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Birth of the Twins

This story is common among all the Siouan tribes and some of the Western Algonquian tribes, but this particular version was given by our Omaha volunteer, who prefers to remain anonymous.

An Omaha woman was pregnant with twins. Before her husband went out hunting, he used to warn her, "If any strange person comes here while I am out, just don't look at him. You could be in danger." One day an old man came to the lodge while the man was hunting, and the woman sat with her back to him. She didn't look at him. He came back the next day and she still did not look at him. On the third day he came back to the lodge again but the woman still would not look at him. But on the fourth day when he came back, she couldn't stand it any more and she peeked. She saw a Two-Face, a man-eating ogre. Everyone who looked at him died. The Omaha woman died as soon as she laid eyes on him, and the Two-Face cut her up and ate her. He took one of her babies out of her body and threw it in the woods, but he didn't notice the other one.

When the woman's husband came back and saw her remains he knew what had happened. He started to grieve, but then he noticed the baby was still alive, so he'd better take care of him. He didn't know there were two babies. The other one was still in the woods. A bean mouse adopted him and fed him on beans. So the first twin grew up wild.

When the twins got older they met each other again and knew they were brothers. They grew up to become heroes and have many adventures together. But that is another story for another day.

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Omaha mythology
Omaha-Ponca language
Omaha tribe

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Birth of the Twins

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