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to decompose and become loose and friable; evidently rocks too have power, 
and power means life, and life involves a soul and a shadow. All things 
then have souls and shadows. And all things die. But their souls are 
reincarnated again, and what were dead return to life. 
" When a tree rots and falls it does not really die, it only sleeps; sooner or later 
it will awaken and come to life again” (John Manatuwaba). 
“The tree does not die; it grows up again where it falls. When an animal is 
killed its soul goes into the ground with its blood; but later it comes back and is 
reincarnated where its blood entered the ground. Everything, trees, birds, animals, 
fish (and in earlier times human beings also), return to life; while they are dead 
their souls are merely awaiting reincarnation. My uncle lived four or five lives, 500 
years in all. But there are two veiy hard stones, one white and one black, that never 
die; they are called rneshkosh ” (Jim Nanibush). 
“ Sometimes a tree will fall when there is not a breath of wind. Its soul dies, 
just as the soul of a man dies and goes to the land of the west. But whither the 
tree’s soul goes no one knows” (Pegahmagabow). 
To the Ojibwa, then, all objects have life, and life is synonomous with 
power, which may be directed for the Indian’s good or ill. Just as man’s 
power comes from his intelligence, his soul, so does the power of the 
animal, tree, and stone. Therefore, the Indian should treat everything he 
sees or touches with the respect befitting a thing that has a soul and 
shadow not unlike his own. Let him not toss his hat idly to one side, but 
hang it on its peg; if his gun brings him no luck let him not curse it, but 
hang it away for a time; and if he is carrying firewood let him pile it care- 
fully to one side, not drop it on the path. It may be that the Indian is 
sometimes just as careless as white people in these matters, for he realizes 
that the souls of hats and firewood have little power to help or harm, and 
calmly disregards them. But he follows out his theory more strictly where 
greater issues are at stake. When he completes the building of a canoe he 
sometimes beseeches its soul to take good care of whoever may wield the 
paddle, and when running a rapid or pushing out into open water he often 
prays the soul of his craft to carry him safely through. Similarly, when 
a medicine-man gathers roots or leaves or bark, he propitiates the soul of 
each plant by placing a tiny offering of tobacco at its base, believing that 
without the co-operation of the soul the mere “body” of the plant can work 
no cure . 1 For the medicine-man operates through the souls and shadows of 
his instruments, which recognize his authority and obey his commands. 
“ While I was living at Shawanaga an Indian whom we had never seen visited 
the reservation to pick cranberries. There was a stone on the reservation not very 
large, but so heavy that no one could lift it; yet the stranger picked it up easily and 
hurled it into the lake. Evidently he had medicine power that gave him control over 
the soul of the stone. 
u Long ago, too, a tribe was entirely exterminated with the exception of an old 
woman and her grandchild. These two were living alone on a hill-top from which 
they had a wide view of the surrounding country when their enemies came and 
camped on the flat land at its foot. During the night the boy, who had been blessed 
by a marrido, touched some stones with a stick, and, pointing in the direction of his 
enemies, commanded the stone® to fall on them. The stones obeyed his command; 
they travelled like cannonballs, and destroyed everything they met ” (Pegahmagabow). 
Naturally it is to the souls and shadows of animals that the Indian 
pays special attention, because he will secure no game if he occasions them 
1 For other interpretations of this custom, however, See pp. 76 and 77. 
