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that the sea became clean and sweet. The Indian returned to his home content, 
and the Great Spirit said, ‘A man who has too much power will always produce 
trouble ^ 
The name of the wind-maker was Gabiun, 'North-west wind’; for the wind 
used to blow steadily from the northwest except when a storm came up from some 
other direction. But he has also another name, Nodinaum, ‘Wind-maker”' (Mary 
Sugedub). 
In olden times, of course, the Ojibwa did not know the real causes of 
wind or thunder; nor could they conceive of the earth as a tiny satellite 
in a solar system, itself one of the least of many similar systems. The 
earth, insofar as they knew it, was flat and roofed with a flat layer of 
sky. Man can see only the under-surface of the sky; its upper surface 
is like this earth, abounding in woods and streams and game, but free 
from misery and unhappiness. 
“Some children were playing in the sky above when a boy fell through and 
dropped into Parry sound close to an Indian camp. He lived with the Indians for 
a long time until he received word that something would come to take him home. 
Then he said to his Indian friends ‘ Why don’t some of you come back with me. 
There is plenty of game in the sky above, no sickness and no unhappiness.’ He 
embarked in a stone boat that came down for him and returned to the sky. The 
Indians never saw him again” (John Manatuwaba). 
Even today some Indians believe that there are six layers of worlds 
in the sky above, and correspondingly six beneath; others assert that there 
are only two, one upper and one lower. The Milky Way holds up the 
earth like a curving bucket-handle. If it breaks the world will come 
to an end; if it changes its direction the life of the world will change 
(Pegahmagabow) . Or the Milky Way is the road of souls to the land 
of the dead (Manatuwaba) ; or, again, it is the pathway of the migrating 
birds, made for them by turtle at the command of the Great Spirit (Jonas 
and Tom King). 
“Turtle received no duties from the Great Spirit. Consequently, it remained 
at the bottom of the water; but whenever it saw an Indian paddling along it rose 
to the surface and devoured him. The Great Spirit sent down two boys to attack 
it with their bows and arrows. Turtle descended to the bottom of the water and 
travelled north, but when it rose to the surface there one of the boys shot it in 
the tail. It flung its tail into the air, splashing the spray high up into the sky 
where it became the Milky Way. Since that time turtle has helped the Indians” 
(Jim Nanibush). 
There are numerous myths of this type describing the origins of 
various stars, of sun and moon, of wind and snow, and other phenomena 
about which the Indians pondered. Many Ojibwa still believe in the 
historic truth of all these stories; others are frankly sceptical of some 
of them, regarding them as pleasant fairy tales. In earlier times sceptics 
were probably rare, because almost anything could seem possible to 
people who were ignorant of the physical laws that govern natural 
phenomena, and who interpreted all things spiritually. Even we do not 
know what is possible, and what impossible, in the realm of mind and 
thought. Allowing for their ignorance of “ natural laws,” may we not 
say that their interpretation of nature is entirely logical, provided we 
grant their initial premise that the possession of a soul (and shadow) is 
not the special heritage of man alone, but shared by him with everything 
else around? 
