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Show Ill EXPLANATORY TALES 29 -WOLF AND WILDCAT (MOOSOOTKWEECH) Long time ago, Wolf went down into a canyon. Wildcat saw him coming and laid down near the trail and pretended to be dead. When Wolf saw him lying on the ground, he shouted, "Hello, my friend," but he received no answer. Then he supposed Wildcat to be sleeping and going up to him, he shook him and called to him many times, but found he was dead. So Wolf took a rope and tied his fore and hind feet together, slung him on his back and started on his way. After a time he heard a curious whistle and looked around, but could not see where it came from, so he walked on wondering. Again he heard the whistle and could not discover its origin. This was repeated many times, until by chance he looked over his shoulder and saw that Wildcat had one eye open, so he thought that he was coming to life again. Carefully laying Wildcat down on the ground, Wolf ran away. When Wildcat was left alone, he untied the rope which had bound him and ate it. Wildcat was angry because he had been tied and he thought about revenge. One day Wolf saw Wildcat in the woods and he said to himself, "Now I will play the same trick on that Wildcat," and he fell on the ground and pretended to be dead. Wildcat came along carrying a great stone, for he knew that Wolf was trying to fool him, but he pretended to be fooled. "Ah, my famous warrior, you have killed many people, but now you are dead. Often have we listened to your stories. Tell me one more my great talker; come let me hear you now. What, you cannot? Well, you will never tell about tying up Wildcat," and he struck Wolf in the face with a rock and killed him. When Wildcat was gone, Wolf got up and went home, but ever since that time he has had a long face. 30 -COYOTE AND WILDCAT Long ago Wildcat had a long nose and tail. One day he was sleeping on a rock when Coyote came along. He pushed Wildcat's nose and tail in and then went home. At noon Wildcat woke up and noticed his short nose and tail. "What's die matter with me?" he asked. Then he guessed the cause. "Oh! Coyote did that," he said, and he waited for him. Now, Coyote was sleepy and had lain down. Wildcat came and sat down beside him. He pulled out Coyote's nose and tail and made them long. They were short before. Then he ran off. After a while Coyote woke up and saw his long nose and tail. 86 31 - WHY THE BIRDS BUILD DIFFERENT KINDS OF NESTS Long ago Magpie was known by all the birds as the best nest builder. His nest had a nice top on it. The rain and die snow could not get inside. One day he called all the birds together. He was going to show them how to make their nests. He told each one to bring some things to use to make a nest. Some of the birds brought strings. Some of them brought twigs. Others brought hairs and sticks. They brought all the things they needed to make a nice nest. Some of the birds went along with Magpie just so far. Then they stopped. "We don't want to take so much time," they said. "These nests are good enough for us." They were the lazy ones, they made their nests on the ground. . Some of the birds wanted better nests. They worked longer. Then they said, "Oh, this will do, I'll stop now." Other birds stayed a long time. They wanted good nests. Then they got tired too. So they went home. The Eagle stayed a long time. He wanted good nests. Soon he said, "I do not like to be here on the ground with the other birds." So he took his nest up to the mountain and put it under an overhanging rock. Magpie started to show him how to make a top to keep out the rain and the wind and the snow. But he said, "Oh, the cliff will keep the wind and the rain out, I don't need a top. And, anyway, I don't want to work anymore now." So he stopped. Oriole was the only one of all the birds who stayed to listen to everything Magpie had to tell him about how to make a good nest. So that is why the oriole and the magpie have the best made nests of all the birds. And that is why all the birds make different kinds of nests today. 32 - ORIGIN OF THE WATER INDIAN Pahahpooch was a very heavy, stout man and a great wrestler. He had thrown all the other Indians and had never been thrown himself. One day he said to Wildcat, "Come here, now!" Then Wildcat came, and they wrestled beside the Big Water. Wildcat lifted Pahahpooch up and threw him into the middle of the water. Then he said, "You will stay in the water all the time now, and people will call you 'Water Indian'." So Pahahpooch lost and stays in the water all the time. 33 - THE STORY OF THE MOON Senawahv and Coyote were sleeping in a tree, but their slumber was resdess. On waking, they felt very strange and wondered what could be the matter. At last each discovered that die other had lost his hair. 88 Then they heard a great buzzing and wondered what it was. Looking around, they saw many flies, and they wondered even more, because they had never before seen the Fly nation. When the insects started to fly away, the brothers followed and at night they were seen to settle upon some strange being. Senawahv who was more brave, ran up and cut off its head and as the head was cut from the body, it rose slowly into the heavens, glowing with pale light which was partly clouded by the hair which fell over the bright face. And they knew that this was their hair which they had lost. So the Utes say that "the man in the moon" is Senawahv's lost hair. 34 -THE CEDAR The Cedar used to be dangerous. When it was broken, it snapped and whistled and shot off splinters. The mother of two Fawns had been killed by it. Rabbit came to the two Fawns, and he told them to make a fire to cook for him. They told him that they could not do so; the Cedar had killed their mother and was dangerous. But he ordered them to make a fire. Because they feared him, they went, but unwillingly. When they broke die wood, it snapped and shot and flew about. The Fawns were frightened and ran about, dodging the wood and crying like animals. Pieces flew about Rabbit also, and he became angry. He took a rock and smashed the Cedar Tree as if it had been struck by Hghtning. He said to it, "You have done wrong. You will be called Cedar. You will do no more harm. You used to kill people, but you will do so no more." 35 -THE SEVEN STARS There was once a woman who had five girls and a boy. The woman married again and the stepfather came to live with the family of seven. The stepfather got sick. When he was sick, he had seven holes made in his teeth. One was for the mother. Five were for the sisters, and one was for the boy. He told the modier that someday a man would come galloping on a white horse into their little village. He said that when this man came the oldest daughter would marry him. He told the family that he was going to die. He said they were not to put him down in the ground. They should put him up high on top of some poles. (The Indians believed that they would get to heaven faster if they were not covered up.) He said they were to leave him on the poles and not look back. Then one day the stepfather said that he was dying. When they diought he was dead they took him away. They put him up high on some poles as he had wished. 89 Then they started to go home. The litde boy looked back. "You must not look back," said his mother. "He told us not to look back." "I can see him falling off the poles," cried the boy. "You should not be looking back," said the mother. They went back to their little village and stayed. The days went by. After a few weeks, die little boy came running to his modier. "I saw the man our stepfather told us about," he cried, "he was on a white horse, and he came galloping into the village." All of them were excited. They were sure that diis was die man the oldest daughter was to marry. Soon the oldest daughter met the man, and they were married just as die stepfatiier had said they should be. One day the man went hunting rabbits with the boy. They were digging holes to get the rabbits out. They would use sticks to frighten the rabbits and make diem come out. When die boy was down on his knees, he looked up at the man. He could see that the man had seven holes in his teeth. Then he knew that it was his stepfather. He knew that his stepfather had not died after all. He ran home and told his mother about it. His mother said, "That is why he used to tell us about the man who was going to come on a white horse. He had it all planned because he wanted to marry his stepdaughter." The mother, her five daughters and her little boy got ready to go away and leave the stepfather. They ran away and went up into the sky. That is why you can see the seven stars up in die sky. The last one is the little brodier. He always looked back. When they got up in the sky, they looked down and saw the stepfather. They saw a coyote howling by their old campfire. "That is what you are going to be from now on," said the mother to the stepfadier. "You will be a coyote howling around our old camp-fires. That is the curse put on you for what you have done." And so that is why die coyote always howls at night. 36 -RABBIT AND THE DEER (TEEETCH) Two young Fawns sat on die ground. They were two boys without a mother. "We used to have a Deer for our mother," diey said. Rabbit came to them and said, "I am hungry. I travelled without eating. I have come a long way." The Fawns said, "We have nodiing to eat here; our food is not here." "Where is it?" asked Rabbit. "It is not here, I say to you," said one of die Fawns. Rabbit said, "Tell me about it. I am hungry and I want to eat." He continued talking 90 about their food for a long time. They concealed how they obtained it. Then Rabbit said, "I think you are too lazy to go to get it. Show me the path and I will go after it; I will cut off enough for us and bring it." "We never eat here," diey said. "You boys do not know me. I am your grandfather. You did not know me; that is why you hid your food from me," said Rabbit. Then one of them nudged the other and whispered to him, "I think he is our grandfather; I will tell him where we eat." The other one said nothing for a while; then he said, "What we eat is not on the ground; our food is far up in the sky; we eat at a certain time. When we ask for our food, something always comes down from the sky; it is white, like a cloud. At die hind end it is like a person; it has an eye and a moudi, and it watches us. It comes only at a certain time. If we ask before this, it will think that someone else wants it. But when we ask for it, we will hide you under the blankets." Then they hid him. One ran towards the East, the other towards the West; then they ran towards each other, and when they met, diey cried like animals at play. Then they circled about, met each other, crying, and gradually came nearer to their tent. Something white came from the sky. Rabbit saw it coming down. It was like a cloud, and above it was like a face, like a man sitting on their food. The boys took up dull knives, and when the food came down, they cut off a piece. They cut off more than usual, in order to give their grandfather some. Then the thing ran back. It flew up just like lightning, being hardly visible. The boys cut up their food, and Rabbit came out and ate witii them. The food tasted very sweet, and Rabbit wanted more, and he asked them to make it come again. They said to him: "It comes only at certain times." Then he said to them, "I will live with you, for your food is good." He made a burrow in the brush near by and watched. Then the food came down again. The person on it looked around like an antelope watching. Rabbit took a bow and arrow from his quiver; just before it came low enough for the boys to cut off a piece, he shot at the part that looked like a man. The whole object fell down in a heap. "I thought that was what he would do," said the older brother to the younger, blaming him. Rabbit said to diem, "Well, my grandchildren, I will leave you. You have something to eat and it will last you long. After you have eaten it all, you will go up into the mountains and eat grass and be Deer." 37 - SENAWAHV AND SNOW BIRD (NOONAPAKUTCH) Senawahv proposed to Snow Bird that they go up on the mountain, but Snow Bird refused, saying that a storm was coming. However, Senawahv pursuaded him to go. On the third day of their journey, die snow began to fall. During the first night of the storm, it fell so 91 deep that it covered dieir feet, and Snow Bird said, "Let's gather some wood or we will suffer for the snow will become so deep diat we cannot get out." But Senawahv laughed at him. On die second day, the snow fell until it was half way to the knee and still Senawahv would not gather wood. The next day the snow was knee deep, but Senawahv traveled on, ignoring the warnings of his friend. The next day the snow was thigh deep, but Senawahv would gather no wood. And so the snow increased from day to day until it was over their heads, and now it was too late, they could not gather any wood. They found shelter in a cave, but it was very cold, and to keep warm they burned their bows and arrows. At last Senawahv was frozen. Cold and stiff he lay on the floor of the cave, and Snow Bird stood by and mourned. Since he was covered with warm feathers he could not freeze, but he was sad at the loss of his friend. Snow Bird stayed in the cave until the warm days came and the snow was melted, then he started home. When he was a little way off, he said to himself, "I will return and see Senawahv once more." So he went back to the cave and as he stood looking at his dead friend it seemed to him that the eyelids of Senawahv moved, and he put his hand upon his head, "I mink Senawahv is getting warm, maybe he will recover." Running out he brought in wood and made a fire, the heat warmed Senawahv and he came to life. Now when Senawahv went out among the nations, he told them that Snow Bird was a prophet and told all the people that they should listen to what he said. Since that day Snow Bird has been revered for his great wisdom concerning the weather. 92 |
