_Shuswap_
There were many monsters in the Fraser River and the North Thompson
River. Tlecsa was the eldest of four brothers who lived near
Kamloops, and there were many evil beings in that country who killed
all the Indians, so the four brothers decided to destroy them. There
were the four Grizzly Bear sisters, and the huge elk which stood in
the Thompson River just where it flows out of Kamloops Lake and
swallowed all who came down the river, even a canoe with people.
There was the great ram of the mountain sheep who lived on a cliff
in Bonaparte Valley and killed people by blowing his breath upon
them. Every one of these was killed by Tlecsa and his magic.
Then the brothers followed up the Bonaparte River until they came to
a chasm which is now near the old fifty-nine-mile post, on the old
Caribou road. Here lived Great Beaver and his friends. They were not
cannibals, but the Indians feared their magic. The Indians did not
know how to catch or kill them, but Tlecsa said, “I will eat beaver
flesh,” so he started after him. But first he made a beaver spear,
and tied a piece of white bark around each wrist so his brothers
could see him, if he were dragged under water.
Tlecsa went up to Great Beaver and harpooned him. Beaver at once
dragged him into the creek. His brothers watched him for a while and
then lost sight of him, and at once began to search for him in all
the near-by creeks. They even dug ditches in many places. At last
they dug a deep ditch along the largest creek, and then they found
him. When they dug near him, he said, “Be careful not to hurt me. I
am here.” Great Beaver had dragged him into his own house in the
bank, but there Tlecsa had killed Great Beaver. At once the brothers
killed many beavers and took their skins. They also ate Big Beaver.
Tlecsa said, “Hereafter beaver shall be speared by mankind. The
Indians shall use their flesh and skins. Beavers shall no longer
have magic power;” and it was so.
Now Tlecsa and his brothers wandered around through the mountains
and through Bonaparte Valley, and after a while they went up the
Marble Cañon. On a high cliff lived Great Eagle, who swooped down on
the Indians in the valley. He would catch an Indian and dash him
against the rocks and bring him to the young eaglets in his nest.
Tlecsa said, “I shall ornament myself with eagle feathers.”
Now when his brothers were not looking, Tlecsa put some white paint
in one side of his mouth, and some red paint in the other side. Soon
Great Eagle saw him. Swooping down, he clutched him, and then,
flying high on the cliffs, dashed him against the rocks. Tlecsa
warded off the blow with his flaker, and let the red paint flow out
of his mouth upon the rocks. His brothers below, watching, said, “He
is dead. See his blood.”
Again Great Eagle dashed Tlecsa against the rocks, and the white
paint flowed from his mouth over the rocks. His brothers below,
watching, said, “He is dead. See his brains.”
Now Great Eagle also thought he was dead, so he laid him on a ledge
of rocks near the nest. At once Tlecsa killed Great Eagle and pulled
out his tail feathers. Then he tied an eaglet to each wrist and
commanded them to fly down with him. When they reached the valley
far below, Tlecsa pulled the large feathers out of the eaglets’
wings and tails, and gave them to his brothers. He said to the
eaglets, “Hereafter you shall be ordinary eagles. You shall have no
power to kill people, and Indians shall ornament their heads and
weapons with your feathers;” and it was so.