Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
Soon Kówe came to get water. As she was starting away, she saw a shadow
in the water and stopped to look at it. “Oh,” said she, “I didn’t know
I was so nice! I’m glad!” She looked a long time, then turned to go
away, but she came back and looked a second time. She looked a third
time, then she saw a beautiful girl dressed in red. She jumped at her,
caught hold of her arm, and said: “Oh, my grandchild, where did you
come from?”
She wrapped her blanket around the girl, took her under her arm, and
carried her home.
That night she called to Tohós and all the Kówe people to come and sing
for her grandchild to dance.—She called the girl grandchild, but she
was no kin to her.—When they came and began to sing, Kówe danced with
the girl to show her how.
Not far from old Kówe’s house there was a village where all kinds of
people lived. They heard Tohós and the Kówes singing and came to see
what young girl was dancing. Kówe hid the girl under her dress,
wouldn’t let them see her. Wámanik tried to peek at her; Kówe scolded
him and drove him away. Other men came, but they couldn’t see the girl.
Kówe hid her under her clothes, and Tohós and the Kówes stopped singing
as soon as they knew that some one was around.
The third night the Wámanik people tried hard to see the girl, but Kówe
hid her in the straw of the house and put the fire out.
Kówe always knew when people were near. She heard Blaiwas as he went up
high in the air and looked down. Right away the singing stopped, and
the fire went out.
Tskel tried to steal up and look at the girl, but Kówe heard him and
hid her. Gäk said: “I shall see that girl!” But he talked so loud that
Kówe heard him as soon as he started from home. When he got to her
house, nobody was singing, and it was dark all around.
The fourth night Wisnik went to Kówe’s house. He went under the ground
and stuck out his head near her fireplace. It was early, and the Kówes
hadn’t begun to sing. He saw the girl and looked at her till his eyes
got dim. He couldn’t look enough. When he went home, he said: “There is
a beautiful girl in old Kówe’s house; I have spoiled my eyes looking at
her.”
Kówe knew that somebody had been in her house. The girl said: “I saw a
man, but I thought that you knew he was here.”
That morning they held a council in Wámanik’s village, to decide who
should go to Kówe’s house and get the girl for a wife.
Kówe knew of the council and she said to the girl: “Many men are coming
here to get you for a wife. You mustn’t have anything to say to the men
from that village over there. They are not the kind of people for you.
The Wámanik people and the Wéwenkee and Wisnik people live there.
Tcûskai and Tskel and Wŏn and Wus live there, too. You don’t want any
of those men. Far away from here there are five brothers; each one is a
chief and has great power. If they come, you mustn’t look at them,
unless you are willing to marry them.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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