Tee-hee´-nay was a beautiful Ah-wah´-nee maiden, said to be
the most beautiful of her tribe, and she was beloved by
Kos-su´-kah, a strong and valiant young brave. Valuable
presents had been made to the bride's parents, and they had given
their consent to an early marriage, which was to be celebrated by
a great feast.
To provide an abundance of venison and other meat for this
banquet, Kos-su´-kah gathered together his young companions and
went into the mountains in search of game. In order that
Tee-hee´-nay might know of his welfare and the success of the
hunt, it was agreed between the lovers that at sunset Kos-su´-kah
should go to the high rock to the east of Cho´-lak [Yosemite
Falls], and should shoot an arrow into the Valley, to which
should be attached a number of grouse feathers corresponding to
the number of deer that had fallen before the skill of the
hunters.
[Illustration: _Photograph by Fiske_.
BRIDAL VEIL FALL (PO-HO´-NO). 940 Feet.
The-source of this stream is supposed by the Indians to be
haunted by troubled spirits, which affect the water along its
whole course. The word Po-ho´-no means a "puffing wind."]
At the time appointed Tee-hee´-nay went near the foot of the
great cliff and waited, with her eyes raised to the towering
rocks above, hoping with her keen sight to see the form of her
lover outlined against the sky, but no form could she see, and no
arrow fell into the Valley. As darkness gathered, gloomy
forebodings took possession of her, and she climbed part way up
the canyon called Le-ham´-i-tee [now known as Indian Canyon]
because the arrow-wood grew there, and finally she stood at the
very foot of the rocky wall which rose to dizzy heights above
her, and there she waited through the long night.
With the first streak of dawn she bounded swiftly up the rough
canyon, for she was fully convinced that some terrible fate had
overtaken the brave Kos-su´-kah, and soon she stood upon the
lofty summit [Yosemite Point], where she found her lover's
footsteps leading towards the edge of the precipice. Drawing
nearer she was startled to find that a portion of the cliff had
given way, and, upon peering over the brink, what was her horror
to discover the blood-stained and lifeless body of Kos-su´-kah
lying on a rocky ledge far beneath.
Summoning assistance by means of a signal fire, which was seen
from the Valley below, a rope was made of sapling tamaracks
lashed firmly together with thongs from one of the deer that was
to have furnished the marriage feast, and Tee-hee´-nay herself
insisted on being lowered over the precipice to recover the body
of her lover. This was at last successfully accomplished, and
when his ghastly form lay once more upon the rocky summit, she
threw herself on his bosom and gave way to passionate outburst of
grief.
Finally she became quiet, but when they stooped to raise her they
found that her spirit had fled to join the lost Kos-su´-kah and
that the lovers were re-united in death!
The fateful arrow that was the cause of so much sorrow could
never be found, and the Indians believe that it was taken away by
the spirits of Kos-su´-kah and Tee-hee´-nay. In memory of
them, and of this tragedy, the slender spire of rock [sometimes
called "The Devil's Thumb"] that rises heavenward near the top of
the cliff at this point is known among the Indians as Hum-mo´,
or the Lost Arrow.