Myths And Legends Of California And The Old Southwest — Part 3

When he met Coyote and Earth Doctor, each claimed to have been the first to appear after the flood, but at last they admitted Elder Brother was the first, so he became ruler of the world.

The Birds and the Flood Pima (Arizona) Once upon a time, when all the earth was flooded, two birds were hanging above the water.

They were clinging to the sky with their beaks.

The larger bird was gray with a long tail and beak, but the smaller one was the tiny bird that builds a nest shaped like an olla, with only a very small opening at the top.

The birds were tired and frightened.

The larger one cried and cried, but the little bird held on tight and said, "Don't cry.

I 'm littler than you are, but I 'm very brave."

Legend of the Flood Ashochimi (Coast Indians, Cal.

) Long ago there was a great flood which destroyed all the people in the world.

Only Coyote was saved.

When the waters subsided, the earth was empty.

Coyote thought about it a long time.

Then Coyote collected a great bundle of tail feathers from owls, hawks, eagles, and buzzards.

He journeyed over the whole earth and carefully located the site of each Indian village.

Where the tepees had stood, he planted a feather in the ground and scraped up the dirt around it.

The feathers sprouted like trees, and grew up and branched.

At last they turned into men and women.

So the world was inhabited with people again.

The Great Flood Sia (New Mexico) For a long time after the fight, the people were very happy, but the ninth year was very bad.

The whole earth was filled with water.

The water did not fall in rain, but came in as rivers between the mesas.

It continued to flow in from all sides until the people and the animals fled to the mesa tops.

The water continued to rise until nearly level with the tops of the mesas.

Then Sussistinnako cried, "Where shall my people go?

Where is the road to the north?"

He looked to the north.

"Where is the road to the west?

Where is the road to the east?

Where is the road to the south?"

He looked in each direction.

He said, "I see the waters are everywhere."

All of the medicine men sang four days and four nights, but still the waters continued to rise.

Then Spider placed a huge reed upon the top of the mesa.

He said, "My people will pass up through this to the world above."

Utset led the way, carrying a sack in which were many of the Star people.

The medicine men followed, carrying sacred things in sacred blankets on their backs.

Then came the people, and the animals, and the snakes, and birds.

The turkey was far behind and the foam of the water rose and reached the tip ends of his feathers.

You may know that is true because even to this day they bear the mark of the waters.

When they reached the top of the great reed, the earth which formed the floor of the world above, barred their way.

Utset called to Locust, "Man, come here."

Locust went to her.

She said, "You know best how to pass through the earth.

Go and make a door for us."

"Very well, mother," said Locust.

"I think I can make a way."

He began working with his feet and after a while he passed through the earthy floor, entering the upper world.

As soon as he saw it, he said to Utset, "It is good above."

Utset called Badger, and said, "Make a door for us.

Sika, the Locust has made one, but it is very small."

"Very well, mother, I will," said Badger.

After much work he passed into the world above, and said, "Mother, I have opened the way."

Badger also said, "Father-mother, the world above is good."

Utset then called Deer.

She said, "You go through first.

If you can get your head through, others may pass."

The deer returned saying, "Father, it is all right.

I passed without trouble."

Utset called Elk.

She said, "You pass through.

If you can get your head and horns through the door, all may pass."

Elk returned saying, "Father, it is good.

I passed without trouble."

Then Utset told the buffalo to try, and he returned saying, "Father-mother, the door is good.

I passed without trouble."

Utset called the scarab beetle and gave him the sack of stars, telling him to pass out first with them.

Scarab did not know what the sack contained, but he was very small and grew tired carrying it.

He wondered what could be in the sack.

After entering the new world he was so tired he laid down the sack and peeped into it.

He cut only a tiny hole, but at once the Star People flew out and filled the heavens everywhere.

Then Utset and all the people came, and after Turkey passed, the door was closed with a great rock so that the waters from below could not follow them.

Then Utset looked for the sack with the Star People.

She found it nearly empty and could not tell where the stars had gone.

The little beetle sat by, very much frightened and very sad.

But Utset was angry and said, "You are bad and disobedient.

From this time forth, you shall be blind."

That is the reason the scarabaeus has no eyes, so the old ones say.

But the little fellow had saved a few of the stars by grasping the sack and holding it fast.

Utset placed these in the heavens.

In one group she placed seven--the great bear.

In another, three.

In another group she placed the Pleiades, and threw the others far off into the sky.

The Flood and the Theft of Fire Tolowa (Del Norte Co. , Cal.

) Along time ago there came a great rain.

It lasted a long time and the water kept rising till all the valleys were submerged, and the Indian tribes fled to the high lands.

But the water rose, and though the Indians fled to the highest point, all were swept away and drowned-all but one man and one woman.

They reached the very highest peak and were saved.

These two Indians ate the fish from the waters around them.

Then the waters subsided.

All the game was gone, and all the animals.

But the children of these two Indians, when they died, became the spirits of deer and bear and insects, and so the animals and insects came back to the earth again.

The Indians had no fire.

The flood had put out all the fires in the world.

They looked at the moon and wished they could secure fire from it.

Then the Spider Indians and the Snake Indians formed a plan to steal fire.

The Spiders wove a very light balloon, and fastened it by a long rope to the earth.

Then they climbed into the balloon and started for the moon.

But the Indians of the Moon were suspicious of the Earth Indians.

The Spiders said, "We came to gamble."

The Moon Indians were much pleased and all the Spider Indians began to gamble with them.

They sat by the fire.

Then the Snake Indians sent a man to climb up the long rope from the earth to the moon.

He climbed the rope, and darted through the fire before the Moon Indians understood what he had done.

Then he slid down the rope to earth again.

As soon as he touched the earth he travelled over the rocks, the trees, and the dry sticks lying upon the ground, giving fire to each.

Everything he touched contained fire.

So the world became bright again, as it was before the flood.

When the Spider Indians came down to earth again, they were immediately put to death, for the tribes were afraid the Moon Indians might want revenge.

Legend of the Flood in Sacramento Valley Maidu (near Sacramento Valley, Cal.

) Long, long ago the Indians living in Sacramento Valley were happy.

Suddenly there came the swift sound of rushing waters, and the valley became like Big Waters, which no man can measure.

The Indians fled, but many slept beneath the waves.

Also the frogs and the salmon pursued them and they ate many Indians.

Only two who fled into the foothills escaped.

To these two, Great Man gave many children, and many tribes arose.

But one great chief ruled all the nation.

The chief went out upon a wide knoll overlooking Big Waters, and he knew that the plains of his people were beneath the waves.

Nine sleeps he lay on the knoll, thinking thoughts of these great waters.

Nine sleeps he lay without food, and his mind was thinking always of one thing: How did this deep water cover the plains of the world?

At the end of nine sleeps he was changed.

He was not like himself.

No arrow could wound him.

He was like Great Man for no Indian could slay him.

Then he spoke to Great Man and commanded him to banish the waters from the plains of his ancestors.

Great Man tore a hole in the mountain side, so that the waters on the plains flowed into Big Waters.

Thus the Sacramento River was formed.

The Fable of the Animals Karok (near Klamath River,.

Cal.

) A great many hundred snows ago, Kareya, sitting on the Sacred Stool, created the world.

First, he made the fishes in the Big Water, then the animals on the green land, and last of all, Man!

But at first the animals were all alike in power.

No one knew which animals should be food for others, and which should be food for man.

Then Kareya ordered them all to meet in one place, that Man might give each his rank and his power.

So the animals all met together one evening, when the sun was set, to wait overnight for the coming of Man on the next morning.

Kareya also commanded Man to make bows and arrows, as many as there were animals, and to give the longest one to the animal which was to have the most power, and the shortest to the one which should have least power.

So he did, and after nine sleeps his work was ended, and the bows and arrows which he had made were very many.

Now the animals, being all together, went to sleep, so they might be ready to meet Man on the next morning.

But Coyote was exceedingly cunning--he was cunning above all the beasts.

Coyote wanted the longest bow and the greatest power, so he could have all the other animals for his meat.

He decided to stay awake all night, so that he would be first to meet Man in the morning.

So he laughed to himself and stretched his nose out on his paw and pretended to sleep.

About midnight he began to be sleepy.

He had to walk around the camp and scratch his eyes to keep them open.

He grew more sleepy, so that he had to skip and jump about to keep awake.

But he made so much noise, he awakened some of the other animals.

When the morning star came up, he was too sleepy to keep his eyes open any longer.

So he took two little sticks, and sharpened them at the ends, and propped open his eyelids.

Then he felt safe.

He watched the morning star, with his nose stretched along his paws, and fell asleep.

The sharp sticks pinned his eyelids fast together.

The morning star rose rapidly into the sky.

The birds began to sing.

The animals woke up and stretched themselves, but still Coyote lay fast asleep.

When the sun rose, the animals went to meet Man.

He gave the longest bow to Cougar, so he had greatest power; the second longest he gave to Bear; others he gave to the other animals, giving all but the last to Frog.

But the shortest one was left.

Man cried out, "What animal have I missed?"

Then the animals began to look about and found Coyote fast asleep, with his eyelids pinned together.

All the animals began to laugh, and they jumped upon Coyote and danced upon him.

Then they led him to Man, still blinded, and Man pulled out the sharp sticks and gave him the shortest bow of all.

It would hardly shoot an arrow farther than a foot.

All the animals laughed.

But Man took pity on Coyote, because he was now weaker even than Frog.

So at his request, Kareya gave him cunning, ten times more than before, so that he was cunning above all the animals of the wood.

Therefore Coyote was friendly to Man and his children, and did many things for them.

Coyote and Sun Pai Ute (near Kern River, Cal.

) Along time ago, Coyote wanted to go to the sun.

He asked Pokoh, Old Man, to show him the trail.

Coyote went straight out on this trail and he travelled it all day.

But Sun went round so that Coyote came back at night to the place from which he started in the morning.

The next morning, Coyote asked Pokoh to show him the trail.

Pokoh showed him, and Coyote travelled all day and came back at night to the same place again.

But the third day, Coyote started early and went out on the trail to the edge of the world and sat down on the hole where the sun came up.

While waiting for the sun he pointed with his bow and arrow at different places and pretended to shoot.

He also pretended not to see the sun.

When Sun came up, he told Coyote to get out of his way.

Coyote told him to go around; that it was his trail.

But Sun came up under him and he had to hitch forward a little.

After Sun came up a little farther, it began to get hot on Coyote's shoulder, so he spit on his paw and rubbed his shoulder.

Then he wanted to ride up with the sun.

Sun said, "Oh, no";

but Coyote insisted.

So Coyote climbed up on Sun, and Sun started up the trail in the sky.

The trail was marked off into steps like a ladder.

As Sun went up he counted "one, two, three," and so on.

By and by Coyote became very thirsty, and he asked Sun for a drink of water.

Sun gave him an acorn-cup full.

Coyote asked him why he had no more.

About noontime, Coyote became very impatient.

It was very hot.

Sun told him to shut his eyes.

Coyote shut them, but opened them again.

He kept opening and shutting them all the afternoon.

At night, when Sun came down, Coyote took hold of a tree.

Then he clambered off Sun and climbed down to the earth.

The Course of the Sun Sia (New Mexico) Sussistinnako, the spider, said to the sun, "My son, you will ascend and pass over the world above.

You will go from north to south.

Return and tell me what you think of it."

The sun said, on his return, "Mother, I did as you bade me, and I did not like the road."

Spider told him to ascend and pass over the world from west to the east.

On his return, the sun said, "It may be good for some, mother, but I did not like it."

Spider said, "You will again ascend and pass over the straight road from the east to the west.

Return and tell me what you think of it."

That night the sun said, "I am much contented.

I like that road much."

Sussistinnako said, "My son, you will ascend each day and pass over the world from east to west."

Upon each day's journey the sun stops midway from the east to the centre of the world to eat his breakfast.

In the centre he stops to eat his dinner.

Halfway from the centre to the west he stops to eat his supper.

He never fails to eat these three meals each day, and always stops at the same points.

The sun wears a shirt of dressed deerskin, with leggings of the same reaching to his thighs.

The shirt and leggings are fringed.

His moccasins are also of deerskin and embroidered in yellow, red, and turkis beads.

He wears a kilt of deerskin, having a snake painted upon it.

He carries a bow and arrows, the quiver being of cougar skin, hanging over his shoulder, and he holds his bow in his left hand and an arrow in his right.

He always wears the mask which protects him from the sight of the people of Ha-arts.

At the top of the mask is an eagle plume with parrot plumes; an eagle plume is at each side, and one at the bottom of the mask.

The hair around the head and face is red like fire, and when it moves and shakes people cannot look closely at the mask.

It is not intended that they should observe closely, else they would know that instead of seeing the sun they see only his mask.

The moon came to the upper world with the sun and he also wears a mask.

Each night the sun passes by the house of Sussistinnako, the spider, who asks him, "How are my children above?

How many have died to-day?

How many have been born to-day?"

The sun lingers only long enough to answer his questions.

He then passes on to his house in the east.

The Foxes and the Sun Yurok (near Klamath River, Cal.

) Once upon a time, the Foxes were angry with Sun.

They held a council about the matter.

Then twelve Foxes were selected--twelve of the bravest to catch Sun and tie him down.

They made ropes of sinew; then the twelve watched until the Sun, as he followed the downward trail in the sky, touched the top of a certain hill.

Then the Foxes caught Sun, and tied him fast to the hill.

But the Indians saw them, and they killed the Foxes with arrows.

Then they cut the sinews.

But the Sun had burned a great hole in the ground.

The Indians know the story is true, because they can see the hole which Sun burned.

The Theft of Fire Karok (near Klamath River, Cal.

) There was no fire on earth and the Karoks were cold and miserable.

Far away to the east, hidden in a treasure box, was fire which Kareya had made and given to two old hags, lest the Karoks should steal it.

So Coyote decided to steal fire for the Indians.

Coyote called a great council of the animals.

After the council he stationed a line from the land of the Karoks to the distant land where the fire was kept.

Lion was nearest the Fire Land, and Frog was nearest the Karok land.

Lion was strongest and Frog was weakest, and the other animals took their places, according to the power given them by Man.

Then Coyote took an Indian with him and went to the hill top, but he hid the Indian under the hill.

Coyote went to the tepee of the hags.

He said, "Good-evening."

They replied, "Good-evening."

Coyote said, "It is cold out here.

Can you let me sit by the fire?"

So they let him sit by the fire.

He was only a coyote.

He stretched his nose out along his forepaws and pretended to go to sleep, but he kept the corner of one eye open watching.

So he spent all night watching and thinking, but he had no chance to get a piece of the fire.

The next morning Coyote held a council with the Indian.

He told him when he, Coyote, was within the tepee, to attack it.

Then Coyote went back to the fire.

The hags let him in again.

He was only a Coyote.

But Coyote stood close by the casket of fire.

The Indian made a dash at the tepee.

The hags rushed out after him, and Coyote seized a fire brand in his teeth and flew over the ground.

The hags saw the sparks flying and gave chase.

But Coyote reached Lion, who ran with it to Grizzly Bear.

Grizzly Bear ran with it to Cinnamon Bear; he ran with it to Wolf, and at last the fire came to Ground-Squirrel.

Squirrel took the brand and ran so fast that his tail caught fire.

He curled it up over his back, and burned the black spot in his shoulders.

You can see it even to-day.

Squirrel came to Frog, but Frog couldn't run.

He opened his mouth wide and swallowed the fire.

Then he jumped but the hags caught his tail.

Frog jumped again, but the hags kept his tail.

That is why Frogs have no tail, even to this day.

Frog swam under water, and came up on a pile of driftwood.

He spat out the fire into the dry wood, and that is why there is fire in dry wood even to-day.

When an Indian rubs two pieces together, the fire comes out.

The Theft of Fire Sia (New Mexico) Along, long time ago, the people became tired of feeding on grass, like deer and wild animals, and they talked together how fire might be found.

The Ti-amoni said, "Coyote is the best man to steal fire from the world below," so he sent for Coyote.

When Coyote came, the Ti-amoni said, "The people wish for fire.

We are tired of feeding on grass.

You must go to the world below and bring the fire."

Coyote said, "It is well, father.

I will go."

So Coyote slipped stealthily to the house of Sussistinnako.

It was the middle of the night.

Snake, who guarded the first door, was asleep, and he slipped quickly and quietly by.

Cougar, who guarded the second door, was asleep, and Coyote slipped by.

Bear, who guarded the third door, was also sleeping.

At the fourth door, Coyote found the guardian of the fire asleep.

Slipping through into the room of Sussistinnako, he found him also sleeping.

Coyote quickly lighted the cedar brand which was attached to his tail and hurried out.

Spider awoke, just enough to know some one was leaving the room.

"Who is there?"

he cried.

Then he called, "Some one has been here."

But before he could waken the sleeping Bear and Cougar and Snake, Coyote had almost reached the upper world.

The Earth-Hardening After the Flood Sia (New Mexico) After the flood, the Sia returned to Ha-arts, the earth.

They came through an opening in the far north.

After they had remained at their first village a year, they wished to pass on, but the earth was very moist and Utset was puzzled how to harden it.

Utset called Cougar.

She said, "Have you any medicine to harden the road so that we may pass over it?"