Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
When the boy told, the old woman said: “That is my brother,” and she
began to cry. Then she told Góshgoise, the boy, about the Yaukûl
brothers. “To-morrow I am going to see that man,” thought Góshgoise.
The grandmother knew his thoughts; she knew he would try to kill the
Yaukûls.
The next morning old Yaukûl said to her sons: “There is snow on the
ground.”
The youngest son said: “Tell the Tcpun brothers to go for rabbits.”
She went to their house and said: “This is a good day to hunt rabbits;
my sons are hungry for meat.”
The youngest brother started off. He killed rabbits by calling them to
him and dropping large stones on them. That day the boy was watching;
he saw the man a long way off, saw him kill a rabbit, skin it, and then
build a fire. He went toward him, and when near hid behind bushes. When
the man turned to pick up sticks, he saw the boy and was scared. He
said: “I never saw you before; I didn’t know there was any one like you
living around here.”
“My grandmother and I live among the rocks,” said the boy. “I came to
see you; I often hear you cry. Why can’t you eat what you kill? I
wouldn’t kill, if I couldn’t eat.”
“Where I live, nobody can eat,” said the man; “the Yaukûls would kill
them. They have killed your father and all your people. I am sorry you
heard me crying. I don’t want them to find you; I want you to grow to
be a man. That is why I never looked for you.”
“Why don’t you cook another rabbit?”
“They will kill me if I carry home only a few. The old woman never has
enough.”
The boy had his belt full of rabbits; he gave them to the man, and
said: “Stay here and cook these; don’t go home till it is dark, don’t
go till you are sure the old woman can’t see you. Then feed your
brothers and the children. To-morrow I will come and see you.”
“It is a bad place; don’t come,” said the man. “The Yaukûls will kill
you. You must stay away and grow up.”
When the boy got home, his grandmother said: “You are late, but you
haven’t any rabbits.”
“I met my uncle and gave him my rabbits. I have found out why he cries
so. He has to hunt rabbits for the Yaukûl brothers, but if they knew
that he ate even one little rabbit they would kill him. To-morrow I am
going to see my uncles.”
The grandmother said: “If you go, you will not come back; the Yaukûl
people will kill you.”
“I am going,” said the boy. “Get my things ready.”
His grandmother gave him a spear like the spears used by the Yaukûl
brothers.
“I don’t want that spear,” said the boy, “it will break.”
She gave him a thick axe, and he said: “That is too heavy.” She gave
him a knife, made of wood and covered with pitch, and he said: “That is
not strong enough; it will break.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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