As a semidivine human, the hero may often have to rid the world of monsters and dangerous spirits. Yet in his guise as Trickster, he frequently resorts to subterfuge and violence, irrespective of circumstances. One famous episode from Mana -bozho’s life illustrates these dual characteristics. Manabozho once learned of a forthcoming game of lacrosse between the dei ties of the sky and the underworld, to take place on a huge site across an area stretching from present-day Detroit to Chicago. On the morning of the game, he turned himself into a great pine tree so that he could watch the game unnoticed. The contest began amid much noise and inconclusive skirmishing. But as the game went on, Manabozho became so engrossed in the action that he changed back into a man and began shooting arrows at the underworld gods. Enraged, they chased Manabozho, who narrowly escaped by climbing to the top of a tall tree. As the Trickster turned victim, Manabozho’s plan misfires. Yet it is in his role as a hero that he intervenes in the contest in the first place, for the benefit of humanity.
Orphan Heroes
At the outset of their adventures, many of the heroes of Native American cultures are on the margins of society. Several Alaskan Inuit narratives describe how a destitute boy, sometimes accompanied by his grandmother, gains social status or becomes a shaman by displaying intelligence or bravery. These heroic figures may then be called upon to rid the world of such destructive entities as giant rodents or dangerous women who practice shamanistic rites. Most of the tales end with the death of the animals and the socialization of the women through marriage and childbirth.
Further stories from Inuit cultures describe how orphans undertake supernatural quests. These ordeals usually involve outwitting hostile spirits. The hero of an Alaskan story, a young adventurer called Ukunniq, is so poor that he has holes in his boots. His first encounter is with spirits who have devised a deadly game for him, involving splitting a log with potentially lethal whalebone wedges. Protected by a magical amulet, Ukunniq terrifies the spirits by threatening them—semi-humorously—with the toes that protrude through his boots. The serious message of the story is that the boy derives his shamanistic power from his poverty. He grows in stature through successive ordeals, and he finally crowns his career by marrying a proud woman who has killed all her former suitors. Together they produce children who themselves become heroes.
This painting of a medicine mask Dance (1850), by the Canadian artist Paul Kane, shows masked Klallam shamans from the Northwest Coast. in Native mythology, social outcasts would often be rehabilitated by acquiring shamanistic powers.
The story of the orphan Sweet Medicine, told by the Cheyenne of Wyoming and South Dakota, also involves supernatural abilities. As a child, Sweet Medicine provided a foretaste of his future shamanistic powers (see pages 116–18) by causing miraculous disappearances and indulging in grossly antisocial behavior. He capped this one day when he performed a dance in which he cut off his own head. His grandmother, who was his guardian spirit, revived him on this occasion, but such eccentric behaviour only served to alienate him from society. His isolation grew deeper as he approached adulthood. In a quarrel over a buffalo skin, Sweet Medicine killed a powerful chief and fled the village. Warriors attempted to hunt him down, but he taunted his pursuers by appearing and vanishing at will, successively transforming himself into a coyote, a rabbit, a crow, an owl and a blackbird.
When the Cheyenne finally succeeded in confining Sweet Medicine to one location, his response was to use his shamanistic powers to retire for four years to the realm of the animal spirits. Here he persuaded the spirits to withhold the animals that the Cheyenne hunted, so causing a great famine among them. Eventually, he returned and was moved to pity by some hungry children that he encountered. After feeding them, he issued instructions to the rest of the community about how the destructive feud was to be healed. They were to build a special lodge with a buffalo skull in the center. Once this had been accomplished, he appeared among them and intoned sacred songs for four days and nights. At the end of this time, the hunters emerged from the lodge to find buffalo grazing in their village.
The Boy and the Horse
A story told by the Pawnee people of the Plains region concerns a destitute boy whose compassion is ultimately rewarded with renown as a warrior. The rise of a person from humble origins to great prowess is a common theme of Native myths.
A poor boy lived with his grandmother on the outskirts of a village. The two were so impoverished that they were reduced to eating the soles of old moccasins and the remains of other people’s food. On one occasion, near a campsite, the boy was dismayed to see people shooting at a nest of eagles.
Later, as the boy was scavenging, an eagle approached him. “Because you felt sorry for us, we will help you,” it declared. First, the eagle led the boy to a tree, where he found some arrows. Then it directed him to a hill. An old, unkempt horse with swollen ankles was tethered there.
Despite the animal’s woeful state, it had once belonged to a chief, and it had been chosen by the eagles as a magical gift to the boy.
When the tribe was called upon to go to war, the mangy horse led the boy to a ravine. Here, it transformed itself into a vigorous young bay by rolling in the dust. It then commanded the boy to paint lightning symbols on its flanks as a sign of its supernatural origins, and they joined up with the war party. Riding the magic horse, the boy attacked and killed the enemy chief. He and the horse then promptly vanished.
When the boy reappeared, proclaiming his brave exploits, the incredulous villagers mocked him, as his horse had reverted to its decrepit state. Another battle ensued, with the same outcome. Finally, the boy went out for a third time to engage the enemy, and he fought so fiercely that he put them to flight.
As the boy turned to leave the battlefield, his mount was joined first by a solitary gray steed and then by a great multitude of horses. The people recognized this as a sign of his glory, and hailed him as a great chief.
This buckskin doll of a horse was made by a sioux craftswoman. The horse became vitally important to all the buffalohunting societies of the Plains.
A Hero’s Attack on a Giant Elk
A characteristic role for many hero figures was as a guardian of the first humans on Earth. They attained this status by vanquishing threatening spirits and monsters. In a legend of the Jicarila Apache, the hero Jonayaiyin slays a monstrous beast that has been spreading terror among the people.
When the Earth was still young, monstrous animals preyed upon its human inhabitants. One of these monsters was a giant elk, which devoured people whole. Finally, the gods resolved to send a hero to kill the monster and restore order.
This hero was Jonayaiyin, the son of an old woman who was the second wife of the Sun. Jonayaiyin’s supernatural origins allowed him to grow to maturity in just four days. No sooner was he fully grown than he began to inquire after the whereabouts of his foe, the great elk. The hero’s mother, who knew her son’s destiny, directed him to the elk’s home in the desert, giving him a bow and arrows to accomplish his task. Jonayaiyin set out, reaching the elk’s domain in four huge strides.
As Jonayaiyin lay in wait for the monster, the creatures of the desert came to ask him what he was doing there. When he told them, they offered him their help. Since the elk was lying in open grassland with no trees or bushes to cover Jonayaiyin‘s approach, the lizard gave him a lizard-skin disguise. The gopher then dug a tunnel, so that Jonayaiyin could attack the elk from below the ground. Jonayaiyin made his way through the tunnel and shot the elk straight through the heart. But the elk stuck its antlers into the tunnel and plowed up vast amounts of earth, which are still visible to this day as mountains. As it pursued Jonayaiyin through the burrow, the desert spiders came to his aid. Wherever the elk chased him, the spiders put up webs to impede its progress. At last the elk collapsed with exhaustion, and the hero killed it. In doing so, he freed people from their fear and misery.
A Cheyenne model tipi decorated with the image of an elk. before white encroachment, the
American elk was widespread throughout the continent.
Having saved the Cheyenne from starvation, Sweet Medicine returned to the realm where the spirits of all living things on Earth coexist peacefully. During his sojourn with the spirits, he was granted long life and presented with a bundle containing four sacred arrows. He came back to the human world with them, and to this day they hang in the communal lodges of the Cheyenne, where they form the basis of their ritual observance and medicine ceremonies.
Sweet Medicine lived a number of lifetimes; his gift of longevity from the spirits meant that he could grow old and regain his youth several times. In a later addition to the ancient legend, he made various prophesies, predicting the extermination of the buffalo and the introduction of horses and cattle. In a tone that became progressively more tragic, he foretold the arrival of the white man, prophesying that the Cheyenne would not only fall subject to their control, but would eventually be supplanted by them. Sweet Medicine finally died during one of his recurring periods of rejuvenation. He was survived by his brother, who also lived for many generations.
Historical Heroes
Native American culture does not recognize any rigid distinction between myth and history: as well as such timeless heroes as Manabozho, several historical figures are regarded as legendary for their resistance to white encroachment. Real-life heroes shared with mythological ones the possession of magical or shamanic powers.
The earliest of the great warriors to offer concerted opposition to the colonists was Pontiac, an Ottawa chief who succeeded for a time in uniting no fewer than ten tribes in the Great Lakes region against the British. Pontiac was inspired by the revivalist cult of the Delaware shaman Neolin, who had travelled around the shores of Lake Erie in 1762, urging Indian communities to readopt their ancient beliefs. Pontiac’s attack on Detroit in May 1763 caught the British completely by surprise, and led to a string of victories against colonial garrisons around the Great Lakes. The rebellion finally failed after two years, defeated not militarily but by a combination of plague and Indian disunity.
Further opposition was mounted in the first decade of the nineteenth century by two Shawnee brothers, Tenskwatawa (the “Shawnee Prophet”) and Tecumseh. Establishing a settlement known as Prophet’s Town in 1807, these leaders espoused a policy of returning to the old ways, but unlike Pontiac, did not aim to reconquer North America. Rather, they envisaged coexistence with the whites, arguing with the adminstration of the new United States (which had replaced British rule after the American Revolution of 1775–83) that the continent’s original inhabitants had an incontrovertible right to their ancestral lands. Tenskwatawa became renowned as a visionary. In a series of trances, he claimed to have been shown a future paradise by the supreme deity, the Master of Life. On another occasion, he used a solar eclipse to convince onlookers of his ability to control natural forces. However, his power was broken when he led an ill-advised insurrection against the British and was defeated. Tecumseh, on the other hand, continued the struggle against American federal forces with a combination of shrewd tactical judgement and persuasive oratory. His charismatic appeal was used to great advantage by the British, who formed an alliance with many of the northeastern tribes against the United States in the War of 1812. Tecumseh’s forces scored notable successes before he was killed in battle. The mystique surrounding him was heightened by a premonition he received of his own death and by the fact that his body was never recovered.
Several great Indian leaders of the later nineteenth century actively challenged forcible removals and relocations. One of the most extensive forced migrations was that of the Chiricahua Apache of the Southwest, which took place from the early 1870s onwards. For over twenty years, the Apache resisted displacement, led first by Victorio and then by the legendary Goyathlay (Ger o nimo; 1829–1909). Geronimo’s rebellion of 1881–86 made extensive use of guerrilla tactics, prompting the US military to draft more than 5,000 men into the area. By the time he was finally forced to surrender in 1886, Geronimo’s name had become synonymous with daring and effective military strategy. His persistent evasion of capture and the uncanny way in which he seemed to anticipate danger earned him a reputation for clairvoyance among his followers.
The Sioux of the Plains region were im -placable opponents of the mass settlement of the West by whites that gained increasing mo -men tum from the 1850s onwards. Many important leaders were to come to prominence during the course of the desperate struggle to resist the inexorable process of incursion, which lasted until the early 1890s. One of the principal strategists of this period was a young Oglala chief named Crazy Horse. Together with the Hunkpapa Sioux chief Sitting Bull, it was he who organized the Plains peoples’ final stand, between 1876 and 1890, against the destruction of their culture (see pages 130–31). Both warriors were looked upon as “holy men” by their people, as a result of having experienced powerful visions that influenced their future actions.
The hunkpapa sioux chieftain sitting bull is shown in this photograph of 1885. for decades, he conducted a heroic defense of sioux culture. sitting bull was killed by Native policemen while resisting arrest in 1890.
Crazy Horse’s profound mistrust of whites came from his witnessing, at an early age, a savage reprisal raid on a settlement of the Brulé Sioux. Following this incident, Crazy Horse went into the wilderness to undertake a vision quest (see pages 116– 19). A trance that he in - duced through self-castigation brought him a vision of a warrior who had a lightning streak painted on his face and wore a hawk’s skin in his hair. On reaching maturity and distinguishing himself as a fearless warrior, Crazy Horse always joined battle dressed in this way. His name was said to have its origin in a later vision (see page 119).
The famous Sioux chief Sitting Bull won a reputation for honor and selflessness at an early age, killing his first buffalo calf and distributing the meat to needy people when only ten years old. As a man, during his long campaign against the whites, he carried with him a sacred buffalo skull, and invoked the animal’s protective spirit. While on a vision quest at Medi cine Deer Rock in Montana, he foresaw his great victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
Though the heroic stature of these historical figures is unquestioned, it did not rest primarily on any perceived superhuman powers. Rather, to their followers they epit om ized the human qualities of honor and resourcefulness held dear by Native American cultures.
Demons and Monsters
In Native American mythology, gigantic or grotesque creatures usually occupy the familiar role of terrifying, destructive beings feared by both people and animals. Less commonly, however, they are also thought to exercise a beneficent, creative influence.
The legend of the Earth as Turtle Island that is found in many Native American traditions shows a gigantic creature in a benevolent light. For example, a myth of the Lenape of the Northeast narrates how the world required a support once it had been made, and how a giant turtle was designated to fill this role. Thereafter, the Earth has rested stably on the back of this mighty reptile.
More surprisingly, however, monsters that are normally associated with destruction also played an integral part in the creation of the world. In the myths of a number of peoples, vital aspects of the world as we know it emanated from a primal monster. Thus, tribes of the Great Plateau (the area immediately inland from the Northwest Coast) believe that all Native American peoples sprang from the body of a single huge creature, whose form was unspecified.
Similarly, a creation legend of the Nez Percé tells of the existence, at the beginning of time, of a monster whose body covered much of the Great Plateau. Whenever the creature inhaled, it sucked in everything that stood in its path—grass, trees, animals, even the wind. When the Trickster Coyote learned that all the creatures of the earth had vanished, he travelled to where the monster lay, taking with him knives and tools for kindling fire, which he intended to use as weapons against the beast. As he approached the monster, Coyote allowed himself to be sucked insi
de too. There, he found most of the animals still alive, but driven wild by their predicament.
Coyote eventually succeeded in calming the enraged and frightened animals and solicited their help. First, he ordered some children to lead him to the monster’s heart, where he began to slice off fat to feed the starving creatures and to fuel a fire, which he laid under the heart and proceeded to light. As the heat increased, the monster begged Coyote to desist, promising to release him in return, but Coyote was intent on killing the beast and freeing all the trapped animals. He hacked away at the heart, breaking the blades of all his knives, but he finally managed to tear it out. In its death throes, the monster opened all its orifices, and the animals escaped. They took with them the bones of those who had perished inside the creature’s body, which Coyote had insisted they gather up before they left.
Once outside the monster, Coyote sprinkled blood on the bones, and all the dead animals came to life again in an instant. Next he dismembered the monster’s body, flinging portions of it to all the points of the compass. From these sprang all the various tribes of the Plateau, each residing in their separate domains. How ever, no sooner had Coyote used up all the flesh than he realized that he had forgotten to account for the area where he was standing. So, taking some water, he rinsed his hands, and from this mixture of blood and water, the Nez Percé were created.
Used in curing rituals by the iroquois false face society (see page 120), these turtle-shell shaman’s rattles recall the monstrous animal that was believed to carry the earth on its back.
Buffalo hides can be seen laid out to dry in this image of daily life on the Plains by a hidatsa artist. myths relate how the first people had to learn to subdue the buffalo, which was once a predatory animal.
Native American Myths and Beliefs Page 11