LEGEND OF THE FIRST FROG
It may be interesting, and at this time something of a relief from the
duller monotony of the pages preceding, to give one of the characteristic
legends which were current among the Indians when first the whites came
among them. This may properly be termed the Siwash legend of the first
frog, and gives the sad fate that befell a too ardent Indian lover.
“Many many snows ago the Great Tyee of all lived upon the earth; the
snows that have come and gone since then cannot well be counted by men.
The Great Tyee was not only chief over man, but also over the birds, the
fish and all the animals in the woods. All feared him and did his bidding.
“The Great Tyee had been very successful in his wars, and had subjugated
all the chiefs but Clack-a-mas, a warrior who had long and well fought
against the Great Tyee. At last both, growing tired of war, resolved
to smoke the great peace pipe and bury the hatchet, and to more firmly
cement their growing friendship the Great Tyee asked for and obtained the
consent of Clack-a-mas to the marriage of his daughter Kla-Kla-Klack-Hah
(the woman who talks) to Wah-Wah-Hoo, the Tyee’s only son. But the Great
Tyee’s plans for the marriage of his son were destined to be nipped in
the bud. Wah-Wah-Hoo had long and ardently loved a maiden of his own
tribe, a daughter of one of the lesser chiefs. Hah-Hah had all those
graces which go to make a woman charming, and she was as deeply in love
with Wah-Wah-Hoo as he with her.
“It is easier to imagine than to depict the grief of the lovers when they
learned the will of the Great Tyee. To Wah-Wah-Hoo it seemed that nothing
was left him to do but to prepare for the wedding, which was to take
place immediately. It had not as yet occurred to him to disobey the Great
Tyee. Such a path was fraught with too much danger to be taken at once,
and for the present no ray of hope penetrated through the dark cloud
that had settled down and quenched the bright light of his and Hah-Hah’s
happiness.
“Daily the preparations for the marriage went on, and as the day of its
consummation drew nearer Wah-Wah-Hoo became more and more reluctant to
carry out the command of the Great Tyee. On the day before the wedding
Hah-Hah, robed in her brightest skins, went to keep the last tryst with
her recreant lover. They met in a grassy dell, sprinkled over with
brightest wild flowers; but to the infatuated lover Hah-Hah was the
loveliest flower of them all. Love stole away his reason, and, forgetful
of his duty to the Great Tyee, his father, Wah-Wah-Hoo gathered Hah-Hah
up in his arms and hurried away into the forest. They journeyed many suns
into the somber woods and finally built themselves a shelter on the bank
of a great river, where, forgetful of the wrath of the Great Tyee, they
were happy.
“The wedding day dawned. Kla-Kla-Klack-Hah, robed in her best skins,
stood waiting the coming of Wah-Wah-Hoo to claim and to carry off his
bride. The minutes swiftly multiplied into hours until Clack-a-mas,
deeply chagrined at the disdainful treatment of his daughter, sought an
explanation of the Great Tyee. A search was immediately instituted for
Wah-Wah-Hoo, and then, and not until then, was the flight of the lovers
discovered.
“At once the Great Tyee ordered his swiftest runners and his best
trailers to follow and to bring back his disobedient son. Swiftly they
ran through the woods, searching long and far, but baffled at last,
they were compelled to return to the Great Tyee with the story of their
failure.
“Then the Great Tyee went out, and, seated upon the river bank, called
about him the chiefs of all the animals in the woods and of the fishes in
the sea and commanded them as they feared his anger to search for and to
find his son. They, dreading his power, immediately set out upon their
quest.
“The snake, squirming his way in and out among the berry patches,
searched long and arduously for the lovers. The chief of the mosquitos,
calling about him his band, who number more than the grains of sand
on the sea shore, searched for and found the lovers; but the chief,
remembering that when, in an inadvertent and hungry moment he had
alighted upon Hah-Hah’s cheek she had spared his life, ordered his band
to disperse and to say nothing of the lovers. The squirrel, running up
and down the trees hoarding his winter stores, kept watch that the lovers
did not go by him unseen. The eagle, in ever-increasing circles, soared
high above the land and kept a watchful eye that the lovers did not
escape him. The chief of the wolves found them, but, remembering that
Wah-Wah-Hoo had saved his life when caught in a trap, he, too, commanded
his followers to say nothing of the lovers.
“Soon the chilling blasts of winter went whistling through the woods,
and the ice king, seizing the earth in his stifling grasp, wrapped it
in a mantle of snow. Hunger—grim, gaunt, unrelenting hunger—entered
Wah-Wah-Hoo’s wigwam, and stole from him that which he loved best of all,
Hah-Hah. Wah-Wah-Hoo, looking for the last time upon his sweetheart,
turned away and hurried to the big rock overlooking the swirling water
of the river. There, singing his death song, he flung himself into
the water. But Wah-Wah-Hoo was destined not to die. The chief of the
fishes swallowed him, and, swimming to the spot where the Great Tyee was
standing, spewed him forth upon the bank.
“The Great Tyee cursed his son and changed him into a frog, whose dismal
croaking is now heard, telling his sad story to the sons of man and
warning them to be obedient.”