288 THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann. 37 



posed to be at eternal enmity with him, and for that reason he is 

 regarded by most of the Wumebago as a sort of a mixed deity, partly 

 evil and partly good, but always to be feared and capable of bestow- 

 hig great blessuigs on man. Owmg to the fact that he has become 

 identified as the clan ancestor of one of the most important Wume- 

 bago clans, he has undergone a partial rehabilitation. 



The Water-spirit is an important figure in the older myths, and in 

 them seems to be identified with the bad spirits. The attitude of the 

 Winnebago toward him is full of inconsistencies. He is evil, yet his 

 "bones" are the most prized possessions of man on account of the^ 

 remarkable power with which they are endowed. He is an evil 

 spirit, yet acconhng to an apparently old myth (the Traveler) one 

 of the Water-spirits is the spirit deity in control of the earth. 



In addition to these marked anthropomorphic and theromorphic 

 spirit deities, the Wumebago, as mentioned before, have a large num- 

 ber of vague spirits, like fire, light, etc., and a legion of animal spirits. 

 The latter show some interestmg transitions extenduig all the way 

 from purely nonspirit heroic animals to distinct spirits, conceived of 

 as animal in shape but noncorporeal. In many cases it is, of course, 

 quite impossible to say how marked the "spirit" nature of the ani- 

 mal is, because it often depends on who is lookuig at it. To the 

 ordinary nonreligious Wumebago the hare is mauily an heroic animal ; 

 to the religious Winnebago or a member of the medicuie dance he is a 

 spirit-animal or even a spirit-deity. In the same way different con- 

 ceptions are held about the natm^ of the animal clan ancestors, 

 some thinkmg of them as heroic animals and others as generalized 

 noncorporeal spirit-animals and spirit-deities. Wherever guardian 

 spirits are animals they also become noncorporeal spirit-animals. 

 One of the reasons given by the Wimiebago for the fact that the 

 different guardian spirit-animals do not object to the killing of ani- 

 mals of their owTi species is because, ui killuig a bear a Wumebago is 

 not kilhng his guardian spirit, the bear, for the latter is a generalized 

 spirit-bear in control of all the bears who appear on earth. 



In a number of cases it is not at all difficult to trace the develop- 

 ment of a trickster hero, an anthropomorphic hero, or an heroic 

 anunal, uito a spirit to whom offermgs are made. Thus, for uistance, 

 kettles and often buckskuis are offered to ivaJc'djvyl-'a'ga, hare, and 

 the twins, at the war-bundle feasts. 



The Power .\nd Localization of tue Spirits 



Accorduig to the Wumebago, spirits possess the power of bestowing 

 upon man all those things that are of socio-economic value to him. 

 These may vary from such very important economic thuigs as ram 



