Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-11-01
AN INDIAN LEGEND.

The Way Nnn-nb-beju Made the New
Earth After the Flood.
Il will tell you the story of Nan-ab-
beju. He Is the man who made the
new earth after the big water came
and covered it.
big waters came, and there was
nothing anywhere except water and
the sky and the sun and the stars,r
said the old Chippewa. "Nan-ab-beju
made great raft and put on 1t some
relic of everything that had been on
Tie cartll-spccimens of each kind of
an!mals. OF all the trees, shrubs, plants,
flowers, birds, rocks. and one man and
one woman. In short. he did not lefrye
anything except sand. He forgot to
save some sand, and yet he could not
lo anything without it. He sailed out
far into the flood and made n little
island. very, very small Then he found
he had no sand. He made very big
line. longer than hundreds Of deer
skins cat up into ribbons and tied to-
gether. and he took muskrat Off the
raft and tied the line to 1t and threw
IT into the water. The frightened rat
dove down and down, and when there
was no longer any pulling ct the liue
Nan-ab-beju knew the rat was at ~.
bottom of the sea. Then he began to
pull the line up. At the end of 1t came
the poor muskrat, stone dead, drowned.
But Nan-ab-beju saw that the little
black paws of the animal were clench.
ed as II there was something in their
palms and that the rat held tight hold
of even after death. The little paws
were forced open, and in them were
found half a dozen grains of sand. One
grain would have been enough for the
great Nan-ab-beju.
"Nan-ab-beju blew his breath on the
muskrat, and its life came back to 1t.
Then he mixed the sand in the little
island that lie had made and blew on
that also. As he blew and blew It
swelled and swellcd until 1t was SO big
that Nan-ab-beju could not see the
sides or end of 1t in any direction.
Nan-ab-beju was not quite certain
whether lie had made 1t as big as the
old earth before the big water came.
been-so big, in fact. that no man or
creature could find the end of 1t. lie
had plenty of animals that could trave,
ever the earth ana find out how big ii
was, SO lie deciS.cl to take two huge
buRal0es Off the raft and send them TO
see whether tht re was any end to whn!
he had made. 'fhe bulfaloes ram oil
a
down and waited. In Il few days tue
bunaloes came buck and said they ha.
found the end OF the earth. So Nam-a,,.
betu blew and blew and blew on the
ground again, and II swellel 80 fast
that you could see it broadening. When
he had blown until he was tired lie
took crow off the raft and sent it 10
see II 1t could find the end Of the
earth. The crow was gone very long
time, but at last 1t came sailing back
on the wind and said 1t had flown till it
was tired out and there was no sign of
any end to the earth.
'Nan-ab-beju, to make sure, blew
again and swelled the earth great
deal bigger. Then he united and un-
Gagged and untrapped all the animals
and drove them from the raft OH to the
land and left them free to roam where
they might. He took all the trees.
plants. bushes and shrubs and planted
them around, and he blew the grass
out Of his hands as hard as he could
blow 1t. SO that it scattered all over.
Next he let loose all the birds and bee
ties and bugs and snakes and toads
and butterflies, and finally he invited
the man and woman. both Chippeways,
to go ashore and make the new earth
their hunting ground. And Nan-ab-
bejus task was donc"-St. Nicholas.