Chapter XIII: Part 13

So the boy finally went away, and presently he came to where an old woman lived. This woman said to him, “My grandson.” “Oh! my grandmother,” said he. Then she gave him something to eat. She put something into a very small kettle, and, after it was cooked, she gave it to him and it tasted very good. Then she looked up at him and said, “I suppose you thought ‘That old woman who lives back there is starving.’ I don’t suppose you thought I had anything to eat.” Afterward the boy said, “Grandmother, why is it that this village looks so black?” She answered, “There is a monster there which is a human being and yet not a human being. It has seven heads. It is to be fed with the chief’s daughter. Otherwise he will murder every one in the village.” Finally they heard a drum and saw people going along dancing. They were taking the chief’s daughter to this monster. Then the boy saw them return without her.[115]

At once the boy started on a run toward the place whither they had taken this girl and presently came upon her walking toward the monster very slowly. When she heard some one walking up to her she turned round and saw the boy. She said, “Where are you going?” Said he, “Where are you going?” “Oh! my father has given me to this seven-headed monster, and that is where I am going.” Then the boy said, “Don’t go there. You better go back with me.” She kept going along closer and closer to the monster’s place and seemed to go slower and slower.

By and by they saw the man with his seven heads sticking out of the den. He began to laugh when he saw them and said, “I thought I was going to have only one girl to eat, but I am also going to have a fat, plump boy.” The boy answered, “You are going to have me to eat, are you? You and I will fight first.” Then the monster laughed again and said to him, “Do you see all of those bones around there?” Human bones lay all around. “And you think you can fight me.”

After that they began fighting. The boy had a knife made of obsidian (în). He was very quick and could walk all over his opponent because the latter was slow and clumsy, so he finally cut off three of the monster’s heads. Then the boy said, “Let us sit down for a minute and rest.” They did so, and, after a while the monster said, “I am strong now, stronger than I have ever been.” But the boy answered, “You had seven heads and I cut off three, leaving you but four, yet you say that you are stronger than before. You may be stronger, but you are too slow.” The girl stood near by looking on. Then they started fighting once more, and the boy cut off the monster’s four remaining heads for he was slower than ever.

Now they went home to the boy’s father, and, when he told him what had happened, his father felt very proud of him. The boy wanted to marry the chief’s daughter, and, although his people were poor, the chief consented willingly.

FOOTNOTES:

[115] This portion of the story and that which follows look like a garbled European myth, such as the story of Perseus and Andromeda, or that of Hercules and the Hydra.

52. THE JEALOUS UNCLE[116]

A high-caste man had a beautiful wife of whom he was very jealous. He had also four sisters well married in different villages, all with sons. One morning the eldest of these sisters said to her husband, “I want to go to see my brother. I believe he would like to see our son.” Her husband was willing, because he wanted to see the man himself. When they arrived there, the woman’s brother pretended that he thought a great deal of his nephew, but really he did not want to see him for fear his wife would take a liking to him because he was handsome. He told the young man, however, that he was going to take him everywhere with him. His mother felt very happy to think that her brother thought so much of him and left him there with his uncle.

Immediately after his mother had gone, however, the uncle determined to make away with him, because his wife seemed to like him. So next morning he said, “We are going down right away to get some devilfish to eat. The tide will soon be low enough.” Then the boy prepared himself, for he was very anxious to go, and they set out. His uncle said, “Walk right along there,” pointing to a high ridge parallel with the beach. “Walk ahead, and I will follow you.”

The boy did as he was directed and soon saw something large on the beach, that kept opening and closing. It was a very large clam. His uncle told him to get right on top of the ridge to watch it, for it was the first time he had seen anything of the kind. As the boy was very anxious to examine it, he got up there and leaned far over. When he did so, however, the clam opened and remained open, and his uncle pushed him right down into it. Then the clam closed upon him and killed him. The boy’s parents soon found out what had happened to their son, and, although his uncle declared that it was an accident, they knew that he was jealous and did not believe him.

Some time after this the uncle turned his thoughts to his second sister’s son who was still handsomer. His wife had seen this youth, and had told her husband how fine he was. This made him very jealous, and he sent to this sister, saying that it was about time she sent one of her sons to help him, for he had no children and needed help. He knew that the oldest child would be sent, because the next was a girl. So the boy came, and he threw him down into the big clam like the other. The uncle was very jealous of his wife because he knew that everyone fell in love with her on account of her beauty.

After this the uncle sent for the third sister’s child who was older than the last he had killed, but he would not go for a long time, and his parents did not ask him to. He was a flighty youth, however, and, after his uncle had sent for him several times, he thought of his uncle’s handsome wife and made up his mind to visit them.

All of the time this boy was with him the uncle watched him and his wife very closely and would not leave the house for a minute. His wife was very anxious to give him warning, but her husband feared it and watched her too closely. She made signs to the boy, but he did not understand them. When his uncle took him down to the beach, he said, “I must go back to the house after a drink of water.” He thought that his uncle would wait for him, but instead he followed him right back to the house. Then the boy said to his uncle’s wife, “Where is the water?” She pointed it out, but, as her husband stood close by, she could not say anything more. So they went down to the beach, but, when the youth saw this clam moving in the distance, he ran by it very quickly, and his uncle was disappointed. Then they went on farther, and the uncle said to him, “Do you see that hole down there?” He could see plainly a very large hole. Then his uncle said, “The devilfish that we want to get for our supper is in that.” He handed him the stick for getting devilfish and said, “Hook it. You can get it very easily.” The boy put the end of his stick into the hole, felt that the fish was there, and hooked it. Immediately he tried to run off, but his uncle was right behind him, and pushed him forward so that the devilfish seized him and dragged him under the rock.

All the time this man was killing his nephews, the youngest, who looked very much like the first one killed, had been practising. His father showed him how to make himself look like a very small ball of feathers. He had the shaman of that village make a bracelet of eagle down for him inclosing a piece of devil’s club carved by the shaman. Then the shaman said, “Just as soon as you find that you are in danger turn this bracelet around on your wrist four times as quickly as you can.” Then the shaman told him to climb a very high tree, and climbed right after him, while his father stood watching. The shaman said, “Now turn that around on your wrist four times as quickly as you can.” He did so, and just as he finished the shaman pushed him down. Then his father saw nothing but a ball of eagle down rolling down the tree. As soon as it reached the ground there stood the boy, and the shaman knew that everything was all right. He also gave the boy a knife having a handle carved like devil’s clubs, which he kept in the bosom of his shirt, tied around his neck.

After this the boy’s friends took him to his uncle and remained with him for three days. On the fourth day they returned. Then the uncle’s wife cried continually to think that a boy not fully grown should be left there to be killed, and his uncle said to her angrily, “What is it you are always crying about? You are in love again aren’t you?” Then the boy said aloud so that his uncle could hear, “You are in love with the right one this time.” At that his uncle became angry and told him he talked too much. Right away he said, “Come on with me. We will get a devilfish for our supper.” So the boy prepared himself, and they started off, while his uncle’s wife came out and watched them, thinking that he was the last.

As they went along the boy saw the clam, and, before his uncle told him it was there, he stood still just above it. For a moment he forgot about his bracelet, but, just as he saw his uncle raise his hands, he remembered and turned his bracelet about once. When he reached the clam he turned it for the fourth time and fell into the clam as a ball of feathers, while his uncle went home, thinking he had disposed of him. The ball of feathers inside, however, turned back into a boy, and he cut both sides of the clam and came out.

Then he saw the devilfish-stick his uncle had given him lying there and thought he would go on and see the devilfish they were to have had for their supper. When he reached the place and saw the devilfish sitting outside of its hole he became frightened, yet he thought that he would try to kill it. Now he went up to the creature and turned his bracelet around twelve times, wishing that it become small. It did grow small, and he killed it easily and dragged it home on his stick. Reaching the house, he pushed the door open and threw it right in front of his uncle, where it reassumed enormous proportions. Then his uncle was astonished to see him and began screaming loudly, begging the boy to take the devilfish out at once. So he took it out and threw it down upon the beach. Afterward he looked back at it, and it had become the same big devilfish again.

Now the boy remained with his uncle for a very long time, and his uncle’s wife thought a great deal of him, while his uncle seemed to do so too. One day, however, he saw his wife talking to the boy and again determined to kill him. Then he put something sharp pointed on the ground, took the nephew up to the top of a very high tree and crawled up after him. The boy, who knew what was going to happen, began singing and turning his bracelet round slowly at the same time. Just as he had turned it for the fourth time his uncle reached him and pushed him over. When he landed upon the ground, however, there was nothing to be seen but a ball of eagle down.

His uncle saw this, and, feeling that he could not kill his nephew, treated him well for a very long time, but watched him closely. His wife said to the boy, “Your uncle is thinking a great deal because he can’t kill you.” But all that the boy would answer every time she said this was, “Only a ball of eagle down.” She did not know what he meant.

One day the uncle thought that he would deceive his wife and nephew, so he told the latter that he was going back into the woods and started off. Instead of going away, however, he went back of the house, looked through a hole at them and listened. Then the boy came to his wife and sat down close to her, and she said, “Let us run away. I am afraid of your uncle.” He answered that he would if he could get a canoe, and she told him of a place where there was a canoe, some distance from the town. Then the uncle came right in and wanted to kill his wife on the spot but was so fond of her that he could not. The boy sat perfectly still, moving his bracelet.

That night the uncle treated his nephew very kindly and began telling him all kinds of stories, until at last the boy fell asleep. This was just what he wanted. Then he tied the boy to a board, thinking, “I am going to get rid of him this time. The feathers will get wet, and he will be drowned.” So he took him quite a distance out to sea and set him adrift there. It was very stormy.

The boy, however, floated along for some time and finally came ashore in safety on a nice sandy beach. The tide was very low. Then he heard the laughter of some girls who were out digging clams. There were three of them, and they were sisters. Now the eldest of the girls saw something moving on the beach and went thither, thinking it was some dying animal. Instead she saw a handsome youth, who looked right up at her but said nothing. Said she, “What has happened to you?” But he would not speak. She called to her sisters, and they ran up. Then the second sister immediately fell in love with him, but the youngest had nothing to say. The eldest had formerly been in love with the youth that was first destroyed, so she said to her second sister, “How much like my dead lover he looks.” She saw him smile because he knew her, but he did not know the others, and immediately the eldest began to cry, saying that that was her lover’s smile only that he was a larger man. Then the second sister laughed, saying that she was going to untie him and have him for her husband. The youngest, however, said, “Well! you two can have him, for I am not going to have a man that can not talk.” “If he comes out all right after we have untied him,” said the eldest, “we will both be his wives.” So, the two older girls untied him and started to raise his head while the youngest ran off to dig clams. They asked him if he could talk, and he said, “Yes.” As he walked between the girls, one of them said, “You shall go to my father’s house with me.” At the time they untied him the eagles were gathering around to devour him.

Then they took him into their father’s house and their father said, “Who is that fellow?” “We found him,” said the second, “and we are going to marry him.” This one was very quick to speak, while the eldest was slow and quiet. Their father consented, and he married both of the girls. Then the eldest spoke to her father of how much he resembled her dead lover, although the boy had not told anything about himself.

Those girls used to go off to hunt and spear salmon just like boys, so the younger said next morning, “I am going out to spear salmon.” She brought a salmon home. The day following both girls asked him to go with them, and he did so. They tried to teach him how to hunt, for he belonged to such a very high family that he had never learned.

On the way the younger wife acted sulkily toward her elder sister because she would never leave their husband’s side. So she started off alone, and her husband was afraid she would go away for good, for he liked her very much on account of her liveliness. In the evening, however, she came back with a salmon and said to her sister, “You can live on love. You stick by your husband and do not go to get anything to eat.” Then their husband carried the salmon back, and his elder wife came home slowly. The younger sister cooked the salmon and put it between herself and her husband. He pulled it along toward his elder wife, but the other said, “She shall not have any. She is going to live on love.” Then her husband said that if she would let her sister have some salmon he would go out and try to get another himself. It was early in the spring and the salmon were scarce. The younger wife now felt jealous of her sister because she thought that their husband thought more of her than of herself, though really the reverse was the case. He pitied the elder, however, because she had done so much for him.

When the young man saw that his younger wife was angry toward the elder, however, he determined to leave them for a time. The younger did not want to let him go, and begged him hard to remain, but the elder said nothing, for he had told her his reasons. Finally he told his younger wife that she must let him go but that he would come back. He said that she must treat her elder sister well because his cousin (lit. “elder brother”) had been in love with her. When she asked him what cousin he meant, he explained that his elder brother had died quite a while ago and that this girl had been in love with him. After that she let him set out.

At this time he thought that he would kill his uncle, so he paddled thither. His uncle saw him, knew what he had come for, and was frightened. Then the young man went to his uncle’s house, spent the evening and started away again. About midnight, however, he returned and told his uncle that he had come to kill him because he had murdered his brothers and made him himself suffer. Although his uncle begged hard to be spared, he killed him, and, after telling his uncle’s wife that he had killed her husband and why he had done so, he returned to his wives.

FOOTNOTES:

[116] This is expressed in a rather unusual manner, and may have been modified perhaps by white influences, but the main plot is entirely native.

53. THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE EAGLE

This is a story of something that happened among the Haida. It is about a young man there who married a very fine-looking girl. This girl deceived her husband and went with the son of the town chief, but her husband found it out and killed him. Since the dead man belonged to such high-caste people, the girl’s husband was afraid and told his slave to take him off in his canoe. Before the relatives of the murdered man found it out and had started in pursuit, he had gotten some distance away. He and his slave paddled very hard and got way out into the ocean, and, when at last the man looked up, he found that he was close to a large rock very far out. Then he jumped ashore, and, seeing that there were very many seals there, he began clubbing them forgetful of the fact that he was a fugitive. At last, when he did look up, he found that his slave had deserted him and was now a long distance off.

The man camped on the rock that night and next morning studied very hard what he should do. At last he fixed upon a plan which he proceeded to carry out. Taking the largest seal he had killed, he skinned it very carefully so as not to cut through the hide anywhere. Late that night he got inside, tied the skin together over himself very tightly so that no water could come in, and set himself adrift. Then he floated along on the ocean, and at times he felt that he was bumping against rocks, but he kept quiet and after he had gone for a long time he felt himself drift ashore upon a beach.

Next morning very early, as he lay there, the man heard an eagle cry and knew that it was flying toward him. Finally it lighted right on top of the seal. The eagle seemed to notice, however, that this seal sounded empty, and instead of trying to eat it, sat still there. By and by the man took out his knife, cut through the skin right where the eagle sat and seized its legs. Then he looked up at it through the hole, and lo! instead of an eagle there was a girl. Then the girl said to him, “Come up to my father’s house with me.” He agreed, and, when she had taken him up, he saw a fine house over every bed in which hung an eagle skin.

After that the young man took the girl for his wife. At that time one of his brothers-in-law stood up and gave him an eagle-skin coat, saying, “I have given you a coat as a present. With this coat you can catch cod easily.” Another brother-in-law got up and said, “I also give you a coat. With this coat you can easily catch salmon.” Another got up and said, “I also give you a coat. With this coat you can catch halibut.” Another got up and said, “I, too, will give you a coat. With this coat you can catch seal. Always sit on a tree top and look down at the water. Then the seal will look to you like a very small fish. It feels like a small fish when you catch it in this coat.” So, all in the house presented him with different coats. The last of them was a young black eagle which said, “I give you this coat, and with this coat you can catch a sea lion.” Then the older eagles made fun of his gift, saying, “With that young skin you need not think you can catch even the smallest trout.”

Meanwhile the people in the town this boy had come from had sent his mother, who was a very old woman, away from the village to starve. He was at that time very near where she was living, but he did not know it.

After this the young man put on the coat he had received first, went out in it and caught a cod which he gave to his wife. He put the next coat on and caught a salmon. When he looked down upon this it appeared to be very small, and it felt very light while he was carrying it, but when he got it home it was a very large fish. With the next coat he caught a very big halibut, and with the next a seal. This seemed very light to him, but, when he got it home to his father-in-law and his brothers-in-law, he was surprised at its size. Lastly, he put on the black eagle skin. He went out and watched, and after a while he saw a sea lion a long distance out. He went after it and brought it ashore easily, but, after he had taken it to his father-in-law, he wondered how he had carried it.

By and by the man felt that his mother was suffering somewhere, and, going along the beach, he found her living in a little house made of branches. He asked her what the matter was, and she told him. Then he said to his mother, “In the morning you will hear some sea gulls. As soon as that happens, get up and go along the beach. You will find a large salmon.” The woman did so. In the morning she got up and looked and a very large salmon lay there. She had to cut it up and carry it to her brush house in pieces. In the evening her son went to her again and said, “To-morrow I will get a seal for you. Look for it very early.” So she awoke very early, found a large seal, and took up its meat.

After that her son went to her again and told her that he had been captured by the eagles and was living very comfortably among them. He said that he had a wife who was very good to him and told her not to worry for he would always look after her. Then he said, “Early next morning go and look again. I will try to get you a sea lion.” She did so, and found a very large sea lion upon the beach. She took off the skin, dried it, preserved the oil, and dried the meat.

Now the man went to his mother once more and said to her, “Next morning I will get a whale and leave it down here on the beach. Don’t touch it. A canoe will come from our village and find it. While they are cutting up the whale don’t go down to them.” It happened just as he had said, and when this canoe had carried back the news everybody came down from the village to cut it up.

As the old woman did not go down to look while they were cutting up this whale, some one said, “Run up to see the old woman.” When they came there, they found her in a very large brush house in which salmon, seal, and sea-lion meat were drying. They were surprised to see how much food she had when they themselves had barely enough. Then everybody ran up to look at her. They had stripped the whale down, but had not taken off the pieces. When they left her house to go down again, the old woman came out and the eagle, which had sat on top of a tree watching, said to her, “Get away. Get away.” After that one of the men took a rock and hit her in the face with it.

When the eagle saw what was done to his mother he flew down, seized the town chief by the top of the head and flew up with him. Then he came down again far enough for a person to seize the town chief’s legs and flew round and round the whale. By and by another man caught hold of the chief and was unable to let go. The eagle flew around a little higher up until another seized the second man, and so he continued to do until he had carried up all of the men. Meanwhile the women were in a great hurry to cut the whale, but the old woman poked it, telling it to go out, and it went away from them right out to sea. Meanwhile the eagle rose higher and higher into the air and flew far out over the ocean, where it dropped all of the men of that place and drowned them.

54. THE BRANT WIFE[117]

A man at G̣onāˊxo in the Łaxaỵîˊk (or Yakutat) country married a brant woman (qên). One day in spring this woman said to her husband, “Let us go outside and watch the flocks of geese passing. My father’s canoe will soon be coming along.” Then they went out and saw a flock of brant coming. The brant seemed to stop over the woman a little while, and she called to them saying, “Have you anything for me?” Immediately some dried tsǃēt fell upon her lap.

Next day she again said to her husband, “I am sure that my father’s canoe will come along to-day. Let us go outside and sit there.” So they did. Then they saw the largest flock of brant they had yet observed, and the woman jumped up, saying, “There is my father’s canoe coming along.” When the flock got over the place where they were sitting, one of them made a great noise directly overhead, and her husband thought that must be his wife’s father. His wife also began making the brant noise in return, so that her husband became very much frightened. As soon as she had finished she flew up among the brant people.

Now her husband started off under the flock, and ran for a very long time until he was thoroughly tired out. Seeing that he was now so far behind that she could barely see him, his wife said to her father, “Father, let us camp here.” So her father had them encamp there on a flat place, and her husband saw it from a high hill. When he came up with them, he stood around on the flats and would not go near. By and by a man came out to him and said, “You better come in. We have a place prepared for you.” So he went in, and found his wife sitting on a mat in the house with room enough for him beside her. The brants looked to him just like human beings. Then they cooked for them, and afterward left the place, taking him with them. When they reached the place where they were to stay all summer, he saw that they worked very hard to get food in order to take it back.

Some time afterward the sand-hill cranes (dūł) and the geese (tǃāwᴀˊk) made war on the brants and killed off many of the latter. At first the man stood and watched them without taking part, and at last his wife’s father, who was chief of the brants, said to his daughter, “Daughter, why is it that your husband will not help us? Doesn’t he see that my people have all been killed? Ask him to help me.” Then the man made war aprons, coats, and hats for the brants and for himself, and he made himself a club. He killed great numbers of sand-hill cranes and geese, while none of the brants were destroyed. After he had killed enough of the enemy to make up for the brants that had been destroyed, his father-in-law told his daughter to say to him that he had killed enough. “If he kills any more,” he said, “they will want to kill more of my people.” So all stopped fighting, and they recommenced collecting food for the return journey. The girl’s father felt very good toward his son-in-law for saving their lives.

When fall came and the brants were ready to start back their chief said, “We will not go back the same way we came. We must go another way.” Then they started. It seemed to the man that they were going in canoes instead of flying. Late the first evening the chief said, “Now we will camp out here.” The place that he referred to was a large rock far out at sea, and they camped upon it. After they had eaten all went to sleep.

Next morning, however, although the man awoke early, he found himself lying out on the rock alone. Then he was very sad, and did not know what he should do. He thought, “How am I to get home from here without any canoe?” He remained out upon that rock for a long time and thought that he should never see his friends again. He remained there, in fact, all winter, living on food that the brants had left him. When spring came he was more anxious than ever to get home, so much so that he did not care to eat anything and went for several days without nourishment.

One morning he said to himself, “What is the use of getting up?” And he lay down again with his blankets over his head. After some time had passed, he heard something say to him very loudly, “Why are you lying here? What are you doing out here on this rock?” He threw his blanket off and looked around but saw nothing except a bird called gusǃyadūˊłî sitting near by. He lay down again, and again he heard the voice. He heard it for the third time. Every time the bird was sitting in the same place. When he again lay down he thought he must be crazy, but on keeping a lookout he saw the gusǃyadūˊłî run up toward him very fast, so he said to it quietly, “I have seen you.” Then the bird replied, “I have come to bring you luck. Get on my back and keep your face buried in the feathers on the back of my neck.” When he had done this, the bird started to fly off with him. It said, “Don’t look up. I do not want you to look up.” The farther it went the more it repeated this warning, so he tried hard to keep his face concealed. Finally the bird stopped, and he wondered where they were. “You can open your eyes now,” said the bird, and when he did so he saw that they were on a big pile of seaweed drifting around far out at sea. Then the bird told him to close his eyes again, and by the time it stopped with him once more he was very tired. Then the bird said again, “Now open your eyes.” He opened his eyes and recognized the place well as being close to his own village.

FOOTNOTES:

[117] See story 24.

55. THE DUCK HELPER

All the people in a village called Tāˊsna, “just south of the mouth of the Yukon,” once died of smallpox with the exception of one woman and her son. The boy was just old enough to realize what had happened. His mother kept weeping day after day, and it so distressed her son that he went off hunting with bow and arrows and did not return until he thought she was through.

One day he went farther than he realized and on turning about was puzzled to know where the village lay. He walked for a long time in different directions trying to find it but in vain. He was lost and had to camp that night. Next morning he began looking again, and he looked all day with no better success. On the third morning, after he had looked about until he was very tired, he caught sight of water through the trees and, thinking it was the ocean, ran quickly toward it. When he came up to it, however, he found it was only a lake. He remained there for some time, living on roots, and afterward continued his journey. Again he traveled all day and on the following morning he again saw water through the woods. Now he felt happy once more, but when he came down to it and looked around, lo! it was the same lake he had left.

By this time the boy was too tired to walk any more, so he thought, “Well! I might as well stay right here.” He covered himself up with moss and went to sleep. Suddenly, however, he was awakened by a voice saying, “Who is this boy?” He looked around but saw no one. He was entirely alone. Then he fell asleep again, and again something said, “Who is this boy?” He thought that he was dreaming, for, when he looked around, he saw only a black duck far out on the water.

After this the boy said to himself, “Now I am going to sit up and watch.” So he seated himself against a large bush and, although he became so sleepy there that his eyes kept closing, he would open them resolutely and keep on the watch. Finally he got up and went behind the bush. While his eyes were closed, the boy heard the same voice again, but he was not quite asleep, so he opened them quickly and saw the black duck (gāx̣ᵘ) on the beach. Immediately it turned into a man, who stood looking at him. “What are you doing here?” said the man. Then the boy told him how he had gotten lost. “All of our village people died, and my mother cried so that I wanted to get away from her, so I traveled in the woods alone and became lost. Since that day I have not been home to see my mother.” Then the man took off his coat, gave it to the boy, and said, “Put on this coat. As soon as you have done so, stretch out your arms and keep going like that. Don’t think of me and don’t think of this lake. Think of your uncle’s house.”

The boy did as he had been told, and it seemed to him that he was flying along very rapidly far above the trees. For a long time he thought of nothing else than his uncle’s house and his uncle’s village, but at length he remembered the lake and lo! he was there once more with the man standing before him in the same place. Then the man said, “Didn’t I tell you not to think of me or the lake? Start over again. Think of nothing but your uncle’s house and the village you are bound for.” So this time the boy tried very hard, and all at once he came out back of his uncle’s house, where his mother was waiting and calling for him. When she recognized him she was very happy.

56. THE BOY WHO SHOT THE STAR

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

One time both of the boys made a great quantity of arrows to see which could have the more. Just back of their village was a hill on the top of which was a smooth grassy place claimed by the boys as their playground, and on a certain fine, moonlight night they started thither. As they were going along the lesser chief’s son, who was ahead, said, “Look here, friend. Look at that moon. Don’t you think that the shape of that moon is the same as that of my mother’s labret and that the size is the same, too?” The other answered, “Don’t. You must not talk that way of the moon.” Then suddenly it became very dark about them and presently the head chief’s son saw a ring about them just like a rainbow. When it disappeared his companion was gone. He called and called to him but did not get any answer and did not see him. He thought, “He must have run up the hill to get away from that rainbow.” He looked up and saw the moon in the sky. Then he climbed the hill, and looked about, but his friend was not there. Now he thought, “Well! the moon must have gone up with him. That circular rainbow must have been the moon.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

57. THE BOY AND THE GIANT

At a certain place in the interior lived a manly little boy who was very fond of hunting. He would take his lunch and go off hunting very early in the morning and stay all day, bringing home two or three porcupines in the evening. One morning he started earlier than usual and came upon a giant as tall as the trees. He was very much frightened and ran away with the big man in pursuit. As the giant was not a very fast runner, the boy kept ahead of him until he came to a sort of cave like a house at the foot of a hill and entered it. When the big man saw this, he said, “Come here, my grandson.” The boy refused, and the giant continued his entreaties for a long time. At last the boy consented to go with him, so the giant said, “Get inside of my shirt. I will carry you that way.” Then the boy vaulted in there, and they started off.

After they had gone along in this manner for some time, the boy, who had his head out, saw a very small bird called old-person (ʟᴀgᵘ-qāˊkǃᵘ) and said, “Grandpa, there is a bird I would like to have.” Then the big man stopped and let him down, and he shot the bird with an arrow and put it into his bosom, after which he crawled back into the big man’s shirt. But now this bird had increased the boy’s weight so much that the giant could scarcely move along. At every step he took he sank deep into the moss. When the boy noticed this, he said to himself, “How is it that, since I picked up this small bird, I have gotten very heavy, and it is hard for him to walk?” Then he threw the bird away and the giant walked on again as lightly as before. The boy enjoyed so much being with this giant that he had forgotten all about his father and mother. After that they traveled on together until they came to a very large lake. In it the boy saw beaver houses, and the beaver dam ran right across it. He thought, “This is a beaver lake. This is the kind of place my father has told me about.” Then the big man tore a hole through the top of a beaver house, took all of the beavers out, and made a fire right back of the lake at which to cook them. They camped there for several days, living on beaver meat and drying the skins. But the first evening the giant said, “Keep a look out. If you hear any noise during the night, wake me up. There is a bigger man than I of whom I am much afraid.” He also said to the boy, “Sleep some distance away from me, or I might move against you or throw my leg on you so as to kill you.”

The second night they encamped there the boy heard the bushes breaking, and sure enough the second giant came along. He was so tall that his head was far up above the trees, and they could not see it. This second giant had been looking for the other for a long time unsuccessfully, so he rushed upon him, threw him down, and lay on top of him. Then the boy’s friend cried, “Grandson, take that club of mine out and throw it at him.” The boy ran to the big man’s bed, took his club, which was made from the entire skeleton of a beaver, out from under it, and threw it at the intruder. As soon as he let it go out of his hands it began chewing at the second giant’s leg, and, as he was unable to feel it, the club chewed off both his legs. Then the other, who had been almost smothered, killed him and threw his body into the lake.

After this the boy’s companion had nothing to fear, and wandered from lake to lake, and the boy was so fond of hunting that he forgot all about his father and mother. It was now winter time, and that winter was very severe. From the time the second giant had been killed he had been doing nothing but killing beaver.