Weenk is the sandman of the Ojibway or Chippewa children. He comes every night and brings so many tiny warriors with him that each eyelid is conquered and closed till morning.
The Ojibway mother puts her papoose to sleep in a tiny hammock made of bark, fastened with sinew thongs and lined with soft, dry moss. She sings strange slumber songs to the wee one, and the older children stand by her in the summer evenings and whisper little stories of Weenk and his warriors.
“Weenk is a bee as big as a buffalo,” they say. “He has bees’ wings instead of hair. The wings sing and sing. They buzz and buzz. He is always sleepy. He brings sleep to children. The little one must go to sleep; Weenk has come. [[106]]
“Weenk is a good man. He brings many little manitous to help him, and they go everywhere. There is one on the papoose’s eyelid now. They are dancing in the little one’s hair. Buzz, buzz, buzz.”
“Here is a war club one of the little manitous has lost,” a sister will say as she picks up a tiny hair.
“Here is a feather from a scalp lock,” says another, as she holds up a fiber from some feather. So the fun goes on until finally the little papoose is asleep.
“We will fight Weenk,” say the children, and then there is a battling of empty hands in the air, while they sing “Buzz, buzz, buzz.”
“Wewahsta has lighted her lamp,” says the squaw mother as she sees the evening star. Then the children know it is time for them to lie down to sleep, and soon the wigwam is still.
The story of buzzing Weenk and his band is fresh every evening, for they always tell new stories of what the little warriors can do. Sometimes they come on the fireflies, and sometimes the mosquitoes and busy gnats bring them. Indian children are much like their white brothers and sisters and find sport in many things. [[107]]
