The story of the woman who visited a man who lived in a tree, and who
could change himself into a serpent when he wished.
Told by Peter York.
A very long time ago there was an Indian who lived with his family in
the wilderness or wild bush where nobody was to be seen. This man lived
by hunting wild game. One time he noticed his wife dressing up very
nice. This kept on for a good many days. One day the oldest boy told
his father that the mother went away every time the father left camp
for hunting. The man thought that he would watch her, so he went away
one morning, but went only a little way and watched the camp. After a
little while the wife came out dressed in her best. She went out in the
bush and the man followed to see what she would do. She went to a big
tree and stood at the foot of the tree and rapped, just the same as a
person would do on a house door. Then he saw a very nice man come out
of the tree and observed what was going on, so he thought he would kill
his wife as soon as she got back to camp. When he got home he made a
big fire and told his two children (boys) what he was going to do, and
also told them what to do when he (the father) would run away. His wife
came home in the evening and he killed her and burned her in the fire.
He then told his boys “if they saw the sky red that would show them
that he (their father) was killed by his wife’s sweetheart.” The next
day they saw the sky red which showed them that their father was
killed, so they ran away themselves. Before their father went away he
told them that their mother would follow them though she was dead, so
the father gave them some things to use in case they wanted help; an
awl, a stone, and a thorn. When they saw their mother coming, they
threw the stone down, when it became a big mountain, and the two boys
went a long way before their mother was able to get over the mountain
and catch up to them. When she came close again the boys threw the
thorn down when it became a very big bush of thorn trees (Haw trees),
which gave the two boys a chance to get ahead a good bit before she got
through. When she got close again the boys threw the awl down, which
became many hundred awls with their points sticking up, but she managed
to get over them and kept on trying to get her children.
The boys came to a big river and saw a big snail which they asked to
take them across the river. The big snail stretched himself across the
river and the two boys got across. When the mother got to the river she
also asked the big snail to take her over. The snail told her he would,
but when about half way across the snail dropped the woman into the
river, and that was the last of her.
The two boys went on and came to a lake where nobody was to be seen
only themselves. The big boy made a little bow and arrow for his little
brother. After a little while they saw someone coming in a log canoe,
who turned out to be a bad old man. As soon as the old man saw the two
boys he made up his mind to take one of them and leave the other, so he
told the little boy with the bow and arrow to shoot up in the air. The
arrow dropped into the canoe, and the old man told the big boy to come
and get it. As soon as the big boy got in the canoe the old man pushed
out quickly and left the little boy behind. The big boy asked the old
man to take his brother along but the old man said “No!” When they got
to the old man’s place the big boy was locked up (confined) for a good
many days and could not get a chance to run away. One day the old man
told the big boy that if he wanted to go out with him he could go. They
came to a big hill and he asked the boy to go for a sleigh ride down
the hill. The old man wanted the boy to sit in front but the boy chose
to sit behind. There were stumps and stones down the hill and as they
went down the hill very fast, the boy thought to hit a stone and kill
the old man, which he did. Then the boy thought about his little
brother and went back and looked for him. When he got to the place
where his brother was left he saw a wolf which was his brother who had
become half a wolf and half a boy. Which all Indians believe to be
where the wolf came from. The boy got too hungry and became part wolf.
This ends this story.