Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
Not long after that, the young woman had a baby. Her husband asked her
if she had a father or a mother. She told him how her brother got
jealous and killed her mother. Djáudjau said: “I want to see my
brother-in-law.”
His mother gave them a bundle of dried deer meat and they started. When
they came to the pond where her mother was drowned, the young woman
cried; she felt badly. Her brother was living in the house where they
had lived with their mother. He was married and had two children. When
they got to the house, he was off on the mountain hunting deer.
The woman said: “He hunts all the time, but he never kills a deer;
sometimes he gets a rabbit or a squirrel.”
The sister put her bundle of dried meat on the ground. It got big;
there was a great pile, plenty for everybody to eat. Soon the brother
came; he was old and thin. He didn’t say much to his sister or his
brother-in-law.
The next morning Djáudjau went to hunt deer. The brother asked: “Why
does he go? He won’t kill a deer. I am a good hunter, but I never find
a deer.”
That evening Djáudjau came home with ten deer in his belt. He carried
them as other men carried rabbits. The brother looked mad. He didn’t
like his brother in-law.
The sister said to Djáudjau: “We must go home. I want to start now. My
brother doesn’t like you: I am afraid to stay here.”
They started in the night, and early the next morning they came to a
swimming place on top of a high mountain. Djáudjau got some green
twigs, rubbed himself all over with them, then he rubbed the twigs on
the ground, and said: “I have been to see my bad brother-in-law; I have
brought away some of his bad thoughts. Now, earth, take them all.” Then
he swam in the pond and talked to the mountain. The mountain talked to
him like a living person, and he forgot his brother-in-law.
When they got home, the five Wûlkûtska brothers were there. They all
claimed the child.
Old woman Djáudjau said: “It isn’t right for you to take my
daughter-in-law’s child away from her.”
The young woman said: “You didn’t care for me. You thought you were
better than I was, because you could travel on trees and I had to
travel on the ground. Now you want my baby. Hereafter you will travel
slow, and it will make you sweat; you will no longer be persons.”
The brothers said: “Hereafter you and your husband and his kin will be
Djáudjaus and roam around in the mountains.”
And so it was.
KÓWAM AND GÁHGA
CHARACTERS
Gáhga Heron
Kówam Red-billed Duck
Lok Bear
Kówam and his little brother lived on the south side of Klamath Lake.
The little boy’s name was Gáhga.
Kówam had a nice-looking wife, and when he went to fish in the lake, he
always told her that if any one came to bother her she must send Gáhga
to tell him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account