Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
Wískäk’s brother had such a large family that his children were always
hungry. Wámanik told his mother-in-law to send for him to come and get
meat. The old woman sent a man for him, but the man came back alone,
and said: “He won’t come.” That made the old woman cry; she said: “My
kin hate us.”
The man said: “They are afraid of your son-in-law; that is why they
don’t come here. They don’t want to see him.”
“I won’t hurt them,” said Wámanik; “they are my wives’ kin. I have no
people; I belong to the Earth. I live under the mountains and under the
water. Go and tell them not to be afraid of me; tell them to come. I am
a person. Maybe they don’t know that.”
The man went back and talked nice, but they wouldn’t come. Then he
said: “If you don’t come, you will make Wámanik mad.”
They all came. Wámanik gave nice things to the youngest boy. “Are you
afraid of me now?” asked Wámanik. “I heard what you said. I can hear
what people say when they are far away. I like you and I want you to
like me.” The children ate lots. They felt glad.
One day old Wískäk said: “My girls are tired of digging roots, I want
to dig sometimes.”
“They’ll never get tired,” said Wámanik, “they’ll always work. You are
old and you must rest; you’ll die soon.”
Kékina said to Wámanik: “Your wives don’t love you. There is a young
man after them all the time. They wanted to marry Ndúkis.”
That made Wámanik feel badly. In the evening, when he went to his
mother-in-law’s house, he asked the elder sister: “Is any one in love
with you and your sister?”
“No,” said the woman. “Why do you ask that?”
“I don’t like the way you talk. You don’t tell me the truth,” said
Wámanik. “The first time I saw you, your eyes stuck out, as if you had
seen somebody; you looked scared. I won’t keep you if somebody else
wants you.”
Old Wískäk had been after red bark to color roots; when she came home
she found her younger daughter crying. The girl told her what Wámanik
had said. The old woman was angry, but she didn’t know what to do.
Kékina went to Ndúkis, and said: “Wámanik is saying bad things about
you.”
Ndúkis listened and heard what Wámanik said to his wife. The next
morning he went early, before anybody was up in the world, and sat on a
rock where he could see old Wískäk’s house; he looked awful ugly.
Ygiak, a man who never slept, was out hunting for sticks; when he saw
Ndúkis, he was so scared that he dropped his sticks and ran home.
At midday Ndúkis came down from the rocks. Somebody ran into Lok’s
house, and said: “There is going to be a great fight. Ndúkis is mad at
Wámanik and he will kill him.”
Lok said: “Ndúkis has a big spirit. Wámanik is strong, too. They will
scare each other, but they won’t fight.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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