Friend of Man, the nephew of the human race. They beg him to be their spokesman, and present their prayers to the Master of Life. Often too they are consecrated to Me-sukkum-ik-okwi, or the Earth, the great-grandmother of the human race. They tell in these songs how Na-na-bush created the earth by the Great Spirit's orders, and how the great-grandmother received a command to provide for all the wants of the uncles and aunts of Na-na-bush ; meaning thereby men and women. Na-na-bush, always the benevolent intercessor of the human race, obtained from the Great Spirit the creation of animals; their flesh was to serve as food and their skins for raiment. He procured also for mankind medicinal roots and herbs of sovereign power, to cure their maladies and enable them to kill the animals in the chase. All these things were intrusted to Me-suk-kumik-okwi, and in order that Na-na-bush's uncles and aunts might never invoke her in vain, he asked her always to stay at home. For this reason, when an Indian is digging up medicinal roots, he always deposits in the ground his little offering to Me-suk-kum-ik-okwi.
Ali these songs are marked down on birch bark or on little flat pieces of wood. The ideas are expressed by emblematic figures.
They believe the thunder to be the voice of certain living beings. Some think that these beings resemble men, others that they have the form of birds. Every time that it thunders, they burn tobacco, offering it as a sacrifice to the thunder. It is doubtful whether they know the connection between the thunder and the lightning-flash that precedes it.