Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
Kumush went into thick bushes where Wanaga couldn’t see him; he pulled
every hair out of his head, eyebrows, eye-lashes, ears, beard, armpits,
pulled out every hair on his body, and said to them: “You must be
people; you must scream and shout and run after me, as if you were
going to catch me and kill me.”
Right away the hairs became men, and pursued Kumush. As he ran, Kumush
screamed: “Wanaga, save yourself! Wanaga, save yourself!”
Wanaga started up, then he remembered his bow and arrows. He got them,
then he ran off as fast as he could; he forgot all about the five
woodchucks.
As soon as Wanaga was out of sight, the hairs were back in Kumush’s
head and body, and he sat down to eat the woodchucks. As he ate he kept
saying: “My brother, you shouldn’t eat such nice things alone; I like
woodchucks.”
Wanaga felt lonesome, for he thought that Kumush had been killed. As he
traveled along, he caught a woodchuck. Then he saw another one, and he
followed it and killed it with a club; he killed a third one among the
rocks. He built a fire and cooked the woodchucks. Just as he was
beginning to eat the intestines, he heard Kumush call out: “Oh, I am
glad you are alive. I was afraid those men had killed you.”
When Kumush came up to the fire he said: “I hid under the bushes where
they couldn’t find me; that is how I got away! I saw tracks out here;
are they yours?”
“I didn’t come that way,” said Wanaga.
“I feel queer,” said Kumush; “I will go back and see if there is any
one around. I am scared.”
When he got where Wanaga couldn’t see him, he pulled all his hair out
again, and said: “Be men! As soon as you are near the woods, make a
ring around me and act as if you were going to kill me.”
When they surrounded him, Kumush screamed: “Save yourself, Wanaga! Run
for your life! These men will kill you.”
Wanaga took his bow, quiver and club and ran off as fast as he could;
he forgot about his woodchucks again, and Kumush ate them, saying: “My
brother, you shouldn’t eat such good things alone.”
The next day Wanaga kept thinking about Kumush. At last he said to
himself: “If Kumush wasn’t killed yesterday he is fooling me.”
Wanaga killed five woodchucks and this time he cooked them without
taking out the intestines. Just as he was ready to begin eating, he saw
Kumush coming. When Kumush came up to the fire he pretended to cry, he
was so glad that Wanaga was alive. Wanaga offered him part of a
woodchuck, but he wouldn’t take it. He said that he couldn’t eat; he
had seen tracks, and the grass was trampled down as if people were
around; he would go and see.
Wanaga thought: “You’ll not fool me this time!” When Kumush screamed to
him to run as fast as he could, he ran, but he took the woodchucks with
him.
Wanaga traveled for two days without camping. Kumush was hungry, but he
followed his brother. The third day Wanaga caught a wood chuck. He was
cooking it when Kumush came up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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