Ojibwa (Chippewa)

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Vecsey lists 47 versions of the Nanabozho myth and analyzes their content and variations.

Vecsey, Christopher. Imagine Ourselves Richly (HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), 64-94.

Nenebuc, son of the Sun and a mortal woman, saw some lions in a great lake. He waited for them to come to shore to sun themselves, disguising himself by wrapping around himself some birch bark from a rotten stump. When the lions came, they were curious about the new stump and sent a snake to check it out. The snake coiled around it and tried to upset it, but Nenebuc stood firm. When the lions themselves approached, Nenebuc wounded the wife of the chief lion with an arrow shot. She was badly hurt but escaped to the cave where she lived. (The cave may still be seen in a bluff west of Smoothwater Lake.) Nenebuc donned the skin of a toad, disguised himself as a medicine-woman, and was admitted to the lioness. He thrust the arrow deeper, killing her. At once, water poured out of the cave, and the lake began to rise. Nenebuc built a raft, which was ready no sooner than the flood reached him. As the raft floated on the flood, Nenebuc took on animals that were swimming in the waters. After a time, Nenebuc tied a willow-root rope to the beaver's tail and bade him dive to find earth below the water, but the beaver returned without finding a bottom. Seven days later, Nenebuc let the muskrat try. The muskrat stayed down a long time and came up dead, but it held a little earth in its claws. Nenebuc dried the grains from which he remade the land, but not entirely, which is why there are swampy areas today.

Frazer, 1919, 307-308.

The medicine man Wis-kay-tchach recognized all animals as his relations, and he considered some wolves to be his brother and two nephews. To stave off starvation one hard winter, they went hunting and came across the track of a moose. Wis-kay-tchach and the old wolf stopped to smoke while the two young wolves hunted the moose, but they didn't return, so the older two went after them. They found that the young wolves had eaten all of the moose. Wis made a fire, and when he had done so, the moose was restored again, already cut up. The young wolves divided the spoils into four, but one of them retained the tongue and upper lip. Wis grumbled, and the young wolves gave the delicacies to him. They made marrow fat, but soon this was also eaten, and they began to hunger again. They separated, with Wis and one young wolf hunting together. The wolf killed some deer, brought them home in his stomach, disgorged them on his arrival, and told his uncle that he could catch no more. Wis spent the night setting enchantments. In the morning, he told his nephew to go hunting, but warned him to throw a stick over every valley and hollow place before jumping over, or some evil would befall him. The wolf, following a deer, forgot this warning, jumped a hollow, and fell into a river where he was killed and devoured by water lynxes. Wis followed when his nephew didn't return. When he came upon the river, he guessed what had happened, and this was confirmed when a kingfisher told him it saw the wolf skin serving as a door mat of the water lynxes. The bird also told him that the water lynxes often come ashore, and Wis must turn himself into a stump close by to get his revenge. In gratitude, Wis began to put a ruff around the bird's neck, but the bird flew off before Wis could finish, which is why kingfishers have only part of a ruff at the back of their head. Wis returned to his camp to prepare; among other things, he provided a large canoe and in it embarked all animals that could not swim. He returned to the area of the lynxes before daybreak, transformed himself into a stump, and waited. The black one crawled out of the water, then the gray one. Then the white one, who had killed the wolf, emerged, but it grew suspicious on seeing the stump. It sent frogs and snakes to try to pull it down, but Wis kept himself upright. The lynx, suspicions lulled, went to sleep. Wis returned to normal shape and, though warned to shoot the lynx's shadow, forgot and shot its body. He shot a second arrow at the shadow, wounding the animal, but the lynx escaped into the river, which then overflowed and flooded the whole country. Wis escaped in his canoe and began rescuing the animals which could swim only a short time. Wis then tied a string around the leg of a loon and told it to dive for some earth, assuring it that he could restore it to life if it drowned. When the line ceased to play out, Wis hauled up the drowned loon, which, when restored to life, said that it had found no bottom. Wis next send an otter, then a beaver on the same errand, with similar results. Finally he send a rat fastened to a stone, and the rat, when hauled up, had a little earth in its paws. He dried the earth and blew on it to expand it. He sent a wolf to explore it, but the wolf soon returned, saying it was too small. He blew on it a long time, then sent a crow to explore. The crow didn't return, so Wis decided the land was big enough and disembarked with all the animals.

Frazer, 1919, 297-301; Roheim, 1952, 157; Kelsen, 1943, 147.

Nenebojo went hunting every day while his brother stayed home. One day, he returned to find his brother missing. His searching brought him to the shore of a lake, where he saw a kingfisher looking into the water. The bird would not tell Nenebojo what it saw until Nenebojo painted its feathers; then it said it saw Nenebojo's brother, whose skin the water-spirits were using as a door flap. It also told where the water-spirits sun themselves. Nenebojo went there and, using his rod, assumed the shape of a rotten stump for a disguise. When the lions came out of the water, they were suspicious of the new stump until one broke off a piece and saw it was rotten. When they had gone to sleep, Nenebojo struck them on their heads with his rod. As he did so, the lake's water rose. He fled; a woodpecker directed him to a tall pine tree on a mountain. Nenebojo climbed the tree and began building a raft, which he finished just as the waters reached his neck. He put pairs of all kinds of animals on the raft and floated about. After a while, he sent otter to dive for some earth, but the otter returned without any. Next, beaver was sent, but in vain. Next he sent muskrat, who returned with a little sand in its claws and mouth. He dried the grains and blew them into the water with the horn he had used to summon the animals. They formed an island, which Nenebojo enlarged. He sent a raven to determine its size, but it didn't return. He next sent a hawk, which reported back that the raven had been eating dead bodies on the shore, so Nenebojo cursed the raven never to have anything to eat but what it steals. After another interval, Nenebojo sent a caribou to explore the size. It said that the island was still too small, so Nenebojo grew it once more and finished.

Frazer, 1919, 305-306.

Menaboshu regarded all animals as his kin. Once, when times were bad, he asked the wolves for some food. The food was so good that he asked to hunt with them, which they allowed. After ten days of hunting, they reached a crossroads; the wolves determined to go one way, and Menaboshu went another, taking with him a little wolf whom he loved dearly as a brother. They then hunted sometimes together and sometimes alone. Menaboshu warned the wolf to stay away from a certain lake, knowing that his worst enemy the serpent-king lived there. But this warning just made the wolf curious, and three days later he ventured out on the ice of the lake. The ice broke under him, and he was drowned. Menaboshu waited five days for the wolf's return; then he began wailing, knowing that the serpent-king had got him. Menaboshu could not get the serpent-king in the winter, so he came to the lake in the spring. He set up loud lamentations when he saw the footprints of his lost brother there. This attracted the attention of the serpent-king, and when Menaboshu saw it stick up its head, he immediately turned himself into a tree stump. The serpent-king and other serpents saw nothing unusual but the new tree stump. Suspicious of it, the serpent-king sent one large snake to it. This snake squeezed hard enough to crack Menaboshu's bones, but he bore the pain stoically. The snakes then went to sleep on the beach. Menaboshu emerged from his disguise, grabbed his bow and arrows, and shot dead the serpent-king and three of its sons. The other snakes escaped into the water, making much noise and lashing with their tails. Some snakes scattered the contents of their medicine bags; the waters began to swell, and torrents of rain fell from the newly gathered clouds. In short time, the whole earth was flooded. Menaboshu fled, hopping from mountain to mountain, but the waves followed him. He climbed to the top boughs of a fir tree on the top of one tall mountain, and the waters stopped rising just as they reached his mouth. Menaboshu stayed there five days and nights. Finally, he saw a loon swim by, and he asked it do dive for some earth. The loon did so repeatedly, but without success. Then Menaboshu saw the body of a drowned muskrat. He breathed on it to restore it to life and asked it to dive. The muskrat dived and, though it came up dead, it had a few grains of earth. Menaboshu dried these and blew them over the water. Where they landed, they grew into islands, and these grew together, with Menaboshu's guidance, into continents. Menaboshu then wandered around breathing on the corpses of animals to bring them back to life and otherwise restoring nature and land to its former beauty.

Frazer, 1919, 301-304.

Wenebojo travelled awhile with five wolves. The oldest wolf became distrustful of Wenebojo and decided they should leave him, but one wolf, who liked Wenebojo, stayed with him and hunted food for him, and Wenebojo considered him his nephew. One night, this wolf didn't return from hunting. Wenebojo followed his tracks the next day and saw that he had fallen into a river. The manidog, or spirits under the water, caused the wolf's death because there wouldn't be any wild animals left if Wenebojo had his own way. Wenebojo went to the bank of a lake where the manidog sometimes come out to sun themselves; he turned himself into a stump and waited four days. At last, the manidog came out to bask. A big snake was suspicious that the stump was Wenebojo, so he went and squeezed it four times, harder and harder each time, but Wenebojo withstood it, and the snake said it wasn't Wenebojo. When all the manidog were asleep, Wenebojo shot the two kings, wounding them. All the manidog rushed back into the water. Wenebojo followed the stream and came across a kingfisher, which said it was waiting for Wenebojo's nephew's guts to float by. Wenebojo had a string of beads that had belonged to his nephew, and he offered them to the bird with the secret intent of strangling it, but his hand slipped and the bird escaped with the beads, which is why the kingfisher's head is bushy and it has a necklace of white spots. Wenebojo went on and met an old lady carrying basswood bark. He told her he wasn't Wenebojo, and the old lady told him that they were laying out basswood to detect Wenebojo, and that she was doctoring the wounded kings. Wenebojo learned her song and her route; then he killed her, skinned her, and put on her skin. He had to shave off his calf muscles to make it fit. With this disguise, he got entrance into the king's house. He saw his nephew's skin hanging there, which made him angry. Two snakes on either side of the door watched him suspiciously, but he told them his medicine wouldn't work with them watching. He went to the kings and pushed his arrows deeper, killing them. He ran out, breaking through basswood strings in his escape. The manidog saw the basswood moving and sent water there. Wenebojo heard the water coming and ran for a hill. Soon the water came to the top of the hill, and he climbed a tall pine tree there. The water kept coming, and he told the pine tree to stretch itself to double its length. It did that four times but could not stretch more. The water stopped rising just short of Wenebojo's mouth. Wenebojo had to defecate, and the feces floated around his mouth. Wenebojo saw an otter and asked it to dive for some earth. The otter tried, but it drowned. Wenebojo blew on it, and it came back to life and told him that it hadn't seen anything. A beaver got farther but also failed. Next, the muskrat tried. It also floated up drowned, but Wenebojo found a grain of earth in each of its paws and in its mouth. He restored the muskrat to life, dried the grains in the sun, and threw them on the water, forming a small island. The three animals and Wenebojo went on the island, and Wenebojo took handfuls of dirt from the island and threw them around, making it bigger. Other animals came from the water to the island, too. Wenebojo asked a caribou to run around the island to test its size. The caribou soon returned and reported that the land wasn't big enough yet. Wenebojo threw more dirt far and wide and sent the caribou off again, but the caribou never came back. It got tired and stayed in the north. For a long time, Wenebojo travelled, having forgotten about his anger. But one day he happened to remember, and he sat crying. He threatened to pull up the four layers below the earth and pull down the four layers of the sky to get at the manidog there. The first manido from below the earth and the Great Spirit manido from the sky believed he would do that, and they invited him to meet with them, but he wouldn't come until they sent a white otter (seal?) as a messenger. Wenebojo didn't have any parents, so they created parents for him. The manido from the bottom formed a clay figure, shook his rattle and talked, and the figure came to life. It was an Indian woman. The Great Spirit put the last rib from the woman into a clay figure and likewise created a man. The manidog also told Wenebojo about the Medicine Dance. The people were meant to live forever, but Wenebojo's brother Nekajiwegizik hadn't been invited. He was the first person to die, and he decreed that everyone who lived on earth would have to follow his road to the other world.

Barnouw, Victor. Wisconsin Chippewa Myths & Tales (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977), 33-45.

For a time, Wenebojo travelled with a pack of wolves which he considered his nephews. When they parted, one of the wolves stayed with him and hunted for him. Wenebojo had a dream that the manidog, evil underwater spirits who were jealous of him, would kill his nephew, so he told his nephew not to cross any streams. But the wolf tried to jump a stream while hunting and was captured and killed. Wenebojo knew what happened. He followed a river to a lake and found a kingfisher in a tree looking into the water, waiting for some of Wenebojo's nephew's guts to float by. Wenebojo offered it a string of beads if it would tell him what it knew. The bird described how the manidog sun themselves. Wenebojo intended to wring the bird's neck as he put on the beads, but the bird slipped away. That is why the kingfisher has ruffled feathers around its neck. Wenebojo prepared two arrows by rubbing them on the lips of women having their first menses. Then he turned himself to a stump by the lake and waited for the manidog to sun themselves. When they emerged, the king was suspicious of the stump and had a snake squeeze it and a bear claw it, but Wenebojo withstood these attacks. Wenebojo wished the manidog would go to sleep, and when they slept, he shot and wounded the king and the next to the king; then he ran away as the water was rising behind him. Woodchuck saved him by digging a shelter, which they stayed in two days until the water receded. Later, Wenebojo encountered an old woman carrying basswood bark. He assured her that he was not Wenebojo, and she told him that the bark would be used to detect Wenebojo when he touched it, that she was treating the wounded manidog, and that only she had eaten his nephew. With that, he killed her, put on her clothes, and wished himself to look like her. He went to the wigwam of the wounded manidog and killed them. As he ran away, he heard a roar of water behind him. He ran to a bluff; a pine tree there told Wenebojo to climb it, and the tree stretched higher, saving Wenebojo from the flood with his nose barely above water. Wenebojo asked loon to dive down to get some dirt, but the loon died in the attempt. Otter and beaver failed similarly. Muskrat, however, was able to get a few grains of dirt before he passed out. Wenebojo used this dirt to recreate land. He told a big bird to fly around it; the land would grow as it did so. When the bird returned in four days, he sent an eagle out to grow the land larger. Wenebojo cut up the body of the king manido and made a lake of fat from it. The animals that ate or touched it acquired fat in their bodies.

Barnouw, Victor. Wisconsin Chippewa Myths & Tales (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977), 63-69.

The evil serpent Meshekenabek carried off Manobozho's cousin into a deep lake. Manobozho caused the sun to shine fiercely on the lake to drive out Meshekenabek and his companions. When they emerged, Manobozho shot an arrow into the serpent's heart. The serpent, in his dying rage, stirred up the waters of the lake and spread waves over the land. Fleeing, Manobozho warned the Indians also to retreat to a mountain top. The waters still rose, though, and Manobozho made a raft for them to take refuge on. However, Manobozho couldn't disperse the flood without some earth to use as a nucleus. Muskrat finally succeeded in diving for some dirt, and Manobozho used it to make the waters recede.

Howey, M. Oldfield, The Encircled Serpent (New York: Arthur Richmond, 1955), 291-293.