LITERARY ASPECTS OF NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY. 
45 
The death of Holy One is not directly motivated in all 
versions of this myth, his death, however, being assumed. 1 
Let us see how certain of the above themes are treated in 
detail; for instance, the manner in which Holy One discovers 
the slayers of his brother. The motivation is various. The 
following is the Omaha version. 
“On the bank of the stream the grass was lying in good 
condition. There he (Haxige) lay down. As he lay two ducks 
came to him. They went diving. And they came up again. 
One said as follows: ‘My friend, when Haxige ’s younger brother 
was killed, I had a great abundance of food. How was it with 
you ?’ ‘My friend, I did not have a good time. Only the little 
finger was left for me; and I said that no matter when I saw 
him, I would tell him (Haxige) about his own,’ said the duck. 
“When Haxige heard it he became a leaf. Having fallen 
on the water, the leaf went floating in the space between the ducks. 
When he reached the very place he seized the ducks by the neck/’ 2 
The following is the Ojibwa version obtained at Rama, 
Ontario: 
“As he (Nenebojo)was walking along the shore of a lake, he 
saw a Kingfisher sitting on a branch of a tree, that was bending 
over the lake, intently looking at something in the water. ‘What 
are you looking at ?’ asked Nenebojo. The Kingfisher pretended 
not to hear him. Then Nenebojo said again, ‘If you will tell 
me what you are looking at, I will make you look very beautiful. 
I will paint your feathers.’ The bird gladly accepted the offer, 
and as soon as Nenebojo had painted his feathers, he said, 
‘I am looking at Nenebojo’s brother whom the water-spirits 
have killed and whose skin they are using as a door-flap.” 3 
The Winnebago version is given on pages 22-24. 
In the next episode Holy One must wound the water-spirits 
and thereupon disguise himself in such a way that the water- 
1 Cf., for instance, the first part of the Fox origin myth of the Midewiwin and the end of 
the Omaha myth of Haxige's Adventures. In the Fox version we have both a specific moti- 
vation — the spirits’ enmity against Wi'sa'ka's — and the traditional belief that Wi.sa.ka’s 
brother is the ruler of the realms of the dead. 
1 J. O. Dorsey, ibid., p. 240. 
* P. Radin, “Some myths and tales of the Ojibwa of southeastern Ontario," pp. 19, 20. 
