Che-be-gau-ze-naung gwit-to-i-ah-na maun-dah-ween ah-kee-ge neen-wa-nah gua-kwaik ke-nah gwit-to-i-ah-na.
I come to change the appearance of the ground, this ground; I make it look different each season.
This is a Manito who, on account of his immensity of tail, and other peculiarities, has no prototype. He claims to be the ruler over the seasons. He is probably Gitche-a-nah-mi-e-be-zhew (great underground wild-cat).
The “underground wild-cat” is again mentioned in the same work, page 377, with an illustration now presented as the left-hand character of the same Fig. 670, slightly different from the above, described as follows:
A-nah-me be-zhe ne-kau-naw.
Underground wild-cat is my friend.
At the fourth verse he exhibits his medicines, which he says are the roots of shrubs and of We-ug-gusk-oan, or herbs, and from these he derives his power, at least in part; but lest his claim, founded on a knowledge of these, should not be considered of sufficient importance, he proceeds to say, in the fifth and sixth verses, that the snakes and the underground wild-cat are among his helpers and friends. The ferocity and cunning, as well as the activity of the feline animals have not escaped the notice of the Indians, and very commonly they give the form of animals of this family to those imaginary beings whose attributes bear, in their opinion, some resemblance to the qualities of these animals. Most of them have heard of the lion, the largest of the cats known to white men, and all have heard of the devil; they consider them the same. The wild-cat here figured has horns, and his residence is under the ground; but he has a master, Gitche-a-nah-mi-e-be-zhew (the great underground wild-cat), who is, as some think, Matche-Manito himself, their evil spirit, or devil. Of this last they speak but rarely.
In another song from Tanner, p. 345, sung only by the midē', is the drawing, the right hand character of the same figure, of a similar animal with a bar across the throat, signifying, no doubt, its emerging or appearance from the surface of the ground.
Nah-ne-bah o-sa ann neen-no ne-mah-che oos-sa ya-ah-ne-no. [Twice.]