_Chilcotin_
Once there were two sisters who were not happy, and they ran away
from home. They ran until they came to Sky Land, where they lost
their way. At last they came to the house of an old woman. She
asked, “Where are you going?”
“We don’t know,” said the sisters. “We are lost.” Then the old woman
told them they could not get back to the earth again, so they stayed
with her.
One day the old woman went out to get some berry vines. She told the
sisters not to open a basket which stood just there. After she had
gone, the younger sister opened the basket, and at once thousands
and thousands of rabbits jumped out and ran all about the house.
When the old woman came back, she was very angry, but she caught the
rabbits, every one, and put them all back into the basket.
The next day the old woman went out again. She told the sisters not
to touch a certain box that stood there. As soon as she was gone,
the younger sister opened it and looked in. Then she was frightened,
for she could see clear down to the earth below.
[Illustration: Salish Basketry Designs
Made by the Lower Thompson River and Lillooet tribes
_From “Memoirs, American Museum of Natural History”_]
When the old woman came back, she made a rope of the berry vines and
fastened a basket to one end. Then she said to the younger sister,
“Get in, and I will let you go down to the earth. You must keep your
eyes shut. If the basket stops, you must give it a little shake.
Perhaps it is stuck in a cloud. But do not open your eyes.” Thus she
said.
So the sister started. She shut her eyes tight, and soon she felt
the basket stick in something. She shook it a little and then it
went on. It had stuck in the cloud. After a while the basket
stopped. She shook it once, and it did not move. Then she shook it
hard. It remained still. Then the sister put out her hands and felt
grass. At once she opened her eyes and stepped out of the basket.
The old woman called down to her to cut the grass and put it in the
basket. So she did so. Then the old woman pulled the basket up to
the Sky Land again.
Now the young woman sat down and waited many days, looking into the
sky all the time. At last she saw a speck far up. Then she knew it
was her sister in the basket. When it came near enough, she reached
up and helped her sister out. They both went back to their mother.