When Mi´nabō´zho, the servant of Dzhe Man´idō, looked down upon the earth he beheld human beings, the Ani´shinâ´bēg, the ancestors of the Ojibwa. They occupied the four quarters of the earth--the northeast, the southeast, the southwest, and the northwest. He saw how helpless they were, and desiring to give them the means of warding off the diseases with which they were constantly afflicted, and to provide them with animals and plants to serve as food and with other comforts, Mi´nabō´zho remained thoughtfully hovering over the center of the earth, endeavoring to devise some means of communicating with them, when he heard something laugh, and perceived a dark object appear upon the surface of the water to the west (No. 2). He could not recognize its form, and while watching it closely it slowly disappeared from view. It next appeared in the north (No. 3), and after a short lapse of time again disappeared. Mi´nabō´zho hoped it would again show itself upon the surface of the water, which it did in the east (No. 4). Then Mi´nabō´zho wished that it might approach him, so as to permit him to communicate with it. When it disappeared from view in the east and made its reappearance in the south (No. 1), Mi´nabō´zho asked it to come to the center of the earth that he might behold it. Again it disappeared from view, and after reappearing in the west Mi´nabō´zho observed it slowly approaching the center of the earth (i.e., the centre of the circle), when he descended and saw it was the Otter, now one of the sacred man´idōs of the Midē´wiwin. Then Mi´nabō´zho instructed the Otter in the mysteries of the Midē´wiwin, and gave him at the same time the sacred rattle to be used at the side of the sick; the sacred Midē´ drum to be used during the ceremonial of initiation and at sacred feasts, and tobacco, to be employed in invocations and in making peace. [Illustration: Plate III. Red Lake and Leech Lake Records.] The place where Mi´nabō´zho descended was an island in the middle of a large body of water, and the Midē´ who is feared by all the others is called Mini´sino´shkwe (He-who-lives-on-the-island). Then Mi´nabō´zho built a Midē´wigân (sacred Midē´ lodge), and taking his drum he beat upon it and sang a Midē´ song, telling the Otter that Dzhe Man´idō had decided to help the Aníshinâ´bōg, that they might always have life and an abundance of food and other things necessary for their comfort. Mi´nabō´zho then took the Otter into the Midē´wigân and conferred upon him the secrets of the Midē´wiwin, and with his Midē´ bag shot the sacred mī´gis into his body that he might have immortality and be able to confer these secrets to his kinsmen, the Aníshinâ´bēg.