Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
When Kûlta’s wife went to visit her father and mother, and carry them
the nice things Kûlta had paid for her, her brother wanted to go home
with her. She said: “My brother, it is a bad place there. They eat
snake heads and frog heads. If you don’t eat with them, maybe they will
kill you. There are bad women there, too; they will make fun of you and
tease you.” But the young man kept asking her to let him go, and at
last she said: “Get some tula straws and roll them up in little balls.
When the women give you snake heads to eat, put a ball on the dish;
then they can’t hurt you.”
When they got to the house, one of Kûlta’s sisters brought a dish of
snake heads and gave it to Ilyúyu. Some of the heads were dry, others
were fresh and alive. His sister said: “Put a ball on the plate.” But
Ilyúyu was so frightened that he couldn’t move.
The women made fun of him, and said: “He doesn’t call our brother
‘brother-in-law.’ We are as good as he is, but he won’t eat with us.”
They took the plate away and said to him: “You came here to peek around
and see how we lived; you will be sorry for it. Your head may get home,
but your body will be destroyed.”
Kûlta had two sisters. Ilyúyu gave each one of them a nice bone
scratcher; then he said: “You needn’t think you won’t be sorry, too.
Those bones will scratch all the flesh off your body.”
Kûlta’s wife was crying; she gathered up a sackful of nice beads and
gave them to her brother; then she gave him a bow and arrow, and he
started for home. As he went, he called: “Come, Ilyúyu! Come, Ilyúyu!”
and the little wolf followed him. He talked to Ilyúyu, said: “We went
to take our sister back to her husband, but now what trouble we are
in.” And he began to sing to himself in a crying voice: “We met trouble
from going home with our sister, we met trouble from going home with
our sister.” After he had gone a little way, he said: “I wonder what is
so heavy.” He stopped, took the sack off his back, untied it, and threw
away some of the nice beads his sister had given him. Then he called:
“Come on, Ilyúyu!”
Ilyúyu cried; he was sorry to have his master lose such beautiful
beads.
The young man said: “Come on, Ilyúyu. Don’t cry for the beads. I have
plenty of beads at home.” When he had gone a little farther, his pack
grew heavy again. He took it off and threw away more of the beads.
Ilyúyu picked them up and carried them in his mouth. “Come on, Ilyúyu!”
called his master. “Don’t mind those beads; I have plenty of beads at
home.”
Soon the young man said: “I wonder what is so heavy.” He threw away his
bow and arrows. Ilyúyu cried. He picked up the bow and carried it in
his mouth. “Come on, Ilyúyu,” said his master. “Don’t cry, I have
another bow at home.” Soon he said: “I wonder what is so heavy.” And he
threw away his quiver.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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