Her brother, Metch-cher-us-ah-chene, could not be comforted long, as
he had only known a sister’s love and tender devotion. Day by day he
grieved more and more in his loneliness, a sorrow that knows no comfort
when the loved one has gone to realms beyond. His grief became so great
that he could not long endure it, when her spirit answered him in his
loneliness once more. This time she appeared before him in her living
form as she had lived on earth, and brother and sister met in sweet
earthly communion for the last time as she would return to comfort them
no more. She lifted that heavy veil of sorrow from his heart and gave
him courage in earthly things again. She instructed him to go to a
riffle on the Klamath river, opposite the old Klamath Bluffs store and
fish there for twelve days, at the end of which he would catch a small
fish about the size of one’s little finger, and that this fish would
have many white rings encircling its body. This fish as soon as it was
caught was to be put in an elk-horn Indian purse, which is beautifully
carved out of the elk’s horn and polished smooth on the internal and
external surfaces. They sometimes carve and color very artistic designs
upon them, cutting out a small oblong lid in the middle of the purse
which they fit on it after putting the money in and wrap the lid on
securely with a strip of buck-skin.
Metch-cher-us-ah-chene fished on the riffle for twelve days as directed
by his sister and at the closing of the twelfth day he caught the
small fish, which he put in the elk-horn purse, and then the raven,
or qua-gawk, came to him and said for him to mount his back, which he
did and then the raven commanded him to close his eyes and keep them
tightly closed until he was told to open them. The raven flew with him
through sunny regions, rain, cold, sleet, snow and over icy fields,
taking the same route that the red eagle had flown with his sister.
Over the icy fields he could feel the ice with his hands, then after
this the raven sat him down, in a warm place and commanded him to
keep his eyes closed, and the raven flew on and left him alone for a
short time. While alone he began to feel around as he could not open
his eyes, he felt in the sandy soil around him and felt that it was
covered with cheek, (the shell of the Indian money) and he began to
rake it up in heaps around him. When the raven returned he said that
he must leave the cheek where it was found, as it was too heavy to
carry so far. Metch-cher-us-ah-chene mounted the raven’s back again
and away they flew to the land of Cheek-cheek-alth, which was only a
short distance from where raven had first left him. Upon arriving in
this land, the raven set him down on the banks of the wonderful river,
Wer-roy, where the climate is always warm and pleasant, the valley
forever green and the fruits and flowers forever bloomed through one
long perpetual summer day. On the banks of this glorious river the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account