The Klamath Indians in bringing down their legends from the creation
of man until the present day, say that some were made to be good
and honorable, some bad and some were real bad and mean, which they
termed devils, or Oh-mah-ha. We have the conception of the invisible
Satan, (Sey-elth, or wicked old woman) and a real living devil such
as walks the earth, and we fear them as they will harm us if they
get the opportunity. We have had these living Indian devils (living
human beings) all through the long and weary centuries, ever since the
creation of man-kind, such devils as we find in every race and nation
of the earth. Our Indian devils are Indians who for some reason or
cause leave the tribe and go far away into the lonely mountains, and
into the depths of the forests, where they live near the streams and
places almost inaccessible. In their loneliness they roam through the
forests and over the mountains like some wild animals of prey. They
forget the language of their mothers and become something like wild
beasts, fleeing from the sight of human beings.
In olden times, the women, especially were always careful to keep
together on their camping trips when they were gathering the acorn
crop, grass seeds, pine nuts, etc., for fear of these Indian devils.
These Indian devils would sometimes watch the camps of the Indians
very closely and follow them about as they moved from place to place,
watching for an opportunity to seize one of the young women and carry
her off to make her his wife. If a young woman strayed away too far
by herself, she was often made a captive by one of these devils. The
women of the tribe had great fear of them as they had great horrors of
becoming the wife of a wild man.
Sometimes the women would be captivated by the Indian devils and would
be gone away from their tribe for years, when they would return and
tell of their wild life and experiences. They would become the mother
of children and the children would inherit the wild habits of their
father, as they would always be whistling, making strange noises,
romping wildly about and always on the go, roaming everywhere in the
wilds. These women were never happy when they came back to their
people, as after a time they would long to go back to their devil
husbands and children. They always managed to get away and return to
the old wild life, as it held such a fascination for them, when they
once experienced the wilds that they could not resist the calling of
such a life.
When the Indians would go on their hunting and camping trips into the
mountains, as soon as they heard an owl screech or hoot, they would
stop and listen, and try to distinguish if it was an Indian devil
imitating the owl or the cry of a wild animal. The Indians would stop
at once, kindle a fire and hallo; this was given as a warning to the
devils that they were awake and ready to fight them if necessary.
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