Creation Myths of Primitive America Part 24

"Very well," answered Tulchuherris.

"Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, "this is the last time to-day. He will try hard to kill you. Jump off before he lets the tree go."

Tulchuherris went up two-thirds of the way. Sas pulled the tree to the ground and thought that he would kill Tulchuherris surely; but just before he let it go, Tulchuherris slipped off behind him and rushed away. The tree flew up with the noise of heavy thunder. Sas looked everywhere, but could not see Tulchuherris.

"Now, Tulchuherris," said he, "I have finished you at last. You are n.o.body, you are dead;" and he started to go home, talking to himself as he went.

"Father-in-law, what are you saying, to whom are you talking?"

Sas turned around, amazed. "Oh, my son-in-law, I am glad that you are here. We must go home. We have no wood; we must get wood."

Tulchuherris thought: "My father-in-law wants to kill me. To-morrow I will do what I can to kill him. When my grandmother spoke to me of Sas, I knew nothing; I paid no heed to her. When she warned me, I did not listen, I did not believe; but I see now that she spoke truly when she told me of Sas's house."

He rose in the night, turned toward Sas, and said: "Whu! whu! I want you, Sas, to sleep soundly."

Then he reached his right hand toward the west, toward his grandmother's, and a stick came on it. He carved and painted the stick beautifully, red and black, and made a fire-drill. Then he reached his left hand toward the east, and wood for a mokos (arrow-straightener) came on it. He made the mokos and asked the fox dog for a fox-skin.

The fox gave it. Of this he made a headband and painted it red. All these things he put in his quiver.

"We are ready," said Tulchuherris. "Now, Daylight, I wish you to come right away, to come quickly."

Daylight came. Sas rose, and they started soon after for the tree.

"My son-in-law, I will go first," said Sas; and he climbed the tree.

"Go higher!" said Tulchuherris. "I will not give a great pull, go up higher."

He went high, and Tulchuherris did not give a hard pull. Sas came down safely.

Tulchuherris now went high, almost to the top. Sas looked at him, saw that he was near the top, and then drew the great pine almost to the earth, standing with his back to the top of the tree. Tulchuherris sprang off behind Sas and ran away into the field. The tree sprang into the sky with a roar.

"You are killed now, my son-in-law," said Sas. "You will not trouble me hereafter!" He talked on to himself, and was glad.

"What are you saying, father-in-law?" asked Tulchuherris, coming up from behind.

Sas turned. "Oh, my son-in-law, I was afraid that I had hurt you. I was sorry."

"Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, "Sas will kill you unless you kill him. At midday he will kill you surely, unless you kill him. Are we not as strong as Sas?"

"Father-in-law, try again; then I will go to the very top and beat you," said Tulchuherris.

That morning Sas's elder daughter said to her sister, after Sas and Tulchuherris had gone,--

"My sister, our father Sas has tried all people, and has conquered all of them so far; but to-day he will not conquer, to-day he will die. I know this; do not look for him to-day, he will not come back; he will never come back to us."

Sas went up high. "I will kill him now," thought Tulchuherris, and he was sorry; still he cried: "Go a little higher; I went higher, I will go to the top next time. I will not hurt you, go a little higher."

Sas went higher and higher, till at last he said, "I cannot climb any more, I am at the top; don't give a big pull, my son-in-law."

Tulchuherris took hold of the tree with one hand, pulled it as far as it would bend, pulled it till it touched the earth, and then let it fly. When the tree rushed toward the sky, it made an awful noise, and soon after a crash was heard, a hundred times louder than any thunder.

All living things heard it. The whole sky and earth shook. Olelbis, who lives in the highest place, heard it. All living things said,--

"Tulchuherris is killing his father-in-law. Tulchuherris has split Sas."

The awful noise was the splitting of Sas.

Tulchuherris stood waiting, waited three hours, perhaps, after the earth stopped trembling: then, far up in the sky he heard a voice, saying,--

"Oh, my son-in-law, I am split, I am dead. I thought that I was the strongest power living; but I am not. From this time on I shall say Tulchuherris is the greatest power in the world."

Tulchuherris could not see any one. He only heard a voice far up in the sky, saying,--

"My son-in-law, I will ask you for a few things. Will you give me your fox-skin headband?"

Tulchuherris put his hand into his fox-skin quiver, took out the band, and tossed it to him. It went straight up to Sas, and he caught it.

"Now will you give me your mokos?" Tulchuherris took out the mokos and threw it. "Give me your fire-drill!" He threw that.

Another voice was heard now, not so loud: "I wish you would give me a headband of white quartz." This voice was the smaller part of Sas.

When Tulchuherris had given the headband, he said,--

"My father-in-law, you are split--you are two. The larger part of you will be Sas [the sun], the smaller part Chanahl [the moon, the white one]; and this division is what you have needed for a long time, but no one had the strength to divide you. You are in a good state now.

You, Chanahl, will grow old quickly and die; then you will come to life and be young again. You will be always like that in this world.

And, Sas, you will travel west all the time, travel every day without missing a day; you will travel day after day without resting. You will see all things in the world as they live and die. My father-in-law, take this, too, from me."

Tulchuherris threw up to Sas a quiver made of porcupine skin.

"I will take it," said Sas, "and I will carry it always."

Then Tulchuherris gave Chanahl the quartz headband and said,--

"Wear it around your head always so that when you travel in the night you will be seen by all people."

Sas put the fox-skin around his head, and fastened the mokos crosswise in front of his forehead. The fire-drill he fastened in his hair behind, placing it upright. At sunrise we see the hair of the fox-skin around Sas's head before we see Sas himself.

Next Tulchuherris threw up two red berries, saying,--

"Take these and make red cheeks on each side of your face, so that when you rise in the morning you will be bright, and make everything bright."

Tulchuherris went west and got some white roots from the mountain, threw them to Sas, and said, "Put these across your forehead."

Next he stretched his right hand westward, and two large sh.e.l.ls, blue inside, came to his palm. He threw these to Sas and said,--

"Put these on your forehead for a sign when you come up in the morning. There is a place in the east which is all fire. When you reach that place, go in and warm yourself. Go to Olelpanti now.

Olelbis, your father, lives there. He will tell you where to go."

Sas went to Olelpanti, where he found a wonderful and very big sweat-house. It was toward morning, and Olelbis was lying down, covered with a blanket. While sleeping he heard a noise, and when he woke he saw some one near him. He knew who it was. Sas turned to him and said,--

"My father, I am split. I thought myself the strongest person in the world, but I was not. Tulchuherris is the strongest."