07-21-02 @ 8:14 am EDT

Sheesh. If it isn't this big thunderstorm knocking things out, the site itself is having problems! The power keeps fluctuating and once I was even disconnected. And twice so far this night Stories.com has been inaccessible for a long period of time. What's going on?

Anyway. I've been browsing my Manitous book and found some VERY interesting info on Manabozho's brothers. Remember my earlier journal entry where I babbled about the two different accounts given of his siblings and wondered how to reconcile them for my sequel? As I have yet to decide upon the final spellings of most of the names (apart from Manabozho and Chakenapok), I'll use first the spellings provided in the book, and then the APPROXIMATE spellings I think I might use. (Which are subject to change, since they might be wrong! I'm just going by how it looks and sounds phonetically.)

One of the versions given, which I decided NOT to go with:

Nana'b'oozoo (Manabozho)
Waub-oozoo (Wabosso?)
Maudjee-kawiss (something like Mudjikeewis or Mudjikawiss, I think)
Pukawiss (Peepaukawiss or Paukawiss)

The second version, which I decided to use in my story:

Nana'b'oozoo (Manabozho)
Cheeby-aub-oozoo (Chibiabos, or Chiabos, but now probably the former based on what I've read)
Waub-oozoo (Wabosso)
Chakenapok

From what little I remember, their significance went as follows:

Manabozho: Great Rabbit, hero, trickster, main character in the myths
Wabosso: White Rabbit of the north
Mudjikawiss: Bear
Peepaukawiss: Grasshopper, gambler god, shifty, always in competition with Manabozho
Chibiabos: Wolf Brother, Manabozho's favorite brother, drowned by evil manitou, became god of the dead
Chakenapok: Flint Man, killed Manabozho's mother as he was born, evil brother

Now here's what I got from the book I'm reading. WABOSSO AND CHIBIABOS ARE THE SAME! I read somewhere that Wabosso was the first to go to the land of the dead and to bring back what he learned to the mortals. This confused me, since Chibiabos was supposed to have done that. NOWHERE online have I read that they are the same. But the book gives a VERY interesting account of things.

A warning, this contains slight spoilers as to the possible plot of part of the sequel. It isn't the thing the WHOLE sequel revolves around, but it does give away some info. If I were you I'd keep reading anyway, y'might learn something. Here we go.

In the book...

Winonah, daughter of the earth spirit Nokomis, was raped by the west wind, a manitou named...well, his name varies greatly according to accounts, but in the book it's given as Ae-pungishimook. (THAT'S one that's gotta go!) She became pregnant and over time bore four sons. The first was Maudjee-kawiss, "the first son." He became a warrior and such who made his father proud; I haven't read over all the details yet, and they don't matter right now. Just the basics.

Secondly came Pukawiss, "the disowned." He disappointed his father when he showed little interest in becoming a warrior and instead spent his time fooling around and dancing and acting goofily. Having incurred his father's displeasure, he thus went wandering the world. He later on had some unpleasant experiences with Manabozho; more later.

Thirdly came Waub-oozoo/Cheeby-aub-oozoo--"white rabbit"/"the ghost of rabbit." Waub-oozoo spent lots of time just standing around in a trance, listening to things. He was very receptive. He went looking for an evil manitou or something and ended up dead, much to Manabozho's distress. More on that later. According to the book, when this happened, he was renamed, among the dead, as Cheeby-aub-oozoo--"Ghost of Rabbit." "Cheeby" is another spelling of "cheebi"--which is another spelling of "jeebi"--which is another spelling of GEEBEE. ! "GeeBee," technically, means "ghost" or "monster." There's a road called the Ghost Road that begins with the word "cheebi." Neat, eh? I never noticed the similarity. I guess in the island region, the GeeBees acquired a status similar to the Wendigoes that they didn't acquire everywhere else. Anyway, that's how the book gives it--Wabosso and Chibiabos are the same guy, which rules out one extraneous brother.

Lastly came Manabozho, "the Great Rabbit." He's the main character in the stories, and seems rather pervy at times, too. (One time he apparently disguised himself as a woman so he could find out what it was like to be with a man. The man found out...eventually. o_O ) You should know plenty about him already so I'll refrain from chattering. Winonah died after his birth and when he was grown (his brothers having moved out long ago), Nokomis ("Grandmother") told him of his true parentage--which sorrowed and enraged him. He blamed Ae-punishwhatchamacallit for his mother's death and went seeking him in revenge. I won't get into the rest of that as it doesn't concern the story or this entry. So nyah!

Originally, I was going to just omit Mudjikawiss, as he has little personality, and relegate Peepaukawiss to the status of Manabozho's cousin or something. Wabosso and Chibiabos and Chakenapok were to be his brothers. Now, however, the dilemma of Wabosso/Chibiabos is solved, since they're the same. But...

That leaves Chakenapok.

I've seen only ONE mention of him online, directly, by name. That's why I have no conflict over what to call him. Another version said that Winonah gave birth to Manabozho, a wolf pup (Chibiabos, or in some cases a small rabbit named Wabosso--now you can see why!), and then a piece of flint which tore her when she bore it and killed her. Nokomis, in anger, buried the flint and raised the other two; the wolf became Manabozho's companion, and in a related legend, fell through a lake and was drowned. There are many variants of the "death of Wolf Brother" myth, some in which the wolf is Manabozho's grandson, or his nephew, or just his companion, or, in my version and one of the popular versions, his brother. Like I said, I'm going with the last one.

But WHAT ABOUT CHAKENAPOK? With the way the story's summing up to be, he is crucial to the plot and cannot be omitted. Sooooo...

Time to rewrite the myths. Manabozho will not be one of four, he'll be one of FIVE.

Mudjikawiss--bear, the oldest brother--a good warrior and hunter, but kind of a dullard. The others can always insult him and he won't even catch on, the idiot. The most minor of the brother characters.

Peepaukawiss--grasshopper, gambler, always in competition with Manabozho--in one legend, he teased Manabozho so greatly that the latter threw a hissy fit and chased him to the ends of the earth until he thought he'd killed him. In the other versions that I read first, they raced each other and Manabozho always won; their races created the changing of the seasons. I like the tragic angle presented in the book, but I also want to keep the goofy angle I had in mind regarding this character. So, he and Manabozho will have some history, but they'll also be in the midst of an uneasy truce. And they can't stop slapping and punching and kicking each other, either. Just like brothers.

Wabosso/Chibiabos--well, throughout the story, the character was going to be good-natured Chibiabos, the wolf. But now he will have to start out, at least, as Wabosso, the white rabbit--a character I had originally intended to be a bit player, rather snooty, not very likable. Major change here. Wabosso will start out both good natured AND kind of reserved, in turn. His tragedy occurs (I can't go into details here, as it really WOULD spoil the plot), and he becomes Chibiabos, the wolf. Problem solved.

And...

Chakenapok--flint man, born after Manabozho, therefore the youngest brother. HOWEVER...his birth caused Winonah's death, but the other brothers don't know this. Nokomis got rid of him shortly afterward, and they never even knew they had a fifth brother. Manabozho believed himself to be the youngest, and the possible cause of Winonah's death. (Ae-pungishawhateveritis, I believe, doesn't play a part in the story.) Heavy guilt trip. I'm blathering about this here because, yes, Chakenapok's real identity will be one of the important details in the story that's not known to the others at first, that's a spoiler...but he has an identity BEYOND this one, one which I won't get into. So you are spared the BIG spoiler, for now. :)

So there we have it...Mudjikawiss, Peepaukawiss, Wabosso/Chibiabos, Manabozho, and Chakenapok. Four and one forgotten. I think I've gotten it straightened out, finally!

Well...I have to copy this just in case, then save. The sky out there is really weird looking; I didn't know it was so late, it's so dark out! Tar for now...