{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_68201/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_68201","id":"gutenberg_68201","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68201","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Indians of North America -- Alaska -- Folklore"],"text":"INDIAN LEGENDS\n                      From the Land of AL-AY-EK-SA\n\n\n                              Published by\n                     HARRIET ROSSITER\u2014E. C. HOWARD\n                         Copywrited, July 1925\n                           Ketchikan, Alaska\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                          Al-ay-ek-sa, where once the Red Men bold\n                          Roamed the forests and fished in the streams,\n                          And around their campfires told and retold\n                          Strange legends a thousand years old.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN LEGENDS\n\nFROM THE LAND OF AL-AY-EK-SA\n\n\n\u201cMany, many moons ago, long before the Pale Faces invaded the land\nwhich the Indians called Al-ay-ek-sa (Alaska, \u201cBig Country\u201d), the Great\nSpirit caused the waters to rise and blot out all the land, even to the\ntops of the highest mountains.\u201d\n\nSo runs an ancient Indian legend.\n\n\u201cAt that time there was a mighty roaring like the pounding of the waves\nupon a rocky shore, and suddenly death and destruction were upon the\npeople. Some of the terror-stricken natives fled to the mountains, but\nthe water overtook them and they were drowned. Only a very few escaped\nin their canoes. These drifted around until the water went down and\ntheir canoes grated and came to rest on dry land. There they settled\nand built their lodges and continued to follow the customs of their\npeople.\n\n\u201cThis is how blood relations became so widely separated. So a stranger\nin an Indian village may enter any lodge before which stands a totem\nsurmounted by the crest of his family. He is given food and shelter and\nmay take freely that which he needs.\n\n\u201cIn the days when slaves were as plentiful as the salmon berries that\ngrow by the running water an Indian chief would free all his prisoners\nwhose crest was the crest of his clan, even if their tongue was unknown\nto him and sounded hostile in his ears.\n\n\u201cBut a member of the Raven clan may not marry a raven or an eagle an\neagle. They belong to the same family and are forbidden to marry.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn that long ago time when every Indian village had its honored Story\nTeller, this and many other tales were told around the campfire while\nthe smoke curled upward and the moon crept over the mountain. The old\nmen grunted assent and the young men kept silent, listening. For upon\nthem must fall the task of handing down the legends and customs of\ntheir people.\n\nBut since the coming of the white man these Story Tellers are passing\naway. Only a few remain and they are very old. The youths and maidens\nlisten not to the tales of their ancestors, and soon there shall be no\none to keep alive the traditions of their people who journeyed long ago\nto the cold land of the North.\n\nSo we have set down some of the legends told by the Red Men to their\nchildren in the Land of the Midnight Sun, where sometimes in the\nheavens are seen long, gorgeous-hued fingers of light flashing here and\nthere\u2014\u201cSpirits of departed warriors returned to dance once more their\nwar dances.\u201d\n\nWould you know the legend of the Sun, Moon, Star and Rainbow Houses?\nThen read the tale as it was told by one of the last great Indian Story\nTellers.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIFT OF \u201cTSOW\u201d\n\n\nFarther back than the memory of the oldest Red Man there once lived an\nold woman named Cowoh. She was very proud for she was the daughter of a\ngreat chief. She had three sons and one daughter. They lived in the\nvillage of Naha, which was built along one side of a creek. On the\nother side, the length of twenty canoes away, was the village of\nTee-hi-ton (Cedar Bark).\n\nNow in the time of falling leaves, as was their custom, the three sons\nwent up on the mountain to hunt groundhogs. Each of the young men had\nhis own lodge and a fine hunting ground in the valley. They set their\ntraps and three days later the two younger brothers found their traps\nfull, but those of the eldest brother, Koot-da-nah, were empty. This\ncontinued for as many days as there are fingers on both hands.\n\nThen the hearts of the two young men were heavy and in sorrow for their\nbrother they proposed that they should give up hunting groundhogs and\nhunt beavers instead.\n\nSo the next morning they went down to a nearby lake where the beavers\nhad made a big dam with a great tree to keep it from breaking.\n\nKoot-da-nah said, \u201cI shall knock down the tree and you boys stand ready\nto club the animals when the water breaks and forces them out.\u201d\n\nHis brothers were fearful and warned him to be careful, but as the tree\nfell Koot-da-nah caught his foot in its roots and, pitching forward\ninto the lake, was drowned.\n\nAtch-koog-tdoo-cha shook-ka (he-who-swims-like-a-fish) found the body\nface downward on the bottom of the lake. Sorrowfully the brothers\ncarried it to their lodge.\n\nThen Too-ke-tni-ka (the-fearless-one) said, \u201cSome evil has fallen upon\nmy brother\u2019s family in his absence and caused his death. I shall go\ndown to the village and find out what has happened.\u201d\n\nSo that night Too-ke-tni-ka stole down to the village and, unseen,\ncrept into his mother\u2019s house.\n\nWhen Cowoh heard that her eldest son was drowned, she was full of\ntrouble and said, \u201cKoshu, son of Chief Yee-khoo, from the village of\nTee-hi-ton has looked with evil eyes upon the wife of Koot-da-nah while\nhe has been absent and has visited her every night.\u201d\n\nThen Too-ke-tni-ka said, \u201cI shall kill this man. Do not tell anyone I\nam here. I shall hide in the forest and tomorrow I shall come limping\ninto the village as if my leg were broken. I shall lie down beside the\nfire. Tell everyone I am suffering so they will go to bed early.\u201d\n\nThe next day when the shadows lay short on the grass Too-ke-tni-ka\nappeared in the village with his leg bound about with the bark of the\ncedar tree and went to his mother\u2019s lodge.\n\nThat night, when everyone was asleep, he wrapped himself in his blanket\nand waited with his eyes fixed on the door of the lodge.\n\nLong after darkness like a black curtain had settled down over the\nvillage Too-ke-tni-ka crouched by the dying coals and his eyes were red\nin the darkness and his ears were like the ears of the deer in the\nforest.\n\nAt last there was a faint sound like the far-off cry of the night hawk\nin the woods. The door of the lodge was pushed open and a dark shadow\nstole across and entered the room of Kah-ook-too-ni, the Beautiful One.\n\nToo-ke-tni-ka\u2019s heart beat fast with anger. He listened long and then\nrose and crept noiselessly into the room of his brother\u2019s wife. By the\nlight of his beechwood stick he saw that indeed it was the chief\u2019s son\nwho lay sleeping by the side of Kah-ook-too-ni. Then he drew his\nhunting knife and cut off the head of the wicked one and taking it with\nhim sped like the wind through the sleeping-village to the hunting\nlodge in the mountains where his brother awaited him.\n\nNow Kah-ook-too-ni was awakened by the trickling of the warm blood\nacross her hand. When she saw what had happened she was afraid. Knowing\nthat when the chief\u2019s son did not come home there would be a great\noutcry and searching parties would be sent out, she rose and in great\nhaste dug a grave beneath the bed and buried the body.\n\nMeanwhile, after Too-ke-tni-ka had told his brother all that had\nhappened, the two young men went down to the village and placed the\nhead of the chief\u2019s son over the door of their lodge facing inside.\n\nIn the village of Tee-hi-ton there was much loud talking and angry\nlooks directed toward Naha when the tidings spread that Koshu, the son\nof their chief, was missing. Searching parties were sent out, but as\nthe waves wash out footsteps in the sand, so had disappeared Koshu, the\nfleet-footed.\n\nThen Chief Yee-khoo called a council of his people. It was decided that\nWook-ya-koots (he-of-the-sharp-eyes) should be sent to Naha to get a\nfire and see if he could discover what had become of Koshu.\n\nWook-ya-koots walked boldly across the frozen creek and entered the\nlodge of Too-ke-tni-ka. As he bent over the fire to light his stick, he\nlooked stealthily around but saw nothing. But as he paused by the door\non his way out he felt the drip, drip of something on his feet. He went\noutside, and, stooping, touched it with his finger.\n\nIt was blood!\n\nPretending to stumble, he put out his fire and again returned to the\nlodge. As he bent over the coals with his hair falling over his eyes,\nhe looked and saw the head of the chief\u2019s son over the door.\n\nThen he made great haste back to his village and told what he had seen.\nChief Yee-khoo called all his braves together. They put on their war\npaint and brandishing their war clubs, rushed across the creek and fell\nupon the village, killing everyone in it and setting fire to their\nlodges.\n\nOnly Cowoh and her daughter, who had hid under their lodge, were saved.\nWhen at last the wild chant of the savage war dance of their enemies\nceased, they stole like black shadows through the forest to the lodge\nin the mountains.\n\nBut after a time Cowoh\u2019s heart was troubled.\n\n\u201cWho now will marry my daughter?\u201d she asked herself. \u201cThere is no man\nof my people left for her to wed.\u201d\n\nOne day as she walked in the forest with her daughter, At-ku-dakt\n(modest-little-one) she cried aloud, \u201cWho now will marry my daughter?\u201d\n\nAt once a little red bird came flying down and said: \u201cI will marry your\ndaughter.\u201d\n\nBut Cowoh heeded him not.\n\nThen a squirrel ran down from a tree, a rabbit came out of the woods, a\ndeer paused in his flight, and each in turn said, \u201cI will marry your\ndaughter.\u201d\n\nBut Cowoh would have none of them.\n\nThen Hoots, the great brown bear, came and said, \u201cI can pull up huge\ntrees by the roots. I can tear a man\u2019s head and body apart. I shall\nmarry your daughter.\u201d\n\nAt-ku-dakh was terrified and hid behind her mother. Then the earth\nbegan to tremble and the lightning flashed, and in the midst of it\nappeared a handsome youth who said, \u201cI shall marry your daughter and\ntake her up to my father, the Almighty One. You, Cowoh, I shall take\nunder one arm and At-ku-dakh under the other. Look not out or evil may\ncome upon you.\u201d\n\nCowoh heeded not the warning. When they were passing a cloud she heard\na sound like the roaring of a waterfall and stuck out her head.\n\nAs quickly as thunder follows the lightning, they found themselves\nagain upon the earth. The stranger was angry, and, pulling out one of\nthe branches of a tree, put Cowoh in the hole, saying, \u201cHere you shall\nstay as long as the world shall last. People shall always hear you\ncrying in the wind.\u201d\n\n\n\nTaking the young girl, the youth flew up to heaven where the Almighty\nOne welcomed her as his son\u2019s wife.\n\nWhen the first son was born, the grandfather, the Great Spirit,\nbaptized him with water so he would have magic power. Then he put his\nfeet on the feet of the child. Immediately the baby grew and grew until\nhe was tall and straight like a young pine tree that grows on the\nhillside. He named the child Left-Handed.\n\nFour boys and two girls were born and in the same way the grandfather\nendowed them each with magic power. He taught the boys how to use the\nspear and bow and arrow and the girls how to nurse the sick. He taught\nLeft-Handed how to stick gamble until his skill was so great that none\ncould equal him.\n\nThen the grandfather built in the heavens a Sun House which he gave to\nLeft-Handed. He built a Star House for the second boy. For the third\nboy he built a Rainbow House and for the fourth boy a Sky House. Each\nhouse had a round door. Within were blankets and food and rich robes of\nfur.\n\nCalling his four grandsons to him the Almighty One gave them a small\nbox \u201ctsow\u201d saying, \u201cThe time shall come when you will have to fight the\nwicked, worldly people of the earth. Then take this box, open one end\nof it and they will at once become as the dry leaves in autumn when the\nwind crumbles them into dust.\u201d\n\nThe Almighty One took the Sun House with the eldest boy and his sister\nand dropped it upon the earth in the center of the deserted village of\nNaha. Then he took the Moon, Star and Rainbow Houses and dropped them\ndown beside the Sun House.\n\nIn Tee-hi-ton the people heard a loud noise like a clap of thunder.\nThis they heard as many times as there are fingers on one hand.\n\nThe young people began to jeer, but the elders made them keep silent.\n\u201cIt is nothing,\u201d they said. \u201cIt is only Skanson the thunder bird\nsinging his war song.\u201d So they wrapped themselves in their blankets and\nwent to sleep.\n\nThe next morning a thick fog hung over the creek so they could not see\nthe length of their canoe in front of them. But when the mist lifted\nthey shouted in amazement, for there among the ruins of the deserted\nvillage were four houses, painted with strange figures such as they had\nnever seen before.\n\nAs they watched they saw young men and maidens going in and out of the\nhouses. Then they crowded together, asking each other fearfully, \u201cAre\nthese the spirits of our enemies returned to punish us?\u201d\n\nAfter many days Wook-ya-koots, the keen-eyed, said, \u201cI, Wook-ya-koots,\nshall go alone to Naha to speak with the strangers and learn from\nwhence comes these lodges which glimmer in the dusk like the water when\nwe paddle idly along in the moonlight.\u201d\n\nThe people waited eagerly for Wook-ya-koots\u2019 return, but the sun was\nhigh overhead before he appeared. Showing them a piece of meat he said,\n\u201cLook, this is real meat. The strangers are not spirits. They gave me\ndried fish, the meat of the mountain sheep and berries to eat. They are\nlonely and invite you to a great feast tonight.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe feast lasted until the moon hid her face and the stars began to\nfade from the sky. The next night Chief Yee-khoo and his braves came\nagain and for many nights after.\n\nThen Left-Handed said, \u201cAre there any stick gamblers among you?\nTomorrow you shall teach me how to stick gamble.\u201d\n\nThe sun was slipping down behind the mountains when Chief Yee-khoo and\nhis people arrived, for in those days the salmon might leap in the\nstreams and the beavers build their dams unheeded while the Red Men\ngambled away their blankets and food and even their canoes.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GAMBLE STICK GAME\n\n\nA great fire chased away the black shadows of night as the Red Men\nbegan the gamble stick chant. First low, then louder and faster, while\nthey beat on drums made of logs.\n\nThere were six Indian braves on each side. On the ground in front of\neach were ten sticks, small and straight, made of cedar. Three long\nsticks lay beside them. These were to show how many times each side\nwon. There were two gamble sticks the length of a man\u2019s finger. The\nbark had been peeled from one leaving it smooth and round, while the\nother had a ring of bark around the middle.\n\nThen Wook-ya-koots took the two gamble sticks, one in each hand, and\nwhile swinging them back and forth in front of him, changed them from\none hand to the other so quickly that no eye could follow. But at last\nLeft-Handed made a motion toward the hand he thought held the ring\nstick. The wild chanting stopped. Wook-ya-koots opened wide his hands\nand showed the sticks. Left-Handed had lost and threw one of the short\nsticks of cedar across to the other side. Wook-ya-koots took it and\nstuck it in the ground.\n\nThen the Red Men again began the gamble stick chant. This time\nLeft-Handed guessed the hand that held the gamble stick and\nWook-ya-koots threw over a count stick and also the gamble sticks.\nChief Yee-khoo and his braves became the guessers.\n\nSo the game went on until Chief Yee-khoo\u2019s side had ten count sticks\nstuck in the ground before them. Then they took them all down and put\nup one large count stick. When Chief Yee-khoo\u2019s men had three of these\nlarge count sticks the game ended and he and his braves carried off all\nthe rich robes and food and blankets which they had gambled for. This\nthey did the next night and for many nights after. Each night\nLeft-Handed and his brothers and sisters made a great feast for them.\n\nAlways Left-Handed and his brothers lost until Chief Yee-khoo and his\nmen had won everything they possessed except one small club made of\nbone.\n\nLeft-Handed took this and said, \u201cThis is the only thing we have left.\nIt is worth many blankets, for with it we can kill our enemies. We\nshall gamble for this and this time we may be lucky and win.\u201d\n\nChief Yee-khoo and his braves began to jeer and ask, \u201cHow can a bone\nyou can cover with one hand kill anyone?\u201d\n\nAt last Left-Handed said, \u201cIf you do not believe me I shall show you.\u201d\n\nHe raised the little bone club and slew Chief Yee-khoo and one after\nanother all of his men except one who made his escape and aroused the\npeople of Tee-hi-ton. They rushed across the creek and fell upon\nLeft-Handed and his brothers and sisters with such fury that they were\nalmost overpowered.\n\nThen Left-Handed remembered the little box \u201ctsow\u201d which his\ngrandfather, the Almighty One, had given them. He took the box and\nopened one end. At once the worldly people were as the \u201cdry leaves in\nautumn when a puff of wind crumbles them into dust.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd,\u201d concluded the Story Teller, as we paddled lazily along, drinking\nin the mystic beauty of a starlit Northern night, \u201cto me and my people\nthe Sun, Moon, Sky and Rainbow are emblems the Almighty One has put in\nthe heavens to show that the Red Men shall increase and prosper and\npeople the earth for as long as the sun and moon shall shine.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GREAT PEACE DANCE\n\n\nA spring day in Alaska! Since early dawn we had paddled swiftly along\nin a world wrapped in a blue haze. On our right tall fir trees rose\nmistily from the shore. On our left the faint line of lofty mountain\nranges melted into the blue grey of a cloudless sky. The seagulls\nspiraled high overhead, then, swooping low, were lost in the\nwhite-capped waves. The tang of the sea filled our nostrils and the\nrising wind whipped the spray in our faces and sent the blood tingling\nthrough our veins.\n\nWe rounded a jutting point and came in sight of the deserted village of\nKasaan. Lofty totem poles were etched against the sky. Some leaned\ndrunkenly toward decaying lodges half buried in underbrush.\n\n\u201cHere was fought the last great battle between the Tsimpseans and\nHydahs,\u201d said the Story Teller. \u201cMy mother has many times told me the\ntale as it was told to her by her grandfather, who took a Hydah maiden\nfor his wife. She was a blood relation of Chief Skowel, he who was\ngreatest of all the Hydah chiefs.\u201d\n\nThe rain had begun to fall, so we landed and as we cooked our breakfast\nover the campfire he told me the story.\n\n\u201cYou must know that some of my people came from far to the southward\nand settled near the Stikine River many, many moons ago. There the\nHydahs came seeking safety from their enemies, the Tsimpseans. The\nstreams were full of fish. There were deer in the forest and game was\nplentiful. They settled there and became rich and had many elaidi\n(slaves).\n\n\u201cSee how the totem poles in front of Chief Skowel\u2019s lodge rise high\nabove all the others! That tells how big a chief he was. In his lodge\nwas danced the great peace dance which ended the long war between the\nHydahs and the Tsimpseans.\n\n\u201cFarther back than my grandfather\u2019s father can remember the Hydahs and\nthe Tsimpseans had made war upon each other. They made raids at night\nand the maidens and young braves taken prisoners were treated as\nslaves. Every time a chief became sick or died, a totem pole was\nraised, or a potlatch given, some of these slaves were killed and their\nbodies thrown on the beach to be eaten by the crows. The number of\nholes in the ears of a chief told how many potlatches he had given.\n\n\u201cOne day the Hydahs looked and saw that the water was black with\ncanoes. The Tsimpseans were coming to make war upon them. Twenty young\nHydah braves got into two big canoes and went to meet them. They\noffered to make peace with them. But the Tsimpseans had long looked\nwith longing eyes on their rich hunting grounds, and refused.\n\n\u201cThe Tsimpseans had seven canoes and over a hundred men. But the Hydahs\nhad two guns which they had traded many furs for from the Pale Faces\nfar to the Northward at Sheet-kah (Sitka). They shot off the guns and\nthe noise was like the roar of thunder. Their enemies leaped backward\nin terror. Their canoes were overturned and so many were killed that\nthe water was red with blood.\n\n\u201cThey called upon Sha-nung-et-lag-e-das (God) but he heard them not.\n\n\u201cSo the Tsimpseans surrendered and Chief Skowel gave a great peace\ndance. The two tribes were drawn up facing each other. Then a young\nbrave from each side advanced and choosing one of his former foes\ncarried him off to his side. He was not allowed to walk throughout the\nlong ceremony and was treated with the greatest honor. This was to show\nthat they would now treat each other as brothers and freely visit each\nother\u2019s camp fires.\n\n\u201cIf you will visit my lodge in Ketchikan, a day\u2019s journey to the\nnorthward,\u201d concluded the Story Teller, \u201cI shall show you one of the\nguns used in that last big fight. It was given to me by my grandmother,\nshe who was a blood relation of Chief Skowel. She told me it was made\nin Sheet-kah (Sitka) in the days when the Russians made many guns and\ncannons and built great ships to send over the Big Water. It is a flint\nlock and made fine and strong. Many come to see it and offer me plenty\nfurs or bags of the white man\u2019s money for it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BATTLE WITH THE SAND FLEAS\n\n\nThe rain had ceased and the sun had swept aside the veil of mist\ndisclosing a glorious panorama of sea and sky. We stepped into our\ncanoe and turned its nose northward.\n\nThe sun was setting in a riot of gorgeous colors as we rounded Pinnoch\nIsland and saw the thriving little city of Ketchikan stretching for\nmiles along the waterfront. \u201cKetch-kaw\u201d the Indians named it, meaning\nwedged in between two mountains. The harbor was crowded with ships.\nGreat concrete buildings rose against the sky. One by one lights began\nto flash out from pretty homes crowding hillside and waterfront and\nwere reflected in the waters of Tongass Narrows. As lovely a scene as\nany famed Venice can boast.\n\nThen the Story Teller broke the long silence.\n\n\u201cIt was here that the Thlingets fought and conquered the Tsimpseans. It\nended the war that began so long ago that no one can remember. One,\ntwo, perhaps three hundred years ago.\n\n\u201cBefore that time the Thlingets and the Tsimpseans were brothers. They\nvisited and feasted and danced together. So it happened that two\nThlinget princes looked with favor upon a fair Tsimpsean maiden. They\nquarreled. Their blood relations took up the quarrel. There were angry\nlooks and loud words and much fighting. In one of these fights one of\nthe Thlinget princes was killed.\n\n\u201cThen the Thlingets hated the Tsimpseans with a fierce hatred because\none of their maidens had brought this evil upon them. In those days the\nIndian believed in an eye for an eye, a life for a life. So they fell\nupon the Tsimpseans and slew one of the sons of their chief. Then for\nmany, many moons they made war upon each other.\n\n\u201cThe Thlingets made a big camp at Ketch-kah. They built three great log\nforts. One was where Chief Johnson\u2019s lodge now stands.\n\n\u201cThe Thlingets called the Tsimpseans Klah-neets (sand fleas) because\nthey would pop up and shoot at them, then disappear in the sand and\nunderbrush, or would steal into their camp and carry off their young\nmen and maidens and make slaves of them. They came noiselessly and were\ngone, leaving no footprints.\n\n\u201cThe Tsimpseans had one small cannon. They had gotten it from the\nHudson Bay Company, far to the southward, in exchange for furs. While\ntheir enemies slept, they carried the cannon to the top of the hill and\nfired on the fort. Then a terrible battle was fought. The Thlingets\nseized their war clubs and fell upon the Tsimpseans with such fury that\nalmost all of them were either killed or taken prisoner. Then the\nTsimpsean tribe laid down their war clubs and again lived in peace with\nthe Thlingets.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said the Story Teller, \u201cmy people were still at war with a\nThlinget clan that made their camp at Sheet-kah. It started longer,\nmuch longer ago than the war with the Tsimpseans. They fought with bows\nand arrows and with clubs made of bone.\n\n\u201cThis was the way the big fight started. Every year my people would\ntake plenty salmon over to Pinnock Island and hang it there to dry for\ntheir winter food.\n\n\u201cThe Sheet-kah Indians had fine big canoes. They made them of rotten\nspruce logs, which they hollowed out with sharp stones. Some of them\nheld thirty or forty people. In them they would paddle as far south as\nDixon\u2019s Entrance fishing and trading. Once they landed on Pinnock\nIsland and carried off all the salmon they found there.\n\n\u201cThat winter was long and cold and there was very little food. The old\nand many young children died. Then the hearts of my people grew hot\nwith anger. There was a big fight and Chief Nah-goot was killed by\nSchook-klatch, chief of the Sheet-kah tribe. Then they fight, fight,\nall the time fight until Captain Cook came. He was the first Pale Face\nmy people had ever seen. Soon the Red Men began trading furs for guns\nwith which to fight each other.\n\n\u201cBut at last the great white chief in Washington sent his soldiers to\ntell the Red Men that they must live in peace with each other. There\nmust be no more fighting.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the Store Teller proudly, \u201cmy people live like their white\nbrothers. Our children go to school. We have fine big fishing boats.\nOur lodges are like the white men\u2019s lodges.\n\n\u201cThere,\u201d pointing to where half a mile away a long pier extended far\nout from the little village of Saxman, \u201cI hope some day to see an\nIndian village like the white men\u2019s villages, where my people will be\nable to do all that my white brothers do. Its harbor will be crowded\nwith fishing boats. There shall be canneries and sawmills so our\nchildren need not seek work in the villages of the white men. The\nIndian will no longer be a child. He will be a man.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d the Story Teller ended sadly, \u201cthe young look not with the eyes\nof the old. I dream, but my dreams may not come true.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST LINCOLN STATUE\n\n\n\u201cIt was one of my people, Thle-da, the most skillful carver of all the\nThlinget nation, who carved that totem in honor of the great white\nchief, Abraham Lincoln,\u201d said the Story Teller proudly as he pointed to\na lofty totem pole from which the benign face of the great emancipator\nlooked down upon a deserted Indian village.\n\nThe setting sun had changed the misty blue of Northern skies into a\nmarvelous canopy of red and gold. It bathed the distant snow-capped\nmountains in a rosy light and sent a warm golden glow over the quiet\nwaters of Nakat Bay as he told the story of how over fifty years ago\nhis tribe had sought shelter under the Stars and Stripes and been saved\nfrom slavery or complete extermination.\n\n\u201cMy people are of the Tongass tribe of the Thlingets,\u201d he went on.\n\u201cThey are of the Raven clan. Long before the Pale Faces journeyed to\nthe land which the white man calls Alaska, they were at war with the\nKok-wan-tans, who belonged to the Eagle clan of the Thlingets and were\nalways on the war path. They burned our lodges. They carried off our\nfairest maidens and our young men and made slaves of them.\n\n\u201cAt last only a few stalwart braves were left to guard our old men and\nwomen and children. They were driven farther and farther away until\nthey found shelter on a low, sandy island a day\u2019s journey from their\nold hunting grounds near Dixon\u2019s Entrance.\n\n\u201cThere their enemies could not fall upon them unawares, for the land\nwas level as the palm of my hand. They built a great fort of logs and\nslept always with their clubs by their side.\n\n\u201cBut the Kok-wan-tans knew that on the island there were no springs of\nwater and little wood for their campfires. So they waited with the\nwatchful patience of the Red Man for the time when no longer the smoke\nof their campfires should curl upward.\n\n\u201cOne day Kayak, a friendly Indian, noiselessly paddled into the little\ncove near the lodge and landed. He told them of a strange ship, like a\ngreat bird, that had come from far to the southward. On it were many\nPale Faces. They had built a big fort on the island of Kut-tuk-wah and\nthe Red Men were no longer allowed to make war on each other.\n\n\u201cThey had been sent, Kayak said, by their chief, Abraham Lincoln. He\nhad freed the Black Men who had been slaves to the Pale Faces for many\nmoons. Now he had sent his soldiers to free the Red Men. The\nKok-wan-tans must wash off their war paint and bury their war clubs.\n\n\u201cSo,\u201d continued the Story Teller, \u201cmy people watched and when their\nenemies were sleeping they took their canoes and fled to this island,\nwhich the white men now call Tongass Island. Here, guarded by the great\nship \u201cLincoln,\u201d Chief Ebbetts and his people built their lodges and\nagain raised their totem poles.\n\n\u201cFor many years they lived in peace and prospered.\n\n\u201cBut the Red Man forgets not. The Tongass Indians were grateful to\ntheir white brothers. They listened when Chief Sewrard visited them and\ntold them of the great white chief who loved the Red Man.\n\n\u201c\u2018We are thankful,\u2019 they said. \u2018Our hearts salute him. No longer need\nwe fear lest we be made slaves and buried beneath the totem poles of\nour enemies.\u2019\n\n\u201cOne day Chief Ebbetts summoned his sub-chief Tsa-kad and said, \u2018I am\nweary. Soon I shall sleep the long sleep of the old. But my heart turns\nto my brother, the great white chief Abraham Lincoln, for what he has\ndone for my people. We shall make a lofty totem pole and above the\nRaven, the crest of our tribe, we shall carve a statue of Chief\nLincoln.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo Thle-da, my father\u2019s brother\u2014he who could talk so marvelously with\nhis fingers\u2014was given a picture of Chief Lincoln from which to carve\nthe statue. He worked while others slept and in the moon of nesting\nbirds it was finished.\n\n\u201cThen Chief Ebbetts gave a big potlatch to which all the people in the\nvillage were invited. The great totem pole was erected and for many\ndays there was dancing and feasting. Around the camp fire the elders\nagain told how Abraham Lincoln had stretched out his hands to them and\nsaved them.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d and the Story Teller shook his head mournfully, \u201cthe ancient\nvillage of my people is now deserted. Their lodges are overgrown with\nweeds. Even our Abraham Lincoln totem is crumbling away.\n\n\u201cIn these days when men fly like birds and the voice travels swifter\nthan an arrow to its mark, surely Alaska is no longer thought a\nshak-nah-ahm (foreign) country, and our white chief in Washington will\nlisten and grant the wish of his children that this island with the\nfirst statue ever erected to Abraham Lincoln be cared for so we may\nbring our children\u2019s children to look upon it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA NATIVE ALASKAN ARTIST\n\n\nFrance has its Millet, Italy its Raphael, and the natives of Alaska\nlook with almost equal pride upon their Tsimpsean artist, Henry S.\nHaldane. He does not know when he was born. It was long before Father\nDuncan brought his gift of the gospel to the Alaskan Indians. But no\none can view the paintings of this self-taught native without feeling\nthat\u2014with proper training\u2014the divine spark implanted in him would have\nbrought rich fruitage.\n\nOn the wall of Father Duncan\u2019s church in Metlakatla hangs a picture of\nan open Bible. So perfect is it that you will have to look closely to\nsee that it is painted on canvas. It is the work of this artist,\npainted over thirty years ago. A hundred years from now it will be\npreserved in our national museum as one of the most valuable of early\nAlaskan art treasures.\n\n\u201cChrist\u2019s Agony in Gethsemane\u201d was recently painted by Haldane for the\nnew Salvation Army Hall in Metlakatla, although he is now almost blind.\nThe paintings of the Sun, Star, Moon and Rainbow Houses reproduced in\nthis book are his work.\n\nThe first native photographer in Alaska, unassisted, he acquired a\nknowledge of photography that for a time opened up to him an\ninteresting field of work. But six years ago unkind Fate dealt him a\ncruel blow. Born blind in one eye, an accident made him almost blind in\nthe other eye. While chopping wood a chip struck the eyeball,\nhopelessly injuring it.\n\nStill the urge to create is strong within him. With amazing perfection\nof detail and color he paints pictures and carves the totem poles which\nportray so vividly the history and legends of the Alaskan Indians.\n\n\n                                THE END\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDISTANCES FROM KETCHIKAN\n\n\n                                SOUTH\n\n                                                Miles\n                    San Diego, California        1841\n                    Los Angeles, California      1775\n                    San Francisco, California    1359\n                    Portland, Oregon              917\n                    Seattle, Washington           662\n                    Tacoma, Washington            687\n                    Port Townsend, Washington     624\n                    Vancouver, B. C.              528\n                    Victoria, B. C.               590\n\n\n                                NORTH\n\n                                                Miles\n                    Nome, Alaska                 2620\n                    Unalaska, Alaska             1687\n                    Unga, Alaska                 1387\n                    Kadiak, Alaska                937\n                    Dawson, Y. T.                 922\n                    Valdez, Alaska                664\n                    Whitehorse, Y. T.             449\n                    Lituya Bay, Alaska            390\n                    Porcupine City, Alaska        365\n                    Skagway, Alaska               337\n                    Haines, Alaska                325\n                    Berners Bay, Alaska           299\n                    Sitka, Alaska                 280\n                    Juneau, Alaska                237\n                    Treadwell, Alaska             224\n                    Petersburg, Alaska            135\n                    Wrangell, Alaska               90\n\n\n                DISTANCES TO POINTS IN THE KETCHIKAN\n                  MINING DISTRICT BY MAIL STEAMER\n\n                                                Miles\n                    Coronation Island (Mining)    150\n                    Klawak (Cannery)              140\n                    Shakan (Marble Quarry)         92\n                    Copper Mountain (Mining)       92\n                    (By portage)                   52\n                    Sulzer (Mining; by portage)    46\n                    Wales Island (Cannery)         62\n                    Unuk River (Mining)            60\n                    Lincoln Rock (Lighthouse)      58\n                    Hunter\u2019s Bay (Cannery)         79\n                    Bell Island Hot Springs        40\n                    Boca de Quadra (Cannery)       40\n                    Tree Point (Light House)       42\n                    Yes Bay (Cannery)              40\n                    Hollis (Mining)                39\n                    Tolstoi Bay (Mining)           37\n                    Karta Bay (Mining)             30\n                    Niblack (Mining)               30","title":"Indian Legends from the land of Al-ay-ek-sa","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":6000}