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The Flood in World Myth and Folklore
Plains |
© 2021 Mark Isaak |
The Omaha Indians have a myth very similar to the Plains Ojibwa myth of Wis-kay-tchach. In the Omaha version the hero, named Haxige, takes revenge on water monsters for killing his brother, but the story does not tell of a flood occurring, only threatened.
Haxige met a beaver woman building a dugout. The beaver told Haxige, "To kill Haxige, the Water-monsters have threatened to make the whole earth full of water. Even if they fail so, they speak of making an abundance of snakes on the whole earth. Even if they fail so, they threaten to make darkness over the whole earth, that he may fall into a gorge unawares. Even if they fail so, they threaten to make a deep snow over the whole earth. They say that he will die from the snow that will press down on him." Haxige replied to each of these threats by saying, "Old woman, Haxige ever wishes to have an abundance of sense," and tells his plan to deal with each threat. He will survive the flood in a boat with earth on the bottom and plenty of firewood, and he will sit by a fire and catch and eat the animals that float along. He will protect himself from snakes with turtle shells on his hands and feet as he crushes the heads of the snakes. He will sit in a gorge by a fire and eat the animals that die from falling in. And he will make a grass lodge to protect himself from the snow and snowshoes so he may hunt. Finally he said, "What sort of person are you that you despise Haxige?" and he crushed her head with an axe.
James Owen Dorsey, The Cegiha Language--Myths, Stories, and Letters, Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. 6 part 1 (Washington, DC: 1890), 238-253.