THE DUCK AND THE NORTH WEST WIND
Ojibwa
ONCE Shingebiss, the duck, lived all alone in his wigwam on the shore of a lake. It was winter and very cold. Ice had frozen over the top of the water. Shingebiss had but four logs of wood in his wigwam, but each log would burn one month and there were but four winter months.[17]
[17] And at night Kabibonokka
To the lodge came, wild and wailing,
Heaped the snow in drifts about it,
Shouted down into the smoke-flue,
Shook the lodge poles in his fury,
Flapped the curtain of the doorway,
Shingebis, the diver, feared not,
Shingebis, the diver, cared not;
Four great logs had he for firewood,
One for each moon of the winter,
And for food the fishes served him,
By his blazing fire he sat there,
Warm and merry, eating, laughing,
Singing, “O Kabibonokka,
You are but my fellow mortal!”
—Hiawatha
From Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Picture Writing. An Ojibwa Meda Song.
Shingebiss had no fear of the cold. He would go out on the coldest day. He would seek for places where rushes and flags grew through the ice. He pulled them up and dived through the broken ice for fish. Thus he had plenty of food. Thus he went to his wigwam dragging long strings of fish behind him on the ice.
North West noticed this. He said, “Shingebiss is a strange man. I will see if I cannot get the better of him.”
North West shook his rattle and the wind blew colder. Snow drifted high. But Shingebiss did not let his fire go out. In the worst storms he continued going out, seeking for the weak places in the ice where the roots grew.
North West noticed this. He said, “Shingebiss is a strange man. I shall go and visit him.”
That night North West went to the door of the wigwam. Shingebiss had cooked his fish and eaten it. He was lying on his side before the fire, singing songs.
He sang,
Ka neej Ka neej
Be in Be in
Bon in Bon in
Oc ee Oc ee
Ca We-ya Ca We-ya.
This meant, “Spirit of North West, you are but my fellow man.”
Now he sang this because he knew North West was standing at the door of his wigwam. He could feel his cold breath. He kept right on singing his songs.
North West said, “Shingebiss is a strange man. I shall go inside.”
Therefore North West entered the wigwam and sat down on the opposite side of the lodge. Shingebiss lay before the fire and sang:
“Spirit of North West, you are but my fellow man.”
Then he got up and poked the fire. The wigwam became very warm. At last North West said, “I cannot stand this. I must go out. Shingebiss is a very strange man.” So he went out.
Then North West shook his rattles until the great storms came. Thus there was much ice and snow and wind. All the flag roots were frozen in hard ice. Still Shingebiss went fishing. He bit off the frozen flags and rushes, and broke the hard ice around their roots. He dived for fish and went home dragging strings of fish behind him on the ice.
North West noticed this. He said, “Shingebiss must have very strong medicine. Some manito is helping him. I cannot conquer him. Shingebiss is a very strange man.”
So he let him alone.