and that it is our sister who has brought us to life?’
The young men took the bodies of their enemies and burned them.
Soon after, the woman went to procure wives for them,
in a distant country, they knew not where; but she returned
with ten young women, which she gave to the ten young men,
beginning with the eldest. Mudjikewis stepped to and fro,
uneasy lest he should not get the one he liked.
But he was not disappointed, for she fell to his lot.
And they were well matched, for she was a female magician.
They then all moved into a very large lodge, and their sister
told them that the women must now take turns in going
to her brother’s head every night, trying to untie it.
They all said they would do so with pleasure. The eldest
made the first attempt, and with a rushing noise she fled
through the air.
Toward daylight she returned. She had been unsuccessful, as she succeeded
in untying only one of the knots. All took their turns regularly,
and each one succeeded in untying only one knot each time.
But when the youngest went, she commenced the work as soon
as she reached the lodge; although it had always been occupied,
still the Indians never could see any one. For ten nights now,
the smoke had not ascended, but filled the lodge and drove them out.
This last night they were all driven out, and the young woman carried
off the head.
The young people and the sister heard the young woman
coming high through the air, and they heard her saying:
‘Prepare the body of our brother.’ And as soon as they heard it,
they went to a small lodge where the black body of Iamo lay.
His sister commenced cutting the neck part, from which the neck
had been severed. She cut so deep as to cause it to bleed;
and the others who were present, by rubbing the body and
applying medicines, expelled the blackness. In the meantime,
the one who brought it, by cutting the neck of the head, caused that
also to bleed.
As soon as she arrived, they placed that close to the body,
and, by aid of medicines and various other means, succeeded in
restoring Iamo to all his former beauty and manliness.
All rejoiced in the happy termination of their troubles,
and they had spent some time joyfully together, when Iamo said:
‘Now I will divide the wampum,’ and getting the belt which contained
it, he commenced with the eldest, giving it in equal portions.
But the youngest got the most splendid and beautiful,
as the bottom of the belt held the richest and rarest.
They were told that, since they had all once died, and were
restored to life, they were no longer mortal, but spirits,
and they were assigned different stations in the invisible world.
Only Mudjikewis’s place was, however, named. He was to direct
the west wind, hence generally called Kebeyun, there to remain for ever.
They were commanded, as they had it in their power, to do good
to the inhabitants of the earth, and, forgetting their sufferings
in procuring the wampum, to give all things with a liberal hand.
And they were also commanded that it should also be held by them sacred;
those grains or shells of the pale hue to be emblematic of peace,
while those of the darker hue would lead to evil and war.
The spirits then, amid songs and shouts, took their flight to their
respective abodes on high; while Iamo, with his sister Iamoqua,
descended into the depths below.