Reading notes: MS/lakes part B

 Rabbit and Panther

• a rabbit wanted to build a lodge so that people would think he's a great medicine man 
• rabbit went to the top of a hill and build a wigwam and began to dance
• panther found rabbit's trail and hid to watch him and his wife
• rabbit sang a song that said he would never be caught by panther and went to hunt
• panther waited for him to return and sprung on him and ate him 

Why Deer Never Eat Men

• rabbit asked bear what he wanted for food and he said acorns and fruit
• rabbit asked fish hawk what he wanted and he said the sucker, so he dove above the river and ate him 
• rabbit asked wolf what he wanted and he said deer, so he chased him with his robe on and could not catch him, but when he took it off he caught him and ate him 
• deer wanted to eat indians but they were too powerful, so he took his ribs and made them look like tusks. the indian still caught and ate him 
• since he was caught, the rabbit said they could only live on grass and twigs 

The Hare and the Lynx

• a hare lived in a wigwam with its grandmother and decided to go back to its native land 
• on its way, a lynx asked it where it was going, so it ran back to its grandmother and she told it to say that they were going to its native land 
• it told the lynx that and then the lynx asked it why its ears were so dry, so it ran back to its grandmother and she told it to tell the lynx its grandfather is from the south
• then the lynx asked why it was going away so it ran back to its grandmother and she told it to just run past the lynx 
• the hare almost made it to its native land when the lynx ate it 

The Tiny Frog 

• the ancient of tiny frogs went with his grandmother to learn magic 
• first they met the ancient of panthers who he had to wrestle. the panther fell out of a tree and the frog seized him and beat him against a tree and gave him a short jaw
• they met buffalo and he had to wrestle him, but he also bet him into a tree and gave him a hump on his back
• they met deer and frog also beat him into a tree, giving him a short nose
• when a frog croaks it means someone is running after a deer 

The Hunter and the Alligator 

• all the men in a village killed deer one winter except for one man
• he saw an alligator one day who asked him to take him to water and he would make him a great deer hunter 
• he carried alligator to water and he said that the hunter would find a small doe, large doe, small buck, and large buck, but only to kill the large buck
• he did exactly what alligator said and became a great hunter

Two Opossum Stories 

• the ancient of opossums woke up early to catch crawfish but they would all be gone, and he discovered it was the ancient of raccoons 
• they argued and said whoever got there first should get the crawfish, but raccoon kept beating opossum 
• raccoon said he was tired from eating all morning and opossum said the same, so people think opossums are always liars 

The Porcupine and the Two Sisters

• there were two sisters who could run faster than anyone in their tribe
• they wanted to visit a different village so they ran very fast and came upon a hollow tree with porcupines trail 
• they pulled him out of the tree and then went on to their village
• he made it snow so that they couldn't run fast anymore 
• they were scared of the porcupine but went back to their village anyway, and it snowed until they couldn't see their village anymore and they died 

 Turtle

• a turtle had a wigwam but needed a wife
• he asked a lady but she said he wouldn't be able to take carry her so she agreed to marry him in the spring 
• turtle went to war to get captives and said she had to marry him when he returned 
• they went to war but moved slow and the girl laughed, so he said he would return in 4 years 
• the turtles captured the Indians and the young girl the turtle intended to marry
• all of the indians fled so the turtle went back to the village and she had married another man 
• he took the girl with him to his wigwam and she heated up water and asked him to swim, and so him and all the other turtles jumped in and were conquered 

The Worship of the Sun

• a family with one son lived on lake huron, and the son was very handsome
• the boy refused to fast with the tribe until his father was violent 
• a woman came to him in his dream and took him to the sky plain with a lodge
• her brother came so she hid him, and her brother scolded her for taking earth children
• the brother gave him food and weapons so he stayed in the sky plain 
• they found a hole to earth and looked down on it, and the boy fell through 
• they sent up a white dog to the sky plains for the sun
• the boy became the moon and said he wanted to go home, so the sun sent him home 

Tashka and Walo

• tashka and walo were brothers that tried to follow the suns trail but every time it would get dark they would still be in their home country
• they reached the sea and watched the sun sink in, so they crossed the sea to the suns home 
• they saw women (stars) and the moon (suns wife)
• the sun sent them home and said if they didn't speak for 4 days they would be very wealthy and live for a long time 
• the buzzard took them home and they met a woman who forced them to talk, therefore the sun could not give them his promise 

Sky Stories 

• the sun and moon lived together in a wigwam and the sun left to go hunting and didn't come back for a long time
• the moon went out searching for it and that's why the moon comes up for 20 days and disappears 
• moon person used to make visits to indians until a child put a black spot on moon persons hand, so he stays up but you can still see the black spot 
• hunters saw two round objects one night that caught fire and went into the sky, they were stars
• when a star falls from the sky indians find pieces on the ground sometimes 
• manabaiwok are giants that only come out when it is light in the sky, the aurora borealis 

Moon

Source: CNet

Katharine Berry Judson. Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes. Un-Textbook