Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain,
A dozen years; ...
... Where thou didst vent thy groans,
As fast as mill-wheels strike."

Similarly Miss Emerson, in her "Indian Myths" (1884, p. 134), quotes the
story of "The Two Branches":

"One day there was a great noise in a tree under which Manabozho was
taking a nap. It grew louder, and, at length exasperated, he leaped into
the tree, caught the two branches whose war was the occasion of the din,
and pulled them asunder. But with a spring on either hand, the two
branches caught and pinioned Manabozho between them. Three days the god
remained imprisoned, during which his outcries and lamentations were the
subject of derision from every quarter--from the birds of the air, and
from the animals of the woods and plains. To complete his sad case, the
wolves ate the breakfast he had left beneath the tree. At length a good
bear came to his rescue and released him, when the god disclosed his
divine intuitions, for he returned home, and without delay beat his
two wives."

Furthermore, we are told of the West Indian tribes, how, if any person
going through a wood perceived a motion in the trees which he regarded
as supernatural, frightened at the prodigy, he would address himself to
that tree which shook the most. But such trees, however, did not
condescend to converse, but ordered him to go to a boie, or priest, who
would order him to sacrifice to their new deity.[25] From the same
source we also learn[26] how among savage tribes those plants that
produce great terrors, excitement, or a lethargic state, are supposed to
contain a supernatural being. Hence in Peru, tobacco is known as the