In the old days, Menominee fathers told their children about Me'napus. When the children got big, they told their children about Me'napus.
Me'napus is Big Rabbit. But he was a small rabbit before he got big.
He lived with his grandmother when he was a small rabbit.
Me'napus asked his grandmother: "Where is my mother? Why can't I live with her, too?"
"You're mother was killed by Flint-Rock," his grandmother said.
Then his grandmother told Me'napus about his mother: "She was the mother of many animals and things. The last thing was Flint-Rock"
"Flint-Rock was so hard and sharp," his grandmother said. "He killed your mother."
"Then I will kill him," Me'napus said.
"You can't get to him," his grandmother said. "He lives across the sea."
"I will go just the same," Me'napus said.
So Me'napus made a canoe with the bark of birch trees. And he made plenty of arrows.
Then he started to paddle across the sea.
The waves of the sea are sometimes high. Sometimes they are as high as hills.
But the grandmother of Me'napus said the sea would be flat. She said it would be quiet as water in a bowl. And now it was.
For Me'napus, it was quiet and flat.
Me'napus paddled and paddled. His arms hurt. His back was tired. But he kept paddling.
He paddled for four months.
Then Me'napus came to land.
Soon he heard a great noise. It was Flint-Rock chipping himself.
Soon Me'napus saw Flint-Rock. He was taller than a hill. His hat was high in the sky.
Me'napus was small.
But Me'napus was brave. He shot an arrow at Flint-Rock.
Flint-Rock was a hard as the arrow. So the arrow hit and fell. It did not go into him.
Me'napus shot another arrow. It hit and fell. Then he shot another. It fell, too. Soon he had just one arrow left.
Then someone said "Shoot at his hat."
A woodpecker said that, a woodpecker with a red head.
So Me'napus took his last arrow. And he shot at Flint-Rock's hat.
Flint-Rock fell. He made sparks. He broke into many chips.
"I will give the chips to the people," Me'napus said. "They can make fire with the chips."
In the old days, people made fire with flint.
In the old days, many Menominee fathers had bags. One thing in the bags was flint.
Now people have matches.
Wa:pos 