304 _ THE WINNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. ann. 37 



have made yourself suffer very much -^ and my heart has been rent 

 with pity for you. I bless you, therefore, with life, and this you 

 may transmit to your descendants.' All this, father, the spirit said 

 to me." "My daughter, it is not good. These spirits are trying to 

 deceive you. Do not accept it. They will never bestow upon you 

 what they have promised." "All right, father, but let me at least 

 give them the offerings of deerskin, red feathers, and tobacco. I 

 will not accept these blessings, for you forbid it." 



Then after four days she took her offerings to the place where she 

 was to meet the spirit and told him that her father had forbidden 

 her to accept the blessing. " 'You are not a good spirit,' he said." 

 "He is right, for one side of my body is not good but the other is," 

 answered the spirit. "That is the way in which Earthmaker 

 created me." Thus the wak'ai°tcu° spoke. ^'^ Then the woman 

 looked toward the lake and she saw a tree standing in the water. 

 The spirit climbed upon this tree and wrapped himself around it. 

 Then he took a tooth and shot the tree and knocked it down.^"^ 

 "This is what you would have been able to do," said the spirit. 

 "The people would have respected you very much. You would have 

 been able to cure weak or nervous people. But you did not listen 

 to what I told you. You refused it." 



FASTING EXPERIENCE 

 (INFORMANT, CLAN UNKNOWN) 



A man fasted and was finally blessed. When he was to be blessed 

 a spirit came after him. He came from the south. "Human," he 

 said, "I was told to come after you." Then the man looked at him 

 and he saw that it was a man speaking to him. So he went along 

 with him. He did not go far before he came to a village and in the 

 middle of this village he saw a long lodge. There he was taken and 

 there he was blessed. The one that was in charge of the village 

 blessed him first. 



"I bless you with victory in ware. Wlienever you go on the war- 

 path and when you are about to make the rush, do not forget me. 

 If you pour some tobacco for me and then fight, the enemy will not 

 be able to kill you. I am in charge of wars." 



25^ When people are blessed by the Water-spirits they make medicines from the bones of the spirits. 

 They are also supposed to make what the Winnebagoes call "implements." What is actually meant by 

 this term it is very difficult to state precisely. But it seems that they meant sharpened bones, etc., used 

 in connection with the administration of magical medicines in painting the body, and in coimection with 

 shamanistic practices of all sorts. It is not common for other spirits beside the Water-spirits to bless an 

 individual with the use of "his bones," but this is occasionally met with. In the trickster cycle the trick- 

 ster, in one of his escapades, is squeezed into the skull of an elk, and he persuades the people that he is an 

 elk-spirit and blesses them and permits them to use his bones. 



30 This characteristic would seem to identify the wak'aintcu" with the disease-giver, although it is possible 

 that a number of Winnebago deities had such characleristics. 



^ This is a symbolistic representation of the powers she was given. 



