Tales of the North American Indians, by Stith Thompson 

TALES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS

CHAPTER I

MYTHOLOGICAL STORIES

I. SEDNA, MISTRESS OF THE UNDERWORLD

(Eskimo: Boas, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, vi, 583)

Once upon a time there lived on a solitary shore an Inung with his daughter 
Sedna. His wife had been dead for some time and the two led a quiet life. 
Sedna grew up to be a handsome girl and the youths came from all around to 
sue for her hand, but none of them could touch her proud heart. Finally, at 
the breaking up of the ice in the spring a fulmar flew from over the ice and 
wooed Sedna with enticing song. "Come to me," it said; "come into the land 
of the birds, where there is never hunger, where my tent is made of the most 
beautiful skins. You shall rest on soft bearskins. My fellows, the fulmars, 
shall bring you all your heart may desire; their feathers shall clothe you; 
your lamp shall always be filled with oil, your pot with meat." Sedna could 
not long resist such wooing and they went together over the vast sea . When 
at last they reached the country of the fulmar, after a long and hard 
journey, Sedna discovered that her spouse had shamefully deceived her. Her 
new home was not built of beautiful pelts, but was covered with wretched 
fishskins, full of holes, that gave free entrance to wind and snow. Instead 
of soft reindeer skins her bed was made of hard walrus hides and she had to 
live on miserable fish, which the birds brought her. Too soon she discovered 
that she had thrown away her opportunities when in her foolish pride she had 
rejected the Inuit youth. In her woe she sang: "Aja. O father, if you knew 
how wretched I am you would come to me and we would hurry away in your boat 
over the waters. The birds look unkindly upon me the stranger; cold winds 
roar about my bed; they give me but miserable food. O come and take me back 
home. Aja."

When a year had passed and the sea was again stirred by warmer winds, the 
father left his country to visit Sedna. His daughter greeted him joyfully 
and besought him to take her back home. The father, hearing of the outrages 
wrought upon his daughter, determined upon revenge. He killed the fulmar, 
took Sedna into his boat, and they quickly left the country which had 
brought so much sorrow to Sedna. When the other fulmars came home and found 
their companion dead and his wife gone, they all flew away in search of the 
fugitives. They were very sad over the death of their poor murdered comrade 
and continue to mourn and cry until this day. 

Having flown a short distance they discerned the boat and stirred up a heavy 
storm. The sea rose in immense waves that threatened the pair with 
destruction. In this mortal peril the father determined to offer Sedna to 
the birds and flung her overboard. She clung to the edge of the boat with a 
death grip. The cruel father then took a knife and cut off the first joints 
of her fingers. Falling into the sea they were transformed into whales, the 
nails turning into whalebone. Sedna holding on to the boat more tightly, the 
second finger joints fell under the sharp knife and swam away as seals; when 
the father cut off the stumps of the fingers they became ground seals.

Meantime the storm subsided, for the fulmars thought Sedna was drowned. The 
father then allowed her to come into the boat again. But from that time she 
cherished a deadly hatred against him and swore bitter revenge. After they 
got ashore, she called her dogs and let them gnaw off the feet and hands of 
her father while he was asleep. Upon this he cursed himself, his daughter, 
and the dogs which had maimed him; whereupon the earth opened and swallowed 
the hut, the father, the daughter, and the dogs. They have since lived in 
the land of Adlivun, of which Sedna is the mistress.

II. SUN SISTER AND MOON BROTHER

(ESKIMO: Boas, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, vi, 597)

 

In olden times a brother and his sister lived in a large village in which 
there was a singing house, and every night the sister with her playfellows 
enjoyed themselves in this house. Once upon a time, when all the lamps in 
the singing house were extinguished, somebody came in and outraged her. She 
was unable to recognize him; but she blackened her hands with soot and when 
the same again happened besmeared the man's back with it.7 When the lamps 
were relighted she saw that the violator was her brother. In great anger she 
sharpened a knife and cut off her breasts, which she offered to him, saying: 
"Since you seem to relish me, eat this." Her brother fell into a passion and 
she fled from him, running about the room. She seized a piece of wood (with 
which the lamps are kept in order) which was burning brightly and rushed out 
of the house. The brother took another one, but in his pursuit he fell down 
and extinguished his light, which continued to glow only faintly. Gradually 
both were lifted up and continued their course in the sky, the sister being 
transformed into the sun, the brother into the moon. Whenever the new moon 
first appears she sings:

Aningaga tapika, takirn tapika qaumidjatedlirpoq; qaumatitaudle.

Aningaga tapika, tikipoq tapika.

(My brother up there, the moon up there begins to shine; he will be bright.

My brother up there, he is coming up there.)

III. GLOOSCAP

(MICMAC: Rand, Legends of the Micmacs, p. 232, No. 35)

 

The tradition respecting Glooscap is that he came to this country from the 
east, - far across the great sea; that he was a divine being, though in the 
form of a man. He was not far from any of the Indians (this is the identical 
rendering of the Indian words used by my friend Stephen in relating the 
sketches of his history here given). When Glooscap went away, he went toward 
the west. There he is still tented; and two important personages are near 
him, who are called Kuhkw and Coolpujot, of whom more anon.

Glooscap was the friend and teacher of the Indians; all they knew of the 
arts he taught them. He taught them the names of the constellations and 
stars; he taught them how to hunt and fish, and cure what they took; how to 
cultivate the ground, as far as they were trained in husbandry. When he 
first came, he brought a woman with him, whom he ever addressed as 
Grandmother, -a very general epithet for an old woman. She was not his wife, 
nor did he ever have a wife. He was always sober, grave, and good; all that 
the Indians knew of what was wise and good he taught them.

His canoe was a granite rock. On one occasion he put to sea in this craft, 
and took a young woman with him as a passenger. She proved to be a bad girl; 
and this was manifested by the troubles that ensued. A storm arose, and the 
waves dashed wildly over the canoe; he accused her of being the cause, 
through her evil deeds, and so he determined to rid himself of her. For this 
purpose he stood in for the land, leaped ashore, but would not allow her to 
follow; putting his foot against the heavy craft, he pushed it off to sea 
again with the girl on it, telling her to become whatever she desired to be. 
She was transformed into a large, ferocious fish, called by the Indians 
keeganibe, said to have a huge dorsal fin, - like the sail of a boat, it is 
so large and high out of the water.

The Indians sometimes visit Glooscap at his present residence, so says 
tradition; this is in a beautiful land in the west. He taught them when he 
was with them that there was such a place, and led them to look forward to a 
residence there, and to call it their beautiful home in the far west, -
where, if good, they would go at death.

The journey to that fair region far away is long, difficult, and dangerous; 
the way back is short and easy. Some years ago, seven stout-hearted young 
men attempted the journey, and succeeded. Before reaching the place, they 
had to pass over a mountain, the ascent of which was up a perpendicular 
bluff, and the descent on the other side was still more difficult, for the 
top hung far over the base. The fearful and unbelieving could not pass at 
all; but the good and confident could travel it with ease and safety, as 
though it were a level path.

Having crossed the mountain, the road ran between the heads of two huge 
serpents, which lay just opposite each other; and they darted out their 
tongues, so as to destroy whomsoever they hit. But the good and the firm of 
heart could dart past between the strokes of their tongues, so as to evade 
them. One more difficulty remained; it was a wall, as of a thick, heavy 
cloud, that separated the present world from that beautiful region beyond. 
This cloudy wall rose and fell at intervals, and struck the ground with such 
force that whatever was caught under it would be crushed to atoms; but the 
good could dart under when it rose, and come out on the other side 
unscathed. This our seven young heroes succeeded in doing. There they found 
three wigwams, - one for Glooscap, one for Coolpujot, and one for Kuhkw. 
These are all mighty personages, but Glooscap is supreme; the other two are 
subordinates. Coolpujot has no bones. He cannot move himself, but is rolled 
over each spring and fall by Glooscap's order, being turned with handspikes; 
hence the name Coolpujot (rolled over by handspikes). In the autumn he is 
turned towards the west, in the spring towards the east; and this is a 
figure of speech, denoting the revolving seasons of the year, - his mighty 
breath and looks, by which he can sweep down whole armies and work wonders 
on a grand scale, indicating the weather: frost, snow, ice, and sunshine. 
(Such was Stephen's very satisfactory explanation.)

Kuhkw means Earthquake; this mighty personage can pass along under the 
surface of the ground, making all things shake and tremble by his power.

All these seven visitors had requests to proffer, and each received what he 
asked for; though the gift did not always correspond with the spirit of the 
request, it oftentimes agreed with the letter. For instance, one of these 
seven visitors was wonderfully enamoured of a fine country, and expressed a 
desire to remain there, and to live long; whereupon, at Glooscap's 
direction, Earthquake took him and stood him up, and he became a cedar-
tree." When the wind blew through its boughs, they were bent and broken with 
great fracas, - making a thunder-storm that rolled far and wide over the 
country, accompanied by strong winds, which scattered the cedar-boughs and 
seeds in all directions, producing all the cedar-groves that exist in New 
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and elsewhere.

The other men started, and reached home in a short time.

One of them had asked for a medicine that would be effectual in curing 
disease. This he obtained; but, neglecting to follow implicitly the 
directions given, he lost it before he reached home. It was carefully 
wrapped up in a piece of paper, and he was charged not to undo the parcel 
until he reached home. His curiosity got the better of his judgment; he 
could not see what difference it could make if he just looked at his prize 
as he was going along. So he undid the parcel, and presto! the medicine 
slipped out on the ground, spread and slid in all directions, covering up 
the face of the earth, and vanishing from sight.

On another occasion several young men went to see Glooscap in his present 
abode. One of them went to obtain the power of winning the heart of some 
fair one, which all his unaided skill had failed hitherto to do; an hundred 
times he had tried to get a wife, but the girls all shunned him. Many of the 
party who started on this perilous expedition failed to overcome the 
difficulties that lay in their way, and turned back, baffled and defeated; 
but several of them succeeded. They were all hospitably entertained; all 
presented their requests, and were favorably heard. The man who sought power 
to captivate some female heart was the last to proffer his petition. 
Glooscap and his two subordinates conferred together in a whisper, and then 
Earthquake informed him that his ugly looks and still more ugly manners were 
the chief hindrances to his success; but they must try to help him. So he 
was handed a small parcel, and directed not to open it until he reached his 
own village; this he took, and they all set off for home together. The night 
before they arrived, he could restrain his curiosity no longer; he opened 
the parcel, the foolish fellow! Out flew young women by the scores and 
hundreds, covering the face of the earth, piling themselves in towering 
heaps, and burying the poor fellow, crushing him to the earth under the 
accumulating weight of their bodies. His comrades had cautioned him against 
disobeying the mandate, and had begged him not to undo the parcel; but he 
had not heeded the caution. They now heard him calling for help, but he 
called in vain, they could not help him; and his cries became fainter and 
fainter, and finally ceased altogether. Morning came at last. The young 
women had all vanished, and the fragments of their comrade were scattered 
over the ground; he had been killed and ground to atoms as the result of his 
unbridled curiosity and disobedience.

IV. MANABOZHO

A. MANABOZHO'S BIRTH

(MENOMINI: Skinner and Satterlee, Anthropological Papers of the American 
Museum of Natural History, xiii, 239)

 

In the beginning, there was a lone old woman living on this island. Nobody 
knows where she came from, nor how she got here, but it is true that she 
dwelt in a wigwam with her only daughter. Wild potatoes were the only food 
of the two women.

Every day the old woman took her wooden hoe and went out to gather them. She 
packed them home and dried them in the sun, for in those days, there was no 
such thing as fire in that part of the world.

One day her daughter begged to go with her. "Mother, let me go and help you; 
between us we can dig more potatoes than you can alone." "No, my daughter, 
you stay here," said the old woman; "I don't want you to go. Your place is 
at home caring for the lodge." "Oh dear! I don't like to stay here alone all 
day' " teased the girl; " it's so lonely when you are gone! I'd much rather 
go with you. There is another old hoe here that I can use. Please let me go 
too."

At last, the old woman consented to her daughter's pleading; the two armed 
themselves with their tools and set out. After a little journey they came to 
a damp ravine. "Here is the place where I always come to gather the 
potatoes," cried the mother; "you can dig here too. But there is one thing 
that I must warn you about, when you are digging these potatoes; I want you 
to face the south. Be sure not to forget this. It was because I was afraid 
that you could not be trusted to remember that I never brought you here 
before." "Oh, that's all right, I won't forget," cried the girl. "Very well 
then, you stay right here and work; I am going to dig over there."

The girt set to work with a will, and enjoyed her task very much. "Oh how 
nice it is to dig potatoes!" she said, and kept up a running stream of 
conversation with her mother as she labored. As the time passed by, the 
daughter gradually forgot her promise and at last turned round and faced in 
the opposite direction as she dug. All at once there came a great rushing, 
roaring noise from the heavens and the wind swept down where she stood and 
whirled her round and round. "Oh, mother! Help! Come quick!" she screamed. 
Her mother dropped everything and rushed to her aid. "Grab me by the back 
and hold me down!" cried the girl in terror. The old lady seized her with 
one hand and steadied herself, meanwhile, by catching hold of some bushes. 
"Hold me as tightly as you can!" she gasped. "Now you see why I told you to 
stay at home! You are being properly punished for your disobedience."

Suddenly the wind stopped. The air was as calm as though nothing had ever 
happened. The two women hastily gathered up their potatoes and hurried home. 
After that the old woman worked alone. Everything went well for a while, and 
then, one day the daughter complained. "I feel very strange and different, 
mother; there seems to be something within me." The old woman scrutinized 
the girl narrowly, but made no answer, for she knew that her daughter was 
pregnant." At last, she was brought to bed and gave birth to three children. 
The first of these was Manabozho, the second was a little wolf, Muh'wiise, 
and the last was a sharp flint stone. When the unfortunate mother gave issue 
to the rock, it cut her and she died. The old woman mourned her daughter 
greatly. In a paroxysm of rage and grief, she threw away the flint stone, 
but Manabozho and Muh'wase she cherished and cared for until they grew to be 
children.

B. MANABOZHO'S WOLF BROTHER

(MENOMINI: Hoffman, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xiv, I I 5)

 

When Manabozho had accomplished the works for which Kisha' Ma'nido sent him 
down to the earth, he went far away and built his wigwam on the northeastern 
shore of a large lake, where he took up his abode. As he was alone, the good 
manidos concluded to give him for a companion his twin brother, whom they 
brought to life and called Naq'pote (which signifies an expert marksman). He 
was formed like a human being, but, being a manido, could assume the shape 
of a wolf, in which form he hunted for food. Manabozho was aware of the 
anger of the bad manidos who dwelt beneath the earth, and warned his 
brother, the Wolf, never to return home by crossing the lake, but always to 
go around along the shore. Once after the Wolf had been hunting all day long 
he found himself directly opposite his wigwam, and being tired, concluded to 
cross the lake. He had not gone halfway across when the ice broke, so the 
Wolf was seized by the bad manidos, and destroyed.

Manabozho at once knew what had befallen his brother, and in his distress 
mourned for four days. Every time that Manabozho sighed the earth trembled, 
which caused the hills and ridges to form over its surface. Then the shade 
of Moq ' uaio, the Wolf, appeared before Manabozho, and knowing that his 
brother could not be restored Manabozho told him to follow the path of the 
setting sun and become the chief of the shades in the Hereafter where all 
would meet. Manabozho then secreted himself in a large rock near Mackinaw. 
Here his uncles, the people, for many years visited Manabozho, and always 
built a long lodge, the mita'wiko'mik, where they sang; so when Manabozho 
did not wish to see them in his human form he appeared to them in the form 
of a little white rabbit, with trembling ears, just as he had first appeared 
to Nokomis.

C. MANABOZHO PLAYS LACROSSE

(MENOMINI: Skinner and Satterlee, Anthropological Papers of the American 
Museum of Natural History, xiii, 255)

 

Now it happened that the beings above challenged the beings below to a 
mighty game of lacrosse. The beings below were not slow to accept the gage 
and the goals were chosen, one at Detroit and the other at Chicago. The 
center of the field was at a spot called Ke'sosasit ("where the sun is 
marked," [on the rocks]) near Sturgeon Bay on Lake Michigan. The above 
beings called their servants, the thunderers, the eagles, the geese, the 
ducks, the pigeons, and all the fowls of the air to play for them, and the 
great white underground bear called upon the fishes, the snakes, the otters, 
the deer, and all the beasts of the field to take the part of the powers 
below.

When everything was arranged, and the two sides were preparing, Manabozho 
happened along that way. As he strolled by he heard someone passing at a 
distance and whooping at the top of his voice. Curious to see who it was, 
Manabozho hastened over to the spot whence the noise emanated. Here he found 
a funny little fellow, like a tiny Indian, no other, however, than Nakuti, 
the sunfish. "What on earth is the matter with you?" queried Manabozho. "Why 
haven't you heard?" asked sunfish, astonished; " to-morrow there is going to 
be a ball game, and fishes and the beasts of the field will take the part of 
the powers below against the thunderers and all the fowls, who are 
championing the powers above." "Oh ho!" said Manabozho, and the simple 
Nakuti departed, whooping with delight. "Well, well," thought Manabozho, " I 
must see this famous game, even if I was not invited."

The chiefs of the underworld left their homes in the waters and climbed high 
up on a great mountain where they could look over the whole field, and 
having chosen this spot they returned.

Manabozho soon found their tracks and followed them to the place of vantage 
which they had selected. He judged by its appearance that they had decided 
to stay there, so he concluded that he would not be far away when the game 
commenced. Early next morning, before daybreak, he went to the place, and, 
through his magic power he changed himself into a tall pine tree, burnt on 
one side.

At dawn, he heard a great hubbub and whooping. From everywhere he heard 
derisive voices calling " Hau! Hau! Hau!" and "Hoo! hoo! hoo!" to urge on 
the enemy. Then appeared the deer, the mink, the otter, and all the land 
beings and the fishes in human form. They arrived at their side of the field 
and took their places and all became silent for a time. Suddenly the sky 
grew dark, and the rush of many wings made a thunderous rumbling, above 
which rose whoops, screams, screeches, cackling, calling, hooting, all in 
one terrific babel. Then the thunderers swooped down, and the golden eagles, 
and the bald eagles, and the buzzards, hawks, owls, pigeons, geese, ducks, 
and all manner of birds, and took the opposite end of the field. Then 
silence dropped down once more , and the sides lined up, the weakest near 
the goals, the strongest in the center. Someone tossed the ball high in the 
air and a pell mell melee followed, with deafening howling and whoopings. 
Back and forth surged the players, now one side gaining, now the other. At 
last one party wrested the ball through the other's ranks and sped it toward 
the Chicago goal. Down the field it went, and Manabozho strained his eyes to 
follow its course. It was nearly at the goal, the keepers were rushing to 
guard it and in the midst of the brandished clubs, legs, arms, and clouds of 
dust something notable was happening that Manabozho could not see. In his 
excitement he forgot where he was and changed back into a man.

Once in human shape he came to himself, and looking about, noted that the 
onlookers had not discovered him. Fired by his lust for revenge he promptly 
took his bow, which he had kept with him all the time, strung it, and fired 
twice at each of the underground gods as they sat on their mountain. His 
arrows sped true, and the gods rushed for the water, falling all over 
themselves as they scurried down hill. The impact of their diving caused 
great waves to roll down the lake towards the Chicago goal. Some of the 
players saw them coming, rolling high over the tree tops. "Manabozho, 
Manabozho!" they cried in breathless fright.

At once all the players on both sides rushed back to the center field to 
look. "What is the matter?" said everyone to everyone else. "Why it must 
have been Manabozho; he's done this; nobody else would dare to attack the 
underground gods." When the excited players reached the center of the field 
they found the culprit had vanished. "Let's all look for Manabozho," cried 
someone. "We will use the power of the water for our guide." So the players 
all waded into the water, and the water rose up and went ahead of them. It 
knew very well where Manabozho had gone.

In the meantime Manabozho was skipping away as fast as he could, for he was 
frightened at what the consequences of his rashness might be. All at once he 
happened to look back and saw the water flowing after him. He ran faster and 
faster, but still it came. He strained himself to his utmost speed and it 
gained on him. On, on, led the chase, further, and further away.

"Oh dear! I believed that water will get me yet!" worried Manabozho. As he 
scampered he saw a high mountain, on the top of which grew a lofty pine. "I 
guess I'll go there and ask for help," thought Manabozho. So up the mountain 
side he raced, with the water swiftly rising behind him. "He'e! Nase'! Oh my 
dear little brother," gasped Manabozho to the pine tree, won't you help me? 
Save me from the water! I am talking to you, pine tree." "How can I help 
you?" asked the pine deliberately. "You can let me climb on you, and every 
time I reach your top, you can grow another length," cried Manabozho 
anxiously, for the water was coming on.

"But I haven't so much power as all that; I can only grow four lengths." Oh, 
that will do anyway, I'll take that!" screamed Manabozho in terror, jumping 
into the branches just a few inches ahead of the water. With all his might 
and main Manabozho climbed, but the water wet his feet as it rose, rose, 
rose. He reached the top. "Oh, little brother, stretch yourself," he begged. 
The pine tree shot up one length, and Manabozho climbed faster than ever, 
but still the water followed. "Oh, little brother, stretch yourself," he 
entreated. Up shot the pine tree, and up climbed Manabozho, but the water 
followed inexorably. When he reached the top, the tree shot up again, but 
still the water rose. "Stretch yourself, only once more, little brother, 
give me just one more length," prayed Manabozho, "maybe it will save me; if 
it doesn't, why I'll be drowned." Up shot the pine tree for the fourth and 
last time. Manabozho climbed to the top, and the water followed. There it 
stopped. Manabozho clung to the tree with all his might, frightened half to 
death, but it rose no more.

V. THE WOMAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY

(SENECA: Curtin and Hewitt, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 
xxxii, 460, No. 98)

 

A long time ago human beings lived high up in what is now called heaven. 
They had a great and illustrious chief.

It so happened that this chief's daughter was taken very ill with a strange 
affection. All the people were very anxious as to the outcome of her 
illness. Every known remedy was tried in an attempt to cure her, but none 
had any effect.

Near the lodge of this chief stood a great tree, which every year bore corn 
used for food. One of the friends of the chief had a dream, in which he was 
advised to tell the chief that in order to cure his daughter he must lay her 
beside this tree, and that he must have the tree dug up. This advice was 
carried out to the letter. While the people were at work and the young woman 
lay there, a young man came along. He was very angry and said: "It is not at 
all right to destroy this tree. Its fruit is all that we have to live on." 
With this remark he gave the young woman who lay there ill a shove with his 
foot, causing her to fall into the hole that had been dug.

Now, that hole opened into this world which was then all water on which 
floated waterfowl of many kinds. There was no land at that time. It came to 
pass that as these waterfowl saw this young woman falling they shouted, "Let 
us receive her," whereupon they, at least some of them, joined their bodies 
together, and the young woman fell on this platform of bodies. When these 
were wearied they asked, "Who will volunteer to care for this woman?" The 
great Turtle then took her, and when he got tired of holding her, he in turn 
asked who would take his place. At last the question arose as to what they 
should do to provide her with a permanent resting place in this world. 
Finally it was decided to prepare the earth, on which she would live in the 
future. To do this it was determined that soil from the bottom of the primal 
sea should be brought up and placed on the broad, firm carapace of the 
Turtle, where it would increase in size to such an extent that it would 
accommodate all the creatures that should be produced thereafter. After much 
discussion the toad was finally persuaded to dive to the bottom of the 
waters in search of soil. Bravely making the attempt, he succeeded in 
bringing up soil from the depths of the sea. This was carefully spread over 
the carapace of the Turtle, and at once both began to grow in size and 
depth.

After the young woman recovered from the illness from which she suffered 
when she was cast down from the upper world, she built herself a shelter, in 
which she lived quite contentedly. In the course of time she brought forth a 
girl baby, who grew rapidly in size and intelligence.

When the daughter had grown to young womanhood, the mother and she were 
accustomed to go out to dig wild potatoes. Her mother had said to her that 
in doing this she must face the West at all times. Before long the young 
daughter gave signs that she was about to become a mother. Her mother 
reproved her, saying that she had violated the injunction not to face the 
east, as her condition showed that she had faced the wrong way while digging 
potatoes. It is said that the breath of the West Wind had entered her 
person, causing conceptions When the days of her delivery were at hand, she 
overheard twins within her body in a hot debate as to which should be born 
first and as to the proper place of exit, one declaring that he was going to 
emerge through the armpit of his mother, the other saying that he would 
emerge in the natural way. The first one born, who was of a reddish color, 
was called Othagwenda; that is, Flint. The other, who was light in color, 
was called Djuskaha; that is, the Little Sprout.

The grandmother of the twins liked Djuskaha and hated the other; so they 
cast Othagwenda into a hollow tree some distance from the lodge.

The boy that remained in the lodge grew very rapidly, and soon was able to 
make himself bows and arrows and to go out to hunt in the vicinity. Finally, 
for several days he returned home without his bow and arrows. At last he was 
asked why he had to have a new bow and arrows every morning. He replied that 
there was a young boy in a hollow tree in the neighborhood who used them. 
The grandmother inquired where the tree stood, and he told her; whereupon 
then they went there and brought the other boy home again.

When the boys had grown to man's estate, they decided that it was necessary 
for them to increase the size of their island, so they agreed to start out 
together, afterward separating to create forests and lakes and other things. 
They parted as agreed, Othagwenda going westward and Djuskaha eastward. In 
the course of time, on returning, they met in their shelter or lodge at 
night, then agreeing to go the next day to see what each had made. First 
they went west to see what Othagwenda had made. It was found that he had 
made the country all rocks and full of ledges, and also a mosquito which was 
very large. Djuskaha asked the mosquito to run, in order that he might see 
'whether the insect could fight. The mosquito ran, and sticking his bill 
through a sapling, thereby made it fall, at which Diuskaha said, "That will 
not be right, for you would kill the people who are about to come." So, 
seizing him, he rubbed him down in his hands, causing him to become very 
small. then he blew on the mosquito, whereupon he flew away. He also 
modified some of the other animals which his brother had made. After 
returning to their lodge, they agreed to go the next day to see what 
Djuskaha had fashioned. On visiting the east the next day, they found that 
Djuskaha had made a large number of animals which were so fat that they 
could hardly move; that he had made the sugar-maple trees to drop syrup; 
that he.had made the sycamore tree to bear fine fruit; that the rivers were 
so formed that half the water flowed upstream and the other half downstream. 
Then the reddish colored brother, Othagwenda, was greatly displeased with 
what his brother had made, saying that the people who were about to come 
would live too easily and be too happy. So he shook violently the various 
animals - the bears, deer, and turkeys - causing them to become small at 
once, a characteristic which attached itself to their descendants. He also 
caused the sugar maple to drop sweetened water only, and the fruit of the 
sycamore to become small and useless; and lastly he caused the water of the 
rivers to flow in only one direction, because the original plan would make 
it too easy for the human beings who were about to come to navigate the 
streams.

The inspection of each other's work resulted in a deadly disagreement 
between the brothers, who finally came to grips and blows, and Othagwenda 
was killed in the fierce struggle.

VI. THE BEGINNING OF NEWNESS

(Zuni: Cushing, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xiii, 379)

 

Before the beginning of the new-making, Awonawilona (the Maker and Container 
of All, the All-father Father), solely had being. There was nothing else 
whatsoever throughout the great space of the ages save everywhere black 
darkness in it, and everywhere void desolation.

In the beginning of the new-made, Awonawilona conceived within himself and 
thought outward in space, whereby mists of increase, steams potent of 
growth, were evolved and uplifted. Thus, by means of his innate knowledge, 
the All-container made himself in person and form of the Sun whom we hold to 
be our father and who thus came to exist and appear. With his appearance 
came the brightening of the spaces with light, and with the brightening of 
the spaces the great mist-clouds were thickened together and fell, whereby 
was evolved water in water; yea, and the world-holding sea.

With his substance of flesh outdrawn from the surface of his person, the 
Sun-father formed the seed-stuff of twain worlds, impregnating therewith the 
great waters, and lo! in the heat of his light these waters of the sea grew 
green and scums rose upon them, waxing wide and weighty until, behold! they 
became Awitelin Tsita, the "Four-fold Containing Mother-earth," and Apoyan 
Ta'chu, the "All-covering Father-sky." From the lying together of these 
twain upon the great world-waters, so vitalizing, terrestrial life was 
conceived; whence began all beings of earth, men and the creatures, in the 
Fourfold womb of the World.

Thereupon the Earth-mother repulsed the Sky-father, growing big and sinking 
deep into the embrace of the waters below, thus separating from the Sky-
father in the embrace of the waters above. As a woman forebodes evil for her 
first-born ere born, even so did the Earth-mother forebode, long withholding 
from birth her myriad progeny and meantime seeking counsel with the Sky-
father. "How," said they to one another, "shall our children when brought 
forth, know one place from another, even by the white light of the Sun-
father?"

Now like all the surpassing beings the Earth-mother and the Sky-father were 
changeable, even as smoke in the wind; transmutable at thought, manifesting 
themselves in any form at will, like as dancers may by mask-making.

Thus, as a man and woman, spake they, one to the other. "Behold!" said the 
Earth-mother as a great terraced bowl appeared at hand and within it water, 
" this is as upon me the homes of my tiny children shall be. On the rim of 
each world-country they wander in, terraced mountains shall stand, making in 
one region many, whereby country shall be known from country, and within 
each, place from place. Behold, again!" said she as she spat on the water 
and rapidly smote and stirred it with her fingers. Foam formed, gathering 
about the terraced rim, mounting higher and higher. "Yea," said she, "and 
from my bosom they shall draw nourishment, for in such as this shall they 
find the substance of life whence we were ourselves sustained, for see!" 
Then with her warm breath she blew across the terraces; white flecks of the 
foam broke away, and, floating over above the water, were shattered by the 
cold breath of the Sky-father attending, and forthwith shed downward 
abundantly fine mist and spray! "Even so, shall white clouds float up from 
the great waters at the borders of the world, and clustering about the 
mountain terraces of the horizons be borne aloft and abroad by the breaths 
of the surpassing of soul-beings, and of the children, and shall hardened 
and broken be by thy cold, shedding downward, in rain-spray, the water of 
life, even into the hollow places of my lap! For therein chiefly shall 
nestle our children mankind and creature-kind, for warmth in thy coldness."

Lo! even the trees on high mountains near the clouds and the Sky-father 
crouch low toward the Earth-mother for warmth and protection! Warm is the 
Earth-mother, cold the Sky-father, even as woman is the warm, man the cold 
being!

"Even so!" said the Sky-father; "Yet not alone shalt thou helpful be unto 
our children, for behold!" and he spread his hand abroad with the palm 
downward and into all the wrinkles and crevices thereof he set the semblance 
of shining yellow corn-grains; in the dark of the early world-dawn they 
gleamed like sparks of fire, and moved as his hand was moved over the bowl, 
shining up from and also moving in the depths of the water therein. " See! " 
said he, pointing to the seven grains clasped by his thumb and four fingers, 
" by such shall our children be guided; for behold, when the Sun-father is 
not nigh, and thy terraces are as the dark itself (being all hidden 
therein), then shall our children be guided by lights - like to these lights 
of all the six regions turning round the midmost one -as in and around the 
midmost place, where these our children shall abide, lie all the other 
regions of space! Yea! and even as these grains gleam up from the water, so 
shall seed-grains like to them, yet numberless, spring up from thy bosom 
when touched by my waters, to nourish our children." Thus and in other ways 
many devised they for their offspring.

VII. RAVEN'S ADVENTURES

A. RAVEN BECOMES VORACIOUS

(TSIMSHIAN: Boas, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xxxi, 58)

 

At one time the whole world was covered with darkness. At the southern point 
of Queen Charlotte Islands there was a town in which the animals lived. Its 
name was Kungalas. A chief and his wife were living there, and with them a 
boy, their only child, who was loved very much by his parents. Therefore his 
father tried to keep him out of danger. He built for his son a bed above his 
own, in the rear of his large house. He washed him regularly, and the boy 
grew up to be a youth.

When he was quite large the youth became ill, and, being very sick, it was 
not long before he died. Therefore the hearts of his parents were very sad. 
They cried on account of their beloved child. The chief invited his tribe, 
and all the (animal) people went to the chief's house and entered. Then the 
chief ordered the child's body to be laid out; and he said, "Take out his 
intestines." His attendants laid out the body of the chief's child, took out 
the intestines, burned them at the rear of the chief's house, and placed the 
body on the bed which his father had built for his son. The chief and the 
chieftainess wailed every morning under the corpse of their dead son, and 
his tribe cried with them. They did so every day after the young man's 
death.

One morning before daylight came, the chieftainess went again to wail. She 
arose, and looked up to where her son was lying. There she saw a youth, 
bright as fire, lying where the body of their son had been. Therefore she 
called her husband, and said to him, "Our beloved child has come back to 
life." Therefore the chief arose and went to the foot of the ladder which 
reached to the place where the body had been. He went up to his son, and 
said, " Is it you, my beloved son? Is it you? " Then the shining youth said, 
"Yes, it is I." Then suddenly gladness touched the hearts of the parents.

The tribe entered again to console their chief and their chieftainess. When 
the people entered, they were much surprised to see the shining youth there. 
He spoke to them. "Heaven was much annoyed by your constant wailing, so He 
sent me down to comfort your minds." The great tribe of the chief were very 
glad because the prince lived again among them. His parents loved him more 
than ever.

The shining youth ate very little. He staid there a long time, and he did 
not eat at all; he only chewed a little fat, but he did not eat any. The 
chief had two great slaves - a miserable man and his wife. The great slaves 
were called Mouth At Each End. Every morning they brought all kinds of food 
into the house. One day, when they came in from where they had been, they 
brought a large cut of whale meat. They threw it on the fire and ate it. 
They did this every time they came back from hunting. Then the chieftainess 
tried to give food to her son who had come back to life, but he declined it 
and lived without food. The chieftainess was very anxious to give her son 
something to eat. She was afraid that her son would die again. On the 
following day the shining youth took a walk to refresh himself. As soon as 
he had gone out, the chief went up the ladder to where he thought his son 
had his bed. Behold, there was the corpse of his own son! Nevertheless he 
loved his new child.

One day the chief and chieftainess went out to visit the tribe, and the two 
great slaves entered, carrying a large piece of whale meat. They threw the 
whale fat into the fire and ate of it. Then the shining youth came toward 
them and questioned the two great slaves, asking them, "What makes you so 
hungry?" The two great slaves replied, "We are hungry because we have eaten 
scabs from our shin bones." Therefore the shining youth said to them, "Do 
you like what you eat?" Then the slave-man said, "Yes, my dear!" Therefore 
the prince replied, "I will also try the scabs you speak about." Then the 
slave-woman said, "No, my dear! Don't desire to be as we are." The prince 
repeated, "I will just taste it and spit it out again." The male slave cut 
off a small piece of whale meat and put in a small scab. Then the female 
slave scolded her husband for what he was doing. "O bad man! what have you 
been doing to the poor prince?" The shining prince took up the piece of meat 
with the scab in it, put it into his mouth, tasted it, and spit it out 
again. Then he went back to his bed. When the chief and the chieftainess 
came back from their visit, the prince said to his mother, "Mother, I am 
very hungry." The chieftainess said at once, "Oh, dear, is it true, is it 
true?" She ordered her slaves to feed her beloved son with rich food. The 
slaves prepared rich food, and the youth ate it all. Again he was very 
hungry and ate everything, and the slaves gave him more to eat than before.

He did so for several days, and soon all the provisions in his father's 
house were at an end. Then the prince went to every house of his father's 
people and ate the provisions that were in the houses. This was because he 
had tasted the scabs of Mouth At Each End. Now the provisions were all used 
up. The chief knew that the provisions of his tribe were almost exhausted. 
Therefore the treat chief felt sad and ashamed on account of what his son 
had done, for he had devoured almost all the provisions of his tribe.

Therefore the chief invited all the people in, and said, "I will send my 
child away before he eats all our provisions and we lack food." Then all the 
people agreed to what the chief had said. As soon as they had all agreed, 
the chief called his son. He told him to sit down in the rear of the house. 
As soon as he had sat down there, the chief spoke to his son, and said, "My 
dear son, I shall send you away inland to the other side of the ocean." He 
gave his son a small round stone and a raven blanket and a dried sea-lion 
bladder filled with all kinds of berries. The chief said to his son, "When 
you fly across the ocean and feel weary, drop this round stone on the sea, 
and you shall find rest on it; and when you reach the mainland, scatter the 
various kinds of fruit all over the land; and also scatter the salmon roe in 
all the rivers and brooks, and also the trout roe; so that you may not lack 
food as long as you live in this world." Then he started. His father named 
him Giant.

B. THE THEFT OF LIGHT

(TSIMSHIAN: Boas, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xxxi, 6o)

 

Giant flew inland (toward the east). He went on for a long time, and finally 
he was very tired, so he dropped down on the sea the little round stone 
which his father had given to him. It became a large rock way out at sea. 
Giant rested on it and refreshed himself, and took off the raven skin.

At that time there was always darkness. There was no daylight then. Again 
Giant put on the raven skin and flew toward the east. Now, Giant reached the 
mainland and arrived at the mouth of Skeena River. There he stopped and 
scattered the salmon roe and trout roe. He said while he was scattering 
them, "Let every river and creek have all kinds of fish!" Then he took the 
dried sea-lion bladder and scattered the fruits all over the land, saying, 
"Let every mountain, hill, valley, plain, the whole land, be full of 
fruits!"

The whole world was still covered with darkness. When the sky was clear, the 
people would have a little light from the stars; and when clouds were in the 
sky, it was very dark all over the land. The people were distressed by this. 
Then Giant thought that it would be hard for him to obtain his food if it 
were always dark. He remembered that there was light in heaven, whence he 
had come. Then he made up his mind to bring down the light to our world. On 
the following day Giant put on his raven skin, which his father the chief 
had given to him, and flew upward. Finally he found the hole in the sky, and 
he flew through it. Giant reached the inside of the sky. He took off the 
raven skin and put it down near the hole of the sky. He went on, and came to 
a spring near the house of the chief of heaven. There he sat down and 
waited.

Then the chief's daughter came out, carrying a small bucket in which she was 
about to fetch water. She went down to the big spring in front of her 
father's house. When Giant saw her coming along, he transformed himself into 
the leaf of a cedar and floated on the water. The chief's daughter dipped it 
up in her bucket and drank it. Then she returned to her father's house and 
entered.

After a short time she was with child, and not long after she gave birth to 
a boy. Then the chief and the chieftainess were very glad. They washed the 
boy regularly. He began to grow up. Now he was beginning to creep about. 
They washed him often, and the chief smoothed and cleaned the floor of the 
house. Now the child was strong and crept about every day. He began to cry, 
"Hama, hama!" He was crying all the time, and the great chief was troubled, 
and called in some of his slaves to carry about the boy. The slaves did so, 
but he would not sleep for several nights. He kept on crying, " Hama, hama! 
Therefore the chief invited all his wise men, and said to them that he did 
not know what the boy wanted and why he was crying. He wanted the box that 
was hanging in the chief's house.

This box, in which the daylight was kept, was hanging in one corner of the 
house. Its name was Ma. Giant had known it before he descended to our world. 
The child cried for it. The chief was annoyed, and the wise men listened to 
what the chief told them. When the wise men heard the child crying aloud, 
they did not know what he was saying. He was crying all the time, "Hama, 
hama, hama!"

One of the wise men, who understood him, said to the chief, "He is crying 
for the ma." Therefore the chief ordered it to be taken down. The man put it 
down. They put it down near the fire, and the boy sat down near it and 
ceased crying. He stopped crying, for he was glad. Then he rolled the ma 
about inside the house. He did so for four days. Sometimes he would carry it 
to the door. Now the great chief did not think of it. He had quite forgotten 
it. Then the boy really took up the ma, put it on his shoulders, and ran out 
with it. While he was running, some one said, "Giant is running away with 
the ma!" He ran away, and the hosts of heaven pursued him. They shouted that 
Giant was running away with the ma. He came to the hole of the sky, put on 
the skin of the raven, and flew down, carrying the ma. Then the hosts of 
heaven returned to their houses, and he flew down with it to our world.

At that time the world was still dark. He arrived farther up the river, and 
went down river. Giant had come down near the mouth of Nass River. He went 
to the mouth of Nass River. It was always dark, and he carried the ma about 
with him. He went on, and went up the river in the dark. A little farther up 
he heard the noise of the people, who were catching olachen in bag nets in 
their canoes. There was much noise out on the river, because they were 
working hard. Giant, who was sitting on the shore, said, "Throw ashore one 
of the things that you are catching, my dear people!" After a while, Giant 
said again, "Throw ashore one of the things you are catching!" Then those on 
the water scolded him. "Where did you come from, great liar, whom they call 
Txa'msem? (Pronounced Chemsem)" The (animal) people knew that it was Giant. 
Therefore they made fun of him. Then Giant said again, "Throw ashore one of 
the things that you are catching, or I shall break the ma!" and all those 
who were on the water answered, "Where did you get what you are talking 
about, you liar?" Giant said once more, "Throw ashore one of the things that 
you are catching, my dear people, or I shall break the ma for you!" One 
person replied, scolding him.

Giant had repeated his request four times, but those on the water refused 
what he had asked for. Therefore Giant broke the ma. It broke, and it was 
daylight. The north wind began to blow hard; and all the fisherman, the 
Frogs, were driven away by the north wind. All the Frogs who had made fun of 
Giant were driven away down river until they arrived at one of the large 
mountainous islands. Here the Frogs tried to climb up the rock; but they 
stuck to the rock, being frozen by the north wind, and became stone. They 
are still on the rock. The fishing frogs named him Txa'msem, and all the 
world had the daylight.

VIII. THE CREATION

(MAIDU: Dixon, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, xvii, 39, 
No. i)

 

In the beginning there was no sun, no moon, no stars. All was dark, and 
everywhere there was only water. A raft came floating on the water. It came 
from the north, and in it were two persons, - Turtle and Father-of-the-
Secret-Society. The stream flowed very rapidly. Then from the sky a rope of 
feathers, was let down, and down it came Earth-Initiate. When he reached the 
end of the rope, he tied it to the bow of the raft, and stepped in. His face 
was covered and was never seen, but his body shone like the sun. He sat 
down, and for a long time said nothing.

At last Turtle said, "Where do you come from?" and earth Initiate answered, 
"I come from above." Then Turtle said, "Brother, can you not make for me 
some good dry land so that I may sometimes come up out of the water?" Then 
he asked another time, "Are there going to be any people in the world?" 
Earth-Initiate thought awhile, then said, "Yes." Turtle asked, "How long 
before you are going to make people?" Earth-Initiate replied, "I don't know. 
You want to have some dry land: well, how am I going to get any earth to 
make it of?"

Turtle answered, "If you will tie a rock about my left arm, I'll dive for 
some. "Earth-Initiate did as Turtle asked, and then, reaching around, took 
the end of a rope from somewhere, and tied it to Turtle. When Earth-Initiate 
came to the raft, there was no rope there: he just reached out and found 
one. Turtle said, "If the rope is not long enough, I'll jerk it once, and 
you must haul me up; if it is long enough, I'll give two jerks, and then you 
must pull me up quickly, as I shall have all the earth that I can carry." 
Just as Turtle went over the side of the boat, Father-of-the-Secret-Society 
began to shout loudly.

Turtle was gone a long time. He was gone six years; and when he came up, he 
was covered with green slime, he had been down so long. When he reached the 
top of the water, the only earth he had was a very little under his nails: 
the rest had all washed away. Earth-Initiate took with his right hand a 
stone knife from under his left armpit, and carefully scraped the earth out 
from under Turtle's nails. He put the earth in the palm of his hand, and 
rolled it about till it was round; it was as large as a small pebble. He 
laid it on the stern of the raft. By and by he went to look at it: it had 
not grown at all. The third time that he went to look at it, it had grown so 
that it could be spanned by the arms. The fourth time he looked, it was as 
big as the world, the raft was aground, and all around were mountains as far 
as he could see. The raft came ashore at Ta'doiko, and the place can be seen 
to-day.

When the raft had come to land, Turtle said, "I can't stay in the dark all 
the time. Can't you make a light, so that I can see?" Earth-Initiate 
replied, "Let us get out of the raft, and then we will see what we can do." 
So all three got out. Then Earth-Initiate said, "Look that way, to the east! 
I am going to tell my sister to come up." Then it began to grow light, and 
day began to break; then Father-of-the-Secret-Society began to shout loudly, 
and the sun came up. Turtle said, " Which way is the sun going to travel?" 
Earth-Initiate answered, "I'll tell her to go this way, and go down there." 
After the sun went down, Father-of-the-Secret-Society began to cry and shout 
again, and it grew very dark. Earth-Initiate said, "I'll tell my brother to 
come up." Then the moon rose. Then Earth-Initiate asked Turtle and Father-
of-the-Secret-Society, "How do you like it?" and they both answered, "It is 
very good." Then Turtle asked, "Is that all you are going to do for us?" and 
Earth-Initiate answered, "No, I am going to do more yet." Then he called the 
stars each by its name, and they came out. When this was done, Turtle asked, 
"Now what shall we do?" Earth-Initiate replied, "Wait, and I'll show you." 
Then he made a tree grow at Ta'doiko, - the tree called Hu'kimtsa; and 
Earth-Initiate and Turtle and Father-of-the-Secret-Society sat in its shade 
for two days. The tree was very large, and had twelve different kinds of 
acorns growing on it.

After they had sat for two days under the tree, they all went off to see the 
world that Earth-Initiate had made. They started at sunrise, and were back 
by sunset. Earth-Initiate traveled so fast that all they could see was a 
ball of fire flashing about under the ground and the water. While they were 
gone, Coyote and his dog Rattlesnake came up out of the ground. It is said 
that Coyote could see Earth-Initiate's face. When Earth-Initiate and the 
others came back, they found Coyote at Ta'doiko. All five of them then built 
huts for themselves, and lived there at Ta'doiko, but no one could go inside 
of Earth-Initiate's house. Soon after the travelers came back, Earth-
Initiate called the birds from the air, and made the trees and then the 
animals. He took some mud, and of this made first a deer; after that, he 
made all the other animals. Sometimes Turtle would say, "That does not look 
well: can't you make it some other way?"

Some time after this, Earth-Initiate and Coyote were at Marysville Buttes. 
Earth-Initiate said, "I am going to make people." In the middle of the 
afternoon he began, for he had returned to Ta'doiko. He took dark red earth, 
mixed it with water, and made two figures, - one a man, and one a woman. He 
laid the man on his right side, and the woman on his left, inside his house. 
Then he lay down himself, flat on his back, with his arms stretched out. He 
lay thus and sweated all the afternoon and night. Early in the morning the 
woman began to tickle him in the side. He kept very still, did not laugh. By 
and by he got up, thrust a piece of pitch-wood into the ground, and fire 
burst out. The two people were very white. No one to-day is as white as they 
were. Their eyes were pink, their hair was black, their teeth shone 
brightly, and they were very handsome. It is said that Earth-Initiate did 
not finish the hands of the people, as he did not know how it would be best 
to do it. Coyote saw the people, and suggested that they ought to have hands 
like his. Earth-Initiate said, "No, their hands shall be like mine." Then he 
finished them. When Coyote asked why their hands were to be like that, 
Earth-Initiate answered, " So that, if they are chased by bears, they can 
climb trees." This first man was called Ku'ksu; and the woman, Morning-Star 
Woman.

When Coyote had seen the two people, he asked Earth-Initiate how he had made 
them. When he was told, he thought, "That is not difficult. I'll do it 
myself." He did just as Earth-Initiate had told him, but could not help 
laughing, when, early in the morning, the woman poked him in the ribs. As a 
result of his failing to keep still, the people were glass-eyed. Earth-
Initiate said, " I told you not to laugh," but Coyote declared he had not. 
This was the first lie.

By and by there came to be a good many people. Earth-Initiate had wanted to 
have everything comfortable and easy for people, so that none of them should 
have to work. All fruits were easy to obtain, no one was ever to get sick 
and die. As the people grew numerous, Earth-Initiate did not come as often 
as formerly, he only came to see Ku'ksu in the night. One night he said to 
him, "To-morrow morning you must go to the little lake near here. Take all 
the people with you. I'll make you a very old man before you get to the 
lake." So in the morning Ku'ksu collected all the people, and went to the 
lake. By the time he had reached it, he was a very old man. He fell into the 
lake, and sank down out of sight. Pretty soon the ground began to shake, the 
waves overflowed the shore, and there was a great roaring under the water, 
like thunder. By and by Ku'ksii came up out of the water, but young again, 
just like a young, man.50 Then Earth-Initiate came and spoke to the people, 
and said, "If you do as I tell you, everything will be well. When any of you 
grow old, so old that you cannot walk, come to this lake, or get some one to 
bring you here. You must then go down into the water as you have seen Ku'ksu 
do, and you will come out young again." When he had said this, he went away. 
He left in the night, and went up above.

All this time food had been easy to get, as Earth-Initiate had wished. The 
women set out baskets at night, and in the morning they found them full of 
food, all ready to eat, and lukewarm. One day Coyote came along. He asked 
the people how they lived, and they told him that all they had to do was to 
eat and sleep. Coyote replied, "That is no way to do: I can show you 
something better." Then he told them how he and Earth-Initiate had had a 
discussion before men had been made; how Earth-Initiate wanted everything 
easy, and that there should be no sickness or death, but how he had thought 
it would be better to have people work, get sick, and die. He said, "We'll 
have a burning." The people did not know what he meant; but Coyote said, 
"I'll show you. It is better to have a burning, for then the widows can be 
free." So he took all the baskets and things that the people had, hung them 
up on poles, made everything all ready. When all was prepared, Coyote said, 
"At this time you must always have games." So he fixed the moon during which 
these games were to be played.

Coyote told them to start the games with a foot-race, and every one got 
ready to run. Ku'ksu did not come, however. He sat in his hut alone, and was 
sad, for he knew what was going to occur. just at this moment Rattlesnake 
came to Ku'ksu, and said, "What shall we do now? Everything is spoiled!" 
Ku'ksu did not answer, so Rattlesnake said, "Well, I'll do what I think is 
best." Then he went out and along the course that the racers were to go 
over, and hid himself, leaving his head just sticking out of a hole. By this 
time all the racers had started, and among them Coyote's son. He was 
Coyote's only child, and was very quick. He soon began to outstrip all the 
runners, and was in the lead. As he passed the spot where Rattlesnake had 
hidden himself, however, Rattlesnake raised his head and bit the boy in the 
ankle. In a minute the boy was dead.

Coyote was dancing about the home-stake. He was very happy, and was shouting 
at his son and praising him. When Rattlesnake bit the boy, and he fell dead, 
every one laughed at Coyote, and said, "Your son has fallen down, and is so 
ashamed that he does not dare to get up." Coyote said, "No, that is not it. 
He is dead." This was the first death. The people, however, did not 
understand, and picked the boy up, and brought him to Coyote. Then Coyote 
began to cry, and every one did the same. These were the first tears. Then 
Coyote took his son's body and carried it to the lake of which Earth-
Initiate had told them, and threw the body in. But there was no noise, and 
nothing happened, and the body drifted about for four days on the surface, 
like a log. On the fifth day Coyote took four sacks of beads and brought 
them to Ku'ksu, begging him to restore his son to life. Ku'ksu did not 
answer. For five days Coyote begged, then Ku'ksu came out of his house 
bringing all his bead and bear-skins, and calling to all the people to come 
and watch him. He laid the body on a bear-skin, dressed it, and wrapped it 
up carefully. Then he dug a grave, put the body into it, and covered it up. 
Then he told the people, " From now on, this is what you must do. This is 
the way you must do till the world shall be made over."

About a year after this, in the spring, all was changed. Up to this time 
everybody spoke the same language. The people were having a burning, 
everything was ready for the next day, when in the night everybody suddenly 
began to speak a different language. Each man and his wife, however, spoke 
the same. Earth-Initiate had come in the night to Ku'ksu, and had told him 
about it all, and given him instructions for the next day. So, when morning 
came, Ku'ksu called all the people together, for he was able to speak all 
the languages. He told them each the names of the different animals, etc., 
in their languages, taught them how to cook and to hunt ' gave them all 
their laws, and set the time for all their dances and festivals. Then he 
called each tribe by name, and sent them off in different directions, 
telling them where they were to live. He sent the warriors to the north, the 
singers to the west, the flute-players to the east, and the dancers to the 
south. So all the people went away, and left Ku'ksu and his, wife alone at 
Ta'doiko. By and by his wife went away, leaving in the night, and going 
first to Marysville Buttes. Ku'ksu staid a little while longer, and then he 
also left. He too went to the Buttes, went into the spirit house, and sat 
down on the south side. He found Coyote's son there, sitting on the north 
side. The door was on the west. Coyote had been trying to find out where 
Ku'ksu had gone, and where his own son had gone, and at last found the 
tracks, and followed them to the spirit house. Here he saw Ku'ksu and his 
son, the latter eating spirit food. Coyote wanted to go in, but Ku'ksu said, 
"No, wait there. You have just what you wanted, it is your own fault. Every 
man will now have all kinds of troubles and accidents, will have to work to 
get his food, and will die and be buried. This must go on till the time is 
out, and Earth-Initiate comes again, and everything will be made over. You 
must go home, and tell all the people that you have seen your son, that he 
is not dead." Coyote said he would go, but that he was hungry, and wanted 
some of the food. Ku'ksu replied, "You cannot eat that. Only ghosts may eat 
that food." Then Coyote went away and told all the people, "I saw my son and 
Ku'ksu, and he told me to kill myself." So he climbed up to the top of a 
tall tree, jumped off, and was killed. Then he went to the spirit house, 
thinking he could now have some of the food; but there was no one there, 
nothing at all, and so he went out, and walked away to the west," and was 
never seen again. Ku'ksu and Coyote's son, however, had gone up above.

IX. THE CREATION

(KATO: Goddard, University of California Publications in American 
Archaeology and Ethnology, v, 184, No. 2)

 

The sandstone rock which formed the sky was old, they say. It thundered in 
the east; it thundered in the south; it thundered in the west; it thundered 
in the north. "The rock is old, we will fix it," he said. There were two, 
Nagaitcho and Thunder. "We will stretch it above far to the east," one of 
them said. They stretched it. They walked on the sky.

In the south he stood on end a large rock. In the west he stood on end a 
large rock. In the north he stood on end a large, tall rock. In the east he 
stood on end a large, tall rock.51 He made everything properly. He made the 
roads. He made a road to the north (where the sun travels in summer).

"In the south there will be no trees but only many flowers," he said. "Where 
will there be a hole through?" he asked. At the north he made a hole 
through. East he made a large opening for the clouds. West he made an 
opening for the fog. "To the west the clouds shall go," he said.

He made a knife. He made it for splitting the rocks. He made the knife very 
strong.

"How will it be?" he considered. "You go north; I will go south," he said. 
"I have finished already," he said. "Stretch the rock in the north. You 
untie it in the west, I will untie it in the east."

"What will be clouds?" he asked. "Set fires about here," he told him. On the 
upland they burned to make clouds. Along the creek bottoms they burned to 
make mist. "It is good," he said. He made clouds so the heads of coming 
people would not ache.

There is another world above where Thunder lives. " You will live here near 
by," he told Nagaitcho.

"Put water on the fire, heat some water," he said. He made a person out of 
earth. "Well, I will talk to him," he said. He made his right leg and his 
left leg. He made his right arm and his left arm. He pulled off some grass 
and wadded it up. He put some of it in place for his belly. He hung up some 
of it for his stomach. When he had slapped some of the grass he put it in 
for his heart. He used a round piece of clay for his liver. He put in more 
clay for his kidneys. He cut a piece into parts and put it in for his lungs. 
He pushed in a reed (for a trachea).

"What sort will blood be?" he enquired. He pounded up ochre. "Get water for 
the ochre," he said. He laid him down. He sprinkled him with water. He made 
his mouth, his nose, and two eyes. "How will it be?" he said. "Make him 
privates," he said. He made them. He took one of the legs, split it, and 
made woman of it.

Clouds arose in the east. Fog came up in the west. "Well, let it rain, let 
the wind blow," he said. "Up in the sky there will be none, there will be 
only gentle winds. Well, let it rain in the fog," he said. It rained. One 
could not see. It was hot in the sky. The sun came up now. "What will the 
sun be?" he said. "Make a fire so it will be hot. The moon will travel at 
night." The moon is cold.

He came down. "Who, I wonder, can kick open a rock?" he said. "Who can split 
a tree?" "Well, I will try," said Nagaitcho. He couldn't split the tree. 
"Who, I wonder, is the strongest?" said Thunder. Nagaitcho didn't break the 
rock. "Well, I will try," said Thunder. Thunder kicked the rock. He kicked 
it open. It broke to pieces. "Go look at the rock," he said. "He kicked the 
rock open," one reported. "Well, I will try a tree," he said. He kicked the 
tree open. The tree split to pieces.

Thunder and Nagaitcho came down. "Who can stand on the water? You step on 
the water," Thunder told Nagaitcho. "Yes, I will," Nagaitcho said. He 
stepped on the water and sank into the ocean. " I will try," said Thunder. 
He stepped on the water. He stood on it with one leg. "I have finished 
quickly," he said.

It was evening. It rained. It rained. Every day, every night it rained. 
"What will happen? It rains every day," they said. The fog spread out close 
to the ground. The clouds were thick. The people then had no fire. The fire 
became small. All the creeks were full. There was water in the valleys. The 
water encircled them.

"Well, I have finished," he said. "Yes," Nagaitcho said. "Come, jump up. You 
must jump up to another sky, "hetold him. "I, too, will do that." "At night 
when every kind of thing is asleep we will do it," he said.

Every day it rained, every night it rained. All the people slept. The sky 
fell. The land was not. For a very great distance there was no land. The 
waters of the oceans came together. Animals of all kinds drowned. Where the 
water went there were no trees. There was no land.

People became. Seal, sea-lion, and grizzly built a dance-house. They looked 
for a place in vain. At Usal they built it for there the ground was good. 
There are many sea-lions there. Whale became a human woman. That is why 
women are so fat. There were no grizzlies. There were no fish. Blue lizard 
was thrown into the water and becarhe sucker. Bull-snake was thrown into the 
water and became black salmon. Salamander was thrown into the water and 
became hook-bill salmon. Grass-snake was thrown into the water and became 
steel-head salmon. Lizard was thrown into the water and became trout.

Trout cried for his net. "My net, my net," he said. They offered him every 
kind of thing in vain. It was "My net" he said when he cried. They made a 
net and put him into it. He stopped crying. They threw the net and trout 
into the water. He became trout.

"What will grow in the water?" he asked. Seaweeds grew in the water. 
Abalones and mussels grew in the water. Two kinds of kelp grew in the ocean. 
Many different kinds grew there.

"What will be salt?" he asked. They tasted many things. The ocean foam 
became salt. The Indians tried their salt. They will eat their food with it. 
They will eat clover with it. It was good salt.

"How will the water of this ocean behave? What will be in front of it? " he 
asked." The water will rise up in ridges. It will settle back again. There 
will be sand. On top of the sand it will glisten," he said. "Old kelp will 
float ashore. Old whales will float ashore.

" People will eat fish, big fish," he said. " Sea-lions will come ashore. 
They will eat them. They will be good. Devil-fish, although they are ugly 
looking, will be good. The people will eat them. The fish in the ocean will 
be fat. They will be good.

"There will be many different kinds in the ocean. There will be water-
panther. There will be stone-fish. He will catch people. Long-tooth-fish 
will kill sea-lion. He will feel around in the water.

"Sea-lion will have no feet. He will have a tail. His teeth will be large. 
There will be no trees in the ocean. The water will be powerful in the 
ocean," he said.

He placed redwoods and firs along the shore. At the tail of the earth, at 
the north, he made them grow. He placed land in walls along in front of the 
ocean. From the north he put down rocks here and there. Over there the ocean 
beats against them. Far to the south he did that. He stood up pines along 
the way. He placed yellow pines. Far away he placed them. He placed 
mountains along in front of the water. He did not stop putting them up even 
way to the south.

Redwoods and various pines were growing. He looked back and saw them 
growing. The redwoods had become tall. He Placed stones along. He made small 
creeks by dragging along his foot. "Wherever they flow this water will be 
good," he said. "They will drink this. Only the ocean they will not drink."

He made trees spring up. When he looked behind himself he saw they had 
grown. When he came near water-head-place (south) he said to himself, "It is 
good that they are growing up.

He made creeks along. "This water they will drink," he said. That is why all 
drink, many different kinds of animals. "Because the water is good, because 
it is not salt, deer, elk, panther, and fishers will drink of it," he said. 
He caused trees to grow up along. When he looked behind himself he saw they 
had grown up. " Birds will drink, squirrels will drink," he said. "Many 
different kinds will drink. I am placing good water along the way."

Many redwoods grew up. He placed water along toward the south. He kicked out 
springs. "There will be springs," he said. "These will belong to the deer," 
he said of the deer-licks.

He took along a dog. "Drink this water," he told his dog. He, himself, drank 
of it. "All, many different kinds of animals and birds, will drink of it , 
"he said.

Tanbark oaks he made to spring up along the way. Many kinds, redwoods, firs, 
and pines he caused to grow. He placed water along. He made creeks with his 
foot. To make valleys for the streams he placed the land on edge. The 
mountains were large. They had grown.

"Let acorns grow," he said. He looked back at the ocean, and at the trees 
and rocks he had placed along. "The water is good, they will drink it," he 
said. He placed redwoods, firs, and tanbark oaks along the way. He stood up 
land and made the mountains. "They shall become large," he said of the 
redwoods.

He went around the earth, dragging his foot to make the streams and placing 
redwoods, firs, pines, oaks, and chestnut trees. When he looked back he saw 
the rocks had become large, and the mountains loomed up. He drank of the 
water and called it good. "I have arranged it that rocks shall be around the 
water," he said. "Drink," he told his dog. "Many animals will drink this 
good water." He placed rocks and banks. He put along the way small white 
stones. He stood up white and black oaks. Sugar-pines and firs he planted 
one in a place.

"I will try the water," he said. "Drink, my dog." The water was good. He 
dragged along his foot, making creeks. He placed the rocks along and turned 
to look at them. "Drink, my dog," he said. "I, too, will drink. Grizzlies, 
all kinds of animals, and human beings will drink the water which I have 
placed among the rocks." He stood up the mountains. He placed the trees 
along, the firs and the oaks. He caused the pines to grow up. He placed the 
redwoods one in a place.

He threw salamanders and turtles into the creeks. "Eels will live in this 
stream," he said. "Fish will come into it. Hook-bill and black salmon will 
run up this creek. Last of all steel-heads will swim in it. Crabs, small 
eels, and day-eels will come up.

"Grizzlies will live in large numbers on this mountain. On this mountain 
will be many deer. The people will eat them. Because they have no gall they 
may be eaten raw. Deer meat will be very sweet. Panthers will be numerous. 
There will be many jack-rabbits on this mountain," he said.

He did not like yellow-jackets. He nearly killed them. He made blue-flies 
and wasps.

His dog walked along with him. "There will be much water in this stream," he 
said. "This will be a small creek and the fish will run in it. The fish will 
be good. There will be many suckers and trout in this stream."

"There will be brush on this mountain," he said. He made manzanita and 
white-thorn grow there. "Here will be a valley. Here will be many deer. 
There will be many grizzlies at this place. Here a mountain will stand. Many 
rattlesnakes, bullsnakes, and water snakes will be in this place. Here will 
be good land. It shall be a valley."

He placed fir trees, yellow-pines, oaks, and redwoods one at a place along 
the way. He put down small grizzly bears. "The water will be bad. It will be 
black here," he said. "There will be many owls here, the barking-owl, the 
screech-owl, and the little owl. There shall be many bluejays, grouse, and 
quails. Here on this mountain will be many wood-rats. Here shall be many 
varied robins. There shall be many woodcocks, yellow-hammers, and sap-
suckers. Here will be many mocking-birds and meadowlarks. Here will be 
herons and blackbirds. There will be many turtle-doves and pigeons. The 
kingfishers will catch fish. There will be many buzzards and ravens. There 
will be many chicken-hawks. There will be many robins. On this high mountain 
there will be many deer," he said.

"Let there be a valley here," he said. "There will be fir trees, some small 
and some large. Let the rain fall. Let it snow. Let there be hail. Let the 
clouds come. When it rains let the streams increase, let the water be high, 
let it become muddy. When the rain stops let the water become good again," 
he said.

He came back. "Walk behind me, my dog," he said. "We will look at what has 
taken place." Trees had grown. Fish were in the streams. The rocks had 
become large. It was good.

He traveled fast. "Come, walk fast, my dog," he said. The land had become 
good. The valleys had become broad. All kinds of trees and plants had sprung 
up. Springs had become and the water was flowing. "Again I will try the 
water," he said. "You, too, drink." Brush had sprung up. He traveled fast.

"I have made a good earth, my dog," he said. "Walk fast, my dog." Acorns 
were on the trees. The chestnuts were ripe. The hazelnuts were ripe. The 
manzanita berries were getting white. All sorts of food had become good. The 
buckeyes were good. The peppernuts were black. The bunch grass was ripe. The 
grass-hoppers were growing. The clover was in bloom. The bear-clover was 
good. The mountains had grown. The rocks had grown. All kinds that are eaten 
had become good. "We made it good, my dog," he said. Fish for the people to 
eat had grown in the streams.

"We have come to south now," he said. All the different kinds were matured. 
They started back, he and his dog. "We will go back," he said. "The 
mountains have grown up quickly. The land has become flat. The trout have 
grown. Good water is flowing. Walk fast. All things have become good. We 
have made them good, my dog. It is warm. The land is good."

The brush had grown. Various things had sprung up. Grizzlies had increased 
in numbers. Birds had grown. The water had become good. The grass was grown. 
Many deer for the people to eat walked about. Many kinds of herbs had grown. 
Some kinds remained small.

Rattlesnakes had multiplied. Water-snakes had become numerous. Turtles had 
come out of the water and increased in numbers. Various things had grown. 
The mountains had grown. The valleys had become.

"Come fast. I will drink water. You, too, drink," he told his dog. " Now we 
are getting back, we are close home, my dog. Look here, the mountains have 
grown. The stones have grown. Brush has come up. All kinds of animals are 
walking about. All kinds of things are grown.

"We are about to arrive. We are close home, my dog," he said. "I am about to 
get back north," he said to himself. "I am about to get back north. I am 
about to get back north. I am about to get back north," he said to himself.

That is all.

CHAPTER II

MYTHICAL INCIDENTS

X. THE LIZARD-HAND

(YOKUTS: Kroeber, University of California Publications in -American 
Archaeology and Ethnology, iv, 231, No. 38)

It was Coyote who brought it about that people die. He made it thus because 
our hands are not closed like his. He wanted our hands to be like his, but a 
lizard said to him: "No, they must have my hand." He had five fingers and 
Coyote had only a fist. So now we have an open hand with five fingers. But 
then Coyote said: "Well, then they will have to die."

XI. DETERMINATION OF THE SEASONS 

(TAHLTAN: Teit, .Journal of Imerican Folk-Lore, xxxii, 226)

Once Porcupine and Beaver quarreled about the seasons. Porcupine wanted five 
winter months. He held up one hand and showed his five fingers. He said, Let 
the winter months be the same in number as the fingers on my hand." Beaver 
said, "No," and held up his tail, which had many cracks or scratches on it. 
He said, "Let the winter months be the same in number as the scratches on my 
tail." Now they quarrelled and argued. Porcupine got angry and bit off his 
thumb. Then, holding up his hand with the four fingers, he said 
emphatically, "There must be only four winter months." Beaver became a 
little afraid, and gave in. For this reason porcupines have four claws on 
each foot now.

Since Porcupine won, the winter remained four months in length, until later 
Raven changed it a little. Raven considered what Porcupine and Beaver had 
said about the winters, and decided that Porcupine had done right. He said, 
"Porcupine was right. If the winters were made too long, people could not 
live. Henceforth the winters will be about this length, but they will be 
variable. I will tell you of the gaxewisa month, when people will meet 
together and talk. At that time of the year people will ask questions (or 
propound riddles), and others will answer. If the riddle is answered 
correctly, then the person who propounded it must answer, " Fool-hen." Raven 
chose this word because the fool-hen has a shorter beak than any other 
gamebird. " If people guess riddles correctly at this time of year, then the 
winter will be short, and the spring come early."

XII. MARRIAGE OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH

(CHEROKEE: Mooney, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xix, 32-2, 
No. 70)

The North went traveling. and after going far and meeting many different 
tribes he finally fell in love with the daughter of the South and wanted to 
marry her. The girl was willing, but her parents objected and said, "Ever 
since you came, the weather has been cold, and if you stay here we may all 
freeze to death." The North pleaded hard, and said that if they would let 
him have their daughter he would take her back to his own country, so at 
last they consented. They were married and he took his bride to his own 
country, and when she arrived there she found the people all living in ice 
houses.

The next day, when the sun rose, the houses began to leak, and as it climbed 
higher they began to melt, and it grew warmer and warmer, until finally the 
people came to the young husband and told him he must send his wife home 
again, or the weather would get so warm that the whole settlement would be 
melted. He loved his wife and so held out as long as he could, but as the 
sun grew hotter the people were more urgent, and at last he had to send her 
home to her parents.

The people said that as she had been born in the South, and nourished all 
her life upon food that grew in the same climate, her whole nature was warm 
and unfit for the North.

XIII. DETERMINATION OF NIGHT AND DAY

(IROQUOIS: Smith, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. ii, 8o)

Once upon a time the porcupine was appointed to be the leader of all the 
animals. Soon after his appointment he called them and presented the 
question, "Shall we have night and darkness, or daylight with its sunshine?"

This was a very important question, and a violent discussion arose, some 
wishing for daylight and the sun to rule, and others for continual night.

The chipmunk wished for night and day, weeks and months, and night to be 
separate from the day, so he began singing, "The light will come; we must 
have light," which he continued to repeat. Meanwhile the bear began singing, 
"Night is best; we must have darkness."

While the chipmunk was singing, the day began to dawn. Then the other party 
saw that the chipmunk was prevailing, and were very angry; and their leader, 
the bear, pursued the chipmunk, who managed to escape uninjured, the huge 
paw of the bear simply grazing his back as he entered his hole in a hollow 
tree, leaving its black imprint, which the chipmunk has ever since retained. 
But night and day have ever continued to alternate.

XIV. THE THEFT OF FIRE

(MAIDU: Dixon, Bulletin of the .American Museum of Natural History, xvii, 
65, No. 5)

At one time the people had found fire, and were going to use it; but Thunder 
wanted to take it away from them, as he desired to be the only one who 
should have fire. He thought that if he could do this, he would be able to 
kill all the people. After a time he succeeded, and carried the fire home 
with him, far to the south. He put Woswosim (a small bird) to guard the 
fire, and see that no one should steal it. Thunder thought that people would 
die after he had stolen their fire, for they would not be able to cook their 
food; but the people managed to get along. They ate most of their food raw, 
and sometimes got Toyeskom (another small bird) to look for a long time at a 
piece of meat; and as he had a red eye, this after a long time would cook 
the meat almost as well as a fire. Only the chiefs had their food cooked in 
this way. All the people lived together in a big sweat-house. The house was 
as big as a mountain.

Among the people was Lizard and his brother; and they were always the first 
in the morning to go outside and sun themselves on the roof of the sweat-
house. One morning as they lay there sunning themselves, they looked west, 
toward the Coast Range, and saw smoke. They called to all the other people, 
saying that they had seen smoke far away to the west. The people, however, 
would not believe them, and Coyote came out, and threw a lot of dirt and 
dust over the two. One of the people did not like this. He said to Coyote, " 
Why do you trouble people? Why don't you let others alone? Why don't you 
behave? You are always the first to start a quarrel. You always want to kill 
people without any reason." Then the other people felt sorry. They asked the 
two Lizards about what they had seen, and asked them to point out the smoke. 
The Lizards did so, and all could see the- thin column rising up far to the 
west. One person said, "How shall we get that fire back? How shall we get it 
away from Thunder? He is a bad man. I don't know whether we had better try 
to get it or not." Then the chief said, "The best one among you had better 
try to get it. Even if Thunder is a bad man, we must try to get the fire. 
When we get there, I don't know how we shall get in but the one who is the 
best, who thinks he can get in, let him try." Mouse, Deer, Dog, and Coyote 
were the ones who were to try, but all the other people went too. They took 
a flute with them for they meant to put the fire in it.

They traveled a long time, and finally reached the place where the fire was. 
They were within a little distance of Thunder's house, when they all stopped 
to see what they would do. Woswosim, who was supposed to guard the fire in 
the house, began to sing, "I am the man who never sleeps. I am the man who 
never sleeps." Thunder had paid him for his work in beads, and he wore them 
about his neck and around his waist. He sat on the top of the sweat-house, 
by the smoke-hole.

After a while Mouse was sent up to try and see if he could get in. He crept 
up slowly till he got close to Woswosim, and then saw that his eyes were 
shut. He was asleep, in spite of the song that he sang. When Mouse saw that 
the watcher was asleep, he crawled to the opening and went in. Thunder had 
several daughters, and they were lying there asleep. Mouse stole up quietly, 
and untied the waist-string of each one's apron, so that should the alarm be 
given, and they jump up, these aprons or skirts would fall off, and they 
would have to stop to fix them. This done, Mouse took the flute, filled it 
with fire, then crept out, and rejoined the other people who were waiting 
outside.

Some of the fire was taken out and put in the Dog's ear, the remainder in 
the flute being given to the swiftest runner to carry. Deer, however, took a 
little, which he carried on the hock of his leg, where to-day there is a 
reddish spot. For a while all went well, but when they were about half-way 
back, Thunder woke up, suspected that something was wrong, and asked, "What 
is the matter with my fire?" Then he jumped up with a roar of thunder, and 
his daughters were thus awakened, and also jumped up; but their aprons fell 
off as they did so, and they had to sit down again to put them on. After 
they were all ready, they went out with Thunder to give chase. They carried 
with them a heavy wind and a great rain and a hailstorm, so that they might 
put out any fire the people had. Thunder and his daughters hurried along, 
and soon caught up with the fugitives, and were about to catch them, when 
Skunk shot at Thunder and killed him. Then Skunk called out, "After this you 
must never try to follow and kill people. You must stay up in the sky, and 
be the thunder. That is what you will be." The daughters of Thunder did not 
follow any farther; so the people went on safely, and got home with their 
fire, and people have had it ever since.

XV. THE SUN SNARER

(MENOMIMI: Hoffman, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xiv, i8i)

One day while two elder brothers were out hunting in the forest, the 
youngest went away to hide himself and to mourn because he was not permitted 
to join them. He had with him his bow and arrows and his beaver-skin robe; 
but when the Sun rose high in the sky he became tired and laid himself down 
to weep, covering himself entirely with his robe to keep out the Sun. When 
the Sun was directly overhead and saw the boy, it sent down a ray which 
burned spots upon the robe and made it shrink until it exposed the boy. Then 
the Sun smiled, while the boy wept more violently than before. He felt that 
he had been cruelly treated both by his brothers and now by the Sun. He said 
to the Sun, "You have treated me cruelly and burned my robe, when I did not 
deserve it. Why do you punish me like this? " The Sun merely continued to 
smile, but said nothing.

The boy then gathered up his bow and arrows, and taking his burnt robe, 
returned to the wigwam, where he lay down in a dark corner and again wept. 
His sister was outside of the wigwam when he returned, so she was not aware 
of his presence when she reentered to attend to her work. Presently she 
heard someone crying, and going over to the place whence the sound came she 
found that it was her youngest brother who was in distress.

She said to him, "My brother, why are you weeping?" to which he replied, 
"Look at me; I am sad because the Sun burned my beaver-skin robe; I have 
been cruelly treated this day." Then he turned his face away and continued 
to weep. Even in his sleep he sobbed, because of his distress.

When he awoke-, he-said to his sister, "My sister, give me --a thread,- I 
wish to use it."

She handed him a sinew thread, but he said to her, "No, that is not what I 
want: I want a hair thread." She said to him, "Take this; this is strong." 
"No," he replied, "that is not the kind of a thread I want; I want a hair 
thread."

She then understood his meaning, and plucking a single hair from her person 
handed it to him, when he said, "That is what I want," and taking it at both 
ends he began to pull it gently, smoothing it out as it continued to 
lengthen until it reached from the tips of the fingers of one hand to the 
ends of the fingers of the other.

Then he started out to where the Sun's path touched the earth. When he 
reached the place where the Sun was when it burned his robe, the little boy 
made a noose and stretched it across the path, and when the Sun came to that 
point the noose caught him around the neck and began to choke him until he 
almost lost his breath. It became dark, and the Sun called out to the 
ma'nidos, "Help me, my brothers, and cut this string before it kills me." 
The ma'nidos came, but the thread had so cut into the flesh of the Sun's 
neck that they could not sever it. When all but one had given up, the Sun 
called to the Mouse to try to cut the string. The Mouse came up and gnawed 
at the string, but it was difficult work, because the string was hot and 
deeply embedded in the Sun's neck. After working at the string a good while, 
however, the Mouse succeeded in cutting it, when the Sun breathed again and 
the darkness disappeared. If the Mouse had not succeeded, the Sun would have 
died. Then the boy said to the Sun, "For your cruelty I have punished you; 
now you may go."

The boy then returned to his sister, satisfied with what he had done.

XVI. THE MAN WHO ACTED AS THE SUN

(BELLA COOLA: Boas, Jesup North Pacific Expedition, i, 95)

Once upon a time there lived a woman some distance up Bella Coola River. She 
refused the offer of marriage from the young men of the tribe, because she 
desired to marry the Sun. She left her village and went to seek the Sun. 
Finally she reached his house, and married the Sun. After she had been there 
one day, she had a child. He grew very quickly, and on the second day of his 
life he was able to walk and to talk. After a short time he said to his 
mother, "I should like to see your mother and your father"; and he began to 
cry, making his mother feel homesick. When the Sun saw that his wife felt 
downcast, and that his son was longing to see his grandparents, he said, 
"You may return to the earth to see your parents. Descend along my 
eyelashes." His eyelashes were the rays of the Sun, which he extended down 
to his wife's home, where they lived with the woman's parents.

The boy was playing with the children of the village, who were teasing him, 
saying that he had no father. He began to cry, and went to his mother, whom 
he asked for bow and arrows. His mother gave him what he requested. He went 
outside and began to shoot his arrows towards the sky. The first arrow 
struck the sky and stuck in it; " the second arrow hit the notch of the 
first one; and thus he continued until a chain was formed, extending from 
the sky down to the place where he was standing. Then he ascended the chain. 
He found the house of the sun, which he entered. He told his father that the 
boys had been teasing him, and he asked him to let him carry the sun. But 
his father said, "You cannot do it. I carry many torches. Early in the 
morning and late in the evening I burn small torches, but at noon I burn the 
large ones." The boy insisted on his request. Then his father gave him the 
torches, warning him at the same time to observe carefully the instructions 
that he was giving him in regard to their use.

Early the next morning, the young man started on the course of the sun, 
carrying the torches. Soon he grew impatient, and lighted all the torches at 
once. Then it grew very hot. The trees began to burn, and many animals 
jumped into the water to save themselves, but the water began to boil. Then 
his mother covered the people with her blanket, and thus saved them. The 
animals hid under stones. The ermine crept into a hole, which, however, was 
not quite large enough, so that the tip of its tail protruded from the 
entrance. It was scorched, and since that time the tip of the ermine's tail 
has been black. The mountain-goat hid in a cave, hence its skin is perfectly 
white. All the animals that did not hide were scorched, and therefore have 
black skins, but the skin on their lower side remained lighter. When the Sun 
saw what was happening, he said to his son, "Why do you do so? Do you think 
it is good that there are no people on the earth?"

The Sun took him and cast him down from the heavens, saying, "You shall be 
the mink, and future generations of man shall hunt you."

XVII. THE MAN IN THE MOON

(LILLOOET: Teit, .Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxv, 298, No. 3)

The three Frog sisters had a house in a swamp, where they lived together. 
Not very far away lived a number of people in another house. Among them were 
Snake and Beaver, who were friends. They were well-grown lads, and wished to 
marry the Frog girls.

One night Snake went to Frog's house, and, crawling up to one of the 
sisters, put his hand on her face. She awoke, and asked him who he was. 
Learning that he was Snake, she said she would not marry him, and told him 
to leave at once. She called him hard names, such as, "slimy-fellow," 
"small-eyes," etc. Snake returned, and told his friend of his failure.

Next night Beaver went to try, and, crawling up to one of the sisters, he 
put his hand on her face. She awoke, and, finding out who he was, she told 
him to be gone. She called him names, such as, "short-legs," "big-belly," 
"big-buttocks." Beaver felt hurt, and, going home, began to cry. His father 
asked him what the matter was, and the boy told him. He said, "That is 
nothing. Don't cry! It will rain too much." But young Beaver said, "I will 
cry."

As he continued to cry, much rain fell, and soon the swamp where the Frogs 
lived was flooded., Their house was under the water, which covered the tops 
of the tall swamp-grass. The Frogs got cold, and went to Beaver's house, and 
said to him, "We wish to marry your sons." But old Beaver said, "No! You 
called us hard names."

The water was now running in a regular stream. So the Frogs swam away 
downstream until they reached a whirlpool, which sucked them in, and they 
descended to the house of the Moon. The latter invited them to warm 
themselves at the fire; but they said, "No. We do not wish to sit by the 
fire. We wish to sit there," pointing at him. He said, "Here?" at the same 
time pointing at his feet. They said, "No, not there." Then he pointed to 
one part of his body after another, until he reached his brow. When he said, 
"Will you sit here?" they all cried out, "Yes," and jumped on his face, thus 
spoiling his beauty. The Frog's sisters may be seen on the moon's face at 
the present day.

XVIII. ORIGIN OF THE PLEIADES

(ONONDAGA: Beauchamp, .Journal of American Folk-Lore, xiii, 281)

A long time ago a party of Indians went through the woods toward a good 
hunting-ground, which they had long known. They travelled several days 
through a very wild country, going on leisurely and camping by the way. At 
last they reached Kan-ya-ti-yo, " the beautiful lake," where the gray rocks 
were crowned with great forest trees. Fish swarmed in the waters, and at 
every jutting point the deer came down from the hills around to bathe or 
drink of the lake. On the hills and in the valleys were huge beech and 
chestnut trees, where squirrels chattered, and bears came to take their 
morning and evening meals.

The chief of the band was Hah-yah-no, "Tracks in the water," and he halted 
his party on the lake shore that he might return thanks to the Great Spirit 
for their safe arrival at this good hunting-ground. "Here will we build our 
lodges for the winter, and may the Great Spirit, who has prospered us on our 
way, send us plenty of game, and health and peace." The Indian is always 
thankful.

The pleasant autumn days passed on. The lodges had been built, and hunting 
had prospered, when the children took a fancy to dance for their own 
amusement. They were getting lonesome, having little to do, and so they met 
daily in a quiet spot by the lake to have what they called their jolly 
dance. They had done this a long time, when one day a very old man came to 
them. They had seen no one like him before. He was dressed in white 
feathers, and his white hair shone like silver. If his appearance was 
strange, his words were unpleasant as well. He told them they must stop 
their dancing, or evil would happen to them. Little did the children heed, 
for they were intent on their sport, and again and again the old man 
appeared, repeating his warning.

The mere dances did not afford all the enjoyment the children wished, and a 
little boy, who liked a good dinner, suggested a feast the next time they 
met. The food must come from their parents, and all these were asked when 
they returned home. "You will waste and spoil good victuals," said one. "You 
can eat at home as you should," said another, and so they got nothing at 
all. Sorry as they were for this, they met and danced as before. A little to 
eat after each dance would have made them happy indeed. Empty stomachs cause 
no joy.

One day, as they danced, they found themselves rising little by little into 
the air, their heads being light through hunger. How this happened they did 
not know, but one said, "Do not look back, for something strange is taking 
place." A woman, too, saw them - rise, and called them back, but with no 
effect, for they still rose slowly above the earth. She ran to the camp, and 
all rushed out with food of every kind, but the children would not return, 
though their parents called piteously after them. But one would even look 
back, and he became a falling star. The others reached the sky, and are now 
what we call the Pleiades, and the Onondagas Oot-kwa-tah. Every falling or 
shooting star recalls the story, but the seven stars shine on continuously, 
a pretty band of dancing children.

XIX. THE BAG OF WINDS

(THOMPSON: Teit, Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vi, 87, No. 34)

Long ago the Wind did much damage, blowing violently over the country of the 
Indian. Moreover, it often killed many people and destroyed much property. 
At that time there was a man who lived near Spences Bridge, and who had 
three sons.

The youngest was very ambitious, and fond of trying to do wonderful things. 
One day he said to his father and brothers, "I will snare the Wind"; but 
they laughed at him, saying, "How can you do that? The Wind is unseen." 
However, he went out and set a snare. He did not succeed for several nights, 
as his noose was too large. He made it smaller every night, and, on visiting 
his snare one morning, found he had caught the Wind. After great difficulty, 
he succeeded at last in getting it into his blanket, and made for home with 
it, where he put it down. He told his people that he had at last captured 
the Wind. They laughed at him. Then, to verify his statements, he opened one 
corner of the blanket, and immediately it began to blow fiercely, and the 
lodge itself was almost blown over. The people cried to him to stay the 
force of the Wind, which he did by again tying up the corner of the blanket. 
At last he released the Wind on the condition that he would never blow 
strongly enough to hurt people in the Indian country again, which promise he 
has kept.

XX. THE BIRD WHOSE WINGS MADE THE WIND

(MICMAC: Rand, Legends of the Micmacs, P. 360, No. 68)

An Indian family resided on the sea-shore. They had two sons, the oldest of 
whom was married and had a family of small children. They lived principally 
by fishing, and their favorite food was eels.

Now it came to pass at a certain time that the weather was so stormy they 
could not fish. The wind blew fiercely night and day, and they were greatly 
reduced by hunger. Finally the old father told his boys to walk along the 
shore, and perhaps they might find a fish that had floated ashore, as 
sometimes happened. So one of the young men started off to try his luck in 
this line; when he reached a point where the wind blew so fiercely that he 
could hardly stand against it, he saw the cause of all the trouble. At the 
end of the point there was a ledge of rocks, called Rocky Point, extending 
far out; at low water the rocks were separated from one another by the 
shallow water, but were nearly all covered when the tide was in. On the 
farthest rock a large bird, the storm-king, was standing, flapping his wings 
and causing all the trouble by the wind he raised. The Indian planned to 
outwit him. He called to the big bird, and addressing him as "my 
grandfather," said, "Are you cold?" He answered, "No." The man replied, "You 
are cold; let me carry you ashore on my back." "Do so," was the answer. So 
the man waded over to the rock on which the bird was sitting, took him on 
his back, and carefully carried him from rock to rock, wading over the 
intervening spaces of shoal water. In going down the last rock, he stumbled 
on purpose, but pretended that it was an accident; and the poor old bird 
fell and broke one of his wings. The ma ' n seemed very sorry, and 
immediately proceeded to set the bone and bind up the wing. He then directed 
the old fellow to keep quiet and not move his wings until the wounded one 
healed. He now inquired if it pained him much, and was told that it did not. 
"Remain there and I will visit you again soon, and bring you some food." He 
now returned home, and found that the wind had all died away; there was a 
dead calm, so that before long they were supplied with a great abundance of 
food, as the eels were plenty and easily taken. But there can be too much 
even of a good thing. Calm weather continued for a succession of days, 
causing the salt water to be covered with a sort of scum. The Indians say it 
is the result of sickness and vomiting among the larger fish; this scum 
prevents the fishermen from seeing into the water, and consequently is 
adverse to eel-spearing. This took place on the occasion referred to, and so 
they sought for a remedy. The big bird was visited and his wing examined. It 
was sufficiently recovered to admit of motion, and he was told to keep both 
his wings going, but that the motion must be steady and gentle. This 
produced the desired effect.

XXI. THE RELEASE OF THE WILD ANIMALS

(COMANCHE: St. Clair, .Journal of .American Folk-Lore, xxii, 280, No. 17)

Long ago two persons owned all the buffalo. They were an old woman and her 
young cousin. They kept them penned up in the mountains, so that they could 
not get out. Coyote came to these people. He summoned the Indians to a 
council. "That old woman will not give us anything. When we come over there, 
we will plan how to release the buffalo." They all moved near the buffalo-
enclosure. "After four nights," said Coyote, "we will again hold a council 
as to how we can release the buffalo. A very small animal shall go where the 
old woman draws her water. When the child gets water, it will take it home 
for a pet. The old woman will object; but the child will think so much of 
the animal, that it will begin to cry and will be allowed to keep it. The 
animal will run off at daybreak, and the buffalo will burst out of their pen 
and run away." The first animal they sent failed. Then they sent the Kill-
dee.

When the boy went for water, he found the Kill-dee and took it home. "Look 
here!" he said to his cousin, "this animal of mine is very good." The old 
woman replied, "Oh, it is good for nothing! There is nothing living on the 
earth that is not a rascal or schemer." The child paid no attention to her. 
"Take it back where you got it," said the woman. He obeyed. The Kill-dee 
returned.

The people had another council. "Well, she has got the better of these two. 
They have failed," said Coyote; "but that makes no difference. Perhaps we 
may release them, perhaps we shall fail. This is the third time now. We will 
send a small animal over there. If the old woman agrees to take it, it will 
liberate those buffalo; it is a great schemer." So they sent the third 
animal. Coyote said, "If she rejects this one, we shall surely be unable to 
liberate the game." The animal went to the spring and was picked up by the 
boy, who took a great liking to it. "Look here! What a nice pet I have!" The 
old woman replied, "Oh, how foolish you are! It is a good for nothing. All 
the animals in the world are schemers. I'll kill it with a club." The boy 
took it in his arms and ran away crying. He thought too much of his pet. 
"No! this animal is too small," he cried. When the animal had not returned 
by nightfall, Coyote went among the people, saying, "Well, this animal has 
not returned yet; I dare say the old woman has consented to keep it. Don't 
be uneasy, our buffalo will be freed." Then he bade all the people get ready 
just at daybreak. "Our buffalo will be released. Do all of you mount your 
horses." In the mean time the animal, following its instructions, slipped 
over to the pen, and began to howl. The buffalo heard it, and were 
terrified. They ran towards the gate, broke it down, and escaped. The old 
woman, hearing the noise, woke up. The child asked, "Where is my pet?" He 
did not find it. The old woman said, "I told you so. Now you see the animal 
is bad, it has deprived us of our game." She vainly tried to hold the 
buffalo back. At daybreak all the Indians got on their horses, for they had 
confidence in Coyote. Thus the buffalo came to live on this earth. Coyote 
was a great schemer.

XXII. THE EMPOUNDED WATER

(MALECITE: Speck, Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxx, 480, No. 2)

Aglabem kept back all the water in the -world; so that rivers stopped 
flowing, and lakes dried up, and the people everywhere began dying of 
thirst. As a last resort, they sent a messenger to him to ask him to give 
the people water; but he refused, and gave the messenger only a drink from 
the water in which he washed. But this was not enough to satisfy even the 
thirst of one. Then the people began complaining, some saying, " I'm as dry 
as a fish," " I'm as dry as a frog," " I'm as dry as a turtle," " I'm as dry 
as a beaver," and the like, as they were on the verge of dying of thirst.

At last a great man was sent to Aglabem to beg him to release the water for 
the people. Agiabem refused, saying that he needed it himself to lie in. 
Then the messenger felled a tree, so that it fell on top of the monster and 
killed him. The body of this tree became the main river (St. John's River), 
and the branches became the tributary branches of the river, while the 
leaves became the ponds at the heads of these streams. As the waters flowed 
down to the villages of the people again, they plunged in to drink, and 
became transformed into the animals to which they had likened themselves 
when formerly complaining of their thirst.

XXIII. THE ORIGIN OF CORN

(ABABNAKI: Brown, Journal of American Folk-Lore, iii, 214)

A long time ago, when Indians were first made, there lived one alone, far, 
far from any others. He knew not of fire, and subsisted on roots, barks, and 
nuts. This Indian became very lonesome for company. He grew tired of digging 
roots, lost his appetite, and for several days lay dreaming in the sunshine; 
when he awoke he saw something standing near, at which, at first, he was 
very much frightened. But when it spoke, his heart was glad, for it was a 
beautiful woman with long light hair, very unlike any Indian. He asked her 
to come to him, but she would not, and if he tried to approach her she 
seemed to go farther away; he sang to her of his loneliness and besought her 
not to leave him; at last she told him, if he would do just as she should 
say, he would always have her with him. He promised that he would.

She led him to where there was some very dry grass, told him to get two very 
dry sticks, rub them together quickly, holding them in the grass. Soon a 
spark flew out; the grass caught it, and quick as an arrow the ground was 
burned over. Then she said, "When the sun sets, take me by the hair and drag 
me over the burned ground." He did not like to do this, but she told him 
that wherever he dragged her something like grass would spring up, and he 
would see her hair coming from between the leaves; then the seeds would be 
ready for his use. He did as she said, and to this day, when they see the 
silk (hair) on the cornstalk, the Indians know she has not forgotten them.


CHAPTER III

TRICKSTER TALES

XXIV. MANABOZHO'S ADVENTURES

(Episodes A and B, OJIBWA: Radin,Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Canada; 
Athropological Series, ii, 2-3.- Episodes C and D, MENOMINI: Hoffman, Report 
of the Bureau of American Ethnology, XIV, 203. - Episodes E and F, TIMAGAMI 
OJIBWA: Speck, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Canada: Anthropological 
Series, ix, 33)

A

Lake St. Clair, Manabozho saw a number of ducks, and he thought to himself, 
"Just how am I going to kill them?" After a while, he took out one of his 
pails and started to drum and sing at the same time. The words of the song 
he sang were:

I am bringing new songs.

When the ducks saw Manabozho standing near the shore, they swam toward him 
and as soon as he saw this, he sent his grandmother ahead to build a little 
lodge, where they could live. In the meantime, he killed a few of the ducks, 
so, while his grandmother started out to build a shelter, Manabozho went 
towards the lake where the ducks and geese were floating around and around. 
Manabozho jumped into a sack and then dived into the water. The ducks and 
geese were quite surprised to see that he was such an excellent diver, and 
came closer and closer. Then Manabozho challenged them to a contest at 
diving. He said that he could beat them all. The ducks all accepted the 
challenge, but Manabozho beat them. Then he went after the geese and beat 
them too. For a time he was alternately diving and rising to the surface, 
all around. Finally he dived under the geese and started to tie their legs 
togecher with some basswood bark. When the geese noticed this, they tried to 
rise and fly away, but they were unable to do so, for Manabozho was hanging 
on to the other end of the string. The geese, nevertheless, managed to rise, 
gradually dragging Manabozho along with them. They finally emerged from the 
water and rose higher and higher into the air. Manabozho, however, hung on, 
and would not let go, until his hand was cut and the string broke.

B

While walking along the river he saw some berries in the water. He dived 
down for them, but was stunned when he unexpectedly struck the bottom. There 
he lay for quite a while, and when he recovered consciousness and looked up, 
he saw the berries hanging on a tree just above him.

C

While Manabozho was once walking along a lake shore, tired and hungry, he 
observed a long, narrow sandbar, which extended far out into the water, 
around which were myriads of waterfowl, so Manabozlio decided to have a 
feast. He had with him only his medicine bag; so he entered the brush and 
hung it upon a tree, now called "Manabozho tree," and procured a quantity of 
bark, which he rolled into a bundle and placing it upon his back, returned 
to the shore, where he pretended to pass slowly by in sight of the birds. 
Some of the Swans and Ducks, however, recognizing Manabozho and becoming 
frightened, moved away from the shore.

One of the Swans called out, "Ho! Manabozho, where are you going?" To this 
Manabozho replied, "I am going to have a song. As you may see, I have all my 
songs with me." Manabozho then called out to the birds, "Come to me, my 
brothers, and let us sing and dance." The birds assented and returned to the 
shore, when all retreated a short distance away fr m the lake to an open 
space where they might dance. Manabozlio removed the bundle of bark from his 
back and placed it on the ground, got out his singing-sticks, and said to 
the birds, "Now, all of you dance around me as I drum; sing as loudly as you 
can, and keep your eyes closed. The first one to open his eyes will forever 
have them red and sore."

Manabozho began to beat time upon his bundle of bark, while the birds, with 
eyes closed, circled around him singing as loudly as they could. Keeping 
time with one hand, Manabozho suddenly grasped the neck of a Swan, which he 
broke; but before he had killed the bird it screamed out, whereupon 
Manabozho said, "That's right, brothers, sing as loudly as you can." Soon 
another Swan fell a victim; then a Goose, and so on until the number of 
birds was greatly reduced. Then the "Hell-diver," opening his eyes to see 
why there was less singing than at first, and beholding Manabozho and the 
heap of victims, cried out, "Manabozho is killing us! Manabozho is killing 
us!" and immediately ran to the water, followed by the remainder of the 
birds.

As the "Hell-diver" was a poor runner, Manabozho soon overtook him, and 
said, "I won't kill you, but you shall always have red eyes and be the 
laughing-stock of all the birds." With this he gave the bird a kick, sending 
him far out into the lake and knocking off his tail, so that the "Hell-
diver" is red-eyed and tailless to this day.

D

Manabozho then gathered up his birds, and taking them out upon the sandbar 
buried them - some with their heads protruding, others with the feet 
sticking out of the sand. He then built a fire to cook the game, but as this 
would require some time, and as Manabozho was tired after his exertion, he 
stretched himself on the ground to sleep. In order to be informed if anyone 
approached, he slapped his thigh and said to it, "You watch the birds, and 
awaken me if anyone should come near them." Then, with his back to the fire, 
he fell asleep.

After awhile a party of Indians came along in their canoes, and seeing the 
feast in store, went to the sandbar and pulled out every bird which 
Manabozho had so carefully placed there, but put back the heads and feet in 
such a way that there was no indication that the bodies had been disturbed. 
When the Indians had finished eating they departed, taking with them all the 
food that remained from the feast.

Some time afterward, Manabozho awoke, and, being very hungry, bethought 
himself to enjoy the fruits of his strategem. In attempting to pull a baked 
swan from the sand he found nothing but the head and neck, which he held in 
his hand. Then he tried another, and found the body of that bird also gone. 
So he tried another, and then another, but each time met with 
disappointment. Who could have robbed him? he thought. He struck his thigh 
and asked, "Who has been here to rob me of my feast; did I not command you 
to watch while I slept?" His thigh responded, "I also fell asleep, as I was 
very tired; but I see some people moving rapidly away in their canoes; 
perhaps they were the thieves. I see also they are very dirty and poorly 
dressed.--- Then Manabozho ran out to the point of the sandbar, and beheld 
the people in their canoes, just disappearing around a point of land. Then 
he called to them and reviled them, calling them "Winnibe'go! Winnibe'go! " 
And by this term the Menomini have ever since designated their thievish 
neighbors.

E

After this Manabozho began travelling again. One time he feasted a lot of 
animals. He had killed a big bear, which was very fat and he began cooking 
it, having made a fire with his bow-drill. When he was ready to spread his 
meat, he heard two trees scraping together, swayed by the wind. He did n't 
like this noise while he was having his feast and he thought he could stop 
it. He climbed up one of the trees and when he reached the spot where the 
two trees were scraping, his foot got caught in a crack between the trees 
and he could not free himself.

When the first animal guest came along and saw Manabozlio in the tree, he, 
the Beaver, said "Come on to the feast, Manabozho is caught and can't stop 
us.--- And then the other animals came. The Beaver jumped into the grease 
and ate it, and the Otter did the same, and that is why they are so fat in 
the belly. The Beaver scooped up the grease and smeared it on himself, and 
that is the reason why he is so fat now. All the small animals came and got 
fat for themselves. Last of all the animals came the Rabbit, when nearly all 
the grease was gone - only a little left. So he put some on the nape of his 
neck and some on his groin and for this reason he has only a little fat in 
those places. So all the animals got their fat except Rabbit. Then they all 
went, and poor Manabozho got free at last. He looked around and found a 
bear's skull that was all cleaned except for the brain, and there was only a 
little of that left, but he could n't get at it. Then he wished himself to 
be changed into an ant in order to get into the skull and get enough to eat, 
for there was only about an ant's meal left.

F

Then he became an ant and entered the skull. When he had enough he turned 
back into a man, but he had his head inside the skull; this allowed him to 
walk but not to see." On account of this he had no idea where he was. Then 
he felt the trees. He said to one, "What are you?" It answered, "Cedar." He 
kept doing this with all the trees in order to keep his course. When he got 
too near the shore, he knew it by the kind of trees he met. So he kept on 
walking and the only tree that did not answer promptly was the black spruce, 
and that said "I'm Se'segandak" (black spruce). Then Manabozho knew he was 
on low ground. He came to a lake, but he did not know how large it was, as 
he couldn't see. He started to swim across. An Ojibwa was paddling on the 
lake with his family and he heard someone calling, "Hey! There's a bear 
swimming across the lake." Manabozho became frightened at this and the 
Ojibwa then said, "He's getting near the shore now." So Manabozho swam 
faster, and as he could understand the Ojibwa language, he guided himself by 
the cries. He landed on a smooth rock, slipped and broke the bear's skull, 
which fell off his head. Then the Ojibwa cried out, "That's no bear! That's 
Manabozho!" Manabozho was all right, now that he could see, so he ran off, 
as he did n't want to stay with these people.

XXV. THE TRICKSTER'S GREAT FALL AND HIS REVENGE

(MENOMINI: Hoffman, Report of the Bureau of 4merican Ethnology, xiv, -202)

Once while the Buzzard was soaring away through the air he saw Manabozho 
walking along. He flew a little toward the ground, with his wings outspread, 
and heard Manabozho say to him, "Buzzard, you must be very happy up there 
where you can soar through the air and see what is transpiring in the world 
beneath. Take me on your back so that I may ascend with you and see how it 
appears down here from where you live." The Buzzard came down, and said, 
"Manabozho, get on my back and I will take you up into the sky to let you 
see how the world appears from my abode." Manabozho approached the Buzzard, 
but seeing how smooth his back appeared said, " Buzzard, I am afraid you 
will let me slide from your back, so you must be careful not to sweep around 
too rapidly, that I may retain my place upon your back." The Buzzard told 
Manabozho that he would be careful, although the bird was determined to play 
a trick on him if possible. Manabozho mounted the Buzzard and held on to his 
feathers as well as he could. The Buzzard took a short run, leaped from the 
ground, spread his wings and rose into the air. Manabozho felt rather timid 
as the Buzzard swept through the air, and as he circled around his body 
leaned so much that Manabozho could scarcely retain his position, and he was 
afraid of slipping off. Presently, as Manabozho was looking down upon the 
broad earth below, the Buzzard made a sharp curve to one side so that his 
body leaned more than ever. Manabozho, losing his grasp, slipped off and 
dropped to earth like an arrow. He struck the ground with such force as to 
knock him senseless. The Buzzard returned to his place in the sky, but 
hovered around to see what would become of Manabozho.

Manabozho lay a long time like one dead. When he recovered he saw something 
close to and apparently staring him in the face. He could not at first 
recognize it, but when he put his hands against the object he found that it 
was his own buIttocks, because he had been all doubled up. He arose and 
prepared to go on his way, when he espied the Buzzard above him, laughing at 
his own trickery.

Manabozho then said, " Buzzard, you have played a trick on me by letting me 
fall, but as I am more powerful than you I shall revenge myself." The 
Buzzard then replied, "No, Manabozho, you will not do anything of the kind, 
because you cannot deceive me. I shall watch you."

Manabozho kept on, and the Buzzard, not noticing anything peculiar in the 
movements of Manabozho, flew on his way through the air. Manabozho then 
decided to transform himself into a dead deer, because he knew the Buzzard 
had chosen to subsist on dead animals and fish. Manabozho then went to a 
place visible from a great distance and from many directions, where he laid 
himself down and changed himself into the carcass of a deer." Soon the 
various birds and beasts and crawling things that subsist on such food began 
to congregate about the dead deer. The Buzzard saw the birds flying toward 
the place where the body lay, and joined them. He flew around several times 
to see if it was Manabozho trying to deceive him, then thought to himself, 
"No, that is not Manabozho; it is truly a dead deer." He then approached the 
body and began to pick a hole into the fleshy part of the thigh. Deeper and 
deeper into the flesh the Buzzard picked until his head and neck was buried 
each time he reached in to pluck the fat from the intestines. Without 
warning, while the Buzzard had his head completely hidden in the carcass of 
the deer , the deer jumped up and pinched together his flesh, thus firmly 
grasping the head and neck of the Buzzard. Then Manabozho said, "Aha! 
Buzzard, I did catch you after all, as I told you I would. Now pull out your 
head." The Buzzard with great difficulty withdrew his head from the cavity 
in which it had been inclosed, but the feathers were all pulled off,,leaving 
his scalp and neck covered with nothing but red skin. Then Manabozho said to 
the bird, "Thus do I punish you for your deceitfulness; henceforth you will 
go through the world without feathers on your head and neck, and you shall 
always stink because of the food you will be obliged to eat." That is why 
the buzzard is such a badsmelling fellow, and why his head and neck are 
featherless.

XXVI. THE DECEIVED BLIND MEN

(MENOMINI: Hoffman, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xiv, 211)

There was a large settlement on the shore of a lake, and among its people 
were two very old blind men. It was decided to remove these men to the 
opposite side of the lake, where they might live in safety, as the 
settlement was exposed to the attack of enemies, when they might easily be 
captured and killed. So the relations of the old men got a canoe, some food, 
a kettle, and a bowl and started across the lake, where they built for them 
a wigwam in a grove some distance from the water. A line was stretched from 
the door of the wigwam to a post in the water, so that they would have no 
difficulty in helping themselves. The food and vessels were put into the 
wigwam, and after the relations of the old men promised them that they would 
call often and keep them provided with everything that was needful, they 
returned to their settlement.

The two old blind men now began to take care of themselves. On one day one 
of them would do the cooking while the other went for water, and on the next 
day they would change about in their work, so that their labors were evenly 
divided. As they knew just how much food they required for each meal, the 
quantity prepared was equally divided, but was eaten out of the one bowl 
which they had.

Here they lived in contentment for several years; but one day a Raccoon, 
which was following the water's edge looking for crawfish, came to the line 
which had been stretched from the lake to the wigwam. The Raccoon thought it 
rather curious to find a cord where he had not before observed one, and 
wondered to himself, "What is this? I think I shall follow this cord to see 
where it leads." So he followed the path along which the cord was stretched 
until he came to the wigwam. Approaching very cautiously, he went up to the 
entrance, where he saw the two old men asleep on the ground, their heads at 
the door and their feet directed toward the heap of hot coals within. The 
Raccoon sniffed about and soon found there was something good to eat within 
the wigwam; but he decided not to enter ~t`once for fear of waking the old 
men; so he retired a short distance to hide himself and to see what they 
would do.

Presently the old men awoke, and one said to the other, "My friend, I am 
getting hungry; let us prepare some food." "Very well," replied his 
companion, "you go down to the lake and fetch some water while I get the 
fire started."

The Raccoon heard this conversation, and, wishing to deceive the old man, 
immediately ran to the water, untied the cord from the post, and carried it 
to a clump of bushes, where he tied it. When the old man came along with his 
kettle to get water, he stumbled around the brush until he found the end of 
the cord; then he began to dip his kettle down upon the ground for water. 
Not finding any, he slowly returned and said to his companion, "We shall 
surely die, because the lake is dried up and the brush is grown where we 
used to get water. What shall we do?"

"That can not be," responded his companion, "for we have not been asleep 
long enough for the brush to grow upon the lake bed. Let me go out to try if 
I can not get some water." So taking the kettle from his friend he started 
off.

So soon as the first old man had returned to the wigwam, the Raccoon took 
the cord back and tied it where he had found it, then waited to see the 
result.

The second old man now came along, entered the lake, and getting his kettle 
full of water returned to the wigwam, saying as he entered, " My friend, you 
told me what was not true. There is water enough; for here, you see, I have 
our kettle full." The other could not understand this at all, and wondered 
what had caused the deception.

The Raccoon approached the wigwam and entered to await the cooking of the 
food. When it was ready, the pieces of meat, for there were eight of them, 
were put into the bowl and the old men sat down on the ground facing each 
other, with the bowl between them. Each took a piece of meat, and they began 
to talk of various things and were enjoying themselves.

The Raccoon now quietly removed four pieces of meat from the bowl and began 
to eat them, enjoying the feast even more than the old blind men. Presently 
one of them reached into the bowl to get another piece of meat, and finding 
that only two pieces remained, said, "My friend, you must be very hungry to 
eat so rapidly; I have had but one piece, and there are but two pieces 
left."

The other replied, "I have not taken them, but suspect you have eaten them 
yourself"; whereupon the other replied more angrily than before. Thus they 
argued, and the Raccoon, desiring to have more sport, tapped each of them on 
the face. The old men, each believing the other had struck him, began to 
fight, rolling over the floor of the wigwam, upsetting the bowl and the 
kettle, and causing the fire to be scattered. The Raccoon then took the two 
remaining pieces of meat and made his exit from the wigwam, laughing ha, ha, 
ha, ha; whereupon the old men instantly ceased their strife, for they now 
knew they had been deceived. The Raccoon then remarked to them, "I have 
played a nice trick on you; you should not find fault with each other so 
easily." Then the Raccoon continued his crawfishhunting along the lake 
shore.

XXVII. THE TRICKSTER'S RACE

(BLACKFOOT: Wissler and Duvall, Anthropological Papers of the American 
Museum of Natural History, ii, 27, No.11)

Now Old Man went on and came to a place where deer and elk were playing a 
game called "Follow your leader." Old Man watched the game a while. Then he 
asked permission to play. He took the lead, sang a song, and ran about this 
way and that, and finally led them up to the edge of a cliff. Old Man jumped 
down and was knocked senseless. After a while he got up and called to the 
rest to follow. "No, we might hurt ourselves." "Oh!" said Old Man, "it is 
nice and soft here, and I had to sleepawhile." Then the elk all jumped down 
and were killed. Then Old Man said to the deer, "Now, you jump." "No," said 
the deer, "we shall not jump down, because the elk are all killed." "No," 
said Old Man, "they are only laughing." So the deer jumped down and were all 
killed. Now, when the elk were about to jump over, there was a female elk 
about to become a mother, and she begged Old Man not to make her jump, so he 
let her go. A few of the deer were also let go for the same reason. If he 
had not done this, all the elk and deer would have been killed.

Old Man was now busy butchering the animals that had been killed by falling 
over the cliff. When he was through butchering, he went out and found a 
place to camp. Then he carried his meat there and hung it up to dry. When he 
was all alone, a Coyote came to him. This Coyote had a shell on his neck, 
and one leg was tied up as if badly hurt. The Coyote said to Old Man, "Give 
me something to eat."

Old Man said to him, "Give me that shell on your neck to skim the soup, and 
I will give you something to eat." "No," said Coyote, " that shell is my 
medicine." Then Old Man noticed that the Coyote had his leg tied up, and 
said, "Well, brother, I will run you a race for a meal." "Well," said 
Coyote, "I am hurt. I cannot run". "That makes no difference," said Old Man, 
"run anyway." "Well," said Coyote, "I will run for a short distance." "No," 
said Old Man, "you have to run a longdistance." Finally Coyote agreed. 
Theyweretorunto a distant point, then back again. Coyote started out very 
slow, and kept crying for Old Man to wait, to wait. At last Coyote and Old 
Man came to the turning-point. Then Coyote took the bandage off his leg, 
began to run fast, and soon left Old Man far behind. He began to call out to 
all the coyotes, the animals, and mice, and they all came rushing up to Old 
Man's camp and began to eat his meat. It was a long time before Old Man 
reached the camp; but he kept calling out, "Leave me some meat, leave me 
some meat."

XXVIII. THE EYE-JUGGLER

(CHEYENNE: Kroeber, .Journal of Jmerican Folk-Lore, xiii, 168, No. 11

There was a man that could send his eyes out of his head, on the limb of a 
tree, and call them back again, by saying "Eyes hang upon a branch." White-
man saw him doing this, and came to him crying; he wanted to learn this too. 
The man taught him, but warned him not to do it more than four times in one 
day. White-man went off along the river. When he came to the highest tree he 
could see, he sent his eyes to the top. Then he called them back. He thought 
he could do this as often as he wished, disregarding the warning.

The fifth time his eyes remained fastened to the limb. All day he called, 
but the eyes began to swell and spoil, and flies gathered on them. White-man 
grew tired and lay down, facing his eyes, still calling for them, though 
they never came; and he cried. At night he was half asleep, when a mouse ran 
over him. He closed his lids that the mice would not see he was blind, and 
lay still, in order to catch one.

At last one sat on his breast. He kept quiet to let it become used to him, 
and the mouse went on his face, trying to cut his hair for its nest. Then it 
licked his tears, but let its tail hang in his mouth. He closed it, and 
caught the mouse. He seized it tightly, and made it guide him, telling him 
of his misfortune. The mouse said it could see the eyes, and they had 
swelled to an enormous size. It offered to climb the tree and get them for 
him, but White-man would not let it go. It tried to wriggle free, but he 
held it fast. Then the mouse asked on what condition he would release it, 
and White-man said, only if it gave him one of its eyes. So it gave him one, 
and he could see again, and let the mouse go. But the small eye was far back 
in his socket, and he could not see very well with it.

A buffalo was grazing near by, and as White-man stood near him crying, he 
looked on and wondered. White-man said: "Here is a buffalo, who has the 
power to help me in my trouble." So the Buffalo asked him what he wanted. 
Whiteman told him he had lost his eye and needed one. The buffalo took out 
one of his and put it in White-man's head. Now White-man could see far 
again. But the eye did not fit the socket; most of it was outside. The other 
was far inside. Thus he remained.

XXIX. THE SHARPENED LEG.

(CHEYENNE: Kroeber, Yournal of American Folk-Lore, xiii, 169, No. 12)

There was a man whose leg was pointed, so that by running and jumping 
against trees he could stick in them. By saying 'naiwatoutawa,' he brought 
himself back to the ground. On a hot day he would stick himself against a 
tree for greater shade and coolness. However, he could not do this trick 
more than four times. Once while he was doing this, White-man came to him, 
crying, and said: "Brother, sharpen my leg!" The man replied: "That is not 
very hard. I can sharpen your leg." White-man stood on a large log, and the 
other, with an axe, sharpened his leg, telling him to hold still bravely. 
The pain caused the tears to come from his eyes.

When the man had sharpened his leg, he told him to do the trick only four 
times a day, and to keep count in order not to exceed this number. White-man 
went down toward the river, singing. Near the bank was a large tree; toward 
this he ran, then jumped and stuck in it. Then he called himself back to the 
ground. Again he jumped, this time against another tree; but now he counted 
one, thinking in this way to get the better of the other man. The third 
time, he counted two. The fourth time, birds and animals stood by, and he 
was proud to show his ability, and jumped high, and pushed his leg in up to 
the knee. Then coyotes, wolves, and other animals came to see him; some of 
them asked how he came to know the trick, and begged him to teach it to 
them, so they could stick to trees at night.

He was still prouder now, and for the fifth time he ran and jumped as high 
as he could, and half his thigh entered the tree. Then he counted four. Then 
he called to get to the ground again. But he stuck. He called out all day; 
he tried to send the animals to the man who had taught him. He was fast in 
the tree for many days, until he starved to death.

XXX. THE OFFENDED ROLLING STONE

(PAWNEE: Dorsey, Publications of the Carnegie Institution, lix, 446, No. 
126)

Coyote was going along, and as he had not had anything to eat for some time 
he was very hungry. In the evening he went to a high hill and sat down. 
Early the next morning he started again. He came to a big round stone. He 
took out his knife and said: "Grandfather, this knife I give to you as a 
present. I want you to help me to get something to eat."

Coyote went over a hill, and there in the bottom was a village of people. He 
went into the village and he could see meat hanging on poles everywhere in 
the camp. He went into one of the tipis and the people in the tipi roasted a 
piece of meat for him. just as he was about to taste of the meat he thought 
of his knife and said: "Why did I give my knife to that stone? I should have 
kept it and then I should have been able to cut the meat without having to 
pull it with my hands." He asked to be excused and went out. He went to 
where the stone was. He said: "Grandfather, I will have to take back this 
knife, for I have found a village of people with plenty of meat." He went 
over the hills and into the bottom, but there was no village there. Coyote 
went back and returned the knife to the stone. He went back over the hills 
and there saw the village and he entered one of the tipis. They placed 
before him some meat. He began to chew the meat. He thought of his knife. He 
went back to the stone, and as he took the knife the stone said: "Why do you 
take the knife away from me? I am now going to kill you."

Then the stone ran after the Coyote. Coyote ran and came to a den of Bears. 
He told the Bears that a person was running after him and he asked them to 
help him. The Bears said that they were not afraid of anything. They asked 
what the thing was, and he said it was the stone. The Bears said: " Keep on 
running. We can not do anything with the stone." The stone was close to 
Coyote when he came up to another den of Mountain-Lions. They also told 
Coyote to pass on, as they could not do anything for him. After a while 
Coyote came to a Buffalo standing all alone, but when the Buffalo found out 
that it was the stone running after Coyote he told him to pass on.

At last Coyote came to a place where the Bull-Bats stayed. Coyote said: " 
Grandchildren, there is a person running after me." The Bull-Bats then said: 
"Enter our lodge and remain there." When the stone came rolling up it said: 
"Where is that person who came here?" The Bull-Bats did not reply and the 
stone became angry. Then the Bull-Bats said: "He is here and we are going to 
protect him." The Bull-Bats flew up and then down, and they expelled flatus 
on the stone. Every time they did this a piece broke off from the stone. The 
largest Bull-Bat came down and expelled flatus right on the center and broke 
the stone into pieces. Then the Coyote was told to come out and go on his 
way.

Coyote started off, and when he got over the hills he turned around and 
yelled at the Bull-Bats and said: "All you bignosed funny things, how you 
did behave to that stone." The Bull-Bats heard it and did not pay any 
attention, but he kept on making fun of them. Then the Bull-Bats flew up in 
a group, and came down, and with their wings they got the stones together 
again and started it to rolling, and said: "Go and kill that fellow." The 
stone then ran after Coyote and Coyote tried to get away, but he could not. 
At last he gave out. He jumped over a steep bank and the stone was right 
behind him. As Coyote struck the bottom, the stone fell on him and killed 
him. This is why we used to find dead coyotes in the hills and valleys.

XXXI. THE TRICKSTER KILLS THE CHILDREN

(ARAPAHO: Dorsey and Kroeber, Field Museum: Anthropological Series, v, 101, 
No. 49)

Nihansan was travelling down a stream. As he walked along on the bank he saw 
something red in the water. They were red plums. He wanted them badly. 
Taking off his clothes, he dived in and felt over the bottom with his hands; 
but he could find nothing, and the current carried him down-stream and to 
the surface again. He thought. He took stones and tied them to his wrists 
and ankles so that they should weigh him down in the water. Then he dived 
again; he felt over the bottom, but could find nothing. When his breath gave 
out he tried to come up, but could not. He was nearly dead, when at last the 
stones on one side fell off and he barely rose to the surface sideways and 
got a little air. As he revived, floating on his back, he saw the plums 
hanging on the tree above him. He said to himself: "You fool!" He scolded 
himself a long time. Then he got up, took off the stones, threw them away, 
and went and ate the plums. He also filled his robe with them.

Then he went on down the river. He came to a tent. He saw a bear-woman come 
out and go in again. Going close to the tent, he threw a plum so that it 
dropped in through the top of the tent. When it fell inside, the bear-women 
and children all scrambled for it. Then he threw another and another. At 
last one of the women said to her child: "Go out and see if that is not your 
uncle Nihansan." The child went out, came back, and said: "Yes, it is my 
uncle Nihansan." Then Nihansan came in.. He gave them the plums, and said: " 
I wonder that you never get plums, they grow so near you!" The bearwomen 
wanted to get some at once. He said: "Go up the river a little way; it is 
not far. Take all your children with you that are old enough to pick. Leave 
the babies here and I will watch them." They all went.

Then he cut all the babies' heads off. He put the heads back into the 
cradles; the bodies he put into a large kettle and cooked. When the bear-
women came back, he said to them: "Have you never been to that hill here? 
There were many young wolves there." "In that little hill here?" they asked. 
"Yes. While you were gone I dug the young wolves out and cooked them." Then 
they were all pleased. They sat down and began to eat. One of the children 
said: "This tastes like my little sister." "Hush!" said her mother, "don't 
say that." Nihansanbecame uneasy. "It is too hot here," he said, and took 
some plums and went off a little distance; there he sat down and ate. When 
he had finished, he shouted: "Ho! Ho! bear-women, you have eaten your own 
children."

All the bears ran to their cradles and found only the heads of the children. 
At once they pursued him. They began to come near him. Nihansan said: " I 
wish there were a hole that I could hide in." When they had nearly caught 
him he came to a hole and threw himself into it.

The hole extended through the hill, and he came out on the other side while 
the bear-women were still standing before the entrance. He painted himself 
with white paint to look like a different person, took a willow stick, put 
feathers on it, and laid it across his arm. Then he went to the women. " 
What are you crying about?" he asked them. They told him. He said: " I will 
go into the hole for you," and crawled in. Soon he cried as if hurt, and 
scratched his shoulders. Then he came out, saying: "Nihansan is too strong 
for me. Go into the hole yourselves; he is not very far in." They all went 
in, but soon came out again and said: "We cannot find him."

Nihansan entered once more, scratched himself bloody, bit himself, and cried 
out. He said: "He has long finger nails with which he scratches me. I cannot 
drag him out. But he is at the end of the hole. He cannot go back farther. 
If you go in, you can drag him out. He is only a little farther than you 
went last time."

They all went into the hole. Nihansan got brush and grass and made a fire at 
the entrance. "That sounds like flint striking," said one of the women. "The 
flint birds are fiying," Nihansan said. "That sounds like fire," said 
another woman. "The fire birds are fiying about; they will soon be gone by." 
"That is just like smoke," called a woman. "Thesmokebirds are passing. Go 
on, he is only a little farther, you will catch him soon," said Nihansan. 
Then the heat followed the smoke into the hole. The bear-women began to 
shout. "Now the heat birds are flying," said Nihansan.

Then the bears were all killed. Nihansan put out the fire and dragged them 
out. "Thus one obtains food when he is hungry," he said. He cut up the meat, 
ate some of it, and hung the rest on branches to dry. Then he went to sleep.

XXXII. WILDCAT GETS A NEW FACE

(UINTAH UTE: Mason, Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxiii, 301, No. 3)

Long ago Wildcat had a long nose and tail. One day he was sleeping on a rock 
when Coyote came along. He pushed Wildcat's nose and tail in, and then went 
home. At noon Wildcat woke up, and noticed his short nose and tail. "What's 
the matter with me?" he asked. Then he guessed the cause. "Oh! Coyote did 
that," he said, and he hunted for him.

Now, Coyote was sleepy and had lain down. Wildcat came and sat down beside 
him. He pulled out Coyote's nose and tail and made them long. They were 
short before. Then he ran off. After a while Coyote woke up and saw his long 
nose and tail.

XXXIII. THE TRICKSTER BECOMES A DISH

(LILLOOET: Teit, Yournal of American Folk-Lore, xxv, P3, No. 7)

Two brothers lived at the very head waters of the Upper Lillooet River, and 
spent most of their time training themselves in the neighboring mountains, 
for they wished to become great. One of them became ill, and had to remain 
at home. After four years' illness, he became weak, and so thin that he 
seemed nothing but skin and bones. His brother grew anxious about him, and 
stopped his training. He hunted, and brought in rabbits, squirrel, and all 
kinds of meat, for his sick brother. He also threw small pieces of stick 
into the water, making them turn into fish. Then he caught them and gave 
them to his brother to eat. But no kind of food seemed to agree with the 
invalid, for he rapidly grew weaker and thinner.

When the youth saw that no food did his brother good, he made up his mind to 
take him away to some other place to be cured. They embarked in a canoe, and 
proceeded down the Lillooet River, giving names to all the places as they 
passed along. They came to a place they called Ilamux. Here there was a rock 
which dammed the river. They made a hole through it to allow their canoe to 
pass. Even at the present day it appears like a stone bridge across the 
river. Proceeding, they came to a place they called Komelux. Here two 
creeks, running from opposite directions, met each other with very great 
force. They made the water smooth enough to be safe for a canoe to pass. 
Proceeding, they came to a place they named Kulexwin. Here there was a 
steep, rocky mountain close to the river. They threw their medicine-mat at 
it, and it became flat like a mat.

Thus they proceeded down to Big and Little Lillooet Lakes and the Lower 
Lillooet River, until they reached Harrison Lake. All the way along they 
gave names to the places, made the waters navigable, and changed many 
features of the country. They reached Fraser River, went down to its mouth, 
and proceeded out to sea to the land of the salmon. When they arrived there, 
the strong brother hid himself, while the sick man transformed himself into 
a wooden dish, nicely painted and carved; and in this form he floated 
against the dam inside of which the people kept the salmon. A man found the 
dish, and took it to his daughter, who admired it very much, and used it to 
eat from. Whatever salmon she left in the dish over night always 
disappeared; but she did not care, because salmon were plentiful.

The dish ate the salmon, or, rather, the sick brother in dish form; and soon 
he became fat and well again. The other brother left his hiding-place every 
night to see the invalid, and to eat salmon out of the basket into which the 
people threw their leavings. He was glad to see his brother getting well so 
rapidly. When he had become very fat, his brother told him it was time they 
departed: so one night he broke the dam, and let the salmon out. Then they 
embarked in their canoe, and led the salmon toward the mouth of the Fraser 
River.

The salmon travelled very fast, and by the next morning they had reached the 
river. As they ascended, they took pieces of salmon from their basket, and 
threw them into the different creeks and rivers. Wherever they threw pieces 
of salmon, some of the fish followed. Thus they introduced the salmon into 
the streams of the interior. "Henceforth," said they, "salmon shall run at 
this time each year, and the people shall become acquainted with them and 
eat them." Then the brothers returned to their home at the head of the Upper 
Lillooet River, and they made near their house the hot springs called Tc1q, 
which they used for cooking their food.

XXXIV. COYOTE PROVES HIMSELF A CANNIBAL

(JICARILLA APACHE: Goddard, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of 
Natural History, viii, 2-25, No. 27)

Owl was the one who had arrows. He had a club also with which he killed men 
whom he ate. "Up at the low gap I am watching for men, wu hwu wo," he sang. 
Coyote came walking along in front of him. " Wu hwu wo," sang Owl, " I am 
looking for men in the low gap." The two came face to face there. "Now," 
said Owl, "the one who vomits human flesh will kill men." "Very well," said 
Coyote, "shut your eyes." Owl shut his eyes. When he vomited, Coyote put his 
hand under and took the meat. The grasshoppers which Coyote vomited he put 
in Owl's hand.

"Now open your eyes," said Coyote. Owl looked and saw the grasshoppers lying 
in his hand. Coyote showed him the meat. "What did I tell you," said Coyote, 
"this is the meat I threw up." "Where did I drink in the grasshoppers?" said 
Owl.

Coyote ran all around Owl. "Because I run fast like this I eat people," said 
Coyote. "These legs of yours are too large, I will fix them for you. Shut 
your eyes." Coyote cut Owl's leg, trimming away the meat. He broke his leg 
with a stone and took the arrows away leaving him only the club.

Coyote ran around Owl who threw his club at him. He would say, "Come back, 
my club," and it would come back to him. He threw it again. "Come here, my 
club," he called. He hit him with it. Coyote said, "Wherever a stick falls 
when one throws it there it will lie." The club did not return to Owl.

"Now you will live right here in the canyon where many arrows will be in 
front of you. Somebody might kill you," Coyote told him. Owl hitched himself 
along into the canyon. "Arrows painted black may kill you," said Coyote. 
Coyote went around in front of him and shot him with his own (Owl's) arrows.

After that everybody was afraid of Coyote, who went around killing off the 
people.

XXXV. THE BUNGLING HOST

(THOMPSON: Teit, Memoirs of the .4merican Folk-Lore Society, vi, 40)

The Black Bear invited the Coyote to her underground lodge. He went the next 
morning, and on arriving was kindly treated by the Bear. She gave him 
berries and other food to eat, which was very acceptable to him, as he was 
almost famishing. Before long the Black Bear put more wood on the fire, and 
placed a dish down by the side of the fire. Then she held her hands, fingers 
turned downward, in front of the blaze. Before long melted fat commenced to 
drip from her finger-tips into the dish below, which in a short time became 
quite full. She took the dish and placed it in front of the Coyote, asking 
him to partake of the fat, which he did, eating as much as he was able. 
After finishing his repast, the Coyote said that he would now go home. At 
the same time he invited the Black Bear to his house on the morrow, when he 
said he would return her dish, which in the mean time he would borrow so as 
to take home the rest of the fat for his wife.

In due course the Black Bear arrived at the Coyote's house, where she was 
treated to some offal which the Coyote had found, but which he told her was 
fresh, as he had been out hunting and had just brought it in. After a while 
the Coyote told his wife to stir the fire, because he wanted to get some fat 
to give to his guest. He then set the dish down close to the fire, and 
holding up his paws in front of the blaze, exactly as the Black Bear had 
done, he awaited results. As there was no sign of any fat coming, he placed 
his paws still nearer to the flame, and held them there until they commenced 
to shrivel and curl up with the heat, and still there were no signs of any 
grease dripping down. His paws had now almost shrunk up into a ball. He was 
unable to endure the pain any longer, withdrew his hands from the fire, and 
ran around the house, howling with pain. The Black bear then said to him, 
"What a fool you are! Poor fellow! Watch me how I do it." She then held up 
her paws in front of the fire, as she had done on the previous day, and 
before long the dish was full of grease. She then made the Coyote a present 
of the grease, and told him never to try and do what was beyond his power.

Sometime afterwards the Coyote felt hungry and thought he would pay a visit 
to Tsalas, who lived in an underground lodge some little distance away. Upon 
entering, Tsalas treated him kindly, telling him that he would go and get 
some fresh fish for him to eat. He went outside, took a withe from some 
neighboring bushes, and went down to the river, where he made a small hole 
in the ice, and commenced to dive for fish. The Coyote, meanwhile, watched 
all his movements from the top of the ladder. Before long, Tsalas had caught 
a goodly number of fish, which he strung on the withe, and returning home, 
cooked some of them for the Coyote, who soon ate his fill.

On leaving, the Coyote invited Tsalas to visit him at his house on the 
morrow. Accordingly, the next day, Tsalas repaired to the Coyote's house, 
where he was offered old meat; but, unlike the Black Bear, he was not fond 
of such food. Therefore the Coyote proposed to go and get some fresh fish 
for him. The Coyote left the house, took a withe, and after making a hole in 
the ice put his head down the hole in order to look for the fish before 
diving. But in trying to get his head out again he found that he could not. 
Wondering at this long absence, Tsalas went to look for his friend, and 
found him with his head stuck down in the ice-hole. He pulled him out, more 
dead than alive, and addressing him, said, "Poor fellow! Why should you make 
yourself worse off than you already are? You are very foolish to try to do 
things that are beyond your powers. Now look at me!" Tsalas then put his 
head down in the hole and soon commenced to toss plenty of fish out on the 
ice. He made a present of them to the Coyote, and went home, leaving the 
Coyote in anything but a pleasant mood.

Some time afterwards the Coyote went to the mountains to watch the Magpie 
and learn his methods of hunting. The latter had set a net-snare close by 
his underground lodge. He went up the mountains, singled out a large buck 
deer, which he teased, and called names, such as "big posterior," "hairy 
posterior," "short-tail." The buck at last grew angry and charged the 
Magpie, who ran away. He just kept a little ahead of the buck, so as to 
encourage him, and led him right into the snare, in which his antlers stuck 
fast, whilst the Magpie jumped over it, and turning round, stabbed the 
entangled buck to death. The Coyote made up his mind that he would do as the 
Magpie had done. So he placed a net-snare close by his house, and, going up 
the mountains, soon fell in with a buck deer, whom he commenced to belittle 
and slander, calling him all kinds of nasty names, just as the Magpie had 
done. The buck grew angry, charged the Coyote, who made for home, where his 
snare was, with the buck close after him. On reaching the net, the Coyote 
tried to jump over it, but failed to so so. He fell into the net and became 
entangled in it. Then the buck began to prod him with his antlers, and would 
have killed him if the people had not run out and prevented it by killing 
the buck.

XXXVI. COYOTE AND PORCUPINE

(NEZ PERCÉ: Spinden, Yournal of American Folk-Lore, xxi, 21, No. 9)

Once Porcupine was going along the river bank looking for food. Soon he saw 
some fine, fat buffalo, ten of them, just across the river. Then Porcupine 
wanted to get across the river, but could not. After some thought he called 
to the buffalo to stand in line. This was so that he could tell which one 
was the fattest. Then he picked out the fattest one and told him to swim 
across the river. When this buffalo came up to Porcupine, he asked Porcupine 
where he wanted to sit, on his back or on his tail. Porcupine answered, "I 
would rather be under your forelegs, so I shall not drown."

The buffalo agreed. When they were nearly across, Porcupine struck the 
buffalo under the foreleg with a large knife. So he killed that buffalo, but 
the others ran away.

Porcupine was looking for something with which to sharpen his knife. He was 
singing, "I wish I could find something with which to sharpen my knife, for 
I haven't had any fat buffalo yet." Now, Coyote happened to be going by and 
he heard Porcupine singing. Coyote came up to him and Porcupine was afraid. 
Coyote asked him what he was singing, and Porcupine answered, "I was not 
singing anything, I was just saying I wish I had some string for my 
moccasin." Coyote said, "No, you did not say that; I heard what you said." 
Porcupine said nothing more; so Coyote told him what he had killed. Coyote 
said, "Now, I have a sharp knife, so I can help you." Then Coyote said, "Let 
us try jumping over the buffalo; the one who jumps over may have it all. 
I'll try first." Coyote succeeded, but Porcupine did not, so Coyote got all 
the meat. Then Coyote took his sharp knife and cut Porcupine's head, but did 
not kill him.

Now, Coyote had some children: one of them was with him, and the rest were 
at home. Coyote said to his child, "I am going after the other children. You 
watch the old Porcupine, and if he gets up you call me and I will come back 
and kill him." When Coyote was gone, Porcupine got up. The young Coyote 
cried, "Father, Porcupine is up." Then Coyote hurried back and asked his 
baby what the matter was. The child said, "He was trying to take some of the 
buffalo meat, but now he is quiet again." Coyote started off a second time. 
When he was a great way off Porcupine got up. The child called his father, 
but this time in vain. Porcupine struck the young Coyote with a stone and 
killed him. Then he set the child up under a tree and stuffed his mouth full 
of buffalo fat. Then Porcupine took all the meat to the top of a tree and 
watched for Coyote and his family to come.

When Coyote with his wife and children had come up close, Coyote said to the 
children, "Look at your brother; he is eating and having a great time." But 
when they arrived they saw that the baby was killed and had his mouth 
stuffed with fat. Then Coyote was very angry. He wondered where Porcupine 
had gone. When Coyote looked up he saw Porcupine sitting in a tall tree 
laughing. Coyote said, "Please come down"; but Porcupine answered, "I do not 
like you because you are trying to cheat me out of my buffalo meat." Coyote 
said, "Just give us a little piece of fat or meat." Then Porcupine told 
Coyote and his family to all stand together under the tree. They did this. 
Then Porcupine dropped the buffalo head down on them and they were all 
killed.

XXXVII. BEAVER AND PORCUPINE

(TLINGIT: Swanton, Bulletin of the Bureau of Imerican Ethnology, xxxix, 220, 
No. 63)

The beaver and the porcupine were great friends and went about everywhere 
together. The porcupine often visited the beaver's house, but the latter did 
not like to have him come because he left quills there. One time, when the 
porcupine said that he wanted to go out to the beaver's house, the beaver 
said, "All right, I will take you out on my back." He started, but instead 
of going to his house he took him to a stump in the very middle of the lake. 
Then he said to him, "This is my house," left him there, and went ashore.

While the porcupine was upon this stump he began singing a song, "Let it 
become frozen. Let it become frozen so that I can cross to Wolverine-man's 
place." He meant that he wanted to walk ashore on the ice. So the surface of 
the lake froze, and he walked home.

Some time after this, when the two friends were again playing together, the 
porcupine said, "You come now. It is my turn to carry yon on my back." Then 
the beaver got on the porcupine's back, and the porcupine took him to the 
top of a very high tree, after which he came down and left him. For a long 
time the beaver did not know how to get down, but finally he climbed down, 
and they say that this is what gives the broken appearance to tree bark.

XXXVIII. THE BIG TURTLE'S WAR PARTY

(SKIDI PAWNEE: Dorsey, Memoirs of the Imerican Folk-Lore Society, viii, 274, 
No. 74)

A turtle went on the warpath, and as he went along, he met Coyote, who said: 
"And where are you going, grandson?" The turtle said: " I am on the 
warpath." Coyote said: " Where are you going?" "I am going to a camp where 
there are many people," said the turtle. "Let me see you run," the turtle 
said. Coyote ran. The turtle said: "You cannot run fast; I do not want you."

The turtle went on, and he met a fox. "Well, brother," said the fox, "where 
are you going?" "I am going on the warpath," said the turtle. "Where are you 
going?" said the fox. "I am going where there are many people," said the 
turtle. "Can I go with you?" said the fox. The turtle said: "Let me see you 
run." The fox ran, and he went so fast that the turtle could hardly see him. 
The turtle said: "You cannot run fast; I do not want you."

The turtle then went on, and a hawk flew by him, and the hawk heard the 
turtle say: "I am on the warpath, I am looking for people to join me." The 
hawk said: "Brother, what did you say?" "I am on the warpath," said the 
turtle. "Can I join you?" said the hawk. "Let me see you fly your best," 
said the turtle. The hawk flew so fast that the turtle could not see him for 
a while. When the hawk came back, the turtle said: "You cannot fly fast; I 
do not want you."

Again the turtle went on, and kept on saying: "I am on the warpath, I am 
looking for people to join me." A rabbit jumped up and said: "Can I go 
along?" "Let me see you run," said the turtle. The rabbit ran, and ran fast. 
The turtle said: "You cannot run fast; I do not want you."

The turtle went on, saying: "I am looking for people to join me." Up jumped 
a flint knife and said: "Brother, can I join you?" "You may if you can run 
fast," said the turtle; "let me see you run." The knife tried to run, and 
could not. "You will do," said the turtle; "come with me."

They went on, and the turtle was saying: " I am looking for people to go on 
the warpath with me." Up jumped a hairbrush. "What did you say?" said the 
brush. "I am on the warpath," said the turtle. "Can I go along?" said the 
brush. The turtle said: "Let me see you run." The brush tried to run, but 
could not. The turtle said: "You will do; come with us."

They went on, and the turtle was saying: "I am on the warpath, I am looking 
for people to join me." Up jumped an awl, and it said: "Can I join you?" The 
turtle said: "Let me see you run." The awl tried to run, but could not. "You 
will do," said the turtle; "come with us."

So the four went on, and they came to a big camp, and the turtle sent the 
knife into camp. The knife went into camp, and one man found it, took it 
home, and while trying to cut meat the man cut his fingers, and threw the 
knife at the doorway. The knife went back to the turtle and said: "I was 
picked up, and while the man was trying to cut meat, I cut his hand and he 
threw me at the doorway, so I came back."

The turtle said: "Very well. Now, Brush, you go and see what you can do." So 
the brush went into camp, and a young girl picked it up and commenced to 
brush her hair. The brush pulled the girl's hair out, so that the girl threw 
the brush at the doorway, and it came back. It said: " Brother Turtle, there 
is a young girl who has lovely hair. She used me on her head, and I pulled 
on her hair, so that she threw me away. See I have her hair here." "Well 
done," said the turtle.

"Now, Awl, go and be brave," said the turtle. The awl went into camp, and an 
old woman picked it up. She began to sew her moccasins, and all at once she 
stuck the awl in one of her fingers. The woman threw it away, and it came 
back and said: " Brother Turtle, I hurt a woman badly. She was using me 
while she was sewing her moccasins, and I stuck one of her fingers; she 
threw me away." "Well done, brothers, now it is my turn," said the turtle.

The turtle went into camp, and people saw him and said: "What does this 
mean? Look at Turtle; he is on the warpath. Let us kill him." So they took 
him, and people said: "Let us spread hot coals and put him in there." "All 
right," said the turtle, " that will suit me for I will spread out my legs 
and burn some of you." People said: "True, let us then put a kettle over the 
fire, and when the water boils let us put him in." The turtle said: "Good! 
Put me in, and I will scald some of you." Peoplesaid: "True! Let us throw 
him into the stream." The turtle said: " No, do not do that. I am afraid, I 
am afraid! " People said: "He is afraid of water; let us throw him in 
there." But the turtle hallooed the more: "I am afraid! Do not throw me in 
the water!" So the people threw the turtle in the water. The turtle came up 
to the surface and said: "I am a cheat. Heyru! Heyru! " poking his tongue 
out.

The people picked up the knife, awl, and brush and used them. The turtle 
stayed in the water, and every time the people went to the water, Turtle 
would say: "I cheated you; water is my home." People would throw stones at 
it, and it would dive.

CHAPTER IV

HERO TALES

XXXIX. THE SUN TESTS HIS SON-IN-LAW

(BELLA COOLA: Boas, Yesup North Pacific Expedition, i, 73)

In a place on Bella Coola River, there used to be a salmon-weir. A chief and 
his wife lived at this place. One day the wife was cutting salmon on the 
bank of the river. When she opened the last salmon, she found a small boy in 
it. She took him out and washed him in the river. She placed him near by, 
entered the house, and said to the people, " Come and see what I have found 
in my salmon!" She had a child in her house, which was still in the cradle. 
The little boy whom she had found was half as long as her fore-arm. She 
carried him into the house, and the people advised her to take good care of 
him. She nursed him with her own baby. When the people were talking in the 
house, the baby looked around as though he understood what they were saying. 
On the following day the people were surprised to see how much he had grown, 
and in a few days he was as tall as any ordinary child. Her own baby also 
grew up with marvelous rapidity. She gave each of them one breast. After a 
few days they were able to walk and to talk.

[When they mature, the boys go on adventures.]

The two young men were passing by the houses, and looked into the doorways. 
There was a house in the centre of this town; there they saw a beautiful 
girl sitting in the middle of the house. Her hair was red, and reached down 
to the floor. She was very white. Her eyes were large, and as clear as rock 
crystal. The boy fell in love with the girl. They went on, but his thoughts 
were with her. The Salmon boy said, "I am going to enter this house. You 
must watch closely what I do, and imitate me. The Door of this house tries 
to bite every one who enters." The Door opened, and the Salmon jumped into 
the house. Then the Door snapped, but missed him. When it opened again, the 
boy jumped into the house. They found a number of people inside, who invited 
them to sit down. They spread food before them, but the boy did not like 
their food. It had a very strong smell, and looked rather curious. It 
consisted of algae that grow on logs that lie in the river.

When the boy did not touch it, one of the men said to him, "Maybe you want 
to eat those two children. Take them down to the river and throw them into 
the water, but do not look." The two children arose, and he took them down 
to the river. Then he threw them into the water without looking at them. At 
the place where he had thrown them down, he found a male and a female 
Salmon. He took them up to the house and roasted them. The people told him 
to preserve the intestines and the bones carefully. After he had eaten, one 
of the men told him to carry the intestines and the bones to the same place 
where he had thrown the children into the water. He carried them in his 
hands, and threw them into the river without looking. When he entered the 
house, he heard the children following him. The girl was covering one of her 
eyes with her hands. The boy was limping, because he had lost one of his 
bones. Then the people looked at the place where the boy had been sitting, 
and they found the eye, and a bone from the head of the male salmon. They 
ordered the boy to throw these into the water. He took the children and the 
eye and the bone, and threw them into the river. Then the children were hale 
and well. 

After a while the youth said to his Salmon brother, "I wish to go to the 
other house where I saw the beautiful girl." They went there, and he said to 
his Salmon brother, "Let us enter. I should like to see her face well." They 
went in. Then the man arose, and spread a caribou blanket for them to sit 
on, and the people gave them food. Then he whispered to his brother, "Tell 
the girl I want to marry her." The Salmon boy told the girl, who smiled, and 
said, "He must not marry me. Whoever marries me must die. I like him, and I 
do not wish to kill him; but if he wishes to die, let him marry me.

The woman was the Salmon-berry Bird. After one day she gave birth to a boy, 
and on the following day she gave birth to a girl. She was the daughter of 
the Spring Salmon.

After a while the girl's father said, "Let us launch our canoe, and let us 
carry the young man back to his own people." He sent a messenger to call all 
the people of the village; and they all made themselves ready, and early the 
next morning they started in their canoes. The young man went in the canoe 
of the Spring Salmon, which was the fastest. The canoe of the Sock-eye 
Salmon came next. The people in the canoe of the Calico Salmon were laughing 
all the time. They went up the river; and a short distance below the village 
of the young man's father they landed, and made fast their canoes. Then they 
sent two messengers up the river to see if the people had finished their 
salmon-weir. Soon they returned with information that the weir had been 
finished. Then they sent the young man and his wife, and they gave them a 
great many presents for the young man's father.

The watchman who was stationed at the salmon-weir saw two beautiful salmon 
entering the trap. They were actually the canoes of the salmon; but they 
looked to him like two salmon. Then the watchman put the traps down over the 
weir, and he saw a great many fish entering them. He raised the trap when it 
was full, and took the fish out. The young man thought, "I wish he would 
treat me and my wife carefully", and his wish came true. The man broke the 
heads of the other salmon, but he saved the young man and his wife. Then he 
carried the fish up to the house, and hung them over a pole.

During the night the young man and his wife resumed their human shape. The 
youth entered his father's house. His head was covered with eagle-down. He 
said to his father, "I am the fish whom you caught yesterday. Do you 
remember the time when you lost me? I have lived in the country of the 
Salmon . The Salmon accompanied me here. They are staying a little farther 
down the river. It pleases the Salmon to see the people eating fish." And, 
turning to his mother, he continued, "You must be careful when cutting 
Salmon. Never break any of their bones, but preserve them, and throw them 
into the water." The two children of the young man had also entered into the 
salmon-trap. He put some leaves on the ground, placed red and white cedar-
bark over them, and covered them with eagle-down, and he told his mother to 
place the Salmon upon these.

As soon as he had given these instructions, the Salmon began to come up the 
river. They crossed the weir and entered the traps. They went up the river 
as far as Stuick, and the people dried the Salmon according to his 
instructions. They threw the bones into the water, and the Salmon returned 
to life, and went back to their own country, leaving their meat behind. The 
Cohoes Salmon had the slowest canoe, and therefore he was the last to reach 
the villages. He gave many presents to the Indians. He gave them many-
colored leaves, and thus caused the leaves of the trees to change color in 
the autumn.

Now all the Salmon had returned. The Salmon-berry Bird and her children had 
returned with them. Then the young man made up his mind to build a small 
hut, from which he intended to catch eagles. He used a long pole, to which a 
noose was attached. The eagles were baited by means of Salmon. He spread a 
mat in his little house, and when he had caught an eagle he pulled out its 
down. He accumulated a vast amount of down. Then he went back to his house 
and asked his younger brother to accompany him. When they came to the hut 
which he had used for catching eagles, he gave the boy a small staff. Then 
he said to him, "Do not be sorry when I leave you. I am going to visit the 
Sun. I am not going to stay away a long time. I staid long in the country of 
the Salmon, but I shall not stay long in heaven. I am going to lie down on 
this mat. Cover me with this down, and then begin to beat time with your 
staff. You will see a large feather flying upward, then stop." The boy 
obeyed, and everything happened as he had said. The boy saw the feather 
flying in wide circles. When it reached a great height, it began to soar in 
large circles, and finally disappeared in the sky."' Then the boy cried, and 
went back to his mother.

The young man who had ascended to heaven found there a large house. It was 
the House of Myths.119 There he resumed his human shape, and peeped in at 
the door. Inside he saw a number of people who were turning their faces 
toward the wall. They were sitting on a low platform in the rear of the 
house. In the right-hand corner of the house he saw a large fire, and women 
sitting around it. He leaned forward and looked into the house. An old woman 
discovered him, and beckoned him to come to her. He stepped up to her, and 
she warned him by signs not to go to the rear of the house. She said, "Be 
careful! The men in the rear of the house intend to harm you." She opened a 
small box, and gave him the bladder of a mountaingoat, which contained the 
cold wind She told him to open the bladder if they should attempt to harm 
him. She said that if he opened it, no fire could burn him. She told him 
that the men were going to place him near the fire, in order to burn him; 
that one of them would wipe his face, then fire would come forth from the 
floor, scorching everything. The old woman told him everything that the 
people were going to do.,71 Now the man in the rear of the house turned 
round. He was the Sun himself. He was going to try the strength of the 
visitor. When he saw the young man, he said to the old woman, "Did anybody 
come to visit you? Let the young man come up to me. I wish him to sit down 
near me." The young man stepped up to the Sun, and as soon as he had sat 
down, the Sun wiped his face and looked at the young man (he had turned his 
face while he was wiping it). Then the young man felt very hot. He tied his 
blanket tightly round his body, and opened the bladder which the woman had 
given him. Then the cold wind that blows down the mountains in the winter 
was liberated, and he felt cool and comfortable. The Sun had not been able 
to do him any harm. The old man did not say anything, but looked at his 
visitor.

After a while he said, " I wish to show you a little underground house that 
stands behind this house." They both rose and went outside. The small house 
had no door. Access was had to it by an opening in the centre of the roof, 
through which a ladder led down to the floor. Not a breath of air entered 
this house. It was made of stone. When they had entered, the Sun made a 
small fire in the middle of the house; then he climbed up the ladder and 
closed the door, leaving his visitor inside. The Sun pulled up the ladder, 
in order to make escape impossible. Then the house began to grow very hot. 
When the boy felt that he could not stand the heat any longer, he opened the 
bladder, and the cold wind came out; snow began to fall on the fire, which 
was extinguished; icicles began to form on the roof, and it was cool and 
comfortable inside. After a while the Sun said to his four daughters, " Go 
to the little underground house that stands behind our house, and sweep it," 
meaning that they were to remove the remains of the young man whom he 
believed to be burned. They obeyed at once, each being eager to be the first 
to enter. When they opened the house, they were much surprised to find 
icicles hanging down from the roof.

When they were climbing down the ladder, the youth arose and scratched them. 
The youngest girl was the last to step down. The girls cried when the youth 
touched them, and ran away. The Sun heard their screams, and asked the 
reason. He was much surprised and annoyed to hear that the young man was 
still alive. Then he devised another way of killing his visitor. He told his 
daughters to call him into his house. They went, and the young man re-
entered the House of Myths. In the evening he lay down to sleep. Then the 
Sun said to his daughters, " Early to-morrow morning climb the mountain 
behind our house. I shall tell the boy to follow you." The girls started 
while the visitor was still asleep. The girls climbed up to a small meadow 
which was near a precipice. They had taken the form of mountain-goats. When 
the Sun saw his daughters on the meadow, he called to his visitor, saying, 
"See those mountain-goats!" The young man arose when he saw the mountain-
goats. He wished to kill them. The Sun advised him to walk up the right-hand 
side of the mountain, saying that the left-hand side was dangerous. The 
young man carried his bow and arrow. The Sun said, "Do not use your own 
arrows! Mine are much better." Then they exchanged arrows, the Sun giving 
him four arrows of his own. The points of these arrows were made of coal

Now the young man began to climb the mountain. When he came up to the goats, 
he took one of the arrows, aimed it, and shot. It struck the animals, but 
fell down without killing it. The same happened with the other arrows. When 
he had spent all his arrows, they rushed up to him from the four sides, 
intending to kill him. His only way of escape was in the direction of the 
precipice . They rushed up to him, and pushed him down the steep mountain. 
He fell headlong, but when he was halfway down he transformed himself into a 
ball of bird's down. He alighted gently on a place covered with many stones. 
There he resumed the shape of a man, arose, and ran into the house of the 
Sun to get his own arrows. He took them, climbed the mountain again, and 
found the mountain-goats on the same meadow. He shot them and killed them, 
and threw them down the precipice; then he returned. He found the goats at 
the foot of the precipice, and cut off their feet. He took them home. He 
found the Sun sitting in front of the house. He offered him the feet, 
saying, "Count them, and see how many I have killed." The Sun counted them 
and now he knew that all his children were dead. Then he cried, "You killed 
my children!" Then the youth took the bodies of the goats, fitted the feet 
on, and threw the bodies into a little river that was running past the place 
where they had fallen down. Thus they were restored to life. He had learned 
this art in the country of the Salmon. Then he said to the girls, "Now run 
to see your father! He is wailing for you." They gave him a new name, 
saying, "He has restored us to life." The boy followed them. Then the Sun 
said, when he entered, "You shall marry my two eldest daughters."

On the next morning the people arose. Then the Sun said to them, "What shall 
I do to my son-in-law?" He called him, and said, "Let us raise the trap of 
my salmon-weir." They went up to the river in the Sun's canoe. The water of 
the river was boiling. The youth was in the bow of the canoe, while the Sun 
was steering. He caused the canoe to rock, intending to throw the young man 
into the water. The water formed a small cascade, running down over the 
weir. He told the young man to walk over the top of the weir in order to 
reach the trap. He did so, walking over the top beam of the weir. When he 
reached the baskets, the beam fell over, and he himself fell into the water 
. The Sun saw him rise twice in the whirlpool just below the weir. When he 
did not see him rise again, he turned his canoe, and thought, "Now the boy 
has certainly gone to Nuskyakek." The Sun returned to his house, and said to 
his daughters, "I lost my son-in-law in the river. I was not able to find 
him." Then his daughters were very sad.

When the boy disappeared in the water, he was carried to Nuskyakek; and he 
resumed the shape of a salmon while in the water, and as soon as he landed 
he resumed human shape and returned to his wife. The Sun saw him coming, and 
was much surprised. In the evening they went to sleep. On the following 
morning the Sun thought, "How can I kill my sonin-law? " After a while he 
said to him, " Arise! We will go and split wood for fuel." He took his 
tools. They launched their canoe, and went down the river to the sea. When 
they reached there, it was perfectly calm. There were many snags embedded in 
the mud in the mouth of the river, some of which were only half submerged. 
They selected one of these snags a long distance from the shore, and began 
to split it. Then the Sun intentionally dropped his hammer into the water, 
and thought at the same time, "Do not fall straight down, but fall sideways, 
so that he will have much difficulty in finding you." Then he sat down in 
his canoe, and said, "Oh! I lost my old hammer. I had it at the time when 
the Sun was created." He looked down into the water, and did not say a word. 
After a while he said to the young man, "Do you know how to dive? Can you 
get my hammer? The water is not very deep here." The young man did not 
reply. Then the Sun continued, "I will not go back without my hammer." Then 
the boy said, "I know how to dive. If you so wish, I will try to get it." 
The Sun promised to give him supernatural power if he was able to bring the 
hammer back. The youth jumped into the water, and then the Sun ordered the 
sea to rise, and he called the cold wind to make the water freeze. It grew 
so cold that a sheet of ice a fathom thick was formed at once on top of the 
sea. " Now," he thought, " I certainly have killed you! " He left his canoe 
frozen up in the ice, and went home. He said to his daughters, " I have lost 
my son-in-law. He drifted away when the cold winds began to blow down the 
mountains. I have also lost my little hammer." But when he mentioned his 
hammer, his daughters knew at once what had happened. The young man found 
the hammer, and after he had obtained it he was going to return to the 
canoe, but he struck his head against the ice, and was unable to get out. He 
tried everywhere to find a crack. Finally he found a very narrow one. He 
transformed himself into a fish, and came out of the crack. He jumped about 
on the ice in the form of a fish, and finally resumed his own shape.

He went back to the Sun's house, carrying the hammer. The Sun was sitting in 
front of the fire, his knees drawn up, and his legs apart. His eyes were 
closed, and he was warming himself. The young man took his hammer and threw 
it right against his stomach, saying, "Now take better care of your 
treasures." The young man scolded the Sun, saying, "Now stop trying to kill 
me. If you try again, I shall kill you. Do you think I am an ordinary man? 
You cannot conquer me." The Sun did not reply.

In the evening he said to his son-in-law, " I hear a bird singing, which I 
should like very much to have." The young man asked, "What bird is it?" The 
Sun replied, "I do not know it. Watch it early to-morrow morning." The young 
man resolved to catch the bird. Very early in the morning he arose, then he 
heard the bird singing outside. He knew at once that it was the ptarmigan. 
He left the house, and thought, "I wish you would come down!" Then the bird 
came down, and when it was quite near by he shot it. He hit one of its 
wings, intending to catch it alive. He waited for the Sun to arise. The bird 
understood what the young man said, who thus spoke: "The chief here wishes 
to see you. Do not be afraid, I am not going to kill you. The chief has 
often tried to kill me, but he has been unable to do so. You do not need to 
be afraid." The young man continued, "When it is dark I shall tell the Sun 
to ask you to sit near him, and when he is asleep I want you to peck out his 
eyes." When the Sun arose, the youth went into the house carrying the bird, 
saying, "I have caught the bird; now I hope you will treat it kindly. It 
will awaken us when it is time to arise. When you lie down, let it sit down 
near you, then it will call you in the morning."

In the evening the Sun asked the bird to sit down next to his face. When he 
was asleep, the bird pecked out his eyes without his knowing it. Early in 
the morning he heard the bird singing. He was going to open his eyes, but he 
was not able to do so. Then he called his son, saying, "The bird has blinded 
me." The young man jumped up and went to his father-in-law, and said, "Why 
did you wish for the bird? Do you think it is good? It is a bad bird. It has 
pecked out your eyes." He took the bird and carried it outside, and thanked 
it for having done as it was bidden. Then the bird flew away.

When it was time for the Sun to start on his daily course, he said, "I am 
afraid I might fall, because I cannot see my way." For four days he staid in 
his house. He did not eat, he was very sad. Then his son-in-law made up 
his'mind to cure him. He did not do so before, because he wanted to punish 
him for his badness. He took some water, and said to his father-in-law, "I 
will try to restore your eyesight." He threw the water upon his eyes, and at 
once his eyes were healed and well . He said, "Now you can see what power I 
have. The water with which I have washed my face has the power to heal 
iseases. While I was in the country of the Salmon, I bathed in the water in 
which the old Salmon bathed, in order to regain youth, therefore the water 
in which I wash makes everything young and well." -10 From this time on, the 
Sun did not try to do any harm to the young man.

Finally he wished to return to his father's village. He left the house, and 
jumped down through the hole in heaven. His wife saw him being transformed 
into a ball of eagle-down, which floated down gently. Then her father told 
her to climb as quickly as she could down his eyelashes. She did so, and 
reached the ground at the same time as her husband. He met his younger 
brother, who did not recognize him. He had been in heaven for one year.

XL. THE JEALOUS UNCLE

(KODIAK: Golder, Jurnal of Arican Folk-Lore, xvi, 90,No. 8)

In a village lived a man, known to his neighbors as "Unnatural Uncle." When 
his nephews became a few years old, he would kill them. Two had already 
suffered death at his hands. After the second had disappeared, his wife went 
to the mother of the boys, and said: "Should another boy be born to you, let 
us conceal the fact from my husband, and make him believe the child a girl. 
In that case he will not harm him, and we may succeed in bringing him up."

Not long after the above conversation another nephew was born. Unnatural 
Uncle, hearing that a child was born, sent his wife to ascertain the sex of 
the child. She, as had been agreed upon, reported the child a girl. "Let her 
live," he said.

The two women tended and dressed the boy as if he were a girl. When he grew 
older, they told him to play with the girls, and impressed upon him that he 
should at all times imitate the ways, attitudes, and postures of the girls, 
especially when attending to the calls of nature. Unnatural Uncle watched 
the boy as he was growing up, and often wondered at his boyish looks. One 
day the boy, not knowing that his uncle was about and observing him, raised 
up his parka, and so exposed his body. "Ali," said Unnatural Uncle to his 
wife, on reaching home, " this is the way you have fooled me. But I know 
everything now. Go and tell my nephew I wish to see him." With tears in her 
eyes the poor woman delivered the message to the nephew, told him of the 
disappearance of his brothers, and of his probable fate. The father and 
mother of the boy wept bitterly, for they were certain he would never 
return. The boy himself, although frightened, assured his parents to the 
contrary, and begged them not to worry, for he would come back safe and 
sound.

"Did my brothers have any playthings?" he asked before going.

He was shown to a box where their things were kept. In it he found a piece 
of a knife, some eagle-down, and a sour cranberry. These he hid about his 
person, and went to meet his uncle. The latter greeted him, and said: 
"Nephew, let us go and fetch some wood."

When they came to a large forest, the boy remarked: "Here is good wood; let 
us take some of it, and go back."

"Oh, no! There is better wood farther on," said the uncle.

From the forest they stepped into a bare plain. "Let us go back. There is no 
wood here," called the boy. But the uncle motioned to him to come on, 
telling him that they would soon find better wood. A little later they came 
to a big log. "Here is what I want," exclaimed the uncle, and began 
splitting it. "Here, nephew, jump in, and get that wedge out," called the 
uncle to the boy, as one of the wedges fell in. When the boy did so, the man 
knocked out the other wedges; the log closed in on the boy, and held him 
fast. "Stay there!" said Unnatural Uncle, and walked off .

For some time the boy remained in this helpless condition, planning a means 
of escape. At last he thought of his sour cranberry, and, taking it in his 
hand, he rubbed with it the interior of the log from edge to edge. The 
sourness of the berry caused the log to open its mouth, thus freeing him.

On his way back to the village, he gathered a bundle of wood, which he left 
at his uncle's door, announcing the fact to him: "Here, uncle, I have 
brought you the wood." The latter was both surprised and vexed at his 
failure, and determined more than ever to kill the boy. His wife, however, 
warned him: "You had better not harm the boy; you have killed his brothers, 
and if you hurt him, you will come to grief."

"I will kill him, too," he savagely replied.

When the boy reached his father's home, he found them weeping and mourning. 
"Don't weep!" he pleaded. "He cannot hurt me; no matter where he takes me, I 
will always come back." In the morning he was again summoned to appear at 
his uncle's. Before going, he entreated his parents not to feel uneasy, 
assuring them that no harm would befall him, and that he would be back. The 
uncle called the boy to go with him after some ducks and eggs. They passed 
several places abounding in ducks and eggs, and each time that the boy 
suggested, "Let us take these and go back," the uncle replied: "Oh, no! 
There are better ducks and eggs farther on." At last they came to a steep 
bluff, and, looking down, saw a great many ducks and eggs. "Go down 
carefully, nephew, and gather those ducks and eggs. Be quick, and come back 
as soon as you can.

The boy saw the trap at a glance, and prepared for it by taking the eagle-
down in each hand, between thumb and finger. As the boy took a step or two 
downward, the uncle gave him a push, causing him to lose his footing. "He 
will never come back alive from here," smiled the uncle to himself, as he 
walked back. If he had remained awhile longer and looked down before going, 
he would have seen the boy descending gently instead of falling. The eagle-
down kept him up in the air, and he lighted at his own pleasure safe and 
sound. After gathering all the ducks and eggs he wanted, he ascended by 
holding up the down, as before, and blowing under it. Up, up he went, and in 
a short time stood on the summit. It was night before he sighted his uncle's 
home. At the door he deposited the birds and eggs, and shouted: "Here, 
uncle, are the ducks and eggs."

"What! back again!" exclaimed the man very much mortified. His wife again 
pleaded with him to leave the boy in peace. "You will come to grief, if you 
don't," she said. "No; he cannot hurt me," he replied angrily, and spent the 
remainder of the night thinking and planning.

Although he assured them that he would return, the boy's parents did not 
have much faith in it; for he found them on his return weeping for him. This 
grieved him. "Why do you weep? " he said. "Didn't I say I would come back? 
He can take me to no place from which I cannot come back."

In the evening of the third day the aunt appeared and said that her husband 
wished the boy. He told his parents not to be disturbed, and promised to 
come back soon. This time the uncle invited him to go with him after clams. 
The clams were very large, large enough to inclose a man. It was ebb tide, 
and they found plenty of clams not far from the beach. The boy suggested 
that they take these and go back, but the uncle put him off with, "There are 
better clams farther out." They waded into the water, and then the man 
noticed an extraordinarily large clam. "Take him," he said, but when the boy 
bent over, the clam took him in. So confident was Unnatural Uncle of his 
success this time that he uttered not a word, but with a triumphant grin on 
his face and a wave of his hand he walked away. The boy tried to force the 
valves apart, but not succeeding, he cut the ligament with his piece of a 
knife, compelling the clam to open up little by little until he was able to 
hop out. He gathered some clams, and left them at his uncle's door as if 
nothing had happened. The man, on hearing the boy's voice outside, was 
almost beside himself with rage. His wife did not attempt to pacify him. "I 
will say nothing more," she said. "I have warned you, and if you persist in 
your ways, you will suffer."

The next day Unnatural Uncle was busy making a box.

"What is it for?" asked his wife.

"A plaything for our nephew," he replied.

In the evening the boy was sent for. On leaving his parents he said: "Do not 
feel uneasy about my absence. This time I may be away a long time, but I 
will come back nevertheless."

"Nephew, here is something to amuse you," said his uncle. "Get inside of it, 
so that I may see whether it fits you." It fitted him; so did the lid the 
box; and the rope the lid. He felt himself borne along, and from the noise 
of the waves he knew it was to the sea. The box was lowered, and with a 
shove it was set adrift. It was stormy, the waves beat over the box, and 
several times he gave himself up as lost. How long he drifted he had no 
idea; but at last he heard the waves dashing against the beach, and his 
heart rejoiced. Louder, and louder did the joyful peal sound. He gathered 
himself together for the sudden stop which soon came, only to feel himself 
afloat again the next moment. This experience he went through several times, 
before the box finally stopped and he realized he was on land once more.

As he lay there, many thoughts passed through his mind; where was he? was 
any one living there? would he be saved? or would the flood tide set him 
adrift again? what were his people at home doing? These, and many other 
thoughts passed through his brain, when he was startled by hearing voices, 
which he recognized, a little later, as women's. This is what he heard:

"I saw the box first," said one.

No, I saw it first," said the other.

I am sure I saw it before you," said the first speaker again, "and, 
therefore, it is rnine."

"Well, you may have the box, but its contents shall belong to me," replied 
the other.

They picked up the box, and began to carry it, but finding it somewhat heavy 
and being anxious to know what it contained, they stopped to untie it.

"If there are many things in there, I shall have some of them," said the 
first speaker, who rued her bargain. The other one said nothing. Great was 
their surprise on beholding him. He was in turn surprised to see two such 
beautiful girls, the large village, the numerous people, and their peculiar 
appearance, for he was among the Eagle people in Eagle land . The full grown 
people, like the full grown eagles, had white faces and heads, while those 
of the young people, like those of young eagles, were dark. Eagle skins were 
hanging about all over the village; and it amused him to watch some of the 
people put on their eagle skins and change to eagles, and after flying 
around, take them off and become human beings again.

The girls, being the daughters of the village chief, led the boy to their 
father, each claiming him. When he had heard them both, the chief gave the 
boy to the older girl (the second speaker). With her he lived happily, but 
his thoughts would very often wander back to his former home, the people 
there, his parents; and the thought of his uncle's cruelty to them would 
make his heart ache. His wife noted these spells of depression, and 
questioned him about them until he told her of his parents and uncle. She, 
like a good wife, bade him cheer up, and then went to have a talk with her 
father. He sent for his son-in-law, and advised him to put on his (chief's) 
eagle skin, soar up high until he could see his village, fly over there, 
visit his parents, and bring them back with him. He did as he was told, and 
in a short time found himself in the village. Although he could see all 
other people, his parents were not in sight.

This was in the evening. During the night he went out to sea, brought back a 
large whale, and placed it on the beach, knowing that all the villagers 
would come out for the meat. The first person to come to the village beach 
in the morning was Unnatural Uncle; and when he saw the whale, he aroused 
the village, and a little later all, except the boy's father and mother, 
were there, cutting and storing up the whale. His parents were not permitted 
to come near the whale, and when some of the neighbors left some meat at 
their house, Unnatural Uncle scolded, and forbade it being done again. " I 
can forgive him the killing of my brothers, the attempts on my life, but I 
will revenge his treatment of my parents." With these thoughts in his mind, 
the eagle left his perch, and flew over to the crowd. He circled over its 
head a little while, and then made a swoop at his uncle. "Ah, he knows that 
I am chief, and the whale is mine, and he asks me for a piece of meat.--
Saying this, he threw a piece of meat at the eagle. The second time the 
eagle descended it was still nearer the man's head, but he tried to laugh it 
off, and turn it to his glory. The people, however, did not see it that way, 
and warned him to keep out of the eagle's clutches, for the eagle meant 
mischief. When the eagle dropped the third time, it was so near his head 
that he fell on his face. The fourth time the eagle swooped him, and flew 
off with him.

Not far from the shore was a high and steep rock, and on its summit the 
eagle put down the man, placing himself opposite. When he had taken off the 
skin, and disclosed himself, he said to his trembling uncle: "I could have 
forgiven you the death of my brothers, the four attempts on my life, but for 
the cruel treatment of my parents you shall pay. The whale I brought was for 
my parents and others, and not for you alone; but you took entire possession 
of it, and would not allow them even to approach it. I will not kill you 
without giving you a chance for your life. Swim back to the shore, and you 
shall be spared.--- As he could not swim, Unnatural Uncle supplicated his 
nephew to take him back, but the latter, putting on the eagle skin, and 
hardening his eagle heart, clutched him, and from a dizzy height in the air 
dropped him into the sea.

From the beach the crowd watched the fatal act, understood and appreciated 
it, and, till it was dark, continued observing, from the distance, the 
eagle. When all had retired, he pulled off the skin, and set out for his 
father's barrabara. He related to his parents his adventures, and invited 
them to accompany him to his adopted land, to which they gladly consented. 
Early in the morning he put on again his skin, and, taking a parent in each 
claw, flew with them to Eagle land, and there they are living now.

XLI. BLUEJAY AND HIS COMPANIONS

(QUINAULT: Farrand, Jesup North Pacific Expedition, ii, 102, No. 3)

Bluejay and his chief, with Land Otter, Beaver, and another man, used to go 
out seal-hunting together. In the same house with them, but at the other 
end, lived Grouse, who was a widower with a lot of children, and he spent 
most of his time in the woods building a canoe. Every trip that the five men 
made, they caught five seals, very fat ones; but they gave nothing but the 
poor, lean parts to Grouse. Bluejay was at the bottom of this, and kept 
saying that fat was too good for Grouse; and he poked fun at him and sneered 
at him whenever he was about. Grouse never said a word, but took what was 
given him without complaining.

One day Grouse made a wooden seal, carving it out of cedar, and burning it 
until it was black. Then he talked to the seal, and told it what it was to 
do; and it dived down into the water and went out to sea.

Next day before daylight, the five men started out, and about sunrise came 
upon a big seal, and spearedit. The seal dived, and swam to the westward, 
dragging the canoe after it until they were out of sight of land. The 
spearman tried to get rid of it, but could not; and when night came they 
were still rushing westward, and when they waked in the morning they were 
still going, but not so fast. Not long afterward the line slackened, and 
they heard something butting against the canoe. Bluejay looked over, and saw 
a wooden seal with the harpoon sticking into it just behind the flipper. 
Then his chief began to scold Bluej ay, and said, "I know this is Grouse's 
work. He is angry because we gave him no fat, and because you talked to him 
so much." Bluejay could only hang his head and say nothing.

They cut the line and began to paddle back, but had no idea where they were 
going. Three days and two nights they paddled, and the third night they all 
fell asleep from exhaustion. When they waked in the morning, the canoe was 
stuck fast and they thought they were ashore, and one of them, the fifth 
man, jumped out, but he sank and was drowned; and, then they saw that they 
were not ashore, but that the seaweed was so thick that they had stuck fast 
in it. So now there were only four of them, and they paddled on. On the 
fourth night they did not feel like sleeping, for they thought they could 
see the hills back of Quinault. In the morning they could discern the coast 
plainly, and after paddling all day they reached the shore, and landed at a 
place quite strange to them. Next morning they went on again in what they 
thought was a southerly direction, and suddenly, as they rounded a point, 
came upon a village. Several canoes came out through the surf and helped 
them ashore, and they were taken up to the village.

In the centre of the village was a tall smooth pole which the people said 
was Squirrel's pole, which he used for climbing; and they said that Squirrel 
would like to have a climbing-match with Bluejay. Bluejay's master said to 
him, "Now don't get frightened, but go in and do your best. You know you can 
climb well, and if you are beaten we may all be killed." Then both Squirrel 
and Bluejay took sharp bones, so that if one got ahead he could hit the one 
behind on the head; and they started to climb. All the people crowded around 
to see the contest, for the pole was high and the two were well matched. At 
last the people saw them reach the top, and saw one of them strike the other 
on the head so that he came tumbling down; and all the people shouted, for 
they thought it was Bluejay. But when he reached the ground, they found it 
was Squirrel who had lost. So now, since Bluejay had beaten their best 
climber, they let him and his companions go.

They paddled on down the coast, and after some time they rounded a point, 
and come upon another village, much like the first. Here Hair-seal 
challenged Bluejay to a divingmatch, and Bluejay found himself in a 
difficult position, for he was no diver at all. But his master turned the 
canoe over and washed it out, leaving the brush from the bottom floating 
about it on the water. Then he told Bluejay to accept the challenge and 
dive, but to come up under the brush and lie there concealed, and not to 
show himself. So both Bluejay and Hairseal dived; and Bluejay came up 
immediately under the brush, and floated there where no one could see him. 
He waited until he shivered so with the cold that the brush moved with his 
shaking, and his master began to be afraid the people would notice it: so he 
rocked the canoe and made waves to conceal the motion of the brush, and no 
one suspected that Bluejay was hidden there. Now, they had agreed, that, 
when the sun had passed from one tree to another not far off, each was to 
have the right to hit the other in the head with a sharp bone. So, when 
Bluejay saw that the sun had reached the second tree, he dived down, and 
found Hair-seal lying with his head down close to the bottom. Bluejay jabbed 
him with the bone before Hair-seal knew what was happening, and Hair-seal 
came floating up to the surface. All the people shouted, "Bluejay's up!" But 
it turned out to be Hair-seal, while Bluejay went back under the brush 
without showing himself There he waited about half an hour longer, and then 
came out shouting and laughing, and saying that he felt splendidly and not 
tired at all. In that way Hair-seal was beaten, and the people let Bluejay 
and his party go on again.

They paddled on as before until they came to another village, and there the 
people challenged the four wanderers to go into a sweat-house with four of 
their people and see which could stand the most heat. So four of the village 
people went into one corner of the sweat-house, and the four travelers into 
the other. Then the door was closed so that it was pitch dark, and soon it 
became very hot. But Beaver and Land Otter began to dig, and in a very short 
time they had tunnelled to the river. Then all four got into the water and 
were as comfortable as could be, while the four men from the village were 
nearly baked. When the time was up, Bluejay and his friends came back into 
the sweat-house, and when the door was opened they all jumped out. Bluejay 
and his friends were as fresh as possible, while the four men from the 
village were nearly cooked, and their eyes were all white from the heat. So, 
having beaten the people at their own game, they were allowed to go on, and, 
paddling as hard as they could, before they knew it they had rounded another 
point, and come upon a village as before. They ran the canoe clear up on the 
beach and tied it, and, taking their paddles, went into one of the houses.

The people immediately challenged the new arrivals to sit up five days and 
five nights without sleeping, against four of their own number. The friends 
were afraid not to accept, so they started the match. One party sat on one 
side of the house and the other on the other. The men from the village had 
spears, and when any one of them was falling asleep, they would prod him 
with a spear and wake him. They kept calling out to each other all night, " 
Are you awake? Are you still awake? " And they reviled each other 
constantly. Bluejay did all the talking for his side, and was hardly quiet a 
minute. All the next day they jeered at each other, and so they did the next 
night. Bluejay and the spokesman of the other side kept talking back and 
forth the whole time. The next day they did the same thing, and so on the 
third night; and the fourth day and the fourth night it was still the same. 
On that night the men from the village nearly went to sleep; but Bluejay's 
men were all right as yet. Bluejay himself was almost done up; but his 
master would pull his ears and kept him awake, for Bluejay's master was the 
best man of them all. The fifth night the men of the village went to sleep, 
and Bluejay's master told Land Otter and Beaver to dig so that they could 
get out. They did so, and fetched four pieces of old wood with 
phosphorescent spots on them; and they placed the pieces where they had been 
sitting, one piece for each man; and the spots looked like eyes. Then, while 
the other crowd was still sleeping, they got out, and, taking everything 
they could lay their hands on, they stole away in the canoe. Just before 
daylight one of the other four waked, and called Bluejay several times, but 
got no answer. So he waked the others, and, taking their spears, they 
speared what they thought were their rivals. But when daylight came, they 
saw that they had been fooled, and that their spears were sticking into 
wood.

There was great excitement, and the people decided to give chase, and, 
making ready their canoes, they started after the fugitives. Along in the 
afternoon, Bluejay's master said, "I feel sure some one is following us," 
and, looking back, they saw a lot of canoes in pursuit. Then they paddled 
with all their might; and Bluejay's master paddled so hard that at every 
stroke he broke a paddle, until he had broken all they had, and they floated 
helpless. Then the others turned to Bluejay and said, "You are always 
talking about your tamanous. Make use of him now, if you have one, for we 
are in a bad fix." But Bluejay could only hang his head, for he had no 
tamanous.

Then Land Otter called on his tamanous, and a little wind arose. Then Beaver 
called upon his, and the wind became a little stronger; but all the time the 
other canoes were drawing closer. Then Bluejay's master called upon his 
tamanous, and there swept down a great storm and a fog. The storm lasted 
only a short time, and when it had passed, they looked about them and saw 
hundreds of capsized canoes, but not a man living; for all the people had 
been drowned. They went around and gathered up all the paddles they wanted, 
and went on, and at last reached the Quinault country, and were among good 
people. The people who had pursued them were probably Makahs, for they are a 
bad lot. Finally they reached their home near Damon's Point, and after that, 
whenever they came in from sealing, they were careful to give Grouse the 
biggest and fattest seal.

XLIL DUG-FROM-GROUND

(HUPA: Goddard, University of California Publications in 
American.Archaeology and Ethnology, i, 146, No. 2)

An old woman was living with her granddaughter, a virgin. The girl used to 
go to dig roots and her grandmother used to say to her, "You must not dig 
those with two stocks." The girl wondered why she was always told that. One 
morning she thought, "I am going to dig one," so she went across the river 
and began digging. She thought, "I am going to take out one with a double 
stock." When she had dug it out she heard a baby cry. She ran back to the 
river, and when she got there she heard someone crying "mother" after her. 
She jumped into the boat and pushed it across. When she got across, the baby 
had tumbled down to the other shore. She ran up to the house and there she 
heard it crying on that side. She ran into the house, then she heard it 
crying back of the house. At once she sat down and then she heard it tumble 
on the roof of the house. The baby tumbled through the smokehole and then 
rolled about on the floor. The old woman jumped up and put it in a baby 
basket. The young woman sat with her back to the fire and never looked at 
the child. The old woman took care of the baby alone. After a time it 
commenced to sit up and finally to walk. When he was big enough to shoot, 
the old woman made a bow and he began to kill birds. Afterward he killed all 
kinds of game; and, because his mother never looked at him, he gave whatever 
he killed to his grandmother. Finally he became a man. The young woman had 
been in the habit of going out at dawn and not returning until dark. She 
brought back with her acorns as long as her finger. One time the young man 
thought "I am going to watch and see where she goes." The young woman had 
always said to herself, "If he will bring acorns from the place I bring 
them, and if he will kill a white deer, I will call him my son." Early one 
morning the son saw his mother come out of the house and start up the ridge. 
He followed her and saw her go along until she came to a dry tree. She 
climbed this and it grew with her to the sky. The young man then returned 
saying, "Tomorrow I am going up there." The woman came home at night with 
the usual load of long acorns.

The next morning the man went the way his mother had gone, climbed the tree 
as he had seen her do, and it grew with him to the sky. When he arrived 
there he saw a road. He followed that until he came to an oak, which he 
climbed, and waited to see what would happen. Soon he heard laughing girls 
approaching. They came to the tree and began to pick acorns from allotted 
spaces under it. The young man began to throw down acorns. "That's right, 
Bluejay," said one of the girls. Then another said, "It might be Dug-from-
the-ground. You can hardly look at him, they say, he is so handsome." Two 
others said, "Oh, I can look at him, I always look at this walking one 
(pointing to the sun); that is the one you can hardly look at." He ca~ne 
down from the tree and passed between the girls. The two who had boasted 
they could look at him, turned their faces to the ground. The other two who 
had thought they could not look him in the face were able to do so.

The young man killed the deer, the killing of which the mother had made the 
second condition for his recognition as a son. He then filled the basket 
from his mother's place under the tree and went home. When the woman saw him 
with the acorns as long as one's finger, she called him her son.

After a time he said, "I am going visiting." "All right," said the 
grandmother, and then she made for him a bow and arrows of blue-stone, and a 
shinny stick and sweat-house wood of the same material. These he took and 
concealed by putting them under the muscles of h;s forearm. He dressed 
himself for the journey and set out. He went to the home of the immortals at 
the edge of the world toward the east. When he got down to the shore on this 
side they saw him. One of them took out the canoe of red obsidian and 
stretched it until it was the proper size. He launched it and came across 
for him. When he had landed, the young man placed his hand on the bow and as 
he did so, the boat gave a creak, he was so strong. When they had crossed he 
went to the village. In the middle of it he saw a house of blue-stone with a 
pavement in front of black obsidian. He went in and heard one say, "It is my 
son-in-law for whom I had expected to be a long time looking."

When the sun had set there came back from different places ten brothers. 
Some had been playing kifi, some had been playing shinny, some had been 
hunting, some spearing salmon, and others had been shooting at a mark. Eagle 
and Panther were both married to daughters of the family. They said to him, 
"You here, brother-in-law?" "Yes," he said, "I came a little while ago." 
When it was supper time they put in front of him a basket of money's meat, 
which mortal man cannot swallow. He ate two baskets of it and they thought 
he must be a smart man. After they had finished supper they all went to the 
sweathouse to spend the night. At midnight the young man went to the river 
to swim. There he heard a voice say, "The sweathouse wood is all gone." Then 
Mink told him that men could not find sweat-house wood near by, but that 
some was to be found to the southeast. They called to him for wood from ten 
sweat-houses and he said "Yes" to all. Mink told him about everything they 
would ask him to do. He went back to the sweat-house and went in. When the 
east whitened with the dawn, he went for sweat-house wood as they had told 
him. He came to the place where the trail forks and one of them turns to the 
northeast and the other to the southeast. There he drew out from his arm the 
wood his grandmother had provided him with and split it fine. He made this 
into ten bundles and carried them back to the village. When he got there he 
put them down carefully but the whole earth shook with the shock. He carried 
a bundle to each sweat-house. They all sweated themselves. He spent the day 
there and at evening went again to the sweat-house. When he went to the 
river to swim, Mink met him again and told him that the next day they would 
play shinny.

After they were through breakfast the next morning, they said, "Come, 
brother-in-law, let us go to the place where they play shinny." They all 
went and after placing their bets began to play. Twice they were beaten. 
Then they said, "Come, brother-in-law, play." They passed him a stick. He 
pressed down on it and broke it. "Let me pick up something," he said. He 
turned about and drew out his concealed shinny stick and the balls. Then he 
stepped out to play and Wildcat came to play against him. The visitor made 
the stroke and the balls fell very near the goal. Then he caught Wildcat, 
smashing his face into its present shape, and threw the ball over the line. 
He played again, this time with Fox. Again he made the stroke and when he 
caught Fox he pinched his face out long as it has been ever since. He then 
struck the ball over the line and won. The next time he played against 
Earthquake. The ground opened up a chasm but he jumped over it. Earthquake 
threw up a wall of blue-stone but he threw the ball through it. "Dol" it 
rang as it went through. Then he played with Thunder. It rained and there 
was thunder. It was the running of that one which made the noise. It was 
then night and he had won back all they had lost. There were ten strings of 
money, besides otterskins, fisherskins, and blankets.

The next day they went to shoot at the white bird which Indians can never 
hit. The others commenced to shoot and then they said to their guest, "Come, 
you better shoot." They gave him a bow, which broke when he drew it. Then he 
pulled out his own and said, "I will shoot with this although the nock has 
been cut down and it is not very good." They thought, "He can't hit anything 
with that." He shot and hit the bird, and dentalia fell all about. They 
gathered up the money and carried it home.

The Hupa man went home to his grandmother. As many nights as it seemed to 
him he had spent, so many years he had really been away. He found his 
grandmother lying by the fire. Both of the women had been worried about him. 
He said to them, "I have come back for you." "Yes," they said, "we will go." 
Then he repaired the house, tying it up anew with hazel withes. He poked a 
stick under it and away it went to the end of the world toward the east, 
where he had married. They are living there yet.

XLIII. THE ATTACK ON THE GIANT ELK

(JICARILLA APACHE: Russell, Journal of American Folk-Lore, xi, 255)

In the early days, animals and birds of monstrous size preyed upon the 
people; the giant Elk, the Eagle, and others devoured men, women, and 
children, until the gods were petitioned for relief. A deliverer was sent to 
them in the person of Jonayalyin, the son of the old woman who lives in the 
West, and the second wife of the Sun. She divided her time between the Sun 
and the Water-fall, and by the latter bore a second son, named 
Kobachischini, who remained with his mother while his brother went forth to 
battle with the enemies of mankind. In four days Jonayalyin grew to manhood, 
then he asked his mother where the Elk lived. She told him that the Elk was 
in a great desert far to the southward. She gave him arrows with which to 
kill the Elk. In four steps he reached the distant desert where the Elk was 
lying.

Jonayaiyin cautiously observed the position of the Elk from behind a hill. 
The Elk was lying on an open plain, where no trees or bushes were to be 
found that might serve to shelter Jonayaiyin from view while he approached. 
While he was looking at the Elk, with dried grass before his face, the 
Lizard said to him, "What are you doing, my friend?" Jonayalyin explained 
his mission, whereupon the Lizard suggested that he clothe himself in the 
garments of the Lizard, in which he could approach the Elk in safety. 
Jonayalyin tried four times before he succeeded in getting into the coat of 
the Lizard. Next the Gopher came to him with the question, "What are you 
doing here, my friend?" When Jonayaiyin told the Gopher of his intention, 
the latter promised to aid him. The Gopher thought it advisable to 
reconnoitre by burrowing his way underground to the Elk. jonayaiyin watched 
the progress of the Gopher as that animal threw out fresh heaps of earth on 
his way.

At length the Gopher came to the surface underneath the Elk, whose giant 
heart was beating like a mighty hammer. He then proceeded to gnaw the hair 
from about the heart of the Elk. "What are you doing?" said the Elk. "I am 
cutting a few hairs for my little ones; they are now lying on the bare 
ground," replied the Gopher, who continued until the magic coat of the Elk 
was all cut away from about the heart of the Elk. Then he returned to 
Jonayaiyin, and told the latter to go through the hole which he had made and 
shoot the Elk.

Four times the Son of the Sun tried to enter the hole before he succeeded. 
When he reached the Elk, he saw the great heart beating above him, and 
easily pierced it with his arrows; four times his bow was drawn before he 
turned to escape through the tunnel which the Gopher had been preparing for 
him. This hole extended far to the eastward, but the Elk soon discovered it, 
and thrusting his antler into it, followed in pursuit. The Elk ploughed up 
the earth with such violence that the present mountains were formed, which 
extend from east to west. The black spider closed the hole with a strong 
web, but the Elk broke through it and ran southward, forming the mountain 
chains which trend north and south. In the south the Elk was checked by the 
web of the blue spider, in the west by that of the yellow spider, while in 
the north the web of the many-colored spider resisted his attacks until he 
fell dying from exhaustion and wounds. Jonayaiyin made a coat from the hide 
of the Elk, gave the front quarters to the Gopher, the hind quarters to the 
Lizard, and carried home the antlers. He found that the results of his 
adventures were not unknown to his mother, who had spent the time during his 
absence in singing, and watching a roll of cedar bark which sank into the 
earth or rose in the air as danger approached or receded from Jonayaiyin, 
her son.

Jonayaiyin next desired to kill the great Eagle, I-tsa. His mother directed 
him to seek the Eagle in the West. In four strides he reached the home of 
the Eagle, an inaccessible rock, on which was the nest, containing two young 
eaglets. His ear told him to stand facing the east when the next morning the 
Eagle swooped down upon him and tried to carry him off. The talons of the 
Eagle failed to penetrate the hard elk-skin by which he was covered. "Turn 
to the south," said the ear, and again the Eagle came, and was again 
unsuccessful. Jonayaiyin faced each of the four points in this manner, and 
again faced toward the east; whereupon the Eagle succeeded in fastening its 
talons in the lacing on the front of the coat of the supposed man, who was 
carried to the nest above and thrown down before the young eagles, with the 
invitation to pick his eyes out. As they were about to do this, Jonayaiyin 
gave a warning hiss, at which the young ones cried, "He is living yet." "Oh, 
no," replied the old Eagle; "that is only the rush of air from his body 
through the holes made by my talons." Without stopping to verify this, the 
Eagle flew away.

Jonayalfyin threw some of the blood of the Elk which he had brought with him 
to the young ones, and asked them when their mother returned. "In the 
afternoon when it rains," they answered. When the mother Eagle came with the 
shower of rain in the afternoon, he stood in readiness with one of the Elk 
antlers in his hand. As the bird alighted with a man in her talons, 
Jonayaiyin struck her upon the back with the antler, killing her instantly. 
Going back to the nest, he asked the young eagles when their father 
returned. "Our father comes home when the wind blows and brings rain just 
before sunset," they said. The male Eagle came at the appointed time, 
carrying a woman with a crying infant upon her back. Mother and babe were 
dropped from a height upon the rock and killed. With the second antler of 
the Elk, Jonayaiyin avenged their death, and ended the career of the eagles 
by striking the Eagle upon the back and killing him. The wing of this eagle 
was of enormous size; the bones were as large as a man's arm; fragments of 
this wing are still preserved at Taos. Jonayaiyin struck the young eagles 
upon the head, saying, "You shall never grow any larger." Thus deprived of 
their strength and power to injure mankind, the eagles relinquished their 
sovereignty with the parting curse of rheumatism, which they bestowed upon 
the human race.

Jonayaifyin could discover no way by which he could descend from the rock, 
until at length he saw an old female Bat on the plain below. At first she 
pretended not to hear his calls for help; then she flew up with the inquiry, 
"How did you get here?" jonayaiyin told how he had killed the eagles. "I 
will give you all the feathers you may desire if you will help me to 
escape," concluded he. The old Bat carried her basket by a slender spider's 
thread. He was afraid to trust himself in such a small basket suspended by a 
thread, but she reassured him, saying: "I have packed mountain sheep in this 
basket, and the strap has never broken. Do not look while we are descending; 
keep your eyes shut as tight as you can." He began to open his eyes once 
during the descent, but she warned him in time to avoid mishap. They went to 
the foot of the rock where the old Eagles lay. Jonayaiyin filled her basket 
with feathers, but told her not to go out on the plains, where there are 
many small birds. Forgetting this admonition, she was soon among the small 
birds, who robbed the old Bat of all her feathers. This accounts for the 
plumage of the small bird klokin, which somewhat resembles the color of the 
tail and wing feathers of the bald eagle. The Bat returned four times for a 
supply of feathers, but the fifth time she asked to have her basket filled, 
Jonayaiyin was vexed. "You cannot take care of your feathers, so you shall 
never have any. This old skin on your basket is good enough for you." "Very 
well," said the Bat, resignedly, " I deserve to lose them, for I never could 
take care of those feathers."

XLIV. LODGE-BOY AND THROWN-AWAY

(CROW: Simms, Field Museum: Anthropological Series, ii, 303, No. 19)

Once upon a time there lived a couple, the woman being pregnant. The man 
went hunting one day, and in his absence a certain wicked woman named Red-
Woman came to the tipi and killed his wife and cut her open and found boy 
twins. She threw one behind the tipi curtain, and the other she threw into a 
spring. She then put a stick inside the woman and stuck one end in the 
ground, to give her the appearance of a live person, and burned her upper 
lip, giving her the appearance as though laughing.

When her husband came home, tired from carrying the deer he had killed, he 
saw his wife standing near the door of the tipi, looking as though she were 
laughing at him, and he said: "I am tired and hungry, why do you laugh at 
me?" and pushed her. As she fell backwards, her stomach opened, and he 
caught hold of her and discovered she was dead. He knew at once that Red-
Woman had killed his wife.

While the man was eating supper alone one night a voice said, "Father, give 
me some of your supper." As no one was in sight, he resumed eating and again 
the voice asked for supper. The man said, "Whoever you are, you may come and 
eat with me, for I am poor and alone." A young boy came from behind the 
curtain, and said his name was "Thrown-behind-theCurtain." During the day, 
while the man went hunting, the boy stayed home. One day the boy said, 
"Father, make me two bows and the arrows for them." His father asked him why 
he wanted two bows. The boy said, "I want them to change about." His father 
made them for him, but surmised the boy had other reasons, and concluded he 
would watch the boy, and on one day, earlier than usual, he left his tipi 
and hid upon a hill overlooking his tipi, and while there, he saw two boys 
of about the same age shooting arrows.

That evening when he returned home, he asked his son, "Is there not another 
little boy of your age about here?" His son said, "Yes, and he lives in the 
spring." His father said, "You should bring him out and make him live with 
us." The son said, "I cannot make him, because he has sharp teeth like an 
otter, but if you will make me a suit of rawhide, I will try and catch him."

One day, arrangements were made to catch the boy. The father said, " I will 
stay here in the tipi and you tell him I have gone out." So Thrown-behind-
the-Curtain said to Thrownin-Spring. "Come out and play arrows." Thrown-in-
Spring came out just a little, and said, " I smell something." Thrown-
behind-the-Curtain said, "No, you don't, my father is not home," and after 
insisting, Thrown-in-Spring came out, and both boys began to play. While 
they were playing, Thrownbehind-the-Curtain disputed a point of their game, 
and as Thrown-in-Spring stooped over to see how close his arrow came, 
Thrown-behind-the-Curtain grabbed him from behind and held his arms close to 
his sides and Thrown-in-Spring turned and attempted to bite him, but his 
teeth could not penetrate the rawhide suit. The father came to the 
assistance of Thrown-behind-the-Curtain and the water of the spring rushed 
out to help Thrown-in-Spring; but Thrown-in-Spring was dragged to a high 
hill where the water could not reach him, and there they burned incense 
under his nose, and he became human. The three of them lived together.

One day one of the boys said, "Let us go and wake up mother." They went to 
the mother's grave and one said, "Mother, your stone pot is dropping," and 
she moved. The other boy said, "Mother, your hide dresser is falling," and 
she sat up. Then one of them said, "Mother, your bone crusher is falling," 
and she began to arrange her hair, which had begun to fall off. The mother 
said, " I have been asleep a long time." She accompanied the boys home.

The boys were forbidden by their father to go to the river bend above their 
tipi; for an old woman lived there who had a boiling pot, and every time she 
saw any living object, she tilted the kettle toward it and the object was 
drawn into the pot and boiled for her to eat. The boys went one day to see 
the old woman, and they found her asleep and they stole up and got her pot 
and awakened the old woman and said to her, "Grandmother, why have you this 
here?" at the same time tilting the pot towards her, by which she was 
drowned and boiled to death. They took the pot home and gave it to their 
mother for her own protection.

Their father told them not to disobey him again and said, "There is 
something over the hill I do not want you to go near." They were very 
anxious to find out what this thing was, and they went over to the hill and 
as they poked their heads over the hilltop, the thing began to draw in air 
and the boys were drawn in also; and as they went in, they saw people and 
animals, some dead and others dying. The thing proved to be an immense 
alligator-like serpent. One of the boys touched the kidneys of the thing and 
asked what they were. The alligator said, "That is my medicine, do not touch 
it." And the boy reached up and touched its heart and asked what it was, and 
the serpent grunted and said, "This is Where I make my plans." One of the 
boys said, "You do make plans, do you?" and he cut the heart off and it 
died. They made their escape by cutting between the ribs and liberated the 
living ones and took a piece of the heart home to their father.

After the father had administered another scolding, he told the boys not to 
go near the three trees standing in a triangular shaped piece of ground; for 
if anything went under them they would bend to the ground suddenly, killing 
everything in their way. One day the boys went towards these trees, running 
swiftly and then stopping suddenly near the trees, which bent violently and 
struck the ground without hitting them. They jumped over the trees, breaking 
the branches and they could not rise after the branches were broken.

Once more the boys were scolded and told not to go near a tipi over the 
hill; for it was inhabited by snakes, and they would approach anyone asleep 
and enter his body through the rectum.,', Again the boys did as they were 
told not to do and went to the tipi, and the snakes invited them in. They 
went in and carried flat pieces of stone with them and as they sat down they 
placed the flat pieces of stones under their rectums.

After they had been in the tipi a short while, the snakes began putting 
their heads over the poles around the fireplace and the snakes began to 
relate stories, and one of them said "When there is a drizzling rain, and 
when we are under cover, it is nice to sleep." One of the boys said, "When 
we are lying down under the pine trees and the wind blows softly through 
them and has a weird sound, it is nice to sleep." All but one of the snakes 
went to sleep, and that one tried to enter the rectum of each of the boys 
and failed, on account of the flat stone. The boys killed all of the other 
snakes but that one, and they took that one and rubbed its head against the 
side of a cliff, and that is the reason why snakes have flattened heads.

Again the boys were scolded by their father, who said, "There is a man 
living on the steep cut bank, with deep water under it, and if you go near 
it he will push you over the bank into the water for his father in the water 
to eat." The boys went to the place, but before going, they fixed their 
headdresses with dried grass. Upon their arrival at the edge of the bank, 
one said to the other, "Just as he is about to push you over, lie down 
quickly." The man from his hiding place suddenly rushed out to push the boys 
over, and just as he was about to do it, the boys threw themselves quickly 
upon the ground, and the man went over their heads, pulling their headdress 
with him, and his father in the water ate him.

Upon the boys' return, and after telling what they had done, their father 
scolded them and told them, "There is a man who wears moccasins of fire, and 
when he wants anything, he goes around it and it is burned up." The boys 
ascertained where this man lived and stole upon him one day when he was 
sleeping under a tree and each one of the boys took off a moccasin and put 
it on and they awoke him and ran about him and he was burned and went up in 
smoke. They took the moccasins home.

Their father told them that something would yet happen to them; for they had 
killed so many bad things. One day while walking the valley they were lifted 
from the earth and after travelling in mid air for some time, they were 
placed on top of a peak in a rough high mountain with a big lake surrounding 
it and the Thunder-Bird said to them, "I want you to kill a long otter that 
lives in the lake; he eats all the young ones that I produce and I cannot 
make him stop." So the boys began to make arrows, and they gathered dry pine 
sticks and began to heat rocks, and the long otter came towards them. As it 
opened its mouth the boys shot arrows into it; and as that did not stop it 
from drawing nearer, they threw the hot rocks down its throat, and it curled 
up and died afterwards. They were taken up and carried through the air and 
gently placed upon the ground near their homes, where they lived for many 
years.

XLV. BLOOD-CLOT-BOY

(BLACKFOOT:Wissler and Duvall, Anthropological Papers American Museum of 
Natural History, ii, 53)

Once there was an old man and woman whose three daughters married a young 
man. The old people lived in a lodge by themselves. The young man was 
supposed to hunt buffalo, and feed them all. Early in the morning the young 
man invited his father-in-law to go out with him to kill buffalo. The old 
man was then directed to drive the buffalo through a gap where the young man 
stationed himself to kill them as they went by. As soon as the buffalo were 
killed, the young man requested his father-in-law to go home. He said, "You 
are old. You need not stay here. Your daughters can bring you some meat." 
Now the young man lied to his father-in-law; for when the meat was brought 
to his lodge, he ordered his wives not to give meat to the old folks. Yet 
one of the daughters took pity on her parents, and stole meat for them. The 
way in which she did this was to take a piece of meat in her robe, and as 
she went for water drop it in front of her father's lodge.

Now every morning the young man invited his father-in-law to hunt buffalo; 
and, as before, sent him away and refused to permit his daughters to furnish 
meat for the old people. On the fourth day, as the old man was returning, he 
saw a clot of blood in the trail, and said to himself, "Here at least is 
something from which we can make soup." In order that he might not be seen 
by his son-in-law, he stumbled, and spilt the arrows out of his quiver. Now, 
as he picked up the arrows, he put the clot of blood into the quiver. Just 
then the young man came up and demanded to know what it was he picked up. 
The old man explained that he had just stumbled, and was picking up his 
arrows. So the old man took the clot of blood home and requested his wife to 
make blood-soup. When the pot began to boil, the old woman heard a child 
crying. She looked all around, but saw nothing. Then she heard it again. 
This time it seemed to be in the pot. She looked in quickly, and saw a boy 
baby: " so she lifted the pot from the fire, took the baby out and wrapped 
it up.

Now the young man, sitting in his lodge, heard a baby crying, and said, 
"Well, the old woman must have a baby." Then he sent his oldest wife over to 
see the old woman's baby, saying, "Ifitisaboy, I will kill it." Thewoman 
came into look at the baby, but the old woman told her it was a girl . When 
the young man heard this, he did not believe it. So he sent each wife in 
turn; but they all came back with the same report. Now the young man was 
greatly pleased, because he could look forward to another wife. So he sent 
over some old bones, that soup might be made for the baby. Now, all this 
happened in the morning. That night the baby spoke to the old man, saying, 
"You take me up and hold me against each lodge-pole in succession." So the 
old man took up the baby, and, beginning at the door, went around in the 
direction of the sun, and each time that he touched a pole the baby became 
larger. When halfway around, the baby was so heavy that the old man could 
hold him no longer. So he put the baby down in the middle of the lodge, and, 
taking hold of his head, moved it toward each of the poles in succession, 
and, when the last pole was reached, the baby had become a very fine young 
man. Then this young man went out, got some black flint [obsidian] and, when 
he got to the lodge, he said to the old man, "I am the Smoking-Star. I came 
down to help you. When I have done this, I shall return."

Now, when morning came, Blood-Clot (the name his father gave him) arose and 
took his father out to hunt. They had not gone very far when they killed a 
scabby cow. Then BloodClot lay down behind the cow and requested his father 
to wait until the son-in-law came to join him. He also requested that he 
stand his ground and talk back to the son-in-law. Now, at the usual time in 
the morning, the son-in-law called at the lodge of the old man, but was told 
that he had gone out to hunt. This made him very angry, and he struck at the 
old woman, saying, "I have a notion to kill you." So the son-inlaw went out.

Now Blood-Clot had directed his father to be eating a kidney when the son-
in-law approached. When the son-in-law came up and saw all this, he was very 
angry. He said to the old man, "Now you shall die for all this." "Well," 
said the old man, "you must die too, for all that you have done." Then the 
son in-law began to shoot arrows at the old man, and the latter becoming 
frightened called on Blood-Clot for help. Then Blood-Clot sprang up and 
upbraided the son-in-law for his cruelty. "Oh," said the son-in-law, "I was 
just fooling." At this Blood-Clot shot the son-in-law through and through. 
Then Blood-Clot said to his father, "We will leave this meat here: it is not 
good. Your son-in-law's house is full of dried meat. Which one of your 
daughters helped you?" The old man told him that it was the youngest. Then 
Blood-Clot went to the lodge, killed the two older women, brought up the 
body of the son-in-law, and burned them together. Then he requested the 
younger daughter to take care of her old parents, to be kind to them, etc. 
"Now," said Blood-Clot, "I shall go to visit the other Indians."

So he started out, and finally came to a camp. He went into the lodge of 
some old women, who were very much surprised to see such a fine young man. 
They said, "Why do you come here among such old women as we? Why don't you 
go where there are young people?" "Well," said Blood-Clot, "give me some 
dried meat." Then the old women gave him some meat, but no fat. "Well," said 
Blood-Clot, "you did not give me the fat to eat with my dried meat." "Hush!" 
said the old women. "You must not speak so loud. There are bears here that 
take all the fat and give us the lean, and they will kill you, if they 
hearyou." "Well," said Blood-Clot, "I will go out to-morrow, do some 
butchering, and get some fat." Then he went out through the camp, telling 
all the people to make ready in the morning, for he intended to drive the 
buffalo over [the drive].

Now there were some bears who ruled over this camp. They lived in a bear-
lodge [painted lodge], and were very cruel. When Blood-Clot had driven the 
buffalo over, he noticed among them a scabby cow. He said, "I shall save 
this for the old women." Then the people laughed, and said, "Do you mean to 
save that poor old beast? It is too poor to have fat." However, when it was 
cut open it was found to be very fat. Now, when the bears heard the buffalo 
go over the drive, they as usual sent out two bears to cut off the best 
meat, especially all the fat; but Blood-Clot had already butchered the 
buffalo, putting the fat upon sticks. He hid it as the bears came up. Also 
he had heated some stones in a fire. When they told him what they wanted, he 
ordered them to go back. Now the bears were very angry, and the chief bear 
and his wife came up to fight, but Blood-Clot killed them by throwing hot 
stones down their throats.

Then he went down to the lodge of the bears and killed all, except one 
female who was about to become a mother. She pleaded so pitifully for her 
life, that he spared her. If he had not done this, there would have been no 
more bears in the world. The lodge of the bears was filled with dried meat 
and other property. Also all the young women of the camp were confined 
there. Blood-Clot gave all the property to the old women, and set free all 
the young women. The bears' lodge he gave to the old women. It was a bear 
painted lodge.

"Now," said Blood-Clot, "I must go on my travels." He came to a camp and 
entered the lodge of some old women. When these women saw what a fine young 
man he was, they said, "Why do you come here, among such old women? Why do 
you not go where there are younger people?" "Well," said he, "give me some 
meat." The old women gave him some dried meat, but no fat. Then he said, 
"Why do you not give me some fat with my meat?" "Hush! " said the women, " 
you must not speak so loud. There is a snake-lodge [painted lodge] here, and 
the snakes take everything. They leave no fat for the people." "Well," said 
Blood-Clot, "I will go over to the snake-lodge to eat." "No, you must not do 
that," said the old women. "It is dangerous. They will surely kill you." 
"Well," said he, "I must have some fat with my meat, even if they do kill 
me."

Then he entered the snake-lodge. He had his white rock knife ready. Now the 
snake, who was the head man in this lodge, had one horn on his head. He was 
lying with his head in the lap of a beautiful woman. He was asleep. By the 
fire was a bowl of berry-soup ready for the snake when he should wake. 
Blood-Clot seized the bowl and drank the soup. Then the women warned him in 
whispers, "You must go away: you must not stay here." But he said, "I want 
to smoke." So he took out his knife and cut off the head of the snake, 
saying as he did so, "Wake up! light a pipe! I want to smoke." Then with his 
knife he began to kill all the snakes. At last there was one snake who was 
about to become a mother, and she pleaded so pitifully for her life that she 
was allowed to go. From her descended all the snakes that are in the world. 
Now the lodge of the snakes was filled up with dried meat of every kind, 
fat, etc. Blood-Clot turned all this over to the people, the lodge and 
everything it contained. Then he said, "I must go away and visit other 
people."

So he started out. Some old women advised him to keep on the south side of 
the road, because it was dangerous the other way. But Blood-Clot paid no 
attention to their warning. As he was going along, a great windstorm struck 
him and at last carried him into the mouth of a great fish. This was a 
suckerfish and the wind was its sucking. When he got into the stomach of the 
fish, he saw a great many people. Many of them were dead, but some were 
still alive. He said to the people, "Ah, there must be a heart somewhere 
here. We will have a dance." So he painted his face white, his eyes and 
mouth with black circles, and tied a white rock knife on his head, so that 
the point stuck up. Some rattles made of hoofs were also brought. Then the 
people started in to dance. For a while Blood-Clot sat making wing-motions 
with his hands, and singing songs. Then he stood up and danced, jumping up 
and down until the knife on his head struck the heart. Then he cut the heart 
down. Next he cut through between the ribs of the fish, and let all the 
people out.

Again Blood-Clot said he must go on his travels. Before starting, the people 
warned him, saying that after a while he would see a woman who was always 
challenging people to wrestle with her, but that he must not speak to her. 
He gave no heed to what they said, and, after he had gone a little way, he 
saw a woman who called him to come over. "No," said Blood-Clot. "I am in a 
hurry." However, at the fourth time the woman asked him to come over, he 
said, "Yes, but you must wait a little while, for I am tired. I wish to 
rest. When I have rested, I will come over and wrestle with you." Now, while 
he was resting, he saw many large knives sticking up from the ground almost 
hidden by straw."' Then he knew that the woman killed the people she 
wrestled with by throwing them down on the knives. When he was rested, he 
went over. The woman asked him to stand up in the place where he had seen 
the knives; but he said, "No, I am not quite ready. Let us play a little, 
before we begin." So he began to play with the woman, but quickly caught 
hold of her, threw her upon the knives, and cut her in two.

Blood-Clot took up his travels again, and after a while came to a camp where 
there were some old women. The old women told him that a little farther on 
he would come to a woman with a swing, but on no account must he ride with 
her. After a time he came to a place where he saw a swing on the bank of a 
swift stream. There was a woman swinging on it. He watched her a while, and 
saw that she killed people by swinging them out and dropping them into the 
water. When he found this out, he came up to the woman. "You have a swing 
here; let me see you swing," he said. "No," said the woman, "I want to see 
you swing." "Well," said Blood-Clot, "but you must swing first" "Well,"' 
said the woman, "Now I shall swing. Watch me. Then I shall see you do it." 
So the woman swung out over the stream. As she did this, he saw how it 
worked. Then he said to the woman, "You swing again while I am getting 
ready"; but as the woman swung out this time, he cut the vine and let her 
drop into the water. This happened on Cut Bank Creek.

"Now," said Blood-Clot, "I have rid the world of all the monsters, I will go 
back to my old father and mother." So he climbed a high ridge, and returned 
to the lodge of the old couple. One day he said to them, "I shall go back to 
the place from whence I came. If you find that I have been killed, you must 
not be sorry, for then I shall go up into the sky and become the Smoking-
Star." Then he went on and on, until he was killed by some Crow Indians on 
the war-path. His body was never found; but the moment he was killed, the 
Smoking-Star appeared in the sky, where we see it now.

XLVI. THE SON-IN-LAW TESTS

(TIMAGAMI OJIBWA: Speck, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Canada: 
Anthropological Series, ix, 44)

Wemicus [the animal-trickster] had a son-in-law who was a man. This man's 
wife, the daughter of Wemicus, had had a great many husbands, because 
Wemicus had put them to so many different tests that they had been all 
killed off except this one. He, however, had succeeded in outwitting Wemicus 
in every scheme that he tried on him. Wernicus and this man hunted beaver in 
the spring of the year by driving them all day with dogs.

The man's wife warned him before they started out to hunt, saying, "Look out 
for my father; he might burn your moccasins in camp. That's what he did to 
my other husbands." That night in camp Wernicus said, "I didn't tell you the 
name of this lake. It is called 'Burnt moccasins lake."' When the man heard 
this, he thought that Wernicus was up to some sort of mischief and was going 
to burn his moccasins. Their moccasins were hanging up before a fire to dry 
and, while Wernicus was not looking, the man changed the places of Wernicus' 
moccasins and his own, and then went to sleep. Soon the man awoke and saw 
Wernicus get up and throw his own moccasins into the fire. Wernicus then 
said, "Say! something is burning; it is your moccasins." Then the man 
answered, "No, not mine, but yours." So Wernicus had no moccasins, and the 
ground was covered with snow. After this had happened the man slept with his 
moccasins on .

The next morning the man started on and left Wernicus there with no shoes. 
Wernicus started to work. He got a big boulder, made a fire, and placed the 
boulder in it until it became red hot. He then wrapped his feet with spruce 
boughs and pushed the boulder ahead of him in order to melt the snow. In 
this way he managed to walk on the boughs. Then he began to sing, " Spruce 
is warm, spruce is warm." When the man reached home be told his wife what 
had happened. "I hope Wernicus will die," she said. A little while after 
this they heard Wernicus coming along singing, "Spruce is warm, spruce is 
warm." He came into the wigwam and as he was the head man, they were obliged 
to get his meal ready.

The ice was getting bad by this time, so they stayed in camp a while. Soon 
Wernicus told his son-in-law, "We'd better go sliding." He then went to a 
hill where there were some very poisonous snakes. The man's wife warned her 
husband of these snakes and gave him a split stick holding a certain kind of 
magic tobacco, which she told him to hold in front of him so that the snakes 
would not hurt him. Then the two men went sliding. At the top of the hill 
Wernicus said, "Follow me," for he intended to pass close by the snakes' 
lair. So when they slid, Wernicus passed safely and the man held his stick 
with the tobacco in it in front of him, thus preventing the snakes from 
biting him. The man then told Wernicus that he enjoyed the sliding.

The following day Wernicus said to his son-in-law, "We had better go to 
another place." When she heard this, the wife told her husband that, as it 
was getting summer, Wernicus had in his head many poisonous lizards instead 
of lice. She said, "He will tell you to pick lice from his head and crack 
them in your teeth. But take low-bush cranberries and crack them instead." 
So the man took cranberries along with him. Wernicus took his son-in-law to 
a valley with a great ravine in it. He said, "I wonder if anybody can jump 
across this?" "Surely," said the young man, "I can." Then the young man 
said, "Closer," and the ravine narrowed and he jumped across easily. When 
Wemicus tried, the young man said, "Widen," and Wernicus fell into the 
ravine. But it did not kill him, and when he made his way to the top again, 
he said, "You have beaten me." Then they went on.

They came to a place of hot sand and Wernicus said, "You must look for lice 
in my head." "All right father," replied the son-in-law. So Wernicus lay 
down and the man started to pick the lice. He took the cranberries from 
inside his shirt and each time he pretended to catch a louse, he cracked a 
cranberry and threw it on the ground, and so Wernicus got fooled a second 
time that day. Then they went home and Wernicus said to his son-in-law, 
"There are a whole lot of eggs on that rocky island where the gulls are. We 
will go get the eggs, come back, and have an egg supper." As Wernicus was 
the head man, his sonin-law had to obey him.

So they started out in their canoe and soon came to the rocky island. 
Wernicus stayed in the canoe and told the man to go ashore and to bring the 
eggs back with him and fill the canoe. When the man reached the shore, 
Wernicus told him to go farther back on the island,175 saying, "That's where 
the former husbands got their eggs, there are their bones." He then started 
the canoe off in the water by singing, without using his paddle .14a Then 
Wernicus told the gulls to eat the man, saying to them, " I give you him to 
eat." The gulls started to fly about the man, but the man had his paddle 
with him and he killed one of the gulls with it. He then took the gulls' 
wings and fastened them on himself, filled his shirt with eggs, and started 
flying over the lake by the aid of the wings.

When he reached the middle of the lake, he saw Wernicus going along and 
singing to himself. Wemicus, looking up, saw his son-in-law but mistook him 
for a gull. The man flew back to camp and told his wife to cook the eggs, 
and he told his children to play with the wings. When Wernicus reached the 
camp, he saw the children playing with the wings and said, "Where did you 
get those wings?" "From father," was the reply. "Your father? Why the gulls 
ate him!" Then he went to the wigwam and there he saw the man smoking. Then 
Wemicus thought it very strange how the man could have gotten home, but no 
one told him how it had been done. Thought he, "I must try another scheme to 
do away with him."

One day Wemicus said to his son-in-law, "We'd better make two canoes of 
birch-bark, one for you and one for me. We'd better get bark." So they 
started off for birch-bark. They cut a tree almost through and Wemicus said 
to his son-in-law, "You sit on that side and I'll sit on this." He wanted 
the tree to fall on him and kill him. Wemicus said, "You say, 'Fall on my 
father-in-law,' and I'll say, 'Fall on my son-in-law,' and whoever says it 
too slowly or makes a mistake will be the one on whom it will fall." But 
Wemicus made the first mistake, and the tree fell on him and crushed him. 
However, Wemicus was a manitu and was not hurt. They went home with the bark 
and made the two canoes. After they were made, Wemicus said to his son-in-
law, "Well, we'll have a race in our two canoes, a sailing race." Wemicus 
made a big bark sail, but the man did not make any, as he was afraid of 
upsetting. They started the race. Wernicus went very fast and the man called 
after him, "Oh, you are beating me." He kept on fooling and encouraging 
Wemicus, until the wind upset Wemicus' canoe and that was the end of 
Wemicus. When the man sailed over the spot where Wernicus had upset, he saw 
a big pike there, into which Wemicus had been transformed when the canoe 
upset. This is the origin of the pike.

XLVII. THE JEALOUS FATHER

(CREE: Skinner, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural 
History, ix, 92)

Once there was an old man named Aioswe who had two wives. When his son by 
one of these women began to grow up, Aioswe became jealous of him. One day, 
he went off to hunt and when he came back, found marks on one of the women 
(the co-wife with his son's mother) which proved to him that his son had 
been on terms of intimacy with her.

One day the old man and the boy went to a rocky island to hunt for eggs . 
Wishing to get rid of his son, the old man persuaded him to gather eggs 
farther and farther away from the shore. The young man did not suspect 
anything until he looked up and saw his father paddling off in the canoe. 
"Why are you deserting me, father? "he cried. "Because you have played 
tricks on your stepmother," answered the old man.

When the boy found that he was really left behind, he sat there crying hour 
after hour. At last, Walrus appeared. He came near the island and stuck his 
head above the water. "What are you crying for, my son?" said Walrus. "My 
father has deserted me on this island and I want to get home to the 
mainland. Will you not help me to get ashore?" the boy replied. Walrus said 
that he would do so willingly. " Get on my back," said Walrus, "and I will 
take you to the mainland." Then Walrus asked Aioswe's son if the sky was 
clear. The boy replied that it was, but this was a lie, for he saw many 
clouds. Aioswe's son said this because he was afraid that Walrus would 
desert him if he knew it was cloudy. Walrus said, "If you think I am not 
going fast enough, strike on my horns [tusks] and let me know when you think 
it is shallow enough for you to get ashore, then you can jump off my back 
and walk to the land."

As they went along, Walrus said to the boy, "Now my son, you must let me 
know if you hear it thunder, because as soon as it thunders, I must go right 
under the water." The boy promised to let Walrus know. They had not gone 
far, when there came a peal of thunder. Walrus said, "My son, I hear 
thunder." "Oh, no, you are mistaken," said the boy who feared to be drowned, 
"what you think is thunder is only the noise your body makes going so 
quickly through the water." Walrus believed the boy and thought he must have 
been wrong. Some time later, there came another peal of thunder and this 
time, Walrus knew he was not mistaken, he was sure it was thunder. He was 
very angry and said he would drop Aioswe's son there, whether the water was 
shallow or not. He did so but the lad had duped Walrus with his lies so that 
he came where the water was very shallow and the boy escaped, but Walrus was 
killed by lightning before he could reach water deep enough to dive in. This 
thunderstorm was sent to destroy Walrus by Aioswe's father, who conjured for 
it. Walrus, on the other hand, was the result of conjuring by his mother, 
who wished to save her son's life .

When Aioswe's son reached the shore, he started for home, but he had not 
gone far before he met an old woman, who had been sent as the result of a 
wish for his safety by his mother (or was a wish for his safety on his 
mother's part, personified). The old woman instructed the lad how to conduct 
himself if he ever expected to reach his home and mother again. "Now you 
have come ashore there is still a lot of trouble for you to go through 
before you reach home," said she, and she gave him the stuffed skin of an 
ermine (weasel in white winter coat). "This will be one of your weapons to 
use to protect yourself," were her words as she tendered him this gift, and 
she told him what dangers he would encounter and what to do in each case.

Then the son of Aioswe started for his home once more. As he journeyed 
through the forest he came upon a solitary wigwam inhabited by two old blind 
hags, who were the result of an adverse conjuration by his father. Both of 
these old women had sharp bones like)daggers; protruding from the lower arm 
at the elbow.", They were very savage and used to kill everybody they met. 
When Aioswe's son approached the tent, although the witches could not see 
him, they knew from their magic powers that he was near. They asked him to 
come in and sit down, but he was suspicious, for he did not like the looks 
of their elbows.

He thought of a plan by which he might dupe the old women into killing each 
other. Instead of going himself and sitting between them he got a large 
parchment and fixing it to the end of a pole, he poked it in between them. 
The old women heard it rattle and thought it was the boy himself coming to 
sit between them. Then they both turned their backs to the skin and began to 
hit away at it with their elbows. Every time they stabbed the skin, they 
cried out, " I am hitting the son of Aioswe! I've hit him! I've hit him!" At 
last, they got so near each other that they began to hit one another, 
calling out all the time, "I am hitting the son of Aioswe! " They finally 
stabbed each other to death and the son of Aioswe escaped this danger also.

When the young man had vanquished the two old women he proceeded on his 
journey. He had not gone very far when he came to a row of dried human bones 
hung across the path so that no one could pass by without making them 
rattle. Not far away, there was a tent full of people and big dogs. Whenever 
they heard anyone disturb the bones, they would set upon him and kill him. 
The old woman who had advised Aioswe's son told him that when he came to 
this place he could escape by digging a tunnel in the path under the bones. 
When he arrived at the spot he began to follow her advice and burrow under. 
He was careless and when he was very nearly done and completely out of 
sight, he managed to rattle the bones. At once, the dogs heard and theycried 
out,"That must be Aioswe's son." All the people ran out at once, but since 
Aioswe's son was under ground in the tunnel they could not see him, so after 
they had searched for a while they returned. The dogs said, "We are sure 
this is the son of Aioswe," and they continued to search.

At length, they found the mouth of the hole Aioswe's son had dug. The dogs 
came to the edge and began to bark till all the people ran out again with 
their weapons. Then Aioswe's son took the stuffed ermine skin and poked its 
head up. All the people saw it and thought it was really ermine. Then they 
were angry and killed the dogs for lying.

Aioswe's son escaped again and this time he got home. When he drew near his 
father's wigwam, he could hear his mother crying, and as he approached still 
closer he saw her. She looked up and saw him coming. She cried out to her 
husband and co-wife, "My son has come home again." The old man did not 
believe it. "It is not possible," he cried. But his wife insisted on it. 
Then the old man came out and when he saw it was really his son, he was very 
much frightened for his own safety. He called out to his other wife, "Bring 
some caribou skins and spread them out for my son to walk on." But the boy 
kicked them away. " I have come a long way," said he, "with only my bare 
feet to walk on."

That night, the boy sang a song about the burning of the world and the old 
man sang against him but he was not strong enough. "I am going to set the 
world on fire," said the boy to his father, "I shall make all the lakes and 
rivers boil."

He took up an arrow and said, "I am going to shoot this arrow into the 
woods; see if I don't set them on fire." He shot his arrow into the bush and 
a great blaze sprang up and all the woods began to burn.

"The forest is now on fire," said the old man, "but the water is not yet 
burning." "I'll show you how I can make the water boil also," said his son. 
He shot another arrow into the water, and it immediately began to boil. Then 
the old man who wished to escape said to his son, "How shall we escape?" The 
old man had been a great bear hunter and had a large quantity of bear's 
grease preserved in a bark basket. "Go into your fat basket," said his son, 
"you will be perfectly safe there." Then he drew a circle on the ground and 
placed his mother there. The ground enclosed by the circle was not even 
scorched, but the wicked old man who had believed he would be safe in the 
grease baskets, was burned to death.

Aioswe's son said to his mother, "Let us become birds. What will you be?" 
"I'll be a robin," said she. "I'll be a whisky jack (Canada jay)," he 
replied. They flew off together.

XLVIII. DIRTY-BOY

(OKANAGON: Teit, Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, xi, 85, No. 6)

The people of a certain region were living together in a very large camp. 
Their chief had two beautiful daughters of marriageable age. Many young men 
had proposed to them, but all had been refused. The chief said, "Whom do my 
daughters wish to marry? They have refused all the men." SunandStar, who 
were brother and sister, lived in the sky, and had seen all that had 
happened. Sun said to his sister, "The chief's daughters have rejected the 
suits of all our friends. Let us go down and arrange this matter! Let us try 
these girls!" They made clothes, and at night they descended to earth.

During the darkness they erected a lodge on the outskirts of the camp. It 
had the appearance of being very old, and of belonging to poor people. The 
poles were old and badly selected. The covering was tattered and patched, 
and made of tule mats. The floor was strewn with old dried brush and grass, 
and the beds were of the same material. Their blankets consisted of old mats 
and pieces of old robes; and their kettles and cups were of bark, poorly 
made. Star had assumed the form of a decrepit old woman dressed in rags; and 
Sun, that of a dirty boy with sore eyes.

On the following morning the women of the camp saw the lodge, and peered in. 
When they returned, they reported, "Some very poor people arrived during the 
night, and are camped in an old mat lodge. We saw two persons inside, -a 
dirty, sore-eyed boy; and his grandmother, a very old woman in ragged 
clothes."'

Now, the chief resolved to find husbands for his daughters. He sent out his 
speaker to announce that in four days there would be a shooting-contest open 
to all the men, and the best marksman would get his daughters for wives.," 
The young men could not sleep for eagerness. On the third day the chief's 
speaker announced, "To-morrow morning every one shall shoot. Each one will 
have two shots. An eagle will perch on the tall tree yonder; and whoever 
kills it shall have the chief's daughters." Coyote was there and felt happy. 
He thought he would win the prize. On the following morning an eagle was 
seen soaring in the air, and there was much excitement as it began to 
descend. It alighted on a tree which grew near one end of the camp. Then the 
young men tried to shoot it. Each man had two arrows. The previous evening 
Sun had said to Star, "Grandmother, make a bow and arrows for me." She said, 
"What is the use? You cannot shoot. You never used bow and arrows." He 
replied, "I am going to try. I shall take part in the contest to-morrow. I 
heard what the chief said." She took pity on him, and went to a red willow-
bush, cut a branch for a bow, and some twigs for arrows. She strung the bow 
with a poor string, and did not feather the arrows.

Coyote, who was afraid some one else might hit the bird, shouted, "I will 
shoot first. Watch me hit the eagle." His arrow struck the lowest branch of 
the tree and fell down, and the people laughed. He said, "I made a mistake. 
That was a bad arrow. This one will kill the eagle." He shot, and the arrow 
fell short of the first one. He became angry, and pulled other arrows from 
his quiver. He wanted to shoot them all. The people seized him, and took 
away his arrows, saying, "You are allowed to shoot twice only." All the 
people shot and missed. When the last one had shot, Sun said, "Grandmother, 
lift the door of the lodge a little, so that I can shoot." She said, "First 
get out of bed." She pulled the lodge mat aside a little, and he shot. The 
arrow hit the tail of the eagle. The people saw and heard the arrow coming 
from Dirty-Boy's lodge, but saw no one shooting it. They wondered. He shot 
the second arrow, which pierced the eagle's heart.

Now, Wolf and others were standing near Dirty-Boy's lodge, and Wolf desired 
much to claim the prize. He shouted, "I shot the bird from the lodge-door!" 
and ran to pick it up; but the old woman Star ran faster than he, picked up 
the bird, and carried it to the chief. She claimed his daughters for her 
grandson. All the people gathered around, and made fun of Dirty-Boy. They 
said, "He is bedridden. He is lousy, soreeyed, and scabby-faced." The chief 
was loath to give his daughters to such a person. He knew that Dirty-Boy 
could not walk. Therefore he said , "To-morrow there shall be another 
contest. This will be the last one, I cannot break my word. Whoever wins 
this time shall have my daughters."

He announced that on the morrow each man should set two traps for fishers an 
animal very scarce at the place where the camp was located. If any one 
should catch a fisher one night, then he was to stay in the mountains 
another day to catch a second one. After that he had to come back. Those who 
caught nothing the first night had to come home at once. Only two traps were 
allowed to each man; and two fishers had to be caught, - one a light one, 
and one a dark one, - and both prime skins. When all the men had gone to the 
mountains, Sun said to his sister, "Grandmother, make two traps for me." She 
answered, "First get out of bed!" However, she had pity on him, and made two 
deadfalls of willow sticks. She asked him where she should set them; and he 
said, "One on each side of the lodge-door."

On the following morning all the men returned by noon; not one of them had 
caught a fisher. When Star went out, she found two fine fishers in the 
traps. Now the chief assembled the men to see if any one had caught the 
fishers. He was glad, because he knew that Dirty-Boy could not walk; and 
unless he went to the mountains, he had no chance to kill fishers. Just then 
the old grandmother appeared, dragging the fishers. She said, "I hear you 
asked for two fishers; here are two that my grandson caught." She handed 
them over to him, and then left.

Coyote had boasted that he would certainly catch the fishers. When he went 
up the mountain, he carried ten traps instead of two. He said, "Whoever 
heard of setting only two traps? I shall set ten." He set them all, remained 
out two nights, but got nothing.

The chief said to his daughters, "You must become the wives of Dirty-Boy. I 
tried to save you by having two contests; but since I am a great chief, I 
cannot break my word. Go now, and take up your abode with your husband." 
They put on their best clothes and went. On the way they had to pass Raven's 
house, and heard the Ravens laughing inside, be cause the girls had to marry 
Dirty-Boy. The elder sister said, "Let us go in and-see what they are 
laughing about!" The younger one said, "No, our father told us to go 
straight to our husband." The elder one went in, and sat down beside Raven's 
eldest son. She became his wife. Like all the other Ravens, he was ugly, and 
had a big head; but she thought it better to marry him than to become the 
wife of a dirty, sickly boy.

The younger one went on, entered Dirty-Boy's lodge, and sat down by his 
side. The old woman asked her who she was, and why she had come. When the 
old woman had been told, she said, "Your husband is sick, and soon he will 
die. He stinks too much. You must not sleep with him. Go back to your 
father's lodge every evening; but come here in the daytime, and watch him 
and attend him."

Now, the Raven family that lived close by laughed much at the younger 
daughter of the chief. They were angry because she had not entered their 
house and married there, as her elder sister had done. To hurt her feelings, 
they dressed their new daughter-in-law in the finest clothes they had. Her 
dress was covered with beads, shells, elk's teeth, and quill-work. They gave 
her necklaces, and her mother-in-law gave her a finely polished celt of 
green stone (jade) to hang at her belt. The younger sister paid no attention 
to this, but returned every morning to help her grandmother-in-law to gather 
fire-wood, and to attend to her sick husband.

For three days matters remained this way. In the evening of the third day 
Sun said to his sister, "We will resume our true forms to-night, so that 
people may see us to-morrow." That night they transformed themselves."' The 
old mat lodge became a fine new skin lodge, surpassing those of the 
Blackfeet and other tribes, richly decorated with ornaments, and with 
streamers tied to the top and painted. The old bark kettle became a bright 
copper kettle; and new pretty woven baskets, and embroidered and painted 
bags, were in the house. The old woman became a fine-looking person of tall 
figure, with clothes covered with shining stars. Dirty-Boy became a young, 
handsome man of light complexion. His clothes were covered with shining 
copper. His hair reached to the ground and shone like the rays of the sun. 
In the morning the people saw the new lodge, and said, "Some rich chief has 
arrived, and has camped where the poor people were. He has thrown them out."

When the girl arrived, she was much surprised to see the transformation. She 
saw a woman in the door, wearing a long skin dress covered with star 
pendants, with bright stars in her hair. She addressed her in a familiar 
voice, saying, "Come in and sit with your husband!" The girl then knew who 
she was. When she entered, she saw a handsome man reclining, with his head 
on a beautiful parfleche. His garments and hair were decorated with bright 
suns. The girl did not recognize him, and looked around. The woman said, 
"That is your husband; go and sit beside him." Then she was glad.

Sun took his wife to the copper kettle which stood at the door. It contained 
a shining liquid. He pushed her head into it, and when the liquid ran down 
over her hair and body, lines of sparkling small stars formed on her. He 
told her to empty the kettle. When she did so, the liquid ran to the chief's 
lodge, forming a path, as of gold-dust. He said, "This will be your trail 
when you go to see your father."

XLIX. THE FALSE BRIDEGROOM

(GROS VENTRE: Kroeber, Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural 
History, i, 108, No.28)

There were two girls, sisters. The older sister said, "We will go to look 
for Shell-Spitter." There was a man who was poor and who lived alone with 
his old mother. He was the Loon and his mother was Badger-Woman. He heard 
that two girls were looking for Shell-Spitter. He went to the children of 
the camp, and took their shells away from them. The girls arrived, and asked 
for Shell-Spitter's tent. It was shown them, and they went to it. There 
stood the Loon. "What are you girls looking for? " he said. "We are looking 
for Shell-Spitter. I am he." "Let us see you spit shells."

He had filled his mouth with shells, and now spit them out. The two girls 
stooped, and hastily picked them up, each trying to snatch them before the 
other. Then he took them to his tent. His tent was old and poor. His mother 
was gray-headed. He said to them, "I have another tent. It is fine and 
large. I have brought you here because there is more room to sleep." The 
girls went inside.

Soon some one called to the Loon, "Come over! they are making the sun-
dance!" "Oh!" he said. "Now I have to sit in the middle again, and give away 
presents. I am tired of it. For once they ought to get some one else. I am 
to sit on the chief's bed in the middle of the lodge."

He told his mother, " Do not let these women go out." Then he went out, and 
the old woman guarded the door. When she was asleep, one of the girls said, 
"I will go out to look." She stepped over the old woman, and went to the 
dance-lodge. Looking in, she saw the people dancing on the Loon's rump. On 
the bed in the middle sat a fine man. Whenever he spit, he spit shells. The 
ground all around him was covered with them.

Then the girl went back, and called to her sister, " Come out! They are 
dancing on this man; but the one who spits shells sits in the middle of the 
lodge." Then they both went to the lodge. They went inside and sat down 
behind Shell-Spitter.

Then the man on the ground, on whom the people were dancing, saw them. He 
jumped up. He killed Shell-Spitter, and ran out. He said to his mother, "I 
told you to watch, and not to let those women out." Then he told her, "Dig a 
hole quickly!" She quickly dug a hole inside the tent. He entered it, and 
then she followed him. The people came, but could do nothing. When they 
stopped trying to shoot, Badger-Woman came out of the hole, singing in 
ridicule of Shell-Spitter's death. Before the people could reach her she 
dropped into the hole again. She did this repeatedly.

CHAPTER V

JOURNEYS TO THE OTHER WORLD

L. THE STAR HUSBAND

TYPE 1: THE WISH TO MARRY A STAR

(TIMAGAMI OJIBWA: Speck, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Canada: 
Anthropological Series, ix, 47)

At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are 
here. In the winter time they used birch bark wigwams. All the animals could 
then. talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and 
were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-
of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept 
outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.

One of these girls asked the other, "With what star would you like to sleep, 
the white one or the red one? " The other girl answered, "I'd like to sleep 
with the red star." "Oh, that's all right," said the first one, " I would 
like to sleep with the white star. He's the younger; the red is the older." 
Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in 
another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls 
and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and 
was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The 
girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the 
white star was very sorry, for he was so old.

There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, 
whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, "That's where you 
came from." They looked down through and saw their people playing down 
below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, 
near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.

The younger girl heard the noise of the mitewin down below. When it was 
almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise of 
mitewin stopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian 
of the mitewin.

One morning the old woman told the girls, "If you want to go down where you 
came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a 
string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your 
heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough." The girls worked for 
days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it 
to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star 
world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle's nest, but the 
people above thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. 
They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help 
themselves.

Said one, "We'll have to stay here until some one comes to get us." Bear 
passed by. The girls cried out, " Bear, come and get us. You are going to 
get married sometime. Now is your chance!" Bear thought, "They are not very 
good-looking women." He pretended to climb up and then said, "I can't climb 
up any further." And he went away, for the girls did n't suit him. Next came 
Lynx. The girls cried out again, "Lynx, come up and get us. You will go 
after women some day!" Lynx answered, "I can't, for I have no claws," and he 
went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke 
to him. "Hey, wolverine, come and get us." Wolverine started to climb up, 
for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very 
glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then 
Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down 
and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and 
enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They 
went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. "Oh!" 
cried one of the girls, "I forgot my hair ribbon." Then Wolverine said, "I 
will run back for it." And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the 
girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and 
whistle for them, to answer him bv whistling. Wolverine soon returned and 
began to whistle f~r his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in 
answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search 
and departed very angry.

LI. THE STAR HUSBAND

TYPE II: THEGIRL ENTICED TO THE SKY

(ARAPAHO: Dorsey and Kroeber, Field Museum: Anthropological Series, v, 330, 
No. 135)

There was a camp-circle. A party of women went out after some wood for the 
fire. One of them saw a porcupine near a cottonwood tree and informed her 
companions of the fact. The porcupine ran around the tree , finally climbing 
it, whereupon the woman tried to hit the animal, but he dodged from one side 
of the trunk of the tree to the other, for protection. At length one of the 
women started to climb the tree to catch the porcupine, but it ever stopped 
just beyond her reach. She even tried to reach it with a stick, but with 
each effort it went a little higher. "Well!" said she, "I am climbing to 
catch the porcupine, for I want those quills, and if necessary I will go to 
the top."

When porcupine had reached the top of the tree the woman was still climbing, 
although the cottonwood was dangerous and the branches were waving to and 
fro; but as she approached the top and was about to lay hands upon the 
porcupine, the tree suddenly lengthened when the porcupine resumed his 
climbing. Looking down, she saw her friends looking up at her, and beckoning 
her to come down; but having passed under the influence of the porcupine and 
fearful for the great distance between herself and the ground, she continued 
to climb, until she became the merest speck to those looking up from below, 
and with the porcupine she finally reached the sky."'

The porcupine took the woman into the camp-circle where his father and 
mother lived. The folks welcomed her arrival and furnished her with the very 
best kind of accommodation. The lodge was then put up for them to live in. 
The porcupine was very industrious and of course the old folks were well 
supplied with hides and food.

One day she decided to save all the sinew from the buffalo, at the same time 
doing work on buffalo robes and other things with it, in order to avoid all 
suspicion on the part of her husband and the old folks, as to why she was 
saving the sinew. Thus she continued to save a portion of the sinew from 
each beef brought in by her husband, until she had a supply suitable for her 
purpose. One day her husband cautioned her, that while in search of roots, 
wild turnips and other herbs, she should not dig and that should she use the 
digging stick, she should not dig too deep, and that she should go home 
early when out for a walk. The husband was constantly bringing in the beef 
and hide, in order that he might keep his wife at work at home all the time. 
But she was a good worker and soon finished what was required for them.

Seeing that she had done considerable work, one day she started out in 
search of hog potatoes, and carried with her the digging stick. She ran to a 
thick patch and kept digging away to fill her bag. She accidentally struck a 
hole which surprised her very much, and so she stooped down and looked in 
and through the hole, seeing below, a green earth with a camp-circle on it. 
After questioning herself and recognizing the campcircle below, she 
carefully covered the spot and marked it. She took the bag and went to her 
own tipi, giving the folks some of the hog potatoes. The old folks were 
pleased and ate the hog potatoes to satisfy their daughter-in-law. The 
husband returned home too, bringing in beef and hides.

Early one morning the husband started off for more beef and hides, telling 
his wife to be careful about herself. After he was gone, she took the 
digging stick and the sinew she had to the place where she struck the hole. 
When she got to the hole, she sat down and began tying string, so as to make 
the sinew long enough to reach the bottom. She then opened the hole and laid 
the digging stick across the hole which she had dug, and tied one of the 
sinew strings in the center of this stick, and then also fastened herself to 
the end of the lariat.194 She gradually loosened the sinew lariat as she let 
herself down, finally finding herself suspended above the top of the tree 
which she had climbed, but not near enough so that she could possibly reach 
it.

When the husband missed her, he scolded the old people for not watching 
their daughter-in-law. He began to look for her in the direction in which 
she usually started off, but found no fresh tracks, though he kept traveling 
until he tracked her to the digging stick which was lying across the hole. 
The husband stQoped down and looked into this hole and saw his wife 
suspended from this stick by means of a sinew lariat or string. "Well, the 
only way to do is to see her touch the bottom," said he. So he looked around 
and found a circular stone two or three inches thick, and brought it to the 
place. Again he continued, "I want this stone to light right on top of her 
head," and he dropped the stone carefully along the sinew string, and it 
struck the top of her head and broke her off and landed her safe on the 
ground. She took up the stone and went to the camp-circle. This is the way 
the woman returned.

LII. THE STRETCHING TREE

(CHILCOTIN. Farrand, Jesup North Pacific Expedition, ii, 29, No. 13)

Once an old man and a young man and two women lived together. The two women 
were the young man's wives. Now, the young man needed some feathers for his 
arrows; and one day, seeing a hawk's nest in a high tree, he started to 
climb to it to get the hawk-feathers. Now, the old man was jealous of the 
young man, and had followed him. And when he saw him climbing the tree, he 
used his magic and made the tree grow higher and higher and at the same time 
peeled off all the bark so that the trunk was slippery; and as the young man 
was naked, he could not come down, but had to remain in the top of the tree. 
When the young man failed to appear that night, the old man said he wished 
to move camp, and that the women were to come with him. And the next morning 
they started. Now, one of the women liked the old man; but the other one, 
who had a baby, disliked him, and when they camped for the night, she would 
take her baby, and make a fire for herself outside the camp and away from 
the old man. So they went on for several days.

All this time the young man staid up in the tree; and as it was cold and he 
had no clothes, he took his hair, which was very long, and wove feathers in 
it, and so made a blanket to protect himself. The little birds who built 
their nests in the sticks of the hawk's nest tried their best to carry him 
down to the ground, but could not lift him, and so he staid on.

Finally one day he saw coming, a long way off, an old woman bent over, and 
with a stick in each hand. She came to the bottom 'of the tree where the 
young man was, and began to climb, and climbed until she reached the young 
man, and then she turned out to be Spider. Then Spider spun a web for him, 
and of the web the young man made a rope and so reached the ground.

When he came back to his camp, he found it deserted, but discovered the 
trail of the fugitives, and started to follow. He trailed them a long time, 
and finally saw them in the distance. Now, the woman who did not like the 
old man was following behind with her little boy; and the child, looking 
back, saw his father and cried out, "Why, there is my father!" But the 
mother replied, "What do you mean? Your father has been dead a long time." 
But looking back herself, she saw her husband, and waited for him to come 
up, and they stopped together.

Then she told her husband all that had happened, how the old man had wished 
to take both his wives, and how she would not have him, but how the other 
one took him. Now, the woman was carrying a large basket, and she put her 
husband into it and covered him up. When they reached the old man's camp she 
put the basket down close to the fire; but the old man took it and placed it 
some distance away. The woman brought it back and as she did so the young 
man sprang out and struck the old man and killed him. Then he killed his 
faithless wife; and taking the other woman, who was true, and the little 
boy, they went back to their old home together.

LIII. THE ARROW CHAIN

(TLINGIT: Swanton, Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xxxix, -
209, No. 56)

Two very high-caste boys were chums. The father of one was town chief and 
had his house in the middle of the village, but the house of the other boy's 
father stood at one end. These boys would go alternately to each other's 
houses and make great quantities of arrows which they would play with until 
all were broken up.

One time both of the boys made a great quantity of arrows to see which could 
have the more. Just back of their village was a hill on the top of which was 
a smooth grassy place claimed by the boys as their playground, and on a 
certain fine, moonlight night they started thither. As they were going along 
the lesser chief's son, who was ahead, said, "Look here, friend. Look at 
that moon. Don't you think that the shape of that moon is the same as that 
of my mother's labret and that the size is the same, too? " The other 
answered, " Don't: You must not talk that way of the moon."

Then suddenly it became very dark about them and presently the head chief's 
son saw a ring about them just like a rainbow. When it disappeared his 
companion was gone. He called and called to him but did not get any answer 
and did not see him. He thought, "He must have run up the hill to get away 
from that rainbow." He looked up and saw the moon in the sky. Then he 
climbed the hill, and looked about, but his friend was not there. Now he 
thought, "Well! the moon must have gone up with him. That circular rainbow 
must have been the moon."

The boy thus left alone sat down and cried, after which he began to try the 
bo-vys. He put strings on them one after the other and tried them, but every 
one broke. He broke all of his own bows and all of his his chum's except one 
which was made of very hard wood. He thought, " Now I am going to shoot that 
star next to the moon." In that spot was a large and very bright one. He 
shot an arrow at this star and sat down to watch, when, sure enough, the 
star darkened. Now he began shooting at that star from the big piles of 
arrows he and his chum had made, and he was encouraged by seeing that the 
arrows did not come back. After he had shot for some time he saw something 
hanging down very near him and, when he shot up another arrow, it stuck to 
this. The next did likewise, and at last the chain of arrows reached him. He 
put a last one on to complete it.

Now the youth felt badly for the loss of his friend and, lying down under 
the arrow chain, he went to sleep. After a while he awoke, found himself 
sleeping on that hill, remembered the arrows he had shot away, and looked 
up. Instead of the arrows there was a long ladder reaching right down to 
him. He arose and looked so as to make sure. Then he determined to ascend. 
First, however, he took various kinds of bushes and stuck them into the knot 
of hair he wore on his head. He climbed up his ladder all day and camped at 
nightfall upon it, resuming his journey the following morning. When he awoke 
early on the second morning his head felt very heavy. Then he seized the 
salmon berry bush that was in his hair, pulled it out, and found it was 
loaded with berries. After he had eaten the berries off, he stuck the branch 
back into his hair and felt very much strengthened. About noon of the same 
day he again felt hungry, and again his head was heavy, so he pulled out a 
bush from the other side of his head and it was loaded with blue 
huckleberries. It was already summer there in the sky. That was why he was 
getting berries. When he resumed his journey next morning his head did not 
feel heavy until noon. At that time he pulled out the bush at the back of 
his head and found it loaded with red huckleberries.

By the time he had reached the top the boy was very tired. He looked round 
and saw a large lake. Then he gathered some soft brush and some moss and lay 
down to sleep. But, while he slept, some person came to him and shook him 
saying, "Get up. I am after you." He awoke and looked around but saw no one. 
Then he rolled over and pretended to go to sleep again but looked out 
through his eyelashes. By and by he saw a very small but handsome girl 
coming along. Her skin clothes were very clean and neat, and her leggings 
were ornamented with porcupine quills. Just as she reached out to shake him 
he said, "I have seen you already."

Now the girl stood still and said, " I have come after you. My grandmother 
has sent me to bring you to her house." So he went with her, and they came 
to a very small house in which was an old woman. The old woman said, "What 
is it you came way up here after, my grandson?" and the boy answered, "On 
account of my playmate who was taken up hither." "Oh!" answered the old 
woman, "He is next door, only a short distance away. I can hear him crying 
every day. He is in the moon's house."

Then the old woman began to give him food. She would put her hand up to her 
mouth, and a salmon or whatever she was going to give would make its 
appearance. After the salmon she gave him berries and then meat, for she 
knew that he was hungry from his long journey. After that she gave him a 
spruce cone, a rose bush, a piece of devil's club, and a small piece of 
whetstone to take along.

As the boy was going toward the moon's house with all of these things he 
heard his playmate screaming with pain. He had been put up on a high place 
near the smoke hole, so, when his rescuer came to it, he climbed on top, 
and, reaching down through the smoke hole, pulled him out. He said, "My 
friend, come. I am here to help you." Putting the spruce cone down where the 
boy had been, he told it to imitate his cries, and he and his chum ran away.

After a while, however, the cone dropped from the place where it has been 
put, and the people discovered that their captive had escaped. Then the moon 
started in pursuit. When the head chief's son discovered this, he threw 
behind them the devil's club he had received from the old woman, and a patch 
of devil's club arose which the moon had so much trouble in getting through 
that they gained rapidly on him. When the moon again approached, the head 
chief's son threw back the rose bushes, and such a thicket of roses grew 
there that the moon was again delayed. When he approached them once more, 
they threw back the grindstone, and it became a high cliff from which the 
moon kept rolling back. It is on account of this cliff that people can say 
things about the moon nowadays with impunity. When the boys reached the old 
woman's house they were very glad to see each other, for before this they 
had not had time to speak.

The old woman gave them something to eat, and, when they were through, she 
said to the rescuer, "Go and lie down at the place where you lay when you 
first came up. Don't think of anything but the playground you used to have." 
They went there and lay down, but after some time the boy who had first been 
captured thought of the old woman's house and immediately they found 
themselves there. Then the old woman said, "Go back and do not think of me 
any more. Lie there and think of nothing but the place where you used to 
play." They did so, and, when they awoke, they were lying on their 
playground at the foot of the ladder.

As the boys lay in that place they heard a drum beating in the head chief's 
house, where a death feast was being held for them, and the head chief's son 
said, "Let us go," but the other answered, "No, let us wait here until that 
feast is over." Afterward the boys went down and watched the people come out 
with their faces all blackened. They stood at a corner, but, as this dance 
is always given in the evening, they were not seen.

Then the head chief's son thought, " I wish my younger brother would come 
out," and sure enough, after all of the other people had gone, his younger 
brother came out. He called to his brother saying, "Come here. It is I,- but 
the child was afraid and ran into the house instead. Then the child said to 
his mother, "My brother and his friend are out here." "Why do you talk like 
that?" asked his mother. "Don't you know that your brother died some time 
ago?" And she became very angry. The child, however, persisted, saying, " I 
know his voice, and I know him." His mother was now very much disturbed, so 
the boy said, "I am going to go out and bring in a piece of his shirt." "Go 
and do so," said his mother. "Then I will believe you."

When the boy at last brought in a piece of his brother's shirt his mother 
was convinced, and they sent word into all of the houses, first of all into 
that of the second boy's parents, but they kept both with them so that his 
parents could come there and rejoice over him. All of the other people in 
that village also came to see them.

LIV. MUDJ1KIWIS

(PLAINS CREE: Skinner, Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxix, 353, No. 3)

ONCE upon a time the Indians were camping. They had ten lodges. There were 
ten of them; and the eldest brother, Mudjikiwis, was sitting in the doorway. 
It was winter, and all the Indians had their side-bags on; and every day 
they went off and hunted in the direction which they faced as they sat. 
Mudjikiwis always took the lead, and the others followed. Once when he came 
home to his camp, he saw smoke just as he crossed the last hill. When he 
approached the lodge, he saw a pile of wood neatly stacked by the door. He 
himself had always cooked the dinner; and when he saw it ready, he was very 
glad. "There is surely a girl here!" he thought. "There must be some one who 
has done this. "

He had many brothers younger than himself. "Maybesome one is trying to marry 
them, or some girl wants me!"

When he arrived at the lodge, he saw a girl's pigeon-toed tracks, and he was 
delighted."It is a girl!" he cried, and he rushed in to see her, but there 
was no one there. The fire was just started, the meat cooked and ready, and 
water had been drawn. Some one had just finished work when he came. There 
were even ten pairs of moccasins hanging up. "Now, at last, there is some 
one to sew for us! Surely one of us will get married!" he thought, and he 
also thought that he would be the fortunate one. He did not touch anything, 
but left everything as he had found it for his brothers to see.

After a while the brother next to him in age came in. He looked up and saw 
all the moccasins, and he too was very glad. Then Mudjikiwis said, "I do not 
know which of us is going to be married. A girl has just left here, but I 
cannot tell who she is, and there are ten of us. One of us is loved by some 
one!" They soon were joined by the third, and then by the fourth brother, 
and the fire was out by that time. The youngest brother was the most 
handsome one of the family. "If one of us should marry, Mudjikiwis, we shall 
have to hunt hard and not let our sister-in-law hunger or be in need," he 
said. " I shall be very glad if we have a sister-in-law. Don't let her chop 
wood; she cannot attend to all of us. We just want her to cook and mend our 
clothes."

At night they were all crying, "He, he, he!" until dark came, because they 
were so glad. "I cannot attend to all my brothers, and I do not need to do 
so any more!" cried Mudjikiwis.

The next day nine went off, and left the youngest brother on guard to see 
the girl. Mudjikiwis came back first, and found that the tenth boy had not 
been taken. "Oh, well! leave our ninth brother next time , " he said "Then 
we will try it once more with our eighth brother."

Three of them then kept house in succession, but the woman did not come. 
They then left the fifth one, and said, " If no one comes, make dinner for 
us yourself." Soon after they had left, some one came along making a noise 
like a rattle, for she had bells on her leggings.

"Oh, she shall not know me!" said the youth. "I shall be a bit of eagle-
down," and he flew up between the canvas and the poles of the lodge. 
Presently the girl entered. She had very long hair, and was very pretty. She 
took the axe and went out to cut wood, and soon brought in four armfuls. 
Then she made the fire, took down the kettles, and prepared dinner. When she 
had done so she melted some snow, took another armful of wood, and started 
another fire. After she had finished she called to the youth to come down 
from his hiding-place. "Maybe you think I don't know you are up there," she 
said. So he came down and took a seat with her by the fire.

When Mudjikiwis came home, he saw another big pile of wood. When he came 
near, he cried, "He, he, he!" to show that he was well pleased. "I could not 
attend to the needs of my brothers," he shouted, "I could not cook for them, 
and I could not provide my relatives with moccasins!" He entered the door 
and bent down, for Mudjikiwis had on a fisher-skin head-band with an eagle-
quill thrust in behind. As he came in, he saw a pretty girl sitting there. 
When he sat down, he said, "Hai, hai, hai! The girl is sitting like her 
mother." He pulled off his shoes and threw them to his youngest brother, and 
received a fine pair of moccasins from his sister-in-law. He was delighted, 
and cried, " Hai, hai, hai! " Soon all the other brothers came back, all 
nine of them, and each received new moccasins.

Mudjikiwis said, "I have already advised you. Do not let our sister-in-law 
chop wood or do any hard work. Hunt well, and do not let her be hungry." 
Morning came, and Mudjikiwis was already half in love with his sister-in-
law. He started out, pretending that he was going to hunt, but he only went 
over a hill and stopped there. Then he wrapped his blanket around himself. 
It was winter, and he took some mud from under the snow and rubbed it over 
his forehead and on his hat-band. He had his ball-headed club with him, 
which had two eyes that winked constantly. Soon he saw his sister-in-law, 
who came out to chop wood. He went to speak to her, but the girl had 
disappeared. Soon she came back. There was one pile of wood here, and one 
there. Mudjikiwis stopped at the one to the west. He had his bow, his 
arrows, and his club with him. He held his club on the left arm, and his bow 
and arrow on the right arm, folded his arms across his breast, and was 
smiling at her when she came up. "0 my brother-in-law! I don't want to do 
that," she cried.

Then Mudjikiwis was angry because she scorned him. He took an arrow and shot 
her in the leg, and fled off to hunt. That night he returned late, last of 
all. As he came close to the lodge, he called out, "Yoha, yoha! what is 
wrong with you? You have done some kind of mischief. Why is there no wood 
for our sister-in-law?" He went in. "What is wrong with our sister-in-law, 
that she is not home?" he demanded. His brother then said, "Why are you so 
late? You used to be the first one here."

Mudjikiwis would not speak in reply. The married brother came in last. The 
young brother was tired of waiting, and asked each, "You did not see your 
sister-in-law, did you?" The others replied, "Mudjikiwis came very late. He 
never did so before."

"I shall track my wife," said the husband. So he set off in pursuit of her. 
He tracked her, and found that she had brought one load of wood. Her secand 
trail ended at a little lodge of willows that she had made, and where she 
was. She cried to him, "Do not come here! Your brother Mudjikiwis has shot 
me. I told him I did not want to receive him, and then he shot me down. Do 
not come here. You will see me on the fourth night. If you want to give rne 
food, put it outside the door and go away, and I shall get it."

Her husband went home, as she commanded. After that the youth would bring 
her food, after hunting, every night. "It is well. Even though our brother 
shot my wife, I shall forgive him, if I can only see her after four nights," 
he said. The third night he could hardly stay away, he wanted to see her so 
badly. The fourth day at dawn he went to the lodge; and as he drew near, she 
cried, "Do not come!" but he went in, anyway, and saw her there. "I told you 
not to come, but you could not restrain yourself. When your brothers could 
not attend to themselves, I wished to help them," she cried. So he went home 
satisfied, since he had seen her. They breakfasted, and he started out again 
with food for her. She had gone out, for he found her tracks, little steps, 
dabbled with blood. Then he went back home, and said to his brothers, "My 
brothers, I am going to go after my wife."

He dressed, and followed her footprints. Sometimes he ran, and at sunset he 
wanted to camp. So he killed a rabbit; and as he came out of the brush, he 
saw a lodge. "He, my grandchild!" called a voice, "You are thinking of 
following your wife. She passed here at dawn. Come in and sit down! Here is 
where she sat before you." He entered, and found an old woman, who told him 
to sit in the same place where his wife had sat. He gave her the rabbit he 
had shot, as he was really hungry. "Oh, my grandchild must be very hungry!" 
she cried, " so I shall cook for him," said the old crone. Her kettle was no 
larger than a thimble. She put in one morsel of meat and one little berry. 
The youth thought that was a very small allowance, when he was really 
hungry.

"O my grandchild!" the old woman said aloud in answer to his thoughts, "no 
one has ever eaten all my kettle holds. You are wrong if you think you won't 
get enough of this."

But he still thought so, and did not believe her. After the food was cooked, 
she said, "Eat, nosis! " and gave him a spoon. He took out the piece of meat 
and the berry; but when he had eaten it, the kettle was still full. He did 
this many times over. When he had finished, he had not eaten it all, yet he 
had enough. Then the grandmother told him that he had married one of ten 
sisters.

"They are not real people," she said, "they are from way up in the skies. 
They have ten brothers. There are three more of your grandmothers on the 
road where you are going. Each will tell you to go back, as I advised you; 
but if you insist, I will give you two bones to help you climb over the 
mountains."

Now, this old woman was really a moose, and not a human grandmother at all. 
"If you get into difficulties, you must cry, 'Where is my grandmother?' and 
use these two front shin-bones of the moose that I gave you." He slept 
there, and in the morning she gave him breakfast from the same kettle. When 
he was through she said, " Do not walk fast. Even if you rest on the way, 
you will reach your next grandmother in the evening. If you walk as fast as 
you can, you will get there at night."

He followed the trail as fast as he could, for he did not believe his 
grandmother. In the evening he killed a rabbit; and when he came out of the 
brush, there stood another lonely lodge, as before.

"O my grandchild! there is room in here for you to come in," cried a voice. 
"Your wife passed here early yesterday morning." Yet he had travelled two 
days. "She came in here!"

The old woman cooked for him in the same way as his other grandmother had 
done. Again he did not believe in her kettle, for he had already forgotten 
about his first grandmother. This grandmother was older than the first one 
whom he had left, and who was the youngest of the four grandmothers he was 
to meet. They were all sisters. "Why did you not believe my sister when she 
told you to go slowly? When you go fast, you make the trail longer. Hau, 
nosis! it is a difficult country where you are going," she cried. She gave 
him a squirrel-skin, saying, "Use this, nosis, whenever you are in 
difficulties. 'Where is my grandmother?' you shall say. This is what makes 
everything easy. You will cry, and you will throw it away. You will not 
leave me till the morning."

So very early next day he started off. He went very slowly; and in a few 
minutes it was night, and he killed another rabbit. When he came out of the 
brush, he saw another lodge, a little nearer than the others, and less 
ragged. The old woman said to him, "Your wife passed here the same morning 
that she left up there"; and this grandmother made supper for him, as the 
others had done. This time the food was corn. "Nosis, your last grandmother, 
who is my sister, will give you good advice. Your wife has had a child 
already. Go very slowly, and you will reach there at night; it is not far 
from here. It is a very difficult country where you are going. Maybe you 
will not be able to getthere." She gave him a stuffed frog and some glue. 
"Whenever the mountains are too steep for you to climb, cry, 'Where is my 
grandmother?' put glue on your hands, and climb, and you will stick to the 
rocks. When you reach your next grandmother, she will advise you well. Your 
child is a little boy."

In the morning he had breakfast, and continued on the trail. He went on 
slowly, and it was soon night, and he killed another rabbit. When he reached 
the next lodge, nearer than all the rest, his grandmother said, " They have 
been saying you would be here after your wife; she passed here four days ago 
at dawn."

The youth entered the tent, and found that this grandmother was a fine young 
girl in appearance. She said, "To-morrow at noon your wife is going to be 
married, and the young men will all sit in a circle and pass your child 
around. The man upon whom he urinates will be known as his father and she 
will marry him." The old woman took off her belt, rolled it up nicely, and 
gave it to him. "This is the last one that you will use,"shesaid, "When you 
are in trouble, cry out, 'Where is my grandmother?' and throw the belt out, 
and it will stick up there, so you can climb up to the top. Before noon you 
will reach a perpendicular precipice like a wall. Your wife is not of our 
people. She is one of the Thunderers."

That night the youth camped there. In the morning he had food. "If you 
manage to climb the mountain somehow," his grandmother said to him before he 
started, "you will cross the hill and see a steep slope, and there you will 
find a nest. There is one egg in it. That is a Thunderer's nest. As you come 
down, you will strike the last difficult place. There is a large log across 
a river. The river is very deep, and the log revolves constantly. There you 
will find a big camp, headed by your father-in-law, who owns everything 
there. There is one old woman just on this side. She is one of us sisters; 
she is the second oldest of us. You will see bones strewn about when you get 
there. Many young men go there when they are looking for their wives, and 
their bones you will see lying about. The Thunderer destroys everything. 
Some have been cut in halves when they tried to get over the cut-knife 
mountain."

When the youth came to the mountain, he took first the two bones, and cried, 
"O grandmother! where are you?" and as he cried, she called from far off, 
"He, nosis, do not get into trouble!" He drove the bones into the mountain 
and climbed up hand over hand, driving them in as he climbed. The bones 
pierced the rock. When he looked back, he saw that he was far up. He 
continued until the bones began to grow short, and at last he had to stop. 
Then he took out the squirrel-hide, called upon his grandmother for help, 
and threw the skin ahead. He went up in the air following it. All at once he 
stopped, and his nails wore out on the rock as he slipped back. Then he took 
the glue out of its bundle. He cried for his grandmother, and heard her 
answer. She had told him that he would find a hollow at one place, and there 
he rested on a ledge when his glue gave out. Then he called for his next 
grandmother, heard her answer, and cast out his belt, unrolling it. Then he 
climbed up the sharp summit. He felt of the edge, which was very sharp 
indeed. Then he became apiece of eagle-down. "The eagle-down loved me once. 
I shall be it, and blow over the ledge," he cried.

When he got across, he saw the Thunderer's nest and the two Thunderers and 
their egg. He found a trail from there on, until he came to the rolling log 
that lay across the deep river. Then he became down again, and blew across; 
and though many others had been drowned there, he crossed alive. He went on, 
and at last saw a small, low lodge with a little stone beside it. His last 
grandmother had told him to enter, as this was the abode of one of her 
sisters. So he went in.

"Ha, ha, ha, nosis!" she cried, "They said a long time ago that you were 
following your wife. She is to be married right now." - "Yes," he said. The 
marriage was to be in a lodge. He went there, peeped in, and a man saw him, 
who said, "Are you coming in? Our chief says he will pass the child about 
and he on whose breast it urinates shall marry its mother."

So he went in. The girl saw him, and told her mother. "Oh, that is the one I 
married."

When he arrived there, Mudjikiwis (not the youth's brother, but another one, 
a Thunderer) was there too. They took the child, and one man passed it. 
Mudjikiwis, the Thunderer, held some water in his mouth. He seized the 
child, crying, "Come here, nosis!" and spat the water over himself; but, 
when he tried to claim the child, all the others laughed, as they had seen 
his trick. When the child's real father took it up, it urinated on him. Then 
all went out. The chief said, "Do not let my son-in-law walk about, because 
he is really tired. He shall not walk for ten days."

His father-in-law would go off all day. Hanging in the lodge the youth saw 
his brother's arrow, with which his wife had been shot. The father-in-law 
would burn sweet-grasS for the arrow at the rare intervals when he came 
back, for he would be off for days at a time. On the fifth night the youth 
felt rested, and could walk a little. Then he asked his wife, "Why does your 
father smoke that arrow?" and she answered, "Oh, we never see those things 
up here. It is from below, and he thinks highly of it; therefore he does 
so."

On the sixth night he was able to walk around in the brush; and he came to a 
spring, where he found, on the surface of the water, a rusty stain with 
which he: painted his face. He returned, and, as he was entering, his 
father-in-law cried, "Oh, that is why I want a son-in-law that is a human 
being! Where did he kill that bear? He is covered with blood. Go and dress 
it," he ordered. The youth was frightened, as he had not seen any bear at 
all. "You people that live below," his wife said, "call them Giant Panthers. 
Show your brothers-in-law where it is." The youth took his brother-in-law to 
the spring. "Here is where I found the Panther," he said.

The ten Thunderers came up and struck the spring, and killed something 
there. After that the youth looked for springs all the time, and it came to 
pass that he found a number. One day he asked his wife, "Why does your 
father go away for whole days at a time?" and his wife said, "There is a 
large lake up here, and he hunts for fish there. He kills one every day, 
seldom two. He is the only one that can kill them."

The next morning the youth went to the lake, and found his father-in-law 
sitting by the shore fishing. The old man had a peculiar spear, which was 
forked at the end. The youth took it, and put barbs on it, so that the old 
man was able to catch a number of fish quickly. Then they went home. When 
they arrived, his father-in-law said, "My son-in-law has taken many of them. 
I myself can only kill one, and sometimes two."

So he told all the people to go and get fish and eat them freely. On the 
following day, the young man, according to his mother-in-law's wish, took 
his wife to fish. They took many fish, and carried them home. The father-in-
law knew, before they returned, that they had caught many.

The old man had had a dream. When he saw how the youth prepared the spear 
which his daughter had given him, he said, referring to his dream, "My dream 
was wrong, I thought the youngest of the ten liked me the best. I made the 
spear in the way I saw it, not as this one has shown me. It is due to my 
dream that it is wrong. Your nine brothers are having a hard time. Now, my 
sons, your sisters are going away soon to be married."

For nine nights the youth saw a dim light at a distance. The father-in-law 
said to him, " Do not go there, for a powerful being lives there." The tenth 
night, however, the youth disobeyed this injunction. When he reached there, 
he saw a tall tree, and a huge porcupine that was burrowing at the foot of 
the tree. The porcupine struck the tree, and tried to kill it by shooting 
its quills into it. After the porcupine had shot off all its quills, the 
youth knocked it on the head, took two long quills from the tree, and 
carried them home. Even before he got there, his father-in-law knew what had 
happened. They were delighted, for they said that the porcupine would kill 
the Thunderers when they tried to attack it. The father-in-law went out, and 
called to his sons to go and dress the porcupine that the youth had killed. 
The latter gave the two quills to his wife, though his father-in-law wanted 
them. The fatherin-law said, "My children, this porcupine killed all our 
friends when they went to war against it. My sons-in-law below are miserable 
and lonely."

The eldest of the daughters, who was called Mudjikiskwe'wic, was delighted 
at the news. "You will marry the oldest one, Mudjikiwis," she was told. They 
were all to be married in order, the eldest girl to the eldest brother, the 
youngest to the youngest one. The old man said, " Mudjikiskwewic shall take 
her brother-in-law with her when she goes down to the earth." The young 
women went down. Sh-swsh! went Mudjikiskwe'wic (the girl) with hLr dress. 
They reached the steep place, and the married woman said to her husband that 
they would fly around. " If you do not catch me when I fly past, you will be 
killed here." The women went off a little ways, and a heavy thunderstorm 
arose, big black clouds and lightning, yet ~e saw Mudjikiskwe'wic in it. She 
was green, and so was the sun; and as they passed she shouted once, then 
again a little nearer, and again close by. Then he jumped off and caught her 
by the back. He closed his eyes as he did so, and did not open them until 
the Thunderer wife said, "Now let go!" Then he found himself at home. He 
left the girls behind, and went to the lodge and opened the door a little.

As soon as he was inside, he said, "My brothers, I am here!" They were lying 
in the ashes around the fire. "The Canada jays always make me angry when 
they say that," they retorted, and they threw a handful of ashes towards the 
door. "My brothers, I am coming!" he said again. " Ah! that is what the 
Crows say to make us angry," retorted the rest, and they threw ashes towards 
the door. "My brothers, I am coming!" he declared. "Ah! that is what the 
Chickadees say to make us angry," cried they, and threw ashes once more. 
Then for the fourth time, he cried, "My brothers, get up!" Then Mudjikiwis 
cried, "Look up! See who it is! They never say that four times!"

They looked up and their eyes were swollen from weeping on account of their 
brother. They were covered with ashes. When they opened their eyes, they saw 
their fifth brother restored. "Arise, wash your faces, and fix camp!" said 
he. "I have brought sisters-in-law with me."

Mudjikiwis was glad to hear this, and he and the others began to decorate 
themselves. They took white earth from crawfish-holes, and painted their 
faces with it. Mudjikiwis seized his winking war-club, and they made the 
lodge larger by spreading the poles. Then the fifth brother called the 
sistersin-law, and they all came in. The fifth son told Mudjikiskwe'wic that 
the youngest of the sisters should come in first, she herself last, although 
it would have been proper for the eldest brother to receive his wife first. 
"Do not come in till I call you, saying, 'Now, come! my brothers are tired 
waiting.

Mudjikiskwe'wic promised to obey.

Mudjikiwis sat with his head in his hands, and peeped at each girl. He saw 
them sit by his brothers, until every one but he was furnished with a wife. 
Then there was a pause. Mudjikiwis began to weep, and he sniffed audibly. At 
last the fifth brother had pity on him, and called the girl in. She came in 
with a swishing sound of rustling clothing. Then Mudjikiwis was very glad.

"What shall we feed them on?" said one. "Let me see!" said Mudjikiwis, and 
he took his winking club and went out, and clubbed a bear right there. "O 
wife! we shall have a meal of bear-meat!" he cried. Mudjikiskwe'wic replied, 
"Oh, you are hunting my younger brother!" - " Oh, I did not mean to kill my 
brother-in-law," retorted the other.

And they are married today, and live where the sun does not shine.

LV. ORPHEUS

(CHEROKEE: Mooney, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xix, 252, No. 
5)

The Sun lived on the other side of the sky vault, but her daughter lived in 
the middle of the sky, directly above the earth, and every day as the Sun 
was climbing along the sky arch to the west she used to stop at her 
daughter's house for dinner.

Now, the Sun hated the people on the earth, because they could never look 
straight at her without screwing up their faces. She said to her brother, 
the Moon, "My grandchildren are ugly; they grin all over their faces when 
they look at me." But the Moon said, "I like my younger brothers; I think 
they are very handsome" - because they always smiled pleasantly when they 
saw him in the sky at night, for his rays were milder.

The Sun was jealous and planned to kill all the people; so every day when 
she got near her daughter's house she sent down such sultry rays that there 
was a great fever and the people died by hundreds, until everyone had lost 
some friend and there was fear that no one would be left. They went for help 
to the Little Men, who said the only way to save themselves was to kill the 
Sun.

The Little Men made medicine and changed two men to snakes, the Spreading-
adder and the Copperhead, and sent them to watch near the door of the 
daughter of the Sun to bite the old Sun when she came next day. They went 
together and hid near the house until the Sun came, but when the 
Spreadingadder was about to spring, the bright light blinded him and he 
could only spit out yellow slime, as he does to this day when he tries to 
bite. She called him a nasty thing and went by into the house, and the 
Copperhead crawled off without trying to do anything.

So the people still died from the heat, and they went to the Little Men a 
second time for help. The Little Men made medicine again and changed one man 
into a great Uktena and another into the Rattlesnake and sent them to watch 
near the house and kill the old Sun when she came for dinner. They make the 
Uktena very large, with horns on his head, and everyone thought he would be 
sure to do the work, but the Rattlesnake was so quick and eager that he got 
ahead and coiled up just outside the house, and when the Sun's daughter 
opened the door to look out for her mother, he sprang up and bit her and she 
fell dead in the doorway. He forgot to wait for the old Sun, but went back 
to the people, and the Uktena was so very angry that he went back, too. 
Since then we pray to the rattlesnake and do not kill him, because he is 
kind and never tries to bite if we do not disturb him. The Uktena grew 
angrier all the time and very dangerous, so that if he even looked at a man, 
that man's family would die. After a long time the people held a council and 
decided that he was too dangerous to be with them, so they sent him up to 
Galunlati, and he is there now. The Spreading-adder, the Copperhead, the 
Rattlesnake, and the Uktena were all men.

When the Sun found her daughter dead, she went into the house and grieved, 
and the people did not die any more, but now the world was dark all the 
time, because the Sun would not come out. They went again to the Little Men, 
and these told them that if they wanted the Sun to come out again they must 
bring back her daughter from Tsusginai, the Ghost country, in Usunhiyi, the 
Darkening land in the west. They chose seven men to go, and gave each a 
sourwood rod a handbreadth long. The Little Men told them they must take a 
box with them, and when they got to Tsusginai they would find all the ghosts 
at a dance. They must stand outside the circle, and when the young woman 
passed in the dance they must strike her with the rods and she would fall to 
the ground. Then they must put her into the box and bring her back to her 
mother, but they must be very sure not to open the box, even a little way, 
until they were home again.

They took the rods and a box and traveled seven days to the west until they 
came to the Darkening land." There were a great many people there, and they 
were having a dance just as if they were at home in the settlements. The 
young woman was in the outside circle, and as she swung around to where the 
seven men were standing, one struck her with his rod and she turned her head 
and saw him. As she came around the second time another touched her with his 
rod, and then another and another, until at the seventh round she fell out 
of the ring, and they put her into the box and closed the lid fast. The 
other ghosts seemed never to notice what had happened.

They took up the box and started home toward the east. In a little while the 
girl came to life again and begged to be let out of the box, but they made 
no answer and went on. Soon she called again and she said she was hungry, 
but still they made no answer and went on. After another while she spoke 
again and called for a drink and pleaded so that it was very hard to listen 
to her, but the men who carried the box said nothing and still went on. When 
at last they were very near home, she called again and begged them to raise 
the lid just a little, because she was smothering. They were afraid she was 
really dying now, so they lifted the lid a little to give her air, but as 
they did so there was a fluttering sound inside and something flew past them 
into the thicket and they heard a redbird cry, "kwish! kwish! kwish!" in the 
bushes. They shut down the lid and went on again to the settlements, but 
when they got there and opened the box it was empty.

So we know the Redbird is the daughter of the Sun, and if the men had kept 
the box closed, as the Little Men told them to do, they would have brought 
her home safely, and we could bring back our other friends also from the 
Ghost country, but now when they die we can never bring them back.s'

The Sun had been glad when they started to the Ghost country, but when they 
came back without her daughter she grieved and cried, "My daughter, my 
daughter," and wept until her tears made a flood upon the earth, and the 
people were afraid the world would be drowned. They held another council, 
and sent their handsomest young men and women to amuse her so that she would 
stop crying. They danced before the Sun and sang their best songs, but for a 
long time she kept her face covered and paid no attention, until at last the 
drummer suddenly changed the song, when she lifted up her face, and was so 
pleased at the sight that she forgot her grief and smiled.

LVI. THE VISIT TO CHIEF ECHO

(TSIMSHIAN: Boas, Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, xxxi, 85)

Txa'msem (Pronunciation approximately represented in English by "Chemsem.") 
remained sitting there, thinking quietly how many hard things he had done 
among men; still his needs were not satisfied. At last he made up his mind 
to try to go again to the people in order to get something to eat, for he 
was a great eater . He went to a lonely place, and was very anxious to find 
some people in the woods. Soon he came to a great plain. No trees were to be 
seen, just grass and flowers.

At a distance he beheld a large house, and inside the large house with 
carved front he heard many people singing. He saw sparks flying up from the 
smoke hole, and he knew that it must be the house of a great chief. When he 
came near the house, he heard something saying with a loud voice, "A 
stranger is coming, a chief is coming!" and he knew that they meant him. So 
he went in, but he saw nobody. Still he heard the voices. He saw a great 
fire in the center, and a good new mat was spread out for him alongside the 
fire. Then he heard a voice which called to him, "Sit down on the mat! This 
way, great chief! This way, great chief! This way!" He walked proudly toward 
the mat. Then Txa'msem sat down on it. This was the house of Chief Echo. 
Then Txa'msem heard the chief speak to his slaves and tell them to roast a 
dried salmon; and he saw a carved box open itself and dried salmon come out 
of it. Then he saw a nice dish walk toward the fire all by itself.

Txa'msem was scared and astonished to see these things. When the dried 
salmon was roasted and cut into pieces of the right length, the pieces went 
into the dish all by themselves. The dish laid itself down in front of 
Txa'msem, and he thought while he was eating, what strange things he was 
seeing now. When he had finished, a horn dipper came forward filled with 
water. He took it by its handle and drank. Then he saw a large dish full of 
crabapples mixed with grease, and a black horn spoon, come forward by 
themselves. Txii'msem took the handle and ate all he could. Before he 
emptied his dish, he looked around, and, behold! mountain-goat fat was 
hanging on one side of the house. He thought, "I will take down one of these 
large pieces of fat." Thus Txa'msem thought while he was eating.

Then he heard many women laughing in one corner of the house, "Ha, ha! 
Txa'msem thinks he will take down one of those large pieces of mountain-goat 
fat!" Then Txa'msem was ashamed on acount of what the women were saying. He 
ate all the crabapples, and another dish came forward filled with 
cranberries mixed with grease and with water. Txa'msem ate again, and, 
behold! he saw dried mountain-sheep fat hanging in one corner of the large 
house. He thought again, " I will take down one of these pieces of mountain-
sheep fat, and I will run out with it." Again he heard many women laughing, 
" Ha, ha! Txa'msem is thinking he will take down a piece of the 
mountainsheep fat and will run out with it." Txa'msem was much troubled on 
account of what he heard the women saying, and when he heard them laughing 
in the corner of the house. He arose, ran out, and snatched one of the 
pieces of mountaingoat meat and of mountain-sheep fat; but when he came to 
the door, a large stone hammer beat him on the ankle, and he fell to the 
ground badly hurt. He lost the meat and fat, and some one dragged him along 
and cast him out. He lay there a while and began to cry, for he was very 
hungry, and his foot very sore. On the following day, when he was a little 
better, he took a stick and tried to walk away.