Long
ago there was a tribe called the Kickapoo. They were a large tribe
of about 4000 known as great warriors and excellent potters and
woodworkers. They lived between Lake Erie and Lake Michigan before
being forced into Wisconsin by the Iroquois. There was a boy named
Chogan who had a warm heart and all who knew him loved him and
he returned their love. The name Chogan meant blackbird. His hair
was black but his spirit was as bright as a golden sun.
Even in the coldest days of winter when Chogan walked into his
long house the people inside felt warm and welcome by his presence.
Some days when he walked among his crops of corn beans and squash
he would sing songs and any one who heard them would stop and
listen.
One
particular day when Chogan was out singing kouk-la-ree la kouk-la-ree
in the fields the god of birds Salenda heard his singing and come
down in the form
of a eagle. He called to chogan and told him that he saw Chogans's
good deeds, his warm heart, and heard his beautiful singing and
was very pleased with him. To reward him Salenda wanted him to
live forever as a bird. Chogan accepted this offer on one condition
, that he would be able to be two birds. Each one would be a blackbird.
One would have a red dot on its wing to represent his warm heart
and one would have a yellow head to represent his bright spirit.
The yellow headed blackbird spread his wings and lived with the
Kickapoo on their summer hunts for buffalo on the plains. The
red winged blackbird lived north where the skilled farmers lived
during the fall and winter. Only the redwinged blackbird kept
Chogan's beautiful singing voice. If you find a redwinged blackbird
today you may still hear it sing kouk-la-ree.