Creation Myths of Primitive America: In relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of MankindCurtin, Jeremiah
Religion
Creation Myths of Primitive America: In relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind
Curtin, Jeremiah
Creation -- Mythology; Indian mythology -- North America; Indians of North America -- Folklore
Tulchuherris began to climb the rope. He went up, up, up, till he
reached the limb and stood on it. Sas was on the ground, holding the
other end of the rope. When Tulchuherris let go his hold, Sas pulled
the rope down, and left Tulchuherris on the limb very high in the air.
Sas turned home. When a short distance he said,--
"Now, Tulchuherris, you are nobody. Your grandmother, Nomhawena, is
old. She dug you out of the ground with a root stick. You grew up in
her petticoat. You are not strong, you are not wise, you are only
Tulchuherris. I am Sas."
When Tulchuherris looked down he was terrified, it was so far to the
ground.
"My brother," said Winishuyat, "we shall get down. Lengthen the
pointed bone which you have, and go higher."
Tulchuherris went to the nest, looked in, and saw a great many heads
peeping out in every direction,--all heads of rattlesnakes. He looked
awhile; could not think what to do.
"Make the bone long," said Winishuyat. Tulchuherris stretched the
bone. "Stick the bone into the head of each snake and gather them all
on it."
Tulchuherris did this quickly; had them all; then he slipped them off
and let them drop to the earth. After that he sat on the limb and
thought: "What shall I do now?"
"My brother," said Winishuyat, "what are you thinking of? Why not try
to do something? Do you want to die? If you cannot think of a way to
escape, I will tell you a way."
"Tell me, my brother."
"Stretch your right hand toward the west. Something will come on it."
Tulchuherris stretched his hand toward the west, where his grandmother
was, and immediately something came with a whirr and a flutter, and
settled on his arm like a bird. It was a sky-strap, blue like the sky,
narrow, and very strong. He fastened one end of it to the limb,
knotting it in such a way that he could untie it with a jerk at the
other end. He slipped down on it, and when on the ground jerked it
loose. He strung the snakes on the long bone, they were all dead, and
carried them to Sas's house. He laid them at the door, went in, sat
down, and then said to the two women,--
"I have the woodpeckers if you wish to play with them. If you don't
want them, you can send your father to look at them."
The girls told Sas. He went to the snakes and cried out: "Oh, my
son-in-law, you are killing all my children." Sas buried them in the
old woman's grave, and cried, and sang the same song over them as over
his wife and the bears. Then he danced, wearing the beaver teeth.
Next morning old Sas rose first, and said: "My son-in-law, be up. My
daughters always want me to fish and hunt; but I cannot fish now, I
cannot hunt. I am old and weak. My feet are tender, I cannot walk; my
head is dizzy. But you are young, my son-in-law. You can do many
things. If you wish to hunt, I will show you where to find game in
plenty. When I was young, I used to go to that place and kill game of
every sort."
"I will go," said Tulchuherris.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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