Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
“Yes, above here there is a place where the river is shallow. How did
you pass the one-legged man’s house? He lives on the road you came
over. His house is under the rocks; all you can see of it is the smoke
that comes out.”
“We are going to Sun’s house,” said the elder boy. “We must hurry on;
we’ve no time to talk.”
They left the spirit at the crossing. There was a big stump in the
middle of the river; it was Yahyáhaäs’ crossing-place. He leaped from
the bank to the rock and from there to the other bank. The elder boy
took his little brother under his arm and jumped across the river.
“Stop! stop!” called Yahyáhaäs’ spirit. “Give me your pipe.”
The brothers paid no heed; they went on, and at the end of two days
came to a house covered with deerskins. Some of the skins were dry;
others were fresh. Around the house there was a great deal of deer
meat.
“Let us go to that house and get something to eat,” said the little
boy.
“Don’t go there,” answered his brother. “That is the one-legged man’s
house.”
Yahyáhaäs was watching; when he saw the boys pass he came out, and
going around them, came up driving a deer that looked tired and ready
to fall. As the spirit met the boys, the deer ran off.
“You have made me lose my deer!” screamed the spirit. “Now give me your
pipe to smoke.”
“We have no pipe.”
“Travelers always have a pipe.”
“I have traveled long,” said the boy. “When I had traveled two summers,
my tobacco was gone.”
They left Yahyáhaäs and went on. That night they crossed two mountains,
and the next day the elder brother said: “We are near the end of our
journey.” Just then Yahyáhaäs came to them; on his back were two deer.
The elder brother saw him first. “That is the spirit of the one-legged
man,” said he to the little boy. “Don’t be deceived.”
The brothers turned to black coals, and a strong wind, like a
whirlwind, carried them along. Sometimes they rolled and sometimes they
went through the air. When they were over two high mountains, they took
their own forms. Again Yahyáhaäs came to them. This time his face and
body were painted white. “We have no time to talk with you,” said the
elder brother, and they hurried on.
When they reached the top of the third mountain, the spirit of the
one-legged man was there. That time his face and body were painted red,
and long bright hair floated behind him. He called out: “Who are you
that can never be caught?”
The moment he spoke, the brothers again turned to black coals, and a
whirlwind carried them away. The whirlwind stopped on the bank of a
dried up stream, and the boys took their own forms, and traveled on.
Many times Yahyáhaäs’ spirit met them, always in a different dress, and
painted differently, but the brothers knew him.
At last the boys reached the eastern ocean, where nothing stood between
the water and the sky. There were lots of rocks there. The brothers sat
down and the elder took out his pipe to smoke.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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