Henq waited a long while. He heard no one. Then he came down to the shore and saw his brothers far away in their canoes. He lifted his great voice and called to them. His voice was so strong and so loud it made the air shake. He said, “Will you take me back?” They said, “No.”
So Henq stayed on the island. Sometimes he raises his voice to call to his brothers, and ask them how they are getting along. He always makes the air shake. Henq roams around the island, in the spring and summer; but in the winter he sleeps. When there is thunder in winter, the Wyandots say, “Henq is turning over. Something has broken into his sleep.”
TURTLE AND THE THUNDER BIRD
Ojibwa
Once Turtle was living all alone in a lake. Several times he was hit by something. When he came out to see what it was, he could see nothing at all. One day he was struck again. He thought he would ask someone to help him. When he came out of the water, he went into the woods. He cried, “Who will help me? Who will help me?”
Deer ran out from among the shrubs and said, “I will help you.”
“Come on,” said Turtle, “let me see how you can fight.” Deer started to fight a tree and broke his horns.
Turtle said, “Oh, you will not last long enough.” He left Deer and again called out, “Who will help me?”
Bear came out and said, “I will help you.”
Turtle said, “Let me see how you can fight.”