132 THE MENOMINI INDIANS [eth.aun.14 



ana'maqkl'u placed themselves on one side of the ball "round, while 

 the Thunderers took the other, each of the latter selecting a player 

 from among their opponents, as the. players always go by pairs. 



After the game was started, Ma'nabush approached the grove of 

 trees, and, while cautiously following a stream which led near to the 

 knoll, he discovered an Indian painting himself. While watching the 

 process, Ma'nabush saw the Indian take clay, spread it on his hands, 

 and then scratching off some with the finger nails, so that the remainder 

 appeared like parallel stripes, the hands were then slapped upon the 

 shoulders, the arms, and the sides of the body. Then Ma'nabush said 

 to the Indian, " Who are you and what are yorr doing!" The Indian 

 replied in the Ottawa tongue, "I am Ket.'i'kibikot', and I am dressing 

 myself to play balk Do you not see they are going to have a great 

 time out there on the ball ground? Come and join the game." "No," 

 said Ma'nabush, -1 will not play; I will look on." (Keta'kibihof in 

 the Meuomini language is Keta'kibihit', and signifies "the striped one." 

 His modern name is Naku'ti, the Suufish.) 



Ma'nabush w r atched Naku'ti as he went on the ball field, and saw 

 that he paired himself with Una'wanink, the Pine squirrel of the 

 Thunderers. Man'iibush' then continued toward the knoll to see who 

 were his chief enemies. When he had gone as near as possible without 

 being seen, he climbed a. large tree, from which he had a good view of 

 the progress of the game, and on looking at the kuoll he saw the two 

 Bear chiefs lying there quietly, also watching the ball game. The 

 game lasted all day without either side gaining any advantage, and 

 when the sun was setting the players returned to their wigwams. 



When night came Ma'nabush descended the tree in which he had been 

 sitting, approached the knoll, and stood on a spot between the places 

 which had been occupied by the Bear chiefs. He then said, "I want 

 to be a pine tree, cut off half way between the ground and the top, 

 with two strong branches reaching over the places on which the Bear 

 chiefs lie down." Being a ma'nido, he immediately became a tree. When 

 the players returned next morning to resume the ball game, the Bear 

 chiefs and the other ana'maqkl'u said, " This tree was not standing here 

 yesterday;" but the Thunderers all replied that it had been there. Then 

 a discussion followed, during which the two sets of players retired to 

 their respective sides, and the game was postponed for awhile. The 

 Bear chiefs concluded that the tree must be Ma'nabush, and they at 

 once decided to destroy him. So they sent for the Grizzly Bear to come 

 to their assistance, and asked him to climb the tree, tear the bark from 

 the trunk, and scratch its throat and face. When the Grizzly Bear 

 had torn the bark from the trunk and bitten the branches, and had 

 scratched the top of the trunk at a point where the head and neck of 

 a human being should be, he gave it up and descended. The Bear 

 chiefs then called up a monster Serpent, which was lying in the brush 

 close by, and asked it to bite and strangle the tree. The Serpent 



