Storms as He Walks (Mąemanika)
by Richard L. Dieterle
Storms as He Walks is one of the great Thunderbirds who assumed human form and came to earth to help mankind. His special skill was in warfare, and he often scouted out the enemy by walking in the clouds above them. When Storms as He Walks was on the warpath, a drizzle of rain always marked his presence in the sky. When he attacked, his warcry was "sons of war!"1 A warparty containing the Twins, Redhorn, Wolf, Turtle, and Storms as He Walks once went after two dangerous Red Waterspirits. In the attack, Storms as He Walks climbed higher into the air than any of the other spirits, and was the first to attack. Just the same, his efforts were said to be feeble when compared to the Twins.2 In another raid with Redhorn, Turtle, Wolf, and Otter along, Storms as He Walks won first war honors.3
His love for humanity was so great that he stayed behind on earth with Redhorn even after his uncle went back to the Thunderbird spirit village. This occasioned some resentment, and when Storms as He Walks got into trouble while wrestling a Giant, his fellow Thunderbirds would not answer his thunderings for help. As a result, the Giant killed him, although many years later the sons of Redhorn restored him to life.4
Links: Thunderbirds, Turtle, Wolf & Dog Spirits, Redhorn, Sons of Redhorn, Giants, Otters, Waterspirits, Gottschall.
Stories: with Storms as He Walks as a character: Redhorn's Sons, Kunu's Warpath, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, Redhorn Contest the Giants, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Turtle's Warparty (?); featuring Thunderbirds as characters: The Thunderbird, Waruǧabᵉra, Ocean Duck, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Quail Hunter, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Brave Man, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Bluehorn's Nephews, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Big Stone, Origin of the Winnebago Chief, How the Hills and Valleys were Formed (v. 1 and v. 2), The Spirit of Gambling, The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, The Hawk Clan Origin Myth, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Twins Disobey Their Father, Kunu's Warpath, The Thunder Charm, The Boulders of Devil's Lake; mentioning Redhorn: The Redhorn Cycle, Redhorn's Father, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, The Spirit of Gambling. Cp. The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara; featuring Turtle as a character: Turtle's Warparty, Redhorn's Father, Turtle and the Witches, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Grandfather's Two Families, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Kunu's Warpath, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Redhorn and His Brothers Marry, The Skunk Origin Myth, The Hocąk Migration Myth, Porcupine and His Brothers, The Creation of Man, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, The Father of the Twins Attempts to Flee, The Chief of the Heroka, The Spirit of Gambling, The Nannyberry Picker; about the Twins The Twins Cycle, The Children of the Sun, Bluehorn's Nephews; about contesting the Giants: Ocean Duck, Redhorn's Father, Grandfather's Two Families, Little Human Head, The Roaster, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, How the Thunders Met the Nights, cf. The Shaggy Man; having Wolf as a character: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Kunu's Warpath, The Healing Blessing; mentioning Otter: Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Redhorn Contests the Giants, Kunu's Warpath, Įcorúšika and His Brothers; featuring Red Waterspirits as characters: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, The Thunderbird.
Themes: Storms as He Walks leads scouts by walking in the air: The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Kunu's Warpath.
Notes
1 Paul Radin, Winnebago Hero Cycles: A Study in Aboriginal Literature (Baltimore: Waverly Press, 1948) 118-129.
2 Paul Radin, The Evolution of an American Indian Prose Epic. A Study in Comparative Literature, Part I (Basil: Ethnographical Museum, Basil Switzerland, 1954) 95-97. Informant: Sam Blowsnake of the Thunderbird Clan, ca. 1912.
3 Radin, Winnebago Hero Cycles, 118-121.
4 Radin, Winnebago Hero Cycles, 122-129.