Sister-of (Thunderbird) Big Sand (abt. 1770)

Born about 1770 in Wisconsin, British North America

Biography

Sister-of was Ho-Chunk.

Birth

The sister of Thunderbird was born about 1770.

Clan Affiliation

Since her brother was a member of the Thunderbird Clan, it follows that she was also a member of that clan. This is the clan whence the chief is drawn.

Marriage

She married Big Sand, the brother of Black Otter. The parents of Big Sand had died, leaving Black Otter an orphan, so she and his older brother Big Sand raised him.

Prophetic Incidents

Once she and Black Otter went hunting for ducks, but were not able to get any. However, much later, sandpipers landed nearby, and Black Otter was able to kill two of them. She began to prepare them, but in due course, she asked if she might not eat one of these rather paltry birds herself. So Black Otter told her to go ahead and fix the one she was working on. Later, in a battle, Black Otter seized two children as prisoners, but Big Sand's wife's brother, Thunderbird, seized the little girl for himself, but was not able to take the little boy captive away from Black Otter. The hunting incident was considered later to have foreshadowed this incident during the course of battle.

A second such incident was related: "And this woman told the people that one time when she was alone after Black Otter had left on the war party, there was a storm, and there was a very loud crash of lightning; and Black Otter's dog had run out in the storm; and the next morning she had gone out and found that dog dead." Black Otter had promised the Chief of the Thunders (Great Blackhawk) that he would sacrifice to him the little dog that he had left behind when he went on the warpath. This dog, presumably, was the one struck by lightning. It was believed that when lightning struck something, that the Thunders were "eating" it. So, in effect, the little dog was eaten by one of the Thunders (presumably Great Blackhawk himself), and that the offering had been accepted and its terms granted. ("Black Otter's Warpath")

Sources

• Frank Weinhold, "Black Otter's Narrative: Wisconsin Native Recollections Relating to Pre-History of the Lewis-Clark Expedition," 1-27, in The Encyclopedia of Hočąk (Winnebago) Mythology.
• Abel Green, "Black Otter's Warpath," trs. by Mitchell Red Cloud, Sr., The Encyclopedia of Hočąk (Winnebago) Mythology