«4
Primitive America

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

CREATION MYTHS OF PRIMITIVE
AMERICA

Curtin's Works
ON
F0LK=L0RE AND MYTHS.

Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland.
Hero-Tales of Ireland.
Irish Fairy Tales.
Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians,
Western Slavs, and Magyars.
Creation Myths of Primitive America.

Jeremiah Curtin in the Ruins of Palenque,
:• ; Central America.

CREATION MYTHS
OF
PRIMITIVE AMERICA
IN RELATION TO
The Religious History and Mental Develop
ment of Mankind

BY
JEREMIAH CURTIN
Author of " Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland," " Myths and Folk-
Tales ofthe Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars,"
" Hero-Tales of Ireland," etc.

I

BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1898

Copyright, 1898
By Jeremiah Curtin

All rights reserved

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.

DEDICATION * To
MAJOR J. W. POWELL,
Director ofthe Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution,
LL.D. of Harvard and Heidelberg :
Sir, — You lost your right hand in fighting to save American
unity ; but though the hand went from you its cunning remained,
with the power to plan and to execute.
The same kind of impulse that sent you to the field of battle
to serve the country and the world, sent you to the field of
science to serve as a geologist and an explorer in the majestic
region of the Colorado, and finally brought you to found the Bureau
of Ethnology. Through your labors, combined wifh those ofthe
men whom you have associated with you, the world has learned
more of the great primitive race of our country than it learned
from the discovery of the continent till the day when the Bureau
was founded.
I beg to inscribe this book to you as a mark of my respect
and friendship. JEREMIAH CURTIN.
Steamer "Germanic,"
on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean,
October ZI, 1898.

CONTENTS Page
Introduction  ix
Olelbis  3
Olelbis and Mem Loimis  5 l
Norwan  69
Tulchuherris  121
Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus  163
Hawt  177
Norwanchakus and Keriha  211
Kele and Sedit  243
KOL TlBICHI  267
The Winning of Halai Auna at the House of Tuina . 281
The Hakas and the Tennas  297
Ilhataina  3 1 3
Hitchinna  325
Tirukala  339
Sukonia's Wives and the Ichpul Sisters  353
The Finding of Fire  3^5
Haka Kaina  373

viii Contents Page
Titindi Maupa and Paiowa, the Youngest Daughter of
Wakara  389
The Two Sisters, Haka Lasi and Tsore Jowa .... 407
The Dream of Juiwaiyu and his Journey to Damhauja's
Country   425
The Flicht of Tsanunewa and Defeat of Hehku . . 445
The First Battle in the World and the Making of the
Yana  467
Notes, and Names of Places  487

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION 9
THE creation myths of America form a com
plete system ; they give a detailed and cir
cumstantial account of the origin of this world and
of all things and creatures contained in it. In the
course of the various narratives which compose this
myth system an earlier world is described to us,
with an order of existence and a method of conduct
on which the life of primitive man in America was
patterned. That earlier world had two periods of duration, —
one of complete and perfect harmony ; another of
violence, collision, and conflict. The result and
outcome of the second period was the creation of
all that is animated on earth except man. Man, in
the American scheme of creation, stands apart and
separate ; he is quite alone, peculiar, and special.
Above all, he belongs to this continent. The
white man was unknown to American myth-makers,
as were also men of every other race and of every
region outside of the Western Hemisphere.
Described briefly and by an Indian, the American
myth system is as follows : " There was a world
before this one in which we are living at present ;
that was the world of the first people, who were dif-

xii Introduction

ferent from us altogether. Those people were very
numerous, so numerous that if a count could be
made of all the stars in the sky, all the feathers on
birds, all the hairs and fur on animals, all the hairs
of our own heads, they would not be so numerous
as the first people."
These people lived very long in peace, in con
cord, in harmony, in happiness. No man knows,
no man can tell, how long they lived in that way. At
last the minds of all except a very small number
were changed ; they fell into conflict, — one offended
another consciously or unconsciously, one injured
another with or without intention, one wanted some
special thing, another wanted that very thing also.
Conflict set in, and because of this came a time of
activity and struggle, to which there was no end or
stop till the great majority of the first people — that
is, all except a small number — were turned into the
various kinds of living creatures that are on earth
now or have ever been on earth, except man, —
that is, all kinds of beasts, birds, reptiles, fish,
worms, and insects, as well as trees, plants, grasses,
rocks, and some mountains ; they were turned into
everything that we see on the earth or in the sky.
That small number of the former people who did
not quarrel, those great first people of the old time
who remained of one mind and harmonious, " left the
earth, sailed away westward, passed that line where
the sky comes down to the earth and touches it,
sailed to places beyond; stayed there or withdrew
to upper regions and lived in them happily, lived in

Introduction xiii

agreement, live so to-day, and will live in the same
way hereafter."
' The American system, as we see, begins with an un
known great, indefinite number of uncreated beings,
— in other words, of self-existent personages or
divinities. Those divinities were everything at first ;
there was nothing except them, nothing aside from
them, nothing beyond them. They existed un
changed through untold periods, or rather through
a duration which would be periods were there a
measure by which to divide it. They lived side by
side in perfect concord, in the repose of a primeval
chaos of quiescent mind which presents a most re
markable analogy with the attenuated, quiescent,
undifferentiated matter which, according to the neb
ular hypothesis, filled all points of space in the
physical universe before the first impulse of motion
was given to it.
At last this long period is ended, there is mental
difference among most of the first people, charac
ter is evolved and has become evident; rivalries,
collisions, and conflicts begin.
The American creation myths, as far as we know
them, form simply a series of accounts of the con
flicts, happenings, and various methods by which the
first world was changed into the world now existing.
This change was effected in various ways. In the
myths of certain tribes or nations, it is mainly by
struggles between hostile personages. One god of
great power and character overcomes a vast number
of opponents, and changes each into some beast,

xiv Introduction

bird, plant, or insect ; but always the resultant beast
or other creature corresponds in some power of
mind or in some leading quality of character with
the god from whose position it has fallen. In cer
tain single cases opponents are closely matched, they
are nearly equal in combat ; the struggle between
them is long, uncertain, and difficult. At last, when
one side is triumphant, the victor says, " Here
after you will be nothing but a  " ; and he tells
what the vanquished is to be. But at this point the
vanquished turns on the victor and sends his retort
like a Parthian arrow, " You will be nothing but
a  " ; and he declares what his enemy is to be.
The metamorphosis takes place immediately ori
both sides, and each departs in the form which the
enemy seemed to impose, but which really belonged
to him.
There are cases in which the hero transforms
numerous and mighty enemies indirectly through a
special wish which he possesses. For example, a
certain myth hero brings it about that a large com
pany of the first people are invited to a feast, and
while all are eating with great relish he slips out
unnoted, walks around the house, and utters, as
he goes, the magic formula : " I wish the walls of
this house to be flint, the roof also." Next moment
the whole house is flint-walled, the roof is flint also.
After that he says, " I wish this house to be red-
hot." It is red-hot immediately. His enemies
inside are in a dreadful predicament ; they rush
about wildly, they roar, they look for an opening ;

Introduction xv

there is none, they see no escape, they find no issue.
Their heads burst from heat. Out of one head
springs an owl, and flies away through the smoke-
hole ; out of another a buzzard, which escapes
through the same place; out of the third comes a
hawk, which follows the other two ; out of a fourth
some other bird. Thus the action continues till
every head in the flint house bursts open and lets
out its occupant. All fly away, and thus the whole
company is metamorphosed. Each turns into that
which his qualities called for, which his nature de
manded ; he becomes outwardly and visibly that
which before he had been internally and in secret.
The hero in the above case could not wish his
opponents metamorphosed directly, he could not wish
this whenever he pleased or wherever he met the
great company ; he had to induce them to enter the
house, which he turned by his wish into flint and
then heated. When the moment of terrible anguish
came on them, the true nature of each of those
people grew evident ; each head burst open, and out
sprang the real person.
All those of the first people whose minds had
been modified, who, so to speak, had grown special
ized internally, who were different from that which
they had been to start with, were forced to change
also externally, and could not escape or avoid that
great power whose shadow was approaching ; their
destiny was on them, and they felt it.
In the Wintu system, one of the two which are
set forth in this volume, nearly all changes were

xvi Introduction

effected by Olelbis ; but there are examples of agents
with other means. Tulchuherris turns old Tichelis
into a ground-squirrel at the climax of his perfidy.
He changes Hawt, the porter at the dangerous river,
into a lamprey eel, whose children are to be eaten
by Indians in the future. Old Sas, the false and
vain chief in Saskewil, is beaten by his son-in-law,
and receives his present form of sun ' and moon at
the end of a long and bitter struggle, in which
strength, wit, and keenness use the very last of theif
resources. There are cases in which some of the first people
are so modified mentally that they are conscious of
what has happened within them. They are ready
for the change, they are willing to undergo it ; but
there is no immediate occasion, no impending
struggle in which an opponent could have the
chance to transform them. These people transform
themselves by the utterance of a wish, and produce
their own metamorphoses. There are still others
who know, as do all, that a new race is coming,
that they will be changed when it comes unless
they are changed some time earlier. They know
that they must be changed as soon as they see the
new people or a sign or a mark of their coming.
These unchanged first people, few in number com
paratively, attempt to escape ; but their attempts are
vain, their efforts are useless. In the distant east
they see smoke from the fires of the advancing new
people, the Indians of America, or hear the barking
of the dogs of this people, and that instant they

Introduction xvii

receive the forms which are due them. Others
escape for a season and hide in dark places ; but the
Indians go everywhere, and the metamorphoses con
tinue till the career of the first people is ended.
I have in mind at this moment a representative
picture of this last group of persons who were un
willing to be metamorphosed and strove to avoid
the new race, the inevitable Indians. They had no
desire to see men, and they fled to all sorts of lonely
retreats and remote forest places. At a certain point
on the Klamath is a rough mountain slope which
rises abruptly from the water ; far up, well toward
the ridge, about seven-eighths of the way from the
river to the summit, is a bulky high stone which
seen from a distance looks much like a statue. Close
behind is another stone, somewhat smaller, which
leans forward in the posture of a person hastening
eagerly. Both are white and shining ; they have the
appearance of quartz rock. These were two sisters
hastening, rushing away to escape the coming
change. When they reached the points where they
are standing at present, the foremost sister looked
toward the east and saw smoke; the second did not
look, but she heard the distant barking of dogs
which came from the place where the smoke was ;
both were changed into stone that same instant.
With the transformation of the last of the first
people or divinities, which was finished only when
the Indians or some sign of them appeared in every
remote nook and corner in which a remnant of the
first people had taken refuge, the present order of

xviii Introduction

things is established completely. There are now in
the world individualities of three distinct sets and
orders. First, that small number of the first people
whose minds had never changed, those gods who
withdrew and who live in their original integrity and
harmony, who retired to places outside the sky or
above it ; second, the great majority of the gods, who
have become everything in the present world save
and except only Indians. This cycle finished, there
is a new point of departure, and we meet a second
group of myths concerning the existent world as it
is now with its happenings, — myths containing
accounts of conflicts which are ever recurrent, which
began before all the first people were metamor
phosed, conflicts which are going on at present and
which will go on forever ; struggles between light
and darkness, heat and cold, summer and winter,
struggles between winds which blow in opposite
directions, — in fact, accounts of various phenomena
and processes which attract the attention of savage
men more than others because savage men are living
face to face with them always.
This second group contains a large number of
myths, many of them exceedingly beautiful and, so
far as they are known, highly pleasing to cultivated
people. Unfortunately few of these myths have
been given to the world yet, for the sole and simple
reason that comparatively few have been collected
from the Indians.
The first cycle of myths — that is, those which refer
to creation, in other words to the metamorphoses of

Introduction xix

the first people or gods into everything which is
in the world, including the world itself — is suc
ceeded by another in which are described the vari
ous changes, phenomena, and processes observed
throughout nature.
In this second cycle, as I have just stated, light
and darkness, heat and cold, opposing winds,
heavenly bodies appear as heroes and leading actors.
For ages the reverence, sympathy, and enthusiasm
of primitive men have been given to those heroes,
and are given to them yet, by every tribe which pre
serves its ancient beliefs and ideas.
In this cycle is one small group of myths which
to the Indian is very sacred, a group which in many
tribes is revered beyond others. This group asso
ciates the earth with the sky and sun considered as
one person, or the sky and sun considered as dis
tinct from each other. To these are added one, and
sometimes two personages born of the earth. In the
simplest version of this myth the earth maiden
through being looked at by the sun becomes a
mother, gives birth to a great hero, the chief bene
factor of Indians. This hero gives the race all gifts
that support existence, and it is through him that
men live and prosper. Under whatever name he
appears this benefactor is really that warm light
which we see quivering, waving, and dancing above
the earth in fine weather. He is the son of the
virgin earth, of that mother who has never known a
consort save the one who looked from the height of
heaven on her.

xx Introduction

The lives of the first people are described in
creation myths, and presented as models upon which
faithful Indians are to fashion their lives at all times
and places. All institutions of primitive man in
America were patterned upon those of " the first
people." Every act of an Indian in peace or in
war, as an individual or as a member of a tribe, had
its only sanction in the world of the first people, the
American divinities.
There was not on this continent one institution,
observance, right, or custom which was not god-
given, theoretically. The Indians of America always
acted in a prescribed manner on a given occasion,
because the gods of the world which preceded this
had acted in the same manner in similar conditions
and circumstances.
No people could be more religious than those of
this continent, for there was no act of any kind in life
during which they were free of religious direction.
The source of this religion is in the myths, and in
the explanations concerning them given by wise
men, — in other words, by sorcerers.
What shall we say of this Indian system, and
what is its value ?
The first to be said is that it is complete, and
for every Indian believer well-founded and sym
metrically developed. In the primitive religion of
America there is no speculation, all is simple state
ment ; there are no abstractions, qualities are always
connected with persons.
Indians believe that the whole immense body of

Introduction xxi

myths was delivered to them by the first people in
one place or another. Among the Iroquois there is
a detailed account of how myths were told to an
ancient chief and an assembly of the people on a
circular open space in a deep forest. On this space
was a large wheel-shaped stone. From beneath this
stone came a voice which told the tale of the former
world, told how the first people had become what
they are at present.
Day after day the chief and the people came to
the stone, sat, and listened till the whole cycle of
tales was narrated.
On the Lower Klamath is a very old, immense tree,
which has given an account of the first world and
people. This tree itself is one of the first people
metamorphosed ; no one knows what its age is.
Sorcerers go to it yearly, hold converse, put ques
tions, receive answers. Each year a small stone is
added to a pile in which there are thousands of
pebbles, apparently. This pile stands near the tree ;
no one is permitted to count the stones in it. The
pile is sacred ; once a stone is placed with the others,
it must stay there forever.
This sacred tree has told tales of the first world,
— the tales known to Weitspekan Indians and re
vered by them.
On the Upper Columbia is a great rock which
resembles an elk somewhat. This rock is also an
oracle, one of the first people ; like the round stone
of the Iroquois, it has told of the first world, and its
tales all belong to the Shahaptians.

xxii Introduction

The Indian system has its plain and clear revela
tion ; for believers it has tangible and undoubted
connection with the world which preceded the pres
ent one. Its narratives explain how in one place
and another the first people revealed the tale of the
world's transformation.
For the Indian this is all-satisfactory. He has a
system which is perfect, extensive, rich in details,
full of interest, — a system which gives proofs of
its origin through testimony delivered by divinities.
It was revealed to the wise men, the worthies, the
patriarchs of his race. What more could he wish
for ? What more could he ask ? Nothing. The
wisdom of his nation is more valid, more reliable
than the witness of his own senses. His eyes and
ears might be deceived by tricksters, but not by the
truth delivered to great men among his own people,
preserved by them sacredly and passed down to
others. This is the position of the Indian. He believes
in his own system fully. How are we to relate
ourselves to that system and its contents ? What
should we think of it ? How was it conceived, how
developed ?
We do not believe in an Indian first world nor a
previous people turned into animals, plants, insects,
birds, fish, and reptiles. We have no ancestors who
founded that system ; we possess no traditions that
came from it, no beliefs that are based on its
teachings, no faith in its sorcerers, no dread of their
workings. Any statement as to how the Indian

Introduction xxiii

system was conceived and how it was developed is
very different in character from a statement of what
the Indian system is externally and on the basis of
its own story.
In presenting the system from the purely formal
side we are dealing with simple facts, which we col
lect and range in order. Once we possess these
ordered facts, we have the externals of everything
Indian, — not only religion, but medicine, politics,
social life. We might stop there and say, This is
the system. But from our point of view we are
forced to go further, we must seek explanations.
We form no part ofthe Indian assembly of believers,
we have no faith in their system except to show us
what the Indian mind is ; hence we are forced to
ask how the Indian founded his religion and evolved
it, we are forced to look for its origin and meaning.
We give no credence to his tale of revelation ; we
are certain that he himself — that is, his race — began
the system, that it was developed from insignificant
beginnings, and increased through lengthy periods
till it reached its present form and fulness. We
have not the details of how he acted, but we know
where the myth-maker had to begin, and we see
what he has effected.
The physical universe was for myth-makers of
the old time in America the same in principle that
it is for us to-day, the visible result and expression
of unseen power and qualities. The difference be
tween us and them is determined by the things that
we see and the way in which we apprehend them.

xxiv Introduction

What did the ancient myth-makers say of this
universe, and what interest or value has their state
ment for us at this moment ?
The primitive men of America saw before them
forests, plains, deserts, mountains, lakes, and rivers
of various sizes, from the smallest to the greatest ;
they lived in climates varying from the coldest and
most inclement to the hottest and most difficult of
endurance. They saw around them on all sides a
world far more hostile than friendly, — a world of
savage beasts, wild creatures, poisonous reptiles,
deadly insects. Each creature, every plant had its
own fixed and settled character, its own aim and
object. Whence came beasts good for food or
clothing ; whence others dangerous to life, beasts to
be slain or avoided ? Whence came trees and
plants of various kinds and uses ? Whence came
sweetness in the maple or bitterness and poison in
another tree ? What is the origin of corn, and why
do poisons grow to kill as corn does to nourish ?
Whence came the rattlesnake, and whence the
salmon ? Because of these questions myths ap
peared, and those myths gave answers which received
full faith and credence, — answers on which was built
a theory of how this world arose, and what the true
and proper scheme of life was.
The myth-maker looked at the universe around
him, and saw throughout every part of it individu
alities having qualities, desires, and passions in
varying degrees. He observed these individuali
ties, and gave a detailed account and history of how

Introduction xxv

this world arose. He gave this history by pro
jecting existence into a past which was remote and
passionless. Out of that harmonious past he
evolved the present world and its order by describ
ing in the past world the play of all those passions,
desires, and appetites which he saw at work in life
around him. Such was the method employed in
producing the American creation myths. The task
required much time, long observation, careful
thought, and no small constructive power. These
creation myths with the next, which I have mentioned
already and called action myths, are the great result
of mental toil and effort in the old time on this
continent. In these two sets of myths the Indian
has told what he thinks of the universe.
When Europeans came to this hemisphere, the
American myth system was unbroken and perfect.
There was no second order of thought here. The
continent was untouched by foreign conquest or
ideas. The inhabitants had lived in mental isola
tion, in absolute freedom from every outside influ
ence. Human history has no second example of a
single system of thought developed over such a vast
area. Inhabited America extended at least nine
thousand miles from north to south, more than one
third of the earth's circumference and considerably
more than the earth's diameter. This territory
where broadest was at least three thousand miles
from east to west, both in North and South America.
Over this immense portion of the earth's surface
with its endless variety of soil, climate, scenery, and

xxvi Introduction

conditions of existence, a single system of primitive
philosophy was developed with a fulness and a
wealth of illustration which could find no parallel in
any other place. The result of all this is that we
have in America a monument of thought which is
absolutely unequalled, altogether unique in human
experience. The special value of this thought lies,
moreover, in the fact that it is primitive, that it is
the thought of ages long anterior to those which
we find recorded on the eastern hemisphere, either
in sacred books, histories, or literature, whether
preserved on baked brick, burnt cylinders, or
papyrus. The American system, which gives us a circum
stantial account of the beginning of all things, is as
far reaching as the nebular hypothesis, or as that
theory which gives a common origin to man and all
sentient existences.
Primitive man in America stood at every step face
to face with divinity as he knew or understood it.
He could never escape from the presence of those
powers which had constituted the first world, and
which composed all that there was in the present
one. Man's chief means of sustenance in most parts
were on land or in the water. Game and fish of all
sorts were under direct divine supervision. Invisible
powers might send forth game or withdraw it very
quickly. With fish the case was similar. Connected
with fishing and hunting was an elaborate ceremonial,
a variety of observances and prohibitions. Every
man had a great many things to observe as an indi-

Introduction xxvii

vidual, a great many also as a member of his tribe
or society.
The most important question of all in Indian life
was communication with divinity, intercourse with
the spirits of divine personages. No man could
communicate with these unless the man to whom
they chose to manifest themselves. There were
certain things which a man had to do to obtain
communication with divinity and receive a promise
of assistance ; but it was only the elect, the right
person, the fit one, who obtained the desired favor.
For instance, twenty men might go to the mountain
place, and observe every rule carefully, but only one
man be favored with a vision, only one become a
seer. Twenty others might go to the mountain
place, and not one be accounted worthy to behold a
spirit ; a third twenty might go, and two or three of
them be chosen. No man could tell beforehand
what success or failure might await him. The gen
eral method at present is the following, the same as
in the old time : —
Soon after puberty, and in every case before
marriage or acquaintance with woman, the youth or
young man who hopes to become a doctor goes to
a sacred mountain pond or spring, where he drinks
water and bathes. After he has bathed and dressed,
he speaks to the spirits, he prays them to come to
him, to give him knowledge, to grant their assist
ance. The young man takes no food, no nourish
ment of any sort, fasts, as he is able, seven days
and nights, sometimes longer. All this time he is

xxviii Introduction

allowed no drink except water. He sleeps as little
as possible. If spirits come to him, he has visions,
he receives power and favor. A number of spirits
may visit a man one after another, and promise him
aid and co-operation. The eagle spirit may come,
the spirit of the elk or the salmon, — any spirit that
likes the man. The spirit says in substance,
" Whenever you call my name I will come, I will
give my power to assist you." After one spirit has
gone, another may appear, and another. A man is
not free to refuse the offers of spirits, he must
receive all those who come to him. As there are
peculiar observances connected with each spirit, the
doctor who is assisted by many is hampered much
in his method of living. There are spirits which
do not like buckskin ; the man to whom they come
must never wear buckskin. If a man eats food
repugnant to his spirit, the spirit will kill him. As
each spirit has its favorite food, and there are other
kinds which to it are distasteful, we can understand
easily that the doctor who has ten spirits or twenty
(and there are. some who have thirty) to aid him is
limited in his manner of living. Greatness has its
price at all times, power must be paid for in every
place. Those for whom the spirits have no regard,
and they are the majority, return home without
visions or hope of assistance ; the spirits are able to
look through all persons directly, and straightway
they see what a man is. They find most people
unsuited to their purposes, unfit to be assisted.
This preparation to become seers or sorcerers

Introduction xxix

among Indians is of very deep interest. I have
given a considerable number of details on the subject
in notes to " Kol Tibichi." The spirit of any plant,
any star, or other personage in creation may become
a man's attendant. In our popular phraseology,
this is called his " medicine."
In a Modoc myth the morning star is the attend
ant of the sun. According to this myth the sun
is destroyed every day physically, is consumed into
a heap of ashes ; but as the sun has an immortal
golden disk in his body, a disk which contains his
whole existence, he can never perish. This disk
remains always in the heap of ashes. There is a
condition, however, incident to the sun's resurrec
tion : he must be called. Every morning some one
must rouse him, as a hireling is roused to his daily
labor. The morning star has that duty, and will
never be freed from it. While the sun exists, the
morning star must call him. At the summons of
the star the golden disk springs from the pile of
ashes, the sun is renewed completely, and goes
forth to run his race till consumed again in the
evening. Here we have the Phoenix rising from its
ashes daily instead of once in five centuries.
The system outlined in the myths contained in
this volume is that of the Wintus and Yanas, two
stocks of Indians whom I shall describe somewhat
later. The Wintu system is remarkable for the peculiar
development of the chief divinity, Olelbis, called
also Nomhliestawa.

xxx Introduction

The word " Olelbis " is formed of three etymologi
cal elements : ol, up ; el, in ; bis, dwelling or sitting, —
dwelling on high. Nomhliestawa is formed also of
three elements : nom, west ; hlies, to hurl ; and tawa,
left-handed. Both names are epithets, and the
Wintus have forgotten who or what their chief
divinity is ; at least I have not been able to find
a man among them who could give information
on this subject. Olelbis lives in the highest part
ofthe sky; with him are the best ofthe first people.
From his beautiful house, Olelpanti Hlut, he sees
everything on earth, and seems more real and
familiar than any divinity connected with other
tribes. He is certainly more effective in manage
ment, more active than any divinity of other Indian
stocks, so far as I know.
Olelbis disposes of the first people, except in a few
cases, and he retains with himself whomsoever he likes.
He sends to the earth and transforms those whom he
thinks more useful below than above, and gives the
example of a single ruling divinity which, without
being all-powerful or all-wise, is able, through the
knowledge and services of others, to bear rule over
the world in all places and everywhere.
The two old women, the grandmothers, are in
teresting persons, counsellors of the chief divinity,
rainmakers, wise with a knowledge of people of
whom Olelbis is ignorant, at least professedly.
These old women have been turned into a stone
which has a spongy appearance and looks like the
inside or porous portion of bones which are with
out marrow.

Introduction xxxi

The great majority of Wintu metamorphoses are
effected by Olelbis. The only exceptions are those
of Sas, Hawt, and Tichelis, transformed by Tul-
chuherris, and certain changes such as those of color
produced at the great musical contest given by
Waida Dikit. When each played on a flute at that
contest till he had done his best, till he had lost
breath, then he changed color. Though the Wintu
system differs much in detail from others, it agrees
perfectly with all bodies of mythology on the great
point, the main principle, metamorphosis. Through
metamorphosis, all things have become what they
are ; through revelation it was learned that the
metamorphoses took place, and in what way they
took place. We must not consider the final act as
the whole ; the change had been in process for a
long period, and the final words from opponents in
conflict, the commands of Olelbis, the decisions of
personages who changed themselves at the approach
of Indians, or at signs of their coming, are but the
very last act, the final incident, the official ending,
so to speak, of an immensely long career in each
case. Of course there is no true information in the
American ethnic religion as to the real changes
which affected the world around us ; but there is
in it, as in all systems like it, true information re
garding the history of the human mind. Every
ethnic religion gives us documentary evidence. It
gives us positive facts which, in their own sphere,
are as true as are facts of geology in the history of

xxxii Introduction

the earth's crust and surface. They do not tell us
what took place in the world without, in the physi
cal universe, they had no means of doing so ; but
they do tell us what took place at certain periods
in the world of mind, in the interior of man.
The term " ethnic religion " needs some explana
tion, perhaps, before we go further. An ethnic or
primitive religion is one which belongs to people of
one blood and language, people who increased and
developed together with the beliefs of every sort
which belong to them. Such a religion includes
every species of knowledge, every kind of custom,
institution, and art. Every aboriginal nation or
human brood has its gods. All people of one
blood and origin are under the immediate care and
supervision of their gods, and preserve continual
communication and converse with them. Accord
ing to their own beliefs, such people received from
their gods all that they have, all that they practise,
all that they know. Such people, while their blood
is unmixed and their society unconquered, adhere to
their gods with the utmost fidelity.
The bonds which connect a nation with its gods,
bonds of faith, and those which connect the indi
viduals of that nation with one another, bonds of
blood, are the strongest known to primitive man,
and are the only social bonds in prehistoric ages.
This early stage was the one in which even the
most advanced group of Indians in America found
themselves when the continent was discovered.
On the Eastern hemisphere, where there were so

Introduction xxxiii

many races quite distinct and different from one
another, the conquest of one race by another, or
the conquest of a number of races by one, was
frequent and had a great influence on thought
and on religion. The influence of one religion or
system of thought on another was sometimes con
siderable, as the intellectual influence of Egypt on
Greece, and sometimes great, as that of Greece on
Rome. The influence of the physical conquest of many
by one was immense politically and socially, as in
the case of Rome, which subdued Greece and, to
gether with Greece, all that Alexander had conquered
in Asia and Egypt. With the ruin of Carthage,
Rome destroyed the ancient thought of Phoenicia,
which was closely akin to the earliest Hebrew, and
one of the most important among Semitic nations.
With the conquest and assimilation of Transalpine
and Cisalpine Gaul, the whole ancient fabric of
Keltic thought on the continent gave way, and its
chief elements were lost soon after.
The last of the ethnic religions of Europe, and
one ofthe most valuable, that of the Lithuanians,
continued in perfect condition till the fifteenth cen
tury, when it was ended through bloodshed and
violence. This last of the systems of primitive
Aryan thought in Europe passed away leaving slight
traces. We know the names of some of its divini
ties ; we know that it resembled the Slav, but was
more developed, that it had sacred serpents and
priestesses who guarded the holy, unquenchable fire ;

xxxiv Introduction

but, to the great regret of men of science, we have
only small fragments of the system, brief and meagre
accounts of it.
If we look closely into the religious history of
the Eastern hemisphere, we shall find the position
to be approximately as follows, —
In the oldest of the inscriptional versions of the
" Book of the Dead " on the walls of pyramids,
we find the religion of Egypt advanced far beyond
the first stages of development. Though animals,
birds, reptiles, and insects occupy a prominent posi
tion in Egyptian religion, it is not evident why they
occupy that position. There is no inscription or
book to inform us. The earliest stage of Egyptian
religion is lost to us. Egyptian priests, when re
proached for the national worship rendered various
animals, birds, reptiles, and insects, creatures that
were vile, useful, clean, or unclean, as the case might
be, were unable to give a cause for the worship.
They were unable for the reason that the mytho-
logic account was unknown to them, or had been
lost or was unconsidered ; whatever the reason,
neither papyrus nor inscription explains it.
The chief gods of priestly Egypt answered ex
actly to the Indian divinities of the second class of
myths in America, those which I have called action
myths. Among these the sun and the earth were
very prominent. Of the earliest gods of Egypt,
those which answered to the "first people," or
divinities in American creation myths, we find no
account thus far. If we had that account, it would

Introduction xxxv

explain why there are animals, reptiles, and insects
in Egyptian religion.
In Greece those portions of the earliest mythology
which were not lost were obscured. The ancient
creation myths were either misunderstood, or were
unknown to the educated at the period from which
the first literary monuments have come down to us.
Hesiod arranged and shaped Greek mythology to
suit himself and his audience, so that it is quite
impossible to learn from that author what the primi
tive myths of Greece were. If brought before him,
he would doubtless have looked on them much as
a certain French Algonkin and Iroquois scholar
of Canada looked on the myths of America. The
man had an extensive knowledge of Algonkin and
Iroquois words, but an utter contempt for Indian
thought, and no real knowledge of it whatever.
When I mentioned Indian mythology, he exclaimed :
" Mais, Monsieur, c'est quelque chose d'absurde."
No doubt the earliest creation myths were well
known throughout rural Greece among the illiterate,
but there was no philosopher of that day who knew
their value. There was no man to consider them.
Roman mythology, as well as Greek, suffered
from literary treatment, and it is only by collecting
detached fragments and facts of primitive thought
throughout the whole field of classic literature that
we are able to get at something beyond the official
religion of polished society in Greece and Rome.
From the wreck of ancient Keltic and Teutonic
thought much has been saved on the two islands

xxxvi Introduction

of Ireland and Iceland. With this, together with
the American system and the mythologic inheritance
of the Slav world in Eastern Europe, we shall be
able perhaps to obtain materials with which to explain
the earliest epoch of Aryan thought, the epoch
which corresponds in development with the world
of American creation myths. In that case we shall
gain a connected view of Aryan speculation and its
methods from those early beginnings when there was
no passion or quality apart from a person, when
symbols, metaphors, and personifications were in the
distant future. The whole problem is to connect
the thought of this continent with that of the rest of
mankind, but especially and above all with the
Aryan and Semitic divisions of it.
It is to be regretted that Semitic beliefs of the
primitive period have not come down to us more
numerously ; for example, those of the Phoenicians,
the earliest Hebrews, and other kindred nations.
Fortunately the Arabs, the most poetic of the race,
the knightly members of it, have given us in their
history one fact of great value. Just before the
establishment of the new religion by Mohammed
there were in Mecca more than three hundred
Arabic divinities, animal, vegetable, and mineral.
We can hardly doubt that the pre-Mohammedan
Arabic system of religion was the one which on a
time belonged to the whole Semitic race, different
among some divisions of it in details, of course, but
substantially the same everywhere. This statement
of the Arabic condition contains a fact of immense

Introduction xxxvii

significance. It points to a system exactly like the
American. The pre-Mohammedan Arabic was the
most splendid and important survival of primi
tive religion in any historic race- on the Eastern
Hemisphere. It is proper here to explain the position of spirits
in the Indian systems. All the first people are con
ceived as having bodies as well as spirits. When
we speak of a spirit appearing to a sorcerer or
" doctor," it is understood that that spirit has left
its body temporarily and will return to it. There
are no spirits without bodies save an exceptional few
who at the time of the metamorphosis of the first
people lost the bodies which had belonged to them
in their primal condition and received no new bodies
at their fall. This loss of bodies was inflicted as
a punishment. These desolate disembodied spirits
wander about now in mountains and lonely weird
places. Uncanny in character, they are seen rarely,
and then only by sorcerers.
A good deal has been given to the world of late
on mythology by able writers who with good ma
terials would attain good results ; but as the mate
rials at their disposal are faulty, much of their work
with all its cleverness is mainly a persistent pouring
of the empty into the void.
We have seen attempts made to show that real
gods have, been developed by savage men from their
own dead savage chiefs. Such a thing has never
been done since the human race began, and it could
never have been imagined by any man who knew

xxxviii Introduction

the ideas of primitive races from actual experience
or from competent testimony. The most striking
thing in all savage belief is the low estimate put on
man when unaided by divine, uncreated power. In
f Indian belief every object in the universe is divine
^except man. Divinities have an immense range of
power, there is an incalculable difference between
the greatest and the smallest of them, — some have
inconceivable strength and knowledge, while others'
are measurably weak and of limited intelligence, —
but all belong to one category, all are divine, all are
extra-human. Vegetable gods, so called, have been scoffed at
by writers on mythology. The scoff is baseless, for
the first people were turned, or turned themselves,
into trees and various plants as frequently as into
beasts and other creatures. Maize or Indian corn
is a transformed god who gave himself to be eaten
to save man from hunger and death. When Span
ish priests saw little cakes of meal eaten ceremoni
ally by Indians, and when the latter informed them
that they were eating their god, the good priests
thought this a diabolical mockery of the Holy Sac
rament, and a blasphemous trick of Satan to ruin
poor ignorant Indians.
I have a myth in which the main character is
a violent and cruel old personage who is merciless
and faith-breaking, who does no end of damage till
he is cornered at last by a good hero and turned
into the wild parsnip. Before transformation this
old parsnip could travel swiftly, but now he must

Introduction xxxix

stay in one place, and of course kills people only
when they eat him.
The treasure saved to science by the primitive
race of America is unique in value and high signifi
cance. The first result from it is to carry us back
through untold centuries to that epoch when man
made the earliest collective and consistent explanar
tion of this universe and its origin.
Occupying this vantage-ground, we can now throw
a flood of light on all those mythologies and ethnic
religions or systems of thought from which are lost in
part, great or small, the materials needed to prove the
foundation and beginnings of each of them. In this
condition are all ancient recorded religions, whether
of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Chaldea, Persia, or India.
Through amazing ability of primitive man on this
continent to retain, or perhaps through his inability
to change or go forward, he has preserved a system
of thought already old at the time of the first cunei
form letters and of the earliest statements on stone
or papyrus. And the discovery of this system of
ours coincides almost with the moment when
America after a century and a quarter of free politi
cal activity, and of intellectual labor unexampled in
fruitfulness, takes her due place as a World Power,
and enters into intimate and searching relations,
not with Europe alone, or one section of mankind,
but with the whole human race wherever fixed or
resident. JEREMIAH CURTIN.
Washington, D. C, U. S. A.,
October ii, 1898.

OLELBIS

CREATION MYTHS
OF
PRIMITIVE AMERICA
9
OLELBIS PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the beast, bird, or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently. Names on which
accents are not placed are accented on the penult. Names of
places are explained in the notes. Kiemila and Herit mean
"old" and "young," respectively; they are applied to male
persons. Pokaila and Loimis are applied to females ; the first
means "old," the second "young."
Bisus, mink ; Chalilak, goose ; Chuluhl, meadow-lark ; Dokos,
flint; Hau, red fox; Hessiha, tomtit; Hilit, house-fly; Hlihli, white
oak acorn ; Hus, turkey buzzard ; Kahit, wind ; Kahsuku, cloud dog
Kaisus, gray squirrel; Kar, gray heron; Karili, coon; Katkatchila
swift ; Katsi, chicken-hawk ; Kau, white crane ; Kiriii, loon ; Klabus
mole; Klak, rattlesnake; Kuntihl6, fish-hawk; Lutchi, humming
bird; Mem Loimis, water; Mem Tulit, beaver; Min Taitai, sap
sucker; M6ihas, bald eagle; Pakchuso, the pakchu stone; Patsotchet
badger; Poharamas, shooting star; Sas, sun; Sedit, coyote; Sosini
a small web-footed bird; Sutunut, black eagle; Tede Wiu, a small
bird; Tilichi, a water-bird; Tilikus, fire drill; Titchelis, ground squir
rel ; Toko, sunfish ; T6rihas, blue crane ; Tsararok, kingfisher ; Tsaroki
Sakahl, green snake ; Tsurat, woodpecker ; Wehl Dilidili, road-runner
Wima Loimis, grizzly bear ; Wokwuk, a large bird, extinct ; Yilahl,
gopher ; Yoholmit, frog ; Yonot, buckeye bush.

THE first that we know of Olelbis is that he
was in Olelpanti. Whether he lived in an
other place is not known, but in the beginning he
was in Olelpanti (on the upper side), the highest

4 Creation Myths of Primitive America
place. He was in Olelpanti before there was any
thing down here on the earth, and two old women
were with him always. These old women he called
grandmother, and each of them we call Pakchuso
Pokaila. There was a world before this one in which we
are now. That world lasted a long, long time, and
there were many people living in it before the
present world and we, the present people, came.
One time the people of that first world who were
living then in the country about here * were talking
of those who lived in one place and another. Down
in the southwest was a person whose name was Kat
katchila. He could kill game wonderfully, but no
body knew how he did it, nor could any one find out.
He did not kill as others did ; he had something that
he aimed and threw ; he would point a hollow stick
which he had, and something would go out of it
and kill the game. In that time a great many
people lived about this place where we are now,
and their chief was Torihas Kiemila ; these people
came together and talked about Katkatchila.
Some one said : " I wonder if he would come up
here if we sent for him."
" Let us send for him," said Torihas ; " let us ask
him to come ; tell him that we are going to have a
great dance. To-morrow we will send some one
down to invite him."
Next morning Torihas sent a messenger to invite
Katkatchila ; he sent Tsaroki Sakahl, a very quick
traveller. Though it was far, Tsaroki went there
1 That is, in the Upper Sacramento Valley.

Olelbis

in one day, gave the invitation, and told about
Torihas and his people.
" I agree," said Katkatchila. " I will go in the
morning." Tsaroki went home in the night, and told the
people that Katkatchila would come on the fol
lowing day.
" What shall we do ? " asked they.
" First, we will dance one night," said the chief;
" then we will take him out to hunt and see how he
kills things."
Katkatchila had a sister ; she had a husband
and one child. She never went outdoors herself.
She was always in the house. Nobody ever saw
the woman or her child.
When Katkatchila was ready to start he told his
sister that he was going, and said to his brother-in-
law : " I am going. You must stay at home while
I am gone."
The sister was Yonot. Her husband was Tilikus.
Katkatchila came to a hill up here, went to the
top of it, and sat down. From the hill he could
see the camp of the people who had invited him.
He stayed there awhile and saw many persons
dancing. It was in summer and about the middle
of the afternoon. At last Katkatchila went down to
where they were dancing, and stopped a little way off.
Torihas, who was watching, saw him and said, —
" Come right over here, Katkatchila, and sit by
me." Olelbis was looking down from Olelpanti at this
moment, and said to the old women, " My grand-

6 Creation Myths of Primitive America
mothers, I see many people collected on earth ; they
are going to do something."
Katkatchila sat down and looked on. Soon all
the people stopped dancing and went to their
houses. Torihas had food brought to Katkatchila
after his journey. While he was eating, Torihas
said to him, —
" My grandson, I and all my people have lived
here very long. My people want to dance and
hunt. I sent one of them to ask you to come
up here. They will dance to-night and go hunt
ing to-morrow."
Torihas stood up then and said, —
" You my people, we will all dance to-night and
to-morrow morning we will go to hunt. Do not
leave home, any of you. Let all stay. We will
have a great hunt. Katkatchila, will you stay with
us ? " asked he. " I shall be glad if you go and
hunt with us."
" I will go with you," said Katkatchila. " I am
glad to go."
They danced all night. Next morning, after
they had eaten, and just as they were starting off
to hunt, the chief said to his people, —
" I will send my grandson with Katkatchila, and
some of you, my sons, stay near him."
Some said to others : " When Katkatchila shoots
a deer, let us run right up and take out of the deer
the thing with which he killed it, and then we won't
give it back to him."
" Do you stay with him, too," said Torihas to
Kaisus, who was a swift runner.

Olelbis 7
The whole party, a great many people, went to
Hau Buli to hunt. When they got onto the moun
tain they saw ten deer. Katkatchila shot without
delay ; as soon as he shot a deer fell, and Kaisus,
who was ready, made a rush and ran up to the
deer, but Katkatchila was there before him and
had taken out the weapon.
He killed all ten of the deer one after another,
and Kaisus ran each time to be first at the fallen
body, but Katkatchila was always ahead of him.
When they went home Kaisus carried one deer,
and told of all they had done, saying, —
" Now you people, go and bring in the other
deer. I don't believe any man among us can run
as fast as Katkatchila ; he is a wonderful runner.
I don't know what he uses to kill game, and I
don't think we can get it away from him."
That night Hau spoke up among his friends and
said, " I will go with Katkatchila to-morrow and
see what I can do."
A great many of the people talked about Kat
katchila that night, saying, —
" We do not think that he will ever come to us
again, so we must all do our best to get his weapon
while he is here."
Katkatchila was ready to go home after the hunt,
but Torihas persuaded him, saying : " Stay one day
more. Hunt with us to-morrow."
Katkatchila agreed to stay. Next morning they
went to hunt. Hau went among others, and stayed
near Katkatchila all the time.
On the mountain they saw ten deer again. Kat-

8 Creation Myths of Primitive America
katchila stood back to shoot. Hau was ready to
spring forward to get the weapon. The moment
the weapon was shot, Hau ran with all his strength,
reached the deer first, took out the weapon and hid
it in his ear.
That moment Katkatchila was there. "You
have taken my flint ! " cried he. " Give it back ! "
" I have not taken it," said Hau. " I have
nothing of yours. I have just come."
"You have it. I saw you take it," said Kat
katchila. " I took nothing. I only put my hand on the
deer's head."
" I saw you take it."
" No, you did not. I have n't it."
Katkatchila kept asking all day for his flint, but
Hau would neither give it back nor own that he
had it. At last, when the sun was almost down,
Katkatchila turned to Hau and said, —
" I saw you take my flint. It would be better
for you to give it back to me, better for you and
very much better for your people. You want to
keep the flint ; well, keep it. You will see some
thing in pay for this, something that will not make
you glad."
He left the hunt and went away in great anger,
travelled all night and was at home next morning.
Torihas's people went back from the hunt, and
Hau with the others. He went into the sweat-
house, took the flint out of his ear and held it on
his palm. Every one came and looked at it. It
was just a small bit of a thing.

Olelbis 9
"When I took this," said Hau, "Katkatchila
got very angry ; he left us on the mountain and
went home."
All the people stood around looking at the flint
in Hau's hand.
"You have done wrong, you people," said Pat-
sotchet. " Katkatchila is very strong and quick ;
you will see what he will do. He has great power,
more power than you think, and he will have ven
geance. Lie will make us suffer terribly. He is
stronger than we are. He can do anything. You
will see something dreadful before long."
" Now, my people," said Torihas, " come into
the sweat-house and we will see what we can do
with that flint."
All went in. Hau went last, for he had the flint.
He held it out, showed it again, and said, " I took
this because you people wanted it."
They passed the flint from one to another; all
looked at it, all examined it. One old man said :
" Give it to me here, let me see it." He got it in
his hand, and said : " Now all go outside of the
sweat-house." This was Hilit Kiemila. They went out, leaving
him alone. Patsotchet kept on repeating, " Kat
katchila is angry, he is malicious ; before long we
shall see what will happen."
As soon as Hilit was alone in the sweat-house,
he began to rub the flint with his hands and roll it
with his legs (Hilit was turned afterward into a
house-fly, and that is why house-flies keep rubbing
their legs against each other to this day). He

i o Creation Myths of Primitive America
wanted to make the flint large. After he had
rolled and rubbed the flint all night, it was four or
five feet long, and as thick and wide. He let the
block fall to the ground and it made a great noise,
a very loud noise ; people heard it for a long dis
tance. Hilit went out then and said, —
"Go in, all you people, and look at that good
flint." They went and looked. It was almost daylight
at the time, and each one said, —
" Well, I don't know what is best to do ; per
haps it would be best to send this off. It may be
bad for us to keep it here ; bad for us to have it in
the sweat-house or the village."
They did not know who could carry the great
block, it was so heavy. " Perhaps Patsotchet can
carry it," said they.
Torihas went outside and called Patsotchet,
saying : " Come into the sweat-house a little while.
You come seldom ; but come now."
Patsotchet left his house, which was near by, and
went into the sweat-house.
" What are you going to do ? " asked he. " It
is too late to do anything now. 'I have known a
long time about Katkatchila. He is very strong.
He will do something terrible as soon as daylight
comes." " Patsotchet," said Torihas, " you are a good
man. I wish you would take this big flint and
carry it far away off north."
" I don't want to take it," said Patsotchet. " It
is too heavy."

Olelbis 1 1
Torihas went to Karili, who lived a little way off,
and said : " Come into the sweat-house. I wish
to talk with you."
Karili went in. "Take this block," said Tori
has. " No one is willing to carry it away, but you
are strong. Carry it north for me."
Karili took up the flint, but when he had it out
side the house he said : " I cannot carry this. It
is too heavy. I am not able to carry it."
Torihas called in Tichelis, and said : " My
uncle, will you take this north for me ? "
"Why will not others take it? Why are they
unwilling to carry it ? " asked Tichelis. " Well, I
will take it," said he, after thinking a little ; and he
made ready.
" Take it and start right away," said Torihas.
" Daylight is coming. Go straight. I will go, too,
and when I am on the top of Toriham Pui Toror I
will shout, and show you where to put the block."
Tichelis put the flint on his back and hurried
away with it.
When Katkatchila reached home he told his
brother-in-law, Tilikus, and his brother-in-law's
brother, Poharamas, and Yonot, his sister, how his
flint had been stolen.
It was just before sunrise. Tilikus and Pohara
mas went out in front of the house and swept a
space clean and smooth ; then they ran off to the
east and got pine as full of pitch as they could
find it. They brought a great deal of this, split
some very fine, and made a large pile there on the
smooth place.

1 2 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Just at this time Torihas's people were in his
sweat-house talking about the theft. "Nothing
will happen," said most of them ; " old Patsotchet
is always talking in that way, foretelling trouble.
We will dance to-day. Tichelis has carried that
thing far away ; all will be well now."
Yonot, Katkatchila's sister, had one child, a little
baby which she called Pohila (fire child). The
woman never left the house herself, and never let
any one carry the child out.
" Now, my sister," said Katkatchila, " bring your
child here ; bring my nephew out, and put him on
that nice, smooth place which we have swept clean ;
it will be pleasant there for him."
She brought the boy out, put him on the smooth
place. Poharamas was on the southeast side all
ready, and Tilikus on the southwest side. As
soon as Yonot put down the baby, they pushed
pitch-pine sticks toward it. That instant fire blazed
up. When the fire had caught well Poharamas took
a large burning brand of pitch-pine and rushed off
to the southeast ; Tilikus took another and ran to
the southwest. Poharamas, when he reached the
southeast where the sky comes to the earth, ran
around northward close to the sky ; he held the
point of his burning brand on the ground, and set
fire to everything as he ran. When Tilikus reached
the southwest, at the place where the sky touches
the earth, he ran northward near the sky. The two
brothers went swiftly, leaving a line of flame behind
them, and smoke rose in a cloud with the fire.
After the two had started Yonot snatched up

Olelbis 1 3
Pohila, and as she raised the boy a great flame
flashed up from the spot. She ran into the house
with her son, and put him into the basket where
she had kept him till that morning.
Torihas's people had begun to dance. Some
time after sunrise they saw a great fire far away on
the east and on the west as well.
" Oh, look at the fire on both sides ! " said one.
" It is far off, and won't come here," said another.
" I feel the heat already ! " cried a third.
Soon all saw that the fire was coming toward
them from the east and the west like waves of high
water, and the line of it was going northward
quickly. The fire made a terrible roar as it
burned ; soon everything was seething. Every
where people were trying to escape, all were rushing
toward the north. By the middle of the forenoon
the heat and burning were so great that people be
gan to fall down, crying out, —
"Oh, I'm hot! Ah, I'm hot!"
Torihas made a rush toward the north, and
reached the top of Toriham Pui Toror. When he
saw the fire coming very near he called out to
Tichelis, who was struggling along with the great
block of flint on his back, —
" Go ahead with the flint ! Go on, go on, the
fire is far from here, far behind us ! "
Tichelis heard the shouting, but said nothing ;
kept going northward steadily. When he was
northeast of Bohem Puyuk, he saw the fire coming
very fast, a mighty blaze roaring up to the sky.
It was coming from the south, east, west. Tichelis

1 4 Creation Myths of Primitive America
could go no farther ; there was no place for escape
above ground ; the fire would soon be where he was.
The flint had grown very hot from the burning ;
he threw it down ; it had skinned his back, it was
so hot and heavy. He ran under the ground, went
as far as he could, and lay there. Presently he
heard the fire roaring above him, the ground was
burning, he was barely alive ; soon all blazed up,
earth, rocks, everything.
Tichelis went up in flames and smoke toward
the sky.
When the brothers Tilikus and Poharamas had
carried the fire around the world and met in the
north, just half-way between east and west, they
struck their torches together and threw them on the
ground. The moment before they joined the burn
ing brands two persons rushed out between them.
One was Klabus and the other Tsaroki, who had
carried the invitation from Torihas to Katkatchila.
They just escaped.
The flint rock that Tichelis dropped lies there
yet, just where it fell, and when the Wintu people
want black flint they find it in that place.
Poharamas and Tilikus ran home as soon as they
struck their torches together.
Katkatchila had a little brother. He put the boy
on his back, and went beyond the sky where it
touches the earth in the south.
Yonot, the mother of Pohila, took her son and
went behind the sky ; her husband, Tilikus, went
with her. Poharamas went to Olelpanti. He flew
up to where Olelbis is.

Olelbis 1 5
Olelbis looked down into the burning world.
He could see nothing but waves of flame ; rocks
were burning, the ground was burning, everything
was burning. Great rolls and piles of smoke were
rising ; fire flew up toward the sky in flames, in great
sparks and brands. Those sparks became kolchituh
(sky eyes), and all the stars that we see now in the
sky came from that time when the first world was
burned. The sparks stuck fast in the sky, and
have remained there ever since the time of the wak-
pohas (world fire). Quartz rocks and fire in the
rocks are from that time. There was no fire in the
rocks before the wakpohas.
When Klabus escaped he went east outside the
sky, went to a place called Pom Wai Hudi Pom.
Tsaroki went up on the eastern side of the sky, —
ran up outside.
Before the fire began Olelbis spoke to the two
old women and said : " My grandmothers, go to
work for me and make a foundation. I wish to
build a sweat-house."
They dug out and cleared a place for the sweat-
house the day before the world-fire began. Olelbis
built it in this way : When the two women had dug
the foundation, he asked, —
" What kind of wood shall I get for the central
pillar of the house ? "
" Go far down south," said the old grandmothers,
" and get a great young white oak, pull it up with
the roots, bring it, and plant it in the middle to
support the house."
He went, found the tree, and brought it.

1 6 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Now, my grandmothers, what shall I do next ? "
" Go north and bring a black oak with the
roots. Go then to the west, put your hand out,
and there you will touch an oak different from
others." He went north and west, and brought the two
trees. " Now," said Olelbis, " I want a tree from the
east." " Go straight east to a live-oak place, you can
see it from here, get one of those live-oaks." He
brought it with the roots and said, —
" Now I want two trees more."
" Go to the southeast," said they, " where white
oaks grow, and get two of them."
He went and got two great white oak trees,
pulled them up with the roots, brought them with
all the branches, which were covered with acorns.
Olelbis put the great white oak from the south
in the middle as the central pillar ; then he put the
northern black oak on the north side ; he put it
sloping, so that its branches were on the south side
of the house ; over against this he put a south
eastern white oak sloping in like manner, so that its
head came out on the north side. The western oak
he planted on the west side, sloping so that its
branches hung on the east side ; then he put up the
two white oaks from the southeast on the east side :
six trees in all. The top of each tree was outside
opposite its roots ; acorns from it fell on the oppo
site side. Olelbis wished to fasten the trees firmly
together so they should never loosen.

Olelbis 1 7
" Stop, grandson," said one of the old women.
" How will you bind the top ? "
" I have nothing to bind it with," answered
Olelbis. She put her hand toward the south, and on it
came humus koriluli (a plant with beautiful blos
soms). She took it with roots, stem, and blossoms
and made a long narrow mat, the stem and roots all
woven together inside and the blossoms outside.
" Here, grandson," said she, " put this around the
top of the house and bind the trees with it firmly."
He did this. The binding was beautiful and
very fragrant. He wrapped it around the trees
where they came together at the top of the house
inside. The two old women made four very large
mats now, one for each side of the house. They
wove first a mat of yosoii (a plant about a foot high,
which has no branches and only a cluster of red
flowers at the top). When they had finished it
they told Olelbis to put it on the north side of the
house. " Now, my grandmothers," said Olelbis, " I want
a cover for the east side."
"My grandson," said each, "we are sorry that
you are alone, sorry that you have no one to help
you in building this house. Now take this mat
and put it on the east side."
They gave him a mat made of the same plant
that was used for a binding to hold the top of the
house. " I want a cover now for the south side."

1 8 Creation Myths of Primitive America
The old women put their hands to the east, and a
plant came to them a foot high with white blossoms,
of very sweet odor. A great deal of this plant came,
and they made a mat of it. They put all the blos
soms outside. The mat covered the south side.
" Now, how shall I cover the west side ? "
" We have the covering here already, made of kin-
tekchi-luli " (a plant with blue and white blossoms).
They put that mat on the west side, the
blossoms turned outward.
The old women gave him all kinds of beautiful
plants now, and flowers to form a great bank
around the bottom of the sweat-house. All kinds
of flowers that are in the world now were gathered
around the foot of that sweat-house, an enormous
bank of them ; every beautiful color and every
sweet odor in the world was there.
When they" went into the sweat-house, the per
fume was delightful. The two old women said then :
" All people to come in the world below will
talk of this house, and call it Olelpanti Hlut when
they tell about it and praise the house on high."
Olelbis said : " I want to lay something lengthwise
on each side ofthe door. What shall I get ? "
The two said: "We will get sau" (acorn bread
made in a great round roll like a tree-trunk).
They got sau, and put a roll at each side of the
door; these rolls were put there for people to
sit on.
Olelbis walked around, looked at everything, and
said, —
" I want this house to grow, to be wide and

Olelbis 1 9

high, to be large enough for all who will ever come
to it."
Then the house began to extend and grow wider
and higher, and it became wonderful in size and in
splendor. Just as daylight was coming the house
was finished and ready. It stood there in the
morning dawn, a mountain of beautiful flowers and
oak-tree branches ; all the colors of the world were
on it, outside and inside. The tree in the middle
was far above the top of the house, and filled
with acorns ; a few of them had fallen on every
side. That sweat-house was placed there to last forever,
the largest and most beautiful building in the world,
above or below. Nothing like it will ever be built
again. " Now, my grandson," said the old women, " the
house is built and finished. All the people in the
world will like this house. They will talk about it
and speak well of it always. This house will last
forever, and these flowers will bloom forever ; the
roots from which they grow can never die."
The world fire began on the morning after the
sweat-house was finished. During the fire they
could see nothing of the world below but flames and
smoke. Olelbis did not like this.
"Grandson," said the old women, "we will tell
you what to do to put out that terrible wakpohas.
There is a very old man, Kahit Kiemila, and he lives
far north toward the east, outside the first sky. He
stays there in one little place; he is all alone, and
always in the same place. Tell him what to do,

20 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and he will do it. If you don't like the fire and
smoke down below, tell the old man to turn his
face toward you, to come this way and to bring
with him Mem Loimis. He sits with his head
between his hands and his face to the north, and
never looks up. The place where he sits is called
Waiken Pom Pui Humok Pom."
The first person who came to Olelbis on the
day of the fire was Kiriu Herit. He came about
daylight. "You have finished the sweat-house, my nephew,"
said he.
" I have," said Olelbis, " but we are going to have
trouble, and do you, my uncle, go up on the west
side of the sweat-house, look around everywhere,
and tell me what you see."
Kiriu went to the top of the house and looked.
Soon another man came and said, " My brother,
you have finished the sweat-house."
"Yes," said Olelbis, "and do you, my brother,
go up on the east side of the house, stand there, and
call to Kahit."
This was Lutchi Herit. Two more came and
saluted Olelbis. " Go into the sweat-house," said
he. These were the two brothers, Tilichi. A fifth
person came, Kuntihle, and then a sixth, Sutunut, a
great person. Lutchi kept darting around, looking
toward the north and calling : " Kahit cannot take
me ! Kahit cannot take me ! " Kahit was getting
angry by this time, and thinking to turn and look
at Lutchi, for though far away, he heard the noise
of his darting and his calling. " That old Kahit

Olelbis 2 1
may come out, but he cannot catch me ! " called
Lutchi, as he darted around, always watching the
north. Now Olelbis called Lutchi and Sutunut, and said :
"You, Lutchi, go north, pry up the sky and prop
it ; here is a sky pole and a sky prop." Turning
to Sutunut, he plucked a feather from each of his
wings and said : " Go to Kahit in Waiken Pom Pui
Humok Pom ; tell him to come south with Mem
Loimis. She lives not far from him. Her house
is in the ground. And tell him to blow his whistle
with all his breath. Put these two feathers on his
cheeks just in front of his ears."
Lutchi went quickly. No one could travel as
fast as he. He reached the sky on the north,
raised and propped it. Sutunut gave the message
to Kahit, who raised his head from between his
hands slowly and turned toward the south. Sutu
nut put the feathers in his cheeks then, as Olelbis
had commanded.
One person, Sotchet, who lived just south of
Kahit, spoke up now and said, —
" Go ahead, Kahit. I am in a hurry to see my
father, Olelbis. I will follow you. I am drinking
my mother's milk." (He was doing that to bring
great water.) His mother was Mem Loimis.
" Come with me, Mem Loimis," said Kahit to
Sotchet's mother. " When I start, go ahead a
little. I will help you forward."
Olelbis was watching, and thought, " Kahit is
ready to start, and Mem Loimis is with him."
Olelbis made then an oak paddle, and hurled it

22 Creation Myths of Primitive America
to where Sotchet was. Sotchet caught the paddle,
made a tail of it, put it on, and went plashing along
through the water. Not far from Kahit lived an
old woman, Yoholmit Pokaila. She made a basket
of white willow, and finished it just as Mem Loimis
was ready to start. In the same place was Sosini
Herit, just ready to move. In one hand he
held a bow and arrows, with the other he was
to swim.
Olelbis saw all this, — saw and knew what people
were doing or preparing to do. " Grandmothers,"
said he, " Mem Loimis is ready to move. Kahit
is ready. All the people around them will follow."
The great fire was blazing, roaring all over the
earth, burning rocks, earth, trees, people, burning
everything. Mem Loimis started, and with her Kahit. Water
rushed in through the open place made by Lutchi
when he raised the sky. It rushed in like a crowd
of rivers, covered the earth, and put out the fire as
it rolled on toward the south. There was so much
water outside that could not come through that it
rose to the top of the sky and rushed on toward
Olelpanti. Olelbis went to the top of the sweat-house and
stood looking toward the north. Sula Kiemila
and Toko Kiemila had come that morning. " Take
your places north of the sweat-house," said Olelbis,
and they did so. Olelbis saw everything coming
toward him in the water from the north, all kinds
of people who could swim. They were so many
that no one could count them. Before he had

Olelbis 23
built the sweat-house, the two grandmothers had
said to Olelbis : " Go far south and get pilok,
which is a tall plant with a strong fibre, and make
a cord." He did so, and twisted a strong cord
from pilok. Of this he made a sling. He put
his hand to the west, and kilson came on it, a round
white stone an inch and a half in diameter. He
put the stone in the sling, tied the sling around his
head, and kept it there always.
He took this sling in his hand now, and stood
watching ready to throw the stone at something
that was coming in the water. Olelbis threw with
his left hand. He was left-handed, and for this
reason was called Nomhlyestawa (throwing west
with the left hand).
Mem Loimis went forward, and water rose moun
tains high. Following closely after Mem Loimis
came Kahit. He had a whistle in his mouth ; as he
moved forward he blew it with all his might, and
made a terrible noise. The whistle was his own ;
he had had it always. He came flying and blowing.
He looked like an enormous bat, with wings spread.
As he flew south toward the other side of the sky,
his two cheek feathers grew straight out, became
immensely long, waved up and down, grew till they
could touch the sky on both sides.
While Kahit flew on and was blowing his whistle,
old Yoholmit lay in her basket ; she floated in it
high on the great waves, and laughed and shouted,
"Ho! ho!"
" How glad my aunt is to see water ; hear how
she laughs!" said Olelbis. And he gave her two

24 Creation Myths of Primitive America
new names, Surut Womulmit (hair-belt woman) and
Mem Hlosmulmit (water-foam woman). " Look
at my aunt," said Olelbis again. " She is glad to
see water ! "
As Yoholmit was laughing and shouting she
called out, —
" Water, you be big ! Grow all the time ! Be
deep so that I can float and float on, float all my
life." Olelbis was watching everything closely. Sosini
Herit was coming. He held a bow and arrows in
one hand and swam with the other. He was next
behind old Yoholmit.
" Look at my brother, Sosini, look at him swim
ming," said Olelbis. When mountains of water
were coming near swiftly, Olelbis said to the two
old women, " Go into the sweat-house." The two
brothers, Kuntihle and Tede Wiu, went in also.
Olelbis stood ready to use his sling. When Yohol
mit was coming near, he hurled a stone at her. He
did not hit her. He did not wish to hit her. He
hit the basket and sent her far away east in it until
the basket struck the sky.
When the water reached Toko, it divided, went
east and west, went no farther south in Olelpanti.
At this time Olelbis saw a hollow log coming from
the north. On it were sitting a number of Tede
Memtulit and Bisus people. Just behind the log
came some one with a big willow-tree in his mouth,
sometimes swimming east, sometimes swimming
west. He slapped the water with his new tail,
making a loud noise. This was Sotchet, the son

Olelbis 25
of Mem Loimis. Olelbis struck the log with a
stone from his sling, and threw it far away west
with all the Memtulits on it except one, which
came to the sweat-house and said, —
" My brother, I should like to stay with you
here." This was Tede Memtulit.
"Stay here," said Olelbis.
Next came Wokwuk. He was large and beauti
ful, and had very red eyes. When Kahit came fly
ing toward the sweat-house, and was still north of
it, Olelbis cried to him, —
" My uncle, we have had wind enough and water
enough ; can you not stop them ? "
Kahit flew off toward the east and sent Mem
Loimis back. " Mem Loimis," said he, " you
are very large and very strong, but I am stronger.
Go back ! If not, I will stop you. Go home ! "
Mem Loimis went back north, went into the
ground where she had lived before. Kahit went
east, then turned and went north to where he
had been at first, and sat down again in silence
with his head between his hands.
When Mem Loimis and Kahit had gone home,
all water disappeared ; it was calm, dry, and clear
again everywhere. Olelbis looked down on the
earth, but could see nothing : no mountains, no
trees, no ground, nothing but naked rocks washed
clean. He stood and looked in every direction, —
looked east, north, west, south, to see if he could
find anything. He found nothing. After a time
he saw in the basin of a great rock some water, all
that was left.' The rock was in Tsarau Heril.

26 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" My grandmothers," asked Olelbis, " what shall
I do now? Look everywhere, there is nothing
in the world below but naked rocks. I don't
like it."
" Wait awhile, grandson," said they. " We will
look and see if we can find something somewhere.
Perhaps we can."
On this earth there was no river, no creek, no
water in any place but that water at Tsarau Heril.
This was the morning after Mem Loimis had gone
home. Now a person came from the east to Olelpanti,
Klabus Herit. " My uncle," said Olelbis to Kla-
bus, " I am looking all over the world below, but
can see nothing on it. Do you know any place
beyond the sky on the north, south, east, or west,
where there is earth ? "
" I know no place where there is earth," said
Klabus. Soon another person, Yilahl Herit, was seen com
ing from the west. When he came up, Olelbis
asked, —
" My uncle, do you know of earth, or trees, or
people in any place beyond the sky ? "
" I do not," answered Yilahl. " But are you all
well here ? "
" We are well and unharmed," answered Olelbis.
"How did you come here? Which way did
you come? Where did you stay that the world
fire did not burn you ? " asked Klabus of Yilahl.
" I will tell you," said Yilahl. " When the fire
began, I went west, I went under the sky where it

Olelbis

27

touches the lower world, I went out to the other
side. The fire did not go there. There is earth
now in that place."
" My uncles," said Olelbis, " I want you both to
go down, to go west, and get that earth for me."
" I will go," said Klabus ; and turning to the two
old women he said : " Give me two baskets, very
large round baskets."
The old women made two very large baskets.
Klabus took these and went west with Yilahl.
As soon as they started Olelbis took a great sky
net (kolchi koro), and it spread out ; it reached
to the ends of the sky in every direction ; it was
full of small, fine holes, like a sieve. He spread
it out in Olelpanti ; put it under his sweat-house.
It is above this world yet, but we cannot see it.
Klabus and Yilahl went west to where the earth
was. Klabus dug it up and filled the baskets
quickly ; went to the north side of the sweat-house
and threw the earth into the great net, then hurried
back and brought more earth and threw it on the
net. It went through the net and fell down here,
fell on the rocks in this world like rain.
Klabus hurried back and forth very quickly,
carrying one basket on each arm. He was going
and coming for five days and five nights ; fine earth
was falling all this time, till the rocks were covered,
and there was plenty of earth everywhere.
Yilahl gave no help. He went down the first
time with Klabus, showed him the earth, and
stayed there, but he did not help to carry earth
or to dig it.

28 Creation Myths of Primitive America
When Klabus had covered all the rocks with
good earth, Olelbis told him to rest.
" Go west and tell Yilahl to help you," said
Olelbis to Klabus the next morning, after he had
rested. " Tell him to work with you, fixing the
earth which you have thrown down. Go, both
of you ; make mountains, hills, and level country ;
arrange everything."
No fire was visible anywhere ; every bit had been
quenched by the flood which came in after Lutchi
propped up the sky. Yilahl came out into this
world below from under the edge of the sky in
the west, and Klabus came out from under it in
the east. Both met and went to work. Yilahl
made the small hills and fixed the rolling country.
Klabus raised the great mountains and mountain
ranges. There was nothing but earth and rock
yet ; no people at work only these two, Klabus
and Yilahl.
Olelbis stood watching and looking ; he looked
five days, found no fire in any place. Next day
he saw a little smoke' in the southwest coming
straight up as if through a small opening. Olel
bis had a Winishuyat on his head, tied in his hair,
and the Winishuyat said to him, —
" My brother, look ; there is a little fire away down
south ; a woman there has fire in a small basket."
This woman was Yonot, the mother of Pohila,
who had gone back to live in her old house.
"My brother," said Olelbis, turning to Tede
Wiu, " do you see that place there ? Go and bring
fire from it."

Olelbis 29

Tede Wiu went quickly to the place where Olel
bis had seen the smoke. He found a house, and
looking through a crack he saw the glow of fire,
but not the fire itself.
Tede Wiu stayed five days and nights watching.
He could not get into the house where the basket
was. That house was closed firmly, and had no door.
At last he went back to Olelpanti without fire.
" I should like to catch the fish which I see
jumping in that southern water," said Kuntihle,
" but we could not cook fish if we had it, for we
have no fire."
"You would better go yourself and try to get
fire," said Olelbis.
Kuntihle went and watched five days. He could
not get into the house, and no fire fell out. He
went back to Olelpanti.
" We need fire," said Olelbis, " but how are we
to get it? Go again and try," said he to Tede
Wiu ; " watch till fire falls out, or go in and take
some." Klabus and Yilahl were at work yet.
Tede Wiu went, crept under the house, watched
five days and nights, stayed right under the basket
in which Pohila was. On the sixth morning, very
early, just at daybreak, a spark of fire fell out.
Tede Wiu caught the spark, ran off quickly to
Olelbis, and gave it to him.
They had fire in Olelpanti now, and were glad.
Neither Yonot, the mother, nor Tilikus, the father
of Pohila, knew that fire had been carried away to
Olelpanti.

30 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Klabus and Yilahl were still at work making the
mountains and valleys, and had almost finished.
Now that there was fire in Olelpanti, Kuntihle
said : " I will go and see that fish. Tilitchi, will
you come with me ? "
Tilitchi went. Before they started Olelbis gave
them a fish net. They caught a fish, and went
back, dressed, cooked, and ate it.
" This is a good fish," said Olelbis. " How did
it get into that water ? That pond in the rock is
small and round ; there is no water to run into it.
Grandmothers, what shall we do with this pond
and the fish in it ? "
"We will tell you," said the old women. "Go
to the west under the sky, break off a strip of
the sky, bring it here, and make a pointed pole
of it."
Klabus and Yilahl were just putting the top
on Bohem Puyuk ; all the other mountains in the
world were finished.
Olelbis went west, got the sky pole, and pointed
one end of it. He stuck the pole down at the foot
of Bohem Puyuk, drew the point of it along south
ward, making a deep furrow. Then he stuck the
pole far north, and made a second furrow to join the
eastern end of the first one. There was no water
in either furrow yet, and Olelbis said, —
" Now, my grandmothers, what shall I do next ? "
" Take this grapevine root," said they. " Throw
it to the place where you thrust in the pole at the
foot of Bohem Puyuk."
He threw the root. One end of it went into the

Olelbis 3 1
mountain, the other hung out; from this water
flowed. "This will be called Wini Mem," said the
grandmothers. " The country around it will be
good ; many people will go there to live in the
future." The grandmothers gave a second root, a tule
root, and Olelbis threw this far up north, where
one end stuck in the ground as had the grapevine
root, and from the other end flowed Pui Mem
— there is much tule at the head of Pui Mem to
this day.
Olelbis took his sky pole again and made deep
furrows down southward from Bohema Mem, large
ones for large rivers and smaller ones for creeks.
Water flowed and filled the furrows, flowed south
ward till it reached the place where Kuntihle found
the first fish ; and when the large river reached that
little pond, fish went out of it into the river, and
from the river into all creeks and rivers.
When the rivers were finished, and water was
running in them, Olelbis saw an acorn tree in the
east, outside the sky. He looked on the north side
of the tree and saw some one hammering. He
hurled a stone from his sling, struck down the per
son, and sent Tilitchi to bring him. Tilitchi
brought him.
" Of what people is this one ? " asked he of the
old women.
" He is of a good people," answered they. " Put
him on the central pillar of the sweat-house; we
call him Tsurat."

32 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Tsurat was only stunned. When Tsurat was taken
to the central pillar, he climbed it, stopping every
little while and hammering. The sound which he
made, "Ya-tuck! ya-tuck! " was heard outside the
sweat-house, — a good sound ; all liked to hear it.
Olelbis saw on the same tree another of the same
family. When he was brought, the old women said,
" This is Min Taitai ; put him on the ground east
of the fire " — the fire was in the middle.
Min Taitai began to talk to himself. They
could hear two words, " Wit, wit ! " (coming back,
coming back).
Olelbis stunned a third person, who was brought
by Tilitchi. The old women said, " He, too, is of
a good people, he is Hessiha ; let him be with Min
Taitai, and put a basket of red earth and water near
them." Min Taitai talked on to himself, " Wit, wit ! "
" Who is ' Wit, wit ? ' " asked Hessiha.
" Sas " (the sun), answered Min Taitai, " was
going down, and now he is coming back ; that is
who ' Wit, wit ' " is."
"Who is coming back? " asked Hessiha.
" Sas is coming back."
" Sas is not coming back, he is going on."
(In winter Sas goes down south, and in summer
he comes back north. Min Taitai was saying Sas
is coming back, up north. Hessiha thought he was
saying Sas has gone down toward the west, and now
is coming back east without setting.)
"Wit, wit" (coming back, coming back), said
Min Taitai.

Olelbis 3 3
" Cherep, cherep ! " (going on, going on), said
Hessiha. Soon they came to blows, began to fight ; when
fighting, Hessiha took red mud from the basket
and threw it. Min Taitai took mud, too, and threw
it at Hessiha. Both were soon covered with mud
and water.
Clover, beautiful grasses, and plants of all kinds
were growing around the sweat-house in Olelpanti.
The whole place was a mass of blossoms. " Now,
my grandmothers," said Olelbis, " tell me what you
think. All that ground below us is bare ; there is
nothing on it. What can we do for it ? "
" My grandson, in a place southeast of this is a
house in which people live. The place is called
Hlihli Pui Hlutton [acorn eastern sweat-house
place]. An old man lives there. Send Tsurat to
bring that old man to us."
" I will," said Olelbis ; and he sent Tsurat, who
brought Hlihli Kiemila, who had lived all his life
in that eastern sweat-house. When Olelbis looked
at the old man, he said to Tsurat : " Go to the
world beneath us with Hlihli. Carry him all over
it, — north, south, east, and west."
Hlihli was like an old worm-eaten acorn outside ;
inside he was like meal or snuff, and when he
moved this inside sifted out of him. He had a
daughter, Hlihli Loimis, and she had many sons.
Tsurat carried Hlihli all over the world, and
when he had carried him five days little oak bushes
were springing up everywhere from the dust which
fell from him. They took seeds of clover growing
3

34 Creation Myths of Primitive America
around the sweat-house in Olelpanti and scattered
them ; clover grew up in every place. Olelbis
threw down all kinds of flower seeds from the
flowers blossoming in Olelpanti.
A little way east of Olelbis's sweat-house lived
Sedit. At the time of the fire he ran through under
the sky in the south and went up on the sky to
Olelpanti. He stayed there with Olelbis until the
fire and water stopped. Then he went east a short
distance, and made a house for himself. During
the great water Sedit caught Wokwuk, and after
ward built a house near his own for him.
There was a big rock east of Sedit's house.
Olelbis saw Chuluhl sitting on this rock, and he
said, —
" My brother, I have put clover on the earth.
I want you to go down there and stay with that
clover, stay with it always. The place is a good
one for you." This place was Tokuston on Pui
Mem. " Take this pontcheuchi [headband made
of dew], wear it around your head, wear it always,
guard the clover, put your head among its leaves,
and keep the grass and clover wet and green all
the time. I will take that rock from near Sedit's
house, and put it down on the earth for you."
(The rock stands now about fifty miles above Pas-
puisono. It is called Pui Toleson — rock leaning
east.) Wokwuk at the time of the great water lost the
middle and longest finger on one hand ; it went far
north, and after a time became a deer, and from
that deer came all the deer in the world after the

Olelbis 35
fire. When Kahit and Mem Loimis went east on
the way home, Wokwuk lost a small feather from
above one of his eyes. It went west and was
turned into the beautiful shells tsanteris. He also
lost two neck feathers. They went west and be
came kalas, and from that came all pearl shells.
He lost the tip of his little finger. It went west
and became the Wokwuk bird down here. He
lost some spittle. It went east on the water and
turned to blue beads, such as people wear now
around their necks. Wokwuk lost a small bit of
his intestines. It went south on the water and
became mempak ; from that come all mempak
(water bone). He lost a piece of his backbone.
It went east on the water and became an elk, and
from that elk came all elks.
One day Sedit said to Olelbis, when all were
telling Olelbis what they were going to do :
" Grandson, I am going to take off my skin and
let it go to the world below."
" Do so," said Olelbis.
Sedit took off his skin as he would a coat, and
threw it down to this world.
" Now there will be Sedits all over down there,"
said he.
While Olelbis was gathering into Olelpanti all
the people from every place outside this sky above
us, Min Taitai and Hessiha were disputing and
throwing red mud at each other.
Olelbis gathered people from every side till
he had gathered them all at his house. They
were there in crowds and in thousands, singing

36 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and talking inside and outside, everywhere in
Olelpanti. One morning Olelbis said to the old women, —
"My grandmothers, I cannot tell what to do nor
how to get what I want, but far west of here is a
ridge that stretches from the south to the north,
and on that ridge people of some kind come from
the south and hurry north ; they do that every
day ; they go north along that ridge, and I do not
know what kind of people they are. When they
are on the top of the ridge, they run north very
swiftly. As soon as Klabus and Yilahl finished the
level ground and the hills and mountains in the
world below, these people began to travel along
the ridge in this way, and they have been going
north ever since."
" You do not know those people," said the old
women, " but we know them, the Katkatchila
brothers know them ; they are Kahsuku, the cloud
dogs, the cloud people. If you wish to know more
about these cloud people, ask the elder Katkatchila ;
he knows them ; he lives far west at this time ; go
and ask him, go yourself."
Olelbis set out next morning early, and just
before he reached Katkatchila's house in the west
he came upon some one who was stooping and
looking toward the south. It was the elder Kat
katchila, who was watching the cloud people.
" Stop, my brother," said Katkatchila, " and
watch with me."
The two looked along the ridge toward the
south — it was before sunrise then — and they saw

Olelbis 37
a person come a little way in sight, then turn and
go back. He did not come nearer because he saw
Olelbis. The cloud people are very timid ; they
can see a long distance, and have a very keen
scent. When he saw Olelbis, this one ran away
home. " My brother," said Katkatchila to Olelbis, " we
have been watching here to drive back these cloud
people. We have watched night and day, I and
my little brother. My brother is near the eastern
slope of this ridge which runs north and south ;
he stays there and watches."
" What do you mean by cloud people ? " asked
Olelbis ; " what kind of people are they ? I have
seen only the head and neck of one ; what I saw
looked well, seemed good. I wish you, my
brothers, would catch one of these people, if you
can. " How is it that you do not know these people ? "
asked Katkatchila. " You ought to know them ;
you have seen every place, every person, every
thing ; you ought to know these people. I will
tell you how they came. My sister and I made
the great world fire ; we made the wakpohas be
cause Torihas and his people stole my flint. I
was angry. I told my sister to put her baby
outside the house. We put pitch-pine around
it, and fire blazed up from the baby. When the
fire was burning all over the earth and there were
great flames and smoke, a big water and a strong
wind came ; the water filled the whole world with
steam, and the wind drove the steam and smoke

3 8 Creation Myths of Primitive America
from the great fire, and carried them far off to the
south, where they became a people, — the cloud
people. These people are red or white or black,
all of them, and they are going north always.
They have good heads and long necks."
" I should like to stand near some of these people
and look at them," said Olelbis.
" I do not like to see them go north," said Kat
katchila. "My brother and I are here trying to
drive them back ; but they go north in spite of us.
My brother is on the other slope over there to
frighten them back; but they turn to the east a
little and go around him."
" Bring your brother here," said Olelbis.
Katkatchila brought his brother, and the two
said, —
" These cloud people are very wild ; we cannot
go near them. But we should like to drive them
back or catch them."
" Go west, my brothers," said Olelbis, " and get
something to stop that gap on the east where the
cloud people pass you and go north. Stop that
opening on the east, and stop the western slope
also, leaving only a narrow place for them to go
through. Get yew wood, make a very high fence
with it, and stop the eastern slope."
They brought the yew wood and made a very
high fence on the eastern slope, and then one on
the west, leaving only a narrow gap open.
" Go to the east now," said Olelbis, " get katsau,
which is a strong, fibrous plant, and make strings
of it. Make a rope of the string and set a snare

Olelbis 39
in the opening of the fence across the western slope
to catch those cloud people."
The elder brother was on the ridge near the
western slope, and the younger on the ridge near
the eastern slope. The brothers made the snare
and set it on the western slope. Both watched
and waited for the clouds to come.
" Now, my brother," said Olelbis, when he saw
this work, " watch these people well, frighten them
into the trap, and I will go back to Olelpanti."
Next morning early the two brothers were watch
ing, and very soon they saw a great many cloud
people coming. Both brothers were lying flat on
the middle of the ridge, so that the clouds could
not see them. The clouds watched closely. They
came to the place where they had always turned
east to go past little Katkatchila ; they ran against
the fence and could not pass. They turned and
went toward the west to pass northward along the
central ridge ; but when both brothers stood up,
the clouds rushed to the western slope and fell into
the trap.
Olelbis saw this and said : " Now, my brothers
are driving them in. I must go and see ! " And
he ran off quickly.
"Oh, my brother," said the Katkatchilas when
he came, "we have caught one cloud. All the rest
went through the fence. They broke it — we
caught one ; the others burst away."
Olelbis looked at the cloud and said, —
" This is a black one ! They broke down the
fence and ran away ! They are a strong people."

40 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Now, my brother," said the elder Katkatchila,
"we will skin this cloud, and you may have the
- skin. We will give it to you."
" I shall be glad to have it," said Olelbis.
They stripped the skin from the cloud, and,
when giving it to Olelbis, the elder one said, " You
must tan this carefully."
" Make another fence," said Olelbis, " but
make it stronger. You will catch more of these
people." " A great many clouds have broken through our
fence to-day and gone north. Others went before
we made the fence. We shall see these people by
and by," said Katkatchila. (He meant that clouds
would stay in the north and become another people ;
stay there always.)
Olelbis took the skin, turned toward home, and
travelled on. He was rubbing it in his hands,
tanning it as he went. The brothers put the body
in a hole and buried it, not caring for the flesh.
They wanted only the skin.
Olelbis went along tanning the skin of the black
cloud, and he walked around everywhere as he
tanned. He went away west, then north, then
south, then east. At last he came home with the
skin well tanned. He spread it and stretched it
smooth. The two Katkatchila brothers had not
been able yet to catch another of the cloud people,
but they were working at it all the time. After
Olelbis spread the skin on the ground, he took it
up and said to one of the old women, —
" My grandmother is always cold ; let us give

Olelbis 4 1
her this skin ; " and he gave it to her. Each of
the two old women said, —
" My grandson, we are glad to have this skin.
We shall sleep warm now."
" I must go," said Olelbis, " and see my brothers
drive in more of the cloud people." And he went.
" We cannot catch these clouds," said the older
brother ; " they go through our fence, they escape,
we cannot catch them ; they have gone to the north,
they will stay there and become a new people. We
have caught only one, a white cloud. Those that
have escaped will become a new people ; they will
be Yola Ka " (snow clouds).
The Katkatchilas stripped the skin from the
white cloud and gave it to Olelbis. He went
around north, south, east, and west, tanning it in
the same way that he had tanned the black skin.
After he had tanned it well he spread the skin,
stretched it, straightened it ; then he gave it to the
other grandmother.
Both old women were glad now. Both said :
" We shall sleep warm at night now all the time."
Next day the two brothers caught a third cloud,
a red one, but they kept that skin for themselves.
They did not give it to Olelbis, because he told
them to keep it. We see this skin now often
enough, for the brothers hang it up when they like
in the west and sometimes in the east.
" Now," said the two old women, " we have this
white skin and this black one. When we hang
the white skin outside this house, white clouds will
go from it, — will go away down south, where its

42 Creation Myths of Primitive America
people began to live, and then they will come from
the south and travel north to bring rain. When
they come back, we will hang out the black skin,
and from it a great many black rain clouds will go
out, and from these clouds heavy rain will fall on
all the world below."
From that time the old women hang out the
two skins, first the white, then the black skin, and
when clouds enough have gone from them they
take the skins into the sweat-house again ; and
from these two skins comes all the rain to people
in this world.
" The cloud people who went north will stay in
the northwest," said Olelbis, " and from them will
come snow to people hereafter."
All this time the people in Olelpanti were sing
ing and talking. Any one could hear them from a
distance. Olelbis had brought in a great many
different kinds of people, others had come them
selves, and still others were coming. After the
tanning of the two cloud skins a man came and took
his place above the sweat-house door, and sat there
with his face to the east. This was Kar Kiemila.
Right after him came Tsararok, and took his place
at the side of Kar. Next came Kau ; then the two
brothers Hus came, and Wehl Dilidili. All these
people in the sweat-house and around it asked one
another, —
" What shall we do ? Where shall we live ?
We should like to know what Olelbis will do
with us."
" You will know very soon where we are going,"

Olelbis

43

said Toko and Sula. " Olelbis will put us in our
¦places ; he is chief over all."
Next morning Olelbis said : " Now, my grand
mothers, what do you think best ? What are we
to do with the people here ? Is it best for them to
stay in Olelpanti ? "
" Our grandson," answered the old women, " send
all that are not needed here to the lower world;
turn them into something good for the people who
are to come soon, — those fit for this place up here.
The great people, the best ones, you will keep in
Olelpanti, and send down only a little part of each
of them to turn into something in the world below
and be of use to people there."
Olelbis called all who were in the sweat-house to
come out, and he began to send them to their
places. To Kar he said : " Go and live on Wini Mem.
Be a gray heron there ; that is a good country
for you." (Before white people came there were
many of these birds on that river.)
To Toko he said : " Go to Kawiken on Pui
Mem. Be a sunfish and live there always. You,
Sula, go to the south of Bohem Puyuk on Wini
Mem. Be a trout, and live at Sulanharas."
To Torihas he said : " You will be a blue crane,"
and to Chalilak : " You will be a goose. You both
will have two places to live in, one in the south and
the other in the north. You will go north in the
spring and live there all summer ; you will go
south in the fall and live in the south all winter.
Do this always ; travel that way every year."

44 Creation Myths of Primitive America
To Kiriu he said : " Go and live along the water.
You will be a loon, and you will go up and down
great rivers all your life."
To Katsi he said : " You will be a fish hawk,
catch fish and eat them, live along rivers."
Olelbis plucked one small feather from the neck
of Moihas. This he threw down and said, " Be an
eagle, and live on high mountains." All bald eagles
on earth came from that feather, but the great
Moihas remained above with Olelbis, where he is
now. From Lutchi Olelbis plucked one feather, threw
it down, and said : " You will be a humming-bird.
Fly around in spring when the green grass comes
and the trees and flowers bloom. You will be on
blossoms and dart from one to another everywhere."
Lutchi himself stayed in Olelpanti.
Olelbis pulled a feather from Kau, threw it down,
and said : " You will fly along rivers, be a white
crane, and live near them always." The great Kau
stayed in Olelpanti with Olelbis.
From the elder Hus brother Olelbis plucked a
feather from the right side, sent the feather down on
this earth, and said, —
" You be a buzzard down there, and in spring go
up on Wini Mem and look for dead salmon and
other fish along Pui Mem, Bohema Mem, and
other rivers, eat dead salmon and other fish. When
people kill a snake or something else which they do
not like, you will go and eat the snake or other
dead thing. The Wintu, the coming people, will
feed you always with what is dead."

Olelbis 45
Tilitchi had been sent for three persons, and now
he brought the first.
" Who is this ? " asked Olelbis of the old women.
"This is Dokos," said they; "he is bad."
Dokos was placed a little northeast of the sweat-
house. He sat looking toward the west. Tilichi
brought in a second and third person.
" Who are these ? " asked Olelbis.
" These are both bad people," said the old
women. " These are Wima Loimis and Klak
Loimis." " Put them with Dokos," said Olelbis. After
he had called all the people out of the sweat-house
to send them to their proper places, Olelbis had put
something on their teeth to make them harmless.
" Come here, Wima Loimis," said Olelbis. " I
have something to put on your teeth so that they
may harm no one."
" I want nothing on my teeth," said Wima
Loimis. " If something were put on them I could
not eat." He asked again, but she shook her
head, saying : " I want nothing on my teeth, I
could not eat if anything were put on them."
" If she will not come, come you, Klak Loimis."
Klak Loimis would not go to him.
" Why not come when I call you ? " asked
Olelbis. " My sister Wima will not go. She says that
she could not eat if her teeth were touched. I
want nothing on my teeth. I am afraid that I
could not eat."
"Very well," answered Olelbis, "you, Wima,

46 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and you, Klak, want to be different from others.
Come, Dokos, I will touch your teeth."
" My sisters, Klak and Wima, want nothing on
their teeth. I want nothing on mine. I am angry
at my sisters ; my heart hates them. I do not wish
to be good. I am angry at my sisters. I will be
wicked as well as they." Then turning to his sis
ters he said : " After a while people will employ
me against you whenever they are angry at you.
Whenever you bite people or hurt them, they will
call me to fight against you, and I will go with
them. I will go into your bodies and kill you.
Then you will be sorry for what you have done
to-day. Olelbis asked you to be good. He wants
you to be good, but you are not willing. I will
be bad to punish you."
When the two women heard these words they
cried, and Wima said, " Well, my brother, we can
put something on our teeth yet."
Dokos placed his head between his hands and
sat awhile in that posture. Then he straightened
himself and said, —
"You two have talked enough; you would bet
ter stop. You are not like me ; I am stronger
than both of you, and I shall be so always. You,
Wima, and you, Klak, will hate people only, but
I shall hate all living things. I shall hate you,
hate every one ; kill you, kill every one. I want
nothing of any one. I want no friend in any
place." " Well," said Olelbis, " you go as you are."
" I will go first," said Dokos.

Olelbis 47
" Go," said Olelbis, " to Koiham Nomdaltopi,
be flint there, and spread all around the place.
You, Klak Loimis, will go to Klak Kewilton, be a
rattlesnake there, increase and spread everywhere.
I will send you, Wima, to Wima Wai Tsarauton ;
you will be a grizzly bear there. After a while a
great family will come from you and spread over all
the country. You will be bad ; and, Klak, you will
be bad, but, Dokos, you will be the worst, always
ready to hurt and kill ; always angry, always hating
your sisters and every one living.
" You, Klak, and you, Wima, when you see
people you will bite them, and people will take
Dokos to kill you, and Dokos will go into your
bodies, and you will die. Wima, you will be sorry
that you would not let me change your teeth.
You, Klak, will be sorry. You will bite people,
and they will kill you because you cannot run
away from them. Your dead body will lie on
the ground, and buzzards will eat it.
" Dokos, you will go to your place and increase.
People will go there and get you to kill your sisters
and others for them, and when you have pleased
them and killed all the people they wished you to
kill, when they want you no longer, they will throw
you down on a rock and break you to pieces, then
you will be nothing. You will be dead forever.
Now go ! "
To all those who let their teeth be made inno
cent, Olelbis said : " You will go to where I send
you, — one here, another there." And he gave
their places to all. To some he said: "After a

48 Creation Myths of Primitive America
while the new people will use you for food," and
to the others he said : " The new people will use
your skins, and you will be of service to them,
you will be good for them."
The first person taken up to Olelbis's sweat-
house was Tsurat ; and now Olelbis spoke to
Tsurat last of all and said, —
" Pluck one feather from your back."
Tsurat plucked it.
Olelbis threw the feather to the earth and
said, —
" The place where this falls will be called Tsurat-
ton Mem Puisono. This feather will become wood
peckers, and their place will be there. Their red
feathers will be beautiful, and every one will like
their red scalps and will use them for headbands.
The woodpeckers will be also called Topi chil-
chihl" (bead birds).
All people that were good on this earth only, of
use only here, Olelbis sent down to be beasts,
birds, and other creatures. The powerful and great
people that were good in Olelpanti and useful there
he kept with himself, and sent only a feather or a
part of each to become something useful down here.
The good people themselves, the great ones, stayed
above, where they are with Olelbis now.

OLELBIS AND MEM LOIMIS

OLELBIS AND MEM LOIMIS
One character in this myth is of great importance in actual
Indian belief, the Hlahi or doctor, the sorcerer. The position and
power of the Hlahi are explained at length in the notes to this
volume. Sanihas Yupchi, the archer of Daylight, is Tsaroki
Sakahl, the messenger sent by Torihas to invite Katkatchila to
hunt ; he appears also as the friend and messenger of Waida Dikit,
who assembled the world concert in which Hawt proved the great
est musician.
PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the beast, bird, or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Hubit, wasp; Hus, buzzard; Kahit, wind; Kaisus, gray squirrel ;
Kiriu, loon ; Kopus, small-horned owl ; Kuntihle, small hawk fishes in
muddy water; Kut, unknown; Lutchi, humming-bird; Mem Loimis,
water; M6ihas, bald eagle; Pakchuso, the pakchu stone; Patkilis,
jack rabbit; Pori Kipanamas, another name for Kopus Sutunut,
black eagle ; Sanihas, daylight ; Sotchet, beaver ; Toko, sunfish ;
Tsaroki Sakahl, green snake ; Tsarorok, fish-hawk ; Tsudi, mouse ;
Tsurat, red-headed woodpecker; Winishuyat, foresight; Wokwuk,
unknown.

ONE evening a woman came to Olelpanti.
Her name was Mem Loimis.
" Why are you here ? " inquired Olelbis ; " and
from what place have you come ? "
" I have come from my home in the earth to
ask if I may live with you. I have come from the
north." "You may live here," said Olelbis; and she
stayed there. She lived with Olelbis, became his
wife, and had two sons : the first was Wokwuk,
the second Kut.

5 2 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Kut was still small, when one day the woman
went out a little to one side of the house to
get something, and a man came to her and said,
" Come with me — come right away ! " And he
took her, took her quickly, took her toward the
north, to the place where Kahi Hlut is. This man
was Kahit, and Kahi Hlut was his house.
Olelbis knew not where his wife had gone ; he
knew not which way she went; he had not seen
her going out and had not seen her afterward. He
inquired of every one who lived in Olelpanti. All
they knew was that she had gone west a little way
to get something.
For five years after the woman was carried away
the people in Olelpanti had no water to drink.
This woman had given them water, and now some
one had taken her, and without her there was no
water. " I cannot tell what to do without water," said
Olelbis. " I don't think my children can live
without water. I don't know what yapaitu likes
my wife and has taken her."
The people in and around Olelpanti talked a
great deal about Mem Loimis.
" I don't know how we are to live now," said
Toko Kiemila to Olelbis. " Some one has taken
your wife away. I cannot live without water much
longer." Another man who lay inside the sweat-house at
the west end, an old man, stood up and said, —
" I do not know what people are to do without
water. I do not know how you, Olelbis, are to

Olelbis and Mem Loimis

53

live without it. I cannot live unless I have water.
I am very dry. Why do you not try to get water
again ? There is a man in Hlihli Pui Hlutton
whose name is Kopus. You can see his house
from here. He is a great Hlahi. He sings and
dances every night. Let him come here to sing
and dance. Perhaps he will be able to bring water
back to us."
The old man who said this was Hubit. He was
suffering from thirst so much that he had tied a
belt of sinews around his waist and tightened it till
he was nearly cut in two.
Olelbis went to the top of the sweat-house and
spoke to all the people.
" We must send for this Hlahi," said he. " Let
him come here to sing and bring water back to us.
Some of you young men who walk fast must go for
him to-morrow."
That night they talked about the person who
should go. One said to a second, " You walk fast ;
you ought to go."
" I do not," said the second ; " but you walk fast.
You are the person to go."
And so they spoke one after another, till at
last Lutchi said, "I cannot walk fast, but I
will go."
Early next morning he went out to the top of
the sweat-house and said, " I am going ! " and he
shot away to the southeast.
He found the old Hlahi. He had not finished
his night's work yet. This Hlahi was Kopus
Kiemila.

54 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Old man, you must stop awhile," said Lutchi.
" Olelbis lost his wife, Mem Loimis, years ago.
He has two children, and he and all the people
are very dry; they are thirsting, they are dying
for want of water. He wants you to come and
see if you can tell us what to do to bring water
back to Olelpanti. Olelbis will give you five
sacks of acorns for your pay. You must sing
five nights for these five sacks. They are old
acorns." " I will do that," said Kopus. " I will go with
you." Lutchi returned to Olelpanti with Kopus, who
was called also Pori Kipanamas, which means a
man wearing a headband of fresh oak leaves with
two green acorns thrust in on each side. His face
was painted with acorn mould. A great many
people were waiting there, all very dry, very thirsty,
— all hoping for water.
" I sent for you to come," said Olelbis, " and
you must hlaha1 five nights. All my people, all
my children, are dry. I am dry myself. I lost
my wife five years ago. I don't know where she
went, and we have no water since she left us. I
want you to sing and to dance. I want you to
find out where my wife is."
When night came, Olelbis gave a pipe filled
with tobacco to Kopus and said, " Now you must
hlaha." Kopus smoked, became tunindili, — that is, pos
sessed. A Tsudi yapaitu came to him and began
1 Hlaha means, "to perform as a Hlahi, or doctor."

Olelbis and Mem Loimis ^
to chant. The yapaitu, speaking through Kopus,
said, —
"I have looked all around the world, I have
looked everywhere ; every smell has come to my
nose, every sight to my eyes, every sound to my
ears, but to-night nothing comes to me. I cannot
see, I cannot hear, I cannot smell." And he
stopped. " I am going to dance the spirit dance," said
Kopus. " Who will sing for me ? "
" Let these two Tsudi girls sing," said Olelbis.
Hubit was lying on the east side of the sweat-
house, and he said, —
" Make haste, you two girls, and sing for that
Hlahi. I am nearly dead, almost cut in two, I
am so dry."
He had tightened his belt a little that evening.
Kopus danced all night, and the two girls sang for
him. " I have not found out which way that woman
went," said he, next morning.
He danced five days and nights, and then said :
" I can tell nothing. I know nothing about this
woman, Mem Loimis."
Every bola heris * that was lying inside the sweat-
house was terribly thirsty. One old man got up
and said, —
" What kind of a Hlahi have you here ? What
kind of a Hlahi is Kopus ? He is here five days
1 Bola means "to tell one of the creation myths ;" bolas means
" one of the myths ; " bola heris is an actor in any of them, a person
age mentioned or described in a creation myth.

56 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and nights and can tell nothing, knows nothing.
If you wish to learn something, bring a Hlahi who
has knowledge of water."
" This old Kopus knows nothing of water," said
Toko. " Old Kopus is a good Hlahi for acorns
and for the Tsudi and Kaisus people ; that is all
he is good for. I know this Kopus well. Get a
Hlahi who knows more than he does."
" You bola herises tell us," said Olelbis, " who is
a good Hlahi for water, and we will get him. Look
at my children ; they are almost dying of thirst.
Tell us where their mother, Mem Loimis, is."
" Oh, daylight, come quickly ; be here right
away ! I am almost cut in two I am so dry. Oh,
daylight, come quickly ! " groaned Hubit.
No one mentioned another Hlahi. So Olelbis
talked on, —
" All the people said that Kopus was a good
Hlahi. That is why I got him ; but he is not a
good Hlahi for water. Now we will get Sanihas
Yupchi, the archer of daylight, who lives in the
farthest east, he is the son of Sanihas. He is
small, but he is a great Hlahi. Lutchi, you must
go now for Sanihas Yupchi. Here are one hun
dred yellowhammer-wing arrows for him, all red,
and many others."
Lutchi went to the east end of the sweat-house,
danced a little, sprang onto the sweat-house, danced
a little more, and then whizzed away through the
air. Lutchi travelled all day and all night, reached
the place about daylight next morning, and said to
Sanihas, —

Olelbis and Mem Loimis

57

" Olelbis sent me here to ask your son to come
and hlaha for him. He sends you all these five
hundred arrows made of kewit reed and one
hundred yellowhammer-wing arrows to come and
hlaha." "You must go," said Sanihas to her son, "and
I will follow you. Olelbis is a yapaitu himself;
he ought to know where that woman is, — he thinks
that he knows everything ; but you go and hlaha,
and hear what your yapaitu tells you."
Sanihas Yupchi started, and was at the sweat-
house in Olelpanti next morning just as the sun
was rising. He went into the sweat-house, and
Olelbis gave him many things.
" Give me tobacco," said Sanihas Yupchi. " I
am going to hlaha."
Olelbis gave him a pipe with tobacco ; he smoked
it out and was not possessed. Olelbis gave him
another pipeful, and he smoked it out, but was not
possessed. He smoked out ten pipefuls, and then
people said, —
" I am afraid that the yapaitu will not come to
him." He smoked twenty more pipefuls, still he was
not possessed ; then twenty more, did not hlaha.
" He is no Hlahi," cried people on all sides ; " if
he were, the yapaitu would have come to him long
ago-" "The yapaitu he is waiting for does not live
near this sweat-house; he is very far away," said
Toko. " Give him more tobacco."
They gave him five pipefuls, then four, then one

5 8 Creation Myths of Primitive America
more, — sixty in all; after that a yapaitu came to
him. "The yapaitu has come," said Olelbis. " I want
you to look everywhere and learn all you can ; my
children are nearly dead from lack of water ; you
must tell where Mem Loimis is."
Sanihas Yupchi began to sing, and he said, " I
will have the spirit dance to-night ; the two Tsudi
girls may sing for me."
He danced twenty nights and days without say
ing a word, — danced twenty days and nights more.
The two Tsudi girls sang all the time. Then Sani
has Yupchi sat down, said nothing ; he had found
out nothing.
Again he danced five days and nights, then four
days and nights, then one day and one night more.
After that he sat down and said, —
" I am going to speak. The place of which I
am going to tell is a long way from here, but I am
going to talk and let you hear what I say. Did
any one see which way this woman Mem Loimis
went ? "
One person answered : " She went west a short
distance to get something. That was the last seen
of her."
" Was anything the matter with that woman ? "
asked Sanihas Yupchi. " Does any one know ? "
"Yes," said Olelbis, "she was with child."
" Well, while she was out, a man came to her
and took her away with him, took her far north and
then east beyond the first Kolchiken Topi, where
the sky comes down, where the horizon is ; he took

Olelbis and Mem Loimis 59
her to the place where he lives, and he lives in
Waiti Kahi Pui Hlut. His name is Kahit, and
after he took her home they lived pleasantly to
gether till her child was born. Kahit did not claim
that child as his. After a while Mem Loimis grew
angry at Kahit, left her child with him, and went
eastward, went to the other side of the second
horizon. She stayed there awhile, and gave birth
to two sons, children of Kahit. Then she went
farther east to a third horizon, went to the other
side of that, stayed there, is living there now. The
boy that was born when she lived with Kahit was
Sotchet. Sotchet's father was Olelbis. When the
child grew up a little, Kahit said to him : ' Your
father lives in Olelpanti.' "
Sanihas Yupchi told all this, and said to Wokwuk
and Kut, the two sons of Olelbis, —
"Your mother has gone a long way from here.
Mem Loimis is far from you. She is very far east.
If I were at home, I could go to her quickly, but
I am here. Now you must go and see your mother.
In the far east you have two brothers, Kahit's sons.
When you have passed three Kolchiken Topis,
three horizons, you will see them, and they will
know you. The way to your mother and brothers
is long. That is what my yapaitu says to me —
my yapaitu is the Winishuyat of Patkilis."
Sanihas Yupchi was Tsaroki Sakahl, a great
person. Wokwuk and Kut, the two sons of Olelbis by
Mem Loimis, went away east. Patkilis's Wini
shuyat, the yapaitu of Sanihas Yupchi, said that he

60 Creation Myths of Primitive America
would go and help them till they had passed the
second horizon. They did not see him. He was
invisible. They travelled one day, came to the first horizon,
and passed that ; then travelled a second day,
reached the second horizon, and passed that. The
yapaitu, Patkilis's Winishuyat, told them then how
to pass the third horizon, and, having given every
useful direction, went back to Sanihas Yupchi.
Sanihas Yupchi was waiting all this time in Olel
panti. Olelbis's elder son, Wokwuk, had tied the
hair on top of his head with a young grapevine and
thrust a chirtchihas bone through it — his father had
given him this bone at starting. With this bone he
was to raise the sky. He put it under the edge of
the sky and raised it. When he and his brother
had passed through, the sky came down with a ter
rible noise. When they had passed the third sky,
they could see far east. Everything was nice there
and looked clear, just as it does here at daylight
when all is bright and beautiful. After going a
short distance they saw two boys coming toward
them. Soon the four met.
" Hello, brothers ! " called out the other two.
" Who are you ? " asked Wokwuk. " How do
you know that we are your brothers ? "
" We know because our mother talks about you
always. She told us this morning that we must go
out and play to-day. c Perhaps you will see your
brothers,' said she to us ; c perhaps they will come,
we do not know.' You have come, and now we
will go to our mother."

Olelbis and Mem Loimis 61
When they reached the house, on the third even
ing, the two sons of Olelbis stood by the door while
Kahit's two sons ran in and said: " Mother, our
brothers have come!"
Mem Loimis was lying at the east end of the
house. She was lying on a mem terek, water buck
skin ; her blanket was a mem nikahl, a water
blanket. " Well, tell them to come in."
The brothers went in. Mem Loimis rose and
said, —
" Oh, my sons, I think of you always. I live
far away from where you do, and you have trav
elled a long road to find me." She spread the mem
terek on the ground, and said : " Sit down here and
rest." " My mother," said the elder son of Olelbis,
" my brother is very dry. We have had no water
in Olelpanti for many years. Did you think that
we could live without water ? "
" I could not help your loss. What could I
do ? " said Mem Loimis. " I was stolen away and
carried far north, and from there I came to this
place ; but your father is my husband. He knows
everything ; he can make anything, do anything,
see everything, but he did not know that I was
here. You shall have water, my children ; water
in plenty."
She held a basket to her breast then and took
water from it, as a nursing mother would take milk,
filled the basket, and gave it to the boys. She
gave them plenty to eat, too, and said, —

6 2 Creation Myths of Primitive America
"You boys are all my children. You are sons
of Mem Loimis. I am here now ; but if there
should be disturbance, if trouble were to rise, my
husband Kahit would come and take me away.
He told me so. Some day my husband Olelbis
will know his son in the north who is living with
Kahit. Some day my husband Olelbis will think
of me ; he may want me to come to him, he
may wish to see me."
Wokwuk and Kut stayed five days with their
mother, then one day, and after that one day more.
Sanihas Yupchi, who was dancing and chanting in
Olelpanti continually, said after the boys had gone :
" Get me a suhi kilo " (a striped basket).
Olelbis got him the suhi kilo, a little basket about
two inches around, and very small inside. Sanihas
Yupchi put it in the middle of the sweat-house.
Nine days more passed, and Sanihas Yupchi was
dancing all the time.
That morning Mem Loimis said to Kut, the
youngest son of Olelbis, —
"Your uncle Mem Hui, an old man, who lives
at the first horizon west of Olelpanti, is dry. He
is thirsting for water. Take water to him. Your
elder brother will stay here with me while you are
gone." Sanihas Yupchi had danced fifty-nine days. On
the sixtieth evening Mem Loimis gave Kut a bas
ketful of water for his uncle in the west.
" Go," said she, " straight west to where the old
man lives. When you have reached Mem Hui
with the water, I will go and see my son Sotchet

Olelbis and Mem Loimis 63
in the north. I hear him cry all the time. He
is dry. I will carry him water."
She gave Kut, in a net bag before he started, ten
gambling sticks cut from grapevine. She tied the
bag around his neck, and said, —
" Son of Mem Loimis, you will be a bola heris ;
you will be a great gambler."
Kut was a very quick traveller, and could go in
one night as far as his brother in many nights and
days. He started. There were holes in the bot
tom of the basket, and as he went over the sky,
high above the top of Olelpanti Hlut, the water
dropped and dropped through the holes in the
basket, and just before morning one drop fell from
the basket which Kut was carrying, and dropped
into the basket which Sanihas Yupchi had placed
in the middle ofthe sweat-house at Olelpanti.
No one saw the water come, but in the morning
the little basket was full ; the one drop filled it.
" Now," said Sanihas Yupchi, " I have worked
as Hlahi all this time, and that drop of water is all
that I can get. You see it in the basket."
The little basket in Olelbis's house that the one
drop filled stood there, and Olelbis said, —
" Now you are dry, all you people in this sweat-
house. You are thirsty, you are anxious for water.
Here is one drop of water. We do not know who
will drink first ; but there is an old man on the
west side of the sweat-house crying all the time,
crying night and day, for water. Let him come
and look at it." He meant Hubit.
Hubit stood up, came, looked at the basket and

64 Creation Myths of Primitive America
said : " What good is this to me ? There is only
a drop there. It will do me no good."
" Drink what there is ; you talk so much about
water," replied all the others, "that you would
better drink."
" That drop can do no good to any one."
"Well, take a taste, anyhow," said Olelbis; "it
will not hurt you."
" I don't want a taste, I want a drink," an
swered Hubit.
" Take a drink, then," said Olelbis.
Hubit began to drink. He drank and drank,
took his belt off about the middle of the forenoon,
put his head on the edge of the basket and drank
from morning till midday, drank till two men had
to carry him away from the water and lay him
down at the upper end of the sweat-house.
Though Hubit drank half a day, the water in
the basket was no less.
Kiriu Herit drank next. He drank long, but
did not lower the water. After him Sutunut
drank till he was satisfied ; then Moihas drank
all he wanted.
" Let all come and drink. When each has
enough, let him stand aside," said Olelbis.
Tsararok drank, and then Kuntihle drank; then
Hus and Tsurat ; after them the old women,
Pakchuso Pokaila, the grandmothers of Olelbis,
drank ; then Toko ; then Kopus drank. But
the people murmured, saying, —
" Kopus is no Hlahi ; he ought not to have any
of our water. He is only good for acorns."

Olelbis and Mem Loimis 65
The two Tsudi girls, who had sung so long,
drank very heartily.
Lutchi lived outside, east of the sweat-house ;
they called him to drink. He took one sip and
went out. Lutchi never liked water.
Now Sanihas Yupchi, who had brought the
water, drank of it; and last of all, Olelbis.
When all were satisfied, and Toko had gone
back and lain down in his place north of the sweat-
house, the basket was put near him ; and ever
after Toko had water in abundance, and so had
every one.
There was plenty of water ever after in Olelpanti
for all uses ; but if Sanihas Yupchi had not brought
it, all might have perished for want of water.
" I will go home now," said Sanihas Yupchi,
after he had drunk. He wished well to every
one and went away.
When Kut was carrying the basket westward,
every drop that fell made a spring, — wherever a
drop fell a spring appeared.

NORWAN

NORWAN
This myth, which recalls the Helen of Troy tale, is extremely
interesting both as regards personages and structure. At .present I
shall make but few remarks, and those relating only to personages.
Hluyuk Tikimit, quivering porcupine, known here as Norwan, is
the cause of the first war in the world. The porcupine in Ameri
can mythology is always connected with sunlight, so far as my
researches go, and Norwan is connected with daylight, for she
dances all day, never stops while there is light. Her title of Bas-
tepomas, food-giving, is also significant, and would help to show
that she is that warm, dancing air which we see close to the earth
in fine weather, and which is requisite for plant growth. We have
another "light" person in this myth, Sanihas, who is light in
a generic sense, daylight generally and everywhere. The root Sa
in Sanihas is identical with Sa in Sas, the Wintu word for "sun."
Sa means "light" and Sas "for light," i. e. for the purpose of
giving light. Sanihas is the light which is given.
In Bastepomas, the title given by Olelbis to Norwan, the first
syllable ba means "to eat," bas means "for to eat" or food, tep
means "to give," and tepomas "she who gives;" the whole
word means " she who gives food."
Chulup Win Herit, the great chief, the white, pointed stone
who lives on the bed of the great eastern water, the ocean, the
husband of Sanihas, has a counterpart in Tithonos, the husband
of Eos or Aurora, in classic mythology. Both had beautiful wives,
and were visited by them nightly in the bed of the ocean.
Chulup' s tragedy is somewhat greater, for he is caught by Wai
Karili and pounded into bits near the present Mt. Shasta, while
Tithonos is only changed into a cricket. Eos, the Latin Aurora,
was considered as the whole day by most poets, and Sanihas in
Wintu mythology is the whole day, all the light that Sas
gives. There was a reason why Norwan preferred Tede Wiu to Norbis,
but we can only infer it at present. The present Wiu bird is

70 Creation Myths of Primitive America
brown, and has no significance in this connection, but there was a
red Wiu, the bird into which the Tede Wiu who fought with
Norbis was changed. That he was a person who might be pre
ferred by Norwan, herself a special form of light, is evident when
we consider the immense importance in European tradition of
the robin- redbreast and of the red-headed woodpecker among
Indians. That Norwan, food-giving light on the earth, was worth fighting
for, is evident.

PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the beast, bird, or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Bisus, mink ; Boki, sturgeon ; Bulibok, a small nighthawk ; Chali
Dokos, obsidian ; Chati Wai Halina, pine-nut bug ; Chir Chuma,
sucker ; Cho, blackbird ; Chuchu, dog ; Chulup Win, a pointed rock ;
Chutuhl, a small bird that goes in flocks ; Dokos, flint ; Dokos Hilit,
flint fly ; Hamam, the longest black feather in the tail of the black vul
ture ; Hau, red fox ; Hawt, eel ; Hessiha, tomtit ; Hlihli, acorn ; Hluyuk
Tikimit, quivering porcupine ; Ho, polecat ; Hokohas, mud turtle ;
Hus, turkey buzzard ; Kahi Buli Pokaila, wind mountain old woman ;
Kahit, wind ; Kaisus, gray squirrel ; Kar, blue heron ; Karili, coon ;
Katsi, chicken hawk ; Kaukau, white heron ; Kawas, basket ; Keli,
flint from which knives are made ; Kichi Not, a kind of arrow ; KIchuna,
a small bird that frequents rocks ; Kilichepis,  ; Kiri Hubit, a kind
of wasp; Kobalus, a shell; Koip, a small bird which calls "koip";
Kopus, a small night-owl ; Kot, diver ; K6yumus, a flint of mixed colors ;
Kukupiwit, crooked breast ; Nomdal Lenas, streaks in the west ;
Nomel Hiwili, a bird with white-tipped wings which comes down with
a buzz very quickly ; Nom Sowiwi,  ; Nom Toposloni, west fir
bark ; Norbis, dwelling or sitting in the south ; N6rhara Chepmis,
heavy south wind with rain; Norpatsas, southern fire sparks; Norwan,
 ; Notudui Ulumus, he stoops and picks up stones ; Pai Horn-
homa, he buzzes in the manzanita ; Patkilis, jack rabbit ; Puik6 Tsumu,
a deep red flint ; Saiai Not, hollow arrow ; Saias, white flint ; Sanihas,
daylight ; Sau, acorn bread ; Sawe, mixed white and blue flint ; Sedit,
coyote ; S6hinom Chabutu, chicken hawk ; Serin D61ite, small bumble
bee ; Siriwit, whirlwind ; Sutunut, black eagle ; Tede Wiu, a small
brown bird about as large as an English sparrow ; Tenek Not, a kind of
arrow; Tidok, ant; Tsanteris, a kind of shell; Tsotso tokos, a small
very adhesive burr ; Tsudi, mouse ; Tsuini, a kind of small fish ;
Tubuk, — ; Tuichi kelis, feathered head net ; Wai Charatawa,

Norwan 7 1

— ¦¦ — ; Waida Werris, polar star ; Wainom Yola, northwestern snow ;
Wai Hau, northern red fox ; Wai Not, northern arrow; Wik, small
night hawk ; Wai Karili, northern coon ; Wul Wuhl, linnet ; Yipokus,
black fox.

AT a place east of Pas Puisono a woman came
up out of the earth. Her name was
Hluyuk Tikimit. She had another name, Pom
Norwanen Pitchen. We call her also Norwan.
She appeared before the present Wintu people
came out of the ground, at Tsarau Heril.
" I am in this world now," said Norwan to her
self. " I will look around everywhere to see from
what places people are coming."
She lived alone in her sweat-house, which was
called Norwan Buli Hlut, remained in the house
and danced during daylight.
Olelbis looked down at this woman and said, —
" This is my sister, who has come up before the
new people on earth. I don't know what she will
do yet."
When Olelbis was building his sweat-house in
Olelpanti, he cut a piece from a white-oak tree, and
this piece rolled down outside the sky to the lower
world, where it became a people in Nor Puiken, in
the southeast, and that people were there before
the present Wintus came out of the ground at
Tsarau Heril.
"My dear sister has come up before the Wintus,
and will be with them hereafter," said Olelbis. " I
have not settled yet how her work is to be, have
not made her ready for it."

72 Creation Myths of Primitive America
He put his hand toward, the southeast then, and
took yosoii (a plant that has a red blossom). He
gave this plant to Norwan, and said, —
" Take this, my sister, and when you dance use
it as a staff. It will have a blossom on the top
which will be blooming always."
He reached southeast to the same place, took a
small bird, plucked a feather from each wing, gave
the feathers to Norwan, and said, —
" My sister, thrust these through your hair, just
above your forehead, one on each side. These
feathers will begin to sing in the morning early j
you will know by them at what time you must
begin to dance."
He stretched his hand again to the southeast, and
took buri luli, which is a little red blossom that
grows in spring on a plant about a foot high. He
gave the blossoms to Norwan and said, —
" Roll this in your hands, crush it, put the juice
on your face, and make your cheeks red."
Olelbis turned then to his grandmothers, who
were standing near by, and asked if they had acorns.
" We have," said they. " We have plenty."
Olelbis took a handful, gave them to his sister,
and said, —
"When you shell these acorns, rub them between
your palms and hold your hands open ; blow the
dust which scatters ; you will see it rise high into
the trees, and acorns will come on them."
It was on the first morning after she had come
to Norwan Buli that Olelbis gave Norwan the staff,
feathers, blossoms, and acorns. On the second

Norwan 73

morning very early the feathers began to sing ; then
flocks of birds of their kind came flying toward the
sweat-house, and Norwan heard a voice far up in
the sky calling to her, and saying, —
" My brother's daughter, you have come upon
earth before the Wintu people, and are dancing.
When you dance you must not look toward the
west, nor the north, nor the south, but turn your
face and look toward Hlihli Pui Hlutton in the
southeast, the place from which your staff and your
paint came."
While this man was talking, Norwan looked up
and saw him sitting with one leg crossed upon the
other. He was holding a handful of white-oak
acorns in his hand, and was sitting over the door of
the sweat-house in Olelpanti. It was Kar Kiemila.
" Now, my brother," said Olelbis to Hessiha,
who lived with him in Olelpanti, " I think it is best
for you to go down to our sister and stay with her.
Live with her always. When your feathers drop
away or are pulled off hereafter, they will become
like you, and there will be hessihas on the earth
everywhere. Our sister will tell you what to do.
You will stay with her, never leave her. The
people will call our sister Bastepomas, because she
is the food-giving woman. When you see any
thing, let her know; when you hear anything,
tell her ; when you want to do anything, ask leave
of her."
Hessiha went down to live with his sister. Next
day he saw a woman coming from the east and
going west. He told Norwan, and she said, —

74 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Watch which way she goes, my brother. Per
haps she will come to us here."
He watched. She came straight to Norwan
Buli. " My younger sister," said she to Norwan, " I
came out in the east, but I don't like to live there.
I have left that place, and am going far away to the
west. In the evening look westward, a little after
sunset, you will see a red, yellow, and white person,
Nomdal Lenas Loimis. I am she. I shall look
nice. That is the kind of person that I am. I
shall live in the west always, and you will see me
there as streaks of colored light. I will turn my
face to the east every evening on pleasant days, and
all the Wintu people will say when they see me,
' Winis Nomdal Lenas Loimis ' " (look at Nomdal
Lenas Loimis).
" Very well," said Norwan, " I am glad to hear
what you say, my elder sister."
Nomdal Lenas went off to the west. She was an
immensely large woman with a big face, her hair
was cut across her forehead, and this made it look
beautiful. She was the first woman in the world
who cut her hair in that fashion. Her face was
painted in streaks of red, yellow, and white.
Next morning Hessiha saw another woman com
ing from the east. She stopped at Norwan Buli,
and said, —
" My younger sister, we came upon this earth at
the same time, before the Wintu people. I am
going to the west a little distance. I came out in
the east, but I did not like the place there. I am

Norwan 75

going to Bohem Buli. I will stay there and live
on the north side of the mountain. I will be a
mountain woman. My name is Kukupiwit Pokte."
She went to Bohem Buli.
Norwan danced always during daylight, never
stopped in the daytime, never rested till evening.
Norbis Kiemila, the white oak which rolled to
the southeast, looked toward the northwest and
saw Norwan. " I see my wife on this earth,"
said he.
One evening Hessiha and Norwan were in the
sweat-house, and Hessiha said, —
" My sister, I have heard news to-day from
Norbis Kiemila. He says that you are to be his
wife." She said nothing, and Hessiha talked on : " My
sister, I heard a man say that he would come to see
you. He lives at Sonomyai — he is Sedit, Sedit of
Sonomyai." " My brother," said Norwan, "what are you
telling me ? "
" I am telling you, my sister, what I have heard.
Sedit is coming."
" Why does he come ? I don't like him. He
has a bad breath."
Next morning Norwan rose and began to dance.
" My sister," said Hessiha, that evening, " I hear
that a man is coming from Chanahl Puyuk, a good
man. His name is Kaukau Herit. He is coming
to see you."
" Why does he come here ? " asked Norwan.
" His neck is too long, his legs are too long."

y6 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Well, my sister, I have heard that a man who
lives far away west is coming to see you, Kobalus
Herit. He is a good man. He lives at Nomken
Kobalus Waimemton."
" That man has a crooked nose," said Norwan,
" and a crooked mouth. I don't like him, he is all
twisted." Next evening Hessiha said, —
" There is a man who lives at the same place as
Kobalus Herit. He wants to see you. His name
is Tsanteris Herit."
" That man has a hollow breast," said Norwan.
" I don't like him."
"A man from the far north is coming, Keli
Herit." " I don't like him," said Norwan ; " he has a
bad odor. He smells like the earth."
"A man from way down south, Bisus Herit,
is coming to see you."
" Oh, I don't like him ; his legs are too short ;
he eats bony fish."
" My sister, a man is coming who lives a short
distance south of us, Tede Wiu Herit."
" I don't like him ; he has too much breast ; it
sticks out too much."
" My sister, Katsi Herit, is coming."
" I know him," said Norwan. " He is too quick
tempered : he gets angry too easily."
"Chati Wai Halina Herit is coming to see
you." " I don't like him ; he smells of pitch always.
" I must go now for wood ; we have no wood this

Norwan 77
evening," said Norwan, and she went out to bring
some. She brought an armful, and while going to
the same place for a second bundle she heard some
one coming. A man took her by the arm. She
turned, and saw Sedit of Sonomyai dressed beauti
fully. She pushed him away and ran home. Sedit
did not "follow her.
Next morning early she went out, and looking
at one side of the door saw two stones lying there,
and a hooked stick four or five feet long, called
lakus, used to pull a limb of a tree toward you.
She broke the stones to pieces, broke the stick,
threw the pieces in the fire, and burned them. She
knew that some man had put them there and in
tended to come. That night she was lying on the
south side of the sweat-house and her brother on
the north. It was dark, and they heard some one
coming toward the house. The stranger came
in, sat down behind Hessiha, sat with his head
between his hands ; his hair was sticking out, and
looked as though it had never been combed. Nor
wan looked at this person, never took her eyes from
him, but said not a word, and he said nothing.
After a while he stood up and walked out. While
going he threw something toward Norwan. It fell
near her, and she picked it up. It was a small net
bag half full of mice. She threw it after the stranger.
He was Chati Wai Halina.
When morning came, Norwan took a bundle
of brush, went to where the visitor had sat,
swept the place clean, and threw fresh earth
on it.

78 Creation Myths of Primitive America
The next night they heard some one walking
outside. Soon a man came in. He had a quiver
in his hand made of deerskin. He looked around
and went over behind the place where Norwan was
lying and sat down. She lay there looking at him.
After sitting awhile he lay down, stayed all night,
and went away just at daybreak. This was Norbis
Kiemila. In the early morning before dancing she built a
fire outside and sat down at it. That same morn
ing Hessiha saw a man coming toward them, coming
from the southeast. When he came to where Nor
wan was at the fire, he sat down. His name was
Serin Dolite. He wore a bunch of fresh leaves on
each side of his head. He had a second name, Pai
Homhoma. " My sister," said this man, " I have come because
my uncle sent me to tell you that the people at
Hlihli Pui Hlutton finished talking yesterday, and
they are going to have a great feast and a pleasant
time. 'Tell my niece,' said he, 'to come and
dance with us.' My uncle is Kopus Kiemila. He
is named also Pui Uhlukyo. He is a Hlahi. He
sent word to Norbis two days ago, and he sent word
to Kaukau Herit. He has sent word everywhere.
There will be a great many people in Hlihli Pui
Hlutton. He has sent word to Sedit, who lives
at Sonomyai, and to Katsi Herit, who lives opposite
Pas Puisono, and to Kobalus Herit and Tsanteris
Herit and Keli Herit and to Tede Wiu Herit, who
lives at K01 Nomsono, and many others. He
has sent to your brother Waida Werris. Waida

Norwan 79
Werris may come ; he may not. Kopus Kiemila
wants you to come surely."
" Very well," said Norwan, " I will go to
morrow." Serin Dolite was satisfied and went away.
" Now, my little brother," said Norwan to Hes
siha that night, " I am going away to-morrow.
You will stay here, I hope. I shall be glad if
you stay at home and take care of this house."
When she rose in the morning, she stretched her
right hand toward the southeast and got buri luli,
which are very beautiful red flowers. She put her
hand there a second time, and to her hand came
hawe luli, pure white blossoms, for clothing. A
third time she put her hand out, and hluyuk luli,
which are the star flowers, came on it. These she
put around her head as a garland, and made shoes
of the same flowers. Then she took her staff
yosoii. " My brother," said she, when dressed, " I am
ready to go."
" My brother's daughter," called Kar Kiemila
from Olelpanti when she was starting, " go and
dance. I will sit here and look at you." Sweat-
house doors look toward the south usually,
but the great one above, made by Olelbis, on
which Kar Kiemila was sitting, had its door in the
east, because Olelbis took most of his beautiful
things from the southeast, and he could look down
in that direction from the door of his house in
Olelpanti. The door in Hlihli Pui Hlutton was
toward the west, because from that door they could

80 Creation Myths of Primitive America
see the great house in Olelpanti. The house
built by Olelbis was the best in all the world,
above or below. Kopus Kiemila's house was
second to it, and the best in the lower land.
Norwan went at the time appointed, and Hes
siha stayed behind at Norwan Buli. When Serin
Dolite brought the invitation, Norwan made him
promise to meet her on the road.
" You must come," said she, " to give me news
before I reach the sweat-house."
Just at the edge of a place called Pui Toror,
Serin Dolite ran out and met Norwan.
"Oh, my sister," said he, "Kopus Kiemila sent
me to say to you to come quickly, to hurry. The
people from every place are there now. All those
have come of whom I told you, except Norbis and
your brother Waida Werris ; they have not come
yet. Besides others, Boki Kiemila from Hlop
Henmenas has come. You must hurry as much
as you can, and come quickly."
When he had given the message, he rushed back
and left Norwan to travel at her own pace. She
went along the top of Pui Toror, and came to a spot
where she heard much laughing and talking. Soon
she saw a large crowd of children playing. The
ground was smooth, — no rocks, no grass, just
level land. When she came up, the children said
to her, —
" Our elder sister, we want to see the dance. We
want to go to the sweat-house, but we have noth
ing to wear ; we have no clothes and we can get
none."

Norwan 8 1

The girls were all of the Tsudi people, the boys,
Patkilises. Norwan looked around and saw at
some distance a great many sunflower leaves.
" We took leaves like those," said one of the
boys, " and tried to put them on as ears, but we
could not make them stay."
Norwan stretched her hand southward, and gray
fog which rises from water came on it. She put
this fog on a Patkilis boy to wear. She stretched
her hand to the east, and red and yellow feathers
came to it. Of these she made ears for that Patkilis
boy. She put her hand south and found willow
catkins, white ones, and made a tail and put it on
the Patkilis boy. She gave him shoes made ofthe
catkins. When that one boy was dressed, she said,
"Let all the others be like this one;" and that
moment all Patkilis boys were like him.
Now she took acorn mould, green and brown,
put it on one of the Tsudi girls. She took yosoii
leaves from her staff (the leaves are like mice ears),
and put them on the girl for ears. She took more
acorn mould, rubbed and rolled it out like a little
stick, and made a tail. When one Tsudi girl was
dressed nicely, she said, " Let all the others be like
this one;" and that moment they were like her.
" Now, sister," said they, "we are ready."
Norwan started, and all the Tsudi girls and Pat
kilis boys went with her. When they came to the
door of the sweat-house, they looked around and
saw that all the trees were full of fresh, beautiful
acorns ; the top of the house was covered with them.
There were piles and piles of acorns inside and

8 2 Creation Myths of Primitive America
around the sweat-house, and a little way off a great
many trees were loaded with fruit.
From Olelpanti they could see down into Hlihli
Puihlutton. All persons who had come were
inside. Norwan looked in and saw many people,
all looking toward the door.
" See Norwan coming," said they. " She is
beautiful, — oh, she is beautiful ! "
Kopus Kiemila was on the south side, near the
door. He had five sacks of acorns near him. He
was singing over them, singing about health and
soundness. When he saw Norwan, he said, —
" Come in ; come in, my brother's daughter.
You are one of the last. All have come but
two." She went beyond Kopus to a seat. A young
woman who was sitting near rose and said, —
" Come, my sister ; come and sit with me."
This was Hlihli Loimis. Her brother Hlihli
Herit stood always on top of Kopus's house and
called, " Hai ! Hai ! " which means " Come !
Come ! " and beckoned with his hand for people
to enter.
Norwan sat down at the south side of the door,
and all the Tsudi and Patkilis children took their
places behind her.
"You are almost the last to come," said Hlihli
Loimis. " Look at the north side of the house.
See how many people are there. See the light;
that is Kaukau Herit. He is white and shining;
light beams from him."
" Now," said Kopus, " all you people from the

Norwan 8 3

north, my sons-in-law and my daughters-in-law,
make ready to dance."
The northern people rose at his call and danced.
Kaukau Herit danced. When he rose and moved,
it was as when a light is brought into a dark place.
He danced five times and sat down.
"Now, my sons-in-law," said Kopus, "sit back
and look on. My sons-in-law from the west, you
will dance now ; dance you, Katsi Herit and Sedit
of Sonomyai, and dance you, my daughters-in-law."
The western people danced ; Sedit, Boki, all
danced. While they were dancing, they dropped
beautiful shells. These shells fell from them as
snow falls from the sky, and the whole floor was
covered with shells, just as mountains in winter are
covered with snow.
" Now sit back and look on," said Kopus. The
western people sat down.
" My sons-in-law and my daughters-in-law,"
called Kopus to the southern people, " make ready
to dance."
The two Tede Wiu brothers from Koi Nom-
sono were to lead the southern people in the
dance. Kopus called five times ; the southern
people did not move. Then the elder Tede
Wiu made a step and stopped ; when he raised
his foot to take a second step, all began to dance.
Both brothers carried a load of mempak on their
arms, and each had a flint knife. As they danced
they attached long strings of mempak to one side
of the house higher than a man's head ; they ex
tended the strings to the other side and tied them

84 Creation Myths of Primitive America
there. They stretched mempak in this way from
side to side as they danced, and from end to end,
lengthwise and crosswise ; then they danced under
it. The beautiful strings were shining in every
color just above their heads. The music, the
mempak, and the dancing were so beautiful that all
were delighted ; all people were glad ; they could
hardly sit still and look on.
The brothers danced up to where Kopus was sit
ting, took strings of shell and mempak from their
necks and heads, and put them down before him ;
next they put down their two beautiful knives.
When they had done this they danced away to the
other end of the sweat-house, and then danced up
again to where Kopus was.
Norwan rose and began to dance without know
ing it. She could not help dancing. Every one
looked at her. She danced with the two brothers,
danced away to the other side of the house with
them. Only after a time did she see that she was
dancing. The two brothers sat down ; she sat with them.
Then the three stood up and went out.
They had just gone when Norbis came in. He
was splendidly dressed, wore mempak, had a gar
land of fresh young leaves on his head, and on the
top of it mempak. He sat down and asked some
one near by, —
" Where is my wife ? "
" Norwan has gone with the two Tede Wiu
brothers." " I don't believe that ! " said Norbis.

Norwan 8 5

He sprang up, went around, and asked others.
All said, " She is with the Tede Wiu brothers."
At last Norbis went out, taking his people.
They had gone into the house, but had not
danced. They followed at his call. He went
swiftly to the northwest to overtake the two
brothers. The dance was at an end. All started home.
Daylight was near.
The- two brothers did not go to Norwan Buli
Hlut, which was farther north than Koi Nomsono.
They kept the woman at their own house till
morning. When they reached home each of the
brothers said, —
" My people, be ready for a great hunt at
daybreak." When daylight came the elder brother said, —
" Come, my people, we will eat together. You
must all eat with me this morning."
While eating they heard shouts on the west bank
of Bohema Mem, and soon they saw two men run
ning toward them, — men finely dressed, with
plumes on their heads. The men crossed the
river, and came to the house of the Tede Wius.
They were the Wul Wuhl brothers.
" We are here to tell you," said they, " that
Norbis is very angry. He has roused all his people,
and they are coming. He has sent us to tell you
that he is beyond the Bohema Mem waiting for
you. Norbis asks you to send out that woman
to him."
The brothers said nothing.

86 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" If you give her, he will go home ; if not, he
will fight with you."
" We cannot give her," said the elder Tede Wiu.
" We did not go to the dance for her ; we did not
take her away from it. She came with us of her
own will. If we give her away, she may come
back right away to us. She can go where she
likes, but we will not give her to any one."
The two messengers took this answer to Norbis.
" I believe this man will come against us," said
each of the brothers. They went into the house
and brought out elkskin armor.1
" Come, my people," said the elder, " take these,
put them on."
They brought out more and more armor of un-
tanned elkskin, and the people began to make ready
for battle. It was not long till they saw two other
men coming. These did not cross the river. They
stood on the western bank and shouted, —
" Be ready ! Prepare for battle ! Norbis asks
you to come to the river and cross. We will fight
you on this side."
When the brothers heard this, their people put
on the elkskins and hastened. The brothers left
Norwan in their house, and bound it outside with
mempak. The whole house was covered with mem
pak ; no one could get out, no one could go in,
they thought.
This done, the brothers crossed the river with
their men. They looked down toward the south,
and saw Norbis with his people moving along on
1 Untanned elkskin was formerly used as armor by the Indians.

Norwan 87

the western bank of Bohema Mem, and they ex
tended as far as the eye could see.
"There are none there but Norbis and his
people," said the Wul Wuhl brothers ; " they are
not all like him, but they are all his people."
The forces met, and both sides began to fight at
once, and fought stubbornly. Norbis drove the
Tede Wiu brothers to the edge of the water, but
they rallied at the river bank and drove back his
forces. A second time Norbis pushed them to the
river; a second time they rallied and drove him
back, drove back all his people. They fought all
day, each side driving the other in turn. It was a
hard and bloody battle ; many were killed on both
sides. Neither won, and both were very angry.
When night came the Tede Wiu brothers said, —
" We will stop for to-day. If you wish to fight
to-morrow, we will meet you here."
" I will meet you here," answered Norbis.
The Tede Wiu brothers went home. They
found Norwan where they had left her, fastened in
with mempak. That evening, when all were as
sembled and were talking, the elder brother said :
" My people, if they want to fight to-morrow we
will fight with them."
He called a messenger then and said, —
" Go you and tell my brother Sehinom Chabatu
to come and help me, and to come early in the
morning. Go also to Waiti Nomken, a place on
the upper Bohema Mem, to two women Kawas
Loimis ; let them know that we are fighting. On
this side of their house lives Chir Chuma, a lame

8 8 Creation Myths of Primitive America
man ; let him know. Opposite Pas Puisono lives
Katsi Herit. Tell him to come early to-morrow.
A short distance from Tsarau Heril lives Wik
Herit. Tell him to be here. These are all great
men, and each will bring his people. There is a
man who lives at Kilichepin Kenharas. Kilichepis
is his name. Tell him to come with his people.
There is a man who lives at Sudi Sawul. His
name is Tuichi Kelis. Tell this man that I expect
him early with his people. All these big men will
help us greatly."
Norbis sent messengers to his friends. They
went southeast, south and southwest. He sent
southeast to Saias Saias Herit and south for Hus
Herit. He sent for Karili Herit; for Tcutuhl
Herit. Next morning about daylight the friends of the
Tede Wiu brothers came. All came who had been
called, each bringing his own people. Friends came
to Norbis in the same way ; none of those invited
failed on either side.
When all Tede Wiu's friends had come, the
elder brother confined Norwan as on the first day.
He bound the house all around with mempak.
They started then, and crossed the river with many
people. Chir Chuma had come. He was so lame
that he could not walk, and had two men to carry
him. These were the two Siriwit brothers (whirl
winds). (The whirlwinds were people at that time.)
The Siriwits carried Chir Chuma on two sticks.
He sat on the sticks. One brother held the sticks
behind, and the other in front. They moved

Norwan 89

around with great speed, and travelled as easily on
water as on land. When the two brothers had
crossed the river, they saw two more lame men,
one coming from the north, Chali Dokos : he was
carried by Wainot Herit. The other was Sawi
Herit; he was coming from the west, carried by
Kichinot Herit.
After Tede Wiu's forces had crossed the river,
the Wul Wuhl brothers came from Norbis, and
said, —
" There are many people coming from the south
with Norbis to-day. You will have a heavy battle."
Sehinom saw the southern people coming, and
said to the elder Tede Wiu, —
" My brother, I will be with you all the time.
I will guard you."
Three of Tede Wiu's men, Wik Herit, Tuichi
Kelis, and Kilichepis, said, —
" We will go together. We will go to the eastern
side, near the river, and take our people with us."
When going they turned to the Wul Wuhl broth
ers or Norbis's men, and said, —
"Tell Saias Saias Herit, Koip Herit, and Tsutsu
Herit to come toward the river. We will fight
them there."
" I will," said the elder Wul Wuhl ; and turning
to Chir Chuma, he said : " There is a man with a net
coming from the south, Karili Herit ; he will fight
with you."
The Kawas sisters came now on Tede Wiu's
side, bringing food, elkskins, and arrows for their
brother, Sehinom Chabatu. They did not go where

90 Creation Myths of Primitive America
the fighting was, but stood back in the rear a little.
Now Wai Charatawa came to Tede Wiu's side. He
was a very small man and left-handed, but a great
chief, a brother to Sehinom and to Wik Herit.
He had his hair tied up and fastened in front
with a long bone sharp at one end.
Norhara Chepmis came to help Norbis on the
southern side.
Before the struggle began Norbis sent a message
to the brothers, asking, " Are you willing to give
up that woman ? "
They refused.
" Now, my people," said Norbis, " we are going
to fight. I have done what I could to persuade
these brothers to give up Norwan, but they refuse,
and we are going to fight a second time."
At this moment Kiri Hubit came from the south,
a strong man. He went to the east side to fight.
He had only one arrow without a point.
When all these forces met, there was a terrible
uproar. " Now," cried Wul Wuhl, " a man from the south
is coming; he is small, but brave and quick-tem
pered, a terrible fighter. He will strike on the left
flank; His name is Nor Patsas Herit."
Yipokus Herit, who lived on the northeastern
slope of Bohem Puyuk, was to be on the field at
midday; he was the one to fight Nor Patsas. His
weapons were ice and snow.
Just at this time Norwan found a weak place in
the mempak and untied it. As soon as she was out
she went home to Norwan Buli.

Norwan 9 1

When ready to meet, the two armies saw a very
big woman coming from the northwest : an old
woman, Nom Toposloni Pokaila. She was carry
ing on her back a great basket, as big as a house.
This basket was full of pounded fir-bark, which
makes the skin itch terribly and almost blinds every
eye that it touches.
A man came from the northwest to the southern
army, and said to Wul Wuhl, —
" Tell your man Norhara Chepmis not to engage
in battle ; let him stand aside and look on. I will
do as he does." This man was Wainom Yola
Herit. "If he fights on the southern side, I will
do the same on the northern."
Wul Wuhl gave the message. Norhara drew
back, and Wainom Yola did the same.
The two armies stood opposite, each looking
the other in the face, each waiting for the other
to begin.
At this moment the Siriwit brothers left the
ranks on the east, the left wing of the northern army,
and went careering around with Chir Chuma on
two sticks. Now Nor Patsas, the small peevish
southern man, saw Chir Chuma (the Siriwits
were invisible), and could contain his wrath no
longer. He ran at the lame man with all his might.
When just in front of Chir Chuma, he struck the
ground with his brand, and one hundred people, as
passionate and peevish as himself, sprang up around
him. But Chir Chuma rode right over Nor Patsas.
The Siriwits knocked him to one side, rushed across
his men, trampled, beat, and killed them.

92 Creation Myths of Primitive America
The Siriwit brothers went some distance along the
front rank, then turned back and rushed to where
Nor Patsas had fallen. He was on his feet again,
and dashed a second time at Chir Chuma. When
just before the enemy, Nor Patsas struck his brand
against the ground, a hundred men leaped up
around him ; all sprang on Chir Chuma, but the two
brothers scattered and trampled every one of them.
Nor Patsas was raging. He had never been so
angry in his life till that day. He turned and rushed
at the northern army. He struck the ground once,
twice, three times with his brand, and three hun
dred raging men were there around him. A battle
began on the left northern wing, fierce and very
bloody. Nor Patsas found no one to match him
till Chir Chuma returned. The Siriwits were some
what tired, and went more slowly while Chir Chuma
fought with Nor Patsas. Chir Chuma had a red
flint, called also sucker flint. With every blow of
this he killed fifty and sometimes sixty people.
When Nor Patsas gave a blow, he killed as many,
and every time he struck the ground with his brand
a hundred warriors sprang up to help him.
The fight begun by Nor Patsas with Chir Chuma
brought in the two armies. Both sides fought des
perately, but no one could conquer Nor Patsas till
Yipokus came at midday. He rushed at the
peevish, passionate warrior with weapons made of
ice and snow. In the heat of battle water flowed
from them and killed Nor Patsas, quenched the
life in him. The southern army was pushed back,
and driven a long distance down the river.

Norwan 93

In the middle of the afternoon they rallied, turned
on the pursuers, drove them to the field where
they began in the morning, and were driving them
farther, when Nom Toposloni ran past, and, throw
ing her crushed bark with the wind, filled many eyes
with it and almost blinded them. She brought
disorder to the southern army.
Norbis, afraid of being beaten, was ready now for
anything. He called in Norhara Chepmis, who
ran swiftly from the southwest with his warriors.
A mighty storm of wind swept forward with Nor
hara. He struck the northern army fiercely.
Wainom Yola, seeing this, rushed at the southern
force with all his people, and they were so many
that no man could count them. They were as swift
as arrows. A roaring wind went with them.
Wainom Yola cut right through the southern
army, and, turning, rushed toward Norhara Chepmis
and his warriors. These two with their armies fought
hardest of all on that day. In half an hour very
few were left alive on either side, and those left
were so weak that Norhara Chepmis and Wainom
Yola were hardly able to lead them from the field.
There was not a man in the forces of the Tede
Wiu brothers or Norbis who was not covered with
snow and drenched with rain ; all were shivering and
nearly dead.
No one wished to fight for a long time after that
day. Norbis went home to the southeast without Nor
wan, the woman he called his wife ; and when the
Tede Wiu brothers went back to their house in

94 Creation Myths of Primitive America
the evening, they found that Norwan had escaped
to Norwan Buli.
This was the end of the first battle on earth.
None gained anything, and many were killed.
Later there was another battle among the first
people, and afterward many among the Wintus
when they came up.
After Norwan had been at home awhile she said
one day to Hessiha, —
" My brother, I did wrong. When I think of
it now, I see that I did wrong. I understand all to
day. I see that if I had not danced with Tede
Wiu, if I had not gone home with him, there
would have been no fighting, no trouble in this
world. If I had gone with Norbis at the dance,
there would have been no battles, there would
have been no killing; but I did not want to go
with Norbis. I do not know why ; but in some
way I did not like him. I was dancing with Tede
Wiu, and sitting with him, and going away with
him before I knew what I was doing."
Sehinom Chabatu, after the close of the first
great battle, went home and lived on Wini Mem
five years before any trouble came to him. While
helping Tede Wiu in his fight with Norbis, Sehi
nom killed Saias Saias and Chuchu, two of the best
men among Norbis's forces.
All the southern people talked of these two, and
told how they had died. A great man, far off in
the southeast, heard of this. He was chief of the
two when they were living, and his name was
Chulup Win Herit. He was a slender, strong

Norwan 95

person. When he had heard the whole story, he
said, —
" I have never liked fighting, I do not like fight
ing now. I have never gone to war, but I am going
to war now. Norbis attacked Tede Wiu, he fought
with him. Norbis has shown me what fighting is,
and I am going to fight now."
Chulup inquired everywhere to discover who
had killed these two men ; he wished to be sure.
All people said everywhere, " Sehinom Chabatu
did it."
It was really Chir Chuma who had killed them.
But Chir Chuma was under Sehinom Chabatu, and
the blame was put on Sehinom.
They talked it all over, talked a whole night, and
Chulup sent this message to Sehinom, —
" I should like to see you, I want you to come
to Miol Tapa, near Puidal Pom. I will meet you
there. If you want to fight, I will fight with you
at that place."
The messenger was Tsotso Tokos Herit. While
Chulup was instructing his messenger, Sehinom's
grandmother was talking to him. This grand
mother was a very old woman, Chir Pokaila; she
was called also Kahi Buli Pokaila. She knew what
was happening far away in the east, and what was
going to happen soon, though nobody had told her :
she knew with her own mind.
" My grandson," said she, " you have been fight
ing, you have been at. war, and people will talk much
of you. My grandson, you will hear something
very soon. You must do what is best, take care of

96 Creation Myths of Primitive America
yourself. I will tell you what to do : when you go
hunting or fishing, never go toward the east. Go
north, west, and south, but never go east ; the people
in the east are talking of you. My grandson, I did
not know that you were going to do the things that
you have done. When I was rearing you and you
were a baby yet, I told you how to hunt and fish ;
no more. I did not think that you would fight and
strike down strong people. But there is a woman
at Norwan Buli who brought all this trouble into
the world ; this fighting began for her, and now it
will continue always and everywhere ; there will
never be an end to fighting in this world now.
This place where we are living would have been
good but for that woman. Now, from this time on,
all these trees, mountains, rocks, all people in this
world, will be bad and will hurt others. (This
means that people will use stones, sticks, and every
thing to fight with when they are angry.)
" Now, my grandson, you must do as I tell you.
My brother lives near by, he lives at Kahi Buli,
his name is Kahit. Go and see him every morn
ing early. And there is a man who lives a little
farther away, up at Waitami. He is your brother.
Go and see him every evening. He is a great
man, he can do everything. His name is Katsi
Herit. My two sisters live at Waiti Nomken.
They have been in the war and have seen all the
fighting. They are the Kawas Loimis sisters.
" My grandson, we cannot live as we used to
live. We must live differently. I am getting very
angry. We cannot eat, we cannot sleep as in the

Norwan 97

old time. When you went to war you killed two
great men, two of the best men. Long, long ago
Chulup, a great chief, went far away east, and has
lived there since that time. He is going to come
soon to see you. Take care of yourself; be on
your guard. When he started east Chulup went
to the edge of the great water and went under the
ground to it, he went through the ground, and he
lives in the east now on the bed of the great water.
" I will tell you what is going to happen soon.
I am getting angry, and when I am angry you will
feel a cold wind coming from the north. That
wind comes because I am angry."
When Sehinom Chabatu went south, he was
young yet, not grown ; and now, when his grand
mother knew what was happening in the east, she
was instructing him. The place where they lived
was Dau Paki Olel, a mile higher up than the
mouth of Wini Mem.
One morning Sehinom Chabatu called all his
people together. The old woman knew that some
one was coming, and that day Tsotso Tokos came.
He was sent by Chulup. When the old woman
knew that he was near, she went into the house,
brought out a quiver full of arrows, and hung it on
a tree. Then she got a tuichu kilis, which is a net
faced with white down, put it on her head, took the
quiver, and ran some distance from the house, and'
rushed about in great fury. She acted like some
one who is going to fight. People watched her.
"What is the matter with that old woman?"
asked one person of another. 7

98 Creation Myths of Primitive America
After a time she came back and sat down. A
few minutes later a man was seen running in from
the east, and soon Tsotso Tokos was at the house.
" Sehinom Chabatu," said he, " I am here to tell
you what Chulup says. He says that he is grow
ing angry ; that he wants you to go to Miol Tapa
to-morrow ; that he will meet you there ; that he has
his men with him. He has gathered many people.
He will wait for you at Miol Tapa."
When Tsotso Tokos had said these words, he
went away. The old woman rose and said, —
" My grandson, do not sit long. Rise up.
That of which I told you, a while ago has happened.
I told you that trouble was coming. Send word
now to the two Tede Wiu brothers. Send word to
all your friends. Tell them to come quickly to
help you."
Sehinom Chabatu sent a message to the Tede
Wiu brothers, and a second one to the northwest,
a third to the north, and a fourth to the southwest.
In the north he sent to Sau Herit and to Kichuna
Herit, to Hokohas Herit of Puidal Pom. Hoko-
has's people wore elkskin armor at all times ; to
Koyumas Herit, and to Puike Tsumu, a great chief,
though lame. He sent to all who had been with
the Tede Wiu brothers in the first war.
All came, and still others joined them. Among
these was Cho Herit, who had a great many
people. Sehinom's grandmother was terribly ex
cited. She danced madly and ran around every
where; she danced that night and the next day.
The second morning all came very early to join

Norwan 99

Sehinom's forces. The first came at daybreak, and
one people followed another the whole day and the
next night.
Chir Chuma, carried by two Siriwit brothers,
came. Wai Karili, who lived on the south bank
of Wini Mem, came. All his people had nets.
Bulibok came from Bulibok Puyuk, and when the
people on the road sat down to rest, he went ahead
and called out, —
" Shoot at me, all you people ! I want to see
what kind of person I am going to be."'
All shot at him. He sat still, but no one could
hit him. And Kaisus Herit from Puidal Pom
went ahead too, and asked all to shoot at him. A
great many tried, but no one could hit Kaisus
Herit. Tichelis from Penehl Kente came, bringing his
people. " You are my brother," said he to Kaisus ; " we
will go together."
One Sedit came from Buli Puiwakat, and another
from Sonomyai.
When all the people had assembled at Sehinom's,
Wik Herit picked up dead coals and blackened his
face. " I want to see fighting," said he. "lama
brave warrior. I want to fight ; " then he puffed
and strutted tremendously.
Nomel Hiwili, who lived at Waiel Nomeltos,
came, bringing his people.
" My brother," said he to Sehinom, " I am not
very strong, I cannot do much, but I will go with
you and do what I can."

ioo Creation Myths of Primitive America
When they went to the place where the battle
was to be fought, a messenger came and said, —
" Saiai Not Herit is coming to see you. He
has no heart, and all his people are without hearts.
Saiai Not wants to fight with you. Kichuna from
Kinwinis Pom and Hamam Herit from the east
wish to fight with you. All these people are at
Memnom Kalai now, not far from here."
At this time they saw some one coming toward
them from the east. This was a second Chir
Pokaila. She was from Pokaitin Mem. When
she came up she said to Sehinom's grandmother, —
" My sister, we will help our grandson, and if he
is killed we will mourn over him together."
" It is time to move now," said Sehinom.
"We will be in the centre of the army," said
the- Tede Wiu brothers, and they took their
places. Wai Karili went to the south wing of the
northern army, and all his people with him. They
went up on a level mound, and from there saw
people coming on both sides, from the north
and the south, as far as the eye could see. They
came on like a great water, rolling forward. The
people were in number as the grains in two clouds
of sand. The two armies approached each other
gradually. Sehinom's grandmother, with her sister, was
in front of the northern forces. She engaged the
enemy first, and fought fiercely. She had arrows
of kopus wood, pointed with Chirdokos, all made
by herself The northern army faced the east,
and the southern the west.

Norwan i o i

Chir Chuma, carried by the Siriwits, came to help
his two sisters. All three had the same kind of
arrows. They killed fifty and sixty at a shot, and
these three gave victory to the left wing of the
northern army.
On the right flank of the northern and left flank
of the southern army were good men, and there
was hard fighting. On the northern side was Wai
Karili with his people, having nets to catch the
enemy. Then Hokohas and his forces, all dressed
in elkskin armor ; next Kaisus and Tichelis, with
many people. Between Tichelis and the centre
was Kichuna. On the other side, opposite Kichuna,
was Hamam, who had sent word to Kichuna that
he would meet him on the field. Opposite Sedit
of Sonomyai was an unknown chief, but a very great
fighter. Wai Karili, Hokohas, Kaisus, and Tichelis with
their forces were met by Hawt and Tsuini, whose
people outnumbered those of the four chiefs op
posed to them. The Hawts used solid blue rocks
as weapons. They hurled them with great force,
breaking the armor of Hokohas's people and tear
ing the nets of Karili's men. The Tsuini people
threw smaller stones from slings in great showers at
the people of Tichelis and Kaisus.
The battle raged with fury on that flank till
evening. Many were killed on both sides, and of
the chiefs Hamam and Sedit of Sonomyai fell.
Neither side had the victory when night came,
though Hawt and Tsuini were gaining a little.
In the centre were the great chiefs of both armies.

102 Creation Myths of Primitive America
There Chulup, supported by Saiai Not, Tenek Not,
and Tubuk, met Sehinom Chabatu and the Tede
Wiu brothers.
In the morning Chulup began the fighting, and
cut into the centre. In the middle of the forenoon
he had gone half-way through Sehinom's people.
But Sehinom forced him back, and at midday
Chulup was where he had begun in the morning.
Sehinom advanced now, and tried to cut through
Chulup's people. He had gone more than half
way when Chulup rallied, pressed around him,
pushed him back, and at sundown had rushed for
ward among Sehinom's warriors.
Just at that time Sehinom saw in the field behind
Chulup a tall and very beautiful woman. She was
Chulup's wife. Her name was Sanihas. Sehinom
Chabatu ran quickly to this woman, and led her to
his own camp, while Chulup was struggling with
the Tede Wiu brothers. The sun was down now.
Night had come.
Chulup dropped back to his own place. He
had lost his wife and gained nothing. Both sides
went from the battlefield and made camp-fires.
You could see the two lines of fire running north
and south, but could not see either end of them.
Chulup rose at daybreak next morning, rushed to
Sehinom's camp, and after a sharp and short fight
took his wife back before sunrise. Both sides were
very angry and fought hard. At midday the south
ern forces had the advantage in the centre and the
southern flank, and would have beaten Sehinom
Chabatu but for his grandmother, his uncle, and his

Norwan

103

aunt. The two women and Chir Chuma, carried
on two sticks by the Siriwit brothers, had beaten
everything in front of them.
At this time the centre and flank of the northern
forces had suffered much. Wai Karili left the fight ;
he was angry.
" I will do something better than this," said he.
Taking his net, he went off to the southeast, and
never stopped till he was at the edge of the earth,
and had found the opening through which Chulup
passed when he came out on land or went back to
his home on the bed of the great eastern water.
He laid the net across the hole, thrust the middle
of it in deeply, covered what was left outside, and
waited in hiding.
At noon, when Sehinom Chabatu was hard pressed
and the enemy were pushing his people from the
field, his grandmother, aunt, and uncle, with the
whole army behind them, fell upon the rear of
Chulup's forces. The struggle began anew, and
from then till sunset was fought the hardest battle
of the world up to that day. At sunset they had
to stop, for there were few people left on either
side, and those were so tired that they could fight
no longer.
Each side left the field without saying a word to
the other.
Chulup sent his wife Sanihas home by another
way, and went himself to the passage where Wai
Karili was hiding. He went into the opening.
Karili drew the net, closed it around Chulup, and
tied it firmly. He put it on his back then, and

1 04 Creation Myths of Primitive America
carried Chulup to Tehi Buli, some distance east of
Bohem Puyuk. There he taunted him, saying :
" Now, Chulup, you did not take me, but I have
taken you. You are not going to kill me, but I
am going to kill you. Who is better, you or I ? "
Then he killed him, and pounded his body fine.
When Sehinom Chabatu went home his grand
mother said to him, —
" Now, my grandson, you are becoming a strong
man ; you know how to fight, but men who fight do
not live long. I have never told you to fight, but
from this on you will see fighting. You must keep
awake, my grandson. You must rise early, you
must not sleep long ; some day you will hear news,
some day something will happen."
After that Sehinom Chabatu brought the tallest
yellow pine from beyond Dau Paki Olel, stripped
all the bark off, painted it white, black, and red.
The people danced around this pole, danced two
days. "We will go home now," said the Tede Wiu
brothers, " but perhaps something will happen later
on." Then Dokos said to Wik Kiemila : " We have
had all this fighting, we may have more fighting
yet ; people may come to attack us, to kill you or
me." "My father-in-law," said Wai Dokos to Wik
Kiemila, "we have killed a great man, Chulup
Win Herit. I think now that we shall have much
trouble; he was the chief of many people; they
will attack us."

Norwan

io5

After this talk all went home. People lived in
peace for two years.
" I will go and sleep in the sweat-house," said
Sehinom Chabatu one night. He went. There
were many in the sweat-house, and a greater number
outside. Usually Chir Pokaila knew everything ;
but this night the old woman did not know that
trouble was coming, she was in her own house
asleep. The door of Sehinom's sweat-house was on the
east, and he was sleeping on the north side. Just
before daylight some of the men lying outside woke
up, and some in the sweat-house were awake, but
none had risen yet. All at once they heard an
uproar, a crowd of men shouting.
When the people around the sweat-house heard
this shouting, they took their arms and ran forward.
All inside the sweat-house rushed to the door, and
as soon as they were out strange people killed
them. Sehinom Chabatu remained in the sweat-house.
Chir Pokaila was taking bow and arrows to her
grandson, but when she reached the door she was
killed. Chir Chuma, who lived near by, came when he
heard the uproar. He was carried by the Siriwits,
and went around fighting here and fighting there,
killing many.
Sehinom, in the sweat-house, heard some one out
side asking, —
"Is this Sehinom Chabatu's .house? I cannot
find him. He is not among these people. Perhaps

1 06 Creation Myths of Primitive America
this is not his house at all. I should like to see
Sehinom Chabatu. If he is brave, he will come
out. I am Sutunut."
Others cried, " I am Hus ! " "I am Chutuhl ! "
" I am Koip !" "I want to see Sehinom Chabatu ! "
All the people outside were killed now, except
Chir Chuma. The Siriwits had carried him home.
Sehinom Chabatu was left in the sweat-house.
It was about the middle of the forenoon when
all were killed, and the strangers set fire to the
sweat-house. There was a log at each side of
the door for people to sit on. Sehinom went into
the ground, and came out under the log on the
left side. He dug forward, as the fire moved, till
he came near the end of the log. It was burned
out now except a very short piece. He stopped
under that.
Sutunut's people stood around watching for him.
" We should like to know where he is," said they.
" The sweat-house is burned. He was not there or
he would have run out." They pushed the cinders
about, — found no trace of his bones. " He cannot
be under this log," said one man ; but he did not
touch the burning log.
At last, about dark, when the log was burned
almost to the very end, Sutunut and all his people
went away.
Sehinom Chabatu heard everything they said.
When they had gone and all was silent, he crept
out from under the ground; he saw his friends
lying dead, the houses destroyed, and the sweat-house
burned down. He cried all night, — mourned for

Norwan 1 07

his friends, mourned until daylight. At daylight
he walked around everywhere ; looked at the ruins ;
did not know what to do ; walked around again and
again. Just before sunrise he heard something and
stopped to listen. There was a sound like the cry
of a little dog. He looked, and saw at last a piece
of bark of the yellow pine. The noise came from
under that bark.
"What can be under this bark?" thought Sehi
nom, and turning it over he found two little boys
lying in each other's arms and crying. He stooped
down and took them up.
" Now, brother," said one of them, " we had luck.
We hid here and escaped."
They were Tsudi boys. Sehinom Chabatu took
the boys to care for them. He buried all the
people he could find, took the two little boys, and
went up Pui Mem to get kopus wood for arrows.
He found the wood, brought it home, and made
four hundred arrows. Then he made five bows of
yew wood.
The two boys grew very fast. Sehinom gave a
bow and forty arrows to each of them and said, —
" I wish you could do something for me, but you
are so small I don't like to send you."
" We can go wherever you send us," said the
elder boy.
" Well, my little brother," said Sehinom next
morning, " go and tell my two sisters, Kawas Loimis
in Waiti Nomken to come here. Tell them that I
am hungry, that I have nothing to eat. Say that

108 Creation Myths of Primitive America
I am starving. Tell them to bring food to me.
From my sisters go to my brother Kichuna ; he lives
at Kenwinis Pom. Go next to Wai Hau, at Hau
Buli, then to Nomel Hiwili at Waiel Nomeltos.
Go to Dokos Hilit; you will find his house by
inquiring; from there to my father-in-law, Nom
Sowiwi. Tell these people to come to me and
bring all their forces."
Then, turning to the other brother, he said : " I
will send you, my little brother, down south. I want
you to go to Tidok Kiemila at Tidok Waisono.
This old man and his people have plenty of feather
dresses for war. Go to the Tede Wiu brothers ;
go to Hokohas Herit. Go eastward to Dokos
Herit, at Dokos Hlei Puriton; go to Kaisus at
Kaisansi Haraston, tell all to come to-morrow and
bring their people."
The elder Tsudi brother came back in the evening.
" Your sisters will come to-morrow morning," said
he, "and the others will all come."
The younger brother came back a little later.
"All the people will come to-morrow morning,"
said he : " all the Hokohas people with their elk-
skins, all the Tidok people will come with their
feather headdresses. When I went to the Tede
Wiu brothers, they said : ' Sehinom Chabatu has
great trouble.' I said : ' He has, indeed ; my
brother and I are all that are left.' ' He is our
brother,' said they ; ' we must help him.' "
Next morning the two Kawas sisters came,
bringing many things. Each brought two elkskins
and a great many arrows and otter-skins.

Norwan

109

" Now, brother, eat and feed the two little boys,"
said they, taking out food.
People began to come. They came from every
direction, from all sides. All that day they
poured in; in the evening and night they kept
coming. Sehinom Chabatu had to wait some days
for all to come. The Kawas sisters had food for
every one.
"We heard that you were killed," said the Tede
Wiu brothers when they came. " We are glad to
see you living."
" I am alone," said Sehinom. " I do not know
what saved me. All my people were killed except
these two little boys."
The Tede Wiu brothers were the first to come
from the south. Next came the Tidok people.
They came in crowds, in thousands, and every one
had a feather net on his head. They began to come
in the morning, and kept coming all day, all night,
on the morrow, and second night, without stopping.
They came without stopping for twelve days and
nights, they came till there was no room for them
anywhere around. More Tidoks remained at home
than came, and more Tidoks came than all other
people put together.
"You people," said Sehinom Chabatu, when all
had come, " I did not cause this war and fighting.
I did not begin. The war was made by the Tede
Wiu brothers and Norbis."
" Now, my brothers," said Sehinom Chabatu to
the Tede Wiu brothers, " people far off talk of me ;
but you caused the trouble. You began it, and

1 1 o Creation Myths of Primitive America
you must do your best to help me. We must
leave here to-morrow morning."
They started next morning early. Sehinom
Chabatu gave orders to travel in parties. They
moved toward the southeast. The last party of
the first day left in the evening. When night
came the van of the army camped and the rear
marched all night.
When Sutunut's forces came northward from the
edge of the sky in the south to attack Sehinom's
people, they made a trail coming and going.
Now, Sehinom's army followed this trail. They
travelled the second day till they reached a camp
ing-place of the returning southern army. There
they spent the night. At noon of the third day
they sent Kaisus and Bulibok ahead to look for
the enemy. They went to the south. On the
following morning they came back and said, —
" We found a canon where they camped ; you
can camp there."
The army moved on. The two Kawas sisters
had food to give the whole army ; the two baskets
were never empty, and all had enough.
They stayed three days in the canon, and the
Tidok people never stopped coming.
" We have far to go ; you must hurry," said
Sehinom next day; and the Tidok forces began
to travel faster. Sehinom sent forward Hus as a
scout. Before daybreak all rose and travelled till
evening. Hus came back and said, —
" I have been very far down. I found another
place where they camped. I went farther south

Norwan 1 1 1
then, till I saw fire and smoke far away. We can
rest to-night in their camping-place."
" Sleep well, all you people," said Sehinom
Chabatu that night ; " you must be fresh to-mor
row morning."
Next morning Hus was sent forward again, and
the army started soon after. They travelled all
day. At sunset Hus came back and said, —
" I found the next camping-place ; it is not far
from here. Then I went south a great way till I
came to a hill which runs east and west. I went to
the top of that hill and looked down. On a broad
flat I saw fires and a great many people. Their
camp is very wide from east to west, and runs south
as far as my eyes could see. Now, our friends, I
have seen the enemy ; we must do the best we can."
When they reached the camping-place Sehinom
said : " We will rest here to-morrow, not travel
till the next day."
On the second morning they rose and started
early, went slowly, resting occasionally. About
sunset they came to the hill and camped on the
north side of it.
" I went to send some one to see how many
people there are in that camp," said Sehinom
Chabatu. Bulibok went. On the end of the ridge was a
tree with one limb sticking out toward the east.
Bulibok went on that tree, sat on the limb, and
looked down. He saw the people moving around,
playing, and dancing. He could see a long dis
tance. Pretty soon people below, who* were look-

112 Creation Myths of Primitive America
ing around everywhere, saw Bulibok, and one of
them asked, —
" What is that sitting on the limb up there ? "
" I don't know," answered another. " It looks
like some person. Let us throw at it and see if it
will move."
Notudui Ulumus, who always wore a sling around
his head, took it off, put a stone in it, and said, —
" There must be some one there. I have never
seen that thing on a limb before."
" Oh, that is nothing ; that is always there,"
said others.
" I have never seen anything there before. I
will sling a stone at it." Notudui hurled a
stone, which just passed Bulibok's head ; he
did n't move. Notudui hurled another stone, al
most grazed Bulibok's nose, but he never moved.
" Oh, that is a part of the limb," said some of
the people : " it sticks up in that way."
" A man would move if a stone came so near
him," said others.
" That is somebody ; that is somebody watching
us," cried a third party ; and they disputed. The
people watched for a while, but Bulibok sat there
as motionless as the limb till, tired of watching,
they went away, and forgot all about him. He
slipped down from the tree then, went home, and
said, —
" I sat on a tree, saw everything, and know now
the best way to go. People saw me and hurled
stones. They came near hitting me twice, but I
did not stir, and they let me go."

Norwan 113
" Now, my people," said Sehinom Chabatu,
" this war was not made by me. I hate to take
you to a place like that which is before us, but we
must go there. I will go first ; I will go alone and
look at the place." He mounted the ridge, and
from the top of it went underground till he came
out in the chief house of the enemy. Then,
thrusting his head up, he looked and saw a great
many people. Soon some one saw him and said, —
"Why do you people not watch? Sehinom
Chabatu may come. You say that he is dead
— that you burned him to death in the sweat-
house; but I don't believe that you killed him."
" Oh, he is dead long ago. We killed him ; we
burned him ! "
Sehinom stuck out his head a second time.
Again some one saw him and asked, —
" What is that over there ? Maybe it is Sehinom
Chabatu. I think he might come."
" Oh, he is dead long ago. Let 's throw at that
and see what it is."
Some one hurled a stone. It grazed Sehinom's
nose and he dropped into the ground. " That
is only a squirrel ! " said a number of people,
" Sehinom Chabatu is dead."
Sehinom went back to his army, and said to Nom
Sowiwi, —
" I saw a great many people. They are the same
who killed our friends. They will kill us unless
we kill them. We will move to-morrow at day
break and fight. My brother, Tede Wiu, you
must find Sutunut. When he came to my place
8

1 1 4 Creation Myths of Primitive America
he boasted greatly. He said that I could fight
nobody. I want to see Sutunut. We must find
him. Never mind others. Let us find Sutunut
and Koip Herit, who boasted that they had killed
so many of our people."
" I will go and look at that camp before dark,"
said Hau Herit.
He went, and just below the hilltop he found a
piece of a hollow oak-tree as long as the height of
a man ; he walked slowly in this dry trunk, his
head just sticking above it, and of the same color.
He reached the top of the ridge and went down
the south side a short distance ; there were no
trees or brush there. As he stood looking around,
his eyes above the stump, some people called out
below, —
" What is that on the hill ? I have never seen
that thing there before."
" I see nothing but a stump," answered others.
Hau was looking around everywhere, taking
notice of everything.
" There is some one there," said another man.
" Oh, that 's a stump. I 've seen that there all
the time."
" Well, let 's sling a stone at it."
Notudui took his sling and hurled a stone. Hau
lowered his head a little. The stone hit the stump
and made a loud noise.
" Oh, that 's nothing. Don't you hear the noise ?
That's just a stump. We'll throw again and be
sure." Hau was just putting his head out when he saw

Norwan 115
another stone coming. The stone hit the stump,
and made a great noise.
" There, do you think that is a person ? Do
you think the stone would make a noise like that
if it hit some one ? "
They threw no more stones. Hau waited till
dark, when he went back and told Sehinom every
thing. " Now, my brothers," said Sehinom Chabatu to
the two Tsudi boys, " you must go to that camp.
Go straight to the centre house, go into it to
gether. Then let one go west and the other
east. Look carefully, and when you see a bow,
cut the string to it. Cut the strings in the
first house before you part, and then cut alone.
Go into each house and cut every bow-string. As
you go around the houses inside, some one may see
you and say, ' Look at those Tsudis,' but pay no
heed, go- on cutting."
The two Tsudi brothers went to the middle house
together ; then one went east, and the other west.
They went through each house. In some they
found a few bows, in others a great many. They
cut till daylight was coming. They went home then,
and said, —
"We cut bow-strings all night, and had to stop
because daylight was coming, but we left only a few
strings uncut. The people slept, except one man
in the sweat-house. We don't think he ever sleeps.
He talks always."
" I know him," said Sehinom. " He talks, but
he is asleep while he talks [whistles]. Daylight

1 1 6 Creation Myths of Primitive America
is coming, we must go. Do the best you can,
do your best, all of you."
The army was so large, and there were so many
Tidoks that they spread over the country like a
flood ; they rushed across the hill and ran down
into the valley ; when the people sleeping in the
houses heard them coming, they sprang up and ran
for their bows.
" Oh, my bow-string is broken ! " cried one.
" Oh, my bow-string is broken ! " cried another.
" Give me a bow ! Give me a bow ! " cried a
third. This was heard all over the camp ; every one was
crying : " My bow-string is broken ! Give me a
bow ! "
Sehinom's army poured in on them like great
waves of water. Sehinom rushed to the chief house,
and shouted, —
" Where are you, Sutunut ? I want to see you.
You boasted so much in Dau Paki Olel, I want to
see you. Where are you, Sutunut ? "
Sutunut said nothing, kept still. He was in a
house a short distance away, and some one else
killed him.
The southern people could not fight well without
bows and arrows ; they did what they could to de
fend themselves, but at noon they were killed to the
last person, not one escaped.
Sehinom Chabatu with his chief men and all their
forces started for home, leaving Kot and Ho Herit
behind, with some Tidoks to fire all the houses.
Just as they had set fire to everything, a new force

Norwan 1 1 7
of southern people came up, surprised them, and
killed a great many.
" Sehinom Chabatu has gone," said Ho Herit,
when he saw them. " New forces are coming
against us. Now, Tidok people, you must fight
well." The new forces chased Ho Herit and his men.
The Tidoks fought bravely. Many were killed on
both sides. Ho Herit himself was killed. Fresh
people from the south were coming continually,
while the Tidoks had no reinforcements. At last
Kot Herit was killed, and most of the Tidoks
who fought under him. Then the southern people
turned and went home. The few Tidoks who
escaped with their lives went north to their own
place. Sehinom Chabatu went back to Dau Paki Olel
and lived there. He and those who came home
with him did not know for a long time of the second
battle and the death of Kot and Ho Herit.
This is the end of that war. All the people who
returned with Sehinom Chabatu came home in
safety. The first people fought no more after that,
for soon Olelbis turned them into birds, beasts,
and other things.

TULCHUHERRIS

TULCHUHERRIS PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Hawt, lamprey eel ; Kulitek, a white feather in the tail of Komos
Kulit, the black vulture ; Nomhawena, an earthworm ; Pom Pokaila,
earth old woman ; Sas, sun ; Tichelis, ground squirrel ; Tulchuherris,
etymologically, a person or thing that has been dug up ; Winishuyat,
foresight. IT was not in the east, nor the north, nor the
south, but in the west, on a flat called Eli-
Tsarauton (root flat), that a little old woman lived
very long ago. No person lived on that flat but
this old woman, whose name was Nomhawena
Pokaila. She was called also Pom Pokaila.
This old woman had lived ten summers and ten
winters on that flat, and one summer more ; she
dug roots there all this time, for roots were her food.
The flat was broad, and she had dug, beginning
at the edge and going round and round, till at last
there was only a small piece left undug, and that
was in the middle.
One morning, when she thrust her stick into the
ground deeply, she heard a cry like that of a little
child. She stopped and listened ; heard the cry
far down in the earth. She did n't know what to
make of it, but thought : " Whatever this is I will
dig it out."

122 Creation Myths of Primitive America
She thrust her root stick down as far as she could
at one side of the spot where the noise was, and
worked hard, took much earth out ; then she heard
the cry a little forward, and dug forward. She went
next to the opposite side and dug all around the
cry, dug till the middle of the afternoon, but found
nothing. Then she dug around again, thrust the
stick deeper in the first spot, and said, " I must
find that, I must have it."
She thrust the stick down deeper, — got nothing.
She went on the other side, pushed the stick still
deeper, and turned over the great lump of earth that
was in the middle. Under this she found a little
boy. The moment she saw him she heard a noise
like thunder far off in the east, at Saskewil, the
place where Sas lives. When she raised him to
the surface, she heard this noise a second time.
The baby's head, as she raised him to the surface,
was to the east, his feet to the west ; underground
his head was to the south, and his feet to the
north. "Tsok tso, tsok tso!" (good baby, good baby),
said the old woman, fondling him in her arms.
She took the buckskin apron from her back, laid it
on the ground, put the little boy on it, and wrapped
him up carefully. Then she fondled him again,
saying, " Tsok tso, tsok tso ! " and said, " I am
old, I am your grandmother;" and she carried
him to her house. She took water and washed
him, washed all his body. Every morning she
washed him. She could not sleep at night, she
was so anxious. She watched him all the time.

Tulchuherris 123

All night, all day she watched, never put him on
the ground, but washed him much, saying, —
" I wish you to grow quickly. You are the
only person seen here. I wish you to walk soon."
In five weeks after she had found him he could
walk a little and talk some. When he was able to
talk well, the old woman said, —
" Now, my grandson, I will tell you a thing which
you must remember. When you play around out
side the house, never go to the east, never go
toward Saskewil, where Sas lives. Play in the north
or the south or the west, but never go east."
The boy grew fast and was able to play. As his
grandmother was telling him always not to go east,
he said to himself, —
" I wonder why my grandmother tells me not
to go east. I 'd like to know why."
One morning the boy went to play, went south
from the house a short distance, and heard a voice,
heard some one shouting, calling from some place,
he did n't know where this voice was. He listened,
and soon heard it a second time. It came from
above, from the sky. He saw no one, but the voice
said, —
" Little boy, your name is Tulchuherris. I
know you, Tulchuherris. You are the first person
in this place the greatest. You must do what you
can to live. You must do your best to conquer.
You are Tulchuherris."
The boy heard and understood. He went home,
but said nothing to his grandmother, said nothing
of that voice in the sky that had called him.

1 24 Creation Myths of Primitive America
She told him again, as before, not to go east.
She told him this many times. Now he was almost
a young man, he had grown so fast. It was nearly
spring, and the old woman talked to him seriously.
When he had been with her all the winter, she said :
" My grandson, I suppose you wish to know
something. I am going to talk to you. You will
soon be full grown. I will let you know why
I have told you so often not to go east. You
wished to know why, now I will tell you.
"A long time ago all my people — my son, my
brother, my relatives — went away off to the east
and never came back again. I was left here alone.
There is a great house off in the east there, called
Saskewil. A big old man, Sas, with his wife and
two daughters, live in it. All my kin went to that
place and were killed there. When any one goes
into Saskewil, the old woman, Sas's wife, sits on the
east of the door, which is open to the south ; her
daughters sit on the west side. The old woman
sits with her back toward the Wall and her face to
the north. She never looks backward, but when
a visitor is inside a while and is sitting, she turns
slowly, puts her hands to each side of her eyes,
bringing her finger-tips to meet in the middle
of her forehead, and glares with big eyes at the
stranger. He looks at her then and drops dead.
There is a power in her eyes that kills him. Sas
has something in his nose. He takes this, rolls it
on his knee, and snaps it at people who go to his
house. Nobody sees him do this, but he kills
many people in that way.

Tulchuherris

I25

." Now, my grandson, you know why I do not
wish you to go east. I will tell you more. There
was a man, the best of my people ; he went to
Saskewil, he went to the east and was killed there.
I am sorry for him, I grieve for him yet. I am
mourning now for him. He was your own brother,
the one that I grieve most of all for. He was
my grandson. His name was Kulitek Herit. You
are large now, strong enough to hear this, and I
tell you."
After the old woman had told him of the people
who had died in going to Saskewil, Tulchuherris
answered, —
" I am sorry for my brother. I am sorry that
he was killed. Now, my grandmother, I must see
what I can do."
He went out of the house then, went west and
found a kind of white wood, brought it home and
made an arrow, — a smooth, very small arrow ; he
painted this arrow red, blue, and black, painted it
on the end and fastened feathers to it. Then he
made a bow of wood which he found in the same
place, far away west, and painted it nicely on the
outer side.
Next morning before daylight, he went a short
distance to the south from his grandmother's, took
his bow and arrow, strung the bow and shot his
arrow toward the east.
After the little arrow had left the bow it became
a humming-bird as it went through the air. Before
the bird reached Sas's house it turned to an arrow
again.

1 26 Creation Myths of Primitive America
A little way from Saskewil old Sas had his
sweat-house with only one door to it. That door
looked toward the south. The arrow dropped
east of the door and stuck fast in the ground
there. It dropped before daybreak, while Sas
was in the sweat-house. He heard something fall
outside the door, something that struck the ground
with weight like a great rock. He knew not
what to think. He had never heard such a noise
before. When daylight came old Sas rose and went out
of the sweat-house. He had slept all the night
there. He looked around to see what had made
the great noise, and saw the little arrow. He
looked at the arrow, went up, grasped it, tried to
pull it out. He took a firm hold, tried hard,
twisted and pulled, but could not draw the arrow.
He rested and then did his best. He pulled,
braced himself. His hands slipped and he fell on
his back.
Sas had to leave the arrow where it was ; he
could not draw it out. He went to his house,
where his wife and daughters were. The two girls
were very beautiful. Sas took his old wooden pipe,
filled it with tobacco, and began to smoke.
" My old woman," said he, " and my daughters,
I will tell you what I have seen just now. I have
seen a thing such as I have not seen for a long
time, a very long time. Long ago I used to see
things such as I have seen just now outside my
sweat-house. Something must be wrong. Some
one must be thinking of us, some one must be

Tulchuherris 1 27

thinking of our house. I believe that some day
soon we shall see some person coming. I saw a
little arrow, and tried to pull it out of the ground,
but I was not able. I tried till I fell and hurt
my back. Now, my daughters, you may go if you
wish, and look at that arrow."
The girls went out, they looked at the arrow,
and said, " Oh, that is a nice arrow ; " and they
tried to pull it out of the ground. It did not
come, and they went back to their father's house.
" Now, my grandmother," said Tulchuherris in
Eli Tsarauton, " I am going to leave you. I am
going away. I am going to the east. I am going
to Saskewil."
The old woman did not like to lose her grandson.
" Oh, my grandson," said she, " you will be
killed. You will never come back to me."
" My grandmother, I am going," said Tulchu
herris. " I am going, for I must go, and I will do
the best I can."
He went west, and found flint, put pieces of it on
each finger, made finger-nails of it, and made them
very sharp. Then he went west a second time, got
the marrow of Hunhunut (no one knows now
what creature Hunhunut is), brought home the
marrow, rubbed it between his hands, then rubbed
himself with it, face, head, all his body except his
legs. A third time he went west, and took a little bush
full of thorns, each about an inch and a half long,
made leggings and a shirt of this thorn-bush. A
fourth time he went west, and picked out in a gulch

128 Creation Myths of Primitive America
the firmest green water-stone. Of this green stone
he made shoes. A fifth time he went west, and
took a western panther as dog. A sixth time he
went, and took a northern fox as dog. A seventh
time he went west, got a sky spear pole, and a
sky spear head, and a sky strap for the spear
pole. The old woman had a Winishuyat hidden away,
and when she could not stop her grandson from
going she gave him this Winishuyat, which he tied
in under his hair on the top of his head. The
hair was gathered over it and tied so that no one
could untie it but Tulchuherris, and no one could
see Winishuyat, who was like a little man, as big as
a thumb. Winishuyat could talk to Tulchuherris
and tell him everything, warn him of every danger.
He always called him " my brother." When Tul
chuherris was ready, he said, —
" My grandmother, I must go, and you will stay
here while I am gone."
He stood up then to start, and his grandmother
said, —
" My grandson, I cannot go out for wood, I am
too old, I am too weak. I am not able to bring
wood, and my fire will die."
Tulchuherris put down his quiver with his bow
and went to the forest. He pulled up many of the
biggest trees by the roots and bound them in a
bundle. He brought the bundle to the house, put
the trees on the fire, and said, —
" Now you have plenty of firewood, my grand
mother, and I am going."

Tulchuherris 129

When he had gone a little way the old woman
screamed : " My grandson, come back ; the fire is
dying!" He put down his quiver and bow near his two
dogs, went back, and saw that the fire was dying.
The whole great bundle of trees which he had
brought was burned out. Tulchuherris went then
and pulled up by the roots great trees, larger than
the first, and brought two bundles ; put these on
the fire — a great many trees. He was the strong
est person in the world, and could do that.
" Now I am going ! " said he. His two dogs
stood waiting at the bow and the quiver. He had
gone farther than the first time, he had gone about
twice as far, when the old woman screamed, —
" My grandson, the fire is out ! "
Tulchuherris put down his quiver and bow again,
left the dogs with them, and hurried back. He
found every tree burned and the fire going out.
He stood there and thought and thought. At last
he said, —
" I don't know what to do. I can't find wood
enough, and I can't leave my grandmother without
a fire." Then Winishuyat said, —
" Tulchuherris, if you don't know how to keep a
fire for your grandmother, I will tell you. Go out
here anywhere. You will find wild sunflowei roots,
plenty of them. Put one handful of those roots on
the fire, and it will not go out again."
Tulchuherris went and dug the roots ; brought
two handfuls ; put them on the fire so that they
9

130 Creation Myths of Primitive America
would burn slowly, the ends touching the fire.
Then he said, —
" I am going, grandmother. Take good care of
yourself." He went to where his quiver and bow and dogs
were ; then he looked back. His grandmother said
nothing. She did not call to him this time. He
went farther, looked back, listened, no call came.
He went still farther, listened, all was silent; went
farther yet, stopped, listened, heard nothing, made
up his mind that all was right with his grandmother,
and went on till he had gone a long distance, listened
a fourth time, heard nothing. After this he went
quickly till about midday, when he looked ahead
and saw a great rock standing straight up in front
of him, small at the top and very high. He looked
and saw some one standing on the very summit.
The rock was higher than a big pine-tree. A very
old man was standing on the top of it.
Tulchuherris could go neither to the north nor
the south, the rock was straight in his road. He
looked everywhere for a passage, but could see none.
He looked on the left side, all was dark; on the
right, all was dark, — dark everywhere. There was
light only in the road which went up the rock and
over it.
The old man on the rock, when Tulchuherris
came near, called out, —
" My grandson, come right up to me ; there is no
other road where people travel. When you are
here, you will pass down on the other side easily."
" I will go to you," said Tulchuherris.

Tulchuherris 131

When he had said " I will go to you," Winis
huyat, the little man under his hair, said, —
" My brother, be careful, he is going to kill you."
Tulchuherris stopped.
" Here," said Winishuyat, " is the place where
our people came in time past. Many were killed
here. They went to the old man ; he threw them
down and killed them. If you go to that old man,
my brother, he will sway this big rock. In one
flash he will throw you into a dark place at the side
where you cannot see bottom. Run to the rock
quickly, kick it. If not, he will kill us. This old
man was sent here by Sas, he was sent here to
kill us."
Tulchuherris did not climb the rock, did not go
to the old man ; but he rushed forward and gave
the rock one great kick with his shoe of green water-
stone. The rock fell, and the old man fell with it,
— fell into the dark place. The rock never sprang
back. It left a smooth road with a ridge on each
side of the place where it had been. Then the two
dogs ran forward, and Tulchuherris said to the old
man, —
" Hereafter you will not be what you have been ;
hereafter you will be nothing but a ground squirrel.
You will live under rocks in the earth, and the
people to come will call you tichelis. You are not
like me ; I am strong. You will be nothing here
after but a poor little ground squirrel."
Tulchuherris followed the dogs then. He looked
back and listened ; he could hear at a great distance,
he could hear all over the world. But he heard no

132 Creation Myths of Primitive America
sound from his grandmother ; so he went on till he
came to a large and broad river. There he saw a
man standing. Tulchuherris went nearer, looked
up and down, but could see no place to cross the
river. The man saw him and said, —
" Grandson, you cannot pass this big river ; you
must get some one to help you. I am the only one
who ever crosses at this point. I can wade right
through the water. I carry over all who come here.
If you wish, I will take you to the other side ; but
you could never go alone ; you could never cross
yourself." Tulchuherris did n't know what to do, and stood
thinking. " Go on, my brother," said Winishuyat. " Let
him carry you, though this is one of the places
where they killed many of our people who escaped
the old man on the rock. But this man cannot
kill us. Let him carry us."
" Very well ! " said Tulchuherris to the old man.
" Carry me over, take me across this river."
The old man came up and took him on his back.
Tulchuherris had a pointed bone in his bosom where
he could get at it quickly. He had brought this
bone from Eli Tsarauton. The old man started
into the river. At first it was not deep, but in the
middle of the stream the water was up to his breast,
and was growing deeper. Then it reached his neck,
and was rising. The dogs made a leap from one
side of the river to the other. The water was at
the man's eyes now.
" Be careful, my brother," said Winishuyat, " be

Tulchuherris 133

careful. This man kills people in this way, — he
drowns them, he will drown you right away if you
let him."
Tulchuherris took out his sharp bone, stabbed
the man's breast two or three times with it,
wounded him, stopped him. Then he leaped from
the man's head to the other bank, where his dogs
were. Tulchuherris stood a moment looking at the
wounded man. Then he said, —
" Hereafter you will not be what you have been.
You will be nothing but an eel. You will be a
person no longer. You will be only an eel, the
people to come will call you hawt and will eat
you. Tulchuherris walked forward quickly after this.
Sas's two daughters heard every step he took, as
though he had been near, though he was far, very
far away from them. They always heard men com
ing from the west, — always knew when they were
coming. Tulchuherris walked quickly till almost evening,
when he came to a high ridge near Sas's house.
Just as he reached the ridge he heard a sort of
clinking noise on the other side. He stopped and
looked, but saw no one. He was right at the spot
where the noise was, but there was no one in sight.
The ridge was like a straight wall reaching north and
south farther than he could see, and high up out of
sight, and down into the ground. No one could
go through, or go around, or dig under that wall or
climb over it. In the middle of the ridge was an
opening in which stood a great sugar pine, and in the

1 34 Creation Myths of Primitive America
pine was a cleft large enough to let a person pass
easily. When any one was passing, and half-way
through the cleft, the pine closed and crushed him.
The noise was made by a person hammering just be
yond the wall. Tulchuherris looked through and
saw an arm, and while he was looking his dogs sprang
through the opening to the other side.
" What's this ? " called the man, and he walked
to the opening. "Ah, are you there? Is that
you, my son-in-law ? "
Tulchuherris said nothing, but looked and saw
piles of bones inside.
" Come right in this way, come in, my son-in-
law," said the old man. " Come in ; you cannot
pass at another place."
When the old man called out, " Come in, you
cannot pass at another place," Tulchuherris said,
" I must pass here, but I am afraid."
" This is the road that all people take, my son-
in-law. Come straight through ; have no fear, there
is no danger."
The two dogs went up to the old man and
smelled him. They growled, did not like him, nor
did the old man like the dogs. This old man was
Sas himself, he who lived in Saskewil.
" Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, " go ahead,
go through as quickly as you can. If you are slow,
he will catch us. This is a place where Sas has
killed many of our people."
Tulchuherris took his bow and quiver in one
hand, stood on one foot, braced himself sidewise,
made a spring, and went through in a flash. That

Tulchuherris

35

instant the tree closed with a great noise, became
solid. When Tulchuherris shot through, he went far off
into the field, and Sas did n't see him, he went past
so swiftly. Sas heard the tree close, and thought
that Tulchuherris was caught in it. He looked at
the tree and began to talk.
" Well, my son-in-law, you are caught, now
you are nobody. I am Sas. You were weak, I
am strong. You wore your grandmother's apron.
You knew nothing; I know everything."
Tulchuherris had come up, and was standing
behind while old Sas was talking. He listened,
heard every word. After Sas had stopped talking,
Tulchuherris asked, —
" My father-in-law, to whom are you talking ?
What are you saying ? "
" Ha! " cried Sas, turning quickly. " Son-in-law,
I was talking to myself. I was saying that I had
done wrong to my son-in-law. I am old, my
heart is weak, my head is half crazy. I am blind
I did not know what I was doing. I was say
ing that I had done wrong. You are my son-in-
law. I am old, I am weak, I am blind. My
head is gray. I cannot do much now. You see
my house over there ; it is a poor house ; it is
poor because I am old. Go ahead ; go in. I will
follow as soon as I can."
Tulchuherris went ahead, and Sas followed slowly
at a distance. The dogs had run on, and were at
the house already. On one side of the door out
side were ten grizzly bears, and ten on the other

136 Creation Myths of Primitive America
side. There were rattlesnakes in the door and
around it. Before Tulchuherris came the panther
dog had killed all the bears, and the fox dog all
the snakes and things poisonous. When he came
near the house, he stood a little way off and looked
at his dogs. All around Sas's house he saw great
piles of bones lying about everywhere, the bones of
his kindred. He began to cry and lament for them.
When the dogs had cleared the way outside, they
went into the house and killed all the grizzlies and
rattlesnakes there ; the house was full of them.
Tulchuherris stood outside, crying over the bones
of his people. When he had cried enough, he went
in. Old Sas's wife was sitting on the east side of
the door and his daughters on the west. When
they saw Tulchuherris, the girls spread a mat, sat
on it, and told him to sit down between them.
" Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, " be care
ful of that old woman ; many of our people have
been killed by her. If they were not killed outside,
she turned and looked at them, and they fell dead
when they saw her eyes."
While Tulchuherris was sitting with Sas's daugh
ters, a large, long-legged, red-backed, very venomous
spider came on him ; then another and another.
Many of these spiders crawled over him. He was
wearing his thorn shirt, and they could not poison
him ; they got impaled on the thorns and died,
every one.
Old Sas came at last, and when he walked into
the house he took his pipe, filled it with tobacco,
and drew a few whiffs of smoke. Then he said, —

Tulchuherris

lZ7

"Take a smoke, my son-in-law; we cannot do
without a pipe. It is best to smoke first and talk
of affairs after that."
Tulchuherris took the pipe and pretended to
smoke. He was not smoking; still smoke came,
and the tobacco burned out. He gave the pipe
back to Sas. Sas's tobacco was made of people's
flesh and of their bones pounded fine.
After Tulchuherris had given back the pipe, he
took his beautiful quiver, put in his hand, and took
out his own pipe of green water-stone, a solid piece,
not very big, but tremendously heavy. He took
his own tobacco and put it into the pipe. His
tobacco was the same kind of marrow that he
had rubbed on his face, and something mixed
with it (it is not known what that was). Tul
chuherris lighted the pipe, smoked a little, and
said, —
" Here, my father-in-law, take a smoke. I am
only a young man. You are old, you are wise, you
know everything. You say it is best for us to take
a smoke. I am young, do not know much, but I
think this pipe and tobacco are for talk. Smoke
with me."
Sas took the pipe, but when Tulchuherris let go
the old man could not hold it. It was slipping
and falling. When he tried to catch it, it fell on
his arm, threw him, and held him down.
Sas struggled to push the pipe off his arm, but
had not strength enough. Tulchuherris looked for
a moment, then reached out his hand, picked up
the pipe, and asked, —

138 Creation Myths of Primitive America
"Father-in-law, what is the matter? Take a
good smoke. This is Tulchuherris's pipe."
Sas could not lift the pipe. Tulchuherris held it
while the old man was smoking. When Sas drew
in the smoke and swallowed it, it hurt him inside.
The old man was choking. He fell on the ground,
fell almost into the fire. His breath was taken
from him. Tulchuherris put the pipe aside.
" Oh, help me up, help me, my son-in-law," called
Sas. Tulchuherris helped him to rise, and then sat
with the girls again.
" My old father, Sas," said his elder daughter,
" what is the matter ? You have wanted this long
time to see a man with strong arms. Why not
talk now with this one ? You have been waiting a
long time for such a man."
While they were sitting there, Winishuyat said :
" My brother, look out for the old woman. She is
going to turn — be on your guard ! "
Tulchuherris was ready. The old woman had
not looked around since he came. She had been
sitting motionless. Now she began to turn slowly,
and Tulchuherris watched her. He sat with his
right hand doubled up, and before she could look
into his eyes he snapped two flint finger-nails at
her, sent one nail into each of her eyes and put it
out. She fell dead and rolled into the fire.
Night came now, and Tulchuherris lay down on
the bed prepared by Sas's two daughters. They
took their places, one on each side of him.
He never took out Winishuyat, he never let any

Tulchuherris 139

one know of him. As Tulchuherris lay on his back,
he saw something over his head, hanging from the
roof of the house. Two obsidian knives were hang
ing together by a very slender string of the inner
bark of maple. Tulchuherris fell asleep and slept
until midnight. He was roused then by Winis
huyat, who said to him, —
" Oh, my brother, wake up. The string holding
the knives is ready to break. Wake up, my brother,
wake up ! "
Tulchuherris woke up.
" Turn over ! turn over ! " said Winishuyat.
Tulchuherris turned in a flash. That instant the
knives fell, struck the ground just at his back, and
were broken to pieces, both knives at once.
This was another way of killing people. Strangers
always slept soundly on that bed with Sas's daughters,
were struck while asleep by two knives in the heart,
and died the same moment.
Next morning after the knives fell, Sas rose and
said, —
" Rise up, my son-in-law. I have a small sweat-
house out here. I go there to sweat every morning,
and then to the river to swim. I swim in the river
every morning. We will sweat, and then swim."
Sas went ahead, he was first in the sweat-house.
He made a very hot fire of the bones of people
whom he had killed, — there were piles of those
bones around everywhere. Tulchuherris went out
of Saskewil into the sweat-house.
" Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, when they
were at one side in the sweat-house, " this is the place

1 40 Creation Myths of Primitive America
where Sas has killed many people who escaped in
the house. He will smoke you to death if he
can." The sweat-house was built of bones, and was
plastered outside with mucus from Sas's nose, so
that no smoke could escape through the cracks.
After Tulchuherris went in he saw how Sas made
the fire. The old man never used wood, always
bones. He piled on bones ; fat and marrow came
out of them, blazed up, made a great smoke, and
the smell of the smoke was not pleasant. After
sweating for a while Sas said, —
" I am old now and weak, nearly blind. I can
not stand much. My head aches. I must go out to
rest. Stay here you and take a good sweat. When
you have finished, come out."
Old Sas went out. The door was small, he could
barely crawl through it. When outside, he lay
across the door and stopped the passage with his
body, so that no one could go out and no
smoke could escape. After a time Tulchuherris
said, —
"My father-in-law, I should like to go out.
Go from the door, let me pass, I have sweated
enough." " Oh, I am old and weak," answered Sas. " I am
lying here to rest. When I have rested some, my
son-in-law, I will rise and let you out."
Tulchuherris was silent a little while longer.
Then he groaned, " Oh, I 'm nearly dead ! "
" My brother," asked Winishuyat, " do you want
to die ? Do you want old Sas to kill you, to smoke

Tulchuherris 14 t

you to death ? You have no wish to die, I do not
want to die. We are strong people, stronger than
Sas. I will tell you how to go out. Take that
Chirchihas bone which you have and make a hole
in the north side of the sweat-house."
Tulchuherris made a hole in the wall of the sweat-
house. He spat then and spoke to the spittle.
" Make noise for an hour," said he, " and groan
just as I do — ' enh, enh, enh ! ' Let Sas believe
that I am here, that 1 am dying."
Tulchuherris slipped out through the hole, walked
to the river, swam there, washed himself clean,
went back to Saskewil, and sat down with his two
wives, Sas's daughters. Sas heard the groaning of
the spittle inside and said to himself, " Tulchu
herris is dying."
After a long time the noise stopped, and Sas said,
" Tulchuherris is dead." Then he went to the river,
washed himself, and walked along slowly toward the
house. When he came near, he was saying, —
" Tulchuherris, you are nobody. I have finished
you now. I am wiser than you, stronger than you.
You were brought up in your grandmother's
apron." Tulchuherris heard him. When Sas was outside
the door, he stood a while and talked on, —
" You were dug out ofthe ground, Tulchuherris,"
said he. "You are nobody. I have beaten you.
You '11 never trouble me again."
He started to go into the house, looked around,
and saw Tulchuherris sitting with his two daughters.
" Father-in-law, were you talking of me ? What

142 Creation Myths of Primitive America
were you saying ? " asked Tulchuherris, when Sas
had come in and sat down.
" Oh, my son-in-law, I cannot tell what I said,
but I was thinking, ' Oh, I am so old, I know noth
ing. I am weak, I am blind. Sometimes I do not
know what I am doing. I think that I have done
wrong to my son-in-law, my poor son-in-law.' "
Soon after Sas went out, and at one side near the
door he dug a grave for the old woman, his wife.
When he had dug it, he buried her and with her all
the bears and snakes, and said, " These are my
children." He put them in the same grave, and
cried, singing as he cried, —
" Koki, koki, koki nom,
Koki, koki, koki nom."
(Creeping, creeping, creeping west,
Creeping, creeping, creeping west.)
While he was burying his wife and the bears and
the snakes, he had beaver teeth hanging on strings
at the back of his head and on each side of his face.
After he had cried awhile he danced and sang, and
these teeth rattled as his head swayed from side to
side. Then he went into the house, sat down,
looked at Tulchuherris, and said, —
" Tulchuherris, you are my son-in-law ; your
wives, those two women, are my daughters. There
are some things which they have wanted to play
with this long time, and they have begged me to go
for them, but I am old and blind ; if I were to go I
could not get what they ask for. My daughters
want pets. My son-in-law, on a small tree, not far

Tulchuherris

H3

from this house, is a nest, and young woodpeckers
chirp every day in it. Your wives want these red
headed woodpeckers, but I am blind and old ; I
cannot climb the tree, but you can get the wood
peckers. I will show the nest."
" Go ahead," said Tulchuherris, " show me the
nest." The tree was a mile away. Sas went to it and
stopped. Tulchuherris stood near. Both looked
up, and Sas asked, " Do you see the nest ? "
The tree was very straight, and so high that they
could hardly see the top of it ; the trunk was as
smooth as ice.
" My father-in-law," said Tulchuherris. " I do
not think that I can go up there ; I do not believe
that I can climb the tree."
" You can climb it if I help you," said Sas, who
took out a rope made of single hairs tied end to
end, a great many of them tied together, hairs from
the heads of his daughters. He threw the rope very
high over a limb near the nest, and said : " Now,
my son-in-law, I will hold the rope ; you climb."
Tulchuherris began to climb the rope. He went
up, up, up, till he reached the limb and stood on it.
Sas was on the ground, holding the other end of the
rope. When Tulchuherris let go his hold, Sas
pulled the rope down, and left Tulchuherris on the
limb very high in the air. Sas turned home.
When a short distance he said, —
"Now, Tulchuherris, you are nobody. Your
grandmother, Nomhawena, is old. She dug you
out of the ground with a root stick. You grew up

144 Creation Myths of Primitive America
in her petticoat. You are not strong, you are not
wise, you are only Tulchuherris. I am Sas."
When Tulchuherris looked down he was terrified,
it was so far to the ground.
" My brother," said Winishuyat, " we shall get
down. Lengthen the pointed bone which you have,
and go higher."
Tulchuherris went to the nest, looked in, and
saw a great many heads peeping out in every direc
tion, — all heads of rattlesnakes. He looked awhile ;
could not think what to do.
" Make the bone long," said Winishuyat.
Tulchuherris stretched the bone. " Stick the bone
into the head of each snake and gather them all
on it."
Tulchuherris did this quickly ; had them all ;
then he slipped them off and let them drop to the
earth. After that he sat on the limb and thought :
" What shall I do now ? "
" My brother," said Winishuyat, " what are you
thinking of? Why not try to do something ? Do
you want to die ? If you cannot think of a way to
escape, I will tell you a way."
" Tell me, my brother."
" Stretch your right hand toward the west. Some
thing will come on it."
Tulchuherris stretched his hand toward the west,
where his grandmother was, and immediately some
thing came with a whirr and a flutter, and settled on
his arm like a bird. It was a sky-strap, blue like
the sky, narrow, and very strong. He fastened one
end of it to the limb, knotting it in such a way that

Tulchuherris 145

he could untie it with a jerk at the other end. He
slipped down on it, and when on the ground jerked
it loose. He strung the snakes on the long bone,
they were all dead, and carried them to Sas's house.
He laid them at the door, went in, sat down,
and then said to the two women, —
" I have the woodpeckers if you wish to play
with them. If you don't want them, you can send
your father to look at them."
The girls told Sas. He went to the snakes and
cried out : " Oh, my son-in-law, you are killing all
my children." Sas buried them in the old woman's
grave, and cried, and sang the same song over them
as over his wife and the bears. Then he danced,
wearing the beaver teeth.
Next morning old Sas rose first, and said : " My
son-in-law, be up. My daughters always want me
to fish and hunt ; but I cannot fish now, I cannot
hunt. I am old and weak. My feet are tender, I
cannot walk ; my head is dizzy. But you are
young, my son-in-law. You can do many things.
If you wish to hunt, I will show you where to find
game in plenty. When I was young, I used to go
to that place and kill game of every sort."
" I will go," said Tulchuherris.
When they were at the place, Tulchuherris saw
only thick brush through which no man could pass.
There was only one narrow opening, one little trail,
and one tree at the end of it. " Stand against that
tree," said Sas. " When deer come, they always
run past that tree. I will drive deer in. You
shoot."

1 46 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Sas went north to drive deer in.
" Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, " be care
ful. You see the bones around here. They are
people's bones. When Sas could not kill people
elsewhere, he brought them to this place and killed
them. He will drive ten grizzly bears up to kill us,
and eat us. Tell your panther dog what to do."
" You, my dog," said Tulchuherris, " stand behind
the tree till you see a grizzly bear spring at me. I
will dodge. He will miss and turn again at me.
Kill him when he turns."
Tulchuherris heard Sas driving bears in the dis
tance. " Ha-ha, ho-ho ! Ha-ha, ho-ho ! " shouted
Sas. " Be ready ; they are coming ! " said Winishuyat.
Tulchuherris heard Sas coming. Then he saw a
grizzly, and another, and another, till five were in
sight. A little behind these were five others. When
the first bear came near, he bounded at Tulchuherris,
Tulchuherris dodged. The bear went past a good
distance, and then turned to spring back. That
moment the panther dog seized him by the throat
and killed him. The second bear sprang at Tul
chuherris. He dodged; the bear passed, and
turned to come back. The panther dog seized
and killed him right there. When he had chased
the bears in, Sas turned home, saying as he went, —
" You are in a good place to-day, Tulchuherris.
I have you now where my children will kill you. I
know more than you ; I am stronger than you.
I am Sas."
After ten bears were killed and no more came,

Tulchuherris

H7

Tulchuherris stood awhile, and taking the bears in
one hand by the paws, he walked home with them ;
carried them as he would little birds. He put them
at Sas's door, went in, sat down, and said to his
wives, —
" I have something outside. You call them deer,
I give them another name. But this is the only kind
of deer that your father drove to me. You eat
this kind of deer, I suppose. Go and see them, or
tell your father to go."
Sas went out and saw the ten grizzly bears lying
dead. " Oh, my son-in-law," cried he, " you are
killing all my children!" Then, singing and cry
ing, he buried the bears.
Next morning Sas rose early. " My son-in-law,"
said he, " there is something which I would like you
to do to-day. My daughters have been asking me
to do this for a long time ; but I am too old. I will
show you a brush house. I made it to' kill birds of
every kind and all kinds of game. It is near a
spring at which birds meet to drink. Come ; I
will show you the house and the spring."
" My brother, be careful to-day," said Winishuyat,
at starting. " Sas is taking us to Wintubos, where
he has killed many people. There is no water
near that place ; no spring ; but the house is full
of snakes, poisonous things, and bears. Take both
your dogs with you."
After Tulchuherris and Sas had gone a short
distance, Sas stopped and said, —
" My son-in-law, you see that little house down
there ? Go into it and wait till you see some nice

148 Creation Myths of Primitive America
birds or game coming, then kill them. I will go
back. I am old and cannot stand or sit here and
wait for you. I will go home and lie down till you
come." Sas went home.
Tulchuherris went near the house, and stopped.
The two dogs sprang into the house at a leap, and
killed all the snakes and the bears in it. When the
dogs had come out, Tulchuherris went in to look
at the house and the spring. He saw piles of
bones everywhere. He cried when he looked at
them. There was no water in the spring. It was
mud, thick mud mixed with people's flesh. Tul
chuherris looked toward the east, and far away he
saw an open plain. Soon he saw what seemed a
small speck at first. It was moving. As he
watched, it came nearer, and he saw it was a
person. Now far away he saw something else.
The first was a small man; the second still smaller.
Tulchuherris saw that they were running toward
him. They came near and stopped.
" Have no fear. Come up to me," said Tulchu
herris. The larger said : " O my brother, my brother, I
am thirsty."
" Oh, my brother," said the smaller one, " we
are very thirsty."
Their hair was clipped close to their heads.
Tulchuherris stepped back toward the north, struck
the ground with his heel, and clear, cold water
sprang up in a stream. He drank himself, and said,
" Come and drink."

Tulchuherris 1 49

The first of these strangers was Anakurita
(orphan), the second Biahori (lone man) ; only these
two were left of all people in those parts. Sas had
killed all the rest. " The last of our relatives
were killed at this spring," said they. " We alone
are left. We are going home."
" If you come here again," said Tulchuherris,
" do not go near the spring at the house. That is
a bad place. Drink this good water which I have
given you."
The two went away. Tulchuherris put the sharp
end of his bone through the heads of the snakes
which the dogs had killed, there were hundreds of
them. The ten grizzly bears he carried home in
one hand.
" I have something outside," said he to Sas's
daughters. " You call them birds, I believe ; they
are all the birds that I found at the brush house.
Tell your father to look at them."
Sas went out and began to cry. He enlarged his
wife's grave and buried them. " These are my chil
dren," said he ; and he sang and danced as before.
Sas rose early next morning. " My son-in-law,"
said he, " your wives ask me to get fish for them,
but I am too old. When I was young I used to
fish, but now I cannot see. You are young ; I will
show you a good place for trout. My old pole and
spear points are there ; you may use them."
They started, came to a river with a bridge over
it formed of one hair. " My brother," said Winis
huyat, " this is a place where Sas has killed many
of our people."

150 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" My son-in-law," said Sas, " cross this bridge and
catch fish ; I will go home."
"Very well," answered Tulchuherris, who put
his foot on the end of the bridge and crossed with
one spring. On the other side he went to the fish
ing-hut, fixed so that a man could look up and
down the river while fishing. Tulchuherris had his
own spear-shaft, a sky-pole ; the string was a sky-
strap. He had his own point, too.
He waited for fish, and at last saw something
come slowly from the south. It stopped, and then
looked at him. Tulchuherris saw a face and a
head with long hair tied in a knot with a band of
woodpeckers' scalps, a long band wound around
many times. Tulchuherris wore just such a band,
but the scalps were of mountain woodpeckers.
"Ah, my brother-in-law," called out the person
in the water, " let us exchange headdresses."
" I am sorry for you, my brother-in-law," said
Tulchuherris. " I hate to kill you, but I must, for
my father-in-law sent me to kill you."
" Go ahead, go ahead," said Winishuyat. " Don't
spare him. Sas says he is a fish. He is Sas's son,
Supchit. You must catch him or suffer."
Supchit turned, as it were, to go back. Tulchu
herris hurled the pole, speared him under the
arm, and the point went through to his other side.
Supchit rushed toward the east with great force.
Tulchuherris held to the spear with one hand,
grasped tule grass with the other, used all his
strength. Then he let the spear go, and held the
strap. Though strong, he could not stop Supchit.

Tulchuherris 151

He was drawn into the water to his waist, then to
his breast, and at last to his chin.
"My brother," said Winishuyat, " do you wish
to drown? Call your gopher — he had a gopher in
his moccasin — " send him to fill up the escapes,
to block all the doors to Supchit's houses."
Tulchuherris sent his gopher to fill every hole, all
Supchit's doors. Sas was at home now. He heard
the great struggle, and said, —
" Oh, Tulchuherris, my son will finish you.
This is your last day."
The gopher stopped every opening, and Supchit
went from place to place. Every door was closed.
He had to stay. Tulchuherris came out of the
water little by little, and pulled till he drew Supchit
to the bank, where he died. He carried him home
in one hand, as if he had been a small fish.
" My father-in-law," said Tulchuherris, " I saw
no fish except one little trout. I speared and
brought home that little trout."
Sas went out ; the two sisters went. " That is
our brother ! " cried they. " That is my son,"
called out Sas, " the best son I had."
The old man buried Supchit with his head north,
looking southward, and sang the same song that he
had sung for his wife and the grizzlies. Sas and his
daughters cut their hair in grief over Supchit.
" My son-in-law," said Sas, next morning early,
" be up ; I will show you a place where I used to
play often when I was young. I am old now, and
cannot play much, but I will show you the place,
and I may play with you a little."

152 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" I will go," said Tulchuherris ; and they started.
" Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, " we are
going to the place where Sas himself has always
killed everyone who baffled him elsewhere. No
man has ever escaped from the place to which
Sas is now taking you. He will take you to a tree ;
he will ask you to climb it ; he will bend it and let
it spring back again ; he will kill you if you are
not careful."
They went to a very wide, level plain ; in the
middle of the plain stood a tremendous, big pine-
tree, leaning to one side somewhat.
" My son-in-law," said Sas, " when I was young
I used to play here. I cannot play much now,
but I '11 show you how to play."
" My brother," said Winishuyat, " I will tell you
what to do. Sas will try his best now to kill us.
Do not kill him to-day ; try him, lead him on, make
him go higher and higher on the tree, and wait till
to-morrow." Sas climbed the tree some distance and said :
" Now, my son-in-law, I am ready ! "
Tulchuherris seized the top of the tree, pulled it
toward him a little, and let it fly back. Sas kept
his hold and slipped down.
" Now, my son-in-law, go up ; go higher. I
used to go very high when I was young like you."
Tulchuherris went to where Sas had been.
" Go higher," said Sas.
" I wanted to stay where you were," answered
Tulchuherris ; " but I will go a little higher."
Sas took hold ofthe tree at the top, pulled it to

Tulchuherris

53

the earth, and let it go. It sprang back into the
sky with a noise like thunder. Tulchuherris held
on and slipped down unhurt.
" Well, father-in-law," said Tulchuherris, " try
again." " I cannot go high," said Sas ; " but I will go a
little higher than I did the first time. Don't give
the tree a big pull." He went up.
" Go higher," said Tulchuherris.
" My son-in-law, I cannot go higher ; I am old."
Tulchuherris teased him till he went a little
higher ; then he gave a harder pull than before.
Sas held on without trouble and slipped to the
ground. " Now," said Sas, " I '11 give you a swing."
Tulchuherris went up.
" Go higher," said Sas. He went higher.
" Go higher ; you are young," urged Sas.
" I don't like to go up," said Tulchuherris. But
he went a little higher.
Old Sas gave a good pull, stronger than before.
Tulchuherris held on and came to the ground
safely. Going to one side, he said : " Whu, whu !
let this day be made short ! " So the day was
made short ; evening came soon.
"Well, father-in-law, you try now."
" Very well," said Sas, " give me a small pull ;
my arms tremble ; I am old. I cannot hold on, I
am so weak." Old Sas went up.
" Go higher," said Tulchuherris.
" I cannot ; I 'm old."
Tulchuherris pulled down the top of the tree,

154 Creation Myths of Primitive America
but not so far. While he was pulling, Sas said :
" Oh, my son-in-law, don't let it go hard."
Tulchuherris gave a pull that would leave Sas on
the tree, and he came down unhurt.
" Now try once more," said Sas, " and we will go
home." " Very well," answered Tulchuherris.
" Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, " this is
the last time to-day. He will try hard to kill you.
Jump off before he lets the tree go."
Tulchuherris went up two-thirds of the way.
Sas pulled the tree to the ground and thought that
he would kill Tulchuherris surely ; but just before
he let it go, Tulchuherris slipped off behind him
and rushed away. The tree flew up with the noise
of heavy thunder. Sas looked everywhere, but
could not see Tulchuherris.
" Now, Tulchuherris," said he, " I have finished
you at last. You are nobody, you are dead ; " and
he started to go home, talking! to himself as he went.
" Father-in-law, what are you saying, to whom
are you talking? "
Sas turned around, amazed. " Oh, my son-in-law,
I am glad that you are here. We must go home.
We have no wood ; we must get wood."
Tulchuherris thought : " My father-in-law wants
to kill me. To-morrow I will do what I can to kill
him. When my grandmother spoke to me of Sas,
I knew nothing ; I paid no heed to her. When
she warned me, I did not listen, I did not believe ;
but I see now that she spoke truly when she told
me of Sas's house."

Tulchuherris

*55

He rose in the night, turned toward Sas, and said :
" Whu ! whu ! I want you, Sas, to sleep soundly."
Then he reached his right hand toward the west,
toward his grandmother's, and a stick came on it.
He carved and painted the stick beautifully, red
and black, and made a fire-drill. Then he reached
his left hand toward the east, and wood for a mokos
(arrow-straightener) came on it. He made the
mokos and asked the fox dog for a fox-skin. The
fox gave it. Of this he made a headband and
painted it red. All these things he put in his
quiver. " We are ready," said Tulchuherris. " Now,
Daylight, I wish you to come right away, to come
quickly." Daylight came. Sas rose, and they started soon
after for the tree.
" My son-in-law, I will go first," said Sas ; and
he climbed the tree.
" Go higher ! " said Tulchuherris. " I will not
give a great pull, go up higher."
He went high, and Tulchuherris did not give a
hard pull. Sas came down safely.
Tulchuherris now went high, almost to the top.
Sas looked at him, saw that he was near the top, and
then drew the great pine almost to the earth, stand
ing with his back to the top of the tree. Tul
chuherris sprang off behind Sas ar.d ran away into
the field. The tree sprang into the sky with a roar.
" You are killed now, my son-in-law," said Sas.
"You will not trouble me hereafter ! " He talked
on to himself, and was glad.

156 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" What are you saying, father-in-law ? " asked
Tulchuherris, coming up from behind,
Sas turned. " Oh, my son-in-law, I was afraid
that I had hurt you. I was sorry."
" Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, " Sas will
kill you unless you kill him. At midday he will
kill you surely, unless you kill him. Are we not as
strong as Sas ? "
" Father-in-law, try again ; then I will go to the
very top and beat you," said Tulchuherris.
That morning Sas's elder daughter said to her
sister, after Sas and Tulchuherris had gone, —
" My sister, our father Sas has tried all people,
and has conquered all of them so far ; but to-day he
will not conquer, to-day he will die. I know this ;
do not look for him to-day, he will not come back ;
he will never come back to us."
Sas went up high. "I will kill him now,"
thought Tulchuherris, and he was sorry ; still he
cried : "Goa little higher ; I went higher, I will go
to the top next time. I will not hurt you, go a
little higher."
Sas went higher and higher, till at last he said, " I
cannot climb any more, I am at the top ; don't give
a big pull, my son-in-law."
Tulchuherris took hold of the tree with one hand,
pulled it as far as it would bend, pulled it till it
touched the earth, and then let it fly. When the
tree rushed toward the sky, it made an awful noise,
and soon after a crash was heard, a hundred times
louder than any thunder. All living things heard it.
The whole sky and earth shook. Olelbis, who

Tulchuherris

*S7

lives in the highest place, heard it. All living
things said, —
" Tulchuherris is killing his father-in-law. Tul
chuherris has split Sas."
The awful noise was the splitting of Sas.
Tulchuherris stood waiting, waited three hours,
perhaps, after the earth stopped trembling : then, far
up in the sky he heard a voice, saying, —
" Oh, my son-in-law, I am split, I am dead. I
thought that I was the strongest power living ; but
I am not. From this time on I shall say Tulchu
herris is the greatest power in the world."
Tulchuherris could not see any one. He only
heard a voice far up in the sky, saying, —
" My son-in-law, I will ask you for a few things.
Will you give me your fox-skin headband ? "
Tulchuherris put his hand into his fox-skin
quiver, took out the band, and tossed it to him.
It went straight up to Sas, and he caught it.
" Now will you give me your mokos ? " Tulchu
herris took out the mokos and threw it. " Give
me your fire-drill ! " He threw that.
Another voice was heard now, not so loud : " I
wish you would give me a headband of white
quartz." This voice was the smaller part of Sas.
When Tulchuherris had given the headband, he
said, —
" My father-in-law, you are split — you are two.
The larger part of you will be Sas [the sun], the
smaller part Chanahl [the moon, the white one] ;
and this division is what you have needed for a long
time, but no one had the strength to divide you.

158 Creation Myths of Primitive America
You are in a good state now. You, Chanahl, will
grow old quickly and die ; then you will come to life
and be young again. You will be always like that
in this world. And, Sas, you will travel west all the
time, travel every day without missing a day ; you
will travel day after day without resting. You will
see all things in the world as they live and die. My
father-in-law, take this, too, from me."
Tulchuherris threw up to Sas a quiver made of
porcupine skin.
"I will take it," said Sas, "and I will carry it
always." Then Tulchuherris gave Chanahl the quartz
headband and said, —
" Wear it around your head always so that when
you travel in the night you will be seen by all people."
Sas put the fox-skin around his head, and fastened
the mokos crosswise in front of his forehead. The
fire-drill he fastened in his hair behind, placing it
upright. At sunrise we see the hair of the fox-skin
around Sas's head before we see Sas himself.
Next Tulchuherris threw up two red berries,
saying, —
" Take these and make red cheeks on each side
of your face, so that when you rise in the morning
you will be bright, and make everything bright."
Tulchuherris went west and got some white roots
from the mountain, threw them to Sas, and said,
" Put these across your forehead."
Next he stretched his right hand westward, and
two large shells, blue inside, came to his palm. He
threw these to Sas and said, —

Tulchuherris 159

" Put these on your forehead for a sign when you
come up in the morning. There is a place in the
east which is all fire. When you reach that place,
go in and warm yourself. Go to Olelpanti now.
Olelbis, your father, lives there. He will tell you
where to go."
Sas went to Olelpanti, where he found a wonder
ful and very big sweat-house. It was toward morn
ing, and Olelbis was lying down, covered with a
blanket. While sleeping he heard a noise, and
when he woke he saw some one near him. He
knew who it was. Sas turned to him and said, —
" My father, I am split. I thought myself the
strongest person in the world, but I was not.
Tulchuherris is the strongest."
"Well, my son Sas," asked Olelbis, "where do
you wish to be, and how do you wish to live ? "
" I have come to ask you," replied Sas.
"Well," answered Olelbis, "you must travel all
the time, and it is better that you go from east to
west. If you go north and travel southward, I don't
think that will be well. If you go west and travel
eastward, I don't think that will be well, either. If
you go south and travel northward, I don't think
that will be right.
" I think that best which Tulchuherris told you.
He told you to go east and travel to the west. He
said that there is a hot place in the east, that you
must go into that place and get hot before you start
every morning. I will show you the road from east
to west. In a place right south of this is a very big
tree, a tobacco tree, just half-way between east and

160 Creation Myths of Primitive America
west. When you come from the east, sit down in the
shade of that tree, rest a few minutes, and go on.
Never forget your poreupine quiver or other orna
ments when you travel.
"While coming up from the east, you will see
thick brush along the road on both sides. In that
brush are the grizzly bears, your children. Be on
your guard against them ; they would kill you if
they could. As you pass along, let your porcupine
quiver touch the bushes ; that will keep the bears
away. When you go far west to the great water,
jump into it ; everybody will call that place Sas-
unhluaston. No one in the world will believe
you except Sedit. You and Sedit want all things to
die when they grow old. Go to the east ; go into the
hot place every morning. There is always a fire in
it. Take a white oak staff, thrust the end of that
staff into the fire till it is one glowing coal. When
you travel westward carry this burning staff in your
hand. In summer take a manzanita staff; put it
in the fire, and burn the end. This staff will be
red-hot all the day.
"Now you may go east and begin. You will
travel all the time, day after day, without stopping.
All living things will see you with your glowing
staff. You will see everything in the world, but you
will be always alone. No one can ever keep you
company or travel with you. I am your father and
you are my son, but I could not let you stay with
me."

SEDIT AND THE TWO BROTHERS
HUS

n

SEDIT AND THE TWO BROTHERS
HUS
PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the beast, bird, or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Dokos, flint ; Hus, turkey buzzard ; Klak, rattlesnake ; Sedit,
coyote ; Wima, grizzly bear.

THERE were two brothers Hus in Olelpanti,
and Olelbis had given them a place in his
sweat-house. Now, when Olelbis had made up his
mind to send all things down to the earth, the
people in Olelpanti were talking and saying, —
" What shall we do now ? How will it be in the
world ? Dokos Herit, Klak Loimis, and Wima
Loimis have done wrong. They are angry and
think bad things. They will make trouble."
" Come into the sweat- house, you my people,"
said Olelbis, " and talk. Say what you think is
best to do."
All who were in Olelpanti at that time went into
the sweat-house, where they talked five nights and
five days. On the sixth morning Olelbis called the
two Hus brothers and said, —
" I have a great work for you. Go down to
Tsarauheril, where the first tree is. Right there a
people will come up out of the earth, and they
will come soon. A little above that place, you two

1 64 Creation Myths of Primitive America

brothers must go to work and make a stone road
from the earth up here to Olelpanti. You will
find stones and pile them firmly. Make the build-
ino- very strong. The road itself will be like steps,
one higher than another. When you have built
half-way up to Olelpanti, you will make a place in
which people may spend a night. Put good water
there. When you have finished the whole road,
people will come up out of the earth, and when they
have come up they will go around on the earth
everywhere, and live and grow old. When they are
old, they can go to the beginning of the road made
by you and climb the steps. When they are at the
water, which is half-way, they will drink of it, rest
one night, and next day travel on till they come
here to Olelpanti.
" I will put two springs of water at this end, —
one for them to bathe in, the other to drink. If an
old man is coming up, he will drink of the water
half-way, he will drink and feel better, and when he
reaches this end and comes to the water here, he
will bathe in one spring, drink from the other, and
come out young, fresh, and strong. If an old
woman comes, she will drink and bathe and come
out a young girl. Then they will go down to the
earth again young and healthy. When they grow
old a second time, they will come up, drink, and
bathe again, and be young a second time; and it
will be this way forever. Nobody will die. No
man will have a wife, no woman a husband ; all will
be as brothers and sisters. When the trees grow
large which are small now, there will be no limbs

Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus 165
except at the top, and the acorns on those trees will
have no shells. They will be ready to eat without
husking or cracking, and it will be so on all trees, —
no husks or shells on the acorns ; nobody will need
to climb ; the nuts will fall ready to be eaten."
When Olelbis had finished talking, he sent away
the two brothers. " Go now," said he, " and make
that great road."
The two brothers started. They came down at
Sonomyai, looked around, and said, —
" This must be the place of which Olelbis told us.
This must be the place where we are to work : we
will begin here."
" My brother," said the elder Hus, " I will bring
stones to you ; plenty of them ; big stones. You
will put them together, — lay them in order and
make the walls."
They began to work. On the first day they
piled the road up as high as a big house. Next
day they piled all day ; made the road as high
as a tall tree. The third day it was very high;
the fourth still higher. It was rising very fast. The
brothers worked well, and had great power. The
building was already the largest ever seen on this
earth. On the fifth day the top could hardly be
seen. On the sixth day it was touching the clouds.
A little before noon of the sixth day the two
brothers saw something moving from the south
west. When it came near they saw a man with
mempak around his neck. He wore an otter-skin
headband, an otter-skin quiver, and a Sedit skin,
which he wore like a coat. He had on buckskin

1 66 Creation Myths of Primitive America
leggings ornamented with kobalus, and his shirt was
stuck full of kobalus, the sharp end of the shell out.
He was dressed beautifully. When this man had
come near, he watched the two brothers at work.
They did not speak to him.
This was Sedit. At last he said, —
" My grandsons, stop work ; rest awhile ; come
and tell me what you are doing. Come and sit
awhile here with me, and we will talk. When an
uncle or a grandfather comes, people always stop
work and talk with their relative."
The brothers made no answer ; kept on at their
work; paid no heed to Sedit.
" Grandsons," said he again, " stop awhile ; come
and talk with me ; tell me what you are doing. I
want to learn, come and tell me what you know;
rest awhile. I might tell you something better
than what you know. Perhaps you think, grandsons,
that I don't know anything. Come and sit down
and I will tell you something wise. If you don't
come, I will spoil your work. I will destroy what
you are doing."
When the two brothers heard this, they were
frightened ; they thought that he might injure their
work, and they came. When they reached the
ground and walked up to Sedit, they asked, —
" Which way did you come, grandfather ? Where
do you live ? "
" My grandsons," said Sedit, " I came from a
place not very far from this. I was walking around
to see if I could see something. I heard people
talking last night about you. They said that you

Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus 167
were making a road, and I thought that I would
come here to look at your work, and talk to you."
" Very well," said the brothers. " This work
which we are doing is not for us. It is for others.
Perhaps you think this work is for us ; it is not,
it is done at command of another. This work
is for Olelbis. Olelbis sent us down here to make
this great road."
" What ! " cried Sedit, " are you working for
Olelbis ? Did he send you down here to do this ?
Did he tell you to make this road, and have you
come here to make it for him, my grandsons ? Do
you believe what Olelbis says to you ? Do you
believe what he says to other people ? Do you
mind him and work for him ? I don't believe in
Olelbis. I don't believe what he says, I don't care
for what he says."
" My grandfather," said the elder Hus, " hold
on, stop talking. I don't like to hear you say
such words, I don't like to hear you talk in that way.
I am going to tell you why all this work is done, why
this road is made. I have told you nothing."
Sedit sat down and said : " Well, tell me. I am
glad to hear what you say. I am glad to hear why
you are making this road,"
The elder brother began : " Olelbis says that a
new people will come on this earth soon, that they
will live and go around, and after a while they will
grow old. When very old, they will come to this
road to go to Olelpanti and be young again. When
half-way up, it will be evening. They will drink
water from a spring and pass the night there. Next

1 68 Creation Myths of Primitive America
day they will go on, and be at the end of the road
in the evening, — they will be in Olelpanti, where
Olelbis lives. They will find water there. They
will drink from one spring and bathe in the water
of another. When they come out, they will be
young. Next day they will come down half-way,
drink ofthe water, stay one night, then come to the
earth, and be young and fresh as they were at first.
" No man will have a wife, no woman a husband.
They will be to one another as brothers and sisters.
That is what Olelbis wishes, and because he wishes
it he has sent us to make this road. When the road
is built to Olelpanti, where Olelbis lives, these trees
around here, which are small now, will be large.
They will grow up and be very tall. They will
have no limbs except those near the top, where
branches will run out. On those branches acorns
will come, and the acorns will have no shells on
them. They will be all ready and fit to eat. The
people who are to come out of the earth will not be
able to climb these trees, and they will have no need
to climb, for the acorns will fall, and the people
will pick them up and have plenty of food without
work, without trouble."
Sedit listened and looked at the elder Hus
brother. Then he turned to the younger Hus
and said sneeringly, —
" Hu ! Do you believe all that ? Do you think
that every word is true which Olelbis says? Do
you think it is wise ? Do you think it is good ?
Now, my grandsons, you wait awhile, and I will tell
you something. You ought to know that an old

Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus 169
man like me has words to speak, — that he knows
something wise. I have something to tell you
which is better than all this. I will tell you what it
is. I will tell you now. Suppose an old man goes
up this road all alone, drinks from one spring,
bathes in the other, and comes down young. He
will be all alone just as he was when he went up."
Suppose an old woman and an old man go up,
go alone, one after the other, and come back alone,
young. They will be alone as before, and will grow
old a second time, and go up again and come back
young, but they will be alone, just the same as at first.
They will have nothing on earth to be glad about.
They will never have any friends, any children ; they
will never have any fun in the world ; they will never
have anything to do but to go up this road old and
come back down young again.
" Now, my grandsons, I will tell you something
better, and you will like what I tell you. I like it
because it is good. I am going to say something
wiser than anything Olelbis has told you yet. It
will be better, very much better if trees have limbs
to the ground, and if acorns have husks and shells on
them. When trees have limbs to the ground, a man
can climb them, take a long stick in his hand, and
knock acorns to the ground. Others will come
under the tree and gather them. When the acorns
fall, women will jump and say, ' Oh ! oh ! ' and laugh
and talk and be glad and feel well. I think that is
better. People can take the acorns home and put
them on the ground. Then they will say, ' Come, let
us husk these acorns.' Men and women will go

1 70 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and sit down and husk the acorns. When they are
doing this, they will throw husks back and forth at
each other. They will have fun and laugh and be
pleased and feel well. I think that this is better ; I
know that you will like it.
" Besides, what are people to eat if nothing dies ?
Deer will not die, fish will not die; the coming
people cannot kill them. What are they to eat ?
They will have nothing to eat except acorns.
" I think it is better for women and men —
young men and young women — to marry, live
day and night with each other. When they get up in
the morning, the man will work for the woman, the
woman will work for the man, and they will help
each other. I think that the better way. If a man
has a wife, he will catch fish and kill deer, he will
bring them in, and give them to his wife to cook. She
will cook them, and both will eat. I think that is
the right way. If people live in this manner, and
a woman has a child, her neighbors will say, ' There
is a nice baby over there,' and they will go to see it,
and will say, ' What a nice baby that woman has ! '
I think this is better than anything Olelbis told you.
"When that baby grows up and another baby
grows up, they will be a man and a woman, and the
two will get married and have children themselves,
and in that way there will be plenty of people always ;
new people, young people. When a man grows old,
he will die ; when a woman grows old, she will die.
When they die, others will go around and tell their
neighbors about it, and say, ' A woman died over
there,' or ' A man died over here. They will bury

Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus 171

him to-morrow.' Then all the people will make
ready to help the relatives of the dead man ; they
will cry, the dead man's relatives will cry and
mourn. I think this is better. When a man dies,
his nearest relatives will cut their hair very close,
paint the face black ; and when people see one of
them coming or going, they will say, ' His father is
dead,' or ' His wife is dead,' or ' His mother is
dead,' and they will talk about that man and his
dead father, or dead mother, or dead wife, and say,
' Poor man, he has lost his father, or his mother, or
his wife.' I think this is better.
" When an old woman dies, she will leave a
daughter, and that daughter will have a daughter,
or an old man dies, he will leave a son, and that son
will have a son. As men and women grow old,
they will die, and their places will be taken by young
people. I think this is the right way. I think this
is the best way. All living things should go this
way, — all should grow old and then die. When
the new people come on this earth, they ought to go
this way. When those people come and live all
around on this earth, they will die in many ways, —
they will fight with each other and die ; when trees
grow old, they will die and fall down ; everything
will die in like manner.
" When a man dies, his friends will put mempak
on him, like this which I have around my neck,
and an otter-skin band around his head, and give
him a quiver, dress him, and then put him in the
ground. When a man goes to some place, a grizzly
bear may catch and kill him, or a rattlesnake will

172 Creation Myths of Primitive America
bite and kill him, and when people fight they will
use flint and kill one another. People will get
angry and fight. When there is a gathering,
somebody will come running in and say, ' People
over there are fighting.' Those inside will hurry
to see, and will find a man killed, and say, ' A
good man is killed ; ' then they will punish the
others for killing him."
The two brothers sat there, made no answer.
" Well, my grandsons," continued Sedit, " I know
that what I tell you is right. What do you
think?" The brothers said nothing at first. They thought
and thought. After a while the elder looked at
Sedit and said, —
" I think what you say is better. I think that
it is right. I suppose it is true. I believe that
you are old enough and ought to know. I think
that you are right."
" Grandfather," said the younger brother, " would
you like to die, too, the same as others, and be
lying in the ground and not rise any more ; never
go around with an otter-skin band on your head,
and a beautiful quiver at your back, and fine things
such as you are wearing to-day ? You want others
to die ; you want death in the world. What would
you say if you had to die yourself? You want all
the coming people to die, and all living things here
after to die and be gone from here. Olelbis does
not want any one to die, but you want all living
things on this earth to die. You want to spoil all
the work which Olelbis sent us down here to do."

Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus 173
When the younger brother said this, the two stood
up and walked off a little way, and Sedit said, —
" My grandsons, come back, come back. We
have not finished talking yet. We must talk
more. We will talk this all over again. Come
back, my grandsons, come back."
But the two brothers did not turn back ; they
walked on, walked toward the east always — said
nothing. After a time they turned and went to
where their road was. They pulled out some great
stones, and the whole road fell to the ground.
The two brothers flew up then, circling around
for a while. They went higher and higher, till at
last they disappeared and went to Olelpanti.
Sedit saw them fly up, watched them till they
disappeared. He stood looking around for a long
time. At last he said, —
" What am I to do now ? I wish I had not said
all that, I wish I had not said so much. I wish I
had not said anything."
He stood around there and kept repeating: "What
am I to do now ? I am sorry. Why did I talk so
much ? Hus asked me if I wanted to die. He said
that all on earth here will have to die now. That
is what Hus said. I don't know what to do.
What can I do ? "
He looked around and found a plant with long,
broad leaves, the wild sunflower. He found this
plant in great plenty, and took many leaves from it.
He pulled off all his fine clothes, threw them aside,
then stuck the leaves into his body, all the way up
and down his legs, body, and arms, and said, —

1 74 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Now I will go up to Olelpanti. I am not
going to stay down here where people die. I am
going up to the place where the Hus brothers
went." He made a tail of leaves ; then he rose and flew
around and around, rose pretty high ; the leaves
began to get dry and break one after another.
After a while Sedit, whirling round and round, came
down with great force, struck the ground, and was
crushed to pieces.
The Hus brothers went up to Olelpanti. Olel
bis said, —
" There are rocks at the south not far from the
sweat-house ; go there and stay."
Olelbis looked down, and saw Sedit trying to fly
to Olelpanti ; he saw him fall.
" It is his own fault," said Olelbis. " Sedit is
the first to die, killed by his own words ; hereafter
all his people will fall around and die and be found
dead at roadsides and places where people pass.
The people to come will see them there."
The name ofthe place where the ruined road was
is Sonomyai. Our Wintu people say that ever since white men
settled in the country they have been drawing away
the stones which the Hus brothers piled up. They
have taken them as far as fifteen miles to build
chimneys.

HAWT

HAWT

PERSONAGES

After each name is given that of the beast, bird, or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Chirchihas, mountain squirrel (red) ; Handokmit, striped snake ;
Hau, red fox; Hawt, eel; Hus, turkey buzzard; Kanhlalas, weasel;
Karkit, raven ; Kinus, wood dove ; Kiriu, loon ; Lutchi, humming
bird; Memtulit, otter; Miirope, bull snake; Nomhawena; Nop,
deer ; Patkilis, jack rabbit ; Patit, panther ; Sedit, coyote ; Tichelis,
ground squirrel; Tsaik, bluejay; Tsararok, kingfisher; Tsaroki
Sakahl, brown-green snake ; Tsihl, black bear ; Tsileu, yellowham-
mer; Tsudi, mouse; Tunhlucha, frog; Waida Dikit, Dolly Varden
trout ; Waida Werris, Polar star ; Wai Hau, silver-gray fox ; Waiti,
north side ; Watwut, mountain bluejay ; Wima, grizzly bear ; Yipo-
kos, black fox.
ON the south side of Bohem Puyuk is a
small mountain called Tede Puyuk. Near
that small mountain lived Waida Dikit Kiemila.
He lived all alone, without neighbors. There was
no house near his. He lived long in that place,
thinking what was best for him to do, thinking,
thinking. After a great while he thought: "The
best thing to do is to build a sweat-house."
He built a sweat-house about a mile west of the
place where he was living. When he had finished,
he took a kind of red earth and painted the
eastern half of the house red on the outside. The
western half he painted green with paint made from
leaves of bushes. After he had painted the western
half, all the different kinds of bushes whose leaves

178 Creation Myths of Primitive America
he had used for paint grew out of that side of the
sweat-house. The sweat-house was ready for use now, and
Waida Dikit went to see a man, Tsaroki Sakahl,
who lived farther south.
" My grandson," said Waida Dikit, " I wish you
would come up and stay in my house. I have no
one to keep me company. I wish you would come
and live with me."
" I will go with you," said Tsaroki, and he
went to live with the old man.
Waida Dikit had not told Tsaroki of the sweat-
house, he took him to the old house. After two or
three nights Waida Dikit said, —
" My grandson, what shall we do ? What would
you like to do ? What will be best for us ? We
must talk about something. There should be
something for us to talk about. We must have
something to say."
" Well," said Tsaroki, " I think that you want
what is best ; you want to see somebody, to see
something. I think that is what you want. I think
I know what you want. The best way to get what
you want is to build a sweat-house."
" That is wise talk, my grandson, I like to hear
it. I have a sweat-house built — all finished."
" Where is it ? " asked Tsaroki.
" I will show it to you soon," answered Waida
Dikit. Putting his hand behind him, he picked up a
small basket, took out yellow paint with his thumb
and forefinger, and drew a yellow streak from Tsa-

Hawt 179
roki's head down his back. The young man had
been all green ; now there was yellow on his back.
Next Waida Dikit took a net woven of grass fibre,
like a woman's hair net, and put it on Tsaroki's
head. "You are ready now," said he. Then he
led him out of the house and said, pointing to
the west, —
" Look ! There is our sweat-house. Now, my
grandson, I am going to take you to that house.
The east side is painted red. When we are there,
don't go near the sweat-house on this eastern
side ; pass by, but not too near, a little way off.
When we go in I will take the eastern half and
stay in it ; you will take the other half and stay
on the western side, where there is green paint.
That is where you are to lie, on the green side."
They started. The old man walked ahead.
When they went in, Waida Dikit took the eastern
half of the house and Tsaroki the western. The
young man sat down, and then Waida Dikit took a
pipe which was in the sweat-house.
" My grandson," said he, " you will find a pipe
right there on your side of the house and a sack
of tobacco. You may smoke if you wish."
Tsaroki took the pipe, looked at it, liked it well.
This pipe was from Wai Hola Puyuk. When he
drew in the smoke and puffed out the first whiff, the
whole house was filled so that nothing was seen in
it. Waida Dikit put his head outside the door.
There was smoke outside everywhere. He could
see nothing. Then he turned back and said, —
" My grandson, you are a good man. You are a

180 Creation Myths of Primitive America
strong man. You smoke well. This will do for
the first time. — If he does that again," thought the
old man, " there will be nothing seen in this world ;
all will be covered with smoke ; " and he said, " You
are a strong man ; that is enough for this time."
" I should like to know why he says, ' That is
enough.' What does he want to do with me?"
thought Tsaroki. " Maybe he is trying me in
some way."
" My grandson," said the old man, after a while,
" I should like to see somebody ; I should like to
see something, see people ; I should like to have fun
and see games of some sort."
" I should like to see them too," answered Tsaroki ;
" I should like to see them, my grandfather. You
are older than I ; if you tell me what to do, I will
do it."
" My grandson, can you play on anything ? "
" I should like to play if you would teach me,"
said Tsaroki.
The old man put his hand behind him into a basket
of things, drew out a flute and gave it to Tsaroki,
who took it quickly, he was so glad. He sat down,
crossed his legs, and before he had blown into the
flute, just as he touched his lips with it, beautiful
sounds came out.
The young man was glad, wonderfully glad. The
old man, who sat looking at him, asked, —
" How do you like the flute, my grandson ? "
" I like it well," said Tsaroki,
" I am glad to hear you play, my grandson ; I am
glad when you do something good. When I was

Hawt 1 8 1
young, I used to say good things, I used to do good
things. Now, my grandson, think what you would
like best to do."
" I should like to hear something nice, to hear
music, to hear beautiful sounds."
After he had taken the flute Tsaroki did not
sleep ; he played for three days and three nights
without stopping ; then he stopped and asked, —
" What is this flute ? What is it made of? It
sounds so sweetly."
" My grandson, I will tell you ; that flute is of
wood, — alder wood. That is an alder flute, but
the wood is people's bones. There were people
long ago, and that alder wood grew out of their
bones. My grandson, would you like to have an
other young man with you, or do you wish to be
alone ? I think it would be better for you to have
company." " My grandfather, I should like to have another
man with me ; I could talk with him. I could live
then more pleasantly."
" My grandson, to see another young man you
must go to the west ; you must go in the middle of
the night, when it is very dark, so that no one may
see you. My grandson, it is better for you to go
to-night." " Where ? Which way do you want me to go,
my grandfather ? "
" Go west from here, far away ; you will start
when it is dark; you will get there in the dark.
You will go to where the old woman Nomhawena
Pokaila lives : she is your grandmother. When you

1 8 2 Creation Myths of Primitive America
go to her house, ask her about your brother ; she will
tell you where he is."
" My grandfather, I don't believe that I can find
her house. I don't know what kind of house it is."
" You cannot miss it, my grandson. The night
will be very dark ; no one will be able to see any
thing, but you cannot miss the house. It is a little
house ; no one can see it, but you cannot miss it.
You will go there very quickly, though 't is far from
here and the night is dark."
Then the old man showed him a small sand trail ;
it was bright, just like a ray of light in the darkness,
though it was very narrow, as narrow as a hair, and
all around it was dark night. The old man had
made this trail purposely.
Tsaroki started, and could see the trail straight
ahead of him ; he went over it as swiftly as an arrow
goes from a bow. He travelled right on, and at the
end ofthe trail, just on the trail itself, was a little bark
house. He went into this house, and saw an old
woman lying there with her back to the fire ; she
was sleeping on the south side of it. He walked
in and stood at the north side. He sat down
then, and was sitting a while when the old woman
woke, turned her face to the fire, and saw some one
opposite. She rose, stirred the fire to make light,
looked at the young man, and said, —
" I see some person over there ; who is it ? "
" My grandmother, I am Tsaroki Sakahl. I have
come because my grandfather, Waida Dikit, sent me
to see you, so that you might tell me about my
brother. I should like to know where my brother

Hawt 183
lives. I have come to see my brother and speak to
him." " Very well, my grandson, I will tell you. He
lives right over here on the west."
As soon as she had finished speaking, Tsaroki
stood up and went toward the west. He had not
made many steps when he saw a large space, a
broad space on which a great many people were sit
ting. The place was dark, but the people could see
one another. Tsaroki saw all, and looked around
carefully. He saw that all were at work except one
man, who was sitting in the middle in a good place.
He looked a long time, not knowing what to do,
for Waida Dikit had said to him, —
"You must not let any one know but your
brother why I sent you, and tell him not to tell
others." No one present saw Tsaroki, and he thought :
" I don't know how I shall go to my brother with
out letting any one know." At last he made up
his mind what to do. He went down under the
ground where he had been sitting, and came up just
in front of the great man, his brother.
The people were dressing skins, making arrow-
points, and finishing arrows. All were at work but
the man in the middle. Tsaroki came up in front
of him and whispered, —
" My brother, I have come for you. My
grandfather sent me to ask you to go to him and
not to tell any one."
"That is well. I will go. Let us start."
That was all he said. This big man was Hawt.

1 84 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Tsaroki had brought his flute, but he could not use
it, for he had to keep his journey secret and not let
himself be seen ; he held the flute hidden under his
arm. " Let us go," said Hawt ; " you go ahead."
Tsaroki went into the ground, came out where he
had been sitting at first, and then went to the house
ofthe old woman, his grandmother. Hawt stood
up to make ready for the journey. The people
kept on working. They were all of the Hawt
people, and the big man was their chief.
Hawt dressed, and took his bow and arrows.
When ready, he turned and said, —
" My people, I am going to leave you, to be gone
two or three days, perhaps longer."
That was all he said ; he did not say where he
was going, nor why. He walked away and went to
Nomhawena's house, where Tsaroki was waiting.
The two brothers had been sitting just a little
while when the old woman said to them, —
" Now, my grandsons, you must go ; you must
be at Waida Dikit's before daylight ; you must
travel while it is dark, we do not wish to let other
people know of your journey. Go. I shall be in
this house, but shall hear all that is happening at
your place."
They left the old woman, and reached Waida
Dikit's before daylight. The old man was up
already, and standing by the fire in the middle
of the sweat-house combing his red hair, which
touched his feet. The moment he went into the
house Tsaroki took his flute, lay on his back, and

Hawt 185
began to play. Hawt stood a while ; did n't know
where to sit. At last Waida Dikit said to him, —
" My grandson, I am living here in a small house.
There is n't much room in it, but go north of the
fire and sit there."
Just as Hawt was sitting down at the appointed
side, daylight came. Tsaroki played two nights and
two days. Hawt lay in his place and listened.
" My grandson," said Waida Dikit to Tsaroki,
" I should like to hear you both play. You must
give that flute to Hawt some of the time."
Tsaroki gave the flute to his brother, and from
time to time they passed it from one to the other.
Both played ; both made beautiful music. They
played day after day, night after night, ten days and
ten nights.
" You play well now, both of you, my grandsons.
Would you not like to hear other persons play ? "
" Oh, we should like that very much ; we should
like to hear other persons play," said Tsaroki and
Hawt. " I used to hear a friend of mine long ago," said
Waida Dikit, " and he played very well. Would
you like to have him play with you ? "
"Yes, yes; maybe he would teach us to play
better." " My friend is very old now," said Waida Dikit :
" he is Kanhlalas Kiemila."
" I will go and bring him," said Tsaroki.
" Go, my grandson. I will show you a trail, but
do not go near the east side of my sweat-house. It
is not far. Kanhlalas lives northeast from here."

1 86 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Tsaroki found Kanhlalas's sweat-house on the
trail. He heard music inside, beautiful music. He
stood awhile listening, then went in and saw an old
man lying on his back playing. The old man
stopped playing, but did not speak. Tsaroki touched
him on the shoulder and said, —
" My grandfather, I have come for you. Waida
Dikit, my grandfather, sent me to ask you to visit
him." " I will go," was all that the old man said. No
questions were asked or answered. " I have come
for you," " I will go ; " no more. Those people of
long ago talked in that way ; they did n't talk much.
Tsaroki went home. Kanhlalas made ready to go,
and went under the ground. Waida Dikit was
lying in his house when on a sudden Kanhlalas rose
at his feet. Waida Dikit sat up when he saw him,
took a pipe, and told him to smoke. Kanhlalas
smoked, and the two old men talked a good while.
The young men played, first one, then the other.
It was dark in the sweat-house, but after Kanhlalas
came he shone and gave light like a torch in a dark
house. You could see some, but not very much.
Kanhlalas was a grandfather of Waida Werris.
" I sent for you," said Waida Dikit, "for I thought
you might teach my grandsons to play better. They
like to make music. They think of nothing else."
"I am old," said Kanhlalas. "I am not as I
used to be. I cannot play much now. When
I was a boy, when I was young, I could play.
But I will play a little."
About dark he said a second time, " I will play a

Hawt 187
little." So he lay on his back, took his own flute,
which he had brought with him, and began. The
two brothers lay and listened. Kanhlalas never
took the flute out of his mouth from the dark
of evening until daylight. Next day he played,
and all night again. When morning came there
was a light stripe down his breast, and when the
sun rose his breast was white, for the breath
was nearly out of his body. That morning old
Waida Dikit said, —
" Now we will invite all people in the world who
can play, to come here."
" If you invite all people in the world who can
play," said Tsaroki, " this house will be too small
for them."
"No," said the old man, "it will not be too
small. You will find it large enough when they
come." Tsaroki was sent to the northwest to invite
people. He went very fast. In a little while
he was at a place just this side of where the
sky touches the earth. He went to Nop Hlut.
When near the sweat-house he heard stamping in a
dance. He went in and saw a very big house full
of people sitting around at the wall. Only one
woman and a young girl were dancing in the
middle of the house, Nop Pokte and Nop Loimis.
The girl was very small, and had fawn's feet tied
behind her head. These rattled so sharply that
you could hear them when far away. As Tsaroki
was coming in through the door on the south,
he saw an old man lying on the north side. This

1 88 Creation Myths of Primitive America
was Nop Kiemila, the master of the house. Tsaroki
went straight to him, put his hand on his shoulder,
and said, —
" I have come for you."
" What kind of call do you make ? " asked Nop.
" My grandfather is going to have a playing on
flutes." " I will go," said Nop.
" My grandfather is inviting people from all parts
of the world. All will be invited who can play on
the flute."
Waida Dikit himself went south to invite peo
ple living in the water, and sent Tsaroki to invite
all the land people. They went far and near to
invite all. After a time both grew wearied, and
wanted to get some one to take invitations. They
thought who would be best in heat and cold, light
and darkness, and thought that Kinus would be ;
so they called him, and hired him to go.
Kinus went as far as he could go, went around
the' whole world to a distance a little this side of
where the sky comes down. After a time he re
turned and said, —
" This world is wide and big. I called all the
people as far as I went, but I was not able to go
everywhere, — this world goes farther than I went.
Whole days I could get no water, no food ; but I
invited all the people that I saw."
Now, while Kinus was speaking the invited
people were listening ; and there were many of them
then at Waida Dikit's. Lutchi sat at one side and
listened.

Hawt 189
" There is," said Waida Dikit, " a man that we
should like to see here. Waida Werris and also a
man who lives far in the East, Patkilis ; he lives
behind the sky, beyond the place where the sky
touches the earth, and Sedit lives with him. We
want these three. Now Kinus cannot go to them,
— nobody that we know is able to go to them.
What shall we do?"
All talked about this. Lutchi sat back in silence,
and listened to what they were saying.
" This sweat-house is too small," said Kanhlalas.
" You will see," answered Waida Dikit.
The sweat-house was spreading out, growing
gradually, growing all the time as the people came.
A great many came that afternoon. The house ex
tended now as far as the eye could see. Whenever
new people came, Waida Dikit would blow and say,
" I wish this house to be larger ! " And the house
stretched, became wider and longer and higher. In
the evening great crowds were there already.
Kinus and the rest talked all night and the next
day. " Nobody can go to Waida Werris, Patkilis,
and Sedit. That was what they said."
They asked all present, and each answered, "I
cannot go to them." They talked and talked. At
last one man said to another, "Let's ask that
Lutchi Herit over there ; maybe he can go." A
third said, "Yes, let's ask him." And the three
said to Waida Dikit, " Ask that little man ; perhaps
he can go." " He is small," said Waida Dikit, "but
I will ask him." He went up to Lutchi, touched
him on the shoulder, and asked, —

190 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" My grandson, can you do something for me ?
You are small, but I am asking you."
Lutchi said nothing; just raised his brows, which
meant " Yes." As soon as he did this, Waida Dikit
put his hand under his arm and took out a kunluli
(a delicate blue flower that grows near the water),
and gave it to Lutchi. Lutchi took it in his open
palm, looked at it, rubbed it between his two hands,
spat on it, and made a paste which was a beautiful
blue paint. Then he rubbed his face, arms, breast
— he became blue all over (to this day Lutchi is
blue, he was white before). He went out among
the people then, and said, —
" People, look at me ! What do I look like ?
Have n't I a nice color now ? "
"You are beautiful," said the people. "You
look well."
It was at the point of daybreak. They could see
just a bit of light. When he was ready to start,
Lutchi said, —
"I don't know how far it is, but if I go to those
places I shall be back here at sunrise. If they are
very far away, I shall be here when the sun is as
high as the tree-tops."
" Do you think you will be back by sun
rise ? " asked Kinus. " Those places are very far
away." " I know they are far away," said Lutchi.
" I have been all over the world," added Kinus.
" I was gone a long time, but those places are
farther away than any spot where I have been."
" Ho ! Now I am going ! " said Lutchi ; and he

Hawt 191
darted straight up into the sky, next down, and up
and down again. Then he called out, —
"How do you like that? Do you think I can
go to those people ? This is the way I travel."
He shot away east and returned. Then he went
west and came back in a twinkle. Next he turned
north and was gone. He had never travelled
through the air before. Till that morning he had
always walked on the ground, just as we do now.
He went straight to Waida Werris's house and
went in. It was dazzling there, and seemed to him
just as bright as daylight seems to a man coming
out of a dark place.
Lutchi saw some one inside, who was young and
beautiful. He could not look at his face, it was so
bright. There were two brothers in the house.
The younger was Waiti, the elder Waida Werris.
Waiti never left the house ; never went abroad or
wandered, stayed at home all the time.
" I have come," said Lutchi, " to invite you to
meet people from all the world at a flute-playing in
Waida Dikit's sweat-house."
" I will go," said Waida Werris. He knew all
that was going on. He had seen it while travelling
early, before daylight.
" I am going now," said Lutchi to Waida Werris.
And as soon as he was outside he rushed off toward
the west, came back, rose in the air, came down,
and then shot away, like a lightning flash, eastward
to find Patkilis and Sedit. Soon he was in the east,
where the sky comes to the earth. He took a sky
stick, which he had brought with him, pried up the

192 Creation Myths of Primitive America
sky, raised it a little, and then he went under to
the other side. When the sky came down again
behind him and struck the earth, it made an awful
noise which was heard over the world. The whole
world shook. All the people at Waida Dikit's heard
the noise and wondered.
" What can that be ? " asked they. " What awful
noise is that ? " Waida Dikit knew what the noise
was, but he never told any one.
Lutchi went straight east from the other side of
the sky, and never stopped till he found Patkilis
and Sedit. They were in another world, another
sky came down to their world, and they lived
almost at the edge of that second sky. Lutchi went
into their sweat-house. They were sitting just
inside the door, one at one side, the other at the
other ; the door was on the east side. When Lutchi
had sat a little while, Sedit rose and said, —
" My grandson, which way have you come ? "
"I come here for you and Patkilis," answered
Lutchi. " Waida Dikit sent me to invite you to
a flute-playing at his sweat-house. Nobody else
could come to you, so he asked me to come."
" We are glad," answered they. " We will
go. You go ahead. But how shall we pass the
sky ? "
" I will wait at the edge for you," said Lutchi ;
and he went on.
When Sedit and Patkilis were ready, Sedit said,
" I wish this road on which I must travel to be
short, very short."
They started, and found the road so short that

Hawt

93

Lutchi was waiting at the edge of the sky only a
little while when they were with him. Lutchi pried
up the sky a second time, and the three passed under
to the western side. Again there was an awful noise,
and the whole world trembled.
" Now I am going quickly ; you can move as
you like," said Lutchi. He went west like a flash,
and just as the sun was peeping over the mountains
he was back at Waida Dikit's.
" Have you heard what is going on in this world
that makes such a noise ? " asked Waida Dikit.
" These people heard an awfully big noise."
" That was my travelling," said Lutchi. " Kinus,
whom you sent first, could not go to those three
people. I went. They are on the road, and will
be here in a few days."
All the people heard this and were glad.
" Now we shall hear great music," said they.
While travelling along together, Patkilis spoke to
Sedit and advised him. " When we are in Waida
Dikit's house," said he, "don't talk much. Sit
down like a wise man and look on ; be silent ;
don't act like a little boy."
Sedit was talking all the time. He told Patkilis
what he was going to do. He would do this and
do that, he said.
Two days passed, and the two men had not
come. On the third day, near the middle of the
forenoon, people saw a beautiful little arrow come
down just by the door ofthe sweat-house, — a bright
arrow. When it struck the ground, it made a grat
ing noise, and they said, — 13

1 94 Creation Myths of Primitive America
"That is a nice arrow. Who sent such an
arrow ? " And all liked it.
There were crowds of people in the sweat-house.
Some of them wanted the arrow. " Let 's pull it
up ! " said they, " and see who made it ; " but
Waida Dikit would not let them touch it. " Let it
stay where it is. Do not touch it," said he, for he
knew that it was Patkilis's arrow, and that it meant :
" I am coming. I shall be there soon."
While the people were talking about the arrow,
two men swept in through the door. No one saw
their faces or their heads, just their legs and shadows.
" Give them room, let them in," said Waida Dikit.
" Where can they sit ? " asked Tsaroki.
" Give each a place on the east side," said
Waida Dikit.
The two, Patkilis and Sedit, went to the east side
and sat down. Nobody had seen Waida Werris
come, but he was in the house.
When leaving home that morning, Waida Werris
said to Waiti, his brother, —
" You will stay and keep house, as you do always.
You will be here, but you will see me all the time,
you will see me night and day. Watch me ; they
will do other things there besides playing on flutes."
Patkilis and Sedit asked Waida Dikit if Waida
Werris had come.
" I do not know where he is," replied the old
man. " No one has seen him."
" Oh, he will not come," said many people.
"What kind of a person is Waida Werris ? He is
nobody. What do we want of him ? "

Hawt 195
Waida Werris was sitting there all the time
listening. Waida Dikit knew well what kind of
person he was, but said nothing. That night after
all invited people had come, Waida Dikit said :
" Listen, all you people here present. I have
called this gathering to find who is the best flute-
player, who can make the best music in this world.
Let us begin. Let each play alone."
Tsaroki began the trial. " I will begin," said he
to his brother Hawt, " then let the others play. You
can play when you like."
" I am satisfied," said Hawt. " I will play last."
" That is well," answered Tsaroki. " I will play
first, all will follow, and you may play last."
Tsaroki began. He played a little while, not
long ; played well. Kanhlalas played next. All
liked his music. Watwut Kiemila played third;
played splendidly.
" Go ahead and play, all you people," said
Waida Dikit.
Tsileu Herit played best up to his time, played
till almost morning, till just before daylight. The
inside ofthe sweat-house had become red, and some
asked, —
"Why is it red everywhere inside the sweat-
house ? "
" We do not know," answered others ; " some
thing makes it red."
One man went up to Waida Dikit and asked,
" Why is it red inside the sweat-house ? "
" I will tell you. Do you see Tsileu Herit
there? Well, he has been playing all night, the

196 Creation Myths of Primitive America
breath is gone out of him, he is all red, and the
whole sweat-house is red from him."
About daylight Tsileu stopped, and then it grew
as dark as in a house when a fire is put out in the
night. Now Tsaik played all day, and at sundown
the sweat-house was blue, for Tsaik had grown blue.
All played to see who could play best. Every
kind of people played. When any one was out
of breath, he stopped playing, and received a new
color. When Murope lost breath, he was spotted.
When Handokmit lost breath, he became striped.
Patkilis played three nights and two days, and when
he gave out after sundown, he was roan. Wai Hau
played five nights, and at sunrise the fifth morning
he was red. Kiriu Herit played five nights, and at
the middle of the sixth night he was black, and his
breath gone.
And so for many days and nights they played, one
person after another, till one night all had finished
except Hawt. Hawt was the last to play. All were
asleep now. All had lost breath, and received new
colors. Tsaroki went to his brother on the north
side of the house, and said, —
" Begin, my brother ; over near the fire there is a
place for you ; go under the ground, and when you
come out, you will play."
Hawt went under the ground, and came out near
the fireplace. He lay on his back and began to
play. He had two rows of holes in his body, one
on each side ; he fingered these holes, drew in air
through his nostrils, and sent it out through the
holes in both sides, Hawt was playing on his own

Hawt

97

body. At first, all the people were asleep, except
one person, Tsudi Herit. Tsudi heard Hawt, and
he heard, as in a doze, wonderful sounds. He
listened a long time, thinking it a dream. When
Tsudi found that he was not sleeping, he shook the
man next him, and said, —
" Wake up, wake up ! Who is playing ? All
have played, but I have never heard music like this.
Many have played here, but no one played in this
way." The person he roused was Hus. Hus said noth
ing, he was old and nearly bald, he took a pipe and
began to smoke. Tsudi roused other people, one
after another.
" Wake up, rise, sit up ; listen to the music some
body is playing."
They woke, one after another. " Who is play
ing ? " asked one. " Who is it ? " asked another.
"We have played many days and nights, but no
one played like that. All have their own flutes.
Who can this be ? "
At last some one said : " I know who is playing.
It is Hawt."
"How could Hawt play?" asked others. "Whose
flute has Hawt ? He has none of his own. Each of
us brought a flute, but Hawt brought none. Whose
flute has he now ? "
Every one heard the wonderful music, and every
one said, "We should like to see the man who
plays in this way."
It was night, and dark in the sweat-house. All
began to say how much they wanted light to see

198 Creation Myths of Primitive America
who was playing. Waida Werris was lying back in
the east half of the sweat-house, and heard every
word. He, too, wanted to look at the player. He
sat up, pulled one hair out of his beard, gave it to
Tsudi, and said, —
"Go down near that man who is playing, and
hold up this hair so that people may see him."
Tsudi took the hair and went along quietly. No
one heard him. He held the hair over Hawt's
head, and there was a light from it that filled the
whole house. It was as bright as day there. All
the people were seen sitting up, each hugging his
flute. No man would lend his flute to any one
else in the world for any price. All' were look
ing toward the spot whence the music came. In
the light they saw a man lying on his back with
his arms across his breast, but they could not see
that he was doing anything. He had no flute, he
made no motion with his mouth, for he fingered his
sides as he would a flute, and made the music by
drawing in air through his nostrils, and sending it
out through the holes in his sides.
Tsudi held up Waida Werris's single hair, and
people watched Hawt to see how he made the beau
tiful music. He was lying on his back making
wonderful sounds. He played the music of Tsaik's
song, of Waida Werris's song, of Tsaroki's song.
They could hear the music, but there was no motion
of Hawt's mouth and they could not see his fingers
play. He gave the music of Patkilis's song and of
Sedit's. He gave the music of the songs of all
people in the sweat-house.

Hawt 199
" Hawt has beaten the world ! " cried the assem
bly. "He can do more than we can ; we yield,
we are silent. Hawt is the best player in the world !
No one can play as he plays ! "
Hawt gave his own music next. No one knew
that music but him, no one could play it but him.
There was no other music so loud and strong, no
other music so soft and low.
When the people had watched Hawt a long time
and listened a long time, he stopped. All cried out
then, —
" Hawt is the one great musician, the only great
player on earth ! "
Tsudi put down the hair and all were in the
dark. He carried the hair back and gave it to
Waida Werris.
People began to talk and ask one another :
" Where did that light come from ; whose is
it ? " One said Tsudi had it ; another said,
" No, he never had a light like that." " Who
gave it to him ? " asked a third. " Some one
must have given it to Tsudi. Let us ask him
about this."
Here and there people said : " Only Waida
Werris could make such a light. What kind of
person is Waida Werris ? We should like to see
Waida Werris."
" I have never seen Waida Werris, but I have
heard people tell how nice looking he is, and that
he can be seen from afar," said Patkilis. " If he
were here he might make such a light, but he is not
here, or we should all see him right away."

200 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Waida Werris was lying near them, and heard all
they said.
" Let us ask Waida Dikit," said Karkit Kiemila,
a big man, lying on the west side, facing Waida
Werris ; and he began to talk to Waida Dikit.
" The people wish to see Waida Werris," said he.
" You have invited all people in the world, and you
have invited him. What will you do ? Is he
here ? Will you let every one see him ? "
" Oh, no," said one old man. " Waida Werris
is bad. I don't want to see him." " We have
heard that he is good," said others. " We want to
see him." So they were divided.
Waida Werris smoked a while in silence. At
last Waida Dikit bent toward Patkilis and Sedit and
asked, — •
"What do you think, shall I let people see
Waida Werris or not ? "
"They want to see him," answered the two.
" You have invited them and invited him. If
people wish to see Waida Werris, let them see
him." " Where shall I let them see him ? "
" Let all the people go outside the sweat-house,"
said Patkilis, " and stand in two long rows, one on
each side of the door, and let Waida Werris go out
between them. If he goes out, every one can
look at him ; only a few would see him inside the
house." "Very well," answered Waida Dikit. " Now all
you people go outside the house."
Tsaroki opened the door, and went out first. All

Hawt 20 i
followed, each saying as he went, "It is dark : we
shall not see Waida Werris."
" You can see him in the dark," said Waida
Dikit. " Join hands, all of you, and go around to
the north side of the sweat-house."
" Go you," said Waida Dikit to Tsudi, " and
search inside. Tell me when all the people are
out." Tsudi searched everywhere. " All have gone
out," said he.
Waida Dikit closed the door and said : " Some of
you people are sleepy, but wake up, open your eyes,
be ready to see — look north."
" What can we do here ? Why did we come out
in the dark ? " asked a certain Chirchihas. " We
can see nothing at this time of night ; " and, turning
to Lutchi, he asked : " Have you seen him, or his
brother ? What sort of a place do they live in ? "
" I cannot tell you now ; you will see him
soon." " Be ready, all of you," said Waida Dikit. " Look
north." All looked. There was a pointed mountain not
far away, and straight out before them. They saw
a small light rising till it reached the top of that
mountain ; there it settled, and soon it seemed near
them, just a few steps from the faces of the people.
That was Waida Werris. The place around was as
if in daylight. All could see him ; all looked at
him. " Now, you people, there is Waida Werris before
you ; do you see him ? "

202 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" We see him."
" Hereafter all people will see him there in the
north, as you see him now," said Waida Dikit.
"Come back to the sweat-house, all of you."
Tsaroki opened the door, and all went in. " We
will talk," said the old man, " then eat, and after
that separate."
Day had come — there was light in the sweat-
house. They heard some one coming, and soon
they saw an old woman in the door. This was
Tunhlucha Pokaila. She would not go in, but
stood a while holding in both hands two beautiful
baskets of water. These she put down at the door,
looked in, and went away. Waida Dikit took the
baskets, put them on the ground north of the fire,
and said, —
" Here is a little water, but come all and use it,
— wash."
The old woman was Waida Dikit's sister ; she
lived north of her brother's, not far away. There
was a rock at that place, with a spring in it. The
rock was her house. Water rose in that rock to the
surface and went into the earth again in another part
ofthe same house. The old woman had*two baskets ;
the smaller one held water for drinking, the larger one
water for washing. Great crowds of people drank
from the smaller basket and washed from the other ;
each used what he needed, the water never grew less ;
it remained the same always in quantity.
" Have all washed and drunk ? " asked Waida
Dikit. " We have all washed and drunk."

Hawt 203
The old man removed the baskets, and set out
two others which the old woman had just brought,
— one of cooked venison, and another a very small
basket of acorn porridge. He put the baskets in
the middle of the sweat-house and said, —
" Now, all people, I ask you to eat."
"I will try that food," said Karkit. He went
and ate. Next Hus ate, then Yipokos. Now these
three men ate deer meat since that time, and
will always find meat by the smell, — this was the
first time they ate venison. Tsihl and Wima,
called also Bohemba, ate all they could from the
little basket, yet the food was not less by one bit.
Patit ate plenty. Hus ate, and so did Sedit.
All ate as much as they could; still each basket was
full. The food grew no less. Waida Dikit kept
saying, —
" You people, here is food. I do not need it.
Come and eat what there is."
He sent Tsudi around to ask each man if he had
eaten. All said they had eaten till Tsudi went half
around, when he found one man, Memtulit, who
said that he had not eaten, but was willing to
eat. " I will eat if I see anything good," said he.
" Well, go and eat," said Tsudi.
" What kind of food have you ? "
" Venison and acorn porridge."
" I do not eat that kind of food."
" Here is a man who has not eaten," said Tsudi-,
" he cannot eat that food."
Farther on was found Kiriu, who had not eaten,

204 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and a third, a very young man, Tsararok. " I
should like to eat," said he, "but I am timid.
There are so many people here eating."
" What kind of food do you eat, Kiriu ? " asked
Tsudi. " I cannot eat venison. I eat what lives in the
water." The other two men said the same.
Waida Dikit went to his old house, where he had
dried fish. He caught besides a net full of little
fish. He cooked both kinds and carried them to
the sweat-house, set them down in the middle, and
said, " Now come and eat."
Memtulit ate, so did Kiriu. Tsararok came after
a while. He began to eat the little fish, did n't see
the other kind ; this is why Tsararok likes small
fish to this day.
The old man asked again, " Have all eaten ? "
" We have," answered all.
There was as much food in the two baskets as at
first, and the old man put them outside the house.
Sedit saw this, and was angry. He said that people
should leave nothing.
" Don't talk so," said Patkilis. " What is done
is right." " You are all free to stay longer," said Waida
Dikit, "but I suppose that you wish to go home,
I suppose you are in a hurry."
" Why should we go so soon ? " asked Sedit.
" The people from the west might tell us what they
know ; we ought to tell them something."
" Keep quiet, Sedit," said Patkilis. " I told you
not to talk. There are many big men here, better

Hawt 205
men than you, but they don't talk. Waida Dikit
says that we have stayed long enough ; that is what
he means ; you ought to know it. He spoke as he
did because he wished to say something nice to us
and be friends ; but you must keep still."
A man on the west side rose now and came
toward the middle of the house, near the fire, stood
there, looked about, and spat on the ground. All
the people saw him spit, and in an instant they saw
a small basket rise out of the spittle. Inside the
basket were acorns of mountain live oak. This man
was Patit. He went back to his place and lay down.
Waida Dikit set the basket in the middle of the
sweat-house, picked out an acorn, ate it, and said, —
" People, come and eat. My friend Patit has
made this for you, — this is his food."
They never had acorns of that kind till then.
Nop came first to the basket to eat, and to this
day he is fond of acorns. Then Tsihl and Wima
and Tichelis and Tsudi and Tsaik went to the basket
and ate, and all are fond of acorns now. No matter
how many they took from the basket, the acorns
were none the less.
Sedit sat back ill-natured ; he wanted them to
eat all the acorns. Waida Dikit put the basket
outside. Tsihl rose now, went to the place where Patit had
spat, and put an empty basket on the ground. He
untied a wide strap, or braid of grass, which he wore
around his wrist, and held down his hand. Some
thing flowed out of it, like water, till the basket was
filled. Then he tied up his wrist again. The basket

206 Creation Myths of Primitive America
was full of seeds of sugar pine. Waida Dikit ate of
them ; then called all to eat. People came and ate
all they wanted. The basket was as full as before.
Sedit was very angry.
Hau came forward and put down a stone cup.
He held his ear over it, scratched the ear, and
out came a stream of manzanita berries. These
were the first manzanita. No one had ever seen
those berries in the world before. Waida Dikit ate a
handful of the berries and sat down — said nothing.
All the people hurried to eat, crowded around the
cup, ate as long as they were able, but could not
decrease the berries. Presently Waida Dikit began
to itch. He did not know what troubled him.
Soon spots came out all over his body — red, yellow,
and black. This was because he had eaten the
berries. His spirit was afraid of what he had eaten.
His spirit did not wish that he should eat berries,
they were not his kind of food ; and that was
why the spots came out on him. It was his spirit's
fear that brought out the spots, and he has been
spotted ever since. He ate not because he wished,
but because he was master of the house. It was for
him to taste everything, or people would think it
bad food.
Now Wima came, put down a basket, and untied
a white wristband which he wore, held his hand
down, and wild plums dropped into the basket and
filled it.
This time Waida Dikit sent Tichelis to taste the
plums and set out the basket. People ate, but
there were as many plums as before.

Hawt 207
These different kinds of food were given to the
world for the first time then, and this is why we
have them now.
Tsaik came to the middle of the sweat-house.
He tapped the ground with his nose, and out came a
great pile of acorns.
Sedit had eaten as much as he could, and was
angry because any was put away. He kept saying
to Patkilis, " I don't like that."
" Sedit," answered Patkilis, " I have warned you
against talking so much. Don't you know that
after a while all the new kind of people, the people
to come, will use food in this way, eat what they
want, and put the rest away ? "
" You people have talked and been friendly," said
Waida Dikit. "This is the food we need ; this will
be our only food hereafter."
" Well," said Kanhlalas, standing up, " I think
we have almost finished. If we stay here too long,
some bad people may see us and talk about what
we are doing."
Others said : " Yes, we have given all the food
we have. If this gathering lasts longer, bad people
may find us and make trouble."
" That is true," said the assembly ; " let us part."
"We will part," said Waida Dikit. "I am
going to my old house and will stay there forever.
If salmon come up the Wini Mem, they will come
as far as my house and go back."
Next morning all set out for their homes. Tsihl
changed his mind on the road, and went back to
Tede Puyuk, where he found that all had gone

208 Creation Myths of Primitive America
except Sedit, Patkilis, Nop, and Hau. These four
were outside the sweat-house, and Tsihl said, —
" We have come back to look at this place again ;
it pleases us."
They stayed awhile, travelled through the country,
and when Olelbis sent people down here, coyotes,
jack rabbits, deer, red- foxes, and black bear came to
Tede Puyuk, and there were many of them ever
after around that whole country.

NORWANCHAKUS AND KERIHA

14

NORWANCHAKUS AND KERIHA

PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing unto
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Eltuluma,  ; Hubit, wasp; Keriha,  ; Kuntihle^, a small
bird unknown ; Lasaswa, large spider ; Nodal M6noko,  ; Nor-
wanchakus,  ; Norwinte,  ; Patkilis, jack rabbit; Pawnit,
kangaroo rat; Pom Norwanen Pitchen, daughter of the Southern
Border, the same as Norwan; Puriwa, dark; Supchit,  ; Sani
has, daylight; Tsaik, blue jay; Tsiwihl, blue-breasted lizard ; Waida
Werris, polar star.

THE two brothers Norwanchakus and Keriha
were on this earth before any place or thing
had a name. When Olelbis took the sky pole and
made a deep furrow from the foot of Bohem Puyuk
to the lower valley, and a river came, the two
brothers were at the end of the furrow and started
toward the north. Norwanchakus was the elder;
Keriha was very small.
When the brothers started, they could not see
well. There was no sun then ; there was only a
kind of dim twilight. Waida Werris was in the sky,
and saw the brothers. Fish had got into all rivers
now from the southern pond, where Kuntihle Herit
had caught the first fish.
" There are fish in the river," said Keriha ; " let
us catch some. Let us take a net up the river and
come down with it."

2 1 2 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" We have no net, and there is no light ; we can
not see anything," said the elder brother.
" Go, my brother," said Keriha, " to where the
sky comes down on the northwest ; go out under
it. You will find there the plant kuruti ; bring it."
" I cannot go there," said Norwanchakus ; " you
go, my brother."
Keriha went through the air quickly ; brought the
plant — brought all there was.
" We must have more," said Norwanchakus.
" Well, go and get it," answered Keriha. " It
grows beyond the sky in the southwest."
" I cannot go there ; go you," said the elder
brother. Keriha went beyond the sky on the southeast;
found plenty of kuruti. The elder brother made
strings of the fibre.
" I am in a hurry to fish," said Keriha. " You
are slow, my brother."
" Go straight east beyond the sky," said the other,
" and get ash wood while I am making a net."
Keriha brought the ash. Norwanchakus had the
net made, and now he fixed the ash stick.
" My brother," said Keriha, " we cannot see any
thing. How can we fish ? There are people
around us in the world, perhaps, but we have no
good light to find them."
There was a kind of dim light all the time. The
two brothers started, came north as far as Nomlopi,
opposite Pas Puisono, and sat down.
Keriha heard voices in the north and asked,
" Do you hear shouting ? "

Norwanchakus and Keriha 213
" No ; I hear nothing," answered Norwanchakus.
" Let us go toward the shouting," said Keriha.
They went to a place about six miles beyond the
river, where they found a sweat-house.
" These are the first people we have seen," said
Keriha. " We shall call this place Tsarau Heril."
They stood near the door of the sweat-house.
" Oh, my brother," said a big man who saw them
and came to the door.
" Yes," said Keriha, " you are our brother, you
are Norwinte."
Another came and said, " Oh, my brother ! "
" You are our brother, too," said Keriha ; " you
are Eltuluma."
" It is dark. We do not know what to do," said
Norwinte. " And we do not know," answered Keriha.
" Not far from here are more people," said Nor
winte. " Let us send to them to come here. Per
haps we may learn what to do."
Norwinte sent a messenger to the north. He
brought a new person soon, a good-looking man ; and
when this stranger had talked a while he said, "There
is a person in the southeast who can help us."
" Will you bring him here ? " asked Norwinte. ¦
" I cannot go there," said the stranger.
"You go, Keriha," said Norwanchakus. "No
one can go there but you."
Keriha went, and was not long gone. He brought
back Patkilis.
" My brother Patkilis, do you know of any more
people anywhere ? "

214 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" I know of no more people. I have seen none ;
but in the far east I hear shouting, with dancing and
singing." " Well, my brother, I wish you would go and see
what kind of people are making that noise there."
" I will go," said Patkilis. " I don't think it is
very far from here to where they are."
Patkilis was gone a long time. When he came
back, he said : " I saw many people, but they did
not see me. There is a hill beyond the sky in the
east. On the northern slope of it are houses. On
the southern slope there are houses, also. A river
flows from this hill westward. South of the hill
every one is dancing. I went into the houses on
the north side. All were empty except one. In
the middle house of the village I found a blind boy.
I looked around and saw much in the house. ' Why
have you so many things here ? ' asked I of the boy.
c What are they good for ? I live on the other side.
We have n't such things in our houses.' He said
nothing. I talked a long time to him, asked many
questions, but got no answer. All he said was,
c My people have gone to dance.' There were
piles of acorns inside and outside, great baskets of
them put around everywhere. I sat down. ' What
is this?' asked I. 'What is that? What is in
those baskets there ? ' ' Oh, something,' said the
blind boy ; and that was all the answer he made.
There were many bags, all full of something. I
saw two small bags hanging in the house, and they
were very full. ' What is in those small bags that
are so full ? ' asked I. ' Can you tell me, little

Norwanchakus and Keriha 215
boy ? ' ' Why do you want to know everything ? '
asked the blind boy. I asked about those two bags
in different ways, but he would n't tell me for a long
time. I teased him and teased him to tell. ' You
want to know everything,' said he, at last ; ' I will
tell you. In one is Puriwa.' 'Well, what is in the
other bag? Tell me. You have told about one,
now tell about the other.' He thought a while
and asked, ' Why do you want to know so much ?
Sanihas is in the other bag.' He would tell no
more, and I came away."
When Patkilis had told all this, Keriha said, after
thinking a while : " This is the best news that we
have heard in this world yet ; some one of us ought
to go there. We must bring those two bags here.
If we open one, the world will be dark ; if we
open the other, there will be daylight. Those
acorns, too, are good. You must send some one
for those two bags."
" There is a man up north here, Pawnit. He
could go ; send for him," said Patkilis.
They sent for him, and he came. They told him
what they wanted.
" I can go for those things," said he, " but I don't
like to go alone. My brothers, you bring a man
here who lives up north, Tsaik. He is blind of
one eye."
When Tsaik came and heard about the acorns,
he said : " I should like to have them ; they are
good. If I go, I will take the acorns, and you can
bring the two bags," said he to Pawnit.
" When you come to that hill in the east," said

2 1 6 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Patkilis to Pawnit, " you will see many houses on
the north side of it, and many on the south, where
people are dancing ; but go to the north, and right
in the middle of the village you will see a big house,
with the door toward the south. When you go in,
don't let the blind boy know that there are two of
you. Let one talk to him while the other takes
the bags. The one talking will make him believe
that he came from the south side of the hill, where
people are dancing. When you are going in through
the door, you will see the two bags right opposite,
both smooth and very full. Get those bags, so that
we can see what kind of place this is. We want
plenty of light. We want darkness, too, so that
there may not be too much light."
Pawnit and Tsaik started off on their journey.
How long the journey lasted no one knows. They
went beyond the sky and reached the eastern hill,
they saw the villages south and north of it, and
heard a great noise of dancing at the south. They
went to the northern village, found the big house
in the middle of it, and stopped before the door.
" Go in," said Tsaik. " I will stay outside. I
have a strap. I am going to carry away the acorn
baskets. You go in. I will stay here and tie them
together." Pawnit went in and sat down on the west side.
The blind boy was lying on the east side.
" Well, blind boy," said Pawnit, " I am cold. I
have been dancing. I have come here to warm
myself." " I should like to know why you people come

Norwanchakus and Keriha

217

here while there is dancing at the other side," said
the blind boy.
Pawnit made no answer, but went out to see what
Tsaik was doing. " Where are you, Tsaik ? " asked
he. " I am here making ready to carry acorns,"
answered Tsaik.
Just then they saw some one near them. " Who
is this ? " asked Pawnit.
" I am here," said Patkilis. " Come, Pawnit, you
and I will go in and get the two bags. You, Tsaik,
take the acorns."
Tsaik put a big load on his back and started on,
while the others were in the house. Patkilis took
daylight, and Pawnit took darkness. As soon as
they were outside the house, the blind boy stood up
and screamed, —
" Who was that ? Some one has stolen some
thing ! "
He felt for the bags, then ran out and screamed, —
" Some one has stolen Puriwa and Sanihas !
Some one has stolen Puriwa and Sanihas ! Some
one has stolen Puriwa and Sanihas ! "
The people who were dancing heard him and
said, " Some one is screaming ! " Then they heard
plainly, —
" Some one has stolen Puriwa and Sanihas ! They
have run west with them ! "
When they heard this, the dancers stopped danc
ing and ran west. Soon they saw the three men
racing off with the bags.
They saw Tsaik far ahead with a pack of acorns

2 1 8 Creation Myths of Primitive America

on his back. They could see him a long way, for
the pack was a big one. Pawnit and Patkilis carried
their bags in their hands. The people ran fast and
shouted to each other, —
" Catch them ! Catch them ! Do your best !
Head them off! Surround them ! "
They could not overtake Tsaik. He went
through under the sky before they could come up.
When Pawnit and Patkilis were rising from
under the edge of the sky, those behind were ready
to seize Pawnit and would have caught him, but he
tore open the mouth of his bag, and that instant
thick darkness spread everywhere. No one could
see ; all were as if blind in one moment.
The eastern people had to stop. They could fol
low no farther. Patkilis knew the country west of
the sky, and he and Pawnit stumbled on, came
along slowly in the dark, and groped westward a
good while. At last Patkilis opened his bag, and
that moment daylight went out of it. They could
see a great distance ; they were very glad now3
travelled quickly, and were soon at Norwinte's.
Keriha and Norwanchakus lived for a time with
Norwinte (it is unknown how long), and then took
their net and went up the river to fish downward.
They went up Bohema Mem and Pui Mem as far
as Panti Tsarau,
" Let us fish down from this, my brother," said
Keriha. " I will hold the end of the net stick that
goes out in the river, so that I may take the fish
quickly when they are caught. You can go along
the bank."

Norwanchakus and Keriha 2 1 9
They fished down to Nomlupi, and Keriha
named all the places as he and his brother came
down. He gave them the names which they have
now, the names by which we Wintus call them.
The first place below Panti Tsarau was Lorus Pom
and Keriha left no place unnamed between Panti
Tsarau and Nomlupi. They stopped at Nomlupi,
built a brush house there, and lived some time
in it.
One day the two brothers went to Norwanbuli
to the great sweat-house where the woman Pom
Norwanen Pitchen or Norwan lived.
" My brother, you must not make this woman
angry," said Norwanchakus, when they were near
Norwanbuli. " This is a very powerful woman ;
she has a great deal of food, a great deal to eat,
but you must not take anything ; eat nothing
except what she gives ; don't talk much ; do just
what I tell you."
" I will do what you tell me," said Keriha.
They went in at the south side of Norwanbuli,
and stopped east of the door. Norwanchakus sat
down, and held Keriha between his knees. The
woman put her hand behind her, took acorn bread,
held it toward the brothers, and said, —
" Take this, you two men, eat it, and then go
away." "This woman has a great deal to eat," said
Keriha. " Let 's stay here a while with her. Let 's
not go away, my brother."
"Be still," whispered Norwanchakus. "Don't
talk."

220 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" My brother, I 'm hungry. Tell her to give us
more bread. This is n't enough."
Norwanchakus barely tasted the bread, but Keriha
ate with great relish. " Now, my brother," said
Norwanchakus, " we must go. I will carry you."
He put his brother on his back, drew Keriha's arms
around his own neck closely, and started. When
they were almost out of the house, Keriha began to
struggle and kick.
" Let me go, my brother," said he, " let me go ! "
Norwanchakus held him firmly. Keriha pulled
and pulled till he got his right arm free. At the
door was a large basket of acorns. He seized a
handful of those and kept them. Norwanchakus
went out, and when a short distance from the house
he felt the ground swaying, rising, and falling. He
stopped and saw the earth open around him and
sink slowly. Then he made one great spring and
came down on Bohem Buli. He was barely on
that mountain when it began to crack, and he was
sinking again. He made a second leap, and came
down far away southwest.
Keriha dropped the acorns, and the earth stopped
opening that moment. The brothers stayed some
time in the southwest, then went to Tsik Tepji.
This was a strong eddy of the river in which it
was easy to catch salmon. They made a brush
hut at the river bank, and a house not far from the
river, on a hill. Norwanchakus caught a great many
salmon, and Keriha ate and ate ; he ate all the time
and never grew larger. Norwanchakus scarcely ate
anything. One morning Keriha was in the house

Norwanchakus and Keriha 221
while his brother was fishing. A stranger came, a
very small man, no larger than a boy five years
old. Keriha looked at him, then jumped up and
ran to his brother.
" Oh, my brother," said he, " some one has come
to our house." Norwanchakus said nothing.
" There is some one at our house," repeated Keriha.
" Did he say anything ? " asked Norwanchakus.
"No." " Did you talk to him ? "
" No."
"Why not?"
" I don't like him, he is so little."
" Never mind, go back and give him something
to eat ; call him uncle."
Keriha went back and stared at the stranger.
After a while the little man looked up and asked, —
" Why do you look at me so ? I left a small bag
of roots north of the house. Would you bring it
here ? The roots are very good to eat."
Keriha went. The bag was small. There were
roots in one corner of it, not many. He snatched
at the bag, but could not lift it ; he tried with both
hands, couldn't stir it; tried every way, couldn't
move it ; scratched his arms and legs in trying, left
the bag, and went back without it.
" I cannot lift that bag," said he to the little man.
" How did you bring it, you are so small ? "
The stranger, who was Nodal Monoko, went out,
brought the bag to the house in one hand, and put
it down outside. Norwanchakus knew who the
stranger was, and he brought up a great sturgeon.

222 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Keriha cooked the fish, put it down before their
guest, and said, " Eat this."
The little man said nothing, waited till the fish
was cool, then raising it to his mouth in one hand,
he swallowed all at a mouthful.
Keriha cooked for the little man all the forenoon,
while Norwanchakus was fishing. About midday
their wood was nearly all burned.
" My uncle," said Keriha, "we are going to cook
a great deal of fish. Would you help me and bring
wood ? "
The little man said nothing.
" My uncle, will you bring wood for me ? " asked
Keriha. The stranger sat a while, then went out to a
mountain, took the largest dry trees, pulled them
up by the roots with one hand, put a great many
in a pile, and tore up two young green trees ; with
these he bound the dry ones, and took them on his
shoulder to Keriha.
Now Keriha saw what kind of personthe little
man was. He cooked salmon and sturgeon till
midnight without stopping, and still the little man
was hungry. Keriha cooked fish the whole night,
and Nodal Monoko ate till daylight.
Norwanchakus came up from the river next
morning and said to the little man, who looked as
if he had eaten nothing, —
" My uncle, you wish to go home, I suppose. If
you want fish, fill your bag ; it will hold a couple of
good ones. The fish did not come up last night very
well, but I can give you enough to fill your bag."

Norwanchakus and Keriha

223

So saying, Norwanchakus went back to the fish
ing-place. Nodal Monoko went out and emptied
his bag. When the roots were thrown out, there
was a pile of them many times higher and bigger
than the house. It covered all the open space,
while some roots rolled down the hillside and fell
into the river.
Nodal Monoko's bag would hold mountains.
He could put the whole world into it. Nodal took
his bag to the river, where Norwanchakus had been
fishing all night, and saw salmon in piles there.
" Take all the salmon you can," said Norwan
chakus. The stranger put two hundred salmon in one
corner of his bag, two hundred more in the other,
two hundred in the middle — all large fish — and
the bottom of the bag was hardly covered. He
twisted the top of the bag then, and tied it. Nodal
Monoko had a beaver-skin quiver. In this he was
carrying five great baskets of acorns, each basket
holding three bushels, and these acorns filled only
the very tip of the beaver tail.
He went down to the river to swim across.
" He cannot cross the river with that bag and
quiver," said Keriha.
At the edge of the water Nodal Monoko took
the bag and quiver in one hand, and swam across
with the other.
The two brothers stayed fishing at Tsik Tepji
till a day when Keriha said, " Let us go up the
river, my brother." They went to Bohem Tehil
and stopped at a large tree. Keriha hung a salmon

224 Creation Myths of Primitive America
on a limb of it. " I will watch this fish," said he
" I '11 see if Hubit comes here to eat it."
He watched that day from dawn till dark ; no
one came. He watched five days more; no one.
Five other days, and five days more, and then five
days, — twenty-one in all; he saw no one.
Next morning he was waiting, when all at once
he heard a noise, and looking he saw Hubit come
from the west and go to the salmon. Norwan
chakus sat some distance away, watching Keriha.
" Oh, my brother," cried Keriha, " Hubit has
come. He is at the salmon. What shall I do? I
want to know where Hubit lives, I want to see
his house. I must follow him."
" My brother," answered Norwanchakus, " you
say that you know more than I. You think that
you know everything. You must know what to do
with Hubit."
" Oh, my brother," said Keriha, " do not tease
me. Tell me quickly what I am to do with
Hubit." " Go straight south to a level place, get a pawit,
and bring it. I will watch Hubit while you are
gone." Keriha brought some pawit quickly. "Now
what shall I do ? "
" Stick one tuft in the salmon's tail, and fasten
it well," said Norwanchakus. " Let Hubit carry
off the fish. You can see the tuft far away, and
follow." Keriha fastened the tuft to the salmon, gave the
fish to Hubit, and watched. Hubit would n't bite,

Norwanchakus and Keriha 225
would n't taste. Keriha tried all day to make him
taste the salmon, tried a second day, tried five days.
Hubit would n't even bite it. On the sixth day
Keriha said, —
" Hubit, why are you here ? I thought you came
to eat salmon, but now you will not taste it."
Keriha talked five days more to Hubit, ten days
in all. " Hubit, I wish you would eat some fish
and take home the rest." Hubit made no answer.
Five days more Keriha teased him, and then five
days longer, twenty days in all.
" Hubit," said Keriha on the twenty-first day,
" tell me what you are going to do ; I 'd like to
know ; " and he pushed him. Not a word from
Hubit. " Are you asleep or dead ? " asked Keriha.
" Hubit, you make me so angry that I want to kill
you. All these days Keriha had watched Hubit from
daylight till dark, giving him no chance to steal the
fish, and Hubit wanted salmon so much that he
would not go without it. Norwanchakus sat watch
ing Keriha.
" My brother," said Keriha, " I cannot make
that Hubit take the salmon ; what shall I do ? Tell
me. Norwanchakus said nothing.
" I am getting angry. If you cannot tell me
what to do, I will kill Hubit to-morrow."
" Why kill Hubit ? You have teased him a long
time ; tease him a little longer. How will you find
Hubit's house, if you kill him ? "
" Hubit, will you bite this salmon ? " asked
15

226 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Keriha, next morning. " I have bothered long
enough. Will you bite to-day ? " He put the
salmon to Hubit's mouth. Hubit bit a little.
Keriha lifted the salmon with Hubit on it, and
threw it in the air to make Hubit fly. All came
down like a stone. Keriha threw it a second time.
It fell again. He tried all day.
" I don't know what kind of man that Hubit is ;
he won't eat, he won't talk, won't go home, won't
do anything," said Keriha.
Next morning he said to Hubit : " Hubit, what
kind of person are you ? I wish you would go
home." But Hubit would n't go without the salmon, and
would n't take it for fear that Keriha would follow
him. Keriha threw him up again with the salmon.
Again he fell with the salmon, and he teased Hubit
for five days more. On the sixth morning Hubit
began to eat.
" Ah, you are eating ! " said Keriha ; " will you
go to-day ? "
He threw the salmon ; it fell again. Five days
more he tried. Hubit would eat, but would n't fly.
Now he had tried twenty days more. On the twen
tieth evening he said to Norwanchakus, " I will
kill Hubit to-morrow."
" Oh, you are not angry," said Norwanchakus.
" Play with him a little longer. You want to know
everything, to see everything, to have everything.
You ought to find out what he means ; he has some
reason for doing as he does."
Next morning Keriha went to Hubit. "Will

Norwanchakus and Keriha

227

you tell me what you are going to do ? Unless you
tell me I will kill you. When I throw you up, I
will kill you unless you fly."
He threw up the salmon. Hubit moved his
wings and flew along a little above the ground, then
settled down.
" Oh, he is going now, he is going ! I'm so
glad," cried Keriha ; and he threw the salmon a
second time.
Hubit opened his wings and flew around Keriha,
flew around the tree.
" Go, go ! " cried Keriha, clapping his hands.
Hubit shot away toward the north, near the
ground, and Keriha ran with all speed, but Hubit
went far ahead ; then he flew a little toward the west,
turned, and darted off directly northward.
Keriha did not lose sight of him, but rose in the
air and flew north, going parallel with Hubit and
going faster. He was at the sky first. A moment
later Hubit came.
" I am here before you ! " cried out Keriha.
" You cannot go out here ! "
Hubit flew around a while and shot back to
Bohem Tehil. Keriha was just behind him.
" Hubit, you are so slow," called out Keriha.
" I want to go fast, I like to see you go fast."
Hubit flew around the tree a little, then darted to
the south. Keriha went a little to one side, was at
the south before him, clapping his hands.
" No escape on this side, Hubit ; I am here be
fore you."
Hubit turned to Bohem Tehil. From the tree

228 Creation Myths of Primitive America
he rushed east to where the sky comes down.
Keriha was there before him. He rushed to the
west, to where the sky comes down. Keriha was
there before his face, barring the way. Hubit had
been at all four points, — no escape at any of them ;
still he would n't drop the salmon. He turned a
fifth time to Bohem Tehil with Keriha behind him.
He flew around the tree a few times, then rose
straight in the air, carrying the salmon. He rose
quickly, went very high. Keriha stood looking at
Hubit, watched him growing smaller and smaller.
Keriha shaded his eyes.
Hubit was nearly out of sight. Keriha could
barely see him with the salmon and the tuft, a little
spot in the sky. He looked very hard, strained his
eyes till blood was running down both his cheeks ;
still he kept looking.
Hubit thought he was out of sight now, and soon
Keriha saw him turn to the west and come down.
When he was above Bohem Buli, he dropped straight
to it on the north side and went in.
" I 'm glad, I 'm glad. Oh, I 'm so glad ! " cried
out Keriha, clapping his hands. " I know now
where Hubit's house is. Get ready quickly, my
brother, we will go and see Hubit. Oh, you are
so slow, my brother, I can't wait for you. Come
when you can ; I '11 go on alone."
Keriha hurried to Bohem Buli. Norwanchakus
followed, and saw Keriha doing strange things;
did n't know what he was doing ; wondered at him.
He was dodging from side to side, lying down and
springing up again. Norwanchakus went toward
him.

Norwanchakus and Keriha

229

" What are you doing ? " cried he. " What is
the matter ! "
"Don't come so near," called Keriha. "Stop,
stop ! "
When Hubit dropped down to his house in
Bohem Buli, he began that minute to make it
bigger. He was hurling out immense rocks, and
Keriha was dodging them. They came quickly one
after another (there are many of those rocks now all
around Bohem Buli, at Puitiel Ton, at Waikidi Pom,
and on the west beyond Tayam Norel). After the
rocks Hubit hurled out great showers of earth ;
then he stopped.
" How shall I get at that Hubit ? " asked Keriha
of his brother.
" Go south to a level valley where sakkus grows.
Get the tops of that plant."
Keriha brought plenty of sakkus tops quickly.
" Go now to Halat Pom, in the east, and bring
the longest vines possible."
Keriha brought ten very long vines and made a
rope of them, and tied it around a great bundle of
sakkus tops, to which he set fire, and then lowered
the bundle. He stopped the door with grass and
sticks. Soon there was a great rumbling, strug
gling, and roaring in Hubit's house. After a while
it stopped and all was still.
" Now, my brother," said Keriha, " Hubit is
dead, and I am going to have his honeycombs."
He took a large sharp stone, drew a great circle
around the entrance to Hubit's house, and said :
" You, Hubit's honeycomb, be as large as this circle

230 Creation Myths of Primitive America
is. Now, my brother," said he, " you can go to
Bohem Tehil. I will come soon."
Norwanchakus went home. Keriha began to
dig, found many combs, dug till night, stayed all
night in Hubit's house — stayed there digging
honey and eating, for twenty-five days.
Norwanchakus waited at home for his brother,
waited that evening till midnight, waited till morning,
saw no sign of Keriha. He waited the next day ;
then two, three, five days ; then twenty days more.
" Well," said Norwanchakus, " I can do nothing.
Perhaps he is dead, perhaps he is working yet."
On the twenty-sixth night after Hubit's death,
some one came into the house. Norwanchakus
looked up. It was Keriha.
After that the two brothers went to Puri Buli.
At the foot of the mountain they saw some one half
sitting, half lying, and looking at them. When
they came nearer, it went into an opening.
" My brother," said Keriha, " I want that."
" Nothing can pass you," said the elder brother.
" You want everything. You would better let this
go." Keriha paid no heed to Norwanchakus : he split
the earth with his little finger and killed the stranger,
a Supchit. He skinned the body and said, " I think
that this skin will be warm ; I will sleep on it."
" My brother," said Norwanchakus, " you are
the only person who has ever killed a Supchit —
you may be sorry."
Next morning a terrible snow came. It snowed
five days and nights ; everything was buried under

Norwanchakus and Keriha 231
snow. Keriha and Norwanchakus lay twenty-one
days under the snow without food. On the twenty-
first night, the Supchit woman whom Keriha had
killed came and stole him away.
Next morning Norwanchakus looked outside.
Keriha was gone ; the snow was gone. He looked
for tracks, looked all day, found no tracks. He
searched five days, ten, twenty days — searched all
the mountains, went down the rivers, up the rivers,
north, south, east, west. He searched one year,
found neither track nor trail ; searched ten years,
then ten years more ; inquired of every one in all
the world — no one knew of Keriha.
At last he went back to the house where Keriha
had been lost to see if there was track or trail there.
Behind Keriha's sleeping-place he saw a large stone.
He raised it, found an opening and a passage slop
ing northward, saw tracks made when the Supchit
woman took Keriha away. He went into the pas
sage, followed the trail till he came to the top of
Bohem Puyuk. He came out on the top, went in
again and followed a trail going south ; followed it,
winding west and east, till he came out at Waikidi
Pom. There he saw tracks on the ground, lost
them, found them again, found them going under
the ground, travelled under the ground, came out,
lost and found tracks till he lost them for good.
He inquired in the west for five years without
finding trail or tidings of Keriha. At last he said, —
" I have asked every one in this world, except
my two cousins Lasaswa at Lasan Holok."
He turned east, then, and went to Lasan Holok,

232 Creation Myths of Primitive America
near Pas Puisono, where he found a big house with
a door on the south side. One old man was sitting
on the east, and another on the west side of the door.
The house was full of people. The two old men
were rubbing their thighs and rolling something.
All the people inside were doing the same, all were
making ropes.
Five years before these old men had heard that
Norwanchakus had lost his brother. All people
had been telling one another that Norwanchakus
was looking for Keriha. As soon as the old men
heard of this, they began to make ropes.
Norwanchakus stood in the door, and raised one
foot to walk in.
" Don't step this way ; step east," said the old
man on the west.
" Don't step this way ; step west," said the old
man on the east.
" I '11 go straight ahead," thought Norwanchakus.
" Don't come this way ! Don't come this way ! "
cried all those in front.
One small boy was sitting behind all the others.
As shreds of fibre dropped from the hands of those
in front, he picked them up and twisted them into
a rope. " I suppose you have been travelling a long time,
my grandson," said the old man on the west side of
the door.
" I have travelled a very long time, and have
come at last to talk with you. I have asked all
who live on this earth about my brother, and no
one can tell me where Keriha is."

Norwanchakus and Keriha

233

" We heard about your brother five years ago,"
said the old men, " and we told our sons to make
ropes because you had lost Keriha."
" How much rope have you made ? "
" We can tell to-morrow."
Next morning they cleared a broad space in front
of the house. While they were doing this, Nor
wanchakus said to the rope-makers, —
" I wish you would send for Tsiwihl, an old
man near by here."
They brought him quickly. After Tsiwihl came,
Norwanchakus said, —
" I want some of you young men to try to go up
and ask Sas if he knows where my brother is. I
think Sas must know."
" I will try first," said the old man at the western
side of the door ; " I think that I have the longest
rope." " I will give you something for Sas," said Nor
wanchakus. " Here is an arrow-straightener, a head
band of silver gray-fox skin, and a fire-drill. If you
go to the top of the sky, you will see a road from
east to west. Sit at the south side of it under a to
bacco tree which is there. Soon Sas will come from
the east, going west. He will stop at the tree.
Give him the three things."
The old man brought out a great coil of rope to
unwind and go up with it.
" Who is to stand and watch ? " asked the other
old man.
" Tsiwihl," said Norwanchakus.
Tsiwihl put oak leaves near the coil, lay on them,

234 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and looked up. Old Lasasswa took one end of his
rope, pulled it, and started. The rope was un
winding, and he was going up. Tsiwihl kept his
eyes on Lasaswa. After a while he said, " Lasaswa
is half-way up." A little later he said, " He is more
than half-way up ! "
" But the rope is gone," said Norwanchakus.
" Lasaswa is coming down," said Tsiwihl.
The old man came to the ground. " My rope is
too short. Some one else must try now," said he.
" I will try," said the other old man. This one
had more rope. Five men had to help him roll
it out of the house, there was so much. He took
the presents for Sas and began to go up.
Tsiwihl watched closely. The rope was unwind
ing and Lasaswa was going up. " He is half-way
up ! " said Tsiwihl ; " he is near where the first man
was." Tsiwihl moved his head a little, but never
lost sight of Lasaswa. " He is as high as the other
was ; he is higher ; he is going still higher ! "
" But the rope has given out," said Norwanchakus.
" He is coming down ! " cried Tsiwihl.
All were looking at the sky except the small boy,
who was inside making rope as before.
" We are old," said the second Lasaswa ; " our
ropes are too short. You young men must try
to-morrow." Each old man had nine sons. Each person was
one day making the trial — all were twenty days
trying — no one had a rope long enough. " What
shall we do now ? " asked the old men on the
twenty-first day.

Norwanchakus and Keriha 235
" There is a boy in the house making rope yet ;
let him try," said Norwanchakus.
" Oh, he is only playing. He has n't much
rope ; he just makes ropes of the shreds that others
throw away," said one of the old men.
" Go in and ask him," said the second old man.
Norwanchakus went in and said, "You are a
small boy, but will you try your rope for me ? " and
he took hold of the boy's hand. He kept his rope
in a little basket. When Norwanchakus took his
hand, he seized the basket with the other hand and
carried it out.
" Why do they bring out that little boy ? " cried
the young men. "He hasn't any rope. We had
long ropes, and all were too short ; his rope is only
to play with."
" My cousin," said Norwanchakus, " you are
small, but I think you know something. Here are
three presents. When you reach the sky, give them
to Sas." Then he told him what to do.
When Norwanchakus had finished, the boy bowed
his head and said " Yes " to him. " You men have
long ropes, but they were too short. My rope
may not reach the sky, but I will try ; " and he
started. Tsiwihl's breast and stomach were as blue now
as the sky, and blood was trickling from his eyes,
he had looked so long and so hard. After the boy
was some distance up, those below could not see
him, and they said to Tsiwihl, " Tell us, tell us
often what he is doing."
After a while Tsiwihl said : "He is almost as

236 Creation Myths of Primitive America
high as the others were. He is as high ; he is as
high as the highest was."
They looked at his rope. There seemed to be
more than when he started. It seemed to grow all
the time.
" He is higher than any — he is going and going."
" Do not lose sight of him," said Norwanchakus.
Tsiwihl's eyes were full of blood.
" How much rope is there ? " asked Norwan
chakus. " Oh, there is plenty of rope," cried the others.
" He is going and going," said Tsiwihl.
" How far up is he ? Can you see him ? "
" He is high, very high, almost as high as I can
see — he is nearly at the sky."
" He will go to it, he will go to it ! " cried some.
" He is at the sky," said Tsiwihl. " He is there,
he is there ! He has his hand on it — he is on the
top of it — he is there ! "
There was plenty of rope on the ground yet.
" Well," said one of the old men, " he is on the
sky. He never talked much, that little boy, or
seemed to know much, but he has gone to a place
where we could not go."
The sun was almost half-way up in the sky.
Tsiwihl lay watching, watching, looking hard. Sas
had passed the middle of the sky when Tsiwihl said :
" I see the boy. He is coming down, he is
coming nearer and nearer."
Soon all could see him. At last he was standing
on the ground.
"Now, my cousin," said Norwanchakus, "tell

Norwanchakus and Keriha

237

me. Let me know what you saw and what you
heard. What do you think of that country up
there?" " I went to the top," said the boy. " The
country up there is good. I saw a road from east
to west. I went east a little, and at the south of
the road saw a tobacco tree. I sat under the tree
and looked east. Far off I saw an old man coming
with a pack on his back. I sat watching him. At
last he came to where I was and passed without
looking at me, went forward a little, stopped, put
down his pack on the south side of the road, and
then came toward me. I was sitting with my face
to the north. He sat down at my left side, looked
at me, looked at the headband, the fire-drill, and the
straightener, and laughed. ' What are you doing
here ? ' asked he. ' From what place are you ? How
did you come up to this land, where no one ever
travels but me, where I have never seen any one ?
You are small. How could you come here?' 'I
am here,' answered I, ' because Norwanchakus sent
me. He sent me because he has lost his brother,
Keriha. He has looked for him all over the world,
has asked every one, and no one knows about
Keriha. He sent me here to ask you about Keriha.
He said that you must know, for you look over the
whole world, see all people, see everything.' I put
the three things down before him and said, ' Norwan
chakus told me to give you these things for your
trouble in telling about Keriha.' Sas smiled again,
took up the headband, the fire-drill and straightener,
held them in his hand, and said : ' These are good

238 Creation Myths of Primitive America
— I know all that is passing in the world. I know
where Keriha is. I have seen him every day since
he went from his brother — I know where he is
now. The Supchit woman took him one night,
took him under the ground, came out on the top
of Bohem Puyuk, went down again, came out,
travelled by crooked roads westward, crossed the
bridge made of one hair, went under the sky to the
other side, to the middle house in a large village.
She put Keriha in a little room in that house ; he
has been there ever since, he is there now. He is
very weak and will die to-morrow unless some one
saves him. Tell Norwanchakus to start to-night
and be there in the morning if he wants to save
Keriha.' "
" Then Sas put his hand in his bosom and took
out a kolchi bisi [sky cap], gave it to me, and said,
' Take this to Norwanchakus, and tell him to give it
to Tsiwihl for his trouble.' Sas gave me also a
piece of the sky. ' This is for Tsiwihl, too,' said
he ; ' let him wear it on his breast for a blue
facing.' "
Norwanchakus gave these to Tsiwihl, and then
made him a blanket of oak leaves. He wears all
these things to this day.
" My cousin, are you sure that Sas said this ? "
asked Norwanchakus.
" I am sure. Sas told me all this."
"Wait now, my cousin." Norwanchakus went
northeast, stretched his hand out ; an armful of
kuruti (silkweed which grows at the end of the
world) came on it. " Now, my cousin," said he,

Norwanchakus and Keriha 239
" I will pay you well for your trouble. All your
life you can make as much rope as you like of this
kuruti, and you can go up on it anywhere, — north,
south, east, or west."
Norwanchakus started at midnight, and went
westward quickly. He knew the way well. He
crossed ridges and valleys, passed places where he
had found tracks of Keriha and lost them, went to
the bridge of one hair, sprang from the bank to
the middle of the bridge. The bridge swayed and
swayed. Underneath was a wide, rushing river, but
Norwanchakus did not fall. With one spring more
he touched the other bank, ran swiftly till he
reached the big village beyond the sky. He saw
the chief house, ran in through its door at the east,
went to the little room, and found Keriha with his
head on the palm of the Supchit woman's hand.
He caught his brother and rushed out, shot past all
the people, and stopped only when he was far out
side the village.
" Now, my brother," said he, " you told me
always that you knew something great, that you
wanted to do something great, that you wanted to
be something great. What have you been doing
here thirty years ? I have looked for you every
where. You never let me know where you were."
" Oh, my brother," said Keriha, " I am so
drowsy, I was sleeping, I didn't know where I
was." Norwanchakus crossed the river at a bound, with
out touching the bridge of one hair. He went on
then, never stopped till he reached Keri Buli.

240 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Next morning at daybreak Keriha heard a voice
from above. The voice said, —
" Leave that place, Norwanchakus and Keriha.
The world will change soon. You two must come
here. Leave that place down there quickly."
" Now, my brother," said Keriha, " you are so
slow, I don't know where you wish to go, or what
you want to do."
" My brother," said Norwanchakus, " I will do
the best I can, and do you do the best you can.
We have finished our work here. People to come
will know the names that you gave to rivers, moun
tains, rocks, and hills. Hereafter they will call
these places by the names we gave them."
While in this world Keriha wore a duck-skin, and
when they were ready to go he threw off this skin
on the other side of Bohema Mem, and from it
have come all the ducks on the rivers of this
country. Norwanchakus had always carried his ash stick
from the fish-net. When he was going, he thrust it
into the ground at Tsarau Heril. " I will leave this
here," said he, " and people to come will make pipes
of it." There is plenty of ash to this day in Tsarau
Heril. At the other side of the sky the brothers parted.
Norwanchakus went up on high, and stayed there.
Keriha went far away to the east, and is living
there now.

KELE AND SEDIT

16

KELE AND SEDIT

PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Hinwu, big owl; Kele, mountain wolf; Klereu Lulimet, wild lily;
Pili Lulimet, reed grass blossom; Pokok, ground owl ; Pom Piweki,
crooked land ; Satok Pokaila,  ; Sas, the sun ; Tsurat, red-headed
woodpecker ; Tunhlucha, frog.

IN Puidal Winnem lived Kele. Olelbis built a
great sweat-house there, and told him to stay in
it. Kele was old and lived all alone in that place ;
lived there a long time, thinking, making up his
mind what to do, — he was lonely and thirsty.
" Why did Olelbis put me here ? " thought he.
Once he rose about daybreak, hurried out, went
westward, went to a creek. A great clump of
mountain maples stood near the bank. Kele saw a
straight stick among all the others. He cut the
stick, drew it out, and took off a short piece. On
the way home he split the stick, smoothed it, and
fixed it as he walked. He put the two sticks over
head in the sweat-house, went out a second time,
found a white oak sapling, firm and strong, cut a
piece two feet long from it, put it at the hearth.
The next day he lay with his back to the fire, lay
there all night without sleeping. Just before day
break he heard steps, and was struck on the back.

244 Creation Myths of Primitive America
A minute later he was struck again in the same
place. The old man rose then and made a good
fire of manzanita wood.
It was daylight, and Kele said : " My children,
come to the fire, warm yourselves, sweat, and then
swim in the creek."
Two girls came to the fire, warmed themselves
standing, and soon they were sweating from heat.
" My daughters," said Kele, " there is a creek
near here. Go and swim in it."
These girls were from the stick that Kele had
split in two parts and put in the house wall. The
girls bathed in the creek, came back, and were good-
looking. When they came in, Kele brought venison
for his two daughters to eat.
" My daughters," said the old man, " I will tell
you something. You must go to work, do good
things. There are roots in the woods all around
us, roots fit for food. You need to walk. Go out
and get roots." They went out to dig wild lily
roots. After that they went every morning.
Soon they began to say : " We should like to
have other food ; we should like to have game to
eat. We saw mountain quail to-day ; we saw
deer." At last they talked this way every night.
Kele listened, thinking what to do. These girls
had a nice bed made of skins, and they talked every
night to each other ; but one night they went to bed
early and fell asleep right away. Kele had wished
them to sleep ; that is why they fell asleep quickly.
He hurried down to some mountain-ash trees, went
to the middle of them, and cut off five sticks. He

Kele and Sedit 245

whittled these, made them smooth, cut each in two.
He had ten smooth sticks then. Next he cut five
other sticks. These he left rough ; cut them also
in two ; had ten of them. Kele placed the twenty
sticks overhead in the house on the north side, and
lay with his back to the fire. The fire was a good
one, a hot manzanita fire. His club of green oak
was there at the fireplace.
Kele lay without sleeping and waited. He was
awake and was thinking. The two girls were sound
asleep all the time. Just before daybreak he heard
a sound as if some barefooted person had sprung
from above to the floor. Next moment some one
took the club and struck him. Another came
down in the same way and struck him. Ten times
he was struck with the club.
The ten smooth sticks had turned into people.
Each man gave him a blow, went to the wall of the
house, and sat there. Kele did not rise yet. He
heard some one barefoot jump down and seize the
club. This one hit Kele once. A second one
sprang down and hit him twice, a third three times,
a fourth four times, and so on to the tenth, who
struck him ten times. There were twenty in all ;
ten from the smooth and ten from the rough
sticks. The first ten sticks he had whittled smooth, and
they made ten good sons, but from the ten un-
trimmed sticks came ten rough, uproarious sons.
Kele had n't smoothed them, and they struck him
many times. When the tenth rough son struck
him the last blow, Kele stood up and made a big

246 Creation Myths of Primitive America
fire ; he could barely move, he had been so beaten
with the club. He lay down then and said, —
" Now, my boys, come here ; warm yourselves,
dance and sweat, then go to the creek to swim, and
come here again." He sang then, and made his
sons dance. The boys danced, and hurried to the
creek to swim, shouting as they went. They came
back to the sweat-house good-looking persons.
The two girls rose now. They knew already
what their father had done.
" Go, my daughters, and cook for your brothers,"
said Kele.
The two sisters made the food ready and placed
it before their brothers.
" Now, my sons, eat what we have," said Kele.
"You will go out after that, you will hunt, and
bring game."
The first ten, the smooth men, had good sense ;
the second ten were inferior ; the ninth and tenth
of the second ten were very bad. The first ten took
each only one mouthful; ofthe second ten, the first
took one mouthful, the second two, the third three,
and so on to the tenth, who took ten mouthfuls.
After that they sat back and made ready to go out.
" What are we to do ? " asked the first ten.
"We have nothing to hunt with."
Kele brought out bows and quivers with arrows,
and gave them to each ; gave five ropes to them
also, ropes of grass fibre. " You are armed now,"
said Kele ; and he showed them where to set snares
for deer.
They went far down to the foot of the mountain

Kele and Sedit

247

and set snares. The ten smooth brothers stood on
the mountain top ; the second ten, who were rough,
drove the deer. " You must shout so that we can
hear you all the time," said the smooth brothers.
Toward evening the smooth brothers saw deer in
the snares. The smooth ten took the bodies, the
best of the game; the rough ten the legs, ears,
horns, all the poor parts. The smooth ten took
the best meat to the house ; the rough ten made a
great uproar — they had little sense. The two sis
ters cooked roots and venison for all.
Next morning Kele made a big fire of manzanita
wood. " Be up, my boys," called he. " Go and
swim." That day the twenty stayed at home, and
the sisters went for roots.
They lived this way a long time, the brothers
hunting, the sisters digging roots and cooking, till
at last the sisters wished to see other persons besides
their brothers. One day when they went for roots
they sat down on the mountain slope. " What are
we to do ? " said one sister ; " we wish to see people,
we see no one now but our brothers and father."
That evening, when all had lain down, the elder
sister went to Kele and sat near him. " My father,"
said she, " I wish to know my name."
" Your name is Klereu Lulimet," said Kele ;
"your sister's name is Pili Lulimet."
She told her sister what their names were. Both
liked the names, and were glad to have them.
Every day the men sweated and swam, killed deer
and snared them. The sisters dug lily roots and
cooked them.

248 Creation Myths of Primitive America
One time instead of digging roots they went high
on the mountain side and sat there, sat looking
westward. They could see very far, and things
seemed right there before them, though away off
near the edge of the great western water.
This was the first time that the sisters had a
chance to see far. Till that day they had only a
mountain slope or a forest opening in front of them ;
now they had the whole country to look at. Just
after midday they saw a man going northward, going
slowly. " What a nice man that is ! Look at him," said
one sister to the other.
He stopped all at once, seemed to sit down and
disappear through the earth. That day they saw
him no more.
" Oh, we should like to see that man," said the
sisters, " and talk to him." They watched, talked,
and forgot to dig roots. At last, a short time be
fore sunset, they said, " Let us go for roots ! "
They ran down the mountain, dug a basketful
quickly, and hurried home.
" Oh, father, will you teach us how to sing ? "
said the younger sister to Kele that evening. " We
tried all day to sing. I tried to teach my sister,
she tried to teach me. We could do nothing."
"You can sing this way," said Kele, and he
began, — " O wi, no a, O wi, no i,
O wi, no a, O wi, no i."
" That is good," said she, going away. She said
nothing to her sister and lay down.

Kele and Sedit 249

Soon after the twenty brothers came. Ten of
them made a great noise. The house just trembled
and shook from the uproar. The second ten had
smeared themselves with deer blood, hung deer en
trails around their necks. They looked wild and
ferocious. When inside, they were quiet ; in going
out and coming in they always rushed and shouted.
Next morning Kele kept the twenty brothers in
the sweat-house. " Rest a day," said he.
The sisters went to the mountain top and looked
westward. Soon they saw some one go toward the
north, as on the first day.
" Did our father tell you how to sing ? " asked
the elder sister.
" He did, but I have forgotten."
She tried to remember the song, and soon after it
came to her, —
" O wi, no a, O wi, no i,
O wi, no a, O wi, no i."
" This is the way our father sang," said she.
" You try it, sister."
The elder began ; soon both sang together.
" Oh, we have a nice song now," said they.
Their song went straight to where the man was, a
long distance. This man was Sedit. He was get
ting red earth for acorn bread. Water soaked
through red earth was used to moisten acorn meal.
Sedit was covered with shells. He was very splen
did to look at. As he dug the earth, it seemed to
him that he heard something. He stopped, lis
tened, listened with all his ears. The sisters stopped
singing, and he dug again ; again he heard the

250 Creation Myths of Primitive America
singing and stopped. When he stopped, the sisters
ceased to sing ; when he dug, they began again.
Thus it continued the whole afternoon. They kept
Sedit all day there doing little, almost nothing.
Sometime before sunset the sisters dug their roots
and went home. Sedit went home too. He lived
at the house of Satok Pokaila.
" What were you doing ? I waited all day, fore
noon and afternoon, for you. It is too late to make
bread now," said Satok.
This old woman lived alone till Sedit in his wan
derings came to her and worked, brought wood, and
dug red earth for her.
" I got a headache," said he, " and had to lie
down all day nearly."
" I am sorry," said the old woman ; and she gave
him food, but he did not want any. Next day
Sedit went for red earth. He did not eat much
that morning. He had not slept all the night. He
was thinking of that song on the mountain.
That day the sisters went to the mountain top,
looked westward. Soon Sedit came to the same
place and worked, put two or three handfuls in his
basket, heard singing, heard it plainly, stopped,
strained his eyes to see who was singing, saw no
one. Again he dug, again they sang; again he
stopped work, again they ceased singing ; again he
worked, again they sang. Sedit thinks now how
to follow the singers, tries to whistle their music —
cannot catch it — looks around, sees no one. " Well,
I must sing," says he. He sings, and this time
he catches the music.

Kele and Sedit

25*

The sisters sang now in response to him. They
moved on, as he thought, and he followed. But
they were not moving, they stayed in one place.
They simply made their singing seem farther each
time. Sedit followed till they stopped at last, would not
sing any longer. He could not tell what to do.
"It is better for me to go back to my basket," said
he at last. He went back, put his basket on the
bank east of the pit, and said : " Now, my basket,
I will leave you a while, I am going away. I
place you east of the pit. Rootstick, I place you
east of the basket. If Satok Pokaila asks where I
am, you will move east, basket, and you will fall east,
rootstick. She will know which way I went."
He went eastward, went a short distance, forgot
the song, stopped, thought what to do. The song
then came back to him. The sisters began to sing
again. Sedit followed their song.
Satok Pokaila waited for red earth, waited till
midday, then thought, " I '11 go and see if Sedit has
a headache." She found the basket partly filled
with red earth, and the stick standing east of it. She
looked in the pit where Sedit had dug, and thought,
" He must be here somewhere." She searched, but
could not find him.
"Where is Sedit?" asked she of the basket.
" Where did he go ? — Where is Sedit ? " asked she
of the rootstick.
The basket moved eastward till it reached the
stick, the stick fell toward the east. Old Satok
knew now what had happened. She took the bas-

252 Creation Myths of Primitive America
ket and digging-stick home with her, put them up
safely. Sedit followed the sisters, sang himself, and lis
tened to their song. The song went southward,
went away from the mountain. He followed till
he reached Tayam Norel. Sedit sat down. People
asked where he came from, where he was going.
He would not tell, would not talk, did not care
for people's words. He thought of nothing, heard
nothing but the song of Kele's daughters.
He sat only a little while, and went away singing
and listening to the song of the sisters. Now it
went eastward. He followed it to a mountain,
where he saw an old man setting a trap. This was
old Pokok.
" Uncle, where are you going in such a great
hurry ? " asked Pokok.
" I am going east," replied Sedit. " You will not
see me pass this way again."
He hurried down the mountain, crossed a creek,
and went straight up another mountain ; was just at
the top, when he saw a very big man coming toward
him on the right hand as Sedit was going east.
Sedit stopped, looked, was afraid somewhat. The
two stared at each other. The stranger was very
tall and very thick. Sedit was frightened. The big
man never stopped, went straight ahead westward.
Sedit looked at him a long time, didn't move,
watched him going down the mountain. After he
had gone Sedit stood a long time, and then sat
down. " Why did he not speak to me ? " thought Sedit.

Kele and Sedit

-53

" He is the first person I have met who would n't
speak to me. Who is he ? I should like to know."
Sedit sat and thought all that day about the big
man. He heard the song always, at times very near
him, but he thought so much about the big man
that he did n't follow it. He wondered if the big
man would come again, and said to himself, " I will
wait and see."
About night Sedit thought, "If he comes and
will not speak to me, I '11 kill him." All night he
waited. He rose very early, had not slept any.
About sunrise he saw a man coming from afar, from
the east, moving westward. Sedit watched, had his
bow and arrows ready. It was he who would not
speak the day before. Sedit shot him in the breast,
shot again. The big man paid no heed, passed
right along. Sedit shot twenty arrows. The
stranger looked all the time at Sedit, said nothing.
Sedit shot twenty arrows more — spent all his
arrows. After he had shot away the forty arrows, and the
man had passed right close to him, Sedit sat down
and thought, " Who is this that I cannot kill him ? "
He thought a long time, and then knew that he
must be Sas Kiemila.
It was old Sas. Sas had been fooling Sedit, just
as Kele's daughters had fooled him.
Sedit heard the song again, and followed it. He
went to the Bohema Mem at Sawal Pom, went up'
Norken Mem till he came to Hin Pom where he
heard a great noise. Many people were dancing
there.

254 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Oh, there is Sedit coming," said they. " Where
is he going so fast ? "
" Uncle, where are you going in such a great
hurry ? " asked one of the men. " What news
have you ? Tell us what you have seen on your
journey." " I am travelling this country to look at it. I
saw no one, can give you no tidings of any one.
I shall not pass this way again."
The man who spoke and the dancers were Hinwa
people. Sedit rushed on, came to a flat, saw a
spring, and many persons drinking water.
" My grandsons, what are you doing, why do
you drink so much water? Water is bad for young
people " (these people were birds of all sorts).
Sedit called the place Chilchil balus (bird drinking).
He went on without stopping or talking, — had no
time for either. He listened, heard the singing
near a hill, ran there ; heard talking of many people,
the Tsurats arguing about acorns.
Sedit passed these people, crossed the Norken
Mem, ran along the trail, came to an old man lying
across it at the foot of a mountain. Sedit, going
fast, thought to jump over the old man, but he
moved, and Sedit stopped. " Grandson, what are
you doing ? " asked Sedit. This was Pom Piweki.
" I cannot tell what to do," said Pom. " I am old,
I cannot travel ; so I lay down here."
" I will go on," said Sedit, " and come back this
way, I think." He heard the song nearer now ;
followed it, followed till sunset, when it ceased. He
stayed all night in that place.

Kele and Sedit

z55

Next morning, some time after sunrise, the song
began again. Sedit answered, and followed it. Then
it ceased ; he stopped again ; then the song began a
second time ; he followed ; the song ceased. The
song circled around the mountain, going a little
higher gradually ; sometimes it was near, sometimes
it seemed far away, but he never came up to it.
After wandering ten days, perhaps, he reached the
top of the mountain by going round and round the
side of it. The singing was in the mountain now
all the time. He was on the highest part of Kele's
sweat-house. Kele, his twenty sons, and two daugh
ters were inside, and the girls and old man knew
that some one was walking on the roof of their
sweat-house. Kele's sons went out each morning,
and so did his daughters. Although they were
many, Sedit never saw one of them, — they fooled
him. At last, when Sedit was on the mountain,
Kele shouted, —
" If any one is on my house, let him go down to
the western door of it."
Sedit heard, and went back the way by which he
came. He went to Pom Piweki and asked : " Do
you know where the door to this sweat-house is ? "
Pom Piweki made no answer. He stood up and
pulled open a door ; it seemed as though he had
been lying across the entrance. When he opened
the door, Sedit saw far into the house.
" Sedit, if you are here to go in, this is the way
for you," said Pom Piweki. " You will see an old
man lying on the east side, go to him and talk ;
this is his sweat-house."

256 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Sedit went in and sat down near Kele, said noth
ing. Kele rose up and gave Sedit food, talked to
him, told him what kind of person he, Kele, was,
and about his children, and said : " Sedit, if you
have come here to stay, you must do what I tell
you ; you must be careful. I have rough sons ; if
they know that you are here, they will make trouble.
I will hide you. They will make a noise, but you
will not suffer if you keep quiet ; if you move, they
will find you, and abuse you, surely."
Kele put Sedit in a basket in the ground, hid
him there, leaving a small hole to look through.
" You may look out, but do not move," said
Kele. As soon as Sedit was hidden the girls came in
with roots, and sat down at their sleeping-place.
Sedit was near them. He thrust out his hand and
pinched the younger sister. She said nothing.
" Sister, have you seen any one ? " asked she, after
a time ; " some one pinched me."
" 'Sh ! " said the elder, " be quiet and say noth
ing ; don't let our father hear."
The elder went to cook, and Kele's twenty sons
came hammering and tramping.
The first ten, the smooth ones, came, as always,
quietly ; the second ten came with a rush and an
uproar. Sedit peeped out at them.
The younger sister pushed him back. " Be still,"
said she.
Sedit tried to rise ; she kept him down.
The first man of the second ten cried, " Pshu ! I
smell Sedit."

Kele and Sedit

'-57

The second said, " Pshu ! I smell Sedit ; throw
him out!"
" Be quiet, boys ; don't talk so," said Kele.
" Sedit is your uncle."
" Phew ! I smell Sedit," cried all the second ten.
Kele could hardly keep his sons from taking
Sedit. After they had eaten they grew more
excited. " Where is Sedit ? " cried they. " Let
us find Sedit ! "
At last they found Sedit, dragged him out, played
ball with him, threw him around the whole night
from one side of the great house to the other. Kele
could do nothing, could not stop <them. He went
and lay down. About sunrise Sedit screamed. He
was almost dead. Kele's ten rough sons were cov
ered with deer blood and shouted all night. The
smooth ten sat still, could do nothing against the
rough ten.
About sunrise Sedit could hardly breathe. He
had a root under his left arm, and as he was hurled
across the house it fell into the fire and made a
great smoke. The odor was very pleasant. Kele's
sons liked it. They threw Sedit back to where
they found him, left him, and began to breathe in
the smoke.
" My sons," said Kele, " I told you last night not
to hurt or harm Sedit; let him alone. That root
which he dropped will be good for you, and here
after you will like it. Future people when going to
hunt will take this root, tsarauhosi, hold it out, and
say, ' Kele, give us deer.' They will give you the
root, and you will give them deer. When they go
17

258 Creation Myths of Primitive America
hunting and have bad luck, they will make a fire,
burn this root, hold it out while it smokes, and say,
' Kele, will you put deer where we can see and kill
them ? ' " (Wintu hunters carry this root and burn
it if they have bad luck in finding deer. Kele likes
the odor and sends them deer). Kele rubbed
Sedit with deer marrow, put him on the west side
of the sweat-house, and said, " This is your place ;
you will stay here."
The boys went to hunt, the girls to dig roots as
before. "How did you get those sons, brother?" asked
Sedit once.
"You have no need to know; I will not tell
you," replied Kele.
" How did you build this house? Two old men
should not live in one house. If I had a house,
your sons could visit me when they wished, see their
uncle's house, and stay all night, perhaps."
" I don't think you could have sons, Sedit, or
keep a house. I don't believe you have strength
for it ; these things are hard to do," said Kele.
But Sedit talked on about sons and a sweat-house.
Kele asked Sedit to sing for his sons while they
danced and sweated. He sang twice and sang
fairly. " I could sing well if I had a house and
sons of my own," remarked Sedit.
" I will build a sweat-house for him," thought
Kele, at last. " He may go through as I have. I
don't think he will, but I can let him try."
The next night Kele made all sleep soundly. He
went north a short distance and wished for a sweat-

Kele and Sedit 259

house. A mountain stood in front of him next
moment. Kele went home before daylight and lay
down. That day Sedit talked on as before.
" Come," said Kele ; and he took him to the new
mountain. " You can live here if you like. This
is your house." Kele left him then.
Sedit made a fire, found a pipe and tobacco,
smoked, stayed many days and nights by himself
there. " I should like to know how Kele got his
sons," thought he one night. " I must ask him."
" I come to tell you," said Sedit one morning,
" that I am lonesome. I want to know how you
got your sons and daughters."
Kele made no answer for a long time. At last he
told him how he got his daughters.
Sedit went home, did exactly as Kele had done,
then lay down without sleeping. Toward morning
he heard some one jump to the floor ; next he got a
blow on the back, then a second. The two persons
went away and sat down. Sedit rose, made a big
fire, and began singing for a sweat-dance. Two
girls stood near the fire, sweated, then went to the
creek, swam, and went home. They had very long
hair and were nice looking. Sedit gave them wooden
combs and mink-skins for their hair, gave them
food and nice baskets painted red, told each to dig
roots and cook them.
Sedit lived a while with his daughters, till he
thought once, " I want to have sons." He went to
Kele, and Kele told how he had got sons, told
carefully. Sedit cut the sticks, did everything as Kele said,

260 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and lay by the fire, but he could not keep from
looking up ; the moment he looked all the sticks
fell to the ground. Sedit put them in place again,
lay by the fire, looked up. The sticks fell a second
time ; he put them up again, lay down, looked a
third time. The sticks fell a third time. He was
putting the sticks up till daylight, when he had to
stop. Sedit went to Kele that day. " My sticks
were falling all night," said he.
Kele knew what had happened already. " Why
not do as I told you ? I told you not to look
UP-" " I will not look any more," said Sedit.
Next night he put up sticks again and waited,
took the blows till the last one of the second ten
was giving him ten blows, then he sprang up and
screamed. All the twenty sons dropped down and
were sticks again. It was just daylight. Sedit
gathered the sticks into a basket, and looked to see
if the girls were awake. They were sticks as well as
the others.
Sedit felt very sorry, could not tell what to do.
He put the two sticks with the other twenty, took
one at a time, held it up, and said, " This was my
son, this was my daughter." He was sorry and
wondered if he could make others. He went to
Kele and said, —
" My brother, I could not stand it."
"What did I tell you?"
" Can I not make more ? "
" Perhaps you cannot endure it," Kele did not
want him to try.

Kele and Sedit 261

" I am sorry for my girls," said Sedit, " I want
them back ; I was fond of them."
" You may try for sons, but those girls will not
come back."
Sedit tried a third time. The beating was so
hard that he almost screamed ; but he held out this
time, and had twenty sons. Sedit's house was full
of sons, but he had no daughters ; the sticks would
not turn to girls again, though he did with them as
he had the first time.
Sedit sent his sons to hunt. " Go wherever you
like," said he. "On the west side is a ridge; go
on that ridge, keep in one line, and when you turn
some one may see you and think, ' What a crowd
of nice boys ! ' "
Kele's boys were hunting that day, and saw Sedit's
sons in a long line. " Look at that row of men on
the ridge," said they. " Those are our cousins,"
said one of the smooth ten ; " those are Sedit's
sons." Sedit's sons went to a flat, danced and played all
the day, took yellow clay, made paste of it, painted
themselves yellow — that is why coyotes are yellow
to this day; the paint would not wash off. All
went home in a line. Sedit had supper for them.
" Why do you come without deer ? " asked Sedit.
" We danced on the flat and painted."
Sedit said nothing. All ate ; then Sedit thought,
" I wish you boys to sleep." All fell asleep. Sedit
went to Kele, woke him up, and said, —
" My sons went to hunt, but came home without
deer. What shall I do with them ? "

262 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Let them hunt birds. Let them hunt gophers
and grasshoppers in the meadows. Gophers are as
good as deer."
" All right," said Sedit ; and he went home and
slept. They brought grasshoppers and gophers from the
hunt next day, and Sedit was satisfied.
" Let them live on that kind of food," thought
he. They told of their hunting that day. "We
wanted water," said one of them, " and met an old
woman. 'We are dry and cannot find water,'
said we to her. ' I will give you water,' said the
old woman ; ' come with me.' We followed her
a while. I was afraid and said to my brothers, ' Do
not drink the water she gives.' One of my brothers
shouted at the old woman and frightened her. She
fell back and turned into a swamp with a spring in
the middle of it. We did n't go near the spring,
but were nearly lost in the swamp."
" That is a wicked old woman," said Sedit.
" That is Tunhlucha Pokaila. She drowns people
often. I met her once and she came near drown
ing me. Don't you go near her again. Hunt
gophers and grasshoppers elsewhere."
" Now, my sons," said Sedit, some days later,
go and scatter around through this country.
Whenever you want to see me come here to my
sweat-house." Sedit's sons scattered north, south, east, and west.
They were at every ridge and point, in every valley
and meadow, at every spring and river.

(C

Kele and Sedit 263

Kele's sons stayed at their great mountain sweat-
house, doing the same things, living in the same
way. The two sisters never married, and all Kele's
people are in that mountain now. When they go
out they look like wolves ; but when inside, when
at home in the mountain, they are people.

KOL TIBICHI

KOL TIBICHI.

KOL TIBICHI was born at Norpat Kodiheril
on Wini Mem, just before daylight. When
a small boy, he used to go out by himself. If he
went to play with other boys sometimes, he would
not stay with them. He went out of sight, dis
appeared, and was lost. Then his father or mother
or others would find him in this place or that unex
pectedly. Sometimes they found him at home,
sometimes at a distance, far away in some gulch or
on some mountain. It happened that his mother
would look at his bed in the night-time and see him
there sleeping. She would look again and find that
he was gone. She would look a third time, and
find him just as at first. In the day he would be
seen in one place and be gone the next moment.
Once he was playing with children ; they turned
aside to see something, then looked at him. He
was gone. After a while they saw him in the water
under the salmon-house. Another time he dis
appeared. " Where has he gone ? " asked one boy.
" I cannot tell," answered another.
Soon they heard singing.
One asked, " Do you hear that ? "
' Yes," said the other ; " where is it ? "

268 Creation Myths of Primitive America
They listened and looked. Soon they saw Kol
Tibichi sitting near the north bank of the river,
under water.
" We must run and tell his father and mother."
Two of the boys ran to tell his father and mother.
" We lost your son," said they. " He went away
from us. We looked for him a long time and could
not find him. Now we have found him ; we have
seen him sitting under water ; we don't know what
he is doing."
His mother hurried out ; ran to the river.
" We think he must be dead," said people who
had gathered there. " We think that some yapaitu
[spirit] has killed him."
They soon saw that he was alive ; he was mov
ing. " Come, my son," called his mother, stretch
ing her hands to him, — " come, my son ; come out,
come to me." But he stayed there, sitting under
water. A quarter of an hour later they saw that the boy
had gone from the river. The people heard singing
in some place between them and the village. They
looked up and saw that the boy was half-way home
and going from the river.
" That is your son," called they to the woman.
" Oh, no," said the woman ; but she ran up and
found that it was her son.
Another time the boy goes south with some chil
dren. These lose him, just as the others had. In
half an hour they hear singing.
" Where is he ? " ask some.
" On this side," says one.

Kol Tibichi 269

" On that," says another.
South of the river is a great sugar-pine on a steep
bank. They look, and high on a limb pointing
northward they see him hanging, head downward,
singing. They run to his mother. " We see your son
hanging by his feet from a tree."
The woman hurries to the river, runs in among
the rocks and rubbish around the tree, reaches
toward the boy, throws herself on the rocks, crying,
" Oh, my child, you '11 be killed ! "
In a moment he is gone ; there is no sign of him
on the tree. Soon a shouting is heard at the house :
" My wife, come up ; don't cry, our son is here ! "
She crawls out of the rocks and dirt, runs home,
finds the boy safe with his father.
The people began now to talk of the wonderful
boy. Soon every one was talking of him. There
were many people in the place. Norpat Kodiheril
was a very big village.
" Some yapaitu is going to take that boy's life,"
said they ; " some yapaitu will kill him."
One morning the boy went down on the north
side of the river with children, but apart from them,
behind, by himself. He looked up, saw a great
bird in the air flying above him. " Oh, if I had
those wing feathers ! " thought the boy. Then he
blew upward and wished (olpuhlcha). That mo
ment the great bird Komos Kulit fell down before
him. Just after the bird fell he heard a voice in
the sky, a voice high, very high up, crying, —
"Now, you little man, you must call yourself

270 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Kol Tibichi. You are to be the greatest Hlahi
[doctor] on Wini Mem."
" Look at that boy ! " cried the other boys.
" See ! he has something."
They were afraid when they saw the great bird,
and the boy stretching the wings and handling the
wonderful Komos Kulit. Some of them ran to his
mother and said to her, —
" Your son has a very big bird. It fell down
from the sky to him. We are afraid of that bird.
We could not lift such a big bird."
Old people ran down ; saw the boy handling
Komos Kulit. "How did you get that bird?"
asked they. " Did he fall to you ? "
" Yes. I saw the shadow of a big bird on the
ground. I looked up. It fell, and was here."
The old people talked, — talked much, talked
a long time. There were many of them.
" We do not know what to do ; we do not know
what to think. We do not know why that bird
fell," said some. " We ought not to talk about the
bird, but we ought to think about this boy, find
out what he is doing."
" Oh," said others, " he made that bird fall by
blowing at it. That boy will be a great Hlahi."
The boy killed the bird with a yapaitu dokos
(spirit flint) ; he wanted its wings.
The father and mother of the boy said : " Two
wise men should pull out the longest wing feathers
for the boy. He wants them ; he wants them to
keep." " Let that be done," said the people ; and they

Kol Tibichi 271

found two men to pull out the two longest wing
feathers. The boy went to one side while they
were pulling them, pretended not to see or care
what they were doing ; but the two men knew that
he knew why he did so. When the two men had
pulled out the feathers, the boy said to his father, —
" I like those feathers ; save them for me ; I want
them." His father took the feathers home and saved
them. Another time this boy was walking up Wini
Mem — some time before he had been at a Hlahi
dance, and had seen there beautiful collars of flicker-
tail feathers, and remembered them. He walked
forward and said to himself, —
" I wonder where that man found those feathers.
I would like to have feathers like them."
" Pluck a bunch of grass with your mouth," said
the yapaitu, " drop it into your hand, and look at
it." He did so, and flicker feathers were in his hands.
He counted them, and found five hundred. " These
are nice feathers ; I will keep them," said the boy.
" Kol Tibichi is your name," said the yapaitu.
" You will be the greatest Hlahi on Wini Mem,
but you must obey us. You must listen to our
words, you must do what we tell you."
Kol Tibichi took the flicker feathers and walked
westward, walked across a wide gulch till he came
to a black-oak tree above Norpat Kodiheril.
" I like that oak-tree," said Kol Tibichi. " I
think that is a good place for my mother to get

272 Creation Myths of Primitive America
acorns." He blew then, and said : " You must be
very big, wide, and high, give many acorns every
fall. I will call your place Olpuhlchiton " (blowing
upward place, i. e. wishing place).
He went home then, and gave the flicker-tail
feathers to his mother. " Now, my mother," said
he, " I wish you to keep these feathers for me."
" Where did you find them, my son ? " asked
she. " You are always doing something. You did
not find these yourself; the yapaitu got them. I
will keep them. I am sorry for you, but I cannot
stop what you are doing. You cannot stop it your
self. But I will keep these feathers for you ; I will
keep them safely."
All the people talked much of Kol Tibichi now.
Once there was a doctor's dance, and the boy
remained at home till one night when the yapaitu
came to him and he began to hlaha. His father
and mother did not know what the trouble was.
" Bring him here," said the oldest doctor.
" He is a Hlahi," said the doctors, when they
saw him. " Sak hikai [the rainbow] is his yapaitu.
You must give him to us till the yapaitu leaves him.
While the yapaitu is with him, let him stay inside."
They were five or six days making Hlahis (doc
tors). The boy stayed in the sweat-house six days,
never eating, never drinking ; some others ate and
drank, but Kol Tibichi neither ate nor drank.
" Something must be done to make that yapaitu
leave him. You must put a band around Kol
Tibichi's head," said the chief, 'and the yapaitu
will leave him."

Kol Tibichi

273

They got a white wolf-tail headband. The
yapaitu did not go. " This is not the right kind
of a headband," said the doctor, after a while.
They tried fox, wildcat, coyote, a white-deer band,
without effect.
"We don't know what he wants," said some
Hlahis. Next they tried otter, fisher, coon, badger, black
bear, grizzly bear, silver-gray fox, mink, beaver,
rabbit, red-headed woodpecker.
" What does he want ?" asked some.
" Now," said the old doctor, " you ought to
know that this boy should have food and drink,
and he cannot have them till the yapaitu goes.
You should know that the headband that his yapaitu
wants is a tsahai loiyas" (woman's front apron made
of maple bark, painted red).
They brought this apron, made the headband,
and tied it on his head.
" This is the one," said the yapaitu.
Kol Tibichi began to sing ; the Hlahi danced a
few minutes. The boy blew then, and the yapaitu
left him. Kol Tibichi ate venison first and drank
water, then took other kinds of food. From that
time on Kol Tibichi was a Hlahi.
Soon after the great Hlahi dance, perhaps two
weeks, Notisa, chief of Norpat Kodiheril, fell sick;
he began to have a bad feeling at midday, and in
the evening all his friends thought he would die.
In the early night people in Norpat Kodi saw a
light going to Kol Tibichi's house.
" People are coming ; there must be some one
is

274 Creation Myths of Primitive America
sick in the village," said the boy's father and mother.
" People are coming. See, there is a big light mov
ing this way."
Two men came to the door. " Come in," said
Kol Tibichi's father. " We thought some one was
sick when we saw your light coming."
"We are here because Notisa is sick," said the
men. " He got sick at noon."
The two men spread out a marten skin and said :
" We brought this to show it to you and your son.
We have heard that he is a powerful Hlahi. The
chief gave us this skin to show you. We are afraid
that Notisa will die. We want your son to go with
us to see him."
They gave the skin to Kol Tibichi. It was the
best skin in the chief's house.
" We will go," said Kol Tibichi's father. " I do
not say that my son is a Hlahi, but he can do
something." They waked the boy, made him ready to go.
" Come," said his mother ; and she carried him to
the chief's house.
" My mother, put me down," said Kol Tibichi,
when they had come near the house.
" I do not like to put you down," said the mother.
" Put me down, put me down a moment," said
the boy.
His mother put him down. Then he saw some
one looking around Notisa's house, pushing about,
looking, watching in the dark, lurking around,
holding arrows. This was a yapaitu, ready to
shoot Notisa and kill him.

Kol Tibichi

275

Kol Tibichi called his own yapaitu, who went to
the one who was watching and said : " What are you
doing here ? What do you want at this house ? "
" I am doing nothing," answered the yapaitu.
" You are waiting to do something. You want
to do harm."
" Oh, no ; I am only looking around here, just
trying to find the door. I wanted to see some
one. " You are ready to shoot a yapaitu dokos. You
want to kill Notisa. You are watching around here
to kill him."
" Oh, no, I am not. I am just looking around,
not doing anything."
" You are ready to kill Notisa, the chief. You
are waiting to kill him," said Kol Tibichi's yapaitu,
who just took hold of the strange yapaitu, twisted
him, killed him right there, and buried him.
Kol Tibichi's mother took her son into the chief's
house. The boy knew what had been done. His
yapaitu told him what he had done, and came in
with him. The boy sat down near Notisa.
People thought the chief ready to die, thought
that he might die any moment. " Let the boy put
his hand on the sick man," said they.
" Put your hand on the chief," said the father,
" You must do what you can. You must try, do
your best to cure him."
Kol Tibichi spat on his hands, passed them over
Notisa's breast and face. " I am sleepy, my mother,
oh, I am so sleepy," said the boy, when he had
passed his hands over the chief.

276 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" He cannot do more to-night," said the father.
" We will go home."
Next morning people in the sweat-house heard a
man talking outside. He came in and said, " I am
well ! " This was Notisa.
" We are glad," said the people. " Kol Tibichi
has saved you."
The boy grew up and became a great Hlahi.
When twenty years old, he was the greatest Hlahi
on Wini Mem.
One year there was a Hlahi dance in El Hakam.
Kol Tibichi was a man. He was thirty years old
then. He went to the dance. Tulitot was the
great Hlahi in that place, and he thought himself
better than Kol Tibichi. While dancing, Tuletot
took a snake from his mouth, a large rattlesnake,
and held it in both hands as he danced. The snake
was his own child. Kol Tibichi looked, and thought
he could do better ; and, dancing forward, he blew,
as Hlahis do, and threw out long burning flames
on both sides of his mouth. All present were
afraid, and with Tulitot ran back before him in fear.
When the dance was over, Kol Tibichi went to
Norpat Kodi and lived on, a great Hlahi : lived till
he was a hundred years of age and more. He could
not walk any longer. He knew that he could not
live. " I cannot live any more," said he. " My
yapaitu tells me this, — I cannot walk. I cannot
do anything. My yapaitu tells me that I must
leave Norpat Kodiheril. [He was not sick, but
decrepit.] My yapaitu is going to take me and
leave my bones in this place with you. When I go

Kol Tibichi

277

from my body, do not bury it. Leave it on the
ground out there. Let it lie one night. Next
morning you will see a large rock in place of it.
When people are sick, let them come and take a
piece of the rock, or some earth, or some moss from
it ; that will cure them."
" We will not do that," said Notisa, a son of the
first chief; "we bury every body, and we will bury
yours like all others."
" Do not bury my bones," said Kol Tibichi.
" We should not like to see your bones all the
time. We have no wish to see a rock in place of
them." " Well, take my body to the black-oak tree, put
it eight or ten feet from the ground, leave it there
one night ; next morning you will see water in a
hollow of the oak. Any man may come and get
that water, rub it on his body, and drink some. It
will cure him."
" No," said the chief, " we don't want to see the
tree there every day. We do not wish to look at it
all the time."
" Dig a deep grave, then," said Kol Tibichi ;
" put my body in with nothing around it. When
you come to mourn, do not stand east of the grave-
mound. On the morning after my burial you will
see a rainbow coming out of the grave."
Kol Tibichi died. They did everything just as
he told them. All saw the rainbow and said, "We
ought to have left his body above ground, and to
have done all that he asked of us at first. The
yapaitu is mourning for him."

278 Creation Myths of Primitive America
The rainbow stood there two days and two nights
at the grave, then moved two feet eastward. Next
morning it was four feet away, then eight, going
farther day by day till it was at the salmon-house
where Kol Tibichi used to go when a boy. It
stood there by the salmon-house five days. Next
it was on the north bank of the river, then on the
hillside beyond, then on the hilltop, then on the
mountain-slope, then on the mountain-top. Next
all the people in Norpat Kodiheril heard a noise
and knocking in the grave-mound one night, and
early next morning they saw an immense bird rising
out of Kol Tibichi's grave. First the head came,
and then the body. At sunrise it came out alto
gether, and flew to the sugar-pine from which Kol
Tibichi had hung head downward in childhood.
It perched on the tree, stayed five minutes, and
then flew away, flew to the mountain, to the rain
bow, went into the rainbow. The bird and rainbow
went away, disappeared together. The bird was
Komus Kulit. The rainbow was Kol Tibichi's
yapaitu.

THE WINNING OF HALAI AUNA
AT THE HOUSE OF TUINA

THE WINNING OF HALAI AUNA AT
THE HOUSE OF TUINA
This myth and all that follow it belong to the Yanas, a nation
of Indians described in the notes. The nine preceding myths
are of the Wintus, neighbors of the Yanas.
The languages of these two nations are radically different.
PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Chuhna, spider ; Halai Auna, morning star ; Igupa Topa, 
Ochiil Marimi, mountain lion ; Pui Miauna, colored bow, the rainbow
Pun Miaupa, son of rainbow; Tuina, the sun; Utjamhji, mock sun
Wakara, the moon; Wediko, meteor ; Marimi means woman.

OLD Pul Miauna had a son, Pun Miaupa, a
wife, and two daughters.
Pun Miaupa had a quarrel with his father and
made up his mind to leave him. " I am going
away," said he to his father and mother onte day.
" I am tired of living here."
The mother began to cry.
" Which way are you going ? " asked the father.
Pun Miaupa gave no answer; wouldn't tell his
father where he was going. The father stood up
and walked out of the house. The mother stopped
crying and said, —
" I want you to go straight to my brother, your
uncle Igupa Topa. Tell him where you are going.
Do not go without seeing him."

282 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Pun Miaupa left his mother, went to his uncle's,
stood on the roof of the sweat-house. The old
man was very busy throwing out grass that day, A
great many people had gambled at his house a day
earlier ; they had left much grass in it.
" Uncle, are you alive ? " asked Pun Miaupa.
The old uncle looked up and saw his nephew,
who said, —
" Uncle, I am full grown. I am going on a very
long journey, I am going far away. My mother
told me to come here and see you."
" Where are you going, my nephew ? "
" To the north."
" I thought so," said the old man, who knew that
his nephew would go to get Wakara's youngest
daughter. Wakara took all his daughter's suitors to Tuina's
sweat-house, and they were killed there. Igupa
Topa knew this and said, " Wait a little, nephew,
I will go with you."
" Uncle," said Pun Miaupa, " you are too old.
I don't want you to go ; the journey would
kill you. I want to travel very fast on this jour
ney." " I will go at my own pace, I will go as I like,"
said the uncle.
" Well, come with me if you can go fast."
Igupa Topa dressed, took a staff, and looked very
old. " Go on, I am ready," said he.
Pun Miaupa started. He turned around to look
at his uncle, and saw the old man ; saw him fall
while coming out ofthe sweat-house. Pun Miaupa

The Winning of Halai Auna 283
stopped, held down his head, and thought, " He
will not go, even as far as Wajami."
The uncle rose and followed on.
" You are too old, uncle ; you cannot walk well.
Stay at home ; that is better for you."
"Go ahead," said the old man; "walk fast. I
will come as I can."
Pun Miaupa went on ; his uncle followed. Igupa
Topa stumbled every few steps, fell, hurt himself,
tore his skin. Pun Miaupa looked back very
often. The uncle was always tumbling. " He
must be bruised and broken from these falls,"
thought the nephew.
Pun Miaupa was on a hill beyond Chichipana.
He sat down and smoked. His uncle came up
while he was sitting there.
" Let me smoke ; then I want to see you jump to
that mountain over there," said the old man, point
ing to it.
" I shall leave you behind if I do that."
" Leave me to myself," said the old man.
Pun Miaupa put on deerskin leggings and a beaded
shirt, — a splendid dress. He went then with one
spring to the top of the opposite mountain and
looked back to see his uncle ; but old Igupa Topa
had jumped too. He was just passing Pun Miaupa
and went far beyond him.
" I thought you were too old to jump," said
Pun Miaupa, coming up to him.
They jumped again, jumped to a second moun
tain, and the uncle was ahead the second time.
After that they walked on. The old man fell

284 Creation Myths of Primitive America
very often, but Pun Miaupa did not pity him any
longer; he laughed when his uncle fell. They
travelled a good while, travelled fast, and when both
reached Wajami Mountain, they sat down to rest
there. " I want Wakara to send out his youngest daugh
ter for wood," said Pun Miaupa in his mind ; and
the next minute Wakara, who was far away in his
own sweat-house, told his youngest daughter to
take a basket and go for wood. This daughter was
Halai Auna.
At that moment, too, Wakara's wife, Ochul
Marimi, said to the girl : " Why do you lie asleep
all the time and not help me ? I want you to get
me leaves for acorn bread."
Halai Auna took the basket and went upon the
mountain side to find wood and leaves. Pun
Miaupa saw the girl filling her basket.
"That is Wakara's daughter," said he to his
uncle. " Stop ! Be careful ! " said Igupa Topa.
The uncle put himself into his nephew's heart
now to strengthen him. There was only one per
son to be seen. Igupa Topa went into his nephew,
went in because he knew that Tuina killed all
men who tried to get Halai Auna, and he wished
to save his sister's son, Pun Miaupa.
When the girl had her basket full and turned to
place it on her back, she saw Pun Miaupa behind
her ; she could not move, she was so frightened.
" Why are you afraid ? Am I so ugly ? " asked
Pun Miaupa.

The Winning of Halai Auna 285
He pleased her ; but she said not a word, just ran,
hurried home with the basket, and threw it down
at the door.
" What is your trouble ? " asked the mother.
" You don't like to work, I think."
" What is the matter ? " asked Wakara. " You
are frightened."
" I saw a man on the mountain, a man with
woodpecker scalps on his head."
" The southern people wear woodpecker scalps,"
said Wakara ; " that must be one of the southern
people." .Pun Miaupa sprang through the air, came down
in front of Wakara's sweat-house, went in and sat
near Halai Auna on a bear-skin. Nice food was
brought for all, and when they had finished eating,
Wakara said, —
" Now, my daughters, and you, my wife, Ochul
Marima, make ready ; let us go. I wish to see my
brother, Tuina, and hear what he says of Halai
Auna's new husband."
They dressed, put on beads, and put red paint on
their faces. Halai Auna said nothing. She sat
with her head down ; she was sorry; she liked Pun
Miaupa, she felt sure that they would kill him.
When all were ready, Wakara took his wife's
hand and danced around the fire with her. He
had two unmarried daughters besides Halai Auna ;
one of these took her father's hand, the other took
Halai Auna's, and all danced around the fire and
circled about Pun Miaupa. They put him in the
middle and danced in a circle ; they began to sing,

286 Creation Myths of Primitive America

and rose in the air then and danced right up out of
the sweat-house, went through the smoke-hole and
moved westward, singing as they went, —
" I-no, i-no, i-no, no-ma
I-no, i-no, i-no, no-ma."
They moved faster as they went, and danced all
the time. It was dark when they danced up through
the roof of the sweat-house ; no one saw them,
though there were many people round about. Old
Wakara's sons-in-law lived in that place ; all the
stars were his daughters, and his daughters were
married, except Halai Auna and the two who danced
around the fire. Wakara went without being see.n.
He would let no one have Halai Auna unless one
whom Tuina could not kill.
Now, a little before daylight they reached Tuina' s
house. Wakara stood on the roof of the sweat-
house and called, " My brother, I want you to
spring out of bed."
Tuina was asleep in the sweat-house- He had
three daughters and no son. The daughters were
called Wediko, and his wife was Utjamhji. Wakara
went down into the sweat- house and sat at the side
of Tuina. Tuina took a bear-skin and put it down
at his other hand, and told Halai Auna and her
husband to sit on it. Tuina took up a big sack
of tobacco and a large pipe cut out of maple wood.
The tobacco was made of his own hair, rolled and
cut fine. He put this in the pipe and gave it to
Pun Miaupa. Wakara and Tuina watched now,
and looked at him. The young man smoked all
the tobacco and gave back the pipe.

The Winning of Halai Auna 287
Tuina filled the pipe now with a different, a
stronger tobacco. He used to rub his skin often,
and what he rubbed off he dried and made fine.
This was his tobacco of the second kind. He had
a sackful of this stored away, and he filled his pipe
now with it.
Pun Miaupa smoked, seemed to swallow the
smoke. It was not he who was smoking, though,
but the uncle in his heart. He emptied the pipe
and returned it. Tuina took now tobacco of a third
kind, — his own flesh dried and rubbed fine. He
filled the pipe, gave it to Pun Miaupa, and waited
to see him fall dead at the second if not at the first
whiff. The country outside the sweat-house was full of
dead people, all killed by Tuina's tobacco. Some
of the bodies were fresh, others decayed ; some were
sound skeletons, others a few old bones.
Pun Miaupa smoked out this pipe, gave it back
empty. Tuina handed him a fourth pipe. The
tobacco was made of his own brains, dried and
rubbed fine. Pun Miaupa smoked this and gave
the empty pipe back to Tuina.
Tuina now tried the fifth pipe. He filled it with
marrow from his own bones, gave it to Halai Auna's
husband. Wakara and Tuina watched now, wait
ing to see him fall. Pun Miaupa swallowed all and
gave the pipe back.
Tuina had no other kind of tobacco and could do
no more. He dropped his head. " I don't know
what kind of person this is," thought he. All at
once he remembered old Igupa Topa, and thought :

288 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" This may be a young one of that kind. I can do
nothing with him, he has beaten me."
Halai Auna was very glad to have such a hus
band. This was the first man of all who had come
to see her who had not been killed by Tuina. She
laughed all this time in her mind.
Pun Miaupa went out, killed five deer, and
brought them in. The women cooked a great deal
that day. Wakara and Tuina sat in the house,
talked and ate Pun Miaupa's fresh venison. The
next night all slept. Igupa Topa went out of
Pun Miaupa's heart, went about midnight, and
sat north of the pillar in the side of the house,
sat without saying a word. He had a white feather
in his head, and looked very angry and greatly
dissatisfied. Early next morning Tuina and Wakara were up
and saw the old man sitting there with that big
feather in his head, and they looked at him.
" Oh," said Tuina, " I know now why Halai
Auna's husband can smoke my tobacco. I know
that old Igupa Topa this long time. I know what
that old fellow can do."
They put plenty of food before Igupa Topa, but
he would eat none of it. Pun Miaupa killed five
deer that morning and brought them in. The two
old men were glad to see such nice venison, and see
so much of it. Igupa Topa sat by himself, and ate
nothing. " Uncle, why do you not eat ? " asked Pun
Miaupa. He made no answer, but watched till all were

The Winning of Halai Auna 289
asleep ; then he stood up and ate, ate the whole
night through, ate all the acorn bread, all the roots,
ate all that there was in the house, except venison.
That was not his kind of food ; he would not touch
it. He sat down on the north side of the central
pillar when he had finished eating.
"You must work hard to cook food enough,"
said Tuina next morning to the women. " Some
one in this house must be very hungry."
The women worked hard all that day ; in the
evening the house was full of good food again.
Pun Miaupa's uncle would not eat a morsel placed
before him, but when night came he ate everything
there was except venison.
" There must be some one in this house who is
very hungry," said Tuina, when he rose the next
morning. " Make ready more food to-day, work
hard, my daughters."
" We will not work to-day ; that nasty old fel
low eats everything in the night time. We will not
carry wood and water all day and have nothing to
eat the next morning."
" I don't like him, either," said Tuina ; " he will
go very soon, I hope."
Igupa Topa heard these words and remembered
them. Tuina's wife and Wakara's wife, both old
women, had to work that day without assistance.
In the middle of the forenoon a great cloud rose in
the south. Pun Miaupa's uncle raised it. " Let
rain come, thick heavy rain," said he in his mind.
" I want darkness, I want a big storm and cold
rain." '9

290 Creation Myths of Primitive America
The cloud was black ; it covered all the sky ;
every one came in, and soon the rain began. It
rained in streams, in rivers ; it filled the valleys,
filled all places. The water reached Tuina's sweat-
house, rushed in, and filled the whole place;
all had to stand in water; and the rain was very
cold. Old Tuina and Wakara were shivering; their
teeth knocked together ; their wives and daughters
were crying. Igupa Topa had taken his nephew
and Halai Auna up to his place on the north side,
near the roof of his sweat-house, where they were
dry. The sweat-house was nearly full of water. All
were crying now. Some time before daylight one
of Tuina's daughters was drowned, and then the
other two, and Wakara's two daughters. About
dawn Tuina and Wakara with their two wives were
drowned. All were dead in the sweat-house except
Igupa Topa, his nephew, and Halai Auna. At day
light the rain stopped, the water began to go down,
and all the bodies floated out through the doorway.
The place was dry. Pun Miaupa made a fire.
Halai Auna came to the fire and began to cry for
her father, her mother and sisters.
" You must not cry," said Pun Miaupa ; " my
uncle did this. He will bring all to life again
quickly." But Halai Auna was afraid, and she cried for
some time
Just after midday Igupa Topa went outside, saw
the dead bodies, and said : " Why sleep all day ?

The Winning of Halai Auna 291
It is time to be up, you two old men and you five
young girls ! "
Tuina and Wakara sprang up, went to the creek,
and swam. "No one but Igupa Topa could have
done this to us," said they.
All the women rose up as if they had been only
sleeping. " My brother, I shall go home to-morrow," said
Wakara. "It is time for me."
Very early next morning Wakara and his wife
began to dance, then the two daughters, then Halai
Auna and her husband. They danced out by the
smoke-hole, rose through the air, sang, and danced
themselves home.
Wakara had been five days away, and all his
daughters' husbands were saying : " Where is our
father-in-law? He may have been killed." All
were very glad when they saw old Wakara in the
sweat-house next morning.
Before leaving Tuina's sweat-house Igupa Topa
had gone into his nephew's heart again. When
Wakara came home, he took his new son-in-law to
try a sport which he had. The old man had made a
great pole out of deer sinews. This pole was fixed
in the ground and was taller than the highest tree.
Wakara played in this way : A man climbed the
pole, a second bent it down and brought the top
as near the foot as possible. He let the top go
then, and it shot into the air. If the man on
the pole held firmly, he was safe ; if he lost his
grip he was hurled up high, then fell and was
killed.

292 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Come, my son-in-law," said Wakara one day,
" I will show you the place where I play sometimes
pleasantly." They went to the place. The old man climbed
first, grasped the pole near the top. Pun Miaupa
pulled it down ; his uncle was in his heart, and he
was very strong. He brought the top toward the
ground, did not draw very hard, and let the pole
fly back again. It sprang into the air. Wakara
was not hurled away ; he held firmly. Pun Miaupa
brought down the pole a second time, he brought
it down rather softly, and let it go. Wakara held
his place yet. He tried a third time. Wakara was
unshaken. " That will do for me," said Wakara. " Go up
now ; it is your time."
Pun Miaupa went on the pole and held with his
uncle's power. It was not he who held the pole,
but Igupa Topa. " I will end you this time," thought
Wakara. He bent the pole close to the ground and
let go. Wakara looked sharply to see his son-in-
law shoot through the air, — looked a good while,
did not see him. " My son-in-law has gone very
high," thought he. He looked a while yet in the
sky ; at last he looked at the pole, and there was
his son-in-law.
He bent the pole a second time, bent it lower
than before; then let it fly. This time Wakara
looked at the pole, and Pun Miaupa was on the top
of it.
Wakara was angry. He bent the pole to the
ground, bent angrily, and let it go. " He will fly

The Winning of Halai Auna 293
away this time, surely," thought he, and looked to
the sky to see Pun Miaupa, did not see him ; looked
at the pole, he was on it. " What kind of person
is my son-in-law ? " thought Wakara.
It was Wakara's turn now to go on the pole, and
he climbed it. Pun Miaupa gave his father-in-law a
harder pull this time, but he held his place. The
second time Pun Miaupa spoke to Wakara in his
own mind : " You don't like me, I don't like
you ; you want to kill me. I will send you high
now." He bent the pole, brought the top almost to the
foot of it, and let it fly. He looked to the top,
Wakara was gone. He had been hurled up to the
sky, and he stayed there.
Pun Miaupa laughed. " Now, my father-in-law,"
said he, " you will never come down here to live
again ; you will stay where you are now forever, you
will become small and die, then you will come to
life and grow large. You will be that way always,
growing old and becoming young again."
Pun Miaupa went home alone.
Wakara's daughters waited for their father, and
when he did n't come back they began to cry. At
last, when it was dark and they saw their father far
up in the sky, they cried very bitterly.
Next morning Pun Miaupa took Halai Auna,
his wife, and his uncle, and went to his father's
house. Chuhna, the greatest spinner in the world, lived
among Wakara's daughters. All day those women
cried and lamented.

294 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" What shall we do ? " said they ; " we want to
go and live near our father. Who can take us up
to him ? "
" I will take you up to him," said Chuhna, the
spinner, who had a great rope fastened to the sky.
Chuhna made an immense basket, put in all the
daughters with their husbands, and drew them up
till they reached the sky ; and Wakara's daughters,
the stars, are there on the sky yet.

THE HAKAS AND THE TENNAS

THE HAKAS AND THE TENNAS
PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Dan Jowa, eagle ; Haka, flint ; Hakayamchiwi, the whole Haka
people; Ilhataina, lightning; Tenna, grizzly bear; Tsawandi Kam-
shu, red flint clover ; Tsawandi Kamshupa, young red flint clover ;
Tsuwalkai, a reddish flint. Marimi means woman.

AT first about two hundred people lived with
the old woman, Tsuwalkai Marimi, in one
great house ; they were all descended from her.
They were the Hakayamchiwi, — all the Haka
people. Now, there was a deadly quarrel between the
Hakas and the Tennas, who lived near them, and
it began in this way : The Tennas invited the
Hakas to a hunt in the mountains ; ten of each
people were to make a party of twenty. One Tenna
went early the first morning to make a fire at some
distance from the sweat-house, at a meeting-place
for the hunters of both sides. Ten Hakas went out
early, were first at the fire ; but the Tennas came,
and then the twenty stood around to warm them
selves, — the Tennas on the north and the Hakas
on the south side of the fire.
The Hakas had flint arrow-heads, good ones ; the
Tennas had arrow-heads of pine bark. While they

298 Creation Myths of Primitive America
were warming themselves, a Tenna said to a Haka,
" Let me see your arrow-point."
" Here it is," said the Haka ; " look at it."
" He, he, he ! " laughed the Tenna ; " that point
is no good ! " He held it out, looked at it, and
laughed again. " If I put it down my throat, it
won't hurt me."
" Let me see your arrow-point," said the Haka.
" Here it is," said the Tenna.
The Haka looked at the pointed pine bark,
laughed, and said : " That is no arrow-head ; that is
nothing but pine bark. If I stab myself behind
with your arrow-head, it won't hurt me. I shall not
die." " Let me see you stab yourself," said the Tenna.
" Look at me. I '11 stab myself behind with it."
The Haka stabbed himself, and the Tenna's
arrow-head broke ; it did not hurt him a bit. " You
see," said he, " I am not dying."
" Let me see your arrow-head," said the Tenna.
He gave the arrow-point, and the Tenna stabbed
himself in the same way that the Haka had. The
arrow-head was very sharp and went into him, cut
him, — cut his intestines. He fell over and lay on
the ground, lay there groaning.
"You see that my arrow-head is good; it will
kill any one," said the Haka.
Right away the Tenna was dying ; very soon he
was dead. When the Tennas saw that their brother
was dead, they rushed at the ten Hakas and killed
them hand to hand before they could use arrows,
before they could save themselves.

The Hakas and the Tennas 299
The Tennas went home, but the Hakas did not
go home that evening.
Next morning early one of the Tennas came to
the house of the Hakas, and called out, —
" Come to the fire, cousins ; come to the fire.
We will meet you there. Oh, cousins, it is time to
go hunting ; be up. Your brothers who went yes
terday are going again to-day/'
" We will go," said the Hakas, who did not know
that their brothers were killed.
The Tennas had a fire in the same place as the
first day, and were there waiting. After a time the
ten Hakas came and stood at the fire in the same
way as their brothers had stood a day earlier. They
did not quarrel now, but went to the woods soon.
The Tennas had everything ready for hunting;
other Tennas were hidden in the woods, and ten
more Hakas were killed by them that day.
On the third morning a Tenna came to the Hakas
and called, —
" Cousins, it is time to be up, time to hunt.
Your brothers of yesterday and the day before are
all waiting."
" We will go, we will go," said the Hakas.
The fire was ready ; the Tennas were there. They
came earlier, and acted just as they had acted the
second day. Ten more Hakas were killed by them
that day.
The Hakas would not go on the fourth day.
The Tennas began now to kill Hakas whenever
they found them out hunting, or fishing, whenever
they saw them in the woods anywhere. When the

300 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Haka women went to dig roots, or find worms, or
gather acorns, the Tennas killed them wherever
they caught them. When the children went out
to play or went to get water, they killed them.
The Tennas killed on till only one old woman,
Tsuwalkai Marimi, and her grandson, Tsawandi
Kamshu, were left of all the Hakas.
One evening Tsawandi Kamshu hung his bow
(an old bow bound around closely with deer sinew)
over his bed on the south side of the sweat-house.
With this bow he hung an otter-skin quiver full of
arrows. " My grandmother," said he in the night, " I may
not come back to-morrow. If anything happens,
the bow and the quiver and all that are with them
will fall on the bed. You will know then that
some one has killed me. But a child will rise from
the spittle which I have left near the head of the
bed ; a little boy will come up from the ground."
Tsuwalkai Marimi listened, said nothing, made
no answer. Tsawandi Kamshu went out the next
morning at daybreak, stayed out all that day. At
dusk the bow fell with the quiver.
The old woman began to cry. She cried bitterly.
"All our people are dead," said she. "All our
people are gone, and I am alone."
She went around crying ; went along the four
sides of the house ; went to where the bows, arrows,
and otter-skin quivers were hanging ; cried all that
night, cried all the next day.
The Tennas watched for the old woman, watched
closely. They wanted to kill her, but they could

The Hakas and the Tennas 301

not break into the house, and she would not go out
to them. They wanted to kill her and put an end
to the last of the Hakas.
While Tsuwalkai was crying the second night, the
Tennas were near the house listening and watching.
" The old woman is laughing," said they. " She
is having some feast ; that is why she is laughing.
She must be glad, that old woman."
Tsuwalkai heard these words of her enemies.
" Oh, Tennas, do not talk that way," said she.
" Something may happen yet that will hurt you.
Some one may come who will make your hearts
sore. You may drop tears yet, you may be sorry."
The old woman cried the third night and third
day. The fourth night she dropped no tears, but
she could not sleep. In the middle of the fourth
night she heard crying on the ground near Tsawandi
Kamshu's sleeping-place. A little baby was cry
ing, rolling, struggling, wailing. The old woman
listened, she heard " U na, u na." She was fright
ened at first.
" I must be dreaming of a baby, I must be dream
ing," said she. " Oh, my people are making me
dream. I hear a noise like the crying of a baby in
my sweat-house. Oh, it is no baby ; I am only
dreaming." The baby cried on, kept crying. The old woman
went to the spot where the crying was, looked, found
a baby covered with dirt, mud, and ashes. She had
not carried the ashes out since her grandson had
gone ; she could not carry them. The Tennas were
watching outside for her, watching to kill the old

302 Creation Myths of Primitive America
woman. The baby rolled around in the dirt and
the ashes.
" I don't think any one brought that baby into
this house," said the old woman to herself. " Tsa
wandi Kamshu said that a baby would come from
the ground, would rise from his spittle. Maybe
this is his spirit that has come back and is a baby
again. I will call this baby Tsawandi Kamshupa."
She took up the baby, a little boy, washed him,
washed him all night, the little child was so dirty.
She washed him in cold water, and he grew while
she washed. She washed him till morning, but gave
him no food.
The Tennas heard now the noise of two people
inside. Tsuwalkai Marimi felt glad, she had the
company of this little boy. All day and two nights
she washed the child. He ate nothing.
" I want you to live and grow large, little boy,"
said the old woman. " I want you to grow quickly ;
you will be a great help to me."
The little boy did not know what was said yet.
She washed the child, talked three days and three
nights to him. The little boy could creep around
the house now, could creep through every part of it.
She washed him in the night, in the day ; washed
him often. He grew very fast. In ten days he
was a man full grown. He coidd talk now as well
as any one, and one day he asked the old woman, —
" What house is this ? What people live here ? "
She told him the whole story of her people ; told
how all had been killed by the Tennas in the woods,
in the fields, on the water.

The Hakas and the Tennas

3°3

" I am sorry to hear what you tell," said he.
He asked now for a bow. She gave him a fresh
one. He broke it.
" I want one to kill birds outside with it."
" You must not go out," said the old woman ;
" bad people are near us."
" I only want to kill birds. Whose arms are
these ? " asked he, pointing to knives, bows, and
arrows on the walls.
" Oh, it makes me sorry to tell you, it makes me
sorry to talk of them. These are the arms of many
men. The Tennas killed all of them."
She went to the west side of the house and gave
him bows. He broke one after another. He
broke every bow on the walls except one. When
he came to his own bow, his old bow, he laughed.
He took it himself without asking. He tried and
could not break it ; tried again, laughed, and was
glad. " Tsuwalkai, whose bow is this ? " asked he.
" That was the bow of a good man."
" He was a good man, I think," said Tsawandi
Kamshupa ; " why did he die ? There was a good
man in this house ; he had that bow ; he was a great
fighter." Tsawandi Kamshupa tried again to break the bow
with his feet and hands, but he could not.
" There was a good man in this house," said the
old woman, " the best man of all the Haka people.
That was his bow."
" I wished to go hunting to-day, but I will go
very early to-morrow. I will go before daylight,"

304 Creation Myths of Primitive America
— % 
said Tsawandi Kamshupa. " I am going to look
around. I am going a short distance to hunt. I
will come back ; have no fear."
The old woman was afraid. She had lost the
owner of the bow, the best of her grandsons.
" I will only go down south a little way," said he.
Early next morning he took a deerskin, wrapped
it around his body, tied a belt around his waist, and
took his arrows. There was dew on the grass yet.
He looked down the mountain-side, saw many peo
ple near a big fire, and said, —
" I know who those people are ; they are Tep-
tewi " (Tenna women).
There were fifty of them. They had come to
that swampy mountain-side early in the morning.
They had come before daybreak to dig worms and
gather clover. Each had a stick to dig worms
with. The young man stood watching these women,
and said to himself : " What shall I do ? These
Tennas have killed all my people except my old
grandmother. They tried to kill her. They will
kill her and me if they can. What shall I do ?
There are a great many women there. I will kill
a lone one to begin with, then hide my bow and
quiver and go to those farther down."
He went along the slope somewhat, came to one
Tenna woman, and killed her. The others did not
see him, did not know that he was on the moun
tain, thought that all the Hakas were dead.
He opened the Tenna's throat, took her heart,
put it inside his blanket, and left the body dead

The Hakas and the Tennas 305
on the ground. The other Tenna women were
working not far from a fire. These women had
taken their teeth out and hung them on a tree near
the fire. Whenever they were angry the women
put these teeth in their mouths to bite with.
Tsawandi went along the mountain-side carefully.
" I will go to that fire," thought he. Then he
sprang up and stood near the fire, warmed his
hands. The women did not see him yet. One
looked up at the fire, but saw no one. " Hei ! "
cried he, " you women are out very early. Come
here and warm yourselves. Cook worms for me ; I
am hungry, I want worms."
The women gave no answer, said nothing. They
were afraid ; they could not bite, for their teeth were
out. " If I had my teeth, I would kill that man,"
thought each woman.
Tsawandi kept his eye on the teeth, which were at
one end of the fire ; he would let no woman come
near them. " Come up ! come up ! " called he. At
last they came up and sat near the fire, but could
not get their teeth. " I did not know that women
go out in the morning so early," said he. " I saw
a deer some distance back here and killed it. I
was in a great hurry. I took only a small piece of
meat." He took out the heart, cut it into pieces, roasted
them by the fire ; then he gave some to each
woman. The women were hungry, and were glad
to get meat.
" Have you no bread ? " asked Tsawandi.
" We have no bread," said the women.

306 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Well, I have acorn bread." He had no bread,
but he put his hand in his bosom and thought, " I
want bread of red flint meal." This bread came to
his bosom, and he gave each woman a piece of it.
" My grandmother makes good bread," said he.
" I carry it with me always to show people and
let them have some to eat. Every one likes my
grandmother's bread."
The bread tasted well ; all ate. He watched
their teeth closely. Very soon a woman fell dead ;
then all fell quickly and died. He cut their hearts
out — fifty hearts — and carried them under his
deerskin. He went farther south now ; ran quickly.
He saw fifty more women working near a fire ; went
near the fire, sprang up to it, and cried, —
" Hu, hu ! women, you are out early ; why so
early ? It is cold ; come warm your hands. Give
me something to eat ; give me worms and clover ;
give me something to eat, and I will give you some
thing ; I will give bread, I will give venison."
These women had come out to dig roots ; their
teeth were hanging on a tree near the fire. The
Tenna women never kept their teeth in their mouths
while they were working. " I wish my teeth were
in my mouth," thought each woman, " I would kill
that man."
All these fifty women came up to the fire, ate
acorn bread as the others had eaten, and died.
From this fire Tsawandi Kamshupa went to an
other, and that morning he killed all the Tenna
women who were out ; not one was left alive, except
a few who had remained at home in the sweat-house.

The Hakas and the Tennas 307
He went farther south now ; went to their sweat-
house. It was still early morning. All the Tenna
men were at home. " How shall I kill them ? "
thought Tsawandi. " I will go into the house and
say that I am sent by my brother to invite them to
a feast and a hunt. They '11 believe that."
He looked down from the top of the house.
There were many Tennas there. All the Tenna
men were in the sweat-house. Tsawandi Kamshupa
went in boldly ; sat near the fire, warming his hands.
The Tennas whispered to each other, " That 's my
blood, sister ; that 's my blood, brother ! " meaning,
" he 's my share ; I '11 eat him."
" Oh, you Tenna people, what are you talking
of? I am your neighbor. I do not live very far
from you, I am no stranger. I have come down
here early this morning to invite you to a feast, to a
hunt. Tsawandi Kamshu sent me down here to ask
you ; he would like to see you at his sweat-house."
" This one here looks like Tsawandi Kamshu
himself," whispered some.
" Oh, no," whispered others. " Tsawandi Kam
shu is dead this good while. We killed him."
" What are you telling each other ? " interrupted
Tsawandi Kamshupa. " I am not Tsawandi Kam
shu. He does not look like me. He is my
brother. He sent me to ask you to hunt. I killed
some deer on the way here, but could bring only
their hearts. Here are the hearts."
He cut the hearts into pieces, gave them all to
the Tennas. They roasted the hearts and ate them.
He gave flint bread to them, as he had to the

308 Creation Myths of Primitive America
women on the mountain slope. All ate the bread,
praised it, asked for more, ate it very eagerly.
They began soon to fall on every side. Four
Tennas only would not eat the flint bread. They
closed the ground door, fastened it outside, went to
the top of the sweat-house, and watched. Soon
every Tenna in the sweat-house was dead.
Tsawandi Kamshupa looked up and saw the four
Tennas there looking down at him. Their four
heads were close together, and they looked very
angry. " Why are you four looking down here so ?
What are you watching for, what are you trying to
do up there? The people down here have all
gone to sleep, and can't talk with me. I want you
men to talk a while. Come down, you, and talk
with me ; then I '11 go home."
The four Tennas said nothing.
" You want to catch me ; I know that. I will
show you how I can jump."
They said nothing, watched sharply, sitting oppo
site each other with their long teeth sticking out.
When he saw that they would not leave the open
ing, he said again, " I will show you how I can
jump." He bent to one side a little, shot up like an
arrow, darted out between the four. The next
thing the Tennas saw was Tsawandi Kamshupa in
the field beyond the house.
When he had passed through the opening, the
Tennas closed their jaws with a snap, and almost
bit each other's noses off. Their bite was too late.

The Hakas and the Tennas

3°9

Tsawandi Kamshupa now sent three arrows from
his old bow. They went through the hearts of
three Tennas ; they dropped dead where they stood.
The fourth ran away, ran with all his strength, was
never seen in that place again. He ran northwest,
and from that Tenna come all that are in the world
in our time.
Tsuwalkai Marimi could go out now and dig
roots. She was free to go anywhere. While dig
ging one day she saw the strong stalk of shitpayu
sticking out of the ground. She dug around it and
below the roots, found a little baby. The stem
was growing out of the child's navel. She took
the baby, twisted the stalk off, and bound up the
child. She had nothing to wrap around the little
one ; so she took her skirt made of buckskin, the
only clothing she wore, and wrapped it around the
baby. Holding it close to her breast, she fondled
the child and said, —
" Grow, little boy, grow quickly ; you will be com
pany yet for your grandmother."
She brought the boy home, washed him, washed
him many times, put him in a wildcat skin. When
Tsawandi Kamshupa came and saw Tsuwalkai with
the baby, he wondered and cried, —
" Oh, grandmother, where did you find the little
boy ? "
She told how she had found him in the field, dug
him out of the ground, and brought him home.
That same day Dari Jowa, Tsawandi Kamshupa's
great friend, came, and, seeing the little boy, laughed
loudly.

3 1 o Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Oh, my aunt," said he, "that is not your baby.
Where did you find that little boy? "
She told him the same story that she had told her
grandson. The baby grew quickly, grew large in a little
while. " Oh, my aunt," said Dari Jowa, " give this boy
to me. I want to hear him talk. I want him for
myself. I will take good care of him. I want to
hear him talk, I want to hear him shout. He
will be a great shouter. Oh, my aunt, give this
little boy to me."
The old woman agreed at last. Dari Jowa took
the boy and called him Ilhataina. One day Dari
Jowa brought Ilhataina to the sweat-house and said,
" Talk now."
Ilhataina began to talk, and the sweat-house trem
bled. He shouted ; the whole earth shook. He
was thundering.

ILHATAINA

ILHATAINA

PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Ahalamila, gray wolf; Demauna, pine marten; Gowila, lizard;
Ilhataina, lightning; Jul Kurula, woodgrub; Jupka, butterfly of the
wild silkworm ; Tsor6 Jovti, a kind of eagle.

NEAR Jigulmatu lived Tsore Jowa, a very old
woman. Once in the spring she went west
to dig roots, and found a great clump of them.
" I '11 come to-morrow and dig these," thought she,
and went home.
Next morning she went to get the roots. She
dug around the whole clump, but could not pull it
up. She dug deeper, pulled and tugged ; at last
the roots came, and on them a little boy with eyes
staring out of his head. She pushed the eyes back,
cured him, put him in a rabbit-skin blanket which
she wore, and went home. She washed the boy all
day, and did not sleep at night. She washed him
all the time. When five days old, he had grown a
good deal. On the sixth day he crept ; on the
ninth he walked. When fifteen days old, he was a
strong but very small boy.
" I want a bow and arrows," said he.
" You must not go out," said the old woman,
"you must not leave my sight."

314 Creation Myths of Primitive America
He teased till at last she gave him a bow and
said, "You must stay on the housetop, and not go
away." While he was on the house a bird flew up,
perched on a tree-top, and asked, " Why does n't
your mother nurse you ? "
The bird repeated this and flew away. The boy
cried ; came down and told his grandmother.
" Where are our people ? Tell me," said he.
" Our people were many," said she, " but Gowila
killed them all. We have no people now."
" Who is Gowila ? "
" Oh, he is strong and terrible ; you must not
see Gowila."
The boy walked around the house then, looked
at the walls, and asked, " May I have that bow
hanging there ? "
" You may if you like," said she, " but you are
too weak to use it. You are very small, a little
fellow." He started at the east side of the sweat-house
and went northward, tried the first bow, broke it ;
went on, took another, broke that. Then he went
around the whole house, breaking every bow that
he came to, till on the south side he reached the
last bow. It was made of deer sinew. He bent
that, tried his best, tried again and again, could not
break it. " What kind of a bow is this ? " thought
he. " It is the ugliest, the oldest, but I cannot
break it." He took the bow and a big stone to
crush it. The bow flew out of his hand, and the
stone fell.

Ilhataina

3J5

" How did the man die who used this bow ? "
asked the boy.
" Gowila killed him, and those who had the
other bows," answered the old woman.
" I will go for wood now and sweat."
" Do not go far," said Tsore Jowa.
The boy ran off to the east, seized a big pine-
tree, tore it up with one pull, and took it home
in one hand. He made a big fire and put stones
on it.
" Bring water, my grandmother," said he ; " then
I will tell you what to do." The old woman filled
a great basket with water. The stones were dropped
in when red-hot, and the water boiled quickly.
" Grandmother, put me into the boiling water."
The old woman was frightened, but did what he
told her.
" Cover me closely," said the boy.
She covered him with another tight basket. He
lay in the water till the cover flew from the basket,
and he was thrown through the opening in the top
of the sweat-house and dropped on the roof outside.
He ran down, swam in the river close by, and then
went back and talked with the old woman.
" You will be very strong," said she. " You will
be called Ilhataina."
He ran east a second time ; brought sugar-pines.
He did not sleep, he sang without stopping. Rocks
were made hot as before, and dropped into a bigger
basket. The old woman put in Ilhataina, and cov
ered him with four closely woven baskets. He was
in the boiling water till the four covers burst off,

3 1 6 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and he flew up through the opening in the top
of the sweat-house. He ran down again to the
river, and while swimming talked to himself,
saying, —
" I will meet Gowila to-day, I will meet Gowila
to-day." At sunrise he went home. " Grandmother, I
am going out a short way," said he, taking down
his old bow and one arrow.
" Oh, grandson, you must not go far ; you must
not leave my sight," said the old woman.
He counted twenty otter-skin quivers filled with
arrows, and said, " I will take these."
She cooked roots for his breakfast, and brought
a small basket full for him to take with him. He
went west to a grove of trees, made a fire there,
and caused salmon to hang all around on the tree
branches. Crowds of men and women were heard
talking and laughing near by. He made it so.
There were no people in the place. He made the
noise to entice Gowila.
He began to dig roots then. He dug without
raising his head, dug and worked on, singing songs
as he worked. Soon a big ugly old man from the
north came. This was Gowila. He had a great
dog, and a deer head was hanging at his back, with
long horns on each side of it.
" You sing a nice song," said he.
Ilhataina never looked up.
" Come to the fire," said Gowila.
The boy said nothing ; dug all the time.
" Come to the fire ; I am hungry," said Gowila.

Ilhataina

3J7

After a time Ilhataina went to the fire.
" You sing well," said Gowila. " Where did you
come from ? "
" From Jigulmatu. People sing well at Jigul-
matu, and they dance well."
Gowila sat down near the fire. " Put roots in
my mouth. Put in more," said he, when the boy
gave him some.
The boy fed Gowila until he had eaten all the
roots in the basket.
" How many people are digging roots around
here ? " asked he.
" I do not know ; a great many," said Ilhataina.
A loud noise of people was heard a short distance
away, — a noise of men and women laughing and
talking. Gowila saw blankets and baskets near the
fire. Ilhataina made the appearance of them.
There was nothing there but the twenty otter-skin
quivers and the ugly old bow and one arrow in his
hand. " Give me your bow," said Gowila ; " let me
look at it."
He asked again and again till the boy gave the
bow. Gowila threw it into the fire.
" Why do that ? " asked Ilhataina, snatching his
bow from the fire. " Let me see your bow."
Gowila handed the bow to him. Ilhataina broke
it with his left hand, and then sprang toward the
east. Gowila was very angry, and said " Teh ! " to
his dog. The dog rushed at the boy. Ilhataina
shot and hit the dog. He shot all the arrows but
one from ten quivers. Every arrow hit but did no

318 Creation Myths of Primitive America
harm to the dog. Just then one of the seven stars
(the Pleiades) called to Ilhataina, —
" Shoot him in the little toe and he will die."
The boy hit the dog's little toe. He fell dead.
Ilhataina ran to the fire where Gowila was stand
ing. " You cannot kill me," said he to Gowila ;
" you are big and strong, but you cannot hurt me."
" I will kill you," said Gowila ; and he sent an
arrow at him. It missed.
Ilhataina shot his arrow and it struck. Every
arrow that he sent went into Gowila, but no arrow
struck Ilhataina. All the arrows but one were gone
from the second ten quivers. That moment one of
the seven stars called to Ilhataina, —
" Shoot at his little toe. If you hit him there,
he will die."
Ilhataina struck Gowila's little toe, and he
dropped dead.
Ilhataina skinned Gowila, stripped him from head
to foot, put the skin on himself, and became just
like his enemy. Next he struck the dog with a red
rose switch, and the dog jumped up alive and glad
to see his master. Ilhataina hung the deer head
behind his shoulders, took his quivers, and went
home. Gowila's dog followed him. When near
the house, he made heavy steps, and the old woman
looked out.
" Oh, Gowila is coming ! Gowila is coming ! "
cried she, terribly frightened.
" Grandmother, don't be afraid ; it is I. Gowila
is dead. I have killed him. I am wearing his skin.
I am as big and as ugly as he was. I will go to his

Ilhataina

3l9

house to-night, I think. I have brought his liver
and lights with me."
" Go, grandson, go. I fear nobody now."
Ilhataina went away, saying, " I will be here about
sunrise to-morrow."
He went north to Gowila's sweat-house, went a
long way, went quickly, walked up to the house,
was just like Gowila. A great many people lived
in that house. All kinds of snake people were there,
— rattlesnakes, bull-snakes, water-snakes, striped
snakes, all kinds of snakes.
He hung Gowila's liver and lights outside, went
in, and sat down between Gowila's two wives. The
dog lay down in his own place. The wives were
Pupila women, two sisters.
" Bring in the meat which I hung up outside and
cook it," said Ilhataina to the elder wife.
He cut the liver and lights into small bits, and
the two women boiled them. There was a great
steam and a strong smell from these pieces. All in
the house were blind except the two wives, and only
one of the blind people spoke, Gowila's younger
brother. " I smell Gowila's flesh," said he.
" How could you smell Gowila's flesh when I am
Gowila ? "
Ilhataina was very angry, and dashed live coals
through the house. All were terrified. All ate of
the meat except Gowila's younger brother. He
was very wise and would n't touch it.
Ilhataina went out and found a great many legs
around the house. Gowila had eaten the bodies of
thousands of people and thrown the legs away.

320 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Ilhataina gathered these into one place and went
back to the house.
" Blind people," said he, " I wish you would
sing, and you, my wives, dance for me. I '11 go to
sleep then."
" We will sing," said they, " and dance."
The blind people sang, and the two women danced.
Soon the men and the two women stopped. Ilha
taina made them all drowsy, and they fell asleep.
Then he went out, fastened the door, and said, —
" I want the walls of this house to be covered
with pitch."
The whole house was covered with pitch, and
then he set fire to it. Soon he heard terrible scream
ing inside and crowds running around in the sweat-
house. None could get out, and all were burned
to death quickly.
Ilhataina tied the legs together with a long grape
vine and carried them home. He was there about
daylight. He placed them all in the river and went
to the sweat-house.
" Hide me, and then lie on your face with your
arms under your head," said he to his grandmother.
The old woman put him in one basket and covered
him with another, then lay herself as he had directed.
In the middle of the forenoon there was a great
noise of people rising out of the river. They came
in through the top of the sweat-house. When all
were inside, the old woman stood up. All her
people were alive there before her, — Demauna,
Jupka, and others ; all had come back.
" Who brought us to life again ? " asked De
mauna. " Show me the person."

Ilhataina

321

The old woman took Ilhataina out of the basket
and carried him to them. Demauna caught him in
his arms. " Well done, my brother ! " said he.
All the rest called him brother.
" Let me have him," said Ahalamila.
" No," answered Demauna ; " I will keep him
myself." They asked the old woman where she had found
Ilhataina. She would not tell.
" Will you sweat? " asked Ilhataina.
" Yes," said all the people.
" I will bring wood," said he.
When he ran out, the sweat-house danced in its
place. All thought he was too small to carry wood,
but when he snatched a tall fir the earth trembled.
When he touched a big sugar-pine, he crushed it.
He brought great trees in a moment, and when he put
them down the place shivered. All were in terror.
When Ilhataina talked the whole world was
afraid, and when he moved the ground which he
walked on was quivering.
All sweated, swam in the river, and went back to
the old woman's. Ilhataina walked across the
house, and his heart shook as if it would jump from
his body.
" I am not going to stay here," said he.
When Demauna heard this, he cried, and the old
woman cried.
" My brother," said Demauna, " I should like to
know where you are going. I wish you would stay
with us."
Ilhataina made no answer.

322 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" My brother," said Jupka, " if you will not stay
here, I wish you would go to the sky. Now," said
Jupka, " will you take beads as a gift from me ? "
"No."" Shells ? "
"No."
"Wolf robes?"
" No."
" Wildcat robes ? "
" No."
" Foxskin robes ? "
" No."
Jupka wore an old ragged "rabbit-skin robe. He
had worn it a long time. " I think you like this,"
said he.
" Yes," answered Ilhataina, " that 's what I want."
He took the old robe and tied it with weeds around
his waist. " Now I am ready to leave you. Come
out and see me go."
There was a black cloud in the sky. Ilhataina
had brought it there. " I will go up to that place,"
said he. "Whenever rain comes in future, it will
be water falling from my rabbit robe."
All hurried out. Jupka's son, Jul Kurula, who
was wrapped in a black bearskin, came down into
the sweat-house and cried ; he did n't wish to lose
Ilhataina. " Now, my friends," said Ilhataina, " I leave you ;
hereafter when you see me travel I shall go like
this ; " and he went with a flash to the black cloud.
He was taken into it, and now he stays there.

HITCHINNA

HITCHINNA

PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into
which the personage was changed subsequently.
Hitchinna, wildcat; Hitchln Marimi, wildcat woman, his wife;
Hitchinpa, young wildcat; Metsi, coyote; Putokya, skull people, or
head people.

HITCHINNA had a wife and a son a few days
old. Hitchinpa, the little son, was sleeping,
and Hitchin Marimi, the wife, was taking care of
her child. Hitchinna had dreamed the night before,
and his dream was a bad one.
" I had a dream last night," said he to his wife,
"a very bad dream."
" What did you dream ? " asked she.
•" I dreamed that I climbed a big pine-tree ; the
tree was full of cones. I was throwing them down,
had thrown down a great many, when at last I
threw down my right arm. I dreamed then that
I threw down my left arm."
He told her no more. That morning early, be
fore he had talked of his dream, the woman
said, —
" I should like to have pine-nuts ; I want to eat
pine-nuts ; I am hungry for pine-nuts."
He went out to find the nuts, and she went with
him, taking the baby. They came to a large pine-
tree, and he climbed it. Hitchin Marimi put the

326 Creation Myths of Primitive America
baby aside on the ground, and made a fire at some
distance to roast the pine-cones.
Hitchinna threw down cones ; she roasted them
to get out the nuts. He threw down a great many
cones. She roasted these cones and pounded the
nuts out.
After a while Hitchinna's right arm fell off; he
threw that to the ground, then he threw down his
left arm. His left leg came off; he threw it down.
Next his right leg dropped off, and he threw that
to the ground.
The woman was roasting and pounding the pine-
cones ; she did not look around for a good while.
At last she went to the tree, found blood on it, and
looking up, saw that her husband was throwing him
self down, that there was not much left of his body.
Hitchin Marimi was scared half to death ; she
ran away home. She was so terrified that she left
the little child behind, forgot all about it. When
she reached home, she called the people together
and said, —
" My husband went up into a pine-tree ; he threw
down a great many pine-cones. Then he began
to throw himself down ; first he threw one arm,
then the other. We must hurry and hide some
where ; he will be bad very soon; he will kill us all
if he finds us."
The people asked, "Where can we go to hide
from him, — north, south, east, or west ? "
" I know a good place," said one man, "and it is
not too far from here, — Wamarawi."
"Well, we must go to that place, and go very

Hitchinna 327

quickly," said Hitchinna's wife ; and all the people
agreed with her.
The people ran to Wamarawi, which is a round
mountain ; they ran the whole way and went into a
cave in the mountain. When all were inside, they
closed the entrance very firmly, shut it up tight.
Nothing could get in through that door.
After his wife had run home, Hitchinna threw
down his ribs one by one, and kept asking his wife
if she was there. He got no answer. She was
gone and he did not know it. He threw down first
all the ribs of his right side, then all of his left side.
Every time he threw a rib he called, " Uh ! Uh ! "
to his wife.
At last there was nothing left of him on the tree
but his head, and that came down soon after. His
eyes were very big now, sticking out, staring with a
wild and mad look. The head lay under the tree
a while. Hitchinna had become another kind of
people. He had become a Putokya. He was
one of the skull people, a very bad terrible people.
Each one of them is nothing but a skull.
Putokya is new now. He has a new mind, new
wishes. He is under the tree, and. lies there a little
while. He cannot walk any more. He can only
roll on the ground like a ball. After resting and
thinking a while, he starts to find his wife ; rolls till
he comes to the fire. There is no woman there.
He looks around, cannot find her, looks again, and
sees the baby. He rolls to the baby, catches it in
his mouth, eats up the baby in one moment. The
head talks then, and says, —

328 Creation Myths of Primitive America
"I dreamed last night that I ate up my own
son." He is dreadful now. He scatters the pine-cones,
quenches the fire, rages, roars awfully, a real
Putokya. He rolls, bounds, knocks against a tree,
cuts it down, breaks it to pieces, scatters it.
Next he starts for the village, springing and
bounding along like a football, making a terrible
wind as he goes, reaches the house, looks through
it. All are gone from the house and from the vil
lage. All have run off to Wamarawi.
First he knocks against his own house, breaks it,
smashes it to pieces, and then he breaks all the other
houses in the same way, one after another: He
scatters and smashes up everything, wrecks the
whole village, just as if a strong whirlwind had gone
through it. The people are all in Wamarawi, in the
stone cave in the mountain, a very great crowd of
them. Putokya looks around, finds tracks, follows the
people southward, goes with a terrible roar, raising
a storm as he moves. He breaks everything he
strikes, except rocks. From these he bounds off like
a football. He follows the people of the village, follows on
their tracks, stops before Wamarawi, rolls up to the
entrance, listens quietly, hears a sound inside like
the buzzing of bees. Putokya is glad. He stops
a while and thinks what to do. "You cannot go
from me now," says he.
All the people were inside except Metsi ; he had
gone north somewhere.

Hitchinna 329

" I will break in the cave," said Putokya.
He began at the west side, went back a whole
mile, bounded, rushed, hurled himself at the moun
tain, whistled through the air with a noise like the
loudest wind, struck the mountain, made a great
hole in it, but could not go through to the cave.
Putokya felt sure that he could break through.
He went back a whole mile again from the north
side, bounded, rushed forward, made a tremendous
hole in the north side ; but he could not go through,
and the rock closed again.
The people inside are glad now ; they are laugh
ing, they think themselves safe, — jeer at Putokya.
Putokya hears them. He is angrier than ever, he
is raging. " I will try the east side," said he ;
"that is better."
He went back as before, bounded forward, made
a deep hole in the east, but it closed again, and
he left it. He tried the south. It was just like
the other sides. Putokya stops a while, is afraid
that he cannot get in, that he cannot get at the
people. " The Yana are not very wise," said he. " I should
like to know who told them what to do. They did
not know themselves. Who told them to go to
Wamarawi ? "
He tried to go to the top of the mountain and
make a hole there. He could not roll up in any
way. He fell back each time that he tried. He
could travel on level ground only, he could only
rise by bounding.
" I cannot go up there, I am not able," said he.

330 Creation Myths of Primitive America
He lay down close to the entrance of the cave and
thought a while. He made up his mind to bound
like a ball, to spring from point to point, higher and
higher, on neighboring mountains, till he got very
high, and then come down on the top of Wamarawi.
He did this, went far up on the top of other and
higher mountains till at last he was very high ; then
with a great bound he came down on the top of
Wamarawi, came down with a terrible crash. He
made an awfully big hole in it, bigger than all the
four holes he had made in the sides put together ;
and this hole did not close, but it did not reach the
cave. After that blow he came again to level ground.
He lay there and said to himself: " I have tried five
times to get at those people. I will try once more.
I may get at them this time. "
He went high up in the sky, higher than before.
He was angrier and madder than ever, and he came
down with a louder crash ; the whole mountain
shook and trembled. No one inside the cave was
laughing now ; all the people were terrified.
Putokya went almost through to the cave. The
rock above the people was very thin after this blow,
and the hole did not close again.
" I will not try any more," said Putokya ; " I
cannot get at the people." He was discouraged,
and left Wamarawi.
All the people within were in terror. " If he
tries once more, we are lost," said they. " He will
burst through and eat us, eat every one of us."
The great hole remained on that mountain top,

Hitchinna 331

and people say that there is a lake up there now
with goldfish in it.
Putokya started north, went toward Pulshu Aina,
his own village. As he went toward home, he made
a great roaring and wind, cut down trees and brush,
people, beasts, everything that he met ; he left a
clean road behind. He swept through Pulshu Aina,
and went farther north, went almost to Jigulmatu.
Metsi was coming down to the south, along the
same trail ; he was very well dressed. Metsi always
dressed well. He wore a splendid elkskin belt and
a hair net ; he was fine-looking.
Metsi was right in the middle of the trail. He
had learned that Putokya was out killing people in
the south ; he heard the roar a great way off, and
said to himself, —
" I hear Putokya ; he is killing all the people."
Metsi thought over what he was to do. " I will
meet him. I will say to this Putokya, 'You are
smart, you are good, but you are sick. I will cure
you. Metsi took off all his fine clothes in a hurry and
hid them, made himself naked. " I must be quick,"
said he ; " the noise and wind are coming nearer and
nearer. I wish a rusty old basket to be here be
fore me." The basket was there. He wished for
an old strap to carry it. The old strap was there
with the basket
Metsi made buckskin rings around his arms and
legs, turned himself into an old, very old woman,
all bent and wrinkled, with a buckskin petticoat.
He put the rusty basket on his back.

332 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Putokya was hurrying on ; the roar grew louder
and nearer. Metsi knew that Putokya was very
dangerous, and that he must be careful. He took
white clay, painted his face, made a regular old
woman of himself. Putokya came near. Metsi
was ready, the basket on his back and a stick in his
hand. He was walking along slowly, a very old
woman and decrepit. The old woman began to
cry, " En, en, en ! "
Putokya stopped on the road, made no noise,
listened to the old woman.
" He has stopped ; he is listening to me," said
Metsi ; and he cried more, cried in a louder voice
and more pitifully.
Putokya was quiet. Metsi walked right up to
him, looked at him, and said, " I came near step
ping on you." Metsi was crying more quietly
now. " Are you a dead person ? " asked Metsi.
Putokya was silent
" I heard you from where I was," said Metsi ;
" when you had a bad dream, I heard you in the
south, heard you everywhere, heard you when you
turned to be a Putokya, one of the head people, and
wanted to kill everybody. You used to be good,
you used to be wise, but now you are sick; you
will die, and be among people no longer unless you
are cured. That is why I started to come south ; I
started south to find you, to see you. It is a good
thing that you came up here ; now I see you. I
am your relative, your cousin. I want you to be
healthy, to be as you were before; to have your

Hitchinna

333

arms and legs again, to feel well. I want to cure
you." Metsi was sobbing all this time. He pretended
to be awfully sorry ; he was n't, for Metsi was n't
sorry for any one, did n't care for any one on earth ;
he only wanted to put Putokya out of the way, to
kill him. Metsi was a great cheat.
" A good while ago," said Metsi, " I met a man
like you. He had had a dream, and he was nothing
but a head, just like you. I travelled then as I am
travelling to-day, and met this man just as I meet
you now on this road. If you believe what I tell
you, all right ; if you don't believe, it 's all the same
to me. I will tell you what I did for that man,
how I cured him. Do you want me to tell you
what I did for him ? "
Putokya was looking all the time with great
wildcat eyes at the old woman. Now he spoke,
saying : " Talk more, tell me all, old woman. I
want to hear what you have to say."
" Well, I made a man of that head," said the
old woman. " I cured that Putokya ; I made him
over. I made him new, and he walked around as
well as before ; I gave him legs and arms ; all the
bad went out of him ; I made him clean and sound
and good again."
" How did you do that, old woman ? " asked
Putokya. " How can you make a man over
again ? I want to see that."
" I will tell you how I do it. I will fix you ; I
will fix y ou right here on this road, just as I fixed
that other man. I made a hole in the ground ; a

334 Creation Myths of Primitive America
long hole, a pretty big one. I lined it with rocks ;
I made a little fire of manzanita wood, and when it
was nice and warm in the hole, I put plenty of pitch
in, and put the man on top of the pitch. It was
good and soft for him, and nice and pleasant on the
pitch. I put a flat rock over the hole. He stayed
there a while and was cured."
Putokya believed all this ; had full faith in
Metsi, and said, —
" Very well, you fix me as you fixed that other
man ; make me new again, just as I used to be."
Metsi added : " I put pitch very thick, one foot
all around, and put him in the warm hole ; covered
him up. Pretty soon he began to stretch and grow ;
grew till he was as good as ever. That is how I
cured that man."
" That is good," said Putokya. " Fix me in
that way ; fix me just as you fixed him."
" I will," said Metsi. " I will fix you just as I
fixed that man, and you will come out just as he
did; you will be in the right way and have no
more trouble ; you will never be sick again."
Metsi did everything as he had said ; made a
long deep hole, put in fire and a great deal of pitch,
a foot thick of it.
He placed Putokya on the pitch ; put a wide
flat stone over him, put on others ; put the stones
on very quickly, till there was a great pile of
them. The pitch began to burn well, to grow hot, to
seethe, to boil, to blaze, to burn Putokya.
He struggled to bound out of the pitch ; the

Hitchinna 335

stones kept him down, the pitch stuck to him. He
died a dreadful death.
If Putokya had got out of the hole, there would
have been hard times in this world for Metsi.
When Putokya was dead under the pile of rocks,
Metsi threw away his old things, his basket and
buckskin petticoat, put on his nice clothes, and went
along on his journey.
Metsi was a great cheat. He could change him
self always, and he fooled people whenever he had a
chance j but he did a good thing that time, when he
burned up Putokya.

TIRUKALA

TIRUKALA

PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Chichepa, spotted chicken-hawk ; Chikpina, weasel ; Hapawila,
water snake ; Jewinna, chicken-hawk ; Jewinpa, young chicken-hawk ;
Kedila, soaproot plant; Matsklila, turkey buzzard; Pakalai Jawichi,
water lizard ; Tirukala, lamprey eel ; Wirula, red fox. Weanmauna
means the hidden one.

TIRUKALA lived near Jamahdi, on the Juka
Mapti Mountain, and he was thinking,
thinking for a long time, how to change this world,
how to make it better.
" I have to fix this country. I will fix it now,"
said Tirukala. " I will make it better to live in."
When he had said this he went off walking and
began to sing. All the mountains stood too near
together at that time, and Tirukala pushed the
mountains apart from one another, made room be
tween them. He put creeks everywhere, and big
and little rivers. He made springs in different
places and swamps. He put salmon and other fish
into rivers and creeks, plenty of them everywhere.
Tirukala had two persons to help him, Pakalai
Jawichi and Hapawila. The three lived together,
working and making the world better to live in.
Tirukala never ate anything ; never took food of
any kind. He worked always, and sang while at

34° Creation Myths of Primitive America
work. Hapawila made salmon traps and caught
many salmon. Just like Tirukala, he sang all the
time. After a while two young girls heard this
singing. They were the two daughters of Kedila.
They went out to get wood one day and heard the
singing. They filled their baskets and went home, put the
wood down, then went out and listened to the sing
ing. They thought it was very sweet and beautiful.
" Let us go nearer to the singing," said the
younger sister.
They went a little way from the house, sat down,
and listened. Again they stood up and went on.
Two or three times they did this, going farther and
farther. Soon they came in sight of a salmon trap
and went up to it.
" I see no one here," said each of the sisters.
" Who can be singing ? "
They looked on all sides of the trap and saw no
one. They looked up and down the river. There
was no one in sight. They sat down near the trap,
watched and listened. At last the younger girl saw
who was singing. She saw Hapawila in the river,
where he was singing.
When he saw the girls sitting and listening, Hapa
wila came out to them.
" Which way are you going ? " asked he.
"We heard singing, and came out to listen.
That is why we are here," answered the elder.
" Let us go home," said the younger.
" Take some of my salmon to your father," said
Hapawila ; and he gave them two very nice salmon.

Tirukala

341

They took the salmon home to their father.
" Where did you get these salmon ? " asked
Kedila. " A man who sings and has salmon-traps sent
them to you."
That evening Hapawila went to old Kedila's
house. The girls saw him coming and were fright
ened. They liked his singing, but they did not like
his appearance. They ran away, found a great
tree, climbed it, and thought to spend the night
there. But Hapawila tracked them, came to the
foot of the tree, looked up, and saw the two sisters
near the top. He walked around, and looked at
the tree.
" Let him come up," said the elder sister, " let
him talk a while : we may like him better if he talks
to us.
" No," said the younger sister, " I don't like
him ; I don't want to talk with him."
He tried to climb the tree, but could not. The
trunk was smooth, and the tree had no branches ex
cept at the top. Now the elder sister fixed the tree
so that he could climb to them ; she wished for
branches on the trunk — they were there at once,
and Hapawila climbed up to Kedila's two daughters.
The younger sister was angry at this ; hurried
down the tree, ran home, and told her father that
her sister and Hapawila were talking to each other
in the tree-top.
Old Kedila said nothing, and went to bed. A few
minutes later the elder sister was at home. She, too,
ran from Hapawila when she saw him the third time.

342 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Early next morning Kedila was very angry. He
caught his elder daughter, thrust her into the fire,
burned her, and threw her out of doors. The
younger sister took up her sister's body, and cried
bitterly. After a while she carried it to a spring,
crying as she carried it. She washed her sister's
body in the water. It lay one night in the spring.
• At daylight next morning the elder sister came out
of the water alive, with all her burns cured and not
a sore left on her.
" Where can we go now ? Our father is angry ;
he will kill us if we go home," said the younger
sister. Both started west, singing as they travelled.
" I wish that I had a basket with every kind of
nice food in it," said the younger sister toward even
ing. Soon a basket was right there. It dropped
down in front of her. She looked. There were
pine nuts in the basket, different roots, and nice
food to eat.
Now, Jewinna lived in the west. He had a very
large sweat-house and many people. His youngest
and only living son he kept wrapped up and hidden
away in a bearskin.
At sunset the two girls came to Jewinna's house,
and put down their basket of roots near the door
way. Jewinna's wife went out and brought in the
two girls. Jewinna himself spread out a bearskin
and told the girls to sit on it. He said to his son,
who was wrapped up and hidden away, —
" Come out and sit down with these two young
girls who have come to us."

Tirukala 343

The youth looked through a small hole in his
bearskin ; saw the two women, but said nothing ;
did n't come out. When night fell, the two girls
went to sleep. Next morning they rose, washed,
dressed, and combed nicely. Then they went east
ward, went toward their father's house.
Jewinna's son, Jewinpa, came out soon after, swam,
dressed, ate, and followed the two girls. They went
very fast, went without stopping; but Jewinpa
caught up and went with them to their father's
house. Kedila was pleased with J ewinpa, and treated both
his own daughters well. He spoke to them as if
nothing had happened.
Old Jewinna in the west called all his people and
said : " I want you, my people, to sweat and swim,
then come here and listen to me."
After they had done this, Jewinna said : " I am
sorry that my son has gone. I must follow him
to-morrow. I don't know why he went. I do
not wish him to go far from this place. Be ready,
all of you, and we will go to-morrow."
Jewinna rose before daylight, called all his people,
and said : " I cannot eat. I am sorry that my son
has gone."
All took plenty of arrows and beads and otter-
skins and red-headed wookpecker scalps, and started
to follow the young man. As he started, Jewinna
sang, — " I-no-ho, i-no-ho no-ha, i-no-ho !"
A great many followed and repeated, —
" I-no-ho, i-no-ho no-ha, i-no-ho ! "

344 Creation Myths of Primitive America
They went on all day, went quickly, and at
sunset they were on a smooth plain, not far from
Kedila's place. Kedila had a large, rich sweat-house,
and it was full of people. The old chief had a great
many sons-in-law, and a great many people to serve
him. Jewinna and his men reached the place some time
before nightfall, and Kedila went to the top of his
sweat-house and said to the strangers, —
" I want you all to come in and enjoy yourselves.
Perhaps my house is small ; we will make it bigger."
He blew toward all the four sides then, and said,
" Be bigger, my sweat-house, be bigger ! "
The sweat-house stretched out and was very large.
There was room for every one, and all came in.
" Bring food, my sons-in-law, for Jewinna and his
people," said Kedila.
They brought in all kinds of good food, and fed
every one gladly.
" Bring your beads, otter-skins, and red-headed
woodpecker scalps, and put them down here at this
side of the sweat-house," said Jewinna to his people.
All were brought in and given to Kedila. He
took these rich things gladly, and put them away.
Kedila put down on his part wolf-skins with deer
skins and gave them to Jewinna.
" Let ten of you go out and hunt squirrels," said
Jewinna to his people next morning ; " let others fix
heads on their arrows."
One of the ten saw a squirrel on a tree ; he took
a club, climbed after the squirrel, and killed it ; he
saw another and another ; the tree was filled with

Tirukala 345

squirrels. A second man saw squirrels in a second
tree, and then a third and a fourth in other trees.
Right away the ten were killing squirrels on ten
trees, and soon they had ten piles of squirrels, each
pile as large as one man could carry.
The two chiefs were delighted when they saw the
ten loads of game, and there was a great feast of
squirrel flesh that day at Kedila's.
Both sides sat down then to gamble, played with
sticks, gambled all day, played till sunset. They
bet all kinds of skins. Jewinna's men won a great
many things, and won more than the presents.
Next morning Kedila's sons-in-law wanted to win
back the beautiful skins and other things which they
had played away, but before noon they had lost
everything. When all was gone, Kedila's men were
angry. " You don't play fairly," said they to Jewinna's
men ; " you shall not have these things."
" We have won everything fairly," said Jewinna's
men, "and we will take these things home with
us. They began to fight at once. Kedila's sons-in-
law attacked Jewinna's men as soon as they were
outside the sweat-house.
"We are here to fight if there is need," said
Jewinna ; " go ahead, my men, you are likely to die,
every one of you."
Jewinna's men fought, going westward, fought
carrying with them what they had won. Jewinna
fought bravely, and sang as he fought. Kedila's
people followed.

346 Creation Myths of Primitive America
They fought till near sunset. All were killed now
but eight men, four on each side, — Jewinna, his half-
brother, and two more western people. Kedila and
three others of the eastern people were alive yet.
These eight closed once more in fight ; both chiefs
fell with Jewinna's half-brother and Kedila's youngest
son-in-law. Matsklila was so sorry for this last one
that he threw away bow and arrows and fell to
the ground crying bitterly. Seeing this, Chikpina
picked up a rock and beat Matsklila's brains out.
Wirula on Kedila's side killed Chikpina, and there
were only two left, — Chichepa, the last of Je
winna's men, and Wirula, the last on Kedila's side.
" Now," said Wirula, " we have fought enough.
You are alone. Go home and tell the women that
your people are all killed. I am alone. I will go
home and say that all our people are dead."
Jewinna had taken his son with him when he left
Kedila's house, and he, too, had been killed in the
struggle. Now Wirula and Chichepa started off in opposite
directions ; went a little way ; lay down and rolled
along the ground, crying and lamenting. Wirula
sprang up and said, —
" I will kill that Chichepa. I will kill him surely,
and there will not be one left of our enemies."
Wirula turned and followed Chichepa slowly ;
drew his bow and sent an arrow after him. But
Chichepa dodged ; the arrow missed. Then Wirula
ran away.
" I will kill that Wirula now," said Chichepa.
He turned and followed carefully, cautiously ;

Tirukala 347

came up with him, and struck him fairly on the
skull. Wirula dropped dead.
Chichepa turned homeward now, crying all the
time. When he was near home, the women saw
him stagger, then saw him fall. When he reached
the top of the sweat-house, he fell in, rolled along
the floor, and cried. He ate nothing that night ;
he was too sorry for his people. He slept a while
and then woke up crying.
Early next morning he took ten otter-skins;
went back to the dead people, pulled one hair from
the head of each one of them, and filled the ten
otter-skins with the hairs. He had the work done
before sunset.
" Build a good fire," said he to the women when
he reached home that night. " Give me four big
water-baskets." They gave the baskets. He filled
these with water, and put hot rocks in them. Then
he emptied the ten otter-skins into the water.
" Stay all night in your houses. Let no one put
a head out. I will stay in the sweat-house," said
he. The four baskets boiled hard. Just at daylight
the largest basket fell over; then the second, the
third, and the fourth fell. After that there were
voices all around the sweat-house, hundreds upon
hundreds of them.
" We are cold ; open the door," cried the voices.
When full daylight had come, Chichepa opened
the door, and all hurried in. Jewinna came .first,
and with him his son. All followed them, dressed as
they had been when they went to Kedila's ; all alive

348 Creation Myths of Primitive America
and well, strong and healthy. Jewinna laughed.
He was glad.
On the way home Kedila's two daughters had
two sons, the sons of Jewinpa. The boys were
born the next day after Jewinpa had looked on their
mothers. They had come from the eyes of their
father. He had just looked through his fingers at
Kedila's two daughters.
After Jewinna's son had been killed and then
brought to life by Chichepa, he went east to Kedila's
great sweat-house, stayed five days and nights there,
then took his two wives and two sons and went
back to his father's.
Kedila's youngest son, born when his father was
old, came to life. He had sat always at the central
pillar, at the edge of the ashes, and had always kept
moving his arms, but he had never danced on that
or on any floor. He had burned his face because
he had sat so near the fire, and had sweated often
from being so near it.
Every one laughed at him ; jeered at that " Burnt
Face," who sat night and day in the ashes. He
spat always in one place. Kedila's eldest son had
said many times, —
"If we are killed, we shall come back to life
again." " I don't think that you will," said Burnt Face ;
" but when I am killed I shall live again through
my own power."
Burnt Face went out to fight, and was killed
with the others. Now a little baby came right up
out of the spittle of Burnt Face, a boy. The

Tirukala 349

women took him and washed him. In one hour he
had grown a good deal, in two hours still more.
On the following day he had full growth.
Then this young man who had risen from the
spittle went out of the house. He followed the
course of the struggle, found all Kedila's people
dead, struck each with his foot, turned him over.
All came to life and rose up, as well as ever.
When Jewinna came for his wives, their brothers
and brothers-in-law gave the women presents ; but
when his two wives and two sons went home with
him and old Jewinna saw them coming, he took two
bearskins quickly, and when they were on top of
the sweat-house, he caught the young boys, put
them into the bearskins, rolled them up, and put
them away to be Weanmauna.

SUKONIA'S WIVES AND THE ICHPUL
SISTERS

SUKONIA'S WIVES AND THE ICHPUL
SISTERS
PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Chikpitpa, young weasel ; Jahtaneno, a kind of shell creature ;
Metsi, coyote ; Ichpul, frog ; Suk6nia, a name of pine martin, whose
ordinary name is Demauna; Tsore Jowa, a kind of eagle.

OLD Jahtaneno had a great many daughters,
and all but two of these were married.
At that time Sukonia was a great chief in this
country about us. He had a large sweat-house,
and many people to serve him.
One day Jahtaneno called his daughters and said :
" My girls, I want you to go to Sukonia's house.
I have heard that he is very rich ; go and see him.
He has no wife yet ; he may marry you. Rise early
in the morning, bathe, comb your hair, go and see
the chief Sukonia."
The two sisters made no answer, said nothing,
obeyed their father. They rose early next morning,
bathed, combed their hair, painted their faces red
(young people painted red always). Their mother
gave each girl a nice basket; she hung beads on
their necks, and put food in their baskets.
" If any man meets you on the road," said
Jahtaneno, at parting, " do not look at him. A
23

354 Creation Myths of Primitive America
man richly dressed and wearing many beads will
come toward you, will speak to you ; do not look
at that man ; he is no one but Metsi."
The two girls began to sing when they started,
and their song was : —
" Au ni a, au ni a, mo a we, he 16,
Au ni a, au ni a, mo a we, he 16."
They went northeast, the way which the old man
had told them to go. He warned them further,
saying, —
" There is a house this side of Sukonia's, and not
very far from it ; two women live in that house, two
old maids. Be sure not to stop at that house. Do
not go near these women ; pass their place quickly,
do not stop before it, do not talk to the women.
They are bad, evil women. If you go into their
house, you will never come out of it ; if you go, you
will be killed there."
Jahtaneno's daughters started, walked away
quickly, singing as they went, —
"Au ni a, au ni a, mo a we, he 16,
Au ni a, au ni a, mo a we, he 16."
Metsi heard the song; he listened and said to
himself: " That is a good song, that is nice singing ;
I like to hear that song. I think those two girls
are going to the chief. I think they are going to
visit Sukonia Mujaupa. Now, otter-skins be here
before me, and beads in plenty, and beautiful
shells." He wished for all other things that he liked.
Metsi dressed himself richly and waited.

Sukonia's Wives and the Ichpul Sisters 355
Jahtaneno's daughters walked and walked on
without stopping, met no one on the way till they
came to where Metsi was waiting. The younger
sister was walking ahead ; she saw Metsi at one side
ofthe trail, but would not look at him a second
time. The elder sister looked a second and a third
time. " I think that is Sukonia Mujaupa," said she.
" Your father would not say so," answered the
younger sister ; " that is Metsi."
But the elder sister liked the stranger's appear
ance ; she looked at him many times.
" I think this is Sukonia," said she.
" Come on with me," said the younger sister.
" Have you lost your eyes ? That is Metsi."
The younger girl was ahead now some distance ;
the elder stopped to look at the stranger more
closely. " Which way are you going ? "' asked Metsi.
" Our father sent us to Sukonia the chief."
" Oh, I am chief," said Metsi ; " you are to come
with me. I will start for home very soon."
" My sister is ahead, she is waiting. I must
hurry and tell her first. I will come back to you
then." She caught up with her sister and said : " I will
go with this man ; this is Sukonia, the chief. He
said he was chief."
" You must have lost your mind," answered the
younger sister ; " that is Metsi. He is no chief,
he is not Sukonia."
The elder sister went with the younger, but she

356 Creation Myths of Primitive America
wanted to go back to Metsi, she wished to go with
him ; she liked his dress, his words pleased her, she
believed him. Both went on, though the elder
went against her will.
" You will see two black bearskins hanging over
the sweat-house door," said the father, when his
daughters were starting. " Stop there ; that is
Sukonia's house, that is the house to which you are
going." Toward sunset they came near the place where
the Ichpuls lived.
" Let us stop here," said the elder sister, " and
get something to eat. I am hungry."
" Our father told us to pass this house ; he told
us not to stop near it, not to go to it, not to look
at it," said the younger sister ; and she went on
without looking, she went straight ahead.
The elder sister followed her, but followed unwil
lingly. At last both came near Sukonia's, and saw
the two bearskins hanging out over the sweat-
house. Chikpitpa, Sukonia's little brother, was on the
roof, and Tsore Jowa, his sister, was at work mak
ing a house for herself a little way off at one side.
Chikpitpa ran into the house, calling loudly, —
" Two girls are coming ! Two girls are coming
with baskets ! "
The old man, Sukonia's father, brought bearskins
for the young women to sit on, and waited. The
sisters came in and took the places shown them.
Chikpitpa was in a corner when the sisters sat down.
He ran to one and then to the other, looked at them,

Sukonia's Wives and the Ichpul Sisters 357
sat on their laps. He was very glad that the sisters
had come ; he liked to be with them and talk to
them. Old Sukonia went out and called to Tsore Jowa,
"Come, my daughter; bring food to our guests, to
the young women who have come to us."
She brought deer's marrow ; she brought other
kinds of food, too. The sisters had put down their
baskets outside, near the door. On the way they
had said to the baskets, " Let the food in you be
nice ; " and when leaving them at the door, they
said, " Be large and be full."
The two small baskets stood outside now, very
large and full of every good food. Sukonia came
home with, his men about sunset. Chikpitpa sprang
up to the roof of the house, and called to his
brother, —
"Two guests have come to our house. Two
women are sitting inside. They are sitting in your
place." The men came in, and Sukonia sat down with the
sisters. They pleased him ; he liked their looks.
" Have you brought food to our guests ? " asked
Sukonia. " I brought some," said Tsore Jowa.
" Oh, give more. Bring plenty of everything ! "
The two baskets which Jahtaneno's daughters
had brought were carried into the house. The sis
ters invited all present to try their food. All the
men ate food from the baskets and praised it.
Sukonia, the chief, was pleased more and more with
the sisters that evening, and married them.

358 Creation Myths of Primitive America
After all the people had eaten next morning,
Sukonia went to hunt. He took many men with
him. That day Sukonia's sisters showed his wives every
place in the house and outside it, — showed them
where venison, roots, and acorns were kept ; showed
them where the water was. The spring was in the
house in one corner, carefully covered.
After some days Sukonia said to his wives : " I
want you to tell me what your father said when you
were leaving him. When does he want you to go
back ? When does he wish you to visit him ? "
" He did not tell us when to go to him. He did
not tell us to go back at all, he only told us to come
here ; but we want to see him. We want to tell
him how we live here."
" Well," said Sukonia, " go to-morrow ; go to see
vour father. What does he eat? What does he
like ? "
"He eats salmon; he likes nice beads, furs, and
shells." " I will send him some of my meat, I will send
him venison. I will send him beads and furs."
" May I go with my sisters-in-law ? " asked Chik
pitpa. " No, I want you here," said Sukonia. " I want
you here, my little brother."
The two women rose early next morning, and
Tsore Jowa helped them to make ready. Sukonia
gave them fat venison, and every kind of bright
beads and rich presents for their father.
They started; went as far as the Ichpul house,

Sukonia's Wives and the Ichpul Sisters 359
where the two frog sisters lived. The two old maids
were in the road and spoke to Sukonia's wives.
They were very kind and pleasant.
" Put down your baskets and sit a while with us
to talk," said they.
The Jahtaneno sisters were frightened. They did
not wish to stop. They feared the Ichpul women,
did not like to make them angry by refusing. They
were afraid to sit down, afraid to refuse.
" Oh, how your hair looks ! let me see your
head," said one Ichpul woman to the elder sister.
" Oh, how your hair looks ! " said the other to
the younger sister; "let me look at your head."
" Put your head on my lap," said each Ichpul
sister to each of Sukonia's wives.
Each was afraid, but still put her head on the old
maid's lap. The Ichpul sisters killed Sukonia's
wives, flayed their bodies, and put their skins on
themselves. About sunset next day the two frog women went
to Sukonia's house ; went in and sat where Jahta
neno's daughters had always sat; took the place of
Sukonia's wives ; looked just like them because they
had their skins on.
About dusk Sukonia came home from the hunt.
Chikpitpa, who ran ahead, rushed into the sweat-
house to see if his sisters-in-law had come back from
their father's. He saw the two women, looked at
them ; they seemed like his sisters-in-law, but when
he came near he cried out at once, —
" Phu ! they smell like frogs ! The Ichpul sis
ters are here: these are the frog old maids ! "

360 Creation Myths of Primitive America
He cried and ran out to meet his brother.
" Brother," said he, " the Ichpul women are in
our house. They killed my sisters-in-law to-day.
I know they did." And he kept crying, " They
killed my sisters-in-law, they killed my poor sisters-
in-law ! " and he cried without stopping, cried bit
terly. The two old maids wearing the skins of Sukonia's
wives were making acorn porridge. When it was
almost ready, Sukonia looked at the two women.
They seemed like his wives, and he was in doubt,
till all at once he thought : " I will ask them to bring
water from the spring. If they know where the
water is, they are my wives ; if not, they are false."
" Bring me water, my wife," said he to one of the
women. She stood up, took a water basket, turned toward
the door, and said to Chikpitpa, " Come out with me
for water, my little brother-in-law."
" Wait," said Sukonia. " You need not go now."
She came back to the fire and sat down with her
sister. Sukonia knew now that those were strange
women. " Whip me," said Chikpitpa to his brother, " I
will cry, roll around and kick. I will kick those
nasty frogs ! I will kill them."
When the acorn porridge was boiling hard,
Sukonia struck Chikpitpa with a switch and scolded
him : " Why are you crying ? I can do nothing,
you cry so."
The boy rolled on the floor, cried more than ever,
kicked, rolled around, kicked as hard as he could,

Sukonia's Wives and the Ichpul Sisters 361
rolled toward the fire and kicked, kicked one woman
into the boiling porridge, kicked the other one into
the burning fire, and in this way he killed the false
sisters. Chikpitpa was glad ; he laughed. Sukonia threw
the two women out doors, and mourned all that
night for his wives. Next morning early he rose
and said, " Stay home to-day, all of you."
"Where are you going?" asked Chikpitpa.
" Stay here, my little brother," said Sukonia. " I
am going somewhere."
Sukonia followed the trail of his wives, reached
the place where the Ichpul sisters had stopped them,
and found their dead bodies. He took out his bow
string of deer sinew, struck the two women, called
them, raised them to life.
" How were you killed ? " asked Sukonia ; " how
did it happen ? Did you go to the Ichpul house ? "
" We did not go to that house ; those two women
were out on the road and they stopped us. They
asked us to sit down and talk with them. We were
afraid to sit, afraid to refuse. We sat down, and
they killed us."
Sukonia took his wives home. When they were
in sight of the house, Chikpitpa was on the roof
watching. " Oh, those are your sisters-in-law," said he to
Tsore Jowa ; and he ran out to meet them.
"Go, now, to your father," said Sukonia, next
morning. " Carry presents and venison to him,
and be here at sunset."
The two sisters rose early, took two baskets, and

362 Creation Myths of Primitive America
started. At noon they were at their father's house.
Old Jahtaneno was glad when he looked at his
daughters and saw the nice presents.
" Our husband told us to go home to-day, and
we cannot stay long with you."
They took back many presents from their father,
and were home at sunset. They met no trouble on
the way. The Ichpul sisters were dead, and Metsi
did not meet them a second time.

THE FINDING OF FIRE

THE FINDING OF FIRE

PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Ahalamila, gray wolf ; Au Mujaupa, master of fire ; Chil Daiauna,
big hail ; Chil Wareko, big rain ; Juhauju, west wind ; Jukami, north
wind; Jukilauyu, east wind ; Juwaju, south wind; Gagi, crow; Metsi,
coyote ; Patcha, snow ; Sabil Keyu, small hail ; Shushu Marimi, dog
woman ; Siwegi, a small bird, unknown.

IN the beginning Au Mujaupa had fire very far
down south on the other side of a big river.
The people in this country had no real fire ; they
had a kind of fire, but it was n't good. It just
warmed a little ; it would n't cook like the fire
which we have now. People killed deer and fished,
but they had to eat. fish and venison raw.
In the west people had fire, but it would n't cook.
In the north there were many people, and in the
east ; but they had no fire that would cook.
" There must be fire in some place," said the
people at Pawi ; "how can we find it?"
" I will go out to-night to look," said Ahalamila.
That night he went to look for fire. He went to
the top of Wahkanopa, looked east and west, saw
no fire in either place. Next he looked north ; no
fire in the north. He looked south ; saw no fire
anywhere.

366 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Ahalamila came home and talked to the chief and
people. " I saw no fire," said he ; "I could not see
any, but I will go to a better place the next time
and take some one with me. I will go to-morrow
night to the top of Wahkalu. Who here has a
good head, who a sharp eye to see fire? I want to
look for fire to-morrow night from the top of
Wahkalu ; from that place I will look all around
the whole world to find fire."
" We have a man here," said the chief, " who can
see through a tree, who can see down through the
earth to bed rock, who can see through a mountain.
You can take him to-morrow night with you. He
is Siwegi." Ahalamila went to Siwegi. " Will you go to
morrow night to look for fire ? " asked he.
" I will go if the way is not too long."
" Oh," said Ahalamila, " it will not be long. I
will shorten it."
Siwegi agreed to go ; and when the time came,
they started. Ahalamila doubled up the trail and
made it short ; in an hour they were on the top of
Wahkalu, both ready now to look for fire. The
night is very dark ; they can see the smallest fire
easily. They look to the east, look with great care, look
a good while, see no fire ; they look to the north in
the same way, see no fire ; they look to the west, no
fire there. Now Ahalamila looks south, looks a
long time, and sees nothing : he looks half an hour
to the south, sees a little glimmer like a light very
far away.

The Finding of Fire 367
" Siwegi," said he, " I see a small light down
south ; it seems like fire far away. I think it is fire."
"Look again," said Siwegi, "look sharply."
"Maybe it is fire."
" I have looked enough, I think it is fire," said
Ahalamila ; " but I want you to see it, I want you
to look now."
Siwegi looked a little while. " Yes/ that is fire,"
said he.
" Well," said Ahalamila, " we see fire, we know
that it is far off in the south."
Ahalamila made the road short, and they were
back at Pawi in an hour. " We have found fire,"
said Ahalamila to the chief and the people. " We
know where fire is, we can have fire now."
" We must have that fire," said the people.
" There is no way to get the fire but to go for it,"
said Ahalamila.
" Well," said the chief, " since Ahalamila saw the
fire he will go for it ; but the road is long. Who will
go and help him ? Who will go for fire with
Ahalamila ? "
About fifty men offered to go, and they started
next morning. The journey was long and very
hard. Soon two or three men were tired and went
home ; not long after more were tired, and when
they had gone far down to a great river, just north
of where the fire was, of the fifty who started only
three were left, — Ahalamila, Metsi, and old Shushu
Marima. Just south of the great river Au Mujaupa had a
very big village, and in the village a large sweat-

368 Creation Myths of Primitive America
house. In that house he kept the fire, and had a
great crowd of people living in the country outside
who served him, and kept every one in the world
from stealing his fire. These people were Patcha,
Chil Wareko, Chil Daiauna, Sabil Keyu, Juhauju,
Juwaju, Jukami, Jukilauju.
The three, Ahalamila, Metsi, and old Shushu
Marimi, were at the northern end of the bridge, and
sat there watching till all at the sweat-house was
quiet. The bridge was very narrow and slippery ;
so Ahalamila put pitch on his feet and hands, and
on Metsi's and Shushu's feet and hands. All three
crossed without slipping, and found every one asleep
in the sweat-house.
The old chief, Au Mujaupa, had covered the fire
well with ashes. All was silent within and without.
Ahalamila, Metsi, and Shushu crept onto the sweat-
house quietly, and looked in. All were asleep.
" I will go down first," said Metsi.
" No, I will go first," said Ahalamila. " I will
get the fire and reach it to you; you take it and
run very fast."
Ahalamila slipped down. Metsi and Shushu.
remained on the roof. Ahalamila opened the fire
carefully, took out a good piece and handed it to the
old woman. She put it in her ear. He handed
her another; she put it in her other ear, slipped
down from the top of the sweat-house, ran across
the bridge, and hurried away.
Ahalamila gave Metsi two pieces. He put them
in his two ears and started. Ahalamila filled his
own ears and followed.

The Finding of Fire 369
The three had run over two mountains when Au
Mujaupa woke up and saw that the ashes had been
opened, and that fire had been taken, that a coal had
fallen near the central pillar. He sprang up, went
to the top of the sweat-house, shouted, called to all
his people, —
" Fire has been stolen ! Fire has been stolen !
Go, you, and follow ! "
Now Patcha, Chil Wareko, Chil Daiauna, Sabil
Keyu, and all the wind people rose up and followed,
raced and stormed in every direction. So much rain
came that the whole country was covered with water.
Now Juwaju was ahead of all Au Mujaupa's peo
ple chasing the three robbers. Chil Wareko came
too, and fell upon the three furiously ; he drenched
and chilled them. Next came Jukami and Patcha,
who nearly froze them.
Metsi was almost dead ; the fire went out in both
his ears. Ahalamila lost his fire, too. Chil Wareko,
Juwaju, and Patcha quenched it, and then he let it
fall. Old Shushu was behind a good way, but she ran
all the time. She kept her hand on one ear as she
ran. She lost the fire out of her other ear, and
when the piece fell out it broke in two and fell
apart. Chil Wareko picked up the fire and took it
back ; he found six pieces, thought that he had all.
He and the others stopped following.
Ahalamila and Metsi ran ahead, left old Shushu
to get on the best she could, and reached home first.
They were wet, very cold, and tired.
" Where is your fire ? " asked the chief.
24

370 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" I have none; Chil Wareko took my fire," said
Ahalamila. " Where is your fire ? " asked the chief.
" Chil Wareko took it," said Metsi.
The chief was very sorry, and all the people were
sorry. The old woman did not come, and the
people said, " She must be frozen dead."
At sundown old Shushu came back ; she came
very slowly, was terribly tired, but courageous. She
reached the sweat-house, came in, said nothing, lay
down wet and cold.
" Where is the fire ? " asked she ; "did not Ahal
amila and Metsi bring fire ? They are young and
strong, and had plenty of fire."
After a while she stood up, drew some wood-dust
together, then sat down, opened her ear and held it
over the dust ; a big piece of fire came out. Wood
was brought quickly, and soon the whole sweat-
house was warm. The people who were cold before
were warm now and glad.
" Bring meat and We will try how it tastes when
't is roasted," said the chief.
He cut some venison and roasted it. One and
another tasted the meat. " It is very good," said
they ; a third one said, " I '11 try it," and Gagi took
a taste. " Oh, it is sweet, very good," said Gagi.
Each one roasted meat and ate heartily. Next
day all went to hunt, and had a great feast in the
evening. A chief from another place came to the
feast and got fire, took it home with him. Soon all
people had fire ; every one had fire in all parts of
the country.

HAKA KAINA

HAKA KAINA
PERSONAGES
After their transformation the personages in "Haka Kaina"
were mainly birds. I have not been able to identify the majority
of them, and would refer to the notes to this myth. Hwipajusi,
the father of the three girls, is a whistling swan ; we find among the
characters Gowila, a lizard, Malwila, meadow-lark, and Maibyu,
wood dove. The only way to identify such characters surely is to
hire men to shoot them in the woods and mountains. This I
have done as often as possible, but in the present case the speci
mens were lost before I could fix their identity. All the informa
tion at my disposal now will be found in the notes.

HAKA KAINA was the greatest chief in this
country ; his very large and beautiful sweat-
house was Wahkalu.
One time Haka Kaina stole the three daughters of
Hwipajusi, a chief who lived down in the far south,
beyond the valley ofthe Daha. When Haka Kaina
had brought the three girls home, he said, —
" I must find a good man, a careful man, now, to
guard these three girls, a man who never sleeps in
the night-time. Hwipajusi will send people here to
steal them back ; we must be ready for his men."
At last the chief chose Hohwitina because he
whistled all night. Every one thought that he
never slept, for he whistled all the time, whistled
without stopping from evening till daylight. Hoh
witina watched the three girls a good many nights ;

374 Creation Myths of Primitive America
he never looked after them during daylight, for he
rested at that time. They were brought to him at
dusk every evening to the central pillar ofthe sweat-
house. The arms of each girl were tied together ;
one girl was tied to Hohwitina's left arm, the second
to his right arm, and the third behind to his waist.
After a time old Hwipajusi sent ten ofthe best
southern men to bring back his three daughters ;
the names of these men were Pusi Tena, Wija Lala,
Chami Nuri, Malwila, Gowila, Grana Rana, Dek-
kech, Pushi Chowa, Manu Rana, Taki Lapiki.
These men were called Yolaina, — that is, the
bravest, men who feared nothing.
These men painted their arms and faces black
before starting, took good bows and arrows, and
went to Wahkalu.
Hwipajusi had kept his three daughters always
hidden away in his sweat-house, rolled up in otter-
skin carefully ; but Haka Kaina, the chief of Wah
kalu, had stolen in while all were sleeping and
carried away the three maidens.
Hwipajusi's ten men came near Wahkalu one
evening between dusk and darkness, and were right
there near the sweat-house. Haka Kaina, the chief,
saw them coming, and prepared all his forces to
%ht. " These are people," said he, " sent by Hwipajusi,
very brave and strong men. You must not let them
come near the three girls ; you must not let them go
from here ; you must not let them take the girls
nor go away themselves ; you must kill these ten
enemies."

Haka Kaina 375

One of the Haka Kaina's men had a great ham
mer. He put a block of flint at the point which
the ten men attacked when they came near ; he
struck the flint with his hammer ; small sharp bits
flew off from it like rain, fell on the attackers, and
cut them terribly. The ten men had no fear of
flint nor of other things. They rushed on until five
were killed ; the five others were not frightened and
they went forward. The man with the hammer
struck away on the flint block till five more were
killed. Now Hwipajusi's ten brave men who feared noth
ing were dead.
Hwipajusi waited for his men to come back,
looked for them, hoped to see them bring his
daughters, but the men could not come ; they were
dead. They had promised their chief to bring the
girls surely, but they could not bring them ; the ten
were dead at Wahkalu.
Hwipajusi sent ten other men, men who were very
wise and cunning. These ten were Itchi Watibila,
Chini Pachuna, Maibyu, Tsigaga, Maltama, Ho-
wichi Laina, Aichuch Hisipa, Tsawila, Haiyude
Maupa, Tarku Wana. These ten men came near
the sweat-house, sat down, and hid there in the
evening. " I will go up first on the sweat-house," said
Maibyu ; " you are too heavy, your tread is heavy.
If you go, they will hear you, they will wake up ;
we shall be killed, like the ten who came before us."
" I know the man who watches the girls," said
Maibyu ; " he whistles all night, but he sleeps ; no

376 Creation Myths of Primitive America
one in the sweat-house sleeps more soundly than he
does. Now, when he is asleep, I will go down and
take the girls from him."
" I will go myself," said Itchi Watibila.
Haka Kaina's people danced that evening, and
played till late at night. Hwipajusi's ten men crept
near and watched the people dancing, but no one
saw them. Haka Kaina sat inside the sweat-house,
smoking and talking, talking loud ; the ten heard
his voice. At last, when it was late, all the men
went into the sweat-house and other houses, and in
time they were asleep everywhere. All were silent
except Hohwitina, who sat watching the girls at the
central pillar ; and he whistled all the time.
The ten went around the sweat-house ; saw that
all were sleeping. They heard no noise but the
whistling of Hohwitina.
" I know that he is asleep now," said Itchi
Watibila. Four men went to the top of the sweat-house.
The watcher was whistling not so loudly, but whis
tling. Itchi Watibila gave his arrows to Chini
Pachuna, and Chini Pachuna gave them to Maibyu,
for he had to lift up the girls.
" That man sleeps, I know," said Itchi Watibila ;
and he went down slowly along the pillar, reached
the bottom, and sat a while to listen. He looked
closely at Hohwitina, and saw that he was whistling
with his eyes shut. Itchi Watibila laughed to him
self. He saw that one girl was tied to each of
Hohwitina's arms and one to his waist from behind.
The girls were awake, all three -of them.

Haka Kaina 377

Itchi Watibila untied the right-hand girl carefully ;
raised her to Chini Pachuna, who gave her to
Maibyu at the top of the sweat-house. Hohwitina
whistled on, and Itchi Watibila took the left-hand
girl, raised her to the other man ; at last he took
the third, the youngest daughter of Wipajusi,
made no noise, raised her to the others, then climbed
up himself, rested a moment on the top of the
sweat-house, looked down. Hohwitina was whis
tling away and asleep all the time. The ten slipped
down without noise and started home ; hurried off
toward the south with Hwipajusi's three daughters.
• Old Haka Kaina rose up at daylight, walked
around the sweat-house, went to the central pillar
to look at Hohwitina and the three girls he was
guarding. He saw Hohwitina, heard how he was
whistling, saw nobody near him, — no girls tied to
his arms or his waist.
" He has let the girls go," thought Haka Kaina.
" You whistle all night, but don't watch," said Haka
Kaina, pushing him. He woke him.
Hohwitina looked at his right arm, no girl ;
looked at his left, the second was gone ; felt at his
back, there was no one there.
" Where are the girls ? " asked Haka Kaina.
" I cannot tell," said Hohwitina.
Haka Kaina looked around and saw tracks in the
ashes. " You said that you never sleep at night ; now
look at those tracks ; those are somebody's tracks,
somebody came here last night. What were you
doing ? Were you awake ? were you sleeping ? Did

378 Creation Myths of Primitive America
you let the girls go because you were willing, or did
somebody take them while you were sleeping ? "
Hohwitina said nothing, held down his head.
Haka Kaina went out, and saw tracks on the sweat-
house, then he saw tracks below at some distance
away from the sweat-house.
" People came from the south and took the three
girls," said he ; " of course they were sent by
Hwipajusi." Haka Kaina talked all the next night to his
people, told how sorry he was that the girls had
been taken, and to two men he said, "You must
go and bring back the girls to us."
The two were Bohkwi and Simu Nupchowa ; they
could run fast, and were very wise persons.
Now, on the top of his sweat-house, at the central
pillar, Hwipajusi had posted Matsklila as a sentry,
and he watched carefully to see who would come.
Hwipajusi knew that Haka Kaina would try to get
the girls back again. Matsklila had a knife in his
nose and one in each arm.
Bohkwi and Simu Nupchowa set out to bring the
girls back from the south. Just at sunset one
evening they came near the village ; they saw crowds
of people everywhere, young men and women at
play in the great village.
Old Hwipajusi sat talking ; and a great many
people, old and young, men and women, sat around
him and listened. Haka Kaina's two men went
near the sweat-house.
" I am going in," said Bohkwi.
" No, I am going," said Simu Nupchowa. " You

Haka Kaina 379

cannot run fast. You stand near, and when I come
out you run ahead, and I can carry the three girls
easily. I will catch up with you."
The people sat there near the sweat-house and
listened to the chief as he talked. " Be on the
watch ; they will come to-night, they will come, I
am sure," said Hwipajusi.
After a time all separated, went to their houses,
and lay down to sleep. At midnight, when all was
silent, Haka Kaina's two men crept up and climbed
the sweat-house to look in at the top. Matsklila
was at his post behind the central pillar, standing
still. Haka Kaina's men did not see him.
" I will look in," said Bohkwi.
" So will I," said Simu Nupchowa.
They stretched their heads and looked. They
leaned over the opening, stretched their necks far.
That moment Matsklila moved quickly, and both
their heads dropped off, rolled down, and fell to the
earth outside the sweat-house.
When Hwipajusi rose up in the morning, he
went outside and saw two heads lying near the
sweat-house. " Wake up, jump up, my sons," cried he, calling
to the people ; " enemies were here last night."
All hurried out and saw two bodies and two
heads. One asked, " Who is this lying dead ? " A
second asked, " Who is the other man ? "
" I know them both," said Hwipajusi. " One is
Bohkwi, the other Simu Nupchowa, two great men
in Haka Kaina's forces."
The two lay there behind the sweat-house all the

380 Creation Myths of Primitive America
day. That evening Hwipajusi summoned in his
people, and talked to them. " Fix your arrows
well, look at your bows, and have all your arms
ready. Haka Kaina will send men here against
us ; he wants to steal my daughters again, or cake
them away in spite of me."
They waited at Wahkalu for Bohkwi and Simu
Nupchowa. When the two men did not come, old
Haka Kaina said, " I think those two men are
dead." He called all his people together and said : " We
must go down and make war on Hwipajusi ; there is
no other way. He stole those three girls from me.
Those three girls are mine. I must have them back
again." All dressed next morning, put on their feathers,
blackened their faces.
" Now, my men," said Haka Kaina ; " arm, stand
out on a broad place, let me see you, then stand in
a circle round the sweat-house. I want to see how
you look when all together."
They went out and stood together on a broad
place. Haka Kaina was a long time going among
them. After that all came back and stood in a
circle around the whole sweat-house. All shouted
and sprang about a good while ; then they went
back, took off their big elkskin armor.
" You look well," said Haka Kaina. " You are
ready for war, and we will start to-morrow early."
Next morning the women painted their faces,
put on feathers and beads, danced behind the men,
sang, and said good words to them at parting. As

Haka Kaina 381

the men marched along southward, there were so
many that the dust which rose from them went up
to the sun. They went forward singing. Haka
Kaina himself sang as he led this great army. When
near Hwipajusi's country, Haka Kaina sent Pokil
Kama, Gaman Atpa, Pahninopa, and Tsanu Noipa
to examine everything and bring back news.
These four men saw many villages belonging to
different people, and visited four of them. They
went to the villages of Pareko, Chapilkeya, Chil
Wareko, and Chil Dayauna. They saw a great
many people at these four villages ; each chief had
an immense sweat-house, and Chil Dayauna's peo
ple had elkskin armor to fight in.
The four men went back about dusk and had not
seen all that there was to see. They said to Haka
Kaina, " We saw a great many people ; you must
be careful ; our people must fight well."
Haka Kaina's men sharpened their arrow-points.
Two Tsoplaina boys went with Haka Kaina.
The chief was very fond of these boys, and they
liked him. They heard what the four scouts had
said, and at dusk these two boys went to Wipajusi's
and saw the three girls playing around the fire.
" Look, look at the mouse," said one of the girls.
" That is a mouse coming after you," said
Hwipajusi, laughing.
" Where are the two brothers ? " asked Haka
Kaina, when he missed the Tsoplaina boys. No
one had sent these young men to Hwipajusi's.
Now, the Tsoplaina brothers worked hard, worked
all nignt. They went through more than half the

382 Creation Myths of Primitive America
houses, and destroyed a great many bow-strings.
At daylight they went back and told Haka Kaina
what they had done.
Hwipajusi's people saw Haka Kaina's great army
coming ; they ran for their bows, but many were de
stroyed. Those who had bows left fought well.
But Haka Kaina's men had arms of flint and
arms of all kinds, and they beat down everything
before them. At midday Hwipajusi's people were
destroyed and he himself was killed.
Haka Kaina took the three girls and set out for
Wahkalu again, taking everything that Hwipajusi
and his people had. Now there were two brothers,
Mini Auna, who lived with their sisters at Wama
rawi, near a trail which Haka Kaina had not used
before, but he started home on it this time.
When Haka Kaina's forces came in sight of
Wamarawi, the two sisters were out husking acorns.
They were frightened and ran home. One of them
ran to her brothers and cried, —
" Come, brothers, hurry out and look. A great
many people are coming. I do not know where
they come from nor where they are going. Perhaps
they will kill us."
Each of Haka Kaina's men had a great pack on
his back holding all that he could carry. They were
taking home everything from Hwipajusi's village.
The two Mini Auna brothers ran quickly to their
sweat-house ; each of them caught up a great piece
of fire. The two sisters ran into the sweat-house
and hid there. The two brothers went to the top
of the sweat-house, and when Haka Kaina's great

Haka Kaina 383

army was near enough, they hurled fire around it,
north, south, east, and west. All were surrounded.
They looked to every side, tried to get out, but
there was no escape anywhere. The great fire closed
in around them, and every man perished. All were
burned to death. Hwipajusi's three daughters died
with the others. As soon as all were dead, the fire
went out and disappeared ; the two brothers went
back into their sweat-house.
When the Mini Aunas were going to hurl the
fire, Haka Kaina sent two swift runners to Wahkalu
to let his women know that all were coming with
great plunder, and bringing Hwipajusi's daughters.
Sooner than these men were out of sight the fire
was around the whole army, which perished before
the eyes of the two swift runners.
When the swift runners reached Wahkalu, all the
women were dancing ; they thought that their hus
bands were fighting yet against Hwipajusi. When
the swift runners were coming near, the women
stopped dancing, and when both came up and said
that Haka Kaina and his army were dead at
Wamarawi, burned by the Mini Aunas, the women
raised a cry of sorrow such as no one had ever
heard in Wahkalu before. Soon some women
said, —
" We must go down to Wamarawi, we must go a
good many of us, and beg the two brothers to bring
our men to life again."
They took beautiful presents, shells and otter-
skins, put them on their backs, and started ; went
without waiting, travelled all night, travelled quickly.

384 Creation Myths of Primitive America
They were at Wamarawi next morning. They went
to the two brothers, gave them presents, begged
them to bring their husbands to life again.
The brothers were willing at last to do this.
There was a great spring near their sweat-house,
a spring as large as a lake of good size, and the
brothers told the women from Wahkalu and their
own two sisters to carry the bones to that water.
The Wahkalu women and the two sisters took
baskets, carried bones all that day, and put them in
the spring. At sunset the field was clear and all
the bones were in the water.
" Now," said the brothers to the women from
Wahkalu, "you must camp far away from the
spring, and not go near it till broad daylight to
morrow; and our sisters you must not rise up
to-night to go out of the sweat-house."
The two brothers closed the top of the sweat-
house and did not sleep themselves.
About daylight they heard talking at the spring,
then more talking, and later a great sound of voices.
At broad daylight all had come out of the spring,
and all the place around was full of people, crowds
of people everywhere.
The two brothers looked from the top of the
sweat-house, saw all Haka Kaina's army standing
there strong and well. Each man had his pack with
its treasures, the plunder brought from Wipajusi's
village; each had on his war-dress and feathers.
Wipajusi's three daughters were there, too, as well
as ever.
Haka Kaina went to the house of the Mini Aunas

Haka Kaina 385

and talked to the brothers. He gave them otter-
skins, beads, elkskins. He was grateful and very
kind ; called them cousins. After that he went
home with his army and women. All those left at
Wahkalu came out to meet the men, went far,
danced, danced because all had come to life again
and because the three girls were brought back.
The men put away their bows, arrows, and elk
skins ; all washed the paint from their faces.
" Now give us plenty to eat," said Haka Kaina.
They went into the sweat-house ; all ate and
talked till midnight. At midnight each went to
his own place and rested.

25

TITINDI MAUPA AND PAIOWA

TITINDI MAUPA AND PAIOWA, THE
YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF WAKARA
PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Hemauna Marimi,  ; Hitchinna, wildcat ; Lawalila, chicken
hawk ; Paiowa, new moon's youngest daughter ; Titildi Marimi, black
bear woman; Titindi Maupa, her brother; Topuna, mountain lion;
Tuina, the sun; Wakara, new moon.

TITINDI MAUPA lived at a place called
Kurulsa Mauna, where he had two sisters.
Three miles west of that place lived young Topuna
with his father, who had a great sweat-house at
Motiri Mauna.
Titindi Maupa wished his elder sister to marry
Topuna, his great friend, who was a good hunter
and killed many deer. One day Titindi Maupa
told his two sisters to make ready much food, —
roots, acorns, and pine nuts.
The women made these things ready and put
them into a round basket. He put the basket on his
back, took two otter-skins as presents, and went to
Motiri Mauna.
Old Topuna was sitting at home. His son had
gone off before daylight to hunt deer in the moun
tains. Titindi Maupa saw a great deal of venison
and deer fat hanging around in all parts of the sweat-
house.

39° Creation Myths of Primitive America
He looked in from the top of the sweat-house, and
saw the old man cutting meat, breaking bones, and
taking marrow out of them. He went in. Topuna
stood up to meet him, made a fire, cooked meat, put
it in a basket, and set it down before Titindi Maupa.
He gave him also fat and dried venison.
" I have food on the top of the sweat-house,"
said Titindi Maupa. " I left my basket there."
Topuna went and brought it, put it down, then
ate of it himself. The visitor ate much, and the two
sat long together talking and eating ; sat till midday,
when young Topuna came home. He had killed
five deer and was glad.
" You came to see us," said he, sitting down near
the visitor.
" Yes," answered Titindi Maupa, " and you will
come soon, I hope, to my house. You will come
to-night, perhaps ? "
Topuna gave Titindi Maupa nice venison and
deer fat, — a great deal of it. " Be light and small
till he takes you home," said Topuna to the meat ;
" then be as big as you now are or bigger."
He gave the visitor a beautiful buckskin dress,
and Titindi Maupa went home.
The pack was light till he set it down at home.
Then it grew as big as a small house. His elder
sister would not eat Topuna's venison ; she did
not like her brother's friend; she loved young
Hitchinna, and would not look at the other
man. Topuna put on three pairs of moccasins, three
pairs of thick buckskin leggings trimmed with

Titindi Maupa and Paiowa 391
beads ; put on three buckskin blankets, .and at dark
he went out of the door to go to Kurulsa Mauna.
" My son," said old Topuna, when his son was
going, " you will come back sorry ; you will be
angry in the morning ; I know that woman well."
All were asleep at Titindi Maupa's when Topuna
came ; but Titildi Marimi had wished the whole
house outside to be covered with sharp rocks and
thorny brush, for she knew that Topuna was coming.
When he reached the place, he could not go in ;
he could not find the door, even ; everything was
hidden with sharp rocks and thorns. He was out
side all night, and never stopped trying to find the
way in ; he wore out his three pair of moccasins,
tore his three pair of leggings and three blankets ;
bits of them were scattered all around the sweat-
house. At last he was naked and nearly frozen.
Topuna went home before daylight, very angry.
Titildi Marimi had heard him, but said not a word.
He lay down in his father's sweat-house and stayed
there all day.
When daylight came, Titildi Marimi rose up and
went out of the sweat-house ; the rocks and brush
were all gone at her wish ; nothing there now but
the nice beads that had fallen from Topuna. She
went to the spring ; washed there, combed and
dressed her hair, painted her face red, put on a nice
woven cap, took a little basket with a sharp stick,
and went out on the mountain ; went far ; dug
sweet roots by the creeks on the mountain flats.
Titindi Maupa was angry at his sister all day ; he
stayed in bed until evening. Titildi Marimi dug

392 Creation Myths of Primitive America
roots, dug a great many, singing all the time while
she worked. Hitchinna heard the singing from his
place and came to her. She liked him. She went
to meet him ; was pleased to see him ; they sat
down together, talked, and were glad. They parted
for that day ; he hunted deer, she filled her basket
with roots and went home about sundown.
Titindi Maupa was in bed yet. He did not raise
his eyes when she came ; did not look at his sister.
Next morning she rose early ; rose at daylight.
She had promised Hitchinna to meet him a second
time. She washed, combed her hair, painted her
face, took a basket with a root stick, and started.
She had not gone far when her brother sprang
up, hurried to the river, swam in it ; went back to
the sweat-house, striking his hair as he went with a
stick to make it dry quickly. Then he ate, and
said to his younger sister, —
" I am going away ; I must leave you ; you will
cry, I think, because I am going."
He put on rich clothes, then tied a string of nice
beads to a staff, and fastened the staff in one corner
of the house corners.
" If I die," said he, " those beads will fall to the
ground ; do not touch them while they are hanging,
and say to our sister not to touch them. When
she comes, do not say that I have gone ; if she
knows herself, you must not show her the way that
I have taken."
Then he turned to each thing in the house and
said, " You, my poking-stick, must not tell my
sister how I have gone, nor you, my baskets, nor

Titindi Maupa and Paiowa 393
you, my fire, nor you, my basket of water, nor my
roots ; not one of you must tell her." And he told
everything except the acorn flour; he forgot to tell
the acorn flour.
" Now I go," said he; and pushing up the central
post of the house, he went in to the ground, and the
post settled back after him. He went under ground
until he reached a spring of water. From the spring
he turned back and went west, then back ; went
north, then back; went south, then back to the
spring. Next he went in circles around his house
to mislead his sister, so that she might not track
him. At last he went west two or three miles ;
then he rose to the top of the ground, and went off
on a trail.
When she went to the mountain flat on the
second morning, Titildi Marimi stood a while think
ing. She knew that her brother was out of bed,
that he was very angry. " My brother will go away
to-day," thought she. " I must be home again
soon." • She threw down her stick and basket quickly
and hurried home. She saw that her brother was
not in the house, that her sister was crying.
"Where is my brother," asked she; "tell me,
my sister."
The sister would not speak, gave no answer ;
held down her head and cried bitterly.
" Tell me quickly. The sun is high. If I can
not come up with him, he will die ; if I do not find
him, his enemies will kill him." The sister did not
answer.

394 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Tell me, you rock, which way my brother went ;
tell me quickly. Tell me, you poking-stick ; tell
me, baskets." Nothing gave answer. " Post, tell
me, tell quickly ; it is too late almost, he will escape
me." She asked everything and got no answer, till
at last she said, " Acorn flour, will you tell me ? "
" Your brother is gone," said the acorn flour.
" He is angry because you injured Topuna, his
friend ; he is very angry, and does not wish you to
follow him."
" Which way did he go ? "
" Under the post."
" That is well."
She was glad then. She made ready quickly ;
put on nice, new things, took her best bow and a
big otter-skin quiver filled with arrows, put on leg
gings like a man.
" My sister, be well, take good care of yourself,"
said she. " I don't want my brother to die. He
thinks that the journey is pleasant, that the journey
is easy. I will go, too ; I will help him."
She pushed up the post and followed her brother ;
went to the spring, came back, followed him every
where ; came out at last on the trail and tracked him,
followed him, toiled along over Backbone Moun
tain. She followed hard and fast, gained on him,
kept gaining ; still she was afraid that she could not
come up with her brother. She turned then to
Sun and called out, —
" O Sun, I wish you to be slow. Go very slowly
to-day, O Sun. Let the day be long. Give me
time to come up with my brother."

Titindi Maupa and Paiowa 395
The Sun went more slowly, gave her time, and
she hurried on.
Titindi Maupa all this while was hurrying, going
on quickly ; and he sang as he went. His song was
of Paiowa, Wakara's youngest daughter, a maiden
far off in the west.
Wakara had a great many daughters. All the
stars in the sky were his children, and all his daugh
ters were married but this one, the youngest, the
one whom Titindi Maupa was going to marry if her
father would give her.
He went along the Daha, went as the stream
flows, swam across and sat down to smoke. When
he had emptied his pipe, he went up on the moun
tain ridge west of the river, reached the top, and
walked some distance down on the western slope,
sat again and smoked a second time. Now Titildi
Marimi, his sister, had crossed the river and was
following. She came to where her brother had sat
to smoke the -first time.
" I will come up with you soon," said she. " You
cannot go from me now ; " and she followed on, fol
lowed quickly.
The brother, when he smoked the second time,
sat at a little spring on the western slope of the
mountain ridge ; the sister reached the ridge from the
top ; she saw her brother a little below her. He
heard some one behind, looked up, and saw Titildi
Marimi. He held his head down, he said nothing.
" I shall be with you soon," cried the sister.
" We can go on together. You have come a long
way to find a good smoking-place."

396 Creation Myths of Primitive America
He said nothing, looked at the ground, waited
for his sister. Soon she was there with him.
" My brother, I am tired," said she, " give me
tobacco ; I wish to smoke."
He gave her tobacco ; she smoked.
" My brother," said Titildi Marimi, " I want
you to shoot at that quartz rock over there on the
mountain side."
He raised his bow with an arrow and took good
aim. " Now hit that rock," said she.
He sent one arrow, after it a second, and then
a third. They hit the rock, but bounded back
from it.
" You might go a long way to hurt an enemy
with arrows of that sort ! " laughed the sister. " Do
you think those good arrows, my brother ? You will
see enemies enough in two days ; you will see ene
mies in the house of Wakara."
She drew out her own bow then, took an arrow
from her otter-skin quiver, and said, " Look now at
me, my brother ! "
She shot at the rock ; hit it. Her arrow shivered
the rock to pieces.
"This is what my arrows do!" said Titildi
Marimi. Titindi Maupa hung his head ; said not a word,
but rose and went down the mountain side till he
came to a creek ; then he crossed another mountain,
going westward all the time till he was in sight of
Wakaruwa, the place to which he was going ; then
he sat down a third time and smoked.

Titindi Maupa and Paiowa 397
" O smoke," said he, " I wish you to make friends
to-night and to-morrow for me."
He looked down into the valley, where he heard
much noise ; he saw many people playing games and
shooting. Just before this Wakara had called his youngest
daughter, Paiowa, and said, " I want you to gather
oak leaves for the acorn bread, and red earth to mix
in it."
She went with a basket on her back, went up to
the mountain side, gathered red earth to mix with
the acorn flour and make the bread light. The
leaves were to be put on the top of the dough and
cover the bread while baking. Titindi Maupa put
his sister with her quiver in an otter-skin and carried
her. She had made herself small, and seemed just
like an otter; he hid her on his shoulder in this form.
Paiowa, Wakara's youngest daughter, had put red
earth in her basket and filled it with leaves. She
turned around now to stoop and raise it, but could
not, it was too heavy.
Titindi Maupa had slipped up and was holding
the basket. She turned to see what the trouble was,
and saw him right there almost touching her.
" Oh ! " cried she, frightened and dropping her
head ; she was shamefaced before the stranger.
" Why are you afraid ? " asked Titindi Maupa.
" Is it because I am ugly ?
She raised the basket to her back, and rushed
away. When she reached Wakaruwa, she threw
down the basket outside, and ran into the house
past her mother.

398 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Why are you so frightened ? What is the mat
ter? " asked her mother.
Not a word did she answer.
Old Wakara was sitting inside. " Why are you
frightened, my daughter ? " asked he. " Has any
thing happened, has any one hurt you? "
" I saw a man over there on the mountain."
" What kind of man was he ? " asked Wakara.
"He has an otter on his back and wears buck
skin ; his hands are both red with deer blood."
Titindi Maupa had a large piece of fat venison in
his otter-skin quiver.
" He is a good hunter, I think," said Wakara ;
and he took down an otter-skin, put it on the north
side of the house, and said to his daughter, " Sit
there and let this man come to you."
It was night soon. All the people came into the
house, sat down, and ate supper. Titindi Maupa
stopped outside for a while, and found a place where
Wakara stored acorns. " I will leave you here for
this night," said he to his sister. "To-morrow I
will come to get you."
Titindi Maupa left his sister in the acorn crib,
sank in the ground then, and came up inside
the sweat-house right at the side of Paiowa. Old
Wakara laughed when he saw him sitting near his
daughter. He was glad.
" Give the stranger food," said he.
Paiowa brought food and gave it to the stranger.
Titindi Maupa ate some and said, " Look in my
otter-skin, I have some venison."
She put her hand in, found a good piece, a nice

Titindi Maupa and Paiowa 399
saddle of venison. She could not draw the piece
out, it was so heavy. She went then to her father
and said, " I must have a big basket."
She took a large tray basket over to her place.
Titindi Maupa drew out the venison and put it on
the tray, saying, —
" Now, be no smaller, my venison, stay as you
are, no matter how much they take from you."
Two girls carried the basket and put it down before
Wakara and Hemauna Marimi, his wife. The two
old people ate. After them all in the house ate,
and the saddle of venison was as large as at first.
When all in the house had eaten, old Wakara went
out on the housetop and shouted, —
" My sons, I call you all to come in for a short
while." Now, all the stars in the sky were Wakara's
children ; they were his sons and daughters* The
greatest, a son, came in first. When near the house,
he had caught the odor of venison. Behind him
came a great many people. All the stars were in
Wakara's sweat-house ; the whole place was filled
with them. When they looked and saw Titindi
Maupa sitting with their sister, they laughed. They
were glad. Some sat down ; others cut off the veni
son and roasted it. All ate what they wanted.
Now, old Wakara himself cut off venison, and
gave a large share to each son to carry home for his
wife and children. All went away laughing.
Titindi Maupa rose before dawn the next morn
ing, took a deer head, and went hunting to a moun
tain. He put on the head. Deer came and stood

400 Creation Myths of Primitive America
before him, ten, then ten more, and soon there were
a hundred. He killed the hundred deer. Taking
the smallest, he opened it, made the others very
little, and put them into the small one, which he
carried in one hand.
All were sleeping in the sweat-house when Titindi
Maupa came. He threw down the small deer, and
the ninety-nine others were as big as at first ; they
burst out of the small one, made a great noise, and
filled all the space before the sweat-house. Wakara's
wife had got up to make acorn bread. She tried to go
out, but could not, there were so many deer lying
around everywhere. She hurried back and called
her husband.
" There is something outside," said she ; " I do
not know what it is. Get up and look, get up
quickly ! "
Wakara went out and saw piles of deer ; he ran
back, took his knife and sharpened it. Then going
to the top of the house, he called to the whole village,
" Come here ; come, all of you ! "
All the people of the village came soon, and
there were so many that the venison was dressed
quickly. They cooked and ate in company. Others
came from beyond the river south of them, and ate
all the venison they wanted. Many sat down under
oak-trees and gambled ; some shot arrows at marks,
and others raced.
All day they amused themselves ; all day they
feasted, and went home at sunset very glad and
praising Titindi Maupa.
West of Wakaruwa, was a large village and many

Titindi Maupa and Paiowa 401
people, all Wakara's sons-in-law, all married to his
daughters ; and the chief was Lawalila.
" I wonder what my father-in-law is doing," said
each of these people ; " he has very loud talk in his
sweat-house. There has never been such talk there
before." Lawalila called his two sons and said : " Go and
see what your grandfather is doing. Your youngest
aunt has a husband ; perhaps that is why there is
such loud talk at the sweat-house."
The two boys stole up to the house carefully, and
peeped into it. The younger saw Paiowa, his aunt,
in one corner, and Titindi Maupa sitting near her.
Wakara saw the boy peeping in, and hurled a stick
at him. The two boys ran home.
" My aunt has a husband," said the younger boy.
" She has not," said the elder.
"I saw him," said the younger.
" You did not," said the elder.
Lawalila stopped the boys ; he was satisfied. He
went out, and calling to all said, " Paiowa, the young
est daughter of Wakara, is married ! "
All were very angry now, all were enraged, for
there were many in that village who wanted Paiowa.
Next morning Lawalila roused the village early,
and said : " I want you, my people, to play to-day.
You must play your best ; you must beat Titindi
Maupa, Wakara's new son-in-law."
After they had eaten he called all his people
together and said, " We will go over to my father-
in-law's, to Wakara's, and shoot at a mark there
with arrows." 26

402 Creation Myths of Primitive America
They went to Wakara's and asked : " Where is
Titindi Maupa ? We wish to try him ; we want to
shoot arrows at a mark against him."
Titindi Maupa came out and shot. He won the
first shot, the second ; he won all the time, won
everything that Lawalila's people wagered.
Just at noon Lawalila lost his temper, got angry,
sprang up, tried to seize and take back all the things
that his people had lost. Titindi Maupa would not
let him do that ; he stood in his way, would not let
him take anything.
Lawalila struck Wakara's new son-in-law. Titindi
Maupa threw down his opponent. Lawalila jumped
up, ran toward his people, drew his bow, and tried
to send an arrow through Titindi Maupa. A great
fight now followed.
Wakara's sons came and took Titindi Maupa's
part. Lawalila's people hurried to his side. Titindi
Maupa's young wife ran out to help her brothers
and her husband.
They fought very hard on both sides. In the
middle of the afternoon all were killed on La
walila's side except himself. New forces came to
Lawalila. Titindi Maupa was so tired that he
could not stand. At this moment his sister came.
She picked up Titindi Maupa, put him on her
back, and gave him her bow and arrows. He shot
from her shoulder, and used her strong arrows.
Every man that they touched fell that moment.
Every one from the west was killed, Lawalila with
the others.
Titindi Maupa rested, and went to the sweat-

Titindi Maupa and Paiowa 403
house. His sister went with him. The dead of
both sides lay all night where they fell.
Before daybreak Titindi Maupa rose, took his fire-
drill, went out, and turning the faces of all his broth
ers-in-law to the earth, struck them with the fire-drill.
All came to life and went back to Wakaruwa.
Lawalila's people lay on the field all night, the
next day, and the night following. Titindi Maupa
did not like to see all those dead people lying there ;
so he went before daybreak of the second day and
struck each with his fire-drill. All came to life,
rose up, were glad, and went home. Next morning
they came to Wakaruwa, and had games again, with
good feasting and pleasure. They did not get
angry a second time.
Titindi Maupa brought in deer every morning.
His brothers-in-law came and ate with him ; they
were friendly and happy. Titindi Maupa stayed
twenty days at Wakaruwa. He killed deer for all
of them. On the twenty-first morning Wakara said
to his daughter, —
" I think your husband would like to go home
now." Next morning Titindi Maupa set out for home
with his wife and sister; they went in one day to
Kurulsa Mauna.
Three nights later Topuna came to visit them ;
he came again to see Titildi Marimi. She let him
come now. She was afraid that her brother might
leave her a second time.
So at last Topuna got the wife he wanted, and
they all lived together at Kurulsa Mauna.

THE TWO SISTERS, HAKA LASI
AND TSORE JOWA

THE TWO SISTERS, HAKA LASI AND
TSORE JOWA

PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Chuhna, spider ; Haka hasi, loon ; Hitchinna, wildcat ; Jamuka,
acorn worm; Juka, silkworm; Metsi, coyote; Tsanunewa, fisher (a
bird) ; Tsore Jowa, eagle.

AT some distance east of Jigul matu lived old
Juka. He had a great many sons and two
daughters — a big house full of children.
Juka's two daughters were Tsore Jowa, the elder,
and Haka Lasi, the younger. After a time Haka
Lasi fell in love with her brother Hitchinna. One
day she fell asleep and dreamed that he had married
her. Metsi lived, too, in Juka's house. He was no
relative ; he just lived as a guest there.
One day all the men were out hunting. It was
then that Haka Lasi saw Hitchinna in a dream.
She began to sing about him, and she sang : " I
dream of Hitchinna ; I dream that he is my hus
band. I dream of Hitchinna ; I dream that he is
my husband."
All the men came back from the hunt at night.
At daylight next morning they went to swim, and
Tsore Jowa made ready food for them. Haka Lasi

40 8 Creation Myths of Primitive America
took a very nice staff in her hand, and went on top
of the sweat-house. She looked in and sang, —
" Where is my husband ? Send him up here to
me. I will take him away. We must go on a
journey. Where is my husband ? Send him up
here to me."
All knew that she had no husband.
" You have no husband," said they.
Hitchina was lying in one corner wrapped up in
the skin of a wildcat.
" You have no husband in this house ; all here
are your brothers," said Juka.
" I have a husband, and I want him to come here
to me," answered Haka Lasi.
" Well," said the eldest son, " I will go up to her.
Let us hear what she will say." He went up.
" You are not my husband," said Haka Lasi.
" Do not come near me."
She drove that one down, and called again :
" Where is my husband ? Send him up to me."
" Go you," said Juka to the second son.
" I don't want you," said Haka Lasi to the
second son.
She refused one after another, and drove them
away until none was left but Hitchinna. Juka went
then to Hitchinna and said, —
" My son, get up and go to her ; it looks as
though you were the one she wants."
" He is the one," said Haka Lasi ; " he is my
husband. I want him to go away with me."
Hitchinna said not a word, but rose, washed,
dressed himself nicely, and went to the woman.

Haka Lasi and Tsore Jowa 409
" The sun is high now," said Haka Lasi ; " we
must go quickly."
She was glad when taking away the one she
wanted. They travelled along, and she sang of
Hitchinna as they travelled, sang of him all the
time. They went a long distance, and at night she
fixed a bed and they lay down on it.
Young Hitchinna could not sleep, he was fright
ened. When Haka Lasi was asleep, he rose very
quickly, took a piece of soft rotten wood, put it
on her arm where she had held his head, covered it,
and then ran away quickly, hurried back toward
Juka's sweat-house with all his might. About day
light he was at the sweat-house.
Now Chuhna, Juka's sister, lived with him. She
was the greatest person in the world to spin threads
and twist ropes. She had a willow basket as big as
a house, and a rope which reached up to the sky
and was fastened there.
" My nephew," said she to Hitchinna, "I will
save you and save all from your terrible sister. She
will be here very soon ; she may come any moment.
She will kill all in this house ; she will kill every
one if she finds us here. Let all go into my basket.
I will take you up to the sky. She cannot find us
there ; she cannot follow us to that place."
" I will lie lowest," said Metsi. " I am a good
man, I will go in first, I will go in before others ;
I will be at the bottom of the basket."
Metsi went in first ; every one in the sweat-house
followed him. Then Chuhna ran up, rose on her
rope, and pulled the basket after her.

4 1 o Creation Myths of Primitive America
The sweat-house was empty ; no one stayed be
hind. Chuhna kept rising and rising, going higher
and higher.
When Haka Lasi woke up and saw that she had
a block of rotten wood on her arm instead of
Hitchinna, she said, —
" You won't get away from me, I will catch you
wherever you are."
She rushed back to the sweat-house. It was
empty ; no one there. She ran around in every
direction looking for tracks, to find which way they
had gone. She found nothing on the ground ; then
she looked into the sky, and far up, very high, close
to the sun, she saw the basket rising, going up
steadily. Haka Lasi was raging; she was so awfully
angry that she set fire to the house. It burned
quickly, was soon a heap of coals.
The basket was almost at the sky when Metsi said
to himself, " I wonder how far up we are ; I want
to see." And he made a little hole in the bottom
of the basket to peep through and look down.
That instant the basket burst open ; all came
out, poured down, a great stream of people, and
all fell straight into the fire of the sweat-house.
Now, Tsore Jowa was outside on top of the
basket. She caught at the sun, held to it, and
saved herself.
Hitchinna went down with the rest, fell into the
burning coals, and was burned like his brothers.
Haka Lasi was glad that they had not escaped
her ; she took a stick, fixed a net on it, and watched.

Haka Lasi and Tsore Jowa 411
All were in the fire now and were burning. After
a while one body burst, and the heart flew out of it.
Haka Lasi caught this heart in her net. Soon a
second and a third body burst, and two more hearts
flew out. She caught those as well as the first one.
She caught all the hearts except two, — Juka's own
heart and his eldest son's heart.
Juka's heart flew high, went away far in the sky,
and came down on the island of a river near Kla
math Lake. It turned into Juka himself there.
He sank in the ground to his chin ; only his head
was sticking out.
The heart of the eldest son flew off to the foot
of Wahkalu and turned to be himself again. He
fell so deep into the earth that only his face was
sticking out on the surface.
Now Haka Lasi put all the hearts which she had
caught on a string, hung them around her neck,
and went to a lake east of Jigulmatu. She wanted
to live at the bottom of the lake, but could not find
a place deep enough. So she went northwest of
Klamath Lake to Crater Lake, where she could live
in deep water.
Two Tsanunewa brothers lived near the lake
with their old grandmother. One morning early
these brothers were out catching ducks, and just at
daybreak they heard some one call.
" Who is that ?" asked the elder brother.
" I don't know," answered the younger.
Soon they saw Haka Lasi spring up on the water
and call. She had a large string of hearts around
her neck. Then she sank again in the water.

4 1 2 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Again she came up at some distance and called a
second time.
Now Tsore Jowa came down from the sun and
went to the old sweat-house, where she found noth
ing but a heap of bones and ashes. Putting pitch
on her head and on her arms, and strips of deer
skin around her neck with pitch on them, she cried
and went around mourning. After a time she began
to look for her sister. She went everywhere ; went
to Klamath Lake.
For some time the two Tsanunewa brothers had
heard a voice singing, —
"Li-wa-eh, li-wa-ha,
Li-wa-eh, li-wa-ha."
This was old Juka. He was lying in the ground
where he had fallen, and was crying.
Tsore Jowa searched, inquired, asked every one
about Haka Lasi, and told what she had done, —
that she had killed her own brothers and father.
Tsore Jowa came at last to the house of the two
Tsanunewa brothers one day about sunset, and
spoke to their grandmother. " My sister, Haka
Lasi, has killed all my brothers and my father,"
said she; and she told the whole story.
The old woman cried when she heard what Tsore
Jowa told her. The two brothers were away hunt
ing ; they came home about dark with a large string
of ducks. " This woman," said the grandmother,
"is looking for her sister, who has killed all her
people." The two brothers cried when the story was told
to them. When they had finished crying, they

Haka Lasi and Tsore Jowa 413
said to the old woman, " Cook ducks and let this
woman have plenty to eat."
When all had eaten, the two brothers said to
Tsore Jowa : " Tell us what kind of a person your
sister is. Which way did she go ? "
" I don't know which way she went," said Tsore
Jowa. " Three days ago," said the elder brother, "just
as daylight was coming, we saw a woman jump up
in the lake where we were fishing. She seemed to
have large beads around her neck. That woman
may be your sister."
" Catch that woman for me. I will give you
otter-skins and beads. I will give bearskins. If
you wish, I will stay with you here, if you catch
her." "We want no beads nor otter-skins nor bear
skins," said the brothers.
" What do you want ? "
" We want red deer-bones and green deer-bones ;
small, sharp ones to stab fish with."
"You shall have all you want of both kinds,"
said Tsore Jowa.
Next morning she set out with a sack, went away
to high mountains, gathered deer-bones, red and
green leg-bones, and put them in her sack. At
sunset she went back to the house, with the sack
full. The two brothers were glad, now. The elder
took red, and the younger green bones. (The fat
on the leg-bones of deer turns some red and others
green.)

414 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" You must catch her bad sister for Tsore Jowa,"
said the old woman to her grandsons.
All that night the brothers sat sharpening the
bones and then fastening them to the spear-shafts.
They did not stop for a moment. " Let us go
now; it is near daylight," said the elder brother.
They started. When they reached the lake, they
went out on the water. Every morning at day
break Haka Lasi sprang up to the surface and
called from the lake. The elder brother took a
stem of tule grass, opened it, placed it on the water,
made himself small, and sat down in the middle of
it. The younger brother fixed himself in another
stem of tule in the same way. The two tule stems
floated away on the water, till they came near the
place where the brothers had seen Haka Lasi spring
up the first time.
" Let me shoot before you," said the elder
brother. " Oh, you cannot shoot ; you will miss her," said
the younger. " Let me shoot first. You will miss ;
you will not hit her heart."
" I will hit," said the elder.
They watched and watched. Each had his bow
drawn ready to shoot. Daylight came now. Haka
Lasi rose quickly, came to the top of the water, and
held out her arms before calling.
The younger brother sent the first arrow, struck
her in the neck ; the elder shot, struck her right
under the arm. Haka Lasi dropped back and sank
in the water.
The brothers watched and watched. After a time

Haka Lasi and Tsore Jowa 415
they saw two arrows floating, and were afraid they
had lost her. She had pulled them out of her body,
and they rose to the surface. After a while the
body rose. Haka Lasi was dead.
The brothers saw that she had a great many
hearts on a string around her neck. They drew
her to the shore then, and carried her home. They
left the body hidden outside the house, and went in.
" We did not see her," said the elder Tsanunewa
to his grandmother.
All sat down to eat fish, and when they were
through eating, the elder said to Tsore Jowa,
" Come out and see what we caught this morning."
She ran out with them, and saw her dead sister
with a string of hearts on her neck. Tsore Jowa
took off her buckskin skirt, wrapped up the body,
and put it in the house. She counted the hearts.
" My eldest brother's heart is not here, and my
father's is not here," said she.
" Every morning we hear some one crying, far
away toward the north ; that may be one of them,"
said the two Tsanunewas.
Tsore Jowa started out to find this one, if she
could, who was calling. She left the body and
hearts at the old grandmother's house, and hurried
off toward the north. She heard the cry soon and
knew it. " That is my father," said she.
Tsore Jowa came near the place from which the
cry rose ; saw no one. Still she heard the cry.
At last she saw a face ; it was the face of Juka, her
father. Tsore Jowa took a sharp stick and dug. She dug

4 1 6 Creation Myths of Primitive America
down to Juka's waist; tried to pull him up, but
could not stir him. She dug again, dug a good
while ; pulled and pulled, until at last she drew him
out. Juka was very poor, all bones, no flesh at all on
him. Tsore Jowa put down a deerskin, wrapped
her father in it, and carried him to the old woman's
house ; then she put him with Haka Lasi's body,
and carried them home to the old burned sweat-
house east of Jigulmatu.
She was crying yet, since one brother was mis
sing. She put down the basket in which she had
carried them, hid it away, covered it carefully.
At the foot of Wahkalu lived a certain Jamuka,
an old man who had a wife and two daughters.
" Bring in some wood," said the old man one day
to his daughters.
The two girls took their baskets and went to bring
wood. Soon they heard some one singing, —
" I-no i-no, I-no mi-na
I-no, i-no I-no mi-na."
" Listen," said the younger sister ; " some one is
singing." They listened, heard the singing; it seemed right
at the foot of Wahkalu. They went toward the
place from which the sound came.
" That is a nice song," said the younger sister.
" I should like to see the one who sings so."
They went near, saw no one yet. " Let us take
the wood home," said the elder sister, " then come
back here ; our father may be angry if we stay away
longer."

Haka Lasi and Tsore Jowa 417
They took the wood home, put it down, and said
nothing. Both went back to the place where the
singing was and listened. At last the younger sister
came to the right place, and said, " I think this is
he who is singing."
There was a head sticking out of the ground, and
the face was covered with water. The man had cried
so much that he looked dirty and ugly.
The sisters took sharp sticks, and dug all around
the head, dug deeply. They could not pull out the
person ; they had only dug to his waist when night
came and they must go.
" Why did you stay out so late ? " asked their
father. " We heard some one singing, and wanted to know
who it was, but were not able. We will go back in
the morning and search again."
"That is well," said Jamuka. He had heard how
Juka's sons had been killed. " Perhaps one of
those people is alive yet," said he ; " you must look
for him."
They went early next morning to dig, and drew
the man out. They took off their buckskin skirts
then, and wrapped him up carefully. He was noth
ing but bones, no flesh at all on his body. The
younger sister ran home to get wildcat skins to wrap
around him.
" We have found a man, but he is all bones," said
she to her father.
" Take good care of the stranger, feed and nurse
him well," said Jamuka ; " he may be Juka himself,
and he is a good man." 27

4 1 8 Creation Myths of Primitive America
They wrapped the man in wildcat skins. A great
stream of water was running from his eyes, and deer
came down the hill to drink of that water.
The girls lay on each side of the man, and gave
him food ; stayed all night with him. Next morn
ing they went home for more food.
" Feed him, give him plenty," said Jamuka ; " he
may get health and strength yet."
The sisters went back and stayed a second night.
The man began to look better, but he cried all the
time, and many deer came to drink the water that
flowed from his eyes. The girls went home the
second morning. " The man looks better," said
they to their father.
" I have heard," said old Jamuka, " that Juka's
sons were killed. This must be one of them."
They went back right away, and stayed another day
and night with the stranger. The man looked as
though he might get his health again. He began to
talk. " Has your father a bow and arrows ? " asked
he of the sisters.
" He has ; he has many."
" Bring me a bow and arrows ; many deer come
near me to drink, I may shoot one."
They took the man's words to their father.
Jamuka gave them a bow and some arrows, and
they went back to the sick man.
" You may go home to-night," said he. " I wish
to be alone."
The girls left him. At sundown a great buck
came and drank of the tears, he killed him ; later
another came, he killed that one ; at midnight a third

Haka Lasi and Tsore Jowa 419
came, he killed the third ; now he had three. At
daylight a fourth buck was killed ; he had four
now. " That is enough," thought he.
When the girls came and saw four great bucks
lying dead near the stranger, they were frightened ;
they ran home and told their father. Old Jamuka
was glad when they told him. He sharpened his
knife, hurried out to the woods and looked at the
stranger. " That is Juka's son," said he ; " take
good care of him, daughters."
Jamuka dressed the deer, carried them home, and
cut up the venison for drying. Next evening Juka's
son sent the girls home a second time, and killed
five great deer that night. Next morning the girls
came to see him, and ran home in wonder.
Their father was very glad. He dressed the five
deer as he had the four, and cut up the venison.
Tsore Jowa was hunting everywhere all this time
to find her brother. She had left the hearts, her
sister's body, and her father hidden away carefully ;
had done nothing yet to save them.
The night after Juka's son killed the five deer
the two girls took him home to their father. He was
well now and beautiful, in good health and strong.
He cried no more after that. A salt spring was
formed in the place where he had fallen and shed
so many tears. The spring is in that place till this
day, and deer go in herds to drink from it. People
watch near the spring and kill them, as Juka's son
did. Tsore Jowa went to every house inquiring
about her brother. At last she came to Jamuka's
house, and there she found him. She was glad

420 Creation Myths of Primitive America
now and satisfied. She left her brother with his
two wives and hurried home.
Tsore Jowa made in one night a great sweat-
house, prepared a big basket, and filled it with water.
When the second night came, she dropped hot stones
into the water ; put all the hearts into the basket.
Opening her sister's body, she took out her heart
and put it in with the others. At this time the
water in the basket was boiling. She covered
the basket and placed it on top of the sweat-
house. Then she went in, lay down and slept.
The water was seething all night. At daybreak
the basket turned over, and there was a crowding
and hurrying of people around the sweat-house.
They began to talk briskly.
" We are cold, we are cold ! " said they. " Let us
in ! "
Soon broad daylight came. Tsore Jowa opened
the door, and all crowded into the sweat-house.
Tsore Jowa said not a word yet. All the brothers
came ; behind them Haka Lasi. She looked well,
she was good. Her heart was clean ; there was
nothing bad now in it.
" Where is our eldest brother ? " asked all.
"He is well; I have found him. He has two
wives," said Tsore Jowa.
Juka was in good health and strong. She had
washed him and given him good food.
All were happy, and they went hunting.
" I think your husband would like to go home,"
said Jamuka one day to his daughters.
Juka's son and his two wives set out to visit his

Haka Lasi and Tsore Jowa 421
father ; Juka saw his son coming ; took a big
blanket quickly, caught him, placed him in it, and
put him right away.
Now the wives of Juka's son came in and sat down
in the house. Two other brothers took them for
wives. They stayed a long time, never saw their
first husband again. Old Juka kept him secreted,
made him a Weanmauna, a hidden one.
After a time the two women wished to go home
to visit Jamuka. They took beads and blankets,
nice things of all kinds, and went to their father at
the foot of Wahkalu.
" We have never seen our husband," said they,
" since we went to his father's. We have new
husbands now."
" I think that is well enough," said Jamuka.
" His father has put him away. His brothers are
as good for you as he was."
The sisters agreed with their father, and went
back and lived at Juka's house after that.

THE DREAM OF JUIWAIYU AND
HIS JOURNEY TO DAMHAUJA'S
COUNTRY

THE DREAM OF JUIWAIYU AND
HIS JOURNEY TO DAMHAUJA'S
COUNTRY PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Damhauja, the moon just before renewal; Darijua, gray squirrel;
Halaia, morning star ; Jupka, butterfly of the wild silk worm ; Juiwaiyu,
acorn of the Eastern black oak ; Kechowala, blue jay ; Mahari, Eastern
black oak ; Pahnino, a kind of ocean-shell •. Periwiriwaiyu, another
kind of Eastern black oak.

JUIWAIYU lived far away in the east, in the
southern part of it. His father, Periwiriwaiyu,
was old. His mother, Maharia, was old, too ; but
both were very beautiful.
Juiwaiyu hunted, fished; was happy till one
night he dreamed of two girls who lived beyond
Wahkalu, lived north of that mountain.
" I dreamed of two sisters," said he to his father
and mother next morning, " I saw two women
last night. They are both very beautiful. I must
find them ; I will bring them home if I can."
" You must not go," said his father and mother.
" If you go, you will never come back to this coun
try. We shall not see you again if you leave us.
We know that those people will kill you. We
shall never see you again if you go from here."
Then they cried bitterly, both of them.

426 Creation Myths of Primitive America
But his father and mother could not stop Jui
waiyu ; he would go. When he was ready to start,
his mother said, —
" Your uncle lives at Shultsmauna, near Kamshu-
matu. Stop there. You must see your uncle,
you must talk with him. His name is Jupka.
He is very wise ; he will help you. There will be
thunder and a sprinkle of rain here when you touch
your uncle's house. I shall know then that you
have got that far in safety."
Juiwaiyu began to sing. He started, and rose
through the air. He went very high, and cried —
cried and sang as he travelled. Though he had
made up his mind to go, he feared that his mother's
words might come true, that the people beyond
Wahkalu might kill him. He looked far ahead,
and saw smoke near the edge of the- sky. " That
may be smoke from my uncle's house," thought
Juiwaiyu. He moved toward the smoke ; went on till he
was straight above his uncle's house. He went
down to the roof then, and peeped in through the
smoke-hole. The old man, who was lying with his
back to the fire, saw him look in. Jupka stood
up, looked again, grabbed his spear.
" Is that the way you look into my house ?
What do you want here ? " cried Jupka, aiming his
spear at the stranger.
" It is I, uncle, — I, Juiwaiyu."
" Why did you not call me uncle when you
looked first ? Why did you not say who you were
when you came ? I might have killed you ; I came

The Dream of Juiwaiyu 427
very near killing you with my spear. Come down,
come down ; let me see you, my nephew."
" I will," said Juiwaiyu ; " I have travelled far
to-day, I am tired."
He went down on the central pole.
" Uncle, I have come to talk with you, to let
you know where I am going."
" You would better eat first," said Jupka ; and
he took Juiwaiyu in his arms, smoothed his hair,
and was glad to look at him.
" You are tired, my nephew ; you are hungry ;
you must eat."
" I am not hungry ; I have no time to wait ; I
am in a great hurry."
" Where are you going, my nephew ? " asked
Jupka. " I had a dream last night, my uncle ; I dreamed
of two sisters, daughters of Damhauja."
" You would better stay at home. My nephew,
stay at home ; you would better not go for those
sisters. Forget them ; don't think of those girls,"
said Jupka. "If you go, you will never come
back. The place where they live is a bad one ;
every stranger gets killed who goes there. I have
seen many men on the way to Damhauja's ; many
a man has passed here to look for those sisters, but
never have I seen any come back with or without a
woman. I have been in that country myself, I
know it well. I had to fight for my life there, and
came near being killed. I am many times stronger
than you, know people better than you do, and I
would not go to that country."

428 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" No matter what kind of country that is, no
matter what kind of people live in it, I must find
those two sisters. I have dreamt of them. There
is no use in trying to hold me back. I must go ; I
cannot stop, I cannot help myself."
"Well," said Jupka, "if you must go, I will go
with you ; you would be lost without me. I must
save you, my nephew. I will make myself small ;
you can put me on your head, you can tie me up
in your hair easily."
The old man made himself small, and Juiwaiyu
put him on the top of his head, bound him firmly
in his hair, bound him so that no one could see him.
Then he went up on the sweat-house and turned
toward the sun.
" Sun, O Sun, I wish you to be slow," said he.
" I must go very far ; I wish the day to last long."
" I will tell you now of the road," said Jupka.
" When you come near a small mountain east of
Wahkalu, there will be three roads there before you ;
one on the right hand very narrow. You can
hardly see that road, it is so little beaten, but you
must find it, for you cannot go by another. There
is a middle road, smooth and wide ; you will see
fresh clover scattered on the road, just as if women
had carried some over and dropped a little here and
there. If you go over that road, you will be killed
by lice and wind. On the left hand is a road ; if
you take that, you will lose yourself and never reach
any place."
" I will sing now," said Juiwaiya, " and my song will
be heard everywhere, north, south, east, and west."

The Dream of Juiwaiyu 429
He began, and rose in the air as he sang ; he rose,
and as he moved forward, the whole world heard
him ; every one looked up to see who was singing,
but no one saw anything.
" That sounds like the song of Juiwaiyu," said
some of the people. " I think that is the voice of
Periwiriwaiyu's son," said others ; " I think that is
he, for that's how he sings when he travels."
They tried to see who was singing, but saw no
one. The song seemed just above them, but it
was high up, very high in the air.
" Hurry, my nephew, hurry," said Jupka ; " I
don't like to camp on the journey, I want to be at
that place before sunset."
Juiwaiyu sang faster now; he could not move
without singing. He moved swiftly, and soon
they were east of Wahkalu.
" Look down carefully," said Jupka ; " if you see
clover scattered on a road, you must not go over it.
Go over that road on the right, do not look at the
other." Damhauja had sent people to scatter clover on
the middle road and entice men, make them think
that the road to his sweat-house.
" The middle road lies straight toward the moun
tain," said Jupka ; " all people die who try to pass
over it. A great many lie dead on that road now,
my nephew ; do not go near it."
Juiwaiyu kept on ; soon they heard laughter
ahead on the small mountain, loud laughter.
" You are on the wrong road," said Jupka.
" Turn back, my nephew ; if not, you will die

430 Creation Myths of Primitive America
surely. That was the laughter of people sent
by Damhauja to kill all who go over the middle
road." Juiwaiyu kept on ; he would not listen to his un
cle. Soon a great wind came, bringing clouds of lice
with it ; the air was filled with them. They fell on
Juiwaiyu, and ate the flesh off his body. The wind
drove him far back on his journey, and blew the
beads from his neck. The people of the mountain
did this, — people put there and kept by Damhauja.
Juiwaiyu was angry. He rushed forward a sec
ond time.
" I will pass, I will go through this time," said
he. " I told you of this trouble," said Jupka, " I
warned you. I said that this was an evil road over
which no one can pass. Stop, or you will be dead
before night comes. Stop ! Let me down ; I will
save you."
Juiwaiyu came to the ground, and took out his
uncle. " I will save you," said Jupka ; " I will give you
back flesh and strength."
The old man took his pipe and drew smoke
through it. The wind went away ; the lice disap
peared, not one was left anywhere. Jupka took up
a rose-twig. With this he whipped Juiwaiyu, and
he was as sound and strong as ever. He had all
his flesh back in a moment.
The people of the mountain saw this. "We
cannot kill him," said they; "he has too much
power for us."

The Dream of Juiwaiyu 431
" You must turn back and start where the roads
part," said Jupka. "On the right is a small narrow
trail ; you can barely see it, but you must find this
trail. You cannot go to Damhauja's house by an
other way."
Juiwaiyu went back to where the paths parted.
" You are looking for the way," said Jupka.
" If you see a narrow little trail, that is it."
He found that trail at last. " That is the right
way," said the uncle.
It was so narrow that Juiwaiyu was barely able
to see it. He went forward easily; went fast, like
a man who is running down hill. They came
to the small mountain, and when Juiwaiyu was
above it, he heard laughing at a distant village.
" That must be the place to which we are going,"
said he.
" My nephew, look out now, be careful. When
you go into Damhauja's sweat-house and sit with
his daughters, he will give you a pipe filled with
crushed bones of people instead of tobacco. If you
breathe smoke from that pipe, you will die the next
moment. With this smoke he has killed those who
escaped lice and wind from the mountain."
Juiwaiyu rested a while, and thought of the beads
he had lost. " I wish my beads would return to
me," said he. That moment the beads were on his
neck. They were as beautiful as ever.
" My beads, you must not go again from me.
You must stay with me, and you must be in plenty.
Pahnino Marimi, I wish you to send your daughters
for leaves, wood, and water. Be kind when I come

43 2 Creation Myths of Primitive America
to you. Do not kill me. Let us go on," said he
to his uncle.
They went forward, and soon they saw two girls,
one holding the other by the hand. These girls
were coming toward the mountain, swaying their
hands and singing. Juiwaiyu came to the ground,
hid behind a tree, and said, " Let there be wood
here in plenty, wood for these women." The wood
was right there in one moment.
The two girls set down their baskets and filled
them. " I wish that man would come," said one
sister to the other, " the man we dreamed of last
night." They put down their hands to take the baskets.
Juiwaiyu caught their hands. They looked around,
saw him, and were frightened.
" Why are you frightened ? I dreamed of you
last night, you dreamed of me. Go home, go
ahead, hurry forward, I will follow; I will be at
your father's house soon."
They put the baskets on their backs, ran quickly,
reached home soon, threw down the baskets outside
the doorway, and rushed into the sweat-house.
" What are you scared at, my daughters ? You
saw some young man in the woods, I think," said
Pahnino, their mother, who was making acorn bread
outside the doorway. " I think that some brother-
in-law was watching you near the mountain."
" You have never seen the man we met," said the
sisters. Pahnino went to look ; she looked carefully, but
saw no man coming toward her from any side.

The Dream of Juiwaiyu 433
The two sisters spread a black bearskin and sat on
it, sat near each other and waited. The old man
went out to look, put his hand over his eyes to see
a new son-in-law, but could see no one. Juiwaiyu
was on the house now ; he went down through the
central pillar, passed through the ground, and came
up between Damhauja's two daughters. Pahnino
Marimi walked in at that moment to scold her
daughters. She looked, and saw Juiwaiyu between
them. " Some one is sitting with our daughters," said
she to the old man.
Damhauja went for his pipe, put in crushed bones
of Mapchemaina, and handed the pipe to his
daughters. " Give this to my son-in-law," said he.
They did not like to take the pipe, but they
could not refuse their father, they could not help
themselves. They were crying.
" You must not smoke this," whispered they ;
" we will give you another kind." They took the
tobacco out and put in some of the common sort.
The old man did not watch sharply at first ; he was
thinking only to see Juiwaiyu drop dead. • The
girls handed back the empty pipe to their father.
Jupka, who was sitting on his nephew's head,
laughed in his own mind.
" I don't know what sort of man this is," thought
Damhauja ; " I have never seen such a person. I
think he must have come to fight with me ; I will
try him once more."
He filled the pipe a second time, and gave it to
28

434 Creation Myths of Primitive America
his daughters. They handed it to Juiwaiyu. This
time they could not change the tobacco. Damhauja
was watching too carefully. Jupka smoked . this
pipe. No smoke could hurt him. Damhauja, who
hoped to see Juiwaiyu fall dead, became frightened
when he saw him as well as ever.
" What am I to do ? " thought he. " I give this
tobacco to every man who comes for my daughters,
and every man who smokes dies right away. I am
afraid of my new son-in-law. I will not fight with
this man. Let my other sons-in-law try him. My
daughters, I want you to give nice food to your
husband ; give him good things to eat, take the best
care of him, treat him well. My boys, I want you
to bring plenty of nice food to my son-in-law."
" I will give venison now to these sisters," thought
Jupka ; and he took out a small piece of fat venison
as large as a walnut. This he gave to Juiwaiyu, and
told him to ask for a large basket. They brought
it. " You, venison, keep this size," said Juiwaiyu ;
" be no smaller, you must not be gone ; " and then
he cut slices.
Damhauja carried off three great baskets of meat,
then went out on the house-top and called all his
sons. " Come for venison, my sons," said he. " There
is plenty for all of you."
Damhauja had a great many sons-in-law on the
west beyond a river. All his daughters were mar
ried except two. These sons-in-law heard him call
and wondered. " What has happened ? " asked

The Dream of Juiwaiyu 435
they of one another. " We 've never heard the old
man talk that way before. He must have found a
new son-in-law ; he must have found a husband for
Halaia and Pahnino Marimi."
All Damhauja's sons came into the sweat-house.
Kechowala, a son-in-law and chief on the west
side, sent his two sons, Kechowala and Darijua, to
see what was happening at the sweat-house,
When the boys came and looked in, the elder saw
a man, he thought, but did not know him. Dam
hauja's sons were dancing a fire-dance. The two
brothers looked around carefully, but the younger
did not see the strange man. They ran down from
the sweat-house, and on the way home began to
quarrel. " I think our grandfather has a new son-in-law ; I
saw him," said Kechowala, the elder.
" You did not," said the younger.
" Why do you try to hide him, why do you deny ?
I saw him surely."
" When we get home, you will say that you saw a
stranger in the sweat-house ; but if you do, you will
lie." " We shall see great trouble, I think," said
the elder ; " there will be fighting now our grand
father has a new son-in-law, there will be great
fighting." The two boys ran very fast, disputing as they
went. They got to the river, swam across, ran
home. " There is a strange man over there ; grandfather
has a new son-in-law," said Kechowala.

436 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Don't believe what he says," cried Darijua to
his father ; " I could not see any man."
" Why do you want to hide him, why do you
deny ? You must have seen him plainly."
" I did not see him, and you did not. I saw all
who were there, but I saw no stranger."
" I saw him sitting between the two girls," said
Kechowala. " He is there," said the father. " I will see that
man to-morrow."
" My son-in-law," said Damhauja, " you must be
careful to-morrow. I have a great many daughters
besides your two wives ; their husbands will try to
kill you." Then Damhauja said to his sons : "We
will go to sleep and rise early ; take good care of
your brother-in-law to-morrow."
All went to rest ; Juiwaiyu and his wives as well
as others.
When all were asleep, Juiwaiyu took Jupka out
of his hair and rose up. " I wish for daylight
quickly," said he.
Thunder roared then, and some rain came ; Jui
waiyu wished to let his mother know that he was
well. He went out, took one step and went from
the sweat-house to the other side of the nearest
mountain, with the second step he went to the top
of a mountain beyond.
Jupka was angry because Damhauja had tried to
kill Juiwaiyu with the poisonous pipe. Now he
took vengeance. He put the two sisters on a high
place in the sweat-house, made a great storm of wind
and rain. Soon the whole place was filled with

The Dream of Juiwaiyu 437
water. It rolled and swept through the sweat-
house, drowned Damhauja and his wife; washed
their bodies out through the door away.
Juiwaiyu on the mountain took his yaiyauna flute
and began to play. All the world heard him, all
people went to hill-tops and mountain-tops, all
stretched their heads up and listened, all said, " That
must be Juiwaiyu ; no one plays in that way but
Juiwaiyu." Deer began to come from the east
along the same way over which Juiwaiyu had come,
and all stood before him.
" Let one stand in front of me and look this
way," said Juiwaiyu, " let all the others stand be
hind that first one."
They stood in the line, a fawn in the first place.
He shot them all with one arrow, hundreds of them.
The arrow entered the mouth of the front deer and
went out near the tail of the last. Then Juiwaiyu
took the little fawn and opened it, made the deer
very small, put them all inside the fawn's body, took
that home in one hand, threw the fawn down on
the sweat-house. The deer inside the fawn became
as big as ever, rolled down, filled the whole place
around the sweat-house.
Juiwaiyu now saw Damhauja and Pahnino Ma
rimi lying cold and dead. He ran then to Jupka in
the sweat-house. " Bring them to life, my uncle ;
bring them to life again ! "
Jupka whipped both with a rose-twig and brought
them to life. Damhauja shook himself and said,
" I slept too hard."
" You would not have waked up at all but for

438 Creation Myths of Primitive America
my nephew. You wanted to kill him. I punished
you. Damhauja knew Jupka now. " Oh, why did you
not let me know that you were here ? I would not
have tried to hurt Juiwaiyu."
The old man saw so many deer around the sweat-
house that he did n't know what to think. At last
he went up on the sweat-house. " Come, my sons,
come," cried he ; " there is venison here for all of
you. All the sons came. Each had one deer, and
there were many others to spare.
All the sons-in-law in the west were angry that
Damhauja's sons had so much venison.
" We will go over and see this man," said Ke
chowala, the chief. " We will have some fun to-day
with him."
When Damhauja's eldest son was bringing veni
son to his father, he saw Kechowala. "He is com
ing," said the son.
Kechowala had an angry face ; he walked fast.
When he reached the sweat-house, all were eating
venison. He went to the top of the sweat-house,
took his arrow from under his arm, and said,
" Wake up, be ready ; we must play to-day."
Then he looked in and saw Juiwaiyu sitting
between the two sisters. " I know now who that
man is ; he is from the east. Feed him well, dress
him well, father-in-law ; we must have fun before
he goes from here. He must show what he can
do before he leaves us."
The old man went out and scolded Kechowala :

The Dream of Juiwaiyu 439
" You talk loud, you want fat venison ; that 's what
you have come for, that 's why you are at this sweat-
house." Jupka heard all that Kechowala said.
" I will go home now," said Kechowala, " and be
here after breakfast."
" My son-in-law will be killed to-day," said Pah
nino Marimi ; " what can we do ? They are going
to kill our son-in-law who brings so much venison.
Stay in the house, do not go out," said Pahnino.
" Do not go out," said the brothers ; " we will
meet those people."
All looked, and saw a great crowd coming from
the west. The brothers-in-law were coming, and
when near they shouted to Damhauja's sons. The
two sisters tried to stop Juiwaiyu.
" Let me go, wives," said he, " let me go. If I
stay here, they will call me a coward ; I will let no
one give me that name."
" I want to see that new man who is here," cried
Kechowala, " I want to talk with him."
" I will go out," said Juiwaiyu, to his wives.
" My father and mother told me of this place. I
know what it is."
" Come out ! " called Kechowala at the door,
" come out ; don't be afraid of us, don't be a
coward." " I will come when I am ready, I will meet you."
Kechowala went to his people. " He will be
here soon," said he.
All laughed ; all were glad. " If he comes,"
thought they, " we will kill him."

440 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Juiwaiyu went out and stood on the house-top,
looked around, looked at his enemies, went down
slowly, went as if he did not like to meet them.
" Why are you afraid ? " asked Kechowala. " Do
you think that we will hurt you ? "
He went to them, he sat on a stone. He had but
one arrow, and that without a point. This was a
staff which his uncle had given him. The play
ground was beyond a hill at some distance from the
sweat-house. " Stand up and play," said the sons-
in-law; and they pushed Juiwaiyu to throw him,
but he did not fall. All went to the playground.
Juiwaiyu caught the bones on his club at the middle
point, then hurled them ; ran and caught them the
second time, ran again, put the bones beyond the
barrier. He did the same a second time, and won
the first game. He won two games ; no one else
could win.
" Well," said the western brothers-in-law, " we
have never seen any one play bone like him. We
will try him in some other way."
Next they gave him a start in racing. The race
was to a mountain opposite. Juiwaiyu was to get
there first if he was able. They thought to strike
him from behind, kill him easily, but they could
not come near him. He was at the mountain
before they had run half the distance. In the
afternoon they played bone a second time. They
thought to kill him surely in this way. Between
the middle of the playground and Juiwaiyu's barrier
they put a great poison spider right on the path
where Juiwaiyu was to run, Jupka knew their plan,

The Dream of Juiwaiyu 441
and pointed out the spider to his nephew. Juiwaiyu
jumped on the spider, crushed it right away before
it could turn to poison him ; then he took the bones
beyond the barrier.
He went back to the middle of the playground.
Kechowala's men said nothing, made no mention of
the spider. Juiwaiyu took the bones beyond the
barrier that time, and won the second inning. This
made the first game of the afternoon. While they
were making ready for the second game, Kechowala
had flint knives and spear-points put on the path so
that Juiwaiyu should fall and kill himself.
They commenced the second game. Juiwaiyu
took the bones from all and ran ahead, ran quickly.
When near the knives and spear-points, Jupka told
him where they were ; he came down between some,
sprang over others, took the bones beyond the
barrier, came back as if nothing had been put upon
his path ; went a second time and won the second
game. He had beaten all who had played against him.
They were very angry. " We must kill him surely
in another way," said Kechowala.
The playground was far from the sweat-house,
and when Juiwaiyu had won the second game he
turned to go back to the sweat-house. Kechowala
sent a rattlesnake to meet him at one place and a
grizzly bear at another. Juiwaiyu jumped on the
snake, and crushed his head. When he came to
the bear, he struck him one blow with his foot and
killed him. He skinned both, took the skins, and
hung them up before the sweat-house.

442 Creation Myths of Primitive America
When Kechowala's men saw the skins, they were
angry, terribly excited ; they stopped before the
sweat-house, jumped, and shouted, —
" We want to look at Juiwaiyu. Let Juiwaiyu
come out here ; we want to see him."
Juiwaiyu went out. All the brothers-in-law from
the west crowded up toward him, all wanted then
to kill him. He had no arms but the staff given
by Jupka. All he needed was to point that at any
one and say, "I wish you dead;" that moment
the person fell dead. No one could come near
Juiwaiyu when running or hit him, and before they
stopped threatening he killed half of Damhauja's
sons-in-law. The others ran home then, killed their
own wives and those of the dead men. " We will
have nothing," said they, " that comes from Dam
hauja's." They killed all the children, too ; none
escaped but Darijua, who ran over to the sweat-
house and told of the killing.
That night Jupka made a great storm, and
drowned every western man left alive by Juiwaiyu.
Next morning early he went over, struck the dead
women and children with his rose-twig, brought all
except the men to life again, and took them to
Damhauja's. Juiwaiyu had brought as many deer that morning
as he had the first one. Damhauja made his house
stretch out and grow to give room enough for all
the children. They cooked venison and feasted,
feasted all that day at the sweat-house.
Next morning Juiwaiyu went home with his two
wives and his uncle.

THE FLIGHT OF TSANUNEWA
AND DEFEAT OF HEHKU

THE FLIGHT OF TSANUNEWA AND
DEFEAT OF HEHKU
PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Ahalamila, gray wolf ; Bohkuina, silver-gray fox ; Chichi, fish hawk ;
Demauna, pine marten ; Gagi, crow ; Haka Kaina, flint ; Hehku,
horned serpent ; Jihkulu, big owl ; Jupka, butterfly of the wild silk
worm ; Kaitsiki, ground squirrel ; Kechowala, bluejay ; Malewula,
wolf; Malwila, meadow lark; Manjauchu, gopher; Mapchemaina, the
first people now turned into birds, beasts, and other things ; Matauwila,
beaver; Matdasi, spring salmon; Miniau Marimi, fire-drill woman;
Tillipka, crane ; Periwiri Yupa, acorn of the black oak ; Petaina,
skunk ; Topuna, mountain lion ; Tsanunewa, elk ; Tsuwalkai, red flint ;
Putokya, skull people, i. e. people who could turn themselves into a
head.

ALONG time ago, when Jupka and Bohkuina
were sitting in the sweat-house Jigulmatu,
Jupka called to him people of the Mapchemaina ;
he called Demauna, Wirula, Matauwila, Topuna,
Ahalamila, Manjauchu, Kechowala, Malwila, Gagi,
and many others. He did not make them ; he just
called, and they came from different parts of the earth
to him. He gave them their names and said, —
" Hereafter all who live in the world will call you
as I do now."
One side of Jigulmatu was filled with these people
called up by Jupka.
" This is Jigulmatu, my small sweat-house," said
Jupka, "but I am going to make my Igunna " (great

446 Creation Myths of Primitive America
house) ; and later he made Wahkalu (Mount Shasta),
made it to be his great house, but he lived at Jigul
matu till he made the Yana, and went to Jigulmatu
often afterward.
At this time Tsuwalkai Marimi, an old woman,
had reared a small boy. His name was Tsanunewa.
She called the boy grandson, and he called her his
grandmother. He was an orphan. All his kindred
were dead ; all had been killed one after another,
and he was alone when the old woman found the
boy and reared him.
" I want to go west and catch mice," said Tsa
nunewa one day to her.
" I don't want you to go away from the house. I
don't want you to trap mice ; you might go astray ;
you might get killed," said the old woman.
Tsanunewa began to cry. He cried and teased
till at last she said : " Go, if you wish, but be care
ful ; you may get hurt. The traps may fall on you ;
something may kill you."
The old woman made acorn bread for him, and
showed him how to set rock traps and other traps,
and how to bait them with acorns.
" Stay around the house," said she. " You must
not go near that rocky mountain off there. That is
a bad place, a very bad place ; it is dangerous.
You must not go to it."
The boy started, went some distance from the
house, then stood still and looked at the rocky
mountain. "I will go to that place," thought he ; "I will go
where my grandmother told me not to go. Why

The Flight of Tsanunewa 447
is she afraid ? Why did she tell me not to go there ?
I will run and see."
He hurried off to the mountain, went up on the
rocks, looked around all the time ; he remembered
his grandmother's words, and said to himself, —
" I should like to know who is here ; I should like
to know what frightens my grandmother."
He went around the mountain, saw no one,
set all his traps, big traps and little ones ; he
stayed there till near sunset. After that he ran
home. " I am afraid to eat to-night," said he. " If I eat,
perhaps the mice will not like the acorns in my
traps." " You must not eat," said his grandmother ; " I
do not wish you to eat anything. You must not
touch salmon this evening. You may eat a little
just at midnight. Now go and play around the
house ; all the mice will see you ; they are out play
ing and will go to your traps."
Hehku Marimi lived at that mountain. She
killed all the people who went there to trap. It was
she who had killed Tsanunewa's kindred.
Next morning at daybreak Tsanunewa went to
see his traps. He looked at the first, second, third,
fourth ; he had not caught anything. The traps
were empty, just as he had left them. He found
nothing till he reached the last one ; he saw that
there was something in that trap. He stood and
looked at it; saw Hehku Marimi ; she was there in
the last trap. She had made herself small and gone
in. She looked ugly, and Tsanunewa was frightened.

448 Creation Myths of Primitive America
He ran home as fast as he could ; he was pale, and
trembling. " Why are you frightened ? " asked his grand
mother. " What have you caught ? "
" I have caught something. I don't know what
it is. I am terribly afraid of it."
" I told you yesterday not to go to that moun
tain. I knew that trouble would come if you went
there. I will go myself and see what you have
caught." Tsuwalkai Marimi was ready to run to the
mountain and look at the trap. She wanted to
know what was in it.
" You, my grandson, stay here at home," said
she ; " perhaps the thing that you have caught is
not dead yet. I will look at it."
The old woman started, but as she was going out
she said : " Maybe Hehku is in your trap. If she
is, she will get out, run here and kill us both
perhaps ; kill you, surely, if she finds you. Save
yourself, my grandson. If you see her coming, run
west, run very hard, run till you come to a great
river. On the other side of it is Mipka's house ;
shout to him, call him uncle, tell him to take you
over ; say that you are running for your life, that he
must save you."
While the old woman was talking, she looked
and saw Hehku far off at the mountain.
" My grandson," cried she, " Hehku is coming !
She will kill you. Run! I will stay here and
stop her a while."
Tsanunewa looked and saw Hehku. Then he

The Flight of Tsanunewa 449
ran west ; ran till he reached the great river. He
stopped at the edge of it and shouted.
Hehku had made herself small the night before,
and gone into Tsanunewa's trap purposely. The
boy thought that she was angry because he had
trapped her. She wanted him to think so. She
went into the trap to have an excuse to kill him as
she had killed all his kindred. When Tsanunewa
ran home to his grandmother, frightened because he
had seen Hehku, Hehku went out of the trap,
crushed red rottenstone, painted her face, made it
blood color. She had a big cap made of skulls,
skulls of people she had killed. She put the cap
on her head then, and started. She started, ran
quickly, singing as she went, —
"I am following Tsanunewa ; I am on his track.
I am following Tsanunewa ; I am on his track.''
She sang till she came to the door. There she
stopped, said " Whu ! " and drew a long breath.
" Tell me, old woman," cried she, " tell me
where Tsanunewa is ; I have come to this house
on his track."
" I have not seen that boy," said Tsuwalkai
Marimi. " I do not know where he is. I am
alone, all my people are dead ; you killed them."
" I will not hurt you," said Hehku; " I will not
touch you, but tell me where the boy is ; tell me
which way he went. He went west, I think. I
will follow till I catch him."
She started and ran very fast ; raised a great wind
as she went. She ran with her hands clasped be
hind her, and sang, — 29

450 Creation Myths of Primitive America
"I am following Tsanunewa; I am on his track.
I am following Tsanunewa ; I am on his track."
The boy ran swiftly, ran with all his strength ;
was at the great river first. Mipka was at the
other side.
" Save me, my uncle ! " cried Tsanunewa ; " put
your leg over the water, put it over quickly.
Hehku is hunting me. I am running for my life.
Save me, my uncle, save me ! "
Mipka came out, saw the boy on the opposite
bank, stretched his leg over the water ; the boy ran
across on it. Hehku came to the river just after
Tsanunewa had run into the house, and Mipka
had drawn his leg back again. Inside was a large
log with a small hole in the heart of it. Tsanunewa
crept into that hole and hid quickly.
" Hehku will not find me here," thought he.
But Hehku saw him from the other bank, knew
where he was hidden.
The old man hurried after Tsanunewa. Hehku
reached the river when Mipka stepped across the
door. "Old man," cried she, "put your leg over the
water. Let me cross. Put your leg over the
water ! "
Mipka stood inside the door; seemed not to
hear. " Put your leg over the water ! " cried Hehku.
" Creep out and run west for your life," said
Mipka to Tsanunewa. " Run ; I will stop Hehku ;
I will keep her here for a while. Run to Matau-
wila's ; he may be able to save you."

The Flight of Tsanunewa 451
Tsanunewa crept out through the western end
of the sweat-house and ran.
" Old man, put your leg over the river. Let me
cross on it ! " cried Hehku. She was very angry
now, but Mipka refused for a long time.
At last he stretched his leg from inside the door
to the opposite bank of the river. He did this
hoping that Hehku would run in on his leg, be
speared in the doorway and die there. Mipka had
long and very sharp spears fixed in above the door
way to kill people whom he hated.
But Hehku jumped off his leg at the river side.
She would not go in at the door ; she climbed to
the roof of the sweat-house.
" Old man, give me Tsanunewa. I saw him
run into your house. Old man, give me Tsanunewa
or tell me where he is."
" I cannot tell where he is. He is not in my
house," said Mipka.
" Tell me, old man, where that boy is, or I will
kill you. I do not want to go into your house,
but if I go in I will kill you. Only tell me where
Tsanunewa is. If you hide that boy I will kill
you." "If you think Tsanunewa is here, come down,
come in, look through my house," said Mipka.
Sharp spears were pointing upward toward this
door in the roof of the sweat-house. Hehku was
very angry ; she slipped down in a hurry. The
spear-points went into her body and killed her.
She fell dead on the floor of the sweat-house. She
lay a while dead there ; then came to life and

452 Creation Myths of Primitive America
stood up again. She caught Mipka right away, and
they fought, fought a long time, fought till she
swallowed him down at one mouthful.
While Hehku and Mipka were fighting a long
battle in the sweat-house, Tsanunewa had run far
away toward the west. He was now in sight of
Matauwila's sweat-house. When he was near
enough to call, he shouted, —
" Grandfather, I am running for my life ; save
me !
Matauwila ran out and helped the boy into the
sweat-house. " Grandfather, I want you to set traps in this
house, set traps all around in it. Hehku is hunt
ing me ; she will kill me if she catches me."
Matauwila made four rows of double traps in the
house. " I will catch Hehku," said Matauwila, " but you
would better run west; run till you come to the
house of the Chichi brothers."
The boy ran away to the west. He was hardly
out of sight when Hehku came. She made a great
wind as she ran to the house.
"Old man," cried she, "where is Tsanunewa?
Tell me where that boy is. I have tracked him to
your house. Tell me where he is, or I will kill
you." " Come in," said Matauwila ; " but you will not
find the boy here. Come in. Sit down in my
house, look all over it. Come in, but you '11 not
find the boy. Come in."
The central pillar of Matauwila's house was large

The Flight of Tsanunewa 453
and very smooth. Hehku could not hold to it, but
fell down and dropped into the first trap. She
broke right through that, and went through the
three other lines of double traps.
When Hehku burst through the traps, her body
was flashing red fire from every part of it, she
was so angry. This fire from her body killed
Matauwila. Hehku ran after the boy again ; ran with her
hands clasped behind her. She ran that way always,
and sang as she ran, —
" I am following Tsanunewa ; I am on his track.
I am following Tsanunewa ; I am on his track."
The boy rushed to the house of the Chichi.
There were two brothers of them.
The Chichis had two smooth rocks which looked
like ice, but were more slippery than any ice (rock
crystals). One of these was at the eastern door, the
other at the opening on the roof.
" Grandfathers, save me ! " cried Tsanunewa,
running up to the door of the house. " Grand
fathers, save me!" cried he, running in.
Hehku was close behind now ; she had almost
caught him. When she reached the door, she
stepped on the crystal rock, slipped, and fell. One
Chichi closed the door in her face then. She
sprang up, climbed the side of the house, went to
the door in the roof, stepped on the second crystal
in front of that door, slipped, and fell headlong ;
fell into the sweat-house. She sprang up, caught
one Chichi, fought with him. His brother helped
that one. The two fought a long time against

454 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Hehku till she caught each by the arm, held them
both with one hand, and pounded them with the
crystal from the lower door which she held in her
other hand. At last she said, " Whu ! " and
swallowed both at one mouthful. While she was
fighting with the Chichi brothers, Tsanunewa ran
on, ran to the west. Hehku was tired now.
" I cannot run farther," said she. She went to
the housetop and cried, " I wish this house to
stretch out after that boy and catch him."
She sat on the housetop, and the house stretched
out westward stretched more quickly than any one
could run, and carried her after Tsanunewa. The
boy had run very far ; he was near Jupka's house
now. " Uncle ! " cried he, " I want to come in quickly.
I am almost dead. Hehku is chasing me. Hide
me, my uncle, hide me. Save me, my uncle, save
me, or Hehku will kill me."
" Why are you frightened ? " asked Jupka. " I
should like to see the person who is chasing you.
I should like to see any one dare to hurt you.
Come in, my nephew, come in."
" Carry me, uncle. I am too tired to walk alone.
Carry me. Hehku is hunting me ; she has almost
caught up with me."
Jupka took the boy, carried him in. The sweat-
house was full of Mapchemaina people, all those
people called in by Jupka.
Hehku jumped off the house of the Chichi
brothers, which had brought her almost to Jigul
matu. She was rested.

The Flight of Tsanunewa 455
" Go back now 'to your own place," said she
to the house ; and it shrank back to its own
place. " Tell me, old man," said she to Jupka, " tell me
where Tsanunewa is. I saw him go into your
sweat-house. I want him."
" Come in," said Jupka. " Come if you like.
Why are you hunting that boy? What do you
want of him ? "
" Do not speak in that way to me," said Hehku.
" Tell where the boy is."
" Come in, I will give you a husband," said
Jupka. " I will give you a husband ; let the boy
go. Take Demauna."
Hehku shook her head.
" Well, I will give you Wirula for husband ; let
the boy go."
Hehku shook her head a second time.
He offered every one in the house except him
self. She refused one, then another and another;
refused all.
" Tell me where that boy is," said she. " I want
him ; I want no one else. I want nothing more
from you. Just tell me where that boy is. I want
none of your people ; the only one I want is
Tsanunewa." Jupka had put the boy under his own hair, under
the hair at the back of his head, and kept him hid
den there.
" I must know what you are going to do with
that boy," said Jupka to Hehku Marimi. " I am
not willing to give him to you ; he is too small to

456 Creation Myths of Primitive America
be your husband. I want to keep him here in my
sweat-house." After that he went aside and said to Tsanunewa,
"If you like this woman, I will let you go with her ;
if you do not wish to go, I will keep you."
" I will not go with her ; she would kill me on
the road. She wants to kill me ; that 's why she is
hunting me, that's why she came here."
" Bring out that boy ! " cried Hehku ; " I want
to see him. I want to go home ; I want to take
him home with me."
" This is a bad woman. I have heard much of
her. Give her the boy, put him down; let us
see what she will do with him," said each of those
present. But Jupka kept Tsanunewa hidden, would not
give him up.
" I know that woman," repeated each of the
Mapchemaina : " she is bad. When she is angry,
fire flashes from her body. She kills every one.
You would better let the boy go and save us."
" Spread robes out," said Jupka. " Let her come
in here ; let her sit down. We will hear what she
says." Jupka rubbed the boy's face and body, made him
smooth, and from being small he was large, full-
grown, and very beautiful. Jupka seated him on
the robe. Every one could see him.
Hehku came in and sat on the robe. When she
took her place, fire flashed from her through the
whole sweat-house. She took off her cap made of
skulls and put it at her side.

The Flight of Tsanunewa 457
The people lpoked down. All were afraid except
Jupka. They thought she would kill them right
there in a moment. When Jupka saw the fire, he
took tobacco from a small pouch which he kept in
his ear, and while lying stretched out he began to
smoke without putting fire on his pipe. The to
bacco burned when he drew his breath through it.
The smoke rose and then settled down. It grew
dark in the sweat-house, and the fire from Hehku's
body died away. She stopped her mouth and nose
so as not to breathe Jupka's smoke.
" Go to sleep," said Jupka to Hehku Marimi.
She would not obey. She kept her mouth and
nose closed, sat awake and would not sleep.
" Lie down ; let us talk," said Tsanunewa. He
thought, " If she lies down the smoke will kill her."
" I will not lie down," said Hehku.
" Why not ? Lie down. We will talk together."
" I never sleep," said Hehku. " I am Mapche
maina. I never sleep at night, I never sleep in
the day. I do as my father does ; he hunts at night
and hunts during daylight."
Jupka filled his pipe again with another tobacco
which he kept in his ear, and again he puffed smoke
which was very strong, the strongest smoke of all.
" This will do," said he, " this will make her sleep,
I think." The smoke rose first, then came down and settled
like a thick cloud right on Hehku's head.
" Why this woman tries to trick me ? " thought
Jupka; " I know more than she does."
When this strong smoke settled down, Hehku

458 Creation Myths of Primitive America
began to nod ; her head went first to one side, then
to the other ; soon it turned backward little by little.
Jupka took a large roll of gray wolfskins, slipped it
behind her, and she dropped on it sound asleep ;
lay as though lifeless.
["We have never seen this tobacco here," said
the narrator of the story. " It was turned to rock
long ago ; this was done far in the East, way off
where the sun rises. The rock is there now, and it
is called Talpapa — white tobacco rock. This is
Mapchemaina tobacco." The first tobacco Jupka
used was moiyu, the Yana tobacco that we have in
our time.]
" If Hehku dreams, she will beat me when she
wakes, if she is wise ; but I will not let her dream,"
said Jupka. He blew his breath on her face ; she
could not dream after that.
Hehku used to dream bad things which came to
pass later on. She used to dream of killing people,
but after Jupka blew his breath on her face she
could not dream in his sweat-house. Next day,
when she woke, she was very angry at Jupka. She
stood up, walked out of the sweat-house, went to
the east; went quickly, went to that same rocky
mountain where Tsanunewa had set his mouse
traps. " Make a good fire and sweat," said Jupka to the
Mapchemaina. All sweated and bathed in the river, and that day
Hehku became a Putokya, a skull person. She stayed
one night at the rocky mountain ; dreamed of gam
bling with Jupka and all the people at Jigulmatu.

The Flight of Tsanunewa 459
Hehku had a sister, Miniau Marimi. She took
this sister as a companion. Both started, went to
gether, and never stopped till they reached Oaimatu,
a great hollow mountain northeast of Jigulmatu.
Hehku brought a pipe with her, and made tobacco
of dried brains. " My smoke will be stronger than
Jupka's," thought Hehku. She spent one night in
the hollow mountain, and dreamed again of gambling
in Jupka's sweat-house. She rose early, and was in
Jigulmatu at daylight. She stood with Miniau
Marimi on the roof of the sweat-house, and sang to
herself, —
"I shall win, I shall win, I shall win surely."
" Jupka, I wish to go into your sweat-house," said
she. " When I go in, you will like me, you will
like to see me. I am nice to look at."
She changed ; made herself very beautiful then.
No one could know her; no one could know
that that woman was the Hehku who had hunted
Tsanunewa. At sunrise all the people in Jupka's sweat-house
heard steps above, heard walking on the sweat-
house. The two women were there. Hehku came
to the roof-door and said, —
" Jupka, put away your things ; clear your house.
I want to come down and gamble with you. I
dreamed last night that I played with you."
Jupka was lying with his head to the north. He
made no answer. Hehku went down.
" Sit on the west side," said Jupka to the two
sisters ; and he told Malewula to spread out two
robes, one of cinnamon, the other of black bearskin.

460 Creation Myths of Primitive America
All the people held down their heads. None looked
at the women except Malewula.
" I should be glad to give these women something
to eat," said Malewula, " but I don't know what
they like ; let us offer them venison."
He roasted venison, put it before them in a
basket ; they would n't eat it, would n't taste or
touch it. Then he brought dried salmon in small
pieces ; the women turned away their faces. Next
he put salmon flour and mountain-pine nuts before
them ; they would n't eat, turned aside their faces.
" Take this food away," said Hehku ; "we don't
wish to eat. I came here to see people, I came
here to gamble."
The Mapchemaina said nothing for a long time.
At last Kaitsiki spoke up.
" I do not know how to gamble, I cannot play,"
said he.
" I do not like to hear you talk so. I know
you," said Hehku. " I know that you gamble a
great deal. I know that you began to gamble long
ago." Kaitsiki made no answer. He went to get gam
bling-sticks (counters). He brought grass and fixed
everything for the play. They sat down, Hehku
on the west, Kaitsiki on the east.
" What will you play for, what will you bet ? "
asked the woman.
Kaitsiki took his shell necklace, hung it up, and
said, " I will begin with this."
Hehku handled the Jupaiauna ; it was hers, and
made of a finger-bone. Kaitsiki guessed " north "

The Flight of Tsanunewa 461
the first time, and lost ; after that he guessed north
once and south once, lost both times ; after that he
lost his ten sticks.
" Take the necklace and hang it on our side,"
said Hehku to Miniau.
When Hehku put her hands out, she held them
together in front before opening them, and sang
" Wahau Putokya jinda Marimi " (You will not
win against Putokya Marimi) ; and the bone went
to the side opposite the one guessed. The singing
made it go. When Kaitsiki guessed " north," if the
bone was in Hehku's right hand, the south side, it
stayed there ; if it was in her left hand, the north
side, it went to her right. In this way no one could
ever win against Hehku.
" Play again," said Hehku.
Kaitsiki bet and lost. He lost one thing after
another till he bet his last, a belt of red-headed
woodpecker scalps. It was very beautiful. Hehku
was glad.
" This is the bet," said she, " that Perriwiri Yupa
always makes. He bets a girdle like this when I
play with him."
" I will guess south all the time now," said Kait
siki. He lost five times, then changed his mind,
guessed north.
All the Mapchemainas looked on, watched the
play, but said nothing. They knew what was com
ing ; knew that Kaitsiki would lose. He guessed
north five times ; lost his girdle.
" I have nothing more to bet ; you have won
all I had," said Kaitsiki.

462 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" Bet yourself," said Hehku. " I will bet all I
have won from you."
Kaitsiki bet himself. He guessed south first, and
lost. " Oh, if I had only bet north ! " said he. Next
time he bet north, and lost.
" Oh, if I had said south ! "
He went on in this way till he lost his ten coun
ters and himself.
Hehku threw the finger-bone on the ground ; the
earth shook; there was a noise like thunder. The
bone flew up, struck Kaitsiki, killed him. Miniau
Marimi threw him out through the roof to the
north of the sweat-house.
" I will play now," said Ahalamila, sitting down
in the place left by Kaitsiki. He guessed, lost,
guessed on and played till he lost everything ; bet
himself, lost, was killed and thrown north of the
sweat-house. Petaina played next, lost everything,
was killed and thrown out. All in the sweat-house
except Jupka played and lost, one after another,
first all they had and then themselves. After Pe
taina came Matdasi, Tsurewa, Jihkulu, and then
Tsanunewa, who remained at Jigulmatu.
Hehku danced with delight when Tsanunewa lost.
She threw him out of the sweat-house herself, then
played with others till none were left except Jupka.
Jupka rose up then and said: "Now we will
try. I will guess once ; that will finish the play and
settle all."
" I am willing," said Hehku.
Jupka brought a blue stone and sat on it. He

The Flight of Tsanunewa 463
had a walking-stick made of the heart of sugar-pine ;
this he put at his side.
Hehku arranged the bone, put it in her left hand,
and Jupka said " lililim " (let it be north) but said
the word in such a way that another would think he
said "ililim," and Hehku thought so, too ; the bone
remained in her left hand. She brought both hands
from behind her back, opened them, and was going
to throw the bone to kill Jupka.
" Stop ! What did I say ? " asked Jupka.
" Ililim."
" No, I said ' lililim ; ' look north and see."
Hehku looked north and saw Wahkalu (Mount
Shasta), Jupka's Igunna, his great new house
which he made by saying " lililim." Wahkalu was
white, shining. Hehku had never seen anything
so beautiful, so great. She had never seen it before,
neither had any one else.
The bone was there in her open left hand on the
north side, she could not deny. She could not
change her play, she could not help herself. Jupka
seized the bone, threw it to the floor. The earth
trembled ; there was a roar like thunder ; the bone
bounded up and killed Hehku. Jupka threw her
out of the sweat-house.
"You must play too," said Jupka to Miniau
Marimi. He put the bone behind his back; she guessed,
lost her life, and was thrown out of the sweat-house.
Jupka walked away southward, went to the creek,
washed and swam. When he came out of the water,
he grew very beautiful and large. He took then

464 Creation Myths of Primitive America
the stem of a wild rose-bush and went home ; he
went to the north side of the sweat-house. There
he found the bodies of the Mapchemainas who had
played with Hehku and lost. He gave each a blow
of the rose-bush, and all came to life ; all went to
the sweat-house, not one was missing.
At dawn the dead Hehku began to move and
sing. At clear daylight she stood up, struck
Miniau with her right foot. That moment she
rose up alive. The two women started for the
rocky mountain. Hehku was raging. She was
terribly angry because Jupka had beaten her.
" I had all," said she, " but Jupka fooled me ;
now I have nothing."
She grew so angry that she t turned into a great
head and bounded off to the east. She went a
whole mile every jump she made. She screamed
with rage and shouted as she went, and her sister
Miniau (the fire-drill) kept pace with her.
Haka Kaina heard the noise and said, " I wonder
what troubles Putokya to-day."

THE FIRST BATTLE IN THE
WORLD AND THE MAKING
OF THE YANA

3°

THE FIRST BATTLE IN THE WORLD
AND THE MAKING OF THE YANA
PERSONAGES
After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which
the personage was changed subsequently.
Ahalamila, gray wolf; Bohkuina, silver-gray fox ; Chichepa, spotted
hawk; Chuhna, spider; Hehku, horned serpent; Hitchinna, wildcat ;
Howichinaipa, a small bird; Hurskiyupa, orphan; Jewina, reddish
chicken hawk; Jihkulu, large owl; Jupka, butterfly of wild silkworm;
Kaitsiki, ground squirrel; Kaltsauna, swift (kind of lizard); Kecho
wala, bluejay ; Lawalila, large hawk ; Maibyu, dove ; Malewula, wolf ;
Mapchemaina, first people ; Pakalai Jawichi, water lizard ; Petaina,
skunk ; Popila, duck ; Topuna, mountain lion ; Tsanunewa, a. little
bird ; Tuina, the sun ; Wihlaina, chipmunk.

AFTER Hehku had risen from the dead and
gone home, Jupka said to all the Mapche
maina : " Sweat now and swim. You will go to
hunt to-morrow early."
The Mapchemaina went to hunt on the following
day, but could not kill deer. They had no good
arrow-points. The points which they had were
made of common stone. When they went back to
Jigulmatu in the evening without venison, Jupka
said, —
" There is an old man in the south who kills a
great many deer ; his name is Kaltsauna. I must
bring him up here to show you how he kills them.
I will send some one south for him. Maibyu, you
go for that old man ; you travel very quickly."

468 Creation Myths of Primitive America
" I don't know where his house is ; I cannot
find him," said Maibyu. " You would better send
some one else."
" Lawalila, you go," said Jupka.
Lawalila dressed himself nicely ; took his bow,
quiver, and arrows, and went. He went as quickly
as though it were only one long step to Kaltsauna's
house. Kaltsauna was sitting inside the door with
his legs crossed. He was making flint arrow-
points. Lawalila stepped in at once and surprised old
Kaltsauna. He had a flint knife at his side, and
made a thrust at Lawalila as if to kill him.
" Stop. It is I, uncle ; you must not kill me."
"Why do you call me uncle?" asked Kaltsauna,
hiding his arrow-points quickly.
" I have come for you, uncle. The chief sent me
here. Jupka invites you to come to Jigulmatu.
He wants you to come to his house. He wants to
see you. We cannot kill deer with stone arrow-
points. We have no other kind. The chief knows
that you kill deer all the time. He wants you to
come to his place and show his people how you kill
deer." Kaltsauna rubbed his hands, rubbed them clean,
rubbed all the flint dust from them, and rolled up
his flints in a skin very carefully. Next he mixed
flint dust, rubbed it on his face, made paint, covered
his face with it, and thrust a piece of sharp flint
through the septum of his nose. He looked very
threatening and strong when he was dressed and
armed for the road.

The First Battle in the World 469
" I am ready ; you go ahead ; I will come later,"
said he to Lawalila.
Kaltsauna's quiver was a grizzly bearskin ; his
bows and arrows were made of black oak. He put
his flints under his left arm, took his bow and arrows
in his right hand.
" Go on ; go ahead. I will come later ; I will
come by myself. Go now and tell the chief to make
a great fire of manzanita wood."
Lawalila went ahead, and gave Kaltsauna's mes
sage to Jupka. The chief had the fire made, — a
great fire of manzanita wood. "He is coming, he
is coming," said the people, when they saw Kalt
sauna in the distance. When he was near, they
did n't try to look at him, they hung their heads.
" Make way for me, make way ! I '11 strike
unless you give me room ! " said Kaltsauna, as he
came near the crowd of people.
" The old man always talks like that," said
Jupka ; " he is very strong. That 's why he is so
bold ; that 's why he talks so."
" Spread out a skin," said Kaltsauna to Jupka.
The skin was spread, and Kaltsauna emptied his
robe full of arrow-points on it. He sat down then
and said, —
" I will divide these and put them in different
places." He gathered each kind of flint into a heap by it
self, then pushed it, and said while he pushed,
" You go to this place or to that place."
White flint he pushed and said, " Go you, to
Hakamatu."

47° Creation Myths of Primitive America
The white flint went away ; disappeared from the
robe ; went to Hakamatu, and there is plenty of
white flint in that place to-day.
Blue flint he sent east to the edge of our Yana
country. Yellow flint he fixed at Iwiljami. To the
west he sent flint with fine black, blue, and white
stripes ; he sent it to Hakachimatu. Green flint he
put in Jigulmatu and said, —
"You will find these flints always in the places
where I put them to-day, and people who come after
you will find them there. There will be flint in
those places forever, as long as people want it."
Besides flint Kaltsauna gave each of the Mapche
maina a wedge made of deer-horn, and a piece of
stone ; showed them how to dress the flint and make
arrow-points. The first arrow-points on earth were
those which Kaltsauna made.
Next morning, after he had given the flint and
shown the Mapchemaina how to make arrow-
points, Kaltsauna went home. On the second day
Jupka called all the Mapchemaina together and
said, —
" Get your arrow-points ready ; sweat to-night ;
swim early in the morning, and go out on a great
hunt to-morrow."
They did all that Jupka commanded, and went
on the following morning toward Jidjilpa. They
went west along Jidjilpa, went on both sides of it ;
went west toward Tahaujwakaina, which is in the
canon beyond Hakamatu. They went to the rock
and went beyond it.
Some distance west of the rock a grizzly bear ran

The First Battle in the World 471
out of a clump of live-oak brush. Among the peo
ple hunting was Chichepa, and the bear rushed at
him. Chichepa had dreamed the night before that
this rock in the canon had jumped up from the
ground and frightened him. When he came near
the live-oak brush, the bear growled and sprang out.
Chichepa ran back, ran till he came to Tahaujwa
kaina, the bear close after him. The bear was
so angry that he tore up big oak-trees as he ran.
There was a hole in the top of the rock. Chichepa
sprang into it. The bear stood on his hind legs.
He could barely look over the top of the rock.
He looked and saw nothing, dropped down, ran all
around the rock, looked everywhere, saw no sign of
Chichepa. Then he turned back and went into the
thick clumps of brush from which he had started.
The people went west a while, then toward the
south, and began to find deer. Bohkuina killed the
first deer, Howichinaipa the second, Kechowala
the third, Jihkulu the fourth, Petaina the fifth, and
so on till twenty had deer. The party divided then
into two. Those who had deer turned home toward
Jigulmatu, and went in the order in which they had
killed them, Bohkuina first, the others following
each in his turn.
The second party hunted toward the east and
then toward Jigulmatu. After a while they came to
Ketmatu, where Malewula killed a deer, and Topuna
killed one, and Tsanunewa killed a terribly ugly big
deer which seemed as though all its flesh and body
were swollen. Hitchinna, Kaitsiki, Wihlaina, and
others killed deer; each person killed one deer.

472 Creation Myths of Primitive America
The whole party turned toward Jigulmatu then, and
there was great gladness in Jupka's sweat-house.
The women prepared acorns and mice to eat.
Jupka himself never went hunting ; he stayed at
Jigulmatu always, just lay in the house there, told all
what they were to do, and showed them how to do
what was needed. When they came in from hunting,
all put their venison in front of the chief, put down
before him all the deer they had killed. Jupka took
his flint knife then, and cut the meat into pieces.
He roasted ribs of it, roasted all they brought in.
When it was cooked, the Mapchemaina sat down
and ate the meat together. Jupka placed out before
them three very large baskets of mice in three differ
ent places, and in front of each basket were people
to deal the mice out to each person who wished
some. When they had eaten, Jupka stood up and
talked to all present.
" I wish you all to come into the sweat-house to
night," said he ; "I wish to tell you where you are
to hunt to-morrow."
They went into the sweat-house that evening, sat
down and smoked, and while they were smoking
Jupka rose up and spoke to them. Jupka himself
never ate anything of any kind ; he smoked tobacco,
smoked all the time ; that was the only thing that
he ever took into his body. When he spoke, he
said, —
" I think it is better to hunt in the north to
morrow." " We do not like to go north when we hunt," said
some of the people.

The First Battle in the World 473
" Well, let another tell where to go. To-night I
will have Howichinaipa sing and dance for deer."
Then Jupka thought a while and said : " No, I
will get Ahalamila ; he is a good person to dream and
sing about deer and to dance. I will tell Ahalamila
to sing and dance to-night. He will tell where you
ought to go, he will say which road to take. I want
you all to lie down and sleep to-night, old men and
young, and all the women ; let all sleep till morning,
sleep till I call you to the hunt."
When the time came that evening, Ahalamila made
a fire and took his pipe. He blew smoke around in
every direction. He put down his pipe then and
took fir-leaves ; these he threw on the fire, and while
they were burning he sang, —
" Wilichulaina kulmachi, Wilichulaina kulmachi
(A quartz rock, a white rock, a quartz rock, a white rock)."
and he put a beautiful white quartz rock on the
ground ; at each side of it he thrust into the earth a
small twig of fir and one of blue beech ; he put these
on the east, west, north, and south sides of the
quartz. Ahalamila kept looking at the twigs, which rose
quickly, grew up, and became little trees. H e walked
around them and sang; sang and pinched off a leaf or
a bud from one limb or another as he walked. Soon
the stone began to move of itself, and it swelled and
changed shape, till at last it turned into a white fawn.
Just at daybreak the fawn began to walk around
among the trees and sniff as though it smelt some
thing. Ahalamila picked up the little fawn ; blew smoke

474 Creation Myths of Primitive America
from his mouth ; blew it around on all sides ; then *
he put the fawn down again and it turned back into
quartz. It was daylight then, and Ahalamila stopped sing
ing. " I have finished now," said he. "It will be
better for us to hunt on the south side."
" I want you, my people," called Jupka, " to rise
up, start out and hunt. Howichinaipa will go ahead
and make a fire."
Howichinaipa went ahead : went south for some
distance ; the Mapchemaina followed soon after ;
went to the place where Howichinaipa had made
the fire. When they came up, there was a good large
fire at a place called Wewauna, half a mile from
Hakamatu. " Come to the fire, wait a while before we start,
talk and get ready to hunt," said Howichinaipa.
Ten men went on farther south to find deer, while
the others waited at the fire. Those ten men went
south quickly ; then five turned east, and five turned
west to meet again at Wewauna. They came back
about the same time, but not one of them saw deer
or game of any kind. Every one wondered that
there was no game in any place. Ahalamila and
Howichinaipa began to dispute and then to quarrel
because the ten men could find no deer.
Howichinaipa was angry ; he was offended because
Jupka had named him first, then changed his mind
and called Ahalamila to sing for deer. He was angry,
too, and jealous because he wanted one of Ahalamila's
wives who was his own wife's sister. Howichinaipa's
wife was a Chuhna, and Ahalamila's wife was her only

The First Battle in the World 475
sister. Howichinaipa wanted to have the two sisters
as his wives ; he wanted both of them. For these
two reasons the Mapchemaina could find no deer
that day. Howichinaipa had power over the deer,
and had sent them all under ground. The ten men
had looked in a great many places ; they had run
south, east, west, and could find no deer. Then the
whole party turned to the southeast ; they went to
Chupirkoto. Some said, " What is the use in going
farther ? We can find no deer to-day. Ahalamila
told us that we should find deer. Where are they ?
We cannot see them."
" I do not know," said Ahalamila, " why we find
no deer. I sang and danced last night. I dreamed
that I saw deer, that I saw them south of Jigulmatu."
"You will not see deer or any other game to
day," said Howichinaipa ; " you cannot find deer, no
matter how much you sing and dance. You are not
able to find deer, but you have a nice wife. She is
very pretty."
" The deer were coming," said Ahalamila, " but
you stopped them, you drove them away ; " and he
sprang at Howichinaipa to strike him. Howichi
naipa dodged and went down through the ground.
All the people took sides and began to fight;
some were for Ahalamila, others were on Howichi
naipa's side. Howichinaipa sprang out from under
the ground, stood before Ahalamila; shot at him.
Ahalamila dodged and shot too; Howichinaipa
dodged very quickly.
They fought on in this way, fought hard, moved
toward Jigulmatu, fighting all the time. At last

476 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Ahalamila was struck and fell dead ; Topuna was
killed too, and Hitchinna. A great many tried to kill
Howichinaipa ; but he dodged all the time, dodged
so well, so quickly that not one of all his enemies
could hit him. Jihkulu helped Howichinaipa ;
never stopped fighting for a moment.
They fought all the way to Hwitalmauna just
south of Jigulmatu ; the battle there was very hard,
and people fell on both sides. There are many
rocks at Hwitalmauna now, and these rocks are the
Mapchemaina killed in that first battle.
Ahalamila's friends fought hard against Jihkulu
and spent many arrows, but could not hit him, for
he had a robe of rabbit skin around his body.
" We must hit that Jihkulu, we must kill him,"
said Ahalamila's friends.
"You need not talk like that, "said Jihkulu ; "you
cannot kill me. I am the best fighter in all this
world. I have been in every part of it ; no one has
ever hit me, no one has ever hurt me."
Jihkulu shot at Jewina, but missed. " You can't
hit me ! " cried Jewina. Jihkulu shot off Jewina's
coyote skin, and then he killed him. Jewina had
dreamed a long time before that if he wore coyote
skin in battle he would not be killed, and that was
why he wore it ; but when Jihkulu shot off the skin,
he killed him easily.
Now Jupka was lying in the sweat-house on
Jigulmatu, and he heard the noise and shouting at
Hwitalmauna. " They are fighting ; I must stop the
battle ! " cried he. So he ran south — rushed into
the middle of the fight.

The First Battle in the World 477
" I want both sides to stop ! " shouted Jupka.
The battle was at an end right there ; all followed
Jupka to Jigulmatu. That evening he said, " You
will hunt in the north to-morrow." All were in the
sweat-house then and were listening. Jupka spoke
to them some time, and then they all talked at once ;
it seemed as though the house would burst when
they were talking.
Next day they found deer in the north, and found
them in plenty. Each had one to bring back to
the sweat-house. When they were coming home
through thick brushwood, Popila wished to please
Ahalamila's friends, and made himself a bear to kill
Howichinaipa, who fought the day before with
Ahalamila and killed him.
The bear came out and threw his arms around a
clump of brush in which Howichinaipa was. Ho
wichinaipa slipped out in time and ran. The bear
rushed after him, hunted him, and almost caught
him at a rock near Hakamatu. Howichinaipa
sprang on to the rock and said, —
" I am nearly dead ; I wish this rock to open ; 1
am too tired to run ; I can go no farther."
The rock opened, and Howichinaipa dropped in.
The bear rushed up, stuck his head and fore paws
after Howichinaipa ; but the rock closed, and the bear
was caught and killed.
Howichinaipa came out and stood beside the bear.
" I am tired," said he. " I was almost dead. You
tried your best to kill me, but I am hard to kill."
Then he took his flint knife, cut around the bear's
neck and behind his two fore paws, and skinned

478 Creation Myths of Primitive America
him, put the skin on his shoulder, and started for
Jigulmatu. He came behind the others, reached
home at dusk. He hung the skin near the door,
and said, —
" We shall hear what Ahalamila's friends will say
to-morrow morning."
Popila's mother heard what her son had done,
and when she saw the bearskin she cried and rolled
upon the ground. Next day the old woman was
sweeping; she swept out a little red-eared boy, a
Pakalai Jawichi, and as she swept, he squealed,
Popila Marimi took him up, took a deerskin, and
made a blanket of it, and put the little fellow in this
deerskin. She boiled water then with hot rocks and
washed him, and every time she washed she sprin
kled flint dust on the little boy to make him strong.
He could creep around next morning ; but she said:
" Stay in one place ; you must not move. There
may be poison in some place ; if you touch it, it
will kill you. Stay right where I put you."
The second day the boy could talk. " You cry all
the time, grandmother; why do you cry ? " asked he.
" Do not ask that question, grandson ; it makes
me grieve to hear you. All my people were dead
except my son ; now he is killed and I have no
one. The fifth day the boy was walking around the
house outside.
" Grandmother," said he, "make a great fire."
She made a fire in the sweat-house. The boy
stood near the central pillar and sang, " Hala wata,
hala wata."

The First Battle in the World 479
He fell asleep while sweating ; slept till morning.
Next day when he woke he said to his grandmother,
" What am I to do with my hands ? "
The old woman gave him a flint knife and said,
" I have had this a long time ; take it now and fix
your hands with it."
His fingers were joined together as far as the first
joint, and she showed him how to separate them from
each other. He cut the little finger first, then the
third, the second, and the first. The thumb he called
big finger ; and when the five fingers were sepa
rated and free of each other, she told him to call the
thumb the big finger, and call it one, the next two,
the next three, the next four, and the little finger
five. This was the first time that counting was ever
done in the world. And when Jupka made the
Yana, he gave them hands like Pakalai Jawichi's.
When his left hand was finished, Pakalai Jawichi
said, " I don't know how to cut with my left
hand." The old woman helped him to free the fingers of
the right hand. When all his fingers were free, the
boy was able to shoot, and he wanted a bow and
arrows. The old woman brought all the bows of her dead
kindred ; he broke all but one, which had a string
made from the shoulder sinews of a deer. He took
that and went out. This day Howichinaipa hid him
self in a cedar- tree : he was watching a bird. Pakalai
Jawichi knew that he was there, and called with the
voice of the bird that Howichinaipa was watching.

480 Creation Myths of Primitive America
Howichinaipa came down on the tree lower and
lower, looking to see where the call came from.
Pakalai Jawichi was hidden in a tree opposite,
where Howichinaipa could not see him; he kept
calling, and Howichinaipa kept coming down.
Pakalai Jawichi had a good sight of him.
"If I hit him in the body," thought he, "the
arrow will not hurt him ; I must hit him in the out
side toe."
He did that, and Howichinaipa fell to the ground
wounded. Pakalai Jawichi pinned him to the earth
with one arrow, then with another ; pinned his two
sides to the ground with two rows of arrows. Pakalai
Jawichi ran home.
" Oh, grandmother ! " cried he.
" What is the matter ? " asked the old woman ;
" you came near falling into the fire."
" There is some one out here ; I want you to
see him."
The old woman took her cane and followed
Pakalai Jawichi.
" Do you see that person lying there ? "
The old woman looked, and saw the person who
had killed her son, saw him pinned to the earth.
She was so glad that she cried, she dropped down
then, and rolled on the ground ; after that she
jumped up and danced around his body, danced
many times, danced till she was tired.
" Hereafter," said Pakalai Jawichi, " everybody
will call you Howichinaipa. You will be a person
no longer ; you will be only a little bird, with these
arrow-marks on both sides of your breast."

The First Battle in the World 481
He became a little bird then and flew away, the
little bird which we call Howichinaipa.
Next morning after the second hunt Jupka heard
loud shouting in the east ; a great Mapchemaina had
thrust his head above the edge of the sky. This
person had beautiful feathers waving on his head.
Jupka had made him shout, and he said to him, —
" Every time you rise up and show yourself to
the people of Jigulmatu you must shout in that
way." This great person in the east had two dogs ; they
were small, but very strong. " Which of you is
coming with me ? " asked he that morning. " I
want a good dog ; I am always afraid when I travel
in the daytime."
" I will give you a name now," said Jupka to this
person in the east. " All people will call you here
after by the name which I give now. The name
which I give you is Tuina. You will be known
always by this name. And your name," said he to
the dog, " will be Machperkami."
When Tuina was ready to start, he made his small
dog still smaller, very small; put him under the
hair on the top of his head, and tied him in
there. When all dressed and ready, with the dog fast
ened in his hair, Tuina became as full of light as
he is in our time. Before he was dressed and armed
and had his dog on his head Tuina had no bright
ness, but when he started he filled this whole world
with light, as he does now in the daytime.
Bohkuina had made a road for Tuina to travel
31

482 Creation Myths of Primitive America
on ; he had made this road in the sky, and Tuina
went straight along to the west by it, till he reached
the great water. When he was ready to plunge into
the water, a hatenna (grizzly bear) of the water was
coming out and saw him. Tuina put his hands out
and motioned with his arms as if they were wings,
motioned as if to jump in.
" Tuina is coming ! " said the grizzly bear of the
water. "It will be too hot here if he comes. Let
us make ready and go to high mountains. We
cannot stay here if Tuina comes."
A great crowd of water grizzlies came out of the
ocean and went away to the mountains. Tuina
jumped into the water, and it rose on all sides, boiled
up, rolled away over the shore , every kind of shell
of the ocean went to land at the same time.
Tuina went far into the water, way down to the
bottom ; he went through the bottom, deep under
the water and the ground, and returned to the east.
Long before that Jupka had made a road under
the earth for Tuina to travel on, a road back to the
east. Jupka turned the earth bottom upward, and
made this road right through from west to east ; and
before Tuina started Jupka said to him, —
" I have made a road, a straight road under the
earth for you, a good road ; there are no rocks on
it, all is smooth. Bohkuina made the road on the
sky, the road from east to west for you to run on ;
I made the road down below, the road under the
earth from west to east. When you reach the east,
you will rest a while, rise in the morning, come up
and go west again on the road which Bohkuina

The First Battle in the World 483
made ; you will do this every day without failing ;
you will do this all the time."
When Jupka stopped talking, Tuina went west,
went back in the night on Jupka's road ; and so he
does always.
The day after Jupka had talked with Tuina, given
him his name and his work, he said, " I will make
Yana now, and I will give them a good country to
live in."
He took buckeye-sticks, broke off a large number;
he wished to lay them down on the top of Jigulmatu
and make Yana. He put down the first stick and
said, " I will call this one Iwilau Yana" (Yana of
the middle place).
When he had said these words, a man rose up
before him, a Yana.
" You will stay here in this middle country," said
Jupka. " You will be chief."
Jupka put down another buckeye-stick, and it
became a Yana woman at Jupka's word. He put
down a third stick, which became a boy.
" This is an orphan without father or mother,"
said Jupka ; and he called the boy Hurskiyupa.
Jupka put other buckeye-sticks, a large number
of them, around the first Yana, the chief, and made
common people. They all stood around the chief
and Jupka said to them, —
" This is your chief; he will tell you what to do ;
you must obey him and do what he commands."
" Now," said Jupka, " what will the people of the
middle country eat? what shall I give them?" and he
thought a while. "You will eat clover," said he, "and

484 Creation Myths of Primitive America
roots. I will give you sticks to dig these roots. You
will eat fish, too, and venison. Eat and be strong,
be good Yana people. When the chief wants a deer,
he will call you together and say, 'I wish to eat venison ;
I want you to go out, I want you to hunt deer and
bring home venison to eat.' You must obey the
chief always."

NOTES

The following notes are put in as condensed a form as possible.
They are confined to explanations ofthe actors or characters in the
myths, and to information concerning the meaning of names of
persons and places.
The myths from one to nine inclusive are Wintu, from ten to
the end Yana. These two nations, though neighbors, are not
related ; their languages are radically different.

NOTES
IN 1895 I made a journey to California in consequence of an
arrangement with the late Charles A. Dana, editor of " The
Sun." According to this arrangement, Mr. Dana was to publish
on consecutive Sundays such myth-tales as I might think of sufficient
value to appear in his paper. Those myths were to be found by
me in California, Mexico, and Guatemala.
I began at the source of the Sacramento River, and worked down
to" the mouth, my last stopping-place being the extensive hop-fields
in the lower valley.
In San Francisco I wrote the following short account of the
Wintus. That done, I set out for Mexico.
In the city of Guadalajara I copied the myths obtained in
California and sent them to " The Sun." After that I worked
at "Quo Vadis," the greater part of which I translated in
Guadalajara. All the myths in this volume were published in " The Sun,"
and appeared as a part of a series pertaining to Indians in California,
Mexico, and Guatemala.
Only the California part has been published thus far.
After leaving Guadalajara I spent almost a year in Guatemala
and Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. Among the last
places which I visited was Palenque. A view of one part of the
ruins of this remarkable and mysterious city appears as a frontis
piece to the present volume.

THE WINTUS
The Wintus are a nation or stock of Indians who before the
coming of white men owned and occupied all that part of California
situated on the right bank of the Sacramento, from its source near
the foot of Mount Shasta to its mouth at the northern shore of San
Francisco Bay.

488

Notes

These Indians extended into Trinity County on the west, and
still farther to the mountain slope which lies toward the Pacific.
Only a small number of them, however, were on the western
declivity. The great body of the nation lived on the eastern
slope of the Coast Range and in the Sacramento Valley. Some
of their finest mental productions are connected with the upper
course of the Sacramento and with the MacCloud River, or Wini
Mem.
It is difficult to determine what the Wintu population was half
a century ago, but, judging from the number of houses in villages,
the names and positions of which have been given me by old men,
I should say that it could not have been less than 10,000, and
might easily have been double that number. At present there are
not more than 500 Wintus in existence.
The Wintus have suffered grievously ; great numbers have been
killed by white men, others have perished by diseases brought in by
strangers ; but those who remain are strong and are more likely to
increase than diminish. Times of violence have passed, and the
present Wintus are willing and able to adapt themselves to modern
conditions.' It may be of interest to readers of these myth tales to know
something of the present condition of the Wintus.
In 1889, when I was in California, commissioned by Major
Powell for the second time to make linguistic investigations among
various tribes of the Pacific coast, a few Wintus came to me in
Redding, California, and complained of their wretched condition.
There was not a spot of land, they said, where they could build a
hut without danger of being ordered away from it. " This country
was ours once," added they, " but the white man has taken all of
it." I told them to bring their people together, and invite also
the Yanas, who had suffered more than all other people of that
region, and then explain to me what was needed.
The two peoples met on a little stony field in a brushy waste out
side the inhabited part of Redding. There they made speeches
and discussed matters for three hours the first day and as many the
second. They gave me all the points of what they wanted, which
was simply that the United States should give each man of them a

Notes 489
piece of land, with help to begin life on it. I jotted down in brief
form what they had told me, read it to them, and they were satis
fied. Next day the paper was copied in the form of a petition
from the two nations to President Harrison. They signed the pe
tition before a Redding notary, and gave it to me with a request to
lay it before the President.
Early in 1 890 I was in Washington. Anxious to win the case of
my poor Indian friends, — or " Diggers," as some men are pleased
to call them contemptuously, — I looked around for a Congressman
of influence to go with me to support the petition before the Presi
dent. I found no suitable person till I met my classmate and
friend, Governor Greenhalge of Massachusetts, at that time a mem
ber of Congress. When he heard the tale of the Yana massacre
and realized the sad plight of the Wintus, he offered at once to co
operate with me. He went to the President and explained the
affair to him. Two or three days later he accompanied me to the
White House. I gave the petition to President Harrison, who
promised to favor it with his executive initiative. He did this so
earnestly and with such emphasis that an agent was appointed very
soon to find land for those Indians. The agent found land for
them in various places, but within the radius of their former pos
sessions. The condition of the Wintus at present is this : They
have lands which are described, but in most cases the boundaries
are not indicated by any material mark, or at least very few of
them are ; white men are trespassing, and it is impossible for the
Indians to protect themselves till their boundaries are fixed tangibly.
They will not have the means to begin serious work till they re
ceive assistance. They are waiting now in hope that the Commis
sioner of Indian Affairs will have their lands surveyed, and that
Congress will make a small appropriation for their benefit. This
is the extent of their hopes and wishes. They are very glad to
have land, and the majority of them will make fairly good use of
it. When I met them in 1895, they were very grateful for the
part which I had taken in settling them in life, adding that they
could not have settled themselves unassisted. As to me, I cannot
but make an emphatic acknowledgment of the generous and effective
aid given by Governor Greenhalge.

49 o Notes
" Olelbis," the first myth published in " The Sun ' ' (March 29,
1896), was preceded by the following brief introduction : —
The Wintus, with whose creation-myths I begin this series, are
a very interesting people. Their language is remarkably harmoni
ous, rich, and flexible. It has great power of describing the physi
cal features of the country in which it is spoken, as well as the
beliefs and ideas of the Wintus themselves.
The picture of Olelbis, a being who lives in the highest and sees
everything, is drawn more distinctly and with more realism than
any character in other American religious systems, so far as I know.
The theory of creation evolved by the Indians of North America
is complete, simple, and symmetrical. I have referred to it some
what in the introduction to "Hero Tales of Ireland," in "Myths
and Folk-lore of Ireland," and in " Myths and Folk-tales ofthe
Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars." This theory is in brief
as follows : —
There was a people in existence before the present race of men ;
in speaking ofthe present race of men, the tales have in view In
dians only. This first people lived in harmony for a period of
indefinite, unimaginable duration, without division or dissension, —
undifferentiated, so to speak. This was the golden age of existence,
a Nirvana preliminary to life as we know it at present, a Nirvana
of the gods, as the Buddhist extinction of self is to be the Nirvana
of just men when all shall be one in all and one in one. At last
a time came when character appeared, and with it differences and
conflicts. When the conflicts were past and the battles fought out,
the majority of the first people were turned into all the animated
things, walking, creeping, crawling, swimming, flying, that have
ever been seen on the earth, in the water, or in the air. They
were turned also into trees and plants of every kind, — some into
heavenly bodies, others into remarkable stones and rocks, just as,
in the Bible, Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt.
According to this theory, every individual existence which we
see in the world around us is a transformed or fallen god. Every
beast, bird, reptile, fish, insect, or plant was at one time a divinity
of high or low degree, an uncreated person who had lived in har
mony with his fellows from the beginning till the time when variety

Notes 491
of character, or individuality, appeared and brought with it diffi
culties, or perhaps we might say, penalty. With individuality
came conflicts ; when those conflicts were over, creation was
finished. At the end of each particular conflict the victor turned by means
of a word the vanquished into that which embodied and expressed
his character. The vanquished on his part had a similar compel
ling word, and changed his opponent into the beast, bird, or other
existence which described him ; in other terms, he gave his oppo
nent the physical form, the outward personality, which corresponded
to the nature of his hidden or at least his unapparent character.
Besides these metamorphosed or fallen divinities, there is in the
Indian mythologies a group, a small minority, which was not
changed, but left this world going out under the sky at the west to
live in harmony and delight ; and they live in that way to this mo
ment. Sometimes this group, or a part of it, went to live above
the sky.
The Indian Creation-myths all relate to the adventures and ex
ploits of the "first people," — the gods; none relate to human
beings, and none touch on anything done since man appeared on
earth. They are the accounts of what took place when there was
an order different from the present, and explain how the present
order rose from the first.
Such, in substance, is the foundation of American religious sys
tems, and the method of all of them, so far as examined. The
Wintu is different from many others in its methods and details, but
the result is the same in all cases. Olelbis, with few exceptions,
disposes of the first people, retains with himself whomsoever he
likes, sends to the earth and transforms those whom he thinks more
useful below than above, and gives the example of a single ruling
divinity which, without being represented as all-powerful or all- wise,
manages through the knowledge and services of others to bear rule
over all things.

492 Notes

OLELBIS
This myth contains a complete statement concerning the begin
nings of Wintu belief. Olelbis occupies the first place in the
estimation of Wintus. To understand the Wintu mind, it is indis
pensable to begin with Olelbis. Other myths illustrate this one,
explain parts of the Wintu system, and help to explain the mental
life of the people ; but this tale of Creation is to Indians of the
western half of the Sacramento valley what their sacred books are
to historic races.
No Wintu has been converted to Christianity ; hence the faith of
the nation is undimmed, and its adherence to primitive religion un-
weakened. I cannot explain their position better than by giving
the words of one of the most intelligent Wintus whom I have met.
After I had collected all that I could find, and had received need
ful explanations as far as was possible, I spoke some time with this
man. Referring to their religion and ideas, he said : " When I
talk of these things, I am afraid, I feel kind of scart" (scared).
That explains their position perfectly. Their faith is of the
firmest ; they are full of awe ; they believe that Olelbis is up there
now in the "Central Blue," in his marvellous Panti Hlut, the
most beautiful structure in the universe, and from there sees every
thing that happens. That heavenly house is framed of living oak-
trees, which bear acorns continually, the Indian bread of life, —
that house which has in and around it all the flowers that have
ever bloomed, flowers whose roots can never die.
Winishuyat, mentioned in " Olelbis " and in other tales, is one of
the most interesting personages in Wintu mythology. He is de
scribed as a little man, about the size of a thumb, and is always
placed on the top of the head by the person whom he accom
panies and aids. This person never fails to tie his own hair over
Winishuyat, and thus conceals him from every stranger. Winis
means "he sees ; " the literal significance of huyat I have not been
able to get at satisfactorily thus far. The essential meaning of the
whole word is that he sees in mind the approaching danger before

Notes

493

it is evident to the physical eye. Winishuyat means, therefore,
the prescience of danger, — seeing danger while it is yet at some
distance ; not necessarily distance geographically, for the danger
may be present, but concealed in the breast of a dissembling
enemy, and some time, short or long, may be between it and
actual happening.
The peculiar thing in the case is that foresight is separated from
the hero, and is made the distinguishing quality of his little thumb-
sized attendant, just as if each power had to be connected with a
person, — no person having more than one great trait of character.
In the Yana mythology there is no name corresponding to Wini
shuyat, but the same office is filled by a maternal uncle.
In the tale of "Juiwaiyu," Jupka, the uncle ofthe hero, makes
himself as small as a thumb, and is tied in under the hair of his
nephew. In the winning of Paiowa, at the house of Tuina, Igu-
patopa performs for his sister's son the same kind of service rendered
by Winishuyat, — with this difference, that he is more active ; he is
not merely an adviser, he is a helper, a strengthener ; he gives
counsel to make his nephew wise, and then enters into his heart to
fortify him, to render him brave and strong.
It is curious and instructive to note in European Folk-tales
the survival of Winishuyat and his approximate equivalent, the
Yana uncle. In Slav tales this person is the mangy, miserable,
neglected little colt which, when taken outside the town, shakes
itself and becomes a marvellous magic steed, golden-haired, un
tiring, and wise, faithful to its master as the sun to his course in
the sky.
This steed knows what is coming, knows exactly what to do,
knows the mistakes that his master is sure to commit, knows how
to correct them ; and the cumulative effect of these corrections
increases immensely the momentum of the final triumph.
The Tom Thumb of nursery tales, the mentor of his big
brothers, gives also a striking reminder of Winishuyat.

494 Notes

MEM LOIMIS
This beautiful myth, in which wind and water are the moving
characters, needs litde if any explanation, save in one point, that
relating to the Hlahi, commonly called doctor by white men.
The word Shaman used in Siberia describes his position accurately.
He is not the master of spirits exactly, but he is the favorite and
friend of one or of more spirits ; that is, of such spirits as promised
him their co-operation at the time when he became a Hlahi. If
this person observes the rules of life that are always imposed on
him who enjoys the friendship of this or that spirit (these rules
refer mainly to food agreeable to the spirit), and does what is
needful when the spirit is invoked (the needful, in this case, in
cludes smoking and dancing), together with chanting the song of
this spirit (every spirit has its own song), the spirit will come at
his call.
Sanihas Yupchi smokes and dances ; the Tsudi girls sing or
chant. The name Sanihas Yupchi means the archer of Sanihas ;
Sanihas means daylight or the entire light of day from dawn till
darkness, — in other words, all the light that Sas the sun gives
between one night and another, — though Sanihas, daylight, is always
represented as a person, and not the product of Sas's activity. This
Sanihas Yupchi, the archer of daylight, the usher of the dawn, is
no other than Tsaroki Sakahl, who has a white stripe on his back,
the messenger who was sent by Torihas to invite Katkatchila to the
hunt which caused the burning of the world in "Olelbis." He
appears also as the envoy who ran in darkness on the gleaming
sand trail to invite Hawt to Waida Dikit's green and red house,
where the world concert was held, at which Hawt proved to be
the greatest musician in existence.
In the note to " Kol Tibichi " will be found an account of how
the Hlahi receives the aid and co-operation of spirits.
Most interesting beliefs are connected with Wokwuk, the son of
Olelbis and Mem Loimis. The Wintus believe Wokwuk to be
the greatest source of power and wealth.

Notes

495

According to "Olelbis," different bits of Wokwuk came down
to the earth and were turned into elk and various valuable creatures ;
the tip of Wokwuk' s little finger became the earthly Wokwuk.
Wintus told me that if a man were to see the earthly Wokwuk,
who was made from the tip of Wokwuk' s little finger, he would
grow immensely rich from the good luck which the sight would
bring him. The last Wokwuk seen appeared a little over a hun
dred years ago. The story of its appearance is as follows : —
One day an old woman at a village called Tsarken, about
twenty miles north of Redding, went for wood. Soon she ran
home almost breathless, leaving her basket behind.
" Oh, my grandson," cried she to the chief, " I am frightened.
My grandfather and grandmother used to say to me when I was a
girl, ' You will see a wonderful thing some day.' I have just
seen something wonderful on the hill. I believe it is a Wokwuk.
Old people told me that if a Wokwuk is seen he will stay in one
place a long time. I think this Wokwuk will stay, and wants us
to see him."
The chief made a beautiful shed of small fir-trees, covered it
with fir branches, and placed sweetly smelling herbs in it ; he sent
for neighboring chiefs, and next day all went in their best array to
the Wokwuk, bearing water in the finest basket of the village, and
carrying a large oak slab and a rope. They found the Wokwuk
facing north, and went near him. The chief lighted his pipe,
blew the smoke toward every side, and said to the Wokwuk, —
" You have come to see us ; we have come to salute you. You
have come to show yourself. You are a great person, and all the
Wintus in the country will hear of you ; all the chiefs in every
place will speak of you. I am glad that you are here. I am glad
that you have come to my country."
He talked more to the Wokwuk ; spoke very nicely. Next he
took water in his mouth and blew it around in every direction.
After that the chief smoked a fragrant root instead of tobacco, blow
ing the smoke toward the Wokwuk, speaking to him with great
respect. " Now we will take you home with us," said the chief. They
carried the oak slab to the Wokwuk ; he did not stir. They

496

Notes

pushed him onto the slab, tied one leg to it, then took him home,
placed the slab in the shed, and untied the Wokwuk. He remained
two months there, never ate anything, never tried to escape.
Every morning they talked to the Wokwuk. During two months
no one went to hunt, no one ate venison or sucker fish. Finally,
all the Wintus were invited and all the Yanas, — a great assembly.
They saluted the Wokwuk, each chief addressed him ; last of all
came a chief from Wini Mem, named Topitot, leading a black
bear. This bear walked erect like a man. He had bands of por
cupine quills around his fore and hind legs, and a buckskin band
covered with the red scalps of woodpeckers around his head. The
bear bowed down to the Wokwuk, and the chief addressed him.
When other chiefs spoke to the Wokwuk during the two previous
months, he never raised his head or gave a sign of answer ; but when
Topitot had finished, he raised his head and gave out a sound
which was loud and long.
Next morning the chief of the village wished good luck to all,
then he brought a rope, hung Wokwuk to a tree, and took his life.
He plucked him, gave the quills to the chiefs, including himself, cut
off the head, kept it ; the body he carried to an ant-hill ; when the
ants had taken all the flesh, the bones were separated from each
other and given to each chief.
When the chiefs went home, they spoke to the quills and bones
as if praying, at first every morning, then once a week, then once
a month, and continued this for a long time. After that each put
away his bone or his quill in a triple covering. The bone or
feather was wrapped first in a cover of the red scalps of woodpeckers
sewed together ; outside that were two mats made of reeds.
The owner of a Wokwuk bone or quill does not show it to any
one, not even to his wife or children. When he dies he leaves it
to a son, or, if he has no son, to a daughter. The possession bf
Wokwuk relics gives luck, but the owner must never eat venison or
sucker ; these are offensive to Wokwuk.
Five years after the quills were put away only the stems of them
were left; five years later they were as fresh as if just plucked. If
the quills were to be exposed before people, the people would all
die ; if to one person, that person would perish.

Notes 497

The owner of a quill or bone unwraps it occasionally, places
water near it, and talks to it, saying: " Give us good luck ; make
us well. I give you water, you give us strength." If he points
the relic and mentions a person's name, saying, " Make him sick,"
that man will die surely.
If the owner of a Wokwuk relic dies without heirs, the bone or
quill is sunk in a sacred spring ; if it were buried with the owner,
all would get sick and die.
Both feathers and bones grow old in appearance, and later on
they are as fresh looking and perfect as ever.

NORWAN
Next to "Olelbis" stands " Norwan, " both for value and inter
est. This remarkable myth recalls forcibly the Helen of Troy tale,
both in its general plan and in many particulars.
The great war among the first people is caused by the woman
Norwan. Norbis Kiemila, who claims to be her husband, is de
scended from the heavenly white oak which forms part of Olel
panti Hlut, the divine mansion in the " Central Blue."
Norwan's full name is Pom Norwan en Pitchen, that is, daughter
of the land on the southern border. She has another name : Hluyuk
Tikimit, which means the dancing porcupine. Her residence, or
hlut, was Norwan Buli, Norwan Mountain. The Yana name of
this mountain is Wahkanopa, which means the son of Wahkalu.
Wahkalu is Mount Shasta, and Wahkanopa Lassen's Butte.
Norwan, or Hluyuk Tikimit, the dancing porcupine, has still a
third name, Bastepomas pokte, the food-giving or food-producing
woman. In her quality of producer she occupies a position in
Wintu mythology similar to that of the divine descendant of the
earth and the sun in the Algonkin religious system. This Algon
kin myth is one of the most beautiful and significant, not among
creation, but among action myths. And here I beg to call atten
tion again to the distinction which I make between the two classes
of myths. 32

498 Notes
Creation myths relate always to what was done among the
" first people in the world which preceded this," while creation
was going on, or more correctly, perhaps, during the time of those
transformations or metamorphoses from which resulted the present
world and the order of things contained therein.
Action myths relate to ever-recurrent processes in nature which
began as soon as the sun had his course marked out for him and the
physical world around us received its present form and fashion ;
this happened before all the "first people " were metamorphosed.
The vast majority had received the physical bodies which they have
at present, but a few were left, and they remained in various places
till they saw or heard the new race, the Indians. Action myths,
therefore, relate to various processes in nature which never cease.
For us the most important are those involved in the relations be
tween the sun and the earth.
The great Algonkin sun and earth myth which has many vari
ants and vast wealth of detail, describes those relations more pro
foundly and broadly than any other Indian myth devoted to the
same subject.
The Algonkin myth in its most extended form describes the
earth maiden as becoming a mother through being looked at by the
sun. She gives birth to a daughter who is called Wakos ikwe,
the fox woman ; this daughter becomes the mother of a great hero,
the highest benefactor of aboriginal man in America. He is the
giver of food and of every good gift by which life is supported.
Of this myth there is a shorter version in which the hero is born
of the earth directly ; he is her son, not her grandson.
This benefactor and food-giver is no other than that warm air
which we see dancing and quivering above the earth in fine weather.
Descended from the sun and the earth, this warm air supports all
things that have vegetable or animal existence.
This myth in its more extended form, the one to which I have
referred first, is similar to that which Schoolcraft pieced together
and which Longfellow took as the foundation of his beautiful poem
" Hiawatha," though not identical with it.
Schoolcraft, with his amazing propensity to make mistakes, with
his remarkable genius for missing the truth and confusing everything

 Notes 49<p
with which he came in contact, gave the name Hiawatha to his
patchwork. Hiawatha is an Iroquois name connected with Central New York.
The Iroquois were mortal enemies of the Algonkins, and the feud
between these two stocks was the most inveterate and far reaching
of any in America. It was, in fact, the only Indian tribal hatred
that rose to historical importance, and it was by the adherence of
the Iroquois, the "Five Nations" of New York, that English
dominion in North America was established.
The Algonkin force of America was on the French side, but the
Iroquois held all water communication between Lake Erie and
Ontario, the greatest strategic position on the continent at that
period. They cut the Algonkins in two, and prevented France
from receiving their undivided assistance.
Had the whole Algonkin power aided the French, they would
have had great chances of victory. Had the Iroquois been friends
of the Algonkins and acted with them, there could have been no
doubt of jhe triumph of France at that juncture. But the Algonkins
and Iroquois were mortal enemies ; the Algonkins were friendly to
the French, the Iroquois to the English.
In the face of all this Schoolcraft makes Hiawatha, who is
peculiarly Iroquois, the leading personage in his Algonkin conglom
erate ; Hiawatha being an Iroquois character of Central New York
(he is connected more particularly with the region about Schenec
tady), while the actions to which Schoolcraft relates him pertain
to the Algonkin Chippewas near Lake Superior.
It is as if Europeans of some future age were to have placed
before them a great epic narrative of French heroic adventure in
which Prince Bismarck would appear as the chief and central Gallic
figure in the glory and triumph of France. The error and absurdity
would be, as the Germans say, colossal, but not greater or more
towering than in Schoolcraft's Hiawatha. Longfellow, of course,
could not free himself from the error contained in his material ; but
the error, which was not his own and which he had no means of
correcting at that time, did not prevent him from giving his work
that peculiar charm which is inseparable from everything which he
did.

500 Notes
In the original Algonkin myth the hero to which Hiawatha has
been accommodated was a child of the sun and the earth. What
ever his names in the numerous versions found in the twenty-eight
languages of this richest and most varied Indian stock of North
America, he is always the bounteous benefactor of man, the kindest
of all divine powers that have ever appeared upon earth. He is
always in reality that warm light which dances and quivers before
us in fine weather, and through which every man, beast, reptile,
insect, fish, bird, and plant lives and flourishes.
This myth has received on the Pacific coast, or more correctly on
parts of it, a different treatment from that given it east of the Rocky
Mountains. There the benefactor is a female, a daughter of the
earth. Nothing is said as to who her father was. It is significant
that she dances all day, that she is called the quivering porcupine
and the food-producing woman.
In Indian myths from New York to California the porcupine is
ever connected with light ; in some cases it is the sun himself. In
"Tulchuherris" of this volume, Sas (the sun) carries a porcupine
quiver, and is advised never to lay it aside, for as long as he keeps it
on his shoulder he is safe from his children the grizzlies (the clouds)
who wish to kill him.
In California Norwan, daughter of the earth, occupies in part
the place of the Algonkin hero, the child of the sun and the earth.
Her usual life is of the housekeeping order ; she has great supplies
of food in her hlut, or residence, and she goes on dancing each day
until evening. The great and characteristic event of her life, her
departure from the dance with her partner, is of the same scope and
meaning as the last journey of Hiawatha when he sails to the west
and vanishes in the regions of sunset. The hero of the Algonkin
myth must go, he cannot stay ; he must vanish in the ruddy glow of
evening because he is the warm dancing air of the daytime. He
must go whether he will or not. Before he goes, however, he
cheers all whom he leaves behind by telling them that another will
come from the east to take his place and comfort them. Next
morning, of course, the comforter comes, for the life career of the
Algonkin hero is included in the compass of a single day, and a suc
cessor is bound to come as surely as he himself is bound to go.

Notes

50i

Norwan dances, and then goes away with her partner, to the
desperate vexation of Norbis Kiemila, her would-be husband, who
wishes to have her to himself exclusively. She dances, as she says,
without knowing it and goes away unconsciously. She dances with
this partner because she cannot help it, and departs imperceptibly to
herself. Who are the rivals for her person?
Norbis means "living in the south; " he lives in the southeast,
the land of greatest productiveness, in the region of Hlihli Piu Hlut
Ton, that most beautiful of houses on earth, and second only to the
divine mansion in the " Central Blue." He is descended from one
of the white oaks in the heavenly house.
The person who was metamorphosed afterward into the red wiu
bird (Tede Wiu) is his rival, the person with whom Norwan left
the dance, thus causing the first war in the world. Was this person
the red of evening which became Tede Wiu afterward? If we
acknowledge that he was, and if we are willing to admit Norbis as
the representative of all people living east of the west, we have at
once the two parties to an irreconcilable rivalry in the most vital of
questions, the possession of warm sunlight, and that most vital of
questions is embodied in the person of a woman. That was the
cause of the first war in the world and of fell strife. A story sub
stantially the same as this was, we may think, the ultimate basis of
the Iliad. The mythic origin of the particular tale from which
Homer constructed his epic had been forgotten, that may be granted,
but there is little doubt that in rustic Greece men might have found
a similar tale which was mythologic beyond peradventure ; and the
Helen of that tale, or her equivalent, was a person like Norwan.
With the materials at our command even now, we have enough to
indicate this, for was not Helen the daughter of Leda and the divine
swan, a person to be fought for with all available energy in the
world at that period, and to be fought for in a war which surpassed
in importance all that have ever succeeded it ?
Helen of Troy, the daughter of Leda and of Zeus, the overarch
ing heaven, with all its light ; Norwan, daughter of the earth, with
Lassen's Butte, California, for her residence; and the Algonkin
hero whose place is taken by Hiawatha, are all different represen-

502 Notes
tatives of the same person, different expressions for the same
phenomenon ; and that person or phenomenon is the warm air
which dances above the earth in fine weather. This air, in one
case noted here, is conceived as the greatest benefactor of man,
that being who gives the choicest and most necessary gifts to all,
and, in the other two cases, as a priceless treasure, in the form of a
woman who is to be fought for with all the valor that can possibly
,be summoned, and in a manner that in Helen's case inspired
the noblest epic known to the world thus far.
These three cases show clearly the methods of mythology, and
prove the absolute need of knowing that we must deal (to borrow
mathematical language) with constants and variables taken together,
— knowing clearly, meanwhile, which are constants, — and not with
variables only, supposing them to be constants, or with constants
and variables mixed together without being able to distinguish
which belong to one class and which to the other. Were some
writer to deal with the prehensile capacity in animated crea
tures, and describe how it is exercised, he would find a variety
in the organs used for grasping things which would represent very
well the variety of methods employed by primitive man in my
thology to represent the same phenomenon or force in nature.
If man be considered as standing on his hind feet, his fore feet
(the hands) are his grasping instruments. With the elephant the
nose is prehensile ; with some monkeys the tail performs this office,
in part at least. With tigers and lions, dogs and cats, the mouth
and teeth are prehensile instruments of great force and precision.
With the bear the forepaws are almost hands. The two feet
with their talons, which correspond to the hind feet in quadrupeds,
are the graspers with birds of prey, working instruments with
domestic fowl, and weapons with some other birds, as, for instance,
the ostrich.
Take another case, the teeth, one office of which is to reduce
food to fine particles ; with all mammals they serve this purpose,
and, in many cases, others also. Birds have no teeth, but they
have a substitute in the gizzard, which they line with gravel and
other hard particles ; and this second stomach, by contraction,
grinds to pulp grain and other food already softened in the crop or

Notes

5°3

first stomach. The boa-constrictor has no teeth and no second
stomach ; it chews by crushing between its body and a tree the
beast which it is to swallow. The chewing mouth of the boa has
for one jaw the tree, for the other its own body ; between those
two jaws it reduces to a soft mass the carcass of the creature to be
swallowed. In considering the various personages in mythology, it is all
important to discover, first of all, what they are, and, next, what
they do. The office filled by a certain personage in a group of
myths belonging to a given race or tribe may be filled by an en
tirely different kind of character in a similar set of myths of another
tribe. This results sometimes from different geographic and cli
matic conditions, and sometimes from looking at the phenomenon
or process of nature in another way. There is as much variety in
the treatment of one subject by various tribes as there is variety in
prehensile members and the use of them among grasping creatures,
or as there is difference in the manner of reducing food to fineness
among quadrupeds, birds, and boa-constrictors.

TULCHUHERRIS
Tulchuherris resembles certain European tales more than any
other in this collection. Apart from other merits, the value of
such a tale in comparative mythology is evident.
The old woman, Nomhawena, is an earthworm now ; the
Indian tale-teller says that there is no doubt on that point. Pom
Pokaila, her second name (Pom, earth ; Pokalia, old woman) ad
mits of two translations, — old woman of the earth, or old woman
Earth. In the first case it would apply to Nomhawena, who digs the
earth always, is a woman of the earth ; in the second, it would
mean the earth itself. The earth is, in fact, Tulchuherris' s
mother. Nomhawena is his grandmother, in a titular sense at
least. In more countries of the world than one, grandmother
is the title of a midwife ; and the office of midwife was performed
by Nomhawena at the birth of Tulchuherris.

504 Notes
We may picture to ourselves the scenes and circumstances of
Tulchuherris' s birth. Root Flat is one of those level places where
innumerable little piles of fine soil are brought to the surface by
the labor of earthworms. Over this valley, as over so many
others on the Pacific coast, fog is spread after sunrise, — fog which
comes up from the earth dug in every direction by Nomhawena' s
people. In this fog is Tulchuherris, the mighty son of the earth ;
in other words, lightning, electricity, that son of the earth who
comes to maturity so speedily.
Kulitek Herit, brother of Tulchuherris, for whom Nomhawena
mourned so deeply, is now the white feather which appears some
times in the black tail of the black vulture. Komos Kulit is the
Wintu name of this vulture. There were three great feathers
among the Wintus, transformations of three great persons among the
first people. The first of these is the white feather just mentioned,
which is the metamorphosed Kulitek ; the second is the longest
black tail-feather of the black vulture, which is the present form of
Hamam Herit, who fought in the Norwan struggle ; the third is
the longest wing-feather of the same vulture. This feather is the
metamorphosed Tubalus Herit.
The first two feathers are used on great occasions in war ; the
third feather, only by doctors or Hlahis.
In Indian mythology there is a subtle, but close and firm, con
nection between the sunflower and the sun, which is illustrated
strikingly in this story. The old woman, by her magic art, burns
great piles of big trees in two or three minutes, while a handful of
sunflower roots is beyond her power and keeps the fire alive for
years. This illustration, in the material world, of the Indians,
reminds one of the still, small voice in the spiritual world of the
Hebrews. The sunflower root in this Tulchuherris tale is invin
cible from its connection with the sun, the one source of light and
heat ; the still, small voice is considered almighty because of its
connection with the whole moral life and light that exists in the
universe. The two obsidian knives in Sas's house are an interesting re
minder of the Damocles sword.
In the case of Tichelis, now ground squirrel, and Hawt, the

Notes

S°S

present lamprey eel, we have cases of personal collision resulting in
transformation. In the Wintu mythology this is exceptional, and
in this instance one-sided, for the vanquished make no attempt to
transform Tulchuherris.

SEDIT AND THE TWO BROTHERS
HUS
Sedit was in favor of death for men, and gives his reasons. It
cannot be said that he brought death into the world, but he stopped
the work which would have kept it out.
His discourse with the Hus brothers is curious ; it represents the
immortality and goodness of a weak and limited creature like man
as barren and monotonous. The comparison of this conversation
with the account of Adam and Eve before and after the Fall is not
without interest.
The critical, unbelieving, disobedient Sedit, who is so willing to
make life in the world varied and interesting through death, so
long as the question stands apart from his own immortality, and
his great concern and anxiety when he thinks that he must himself
die, is'brought out in good relief.
The earnest and honest Hus brothers stand in strong contrast to
the sneering Sedit. The Hus character is a lofty one in Wintu
mythology. This may seem strange to a new student of Indian
ideas, when he remembers what a foul creature the turkey buz
zard is.
The buzzard is considered as a purifier on earth, and surely in
regions like Central America the service rendered by the bird in
this regard is memorable. The buzzard is everywhere the most
frequent and striking figure in Guatemala and Southern Mexico, both
in city and country. In California there is a fine of five dollars
for killing one.
The original Hus character is conceived by the Wintus as striv
ing toward religious purification as strenuously as the earthly buz
zard works at cleaning the earth of carrion of various descriptions.

5°6

Notes

The following remarks accompanied this tale when published in
"The Sun" : —
This tale of Sedit and the Hus brothers is a splendid bit of abo
riginal American philosophy, and touches on topics which have
exercised many minds besides those of primitive America. The
subject of life and death is treated here so simply, and at the same
time so well, that I believe few readers would ask for explanation
or comment.
Some statements, however, touching Sedit are not out of place,
I think. The coyote is very prominent in the mythology of every
region where he is found. The basis of his character is the same
in all myths that I have collected. He is a tremendous glutton,
boastful, talkative, cunning, exceptionally inclined to the other sex,
full of curiosity, a liar, a trickster, deceiving most adroitly, and is
deceived himself at times. He comes to grief frequently because
of his passions and peculiar qualities. He is an artful dodger, who
has points in common with the devil of European folk-lore, being
in many cases an American counterpart of this curious and interest
ing personage.
Of Northern Pacific coast tribes in the United States, the Modocs
have given most distinction to the coyote. Among them the chief
coyote is a trickster on the grandest scale, and has obtained posses
sion ofthe indestructible disk ofthe sun, through which he is im
mortal, or, at least, is renewed every day to carry that luminary.
Because of his vanity and boastfulness, the coyote undertakes
various enterprises in which he fails through his passions.
Sacred springs and small lakes in the mountains are very promi
nent in the Modoc religion. A young man who hopes to be a
magician or a doctor goes to these mountain springs before he is
married or knows woman. There he fasts and watches a week or
longer until he is nearly exhausted. If he is to be a magician or
doctor, spirits appear to him in this interval. A coyote went to
those mountains (in the time before men were on earth, of course) ,
hoping to gain great magic power, but on the way he ate various
kinds of food hateful to the spirits of the springs. These spirits
were disgusted with the odor of food that came from him, struck
him with mange, drove him away, made him hungry, foul, and

Notes

S°7

wretched forever. He ran away, howling and lamenting, without
hope of pardon. From this coyote are descended an especially
bad breed of coyotes in Oregon. They are all foul and hungry
to this day. In dark windy nights the mangy descendants of that
glutton are heard bewailing the fault of their ancestor, their own
fallen state and lost happiness.
The Shasta Indians have a long tale of a coyote whose fond
grandmother tried to make him a great sorcerer. When the time
came, she sent him to the sacred mountain and gave every instruc
tion. He was not to stop, eat, or drink on the road, or to speak
to any one. When about two-thirds of the distance, he passed near
a house ; inside was loud thumping and hammering ; a frog wo
man was pounding seeds and singing ; her house was full of food ;
coyote caught the odor of it, stopped, could not resist the tempta
tion to go in. He went in, ate and drank everything put before
him. In Indian mythology frog women are not vestals ; so break
ing his fast and gluttony were not his only offences. He had
fallen past redemption. On leaving the frog woman's house he
went through a series of unmentionable adventures, at the end of
which there was nothing left but his head, which was in a pool by
the wayside, and just as much alive as ever.
Two sisters, afterwards ducks, who were going that way, found
and pitied the unfortunate. It was not easy to carry him, but the
younger promised to do so if he would shut his eyes and not open
them till she set him down on his grandmother's threshold. This
condition was to prevent him from seeing how she carried him.
When half-way home, curiosity overcame him. Though only a
head, he opened his eyes and fell to the ground.
The duck woman had pity again, and took him to his grand
mother. Loud was her wailing at sight of her lost and ruined
grandson. Sedit came to grief through peculiarities of character.

5o8

Notes

HAWT

This myth of Hawt is very curious and subtle ; it is one of the
best told tales that I have found anywhere. There is a largeness
about it, and, at the same time, a perfectly firm grasp on the part
of Waida Dikit, the master of the assembly, that produce a grand
effect. Though the story is long, it needs, I think, no explanation be
yond what is stated in the introduction and in preceding notes,
except some remarks touching the character of Hawt.
Hawt, the great musician, is identified with water ; he is, as it
were, the spirit of water made visible.
In this myth, only the musical powers of Hawt are exhibited ;
but in the Yana Tirukala, which means the same thing as
Hawt (lamprey eel), we see the active side of the same per
sonage, we see him as a worker. Original is Hawt indeed, —
a living flute fingering his own body as he would an instrument ;
inhaling air and blowing it out through the apertures in his sides.
The present lamprey eel has marks, as it were, of holes in his
sides.

NORWANCHAKUS AND KERIHA
This tale contains actions and a number of personages difficult
to identify, because their names are merely epithets. Eltuluma
means " he swims in ; " but who it is that swims in we know not.
Keriha seems connected with ducks, from the fact that he wore a
duck-skin all his life on earth, and, when he threw off this skin,
all ducks were produced from it.
Norwanchakus means the southern end of that staff or stick to
which was attached the net with which these two brothers dragged
Pui Mem and Bohema Mem, and named each place from the
thing which came into the net in front of it.
Nodal Monoko (the little man who ate so many salmon and
sturgeons, and carried so many away in his bag) means " sweet

Notes

5°9

in the south." He has another name, Nodal Wehlinmuk, which
means "salt in the south." At first he is hostile to grizzly bears,
but later has intimate relations with them and marries one. His
acts point strongly toward electricity or lightning. His bag, in
which the whole world could be put away, may well have been
a cloud bag.
Norwinte means " seen in the south ; " but, again, we have no
knowledge of the person seen. Poni Norwanen Pitchen, the full
name of Norwan, is also an epithet meaning " daughter of the land
on the southern border," and would convey no information if it
stood alone ; but as Norwan, in addition to many other details, is
also the dancing porcupine and the food-producing woman, we
know who she is.
The existence of Puriwa and Sanihas (darkness and daylight)
before the sun was in the world, is most interesting. This is one
of many proofs that every phenomenon was considered to be inde
pendent. Daylight is a personage quite apart from the sun, who
is merely that old Sas who fought with Tulchuherris, and who
travels through the sky every day from east to west in utter loneli
ness. He carries that glowing torch which we see as he moves on
his way through the sky ; but the light of day is a separate person
age. Similar considerations apply to Puriwa, darkness or night,
who is also a distinct and independent entity.
The struggle between Keriha and Hubit has much charm for
Wintus ; they laugh heartily at the recital of it.

KELE AND SEDIT
Old Kele, the mountain wolf, is evidently one of the first
people sent down from the sky by Olelbis ; not in part, but in per
son. His sons and daughters were not his children, but his
creation ; he made them from sticks, just as Jupka made the
Yanas at Jigulmatu.
In the note to " Kol Tibichi " is a Wintu account of the character
and actions of Kele's sons and daughters. A very interesting and

5 1 o Notes
valuable account this is ; it explains the werewolf idea perfectly.
The wolf man of Northern Europe, the Lykanthropos of the Greeks,
must have been just such a person as Kele's sons and daughters,
who were people apparently when they went forth to harm
Indians, but who turned into wolves when they were discovered
and rebuked. At home, in their great sweat-house, those people
are wolves ; but when they go out on their travels up and down
through the world, they are exactly like Wintus, save only the
hairy foot.

KOL TIBICHI
In connection with this tale I add the following remarks about
one of the two modes of making doctors, and about certain spirits.
These remarks are given, as nearly as possible, in the form of the
original Wintu narrative.
I have added, besides, the songs of four great existences, or gods.
Every individual existence in Indian mythology has its own
song. This song refers to what is most notable in the actions or
character of that existence. The given song is sung by a doctor
immediately after its spirit of that existence has entered him.
Kol Tibichi's yapaitu (yapaitu is another name for one of the
first people), the rainbow, would not leave him till he used a
woman's red apron as a headband, because the rainbow is con
nected with the catamenial periods of Sanihas (daylight).
The yapaitu dokos (yapaitu missile), mentioned further on, is a
projection of the spirit itself of the yapaitu. Sometimes it flees
from the patient ; the duty ofthe doctor, in such a case, is to find
the dokos. If he does not, it may return to the sick man after
the doctor has gone ; and in that case the last condition of the
patient is worse than the first. Generally, however, it waits to
be cast out.

Notes c 1 1

THE MAKING OF DOCTORS AMONG
THE WINTUS
The chief assists always in this ceremony, because a doctor can
be made only in a sweat-house. Two chiefs may consult together
and agree with old doctors in this matter, or one chief may do so
if it suits him. If doctors begin, they must consult the chief, be
cause he owns the sweat-house. The doctors and the chief or
chiefs agree upon the time, and then give out the news that on a
certain night they are going to create doctors. Young persons who
wish to be doctors go to the sweat-house ; most of the old people
stay at home.
The men heat the sweat-house, shut it up closely, and sit down.
Sweat pours from them like rain. When they have sweated suffi
ciently, all go to the river and swim. After that the people, men
and women, go into the sweat-house. One doctor or two will be
gin to sing. Young unmarried men or women who are candidates
present themselves. The doctors suck out of these all that is bad
in them, all that is impure, unclean. They suck the forehead,
breast, back, arms. At times they suck out blood ; at times some
thing sharp like a fine bone comes out. They suck out every
thing that is evil. When they have finished sucking, the doctor
sings again, and puts a yellowhammer's feather into each ear ofthe
candidate. The feather may go in out of sight, or the doctor puts
it on the person's head, and the feather may sink through his skull.
Now the people dance, and especially the candidates for the dignity
of doctor. The chief goes out, stands on the housetop, and calls
to all the yapaitu in the rocks, in the water, in Olelpanti, in the
trees, in bathing springs, to come. " We are going to make doc
tors," says the chief; "you must come and help my people."
After this the chief goes in, and they close every hole, every
chink in the sweat-house ; close them all safely. There is no fire,
no light, inside. When they have begun to talk in the sweat-
house, one doctor calls to all the spirits of yapaitu in the east, west,
north, south to come. Pretty soon a spirit may be heard on the

5 1 2 Notes
housetop ; spirits make a whistling noise when they come. That
moment a man or woman falls down, and all know that the spirit
has gone into that person's head.
Now the doctor calls, " One more; one more ! "
In a moment another whistling may be heard as the spirit touches
the housetop and goes in. Another man or woman falls ; the
spirit has entered that one. The persons into whom spirits have
entered know nothing. They become as if crazy, as if they had
lost their wits. They try to go to the housetop. Some try to
climb the central pole ; some want to leave the sweat-house ; they
know nothing for half an hour perhaps.
One doctor keeps on calling spirits, and they come one at a time.
Many doctors may be made in one night, or a few, or none.
There are always many people in the sweat-house to whom spirits
will not come. The spirits never go into people unless they like
them. The spirit looks straight through a man and knows him
immediately. The people dance all night. There is no light in the sweat-
house ; the place is very hot, though there is no fire there. Next
day those to whom spirits have come tell the doctors and chief
what spirits are with them. If not, the chief may give them food
offensive to the spirits, and the spirits would kill them if they ate.
Some spirits may stay two or three days with a person, who would
then sit inside ali the time. The old doctors have to ask this spirit
what it wishes, and make it go away for a time, so that the person
possessed may eat something. Each spirit has its own kind of food.
If we give a man something that the spirit has never eaten, it will
kill him right away if he eats. The old doctors ask his spirit what
it wants, and it tells. The salmon spirit, for instance, likes leaves
or water ; a sucker of the mountains would eat mountain pine nuts,
but a valley sucker needs nuts off the digger pine. If strange food
is placed before a spirit, it is afraid ; and if the man possessed eats
this food, the spirit will kill him. Some spirits don't like buckskin,
and the man to whom they have come must not wear it.
The bad spirits are numerous ; the sucker is one of these, and so
is Kele (the mountain wolf). This wolf is dangerous; it may
hurt you in this way : you may think that you see a good-looking

Notes

5J3

man or woman on the mountain or in the woods. If you go
toward this person or this person comes toward you, comes near
you, speaks to you, and you agree with it, the next thing you
know this strange man or woman turns into a wolf, runs away,
and your mind is gone ; the wolf has taken it. The sucker does
the same, but disappears befoie your eyes or turns into something
ugly. There are three causes of sickness. The first is when a good
yapaitu spirit is angry with a man and strikes him with his spirit
point ; second, when a bad spirit puts his missile in a man and makes
him sick (the spirit in this case does it at his own instance); third,
when an evil spirit sends his missile into a man at the request or
prayer of a doctor.
When the dokos or missile that has been sent into a man is
drawn out by the spirit which assists the curing doctor, the doctor
forces the dokos to tell what yapaitu sent it, and at the prayer of
what doctor. But the dokos does not tell the truth in every case,
and sometimes accuses the wrong person. It is very difficult,
therefore, to know surely what doctor is guilty of making a man
sick. A doctor, if the spirit is in him when he comes to see a
sick man, is able to look right through the body of the patient and
see where the dokos lies. Sometimes he is not able to draw it out ;
he can see where the dokos is, that is all ; but if his spirit were
stronger than the one who put it there, he could draw it out and
cure the patient.
There is danger, however, in drawing out a very powerful dokos
by sucking, for when it is coming out of the sick man's body it
may be sent down through the mouth of the doctor into his body
by the spirit who owns it, and the doctor is killed in this way.
A doctor may have twenty or thirty spirits, but he rarely calls
on more than two or three, and it is seldom that any great number
are fitted to work together in a given case.
The office of doctor is very dangerous, especially if the doctor
is powerful. If he has many spirits to help him, each has to be
pleased in its own special way ; each has its own food, prefers cer
tain kinds, and dislikes others. The doctor must not eat food hate
ful to his spirits : if he does, he is liable to be killed. A man who
33

514 Notes
has twenty or thirty spirits is greatly limited, therefore, in his
manner of living.
Some spirits do not like venison, others do not eat fish ; the
doctor who commands these spirits must eat neither venison nor
fish, and so with other kinds of food in the case of other spirits.
The man who seeks to be a doctor cannot choose his spirits ;
they come to him; he cannot refuse to receive them, and must
live in a way to please them.
Every dokos can be extracted from a sick man's body by the aid
of a spirit stronger than the one who put it in.
Among other spirits, doctors have the spirit of the sun, the
spirits of stars and the clouds to help them. These are good
spirits. Sedit's spirit cannot help doctors much. They call it
sometimes, but it does n't do much ; it has not the power. Suku
(dog) is very powerful and bad. If Suku wants to kill a man, he
does it quickly. A doctor who has the Suku spirit in his service is
great. If a man has been made sick by Suku, he will vomit blood,
or bleed from his nostrils all the time. The Suku spirit is a good
one to send to kill people. Chir (the sucker fish) is an evil spirit
too. When Chir wants to kill a man, it makes him giddy and
crazy right away. He becomes senseless and dies, unless some
doctor cures him, and generally doctors can do nothing against
Chir. The Chir sickness is the worst that spirits bring. It is
called chiruntowi, sickness from the sucker. The man who has it
dies ; he cannot tell where he is troubled ; he grows dizzy and
senseless. No one can cure him unless by great luck. Something
tried by some doctor may save him — just by chance, just because
it happens so. Kele is also an evil spirit. He has a song, the
same which his two daughters sang on the mountain top (see the
tale "Kele and Sedit"), and which Sedit heard far away in
the west. This is a poison song, and draws people after it. Kele
is here now, suppose, in Cottonwood or in Tehama, and sees a
man up at Yreka. Kele sings, and the song goes as straight as a
string to the man. It draws him and draws him ; he is drawn as
water is when people pump it. The man must follow the song ;
he has got to do so, he cannot help himself, he is sick ; his sick
ness is called lubeluntowi (sickness from lubelis). The man will

Notes

5*5

keep going and going and going ; he will not know what makes
him go. Suppose I am listening to Kele's song. I go, and it is
the song that draws me. I hear it ; but nobody else does. The
spirits of the Kele girls drew Sedit to them ; he could n't help
himself, he couldn't stop; he had to go, and he never went
home again ; he had to stay up at Kele's. The spirits of Chir and
Kele always make people crazy.
Many Wintu women lose their minds, and are killed by Kele's
sons. Many Wintu men have been lost through Kele's daugh
ters. Suppose I am out here in the wood, I see a woman coming,
a nice woman. She stops and talks ; I talk to her. If I have
sense in me, I look at her toes to see if she is one of those Kele
women. If she is, she has a bunch of hair on the tip of her foot,
and if I see it, I say right there, " You are a Kele ! " At these
words she will leave me and run. When ten feet away, she will
turn to a mountain wolf, and I shall see that Kele running away
very fast.
Suppose some woman is out in the woods. She is thinking of
some man that she likes, and right away she sees the very man she
is thinking of. He is coming to meet her. He comes up and
asks, " Where are you going ? " The woman is glad to see him.
She tells. He carries her to the mountain, and never again will
that woman be seen by her friends or by others. It was one of
Kele's sons who took the form of the man she was thinking of, so
as to entice her away and destroy her. If the woman has sense she
will look down at the foot of the stranger, see the tuft of hair, and
say, " You are Kele ; go off." He turns to a wolf on the spot, and
runs away to the mountain. All Wintus went barefoot in old
times, and this tuft could be seen, if a person had sense enough
left to look for it. As every one wears shoes or moccasins now, it
might not be easy to find it. But to this day the Keles lead people
astray. All the Wintus know themj, and are afraid.
They live on Wenempuidal, a high mountain near the left bank
of the Little Sacramento. Dekipuiwakut, a small creek, comes
down from Kele's Mountain and falls into the Sacramento. White
men call it Hazel Creek. The Keles live at the head of this
creek. The whole mountain is their sweat-house. They are up

5 1 6 Notes
there now, and almost any night you may hear them howling on
the mountain when the evil brothers are going home.
The following four spirit songs are from my Wintu collection.
Two I give in the original, with literal translation ; the other two,
in translation only. The lightning song, by referring to the con
nection between lightning and the sucker, which has one of the
most formidable spirits, enables us to suspect why the sucker is so
much feared by Wintus. In the Olelbis song, the great one above
is the cloud-compeller, as in classic mythology. The tanning is
described in "Olelbis." In the Hau song, the celestial Hau is de
scribed as travelling along the Milky Way. This is the Wintu
comment on the text. Many readers will agree, I think, that the
Polar Star song, the fourth, is composed on a scale truly immense.
The lightning song sounds wonderfully like an extract from the
Sanscrit, "Rig Veda." SONGS OF SPIRITS.
i. Walokin tsawi, Lightning's Song.
Minom toror we"ril chirchdkum saia
Dune we>em winwar dun bohe'mum.
I bear the sucker-torch to the western tree-ridge.
Look at me first born (and) greatest.
2. Olelben tsawi, the Song of Olelbis.
Olel bohe'ma ni tsululi kahum sfka ni.
I am great above. I tan the black cloud (there).
3. Song of Hau (red fox).
" On the stone ridge east I go.
On the white road I, Hau, crouching go.
I, Hau, whistle on the road of stars."
4. Song of Waida Werris (the Polar Star).
" The circuit of earth which you see,
The scattering of stars in the sky which you see,
All that is the place for myjiair."1
1 Hair in Indian mythology, as in other mythologies, is the equivalent of rays of
light when connected with the sun and with planet luminaries.

Notes 517

THE YANAS
As a preface to the few myths of the Yanas which have survived,
I beg to offer the following words touching this ill-fated people :
Previous to August, 1864, the Yanas numbered about three
thousand, as I have been informed on the sound authority of reli
able white men. Taking the names and population of villages
given me by surviving Indians, I should say that this estimate is
not too large.
During the second half of August, 1864, the Yanas were massa
cred, with the exception of a small remnant.
The Indians of California, and especially those of Sacramento
Valley, were among the most harmless of human bemgs. Instead
of being dangerous to settlers, they worked for them in return
for fair wages. The Yanas were distinguished beyond others for
readiness to earn money. White men occupied in tilling land
knew their value, and employed them every season in haymaking
and harvesting.
At the present day the Wintus, and the few Yanas that are left,
go down the valley and labor during the season in hop-fields and
vineyards. Why were the Yanas killed ?
The answer is as follows : Certain Indians lived, or rather
lurked, around Mill Creek, in wild places somewhat east of Tehama
and north of Chico. These Mill Creek Indians were fugitives ;
outlaws from various tribes, among others from the Yanas. To
injure the latter, they went to the Yana country about the middle
of August, 1864, and killed two white women, Mrs. Allen and
Mrs. Jones. Four children also were left for dead by them, but
the children recovered. After the murders the Mill Creeks returned
home unnoticed, carrying various plundered articles with them.
Two parties of white men were formed at once to avenge the
women and four children. Without trying in any way to learn
who the guilty were, they fell upon the Yanas immediately, sparing
neither sex nor age. They had resolved to exterminate the whole

5 1 8 Notes
nation. The following few details will show the character of their
work : —
At Millville, twelve miles east of Redding, white men seized
two Yana girls and a man. These they shot about fifty yards
from the village hotel. At another place they came to the house
of a white woman who had a Yana girl, seven or eight years of
age. They seized this child, in spite of the woman, and shot her
through the head. " We must kill them, big and little," said the
leader ; "nits will be lice."
A few miles north of Millville lived a Yana girl named Eliza,
industrious and much liked by those who knew her. She was
working for a farmer at the time. The party stopped before this
house, and three of the men entered it. "Eliza, come out," said
one of them ; " we are going to kill you." She begged for her
life. To the spokesman, who had worked for her employer some
time before, she said : " Don't kill me ; when you were here I
cooked for you, I washed for you, I was kind to you ; I never
asked pay of you ; don't kill me now."
Her prayers were vain. They took Eliza, with her aunt and
uncle, a short distance from the house and shot the three. My
informant counted eleven bullets in Eliza's breast.
After this murder the party took a drink and started ; but the
leader, in killing Eliza, said, " I don't think that little squaw is
dead yet." So he turned back and smashed in her skull with his
musket. The man who counted the bullet holes in her bosom,
himself a white man, saw her after the skull was broken. He
knew the girl well, and gave me these details.
Another party went to a farm on Little Cow Creek where they
found three Yana men threshing hayseed in a barn. The farmer
was not at home. They killed the three Indians, and went to
the house. The three wives of the men killed in the barn were
there and began to scream. The farmer's wife hurried out with a
quilt, threw it around the three women, and stood in front of them,
holding the ends of the quilt. " If you kill them you will kill me,"
said she, facing the party. The woman was undaunted, and, as
it happened, was big with child. To kill, or attempt to kill,
under those conditions, would be a deed too ghastly for even such

Notes

5*9

heroes ; so they went away, swearing that they would kill the
" squaws ' ' later. These three Indian women were saved and
taken beyond the reach of danger by two white men.
And so the " avengers " of Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Jones con
tinued. At one place they killed an Indian woman and her infant,
at another three women. In the town of Cottonwood they killed
twenty Yanas of both sexes. The most terrible slaughter in any
place was near the head of Oak Run, where three hundred Yanas
had met at a religious dance. These were attacked in force, and
not a soul escaped. The slaughter went on day after day till the
entire land ofthe Yanas was cleared. The few who escaped were
those who happened to be away from home, outside their country,
and about twelve who were saved by Mr. Oliver and Mr. Dissel-
horst, both of Redding. The whole number of surviving Yanas
of pure and mixed blood was not far from fifty.
Some time after the bloody work was done it was discovered
that the Mill Creek outlaws had killed Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Jones,
and that the Yanas were innocent. The Mill Creeks were left
unpunished. My inquiries as to how civilized men could commit such atro
cities found the following answers : —
In 1864 there was a large floating and mining population in
Northern California, which "had no use for Indians," and was
ready to kill them on slight provocation. In distinction to these
people was a small number of settlers who lived among the Yanas
in friendship, and hired them to work on land. The killing was
done by men who did not know the Yanas. Those setders who
did know the Yanas were overawed, and were unable to save them,
except secretly, as in the case of the two men who rescued the
three women on Little Cow Creek by conveying them beyond
danger. Oliver and Disselhorst, who saved twelve, were at the
edge of Redding, where support was possible. At first the rage
of the killing parties was boundless ; they swore that white women
would not be murdered again in that country, and that not an
Indian should be left alive in it. An intense feeling of indignation
at the murder, coupled with an unspeakable contempt for Indians,
was the motive in the breasts of most of the white men. Had

520 Notes
they looked on the Yanas with ordinary feelings of justice, they
would have tried to find the guilty instead of slaughtering a whole
nation. There was another element among the slayers of the In
dians, — a vile one, an element which strives to attach itself to
every movement, good or bad in all places — a plundering element.
That year the Yanas had worked a good deal, and it was not un
common for single persons of them to have from $40 to $60. One
informant told me that a man showed a friend of his $400 which
he had taken from murdered Indians. Money and everything of
value that the Yanas had was snatched up by these robbers.
Nearly all the men who killed the Yanas have gone out of the
country or are dead. A few are in Northern California yet, and
the children of some of the dead ones are living there now.
Though one's indignation at the deeds of 1864 be great, there is
no use in mentioning names at this hour. All that is left is to do
for the poor remnant of an interesting people that which we have
done for Indians in other parts : give them land properly surveyed
and the means to begin life on it.

THE WINNING OF HALAI AUNA
The Yanas were fond of astronomical myths, or myths of the
upper world. The morning star and the moon appear in them
frequendy. The great sweat-house of the sun is the dome of
heaven. The name of the mysterious and mighty old uncle, Igupa Topa,
seems to me to be derived from Iguna, chief sweat-house, and Tuina
or Toina, the sun. Tuina is the prevailing pronunciation, but
Toina is used also. Igupa is the regular form of son of Iguna, as
is Topa of Toina. He is a person whose strength is well known
to the sun, who has evidently a clear perception of how dangerous
a person he is.
The shooting of Wakara into the sky is a curious variant of the
tree-bending by Tulchuherris and Sas in the Wintu myth.

Notes 521

THE HAKAS AND THE TENNAS
This myth describes a deadly feud between the people who were
turned into flint, that is, fire, presumably lightning, and the grizzlies
or cloud people. After I had prevailed on him to give me the
story, the narrator told it with unfeigned delight. His sympathy
with the old woman Tsuwalkai was great, and his enthusiasm
for Tsawandi Kamshupa, who rose from the spittle of Tsawandi
Kamshu, evident and striking. The origin of Ilhataina in this
myth and in the following called "Ilhataina," which is the
usual name for lightning, strengthens my view that the Wintu
Tulchuherris, a name which is merely an epithet, meaning " dug
up," is the same person as Ilhataina of the Yanas. The regular
acknowledged lightning of the Wintus is called Walokit, who is a
child of Wima Loimis, grizzly-bear maiden, and the sun.

ILHATAINA
In this myth lightning is "dug up," as in the preceding one.
Electricity is one ofthe earth's children.
The putting on of Gowila's skin by Ilhataina is one of the cu
rious acts frequent in Indian mythology. In the Aztec worship
of Mexico, in Montezuma's time, the sacrificing priest put on the
skin of the victim as far as the waist.
The wish of Ilhataina to get the old rabbit-skin robe is worthy
of attention.

HITCHINNA
Among the Iroquois the cyclone was represented as a great head,
the name of which in Seneca is Dagwa Noenyent. This head
would pass through a forest and tear up the greatest trees by the

roots.

522 Notes
The method used by the deceitful Metsi to rid the world of
Hitchinna might remind one of the way of cooking oysters at the
waterside in Virginia near the places where they are taken.

TIRUKALA
I have referred to Tirukala in the Wintu myth " Hawt." The
battle described in this myth and the child which rises from the
spittle of Burnt Face and reaches maturity in one day, are very
striking. Tirukala gives the active, the working side of water as a per
sonage, the widener of valleys, the pusher apart of mountains, the
maker of all streams and rivers. Tirukala works without ceasing,
he sings as he labors, and never eats food of any kind.
Hawt (in the Wintu myth) gives the artistic, the poetic side
of the same person, whose voice is that of Niagara and the raging
ocean at its loudest, that of the tiniest rivulet or of the raindrop at
its gentlest.

SUKONIA'S WIVES AND THE ICHPUL
SISTERS
It is noteworthy that in Indian myths whenever two sisters are
sent somewhere, as in the present case, and warned by father or
mother against some deceiver who is likely to meet them on the
way, the elder sister is generally ready to become a victim, the
younger is the wise and obedient one, as in this myth.
We have again a case of putting on the skin of a slain person to
become like him or her.
The test of bringing water was perfect, since no one who was
not of the household could know where it was.

Notes 523

THE FINDING OF FIRE
In this, as in all Indian myths of the bringing of fire, it is pro
cured by stealing. The pursuit in all cases is most strenuous.
In one myth relays are posted along the road at short intervals ;
these deliver the fire to one another in great haste. At last the
pursuers are very near, when the fire is given to him who after
ward becomes the turtle ; he places the treasure in his mouth and
rolls into a deep river, where he hides till the baffled masters of
fire turn homeward sorrowing.

HAIKA KAINA
Here we find another myth of a flint people.
In the Hakas and Tennas we have a struggle between the
lightning and the clouds. In Haka Kaina the myth represents the
advance of spring to colder regions. The swan-maidens go north
with the early lightning of the year. Hence Haka Kaina, the
war chief of Wahkalu, the great residence of Jupka, is represented
as stealing them. In another myth, of which, unfortunately, I have
only a fragment, these same swan-maidens are borne away north by
Haka Kaina with great pomp and circumstance. The chief is at
tended by an immense escort, in which all the personages are phe
nomena of springtime. His regular force, his trusty warriors do
not migrate ; they stay all the year at Wahkalu, unless when ab
sent on some expedition. The most characteristic person in the
escort is a species of poplar-tree, the leaves of which tremble like
those of an aspen. This hero dances all the time from his point
of starting in the south till he reaches Mount Shasta. This gives
a fine picture of that kind of tree putting forth leaves which quiver
with gladness at the approach of the swan-maidens.
The marshalling by Haka Kaina of forces so numerous that they
surround the immense base of Mount Shasta, the enormous dust

524 Notes
which they raise, dust which goes up to the sun, their death by fire
at the hands of the Mini Aunas, their resurrection and return home
with the swan-maidens and all the spoils of Hwipajusi's people, are
conceived on a scale truly grand.

TITINDI MAUPA AND PAIOWA THE
YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF WAKARA
Paiowa is the evening star. Wakara's most interesting daughters
are always Halaia, or Halai Auna, and Paiowa. The first is the
morning, the second the evening star.
Halaia's sister, Pahnino, in this myth became afterward a shell,
or rather a creature which lives in a shell, as did also her mother.
I do not know which kind of shell Pahnino is ; it has bright colors.
The increase and decrease of food, the magic power of weapons,
the jealousy and hostility of the husbands of other sisters, are usual
in Yana" myths of this kind.

THE TWO SISTERS HAKA LASI AND
TSORE JOWA
Love of this sort, of a sister for a brother, is found in European
lore occasionally, and is, of course, a survival from a very remote
past. In this myth it is the love of one of the first people, a
female, afterward turned into a loon, for her brother, who was
afterward turned into a wildcat.
Bringing to life is one of the most familiar performances in
American mythology as well as in Keltic. In Yana it is done
by kicking or turning over a corpse with the foot ; by boiling in
water, sometimes one hair, sometimes the heart ; or by striking the
corpse with a twig of the red rosebush. In Keltic it is most
frequently done by the stroke of a Druidic or magic switch, which
resembles the Yana method with the rose twig. The red rose has

Notes 525
significance, no doubt. In Keltic we are not told the kind of wood
from which the Druidic switch was taken.
In Seneca myths raising from the dead was very impressive.
Sometimes the dry, fleshless bones of hundreds and hundreds of the
first people were found lying in a heap or close together. The
hero, another of the first people, pushes a hickory-tree as if to
throw it on them, crying at the same time, " Rise up ! or the
tree will fall on you." That moment all the dry bones sprang up,
took on flesh, and assumed their old forms immediately. Indian
humor creeps out sometimes by giving us two lame people of the
uprisen company. In the hurry and rush, while the dry bones
are arranging themselves, two legs get astray ; two personages have
each one leg which is his own and one which belongs to his
neighbor.

JUIWAIYU
This myth has many and very valuable elements, — the impor
tance of dreams, the stopping or slackening the course of the sun,
the music of Juiwaiyu as he moves, the choice of the right road,
the storm of vermin, Jupka as monitor and helper, the summons to
send Damhauja's daughters to meet him, the inexhaustible venison
no larger than a walnut, Juiwaiyu's marvellous music on the moun
tain, the bringing home of countless deer in the body of a fawn,
the race with Damhauja's sons-in-law, the meeting with the poison
spider, the rattlesnake and the grizzly bear, the storm, the drown
ing of Damhauja and his resurrection, — make this one of the
richest of Yana tales.
Playing with two bones was very much like playing ball. Near
both ends of the field barriers were set up, and each side had to
put the bones past the barrier toward which they faced.
The starting-point was in the middle of the field, at an equal
distance from both barriers. At the opening of the game all the
players gathered at this middle point ; the bones were thrown up,
and all struggled for them. Whoever caught the bones on his
stick either hurled them toward the barrier beyond which he

526 Notes
wished to put them, or he ran toward it, bearing them on the
point of his stick. If there were swifter runners than he, they
took the bones from him, or if he hurled them ahead, they ran and
threw them or carried them toward one barrier or another. The
bones were fastened together by a string some inches long.
In Yana tales, Damhauja, the moon during the last quarter,
plays or rather played, a great part. I say played, since, un
fortunately, we have but a fragment of Yana lore left after the
events of 1864. Damhauja's sons-in-law on the west side ofthe
river, in this tale, were various Mapchemaina people, — that is,
beings who somewhat later became beasts, birds, plants, rocks, and
insects on earth. All the stars were his children. His daughters,
stars, were married to Mapchemaina people, except the two of
whom Juiwaiyu had dreamed. His sons, stars also, lived near
him, and were at enmity with his sons-in-law.

THE FLIGHT OF TSANUNEWA AND
DEFEAT OF HEHKU
It is not so easy to decide who Hehku is. Her most usual, if
not her regular and normal, form is that of a horned serpent ; but
she changes herself into various forms. When angry, or rather
when raging, she becomes a Putokya, — that is, a skull person, like
Hitchinna. These Putokyas seem to be the cyclone or tremendous
wind which moves in a narrow path and makes a clean sweep of
everything. The gambling scene in Jupka's sweat-house is good. Hehku
has easy work till she meets the master, who to his incomparable
power adds deceit.
The game, connected here with Jupka's sweat-house, is played
by two persons sitting opposite each other. One of these holds a
small "Jupaiauna" bone or stick in one of his closed hands, and
the other guesses which hand it is in. The process of playing is
as follows : —

Notes

527

Each person has ten little sticks or counters at the opening of
the game. One holds the "Jupaiauna," and begins action by
placing his hands behind his back and deciding in which hand
to hold the bone for that time ; next, he closes his hands firmly,
and brings them out before his breast. He holds them back down
ward, the little finger of each hand touching that of the other.
The person sitting opposite guesses where the bone is ; the other
opens both hands then, and shows his palms. If this bone is in
the hand indicated by the guesser, he wins ; if not, he loses. A
game is finished when one side holds the twenty counters ; that is,
when one side has won the ten little sticks given to the other at the
opening of the game.
As Hehku sat with her back to the west, her right hand was
south and her left north. When her opponent guessed south, if
the bone was in her right hand she sang it into her left (the north),
— literally, enchanted it north. If the bone was in her left hand,
she let it stay there, and thus she won in every case.
Jupka, by limiting the game to one guess, and by his quibble of
words, proved himself a keener trickster than Hehku, whose pre
dicament is described fairly well by the Russian saying, " Kosa
nashla na kamen," the scythe met a stone ; or the biter bitten, as
we might say.

THE FIRST BATTLE IN THE WORLD
AND THE MAKING OF THE YANAS
The beginning of this myth is somewhat similar to that of
"Olelbis." A messenger is sent to invite the Master of Flint to
come and show the Mapchemaina, or first people, how to kill deer.
Kaltsauna, the owner of flint, is like Katkatchila ofthe Wintus; he
is transformed later into a lizard. In character he is different, being
old and testy though liberal, while Katkatchila is affable, but won
derfully tenacious of his weapon, and prizing it so highly that
when the flint is stolen he does not hesitate to set the whole world
on fire.

528

Notes

Kaltsauna put the various kinds of flint in places where they are
found to this day, and taught the first people how to make arrow
points. These hunts of the first people or gods are, for the Yanas, the
great prototypes of hunting. To this day all sorts of game are
under the control of certain spirits of the first people, whose favor
is essential to success in hunting.
The story of Howichinaipa' s change into a little bird gives a
good case of forced metamorphosis, and also a good picture of the
stern spirit of Indian vengeance inherited from the first people.
Vengeance is a sacred duty which they were not free to neglect
under any consideration. " Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,
and I will have it."
Machperkami, the tiny dog in the hair of Tuina (the sun), is
an exact substitute for Winishuyat of the Wintus.
The descent of Tuina to the lower side of the earth, his night
journey from west to east on the road made by Jupka, is described
with clear and precise brevity. There is no doubt as to the nature
of the water grizzlies who rise out of the ocean and go to the
mountains at the approach of Tuina.
The account of the creation of the Yanas is as concise as possible,
and at the same time complete.

WINTU PLACES MENTIONED IN THE MYTHS
Bohema Mem  Great water, Sacramento River.
BohSm Buli  Great mountain, Bald Mountain.
Bohem Puyuk  Great peak, Mount Shasta.
Bohem Tehil  Great Tehil.
Bulibok Puyuk  Bulibok peak.
Buli Puiwakat  Eastern mountain slope.
Dokos Hlei Puriton.
Dau Paki Olel  Upper side of the dam, above the
dam.
Elitsarauton  Root flat.
El Hakam  In the elbow.
Halat Pom  Grapevine land.
Han Buli  Fox mountain.
Hin Pom  Owl land, now Slate Creek.
Hlihli Puihlut Ton .... Acorn eastern sweat-house place.
Kahi Buli  Wind mountain.
Kaisansi Haraston .... The road place of Kaisus.
Kawiken  Down in Kawi.
Keri Buli  Acorn mountain.
Kilitcepm Kenharas . . . Arrow straightener' s down-road.
Kinwinis Pom  Looking down land.
Lasan Holok  Spider's house (or den).
Lorus Pom  Sandstone land.
Miol Tapa  Tree on the island.
Memnom Kalai  Southern water divide.
Nomken Kobalus Waimemton Northern shell water place.
Nomlopi  Southern Lopi.
Nophlut  Deer's sweat-house.
Norken Mem  Water down south, now Little
Sacramento.
N6rpat Kodiheril .... Kodi village stand southward.
Norpuiken  Down southeast.
34

530 Wintu Places mentioned in the Myths
Norwan Buli  Norwan mountain.
Norwanbulihlut  Norwan mountain sweat-house.
Norwinte  Seen in the south.
Olpuhlchiton  Blowing upward, ;'. e. wishing,
place.
Panti Tsarau  Upper sand flat, now Fall River.
Pas Puisono  Nose (promontory) sticking out
eastward, now Redding.
Penel Kgnte.
Pokaitln Mem . * . . Woman's talk water.
Pom Wai Hudi Pom . . . Land in the north, rumbling land.
Puidal Pom  Land far east.
Puidal Wihnem  Winnem far east.
Pui Mem  Eastern water, now Pit River.
Puitiel Ton  In the eastern side (region) place.
Pui Toror  Eastern ridge.
Saskewil  Sas's dwelling.
Sonomyai  At the stones.
Sawal Pom  The bathing-place land.
Sudi Sawal  The Sudi bathing-place.
Tayam Norel  Waiting in the south, now Trin
ity Centre.
Tcanahl Puyuk  White peak.
Tede Puyuk  Red peak.
Tehi Buli  Tehi mountain.
Tidok Waisono  Ant northern nose (nose-promon
tory).
Toriham Pui Toror .... Eastern crane place.
Tokuston  Rock ridge place.
Tsarau Heril  Sandflat village, now Stillwater.
Tslk Tepji  White oak whirling-place.
Waiken Pom Pui Humok Pom The land down north, the eastern
silent land.
Waihola Puyuk  Northern pipe place.
Waikidi Pom  Northern Kidi land.
Wini Mem  Middle water, now MacCloud
River.

YANA PLACES MENTIONED IN THE MYTHS
Chuplskoto  Red rocks.
Daha  Great water, Sacramento River.
Hakachimatu  Blue and white flint place, Pole
cat Spring.
Hakamatu  Flint place, Buzzard's Roost.
Hwitalmauna  Whistling-place, Little Flat.
Iwiljami  Montgomery creek.
Jamahdi Jidjilpa  Cedar creek.
Jigulmatu  Round place, Round Mountain.
Juka Mapti.
Kamshumatu  Clover place.
Ketmatu  Poison place.
Kurulsa Mauna.
Motiri Mauna.
Oaimatu  A hollow mountain northeast of
Round Mountain.
Pawi  Clover creek.
Pulshu Aina.
Wahkalu  Mount Shasta.
Wahkanopa  Lassen's Butte.
Wajami. Wakaruwa  Wakara's (moon's) dwelling.
Wamarawi  A round mountain at Ball Creek.
Wewauna  Round place.

VALUE OF LETTERS IN THE LIST OF PLACES
AND IN THE NAMES OF PERSONS
THROUGHOUT THE VOLUME
A long = a in hate I short = i in bit
A short = o " not O long = o " note
Ai = i " bite O short = o " not
Au = ow " now U long = oo " boot
E long = ai " bait U short = u " bull
E short = e " bet J = our J
I long = ee " beet H = German ch
All other consonants have the same value as ours.
All short vowels are marked with v> ; the long are unmarked.
When the Indian meaning of names is known, I have given it
before the present name of the place given by white men. When
the name given by white men stands alone, it indicates that the
Indian meaning is uncertain or unknown.
Names accented on the penult have no accents printed on them ;
all others have printed accents.

MYTHS AND FOLK-LORE OF IRELAND.

BY JEREMIAH CURTIN.
With Etched Frontispiece. Crown 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $2.00.
THE myth tales included in this volume were collected personally by the author,
during 1887, in the west of Ireland, — in Kerry, Galway, and Donegal, —
and taken down from the mouths of men who, with one or two exceptions, spoke
only Gaelic, or but little English and that imperfectly. To this is due the fact
that the stories are so well preserved, and not blurred and rendered indistinct, as
is the case in places where the ancient Gaelic language, in which they were orig
inally told, has perished.
CONTENTS.

Introduction.
The Son of the King of Erin and the
Giant of Loch Lein.
The Three Daughters of King O'Hara.
The Weaver's Son and the Giant of the
White Hill.
Fair, Brown, and Trembling.
The King of Erin and the Queen of the
Lonesome Island.
The Shee an Gannon and the Gruagach
Gaire.
The Three Daughters of the King of the
East and the Son of a King in Erin.
The Fisherman's Son and the Gruagach.
The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin.

Kil Arthur.
Shaking-Head. Birth of Fin MacCumhail.
Fin MacCumhail and the Fenians of Erin
in the Castle of Fear Dubh.
Fin MacCumhail and the Knight of the
Full Axe.
Gilla na Grakin and Fin MacCumhail.
Fin MacCumhail, the Seven Brothers, and
the King of France.
Black, Brown, and Gray.
Fin MacCumhail.
Cuciilin.
Oisiu in Tir na n-og.

NOTICES.
Mr. Curtin is the first to give to the public a volume of Irish popular tales
which may justly be ranked with the best recent collections of popular tales in
Germany, France^ and Italy. . . . A delightful book alike for the scholar and
general reader. — The Nation.
I have now read the whole of your " Irish Myths," with perhaps one excep
tion, and I compliment you most heartily upon the book. It is wonderfully fresh
and suggestive, and in the mere capacity of a lot of fairy stories it ought to have
a big circulation. Fin MacCool and the Fenians of Erin were great fellows
anyway. — Charles A. Dana,
A contribution to the literature of the subject which is of the very first impor
tance. . . . The stories are wonderfully fresh and distinct, and they are pervaded
with a most rare and delicious humor. — The Beacon.
A more thoroughly delightful book has not come to hand for many a long day.
Its tales have, in the first place, the genuine ring of original myths, the true ring
of folk-lore, that indescribable naivete" which is as charming as it is inimitable. —
Boston Courier.
No more interesting or more valuable contribution to the literature of this sub
ject has ever been made. . . . The tales in this book are very charming. They
cover a wide range, and to adults as well as to children of tender years they are
simply fascinating. — Quebec Chronicle.
The work of the collector is not only performed faithfully, but with such
intelligence that the stories have a value in literature worthy of being added to the
Norse sagas and other tales of wild adventure and myths. — Boston Journal.

HERO-TALES OF IRELAND.

BY JEREMIAH CURTIN.
Crown 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $2.00.
THE tales included in this volume, though told in modern speech, relate to
heroes and adventures of an ancient time, and contain elements peculiar to
early ages of story-telling. The chief actors in most of them are represented as
men ; but we may be quite sure that these men are substitutes for heroes who
were not considered human when the stories were told to Keltic audiences
originally. — Introduction.
CONTENTS.

Elin Gow, the Swordsmith from Erin, and
the Cow Glas Gainach.
Mor's Sons and the Herder from Under
the Sea.
Saudan Og and the Daughter of the King
of Spain ; Young Conal and the Yellow
King's Daughter.
The Black Thief and King Conal's Three
Horses.
The King's Son from Erin, the Sprisawn,
and the Dark King.
The Amadan Mor and the Gruagach of
the Castle of Gold.
The King's Son and the White- Bearded
Scolog.
Dyeermud Ulta and the King in South
Erin.
Cud, Cad, and Micad, Three Sons of the
King of Urhu.
Cahal, Son of King Conor, in Erin, and
Bloom of Youth, Daughter ofthe King
of Hathony.
Coldfeet and the Queen of Lonesome
Island.

Lawn Dyarrig, Son of the King of Erin
and the Knight of Terrible Valley.
Balor on Tory Island.
Balor of the Evil Eye.
Art, the King's Son, and Balor Beimenach,
Two Sons-in-law of King Under the
Wave.
Shawn MacBreogan and the King of the
White Nation.
The Cotter's Son and the Half Slim
Champion.
Blaiman, Son of Apple, in the Kingdom of
the White Strand.
Fin MacCool and the Daughter of the
King of the White Nation.
Fin MacCool, the Three Giants, and the
Small Men.
Fin MacCool, Ceadach Og, and the Fish-
Hag.
Fin MacCool, Faolan, and the Mountain
of Happiness.
Fin MacCool, the Hard Gilla, and the
High King.
The Battle of Ventry.

OPINIONS.
These are thrilling hero-tales. No extract can do the stories justice. Any one
taking up the volume will not be likely to lay it down without reading it. — The
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
Mr. Jeremiah Curtin, whose translation of the novels of the great Polish
novelist, Sienkiewicz, introduced him to English readers, has shown equally
admirable skill in rendering into English many ancient hero-tales of Ireland. The
stories are marvels of exaggeration, and have a genuine Irish flavor. Champions,
giants, fairies, and witches work their wonders and spells in a fascinating way. —
The Outlook.
The people of this country ought to be grateful to that accomplished American
scholar, Jeremiah Curtin, for the translations from varied and quite dissimilar
foreign languages which he has added to our literature. His version of the won
derful novels of Sienkiewicz opens up to us a most interesting department of
history, of which English-speaking people have hitherto been profoundly ignorant;
and his latest publication, " Hero-Tales of Ireland," is perhaps quite as valuable,
with the added charm of a wild} delightful, primeval Celtic imagination. — The
New York Sun.

MYTHS AND FOLK-TALES OF THE RUSSIANS,
WESTERN SLAVS, AND MAGYARS.
BY JEREMIAH CURTIN.
Crown 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $2.00.
CONTENTS.

RUSSIAN MYTHS AND FOLK-TALES.

The Three Kingdoms, — the Copper, the
Silver, and the Golden.
Ivan Tsarevich, the Fire Bird, and the
Gray Wolf.
Ivan the Peasant's Son and the Little
Man Himself One Finger Tall, his
Mustache Seven Versts m Length.
The Feather of Bright Finist the Falcon.
The Pig with Gold Bristles, the Deer with
Golden Horns, and the Golden-Maned
Steed with Golden Tail.
Water of Youth, Water of Life, and Water
of Death.
The Footless and Blind Champions.
The Three Kingdoms. CHEKH MYTHS AND FOLK-TALES,
Boyislav, Youngest of Twelve.
The Table, the Pack, and the Bag.
The King of the Toads.

KoshcheH With out-Death.
Vassilissa Golden Tress, Bareheaded
Beauty. ^
The Ring with Twelve Screws.
The Footless and the Blind.
Koshche'i Without-Death.
Go to the Verge of Destruction and bring
back Shmat-Razum.
Marya Morevna.
Yelena the Wise.
The Seven Simeons, Full Brothers.
The Enchanted Princess.
VassiHssa the Cunning and the Tsar of
the Sea.

The Mouse-Hole and the Underground
Kingdom.
The Cuirassier and the Horned Princess.
The Treacherous Brethren.

MAGYAR MYTHS AND FOLK-TALES.

The Boor Man and the King of the Crows.
The Useless Wagoner.
Mirko the King's Son.
The Reed Maiden.

Kiss Miklos and the Green Daughter of
the Green King.
The Hedgehog, the Merchant, the King,
and the Poor Man.

OPINIONS.
A volume as fascinating as any fairy book that was ever published ; and simply
for their wealth of imagination and rare simplicity of diction these stories will be
widely read. . . . The volume, taken for all in all, is a distinct addition to litera
ture, a priceless boon to scientific investigation, and a credit to American scholar
ship. The educated people of this country will do well to buy and read this truly
remarkable book. — The Beacon.
Will be welcome to many readers, not only to students, but to children, who
find inexhaustible interest in just such folk-tales. — Public Opinion.
At once thoroughly admirable and thoroughly delightful, . . . there is a
surprising freshness and individuality of flavor in them. — Boston Courier.
Stories of unique character, full of grotesque and marvellous adventures,
told with a beautiful simplicity of style which speaks well for the faithfulness of
the translator's work. — Milwaukee SentineL
Prof. Jeremiah Curtin gives us a large collection of these tales, many of
which are very interesting, many beautiful, and all strikingly curious. — Boston
Advertiser. Mr. Curtin spares no pains in his researches into the early literature of the
Chief primitive races of the earth. Less than a year has passed since the publi
cation of his admirable work on "Irish Folk-Lore." The present volume adds
his discoveries among three other important nations. — The Dial.

Mythology has not yet come to a science. Its tales for the most part continue
to be curious bits of literature merely, highly imaginative and entertaining, but
only slightly, if at all, connected with truth and reason so far as we can discover.
Still there comes to us out of the mythologic sky an occasional ray of meaning
which seems to the hopeful a promise that the history of credibility and of fact
shall ultimately be extended far backward, perhaps into the remotest ages of man
kind, through illumination from this source. Mr. Jeremiah Curtin has written a
most interesting essay bearing upon this idea in an introduction to his new volume,
" Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars " (Boston :
Little, Brown, & Co.). It is an essay notable for its evidence of scholarly insight
and investigation, its curious and surprising information and suggestion, its perfect
lucidity, and its rare literary charm. — New York Sun.
No one else could have so delightfully rendered in English the " Myths and
Folk-Tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars." One of the brightest
men in Boston — poet, novelist, critic, and wit all in one — told me that he had
read this book through three times already, and he suspected that it was his doom
to read it a good many times more. After all, is there anything quite so peren
nially fascinating as folk-lore, unless it be the old ballads which turn folk-lore into
music? . . . Turn to the book itself and read about the "Fire Bird" and the
"Gray Wolf," and "The Ring with Twelve Screws" and "The King of the
Toads " and " The Reed Maiden," and you will forget as you read the slow pro
cession of mortal years, and dream yourself into Elfin Land, where, I believe,
they never grow old. And then if you want to come back into active human life
again, read that vigorous and thrilling tale of love and war, " With Fire and
Sword," — Louise Chandler Moulton, in the Boston Herald.
The literary charm of the translation is high, and the tone struck in rendering
the tales from the Slav and the Magyar languages is naive without being silly,
natural without being monotonous. . . . The collection opens with a varied mis
cellany of Russian stories about the metal and animal kingdoms; enchanted prin-.
cesses; pigs with golden bristles; the waters of youth, life, and death; and the
deathless youth. The marvellous imagination of the Russ peoples plays sportively
through these creations, and exhibits wanton delight in hugeness, in physical
strength and beauty, in comic situations of its mighty myth-tsars, and queer adven
tures for its king's sons and tsarins. . . . Grown-up children, as well as hunters
after folk-lore and superstitions, will revel in these freaks of fact and fancy, which
Mr. Curtin translates, and dedicates appropriately to Prof. F. J. Child. —
The Critic.
TALES OF THE FAIRIES AND OF THE
GHOST-WORLD.
Coflecteb from Oral <3trabitton in gxrutbtneift maunjjter.
BY JEREMIAH CURTIN.
i2mo. Cloth, $1.2$.
It will attract earnest attention from cultivated readers everywhere who delight
in primitive romance expressed in the simple, unaffected language of the common
people. — Boston Beacon.

LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, Publishers,
254 Washington Street, Boston, Mass.

YALE UNIVERSITY

a39002 00163302<*b