Chapter III: Part 3

So North began to blow. North’s son called at once to his wife, but she said, “Wait!” Even while she said so, the place where she stood became icy. Then the tide began to come in. When it reached her knees, the snow fell. Then North’s son left her. The ice formed all around her. Where North’s house stood the snow fell so thickly that it looked like smoke.

Then the woman cried to her father. She was not disturbed because she thought her father would save her. She sang, “Father, I am cold! Father, I am cold! I want to go to my father!”

Even at once came the Southeast wind, “_Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi_,” making it rough right up to the shore. She began to sing another song. “The wind blew upon me! The wind blew upon me! The wind blew upon me from Cape St. James!”

Now she had waited two days. Then she felt of the water. It was slightly warm. Her father had heard her voice. He had dressed himself up and set out to see her. His daughter was still singing. While she sang, North stopped blowing.

Then it blew from the Southeast. Clouds became black and rains fell. The icicles began to melt and fall. Then North groaned. Southeast also broke up the floor of North’s house. He came upon him from below.

Then all of the ice melted and the woman went to her father. She is the Oyster Catcher. Since its bill was made red with the cold, it is red today. Because its legs were frozen, they are now white.

Now Southeast was a very powerful chief. He had ten servants. One was Mist, another was named He-that-takes-away-the-Surface-of-the-Sea, and another was called Canoe Breaker. Still another was Cutter-off-of-Tree-Tops.

CAPTURE OF WIND

_Chilcotin_

A long time ago there was a chief who had many sons. In those days Wind used to blow furiously all the time, and the chief told one of his sons to capture Wind. The son made a snare and placed it in a tree. Then next morning, when he went to that tree, he found in the snare a small boy with a fat body and streaming hair. Now that boy was Wind. The chief’s son kept him for some time, then he let him go free when Wind promised he would not blow so hard. Only once in a while could he blow hard, said the chief’s son, and Wind agreed. So now he is free, and he does not blow nearly so hard as he used to.

HOW WIND BECAME A SLAVE

_Haida_

Raven wanted to go to a rock from which Wind was always blowing. He intended to kill Xeio, Wind. Raven tried to make canoes of hemlock, of spruce, of fir, but they would not carry him to the rock. Then Raven called upon the birds to carry him there. He called upon Bluejay, upon Robin, upon Woodpecker, and upon all the birds. But they could not carry Raven to the rock. Then Raven took wood of a maple tree and made a canoe. The maple-wood canoe carried him to the rock. Then Raven fought Wind and conquered him. Thus Wind became his slave.

THUNDER, LIGHTNING, AND RAIN

_Central Eskimo_

Three sisters make the light, thunder, and rain. They live in a large house, the walls of which are supported by whale ribs. It stands in the far west, at a great distance from the sea.

Ingnirtung strikes the fire. She strikes two red flint stones together. Kadla makes thunder by rubbing sealskins together and singing. The third sister makes the rain. They procure food by striking the reindeer. This roasts the flesh.

If an Eskimo should happen to enter their house, he must run away immediately, or Ingnirtung will strike him. Even the stones are so afraid of her that they jump down the hills whenever they see lightning or hear thunder.

The faces of the three sisters are black.

THUNDER

_Wyandot_

Henq was one of seven brothers. They all played together—oh, a long time ago—but Henq always made the others sorrowful. He was very strong. He smashed everything. If he laid his hand on a pole of the lodge, the lodge would fall to the ground.

At last his brothers said, “Henq is too strong. We are not safe.” So they made a plan.

One day the brothers said, “We will go hunting.” So they started off in their canoes to an island far away. They began to hunt. Henq and one of his brothers went up into the island. Then the others jumped into their canoes and paddled away. The brother said to Henq, “Go up farther into the woods and wait for me.” And Henq did so. Then that brother got into his canoe and paddled away.

Henq waited a long while. He heard no one. Then he came down to the shore and saw his brothers far away in their canoes. He lifted his great voice and called to them. His voice was so strong and so loud it made the air shake. He said, “Will you take me back?” They said, “No.”

So Henq stayed on the island. Sometimes he raises his voice to call to his brothers, and ask them how they are getting along. He always makes the air shake. Henq roams around the island, in the spring and summer; but in the winter he sleeps. When there is thunder in winter, the Wyandots say, “Henq is turning over. Something has broken into his sleep.”

TURTLE AND THE THUNDER BIRD

_Ojibwa_

Once Turtle was living all alone in a lake. Several times he was hit by something. When he came out to see what it was, he could see nothing at all. One day he was struck again. He thought he would ask someone to help him. When he came out of the water, he went into the woods. He cried, “Who will help me? Who will help me?”

Deer ran out from among the shrubs and said, “I will help you.”

“Come on,” said Turtle, “let me see how you can fight.” Deer started to fight a tree and broke his horns.

Turtle said, “Oh, you will not last long enough.” He left Deer and again called out, “Who will help me?”

Bear came out and said, “I will help you.”

Turtle said, “Let me see how you can fight.”

Bear started to fight a tree, but he was so clumsy jumping around, that Turtle said, “Oh, you won’t last long if you have to fight the giant I am after.”

Turtle again began to call, “Who will help me?” He called this as he came to a little swamp, and he heard small voices saying, “We will.”

“Come out and show me how you can fight,” said Turtle. And behold! a crowd of little Turtles came out and began to fight him. Soon Turtle cried, “You’re the very people I am looking for.” So he led them to the lake where he lived and left them just outside. Then he went home. Soon a big stone fell down upon the little turtles and killed them all. When Turtle ran out to see what had happened, he saw a big bird overhead.

Turtle ran to his neighbor who had ducked into the water. He asked, “What bird was that?”

Muskrat answered, “That is the Thunder Bird and I am very much afraid of him.”

Ever since that day Turtle has stayed in the water when there was a thunderstorm.

WHY LIGHTNING STRIKES THE TREES

_Thompson River_

Thunder Bird was angry with people and tried to drown the whole world, but he could not make the water rise high enough, so some of the people escaped. Then Thunder Bird shot arrows at them. He really did hurt many, but all the people ran away and hid in a cave.

Then Turtle came out. He shouted out to Thunder Bird, “You cannot kill people. Your arrows fly wild. Shoot at the trees and rocks; perhaps you can hit them.” Turtle mocked Thunder.

Thunder said, “Oh, yes, I do strike people. I have killed many of them!”

Turtle said at once, “Well, then, prove it by killing me.” So he drew his shell down tight and moved about very carelessly, not hiding at all, while Thunder shot many arrows at him. They only glanced off his thick shell.

Then Thunder Bird believed that he really could not hit people, so now he shoots his arrows at trees and rocks. But if people stand under a tree in a storm, it is likely that Thunder will hit them.

THE MAKING OF LAKES AND MOUNTAINS

_Haida_

Once the Bears stole a woman. Now she wanted to escape, and she remembered to do as she was told. When she combed her hair, she gathered the combings together. She prepared some hair oil and she made ready also a whetstone and some red ochre.

Then the woman went out to get wood. Bear was watching her. He went with her. So she piled much wood upon him and tied the bundle. Now she took a little wood herself and ran to the house with it. She threw it down outside. Then she took the things she had made ready and ran away.

After the woman had gone on awhile, the one who watched her came and called out. After she had run awhile longer, she heard them making a great noise in pursuit. When they got very close to her, she poured out some of the hair oil. It became a big lake. And after she had run on awhile longer, she broke off a piece of the whetstone. It became a mountain. Now after she had run on again, snowbirds almost surrounded her. Then she poured out some red ochre and the birds all went back to it and painted their faces with it.

Now she ran on again, and after a while when they had almost overtaken her, she threw down the hair combings. They at once became a mass of fallen trees. And while the Bears struggled through these, she went on a long distance.

When she was almost overtaken again, she broke off part of the whetstone and put it in the ground. It became a great mountain. Then as she ran on, she threw down her hair combings and again they became great masses of fallen trees.

Now as she ran on, she saw they had almost overtaken her. She stuck the whole comb into the ground. “Become a mountain!” she said. It became a great mass of mountains which they could not cross. They had to go around. Then again the snowbirds almost came up with her. She poured out all her red ochre and they began again to paint their faces. When again she heard the noise of pursuit, she stuck the remainder of the whetstone in the ground. It became a great mountain. And as the birds pursued her, she poured out all the hair oil, and put combings around it, and it became a large lake with masses of fallen trees about it. She ran on.

Then she ran to the shore of the great sea. A man in a canoe paddled near her. She cried, “Let me go with you!” At first he paid no attention to her, then he said, “Get in.” He let her get into his canoe.

Just at that moment, in a great crowd, the Bears came after her. They crowded about the shore and then began to swim out to her. The man put a carved club into the water, and this club of itself killed all the Bears. The man said to her, “Look out here,” and the woman saw the Bears were all dead.

ORIGIN OF RACES[6]

_Cree_

When Great One made mankind, he first made an earth oven. Then he modeled a man of clay and put him in to bake. He was not baked enough and came out white. Great One tried again, but this time he baked the man too long. He came out black. The third time Great One baked the man just the correct time, and he came out red. That is why different races have different colors.

ORIGIN OF CHILCOTIN CAÑON

_Shuswap_

A very long time ago, when the earth was new, Coyote traveled about a great deal, looking after things and helping the Indians. Now Coyote found that the salmon went to the upper Chilcotin River. He did not like that at all, for he was a friend of the Shuswaps on the lower Chilcotin River, and did not like the tribes on the upper river. Therefore Coyote made a rocky dam across the stream, very high, so that the salmon could not leap over it. Thus the Shuswaps had all the salmon and the Chilcotins had none. But the pounding of the waters wore away Coyote’s dam, and now the salmon go far up the river. This is how the Chilcotin Cañon was formed.

ORIGINS OF ANIMALS

_Eastern Eskimo_

_Wolves._—Once a poor woman lived in an Indian camp with many children. Her husband was dead, and she had so many children she could not find enough for them to eat. Always they were hungry; always they were gaunt and lean. Therefore they were changed into wolves. Even yet they are always hungry and wander over the land, roaming about, lean and gaunt, seeking for food.

_Hares._—Once a child in an Indian camp had such long ears that everyone laughed at him. At last he went off into the brush and lived by himself. Therefore he was changed into a hare. When Hare sees anyone near, he lays his ears down flat, for if he hears a person shout he thinks he is laughing at his long ears. He does this even yet. Hare has no tail now because he formerly did not have one.

BIRD BEGINNINGS

_Eastern Eskimo_

_Ravens._—Raven used to be a man. Now in those days, people moved about a great deal, hunting and fishing. One day a whole village was preparing to move. They were collecting their blankets and cooking boxes. Raven kept calling to someone that he had forgotten his _kak_—forgotten the lower blanket of deerskin used for a bed. Raven kept calling “Kak, kak, kak!” People said, “Get the kak yourself. Go back for it yourself.” So Raven did, but he hurried so that he was changed into a bird.

Raven still follows the camps. Even to this day when a camp is being moved, Raven flies over it and shouts, “Kak, kak, kak!” because he is afraid they will forget the blankets.

_Gulls._—Some people in a boat wanted to go around a long point of land. Now the water was always rough at the point, and some of the women were told to get out and cross the neck of land. One woman got out with her children in order to lighten the load, but when she got on shore, the noise of the water prevented her from hearing what the boat people said. She wandered around the cliffs with her children, crying over and over, the last word she heard, “Go over, goover, over, ove, oh—”

_Hawks._—Once there was a woman whose neck was very, very short. All the people in her village laughed at her. One day the woman went to a very high place up on the rocks, and in the mountains. Then she began to go there very often because she did not like people, so she was changed into a hawk. Now, when she sees any one, she cries, “Kea, kea, kea—who, who was it said ‘short neck’?”

_Swallows._—Once there were some small children, who were very wise. They played a great deal on the edge of a high cliff near their village, and their play was always building toy houses on the cliff. One day when they were playing, they were changed into swallows. Even to this day they come to the cliff near the Indian village and build their houses in the side of the cliffs. They are very wise. Even the raven does not molest them, and the Eskimo children like much to watch these little swallows.

_Loons._—Once a man had two children, Raven and Loon. He wanted to paint them so that they would look just alike, and he began with Loon. First he painted Loon’s breast white, and then he painted square spots on his back. When Raven saw how comical Loon looked, he laughed so much that Loon became ashamed and ran away to a near-by pond. Loon always faces a person so as to show his white breast and hide the spots on his back. Raven refused to be painted in that way. He ran away.

_Guillemots._—Some Eskimo children were very fond of playing on the level top of a high cliff near their village, while the larger ones watched them. Now this cliff overhung the sea and the sea was still covered with ice. There was an icy strip near the shore, so that even the seals could not approach. The wind was cold and the children played hard to keep warm, shouting and calling to each other. Just then the strip of ice along the shore broke away, and the water was filled with seals. The men saw them, and ran for their kayaks, and put them into the water to pursue the seals. The children saw all this, and they shouted all the louder. The seals were so frightened that they plunged into the water and were out of sight.

The men were so angry that almost at once the cliff toppled over, and the children slipped down with the fragments to the bottom. When they reached the bottom, they had become sea pigeons with red feet. They still live among the fragments of rock and earth at the foot of the cliff.

MOSQUITOES

_Haida_

Sun was fond of gambling. After he had gambled at one place and another on Toets Island he launched his canoe. He wore a ragged marten-skin blanket.

When Sun reached that place where he was going, he went up into the woods. When he got far into the woods, something before him made a noise, but the noise was not like that of a bird. Following it, he came to a narrow trail. Sun went along this and came to a pond. When he reached it, a log was there, with the top cut off, and a nest made of moss at the end of it. This was a quiet place. And there were nests near one another in the moss near the lake.

While Sun was looking at the moss hanging from the branches of the trees above him, a long, thin bird flew out. It flew straight towards him. It made a noise like _M-mmmmmmm_. It had a long bill. And it sat on the moss nest at the end of the log. This was the place where it sat. It was its nest. The bird was Mosquito. The inside of its nest was green.

Then Sun went to look for a stick and he broke off a stick with his feet. The bird’s nest was upon the moss. Then Sun walked to it upon the log. He walked slowly to it. He held the stick in his hand. When he got near, he struck it. Then Sun saw it was dead, and he took it up, but it was very light.

Just as Sun turned, a humming sound arose on the other side—_Hm-hm-mmmmmmmm_, it sounded. Mosquitoes came out from inside the moss. These were small ones, like ashes. What Sun had come to was a Mosquito town.

Then they bit that man. He ran very fast, but he kept his large Mosquito. When he got far from the lake, he knew they were following him for that. Then he tore it in pieces and threw it about. He said, “You will bite even the last generation of people.”

Because Sun tore it in pieces, the big mosquitoes came to be in the world.

Then he escaped to his canoe.

ORIGIN OF DEATH

_Thompson River_

Ant and Spider were very wise. They were arguing one day about death. Spider said to Ant, “You are cutting yourself in two with that tight belt. Soon you will die.”

Ant said, “Well, if I do, I shall come to life again in a few hours.”

Spider said, “I think it would be better if people died properly, else the world will soon become overcrowded. If so many people come to earth and none die, soon people will starve.”

Thus they argued.

Now Fly joined Spider, so it was two to one. They said death must happen.

Soon after that Spider’s child died. Spider came weeping to Ant, and said, “Let us put things right by declaring people cannot die.”

Ant said, “But it is too late now. Death has already happened.”

DURATION OF HUMAN LIFE

_Haida_

At one time Raven said to stones scattered about, “Get up and help me. I am tired;” so he said. The stones got up, but they were unable to stand erect. Then Raven said, “Remain stones forever!” so they did.

Now the grass on the landward side of the stones was thick, and the salmon-berry bushes were very thick indeed. Then Raven said to the salmon-berry bushes and the grass, “Get up! Get up and help me. I am tired!” Then the grass and the salmon-berry bushes both arose. They turned into human beings, and they helped Raven.

So we are salmon-berry bushes and grass. Therefore we die in a short time, because grass and salmon-berry bushes are weak. Therefore people die in just the same way the leaves fall.

HOW DEATH CAME

_Lillooet_

Raven was once a chief of great power and very wise. At that time people did not die. One day a man came to Raven and said, “I am not happy as things go now. Let people die so that we may weep, and then we will be happy.”

Raven said, “Very well. If people wish to die, it shall be so.”

The man went away and soon after his child died. He was sorry. He wept; but instead of being happy when he wept, he was very miserable. He went to Raven and asked him to stop people from dying.

Raven said, “It is too late for that now. I made it as you asked it. I cannot change things now. Henceforth people shall continue to die.”

That is the reason people die. Afterward Raven was changed into a mere bird, because he let death happen. Through him it came into the world.

ORIGIN OF ARROWHEADS

_Lillooet_

It was after Raven let death happen. His own child died, and Raven was very sorrowful. He took an arrow stone and cut himself with it. He was surprised that it cut his flesh. Thus Raven first discovered arrow stone and found that it could kill. After that the people learned to make it into arrow points and knives. Raven put arrow stone into the end of a stick; thus he made the first spear.

ORIGIN OF CARVED HOUSE POSTS

_Haida_

Many people lived upon the north shore of Masset Island. The east wind blew so strongly that they did not care to live there. Therefore they came to Delkatla, a few miles above Masset.

There was no salt water there. It was all covered with grass. Then they dug the town-chief’s house hole. They finished his first. But afterward they built houses on either side of him. Then they began to live in their own.

One autumn after that they went to Rose Spit in two big canoes. Very many people went. They went for berries.

Then one woman who was not paddling looked into the water. It was very calm, and it was bright sunshine. Then the one who looked into the sea saw something carved at the bottom. It was carved with figures of human beings. The lower part was carved with a killer whale, and the human being stood upon the whale.

They remained a long time above this thing, and they memorized it. Then they went away. Then afterward they described it. They said, “We will make the chief such house posts.” But some of them were afraid.

After they had finished picking berries, they went home. They told about the carving to those who had stayed home. They made two posts for the chief’s house like the one they had seen. Still some were afraid.

At this time the land moved. The Ocean People were angry on account of it. Then a flood came. And after the people had fastened the canoes together, they put the posts upon them. They liked them too much to leave them. When the waters got far up on the side of a small mountain, they put one post upon that. And they put one in the sea. They wept bitterly. They sang a song: “The supernatural beings were the ones who made the flood come—made the flood come.” They sang that.

At this time the sea began to move. The canoes began to sink, and when the canoes had sunk, the people floated upon the ocean. Now the people became birds. The Ocean People were the ones who caused it all. Then the tide began to fall. And now the people are birds.

THE WIND-POWER CARVING

_Thompson River_

Now many of the people had carvings. They had house posts and door posts, and they carved their totems on the posts, and they made carvings of their guardian spirit.

Once there was a girl who was not happy in the village. She wandered away and went to a lake in the mountains, where she saw many fish swimming in the water. She sat down to watch them. Then the fish changed themselves to small children with very long hair. They watched her and smiled at her. The girl thought, “I should like to live with them, they seem so happy.” So she jumped into the water.

As the girl fell into the lake, a violent wind blew all over the country. It even blew down her parents’ house. When the girl found she could not sink, she came out of the water and at once it became calm. In the lake were neither fish nor children to be seen.

In this way this girl obtained possession of the power and knowledge of wind. Only her descendants who live near Yale, in the mountains, can use the wind-power carving on their grave boxes and in their dancing masks and in the house.

CALENDAR

_Thompson River_

_First month._—People-hunt-deer moon.
_Second month._—“Going-in” moon. People go into their winter
houses.
_Third month._—Last “going-in” moon. Last of the people go into
winter houses.
_Fourth month._—“Little-coming-out” moon. Alternate cold and rain.
Some people camp in lodges for a time.
_Fifth month._—“Going-in-again” moon. Last cold when people go
into winter houses again.
_Sixth month._—“Coming-out” moon. Winter houses left for good.
People catch fish in bag nets.
_Seventh month._—People-go-on-short-hunts moon.
_Eighth month._—People-pick-berries moon.
_Ninth month._—People-begin-to-fish-for-salmon moon.
_Tenth month._—People-fish-for-and-cure-salmon moon.
_Eleventh month._—“To boil food a little.” So called because
people prepare fish oil.
_Autumn._—People hunt large game and go trapping.

CALENDAR

_Cree_

_May._—Frog moon.
_June._—Moon in which birds begin to lay eggs.
_July._—Moon in which birds cast their feathers.
_August._—Moon when the young birds fly.
_September._—Moon when the deer cast their horns.
_October._—Rutting moon.
_November._—Hoar-frost moon.
_December._—Ice moon.
_January._—Whirlwind moon; or, extremely cold moon.
_February._—Big moon.
_March._—Eagle moon.
_April._—Goose moon.

CALENDAR

_Shuswap_

Beginning with March:

_First._—Spring.
_Second._—Grass month.
_Third._—Root-digging month.
_Fourth._—Strawberry month.
_Fifth._—Berry month.
_Sixth._—Salmon month.
_Seventh._—Month when salmon get bad.
_Eighth._—Month when the deer travel.
_Ninth._—Month in which they return from hunting.
_Tenth._—Remaining-at-home month.
_Eleventh._—Midwinter month.
_Twelfth._—Pil-tshik-in-tin (translation unknown).

HOW THE INDIANS FIRST OBTAINED BLANKETS

_Chilcotin_

Once a Being with great power sat on a stone in the middle of a river, and as he sat there, he wailed. So people were afraid to pass up and down in their canoes. But one day a man came poling upstream, and when he heard the wailing, he got out of his canoe and wailed with the stranger. Yet he was a little afraid and kept one foot in the canoe, ready to shove off.

The stranger said his son had been hunting in the snow mountains and had been buried by a snowslide. As the man wailed with him, Esterreqot was pleased. He took a sheet of metal on which he had been sitting and gave it to his visitor. He told him to come to his house in the mountains, but to come at night so no one would know it. Thus he did.

When the man came to the house of Esterreqot, he was given two boxes, one full of food and one full of blankets. The man took them back to his tribe and invited the people to a feast. When they came, they saw nothing for a feast. Then the man opened the boxes and took out food enough and blankets enough to fill the whole house, and there was a great potlatch.

That is how the Indians first secured blankets.

HUNTING IN THE SNOW MOUNTAINS

_Chilcotin_

Once there was a boy who was very bad. He had sung a shaman’s song, and the shaman had scolded him.

Now late in the autumn he went out hunting alone. He went up the Chilcotin River, to a place near Siwash Bridge. Here he found three beavers, so he killed them. He skinned them and hid the meat, and went on up into the snow mountains. He came to a great gulch in the mountains, and looking down he saw all kinds of animals—deer, caribou, mountain sheep, and mountain goats. And as he looked down upon them from the top, he wished his brother were there to help him, there were so many. Then he went to a small cañon at the head of the gulch and waited.

Soon the boy heard someone calling, away down the valley, and the caribou started to run up through the cañon. As they crowded in, the young man shot all the big ones, until they lay in heaps all around him. So he made his camp there and started to cut up the meat.

Then the boy saw three men coming up the valley. As they came near, they asked, “Did you kill all these caribou?” He answered, “Yes, I did.”

Now these three men were Nun, or wolves. The Nun told the boy they had found his beaver meat in the valley below, and had eaten it. So they had helped him in his hunt. They had called away down in the valley and frightened the caribou.

Now the young man stayed at that place and hunted caribou and dried the meat until it made a huge pile. Then he danced and sang around the pile of meat, until it shrank into two large packs. So he started home. He carried one pack one day, and then went back and brought up the other pack. But he became tired. That was slow work. Therefore he danced and sang around these two packs until they became one small pack. Then he continued home. At last he reached the place where he had killed the beaver. He took the skins.

Then he came to the top of a hill near his village. He dropped the small pack of meat and it became at once a huge pile, just as it was before he danced and sang around it. Now he came into the village and heard wailing. The people thought he was lost. They were wailing for him.

The next morning the boy told the men to go to the top of the hill and bring in the meat he had left there. Two men started, but he told more to go. Then he ordered others to go, until all the men in the village had gone. When they brought the meat in, the young man gave a great meat potlatch.

So the boy became a shaman. The wolves were his helpers.

COYOTE’S GIFT OF THE SALMON AND THE CAÑON OF THE FRASER RIVER

_Nicola Valley and Fraser River_

Coyote was powerful in magic, and therefore he was sent into the world by Old One. He spent much time traveling in the Shuswap and Okanogan countries. It is said that he lived with Old One before coming to earth, and that after he finished his work—as some say—he went back to Old One. But others say that Old One built him a house of transparent ice and put inside of it a log of wood which burns forever. The aurora is the light of Coyote’s fire, shining through the ice, or the reflection of it cast up by the ice. Coyote can hear when people speak his name. When he rolls over in his sleep, it creates the sharp wind which makes the earth so cold.

Coyote lived for many years in Nicola Valley. He hunted elk and deer in the winter time, and in the early fall he fished for salmon about six miles above Spence’s Bridge where he had a weir across the Thompson River. Even yet it is called “Coyote’s Weir.”

Now when Coyote was traveling about on earth, he gave names to all parts of the country. He changed many things. He made hills and plains wherever he saw fit. He placed bushes and trees here and there, and narrowed or widened the river, and made cañons and waterfalls and rapids just as he pleased.

Coyote even made the various tribes to speak different languages.

Formerly there were no salmon in the interior of the country because the coast people kept them all. There was a dam across both the Fraser and the Columbia rivers. When Coyote had traveled through the Shuswap country, he went down the Fraser and changed himself into a piece of wood in the cañon and floated downstream until stopped by the fish dam. Then he broke down the dam of the four skookums who prevented the salmon from coming up the river. Then he went ashore.

Now Coyote led the salmon up the main waters of the Fraser and through the tributary streams. He traveled along the river banks and they followed him. He went up the Thompson River and the North Thompson.

Then Coyote went down to the mouth of the Columbia River where four skookums had dammed the river. He changed himself to a piece of wood, as he had at the Fraser River, and floated down against the dam. They picked it up, saying, “This will make a fine dish.” They shaped it into a salmon dish. Then they put salmon on it. But all the salmon they put on it disappeared. The skookums became afraid of the dish, and they threw it into the fire.

Suddenly, in just a moment, the skookums heard a baby’s wail from the fire. There it was. They picked up the little thing hastily. They said, “How did it get there?” yet they were all skookums.

Now Coyote grew very rapidly. Soon he was running about. The skookums told him not to touch four baskets which stood there. But Coyote grew very rapidly indeed, and one day when they went out to get firewood, he opened them all. Out of the four baskets came flies, wasps, wind, and smoke. That is why flies and wasps always appear during the salmon season, and why the winds at that season always blow up river.

When Coyote had opened the baskets, he went out to the fish dam. He said, “Henceforth, there shall be no dam here, and the salmon shall ascend the river!”

Coyote led the salmon up the Columbia. Hair Seal went almost as far as the Falls of the Columbia with him. The Coyote pushed him in the water and told him that sometimes he could come up as far as that point.

Then Coyote sent the salmon into all the tributaries of the Columbia.

The broken dam at the mouth of the Fraser River now forms the cañon.

THE COMING OF THE SALMON

_Bella Coola_

A long time ago, a man named Winwina lived on the Bella Coola River, and he often sat in front of his house looking at the river. One day he thought, “I wish fish would ascend this river.” At that time not a single salmon visited the Bella Coola River. He thought much about it.

One night Winwina had a dream. He dreamed that with the help of all the animals he had made war upon the Salmon People and had defeated them.

At once Winwina invited all the animals to his house, and told them his dream. When they came, he said, “I wish something. You shall help me obtain what I desire.”

Mink said, “What are we to do?” Mink always talked a great deal.

Winwina said, “I want to go to Mialtoa. There is not a single salmon in this river. Let us make war upon the Salmon People. I shall certainly take some slaves and we will place them in this river.”

Mink sputtered. He said, “I’m glad _you’re_ speaking in regard to this matter. I asked my father, Sun, to give us salmon and I think he gave you the dream you have just told us.”

But all the tribes agreed. The animals all wanted to start at once.

Winwina asked a person to make a canoe for them. He at once made a self-moving canoe. In the third moon after the winter solstice the canoe was completed.

At once Winwina started. With him went the clouds, the birds, and all the animals. When they passed the village of Bella Bella, Cormorant was sitting on the beach. He asked to be taken along as passenger. So they followed the trail of Sun for a long time.

At last they reached the country of the Salmon People. The country was a great plain, and there were no trees at all. A large sun was shining in the sky. Soon the warriors saw the Salmon village and they sent Raven out to spy. Raven was not gone very long. When he returned, he said, “The Salmon People play on the beach every evening.” Mink at once said, “That would be a good time to carry them off.”

Crane said, “I will carry away Sockeye Salmon.”

Winwina said, “I will carry off the Humpback Salmon.”

Kingfisher said, “And I will look after the Dog Salmon.”

Raven said, “You can depend upon me for the Silver Salmon.”

Fish Hawk said, “I will capture the Salmon Trout and Olachen.” Fish Hawk was undertaking a good deal, but the olachen and salmon trout were not so large, nor so warlike as the Salmon People.

Cloud said, “I will capture the Spring Salmon.”

But Cormorant said, after everyone else had spoken, “Well, I’m only a passenger. I’ll take whatever I can get.”

Mink answered, “I won’t tell what I am going to take! Now start! The Salmon People cannot see you, just as we cannot see ghosts.”

At once they went on the warpath. They each seized a boy and a girl of the various Salmon tribes, and the Salmon People could not see them at all. They only saw that their children were fainting, as though their ghosts had gone away.

Then the bird and animal warriors went back to the canoe with their slaves. They were about to start home, when someone said, “Let us go and see what is beyond this country of the Salmon People.”

The canoe at once went on, and they came to the Berry Country. One of the birds went ashore and picked up a great many of the Berry People and put them in the canoe. Then they returned home. For seven moons they had remained in the Land of the Salmon People.

When they passed Bella Bella, Cormorant said, “This is my town. I will go ashore here.”

The birds and animals traveled on, and came to the mouth of the Bella Coola River. There they threw all their Salmon slaves into the water. The Salmon people jumped and began to ascend the river. Then Winwina arose in his canoe and told each one—the silver salmon, the hump-back salmon—told each one at what season he was to arrive. Ever since that time there have been salmon in the Bella Coola River.

Winwina also scattered the Berry People all over the mountains, and through the valleys, and told each one at what season it was to ripen.

After all this was done, Winwina invited everyone to his house. He gave them a great feast.

COYOTE AND THE SALMON

_Shuswap_

Once Coyote said, “I have never yet given a feast! Why should not I feast the people?”

Coyote at once caught great numbers of sockeye and king salmon. He made much salmon oil, and buried much roe. He filled all the skins with grease. Then he sent messengers to invite all the people. Coyote said to himself, “I will sing a great song, and dance for all the people when they come. They shall think me a great man.”

Now when the people came they began to dance. And as Coyote danced, one salmon which hung from the ridge pole kept striking his head and catching in his hair until he was angry. Yet again it caught in Coyote’s long hair, and he pulled and he pulled to get free, but he only pulled his own hair. He became very angry. He pulled the whole fish down and threw it in the river.

Immediately all the salmon came to life. They jumped off the poles and ran to the river and leaped in. Coyote tried to catch some of them, but into the river they jumped, every one of them. As he was trying to catch the last one, he saw that all the oil had come to life. It was running to the river. He tried to stop the oil, but it was too late. And then all the salmon roe he had buried suddenly jumped into the river.

Then all the people went home.

Soon after there was a great snowstorm. Coyote was snowed in and without food for so long he nearly starved. The snow was nearly as high as the trees all around Coyote’s house. Coyote thought, “This is a very hard winter. The deer will all die.”

Now Coyote’s stock of dried fish and his roots had become exhausted. He wondered what he should do. He said, “This is a very long winter.”

Coyote went to the top of the ladder and looked around. The heat and smoke had kept a little opening. The snow nearly hid the trees around his house.

Now the very next day a snowbird came and perched above the smoke hole. He gave Coyote a ripe berry, saying, “Why are you living here? It is summertime.”

Coyote laughed and said, “Oh, but it is the middle of winter. See the snow all around.”

Then again a snowbird came and gave him a ripe berry, saying, “See! The berries are ripe, but you are still in your winter house.”

Coyote answered, “How can the berries be ripe and snow be still almost to the tree tops?”

Four times the snowbirds brought him berries, and then Coyote thought something must be wrong. He put on his snowshoes and blanket, and climbed over the snowdrifts. Behold! As he came down on the other side of the drifts, just a few feet from his house, it was bare ground! Then he went on and came in just a little while to a place where the trees were budding and a little farther they were in full leaf. He passed down the North Thompson Valley and saw service berries in blossom, and then came to bushes full of ripe fruit. Then Coyote came to a large berry patch, and heard two Indian women singing.

The summer time had come. That was the way in which the salmon took their revenge upon Coyote.

WOLVERENE AND THE GEESE

_Eastern Eskimo_

Wolverene was running along the seashore, when he saw many geese, brant, ducks, and loons, playing in the water not far off.

Wolverene called to them, “Come here, brothers, I have found a pretty bees’ nest! I will give it to you if you will come on shore and have a dance!”

All the birds went on land. Wolverene said, “Now let us have a dance and I will sing. But shut your eyes and do not open them until we have finished dancing.” Wolverene began to sing,

A-ho-u-mu-hou-mur-mur-_hum_
A-ho-u-mu-hou-mur-mur-_hum_.

So he sang. He sang that last word _hum_ very loud and very often. And every time he sang _hum_ he snipped off the head of a duck. Now Loon thought it very strange he sang _hum_ so often. He opened his eyes and looked.

Then Loon ran to the water shouting, “Our brother is killing us.” Wolverene ran after him, but Loon dived and came up a long way off, shouting very loudly:

A-ho-u-mu-hou-mur-mur-_hum_.

He sang that many times.

“Be quiet,” shouted Wolverene, “you shall be red-eyed!” And so Loon is even today. Then Wolverene returned to the birds and pulled their feathers off and cleaned them. He put them in a pot to boil.

Then Wolverene saw Jay flying about in the woods. Now the Canadian Jay is a great talker. Wolverene threw a firebrand at Jay, shouting, “You’ll be telling on me, you long-tongued bird.”

And Jay did so. He flew away to some Indians. He said to them, “Wolverene has killed a lot of birds and is cooking them.” Then he added, “I think he is sleeping. I’ll show you where he is.”

The Indians said at once, “We are hungry. We will go.” And they went. Now Wolverene was asleep beside the pot. Then the Indians pulled out all the birds and ate them all. Only the bones they put back in the pot.

After a long time, Wolverene awakened. He said, “Now I shall have my dinner.” He poured it all out into his eating dish. Behold! There were only the bones of the birds, and the broth. Wolverene said, “I must have been asleep a long while. The meat is all boiled away.”

Now Jay was flying about in the woods. He said, “The Indians ate it all up. I told them where it was.”

Wolverene said, “You stupid bird! I was keeping a big piece for you!”

But he wasn’t. This is the end.

NANEBOJO AND THE GEESE

_Ojibwa_

Nanebojo lived with his grandmother. His parents had been killed by a war party. Now Nanebojo resolved to leave that place with his grandmother. He told the Indians that a stranger was coming who would harm all of them.

Then Nanebojo climbed to the top of a maple tree. He poured water into it; therefore the sap in the maple is now watery and thin. It has to be boiled before it becomes sugar. Nanebojo also went through the cornfields and pulled off all the ears of corn except one or two. Therefore now cornstalks have but one or two ears. They used to have ten or twelve.

Then Nanebojo went away.

Nanebojo and his grandmother traveled until they reached Lake Erie. Then they journeyed to Lake St. Clair. Grandmother went on ahead.

Nanebojo saw ducks in Lake St. Clair, but he could not think how to capture them. At last he remembered. He went to his grandmother and told her to make him a sack.

“What for?” asked grandmother.

“Never mind what for,” answered her grandson. So Grandmother made the sack.

Nanebojo took the sack and went along the lake shore to where there was a hill, with a short stretch of flat land between the hill and the water. He climbed to the top of the hill, got into the sack, closed the neck, and rolled down the hill. Then he got out and walked up again, laughing heartily all the time. Again he rolled down the hill, shouting loudly.

Now the ducks heard him. They came out of the water and waddled around him. They came closer and closer. After a while, one duck grew bold. He said, “Let us roll downhill just once.”

Nanebojo said, “Oh, no indeed, you go away! Every time I do anything you come around and bother me!” Then he went up the hill again with his sack on his back, and rolled himself downhill, laughing loudly.

Again the ducks said, “Let us roll downhill just once.”

Nanebojo said, “Very well. You may roll downhill just once,” and he told them to get into the bag. Just then some geese flew by overhead. They stopped to watch. Nanebojo also saw them.

Nanebojo carried the ducks to the top of the hill, laid down the bag, filled it with ducks, tied the neck, and started it to rolling down the hill. He ran beside it, laughing very loudly, while the ducks quacked. They all made much noise. When the bag of ducks reached the bottom of the hill, Nanebojo emptied out the bag, and told them to go away. Then he went up the hill with the sack on his shoulder, and again he rolled down-hill, laughing loudly, but always keeping one eye on the ducks and one on the geese. “If I lose one, I may get the other,” he said. Every time he rolled down, the geese came nearer. Nanebojo pretended not to see them. At last they came very near indeed and asked him if they might roll down. “Let us roll down just once,” they said.

Nanebojo said, “No!” and kept right on rolling downhill. The geese were about to fly away when Nanebojo said, “Oh, well. If you want to, you may roll down once.”

The geese were very glad to get into the sack. Nanebojo squeezed them in together very tightly, saying, “If you are close together, you will have more fun.” Then he shouldered the sack and started up the hill.

Nanebojo walked a long, long time. He walked up to the top of the hill and then he walked down on the other side. The geese after a while thought he had walked too long a time. They called out, “Where are you going?” but he made no answer and walked straight on.

When Nanebojo reached his grandmother, he said, as he laid down the sack, “You heat some water while I go and get more from the spring.” Then he went out after he had said, “Do not untie the sack.” When he had left the lodge, Grandmother untied the sack, wondering what was in it. At once the geese flew out and got away. Not one was left.

ADVENTURES OF NANEBOJO

_Ojibwa_

Nanebojo and his grandmother journeyed about for a long time. At last they came again to Lake St. Clair. In the lake were many geese. Nanebojo thought, “How am I going to get some of those ducks?” He thought for a long while. Then he remembered.

Nanebojo took a birch-bark pail, and began to drum on it and to sing. He sang,

I am bringing new songs,
I am bringing new songs.

When the geese heard that, they drew near to him. At once he said to his grandmother, “Go farther on, and build a lodge where we may live.” And at once she did so. Then he went down to the water where the geese were floating around. He pulled out his sack, got into it, and dived into the water. The ducks and geese were quite surprised to see what a good diver he was. They came closer and closer.

Nanebojo said, “I can dive better than you can.” The geese said, “Oh, no!” Then they all began diving, and Nanebojo did beat them. So he spent a long time diving and floating about in the water. Suddenly he dived, came up softly among the geese, caught the feet of many, and tied them together with a string of basswood bark. At once the geese started to fly. They rose very slowly at first, because Nanebojo was pulling back, but at last they rose high in the air, carrying with them Nanebojo, who held on to the basswood string. Higher and higher they rose, until the earth was far beneath them. Then the string broke, and Nanebojo fell to the earth. He fell into a tall hollow tree.

Nanebojo spent a long while in that hollow tree. At last he heard the sound of chopping wood. Then he called for help, and the Indian women let him out of the tree. At once he went in search of his grandmother.

Grandmother asked, “Why didn’t you get the geese?”

“You know you never eat goose, even when you do get it,” answered Nanebojo.

Nanebojo killed a deer. He at once skinned and dressed it, and then he lighted a fire and roasted it. When he sat down to eat, the branch of a tree near by began to screech. Two branches were rubbing together. Nanebojo did not like that. He said to the tree, “Don’t bother me just now when I want to eat, I am hungry!” But every time he took a bite the branch began to screech.

Nanebojo climbed into the tree, broke off a branch, and just then caught his hand between two branches as they rubbed together. He could not free himself.