Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
Old Djáudjau said to his son’s mind: “What do you think about it? That
chief over in Wiwĕnsi wants your sisters.” The young man was so
frightened that he didn’t know what to do. The old woman went outside
and cried. Everybody knew that Wámanik was a bad man when he got mad,
and that he got mad easily. The young man thought: “I sha’n’t live long
if Wámanik marries my sisters.”
Old man Djáudjau said: “I don’t know how Wámanik found out about us. I
am sorry he wants my daughters. It is easy for him to get mad. He kills
a great many people. I don’t care for myself, but I am afraid something
will happen to my son.”
When Djáudjau’s daughters came home and saw their mother crying, they
asked: “What are you crying about?”
She told them, and said: “My daughters, you must say something. Your
brother never harms anybody. All he knows is how to be happy. If you
don’t marry Wámanik, trouble will come to us.”
“Why doesn’t Wámanik marry a woman of his own people, one that lives in
the ground?” asked the eldest sister. “We are not of his people; we
wouldn’t be happy in his house.” Then she began to make fun of Wisnik.
When Wisnik got home, he said: “Those girls won’t marry you. They say
they can’t live with our people. They told me to ask you why you didn’t
marry a woman of your own kind. They are afraid of you; you get mad so
easily.”
“Those girls needn’t be so proud,” said Wámanik. “I was only trying
them; I don’t want to marry them.”
The next day Wámanik and Wisnik went to hunt for deer. They killed one
and stopped at the foot of the mountain to roast some of the meat.
Wisnik wanted to go home, but Wámanik said: “We will camp and stay here
all night.”
The next morning young man Djáudjau went to hunt. He didn’t kill
anything; he couldn’t even find a track. Wámanik and Wisnik stayed in
their camp for five days. Wisnik was singing all the time, but Djáudjau
didn’t hear him. After five days Wámanik sent Wisnik home; he said:
“You needn’t come again; I am going to stay here for ten days and hunt
deer.”
“Why do you do that?” asked Wisnik. “Old Djáudjau said you had no home;
that you made it anywhere. You had better come back with me.” Wámanik
wouldn’t go and he wouldn’t listen to anything Wisnik said.
The young man hunted deer for five days, but couldn’t find even a
track. Then he said to his father: “I can’t call deer; they don’t come
when I sing. What can I do to get them?”
The old man heated rocks and had his son steam himself; then he gave
him some of the sweet-smelling stuff that comes out of the corners of a
deer’s eyes, and said: “Swallow this; if you are going to kill a deer
the smell of this stuff will come out of your mouth.” No smell came
from the young man’s mouth, but he went to hunt. He tried to sing, but
Wámanik drew his song from him; he couldn’t sing any longer. He went
home and lay down.
His mother asked: “What is the matter?”
“I feel as if I couldn’t walk any longer. I feel as if I had to fly.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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