172 THE MENOMINI INDIANS [eth.ann.u 



traveled onward until night. Then said Pa'skin8'u T to his wife, "Here 

 we will remain, for we are near to my sister's wigwam." 



Pii'skinc'rT then gathered materials for the erection of a wigwam, in 

 which work his wife assisted. On the following morning Pa'skin8'u v 

 went to visit his sister, who, on seeing him, said, "Brother, where have 

 you been so long? I have been faring very badly during your absence, 

 for I have had scarcely anything to eat. I am therefore very glad you 

 have returned." 



Pa'sking'u" then told his sister where he had been, and said to her, 

 "We live over there in the grove where you see the smoke ascending. 

 Come over to see us." 



She accompanied her brother to his wigwam and saw that he had an 

 abundance of food, some of which he gave her. Thereafter she had 

 sufficient to enable her to live comfortably, as Pa'skine'ii" remained 

 living near by. 



Ma'nabush left the wigwam occupied by the sister of P;i'skinr'u v , 

 as he had thus far aided in the success of one of the ana'inaqkl'u, who 

 were his friends. He went to the place where his grandmother, Oqko- 

 ma'si, dwelt. Her wigwam was near a stream which passed by a huge 

 rock called O'qkone'me ("the place of the liver"), over which the water 

 fell, forming a dam, beyond which the beavers could neither ascend nor 

 descend. One day Ma'nabush wanted some beaver meat to eat ; so he 

 went to the water and dug a deep trench to entrap a beaver. In this 

 he was successful, and the next day he dug another deep ditch, from 

 which he secured another beaver. On the third day, while digging out 

 another beaver, he heard the voices of many animals and birds. These 

 proved to be ma'nidos, who were discussing how they would stop him 

 from getting out any more beavers. But Ma'nabush succeeded in 

 obtaining a third beaver, which, with the others, he ate, thi'owing the 

 bones on the ground for his grandmother. 



The animals, among which were the Wolf, the Fox, the Mink, and 

 many others, were still excitedly discussing how they would attack 

 Ma'nabush. Yet he heeded them not, but told his grandmother to put 

 a kettle over the fire and boil some water, as he wanted to make some 

 soup for her. While she was doing this, Ma'nabush gathered together 

 the bones and cracked them so that the marrow would readily come out 

 into the water. Ma'nabush then said to the old woman, " Grandmother, 

 now I will sing while you dance around the kettle." 



" No," replied the grandmother, " I can not dance, for I am too old." 



"Yes, you can, and you must dance, because that is the only way the 

 soup will become strong and more palatable," returned Ma'nabush. 



The old woman still hesitated, but when Ma'nabush began to sing 

 she could not resist dancing around the kettle. When she had gone 

 but halfway around, Ma'nabush said, " Grandmother, to make the 

 dance more effective, and to strengthen the soup, you must remove the 

 skirts from your body." She gradually removed her clothing while 



