378 THE WIKNEBAGO TRIBE [eth. anx\. 37 



he never did it over again. Herecgunina lived on earth from that 

 time on, and it is said that he also created things. Indeed, it is said 

 that he was almost the equal of the Earthmaker. He made the people 

 very miserable. Then Earthmaker sent four of his sons (to save the 

 people) . Hare alone, of all the four, accomplished what he had been 

 sent out for. All the rest failed. Hare obtained life for the people 

 upon this earth. 



Then the man told how the medicine lodge had been founded; how 

 all the spirits upon the earth and all those under the earth and all 

 those above the earth gathered together. They brought life with them. 

 Then the medicine bags began to come. Fisrt came the eagle. He 

 came from above. Next came the hawk, and then the squirrel, etc. 

 The otter was the last one. Then the old man stopped talking to me 

 and another person began to admonish me. He told me how I was 

 to conduct myseK. Then he spoke to me of the medicine-lodge road 

 (i. e., of life) and what happens after life. 



The first thing that I would meet on the road would be bad birds 

 making a lot of noise. "Do not look at them," he told me. They 

 would let fly at me bad-smelling saliva and phlegm, but I was not 

 to turn around, he said. Then the road would become tliickly covered 

 with thorn bushes. It would seem almost impossible to untangle 

 them. I was, however, not to pay any attention to them, he told 

 me. On the road, fires would send their sparks toward me, but I 

 was to pay no attention to them. After a wliile I would lose one 

 of my relatives, but I was to keep right on. I was not to get angry 

 nor to give up, and after a while the road would become thickly 

 covered with poplars growing on each side. Then the hair on my 

 temples would become gra.V- This is what would happen to me, he 

 told me, if I paid close attention to this ceremony. After a while 

 it would become foggy — i. e., my eyesight would grow dim. Then 

 I would come to a hill, one of four hills. Wlien I came to the last 

 hill there I would see red cedar trees. This is what would happen 

 to me if I paid close attention to this ceremony, he told me. Mj 

 soul would return to Earthmaker and I would then be allowed to 

 come back to this earth if I wanted to. 



Then they gave me the object with which they shoot themselves — 

 the shell. They shot me. After that they made me try to do it, 

 and when I was able to shoot well, we all came back. It was now 

 daylight. Now they put clothes on themselves and arose. Those 

 who were initiating me then spread upon the ground the things 

 which had been brought. Then the leader spoke. He told me that 

 he would put me on the medicine-dance road. Then they sat me 

 down there and shot me. Then the clothes that I had on were 

 taken off and I was given other clothes. I was now told that I was 

 standing on the medicine-dance road. After that they danced all 

 day. In the evening they stopped. Now tliis is what I did; tins 

 is all I can say. I greet you, my friends. 



