_Thompson River_
Now many of the people had carvings. They had house posts and door
posts, and they carved their totems on the posts, and they made
carvings of their guardian spirit.
Once there was a girl who was not happy in the village. She wandered
away and went to a lake in the mountains, where she saw many fish
swimming in the water. She sat down to watch them. Then the fish
changed themselves to small children with very long hair. They
watched her and smiled at her. The girl thought, “I should like to
live with them, they seem so happy.” So she jumped into the water.
As the girl fell into the lake, a violent wind blew all over the
country. It even blew down her parents’ house. When the girl found
she could not sink, she came out of the water and at once it became
calm. In the lake were neither fish nor children to be seen.
In this way this girl obtained possession of the power and knowledge
of wind. Only her descendants who live near Yale, in the mountains,
can use the wind-power carving on their grave boxes and in their
dancing masks and in the house.