Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
The brother watched his sister, and after a while he saw that she was
getting younger; then he said: “Go to the river and swim. Maybe you
will be young again. I don’t care if you are old, I love you just the
same; but I am sorry for the baby.” He kept the child covered, and it
went to sleep. He went to sleep himself, and slept till the middle of
the night, then he woke up, but he slept again, and when he woke up the
second time it was almost morning. He looked at the baby; it was like a
person. He didn’t go to sleep again; he was afraid to; he thought if he
did the child would turn into a fox.
“Do you know what Wus can do?” asked his sister. “He can do anything.
He can make people old in a minute; he can turn them to anything; he
can move a house or tear it down by wishing. When I saw Wus, he looked
as I do; he was a woman and carried a basket on his back. While I was
asleep, he turned to a man and built a house. The house is so bright
and has so many colors that it hurts my eyes to look at it. If anything
happens to Wus’ child, I think we shall die. When it was thrown out, I
got old; now that it is in the house, I am growing young again.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Tsmuk. “Old Wus is listening to
everything. He listens while he catches mice to eat.”
When the brother and sister started to go to Wus’ house, they didn’t
tell their father where they were going. Soon they heard Wus blowing on
reeds, making music. It was nice and it sounded far off. They followed
the music till they came to the house. The brother stood outside; he
was afraid to go in.
Wus said to the woman: “Why do you let your brother stand outside? Tell
him to come and sit here by me.”
When the young man went into the house, he couldn’t see, it glittered
so; the light was so bright that it hurt his eyes; he had to hold his
head down. Wus said: “I know that you like me,” and he called the young
man brother-in-law. “Take off your clothes and put on these I give you;
then you can look around.”
The sister asked: “When do you want to go back to our father and
mother?”
“In two days I will go,” said the brother.
“Will you take blankets and beads with you?”
“No,” said the young man, “I shall come back; I don’t like to stay
there.”
Wus wanted to go to Tsmuk’s house. His brother-in-law said: “I will
show you the way; you will get there if I am with you.”
They all started; when near the house the young man went ahead. Old
Tsmuk spoke cross to him; asked: “Have you been in Wus’ house?” and he
called Wus bad names.
At last the young man said: “Don’t say such bad things of Wus; if you
do, harm will come to you.”
“How can Wus harm me?” asked the old man. “I have lived a long time,
and nobody has been able to harm me,” and he kept abusing Wus.
Old woman Tsmuk cried; she thought Wus was a nice-looking man, and she
didn’t want to hear him abused. She spread around mats and blankets,
and Wus and his wife went in and sat down.
“Why does your mother cry?” asked Wus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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