he, is rendered on the instant a helpless cripple. No hunter who has regard
for his health ever fails to ask pardon of the deer for killing it, although
some who have not learned the proper formula may attempt to turn aside the
Little Deer from his pursuit by building a fire behind them in the trail.
Next came the fishes and reptiles, who had their own grievances against
humanity. They held a joint council and determined to make their victims dream
of snakes twining about them in slimy folds and blowing their fetid breath in
their faces, or to make them dream of eating raw or decaying fish, so that they
would lose appetite, sicken, and die. Thus it is that snake and fish dreams are
accounted for.
Finally the birds, insects, and smaller animals came together for a like
purpose, and the Grubworm presided over the deliberations. It was decided that
each in turn should express an opinion and then vote on the question as to
whether or not man should be deemed guilty. Seven votes were to be sufficient
to condemn him. One after another denounced man's cruelty and injustice toward
the other animals and voted in favor of his death. The Frog (walâ'sï) spoke
first and said: "We must do something to check the increase of the race or
people will become so numerous that we shall be crowded from off the earth. See
how man has kicked me about because I'm ugly, as he says, until my back is
covered with sores;" and here he showed the spots on his skin. Next came
the Bird (tsi'skwa; no particular species is indicated), who condemned man
because "he burns my feet off," alluding to the way in which the
hunter barbecues birds by impaling them on a stick set over the fire, so that
their feathers and tender feet are singed and burned. Others followed in the
same strain. The Ground Squirrel alone ventured to say a word in behalf of man,
who seldom hurt him because he was so small; but this so enraged the others
that they fell upon the Ground Squirrel and tore him with their teeth and
claws, and the stripes remain on his back to this day.
The assembly then began to devise and name various diseases, one after
another, and had not their invention finally failed them not one of the human
race would have been able to survive. The Grubworm in his place of honor hailed
each new malady with delight, until at last they had reached the end of the
list, when some one suggested that it be arranged so that menstruation should
sometimes prove fatal to woman. On this he rose up in his place and cried:
"Wata'n! Thanks! I'm glad some of them will die, for they are
getting so thick that they tread on me." He fairly shook with joy at the
thought, so that he fell over backward and could not get on his feet again, but
had to wriggle off on his back, as the Grubworm has done ever since.
When the plants, who were friendly to man, heard what had been
{p. 322}
done by the animals, they determined to defeat their evil
designs. Each tree, shrub, and herb, down even to the grasses and mosses,
agreed to furnish a remedy for some one of the diseases named, and each said:
"I shall appear to help man when he calls upon me in his need." Thus
did medicine originate, and the plants, every one of which has its use if