Creation Myths of Primitive America Part 70

At dawn the dead Hehku began to move and sing. At clear daylight she stood up, struck Miniau with her right foot. That moment she rose up alive. The two women started for the rocky mountain. Hehku was raging.

She was terribly angry because Jupka had beaten her.

"I had all," said she, "but Jupka fooled me; now I have nothing."

She grew so angry that she turned into a great head and bounded off to the east. She went a whole mile every jump she made. She screamed with rage and shouted as she went, and her sister Miniau (the fire-drill) kept pace with her.

Haka Kaina heard the noise and said, "I wonder what troubles Putokya to-day."

THE FIRST BATTLE IN THE WORLD AND THE MAKING OF THE YANA

PERSONAGES

After each name is given that of the creature or thing into which the personage was changed subsequently.

=Ahalamila=, gray wolf; =Bohkuina=, silver-gray fox; =Chichepa=, spotted hawk; =Chuhna=, spider; =Hehku=, horned serpent; =Hitchinna=, wildcat; =Howichinaipa=, a small bird; =Hurskiyupa=, orphan; =Jewina=, reddish chicken hawk; =Jihkulu=, large owl; =Jupka=, b.u.t.terfly of wild silkworm; =Kaitsiki=, ground squirrel; =Kaltsauna=, swift (kind of lizard); =Kechowala=, bluejay; =Lawalila=, large hawk; =Maibyu=, dove; =Malewula=, wolf; =Mapchemaina=, first people; =Pakalai Jawichi=, water lizard; =Petaina=, skunk; =Popila=, duck; =Topuna=, mountain lion; =Tsanunewa=, a little bird; =Tuina=, the sun; =Wihlaina=, chipmunk.

After Hehku had risen from the dead and gone home, Jupka said to all the Mapchemaina: "Sweat now and swim. You will go to hunt to-morrow early."

The Mapchemaina went to hunt on the following day, but could not kill deer. They had no good arrow-points. The points which they had were made of common stone. When they went back to Jigulmatu in the evening without venison, Jupka said,--

"There is an old man in the south who kills a great many deer; his name is Kaltsauna. I must bring him up here to show you how he kills them. I will send some one south for him. Maibyu, you go for that old man; you travel very quickly."

"I don't know where his house is; I cannot find him," said Maibyu.

"You would better send some one else."

"Lawalila, you go," said Jupka.

Lawalila dressed himself nicely; took his bow, quiver, and arrows, and went. He went as quickly as though it were only one long step to Kaltsauna's house. Kaltsauna was sitting inside the door with his legs crossed. He was making flint arrow-points.

Lawalila stepped in at once and surprised old Kaltsauna. He had a flint knife at his side, and made a thrust at Lawalila as if to kill him.

"Stop. It is I, uncle; you must not kill me."

"Why do you call me uncle?" asked Kaltsauna, hiding his arrow-points quickly.

"I have come for you, uncle. The chief sent me here. Jupka invites you to come to Jigulmatu. He wants you to come to his house. He wants to see you. We cannot kill deer with stone arrow-points. We have no other kind. The chief knows that you kill deer all the time. He wants you to come to his place and show his people how you kill deer."

Kaltsauna rubbed his hands, rubbed them clean, rubbed all the flint dust from them, and rolled up his flints in a skin very carefully.

Next he mixed flint dust, rubbed it on his face, made paint, covered his face with it, and thrust a piece of sharp flint through the septum of his nose. He looked very threatening and strong when he was dressed and armed for the road.

"I am ready; you go ahead; I will come later," said he to Lawalila.

Kaltsauna's quiver was a grizzly bearskin; his bows and arrows were made of black oak. He put his flints under his left arm, took his bow and arrows in his right hand.

"Go on; go ahead. I will come later; I will come by myself. Go now and tell the chief to make a great fire of manzanita wood."

Lawalila went ahead, and gave Kaltsauna's message to Jupka. The chief had the fire made,--a great fire of manzanita wood. "He is coming, he is coming," said the people, when they saw Kaltsauna in the distance.

When he was near, they didn't try to look at him, they hung their heads.

"Make way for me, make way! I'll strike unless you give me room!" said Kaltsauna, as he came near the crowd of people.

"The old man always talks like that," said Jupka; "he is very strong.

That's why he is so bold; that's why he talks so."

"Spread out a skin," said Kaltsauna to Jupka.

The skin was spread, and Kaltsauna emptied his robe full of arrow-points on it. He sat down then and said,--

"I will divide these and put them in different places."

He gathered each kind of flint into a heap by itself, then pushed it, and said while he pushed, "You go to this place or to that place."

White flint he pushed and said, "Go you, to Hakamatu."

The white flint went away; disappeared from the robe; went to Hakamatu, and there is plenty of white flint in that place to-day.

Blue flint he sent east to the edge of our Yana country. Yellow flint he fixed at Iwiljami. To the west he sent flint with fine black, blue, and white stripes; he sent it to Hakachimatu. Green flint he put in Jigulmatu and said,--

"You will find these flints always in the places where I put them to-day, and people who come after you will find them there. There will be flint in those places forever, as long as people want it."

Besides flint Kaltsauna gave each of the Mapchemaina a wedge made of deer-horn, and a piece of stone; showed them how to dress the flint and make arrow-points. The first arrow-points on earth were those which Kaltsauna made.

Next morning, after he had given the flint and shown the Mapchemaina how to make arrow-points, Kaltsauna went home. On the second day Jupka called all the Mapchemaina together and said,--

"Get your arrow-points ready; sweat to-night; swim early in the morning, and go out on a great hunt to-morrow."

They did all that Jupka commanded, and went on the following morning toward Jidjilpa. They went west along Jidjilpa, went on both sides of it; went west toward Tahaujwakaina, which is in the canon beyond Hakamatu. They went to the rock and went beyond it.

Some distance west of the rock a grizzly bear ran out of a clump of live-oak brush. Among the people hunting was Chichepa, and the bear rushed at him. Chichepa had dreamed the night before that this rock in the canon had jumped up from the ground and frightened him. When he came near the live-oak brush, the bear growled and sprang out.

Chichepa ran back, ran till he came to Tahaujwakaina, the bear close after him. The bear was so angry that he tore up big oak-trees as he ran. There was a hole in the top of the rock. Chichepa sprang into it.

The bear stood on his hind legs. He could barely look over the top of the rock. He looked and saw nothing, dropped down, ran all around the rock, looked everywhere, saw no sign of Chichepa. Then he turned back and went into the thick clumps of brush from which he had started.

The people went west a while, then toward the south, and began to find deer. Bohkuina killed the first deer, Howichinaipa the second, Kechowala the third, Jihkulu the fourth, Petaina the fifth, and so on till twenty had deer. The party divided then into two. Those who had deer turned home toward Jigulmatu, and went in the order in which they had killed them, Bohkuina first, the others following each in his turn.

The second party hunted toward the east and then toward Jigulmatu.

After a while they came to Ketmatu, where Malewula killed a deer, and Topuna killed one, and Tsanunewa killed a terribly ugly big deer which seemed as though all its flesh and body were swollen. Hitchinna, Kaitsiki, Wihlaina, and others killed deer; each person killed one deer. The whole party turned toward Jigulmatu then, and there was great gladness in Jupka's sweat-house. The women prepared acorns and mice to eat.

Jupka himself never went hunting; he stayed at Jigulmatu always, just lay in the house there, told all what they were to do, and showed them how to do what was needed. When they came in from hunting, all put their venison in front of the chief, put down before him all the deer they had killed. Jupka took his flint knife then, and cut the meat into pieces. He roasted ribs of it, roasted all they brought in. When it was cooked, the Mapchemaina sat down and ate the meat together.

Jupka placed out before them three very large baskets of mice in three different places, and in front of each basket were people to deal the mice out to each person who wished some. When they had eaten, Jupka stood up and talked to all present.

"I wish you all to come into the sweat-house to-night," said he; "I wish to tell you where you are to hunt to-morrow."