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MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 16. 
spirits who know they are being pursued are nevertheless de- 
ceived. 
This is the Omaha motivation. 
"Haxige became an eagle and departed. Behold, the mon- 
sters lay flat on their backs . . . ‘Haxige is coming towards 
you,’ was said. He failed . . . 'What shall I do to get even 
with them ?* Haxige thought. Then he became a leaf again . . . 
'Haxige is coming toward you,’ was said. He failed. Then he 
became like a blue-backed bird-hawk . . 'Haxige is coming 
toward you,’ he said. He failed ... i\t length when the 
fourth day arrived he became a grass-snake, etc.” 
Among the Ojibwa of southeastern Ontario we find the fol- 
lowing commonly used motivation: 
"He (Nenebojo) first pondered about what disguise heshould 
take, so that he could approach them (the water-spirits) without 
being detected. ‘Well, ’ said he to himself, 'I think I’ll change 
myself into an old rotten stump.’ This he immediately did 
by means of a long rod that he always carried with him. 
"When the lions came out of the water to sun themselves, 
one of them noticed the stump and said to one of the others, 
'I never saw that old stump there before. Surely it can’t be 
Nenebojo ?’ But the one he was addressing said, ‘Indeed I have 
seen that stump before.’ Then a third one came over to look, 
in order to make certain. He broke a piece off and he saw 
that it was rotten. So they were all satisfied .” 1 
The Winnebago motivation shows a modification of the 
Omaha. 
"The next morning Holy One started for the place where 
the water-spirits bask in the sun. On the way he caught some 
mice and carried them along with him. He went to the sand-bar 
and there he turned himself into an old stump of a willow-tree 
full of mice’s nests and mice. Suddenly the lake began to roar 
and the tw r o spirits floated to the surface in the middle of the lake. 
Suddenly one of them said, ‘Look, there is Holy One!’ Then 
both dived back into the water again. After a while they came 
up again, but quickly dived back. A third and fourth time they 
1 P. Radin, "Some myths and tales of the Ojibwa of southeastern Ontario," p. 20. 
