Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/267

 Rh impatient and wrathy god of war, at whose presence even the ever-smiling and kind great grandfather, the Sun, hides his face. In the sea dwells a great chief, too, whom they called Unktehé. The whale is called by this name now, but it is my belief that the name had applied to an imaginary one at first. The latter has many snb-chiefs in each of the great lakes and rivers.

Yet all these cannot possess the power of speech. The Great Mystery had shown them some great truths, which he denied to man, but he could not trust them, for some reason or other, so he made them dumb. Even then they often show to man by sign some supernatural power.

Thus the savages hold that the key of heaven is vested in the visible phenomena of the universe. Each animal, each thing has just so much purity and holiness, and it is dumb and helpless. The rocks, the trees, etc., are all imprisoned for life; yet they hold some of the mysteries of their maker. The mighty river and the little brook, in proportion to their strength and wonderfulness, show the power of the god.

The root-eating animals were considered the leading medicine-givers, such as the bear, the badger, the beaver and the like. The sun and the thunder-bird both have some claims on the medical profession, and none of the animals are entirely exempted from it.

The spirits of the departed having once left this sinful world are immediately admitted into the mysteries of the Great Mystery, except the very wicked, who are transformed into some lower animal and are returned to earth and allowed to know only one or two things of the mysteries of the Great God. This was their punishment. Yet such a spirit may retrieve its misfortunes by good behavior. Then it is promoted to a higher grade of animal life, until it is returned to man again. But if it grows opposite of this it is changed to a lower and lower grade successively from animal to the vegetable and finally to the inorganic kingdom. This is his last punishment.

In man there are believed to be three spirits. After death one of these at once travels through the Milky Way, escorted by the heavenly servants, the stars, who were crowded on the spirit-path, and it is at once received into the mysteries of the