When the world was young, there lived in this country many huge Monsters, some who dwelt in the sea, some who roved over the land, and some who lived on land and in the water.
The grandfather of these Monsters was greater than them all and exceedingly wise. He invaded every known region of the world, respected no one's right and preyed upon every living creature. Neither sea nor mountains, nor marshes could stop him, and he was a terror to all living things. When he crossed the mountains he made tracks on the stones, and in many places his tracks can be found today.
The people were much distressed and called to the Great Spirit for strength to fight the Monster. The Great Spirit told the Chiefs and head men that it was not always bone and muscle that overcame difficulties, but more times brains.
So a general council was called and all tribes met, and it was decided that the Monster should die and his brains divided among all who had taken part in killing him. The Great Bear came to the council and said that the animals would take part in the battle, and would want a share of the brains. So it was agreed that both man and beast would fight the Monster.
Then, there arose the question as to how would the brains be divided, for it was known that the Monster was made up of every nature, and every desire, good, evil, wisdom, foolishness, love, kindness, friendship, wrath, envy, jealousy, truthfulness and deceit, and every mortive that ever was, and different parts of the brains represented different motives. The Rain Manitou was consulted, and he said he would strike the monster with one of his greatest bolts of lightning and scatter his brains, and all creatures could scramble for what they could get.
The Rain Manitou was to sit on the top of the mountain by the side of a Great Pass, all the Indians and animals were to be concealed on either side of the pass, and the Great Bear was to go and dare the Monster to fight him, and then run through the Pass.
When the Monster came to the right place, the Rain Manitou was to strike him and kill him, and scatter the brains.
Everything worked as it was planned. The Great Bear found the Monster and decoyed him to the mountain pass, then a great dark cloud covered the place, and an awful flash of lightning appeared. Then a command with a voice of thunder came: "All come and gather what brains you can, but remember every motive is there, and be careful what you take."
The brains were scattered all over the valley, the mountain side and in the pass, no large piece in any place, but small atoms everywhere.
There came a general scramble, grabbing, picking, snatching and scratching. All forgot that there were different kinds of brains, and that each creature might have gotten the kind his nature needed, if he had only taken the time.
The turtle got what the bear and turkey should, and after that laid eggs and lived on both land and water, but never satisfied with either place very long. Some birds got what the fish should have and most of the people got a mixture of all, and the reason why many men are so changeable at times is their ancestors were careless in selecting their brains.