49. Dagwanoenyent
Once some men in a village were preparing to go on a hunting expedition. Now, in the old times, as far as can be traced back to the forefathers, some men had luck and others had not.
Now, in the village in which these men lived was a young man who was somewhat foolish—not strong in mind—as people thought. Knowing that the men were getting ready, he went to one and another asking leave to go with them, but no one would let him go, for they considered him foolish, and hence unlucky. [[262]]
After all had left, a young woman, who took pity on him, went to him and said, “Let us be married and go hunting.” They got married and went to hunt, camping in the woods. The man could not kill any big game; only squirrels and such creatures. He made traps to catch deer, which he placed around so that the deer might get their feet into them. One morning when he went to look at his traps he heard some one crying like a woman. The sound came nearer and nearer. At last he saw a woman coming with two little boys. She was crying, and as they came up she said: “Help me! for we are going to die. One of my little boys stole a feather, which he pulled to pieces. Now we are going to die for that feather. I want you to kill that hawk on the tree over there, and when the person whose feather my little boy took comes, throw the hawk at him, saying, ‘This is your feather.’ ”
The man killed the hawk, and had no sooner done so than he heard a terrible roar and noise, and the trees fell, and a man came and stood on one of them. This man had terrible eyes and long hair; that was all there was to him—just a great head without a body.[116] The young man flung the hawk at him with the enjoined remark. Catching it, the latter said, “Thank you,” and was satisfied. This woman was a panther and the children were her cubs, but she seemed to the man to be of the human kind. She said that she lived among the rocks and that Dagwanoenyent lived near her, being her neighbor. Once while he was away from home her little boy went into his place, and getting his feathers, spoiled them. When Dagwanoenyent came home he was very angry and chased them. Then the panther told the man that she knew he was poor and that no man would hunt with him, adding, “Now, I will help you, and you will get more game than any of them. I do this because you helped me.” After that he killed more game than any other hunter in the woods.
50. The Shaman and His Nephew
In times past a noted shaman and his nephew dwelt together in a lodge in the forest.
One day, when the nephew had grown to manhood, the uncle said to him: “Now, my nephew, you must go to the lodge of the chief, who has two daughters whom you shall marry. When you go you must wear those things endowed with orenda (magic power) which I wore when I was a young man.” The shaman here referred to a panther-skin robe, a pouch of spotted fawn skin, and a pipe decorated with a manikin. Among other things the uncle brought out these, bidding his nephew: “Now, test your ability to use them. See what you can do with them.” First the nephew placed in the bowl of the pipe red-willow bark which had been dried for the purpose. [[263]]Then he took out the manikin, which at once ran to the fire and, bringing an ember, put it into the pipe. Now the nephew began to smoke, and as he smoked he expectorated wampum, first on one side and then on the other. The uncle said to him: “That will do very well. Now you must don the feather headdress that I wore when I was a young man.” On the top of this headdress was a duck which, when the headdress was not worn, drooped its head, seeming not to be alive, but which, as soon as the headdress was put on, held up its head and became alive. After the nephew had put on the headdress the uncle said to him, “Now you must tell the duck to speak.” Addressing it, the nephew said, “Oh, my duck, speak!” and at once the duck called out in a loud voice. Thereupon the uncle said: “Nephew, the two young women are thinking of you at all times, for they feel that they will prosper if you marry and live with them. When you are at their father’s lodge you must go on a hunting trip and must take one of the young women with you. When you are out in the woods the woman must lie down and must not see anything. She must lie with her head carefully covered. Then you shall sing, and all the wild animals will come around to listen to your singing. You may kill only such as you desire.” “But,” he added, “the young woman must not look at them; if she does, something evil will happen.”[117]