Blaiwas Eagle
Gowwá Swallow
Lok Bear
Tsasgips Frost That Breaks Trees
Wâhŭtus
Wus Fox
Yahyáhaäs (Always represented as a one-legged man)
Gowwá and Wâhŭtus were married to the same woman; she was kin to Gowwá.
One day the two men went hunting and left their wife at home. While
they were gone Wus came along, and said to her: “Come to my house and
be my wife. I have a big house and lots of nice blankets and beads. Why
do you stay with these men? They are poor.”
“I don’t want to go with you,” said the woman. “Gowwá and Wâhŭtus will
come right away. If you stay here, they will kill you.”
“I am not afraid of those men,” said Wus. “I am stronger than they are;
I can kill them.” She couldn’t make him go away.
When the men came, each had a deer on his back. “Cook some deer meat,”
they said to the woman. “We are hungry.” They didn’t see Wus.
She said: “A man is holding me; I can’t get up.”
“You are fooling us; nobody is holding you. Hurry up and cook for us.”
When the woman didn’t move Gowwá got mad and went toward her to jerk
her up; then he saw Wus holding her down.
The fire had gone out, and it was dark in the house. Gowwá punched the
fire and said to Wâhŭtus: “There is somebody over there with a nice
skin on. We’ll kill him and make a blanket.” They caught Wus and pulled
his skin off, then they threw him out.
The next morning, when Gowwá’s mother went for water, she saw Wus and
she felt sorry for him; she went to a swamp, and got cattails and
wrapped them around him. Right away the cattails turned to nice fur.
Wus was cured; he went home.
That day, while the two men were off hunting, Lok came and stole their
wife. She was afraid of him and had to go. There were five Lok
brothers, living in a house under the rocks.
When Gowwá and Wâhŭtus came home and found their wife gone, their old
mother-in-law said: “Lok, a big, nice-looking man, came and carried her
off.”
The next morning Gowwá and Wâhŭtus started for Lok’s house. As they
went along they practiced killing each other to see how they were going
to kill Lok. Gowwá killed Wâhŭtus and went on a little way alone.
Wâhŭtus came to life and overtook Gowwá. Then Wâhŭtus killed Gowwá and
went on. Gowwá came to life and caught up with Wâhŭtus. So they kept on
till they got to Lok’s house.
Gowwá climbed to the top of the house. Wâhŭtus went in at a hole on one
side.
The five brothers were lying by the fire; one jumped up, tore Wâhŭtus
into little pieces and threw the pieces out. Wâhŭtus grew together,
came to life, and ran into the house. Five times Lok killed Wâhŭtus,
tore him to pieces, and threw the pieces out; each time Wâhŭtus ran in
again.
Gowwá stood on the top of the house and waited. When they had killed
Wâhŭtus five times, he crept down and began throwing flint at the
brothers. He was a great doctor, and right away all five of the
brothers were dead. Then Wâhŭtus and Gowwá took their wife and went
home.
The next day while they were off hunting Yahyáhaäs came and stole their
wife, and carried her off to his house. Whenever Yahyáhaäs saw a nice
woman, he took her; he stole everybody’s wife. Five great rocks were
around his house, and he lived underground, in the middle. The name of
the house was Hwălis; nobody but Yahyáhaäs could get into it. There
were many women there; he carried them in on his shoulders.
Wâhŭtus and Gowwá didn’t know how to get their wife back. At last they
sent to all the people in the world and asked them to come and help
break the rocks around Yahyáhaäs’ house. Everybody came, and each man
tried, but no one could break off even a small piece of a rock.
Then Tsasgips (Frost) came. He was such a small man they had forgotten
to ask him. He said: “I can break those rocks.”
The people didn’t listen to him; they kept on trying to break them.
Then somebody asked: “What does that little fellow say? He talks all
the time!”
“He says that he can break these rocks,” said Blaiwas.
Then men began to talk about Tsasgips, and to say: “Maybe he had better
try. Maybe he is a kiúks [13] and can do something.”
The people got him ready, sprinkled him with white paint, so he was all
white spots in front. He made, with his mouth, a noise like blowing;
the first rock crumbled to pieces. He made the same noise with his
mouth and struck against the second rock; the rock fell into small
pieces. He broke all five rocks in the same way. Then the people killed
Yahyáhaäs with arrows, but his spirit went up in the air and became
Thunder. They shot a great many times at the spirit as it flew up, for
they saw it rising, but they couldn’t hit it; they missed it every
time.