Native American

Piasa Bird

I was talking to a coworker this week about what I should do for this blog. At first I was thinking about European dragons but then I started to talk to him about what I have done so far. When that happened I realized I’ve been kinda looking into dragon myths that date back and some nationalities that are a part of who I am. I am not Greek but I do have Irish in me. So I started thinking about what other nationalities I have. My first thought was Native American granted it may be a very very small portion.

When I brought up Native American with the same coworker he said that he could ask his mother who is 100% Native American. She asked him to tell me to look into the Piasa Bird. I told him tell your mother is a wonderful woman.

Now after some back story I’ll go into the Piasa Bird.

https://madison.illinoisgenweb.org/native_american/piasa_bird.html

This Piasa Bird painting is located in Alton which is located in Illinois. It was seen by Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet who was a fur trader in 1873. They were going down the Mississippi River when they spotted a painting similar to this. Beverly Bauser included a passage from Father Jacques Marquette’ journal:

“As we were descending the river, we saw high rocks with hideous monsters painted on them, and upon which the bravest Indian dare not look. They are as large as a calf, with head and horns like a goat, their eyes are red, beard like a tiger’s and a face like a man’s. Their tails are so long that they pass over their bodies and between their legs under their bodies, ending like a fish’s tail. They are painted red, green and black, and so well drawn that I could not believe they were drawn by the Indians, and for what purpose they were drawn seems to me a mystery.”
Father jacques Marquette

There are many different stories that have been published about the Piasa Bird. This is due to John Russell who published two different versions of the legend. The first version was published in 1863 titled “The Piasa: An Indian Tradition of Illinois”. The second version was in 1847 for the Illinois Journal of Springfield.

The second version was the Piasa Bird was slaughtered by Alpeora. I will include the passage from the first version that Beverly Bauser also included on their webpage.

“No part of the United States, not even the highlands of the Hudson, can vie, in wild and romantic scenery, with the bluffs of Illinois on the Mississippi, between the mouths of the Missouri and Illinois rivers. On one side of the river, often at the water’s edge, a perpendicular wall of rock rises to the height of some hundred feet. Generally, on the opposite shore is a level bottom or prairie of several miles in extent, extending to a similar bluff that runs parallel with the river. One of these ranges commences at Alton, and extends for many miles along the left bank of the Mississippi. In descending the river to Alton, the traveler will observe, between that town and the mouth of the Illinois, a narrow ravine through which a small stream discharges its waters into the Mississippi. This stream is the Piasa. Its name is Indian, and signifies, in the Illini, ‘The bird which devours men.’ Near the mouth of this stream, on the smooth and perpendicular face of the bluff, at an elevation which no human art can reach, is cut the figure of an enormous bird, with its wings extended. The animal which the figure represents was called by the Indians, ‘the Piasa.’ From this is derived the name of the stream…
Many thousand moons before the arrival of the pale faces, when the great Magalonyx and Mastodon, whose bones are now dug up, were still living in the land of green prairies, there existed a bird of such dimensions that he could easily carry off in his talons a full-grown deer. Having obtained a taste for human flesh, from that time he would prey on nothing else. He was artful as he was powerful, and would dart suddenly and unexpectedly upon an Indian, bear him off into one of the caves of the bluff, and devour him. Hundreds of warriors attempted for years to destroy him, but without success. Whole villages were nearly depopulated, and consternation spread through all the tribes of the Illini. Such was the state of affairs when Ouatoga, the great chief of the Illini, whose fame extended beyond the Great Lakes, separating himself from the rest of his tribe, fasted in solitude for the space of a whole moon, and prayed to the great spirit, the Master of Life, that he would protect his children from the Piasa.
On the last night of the fast, the Great Spirit appeared to Ouatoga in a dream, and directed him to select twenty of his bravest warriors, each armed with a bow and poisoned arrows, and conceal them in a designated spot. Near the place of concealment, another warrior was to stand in open view, as a victim for the Piasa, which they must shoot the instant he pounced upon his prey. When the chief awoke in the morning, he thanked the Great Spirit, and returning to his tribe, told them his vision. The warriors were quickly selected and placed in ambush as directed. Ouatoga offered himself as the victim. He was willing to die for his people.
Placing himself in open view on the bluffs, he soon saw the Piasa perched on the cliff, eying his prey. The chief drew up his manly form to his utmost height, and planting his feet firmly upon the earth, he began to chant the death-song of an Indian warrior. The moment after, the Piasa arose into the air, and swift as the thunder-bolt, darted down on his victim. Scarcely had the horrid creature reached his prey before every bow was sprung and every arrow was sent quivering to the feather into his body.
The Piasa uttered a fearful scream, that sounded far over the opposite side of the river, and expired. Ouatoga was unharmed. Not an arrow, not even the talons of the bird had touched him. The Master of Life, in admiration of Ouatoga’s deed, had held over him an invisible shield. There was the wildest rejoicing among the Illini, and the brave chief was carried in triumph to the council house, where it was solemnly agreed that, in memory of the great event in their nation’s history, the image of the Piasa should be engraved on the bluff.”
Professor John Russell from “The Piasa: An Indian Tradition of Illionois