Two brothers, Kumush and Wanaga, lived east of Tula Lake. Wanaga was
uneasy; he didn’t want to be always with Kumush, so one day he started
off toward the northwest to hunt for woodchucks. When he had killed
five, he took out the intestines, cleaned them, filled them with fat
and cooked them in front of the fire. The bodies he cooked on hot
stones. He was eating the intestines when his brother came up to the
fire. Kumush’s face was wet, he had run so fast.
Wanaga was mad, but he said: “Now you are here, come and eat some of
these intestines.”
Kumush didn’t want a part of the intestines; he wanted them all, and
wanted the woodchucks, too, so he asked: “Which way did you come?”
Wanaga told him, but told him wrong.
Kumush said: “I saw a long track the way I came. I thought it was
yours.”
“Why don’t you eat?” asked Wanaga.
“I can’t, my heart beats so. I am scared; I feel as if some one were
near here, watching us. I will go down the hill and look around in the
bushes.”
Kumush went into thick bushes where Wanaga couldn’t see him; he pulled
every hair out of his head, eyebrows, eye-lashes, ears, beard, armpits,
pulled out every hair on his body, and said to them: “You must be
people; you must scream and shout and run after me, as if you were
going to catch me and kill me.”
Right away the hairs became men, and pursued Kumush. As he ran, Kumush
screamed: “Wanaga, save yourself! Wanaga, save yourself!”
Wanaga started up, then he remembered his bow and arrows. He got them,
then he ran off as fast as he could; he forgot all about the five
woodchucks.
As soon as Wanaga was out of sight, the hairs were back in Kumush’s
head and body, and he sat down to eat the woodchucks. As he ate he kept
saying: “My brother, you shouldn’t eat such nice things alone; I like
woodchucks.”
Wanaga felt lonesome, for he thought that Kumush had been killed. As he
traveled along, he caught a woodchuck. Then he saw another one, and he
followed it and killed it with a club; he killed a third one among the
rocks. He built a fire and cooked the woodchucks. Just as he was
beginning to eat the intestines, he heard Kumush call out: “Oh, I am
glad you are alive. I was afraid those men had killed you.”
When Kumush came up to the fire he said: “I hid under the bushes where
they couldn’t find me; that is how I got away! I saw tracks out here;
are they yours?”
“I didn’t come that way,” said Wanaga.
“I feel queer,” said Kumush; “I will go back and see if there is any
one around. I am scared.”
When he got where Wanaga couldn’t see him, he pulled all his hair out
again, and said: “Be men! As soon as you are near the woods, make a
ring around me and act as if you were going to kill me.”
When they surrounded him, Kumush screamed: “Save yourself, Wanaga! Run
for your life! These men will kill you.”
Wanaga took his bow, quiver and club and ran off as fast as he could;
he forgot about his woodchucks again, and Kumush ate them, saying: “My
brother, you shouldn’t eat such good things alone.”
The next day Wanaga kept thinking about Kumush. At last he said to
himself: “If Kumush wasn’t killed yesterday he is fooling me.”
Wanaga killed five woodchucks and this time he cooked them without
taking out the intestines. Just as he was ready to begin eating, he saw
Kumush coming. When Kumush came up to the fire he pretended to cry, he
was so glad that Wanaga was alive. Wanaga offered him part of a
woodchuck, but he wouldn’t take it. He said that he couldn’t eat; he
had seen tracks, and the grass was trampled down as if people were
around; he would go and see.
Wanaga thought: “You’ll not fool me this time!” When Kumush screamed to
him to run as fast as he could, he ran, but he took the woodchucks with
him.
Wanaga traveled for two days without camping. Kumush was hungry, but he
followed his brother. The third day Wanaga caught a wood chuck. He was
cooking it when Kumush came up.
“I have been mourning for you,” said Kumush. “I thought you were
killed. Over there by the bushes I saw tracks; I will go and look at
them.” He tried the old trick, but Wanaga wasn’t fooled; he took the
woodchuck with him.
It was cold, but Kumush followed Wanaga. He followed him all winter. In
the spring, when Kumush was only one day behind, Wanaga came upon
porcupine tracks. He made a fire near an old tree where he thought the
porcupines would come when it began to grow dark. He hadn’t been there
long before he saw a porcupine and killed it; then he saw another and
killed it. The next day, when he was cooking the porcupines, Kumush
came up. “How did you kill those porcupines?” asked he.
Wanaga was mad, but he said: “Sit down and eat, then I will tell you
how I catch porcupines.” When they were through eating, Wanaga said:
“If I want to kill porcupines, I find a tree where I think they live; I
set fire to the tree, then I wrap my blanket tight around me and lie
down under it; when the tree gets to burning well, the porcupines fall
out of it.”
Wanaga traveled on, and Kumush stopped to kill porcupines. He set a
tree on fire, wrapped his blanket tight around him and lay down. The
tree burned quickly, and soon limbs began to fall. A heavy bough fell
on Kumush, and he thought: “That is a big porcupine!” Another fell.
Kumush lay still; he thought: “Oh, I shall have lots of big, fat
porcupines!” At last the tree fell and killed him. His body was burned
up, nothing was left of it but the skull and the disk. They lay in the
ashes for a long time; at last the morning star saw them and called
out: “What is the matter, old man? Why do you sleep so long? Get up!”
Kumush sprang up, and right away began to track Wanaga. It was warm
weather, and Wanaga was hunting woodchucks among the rocks. He had
killed five when Kumush came. Wanaga divided the meat with his brother,
and the two spent the night together.
“How do you kill woodchucks?” asked Kumush.
“When I see one among the rocks, I jump down and catch it. It is easy
for me; I am used to it.”
They started on together, Wanaga ahead. Kumush saw a woodchuck; he
jumped and caught it, then he cooked and ate it, for Wanaga had told
him he must eat the first one he caught before he tried to catch
another. When his stomach was full, he saw a woodchuck down in a hole
between high rocks; he jumped, struck on the rocks, burst open and
died.
His body lay there a long time; then crows came and ate it up, till
only the disk was left. They tried to eat that, but couldn’t. At last
the morning star saw the disk and cried out: “What are you doing down
there, old man? Get up. Wanaga has gone far; you must hurry!”
Kumush sprang up. “Oh, I was sleeping!” said he.
Wanaga turned back. He wished for a wide river to flow between him and
his brother, and right away it was there. Kumush traveled up and down
the river. After a long time he found a ford and crossed. Wanaga was on
Pitcowa flat, where a great deal of ges was growing. He got two sticks,
umda, sharp at both ends, took them out on the flat, showed them the
ges, and said: “Work hard. Dig lots of ges!”
They dug fast and made a great many piles of ges. At sundown, Wanaga
went to the flat; he washed a few roots and ate them; they were nice
and white, and the skin came off of itself. He carried the sticks back
to his camp. The next day, when Kumush came, Wanaga gave him plenty of
roots to eat.
“How did you get all of these roots?” asked Kumush.
“I made two sticks, one straight, the other bent. Then I took them to
the flat and told them to dig.”
Kumush cut five sticks and sharpened them at both ends. Wanaga said:
“You must take them to the flat and leave them; you mustn’t go near
them till sundown.”
Kumush took his sticks to the flat, put a basket by each stick, and
said: “You must work hard; you must dig plenty of roots.” He went back,
but he couldn’t wait, and in a few minutes he ran over to see if the
umda were digging fast. That made them mad and they stopped digging. He
went back again, for he thought that when he was out of sight they
would go to work, but they didn’t.
The next morning Wanaga made small, and put into two baskets, the piles
of ges his sticks had dug. (When he wanted to, he poured out the ges,
thought hard, and it was big again.)
Kumush was so mad that he broke up his sticks and threw them away.
Wanaga took his sticks to the flat, stuck them in the ground, and said:
“Grow here and be of use to people in later times.”
The sticks grew, and are the kind that are used in digging roots now.
When he had planted the sticks, Wanaga said: “Hereafter I will be
Wus-Kumush.” Then he left Kumush, stole away in the night. Kumush
stayed two or three days. When he had eaten all the ges Wanaga left, he
went off toward the east. Thenceforth he traveled about in the world,
alone.