“My name is Wunaumon; what is yours?”
“We will wrestle. If you throw me, I will tell you my name. You will win much from me if I fall. Let us try our strength.”
Wunaumon stood up on the prairie. He was very tall and strong.
“Come, Red Feather,” he said.
“That is not my name,” the stranger answered. “If I fall, you shall know my name. You shall have a great gift. You must conquer me. The gift is for all your people.”
It was morning when the two began to wrestle. They were both very strong. One could not make the other fall. They had no more breath. They stopped and began again. They did this many times. It was a great battle.
The sun began to go down. Wunaumon thought that the sun was ashamed to see his weakness. Wunaumon put his feet very hard on the ground. He grew very fierce. His arms were strong like the legs of a bear. There was a great noise. “Red Feather, I have made you fall,” said he; “what is your name?” [[135]]
“My name is Mondahmin. My body is my gift to you. Cover me with the fine dust where we have wrestled. Come to this place often. You will see me again. I will bring gifts out of this prairie to your people.”
Wunaumon covered Mondahmin. He went into the forest and waited one moon. He came back to the place of wrestling. Two green feathers were waving in the air above the little hill he had made. A voice like singing came out of the green plumes.
“This is the corn, the gift of Mondahmin. Watch this plant and take the seeds to the tribe that lives nearest you. Tell them to make a feast to Mondahmin in the Moon of Fruits.”