"Four new moccasins were placed about the same distance apart in front of them. One player held the rifle ball in his hand and shuffled it back and forth over each of the moccasins. Then he dropped it in one. The other player must guess which moccasin held the ball. If he guessed right the first time, it counted four. The second guess counted two, but if he guessed right the third time, it counted only one. The player who first got ten won the game."
Indian Myths
The Game of Moccasin
All winter the Indians had lived in the deep snow of the great north woods. In the lodge nearest the frozen river were three children with their Chippewa father and their grandmother.
Early each morning the father went into the woods to hunt. Each evening he came back with bear or deer or other animal which was their food. The skins were poled in the corner of the lodge. When spring came, these would be carried to the fort where the white men lived and traded for many things which Indians need.
While the father hunted, the little boys made traps in which to catch rabbits, or shot at marks with their bows and arrows. They could scarcely wait for the day when they, too, would go into the woods to hunt. Sometimes they helped their grandmother carry in wood for the little fire on which their supper was to be cooked. But for the most part they thought this to be a woman’s work, and ran away to play at war or hunting.
At last the sun grew warm. The snow was gone and the ice on the river had melted. While the furs were being piled into the canoes, the children ran up and down the bank shouting with joy. Then all the men, women, and children got into the canoes, too, and paddled swiftly down the river to the fort.
This was a happy holiday time for all the Indians. Chippewa, Wyandot, all the tribes were there trading their furs for cloth, blankets, knives, guns, powder, and bright-colored beads.
Many days they stayed, playing ball, wrestling, and running races. At night there were feasts and dances. The chiefs and headmen held councils and smoked the pipe of peace.
On the first day, when dinner was eaten, the Chippewa took in his arms a load of furs. “I will go now to the fort to trade,” he said. “My sons have done well with their traps and bows and arrows. I will bring each of them a knife. Grandmother shall have a new red blanket to wear when the wind is cold.”
On the way to the fort the Chippewa met a Wyandot Indian.
“Come and play Moccasin with me,” the Wyandot said.
So they sat down to the game.
Four new moccasins were placed about the same distance apart in front of them. One player held the rifle ball in his hand and shuffled it back and forth over each of the moccasins. Then he dropped it in one. The other player must guess which moccasin held the ball. If he guessed right the first time, it counted four. The second guess counted two, but if he guessed right the third time, it counted only one. The player who first got ten won the game.
“I play well,” said the Wyandot.
“I shall win,” said the Chippewa.
“Are you sure?”
“So sure,” answered the Chippewa, “that if I do not win I will give you this pile of furs.”
So they played. The Chippewa lost the game and had to give the Wyandot the pile of furs which he had worked so long to get.
When he went home, he saw the little boys watching for their knives. “Tomorrow,” he said, “I will bring them.”
The next day he again set out with some fine skins. But again he met the Wyandot and played Moccasin and lost them as he had the day before. The third day it was the same.
At last he had only a few furs left.
“Go first to the fort and trade for the things we need,” said the grandmother. “Then play games with your friends.”
“Yes,” said the Chippewa.
But when he saw the Wyandot, he forgot his promise and sat down to play Moccasin. This time he lost the last of his furs.
“Play once more!” shouted the Chippewa. “This time I know I shall win. If I do not, I will give you my rifle.”
So they played again, and this time the Chippewa lost his rifle.
“Play yet once more!” he shouted. “If I do not win this time, you shall have my life.”
The Chippewa lost this game, but he did not wish to lose his life. So he jumped to his feet and start to run toward the fort.
The Wyandot was surprised that the Chippewa should be a coward, for so the Indians thought of such an act. Without thinking he raised his rifle and shot him.
At once all the Chippewa Indians were angry because a man of their tribe had been killed. They called a council and said that the Wyandot, too, must die.
The Wyandot stood before them and said, “I did not intend to kill the Chippewa. I did not intend to keep his rifle, for he would need that to get his food. But I shot him because he was a coward.”
This made the Chippewa Indians still more angry. Then an old woman came up weeping bitterly. It was the grandmother.
She said, “Wyandot, you have killed my only son. His wife, too, is dead. His children are orphans. I have no one to find food and care for them. Will you be my son? Will you be a father to these children?” The Wyandot replied, “Woman of the Chippewa, I have heard your talk. My heart was hard. Now it is soft. I am sorry for you and these children. I have no wife and no children. I will come and care for you. I will be a son to you and a father to the children.”
The grandmother talked to the angry Chippewa, and they agreed that it might be as she wished. The Wyandot kept his word. He was always kind to the grandmother, and he cared for the children until they were grown and no longer needed him.
