{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_48409/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_48409","id":"gutenberg_48409","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48409","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Indians of North America -- Canada -- Folklore","Indians of North America -- Folklore"],"text":"[Illustration: Haida Totem Poles\n                       Indian genealogical trees\n         _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\n\n\n\n                           MYTHS AND LEGENDS\n                                   OF\n                         BRITISH NORTH AMERICA\n\n\n                         SELECTED AND EDITED BY\n                         KATHARINE BERRY JUDSON\n\n                              ILLUSTRATED\n\n                                CHICAGO\n                          A. C. McCLURG & CO.\n                                  1917\n\n                               Copyright\n                          A. C. McCLURG & CO.\n                                  1917\n                         Published April, 1917\n\n                  W. P. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE\n\n\nFrom the bleak coasts of Labrador and the icy borders of the Frozen Sea,\nin the east, through the river-threaded steppes and plains of the\ninterior with all their charming lakes, over the tremendous, gleaming\nwhite heights of the Canadian Rockies, and onwards by ca\u00f1on and pass to\nthe more pacific climate of the western coast\u2014it is a far sweep of\ncountry, this British North America, and occupied in bygone times by\nmany a tribe of red men.\n\nYet from eastern coast to western, from the long southern boundary to\nthe Arctic Ocean, one finds everywhere the same questioning among these\nred men. Who was the Someone who had cut and carved the rivers and\nplains and great mountain heights? Who was the Someone who gave Squirrel\na beautiful bushy tail which swept his back, and gave Rabbit no tail at\nall? Why did Someone send the icy winds of winter, the storm winds that\nshriek around the tepee and rattle the flaps, howling through the trees\nand blowing the snow down the smoke-hole? It seemed impossible that it\nwas the same One who sent the warm breezes in summer, when the lakes\nwere full of fish and the bushes laden with berries, when the forests\nfull of game, and life was easy. Therefore there must be two Powers, one\nstrong and ugly, one beautiful and good, always battling against each\nother\u2014the universal human belief in both good and evil.\n\nIndian myths and legends are the efforts of the red men to answer these\nquestions, as well as to interest and amuse each other in the long\nwinter evenings when the fires burned brightly in the tepees and the\ncarved plumstone dice were thrown. Men forgot their games and women the\nbeading of the moccasin, while children listened intently, as the story\ntellers of the camp related, with dramatic gestures, stories of the Days\nof the Grandfathers, in the beginning of the Newness of Things. Nothing\nwas too large or too small to come within the bounds of their beliefs,\nor within the play of their fancy.\n\nAs in all other volumes of this series, only the quaint, the pure, and\nthe beautiful, has been taken from the tales of the Indians. Any one\nwishing pure ethnology, good and bad together, would do better to go to\nethnological reports.\n\nThe Indians omitted many stories we wish they had told. There are few\nreferences to the snowy mountains, probably because of their belief that\nall above the snowline was governed by vague, misty, but powerful\nspirits who sent down the thundering avalanches in the sunlit valleys\nwhen summer had come and all was green and beautiful. There are few\nreferences to large lakes or rivers, which is characteristic, for even\nthe Indian names of rivers apply to localities on the river, not to the\nentire river itself. And in the myths of British North America,\nespecially on the western coast, there are many legends involving\ncannibalism\u2014an element entirely lacking in the myths of the United\nStates, whether east or west. Even Alaskan myths practically omit that\nsubject, while in the Old South-west\u2014New Mexico and Arizona\u2014one finds\nmyths of rare beauty and charm of imagery. Indeed, climatic conditions\nplayed not only a distinct part in the physical life of the Indian, but\nhad a tremendous influence over his thinking.\n\nOnly authentic myths and legends have been used in the compilation of\nthis volume. The leading authorities are the publications of the United\nStates Bureau of Ethnology, of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, of\nthe Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, as well as the\nethnological publications of the Canadian Bureau of Mines.\n\n                                                                K. B. J.\n\n  _February, 1917._\n\n\n\n\n                           TABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n  Beliefs\n       _Haida_                                                         1\n  Beliefs\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                                5\n  Beliefs\n       _Bella Coola_                                                   7\n  Creation of the World\n       _Wyandot_                                                       9\n  How the Earth was Formed\n       _Cree_                                                         12\n  Old One and Creation\n       _Thompson River_                                               15\n  Creation of the Earth\n       _Thompson River_                                               16\n  Raven and Creation\n       _Haida_                                                        18\n  Origin of Rivers in Queen Charlotte Islands\n       _Haida_                                                        20\n  Origin of Haida Land\n       _Haida_                                                        22\n  Raven and Moon-woman\n       _Haida_                                                        25\n  Origin of Light\n       _Wyandot_                                                      28\n  Origin of Light\n       _Thompson River_                                               29\n  Creation of Light\n       _Carrier_                                                      31\n  Coming of Fire\n       _Carrier_                                                      33\n  How Grizzly Bear and Coyote made Light and the Seasons\n       _Shuswap_                                                      35\n  Origin of Light and Fire\n       _Lillooet_                                                     38\n  How Fire was Secured\n       _Lillooet_                                                     42\n  How Raven Brought Fire\n       _Haida_                                                        44\n  When Mink Carried the Torches\n       _Bella Coola_                                                  45\n  Old One\n       _Shuswap_                                                      50\n  The Great Fire\n       _Lillooet_                                                     52\n  The Burning of the World\n       _Cree_                                                         54\n  The House of Sun\n       _Bella Coola_                                                  57\n  Why the Sun is Bright\n       _Lillooet_                                                     60\n  When Sun was Snared\n       _Ojibwa_                                                       62\n  Sun and Moon\n       _Thompson River_                                               64\n  The Man in the Moon\n       _Central Eskimo_                                               65\n  Why the Moon is Pale\n       _Wyandot_                                                      67\n  The Woman in the Moon\n       _Shuswap_                                                      68\n  Moon\n       _Thompson River_                                               69\n  War with the Sky People\n       _Thompson River_                                               70\n  How Two Sisters got out of Skyland\n       _Chilcotin_                                                    72\n  Origin of the Pleiades\n       _Wyandot_                                                      74\n  The Star Hunters\n       _Chilcotin_                                                    77\n  The Great Bear and the Hunter\n       _Chilcotin_                                                    79\n  How the Summer Came\n       _Ojibwa_                                                       81\n  The Rainbow Trail\n       _Wyandot_                                                      83\n  Origin of the Chinook Wind\n       _Shuswap_                                                      85\n  When Glacier Married Chinook\u2019s Daughter\n       _Lillooet_                                                     89\n  Mink\u2019s War with the Southeast Wind\n       _Kwakiutl_                                                     91\n  When North\u2019s Son Married Southeast\u2019s Daughter\n       _Haida_                                                        94\n  Capture of Wind\n       _Chilcotin_                                                    98\n  How Wind Became a Slave\n       _Haida_                                                        99\n  Thunder, Lightning, and Rain\n       _Central Eskimo_                                              100\n  Thunder\n       _Wyandot_                                                     101\n  Turtle and the Thunder Bird\n       _Ojibwa_                                                      103\n  Why Lightning Strikes the Trees\n       _Thompson River_                                              105\n  The Making of Lakes and Mountains\n       _Haida_                                                       106\n  Origin of Races\n       _Cree_                                                        109\n  Origin of Chilcotin Ca\u00f1on\n       _Shuswap_                                                     110\n  Origin of Animals\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                              111\n  Bird Beginnings\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                              112\n  Mosquitoes\n       _Haida_                                                       115\n  Origin of Death\n       _Thompson River_                                              117\n  Duration of Human Life\n       _Haida_                                                       118\n  How Death Came\n       _Lillooet_                                                    119\n  Origin of Arrowheads\n       _Lillooet_                                                    120\n  Origin of Carved House Posts\n       _Haida_                                                       121\n  The Wind-power Carving\n       _Thompson River_                                              123\n  Calendar\n       _Thompson River_                                              124\n  Calendar\n       _Cree_                                                        125\n  Calendar\n       _Shuswap_                                                     126\n  How the Indians First Obtained Blankets\n       _Chilcotin_                                                   127\n  Hunting in the Snow Mountains\n       _Chilcotin_                                                   129\n  Coyote\u2019s Gift of the Salmon, and the Ca\u00f1on of the Fraser River\n       _Nicola Valley and Fraser River_                              132\n  The Coming of the Salmon\n       _Bella Coola_                                                 135\n  Coyote and the Salmon\n       _Shuswap_                                                     139\n  Wolverene and the Geese\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                              142\n  Nanebojo and the Geese\n       _Ojibwa_                                                      145\n  Adventures of Nanebojo\n       _Ojibwa_                                                      149\n  Wiske-djak and the Geese\n       _Algonquin_                                                   154\n  Wiske-djak and the Partridges\n       _Algonquin_                                                   158\n  Wiske-djak and Great Beaver\n       _Algonquin_                                                   161\n  Nenebuc\n       _Ojibwa_                                                      163\n  Nenebuc and Big Bear\n       _Ojibwa_                                                      166\n  Coyote and Fox\n       _Shuswap_                                                     168\n  The Venturesome Hare\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                              172\n  Rabbit and Frog\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                              175\n  Big Turtle\n       _Wyandot_                                                     177\n  Wolverene and Rock\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                              180\n  Raven\u2019s Canoe Men\n       _Haida_                                                       183\n  Raven and Pitchman\n       _Haida_                                                       184\n  When Raven Married off his Sister\n       _Haida_                                                       185\n  Beaver and Porcupine\n       _Haida_                                                       187\n  Beaver and Porcupine\n       _Shuswap_                                                     190\n  Beaver and Deer\n       _Haida_                                                       192\n  Eagle\u2019s Feast\n       _Kwakiutl_                                                    195\n  When Chickadee Climbed a Tree\n       _Shuswap_                                                     196\n  Redbird and Blackbird\n       _Ojibwa_                                                      198\n  Little Gray Woodpecker\n       _Wyandot_                                                     200\n  Owl\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                              201\n  Chipmunk\n       _Thompson River_                                              202\n  Muskrat\u2019s Tail\n       _Cree_                                                        203\n  Wolverene and Brant\n       _Eastern Eskimo_                                              204\n  War of the Four Tribes\n       _Shuswap_                                                     205\n  Tradition of Iroquois Falls\n       _Eastern Cree_                                                206\n  The Giantess and the Indian\n       _Wyandot_                                                     207\n  The Destruction of Monsters\n       _Shuswap_                                                     209\n\n\n\n\n                             ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n  Haida totem poles                                       _Frontispiece_\n  Carved stone dishes                                                 12\n  Paradise Valley                                                     24\n  Lakes in the clouds                                                 24\n  Shuswap beadwork                                                    36\n  Cathedral Peak                                                      48\n  Haida blanket border designs                                        60\n  Salish basketry designs                                             72\n  Canoe and paddles                                                   84\n  Haida house                                                         96\n  Moraine Lake                                                       106\n  Cameron Lake                                                       106\n  Haida house with totems                                            122\n  Carved handles of horn spoons                                      132\n  Takakkaw Falls                                                     142\n  Mount Stephen                                                      142\n  Indian pipes                                                       156\n  Shuswap beadwork                                                   170\n  Sun Dance Ca\u00f1on                                                    180\n  Castle Mountain                                                    180\n  Haida memorial columns                                             192\n  Indian defensive armor                                             202\n\n\n\n\n                           MYTHS AND LEGENDS\n                                   OF\n                         BRITISH NORTH AMERICA\n\n\n\n\n                                BELIEFS\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nThe Earth World is flat and has a circular out-line, and above it is\na solid sky like a great bowl. Upon the top of the sky is the Sky\nCountry. The sky rises and falls regularly, and so the clouds strike\nagainst the mountains and make a noise.\n\nThe Earth World floats, but it rests upon\nSacred-One-standing-and-moving, and he rests upon a copper box. Upon\nhis breast rests a pole which reaches up to the sky. When\nSacred-One-standing-and-moving is about to move, a marten runs up\nthe pole making the thundering noise which is always heard just\nbefore an earthquake. Because when this Sacred-One moves, it causes\nan earthquake.\n\nIn the Sky Country, the greatest power is held by\nPower-of-the-Shining-Heavens. He gives power to all things. The\nclouds are his blankets. Thunderclouds are the \u201cdressing up\u201d of the\nThunder Bird. Thunder Bird produces a very loud noise by rustling\nhis feathers.\n\nSoutheast Wind lives under the sea. Northeast Wind abides along the\nnorthern mountains.\n\nThere are many tribes of Ocean People. Now in Haida Land, that is,\nthe Queen Charlotte Islands, the land and sea are entangled in an\nextraordinary way.\n\nJust so it is with the lands of the Ocean People\u2014the Devilfish\nPeople, the Porpoise People, the Killer-Whale People, and the\nBlack-Whale People. Of all the Ocean People the Killer-Whale People\nare the most powerful. They have towns scattered along the shore\nbeneath the water, just as the Indians have their towns along the\nshore above the water.\n\nWhen a man dies in Haida Land, he follows a trail until he reaches\nthe shore of a bay. On the other side of the bay lies the Ghost\nLand. Then he calls across, and soon a person appears who pushes a\nraft from the farther side. This raft is made of fine cedar bark,\nsuch as is used in the rings of the secret society. Then the raft\ncomes of itself to where the man is standing, and ferries him over.\n\nNow in Ghost Land there are many towns, and many houses in each\ntown. So if a man is looking for his wife there, it may take him a\nlong time. These towns lie in numberless inlets, near the water,\njust as the Haida towns on earth do.\n\nWhen food or grease is put into the fire in the family of a man who\nhas just died, it comes to him at once; therefore he is not hungry.\nAnd if his family sing songs loudly when he dies, then he enters\nGhost Land proudly, with his head up. It gives him a good name in\nthat country. But if they do not, then he enters Ghost Land with his\nhead hanging down, and people do not think so much of him. When a\nman enters Ghost Land there is always a dance given in his honor.\n\nPeople who are drowned go to Killer-Whale Country. But first they go\nto The-One-in-the-Sea who gives them their fins and then they go\ninto the houses of the other Killer Whales. When killer whales\ngather in front of a town, it is thought they are human beings who\nhave been drowned and take this way of informing the people.\n\nOne man who went to the Ghost Land, after he had been there for some\ntime, put all his property in his canoe and went to Xada, which is\nthe second Ghost Land. Then he went on to a third one, and later to\na fourth, and then came back to earth as a blue fly. Therefore when\na blue fly bumps into a man on earth, he says, \u201cThis is my friend,\nwho thus shows me that he recognizes me.\u201d\n\nAt a place beyond the Ghost Land, and just visible from it, lives a\nchief called Great Moving Cloud. He owns all the dog salmon. Once\nwhen a gambler died, he went there and gambled with him. The stakes\nwere the dog salmon, and ghosts. When Great Moving Cloud won, many\nghosts came into Ghost Land. When the gambler won, there was a great\nrun of salmon.\n\n\n\n\n                              BELIEFS\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\nNo man can ever go into the Sky Land until he is dead; so all the\npeople say. The sky that we see is a hard, blue stone, built up over\nthe earth just as the igloo is built with snow, rounding, over the\nEskimo family. But where the land and sea meet are high precipices\nwhich slope inward so that no one can climb up in the Sky Land. This\nblue dome is very cold, and sometimes it is covered with crystals of\nfrost which fall as snow, and then the sky becomes clear.\n\nThe clouds are large bags of water, owned by two old women who push\nthem across the sky. The thunder is their voice and the lightning\ntheir torch. When water leaks out of the seams of the bags, it rains\non earth. If a spark of lightning falls upon anyone, he has to go to\nthe Ghost Land.\n\nAt each corner of the Earth World there lives a mighty being, with a\nvery large head. When any one of these breathes, the wind blows.\nSome breathe violent storms and others summer breezes. Each wind\nspirit has many powerful servants.\n\nAt the edge of the Earth World, and beyond the precipices, is a\ngreat abyss. A narrow pathway leads across it to a land of\nbrightness and plenty and abundance and warmth. To this place none\nbut Raven and the dead can go. When spirits wish to speak to people\non earth, they make a whistling noise and people answer only in\nwhispers. Auroras are the torches held in the hands of spirits to\nguide the newly dead over the abyss.\n\n\n\n\n                              BELIEFS\n\n\n                                                       _Bella Coola_\n\nThe Bella Coola believe there are five worlds, one above the other.\nThe middle one is our own world, the earth. Above it are two upper\nworlds, one the home of Afraid of Nothing, and the one below that is\nthe House of the Sun. Below our earth are two lower worlds. The\nfirst is the Ghost Land; the second is the home of those who die a\nsecond time.\n\nThe upper heaven, which is the home of \u201cOur Woman,\u201d or Afraid of\nNothing, as others call her, is a prairie without any trees upon it.\nIn order to reach it, one must pass through the House of the Sun;\nthough some people say that the sky is rent and one must pass\nthrough the great hole to reach the upper world.\n\nThe house of Afraid of Nothing stands in the far east. A strong wind\nblows always toward it across the open prairie so that everything\nrolls to her house; but immediately around the house it is quite\ncalm. In front of the house stands a post in the shape of a large\nwinged monster, and its mouth is the entrance.\n\nAfraid of Nothing created the whole world. A long time ago she also\nhad a great war with the mountains. In the beginning of the world\nthe mountains were of great height. They were human, and they made\nthe world uninhabitable. Afraid of Nothing made war upon them and\ndefeated them. She made them much smaller than they used to be.\nDuring this fight she broke off the nose of one mountain, and its\nface may be recognized even now. It is near the Bella Coola River.\n\nThere were two mountains near the headwaters of the Bella Coola\nRiver, and one kept always a fire burning in his house. One could\nsee the smoke, and this fire warned its master, the mountain,\nwhenever an enemy appeared. When Afraid of Nothing came down in her\ncanoe, the fire gave warning. When she approached, the mountain\nbroke her canoe and turned it into stone. So she returned to heaven.\nThe canoe is still there at the foot of the mountain.\n\nAfraid of Nothing is a great warrior. She visits the earth now and\nthen; but when she does, her visits cause sickness and death.\n\nUnder the world where she lives is the House of the Sun. Our own\nearth is an island swimming in the ocean.\n\n\n\n\n                       CREATION OF THE WORLD\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nThe people were living beyond the sky. They were Wyandots. One day\nthe shaman told the people to dig around the roots of the wild apple\ntree standing by the chief\u2019s lodge and Indians at once began to dig.\nThe chief\u2019s daughter was lying near by. As the men dug, a sudden\nnoise startled them. They jumped back. They had broken through the\nfloor of the Sky Land, and the tree and the chief\u2019s daughter fell\nthrough.\n\nNow the world beneath was a great sheet of water. There was no land\nanywhere. Swans swimming about on the water heard a peal of thunder.\nIt was the first peal ever heard in this world. When they looked\nupward, they saw the tree and the strange woman falling from the Sky\nLand. One of them said, \u201cWhat strange thing is falling down?\u201d Then\nhe added, \u201cThe water will not hold her up. Let us swim together so\nshe will fall upon our backs.\u201d So the chief\u2019s daughter fell upon\ntheir backs, and rested there.\n\nAfter a while one swan said, \u201cWhat shall we do with her? We cannot\nswim about this way very long.\u201d The other said, \u201cLet us ask Big\nTurtle. He will probably call a council. Then we shall know what to\ndo.\u201d\n\nThey swam around to Big Turtle and asked him what to do with the\nwoman on their backs. Big Turtle at once sent a runner with a\nmoccasin to the animals, so they came at once for a great council.\nThe council talked a long while. Then someone stood up and asked\nabout the tree. He said perhaps divers might go down and get just a\nlittle earth from its roots, if they knew where it had sunk. Big\nTurtle said, \u201cYes. If we can get earth, perhaps we might make an\nisland for this woman.\u201d So the swans took them all to the place\nwhere the tree had fallen in the waste of waters.\n\nBig Turtle called for divers. First down went Otter, the best of\nthem all. He sank at once out of sight. He was gone a long, long\nwhile. At last he came up, but he gasped and was dead. Then Muskrat\nwas sent down. He also was gone a long, long while. Muskrat also\ndied. Next Beaver was sent down to get earth from the roots of the\ntree. Beaver also was drowned. Many animals were drowned.\n\nBig Turtle called, \u201cWho will offer to go down for the earth?\u201d No one\noffered himself, until at last Old Toad said she would try. All the\nanimals laughed. Old Toad was very small and very ugly. Big Turtle\nlooked her over, but he said, \u201cWell, you try then.\u201d\n\nDown went Old Toad. At last they could not see her at all, though\nshe went down slowly. Then they waited for her to come back. They\nwaited, and waited, and waited. They began to say, \u201cShe will never\ncome back.\u201d Then they saw a little bubble break on the water. Big\nTurtle said, \u201cLet us swim there. That is where Old Toad is coming\nup.\u201d So it was done. Then Old Toad came slowly to the surface, close\nto Big Turtle. She opened her mouth and spat out a few grains of\nearth that fell on Big Turtle\u2019s shell. Old Toad was done for, too.\n\nSmall Turtle at once began to rub the earth around the edge of Big\nTurtle\u2019s shell. It began to grow into an island. The animals were\nlooking on as it grew. Then the island became large enough for the\nwoman to live on, so she stepped onto the earth. The island grew\nlarger and larger, until it became as large as the world is today.\n\nWhen an earthquake occurs, it is because Big Turtle moves his foot.\nSometimes he gets tired.\n\n\n\n\n                      HOW THE EARTH WAS FORMED\n\n\n                                                              _Cree_\n\nOne winter day Wisagatcak was chiseling the ice, trying to catch Big\nBeaver. At last he caught him by shutting up the creek with stakes,\nleaving only an opening in the center of the stream. Then Wisagatcak\nstood there, waiting for Big Beaver to attempt an escape in that\nway. He stood there a long while. Just as evening came, Wisagatcak\nsaw a beaver coming along, but just as he was about to kill him,\nMuskrat came up quietly behind him and scratched him. Wisagatcak was\nso startled he did not catch the beaver.\n\nAt last it became dark, so he went ashore and built a fire, but he\nhad nothing to eat. He said to himself, \u201cTomorrow I will try to\nbreak the dam down and dry up the creek.\u201d\n\n                 [Illustration: Carved Stone Dishes\n              Showing the Indian love of the grotesque\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\nEarly next morning Wisagatcak made a pointed stick from juniper\nwood. Then he broke the dam down, but yet the creek did not dry up.\nThe water rose, and rose, and rose, until Wisagatcak no longer stood\non dry ground. So he at once made a raft and got on that. He took on\nthe raft with him two of every kind of animal, and stayed there with\nthem for two weeks. So they drifted about because there was no\nchance to land anywhere. And while he drifted, Big Beaver was making\nmedicine against him for breaking the dam.\n\nNow after two weeks, Wisagatcak wished to know the depth of water\nunder the raft. He tied a long string to the feet of Muskrat and\nasked him to dive down and bring up some mud.\n\nMuskrat went down, down, down! He could not even reach the bottom,\nand drowned before Wisagatcak could bring him up. Then he waited\nthree days and told Crow to go and see if he could find any moss.\nCrow came back without anything in his bill. When Crow came back\nwithout any moss, Wisagatcak was frightened. He had a little moss on\nhis raft, so he took that and began to make medicine. The next day\nhe asked Wolf to take the moss in his mouth and run around the raft\nwith it. Wolf did so, and as he ran around, earth began to appear\nand grow on the raft.\n\nWolf ran around the raft for a week, and the land grew larger and\nlarger. It continued to grow for two weeks. By that time the earth\nhad grown so large that Wolf never came back.\n\nThis is how the earth came to be built over water. And this is why\nthere are springs in the earth.\n\nWhen Wolf had been gone for a week, Wisagatcak said to the other\nanimals, \u201cI guess now the land must be large enough for us all to\nlive on.\u201d\n\nBeaver asked, \u201cHow are we going to live? We are eating willows and\npoplars here, but there are no trees on earth yet.\u201d\n\nWisagatcak said, \u201cUm-m-m-m! Yes, you will need a little creek to\nlive in also.\u201d\n\nBeaver said, \u201cWhy, yes, of course.\u201d\n\nWisagatcak said, \u201cI\u2019ll do something tonight.\u201d\n\nThat night Wisagatcak made magic again. He tried to dig down through\nthe earth to his raft, to get a log from it; but the earth was so\nthick, and the pressure of it so great, he could not even find a\ntrace of a log. When he failed to get even a stick, he said to\nBeaver, \u201cI\u2019ll make a creek for you, and you will have to live on\ngrass roots until trees grow up.\u201d\n\nThat is why, even today, Beaver eats certain white roots as well as\nbark.\n\nWhen Wisagatcak came back, he found that Beaver had dug ditches in\nevery direction in his search for roots.\n\n\n\n\n                        OLD ONE AND CREATION\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nBefore the days of the grandfathers, all was water. Old One lived\nthen in the Sky Land.\n\nHe still lives in the Sky Land, just where it is reached by the\nsnow-capped mountains. But in the days before the grandfathers, Old\nOne became tired of looking down at the waste of waters beneath him.\nThere was no earth at all. Old One thought, \u201cI will make an island\nin the middle of that great lake, which will be pleasant to look\nat.\u201d\n\nHe took some soil from the Sky Land, and made a large hollow ball of\nit. Then he threw it down on the water. The lower side of the ball\nspread flat, and all the upper part caved in and spread out into a\nvery large island. The earth even now lies on the water just as it\nwas when Old One threw down the ball. It is all broken up into flats\nand hollows, hills and islets, just as it spread out from the\nhollowed ball.\n\nBut even then the bare earth was not pleasant to Old One, so he\nhimself came down afterward and made the grass and trees and flowers\nto grow.\n\nThat is why the earth is surrounded by water.\n\n\n\n\n                       CREATION OF THE EARTH\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nLong, long ago, everything was a blank. There was nothing at all,\nanywhere, except a number of people who lived together in a camp.\nThey were Sun and his wife Earth. There were also Moon and Stars\nliving there in that camp.\n\nNow Earth scolded Sun all the time. She kept saying, \u201cOh, you\u2019re so\nhot! Go out of doors; you make the house too hot!\u201d She kept telling\nSun how cross he was. Then Sun got tired of it. He moved away, and\nas Stars and Moon were his relatives, they went with him. So Earth\nWoman was left all alone in the camp. Then Earth Woman wept because\nshe was alone.\n\nOld Man came around just then, and he asked what was the matter. He\nasked all about it and Earth Woman told him everything. Then he went\nto Sun\u2019s camp. He talked to Sun.\n\nThen Old Man said, \u201cThis will never do. There\u2019ll be people after a\nwhile. Something has to be done for them.\u201d So Old Man sent Sun,\nMoon, and the Stars up into the sky. He made them just what they are\nnow. He said to them, \u201cHenceforth you shall not desert people nor\nhide yourselves; you shall remain where everybody can see you,\neither by day or by night.\u201d\n\nThen Old One changed Earth Woman into the earth upon which we live.\nHer hair became flowers and grass. Her bones are the rocks. Earth is\nnever alone now, because she can always see Sun.\n\nWhen people came, Old Man taught them how to spear fish and shoot\ndeer with bows and arrows, how to cook the meat and dress the skins.\nOld Man taught people all they know.\n\n\n\n\n                         RAVEN AND CREATION\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nNot long ago, there was no land to be seen.\n\nThen there was a little thing in the ocean.\n\nThis was all open sea, and Raven sat upon this. He said, \u201cBecome\ndust!\u201d It became earth. Then it increased and he divided it, and he\nput this earth into the water on each side of him. One earth he made\nsmall, but he made the one on the other side larger. Because he made\none earth small, this island is small. So he finished this country.\nWhite men call it the Queen Charlotte Islands.\n\nAgain Raven started off. He came to where Eagle lived. And Eagle\nowned the fresh water. Before that there was none to be seen. Raven\nwanted to drink the water, but Eagle did not want to give it to him.\nA long time Raven wanted to drink this water. Then he drank it\nsecretly, unseen by Eagle. Then he made off with it.\n\nThen Raven spit it out. He spit out water upon all lands. He spit\nout Quilan first, therefore that is the elder brother of all the\nstreams on Masset Inlet. When the water was almost gone from his\nmouth he came back to Masset. That is why the water here at Masset\nis red.\n\nThis is the way the story was told in the days of the grandfathers.\nBut some of the story-tellers say that when Raven had taken all the\nfresh water from the Owner-of-the-Water, he carried it in his bill.\nHe let a drop fall and it became the Chilcat River. When he spit it\nout, all the water flowed away and the ground became dry. Then he\nspit out more, and the ground also dried up after the water flowed\naway. Raven saw that. Then he let still more drop, and as soon as he\nlet it drop he bent it together. He made a circle out of it; then it\nstopped running off. Because Raven bent the water together, all the\nstreams keep on running, although they run every day.\n\n\n\n\n            ORIGIN OF RIVERS IN QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nBeaver lived in a beautiful house on the shore of a large lake. In\nthe lake were salmon and on the shores were berries of all kinds.\n\nOne day Raven disguised himself as a poor, hungry person. He went to\nBeaver\u2019s house. Beaver was just coming home with a fish and berries.\nBeaver said, \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d\n\nRaven said, \u201cMy father has just died. We have the same ancestors. He\ntold me to visit you and ask for food.\u201d\n\nBeaver believed Raven and pitied him. He told Raven to stay at home,\npromising to give him much food. There were always fish in the lake\nand ripe berries on the shores.\n\nThe next day Raven went to the lake. He rolled up the water like a\nblanket. He took it in his beak and flew away. He alighted on the\ntop of a large cedar tree.\n\nWhen Beaver went out to fish, he found his lake was gone. Then\nBeaver called all the Beavers to help him, all the Wolves and Bears.\nHe called also a monster Talat-adega, which has a long body, a long\ntail, and many legs. He asked them to throw the tree down.\n\nThe Wolves dug up the roots of the tree, Beavers gnawed the trunk of\nthe tree. All the animals worked until the tree fell; then Raven\nflew to another tree.\n\nAll the animals of the forest worked hard. They tried to throw this\ntree down. But when it fell down, Raven flew to another tree.\n\nAfter they had felled four trees, the animals said, \u201cPlease give us\nour chief\u2019s water. Don\u2019t make us unhappy.\u201d\n\nBut Raven only flew away. He spilled some of the water on the ground\nas he flew along. Thus originated all the rivers on Queen Charlotte\nIslands. Raven also made the Skeena and Stikine rivers.\n\nThere was a man named Kilkun at Skidegate. Kilkun said to Raven,\n\u201cGive me some water!\u201d Raven gave him only a few drops. Then Kilkun\nbecame angry and fell dead. He forms the long point of land at\nSkidegate.\n\n\n\n\n                        ORIGIN OF HAIDA LAND\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nBefore the days of the grandfathers there was nothing but water. All\nwas water, except a single reef. Here lived the supernatural beings.\nThey were much crowded. They all lay heaped together. Then Raven\nflew all about trying to get a footing, but he could alight nowhere.\n\nThen Raven looked at the sky. It was solid. It was very beautiful\nand Raven was fascinated by it. He said, \u201cI\u2019ll go up there,\u201d so he\nran his beak into the sky and climbed up.\n\nNow in the Sky Land was a large town. The chief lived there and in\nthe chief\u2019s house was a baby. When night came, Raven took the baby\nby the heel and shook all his bones out. Then he crept into the skin\nand pretended to be the baby. But at night he stole out of the\nbaby\u2019s skin and became Raven. He flew into all the houses and made\nmuch mischief. Then at last a woman saw him and told all the people.\n\nThen the chief called all the people together and they sang a song\nfor Raven. It was a magic song, and in the midst of it the one\nholding Raven let him fall, and he dropped down out of the Sky\nCountry until he fell upon the great waters.\n\nNow the cradle drifted about on the water for a long time. Raven\ncried; then he cried himself to sleep; but as Raven slept, something\nsaid, \u201cYour powerful grandfather invites you in.\u201d Raven sat up\nquickly. He looked toward the sound, but there was nothing there.\nSoon the voice said the same words.\n\nRaven looked through the hole in his marten\u2019s-skin blanket.\nPresently up through the water came a grebe saying, \u201cYour powerful\ngrandfather invites you in.\u201d\n\nThen Raven stood up. His cradle was floating against a kelp with two\nheads. He stepped upon it, and behold! it was really a two-headed\nhouse pole made of stone. When Raven climbed down, he found he could\nbreathe as easily as in the air above.\n\nBeneath the house pole was a house. Someone said, \u201cCome inside, my\nson, I hear that you come to borrow something from me.\u201d Raven\nentered. In the back part of the house sat old Sea-Gull Man. The old\nman sent him for a box which hung in the corner. There were four\nothers inside of this. Raven pulled them all apart and took out two\nlong pieces of something. One was black and the other was covered\nwith shining points.\n\nSea-Gull Man took the two pieces and showed them to Raven. He said,\n\u201cLay this speckled stone in the water first, and this black one\nlast. Then bite off a piece of each, and spit it out and the pieces\nwill reunite;\u201d so he said.\n\nWhen Raven went out, he put the black piece into the water first.\nWhen he had bitten off part of the rock with shining points and laid\nit in the water, the points rebounded. He had not done as he had\nbeen told. Now he went back to the black one, and bit off part of\nit, and spit it out again. Then the pieces stuck. These were going\nto become land. He put this into the water, and it stretched itself\nout and became the Haida Country. Of the other piece he made the\nSeaward Country\u2014the mainland.\n\n                 [Illustration: Paradise Valley[1]\n                      Laggan, Alberta, Canada\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\n                 [Illustration: Lakes in the Clouds\n                      Laggan, Alberta, Canada\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\n\n\n\n                        RAVEN AND MOON WOMAN\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nRaven became the son of Moon Woman. He cried a great deal. When he\ncried, he said, \u201cBoo-hoo, moon!\u201d Then his mother said, \u201cHe talks\nabout a thing beyond his reach, which the supernatural beings own.\u201d\nSo Raven began to cry again, \u201cBoo-hoo, moon!\u201d\n\nThen, when Moon Woman\u2019s mind was tired out with his noise, she\nstopped up all the holes in the house. She stopped up the smoke\nhole, and all the small holes as well.[2] Then she untied the\nstrings of the box. Although they were very strong, she untied them.\nShe did this because the moon was inside the box. Then she took the\nmoon out and let Raven play with it. She did not give it to him; she\nonly let him play with it to quiet him.\n\nAfter his mother had gone out, Raven took up the moon in his beak.\nHe turned himself into a raven and flew about the house with it. He\nmade himself small. Just before his mother returned, he made himself\na child again. Then he again played with the moon.\n\nThen Raven again began crying loudly, when his mother returned. He\ncried, \u201cBoo-hoo, boo-hoo, smoke hole!\u201d So he cried, \u201cBoo-hoo,\nboo-hoo, smoke hole!\u201d He cried this way for a long time. Then he\ntired his mother\u2019s mind with his crying, and she opened the smoke\nhole a little. Raven cried, \u201cBoo-hoo, more! Boo-hoo, more!\u201d for a\nlong time. Then she made the opening in the smoke hole larger, and\nhe kept crying, \u201cBoo-hoo, more!\u201d until she had made it quite large.\n\nThen again Raven played with the moon. Raven cried because he wanted\nthe moon, and his mother did not want to give it to him. When he\ncried very much, she gave it to him and made that large opening in\nthe smoke hole.\n\nNow at that time it was always dark. Raven did not like darkness.\n\nNow after she had made the smoke hole larger, his mother again went\nout, and Raven was playing with the moon. Then he put the moon in\nhis beak and flew through the smoke hole with it. Immediately he put\nthe moon under his wing. He perched up on top of the house with the\nmoon under his arm and called like a raven.\n\nThen Raven flew to the bank of the Nass River, where they were\ntaking olachen. And it was dark. Raven called, \u201cIf you will bring me\nyour spruce needles, I will make it light for you.\u201d He called the\nolachen spruce needles. He said that same thing again.\n\nThe fishermen replied, \u201cOne who always talks is talking about\nsomething which the supernatural beings own, and which is beyond his\nreach.\u201d\n\nThus they made him angry, and he let them see a little of the moon.\nIt became light. Then they all went to him and gave him a great many\nolachen.\n\nRaven again put the moon under his arm. Flying up with it, he sat on\nthe top of a high mountain. He took the moon out, and threw it down\nso it broke. He took half of it and threw it up into the sky, and\nsaid, \u201cYou shall be the moon and shall give light in the middle of\nthe night.\u201d He then threw the other half upward and said, \u201cYou shall\nshine in the middle of the day.\u201d Then he threw upward the small\nfragments, and said, \u201cYou shall be the stars; when it is clear, they\nshall see you all during the night.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                          ORIGIN OF LIGHT\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nAfter the earth was formed on Big Turtle\u2019s shell, there was not\nenough light, so the animals said. Big Turtle called a council. When\nthe council met, Big Turtle said that because the island had been\nmade for the woman, there should be more light. Someone said that a\nlight hung in the sky would be well. Then Small Turtle at once\nanswered, \u201cIf I could climb into the sky, I could gather together\nsome of the lightning, and make a ball of it.\u201d Big Turtle said, \u201cOh,\nyes. Try to climb up. You have great power.\u201d\n\nAt once Small Turtle made medicine, and soon there was a great\nstorm. A cloud full of lightning rolled down towards the council,\nwith a great noise. There were broken rocks and trees in the cloud.\nIt came so near that Small Turtle climbed into the cloud, and went\nupward with it.\n\nWhen she reached the Sky Land, Small Turtle gathered much lightning\ntogether. She made a ball out of it, and hung it in the sky. After\nthat there was light on the island because the sun shone. Small\nTurtle also made moon.\n\n\n\n\n                          ORIGIN OF LIGHT\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nA large dead tree stood near Spence\u2019s Bridge. It was full of magic\nand possessed the power of giving light. At that time the world was\nalways dark. Now Chipmunk did not like the continual darkness, and\nhis friends did not like it, but some of the animals did. And some\nof the other animals were undecided.\n\nChipmunk knew that if he set fire to the magic tree near Spence\u2019s\nBridge, the world would become light again, so he set fire to the\nroots, and kept poking the ashes away with a stick that the wind\nmight fan the flames. When the tree fell, the earth became light.\n\nNow Grizzly Bear and his friends wanted continual darkness. When\nthat tree fell, Grizzly appeared in a great rage and began to put\nout the fire by throwing earth on the log and on Chipmunk.\n\nGrizzly Bear cried,\n\n  Le pa, Le pa! Dimness, dimness!\n\nChipmunk would poke the fire and brush the earth and ashes away and\nsing,\n\n  Tse ka, tse ka! Light, light, light!\n\nAnd immediately the fire would flame up and light would come; but\nwhen Grizzly Bear threw on more earth it became dark again.\n\nNow both Grizzly and Chipmunk sang as loud and as hard as they\ncould, and sometimes it was light and sometimes it was dark. After a\nwhile they both grew tired. Then they agreed that it should be dark\npart of the time, and light part of the time.\n\nBut Grizzly Bear was angry at Chipmunk and chased him into a hole.\nAs Chipmunk scampered into the hole, Grizzly scratched his back.\nThat is the reason Chipmunk has stripes on his back.\n\n\n\n\n                         CREATION OF LIGHT\n\n\n                                                           _Carrier_\n\nIn the days of the animal people, there was darkness everywhere\nexcept in the tepee of an old chief. He owned all the light, fire,\nand water; therefore men were very miserable and sighed always. Men\npleaded with the old chief for light, but he would give them none.\nTherefore they tried to get it by craft.\n\nNow all the animals put on their masks and their dancing aprons and\nwent to the old chief\u2019s lodge for a dance. He did not invite them.\nThey went. They were going to get light by craft.\n\nNow each one sang his own song. Fox kept singing,\n\n  Khain, khain, khain,\n\nbecause he thought in that way he would gain light. Therefore the\nanimals call him Khain, which means, \u201cHe cries for daylight.\u201d\n\nNow the old chief steadily refused to give them light. Yet the\nanimal people were each singing his own song, and each singing,\n\n  Light, light, light, light!\n\nThus they sang. And they sang so loudly and so steadily that light\nbegan to steal up into the sky, like a faint dawn. The old chief saw\nit. At once he shouted,\n\n  Let there not be\u2014\u2014!\n\n  Let there not be\u2014\u2014!\n\nHad he said \u201clight\u201d as the last word, light would have come. But at\nonce the light disappeared below the edge of the sky.\n\nNow young Fox kept on conjuring and crying,\n\n  Khain, khain, khain, khain!\n\nand the animals kept on dancing and singing for light, because they\nwanted to tire the old chief. And again light began to steal into\nthe sky. Then the old chief saw it and he became much excited. The\nnoise confused him and he shouted,\n\n  Let there be\u2014light!\n\nAnd immediately the light came up into the sky. Ever since then men\nhave had light. But the old chief did not mean to say that.\n\n\n\n\n                           COMING OF FIRE\n\n\n                                                           _Carrier_\n\nNow after the animal people had won light by shouting \u201cKhain,\u201d and\n \u201clight,\u201d and had confused the old chief, they were very happy for a\ntime. But they had no fire. The same old chief owned all the fire in\nthe world. He kept it in his lodge, carefully guarded. Therefore the\npeople resolved to steal it, because he would not give it to them.\n\nNow the people laid their plans. They said Young Caribou and Muskrat\nmust help. Then they put on their dancing aprons and their dancing\nmasks, and went to the lodge of the old chief. Young Caribou had a\nfine headdress of pine shavings fastened to his horns. Young Muskrat\nhad a dancing apron made of a marmot skin.\n\nNow they all entered the old chief\u2019s lodge. They began singing, and\nYoung Caribou and Muskrat began their dancing. Each took a place at\none side of the fire, where the old chief kept close watch. Muskrat\nsang,\n\n  Oh, shelte! Oh, shelte!\n\nwhich are magic words. Therefore Indians say, \u201cOh, shelte,\u201d even\ntoday, when they hunt muskrats.\n\nYoung Caribou, as he danced, jerked his head from side to side until\nthe shavings caught fire. At once the old chief put them out with\nhis hands. Everybody began to dance then, and Young Caribou let the\nshavings catch fire. And again the old chief put them out, though\nthey were quite a blaze.\n\nNow, while the old chief was busy watching Caribou, Muskrat had been\nbusy. He had burrowed a tunnel through the earth. Then he quickly\nstole a piece of fire and slipped into his hole with it. The old\nchief was busy putting out the fire in the shavings on Caribou\u2019s\nhorns. Everybody went on dancing.\n\nSuddenly a person said, \u201cOh, look!\u201d He pointed to a great mountain\nfar away, near the edge of the sky. A great column of smoke rose\nfrom it. Then soon flames burst from the mountain top.\n\nAt once everybody knew that Muskrat had stolen the old chief\u2019s fire,\nand had given it to men and animals.\n\n\n\n\n       HOW GRIZZLY BEAR AND COYOTE MADE LIGHT AND THE SEASONS\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nOne day Grizzly Bear met Coyote and said to him, \u201cI am great in\nmagic, greater than all of the people. When I wish a thing to be so,\nit has to be so. Now, I do not like having it dark so short a time.\nI intended to make it dark all the time.\u201d\n\nCoyote said, \u201cOh, no! That would inconvenience the people too much.\u201d\n\nGrizzly Bear said, \u201cI intend to have it my way.\u201d\n\nCoyote said, \u201cNo, you can\u2019t!\u201d\n\nAt once Grizzly Bear began to dance, singing,\n\n  Darkness! darkness! darkness! Let it always be dark!\n\nThat was his song.\n\nCoyote also danced and sang,\n\n  Light! light! light! light! Let it always be light!\n\nThus Coyote sang.\n\nThey danced and sang a long, long time. Sometimes it was dark, when\nGrizzly sang loudest, and sometimes it was light when Coyote sang\nloudest. But neither won.\n\nAt last Grizzly Bear became tired. He said, \u201cLet\u2019s have it dark half\nthe time, and light half the time.\u201d Coyote agreed. He said,\n\u201cHereafter it shall be light from the time that the sun prepares to\nfollow the trail through the Sky Land until he reaches the edge of\nthe Darkening Land. The rest of the time shall be night. Thus every\nday shall Sun travel. When he leaves the Earth Plain, the darkness\nshall follow him.\u201d\n\n\nAfter a while, Grizzly Bear said, \u201cI do not like the length of the\nyear. Winter is far too short. Let winter be as many moons long as\nthere are feathers in the tail of Blue Grouse.\u201d So they counted and\nfound twenty-two feathers in the tail of Blue Grouse. Grizzly Bear\nwanted winter to be twenty-two moons long!\n\nCoyote said at once, \u201cOh, no! The people would die. Let winter be\nhalf that number.\u201d Grizzly Bear objected. Then Coyote said, \u201cLet\nthere be as many moons in the year as there are feathers in\nFlicker\u2019s tail.\u201d Grizzly Bear agreed, because he thought there were\nmany feathers in Flicker\u2019s tail.\n\n                  [Illustration: Shuswap Beadwork\n   Tobacco pouch designs of great beauty. From the region of the\n                          Canadian Rockies\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\nNow, when they counted, there were only twelve feathers in Flicker\u2019s\ntail. But it was too late to make any change. So Coyote said,\n\u201cHereafter in a year there shall be six months of warm weather and\nsix months in which it may snow and be cold.\u201d\n\nThus Coyote saved the people from living in darkness, and from very\nlong, cold winters.\n\n\n\n\n                      ORIGIN OF LIGHT AND FIRE\n\n\n                                                          _Lillooet_\n\nRaven and Sea Gull were friends. Their houses were close together in\nthe Lillooet country. It was dark all over the world at this time,\nbecause Sea Gull owned the daylight, which he kept in a box. He\nnever let any of it out except for his own use.\n\nRaven said, \u201cIt isn\u2019t fair that Sea Gull should have all the\ndaylight. People should have some of it.\u201d Therefore Raven planned to\nget the daylight.\n\nOne night he placed thorn branches on the trail between Sea Gull\u2019s\nhouse and the place where his canoe was fastened. Then he ran to Sea\nGull, shouting, \u201cYour canoe has gone adrift! Your canoe has gone\nadrift!\u201d Sea Gull heard Raven and rushed out of the house in haste.\nHe did not even put on his moccasins; he ran in his bare feet and\nstepped on the thorns. Then Sea Gull screamed, \u201cAh-ah!\u201d just as sea\ngulls do now. He shouted to Raven, \u201cGet my canoe! Save my canoe!\u201d\nThen he went back to his house. He was much excited.\n\nRaven pulled up the canoe and went to the house. Gull spoke of those\nthorns in his feet. Raven said, \u201cOh, I can pull them out, if you\nwill let a little daylight out of your box.\u201d So Gull sat down beside\nthe box and opened it a little with one hand. Raven began to pull\nout the thorns with an awl. Soon he said, \u201cI can\u2019t see well. Give me\nmore light.\u201d Gull opened the box a little more.\n\nRaven pulled out all the thorns but one. He said, \u201cThis last one is\nhard to get out. I shall need more light.\u201d When Gull opened the box\na little more, Raven gave his arm a push. Thus he knocked down the\nbox and broke it. Then all the daylight rolled out and spread all\nover the world. Sea Gull was unable to collect it again.\n\nRaven took out the last thorn and went home chuckling.\n\n\nNow Raven could see very well indeed, and one day he cleaned himself\nnicely. He combed and oiled his hair, and put on his best robe, and\npainted his face black. Then he sat on the top of his underground\nhouse and looked all over the world. He saw nothing. The third day\nhe changed the paint on his face. That evening he saw signs of\nsmoke. The fourth day Raven changed his face paint again. Now he\nlocated the smoke. It was far away to the south, on the shore of the\nsea.\n\nRaven had four servants. They all at once entered a small canoe, but\nit was swamped. Then he tried another. Then he said to his wife, \u201cGo\nto Sea Gull\u2019s house and tell him I need to borrow his canoe.\u201d So he\nstarted off in Sea Gull\u2019s canoe.\n\nNow they paddled downstream until they were close to the house of\nthe people who owned the fire. They planned very quietly. That night\nthey bored a hole under where the baby board hung and stole the\nbaby. Then they ran away.\n\nNow early in the morning the people missed the baby. They knew what\nhad happened. But Raven was too far ahead. They sent out men.\nSturgeon, Whale, and Seal searched for Raven\u2019s boat, but they could\nnot find him. Other men searched, but only one small fish found\nRaven\u2019s canoe. He tried to stop the runaways by sticking to the\npaddle, but after a while he got tired and went home. Now Raven\nreached his own country.\n\nThen the Fire People visited Raven with presents. Four times they\ncame; Raven refused all their gifts. Then they said, \u201cWhat do you\nwish?\u201d Raven said, \u201cFire.\u201d Then they said, \u201cWell, why didn\u2019t you say\nthat before?\u201d And they were glad, because they had plenty of fire\nand thought little of its value. So they brought Raven fire, and he\ngave them back their baby. These Fire People showed Raven how to\nmake fire with dry cottonwood roots.\n\nRaven said to Sea Gull, \u201cIf I had not got the light from you, I\ncould not have seen where the fire was kept.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                        HOW FIRE WAS SECURED\n\n\n                                                          _Lillooet_\n\nBeaver and Eagle lived with their sister in the Lillooet country.\nThey had no fire at all, so they ate all their food raw. The sister\ncried and complained constantly because she had no fire at which to\nroast her dried salmon skins. At last the brothers said, \u201cDon\u2019t cry\nany more. We will get fire for you. First we will need to train\nourselves for a long time; but if you cry while we are training, we\nshall fail.\u201d\n\nBeaver and Eagle went into the mountains and trained for four years.\nThen they knew where fire was, and they returned home and told their\nsister that they knew how to find it.\n\nNow they started off. They traveled five days to the house of the\npeople who owned the fire. Eagle drew over himself an eagle\u2019s body;\nand Beaver drew over himself a beaver\u2019s body.\n\nBeaver at once went to work. He dammed the creek nearby and that\nnight made a hole under that house. The next morning Beaver swam\naround in the pond of water made by the dam. An old man saw him and\nshot him. He took Beaver into the house and laid him beside the\nfire. He told the people to skin him. While they were skinning\nBeaver, they found a clam shell under his arm, which he had hidden\nthere.\n\nJust then the people saw a large eagle perched in a tree nearby.\nQuickly they wished for his feathers. At once they all ran out and\nbegan to shoot at him, but no one could hit him. And while they were\nshooting, Beaver was left alone.\n\nThen Beaver rose quickly and put fire in his clam shell. He dug into\nthe hole he had made beneath the house, and raced away to the water.\nHe swam away with the fire.\n\nAs soon as Eagle saw that Beaver was safe, he flew away. Then they\nreturned home. They gave fire to their sister.\n\n\n\n\n                       HOW RAVEN BROUGHT FIRE\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nAt that time there was no fire to be seen. They did not even know of\nit. Raven went northward on the surface of the sea. Far out at sea a\nbig kelp was growing out of the water, but the kelp head was gone,\nand many sparks came out of it. This was the first time that Raven\nhad ever seen fire.\n\nThen Raven went along to it on the bottom of the sea. Then the big\nfishes\u2014the Black Whales, and the Dolphins, and others\u2014wanted to kill\nhim as he went along. Owner-of-the-Fire was the one to whom he went.\n\nWhen Raven entered his house, Owner-of-the-Fire said to him, \u201cCome\nand sit here, chief.\u201d Raven said, to him, \u201cWill the chief give me\nfire?\u201d\n\nOwner-of-the-Fire gave fire to Raven, as he had been desired, and\nwhen he gave it to him, he put it in a stone tray. A cover was over\nit.\n\nRaven went away with it. After he had gone up to the shore, Raven\nput a fragment of live coal into a cedar standing there. Because he\nput fire into the cedar, when people want to start a fire they use a\ndrill of cedar, because fire comes from it.\n\n\n\n\n                   WHEN MINK CARRIED THE TORCHES\n\n\n                                                       _Bella Coola_\n\nMink\u2019s father was \u201cWalking-through-the-Heavens.\u201d He was Sun, but no\none knew it, and one day when Mink was playing with the children of\nhis village, they laughed at him saying that he had no father. Mink\nbegan to cry and went home to his mother.\n\nMink\u2019s mother said, \u201cWhy, your father is\nWalking-through-the-Heavens.\u201d Then Mink demanded bows and arrows,\nand his mother gave them to him.\n\nMink went outside the lodge and began to shoot his arrows into the\nsky. The first arrow struck the sky and stuck there. The second\narrow hit the notch of the first, and held there; and the third\narrow stuck in the notch of the second. So with four arrows Mink\nmade an arrow chain which became a rope. He called to his mother and\nsaid, \u201cHold the rope so it will not shake,\u201d and she did so.\n\nThen Mink began to climb up into the Sky Land, while his mother held\nthe rope. After a long time he reached the door to the upper world.\nThen he climbed in and looked around him. He began to walk toward a\nbright house in the distance. It was Sun\u2019s house. As he came near\nit, a woman came out to pick up wood. When she saw Mink, she said,\n\u201cOh, little one! Where do you come from, sonny?\u201d The woman went at\nonce back into the house and told Sun.\n\nNow Walking-through-the-Heavens was tired that day. He did not climb\nthe trail through the sky, but left it covered with clouds.\nTherefore it was gray and cloudy in the Earth Land. When there are\nclouds in the sky, that is the time that Walking-through-the-Heavens\nrests.\n\nMink told his father that the boys in the village teased him. He\nbegged to be allowed to carry Sun\u2019s torches. Then Sun said, \u201cOh, you\ncan\u2019t do it. I carry many torches. Early in the morning and late in\nthe afternoon I burn small torches; but at noon I burn the larger\nones.\u201d\n\nMink teased and teased. He said he wanted to carry the torches just\nonce. Therefore one day Sun said, \u201cI think I\u2019ll rest today. You may\ncarry the torches.\u201d\n\nSo Walking-through-the-Heavens gave him the torches. He said, \u201cOh,\nchild, take care! Walk in the morning, but don\u2019t walk too fast. Do\nnot sweep your aunts, the clouds, away too quickly, or it will go\nhard with the people in the Earth World.\u201d Then he said again, as\nMink started off, \u201cDon\u2019t be too fast when you walk or sweep.\u201d\n\nSo Mink started off, carrying the torches. At first he lighted only\nsmall ones, and he walked slowly, and swept away the clouds not too\nrapidly. He did it very well indeed. But at noon Mink became tired.\nHe swept away the clouds very rapidly, and he walked very fast. Then\nhe also lighted many of the large torches at once.\n\nAt once it grew very hot. Great cracks came into the mountains and\nthey began to split. All the rocks in the world were burned so that\nthey are bare, even today. The trees began to burn and many animals\njumped into the water. But the water began to boil. Mink\u2019s mother\ncovered all the people with her blanket, so they were saved. All the\npeople in the world hid under her blanket. The animals tried to hide\nunder the rocks and in caves. Ermine crept into a hole which was not\nquite large enough, so the end of his tail stuck out. It was burned\nblack. That is why Ermine is white with a black tip to his tail.\nMountain Goat hid in a cave, so he is perfectly white. All the\nanimals which did not hide were scorched and therefore they have\ndark fur on the upper side of their bodies, but the under side is\nlighter.\n\nNow when Sun saw what was happening to the people of the Earth\nWorld, he rushed up the trail, and said, \u201cWhy do you do so? Do you\nthink it is good that there should be no people on the Earth World?\u201d\n\nSun took the half-burned torches and put them out. Then he pushed\nMink right out of the Sky Land, saying, \u201cGo right down to the Earth\nWorld again. You shall be mink and men shall hunt you.\u201d\n\nNow four women had gone out digging clams. Then they saw something\nfloating around among the drifting seaweed. They went towards it. It\nwas Mink. When they touched him, he rubbed his eyes and said, \u201cI\nhave been sleeping on the water for a long time.\u201d Then he went up\nthe beach and went home to his mother.\n\nNow the world was hot, and the trees were burning, so that Sun\ncaused the waters to rise until they covered the whole country\nexcept for a few mountains on Bella Coola River which rose above the\nwaters. The Bella Bella and the Bella Coola tribes fastened their\ncanoes to the tops of these mountains, and for this reason they were\nnot lost. Other tribes tied their canoes to other mountains, but\nsome of the canoe ropes broke and the people drifted away to\ndifferent countries. The flood went as far north as the Skeena\nRiver, and people drifted even from up there. One canoe drifted over\nin the lands of the white people. Then at last Sun made the waters\nto sink.\n\n                   [Illustration: Cathedral Peak\n                      Field, British Columbia\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\nCrow was sitting on the top of a tree when Mink made the Earth World\nto burn. The smoke was so black that it made Crow black all over.\nBefore that Crow had been white; so the Indians say.\n\n\n\n\n                              OLD ONE\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nIn the days of the grandfathers men did not know anything at all\nabout the other worlds. They knew very little even about the Earth\nLand.\n\nNow in the Sky Land lived an old chief who was very wise and very\nkind, and with great magic. The son of the old chief died and he did\nnot know where he had gone. Therefore Old One was very sorrowful. He\nwailed, \u201cWhere is my son gone? He cannot be dead. He has only gone\naway. But where has he gone?\u201d In those days death did not happen\noften.\n\nTherefore Old One began to travel. He went everywhere. He came down\nto the Earth World and went into the Shuswap country. Here he found\nthe people very ignorant. He taught them how to fell trees and make\ntwine, how to sew clothes and make needles and awls. He also taught\nthem how to hunt game, how to trap, and dig roots, and gather\nberries so they would have food enough. So the people were much\nhappier. There were no salmon there in those days; it was long\nafterward that Coyote brought the salmon up the river.\n\nAfter traveling all through the Shuswap country, Old One went on. It\nbecame known afterward that he traveled through the country of six\ndifferent tribes, teaching all the people how to live, and looking\nalways for his son.\n\nWhen he lived at home in the Sky Land, Old One had two servants and\nseveral companions. His two servants were Beavers, and one slept at\nthe head of his bed and one at the door of his house. Because they\nwere nearer to him, Old One made them the most valuable of animals.\nThat is why beaver fur is always so much sought after.\n\n\n\n\n                           THE GREAT FIRE\n\n\n                                                          _Lillooet_\n\nWhen Tsuntia and the four Black Bear brothers had traveled over the\nearth and put things to rights, they met one another at the edge of\nthe earth. Black Bear brothers said, \u201cThere is yet one country where\nthe people are bad. They were too strong for us. You go to that\ncountry and stop the sun so they will all be burned up.\u201d Thus they\nspoke to Tsuntia.\n\nTsuntia said, \u201cIf I go there and stop the sun, all the people in the\nworld will be burned up and everything on earth besides.\u201d\n\nThe brothers would not believe this, so Tsuntia commanded the sun to\nstand still. Then the earth became so hot it was scorched. The tops\nof the trees began to smoke. The Black Bear brothers were overcome\nwith the heat, and they began to be afraid. They said, \u201cWe see that\nyou know and speak the truth. Now let the sun move on.\u201d\n\nTsuntia said to them, \u201cWhistle at the sun, and he will go on.\u201d They\nsaid, \u201cOh, no. You do it.\u201d So Tsuntia whistled and pointed his\nfinger at the sun. The sun followed his finger as he moved it toward\nthe west. He moved his finger down over the mountains and the sun\nset rapidly.\n\nThen a breeze sprang up and soon cooled the earth and the people.\nThe bad people of that country were never punished. They are there\nyet, near the edge of the earth.\n\n\n\n\n                      THE BURNING OF THE WORLD\n\n\n                                                              _Cree_\n\nOnce all the world was burned. Only a man and his mother and his\nsister were saved. Before the fire there were many people on earth.\nThen the young man fell out with his father, and they became\nenemies. The young man had heard that all the world was to be\nburned, but his father did not believe it.\n\nNow the young man made a bow and arrows. He shot one arrow to the\nwest, and one to the east, and one to the north, and one to the\nsouth. The places where the arrows fell were the four corners of a\nbit of ground which would not burn. The young man told everybody who\nwanted to be saved from the fire to come onto that square of land.\nMany did not believe the world would be burned, so they would not\ncome.\n\nAfter a while the fire came. They could hear it. They were encamped\nby the side of a big lake. By and by all the birds and animals came\nrunning to that bit of ground marked out by the arrows. The old man\nhad quarreled with his son, so he would not come. The fire was very\nhot. All the water boiled because it was so hot.\n\nAfter a while the fire was put out, and the water had settled down.\nEverything had to be started over again.\n\nNow there were many animals on this patch of ground, and the man\nnamed some of them and told them what to do.\n\nHe put Beaver in the water, but Rabbit wanted to live in the water.\nThe man said, \u201cNo.\u201d Then Rabbit jumped into the water and the man\nhad to pull him out. He said to Rabbit, \u201cYour legs are too long.\nEven if you do eat willow like Beaver, you don\u2019t go about in the\nwater properly.\u201d\n\nSquirrel wanted to be Bear. He did all he could to be Bear. He\nargued and chattered a great deal about it. The man said, \u201cOh,\nyou\u2019re too noisy. You wouldn\u2019t be a good Bear.\u201d He said also, \u201cIf\nyou are Bear, you are so noisy that when people come again, they\nwill kill too many of you. A bear must keep quiet. He has many\nenemies.\u201d Then Squirrel began to weep. He wept until his eyes were\nwhite. Even today Squirrel has eyes bright and swollen from weeping.\n\nThe man made Bear then, because he was nice and wise and quiet.\n\nSomebody wanted to be Caribou\u2014nobody remembers just who wanted that.\nThen Deer was made, and made so swift that he could outrun all\npursuers.\n\nAfter the man had finished making all the animals, he put a mark on\nthem, so people would know what they were.\n\nThen the man had to give all the people new names. His mother he\ncalled Robin, because she was friendly. His sister he called\nGolden-winged Woodpecker, because she was beautiful. He called\nhimself Blackbird because he would only come every spring.\n\n\n\n\n                          THE HOUSE OF SUN\n\n\n                                                       _Bella Coola_\n\nThe House of Sun stands in the center of the lower heaven. It has\nother names. Sometimes it is called \u201cWhere man was created,\u201d\nsometimes \u201cHouse from which people come down,\u201d and sometimes \u201cHouse\nto which people go.\u201d\n\nIn front of the house stands a great pole, painted with birds of\nevery kind, with the white crane sitting on top of the post. The\nmaster of the house is Sun. He is also called \u201cOur Father,\u201d and\nsometimes the \u201cSacred One.\u201d The Bella Coola pray to Sun. When they\ngo hunting they say, \u201cLook on us, where we are going, Father.\u201d Or\nthey say, \u201cTake care of us, Father.\u201d After long rain, they pray,\n\u201cWipe your face, Father, that it may be fair weather.\u201d The hunter\nwho has shot deer, or the woman who has found many berries, prays,\n\u201cFather, you make me happy; you give me what I desire; thus I find\nwhat I wished for!\u201d\n\nThe Bella Coola also make offerings to the Sun. Hunters throw four\nsmall slices of seal meat, or of mountain-goat tallow, into the\nfire, as an offering to Sun, to obtain success in hunting.\n\nThere are other gods living in the House of the Sun. Two of them\nwake man after sleep; without their help nobody could awaken from\nsleep. One of them is the guardian of the Moon. Every month she\nrestores the Moon to her full size; and she cleans the face of the\nMoon after an eclipse. Because when the Moon performs religious\nceremonies, she paints her face black.\n\nThe Mother of Flowers lives also in the House of Sun. Every spring\nshe sends all the new young flowers down to the earth.\n\nThere are four brothers who live in the House of Sun. They are\nalways busy in carving and painting. They taught men to make boxes,\nto build houses, to carve wood, and to paint. They also taught him\nto hunt, and they made fish for him to catch.\n\nThe Daughter of Sun invented the art of working cedar bark. She has\na song which she sings when the bark is brought to her and she\nbreaks it over the edge of a stick, so that it may be woven into\nmats and clothing. First she sings, \u201cBring me the board on which to\nbreak the bark,\u201d and then when she begins to work, she sings another\nsong. Part of it is, \u201cBehold me, ye who are not initiated. I am the\nCedar-bark Breaker, the Daughter of Sun.\u201d\n\nMany other people live in the House of Sun. One of them visits\nhouses and steals provisions.\n\nThe path of Sun is well guarded. Bear guards the sunrise. He is a\nvery fierce warrior who protects Sun against warlike enemies, and\nBear is also the cause of the warlike spirit of man. His hair is\ntied up in a knot on top of his head.\n\nAt the sunset stands an enormous post which supports the sky and\nprevents Sun from falling down into the lower world. The trail of\nSun is a wide bridge. It is as broad as the distance between the\nsummer solstice and the winter solstice. Sun always walks with his\nface to the west. In summer he walks on the right-hand side of the\nbridge, and in winter at the left-hand side. The extreme right-and\nleft-hand sides of the bridge are called \u201cPlace where the Sun sits\ndown.\u201d If Sun tarries too long on the left-hand side of the bridge,\npeople say, \u201cSalmon will be dried late this year.\u201d But if he stays a\nlong while on the right-hand side, they say, \u201cThere will be plenty\nof salmon this year.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                       WHY THE SUN IS BRIGHT\n\n\n                                                          _Lillooet_\n\nOnce a whole village moved away. They were angry with a boy, so they\nleft him behind with his grandmother. Now it looked as though they\nwould starve. Grandmother said, \u201cSnare small animals. Shoot the\nbirds.\u201d So the boy snared rabbits and squirrels and many small\nanimals. He shot many birds with bright plumage. Grandmother cooked\nthe animals and birds, but she made him a robe from the skins of the\nbirds. The robe was very large and bright. The boy wore it when he\nwent to spear fish.\n\nNow Sun, when he followed the trail in the Sky Land, saw the robe\nwhen the boy was spearing fish. He saw that robe many times. One day\nSun left the trail and came to visit the boy. Sun always dressed in\na goatskin robe, with long fringe.\n\nSun said to the boy, \u201cI will exchange blankets with you.\u201d The boy\nlooked at the goatskin robe, and said, \u201cOh, no!\u201d\n\n            [Illustration: Haida Blanket Border Designs\n            Symbolical of the raven and the killer whale\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\nSun said, \u201cYou do not know the value of my robe. It can catch more\nfish than you can spear.\u201d Sun placed the fringe of his blanket in\nthe water, and at once a fish caught on each tip of the fringe. When\nthe boy saw that, he exchanged blankets at once.\n\nBefore Sun traded for the boy\u2019s robe of birds\u2019 plumage, he was pale,\nand his light was like the light of the moon. Therefore people could\nlook at him. Now he became bright and dazzling as he is today,\nbecause of his bright robe. People can no longer look at him.\n\n\n\n\n                        WHEN SUN WAS SNARED\n\n\n                                                            _Ojibwa_\n\nOnce there was a poor boy who lived with his grandmother. He set\nsnares for birds and rabbits because they were very poor. Now one\nday this boy set his snares, and then went home to his grandmother.\nBut he had set his snare on Sun\u2019s trail.\n\nThe next day when Sun came up over the edge of the earth and started\noff on his trail, he was caught in the snare. He could not go on.\nThere was only a little light and Sun did not rise all day. People\nbegan to be anxious at the gloom. They said, \u201cWhat has happened?\u201d\n\nThen someone asked the boy, \u201cWhere did you set your snare?\u201d and the\nboy told him. They went to look, and there was Sun caught fast in\nit. People said again, \u201cWhat shall we do?\u201d because Sun was so hot no\none could go anywhere near him. Someone said, \u201cWe shall have to gnaw\nthrough the cords of the snare,\u201d and somebody else asked, \u201cWell, who\nwill do that?\u201d\n\nAt last a number of the animals tried to gnaw the string. They were\nall burned. They said, \u201cLet Beaver-Mouse try it. He has such sharp\nteeth.\u201d So Beaver-Mouse tried it, and he gnawed the string so Sun\ncould rise and follow his trail. But Beaver-Mouse\u2019s teeth were so\nburned that they are brown even to this day.\n\n\n\n\n                            SUN AND MOON\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nSun and Moon were both chiefs who looked after the people. One day\nthey were quarreling, and began to say unpleasant things to each\nother.\n\nSun said to Moon, \u201cYou give too faint a light. The people cannot see\nproperly. Besides you do not warm them.\u201d\n\nMoon answered, \u201cPeople turn aside their faces when they look at you.\nYou blind them; and you are so hot you make them very uncomfortable.\nI don\u2019t burn people as you do. Besides, I am prettier than you are.\u201d\n\nThus they disputed.\n\nAt last they agreed to this: Sun should shine by day and Moon by\nnight. And they did so. They do so even to this day. They used both\nto shine at the same time; so the Indians say.\n\n\n\n\n                        THE MAN IN THE MOON\n\n\n                                                    _Central Eskimo_\n\nOnce an Eskimo visited the Moon. He put out all the lamps in his\nhouse, and sat down with his back to them, and at once his guardian\nspirit carried him through the air.\n\nMoon\u2019s house was not very large. It is white because it is covered\nwith white deerskins, which Moon always has drying there. On each\nside of the entrance is the upper half of a walrus\u2019s body, with very\nlong teeth. It is very dangerous to pass here, because the teeth try\nto bite you. Moon\u2019s dog is dappled red and white. He lives in the\npassage, and is the only dog in the moon.\n\nMoon always sits in the outer room, but in an inside room, the\nEskimo saw Sun. She is Moon\u2019s wife. The moment she saw the Eskimo,\nshe brightened her fire and got behind the glow of it, therefore the\nEskimo could not look at her for the brightness. Moon had great\npiles of deer meat lying about, and piled up; yet he did not offer\nany to the Eskimo until he and Sun had danced a very strange dance.\n\nThere are great plains in Moon Land, and large herds of deer roaming\nover them. Moon allowed the Eskimo to choose one animal, which at\nonce fell through a hole in Moon Land to the earth below. In a large\nhouse were many seals swimming. The Eskimo chose one seal and it at\nonce fell to the earth and into the ocean.\n\nThat is why the Eskimo have deer and seals. If this Eskimo had not\nvisited Moon, they would not have them.\n\n\n\n\n                        WHY THE MOON IS PALE\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nNow Small Turtle made Sun out of lightning when she climbed up into\nthe sky. She also made Moon for his wife. Moon was smaller than Sun,\nbut she was very bright. Then the animals bored a hole through the\nedge of the earth so that Sun and Moon could pass through at night,\nand begin their trail again at the east.\n\nSmall Turtle never meant Sun and Moon to travel together. But one\nday Moon ran into the hole at the edge of the earth much too soon.\nShe also ran in ahead of her husband, Sun. Sun was very angry. Moon\nstayed under the earth for a long while. Small Turtle went after her\none day to see what was the matter. She found Moon small and pale\nbecause of Sun\u2019s anger. Then Small Turtle tried to make her large\nagain. Moon would grow larger for a while, and then remember Sun\u2019s\nanger, and fade away again, until she was only a strip. She does so\neven today. That is why Moon is so pale, and why she keeps changing\nas she does.\n\n\n\n\n                       THE WOMAN IN THE MOON\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nMoon was a very handsome man. During the winter he traveled\nconstantly, camping every night in a different place. He had a wife\ncalled Wala and many children. When they were traveling, Moon always\nwent ahead and prepared a house for his wife and children. White men\ncall his house a halo.\n\nWala was always loaded down. She carried large birch-bark baskets on\nher back, and a birch-bark snow shovel in her hands. Wala used the\nshovel to fill the baskets with snow, for melted snow was all the\nwater they could get in winter time.\n\nOne morning Wala said to Moon, \u201cWhere are you going to camp\ntonight?\u201d Moon did not answer. Wala said, \u201cWhere will you pitch camp\ntonight?\u201d Still Moon did not answer. Thus Wala kept asking, \u201cWhere\nare you going to camp tonight?\u201d until Moon said crossly, \u201cOh, camp\non my face!\u201d\n\nAnd Wala did that. She jumped right on his face and stuck there. We\nknow this is true because Wala may still be seen on Moon\u2019s face,\nholding her birch-bark baskets and her snow shovel.\n\n\n\n\n                                MOON\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nMoon used to be an Indian. He would be as bright as Sun if his\nsister Frog did not sit upon him. At one time when Moon had invited\nthe Stars to his house, it was so crowded there was no room for his\nsister Frog to sit down. She jumped on his face and stuck there.\n\nWhenever it threatens to snow or rain, Moon builds a house and\nenters it. White men call it a halo. The cirrus clouds are the smoke\nof his pipe, and he always holds his pipe in his hand. You can see\nit in the moon today, and the basket which he uses as a hat. Moon\nseems to change from night to night, sometimes being larger and\nsometimes smaller, but that is all because of Frog\u2019s shadow.\n\n\n\n\n                      WAR WITH THE SKY PEOPLE\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nThe people of Sky Land stole Swan\u2019s wife. Swan at once called all\nthe Earth People to a great council. They agreed to make war on the\nSky People.\n\nNow they gathered their bows and arrows. Swan was their chief. Each\nman began to fire his arrows at the sky. Every one came down. Every\nman tried to shoot an arrow into the Sky Land, until at last only\nWren was left.\n\nThen Wren shot an arrow. The people watched, but it did not come\nback to earth. They watched a long time. It had stuck in the sky.\nWren fired another arrow. That did not come down. It had stuck in\nthe notch of the first one. Wren fired many arrows. Not one came\nback, though all the birds and animals were watching carefully. They\nat last could see the chain of arrows, and Wren shot more arrows\nuntil the chain reached the earth.\n\nNow all the Bird People and the Animal People climbed over the arrow\nchain and went up into Sky Land and fought the Sky People. Grizzlies\nlived there, and Black Bear and Elk. And the Sky People won the\nfight. The Earth People began to retreat in great haste. They came\ndown over the arrow chain, but when about half the people had\nreached the ground, the chain broke. Those who could not get down\nhad to go back to Sky Land. Some of them were made prisoners and\nsome were killed.\n\nThere used to be many more birds and animals than there are now; so\nthe Indians say. There are fewer now because of this war.\n\n\n\n\n                HOW TWO SISTERS GOT OUT OF SKY LAND\n\n\n                                                         _Chilcotin_\n\nOnce there were two sisters who were not happy, and they ran away\nfrom home. They ran until they came to Sky Land, where they lost\ntheir way. At last they came to the house of an old woman. She\nasked, \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t know,\u201d said the sisters. \u201cWe are lost.\u201d Then the old woman\ntold them they could not get back to the earth again, so they stayed\nwith her.\n\nOne day the old woman went out to get some berry vines. She told the\nsisters not to open a basket which stood just there. After she had\ngone, the younger sister opened the basket, and at once thousands\nand thousands of rabbits jumped out and ran all about the house.\nWhen the old woman came back, she was very angry, but she caught the\nrabbits, every one, and put them all back into the basket.\n\nThe next day the old woman went out again. She told the sisters not\nto touch a certain box that stood there. As soon as she was gone,\nthe younger sister opened it and looked in. Then she was frightened,\nfor she could see clear down to the earth below.\n\n               [Illustration: Salish Basketry Designs\n        Made by the Lower Thompson River and Lillooet tribes\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\nWhen the old woman came back, she made a rope of the berry vines and\nfastened a basket to one end. Then she said to the younger sister,\n\u201cGet in, and I will let you go down to the earth. You must keep your\neyes shut. If the basket stops, you must give it a little shake.\nPerhaps it is stuck in a cloud. But do not open your eyes.\u201d Thus she\nsaid.\n\nSo the sister started. She shut her eyes tight, and soon she felt\nthe basket stick in something. She shook it a little and then it\nwent on. It had stuck in the cloud. After a while the basket\nstopped. She shook it once, and it did not move. Then she shook it\nhard. It remained still. Then the sister put out her hands and felt\ngrass. At once she opened her eyes and stepped out of the basket.\n\nThe old woman called down to her to cut the grass and put it in the\nbasket. So she did so. Then the old woman pulled the basket up to\nthe Sky Land again.\n\nNow the young woman sat down and waited many days, looking into the\nsky all the time. At last she saw a speck far up. Then she knew it\nwas her sister in the basket. When it came near enough, she reached\nup and helped her sister out. They both went back to their mother.\n\n\n\n\n                       ORIGIN OF THE PLEIADES\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nA young man was out fasting. His fasting lodge stood at the end of a\nlake, where no one ever came. There was a broad bench on both sides.\n\nNow, one evening he heard something. Sounds of songs, faint and\ndistant, came to his ear. He did not know what it was. He looked\neverywhere. There was no one to be seen. Then the sounds were\nclearer. They came from the sky over the lake. The young man\nlistened. Now he thought the voices came from the beach near by.\n\nHe crept slowly down to the lake, through the reeds and grasses. The\nsinging grew more distant. Then through the reeds he saw seven\nmaidens, dancing about in the light of the stars.\n\nThen a pebble slipped under his foot. The maidens sprang into a\nlarge basket, and vanished into the sky.\n\nNow the young man went back to his fasting lodge. The next evening\nhe listened. The air was very still. The water was very quiet. The\nstars were shining. Then he heard again the sound of far-away\nvoices. He heard distant songs. So he crept to the edge of the lake,\nthrough the reeds and grasses. He saw a great basket come down with\nthe seven maidens. They danced together, under the light of the\nstars. The air was very quiet as they sang. Then they danced along,\neach dancing in turn. And one maiden was more beautiful than her\nsisters. Then the young man forgot; he made a sound with his voice\nand the maidens vanished into the sky.\n\nNow every evening the maidens came down to dance on the beach. It\nwas a broad beach. No one ever came to that end of the lake. They\ndanced under the stars, when the air was still, and they sang their\nsongs. So the young man watched them.\n\nNow they came again, and the young man rushed among them; rushed\namong them as they danced when the air was quiet, and seized the\nmost beautiful sister. Then the maidens sprang into the basket, and\nthe young man caught the maiden, and held the basket edge with one\nhand. Then they fell to the earth together, and the maiden was\ngrieved.\n\nThe maiden said, \u201cWe are seven sisters. We live in the Sky Land.\nOften you see us when you look into the sky. But at this season,\nwhen the air is still and the lake is quiet, we come here to dance\nin the starlight.\u201d She said also, \u201cI cannot marry you until you come\nand live with me in the Sky Land.\u201d\n\nSo the young man went into the Sky Land with her. Everything there\nhappened just as one wished it.\n\nWe know this is true, because even today the seven sisters are in\nthe sky. Six are clearly seen, but the seventh sits back in the\nshadow with her husband.\n\n\n\n\n                          THE STAR HUNTERS\n\n\n                                                         _Chilcotin_\n\nThere were once three young men who spent most of their time with\ntheir two dogs in hunting. They lived with their grandmother. When\nthey came in from hunting, they gave meat to her.\n\nOne day the hunters were gone all day without finding anything. In\nthe evening, for a joke, one of them gave grandmother a piece of\npunk, saying, \u201cHere is some caribou liver for you,\u201d but when she put\nit into her mouth, lo, it was punk wood! She was angry.\n\nNow the next day, when the young men were out hunting, grandmother\nheated a bear\u2019s foot in the fire, and danced about the camp and sang\nher song. So she turned them by this magic into stars, and they\nlived up in Sky Land.\n\nOne day the young men were hunting in Sky Land, and they found the\ntracks of a great moose. They followed him for several days. Then as\nthey were tracking the moose, they looked down and saw the Earth\nLand far below them. The eldest brother said, \u201cI am going to try to\nget down to the earth again.\u201d\n\nNow this brother told the other two to cover themselves with their\nblankets, and not to look down. Then he started down to the earth,\nbut he was only halfway down when the youngest brother looked\nthrough a hole in his blanket. At once the eldest brother stopped.\nHe could go no further. So the three brothers have all lived in the\nSky Land among the stars. They live there with the great moose and\ntheir dog. The Indians can see them even to this day. The morning\nstar is the old grandmother, with a torch, looking for the young\nmen.\n\n\n\n\n                   THE GREAT BEAR AND THE HUNTER\n\n\n                                                         _Chilcotin_\n\nOnce a man went out with his two dogs to hunt. It was in the autumn\nand there was a little snow on the ground. At night he camped.\n\nAs he lay on the ground under the trees, Great Bear appeared in the\nsky. Then the hunter started on, because he knew it was nearly\nmorning. When he had gone but a little way, however, his dogs\nstarted a bear.\n\nThe bear ran fast and the dogs followed. The man followed both as\nrapidly as he could, and soon he came to a man sitting on a log. At\nonce the hunter knew this was the bear. The man wore a blanket made\nof many different kinds of skins.\n\nWhen the hunter came up, Bear said, \u201cYou thought last night I was\nslow in coming up, but my trail in the Sky Land is very hard and\nrough. Sun has the same trouble. He travels rapidly at first when\nthe trail is smooth, but in the middle of the day the trail is rough\nand he travels more slowly. Then his trail grows easier again, and\nhe travels more rapidly to the going-down place at the edge of the\nearth.\u201d\n\nGreat Bear then told the young man to pull out from the blanket\nwhich he wore the skins of whatever animals he wished most to kill.\nThe man took the skins of marten and fisher. Great Bear told him\nwhenever he went out to hunt, to put the skin of whatever animal he\nwished to kill in his pouch, and then he would easily kill as many\nas he wished.\n\nThen Great Bear went back into the Sky Land.\n\n\n\n\n                        HOW THE SUMMER CAME\n\n\n                                                            _Ojibwa_\n\nFisher used to live somewhere in this world, but nobody knows where.\nThis was in the days when there was no summer at all. It was always\nsnow and cold and ice all the time. People knew that there was a\nSummer Land where the Summer Birds lived, but they were not sure\nwhere it was.\n\nNow it was always winter because in the days of the grandfathers a\nman had captured all the Summer Birds and had taken them away with\nhim. Thus it was always cold. The people talked about it in their\ntepees when North Wind rattled the flaps and shouted to them.\n\nAt last Fisher said he would find those Summer Birds so that summer\nwould come again. Fisher did not know where the Summer Land was, but\nhe traveled for a long, long while until he came to it in the Sky\nLand. Then he reached the tepee where the man lived. All the Summer\nBirds were there, all tied together.\n\nNow Fresh-water Herring lived there also with this man. Fisher at\nonce put some pitch in Herring\u2019s mouth, so that he could not cry\nout. Then he took the birds up, and tried to break the cords which\nbound them together; but he could not do it. Fisher then used his\nteeth, and the cords gave way, and behold! the Summer Birds flew\nabout everywhere.\n\nThen Herring got the pitch out of his mouth. He began to shout,\n\u201cFisher breaks the bundle! Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer\nBirds!\u201d Several times he called out until the man came rushing in,\nbut by that time Fisher and the Summer Birds were a long way off.\nThe Summer Birds dropped right down to the earth through a hole in\nthe Sky Land, but the man closed the hole before they all got\nthrough. That is why it is not summer all the time. If all the\nSummer Birds had come to earth, it would always be summer.\n\nFisher did not have time to jump back to earth, so he rushed up\namong the stars. The man followed close after him, trying to shoot\nhim with his bow and arrows. But Fisher got safely into Star Land.\nOnly the man shot him once and hit him in the tail. That is why\nFisher\u2019s tail is broken. You can see it today\u2014so the Indians say.\n\n\n\n\n                         THE RAINBOW TRAIL\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nBig Turtle had sent Small Turtle into Sky Land to make a light for\nthe Earth Plain. So Little Turtle became the Keeper of the Sky. She\nlived in the sky. Whenever she was needed at a council, she was\ncalled by Deer, the herald whose voice \u201cgoes a long ways.\u201d At once\nshe came down on a cloud.\n\nAfter a while Deer wanted to go into Sky Land. He went to ask\nRainbow to help him. Rainbow said, \u201cOh, no!\u201d and Deer had to go\naway. But Deer kept thinking about the Sky Land. Then he went again\nto Rainbow. Deer said, \u201cPlease take me up into the Sky Land,\u201d so\nRainbow spread wide the broad trail and Deer leaped up until he\nreached the top of it. Thus Deer went into Sky Land.\n\nNow Big Turtle called a council of all the animals. All came except\nDeer and Little Turtle. Big Turtle asked, \u201cWhere is Deer?\u201d but no\none answered. Yet some of the animals knew. Big Turtle said to the\nrunners, \u201cGo find Deer.\u201d The runners came back after a long time.\nThey said, \u201cPeople say Deer has gone into Sky Land.\u201d Hawk also said\nthat. Then Big Turtle was angry. He said, \u201cSky Land is Little\nTurtle\u2019s country. And where is Little Turtle?\u201d\n\nDeer was the only one whose voice \u201cgoes a long ways.\u201d He should have\ncalled Little Turtle out of Sky Land. But he was up in Sky Land and\nno one could make her hear. But at last they shouted until Little\nTurtle heard and came down. But no council could be held without\nDeer.\n\nThe animals said, \u201cOh, what shall we do?\u201d Little Turtle said, \u201cDeer\nis now up in the sky. He has been there for some time, running\naround everywhere.\u201d\n\nLittle Turtle said, \u201cRainbow has a beautiful trail. Deer went up\nthat way.\u201d Then she said, \u201cI will show you the Rainbow trail.\u201d So\nall the animals followed her. Then Big Turtle spoke. He said, \u201cSince\nDeer has gone to Sky Land, we will all follow him there!\u201d So Rainbow\ntook them all up on the trail of many colors. The animals are up\nthere also; so they say.\n\n                  [Illustration: Canoe and Paddles\n All Indian designs are symbolical. Those on the canoe and paddles\n            represent the eye of the raven and the whale\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\n\n\n\n                   ORIGIN OF THE CHINOOK WIND[3]\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nFox and Hare were brothers. They lived together with many other\npeople. This was in the days of the grandfathers when there was no\nfire and the earth was very cold. The Cold People of the north\ndelighted in making icy winds sweep down over the Indian country.\nThe people shivered, shivered always.\n\nOne morning Fox smoked his pipe and muttered, \u201cLast night I dreamed.\nI gained much knowledge.\u201d When Fox had finished smoking, he said to\nthe people, \u201cThe People of the Cold have had power over us for a\nlong time. Do you like the cold?\u201d\n\nThe Indians at once said, \u201cNo. We hate the cold; but we do not know\nwhat to do.\u201d\n\nAfter a while Fox said to Hare, \u201cCome with me. We will find warm\nweather.\u201d\n\nNow Fox and Hare were great warriors. They took their bows and\narrows and traveled south many days. They reached the mouths of the\nlarge rivers where dwelt the People of the Heat. They owned all the\nheat; and they were enemy to the Cold People. Their chief was Sun,\nand they lived always in warm weather, sunshine, and mild winds.\n\nFox knew just what to do because his dream had told him.\n\nWhen Fox and Hare entered the House of Sunshine, they saw a large\nround bag hanging on a post. It contained the chinook wind. Fox at\nonce ran and struck the bag with his fist, trying to burst it. At\nonce the Heat People jumped up to stop him, but Hare held his bow\nwith arrow drawn on them so that they were afraid.\n\nAgain Fox ran at the bag and struck it. The fourth time he tried,\nthe bag burst and the chinook wind rushed out. Then Fox and Hare ran\nalong with the wind, and the Heat People made the weather\nexceedingly hot, so as to overcome them.\n\nAt last the heat became so intense that the country took fire, and\nthe Heat People made the fire run with the wind so as to overtake\nFox and Hare. But Fox and Hare were great warriors. They were very\nswift-footed, so they kept ahead. Thus the earth burned up for a\nlong distance north and many trees and people were destroyed. Hare\nkept just far enough ahead of the fire to have time, every now and\nthen, to sit down and smoke his pipe. Hare was a great smoker. When\nFox told Hare to hurry, Hare would sit right down and smoke his\npipe. Fox was much annoyed with Hare. So Fox went on alone and soon\nleft Hare and the fire far behind. He was also swifter than the\nwind, but wind kept right after him. So when Fox reached his own\npeople, he said, \u201cI bring the warm chinook wind. You will be cold no\nlonger.\u201d\n\nAt first his people did not believe him. But soon the chinook wind\nbegan to blow. The ice and snow melted. The people felt the cold no\nmore. Then Fox said, \u201cHenceforth the chinook wind shall no longer\nbelong only to the Heat People of the south. Warm winds shall blow\nover the north and the rest of the world. They shall melt the snow\nand dry the earth. Only sometimes may they be followed by fire.\nHenceforth the Cold People shall not always rule the weather and\nplague the Indians with their icy winds.\u201d\n\nNow the wind had left the fire far behind, and without wind the fire\nsoon died out.\n\n\nA long time afterward Hare arrived home and met Fox. Fox was smoking\na fine stone pipe, all carved with many strange figures. Hare\u2019s pipe\nwas only of wood.\n\nFox said to Hare, \u201cYou and I are the greatest smokers of all the\npeople. Let us run a race. The one who wins shall have both pipes;\nand the one who loses shall smoke no more at all.\u201d Hare agreed to\nthat.\n\nThen Fox said, \u201cWe will run on flat, open ground!\u201d Hare said, \u201cOh,\nno! I like to run where there are fallen logs and much brush.\u201d\n\nWell, Fox assented to that, so they began to run through a brushy\npiece of country, full of fallen logs. Fox had to jump over the\nlogs, while Hare always ran underneath them and so easily kept\nahead. Then Fox got angry. He gave a great spring, and seized Hare\nas he came out from underneath a log, and said,\n\n\u201cHereafter you shall be only an ordinary hare. As you like to run in\nthe brush, you shall always live in that kind of a country. You\nshall no longer be the greatest smoker of all the people.\u201d\n\nThen Fox took Hare\u2019s pipe and went home.\n\n\n\n\n              WHEN GLACIER MARRIED CHINOOK\u2019S DAUGHTER\n\n\n                                                          _Lillooet_\n\nNow Glacier lived near the end of Lillooet Lake. This was a long\nwhile ago. Then he decided to marry. Glacier traveled southward\nuntil he reached the sea, and then he followed southward along the\nshore until he reached the house of Chinook Wind. Chinook Wind said,\n\u201cYes!\u201d He allowed his daughter to marry Glacier. So Glacier took her\nhome.\n\nGlacier\u2019s wife was not comfortable. Soon she complained because it\nwas so cold. She lighted a fire; but Glacier began to melt, so he\nput out the fire and threw the wood away. He said to his servants,\n\u201cWhen my wife desires wood for a fire, always give her wet wood, and\nnever dry.\u201d Chinook\u2019s daughter tried to burn the wet, green wood,\nbut it gave out no heat. It smoked, also, so that she could not see.\n\nAfter a long while Chinook\u2019s daughter had a chance to send word to\nher relatives. Her brother and many friends came at once to her in a\ncanoe. When they neared Glacier\u2019s house, they changed to snowflakes\nand danced around and above it. Chinook\u2019s daughter saw them. She\nsaid, \u201cThe weather is milder. It is snowing. My brother has\narrived.\u201d\n\nThen Glacier made it colder. Much frost was on the trees and Chinook\nWind was driven away. But he came back soon with more friends. They\nchanged themselves to soft snowflakes and sleet. They danced around\nthe house. Again Glacier made it colder, so that ice formed on the\ntrees; but Chinook Wind came back as rain. He began to melt Glacier.\nGlacier could only fight him with hail. Then Chinook Wind came back\nagain, warm and steady and strong. Glacier retreated up the mountain\nside, leaving his wife behind.\n\nChinook\u2019s daughter at once stepped into the canoe with her brother\nand his friends, and they paddled again down to Lillooet Lake. Then\nher brother turned around and said:\n\n\u201cHenceforth, in this country, it shall be cold and icy only for a\nfew months each year. Then Chinook Wind will come and drive away the\ncold and melt the ice as we have done. The journey we have made this\nyear shall be made every year.\u201d\n\nAnd it became so. Then they went home.\n\n\n\n\n                 MINK\u2019S WAR WITH THE SOUTHEAST WIND\n\n\n                                                          _Kwakiutl_\n\nMink called all his friends together\u2014Deer, Raccoon, Young Raccoon,\nand Canoe-Calking, the Raven. The four friends went in at once to\nthe council.\n\nMink said, \u201cOh, friends, my reason for calling you is that I wish to\nmake war on Southeast Wind.\u201d Thus he said. Deer thanked Mink for\nwhat he said. They said they would ask Halibut, Sea Bear, Devilfish,\nand Merman to go along. Mink and all these people lived at Crooked\nBeach. Southeast Wind was blowing hard all the time, and therefore\nthese people had no way of getting anything to eat.\n\nTherefore they all went to the house of Devilfish[4] and Halibut,\nfor these two lived together. They asked them to join in war on\nSoutheast Wind. They agreed at once. Sea Bear and Merman also\nagreed.\n\nIn the morning, when daylight came, they started in their canoe. In\none day they expected to reach Southeast Wind\u2019s house. They went\nsouthward from Crooked Beach. They were already sailing close to the\nsoutheast wind. The wind blew hard. It did not detain them. When\nevening came, they discovered the house of Southeast Wind. Then Mink\nsaid, \u201cLet us stop at this cove and consider how we may conquer\nhim.\u201d Then they held a council.\n\nNow Mink said, \u201cOh, friend Halibut! Lie down flat outside of the\ndoor of Southeast Wind. When he comes out of his door, he will step\non you, and slip on you, and come stumbling down into our canoe,\nwhere we will hold him.\u201d Then Deer said the wrong thing. He said\nthey should go to Southeast Wind\u2019s house while it was not yet dark.\nThey indeed tried to, but they could not, because of the strong\nwind. When night came, it was calmer. So they started at once, and\nstopped on the beach right in front of the house. Halibut at once\nwent and lay down flat just outside of the door. Soon Southeast Wind\ncame to the door and stepped upon Halibut. At once he slipped; he\ncould not stand up. He slipped right down into Mink\u2019s canoe. Then\nDevilfish caught hold of him, and Sea Bear and Merman. Now they held\nSoutheast Wind.\n\nThen Southeast Wind said, \u201cOh, Born-to-be-the-Sun, tell me what you\nintend to do with me!\u201d He said that to Mink. He saw that Mink was a\ngreat warrior.\n\nMink answered, \u201cI am doing this because you do not let our world be\ncalm.\u201d Southeast Wind answered quickly, \u201cOh, Chief, now your world\nshall always be calm, and your sea shall always be smooth.\u201d So he\nspoke to Mink.\n\nMink said, \u201cDon\u2019t give us too much. I do not say that it is good\nwhen our world is always calm.\u201d Thus he spoke.\n\nThen Southeast Wind said, \u201cIt shall not blow in your world for four\ndays.\u201d Thus he said. Then those who held him let him go at once,\nbecause Southeast Wind was very much afraid of Born-to-be-the-Sun.\n\nTherefore the southeast wind does not blow all the time, on account\nof what Mink did. This is the end.\n\n\n\n\n          WHEN NORTH\u2019S SON MARRIED SOUTHEAST\u2019S DAUGHTER[5]\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nWhen North\u2019s son wanted to marry Southeast\u2019s daughter, there was no\nwind. He spoke to his mother. He spoke also to his father: \u201cI want\nto marry Southeast\u2019s daughter.\u201d North said to his son, \u201cWhat will\nyou wear when the weather is bad?\u201d Southeast was such a dreary,\nrainy wind that North did not want his son to marry the daughter.\nThe son said, \u201cOh, that\u2019s all right. Give me something to wear when\nit rains.\u201d North said, \u201cI have nothing for it. But marry her.\u201d\n\nWhen his son started off, North gave him some directions: \u201cWhen you\nget near Southeast, look at him from a distance. If his face is\ngood, go to him. But if his face is red, and under it black, do not\ngo. Go to him from Point Gafixet [Cape St. James].\u201d\n\nNorth\u2019s son started. He went from Cape St. James. At that time\nSoutheast\u2019s face was not bad. It was clean. Then the son came to a\nbig cloud rising out of the ocean. That was Southeast\u2019s house.\n\nWhen North\u2019s son reached there, Southeast\u2019s daughter was sitting in\nfront of the house. North\u2019s son sat down beside her.\n\n\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cI have come to marry you,\u201d he replied.\n\n\u201cI will tell my mother,\u201d she said.\n\nNow Southeast and his wife were much pleased with them both. By and\nby North\u2019s son told his wife he wanted to go away. \u201cYou must go\nalso,\u201d said Southeast to his daughter.\n\nWhen they were about to leave, Southeast gave his daughter some\ndirections. \u201cWhen North speaks, and you are cold, call to me,\u201d he\nsaid.\n\nNow they came to North\u2019s house. When he saw them he took them into\nthe house. After a while, North said, \u201cWhat does your wife eat?\u201d\n\n\u201cShe eats nothing but limpets,\u201d said the son.\n\nNow North\u2019s house was floored with ice, but it was warm. In front of\nhis house it was sandy, and there were broad ebb-tide flats. After\nSoutheast\u2019s daughter had been there a while, she went out of the\nhouse for a short walk. As she went, she pulled off an icicle\nhanging from the wall of the house. Then North groaned. When she\nwent in, she ate it. After a while she went out again, and pulled\noff another icicle. North groaned again.\n\nNorth\u2019s son said, \u201cStop doing that. Those are my father\u2019s fingers.\u201d\nShe was eating North\u2019s fingers.\n\nWhen the tide was out, North\u2019s son said, \u201cLet us go down now and get\nlimpets.\u201d While they were there, a noise was heard from North\u2019s\nhouse. He was angry because his daughter-in-law had pulled off some\nof his fingers.\n\nSo North began to blow. North\u2019s son called at once to his wife, but\nshe said, \u201cWait!\u201d Even while she said so, the place where she stood\nbecame icy. Then the tide began to come in. When it reached her\nknees, the snow fell. Then North\u2019s son left her. The ice formed all\naround her. Where North\u2019s house stood the snow fell so thickly that\nit looked like smoke.\n\nThen the woman cried to her father. She was not disturbed because\nshe thought her father would save her. She sang, \u201cFather, I am cold!\nFather, I am cold! I want to go to my father!\u201d\n\nEven at once came the Southeast wind, \u201c_Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi_,\u201d making\nit rough right up to the shore. She began to sing another song. \u201cThe\nwind blew upon me! The wind blew upon me! The wind blew upon me from\nCape St. James!\u201d\n\n                     [Illustration: Haida House\n  The design, which covers the end of the house, shows the thunder\n                     bird and the killer whale\n          _From \u201cReport of U. S. National Museum,\u201d 1895_]\n\nNow she had waited two days. Then she felt of the water. It was\nslightly warm. Her father had heard her voice. He had dressed\nhimself up and set out to see her. His daughter was still singing.\nWhile she sang, North stopped blowing.\n\nThen it blew from the Southeast. Clouds became black and rains fell.\nThe icicles began to melt and fall. Then North groaned. Southeast\nalso broke up the floor of North\u2019s house. He came upon him from\nbelow.\n\nThen all of the ice melted and the woman went to her father. She is\nthe Oyster Catcher. Since its bill was made red with the cold, it is\nred today. Because its legs were frozen, they are now white.\n\nNow Southeast was a very powerful chief. He had ten servants. One\nwas Mist, another was named\nHe-that-takes-away-the-Surface-of-the-Sea, and another was called\nCanoe Breaker. Still another was Cutter-off-of-Tree-Tops.\n\n\n\n\n                          CAPTURE OF WIND\n\n\n                                                         _Chilcotin_\n\nA long time ago there was a chief who had many sons. In those days\nWind used to blow furiously all the time, and the chief told one of\nhis sons to capture Wind. The son made a snare and placed it in a\ntree. Then next morning, when he went to that tree, he found in the\nsnare a small boy with a fat body and streaming hair. Now that boy\nwas Wind. The chief\u2019s son kept him for some time, then he let him go\nfree when Wind promised he would not blow so hard. Only once in a\nwhile could he blow hard, said the chief\u2019s son, and Wind agreed. So\nnow he is free, and he does not blow nearly so hard as he used to.\n\n\n\n\n                      HOW WIND BECAME A SLAVE\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nRaven wanted to go to a rock from which Wind was always blowing. He\nintended to kill Xeio, Wind. Raven tried to make canoes of hemlock,\nof spruce, of fir, but they would not carry him to the rock. Then\nRaven called upon the birds to carry him there. He called upon\nBluejay, upon Robin, upon Woodpecker, and upon all the birds. But\nthey could not carry Raven to the rock. Then Raven took wood of a\nmaple tree and made a canoe. The maple-wood canoe carried him to the\nrock. Then Raven fought Wind and conquered him. Thus Wind became his\nslave.\n\n\n\n\n                    THUNDER, LIGHTNING, AND RAIN\n\n\n                                                    _Central Eskimo_\n\nThree sisters make the light, thunder, and rain. They live in a\nlarge house, the walls of which are supported by whale ribs. It\nstands in the far west, at a great distance from the sea.\n\nIngnirtung strikes the fire. She strikes two red flint stones\ntogether. Kadla makes thunder by rubbing sealskins together and\nsinging. The third sister makes the rain. They procure food by\nstriking the reindeer. This roasts the flesh.\n\nIf an Eskimo should happen to enter their house, he must run away\nimmediately, or Ingnirtung will strike him. Even the stones are so\nafraid of her that they jump down the hills whenever they see\nlightning or hear thunder.\n\nThe faces of the three sisters are black.\n\n\n\n\n                              THUNDER\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nHenq was one of seven brothers. They all played together\u2014oh, a long\ntime ago\u2014but Henq always made the others sorrowful. He was very\nstrong. He smashed everything. If he laid his hand on a pole of the\nlodge, the lodge would fall to the ground.\n\nAt last his brothers said, \u201cHenq is too strong. We are not safe.\u201d So\nthey made a plan.\n\nOne day the brothers said, \u201cWe will go hunting.\u201d So they started off\nin their canoes to an island far away. They began to hunt. Henq and\none of his brothers went up into the island. Then the others jumped\ninto their canoes and paddled away. The brother said to Henq, \u201cGo up\nfarther into the woods and wait for me.\u201d And Henq did so. Then that\nbrother got into his canoe and paddled away.\n\nHenq waited a long while. He heard no one. Then he came down to the\nshore and saw his brothers far away in their canoes. He lifted his\ngreat voice and called to them. His voice was so strong and so loud\nit made the air shake. He said, \u201cWill you take me back?\u201d They said,\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\nSo Henq stayed on the island. Sometimes he raises his voice to call\nto his brothers, and ask them how they are getting along. He always\nmakes the air shake. Henq roams around the island, in the spring and\nsummer; but in the winter he sleeps. When there is thunder in\nwinter, the Wyandots say, \u201cHenq is turning over. Something has\nbroken into his sleep.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                    TURTLE AND THE THUNDER BIRD\n\n\n                                                            _Ojibwa_\n\nOnce Turtle was living all alone in a lake. Several times he was hit\nby something. When he came out to see what it was, he could see\nnothing at all. One day he was struck again. He thought he would ask\nsomeone to help him. When he came out of the water, he went into the\nwoods. He cried, \u201cWho will help me? Who will help me?\u201d\n\nDeer ran out from among the shrubs and said, \u201cI will help you.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome on,\u201d said Turtle, \u201clet me see how you can fight.\u201d Deer started\nto fight a tree and broke his horns.\n\nTurtle said, \u201cOh, you will not last long enough.\u201d He left Deer and\nagain called out, \u201cWho will help me?\u201d\n\nBear came out and said, \u201cI will help you.\u201d\n\nTurtle said, \u201cLet me see how you can fight.\u201d\n\nBear started to fight a tree, but he was so clumsy jumping around,\nthat Turtle said, \u201cOh, you won\u2019t last long if you have to fight the\ngiant I am after.\u201d\n\nTurtle again began to call, \u201cWho will help me?\u201d He called this as he\ncame to a little swamp, and he heard small voices saying, \u201cWe will.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome out and show me how you can fight,\u201d said Turtle. And behold! a\ncrowd of little Turtles came out and began to fight him. Soon Turtle\ncried, \u201cYou\u2019re the very people I am looking for.\u201d So he led them to\nthe lake where he lived and left them just outside. Then he went\nhome. Soon a big stone fell down upon the little turtles and killed\nthem all. When Turtle ran out to see what had happened, he saw a big\nbird overhead.\n\nTurtle ran to his neighbor who had ducked into the water. He asked,\n\u201cWhat bird was that?\u201d\n\nMuskrat answered, \u201cThat is the Thunder Bird and I am very much\nafraid of him.\u201d\n\nEver since that day Turtle has stayed in the water when there was a\nthunderstorm.\n\n\n\n\n                  WHY LIGHTNING STRIKES THE TREES\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nThunder Bird was angry with people and tried to drown the whole\nworld, but he could not make the water rise high enough, so some of\nthe people escaped. Then Thunder Bird shot arrows at them. He really\ndid hurt many, but all the people ran away and hid in a cave.\n\nThen Turtle came out. He shouted out to Thunder Bird, \u201cYou cannot\nkill people. Your arrows fly wild. Shoot at the trees and rocks;\nperhaps you can hit them.\u201d Turtle mocked Thunder.\n\nThunder said, \u201cOh, yes, I do strike people. I have killed many of\nthem!\u201d\n\nTurtle said at once, \u201cWell, then, prove it by killing me.\u201d So he\ndrew his shell down tight and moved about very carelessly, not\nhiding at all, while Thunder shot many arrows at him. They only\nglanced off his thick shell.\n\nThen Thunder Bird believed that he really could not hit people, so\nnow he shoots his arrows at trees and rocks. But if people stand\nunder a tree in a storm, it is likely that Thunder will hit them.\n\n\n\n\n                 THE MAKING OF LAKES AND MOUNTAINS\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nOnce the Bears stole a woman. Now she wanted to escape, and she\nremembered to do as she was told. When she combed her hair, she\ngathered the combings together. She prepared some hair oil and she\nmade ready also a whetstone and some red ochre.\n\nThen the woman went out to get wood. Bear was watching her. He went\nwith her. So she piled much wood upon him and tied the bundle. Now\nshe took a little wood herself and ran to the house with it. She\nthrew it down outside. Then she took the things she had made ready\nand ran away.\n\nAfter the woman had gone on awhile, the one who watched her came and\ncalled out. After she had run awhile longer, she heard them making a\ngreat noise in pursuit. When they got very close to her, she poured\nout some of the hair oil. It became a big lake. And after she had\nrun on awhile longer, she broke off a piece of the whetstone. It\nbecame a mountain. Now after she had run on again, snowbirds almost\nsurrounded her. Then she poured out some red ochre and the birds all\nwent back to it and painted their faces with it.\n\n                    [Illustration: Moraine Lake\n                      Laggan, Alberta, Canada\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\n                    [Illustration: Cameron Lake\n                 Vancouver Island, British Columbia\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\nNow she ran on again, and after a while when they had almost\novertaken her, she threw down the hair combings. They at once became\na mass of fallen trees. And while the Bears struggled through these,\nshe went on a long distance.\n\nWhen she was almost overtaken again, she broke off part of the\nwhetstone and put it in the ground. It became a great mountain. Then\nas she ran on, she threw down her hair combings and again they\nbecame great masses of fallen trees.\n\nNow as she ran on, she saw they had almost overtaken her. She stuck\nthe whole comb into the ground. \u201cBecome a mountain!\u201d she said. It\nbecame a great mass of mountains which they could not cross. They\nhad to go around. Then again the snowbirds almost came up with her.\nShe poured out all her red ochre and they began again to paint their\nfaces. When again she heard the noise of pursuit, she stuck the\nremainder of the whetstone in the ground. It became a great\nmountain. And as the birds pursued her, she poured out all the hair\noil, and put combings around it, and it became a large lake with\nmasses of fallen trees about it. She ran on.\n\nThen she ran to the shore of the great sea. A man in a canoe paddled\nnear her. She cried, \u201cLet me go with you!\u201d At first he paid no\nattention to her, then he said, \u201cGet in.\u201d He let her get into his\ncanoe.\n\nJust at that moment, in a great crowd, the Bears came after her.\nThey crowded about the shore and then began to swim out to her. The\nman put a carved club into the water, and this club of itself killed\nall the Bears. The man said to her, \u201cLook out here,\u201d and the woman\nsaw the Bears were all dead.\n\n\n\n\n                         ORIGIN OF RACES[6]\n\n\n                                                              _Cree_\n\nWhen Great One made mankind, he first made an earth oven. Then he\nmodeled a man of clay and put him in to bake. He was not baked\nenough and came out white. Great One tried again, but this time he\nbaked the man too long. He came out black. The third time Great One\nbaked the man just the correct time, and he came out red. That is\nwhy different races have different colors.\n\n\n\n\n                     ORIGIN OF CHILCOTIN CA\u00d1ON\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nA very long time ago, when the earth was new, Coyote traveled about\na great deal, looking after things and helping the Indians. Now\nCoyote found that the salmon went to the upper Chilcotin River. He\ndid not like that at all, for he was a friend of the Shuswaps on the\nlower Chilcotin River, and did not like the tribes on the upper\nriver. Therefore Coyote made a rocky dam across the stream, very\nhigh, so that the salmon could not leap over it. Thus the Shuswaps\nhad all the salmon and the Chilcotins had none. But the pounding of\nthe waters wore away Coyote\u2019s dam, and now the salmon go far up the\nriver. This is how the Chilcotin Ca\u00f1on was formed.\n\n\n\n\n                         ORIGINS OF ANIMALS\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\n_Wolves._\u2014Once a poor woman lived in an Indian camp with many\nchildren. Her husband was dead, and she had so many children she\ncould not find enough for them to eat. Always they were hungry;\nalways they were gaunt and lean. Therefore they were changed into\nwolves. Even yet they are always hungry and wander over the land,\nroaming about, lean and gaunt, seeking for food.\n\n_Hares._\u2014Once a child in an Indian camp had such long ears that\neveryone laughed at him. At last he went off into the brush and\nlived by himself. Therefore he was changed into a hare. When Hare\nsees anyone near, he lays his ears down flat, for if he hears a\nperson shout he thinks he is laughing at his long ears. He does this\neven yet. Hare has no tail now because he formerly did not have one.\n\n\n\n\n                          BIRD BEGINNINGS\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\n_Ravens._\u2014Raven used to be a man. Now in those days, people moved\nabout a great deal, hunting and fishing. One day a whole village was\npreparing to move. They were collecting their blankets and cooking\nboxes. Raven kept calling to someone that he had forgotten his\n_kak_\u2014forgotten the lower blanket of deerskin used for a bed. Raven\nkept calling \u201cKak, kak, kak!\u201d People said, \u201cGet the kak yourself. Go\nback for it yourself.\u201d So Raven did, but he hurried so that he was\nchanged into a bird.\n\nRaven still follows the camps. Even to this day when a camp is being\nmoved, Raven flies over it and shouts, \u201cKak, kak, kak!\u201d because he\nis afraid they will forget the blankets.\n\n_Gulls._\u2014Some people in a boat wanted to go around a long point of\nland. Now the water was always rough at the point, and some of the\nwomen were told to get out and cross the neck of land. One woman got\nout with her children in order to lighten the load, but when she got\non shore, the noise of the water prevented her from hearing what the\nboat people said. She wandered around the cliffs with her children,\ncrying over and over, the last word she heard, \u201cGo over, goover,\nover, ove, oh\u2014\u201d\n\n_Hawks._\u2014Once there was a woman whose neck was very, very short. All\nthe people in her village laughed at her. One day the woman went to\na very high place up on the rocks, and in the mountains. Then she\nbegan to go there very often because she did not like people, so she\nwas changed into a hawk. Now, when she sees any one, she cries,\n\u201cKea, kea, kea\u2014who, who was it said \u2018short neck\u2019?\u201d\n\n_Swallows._\u2014Once there were some small children, who were very wise.\nThey played a great deal on the edge of a high cliff near their\nvillage, and their play was always building toy houses on the cliff.\nOne day when they were playing, they were changed into swallows.\nEven to this day they come to the cliff near the Indian village and\nbuild their houses in the side of the cliffs. They are very wise.\nEven the raven does not molest them, and the Eskimo children like\nmuch to watch these little swallows.\n\n_Loons._\u2014Once a man had two children, Raven and Loon. He wanted to\npaint them so that they would look just alike, and he began with\nLoon. First he painted Loon\u2019s breast white, and then he painted\nsquare spots on his back. When Raven saw how comical Loon looked, he\nlaughed so much that Loon became ashamed and ran away to a near-by\npond. Loon always faces a person so as to show his white breast and\nhide the spots on his back. Raven refused to be painted in that way.\nHe ran away.\n\n_Guillemots._\u2014Some Eskimo children were very fond of playing on the\nlevel top of a high cliff near their village, while the larger ones\nwatched them. Now this cliff overhung the sea and the sea was still\ncovered with ice. There was an icy strip near the shore, so that\neven the seals could not approach. The wind was cold and the\nchildren played hard to keep warm, shouting and calling to each\nother. Just then the strip of ice along the shore broke away, and\nthe water was filled with seals. The men saw them, and ran for their\nkayaks, and put them into the water to pursue the seals. The\nchildren saw all this, and they shouted all the louder. The seals\nwere so frightened that they plunged into the water and were out of\nsight.\n\nThe men were so angry that almost at once the cliff toppled over,\nand the children slipped down with the fragments to the bottom. When\nthey reached the bottom, they had become sea pigeons with red feet.\nThey still live among the fragments of rock and earth at the foot of\nthe cliff.\n\n\n\n\n                             MOSQUITOES\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nSun was fond of gambling. After he had gambled at one place and\nanother on Toets Island he launched his canoe. He wore a ragged\nmarten-skin blanket.\n\nWhen Sun reached that place where he was going, he went up into the\nwoods. When he got far into the woods, something before him made a\nnoise, but the noise was not like that of a bird. Following it, he\ncame to a narrow trail. Sun went along this and came to a pond. When\nhe reached it, a log was there, with the top cut off, and a nest\nmade of moss at the end of it. This was a quiet place. And there\nwere nests near one another in the moss near the lake.\n\nWhile Sun was looking at the moss hanging from the branches of the\ntrees above him, a long, thin bird flew out. It flew straight\ntowards him. It made a noise like _M-mmmmmmm_. It had a long bill.\nAnd it sat on the moss nest at the end of the log. This was the\nplace where it sat. It was its nest. The bird was Mosquito. The\ninside of its nest was green.\n\nThen Sun went to look for a stick and he broke off a stick with his\nfeet. The bird\u2019s nest was upon the moss. Then Sun walked to it upon\nthe log. He walked slowly to it. He held the stick in his hand. When\nhe got near, he struck it. Then Sun saw it was dead, and he took it\nup, but it was very light.\n\nJust as Sun turned, a humming sound arose on the other\nside\u2014_Hm-hm-mmmmmmmm_, it sounded. Mosquitoes came out from inside\nthe moss. These were small ones, like ashes. What Sun had come to\nwas a Mosquito town.\n\nThen they bit that man. He ran very fast, but he kept his large\nMosquito. When he got far from the lake, he knew they were following\nhim for that. Then he tore it in pieces and threw it about. He said,\n\u201cYou will bite even the last generation of people.\u201d\n\nBecause Sun tore it in pieces, the big mosquitoes came to be in the\nworld.\n\nThen he escaped to his canoe.\n\n\n\n\n                          ORIGIN OF DEATH\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nAnt and Spider were very wise. They were arguing one day about\ndeath. Spider said to Ant, \u201cYou are cutting yourself in two with\nthat tight belt. Soon you will die.\u201d\n\nAnt said, \u201cWell, if I do, I shall come to life again in a few\nhours.\u201d\n\nSpider said, \u201cI think it would be better if people died properly,\nelse the world will soon become overcrowded. If so many people come\nto earth and none die, soon people will starve.\u201d\n\nThus they argued.\n\nNow Fly joined Spider, so it was two to one. They said death must\nhappen.\n\nSoon after that Spider\u2019s child died. Spider came weeping to Ant, and\nsaid, \u201cLet us put things right by declaring people cannot die.\u201d\n\nAnt said, \u201cBut it is too late now. Death has already happened.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                       DURATION OF HUMAN LIFE\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nAt one time Raven said to stones scattered about, \u201cGet up and help\nme. I am tired;\u201d so he said. The stones got up, but they were unable\nto stand erect. Then Raven said, \u201cRemain stones forever!\u201d so they\ndid.\n\nNow the grass on the landward side of the stones was thick, and the\nsalmon-berry bushes were very thick indeed. Then Raven said to the\nsalmon-berry bushes and the grass, \u201cGet up! Get up and help me. I am\ntired!\u201d Then the grass and the salmon-berry bushes both arose. They\nturned into human beings, and they helped Raven.\n\nSo we are salmon-berry bushes and grass. Therefore we die in a short\ntime, because grass and salmon-berry bushes are weak. Therefore\npeople die in just the same way the leaves fall.\n\n\n\n\n                           HOW DEATH CAME\n\n\n                                                          _Lillooet_\n\nRaven was once a chief of great power and very wise. At that time\npeople did not die. One day a man came to Raven and said, \u201cI am not\nhappy as things go now. Let people die so that we may weep, and then\nwe will be happy.\u201d\n\nRaven said, \u201cVery well. If people wish to die, it shall be so.\u201d\n\nThe man went away and soon after his child died. He was sorry. He\nwept; but instead of being happy when he wept, he was very\nmiserable. He went to Raven and asked him to stop people from dying.\n\nRaven said, \u201cIt is too late for that now. I made it as you asked it.\nI cannot change things now. Henceforth people shall continue to\ndie.\u201d\n\nThat is the reason people die. Afterward Raven was changed into a\nmere bird, because he let death happen. Through him it came into the\nworld.\n\n\n\n\n                        ORIGIN OF ARROWHEADS\n\n\n                                                          _Lillooet_\n\nIt was after Raven let death happen. His own child died, and Raven\nwas very sorrowful. He took an arrow stone and cut himself with it.\nHe was surprised that it cut his flesh. Thus Raven first discovered\narrow stone and found that it could kill. After that the people\nlearned to make it into arrow points and knives. Raven put arrow\nstone into the end of a stick; thus he made the first spear.\n\n\n\n\n                    ORIGIN OF CARVED HOUSE POSTS\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nMany people lived upon the north shore of Masset Island. The east\nwind blew so strongly that they did not care to live there.\nTherefore they came to Delkatla, a few miles above Masset.\n\nThere was no salt water there. It was all covered with grass. Then\nthey dug the town-chief\u2019s house hole. They finished his first. But\nafterward they built houses on either side of him. Then they began\nto live in their own.\n\nOne autumn after that they went to Rose Spit in two big canoes. Very\nmany people went. They went for berries.\n\nThen one woman who was not paddling looked into the water. It was\nvery calm, and it was bright sunshine. Then the one who looked into\nthe sea saw something carved at the bottom. It was carved with\nfigures of human beings. The lower part was carved with a killer\nwhale, and the human being stood upon the whale.\n\nThey remained a long time above this thing, and they memorized it.\nThen they went away. Then afterward they described it. They said,\n\u201cWe will make the chief such house posts.\u201d But some of them were\nafraid.\n\nAfter they had finished picking berries, they went home. They told\nabout the carving to those who had stayed home. They made two posts\nfor the chief\u2019s house like the one they had seen. Still some were\nafraid.\n\nAt this time the land moved. The Ocean People were angry on account\nof it. Then a flood came. And after the people had fastened the\ncanoes together, they put the posts upon them. They liked them too\nmuch to leave them. When the waters got far up on the side of a\nsmall mountain, they put one post upon that. And they put one in the\nsea. They wept bitterly. They sang a song: \u201cThe supernatural beings\nwere the ones who made the flood come\u2014made the flood come.\u201d They\nsang that.\n\nAt this time the sea began to move. The canoes began to sink, and\nwhen the canoes had sunk, the people floated upon the ocean. Now the\npeople became birds. The Ocean People were the ones who caused it\nall. Then the tide began to fall. And now the people are birds.\n\n               [Illustration: Haida House with Totems\n          Entrance to the house is through the open mouth\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\n\n\n\n                       THE WIND-POWER CARVING\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nNow many of the people had carvings. They had house posts and door\nposts, and they carved their totems on the posts, and they made\ncarvings of their guardian spirit.\n\nOnce there was a girl who was not happy in the village. She wandered\naway and went to a lake in the mountains, where she saw many fish\nswimming in the water. She sat down to watch them. Then the fish\nchanged themselves to small children with very long hair. They\nwatched her and smiled at her. The girl thought, \u201cI should like to\nlive with them, they seem so happy.\u201d So she jumped into the water.\n\nAs the girl fell into the lake, a violent wind blew all over the\ncountry. It even blew down her parents\u2019 house. When the girl found\nshe could not sink, she came out of the water and at once it became\ncalm. In the lake were neither fish nor children to be seen.\n\nIn this way this girl obtained possession of the power and knowledge\nof wind. Only her descendants who live near Yale, in the mountains,\ncan use the wind-power carving on their grave boxes and in their\ndancing masks and in the house.\n\n\n\n\n                              CALENDAR\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\n  _First month._\u2014People-hunt-deer moon.\n  _Second month._\u2014\u201cGoing-in\u201d moon. People go into their winter\n          houses.\n  _Third month._\u2014Last \u201cgoing-in\u201d moon. Last of the people go into\n          winter houses.\n  _Fourth month._\u2014\u201cLittle-coming-out\u201d moon. Alternate cold and rain.\n          Some people camp in lodges for a time.\n  _Fifth month._\u2014\u201cGoing-in-again\u201d moon. Last cold when people go\n          into winter houses again.\n  _Sixth month._\u2014\u201cComing-out\u201d moon. Winter houses left for good.\n          People catch fish in bag nets.\n  _Seventh month._\u2014People-go-on-short-hunts moon.\n  _Eighth month._\u2014People-pick-berries moon.\n  _Ninth month._\u2014People-begin-to-fish-for-salmon moon.\n  _Tenth month._\u2014People-fish-for-and-cure-salmon moon.\n  _Eleventh month._\u2014\u201cTo boil food a little.\u201d So called because\n          people prepare fish oil.\n  _Autumn._\u2014People hunt large game and go trapping.\n\n\n\n\n                              CALENDAR\n\n\n                                                              _Cree_\n\n  _May._\u2014Frog moon.\n  _June._\u2014Moon in which birds begin to lay eggs.\n  _July._\u2014Moon in which birds cast their feathers.\n  _August._\u2014Moon when the young birds fly.\n  _September._\u2014Moon when the deer cast their horns.\n  _October._\u2014Rutting moon.\n  _November._\u2014Hoar-frost moon.\n  _December._\u2014Ice moon.\n  _January._\u2014Whirlwind moon; or, extremely cold moon.\n  _February._\u2014Big moon.\n  _March._\u2014Eagle moon.\n  _April._\u2014Goose moon.\n\n\n\n\n                              CALENDAR\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nBeginning with March:\n\n  _First._\u2014Spring.\n  _Second._\u2014Grass month.\n  _Third._\u2014Root-digging month.\n  _Fourth._\u2014Strawberry month.\n  _Fifth._\u2014Berry month.\n  _Sixth._\u2014Salmon month.\n  _Seventh._\u2014Month when salmon get bad.\n  _Eighth._\u2014Month when the deer travel.\n  _Ninth._\u2014Month in which they return from hunting.\n  _Tenth._\u2014Remaining-at-home month.\n  _Eleventh._\u2014Midwinter month.\n  _Twelfth._\u2014Pil-tshik-in-tin (translation unknown).\n\n\n\n\n              HOW THE INDIANS FIRST OBTAINED BLANKETS\n\n\n                                                         _Chilcotin_\n\nOnce a Being with great power sat on a stone in the middle of a\nriver, and as he sat there, he wailed. So people were afraid to pass\nup and down in their canoes. But one day a man came poling upstream,\nand when he heard the wailing, he got out of his canoe and wailed\nwith the stranger. Yet he was a little afraid and kept one foot in\nthe canoe, ready to shove off.\n\nThe stranger said his son had been hunting in the snow mountains and\nhad been buried by a snowslide. As the man wailed with him,\nEsterreqot was pleased. He took a sheet of metal on which he had\nbeen sitting and gave it to his visitor. He told him to come to his\nhouse in the mountains, but to come at night so no one would know\nit. Thus he did.\n\nWhen the man came to the house of Esterreqot, he was given two\nboxes, one full of food and one full of blankets. The man took them\nback to his tribe and invited the people to a feast. When they came,\nthey saw nothing for a feast. Then the man opened the boxes and took\nout food enough and blankets enough to fill the whole house, and\nthere was a great potlatch.\n\nThat is how the Indians first secured blankets.\n\n\n\n\n                   HUNTING IN THE SNOW MOUNTAINS\n\n\n                                                         _Chilcotin_\n\nOnce there was a boy who was very bad. He had sung a shaman\u2019s song,\nand the shaman had scolded him.\n\nNow late in the autumn he went out hunting alone. He went up the\nChilcotin River, to a place near Siwash Bridge. Here he found three\nbeavers, so he killed them. He skinned them and hid the meat, and\nwent on up into the snow mountains. He came to a great gulch in the\nmountains, and looking down he saw all kinds of animals\u2014deer,\ncaribou, mountain sheep, and mountain goats. And as he looked down\nupon them from the top, he wished his brother were there to help\nhim, there were so many. Then he went to a small ca\u00f1on at the head\nof the gulch and waited.\n\nSoon the boy heard someone calling, away down the valley, and the\ncaribou started to run up through the ca\u00f1on. As they crowded in, the\nyoung man shot all the big ones, until they lay in heaps all around\nhim. So he made his camp there and started to cut up the meat.\n\nThen the boy saw three men coming up the valley. As they came near,\nthey asked, \u201cDid you kill all these caribou?\u201d He answered, \u201cYes, I\ndid.\u201d\n\nNow these three men were Nun, or wolves. The Nun told the boy they\nhad found his beaver meat in the valley below, and had eaten it. So\nthey had helped him in his hunt. They had called away down in the\nvalley and frightened the caribou.\n\nNow the young man stayed at that place and hunted caribou and dried\nthe meat until it made a huge pile. Then he danced and sang around\nthe pile of meat, until it shrank into two large packs. So he\nstarted home. He carried one pack one day, and then went back and\nbrought up the other pack. But he became tired. That was slow work.\nTherefore he danced and sang around these two packs until they\nbecame one small pack. Then he continued home. At last he reached\nthe place where he had killed the beaver. He took the skins.\n\nThen he came to the top of a hill near his village. He dropped the\nsmall pack of meat and it became at once a huge pile, just as it was\nbefore he danced and sang around it. Now he came into the village\nand heard wailing. The people thought he was lost. They were wailing\nfor him.\n\nThe next morning the boy told the men to go to the top of the hill\nand bring in the meat he had left there. Two men started, but he\ntold more to go. Then he ordered others to go, until all the men in\nthe village had gone. When they brought the meat in, the young man\ngave a great meat potlatch.\n\nSo the boy became a shaman. The wolves were his helpers.\n\n\n\n\n   COYOTE\u2019S GIFT OF THE SALMON AND THE CA\u00d1ON OF THE FRASER RIVER\n\n\n                                    _Nicola Valley and Fraser River_\n\nCoyote was powerful in magic, and therefore he was sent into the\nworld by Old One. He spent much time traveling in the Shuswap and\nOkanogan countries. It is said that he lived with Old One before\ncoming to earth, and that after he finished his work\u2014as some say\u2014he\nwent back to Old One. But others say that Old One built him a house\nof transparent ice and put inside of it a log of wood which burns\nforever. The aurora is the light of Coyote\u2019s fire, shining through\nthe ice, or the reflection of it cast up by the ice. Coyote can hear\nwhen people speak his name. When he rolls over in his sleep, it\ncreates the sharp wind which makes the earth so cold.\n\nCoyote lived for many years in Nicola Valley. He hunted elk and deer\nin the winter time, and in the early fall he fished for salmon about\nsix miles above Spence\u2019s Bridge where he had a weir across the\nThompson River. Even yet it is called \u201cCoyote\u2019s Weir.\u201d\n\n            [Illustration: Carved Handles of Horn Spoons\n               Beautiful examples of early Indian art\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\nNow when Coyote was traveling about on earth, he gave names to all\nparts of the country. He changed many things. He made hills and\nplains wherever he saw fit. He placed bushes and trees here and\nthere, and narrowed or widened the river, and made ca\u00f1ons and\nwaterfalls and rapids just as he pleased.\n\nCoyote even made the various tribes to speak different languages.\n\nFormerly there were no salmon in the interior of the country because\nthe coast people kept them all. There was a dam across both the\nFraser and the Columbia rivers. When Coyote had traveled through the\nShuswap country, he went down the Fraser and changed himself into a\npiece of wood in the ca\u00f1on and floated downstream until stopped by\nthe fish dam. Then he broke down the dam of the four skookums who\nprevented the salmon from coming up the river. Then he went ashore.\n\nNow Coyote led the salmon up the main waters of the Fraser and\nthrough the tributary streams. He traveled along the river banks and\nthey followed him. He went up the Thompson River and the North\nThompson.\n\nThen Coyote went down to the mouth of the Columbia River where four\nskookums had dammed the river. He changed himself to a piece of\nwood, as he had at the Fraser River, and floated down against the\ndam. They picked it up, saying, \u201cThis will make a fine dish.\u201d They\nshaped it into a salmon dish. Then they put salmon on it. But all\nthe salmon they put on it disappeared. The skookums became afraid of\nthe dish, and they threw it into the fire.\n\nSuddenly, in just a moment, the skookums heard a baby\u2019s wail from\nthe fire. There it was. They picked up the little thing hastily.\nThey said, \u201cHow did it get there?\u201d yet they were all skookums.\n\nNow Coyote grew very rapidly. Soon he was running about. The\nskookums told him not to touch four baskets which stood there. But\nCoyote grew very rapidly indeed, and one day when they went out to\nget firewood, he opened them all. Out of the four baskets came\nflies, wasps, wind, and smoke. That is why flies and wasps always\nappear during the salmon season, and why the winds at that season\nalways blow up river.\n\nWhen Coyote had opened the baskets, he went out to the fish dam. He\nsaid, \u201cHenceforth, there shall be no dam here, and the salmon shall\nascend the river!\u201d\n\nCoyote led the salmon up the Columbia. Hair Seal went almost as far\nas the Falls of the Columbia with him. The Coyote pushed him in the\nwater and told him that sometimes he could come up as far as that\npoint.\n\nThen Coyote sent the salmon into all the tributaries of the\nColumbia.\n\nThe broken dam at the mouth of the Fraser River now forms the ca\u00f1on.\n\n\n\n\n                      THE COMING OF THE SALMON\n\n\n                                                       _Bella Coola_\n\nA long time ago, a man named Winwina lived on the Bella Coola River,\nand he often sat in front of his house looking at the river. One day\nhe thought, \u201cI wish fish would ascend this river.\u201d At that time not\na single salmon visited the Bella Coola River. He thought much about\nit.\n\nOne night Winwina had a dream. He dreamed that with the help of all\nthe animals he had made war upon the Salmon People and had defeated\nthem.\n\nAt once Winwina invited all the animals to his house, and told them\nhis dream. When they came, he said, \u201cI wish something. You shall\nhelp me obtain what I desire.\u201d\n\nMink said, \u201cWhat are we to do?\u201d Mink always talked a great deal.\n\nWinwina said, \u201cI want to go to Mialtoa. There is not a single salmon\nin this river. Let us make war upon the Salmon People. I shall\ncertainly take some slaves and we will place them in this river.\u201d\n\nMink sputtered. He said, \u201cI\u2019m glad _you\u2019re_ speaking in regard to\nthis matter. I asked my father, Sun, to give us salmon and I think\nhe gave you the dream you have just told us.\u201d\n\nBut all the tribes agreed. The animals all wanted to start at once.\n\nWinwina asked a person to make a canoe for them. He at once made a\nself-moving canoe. In the third moon after the winter solstice the\ncanoe was completed.\n\nAt once Winwina started. With him went the clouds, the birds, and\nall the animals. When they passed the village of Bella Bella,\nCormorant was sitting on the beach. He asked to be taken along as\npassenger. So they followed the trail of Sun for a long time.\n\nAt last they reached the country of the Salmon People. The country\nwas a great plain, and there were no trees at all. A large sun was\nshining in the sky. Soon the warriors saw the Salmon village and\nthey sent Raven out to spy. Raven was not gone very long. When he\nreturned, he said, \u201cThe Salmon People play on the beach every\nevening.\u201d Mink at once said, \u201cThat would be a good time to carry\nthem off.\u201d\n\nCrane said, \u201cI will carry away Sockeye Salmon.\u201d\n\nWinwina said, \u201cI will carry off the Humpback Salmon.\u201d\n\nKingfisher said, \u201cAnd I will look after the Dog Salmon.\u201d\n\nRaven said, \u201cYou can depend upon me for the Silver Salmon.\u201d\n\nFish Hawk said, \u201cI will capture the Salmon Trout and Olachen.\u201d Fish\nHawk was undertaking a good deal, but the olachen and salmon trout\nwere not so large, nor so warlike as the Salmon People.\n\nCloud said, \u201cI will capture the Spring Salmon.\u201d\n\nBut Cormorant said, after everyone else had spoken, \u201cWell, I\u2019m only\na passenger. I\u2019ll take whatever I can get.\u201d\n\nMink answered, \u201cI won\u2019t tell what I am going to take! Now start! The\nSalmon People cannot see you, just as we cannot see ghosts.\u201d\n\nAt once they went on the warpath. They each seized a boy and a girl\nof the various Salmon tribes, and the Salmon People could not see\nthem at all. They only saw that their children were fainting, as\nthough their ghosts had gone away.\n\nThen the bird and animal warriors went back to the canoe with their\nslaves. They were about to start home, when someone said, \u201cLet us go\nand see what is beyond this country of the Salmon People.\u201d\n\nThe canoe at once went on, and they came to the Berry Country. One\nof the birds went ashore and picked up a great many of the Berry\nPeople and put them in the canoe. Then they returned home. For seven\nmoons they had remained in the Land of the Salmon People.\n\nWhen they passed Bella Bella, Cormorant said, \u201cThis is my town. I\nwill go ashore here.\u201d\n\nThe birds and animals traveled on, and came to the mouth of the\nBella Coola River. There they threw all their Salmon slaves into the\nwater. The Salmon people jumped and began to ascend the river. Then\nWinwina arose in his canoe and told each one\u2014the silver salmon, the\nhump-back salmon\u2014told each one at what season he was to arrive. Ever\nsince that time there have been salmon in the Bella Coola River.\n\nWinwina also scattered the Berry People all over the mountains, and\nthrough the valleys, and told each one at what season it was to\nripen.\n\nAfter all this was done, Winwina invited everyone to his house. He\ngave them a great feast.\n\n\n\n\n                       COYOTE AND THE SALMON\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nOnce Coyote said, \u201cI have never yet given a feast! Why should not I\nfeast the people?\u201d\n\nCoyote at once caught great numbers of sockeye and king salmon. He\nmade much salmon oil, and buried much roe. He filled all the skins\nwith grease. Then he sent messengers to invite all the people.\nCoyote said to himself, \u201cI will sing a great song, and dance for all\nthe people when they come. They shall think me a great man.\u201d\n\nNow when the people came they began to dance. And as Coyote danced,\none salmon which hung from the ridge pole kept striking his head and\ncatching in his hair until he was angry. Yet again it caught in\nCoyote\u2019s long hair, and he pulled and he pulled to get free, but he\nonly pulled his own hair. He became very angry. He pulled the whole\nfish down and threw it in the river.\n\nImmediately all the salmon came to life. They jumped off the poles\nand ran to the river and leaped in. Coyote tried to catch some of\nthem, but into the river they jumped, every one of them. As he was\ntrying to catch the last one, he saw that all the oil had come to\nlife. It was running to the river. He tried to stop the oil, but it\nwas too late. And then all the salmon roe he had buried suddenly\njumped into the river.\n\nThen all the people went home.\n\nSoon after there was a great snowstorm. Coyote was snowed in and\nwithout food for so long he nearly starved. The snow was nearly as\nhigh as the trees all around Coyote\u2019s house. Coyote thought, \u201cThis\nis a very hard winter. The deer will all die.\u201d\n\nNow Coyote\u2019s stock of dried fish and his roots had become exhausted.\nHe wondered what he should do. He said, \u201cThis is a very long\nwinter.\u201d\n\nCoyote went to the top of the ladder and looked around. The heat and\nsmoke had kept a little opening. The snow nearly hid the trees\naround his house.\n\nNow the very next day a snowbird came and perched above the smoke\nhole. He gave Coyote a ripe berry, saying, \u201cWhy are you living here?\nIt is summertime.\u201d\n\nCoyote laughed and said, \u201cOh, but it is the middle of winter. See\nthe snow all around.\u201d\n\nThen again a snowbird came and gave him a ripe berry, saying, \u201cSee!\nThe berries are ripe, but you are still in your winter house.\u201d\n\nCoyote answered, \u201cHow can the berries be ripe and snow be still\nalmost to the tree tops?\u201d\n\nFour times the snowbirds brought him berries, and then Coyote\nthought something must be wrong. He put on his snowshoes and\nblanket, and climbed over the snowdrifts. Behold! As he came down on\nthe other side of the drifts, just a few feet from his house, it was\nbare ground! Then he went on and came in just a little while to a\nplace where the trees were budding and a little farther they were in\nfull leaf. He passed down the North Thompson Valley and saw service\nberries in blossom, and then came to bushes full of ripe fruit. Then\nCoyote came to a large berry patch, and heard two Indian women\nsinging.\n\nThe summer time had come. That was the way in which the salmon took\ntheir revenge upon Coyote.\n\n\n\n\n                      WOLVERENE AND THE GEESE\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\nWolverene was running along the seashore, when he saw many geese,\nbrant, ducks, and loons, playing in the water not far off.\n\nWolverene called to them, \u201cCome here, brothers, I have found a\npretty bees\u2019 nest! I will give it to you if you will come on shore\nand have a dance!\u201d\n\nAll the birds went on land. Wolverene said, \u201cNow let us have a dance\nand I will sing. But shut your eyes and do not open them until we\nhave finished dancing.\u201d Wolverene began to sing,\n\n  A-ho-u-mu-hou-mur-mur-_hum_\n  A-ho-u-mu-hou-mur-mur-_hum_.\n\nSo he sang. He sang that last word _hum_ very loud and very often.\nAnd every time he sang _hum_ he snipped off the head of a duck. Now\nLoon thought it very strange he sang _hum_ so often. He opened his\neyes and looked.\n\nThen Loon ran to the water shouting, \u201cOur brother is killing us.\u201d\nWolverene ran after him, but Loon dived and came up a long way off,\nshouting very loudly:\n\n                   [Illustration: Takakkaw Falls\n                      Field, British Columbia\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\n                    [Illustration: Mount Stephen\n                      Field, British Columbia\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\n  A-ho-u-mu-hou-mur-mur-_hum_.\n\nHe sang that many times.\n\n\u201cBe quiet,\u201d shouted Wolverene, \u201cyou shall be red-eyed!\u201d And so Loon\nis even today. Then Wolverene returned to the birds and pulled their\nfeathers off and cleaned them. He put them in a pot to boil.\n\nThen Wolverene saw Jay flying about in the woods. Now the Canadian\nJay is a great talker. Wolverene threw a firebrand at Jay, shouting,\n\u201cYou\u2019ll be telling on me, you long-tongued bird.\u201d\n\nAnd Jay did so. He flew away to some Indians. He said to them,\n\u201cWolverene has killed a lot of birds and is cooking them.\u201d Then he\nadded, \u201cI think he is sleeping. I\u2019ll show you where he is.\u201d\n\nThe Indians said at once, \u201cWe are hungry. We will go.\u201d And they\nwent. Now Wolverene was asleep beside the pot. Then the Indians\npulled out all the birds and ate them all. Only the bones they put\nback in the pot.\n\nAfter a long time, Wolverene awakened. He said, \u201cNow I shall have my\ndinner.\u201d He poured it all out into his eating dish. Behold! There\nwere only the bones of the birds, and the broth. Wolverene said, \u201cI\nmust have been asleep a long while. The meat is all boiled away.\u201d\n\nNow Jay was flying about in the woods. He said, \u201cThe Indians ate it\nall up. I told them where it was.\u201d\n\nWolverene said, \u201cYou stupid bird! I was keeping a big piece for\nyou!\u201d\n\nBut he wasn\u2019t. This is the end.\n\n\n\n\n                       NANEBOJO AND THE GEESE\n\n\n                                                            _Ojibwa_\n\nNanebojo lived with his grandmother. His parents had been killed by\na war party. Now Nanebojo resolved to leave that place with his\ngrandmother. He told the Indians that a stranger was coming who\nwould harm all of them.\n\nThen Nanebojo climbed to the top of a maple tree. He poured water\ninto it; therefore the sap in the maple is now watery and thin. It\nhas to be boiled before it becomes sugar. Nanebojo also went through\nthe cornfields and pulled off all the ears of corn except one or\ntwo. Therefore now cornstalks have but one or two ears. They used to\nhave ten or twelve.\n\nThen Nanebojo went away.\n\nNanebojo and his grandmother traveled until they reached Lake Erie.\nThen they journeyed to Lake St. Clair. Grandmother went on ahead.\n\nNanebojo saw ducks in Lake St. Clair, but he could not think how to\ncapture them. At last he remembered. He went to his grandmother and\ntold her to make him a sack.\n\n\u201cWhat for?\u201d asked grandmother.\n\n\u201cNever mind what for,\u201d answered her grandson. So Grandmother made\nthe sack.\n\nNanebojo took the sack and went along the lake shore to where there\nwas a hill, with a short stretch of flat land between the hill and\nthe water. He climbed to the top of the hill, got into the sack,\nclosed the neck, and rolled down the hill. Then he got out and\nwalked up again, laughing heartily all the time. Again he rolled\ndown the hill, shouting loudly.\n\nNow the ducks heard him. They came out of the water and waddled\naround him. They came closer and closer. After a while, one duck\ngrew bold. He said, \u201cLet us roll downhill just once.\u201d\n\nNanebojo said, \u201cOh, no indeed, you go away! Every time I do anything\nyou come around and bother me!\u201d Then he went up the hill again with\nhis sack on his back, and rolled himself downhill, laughing loudly.\n\nAgain the ducks said, \u201cLet us roll downhill just once.\u201d\n\nNanebojo said, \u201cVery well. You may roll downhill just once,\u201d and he\ntold them to get into the bag. Just then some geese flew by\noverhead. They stopped to watch. Nanebojo also saw them.\n\nNanebojo carried the ducks to the top of the hill, laid down the\nbag, filled it with ducks, tied the neck, and started it to rolling\ndown the hill. He ran beside it, laughing very loudly, while the\nducks quacked. They all made much noise. When the bag of ducks\nreached the bottom of the hill, Nanebojo emptied out the bag, and\ntold them to go away. Then he went up the hill with the sack on his\nshoulder, and again he rolled down-hill, laughing loudly, but always\nkeeping one eye on the ducks and one on the geese. \u201cIf I lose one, I\nmay get the other,\u201d he said. Every time he rolled down, the geese\ncame nearer. Nanebojo pretended not to see them. At last they came\nvery near indeed and asked him if they might roll down. \u201cLet us roll\ndown just once,\u201d they said.\n\nNanebojo said, \u201cNo!\u201d and kept right on rolling downhill. The geese\nwere about to fly away when Nanebojo said, \u201cOh, well. If you want\nto, you may roll down once.\u201d\n\nThe geese were very glad to get into the sack. Nanebojo squeezed\nthem in together very tightly, saying, \u201cIf you are close together,\nyou will have more fun.\u201d Then he shouldered the sack and started up\nthe hill.\n\nNanebojo walked a long, long time. He walked up to the top of the\nhill and then he walked down on the other side. The geese after a\nwhile thought he had walked too long a time. They called out, \u201cWhere\nare you going?\u201d but he made no answer and walked straight on.\n\nWhen Nanebojo reached his grandmother, he said, as he laid down the\nsack, \u201cYou heat some water while I go and get more from the spring.\u201d\nThen he went out after he had said, \u201cDo not untie the sack.\u201d When he\nhad left the lodge, Grandmother untied the sack, wondering what was\nin it. At once the geese flew out and got away. Not one was left.\n\n\n\n\n                       ADVENTURES OF NANEBOJO\n\n\n                                                            _Ojibwa_\n\nNanebojo and his grandmother journeyed about for a long time. At\nlast they came again to Lake St. Clair. In the lake were many geese.\nNanebojo thought, \u201cHow am I going to get some of those ducks?\u201d He\nthought for a long while. Then he remembered.\n\nNanebojo took a birch-bark pail, and began to drum on it and to\nsing. He sang,\n\n  I am bringing new songs,\n  I am bringing new songs.\n\nWhen the geese heard that, they drew near to him. At once he said to\nhis grandmother, \u201cGo farther on, and build a lodge where we may\nlive.\u201d And at once she did so. Then he went down to the water where\nthe geese were floating around. He pulled out his sack, got into it,\nand dived into the water. The ducks and geese were quite surprised\nto see what a good diver he was. They came closer and closer.\n\nNanebojo said, \u201cI can dive better than you can.\u201d The geese said,\n\u201cOh, no!\u201d Then they all began diving, and Nanebojo did beat them. So\nhe spent a long time diving and floating about in the water.\nSuddenly he dived, came up softly among the geese, caught the feet\nof many, and tied them together with a string of basswood bark. At\nonce the geese started to fly. They rose very slowly at first,\nbecause Nanebojo was pulling back, but at last they rose high in the\nair, carrying with them Nanebojo, who held on to the basswood\nstring. Higher and higher they rose, until the earth was far beneath\nthem. Then the string broke, and Nanebojo fell to the earth. He fell\ninto a tall hollow tree.\n\nNanebojo spent a long while in that hollow tree. At last he heard\nthe sound of chopping wood. Then he called for help, and the Indian\nwomen let him out of the tree. At once he went in search of his\ngrandmother.\n\nGrandmother asked, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you get the geese?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know you never eat goose, even when you do get it,\u201d answered\nNanebojo.\n\n\nNanebojo killed a deer. He at once skinned and dressed it, and then\nhe lighted a fire and roasted it. When he sat down to eat, the\nbranch of a tree near by began to screech. Two branches were rubbing\ntogether. Nanebojo did not like that. He said to the tree, \u201cDon\u2019t\nbother me just now when I want to eat, I am hungry!\u201d But every time\nhe took a bite the branch began to screech.\n\nNanebojo climbed into the tree, broke off a branch, and just then\ncaught his hand between two branches as they rubbed together. He\ncould not free himself.\n\nJust then a pack of wolves came running along the river. Nanebojo\nheard them at a distance. He called to them, \u201cRun right along. Don\u2019t\nlook this way.\u201d The wolves said among themselves, \u201cHe must have\nsomething to eat over there, else he wouldn\u2019t tell us to run\nstraight ahead.\u201d So they went right under his tree. They ate that\nentire deer.\n\nWhen they had finished, Nanebojo said, \u201cNow go straight ahead and\ndon\u2019t look at that tree near-by.\u201d In the tree he had hung the deer\u2019s\nhead for his grandmother. So the wolves looked at the tree and at\nonce ate the head. Then they went on.\n\nAt once the tree released Nanebojo\u2019s arm, and he climbed down. He\ncould only pick the bare bones of the deer. He went to the head. He\nturned it round and round. It was entirely bare. He went on and\njoined his grandmother.\n\n\nOne day when Nanebojo went for a drink, he saw some whitefish in the\nriver. He said to them, \u201cCan\u2019t I go along with you?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no,\u201d said the whitefish. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t last long if you did.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d asked Nanebojo.\n\n\u201cBecause the Indians are always looking for us. You would be the\nfirst one caught,\u201d they answered.\n\n\u201cI am very timid,\u201d said Nanebojo. \u201cIf I go with you, I shall never\nbe caught.\u201d So he turned himself into a whitefish.\n\nSoon after some Indians came along fishing. Nanebojo said, \u201cNow I am\ngoing over there to tease them. You all stay here and I will go over\nthere alone. Just before they try to spear me, I will dive to the\nbottom of the river and rise again a long way off.\u201d\n\nSo Nanebojo began teasing the Indians. He kept it up for some time\nuntil one of the Indians speared him. The Indian kept his spear in\nthe water until he got to the shore, and then dragged Nanebojo out.\nThe other whitefish remarked, \u201cThat is just what he said\u2014that after\nhe dived he would not come up for a long time, and then at some\ndistance.\u201d\n\nThe Indians took Nanebojo home with them. He was a very large fish.\nAfter a while he began to jump about a little, so the Indians were\nafraid. They did not cook him at once.\n\nJust about dawn the next morning, Nanebojo came to life again and\nremembered he was a fish and that the Indians had speared him. So he\ngot up and found everyone sleeping.\n\n\u201cIf they wanted to eat me, they should have done so while they had a\nchance,\u201d he said as he walked away. He was going back to his\ngrandmother.\n\n\n\n\n                    WISKE-DJAK[7] AND THE GEESE\n\n\n                                                         _Algonquin_\n\nWiske-djak was always hungry. One time, in the autumn of the year,\nhe stood on the shores of a lake, when clouds of ducks were flying\nby overhead. Wiske-djak wanted some of those ducks. He thought for a\nlong time. Then he made a small clearing right there on the lake\nshore, and built quite a large tepee, with a fire in the center. The\ngrassy floor of the tepee was very smooth, so one could dance well\nthere. Wiske-djak made a birch-bark door, with a long center stick\nto keep the bark spread, and to prevent the door from opening\ninward. Now everything was ready.\n\nWiske-djak went out walking and soon met Duck. \u201cI suppose you will\nsoon be going south,\u201d he said. \u201cYes,\u201d said Duck, \u201cand we\u2019ll be gone\nall winter. It\u2019s a bit cold up here for us.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt would be pleasant,\u201d said Wiske-djak, \u201cif we all had a dance\nbefore you went. Invite your friends, all of them, and Geese and any\nof the others who go south for the winter. We\u2019ll have a dance in my\ntepee.\u201d Duck thought that would be very pleasant.\n\nWiske-djak went back to his tepee, and sat down in the sunshine\noutside. He got his drum and rattle and began to sing a song of\ninvitation. He sang:\n\n  You will all be gone for a long time.\n  You will all be gone until it is warm again.\n  Let us have a dance before you go.\n\nThus he sang.\n\nSoon ducks and geese came flying by overhead, and they heard his\nsinging. They alighted on the ground very near the tepee.\n\nWiske-djak called, \u201cLet us go inside and have a good dance,\u201d and he\nopened the door. In went all the ducks. Wiske-djak mended the fire\nso it would give very little light.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d he said, when he had finished that, \u201cyou must all follow the\nrules of the dance. You must do whatever I call out.\u201d So they all\nbegan to dance. Geese were there and ducks and a few loons, and\nCyngabis was there also. They danced hard, around and around the\ntepee.\n\nThen Wiske-djak said, \u201cNow close your eyes. Don\u2019t open them until I\ngive the order. That is one of the rules of the dance.\u201d\n\nThe birds all closed their eyes tightly, and as they danced and\nsang, they made a great deal of noise. Anyone who has seen Indians\ndance knows that they make much noise. So Wiske-djak caught one fat\nbird after another, and wrung his neck as he passed him in the\ndance. No one heard anything at all because of the noise of the\ndancing.\n\nBut after a while Cyngabis thought Wiske-djak was moving around in\nthe dance, so he slipped into a dark corner and opened one eye just\na little. At once he saw that Wiske-djak was wringing the neck of\nthe dancers. He called out, \u201cWiske-djak is killing you! Fly!\u201d\n\nAt once the birds all opened their eyes and took wing. They flew\nvery rapidly indeed. But Cyngabis was way over in one corner and he\nwas the very last man to get out. Wiske-djak tried to catch him, but\nhe got away.\n\nNow Wiske-djak began to cook the birds for a feast. He built the\nfire outside the tepee, after poking the earth loose with a stick.\nThen he buried his birds in the hot earth, with the hot coals above\nthem. Then he went to sleep.\n\nNow some Indians came around the point in a canoe. They saw the\nsmoke of the fire, and they saw something strange lying beside the\nfire. Therefore they went nearer.\n\n                    [Illustration: Indian Pipes\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\nOne Indian said, \u201cLook out, it might be Wiske-djak up to more of his\nmischief!\u201d But another Indian went ashore, saying, \u201cI\u2019ll see who it\nis and what he is doing.\u201d When he came close to the fire, there lay\nWiske-djak, sure enough, and sound asleep. But the Indian couldn\u2019t\nsee why he should have a big fire on a warm day until he saw ducks\u2019\nlegs sticking out of the earth under the hot coals. At once he went\nback to his friends and told them all about it.\n\nThe Indians all jumped out of the canoe. They said, \u201cHa! We will\ntake Wiske-djak\u2019s ducks and geese and eat them ourselves.\u201d With\ntheir paddles they dug up all the birds, twisted the legs off, and\nput the leg bones back in the earth. They looked just as Wiske-djak\nhad placed them. Then the Indians paddled off.\n\nSoon Wiske-djak waked up. He got up and looked all around. No one\nwas there. Everything looked just as it had when he went to sleep.\nHe looked at the dying coals, and said, \u201cI guess those birds are\npretty well cooked by this time.\u201d He went all around the coals,\npulling out the ducks\u2019 legs. They came out very easily. He was\nsurprised. \u201cThey must be very tender,\u201d he thought. He dug around in\nthe earth, but not one thing did he find. Wiske-djak was disgusted.\n\n\n\n\n                   WISKE-DJAK AND THE PARTRIDGES\n\n\n                                                         _Algonquin_\n\nWiske-djak wandered over the swamps and mountains feeling all out of\nsorts with himself. It was just after the Indians had stolen all his\nducks and geese as they cooked in the coals. All at once he came\nupon a little flock of partridges, just newly hatched. Their mother\nwas away.\n\n\u201c_Kwe!_\u201d said Wiske-djak. \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing,\u201d said the partridges. \u201cJust staying here.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere is your mother?\u201d asked Wiske-djak.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s away hunting,\u201d they said.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d he asked one of them. And then each little\npartridge had to tell him his name until he came to the very last.\n\u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d he demanded.\n\n\u201cSuddenly Frightened,\u201d answered little partridge.\n\n\u201cOh, you!\u201d said Wiske-djak, \u201cwhat can you frighten?\u201d And he picked\nup a big lump of soft mud and threw it all over the clean little\npartridges. \u201cWhat can you frighten now?\u201d he said. Then he walked\noff. He walked for a long time until he came to a high mountain.\nWhen he had climbed to the very top he found a nice breeze blowing\nacross it.\n\n\u201cThis feels good,\u201d said Wiske-djak. \u201cI think I\u2019ll stay here,\u201d and he\nsearched around until he came to a place clear of trees just on the\nedge of a great chasm. The rock broke straight away for hundreds of\nfeet, and over the edge of the cliff came a delightful breeze.\nWiske-djak lay right down there and went to sleep at once.\n\nBy this time Old Partridge had got home, and found them all covered\nover with mud.\n\n\u201cWhat has happened to you? Where did you go?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cNowhere,\u201d said the little partridges.\n\n\u201cWho did this?\u201d asked Old Partridge.\n\n\u201cWiske-djak came along,\u201d said the littlest one. \u201cHe asked us a lot\nof questions, and then he asked us our names. When I told him my\nname, he said, \u2018Well, what could you frighten?\u2019 and threw mud all\nover us.\u201d\n\nOld Partridge was angry. She cleaned up the children, and washed\nthem and dried them, and gave them their supper. Then she asked them\nwhich way Wiske-djak had gone, and she went straight on his trail.\n\nOld Partridge tracked Wiske-djak to the high mountain. Then she kept\nright on until she reached the high, rocky cliff. There lay\nWiske-djak, fast asleep. Old Partridge went close to him, on the\nupper side of the rock. She spread her wings, went close to his\nears, and flapped her wings and gave her warwhoop. Wiske-djak waked\nup so suddenly he could only see that something terrible was\nwhooping right above him. He moved backward and fell right over the\nedge of the cliff.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Old Partridge, \u201cnow you know what \u2018suddenly frightened\u2019\nmeans.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                    WISKE-DJAK AND GREAT BEAVER\n\n\n                                                         _Algonquin_\n\nWiske-djak was traveling about, looking for adventures. He never\nsucceeded in anything he tried to do, and he was always hungry. In\nhis travels he came to Turn-back Lake. White men call it Dumoine\nLake. He had no canoe, but he was a good swimmer, yet when he came\nto Turn-back Lake, he found it too broad to swim. Therefore he\nstarted to walk around it.\n\nWiske-djak wanted to hunt beaver. On one side of the lake he came to\na high mountain, very round, which looked just like a beaver lodge.\nAnd a little way offshore, in the lake, was a small island, with\nmany grasses. \u201cHm-m-m!\u201d said Wiske-djak, \u201cThis must be the home of\nBig Beaver.\u201d And so it looked, with the great, round lodge and the\nisland of grasses.\n\nWiske-djak tried to think how to catch Big Beaver. At last he went\nto the lower end of the lake and broke down the dam, so the water\nwould run off. He lingered there while the lake drained. He even\ntook a nap. When it was low enough for him to get at Big Beaver, he\nfound that Beaver was gone. But as he looked about, he saw Big\nBeaver just going over the dam. So he began to chase him.\n\nWiske-djak followed Big Beaver past Coulonge River and the Pembroke\nLakes. But when Big Beaver reached the Calumet Chutes, he was afraid\nto go through and took to the portage. When Wiske-djak got to the\nlower end of the portage, however, he had lost sight of Big Beaver\nand started back up the Ottawa River. When he got to the upper end,\nhe saw fresh tracks.\n\n\u201cSomebody has been here,\u201d he said very quickly. \u201cI wonder if I might\nbe able to trail him? I might get something to eat.\u201d\n\nWiske-djak followed the tracks to the lower end of the portage, and\nfound they turned toward the upper end, so he raced back there. He\ndid not see any beaver, however, so he turned back again to follow\nother fresh tracks to the lower end of the portage. Then he saw he\nhad been following his own trail.\n\nEven today one can see Wiske-djak\u2019s footprints in the stone on the\nCalumet portage.\n\n\n\n\n                             NENEBUC[8]\n\n\n                                                            _Ojibwa_\n\nOnce a girl told her father to put his wooden dish before the fire\nupside down and look under it every morning for five mornings. Then\nshe went to live in the sun.\n\nThe father did as he was told. On the first morning he looked under\nthe upturned dish, and there sat Nenebuc. The next morning he looked\nunder again, and there sat Nenebuc\u2019s brother with him. So he did for\nthe five days. Nenebuc and his four brothers had all come to earth\nto live. Then the old man picked up the dish and put it away.\n\nNow one brother had horns on his head. Grandfather said to him, \u201cYou\ncan\u2019t stay here; you go west!\u201d and he sent him out to the edge of\nthe Darkening Land. Then he sent another brother to the east and one\nto the north and one to the south. Nenebuc stayed with his\ngrandfather.\n\nNow one summer Nenebuc could not fish during the whole summer\nbecause of the high winds. The people almost starved and Nenebuc\nbecame very angry. His anger was against West Wind for blowing so\nmuch. West Wind blew all the time\u2014blew hard.\n\nNenebuc said to his grandfather, \u201cI am going west. I\u2019ll make West\nWind cease blowing in this way.\u201d\n\nGrandfather said, \u201cBut don\u2019t kill him. Tell him to let the wind blow\nawhile, and then stop. Then everything will be all right.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll be back soon,\u201d said Nenebuc. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll end this constant\nwind.\u201d\n\nSo Nenebuc went away. He went toward the Darkening Land, and there\nhe found his brother. Now this was the brother with the two horns,\nand he was not friendly toward Nenebuc. He refused to stop the\nblowing of West Wind, and at last they fought about it. Nenebuc\nhammered his brother hard with a club and at last broke one of his\nhorns. Then he said, \u201cDon\u2019t blow so hard any more. Grandfather and\nall the people will starve if the wind always blows so hard.\u201d Then\nhe went home.\n\nSo things went much better. Nenebuc went fishing and found it was\nvery calm, with only a little puff of wind now and then. All the\nwinds stopped blowing, because West Wind had warned the other\nbrothers that Nenebuc would come and fight with them if they did\nnot.\n\nAfter a while things went badly again. There was no wind at all and\nthe water became ill-smelling, and bad-tasting. People could not\ndrink it. Fish could not live in it. Grandfather said, \u201cWe must have\nsome wind or the people will die. Did you kill West Wind?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no,\u201d said Nenebuc. \u201cBut I\u2019ll have to go and see him again.\u201d So\nhe went again toward that Darkening Land where West Wind dwelt.\n\n\u201cI came to tell you,\u201d he said to his brother, \u201cthat we must have\nsome wind once in a while. It must not be a dead calm like this, but\nwe don\u2019t want too much wind. It spoils the fishing.\u201d\n\nSo now the winds blow as they should, because West Wind told the\nother three brothers. Sometimes it is calm, and people go fishing;\nand sometimes it is windy.\n\n\n\n\n                        NENEBUC AND BIG BEAR\n\n\n                                                            _Ojibwa_\n\nOnce when Nenebuc was traveling, he met Big Bear. Now Big Bear ate\npeople, and he had eaten many Indians. They were all very much\nafraid of him. Nenebuc went to Bear and said, \u201cIf you eat so many\nIndians, they will soon all be gone. I shall make you very small and\nharmless.\u201d\n\nThen Nenebuc turned Bear into Squirrel and Squirrel into Bear.\nSquirrel did not care at all, because he was fond of eating berries\nand roots anyway. He did not care to eat Indians.\n\nBut Big Bear felt very badly. He wept so much at being Squirrel that\nhis eyebrows turned gray, and his eyes are all white and shiny.\nNenebuc said to Bear, \u201cNow what are you going to eat?\u201d and Bear\nsaid, \u201cI shall go right on eating people.\u201d But he was so small, now\nthat he was Squirrel, he couldn\u2019t eat them at all.\n\nNenebuc said, \u201cYou are too small to eat people. Run up that black\nspruce there, and taste the seeds in the cones. Then see whether you\nwant to eat Indians any more.\u201d\n\nAnd Squirrel did that. He tasted the sweet seeds in the spruce cones\nand was so well pleased he said he really did not want to eat\nIndians any more.\n\n\n\n\n                           COYOTE AND FOX\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nCoyote, while traveling about, came to an underground house in which\nlived very small, short people. They were the Rock Rabbit People.\nCoyote said, \u201cThey are far too short for people. I will just eat\nthem up.\u201d He killed every one of the Rabbit people, tied them all on\na string, and carried them off on his shoulder.\n\nNow the weather was clear and hot, so Coyote carried them to the\nshade of a large yellow-pine tree. He made a big fire, and heated\nstones red hot; then he dug a hole in the earth and put in the hot\nstones. Then he put in the rock rabbits and covered them with leaves\nand then with earth. Then Coyote went to sleep in the shade of the\nbig yellow pine.\n\nNow along came Fox, and seeing Coyote asleep, he spied the earth\noven. Then he at once began to dig out the rabbits and eat them. He\nhad eaten half of them when Coyote awoke. Coyote was very lazy and\nsleepy. He said to Fox, \u201cSpare me ten.\u201d Fox kept right on eating.\nThen Coyote said, \u201cWell, spare me nine.\u201d Fox still went on eating.\nCoyote was very lazy. He saw Fox eating the rabbits, and he kept\ntalking about them. He kept asking Fox to spare some for him. At\nlast he said, \u201cSpare me half a rabbit, anyway.\u201d But Fox ate every\nscrap.\n\nFox could hardly move when he had eaten all those rabbits. Coyote\nwas very hungry, and he suddenly became very wide awake. Coyote\nsaid, \u201cI will settle with that fellow,\u201d and he followed Fox\u2019s trail.\nSoon he came upon Fox sleeping in the shade of a thick fir tree.\nCoyote, by his magic, made that tree fall on Fox. \u201cNow I guess we\nare square,\u201d said Coyote.\n\nBut the tree was so branchy that the trunk never came anywhere near\nFox. He crawled out from among the branches and walked away. Coyote\nfollowed close after him.\n\nSoon Fox reached a place where the rye grass, or wild redtop, was\nvery thick and tall. He crept into the middle of it and went to\nsleep. Coyote set fire to the grass, but Fox waked up and set back\nfires, so Coyote\u2019s fire did not reach him.\n\nThen Fox went on again until he came to a reedy place, where hares\nwere many. Coyote set fire to the reeds, saying, \u201cFox will burst in\nthe fire.\u201d But when the fire spread, the hares ran out and Coyote\nwas so busy clubbing some of them that Fox ran out also, and Coyote\nnever saw him until he was far off. Then he called, \u201cFox, you may\ngo.\u201d\n\nNow Coyote traveled on until he came to a place where magpies were\nmany. He set snares and caught many, and then made a robe for\nhimself of the skins. He put on his robe and was well pleased. He\nkept singing,\n\n  What a beautiful robe I have!\n  How the feathers shine!\n\nHe sang that over and over.\n\nSoon afterward Coyote met Fox who was wearing a robe of silver-fox\nskins, gleaming in the sun, and thickly covered with tail feathers\nof the golden eagle. Coyote said, \u201cHis robe looks better than mine,\nand is much more valuable.\u201d So he offered to exchange robes.\n\nFox said, \u201cHow can you expect me to exchange my fine robe with eagle\nfeathers for your robe of magpie skins?\u201d So Coyote made believe to\nturn away; but the moment they separated, he seized Fox\u2019s robe and\nmade off with it.\n\nCoyote ran on until he came to a lake. He took off his robe of\nmagpie skins and tore it to bits. Then he threw the pieces into the\nwater. Coyote then put on the eagle-feather robe and strutted about\nin it, admiring himself. He kept saying, \u201cIf only a wind would come,\nthen I could see and admire these feathers as they fluttered.\u201d\n\n                  [Illustration: Shuswap Beadwork\n        Leggins and garters. Region of the Canadian Rockies\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\nNow Fox had watched Coyote until he was out of sight. Fox was\nthinking. Then by his magic he made a great wind to blow. The wind\nblew the robe off Coyote\u2019s back and carried it back to Fox.\n\nNow Coyote went back to the lake, to see if he could find his old\nmagpie robe. The wind had scattered all the pieces and the feathers.\nOnly here and there on the lake could a feather be seen.\n\nFox was wearing that robe afterward, when he became just an ordinary\nfox. Therefore he still wears silver-fox skins, the most valuable of\nall furs.\n\n\n\n\n                        THE VENTURESOME HARE\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\nA long time ago, Hare lived with his grandmother. They were poor,\nand Hare was hungry. One day he said, \u201cGrandmother, I shall set a\ntrap and catch fish.\u201d The old woman laughed. She said, \u201c_If_ you\ncan! Go set the net, grandson. But even if you should catch one, we\nhave no fire.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll see to that,\u201d said Hare.\n\nOff went Hare with the net, and he set it. The next morning in every\nmesh of the net was a fish, caught by its fins. Hare said, \u201cOh,\n_my_!\u201d He could not even pull up the net, so he shook out some of\nthe fish and pulled the rest in. Many of these he buried. The rest\nhe took home, and dropped them outside the lodge while he went in.\n\n\u201cGrandmother,\u201d said Hare, \u201cHere are the fish. You clean them. The\nIndians across the river have fire, and I shall go over and steal\nsome.\u201d\n\nGrandmother was frightened. She said, \u201cOh, no!\u201d But Hare had now\ndried his net, so he folded it up and put it under his arm.\n\nThen Hare went to the river, but the river was wide. Hare could not\npossibly jump across, so he sat down and thought. Then he called to\nthe whales to help him. Many whales at once came up the river, and\nside by side they lay across the river. Hare jumped from one to the\nother. Thus he crossed. Then Hare jumped into the water to wet his\nfur.\n\nNow Hare laid himself down in the sand along the shore, for he had\nseen some Indian children. Then the children came to where Hare lay.\nThey saw him there. At once a boy picked him up and carried him\nhome. Someone said, \u201cWell, put him in the pot.\u201d And a pot stood\nready there, near a bright, crackling fire. So the boy put down\nHare. An old man said, \u201cYou must kill him first.\u201d\n\nHare was greatly frightened. He opened one eye just a little to see\nif there was any way of escape beside the door. In the top of the\ntepee was a large round smoke hole. Hare said, \u201cI wish a spark of\nfire would fall on my net.\u201d Instantly the brands burned through and\nrolled apart and a great spark fell on the net and began to burn it.\n\nHare, in a flash, sprang out of the smoke hole\u2014sprang out through\nthe top of the tepee. The Indians saw him leap, and they ran after\nHare shouting. Now when Hare came to the river bank he had not time\nto call his friends, the whales, to help him. Hare was running very\nfast, and he gave one great leap across the river and landed on the\nother side.\n\n\u201cDid I not tell you, Grandmother, that I would get fire?\u201d said Hare\nwhen he reached home.\n\n\u201cHow did you get across the river, Grandson?\u201d asked Grandmother.\n\n\u201cOh, I just jumped across,\u201d said Hare indifferently.\n\n\n\n\n                          RABBIT AND FROG\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\nOne day Rabbit wandered over the hillside, and came near an Indian\nwigwam. Now Rabbit was very timid. He crept close to the lodge and\npeered through a small hole. There was Frog, sitting near the fire.\n\n\u201cBrother,\u201d said Rabbit, \u201cwhat are you doing?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am playing with the ashes,\u201d said Frog.\n\n\u201cCome live with me,\u201d said Rabbit.\n\nFrog said, \u201cI have a lame leg. That is why I am sitting here while\nmy brothers are out hunting.\u201d\n\nRabbit went into the lodge and tossed Frog on his back. \u201cThis is the\nway I will carry you,\u201d he said.\n\nWhen Rabbit reached home, he went out to hunt for food. Suddenly he\nspied smoke curling up from among the willows along the river bank.\nRabbit became frightened, and started home, exclaiming, \u201cI have\nforgotten my crooked knife! I must go quickly and get it.\u201d Rabbit\nrushed home and dashed excitedly into his lodge. He exclaimed, \u201cI\nhave forgotten my crooked knife! I came home to get it.\u201d\n\nFrog said calmly, \u201cBrother, why are you frightened?\u201d\n\nRabbit said, \u201cI saw a large smoke.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere was it?\u201d asked Frog.\n\n\u201cAmong the willows by the river,\u201d said Rabbit.\n\n\u201cPooh!\u201d said Frog. \u201cThe smoke came from Beaver\u2019s lodge. He lives\ndown there. You\u2019re very brave to be so afraid of Beaver! _I_ can\nhunt _him_.\u201d\n\nRabbit felt better. He said, \u201cI\u2019ll carry you to Beaver\u2019s lodge.\nWe\u2019ll break it in and catch him.\u201d So he carried Frog to Beaver\u2019s\nlodge down among the willows by the river.\n\nRabbit built a dam of stakes across the stream, and told Frog to\nwatch, while he broke in the top of Beaver\u2019s lodge. While Rabbit was\ndoing this, Frog pulled up some stakes, and therefore Beaver\nescaped. When Rabbit saw this, he shook Frog roughly and pushed him\ninto the water under the ice.\n\nAnd this was just what Frog wanted.\n\n\n\n\n                             BIG TURTLE\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nAn old man lived with his nephew. Every day the nephew went\nsomewhere. Every day the uncle asked, \u201cWell, where have you been\ntoday? What did you see today?\u201d\n\nOne day the nephew said, \u201cI have pulled off Eagle\u2019s feather.\u201d And in\ntruth he had Eagle\u2019s tail feather. His uncle at once exclaimed,\n\u201cDanger! We are in danger!\u201d\n\nThen he hung the eagle feather in the smoke hole of his house. Soon\nEagle came and stood for a while over the smoke hole. The uncle\nexclaimed, \u201cDanger! We are in danger! We must have a council at\nonce!\u201d\n\nSo they called a council of all the animals. The young man sent\naround saying, \u201cCome, for there is danger!\u201d They all came at once.\nThe old man stood at the door of his house. Some of the animals he\nwould not allow to enter. He said to Deer, to Bear, and to Wolf, \u201cI\ndo not want you at this council. You can run too fast.\u201d Only the\nanimals that could not run fast were allowed to form a council.\nTurtle came, and Otter and Skunk and Porcupine and others.\n\nThen they held their council. Each said what he would do in case of\ndanger. Porcupine said, \u201cI will shoot my quills through them when\nthey come near me.\u201d They all said things like that.\n\nThen the people from the council all ran away to where a big tree\nstood, for fear Eagle would come. For safety they all climbed the\ntree. Then Eagle came and stood over the smoke hole for the second\ntime, but the feather was not there. Turtle had carried it away.\n\nNow the tree that all the people had climbed was very rotten. A\nstrong wind came and blew it down, so the animal people were\nscattered all about. Porcupine had been covered with bits of rotten\nwood. Therefore Porcupine climbed up on Turtle\u2019s back, to hide him,\nand they went away. Turtle carried the Eagle\u2019s feather. Now all\nalong the way Porcupine kept scattering ashes on Turtle\u2019s trail so\nEagle would not see him. But Eagle followed the trail of ashes.\nThen, just as he got to the bank of the river, Eagle\u2019s friends\ncaught Turtle.\n\nThey said, \u201cWe will throw Turtle into the fire.\u201d Turtle pretended to\nenjoy it very much. Then they struck him, but they hit Turtle on his\nshell. They could not see that he minded it. Then someone said, \u201cLet\nus drown Turtle.\u201d Turtle began to cry, \u201cOh, no! I am afraid of the\nwater!\u201d Then they dragged him toward the water. Turtle pushed\nback\u2014he pushed back, and he cried. That is why someone said, \u201cLet us\ndrop him to the bottom of the water. That is the place for him.\u201d So\nit was done. They threw him in. They could see Turtle lying on his\nback on the bottom of the water. Then they left him.\n\nAt once Turtle turned over and swam to a log near the opposite\nshore. Turtle climbed on that log, and waved Eagle\u2019s feather high in\nthe air. He shouted, \u201cKi-he.\u201d Truly, that is the cry of one who has\noverpowered his enemy.\n\nNow Eagle\u2019s friends heard it. They gathered on the shore. They said,\n\u201cWho will bring back Eagle\u2019s feather?\u201d They held a council. One\nsaid, \u201cNo, I cannot go there.\u201d Another said, \u201cNo, I would be drowned\nif I went there.\u201d At last Otter said, \u201cI will try it.\u201d So he did.\n\nNow Turtle sat on that log waving the feather. Otter darted across\nthe river and reached that log where Turtle was sitting. Turtle\ndropped off the back side into the water. Soon Otter began to yell,\n\u201cOh-oh! He is hurting me so badly!\u201d Turtle was pinching him all\nover. Otter yelled, \u201cOh, he is pinching me all over!\u201d\n\nTherefore Turtle kept that feather of Eagle\u2019s. Turtle cannot be\noverpowered by anyone\u2014so the Wyandots say.\n\n\n\n\n                         WOLVERENE AND ROCK\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\nWolverene was out walking one day, out on a hillside, when he came\nto a large rock. Wolverene asked, \u201cWas it you who was out walking\njust now?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Rock, \u201cI cannot walk.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019ve seen you walking,\u201d said Wolverene sharply.\n\n\u201cThat isn\u2019t true,\u201d said Rock. But Wolverene insisted that it was. He\nsaid, \u201cYou are the very Rock I have seen out walking.\u201d\n\nWolverene then ran off a little way and jeered at Rock. He shouted,\n\u201cCatch me if you can!\u201d Then Wolverene went close to Rock and hit him\nwith his paw. He shouted, \u201cSee if you can catch me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t walk, but I can roll,\u201d said Rock, who was very indignant.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s just what I wanted,\u201d said Wolverene, and he began to run.\n\n                   [Illustration: Sun Dance Ca\u00f1on\n                    Near Banff, Alberta, Canada\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\n                   [Illustration: Castle Mountain\n                       Banff, Alberta, Canada\n                _Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry._]\n\nBut Rock began to roll. Wolverene raced away and Rock tore after\nhim, close to his heels, all down that hillside. Then Wolverene\nbegan to jump and leap and Rock rolled faster and faster, touching\nhis heels. Then Wolverene tripped over a stick and fell. Rock rolled\nright on top of him and stopped there. He stopped rolling.\n\nWolverene yelled, \u201cGet off of me. You are breaking my bones!\u201d Rock\nstayed right there. Then Wolverene yelled to the Wolves and Foxes to\ncome and save him. They all gathered around Rock and Wolverene.\n\n\u201cHow did you get under Rock?\u201d they asked. Wolverene was not a\nfavorite. Wolverene said, \u201cI dared Rock to run after me, and he\nrolled.\u201d Then they all said, \u201cIt served you right.\u201d\n\nBut yet they tried to push Rock away. Rock stayed right there. The\nanimals pushed and pushed. Rock did not roll.\n\nThen Wolverene began to shout to his other brother, Thunder and\nLightning. In a few minutes a dark cloud rushed up from the\nsouthwest. It made so much noise and was so black that all the\nWolves and Foxes ran away. Lightning suddenly drew back and then\nrushed forward and hit Rock, while Thunder crashed. Lightning\nknocked Rock into tiny small pieces, but he also tore Wolverene\u2019s\ncoat all to pieces.\n\nWolverene picked himself up and saw that he had no fur at all. He\ncould find only a few bits of his coat so he said sharply to\nLightning, \u201cYou needn\u2019t have torn my coat all to pieces when I only\nasked you to strike Rock!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                         RAVEN\u2019S CANOE MEN\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nCrow made a great feast. He invited all the people, and he invited\nRaven. But Raven refused. Raven wanted all the feast of hemlock-bark\ncakes and cranberries.\n\nBefore they began eating, Raven ran into the woods. He made rotten\ntrees into ten canoes. Then he put in spruce cones, standing them up\nalong the middle of the canoes. Raven put grass tops into their\nhands for spears. Raven walked near them, with his blanket wrapped\ntightly around him. The canoes came around the point, terrible to\nbehold! Men were standing in lines along the middle of the canoes.\nThe people fled at once. They left their feast. Then Raven went into\nthe house and ate the cakes of hemlock bark and cranberries. He ate\nand he ate! When the canoes landed they were washed about by the\nwaves.\n\n\n\n\n                         RAVEN AND PITCHMAN\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nRaven came to a town. Now the Pitch People lived at that town.\nTherefore Raven said to Pitchman, \u201cLet us go fishing.\u201d While it was\ndark, they went fishing. Then only Pitchman killed halibut; Raven\ncould not kill any. Pitchman wanted to go home before the sun rose\nbecause he was afraid of being melted.\n\nThen they went fishing again in the morning. And again only Pitchman\nkilled halibut, and Raven caught nothing at all; and again Pitchman\nwanted to go home early before the sun rose. But Raven did not want\nto go home. He said, \u201cOh, no.\u201d\n\nWhen the sun rose, Pitchman wanted to go home very much. Raven said,\n\u201cWait until I kill a halibut.\u201d Then the sun got higher. Pitchman\nbegan to say \u201cA-a-a-a-a,\u201d rather weakly, because he was getting\nwarm. Pitchman wanted to go home very much.\n\n\u201cPut the blanket over you,\u201d said Raven to Pitchman. When the sun got\ntoo hot, Pitchman said, \u201cUmmmm!\u201d He kept saying it. Then Pitchman\nbegan to melt. At last he melted completely.\n\n\n\n\n                 WHEN RAVEN MARRIED OFF HIS SISTER\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nRaven wanted to find a good husband for his sister. He went out one\nday and cried, \u201cWho will marry my sister?\u201d\n\n\u201cI,\u201d \u201cI,\u201d \u201cI,\u201d \u201cI,\u201d said all the animals. So Raven began to question\nthem.\n\n\u201cWhat can you do?\u201d he asked Grizzly Bear.\n\n\u201cWhen I see people, I will roar,\u201d said Grizzly.\n\n\u201cYou are too bad-tempered,\u201d said Raven. He refused him.\n\nWolf offered. \u201cWhat can you do?\u201d asked Raven.\n\n\u201cI snap at people if I am alone. When the pack is with me, I devour\nthem,\u201d said Wolf.\n\n\u201cYou are too bad-tempered,\u201d said Raven.\n\nThen Elk offered. \u201cI can crash through the forests,\u201d said Elk. Raven\nrefused him.\n\n\u201cWhat can you do?\u201d asked Raven of Deer and Porpoise. They were\ncousins.\n\n\u201cI can pull out any skunk cabbage with my teeth,\u201d said Deer.\nPorpoise said, \u201cI will always eat clean things. I always eat\nherring.\u201d That is why, when Deer swims to an island, Porpoise always\nswims with him.\n\nSo Raven consented. He let Porpoise marry his sister.\n\n\n\n\n                        BEAVER AND PORCUPINE\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nBeaver\u2019s store of food was plentiful. While he was away hunting one\nday, Porcupine stole that food. Then he remained sitting there. When\nBeaver returned he asked, \u201cDid you eat my food?\u201d\n\nPorcupine said, \u201cNo, indeed. How can the food of supernatural beings\nbe taken? You have supernatural power and I have supernatural\npower.\u201d\n\nThen they started to fight. Beaver tried to seize Porcupine with his\nteeth, but when he threw himself at his face, the sharp spines\nstruck him. After they had fought for a while, Beaver went to the\nplace where his parents lived. He was all covered with spines.\n\nThen his father called the people together, and the Beaver people\ncame in a crowd. They all went along to fight Porcupine. Porcupine\nused angry words to them. Then they pushed down his house upon him.\nThey seized him. They took him to an island lying out at sea, upon\nwhich two trees stood.\n\nWhen Porcupine was almost starved, he called upon the animals of his\nclan. He called upon his father. He called upon all of his friends.\nThey did not answer him.\n\nBy and by Something said to him, \u201cCall upon Cold-weather, call upon\nNorth wind.\u201d Porcupine did not understand. Then the Voice said,\n\u201cSing North songs. Then you will be saved.\u201d\n\nSo Porcupine began singing,\n\n  Xune qa-sa zune,\n  Let the sky clear altogether;\n  Hu-n, hu-n, hun, hun.\n\nAfter that he sat on a rock and sang,\n\n  Xunisa,\n  Let it be cold weather;\n  Gai-ya-li-sa,\n  Let it be smooth on the water.\n\nThen North sent cold weather. The wind became strong. Then Porcupine\nbegan to sing for smooth water. When it became smooth, the surface\nof the sea froze. When the ice became thick, his friends came and\ngot Porcupine; but he was not able to walk.\n\nNow after Porcupine reached his father\u2019s house, his father called\nall the Forest People. He gave them all food. Then they asked\nPorcupine why the Beaver people did this to him. He said it was\nbecause he had eaten Beaver\u2019s food.\n\nThen the Porcupine people went to war with the Beaver people. But\nthey did not defeat the Beaver people. After they had fought for a\nwhile, they stopped.\n\nAfter that, when they were gathering food, they seized Beaver. The\nPorcupines did this. They were always plotting against Beaver. They\ntook Beaver up a tall tree. After he had been there awhile, he began\neating the tree from the top. He finally got down and went away.\nBeavers cannot climb trees.\n\n\n\n\n                        BEAVER AND PORCUPINE\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nBeaver and Porcupine lived together. They used to eat together, but\ntheir food was different and Porcupine was always eating Beaver\u2019s\nfood. He would leave his own food and eat Beaver\u2019s.\n\nOne day Beaver said, \u201cHereafter we shall eat apart.\u201d So he took his\nown food and went some distance away, leaving Porcupine to eat his\nown. But even so, Porcupine left his own food, and came around to\nBeaver, and ate his.\n\nOne day Beaver said to Porcupine, \u201cTomorrow we will travel into the\nmountains where there is much food.\u201d They packed their blankets and\nboxes and all their things and traveled into the mountains, where\nthey camped. The next morning Beaver said, \u201cThere is much food here\nin the mountains. I am going hunting.\u201d\n\nWhen Beaver had gone some distance, he stopped and called to\nPorcupine far, far away:\n\n\u201cHereafter you shall be a common porcupine. You shall always live in\nthe mountains. You shall never again live with Beaver nor eat his\nfood. Neither shall you ever live in a good country.\u201d\n\nThat is why porcupines live in the mountains, while beavers live in\nlow, flat lands, where there is plenty of water. Because when Beaver\nleft Porcupine, he traveled on to a flat country, with many lakes\nand streams.\n\n\n\n\n                          BEAVER AND DEER\n\n\n                                                             _Haida_\n\nDeer lived near Taku. The skunk cabbage he ate was like a garden.\nBeaver came also to this place and he gnawed down the forest trees\ngrowing around there. So there came to be many trees on top of the\ngarden. Then Beaver went away.\n\nDeer went to see his property. Then he saw that trees were piled\nupon it and he knew that Beaver had done this.\n\nNow Beaver lived under an island in a lake in the woods. One morning\nhe felt the water was going down. Beaver went out. Deer was standing\nthere, and Deer had dug a trench from the lake. But Deer could not\nget at Beaver.\n\nTherefore Deer called to Beaver, \u201cCome, go with me.\u201d So Beaver went\nwith him. Then they came to the shore of the sea. Beaver had never\nbeen in the sea, but Deer said, \u201cLet us swim out to that island.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have never been in the sea,\u201d said Beaver.\n\n               [Illustration: Haida Memorial Columns\n              Erected in honor of chiefs of the tribe\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\n\u201cYou shall sit on my back,\u201d said Deer. \u201cThere are many things to eat\nover there.\u201d So Beaver got on Deer\u2019s back, and they went there. When\nhe got off, Deer went with him up to the woods. Then they came up\nunder the trees.\n\nDeer said, \u201cGo up, and I will sit down here and wait for you.\u201d So\nBeaver went up into the woods. When Beaver was a long way off, Deer\nran away quickly and swam off.\n\nBeaver came back quickly, but Deer was nowhere to be seen. Beaver\nsat down on the beach. He could see no way to get off the island,\nbecause he was not used to swimming in the ocean. After he had sat\nthere awhile, evening came upon him. Then, in the middle of the\nnight, he called to the different animals.\n\nFirst he called to Black Bear, then he called to Wolf. \u201cSave me!\u201d he\ncalled. Then he called to Grizzly Bear, and he called to all the\nsmaller animals. None of them heard him. Beaver had been upon the\nisland ten nights. He called every day, wailing. When he was\nunsuccessful, his heart was tired. So he sat still.\n\nAfter a while, Beaver began to call to North: \u201cNorth, save me!\nNorth, save me! North, save me!\u201d And as he sang this every day, he\ncontinued to wail.\n\nAfter ten days had passed, a black wind came toward him along the\nsurface of the sea, as he sat near the shore. North had heard his\nvoice. The wind blew hard from the north. At midnight Beaver felt of\nthe sea. After he had sat awhile longer, he felt of it again. After\nhe had done so for a while, he felt that it was frozen over. He sat\nstill. Then he perceived it was strong enough.\n\nThen Beaver stepped upon it. And he went ashore upon it. He escaped\nto land. Then he went to his home. He stopped up that trench. After\nhe finished stopping it up, he went into his house. This is the end.\n\n\n\n\n                          EAGLE\u2019S FEAST[9]\n\n\n                                                          _Kwakiutl_\n\nEagle gave a feast. He invited all of the myth people. Eagle told\nhis servants to get the four cooking boxes and to put stones into\nthe fire and to get the tongs. When this was done, Eagle put on his\neagle mask and seated himself on the seashore.\n\nAs soon as Eagle was seated, he saw a porpoise coming up. Eagle flew\ndown and grasped it and brought it to the beach. When he had been\nsitting there a long time, he saw another porpoise come up. Eagle\ngrasped it at once and carried it up to the beach. Thus he did four\ntimes. Then as soon as he had caught four porpoises, he took off his\neagle mask and hung it up. Then he cut up the porpoises. When they\nwere cut up, water was poured into the cooking boxes. Then Eagle put\nthe porpoises in, and put red hot stones into the boxes also. Soon\nthey were cooked. Then they were taken out. Eagle had invited all\nhis friends for a feast, so they ate all the porpoises. Then they\nwent out.\n\n\n\n\n                   WHEN CHICKADEE CLIMBED A TREE\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nOnce Grizzly Bear told her grandson that if ever any of his arrows\nshould catch in a tree, and beyond his reach, not to climb the tree.\nAt first the boy did just as Grandmother said; but he lost many\narrows. Now one day he shot his best arrow at a bird that was\nsitting in a tree. The bird flew away and the arrow stuck in a\nbranch just beyond his reach. It was his very best arrow.\n\nThen the boy forgot and climbed that tree to get the arrow. Just as\nhe came near it, the tree suddenly grew and the arrow was far out of\nhis reach. The boy climbed again, but just as he reached out his\nhand to take it, the tree shot up and again it was far out of his\nreach. This happened many times. So the boy kept on climbing.\n\nNow as the boy looked down, he saw that the earth was far below him,\nand there were no branches at all on the tree trunk. He could not\nclimb down, so he began to climb from branch to branch after his\narrow, and the tree grew higher and higher until it broke through\nthe floor of the Sky Land. Its lower branches were just level with\nthe floor. And only then was the boy able to reach his arrow. Then\nhe pulled it out, and climbed off the branch into the Sky Country.\n\nNow the Sky Country was a great plain, covered lightly with snow.\nThere were no signs of people. He said to himself, \u201cThere is no use\nin wandering aimlessly around in this way. I will set my arrow on\nend, and follow whichever way it falls.\u201d\n\nThen he did so. He traveled the way the arrow fell and came to some\nchips which showed him that some people had been there felling a\ntree. Then he came to some fresher chips. Then he traveled on until\nhe came to a lodge, with a mat door.\n\nThen someone opened the door and he went in. Afterward he became the\nchickadee.\n\n\n\n\n                       REDBIRD AND BLACKBIRD\n\n\n                                                            _Ojibwa_\n\nOnce there were two men named Redbird and Blackbird. They had a\nhouse on the shore of the lake, and they lived on wild potatoes.\nThey spent all their time digging for wild potatoes, and that was\nall the food they ever had.\n\nOne day Blackbird said to Redbird, \u201cThere are great fields of wild\nrice across the lake. We ought to go and gather it.\u201d So the very\nnext day they crossed the lake and found themselves among large\nfields of wild rice. They began gathering the rice, then they saw\npeople near by. They went to the people and said, \u201cHow do you do?\u201d\n\nThe people said, \u201cWe have never seen you before.\u201d Blackbird said,\n\u201cNo. We live on the other side of the lake. We live on the wild\npotatoes we find there.\u201d The people said, \u201cWell, you did right in\ncoming over here. You ought to have good food.\u201d\n\nThen Blackbird and Redbird shook hands all around and went home.\n\nNow these people talked about the wild potatoes. Just about that\ntime, Redbird said to Blackbird, \u201cThose people are planning to\nattack us, for our wild potatoes. What shall you do?\u201d Blackbird said\nat once what he would do. Then Redbird said what he would do. The\nvery next day those people came. Redbird heard their voices. At once\nhe began to grow smaller and smaller until he was only a single\nfeather lying on the ground. When Blackbird heard their voices, he\nhit himself against the house, and soon there was only an awl\nstanding there.\n\nThe people came and searched everywhere. They said, \u201cNo, we can\u2019t\nfind those men,\u201d so they went home.\n\nBlackbird and Redbird were a little afraid they would come back. So\nthey changed themselves into birds. Redbird flew to the woods, but\nBlackbird went over the lake to live.\n\n\n\n\n                       LITTLE GRAY WOODPECKER\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nOnce a beautiful Indian maiden used to go often to dances. When she\nwas dressing for the dance, Gray Woodpecker would come to help her.\nHe helped her put the many colors on her face.\n\nNow Little Gray Woodpecker was gray all over. He had only a few\nsmall white spots. Now one day the maiden left some red paint on the\nbit of wood she used for a brush. Woodpecker saw this, and he said,\n\u201cI will make myself beautiful with this.\u201d So Gray Woodpecker took\nthe brush and rubbed it just over his ears, on each side of his\nhead. He did this many times. That is why he has two tiny red\nstripes on the sides of his head.\n\n\n\n\n                                OWL\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\nSometimes Owl greatly disturbs a camp of Indians. Short-eared Owl\nwill come to a camp just at the dimming of the twilight, and when\nthe Indians hear his quiet flitting through the trees they are on\nthe alert. Immediately they hang up some robe or leggings which they\nhave not worn, which is just a silent way of saying, \u201cWe are not so\npoor as you think.\u201d Owl annoys only poor people.\n\nOwl also likes the lower levels, so the Indians camp often on the\nhigher lands where he does not come.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHIPMUNK\n\n\n                                                    _Thompson River_\n\nOne day, as Grizzly Bear came along the trail, Chipmunk called her\nnames and mocked her. Grizzly Bear rushed at Chipmunk. Chipmunk ran\nunder a log. Grizzly Bear rushed at her again. Chipmunk did the same\nthing. Grizzly Bear shouted, \u201cI\u2019ll get you!\u201d and the fourth time\nalmost caught her. Her claws scratched Chipmunk\u2019s back. Therefore\nthe chipmunk has stripes on his back even today, because Grizzly\nscratched her in that way.\n\nLater, Marmot met Grizzly Bear. He teased her in the same way that\nChipmunk had, and the very fourth time that Grizzly rushed at him,\nshe almost caught him, and scratched him, too. So Marmot also has\nstripes, even today.\n\n               [Illustration: Indian Defensive Armor\n      The first two designs are body armor, the third a shield\n       _From \u201cMemoirs, American Museum of Natural History\u201d_]\n\n\n\n\n                           MUSKRAT\u2019S TAIL\n\n\n                                                              _Cree_\n\nOnce Wisagatcak killed a bear; then he skinned it, and cut it in\npieces, and cooked all of them. While he was cooking, he looked up\nand saw Muskrat in the river. Now the bear\u2019s grease would not\nharden, so Wisagatcak told Muskrat to swim through the water with\nit. Muskrat did so, and when he returned Wisagatcak made his tail\nmuch thinner and smaller. Muskrat formerly had a broad, fleshy tail\nlike Beaver\u2019s, and it was a great annoyance to him.\n\n\u201cNow see how fast you can go,\u201d said Wisagatcak. Muskrat jumped into\nthe river and swam so rapidly that he broke the grease bladder which\nhe still carried. All the grease and oil came out. That is why\nMuskrat leaves such a smooth, oily wake when he swims.\n\n\n\n\n                        WOLVERENE AND BRANT\n\n\n                                                    _Eastern Eskimo_\n\nWolverene once called all the birds together. He said, \u201cDo you not\nknow that I am your brother? Come to me and I will dress you in\nfeathers.\u201d So he dressed them all up in feathers, and made wings for\nhimself. He said, \u201cNow, brothers, let us fly.\u201d\n\nBrant said to Wolverene, \u201cYou must not look below when we are flying\nover a point of land, when you hear a noise below. Take a turn when\nwe take a turn.\u201d\n\nThe first time they took a turn, Wolverene did not look below,\nthough he heard a noise. At the second turn, when the birds came\nover a point of land, he heard the shouting of Indians below. At\nonce he looked down. And down he came like a bundle of rags!\n\nAll the Indians ran up to him, shouting, \u201cA brant has fallen down.\u201d\nThey found nothing but an old dead wolverene.\n\n\n\n\n                       WAR OF THE FOUR TRIBES\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nOnce in the ancient time, so the old men say, the Crees from the\neast, the Thompson River Indians from the south, and the Lillooet\nIndians from the west, made up their minds to attack the Shuswap of\nthe north. They sent messengers with the war moccasin to each other,\nand then they met on the east bank of the Fraser River and there\njoined forces. There were several hundred men in all. Then they went\nforward to attack the Shuswaps.\n\nNow when they were nearly opposite the mouth of Lone Cabin Creek,\nand still some distance from Canoe Creek, they were met by Coyote,\nwho changed them all into pillars of clay. You may see them there\ntoday. The tall Crees are on the right, the shorter Thompsons in the\ncenter, and the short Lillooets on the left.\n\n\n\n\n                  TRADITION OF IROQUOIS FALLS[10]\n\n\n                                                      _Eastern Cree_\n\nAt Iroquois Falls, a war party of Iroquois attacked and killed a\nCree party. They took the plunder of the camp, and saved one woman\nalive for a guide. They asked her if she could run a rapid, and she\nsaid, \u201cYes.\u201d\n\nNow when the party came to a point above the Iroquois Falls, the\nwoman guide told them it was possible to shoot the rapids there if\nthe women and goods were taken out of the canoes to lighten them.\nThe Iroquois let her out, as well, and she went by the portage. When\nthe Iroquois saw her there, they put out from shore, though the\nwaters were very swift. As they neared the falls, they saw how high\nthey were. Then the Cree woman saw them try to escape, but they\ncould not. The current of the water was too swift. So they headed\ntheir canoes for the falls and sang their war song. All went\ncrashing over the falls and were drowned.\n\n\n\n\n                    THE GIANTESS AND THE INDIAN\n\n\n                                                           _Wyandot_\n\nOnce there were three men along a river making a canoe. As they had\njust finished the canoe, they heard a Stredu approaching. She was a\ngiantess. Two of the men fled at once, without warning their friend,\nwho sat with his back to them in the canoe.\n\nThe Stredu said to the man in the canoe, \u201cNow I have got you!\u201d He\nswiftly launched his canoe, and paddled across the river, saying\nunconcernedly, \u201cNow I will see how good it is.\u201d\n\nThe Stredu said, as if speaking to herself, \u201cTry your canoe if you\nwish to, but there is more than one way of crossing a river.\u201d She at\nonce started across, walking on the river bottom. The water was far\nover her head, and the Indian could see her on the bottom. He was\nnow returning in his canoe.\n\nWhen the Stredu reached the other side, she was surprised still to\nsee the Indian on the other side. But she thought, \u201cThis will not\nprevent me from walking back. But perhaps he has supernatural\npower.\u201d So she started back, walking on the bottom of the river bed.\nThe Indian at once started to recross. He said, unconcernedly, \u201cMy\ncanoe is not quite water-tight. I will now patch it.\u201d But he forgot\nand left his stone ax on the shore when he began to cross this time.\n\nWhen the Stredu had recrossed, she again saw that Indian on the\nother side. Then she saw the stone ax. She said, \u201cHe has forgotten\nhis weapon,\u201d for she did not know what it was. She said, \u201cI will\nsmash it against that rock.\u201d Then she hit the rock with the ax and\nthe rock was shattered into bits. The ax was not broken. Then the\nStredu became afraid. She ran away.\n\n\n\n\n                    THE DESTRUCTION OF MONSTERS\n\n\n                                                           _Shuswap_\n\nThere were many monsters in the Fraser River and the North Thompson\nRiver. Tlecsa was the eldest of four brothers who lived near\nKamloops, and there were many evil beings in that country who killed\nall the Indians, so the four brothers decided to destroy them. There\nwere the four Grizzly Bear sisters, and the huge elk which stood in\nthe Thompson River just where it flows out of Kamloops Lake and\nswallowed all who came down the river, even a canoe with people.\nThere was the great ram of the mountain sheep who lived on a cliff\nin Bonaparte Valley and killed people by blowing his breath upon\nthem. Every one of these was killed by Tlecsa and his magic.\n\nThen the brothers followed up the Bonaparte River until they came to\na chasm which is now near the old fifty-nine-mile post, on the old\nCaribou road. Here lived Great Beaver and his friends. They were not\ncannibals, but the Indians feared their magic. The Indians did not\nknow how to catch or kill them, but Tlecsa said, \u201cI will eat beaver\nflesh,\u201d so he started after him. But first he made a beaver spear,\nand tied a piece of white bark around each wrist so his brothers\ncould see him, if he were dragged under water.\n\nTlecsa went up to Great Beaver and harpooned him. Beaver at once\ndragged him into the creek. His brothers watched him for a while and\nthen lost sight of him, and at once began to search for him in all\nthe near-by creeks. They even dug ditches in many places. At last\nthey dug a deep ditch along the largest creek, and then they found\nhim. When they dug near him, he said, \u201cBe careful not to hurt me. I\nam here.\u201d Great Beaver had dragged him into his own house in the\nbank, but there Tlecsa had killed Great Beaver. At once the brothers\nkilled many beavers and took their skins. They also ate Big Beaver.\nTlecsa said, \u201cHereafter beaver shall be speared by mankind. The\nIndians shall use their flesh and skins. Beavers shall no longer\nhave magic power;\u201d and it was so.\n\nNow Tlecsa and his brothers wandered around through the mountains\nand through Bonaparte Valley, and after a while they went up the\nMarble Ca\u00f1on. On a high cliff lived Great Eagle, who swooped down on\nthe Indians in the valley. He would catch an Indian and dash him\nagainst the rocks and bring him to the young eaglets in his nest.\nTlecsa said, \u201cI shall ornament myself with eagle feathers.\u201d\n\nNow when his brothers were not looking, Tlecsa put some white paint\nin one side of his mouth, and some red paint in the other side. Soon\nGreat Eagle saw him. Swooping down, he clutched him, and then,\nflying high on the cliffs, dashed him against the rocks. Tlecsa\nwarded off the blow with his flaker, and let the red paint flow out\nof his mouth upon the rocks. His brothers below, watching, said, \u201cHe\nis dead. See his blood.\u201d\n\nAgain Great Eagle dashed Tlecsa against the rocks, and the white\npaint flowed from his mouth over the rocks. His brothers below,\nwatching, said, \u201cHe is dead. See his brains.\u201d\n\nNow Great Eagle also thought he was dead, so he laid him on a ledge\nof rocks near the nest. At once Tlecsa killed Great Eagle and pulled\nout his tail feathers. Then he tied an eaglet to each wrist and\ncommanded them to fly down with him. When they reached the valley\nfar below, Tlecsa pulled the large feathers out of the eaglets\u2019\nwings and tails, and gave them to his brothers. He said to the\neaglets, \u201cHereafter you shall be ordinary eagles. You shall have no\npower to kill people, and Indians shall ornament their heads and\nweapons with your feathers;\u201d and it was so.\n\n\n\n\n                             FOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1]The scenic pictures in this volume were selected to show the\n    magnificence and beauty of the home of many of these myths.\n\n[2]These Indian houses were made with rough, loose boards on the\n    sides and top, which were shifted to let the smoke out, and in\n    summer to let the breeze in. The fire was always in the center\n    of such one-room houses, and the usual smoke hole was\n    immediately above it.\n\n[3]The warm wind of the North Pacific Coast is called a chinook.\n\n[4]Devilfish was the usual bait in halibut fishing.\n\n[5]This myth is said to give an excellent idea of climatic\n    conditions along part of the Northwest Coast\u2014largely a struggle\n    between the rainy southeast wind and the cold north wind.\n\n[6]Told by all Cree Indians, but of course influenced by contact\n    with the white race.\n\n[7]Popularly called Whiskey Jack, though the word is Indian. It\n    means \u201cmeat bird,\u201d as this Canadian jay is fond of meat and\n    therefore is a great torment around camps.\n\n[8]The name appears under various spellings\u2014Manibozho, Nanebojo,\n    etc. Nenebuc appears among many tribes centering around the\n    Great Lakes, though the myth is essentially Ojibwa. Other\n    versions of it, received from the American Ojibwas, will be\n    found in the author\u2019s _Myths and Legends of the Mississippi\n    Valley and the Great Lakes_.\n\n[9]The chief interest of this tale is that it is a correct\n    description of Indian cooking and feasting.\n\n[10]There seem to be innumerable waterfalls in North America\n    concerning which there is such a tradition as this one. Without\n    question many of them are imaginary. This story of the Crees and\n    Iroquois is told by many tribes, though the location of the\n    falls differs in every version of the story.\n\n\n\n\n                       _BOOKS BY MISS JUDSON_\n\nEARLY DAYS IN OLD OREGON. _Illustrated._\n                                                      _12 mo. $1.00_\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND THE GREAT LAKES.\n_Illustrated._\n                                                _Small 4to._ _$1.50_\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE GREAT PLAINS. _Illustrated._\n                                                _Small 4to._ _$1.50_\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF ALASKA. _Illustrated._\n                                                  _Small 4to. $1.50_\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. _Illustrated._\n                                                  _Small 4to. $1.50_\n\nMYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE OLD SOUTHWEST.\n_Illustrated._\n                                                  _Small 4to. $1.50_\n\nMONTANA: THE LAND OF SHINING MOUNTAINS. _Illustrated._\n                                                       _12mo. $0.75_\n\n                        A. C. McCLURG & CO.\n                              CHICAGO\n\n\n\n\n                        Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\n--Copyright notice provided as in the original\u2014this e-text is public\n  domain in the country of publication.\n\n--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and\n  dialect unchanged.\n\n--Moved all promotional material to the end of the text.\n\n--Only in the text versions, delimited italicized text in\n  _underscores_ (the HTML version reproduces the font form of the\n  printed book.)","title":"Myths and Legends of British North America","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":37636}