INDIAN NATURE MYTHS
HOW THE SEASONS CAME TO BE
(Ojibwa)
THERE was once a little Indian boy who wanted above everything else to become a mighty hunter.
His father, whose name was Ojeeg, the Fisher, was the mightiest hunter of his tribe, and Omeme wanted to be like his father.
Often he went out into the forest with the little bow and arrows which his father had made for him, to hunt the small creatures of the woods. But it was too cold for him to stay long; for in those days there were no seasons, only cold and snow day after day, moon following moon.
So little Omeme often came back to the lodge with fingers stiff and numb. As he shivered and held his fingers over the fire of the lodge, he cried, “There is nothing for Omeme to shoot. The birds fly up to the sun for warmth. The little creatures hide in the forest: they hide far down beneath the snow blanket. It is cold. Omeme can get no game.”
One day Omeme met a squirrel in the forest, and the squirrel said, “Do not shoot me, Omeme. I will tell you a great secret.”
Then Omeme said, “I will not shoot you. Tell me your secret.”
And the squirrel said, “Away up in the Sky Land it is always warm. There is no frost, no snow. If we could have some of the warmth of the Sky Land, we should not always be cold. There would be good hunting for Omeme. There would be plenty for us all to eat.”