74 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann. 37 



it, for if you do, we will all die." Now, he was mistaken in that. 

 "The Creator has given two plates and they are getting empty. He 

 gave the men a plate for them to fill and the women a plate for them 

 to fill. Tlie women's plate is empty." He meant that the Creator 

 had made men to hunt and the women to dig the soil and raise vege- 

 tables, and that the latter were not doing it. Tliat is what he meant 

 by sa\Tng that their plates were empty. Noise-Thunder msisted 

 that this was the white man's fault; he thought that we were being 

 weakened by the white man's food. Quite a nmnber of people 

 believed hhu. "The birds eat what was provided for them to eat, 

 game and vegetables, and the wliites eat what was provided for 

 them. Why should we not eat what was provided for us ? " He 

 was right, but then the Creator also created the food that the whites 

 are eating. We are now getting accustomed to it and are getting 

 stronger on this food. 



The Winnebago were decreasing in numl)er, so the Creator gave 

 them a medicine wliich would enable them to get accustomed to the 

 white man's food ; that, also, they might know the Creator and that 

 he is the true bread and food. Tlus they found out by using tliis 

 mecUcine. They are going into it deeper and deeper all the time, 

 they who had been lost, and this has all been accomplished by the 

 medicine (the peyote). 



The following notes were also obtained conceniing other prophets: 



"There was a prophet among the Winnebago recently named 

 George Wilkinson. He claimed that he was the Trickster; that 

 there were two worlds ; that he had been to the first and that he was 

 now on the second. After a while he was to return to ma' una (Earth- 

 maker). He told all the Winnebago to plant their tobacco and corn- 

 fields again. (This is what he was ordered to say.) He said that 

 the power of the war bundles was entirelj^ exhausted, but that it 

 could be restored if a person were to fast for four days. When the 

 spirits addressed him by name they called him " He-Who-Stands- 

 Blue." This happened fifteen years ago. 



"Thimdercloud claims to be the Hare." 



Another man named Xuga prophesied the same, led them on a 

 warpath, and lost a lot of people. 



The most important religious revival of the last century among 

 the Winnebago is the Peyote or Mescal religion. It is described in 

 detail on page 388. 



