Source: http://hotcakencyclopedia.com/ho.HowHillsAndValleysFormed.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 06:54:25+00:00

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Commentary. Version 1 — In many ways version 3 is the opposite of version 1 — the flat earth is good for humans and animals in v. 3, bad for them in v. 1; it is pity that creates in v. 1, but the spirit of vengeance in v. 3; it is Earthmaker who is the creator in v. 1, the (Bad) Thunderbirds who destroy in v. 3; the action in v. 1 is conceived as creation, in v. 3 it is destruction; in v. 1 it is water that is the creative agent, in v. 3 it is lightning (= Thunderbird Warclub), a version of fire; v. 1 is of the Waterspirit Clan, v. 3 is of its opposite, the Thunderbird Clan.
Version 2 — The creation of contour through the use of the Thunderbird Warclub is really the counterpart of lightning. Lightning is said to shoot from the eyes of the Thunderbirds. Both versions 1 and 2 therefore have something to do with creation from the eyes.
The word mąče denotes the warclub, but it seems also to mean "earth-divider."4 It may in fact come from mąčé, which means, "to break, crack, or tear a soft substance by cutting."5 However, the fact that it seems to mean "earth-divider" is no doubt a stimulus to a story in which the warclub actually divides the earth into hills and valleys.
Version 3 — The Bad Thunderbirds are responsible for the rain, and its the rain that drives earthworms to the surface where they can be eaten by birds. Lightning, which is shot from the eyes of Thunderbirds, is by nature a stone. The Hočąk arrowhead, the counterpart of the thunder stone, is made from the snapping turtle claw, flint arrowheads having been purely found items. Items that are found were considered to have been left by the spirits to be so discovered. The tradition is that these points were made by worms.6 Thus, worms make a weapon-stone that is the lower world counterpart to the thunder stones launched by the Thunderbirds. The Hawk Clan, who has a ritual where they eat the center of a fish and move its head and tail to either side, are closely aligned with the Bad Thunderbirds. The creation of hills and ravines in the earth is a creation of hierarchy which impedes the license of the earth animals (and clans). The fish ritual expresses height and centrality; the driving down of the earthworm enemies is a complementary expression of the establishment of hierarchy in terms of the contrast of superior and inferior. The transitive nature of the food chain is another expression of hierarchy. "Worm" seems to function as a Thunderbird word for snakes (see Waruǧabᵉra). Thunderbirds eat snakes, just like the large raptorial birds upon whom they are partly modeled. The Snake Clan is responsible for maintaining the grounds of a campsite or village, so they have much to do with the surface of the earth. Thus, they represent a terrestrial counterpart to the Fish (and Waterspirit) Clan, and the myth establishes the complementary terrestrial expression of hierarchy over the earth as well as over the waters.
Links: Earthmaker, Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird Warclub, Cosmography.
Stories: about the creation of the world: The Creation of the World; Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (v. 1), Hočąk Clans Origin Myth, Šųgepaga; alluding to the creation of man: The Creation of Man, The Creation of the World, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Elk Clan Origin Myth, The Spirit of Gambling, Wolves and Humans, Hočąk Clans Origin Myth; mentioning Earthmaker: The Creation of the World, The Creation of Man, The Commandments of Earthmaker, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Lost Blanket, Earthmaker Blesses Wagíšega (Wešgíšega), The Man Who Would Dream of Mą’ųna, The First Snakes, Tobacco Origin Myth, The Creation Council, The Gray Wolf Origin Myth, The Journey to Spiritland, The Resurrection of the Chief's Daughter, The Seven Maidens, The Descent of the Drum, Thunder Cloud Marries Again, The Spider's Eyes, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Fourth Universe, Šųgepaga, The Fatal House, The Twin Sisters, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Elk Clan Origin Myth, Deer Clan Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, The Masaxe War, The Two Children, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Petition to Earthmaker, The Gift of Shooting, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Stone Heart, The Wild Rose, Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins, The Lame Friend, The Hočąk Migration Myth, The Necessity for Death, Hočąk Clans Origin Myth, The War among the Animals, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, Blue Mounds, Lost Lake, The Hočągara Migrate South, The Spirit of Gambling, Turtle and the Giant, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hočągara, The Hočągara Contest the Giants, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Bird Origin Myth, Black and White Moons, Redhorn's Sons, Holy Song, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, Death Enters the World, Man and His Three Dogs, Trickster Concludes His Mission, Story of the Thunder Names, The Origins of the Milky Way, Trickster and the Dancers, Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, The Creation of Evil, The Blessing of Kerexųsaka, Song to Earthmaker, The Blessing of the Bow, The Stench-Earth Medicine Origin Myth, The Origin of the Cliff Swallow; mentioning the Thunderbird Warclub: Waruǧábᵉra, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, The Thunderbird, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, cf. Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth; mentioning Thunderbirds: The Thunderbird, Waruǧábᵉra, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Boy who was Captured by the Bad Thunderbirds, Traveler and the Thunderbird War, The Boulders of Devil's Lake, Thunderbird and White Horse, Bluehorn's Nephews, The Man who was a Reincarnated Thunderbird, The Thunder Charm, The Lost Blanket, The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Story of the Thunder Names, The Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Pigeon Clan Origins, Bird Clan Origin Myth, Adventures of Redhorn's Sons, Brave Man, Ocean Duck, Turtle's Warparty, The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Quail Hunter, Heną́ga and Star Girl, The Twins Join Redhorn's Warparty, Redhorn's Sons, The Dipper, The Stone that Became a Frog, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Redhorn Contests the Giants, The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father, The Warbundle of the Eight Generations, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Origin of the Hočąk Chief, The Spirit of Gambling, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Aračgéga's Blessings, Kunu's Warpath, The Orphan who was Blessed with a Horse, The Glory of the Morning, The Nightspirits Bless Čiwoit’éhiga, The Green Waterspirit of the Wisconsin Dells, A Waterspirit Blesses Mąnį́xete’ų́ga, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Big Stone, Pete Dupeé and the Ghosts, Song to Earthmaker, The Origins of the Milky Way; mentioning the Ocean Sea (Te Ją): Trickster's Adventures in the Ocean, Hare Retrieves a Stolen Scalp (v. 1), Otter Comes to the Medicine Rite, The Rounded Wood Origin Myth, The Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Trickster and the Children, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, Wears White Feather on His Head, White Wolf, How the Thunders Met the Nights (Mąznį’ąbᵋra), Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 2a, 3), Wolf Clan Origin Myth (v. 2), Redhorn's Sons, Grandfather's Two Families, Sun and the Big Eater, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4), The Sons of Redhorn Find Their Father (sea), The Dipper (sea), The Thunderbird (a very wide river), Wojijé, The Twins Get into Hot Water (v. 1), Redhorn's Father, Trickster Concludes His Mission, Berdache Origin Myth, Thunder Cloud is Blessed, Morning Star and His Friend.
Themes: a body of water is created by tears falling from above: The Creation of the World, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Holy One and His Brother; as a punishment, a spirit decrees that someone be transformed into an animal: The Skunk Origin Myth (skunk), The Brown Squirrel (squirrel), Old Man and Wears White Feather (owl), Brass and Red Bear Boy (grizzly), Waruǧábᵉra (owl), The Chief of the Heroka (owl), Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ant); a human turns into a (spirit) animal: How the Thunders Met the Nights (Thunderbird), Waruǧábᵉra (Thunderbird), The Dipper (hummingbird), Keramaniš’aka's Blessing (black hawk, owl), Heną́ga and Star Girl (black hawk), Elk Clan Origin Myth (elk), Young Man Gambles Often (elk), Sun and the Big Eater (horse), The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Were-Grizzly, Partridge's Older Brother (bear), The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother (bear), Porcupine and His Brothers (bear), The Shaggy Man (bear), The Roaster (bear), Wazųka (bear), White Wolf (dog, wolf), Worúxega (wolf, bird, snake), Eats the Stinking Part of the Deer Ankle (buffalo), The Brown Squirrel (squirrel), The Skunk Origin Myth (skunk), The Fleetfooted Man (otter, bird), The Diving Contest (Waterspirit), The Woman who Married a Snake (snake, Waterspirit), The Omahas who turned into Snakes (four-legged snakes), The Twins Get into Hot Water (v. 3) (alligators), Snowshoe Strings (a frog), The Woman Who Became an Ant, Hare Kills a Man with a Cane (ant); a human is an affine of the Thunderbirds: The Daughter-in-Law's Jealousy, The Thunderbird, Waruǧábᵉra.
1 Keeley Bassette (Waterspirit Clan), "Legend," in David Lee Smith, Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997) 149.
2 Charles E. Brown, Wisconsin Indian Place Legends (Madison: Works Progress Administration, Wisconsin, 1936): 5; Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 ) 166.
3 David Lee Smith (Thunderbird Clan), "How Valleys and Ravines Came to Be," in David Lee Smith, Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997) 100-101.
4 Mary Carolyn Marino, A Dictionary of Winnebago: An Analysis and Reference Grammar of the Radin Lexical File (Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Berkeley, December 14, 1968 [69-14,947]) 159, sv mąče.
5 Kenneth L. Miner, Winnebago Field Lexicon (University of Kansas: June, 1984) s. v.
6 Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 ) 38.
7 William Jones, "Episodes in the Culture-Hero Myth of the Sauks and Foxes," The Journal of American Folk-lore, XIV, #55 (Oct-Dec, 1901) 225-238 .
8 Procesos de indios idólatras y hechiceros, ed. Luis González Obrigón (Mexico City: SG-AGN/Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 1912) 179-180. The Spanish text reads, «de este diablo o ídolo ... dizque tenía tal figura, que le podían quitar un muslo con la pierna, y cuando iban a la guerra, en la tierra que habían de conquistar, tomaban aquel muslo o pierna del ídolo y con ella herían la tierra, y con aquello dizque vencían y conquistaban y sujetaban a los enemigos.» Guilhem Olivier, "Sacred Bundles, Arrows, and New Fire: Foundation and Power in the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2,"in Cave, City, and Eagle's Nest: An Interpretive Journey Through the Mapa De Cuauhtinchan No. 2, edd Davíd Carrasco and Scott Sessions (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007) 294b.

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