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In April of 1963, Alan Dundes collected the following version of AT 569 from a 74-year-old Prairie Band Potawatomi, William Mzechteno, in Lawrence, Kansas. (In the text Dundes is identified by the letter “D” and the informant by the letter “M”.)
M. Well there was once, there was a little boy. There was always a little boy, you know, and he had a name, his name was ah—(pause of six seconds' duration)—
P'teejah. His name is P'teejah, and ah—
D. P'teejah?
M. Yeah. And he, he had a little, let's see now—(pause of three seconds' duration)—oh, he had a little tablecloth, you know. He can eat, you know, there's food every time he spreads that tablecloth on the ground or anywheres; he name many food, any kinda food he wants. It'd just appear on the, right on the tablecloth and was eaten. Well, all he had to do to clean up, you know, is just shake; everything was disappear, you know, into thin air. And he was goin' long the road one time, he met a soldier, he had a cap on. Uniform caps, you know, those soldiers wear. And the soldier was hungry. (The boy asked) “You got anything to eat?” (The soldier answered) “Oh, I got this hard bread.” It's all he had. (The boy said) “Let's see that bread,” he told him, “oh, that's hard, that's no good, not fit to eat,” he told him. He throw it away. (The soldier said) “Mustn't do that, it's all I got to eat.” (The boy said) “I'll give you something better,” he told him. He pull out his tablecloth, and spread it on there, on the ground. “You
name anything you want, ANYTHING!” So he, ah, he named all he wanted to eat, Soldier, he was real hungry. “So, if you want any of that red water, you can have that too,” he told him, whiskey.
D Red water?
M Yeah, they call it red water (laughing).
D Who called it red water?
M The Indian boy. They called it red water.