Au-do-me-ne, an intelligent Ottawwaw of Wawgunuk-kizze, in answer to my inquiries concerning their opinion of the sun and moon, related to me the following fable:—
Long ago, an old Ojibbeway chief, and his wife, who lived on the shore of Lake Huron, had one son, a very beautiful boy. His name was Ono-wut-to-kwut-to, (he that catches clouds,) and his totem, after that of his father, a beaver. He would have been a great favourite with them, for he was, in the main, affectionate and dutiful, except that they could never persuade him to fast. Though they gave him charcoal, in place of his usual breakfast, he would never blacken his face, and if he could find fish eggs, or the head of a fish, he would roast them, and have something to eat. Once they took from him what he had thus cooked in place of his accustomed breakfast, and threw him some coals instead of it. But this was the last of many attempts to compel him to fast. He took up the coals, blackened his face, went out, and lay down. At night, he did not return into the lodge of his parents, but slept without. In his dream he saw a very beautiful woman come down from above, and stand at his feet. She said, “Ono-wut-to-kwut-to, I am come for you; see that you step in my tracks.” The lad obeyed without hesitation, and stepping carefully in her steps, he presently found himself ascending above the tops of the trees, through the air, and beyond the clouds. His guide at length passed through a small round hole, and he following her, found himself standing on a beautiful and extensive prairie.
They followed the path, which led them to a large and rich looking lodge; entering here, they saw on one side pipes and war clubs, bows, arrows, and spears, with the various implements and ornaments of men. At the other end of the lodge were the things belonging to women. Here was the home of the beautiful girl who had been his companion, and she had, on the sticks, a belt she had not finished weaving. She said to him, “My brother is coming, and I must conceal you.” So putting him in one corner, she spread the belt over him. Ono-wut-to-kwut-to, however, watched what passed without, from his concealment, and saw the brother of the young woman come in, most splendidly dressed, and take down a pipe from the wall. After he had smoked, he laid aside his pipe, and the sack containing his pah-koo-se-gun, and said, “When, my sister, will you cease from these practices? Have you forgotten that the Greatest of the Spirits has forbidden you to steal the children of those who live below? You suppose you have concealed this that you have now brought, but do I not know that he is here in the lodge? If you would not incur my displeasure, you must send him immediately down to his friends.” But she would not. He then said to the boy, when he found that his sister was determined not to dismiss him, “You may as well come out from that place, where you are not concealed from me, and walk about, for you will be lonesome and hungry if you remain there.” He took down a bow and arrows, and a pipe of red stone, richly ornamented, to give him. So the boy came out from under the belt, and amused himself with the bow and pipe the man gave him, and he became the husband of the young woman who had brought him up from the woods near his father’s lodge.
He went abroad in the open prairie, but in all this fair and ample country, he found no inhabitants, except his wife and her brother. The plains were adorned with flowers, and garnished with bright and sparkling streams, but the animals were not like those he had been accustomed to see. Night followed day, as on the earth, but with the first appearance of light, the brother-in-law of Ono-wut-to-kwut-to began to make his preparations to leave the lodge. All day, and every day, he was absent, and returned in the evening; his wife, also, though not so regular in the time of her departure and return, was often absent great part of the night.
He was curious to know where they spent all the time of their absence, and he obtained from his brother-in-law permission to accompany him in one of his daily journeys. They went on in a smooth and open path, through prairies, to which they could see no boundary, until Ono-wut-to-kwut-to, becoming hungry, asked his companion if he did not think he should find any game. “Be patient, my brother,” said he; “this is my road in which I walk every day, and at no great distance is the place where I constantly eat my dinner. When we arrive there you shall see how I am supplied with food.”
They came at length to a place where were many fine mats to sit down upon, and a hole through which to look down upon the earth. Ono-wut-to-kwut-to, at the bidding of his companion, looked down through this hole, and saw far beneath him the great lakes, and the villages, not of the Ojibbeways only, but of all the red skins. In one place he saw a war party, stealing silently along toward the hunting camp of their enemies, and his companion told him what would be the result of the attack they were about to make. In another place he saw people feasting and dancing: young men were engaged at their sports, and here and there women were labouring at their accustomed avocations.
The companion of Ono-wut-to-kwut-to called his attention to a group of children playing beside a lodge. “Do you see,” said he, “that active and beautiful boy?” at the same time throwing a very small stone, which hit the child, who immediately fell to the ground, and presently they saw him carried into the lodge. Then they saw people running about, and heard the she-she-gwun, and the song and prayer of the medicine man, entreating that the child’s life might be spared. To this request his companion made answer, “Send me up the white dog.” Then they could distinguish the hurry and bustle of preparation for a feast, a white dog killed and singed, and the people, who were called, assembling at the lodge. While these things were passing, he addressed himself to Ono-wut-to-kwut-to, saying, “There are, among you in the lower world, some whom you call great medicine men; but it is because their ears are open, and they hear my voice, when I have struck any one, that they are able to give relief to the sick. They direct the people to send me whatever I call for, and when they have sent it, I remove my hand from those I had made sick.” When he had said this, the white dog was parcelled out in dishes, for those that were at the feast; then the medicine man, when they were about to begin to eat, said, “We send thee this, Great Manito;” and immediately they saw the dog, cooked, and ready to be eaten, rising to them through the air. After they had dined, they returned home by another path.
In this manner they lived for some time, but Ono-wut-to-kwut-to had not forgotten his friends, and the many pleasant things he had left in his father’s village, and he longed to return to the earth. At last, his wife consented to his request. “Since,” said she, “you are better pleased with the poverty, the cares, and the miseries of the world beneath, then with the peaceful and permanent delights of these prairies, go. I give you permission to depart; not only so, but since I brought you hither, I shall carry you back to the place where I found you, near your father’s lodge; but remember, you are still my husband, and that my power over you is in no manner diminished. You may return to your relatives, and live to the common age of man by observing what I now say to you. Beware how you venture to take a wife among men. Whenever you do so, you shall feel my displeasure; and if you marry the second time, it is then you will be called to return to me.”
Then Ono-wut-to-kwut-to awoke, and found himself on the ground, near the door of his father’s lodge. Instead of the bright beings of his vision, he saw about him his aged mother, and his relatives, who told him he had been absent about a year. For some time he was serious and abstracted; but, by degrees, the impression of his visit to the upper world wore off. He began to doubt the reality of what he had heard and seen. At length, forgetful of the admonitions of his spouse, he married a beautiful young woman of his own tribe. Four days afterwards she was a corpse. But even the effect of this fearful admonition was not permanent. He again ventured to marry, and soon afterwards, going out of his lodge one night, to listen to some unusual noise, he disappeared, to return no more. It was believed that his wife from the upper world came to recall him, according to her threat, and that he still remains in those upper regions, and has taken the place of his brother-in-law, in overlooking the affairs of men.
It appears from this tradition, that worship, or sacrifices, are, among the Ottawwaws, sometimes made to the sun and moon; and they acknowledge that these luminaries, or rather the man in the sun, and the woman in the moon, keep watch over all our actions.