two Families, The Four Steps of the Cougar, Brave Man, Redhorn's Father, Bladder and His Brothers, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, The Old Man and the Giants, Old Man and Wears White Feather, Great Walker's Warpath, White Wolf, North Shakes His Gourd, The Fleetfooted Man, Lake Wąkšikhomįgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name, Witches, Shakes the Earth, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Trickster Gets Pregnant, The Raccoon Coat, Silver Mound Cave, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married; set at Doty Island (Winnebago Rapids): The Fox-Hotcâk War, The Spanish Fight, Lakes of the Wazija Origin Myth.

Themes: an Indian woman marries a white man (fur trader): Origin of the Decorah Family, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, Migistéga’s Magic; cf. ascending to heaven in a storm: The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, Fourth Universe, The Man Who Fell from the Sky, cf. Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, Red Cloud's Death; ascending to heaven with a clap of thunder: Fourth Universe, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp, The Man Who Fell from the Sky.

Notes

^nt The following is the principal literature on the subject of Glory of the Morning. Captain Jonathan Carver, Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768 (London: Printed for C. Dilly; H. Payne; and J. Phillips, 1781 [1778]) 32-33, 38. Juliette Augusta McGill Kinzie, Wau-Bun, The "Early Day" in the North-west (Chicago & New York: Rand, McNally & company, 1901 [1856]) 278-279. James H. Lockwood (b. 1793), "Early Times and Events in Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 2 (1856): 98-196 [178]. Augustin Grignon, "Seventy-Two Years' Recollections of Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 3 (1857): 197-295 [286]. George Gale, Upper Mississippi: Or, Historical Sketches of the Mound-builders, the Indian Tribes, and the Progress of Civilization in the North-West; From A.D. 1600 to the Present Time (Chicago: Clarke & Co., 1867) 81. John T. de la Ronde, "Personal Narrative," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 7 (1876) 345-365 [347]. Note by Lyman C. Draper in David McBride, "The Capture of Black Hawk," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 5 (1868): 293-297 [297]. Henry Eduard Legler, Leading Events of Wisconsin History. The Story of the State (Milwaukee: The Sentinel Co., 1898) 123. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, ed. Frederick Webb Hodge. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 30 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907) 384, s. nom. "Dekaury, Choukeka." Publius Virgilius Lawson, "The Winnebago Tribe," Wisconsin Archaeologist, 6, #3 (July, 1907) 77-162 [136]. Publius Virgilius Lawson, The History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin; Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People, 2 vols. (Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908) 57. Charles Philip Hexom, Indian History of Winneshiek County (Decorah, Iowa: A. K. Bailey & Son, Inc., 1913) under the chapter "Genealogy and History of the Decorah Family" (unnumbered pages). James Edwin Jones, A History of Columbia County, Wisconsin: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People, and Its Principal Interests (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1914) 1: 73. Howard M. Jones, “A Mississippi Holiday,” The Mid-west Quarterly, 3 (Oct. 1915-July 1916) 45-58 [54]. Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1917) 238. Louise Seymour Houghton, Our Debt to the Red Man: The French-Indians in the Developement of the United States (Boston: the Stratford Co., 1918) 12, 183. Milo Milton Quaife, “The Society and the State,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, 3 (1919-1920) 261. Warren Upham, Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance.Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, 17 (1920) 51. Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 19-21. Milo Milton Quaife, Lake Michigan (New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1944) 317. Nancy Oestereich Lurie, "Trends of Change in Patterns of Child Care and Training among the Wisconsin Winnebago," Wisconsin Archaeologist, 29 n.s. (Sept.-Dec., 1948) 50. Wisconsin Women, a Gifted Heritage. A Project of the American Association of University Women, Wisconsin State Division, by Jeannine Goggin, Patricia Alland Manske, Andrea Bletzinger, Anne Short, American Association of University Women. Wisconsin State Division, American Association of University Women (Amherst, Wisconsin: Palm1982) 7, 12 22. Virgil J. Vogel, Indian Names on Wisconsin's Map (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991) 73. Robert Eugene Bieder, Native American Communities in Wisconsin 1600-1960 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995) 95. Nancy Shoemaker (ed.), Negotiators of Change: Historical Perspectives on Native American Women (New York: Routledge, 1995) 74. David Lee Smith, Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997) 155-160. Lucy Eldersveld Murphy, A Gathering of Rivers: Indians, Métis, and Mining in the Western Great Lakes, 1737-1832 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000) 28. Linda M. Waggoner (ed.), "Neither White Men Nor Indians": Affidavits from the Winnebago Mixed-blood Claim Commissions, Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, 1838-1839 (Roseville: Minnesota: Park Genealogical Books, 2002) 4 nt 1. Jake Page, In the Hands of the Great Spirit: The 20,000-Year History of American Indians (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004) 192.

¹ David Lee Smith, Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997) 155-160.

² James H. Lockwood (b. 1793), "Early Times and Events in Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 2 (1856): 98-196 [178]; George Gale, Upper Mississippi: Or, Historical Sketches of the Mound-Builders, the Indian Tribes, and the Progress of Civilization in the North-West, from A.D. 1600 to the Present Time (New York: Oakley and Mason, 1867) 81. Note by Draper in McBride, "The Capture of Black Hawk," 297; Lawson, "The Winnebago Tribe," 136. Smith, Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe, 155.

³ Augustin Grignon, "Seventy-two Years' Recollections of Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 3 (1857): 197-295 [286]; de la Ronde, "Personal Narrative," 347; Lawson, "The Winnebago Tribe," 136. Lawson, The History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, 57.

⁴ Note by Draper in McBride, "The Capture of Black Hawk," 297.

⁵ Smith, Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe, 155.

⁶ Smith, Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe, 155.

⁷ The earliest source giving the name Ho-po-ko-e-kaw, is Gale, Upper Mississippi, 81. Note by Lyman C. Draper in David McBride, "The Capture of Black Hawk," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 5 (1868): 293-297 [297]. Draper seems to have gotten his information from Judge Gale, who in turn derived his knowledge from One-Eyed Decorah (b. ca. 1772). The rest are secondary sources — Lawson, The History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, 44, 57. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, ed. Frederick Webb Hodge. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 30 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907) 384, s. nom. "Dekaury, Choukeka." The descent of One-Eyed Decorah is > White War Eagle (Old Decorah) > Spoon Decorah > Glory of the Morning.

⁸ de la Ronde, "Personal Narrative," 347.

⁹ Nancy Oestereich Lurie, "Trends of Change in Patterns of Child Care and Training among the Wisconsin Winnebago," Wisconsin Archaeologist, 29 n.s. (Sept.-Dec., 1948) 50. Robert Eugene Bieder, Native American Communities in Wisconsin 1600-1960 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995) 95.

¹⁰ egi Hirukanara hohąpjį hąnira hataja hirakere wahiną, "and the glory of the Lord shone round about them" (Luke 2:9).

¹¹ By substituting the near synonym -gi, "when," for ho-, "the time when," we get much the same result: hąp-gu-gi, "when day comes, dawn." This shows that the other English version of her name, "Coming Dawn," is probably a better translation.

¹² Lucy Eldersveld Murphy, A Gathering of Rivers: Indians, Métis, and Mining in the Western Great Lakes, 1737-1832 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000) 28. The Hocąk form of the name was supplied to her by the HoCąk Wazija Haci Language Division of the HoChunk Nation. Murphy, p.c. 8 March 2009.

¹³ de la Ronde, "Personal Narrative," 347.

¹⁴ de la Ronde, "Personal Narrative," 347. This seems to be the only early source that has the name "Sabrevoir." A genealogical site, "Trade Goods" (tradegoods.org) > decorah (et alia), gives the following variants of his first name: Sabrevois, Sabrevoie, Sabrevoir.

¹⁵ Murphy, A Gathering of Rivers, 28. This is found in the genealogical tradition, which is not very well documented. See "Trade Goods" (tradegoods.org) > decorah (et alia). It may have originated with Kellogg, who says that his name was "Joseph des Caris," which is almost certainly wrong, since it does not match the versions of the name found in any primary source. See Louise Phelps Kellogg, The French Régime in Wisconsin and the Northwest (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1925) 435. Later she gives the name as "Sabrevoir de Caris." Louise Phelps Kellogg, "The Winnebago Visit to Washington in 1828," Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 29 (1935): 347-354 [348].

¹⁶ Smith, Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe, 156; Murphy, A Gathering of Rivers, 28.

¹⁷ Murphy, A Gathering of Rivers, 187 nt 51.

¹⁸ Lucy Eldersveld Murphy, p.c., 8 March 2009.

¹⁹ William Ellery Leonard, "Glory of the Morning. A Play in One Act," for the Wisconsin Dramatic Society, 1912. Published in "Wisconsin Plays," Thomas H. Dickinson, ed. (New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1919) 117-187.

²⁰ Grignon, "Seventy-Two Years' Recollections of Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 271.

²¹ de la Ronde, "Personal Narrative," 347. Lawson, The History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, 57.

²² Captain Jonathan Carver, Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768 (London: Printed for C. Dilly; H. Payne; and J. Phillips, 1781 [1778]) 32-33, 38.

²³ Juliette Augusta McGill Kinzie, Wau-Bun, The "Early Day" in the North-west (Chicago & New York: Rand, McNally & company, 1901 [1856]).

²⁴ Henry Merrell, "Pioneer Life in Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical Collections, 7 (1876): 366-404 [375], with a note by Lyman C. Draper.

²⁵ Rev. James Owen Dorsey, "Winnebago Gentes, including Personal Names Belonging to each Gens" (National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution: T.D., 1878-79?), cat. #4800 DORSEY PAPERS, Winnebago (319).

²⁶ Arthur Judson Henry, "Loss of Life and Property by Lightning," in Lightning and Electricity of Air; in 2 Parts, Weather Bureau Bulletin, #26 (Part II), Weather Bureau Document #197 (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Weather Bureau, 1899) 45-74 [20].