Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
When Yaulilik was almost home, the girls got out of the basket and
began to unwrap their brother, but he jumped up and ran away. He was
afraid if he spoke his sisters would die again. When Yaulilik opened
the sweat-house door, the three ran out; they were glad to see her. The
girls were well, but their bodies were tender, and Yaulilik wouldn’t
let them go far from the house. One day, when the younger sister was
digging roots, she looked toward Mlaiksi, and right away she wanted to
go there. When she carried her roots home, she said to her mother:
“To-morrow I am going to Mlaiksi to gather seeds.”
Yaulilik said: “You can’t go there; you are not strong enough.”
The elder sister said: “Your feet are too tender to climb that
mountain.”
The girl waited two days, then she said: “To-morrow I am going to
Mlaiksi to gather seeds.” In the morning she asked her mother to feed
her.
The elder sister said: “If you go, I shall go.”
Then Cogátkis began to cry; he wanted to go with his sisters. When his
mother gave each of the girls water for the road he screamed.
Yaulilik said to her daughters: “Your brother feels lonesome; let him
go with you.”
The elder sister said: “If the lolus seeds are not ripe, we shall come
home. He is little; he can’t travel fast.”
The younger sister was sorry for her brother, so she tied his hair in a
knot on the top of his head and told her mother to take him to Duilas
(Little Shasta). From Duilas, through the power of his hair, he could
see them when they were on the mountain.
The sisters started toward Mlaiksi, and Yaulilik took Cogátkis to
Duilas. Cogátkis could watch his sisters, and he could talk with his
mother, though the house was a long way off.
The sisters gathered seeds all day. When it was nearly dark, the elder
sister asked: “Shall we stay here to-night?”
“We have only a few seeds,” said the younger sister. “We can stay all
night and fill our baskets in the morning.”
When Cogátkis saw them picking up wood, he went home. Early the next
morning he went again to Duilas. The girls were busy gathering seeds,
so Cogátkis called to his mother: “They are at work again!”
At midday the younger sister said: “I want water; where can we get
some?”
“I don’t know. There is no water near here.”
They were at the foot of Mlaiksi. The younger sister looked at the
mountain, and said: “High up there is a green place; maybe there is
water there. I will go and see.”
She climbed the mountain till she came to soft ground, then went higher
and came to a place where the ground was moist. She dug down and found
mud, but no water; she went higher, and this time, when she came to
moist earth and dug down, she found a little water. She called her
sister, and both drank of the water and then filled their water
baskets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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