Wenibojó looked in the kettle. Behold! Grains were floating upon the water. Then he ate the broth made with the grains. It was good.
So Wenibojó followed the trail of the duck. He came to a lake of manomin. All the birds and the ducks and geese were eating the grain. Therefore Wenibojó learned to know manomin, the wild rice.
ORIGIN OF WINNEBAGO
Menomini
ONE day Manabush walked along the lake shore. He was tired and hungry. Then he saw, around a sand spit jutting far out into the water, many waterfowl.
Now Manabush had with him only a medicine bag. He hung that on a manabush tree in the brush. He put a roll of bark on his back, and returned to the lake shore. He passed slowly by so as not to frighten the birds. Duck and Swan suddenly recognized him, and swam quickly away from the shore.
One of the Swans called out, “Ho! Manabush, where are you going?”
“I am going to have a dance,” said Manabush. “As you may see, I have all my songs with me.”
Then he called out to all the birds, “Come to me, brothers! Let us sing and dance.”