Part 26

"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 Jigulmatu. She was rested.

"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 himself. 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 hidden 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 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 people looked 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 tobacco 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 Mapchemaina. 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 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 mousetraps.

"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 gambling with Jupka and all the people at Jigulmatu.

Hehku had a sister, Miniau Marimi. She took this sister as a companion. Both started, went together, 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. 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 wouldn't eat it, wouldn'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 wouldn'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 gambling-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 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 Kaitsiki. 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 coming; 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.

"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 counters 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 Petaina 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 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 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 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

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; =Kaítsiki=, ground squirrel; =Kaltsauna=, swift (kind of lizard); =Kechowala=, 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 Mapchemaina: "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."

"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.

"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 message 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 Kaltsauna in the distance. When he was near, they didn't try to look at him, they hung their heads.

"Make way for me, make way! I'll 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 itself, 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."

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 Mapchemaina 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 cañon beyond Hakamatu. They went to the rock and went beyond it.

Some distance west of the rock a grizzly bear ran out of a clump of live-oak brush. Among the people hunting was Chichepa, and the bear rushed at him. Chichepa had dreamed the night before that this rock in the cañon 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 Tahaujwakaina, 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. 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 different 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.

"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,--

"Wílichuláina kúlmachi, Wílichuláina kúlmachi (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. He 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 something.

Ahalamila picked up the little fawn; blew smoke 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 singing. "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."