Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
As the boys traveled on, they came to a muddy stream. The elder brother
scratched the mud away, multiplied the fish that were there, and said:
“You will be of use for my people.” There were a good many eels in the
water and along the bank, and the little boy was afraid of them. He
took his fire-drill, picked them up, one by one, threw them off into
the lake, and said: “You are not living people. I don’t want you to be
around here. In later times people will roast and eat you, and say you
are good.”
Near their camping-place that night there were a great many round,
smooth stones. The younger brother didn’t know that those stones were
people, so he played with them, broke some of them, and struck one
against another. When it grew dark, the stones began to fight; they
flew at one another, pounded one another, and made a terrible clatter.
The boy was frightened; he struck at them with his fire-drill, and
said: “Hereafter you will be stones, not people! You will stay in the
water, but in the evening and early in the morning you will make just
such a noise as you have made to-night.” To this day the noise made by
those stones can be heard evening and morning. The place is called
Dănwagáiyas.
As the brothers traveled east, they came to a place where there were
large rocks. “I’m hungry,” said the little boy. His brother scolded him
for being always hungry, but said: “We will sit down by the rocks;
perhaps we’ll see a squirrel.”
After a while a squirrel, on its way to the flat, passed them; they
killed and roasted it, ate half of it, and took half with them. They
came to a place on the top of smooth, level rocks, where at night there
was a lake, and in the daytime only a little muddy water. There they
caught one large fish. The little boy wanted to catch more, but his
brother said: “No, this world was made before we came. Those fish were
made for some purpose; we must leave them here.”
They went on till they came to a hill. There were no trees on the hill,
but it was covered with grass, and from the top of the hill they could
see a long distance.
“Let us stay here,” said the little boy. “Let us have this hill for our
home.”
“No,” said his brother, “this is a lonely world; I don’t want to stay.
We will go where we can be of use; we will go to where the sun comes
up.”
Then they talked about which one they would rather serve, Sun or Moon.
The elder brother said: “I would rather serve Sun.” The younger said:
“I would like to serve Moon, for then people can’t see me.”
“People will always look at us,” said his brother. “They will watch for
us, and be glad when they see us.”
Soon the boys came to a wide plain at the foot of a mountain. They dug
roots, cleaned, and ate them, then climbed the mountain. “This
mountain,” said the elder boy, “is brother to Salwáhe. Hereafter people
will come to this place for rock to make knives of.”
“Let us stay here,” said the little boy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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