_Thompson River_
A large dead tree stood near Spence’s Bridge. It was full of magic
and possessed the power of giving light. At that time the world was
always dark. Now Chipmunk did not like the continual darkness, and
his friends did not like it, but some of the animals did. And some
of the other animals were undecided.
Chipmunk knew that if he set fire to the magic tree near Spence’s
Bridge, the world would become light again, so he set fire to the
roots, and kept poking the ashes away with a stick that the wind
might fan the flames. When the tree fell, the earth became light.
Now Grizzly Bear and his friends wanted continual darkness. When
that tree fell, Grizzly appeared in a great rage and began to put
out the fire by throwing earth on the log and on Chipmunk.
Grizzly Bear cried,
Le pa, Le pa! Dimness, dimness!
Chipmunk would poke the fire and brush the earth and ashes away and
sing,
Tse ka, tse ka! Light, light, light!
And immediately the fire would flame up and light would come; but
when Grizzly Bear threw on more earth it became dark again.
Now both Grizzly and Chipmunk sang as loud and as hard as they
could, and sometimes it was light and sometimes it was dark. After a
while they both grew tired. Then they agreed that it should be dark
part of the time, and light part of the time.
But Grizzly Bear was angry at Chipmunk and chased him into a hole.
As Chipmunk scampered into the hole, Grizzly scratched his back.
That is the reason Chipmunk has stripes on his back.