Blaiwas Eagle
Dásläts Panther
Ndúkis Hawk
Tcûskai Weasel
Wûlkûtska Marten
Blaiwas, Dásläts, Wûlkûtska, and other strong men, lived in a house on
a high mountain. They were head men, and all the people around brought
them meat. One day, Blaiwas said: “We had better let old man Ndúkis
divide our meat.” They called Tcûskai, a fast runner, and sent him for
Ndúkis.
Ndúkis had four brothers and a mother, and he lived in a brush
house—just as we did long ago. Ndúkis went to Blaiwas’ house and
divided the meat; he ate some, but he didn’t carry any to his mother or
his brothers.
The next morning, when the head men were starting off to hunt, Ndúkis
went with them. He hunted all day, but caught only one mouse. He ate
the mouse and went home.
Blaiwas sent again for Ndúkis to come and divide the meat; when he had
divided it the men began to make fun of him for being such a poor
hunter. They made him open his mouth and then they threw meat into it.
When he had swallowed all the meat he could, they sent him home.
Old woman Wûlkûtska and her two daughters lived at the foot of the
mountain. There was no one to kill game for them, and sometimes the
mother was almost starved. One day she said to her daughters: “Great
hunters live on the top of the mountain; they always have lots of deer
meat. You must go there and get husbands.”
One of the girls asked: “How can we go; we don’t know where their house
is?”
The mother said: “There is only one big house. You will know Blaiwas
when you see him, for he flies without moving his wings.”
When the girls came to the top of the mountain, they sat down to rest
and watch for Blaiwas. They hadn’t been there long when they saw Ndúkis
coming.
He was out of breath, for it was hard for him to fly high.
The elder sister said: “There is Blaiwas; he flies just as mother said
he did.”
The younger sister said: “No, that isn’t Blaiwas.” They watched him
till he flew down among the rocks; then the elder sister said: “His
house is down there; we must follow him.”
When Ndúkis got home, he was so nearly dead that he fell into the
house. His mother jumped on him, and asked: “What is the matter?” (He
knew that the girls were watching him and he had tried to fly as
Blaiwas did.) The old woman kept asking what had happened, but Ndúkis
wouldn’t tell.
When the sisters came in sight of the house, the elder said: “That is
Blaiwas’ house.”
The younger said: “Mother told us that Blaiwas’ house was large; that
one is small. It isn’t Blaiwas’ house.” The elder sister scolded her
and pulled her along.
When Ndúkis saw the girls coming, he told his mother to hurry and fix a
good place for them to sit.
“What shall I fix it with?” asked the old woman. They had no mats or
blankets.
“Oh, anything,” said Ndúkis. “You must watch, and if the girls sit down
near the house, you must bring them in. They are sisters; they saw me
flying and they followed me.”
When the girls came to the top of the house, the old woman told Ndúkis.
He turned his eyes up, as Blaiwas did, and sent her to bring them in.
The girls saw him turn his eyes, and the elder said: “Yes, that is
Blaiwas. See what big eyes he has.” She went in and sat down by him.
When Blaiwas and the head men came home, they sent Tcûskai to tell
Ndúkis to come and divide the meat. Ndúkis said: “Why do they always
send for the chief to divide their meat? I am tired of it.” He didn’t
want to leave the girls.
When the meat was divided, the head men told Ndúkis to open his mouth.
Then they amused themselves by throwing pieces of meat at him. They fed
him the livers and intestines, parts which they didn’t like. When he
had eaten all he could, he started for home; on the way he thought:
“What shall I feed those girls with?”
When he couldn’t think of anything else, he said: “I will cut some of
the meat off from my legs,” and he did so. When he gave the pieces to
his mother to cook, she asked: “Why didn’t you bring more? Here isn’t
half enough for the girls to eat.”
The younger sister tasted of the meat, and said: “This isn’t deer meat.
This tastes badly.” The elder sister scolded her. The younger said:
“You think this man is Blaiwas, but I know he isn’t.”
Ndúkis acted as much like Blaiwas as he could.
The next morning Blaiwas and the head men went to hunt for deer. Ndúkis
didn’t go; he wanted to stay with the girls. At night the hunters came
back with deer hanging in their belts, as men hang squirrels in their
belts now.
Blaiwas said: “Old man Ndúkis is getting lazy. Tell him to come and
divide this meat.” Ndúkis held back, scolded, and said: “Why do they
always send for the chief? I won’t go.” But he wanted to go and have
plenty to eat.
After he had been gone a while, the younger sister said: “Let us go and
see how that man divides meat.” They followed his trail till they came
to a big house. They crept up carefully and looked in. Ndúkis was
sitting by the ladder, and men were throwing meat into his mouth. The
sisters saw Blaiwas and then they knew that it was his house.
The elder sister was ashamed, and they both started for home.
Ndúkis knew what had happened, and so did Blaiwas; and they followed
the girls. Blaiwas caught up with them first, and when Ndúkis came, the
two men began to quarrel. Blaiwas’ four brothers came and so did
Ndúkis’ brothers, and there was a big fight.
The eldest Blaiwas said to the sisters: “I am going to cut off Ndúkis’
head and carry it above the sky. You mustn’t look up. If you do, the
head will fall and kill my brothers.”
The five Blaiwas brothers killed the five Ndúkis brothers: then the
eldest brother cut off Ndúkis’ head and flew away with it. He was
almost to the sky when the sisters looked up; they couldn’t help it.
That minute the head fell to the ground. It flew at the four Blaiwas
brothers and killed them all.
The head was the husband of the two sisters. The younger sister was
afraid of the head; she wouldn’t stay where it was. The elder sister
put it in her basket and carried it on her back; she cried all the
time.
After a while, the head asked: “What do you see?”
“I see a deer,” said the woman.
“Climb up as high as you can, then take me out of the basket, and put
me down, looking toward the deer.”
The woman got as high as she could and put the head down. “Now look,”
said the head. It flew straight at the deer and killed it. The woman
put the head back in her basket, then camped.
The head said: “Put me where I can watch you.”
She made a sort of scaffold and put the head on it. Then she cut up the
deer and hung the meat on a tree to dry. When the meat was dry and the
woman was ready to go home, the head said: “You must put meat in the
basket; then put me in, and put meat on top of me.”
The woman thought she would go and see Kumush, for maybe he could do
something for her husband. On the road she wouldn’t speak; she was
afraid that if she saw a deer the head would kill it, and she would
have to dry the meat.
When Kumush saw the woman, he said: “I must have that woman for my
daughter,” and he asked her: “Have you anything to eat?”
She put down the basket, and when Kumush looked at the meat, she said:
“Don’t take much.”
Kumush thought: “Why does she say that? Maybe she is hiding something,”
and he began to pull the meat out of the basket.
The woman went into the house, for she was afraid. The head had great
eyes and long hair, and when Kumush came to it he was scared; he threw
down the meat and ran into the house.
The head called out: “What are you doing? Take me into the house, I
don’t want to stay out here.” (The head could fly when it got mad or
wanted to kill something, but not at other times.)
Kumush said to the woman: “This head is your husband; we must bring it
in.” He fixed a place for it and carried it in. The next morning,
Kumush said: “I am going to make a sweat house for this man. I like
him; I will make a body for him.” (He wanted to kill the head.)
Kumush made a sweat house and covered it with five kinds of stones. He
heated rocks red hot and put them inside, and carried the head in and
put it down by the rocks; then he went out and fastened up the place
with stones.
Soon the head called out: “I’ve sweat enough. Take me out!” Nobody
came. It screamed louder: “Take me out quick! If you don’t, I will get
out and kill you both!” When nobody came, the head flew up and struck
the stones on top of the house. It broke four of them, then its
strength gave out, and it died.
Kumush said: “I don’t hear any noise; maybe your husband is dead.”
The woman said: “Wait a little; don’t open the place yet. If he is
alive, he will kill us.”
When Kumush opened the sweat house, he saw a beautiful young man lying
on the ground; but he was dead. Kumush felt sorry. The woman felt
sorry, too. Kumush took the body out of the sweat house; then he piled
up logs and burned it. When it was burning, he said: “Hereafter, people
will do this way: When their friends die, they will burn them as I am
burning this man.” And that is the way we did till white men came.