Menominee
Literature

"The Creator above is the Great Spirit and the Great Mystery, His gifts are plentiful therefore you want not. He holds out a branch of love and protection and He draws you to where the ground is undisturbed, where the air is pure and the water is clear and clean enough to give life. You walk, you breathe, you feed, for you are pleasured. The times when your heart is weak, your circle is out of balance, He lifts you up again and draws you to the good Menominee road, for He is strength and wisdom."

(part of The Menominee Version of the 23rd Psalm)

Wae Wae Non Ne Mot, Wisconsin

There was once an Indian couple who lived in the North. The Warrior was a trapper who trapped beaver in a lot of different ponds in the Winter. One day when he returned from checking his traps he heard his wife calling. She had grabbed a beaver by its tail and told her husband to kill it. He told her that he could not do this as he had already trapped just so many in that pond and that if he killed anymore then the rest would flee. She released the beaver but became very angry. That night after the warrior had gone to sleep; she ran from the lodge. The next morning when the warrior awoke he noticed that she was gone but he saw her tracks in the snow and followed them. After many miles he noticed that her footprints gradually changing. At last they became the tracks of a skunk and he then noticed that there were many skunks in the area.

When he returned to his people; he called this "The Place of the Onion".

This is the Menominee meaning for CHICAGO.

Source: Jack Powell

Indigenous Peoples' Literature Return to Indigenous Peoples' Literature
Compiled by: Glenn Welker




This site has been accessed 10,000,000 times since February 8, 1996.