Fairy tales -- Canada; Folklore -- Canada; Indians of North America -- Canada -- Folklore
Owl-man scraped the gum from his face and head as best he could, and
when he could open his eyes again and could see pretty well, he went
out into the night in search of his wife. And as he went along he
cried, "Oh, oh, oh, where is my wife? Where is my girl? I have lost my
wife. I have lost my girl. Oh, oh, oh." And when the people heard him
calling they thought they would play a trick on him. So they said,
"She is here, she is here." But when he entered their houses, the
woman they showed him was not his wife, and he went away sorrowful.
And the people all laughed at his confusion, and said, "Owl-man is
getting queerer each day. He is far gone in his head." Owl-man went
from house to house, but he could not find his wife. Then he went to
the trees and searched among the branches. He pulled the trees up by
the roots, thinking she might be hiding underneath. And he looked into
the salmon-traps in the rivers, and kicked them to pieces in his
frenzy. But nowhere was his wife to be found.
Then he went to the girl's house, where she was hiding, and he yelled,
"Oh, oh, oh, give me my wife. Give me my girl. I know she is here. Oh,
oh, oh." But the girl's foster-mother would not give her up. Then he
began to tear down the house over their heads, for the old man of the
house was away and there was no one else strong enough to stop Owl-man
in his rage. When the woman saw her house in danger of falling about
her ears, she cried, "Stop; your wife is here." And she brought forth
the girl from her hiding-place. When Owl-man saw her, his rage left
him and he was happy again.
[Illustration: AND WITH HIS MAGIC POWER HE CHANGED HER INTO A
FISH-HAWK AND SENT HER OUT TO THE OCEAN]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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