Part 26

The second brother was mad; he snatched his father’s mortar and threw it into the river. The old man chased him and threw the pounder at him; it just missed him. The young man picked it up and threw it back. It hit the old man and killed him, for his mortar was in the water and he was getting weak. The brothers were glad that he was dead.

“I can’t do without the old man,” said little Tskel, and he began to cry.

Pitoíois was sorry for Tskel. When the youngest brother saw how sorry Pitoíois and Tskel were, he asked Pitoíois if she could do anything to bring the old man to life.

She said: “I can bring him to life and give him a better mind. If I bring him to life now, he won’t use his mortar again, and hereafter everyone will be as he will be,—when they grow old they will be like children.”

She got the mortar, then she made a plate out of braided grass and sprinkled it with water. She spread the plate on the old man and stepped over him five times. He grew warm, but didn’t come to life. Then she said to Tskel: “Strike him with your medicine stick.” Tskel struck him twice on the head. “Strike him twice across the breast,” said Pitoíois. At the second blow the old man got up; he was well again, and his mind was good.

The next morning Pitoíois had a little boy. Old Wûlkûtska called it grandson and was glad. The youngest brother and Pitoíois went to live with her brothers and the old man went with them. The four other Wûlkûtska brothers started off to hunt for a wife, and little Tskel went with them.

Pitoíois’ brothers asked her: “Have you seen any young women where you have been?”

“There are not many women in the world,” said Pitoíois.

“We will go and get the woman Kāhkaas told us about.”

“Can you live with her?” asked Pitoíois. “Her home is under the water. You want a wife who can live on dry land. Don’t go for her; she is not a good wife for you.”

They asked their brother-in-law to go with them. Pitoíois didn’t want him to go, but they started and he went with them. They traveled toward the southwest. When the brothers got tired and wanted water to drink, the brother-in-law dug a well for them with his hands, and said: “This well will always be here. The people to come will call it Wûlkûtska Ámpo after me.”

On the south side of Klamath Lake they saw old man Kûlta.

“Why do you come here?” asked he.

“We have come for your daughter.”

“My children are on that island over there. I have a place ready for each one of them; I make deep holes under the water, where they can watch the fish. My daughter wouldn’t like you. She travels on trails under the water. You are land people; you mustn’t go to my island, for my children would kill you.”

The brothers climbed a high mountain. Near the top of it they found a lake. In the water at the edge of the lake was another old man like the first one. They saw him come out of the water with his mouth full of fish; they had never seen any one fish in that way before. When he saw them coming, he was frightened, and jumped into the water. They called to him and he turned around; then he knew they were Pitoíois’ brothers. He called them “cousins” and asked: “Where are you going?”

“We are looking for a woman. Do you know where we can find one?”

“I don’t know, for I live in the water. If I travel on land I get dry; I should die if I went far from water. Maybe if you go toward the west you will find people.”

“We must go home,” said the brothers; “our sister will be lonesome.”

They found Pitoíois crying; she said: “It’s useless for you to travel around; there are no women, except far away in the north.”

The elder brother went to the top of a mountain and cried all day. His sister was sorry for him; she said: “There are people in the north. Maybe you will find a wife there.”

“I will go north,” said he, “and my brother will go with me.” His medicine was the feather of a white eagle. He put a feather on the top of his little nephew’s head, twisted his hair around it, and said: “If this feather comes off while we are gone, you will know that we shall never come back.”

“You must watch for Wus,” said the brother-in-law. “He is mad at us and will kill you if he can.”

Before they got to the first mountain, the feather fell out of the baby’s hair and flew away on the wind.

Pitoíois screamed and said to her husband: “Hurry and overtake our brothers and tell them that as soon as they were out of sight their medicine feather fell out of the baby’s hair.”

He went very fast, but the brothers were over five mountains. He couldn’t overtake them, so he turned back.

The brothers came to a brook running through a wide meadow; there were trees on each side of the brook. They sat down under a tree and began to cry. The younger brother said: “I feel lonesome, as though I were going to die.”

“I feel so, too,” said the elder brother. “Let us travel fast; maybe we can get there to-day.”

They started, but hadn’t gone far when they saw Wus coming toward them. The younger brother screamed, and said: “I think this is the person you have been hunting for.”

When Wus met them, he asked: “Where are you going?”

“We are just traveling around.”

“You are like me; I have no home, I travel all the time. Who are you?”

“We can’t tell you who we are, but we are people.”

“Whose brothers are you?”

“We are brothers to nobody.”

“I know whose brothers you are,” said Wus. “Pitoíois is your sister; she hates me as if I had no life in me, and I hate her. I know your brother-in-law, the great arrow man.”

“Where are there people?” asked the elder brother.

“Near here. Will your brother-in-law come behind you?”

“We don’t know,” said the younger brother.

Wus was mad. “You will no longer be living people,” said he. “You will be birds and wander around nights.”

Wus made night come quickly. The brothers got separated and lost in the darkness. They called to each other, but they couldn’t get together, and to this day they wander around alone.

ILYÚYU AND KÛLTA’S SISTERS

CHARACTERS

Kûlta Otter Ilyúyu

Kûlta’s wife had one grown-up brother, and a number of little brothers and sisters. Her grown-up brother had a pet wolf,—same as people have pet dogs now.—Its name was Ilyúyu Watcagû, and the young man was called by the same name.

When Kûlta’s wife went to visit her father and mother, and carry them the nice things Kûlta had paid for her, her brother wanted to go home with her. She said: “My brother, it is a bad place there. They eat snake heads and frog heads. If you don’t eat with them, maybe they will kill you. There are bad women there, too; they will make fun of you and tease you.” But the young man kept asking her to let him go, and at last she said: “Get some tula straws and roll them up in little balls. When the women give you snake heads to eat, put a ball on the dish; then they can’t hurt you.”

When they got to the house, one of Kûlta’s sisters brought a dish of snake heads and gave it to Ilyúyu. Some of the heads were dry, others were fresh and alive. His sister said: “Put a ball on the plate.” But Ilyúyu was so frightened that he couldn’t move.

The women made fun of him, and said: “He doesn’t call our brother ‘brother-in-law.’ We are as good as he is, but he won’t eat with us.” They took the plate away and said to him: “You came here to peek around and see how we lived; you will be sorry for it. Your head may get home, but your body will be destroyed.”

Kûlta had two sisters. Ilyúyu gave each one of them a nice bone scratcher; then he said: “You needn’t think you won’t be sorry, too. Those bones will scratch all the flesh off your body.”

Kûlta’s wife was crying; she gathered up a sackful of nice beads and gave them to her brother; then she gave him a bow and arrow, and he started for home. As he went, he called: “Come, Ilyúyu! Come, Ilyúyu!” and the little wolf followed him. He talked to Ilyúyu, said: “We went to take our sister back to her husband, but now what trouble we are in.” And he began to sing to himself in a crying voice: “We met trouble from going home with our sister, we met trouble from going home with our sister.” After he had gone a little way, he said: “I wonder what is so heavy.” He stopped, took the sack off his back, untied it, and threw away some of the nice beads his sister had given him. Then he called: “Come on, Ilyúyu!”

Ilyúyu cried; he was sorry to have his master lose such beautiful beads.

The young man said: “Come on, Ilyúyu. Don’t cry for the beads. I have plenty of beads at home.” When he had gone a little farther, his pack grew heavy again. He took it off and threw away more of the beads. Ilyúyu picked them up and carried them in his mouth. “Come on, Ilyúyu!” called his master. “Don’t mind those beads; I have plenty of beads at home.”

Soon the young man said: “I wonder what is so heavy.” He threw away his bow and arrows. Ilyúyu cried. He picked up the bow and carried it in his mouth. “Come on, Ilyúyu,” said his master. “Don’t cry, I have another bow at home.” Soon he said: “I wonder what is so heavy.” And he threw away his quiver.

Kûlta’s wife knew what the women were doing to her brother. She took a basket and followed him. When he threw away his quiver, she was there behind him; she picked up the quiver and put it in her basket. She felt badly. She cried hard and thought: “Poor brother, they will kill you.”

The young man said: “There are too many beads on my moccasins; they are so heavy I can hardly step.” He threw away one of the moccasins, and called: “Come on, Ilyúyu!” (He didn’t see his sister, and Ilyúyu didn’t see her.) Soon he pulled off the other moccasin and threw it away. He threw away his belt. Ilyúyu picked it up and tried to carry it in his mouth. He dragged it a while, then dropped it. After a time the young man said: “What have I got on that is so heavy?” He took off his beaded shirt and threw it away. When Ilyúyu cried, his master called: “Come on, Ilyúyu, I have another shirt at home.” He threw away his beaded leggings; then he was naked. Ilyúyu was crying. “Come on, Ilyúyu,” said his master. Soon he pulled off one arm and threw it away. Ilyúyu tried to drag the arm along with his teeth, but his master called: “Come on, Ilyúyu, come on!” and he left it. His sister put it in her basket. Soon he said: “I wonder what is so heavy.” And he threw away the second arm. He pulled off his legs; then he was only a body and head. He went on a little way, then said: “I wonder what is so heavy.” His body fell off, and he was only a head. He became Núsdilausniyas (Rolling Head) and could travel fast. He crossed a mountain at a bound, then rolled along in the air. He had big eyes and long hair that waved behind him.

When he got to the river near his home, he struck the ground, and said: “Dum! dum!” Then he called in a loud voice: “Mother, come and take me across!” “Where are you?” asked his mother; she couldn’t see him.

“I am here waiting. Come and get me!” When she didn’t come, he got mad, flew across the river and came down in the house: “Dum! dum!” Then he flew at the people, hit them, and killed them.

Ilyúyu was crying; the river was swift and he couldn’t cross. Soon the sister came. She found a canoe, crossed the river, and went to the house. She looked in through the smoke hole and saw the Head eating the body of her mother. She was terribly scared. She ran to the village to tell the people; she knew that after the Head had eaten her father and mother, it would fly to the village and kill everybody there.

The Head felt dust scatter in at the smoke hole, and knew that somebody was on the top of the house. It went out, saw tracks, and followed the woman. When Ilyúyu saw his master, just a great bloody Head, he felt so badly and was so afraid that he ran off to the mountains and wandered around, crying all the time.

When the sister told the people that her brother had turned to a man-eater, the two oldest women in the village said to them: “You must paint your faces with the pitch out of cedar trees, and be strong; maybe we can save you.”

The two made a basket as tight and firm as they could. They waxed their hands so they could hold the Head. Then they rowed to the other side of the river and waited; soon they heard the Head coming, with a terrible whizzing and noise. It struck the bank: “Dum! dum!” and called out: “Come and take me over!” When it saw the two old women, it asked: “Why didn’t young people come for me?”

“They are afraid of you,” said one of the old women.

“They must come. I won’t cross with you; you will throw me into the river.”

“No, we won’t. We want to put you in our basket and take you over in the right way, so people in later times won’t make fun of you.”

“How can I look out and see what you are doing?”

“You can look through the cracks in the basket.”

“Will you carry me into your house when you get over?”

“Yes, we will take good care of you.”

At last the Head said: “I’ll go. Take me up carefully.” When they got the Head into the basket, it screamed and tried to get out, said: “I can’t see. Let me out!”

“We are almost over,” said the women. “Keep still; you are all right. Now we are going to get out of the canoe. We are across the river.”

They were only in the middle of the river. They took up the basket and dropped it into the water. It went up and down many times, for the Head was trying hard to get out. When the basket got near the bank, people pushed it away with long poles. After a while it got so heavy with water that it sank.

Then the old women said: “This world wasn’t made for such things as you are. Hereafter you will only show yourself to scare doctors; you will be their medicine, and tell them what to do.”

When the Head was drowned, the sister went back to Kûlta’s house. Kûlta was off on the mountains, roaming around; when he saw his wife coming he was glad, and went to meet her. He said: “My sisters were proud of their scratching sticks. They scratched their arms, scratched till all the skin and flesh was off, then they scratched their legs and bodies, scratched till only bones were left, then they died. I was scared, and ran away.”

Kûlta built a big fire and burned up his sister’s bones, and the sacks of dried snake heads and frog heads. When the snakes came to life and tried to get out of the fire Kûlta and his wife pushed them in, but they couldn’t watch all of them; some got away and ran off among the rocks, and that is why there are so many snakes in the world now.

When the fire had burned down, and only ashes were left, Kûlta said: “I can’t stay here where my sisters died. I will make a house south of here, by the river.”

While the woman was poking in the ashes, a big rattlesnake sprang at her. Kûlta heard the snake rattle. He struck it with a long pole, and it ran away. Then the woman began to vomit up all kinds of terrible stuff, pieces of snake skin and fish skin, and pieces of snake heads. Kûlta said: “This is always the way when women eat snake heads, and such things, but with men it is different.”

When the woman was through vomiting, she found the snake and killed it. She said: “Hereafter, you will have no power. You will want to bite people, but you will tell them where you are; you can’t help it. They will kill you with stones but will never eat your head; they will say you are dirty.”

Every day the woman heard little Ilyúyu crying on the mountain. She felt so sorry that Kûlta said: “I will find him and bring him home.” When he got near the place where his brother-in-law’s sack grew heavy and he put it down to throw away some of the beads, he saw Ilyúyu sitting by the trail, but when the little fellow saw Kûlta he ran off, crying like a person. Kûlta saw him at the place where his brother-in-law had thrown away his quiver. He called: “Come here, Ilyúyu! Don’t be afraid! Come and go home with me.” But Ilyúyu ran away. Kûlta followed him all day but couldn’t catch him. When he went home, he said to his wife: “To-morrow you must go for Ilyúyu. Maybe he will come when you call him.”

The next morning Kûlta heated stones and his wife sweated. Then she listened. She heard Ilyúyu’s cry and followed the sound, calling all the time: “Ilyúyu, Ilyúyu!” He would stop and wait for her to come up near him, but when she put out her hands to catch him he ran away. She followed him a good many days. When she camped he would come and lie down near her, but when she moved he would go away. She followed him till she was only skin and bones, then she said to him: “I am going home now. If you want to be wild you can. You will kill deer, and people will say, ‘Ilyúyu, Kûlta’s brother-in-law, did that.’”

Ilyúyu ran off to the mountains and Kûlta’s wife never heard his cry again.

NÄNÍHLÄS [17]

CHARACTERS

Blaiwas Eagle Kaiutois Wolf Näníhläs Bat Maûk Fly Múkus Owl

Two Näníhläs brothers and their sister lived together. The brothers were small men. They had no way of killing deer, so they tried to trap them. They dug a hole so deep that if a deer fell into it, it couldn’t get out.

One morning when the brothers went to their trap, they found a deer in it. “We don’t want to shoot this deer,” said the elder brother.

“Why not?” asked the younger.

“Because we want the skin for a dress for our sister. If we make a hole in it, her body will show through. We must catch the deer by the throat and choke him to death.”

“I don’t think we can kill him in that way,” said the elder brother, “but we can try.”

They caught hold of the deer’s throat. The deer ran around in the pit and tried to get out.

“Hold on tight,” said the younger brother. “He will soon die.”

After a while the deer got out of the pit and ran off, but the brothers held on. The deer ran to a mountain where there were trees and tall brush; the blankets and caps of the Näníhläs brothers were torn off and their bodies were scratched, but the younger brother kept calling: “Hold on tight; we will kill him.”

At last the elder brother let go of the deer and dropped to the ground. He went back and picked up his cap and the pieces of his blanket. He pinned the pieces together with sticks and mended his moccasins with sticks.

The younger brother clung on for a good while, then he hit against a tree, and got such a blow that he fell off and lay on the ground for a long time. At last he got up, and started for home; as he went along, he picked up the pieces of his blanket and fastened them together with sticks. He was mad at his brother for letting go so soon. When they met, they quarreled a while, then made up and went on. Soon they saw a number of women coming toward them; each woman was carrying a basketful of roots. The brothers sat down and waited.

When the women came, they put their baskets on the ground, put some roots in a small basket, and gave the basket to the elder brother. He called to his brother: “Come and eat some of these roots.” The brother didn’t go; he made believe that he was mad; he didn’t say a word. The elder brother called him a second time; the third time he called, the younger brother said: “I won’t eat those roots. The women gave them to you; they didn’t give me any.”

The women were afraid; they knew that those brothers were cross and powerful. One of the women asked: “What is the matter? Why are you mad? What are you quarreling about?”

The two began to fight. Each brother had a piece of burnt fungus; they chewed the fungus and rubbed it on their faces and heads to frighten the women. The women were so scared that they left their baskets and ran off.

Then the brothers stopped fighting and laughed. They took the roots and went home. They had a sister married to a man on the other side of Klamath Lake. They started off to visit her. The elder brother asked: “What will you do when we get there?”

The younger said: “I don’t know; what will you do?”

“I will make the young men fight; the chief’s son will get shot in the eye. Everybody will run off to see him, and while they are gone, we will steal all they have in their houses.”

When they got to their sister’s house she cried because she had nothing to give them to eat. She began to pound fish bones for them. The younger brother asked: “Why do you cry? I will make those bones good.” He made the fish bones into nice sweet seeds just by thinking hard. After a while, the young men of the village began to quarrel and then to fight, and right away the chief’s son was shot in the eye. Everybody ran to see what had happened. The two brothers stole all there was in the village,—blankets, beads, everything,—made packs of them; made the packs small and put them under their finger nails; then they started off in their canoe, taking their sister with them.

When the people went back to their houses and found their things gone, they knew that the brothers had stolen them. They followed them in their canoes, and were catching up when the elder brother asked: “What shall we do now?”

“I will make ice,” said the younger brother. Right away there was thick ice.

“What will you do with our canoe?”

“I will put it under one of my finger nails.” He did that.

The men, finding their canoes fast in the ice, got out and ran after the brothers.

The elder brother asked: “What shall we do now?” “I will break up the ice and those men will drown.” Right away the ice melted. All the men were drowned, but the brothers and their sister got home safe.

Blaiwas and Kaiutois and a good many hunters lived near the Näníhläs brothers. One day the younger brother said: “I am going to drive all the deer in the world into a great pit and keep them for ourselves.” He had only to think hard and the pit was there and the deer were in it; not one deer was left outside. That was the kind of man he was.

The hunters wondered where the deer had gone. They couldn’t find one, and soon they were starving. Maûk lived with the hunters; he scented the deer to the house of the Näníhläs brothers and found where they had them shut up. Then the hunters sent Múkus to watch the brothers. He went to their house, sat down by the fire, and pretended to fall asleep. The younger brother looked at Múkus’ eyes, ran a stick into his nose, and put a coal of fire on the top of his head. Múkus didn’t move or wink. They thought he was sound asleep. They wanted to kill a deer.

When they opened the pit, the deer were scared and made a great noise. The brothers caught one of them, brought it out of the pit, and fastened up the place. They killed the deer and skinned it, hid some of the meat, and roasted the rest.

Múkus saw everything. The brothers thought: “He sees nothing; he is asleep.”

Múkus went home and told the hunters that five great rocks fastened up the pit where the deer were. That the rocks were so big that it would take a great many people to move them, but the brothers rolled them over the hole by thinking. The hunters found Tcúititi and hired him to break the rocks. He broke them by flying up to the sky and falling down against them. He did that five times, and the five rocks fell to pieces. The deer came out and scattered over the whole world. The hunters were watching, and as the deer passed them, they chose the biggest bucks and killed them. The brothers didn’t try again to hide the deer.

THE BRINGING TO LIFE OF THE WUS BROTHERS

CHARACTERS

Kaiutois Gray Wolf Wus Black Fox

Ten Wus brothers and ten Kaiutois brothers lived together; they were kin. Each man had five daughters, except the youngest Wus brother; he wasn’t married. The Wus brothers had a sister; she was nice-looking, but she had such a long neck that she couldn’t eat meat; she ate the neck bones of deer; ate five at a time. Everybody in the world knew about her.