hoffman] ma'nabdsh and the duck 163 



grasp it by the neck, so as to prevent its crying out, and twist off its 

 bead. In this way be secured four birds; but one, uot bearing the 

 voices of his friends, opened his eyes, notwithstanding the advice of 

 Ma'nabush, and beheld the bodies of four of the dancers lying on the 

 ground at the feet of Ma'nabush. When the bird saw this, he Mew up 

 and cried out, "My brothers, Mii'nabush is killing our friends; fly, or 

 we shall all be destroyed !" This bird was a Duck, and his wings made 

 a great noise as he rose into the air, which instantly startled the rest, 

 so that they escaped. Ma'nabush called to the Duck, and said, "For 

 your disobedience you shall always have red eyes." And to this day 

 the rings around the eyes of this bird are red. 



After the long journey which Ma'nabush had made, and the exertion 

 which he had undergone while singing for the dancers, he had become 

 very hungry; so he immediately gathered together enough wood to 

 make a large tire to cook his birds. He buried the bodies in a sandy 

 spot on the bank of the stream near by, leaving the legs exposed so 

 that he could And the birds when baked. Over these he built the fire, 

 and to rest himself he laid down near the fire, placing his buttocks 

 toward it. He said to his own buttocks, "You must not go to sleep 

 while I do so, but must watch that no one comes to rob me of my feast." 

 Then Ma'nabush fell asleep, confident that, when he had rested, he 

 would awaken to find the birds ready to eat. 



Now, it chanced that two Winnebago, who had been out hunting, 

 came by the place where Ma'nabush was sleeping, and, seeing smoke, 

 approached, under cover of the bushes, to see what caused the fire. 

 They soon beheld some one asleep near by, and, going still closer, saw 

 that it was Ma'nabush preparing a feast. Then one of the Winne- 

 bago said to the other, "It is Ma'nabush, and he has prepared a 

 feast; let us go and eat it while he is asleep." The other agreed, so, 

 going to the tire and beholding the feet of the birds protruding from the 

 sand, they pulled them out. The birds were eaten, and when the Win- 

 nebago were ready to leave, they placed the legs back into the ground, 

 in order to make it appear that they had not been disturbed. 



Alter a long sleep Ma'nabush awoke, and thinking the birds had by 

 this time become cooked, he pulled up the first pair of legs, but found 

 nothing attached to them. Not knowing what to make of this, unless 

 the bird had become overcooked, he dug into the sand, but the body had 

 gone. Then he pulled out the second pair of legs, but, finding that the 

 body to which they belonged had also disappeared, he became very 

 much alarmed. He pulled out the third pair of legs with the same result 

 as before, so he hurried to the fourth pair, only to discover that all his 

 birds had been devoured by someone. Then Ma'nabush threw up his 

 hands in distress and cried, " Ah ! I have been robbed of my feast; who 

 could have done this?" Looking about in every direction he failed to 

 learn anything of the thieves who had plundered him during his sleep. 

 Then Mii'nabush slapped his buttocks and asked, " Who robbed me of 



