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Then The Buzzard heard Manabozho say
to him, "Buzzard, you must be very happy up there where you can soar
through the air and see what is transpiring in the world beneath. Take me
on your back so that I may ascend with you and see how it appears down
here from where you live."
The Buzzard came down, and said, "Manabozho, get on my back and I will
take you up into the sky to let you see how the world appears from my
abode."
Manabozho approached the Buzzard, but seeing how smooth his back appeared
said, "Buzzard, I am afraid you will let me slide from your back, so you
must be careful not to sweep around too rapidly, that I may retain my
place upon your back."
The Buzzard told Manabozho that he would be careful, although the bird was
determined to play a trick on him if possible. Manabozho mounted the
Buzzard and held on to his feathers as well as he could. The Buzzard took
a short run, leaped from the ground, spread his wings and rose into the
air. Manabozho felt rather timid as the Buzzard swept through the air, and
as he circled around his body leaned so much that Manabozho could scarcely
retain his position, and he was afraid of slipping off.
Presently, as Manabozho was looking down upon the broad earth below, the
Buzzard made a sharp curve to one side so that his body leaned more than
ever. Manabozho, losing his grhtml, slipped off and dropped to earth like
an arrow. He struck the ground with such force as to knock him senseless.
The Buzzard returned to his place in the sky, but hovered around to see
what would become of Manabozho.
Manabozho lay a long time like one dead. When he recovered he saw
something close to and apparently staring him in the face. He could not at
first recognize it, but when he put his hands against the object he found
that it was his own buttocks, because he had been all doubled up. He arose
and prepared to go on his way, when he espied the Buzzard above him,
laughing at his own trickery.
Manabozho then said, "Buzzard, you have played a trick on me by letting me
fall, but as I am more powerful than you I shall revenge myself." The
Buzzard then replied, "No, Manabozho, you will not do anything of the
kind, because you cannot deceive me. I shall watch you."
Manabozho kept on, and the Buzzard, not noticing anything peculiar in the
movements of Manabozho, flew on his way through the air. Manabozho then
decided to transform himself into a dead deer, because he knew the Buzzard
had chosen to subsist on dead animals and fish. Manabozho then went to a
place visible from a great distance and from many directions, where he
laid himself down and changed himself into the carcass of a deer.
Soon the various birds and beasts and crawling things that subsist on such
food began to congregate about the dead deer. The Buzzard saw the birds
flying toward the place where the body lay, and joined them. He flew
around several times to see if it was Manabozho trying to deceive him,
then thought to himself, "No, that is not Manabozho; it is truly a dead
deer." He then approached the body and began to pick a hole into the
fleshy part of the thigh.
Deeper and deeper into the flesh the Buzzard picked until his head and
neck was buried each time he reached in to pluck the fat from the
intestines. Without warning, while the Buzzard had his head completely
hidden in the carcass of the deer , the deer jumped up and pinched
together his flesh, thus firmly grhtmling the head and neck of the Buzzard.
Then Manabozho said, "Aha! Buzzard, I did catch you after all, as I told
you I would. Now pull out your head." The Buzzard with great difficulty
withdrew his head from the cavity in which it had been enclosed, but the
feathers were all pulled off, leaving his scalp and neck covered with
nothing but red skin.
Then Manabozho said to the bird, "Thus do I punish you for your
deceitfulness; henceforth you will go through the world without feathers
on your head and neck, and you shall always stink because of the food you
will be obliged to eat." That is why the buzzard is such a bad-smelling
fellow, and why his head and neck are featherless.
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