In the far north there was a village
where many warlike Indians lived. In one family
there were ten brothers, all brave and fearless.
In the spring of the year the youngest brother blackened
his face and fasted for several days. Then he
sent for his nine brothers and said to them:
“I have fasted and dreamed,
and my dreams are good. Will you come on a war
journey with me?”
“Yes,” they all said readily.
“Then tell no one, not even
your wives, of our plan.” They agreed to
meet on a certain night so that no one should see them
go. One brother was named Mudjekeewis, and he
was very odd. He was the first to promise that
he would not tell. The next two days were spent
in preparations for the journey. Mudjekeewis
told his wife many times to get his moccasins for
him.
“And hurry.” he said; “do hurry.”
“Why do you want them?” she asked.
“You have a good pair on.”
“Well, if you must know, we are going on a war
journey,” he answered.
When the night had come which the
leader had named, they met at his wigwam and set out
on their long journey. The snow lay on the ground,
and the night was very dark.
After they had travelled some miles,
the leader gathered some snow and made it into a ball.
He threw it in the air and said, as it fell, “It
was thus I saw the snow fall in my dreams to cover
our footmarks, so that no one may follow us.”
The snow began to fall heavily and
continued for two days. It was so thick that
they could scarcely see each other, though they walked
very closely together.
The leader cheered his brothers by
telling them they would win in their battle.
At this Mudjekeewis, who was walking behind, ran forward.
He swung his war-club in the air and uttered the
war-cry. Then bringing his war-club down, he
struck a tree, and it fell as if hit by lightning.
“See, brothers,” he said,
“this is the way I shall serve our enemy.”
“Hush, Mudjekeewis,” said
the leader. “He whom we are going to fight
cannot be treated so lightly.”
Then they travelled on for several
days, until at last they reached the borders of the
White Plain, where the bones of men lay bleaching.
“These are the bones of men
who have gone before us. No one has ever returned
to tell of their sad fate.” Mudjekeewis
looked frightened at this and thought, “I wonder
who this terrible enemy is.”
“Be not afraid, my brothers,”
said the leader. Mudjekeewis then took courage,
again jumped forward, and uttering the war-cry, brought
his warclub down on a small rock, and split it into
pieces. “See, I am not afraid,”
he cried. “Thus shall I serve my enemy.”
But the leader still pressed onward over the plain,
until at last a small rise in the ground brought them
in sight of the enemy. Some distance away, on
the top of the mountain, a giant bear lay sleeping.
“Look, brothers,” said
the leader. “There is the mighty enemy,
for he is a Manitou. But come now, we need not
fear, as he is asleep. Around his neck he has
the precious wampum, which we must take from him.”
They advanced slowly and quietly.
The huge animal did not hear them. Around his
neck was a belt which contained the wampum.
“Now we must take this off,”
said the youngest brother. One after the other
tried, but could not do it, until the next to the youngest
tried. He pulled it nearly over the bear’s
head. Then came the turn of the youngest, and
he pulled it the rest of the way. He put the
belt quickly on the back of the oldest brother.
“Now we must run,” said
the leader, “for when he awakens, he will miss
his belt.”
They all hastened away. The
wampum was very heavy, so they had to take turns in
carrying it. They kept looking back as they ran,
and had almost reached the edge of the plain before
the bear awoke. He slowly rose to his feet and
stood for a moment before he noticed that the belt
was gone. Then he uttered a roar that reached
to the skies.
“Who has dared to steal my belt?”
he roared. “Earth is not so large but
that I shall find him.”
Saying this, he jumped from the mountain,
and the earth shook with his weight. Then with
powerful strides he rushed in pursuit of the brothers.
They had passed all the bones now
and were becoming very tired.
“Brothers,” said the leader,
“I dreamed that when we were hard pressed and
running for our lives, we saw a lodge where an old
man lived, and he helped us. I hope my dream
will come true.”
Just then they saw, a short distance
away, a lodge with smoke curling from the top.
They ran to it, and an old man opened the door.
“Grandfather,” they gasped,
“will you save us? A Manitou is after us.”
“Who is a Manitou but I?”
said he. “Come in and eat.”
They entered the lodge and he gave them food.
Then, opening the door, he looked out and saw the
bear coming with great strides. Shutting the
door, he said, “He is indeed a mighty Manitou
and will take my life; but you asked for my help and
I shall give it. When he comes, you run out of
the back door.”
Going to a bag which hung from a tree,
he took out two small, black, dogs. He patted
the sides of the dogs, and they began to swell until
they filled the doorway. The dogs had strong,
white teeth and growled fiercely. The bear had
now reached the door, and with one bound the first
dog leaped out, followed by the second. The brothers
ran out of the back of the lodge. They could
hear the howls of the animals as they fought, and
looking back, they saw first one dog killed, then the
other, and at last the shrieks of the old man came
to them as the bear tore him in pieces. They
doubled their speed now, as they saw the bear beginning
to follow them again. The food they had eaten
gave them new strength, so they were able to run very
swiftly for a time. But at last they all felt
their strength fail again, for the bear was close
behind them now.
“Brothers, I had another dream,”
said the leader. “It was that an old Manitou
saved us. Perhaps his lodge is near us now.”
Even as he spoke, they came in sight
of another lodge, and as they ran up to the door an
old man opened it.
“Save us from the Manitou,”
they cried as they rushed in.
“Manitou?” he said.
“Who is a Manitou but I? Come in and eat,”
and he closed the door. He brought food for
them; then he looked out of the door. The bear
was only a few yards away now. Hastily closing
the door, he said, “This is indeed a mighty
Manitou. You have brought trouble to me, my
children; but you run out the back way and I shall
fight him.”
He then went to his medicine sack
and drew out two war-clubs of black stone. As
he handled them they grew to an immense size.
He opened the door, and as he did so, the brothers
ran out the back way. They could hear the blows
like claps of thunder as he hit the bear on the head.
After that came two sharp cracks, and they knew the
clubs were broken with the force of the blows.
Then came his shrieks, as he met the fate of the
first old man. They tried to run faster than
ever now, for they knew the bear must be after them
again, but their strength was nearly gone.
“Oh, brother,” they asked,
“have you no other dream to help us?”
“Yes, I dreamed, when we were
running like this, that we came to a lake and on the
shore of it was a canoe with ten paddles in it waiting
for us. We jumped in and were saved.”
As he spoke, there appeared in front
of them a lake just as he had dreamed, and a canoe
waiting. Getting in, they quickly paddled to
the middle of the lake, and waited to see what the
bear would do.
He came on with his slow, powerful
strides until he reached the water’s edge.
Then, rising on his hind legs, he took a look around.
Dropping down, he waded into the water, but slipped
and nearly fell. He waded out and began to walk
around the lake. When he reached the spot he
had started from, he bent down his head and began
to drink the waters of the lake. He drank in
such large mouthfuls that the brothers could see the
water sinking, and the current began to flow so swiftly
towards his mouth that they could not keep their canoe
steady. It floated in the current straight to
him.
“Now, Mudjekeewis,” said
the leader, “this is your chance to show us
how you would treat your enemy.”
“I shall show you and him,”
said Mudjekeewis. Then, as the canoe came near
the big mouth, he stood up and levelled his war-club.
Just as the boat touched the bear’s teeth,
Mudjekeewis uttered the war-cry and dealt the animal
a mighty blow on the head. This he repeated,
and the bear fell stunned. As the animal fell,
he disgorged the water with such force that it sent
the canoe spinning to the other side of the lake,
where the brothers landed and ran ahead as fast as
they could. They had not gone far when they could
hear the bear coming behind them.
“Do not be afraid, brothers,”
said the leader, as he noticed how frightened they
all looked. “I have one more dream.
If it fails us, we are lost, but let us hope that
it will come true. I dreamed we were running,
and we came to a lodge out of which came a young maiden.
Her brother was a Manitou and by his magic she saved
us. Run on and fear not, else your limbs will
be fear-bound. Look for his lodge.”
And sure enough, behind a little clump
of trees, stood a lodge. As they ran to it a
maiden came forth and invited them in.
“Enter,” she said, “and
rest. I shall meet the bear, and when I need
you, I shall call you.”
Saying this, she took down a medicine-sack,
which was hanging on the wall near the door.
They entered, and she walked out to meet the bear.
The animal came up with angry growls and swinging strides.
The maiden quickly opened the medicine-sack and took
out some war feathers, paint, and tufts of hair.
As the bear came up, the girl tossed
them up in the air, saying, “Behold, these are
the magic arrows of my dead brother. These are
the magic war paints of my dead brother. This
is the eagle’s feather of my dead brother, and
these are the tufts of hair of wild animals he has
killed.”
As she said these words and the things
fell on the ground near the animal, he tottered and
fell. She called the brothers, and they rushed
out.
“Cut him into pieces quickly,”
she said, “or he will come to life again.”
They all set to work and cut the huge
animal into small pieces, which they tossed away.
When they had finished, they saw, to their surprise,
that these pieces had turned into small, black bears,
which had jumped up and were running away in every
direction. And it is from these bears that the
bears called the Makwas had their beginning.