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QUAINT INDIAN LORE

IN REGARD TO THE MYSTICAL POWER OF THE
BEAR AS A GREAT MEDICINE.

This is a legend of the Ojibwa Indians as
told by Sikassige, the officiating priest of
the Ojibwas at White Earth, Minnesota:

In the beginning were created two men
and two women. They had no power of
thought or reason. Then the Almighty
took them into his hands that they might
multiply, and he made them reasonable be-
ings. He paired them, and from this
sprung the Indians.

Then when there were people the Great
Spirit placed them upon the earth; but he
soon observed that they were subject to
sickness, misery and death. Then the Man-
itou called upon the Sun Spirit (the Bear)
and asked him to instruct the people in the

Sacred Medicine. The Sun Spirit, in the
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