Hoffman] THE STORY OF THE BUZZARD 203 



myself."' The Buzzard then replied, "No, Ma'nabush, you will not do 

 anything of tbe kind, because you can not deceive me. I shall watch 

 you." 



Ma'nabush kept on, and the Buzzard, not noticing anything peculiar 

 in the movements of Ma'nabush, flew on his way through the air. 

 Ma'nabush then decided to transform himself into a dead deer, because 

 he knew the Buzzard had chosen to subsist on dead animals and fish. 

 Ma'nabush then went to a place visible from a great distance and from 

 many directions, where he laid himself down and changed himself into 

 the carcass of a deer. Soon the various birds and beasts and crawl- 

 ing things that subsist on such food began to congregate about the 

 dead deer. The Buzzard saw the birds flying toward the place where 

 the body lay, and joined them. He flew around several times to see if 

 it was Ma'nabush trying to deceive him, then thought to himself, "No, 

 that is not Ma'nabush ; it is truly a dead deer." He then approached 

 the body and began to pick a hole into the fleshy part of the thigh. 

 Deeper and deeper into the flesh the Buzzard picked until his head and 

 neck were buried each time he reached in to pluck the fat from the 

 intestines. Without warning, while the Buzzard had his head com- 

 pletely hidden in the carcass of the deer, the deer jumped up and 

 pinched together his flesh, thus firmly grasping the head and neck of 

 the Buzzard. Then Ma'nabush said, "Aha! Buzzard, I did catch you 

 after all, as 1 told you I would. Now pull out your head." The Buz- 

 zard with great difficulty withdrew his head from the cavity in which 

 it had been inclosed, but the feathers were all pulled off, leaving his 

 scalp and neck covered with nothing but red skin. Then Ma'nabush 

 said to the bird, " Thus do I punish you for your deceitfulness; hence- 

 forth you will go through the world without feathers on your head and 

 neck, and you shall always stink because of the food you will be obliged 

 to eat." That is why the buzzard is such a bad-smelling fellow, and 

 why his head and neck are featherless. 



ma'nabush and the birds 



The following is a translation of a myth given by Nio'pet, and is a 

 variant of that furnished above by Shu'nien. The present narrative 

 also pretends to account for the origin of the word Winnebago. 



While Ma'nabush was once walking along a lake shore, tired and 

 hungry, he observed a long, narrow sandbar, which extended far out 

 into the water, around which were myriads of waterfowl, so Ma'nabush 

 decided to have a feast. He had with him only his medicine bag; 

 so he entered the brush and hung it upon a tree, now called "Ma'nii- 

 bush tree," and procured a quantity of bark, which he rolled into a 

 bundle and placing it upon his back, returned to the shore, where he 

 pretended to pass slowly by in sight of the birds. Some of the Swans 

 and Ducks, however, recognizing Ma'nabush and becoming frightened, 

 moved away from the shore. 



