Indians of North America -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Folklore; Modoc Indians -- Religion; Modoc mythology
Now Wus and Nátcaktcókaskĭt and their five youngest children traveled
north toward the end of the world. When they came to a large river Wus
saw little fish in the water. “I am hungry,” said he. “I don’t want
little fish; I want salmon.” That moment the river was full of salmon.
He caught a good many and took their heads off. Then he said to his
wife: “Cook these fish a long time, for if we eat them raw, we shall
get sick and die. So it will be hereafter; people who eat this kind of
fish raw will get thin and die.”
Nátcaktcókaskĭt said: “I saw deer tracks near the river; I want some
deer meat to eat.” The next morning Wus went to Pakol Keni to hunt
deer. Soon he saw a big stag. As he got near it, the stag hallooed like
a person. Wus thought: “Who can be ahead of me?” The stag hallooed
again. That time Wus heard the words, and he said: “I know who you are;
I know all about you. I used to kill your people to get sinews out of
their backs and strings out of their legs.”
Wus killed the stag and carried it to his camp. When he told his wife
that the stag had hallooed at him, she said: “Something bad is going to
happen to you.” She was angry at him for killing the deer.
Wus wanted her to eat some of the meat, but she wouldn’t and they began
to quarrel.
Wus said: “Give me one of the children and I will go away.”
“No!” screamed the woman, “I will keep them all!” And jumping up, she
said: “Hereafter you will be a black crow! You will no longer be a
person. You will only be good to tell people where dead things are!”
Wus said: “You are like the wind that never stops blowing; you are
always talking. Hereafter you will be a Dó-dó-la and sing all the time.
You will watch for daylight so you can begin to sing, and you will sing
till night comes, and your children will be like you!” And so it was.
FROST AND THUNDER
CHARACTERS
Blaiwas Eagle
Gowwá Swallow
Lok Bear
Tsasgips Frost That Breaks Trees
Wâhŭtus
Wus Fox
Yahyáhaäs (Always represented as a one-legged man)
Gowwá and Wâhŭtus were married to the same woman; she was kin to Gowwá.
One day the two men went hunting and left their wife at home. While
they were gone Wus came along, and said to her: “Come to my house and
be my wife. I have a big house and lots of nice blankets and beads. Why
do you stay with these men? They are poor.”
“I don’t want to go with you,” said the woman. “Gowwá and Wâhŭtus will
come right away. If you stay here, they will kill you.”
“I am not afraid of those men,” said Wus. “I am stronger than they are;
I can kill them.” She couldn’t make him go away.
When the men came, each had a deer on his back. “Cook some deer meat,”
they said to the woman. “We are hungry.” They didn’t see Wus.
She said: “A man is holding me; I can’t get up.”
“You are fooling us; nobody is holding you. Hurry up and cook for us.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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