Look around
again, they continued to say, and he saw animals and birds of every kind
in abundance. These are for the red men, and are placed here to show the
peculiar care of the Great Spirit for them.
Nebahquam was a Roman Catholic, and died in that faith. But he said that
he had heard the dream in his youth, and he regarded it as sacred. Such
are the blendings of superstition and religion in the Indian mind.
_3d_. Some of the incidents of the fictitious legends of the Indians
teach lessons which would scarcely be expected. Manibozho, when he had
killed a moose, was greatly troubled as to the manner in which he should
eat the animal. "If I begin at the head," said he, "they will say I eat
him head first. If I begin at the side, they will say I eat him
sideways. If I begin at the tail, they will say I eat him tail first."
While he deliberated, the wind caused two limbs of a tree that touched
to make a harsh creaking noise. "I cannot eat with this noise," said he,
and immediately climbed the tree to prevent it, where he was caught by
the arm and held fast between the two trees.
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