Nanabozho, born on an island at the outlet of Lake Superior, was the first son of a spirit from on high and a woman on the earth. Quickly he grew to manhood. By that time his footsteps were so long that he could easily cross the widest river or lake in one stride. He could seize the lightning in his hands, and his voice was like the roar of a great lake in a storm. If cataracts in the rivers were in his way, he tore them out.

Nanabozho could transform himself into any animal or object of nature, and he conversed with all living creatures. After the great flood that once covered the earth, he restored the land and all that lives upon it. Then he created the first Chippewas. Later he took from the animals the gift of speech because they conspired against the human race.

As the mighty ruler of all the earth, Nanabozho controlled the weather and the seasons. He covered the earth with snow in winter and chained all the streams with ice. At his command the terrible storms broke loose from their caves and lashed the waters of the lakes into white foam. At his command also, the gentle winds blew, the mountains became covered with green, and the flowers of spring bloomed everywhere.

Nanabozho did many things for the people he had created. He killed fierce monsters that endangered them, on land and in the water. The fossil bones of extinct animals, which white men have discovered, are the remains of those monsters of long, long ago.

He brought his people the first fire, and taught them how to make arrowpoints, lances, and hatchets. He taught them how to hunt, how to build canoes, how to cultivate corn and beans and squash for their food. After watching a spider trapping flies, Nanabozho showed men how to make nets for catching fish. Mter finding that the sap of the maple tree is sweet, he made sugar of it and showed people how to make it. He invented the picture-writing on rocks, and also learned the art of painting the face before going to war. He showed his people what herbs to use for medicine. And so the Chippewas, when gathering roots and herbs, leave a small offering to Nanabozho beside the spot where they found the plants.

Nanabozho changed the appearance of the Chippewa country. By damming up the rivers in order to catch beaver, he formed Lake Superior. The dirt he threw out became the Apostle Islands. As he travelled through the world, he marked each day's journev with piles of stones. They are our, mountains, and the valleys below them are the prints of his feet. All along Lake Superior, every strangely. formed rock, every cape and island, all the rapids and cataracts in the rivers that flow into the lake~ach of these has some connection with the wonderful deeds of Nanabozho.

Along the Ottawa River are the prints of his footsteps and a round hole that is the kettle which he dropped when pursuing a stone giant; into this hole each passing Indian places bits of tobacco for Nanabozho, with a request for a safe journey. Beside Lake Superior is a stone where he rested and smoked his pipe after jumping across the lake; there every Chippewa who passes leaves a little tobacco, so that Nanabozho may continue to smoke in his lodge in the west.

He taught the Chippewas all the rites and mysteries of their religion. From the spirits he received four gifts that he was to hand on to his successors: the sacred drum, which he and others would use at the side of sick people; the sacred rattle, with which he could extend the life of a patient; tobacco, to be an emblem of peace; and a dog, to be his companion and the companion of others.

All the knowledge which the shamans have concerning the rules and ceremonies of religion, Nanabozho received from the spirits. He built a lodge, as they directed him; and as late as 1887, he was said to be present at the Sacred Medicine Lodge when the Grand Medicine rite was performed.

He lived for a thousand years, some people say. According to some storytellers, he was killed in a fierce battle with the Evil One and was bur,ied on the north shore of Lake Superior, east of Thunder Bay. According to others, he was buried on Michipicoten Island. Indians never pass by these places without offering him the smoke of their tobacco or dropping tobacco on the water.

Other people believe that he is still alive; when they hear noises inside the mountains, they know that Nanabozho is continuing his creative work. Some believe that he lives in a northern sea, where he reposes on a great island of floating ice, guarded by the northern lights. People with this belief fear that white men may find his retreat. If they do, and if Nanabozho should step again on the earth, "it will burst into flames and all living creatures will be destroyed."

To the Indians of the past, Nanabozho myths had religious signifi. cance. But in most of the Chippewa tales recorded in this century, Nanabozho is not the benefactor of mankind, the culture-hero, and does not have a spiritual meaning. Instead, by some incongruity which Chippewas of today cannot explain, he is often identified with a trickster and with the Great Hare. In the fire myth, for instance, he took the form of a hare and was burned; consequently, all rabbits since that time have had brown spots on their fur. In many tales. Nanabozho, or the Great Rare, is a mischief-maker, a trickster who is often the victim of his own stupid attempts to deceive others.