Heûwûs The stone that pounders are made of
Wûspahlákls Hairless Fox (Lakl is hair)
Nkok Bird (English name unknown)
Lŭ′luphlainik Name of a hill (Lulup is eye)
A great many of the Heûwûs people lived near Tula Lake. They were
smooth, round people. They had no faces, but they could talk to one
another. Every morning and evening a young woman passed their place on
her way to the lake to catch fish. They knew when she was coming, for
she sang as she traveled. They could hear her far off. Her song said:
“I am a great hunter of fish and of seeds.”
The young men of the Heûwûs people listened for the girl’s song and
were glad when they heard it; they thought she was nice-looking, and
they wanted to marry her. Some said: “We can’t talk to her;” others
said: “Maybe she isn’t good; she might break us up.” “Why should we be
afraid?” asked others. “If she broke us to pieces, we wouldn’t die; we
shall never die.” The chief said: “Let that girl alone. I like her;
every morning her song wakes me up.” One man said: “I don’t want her to
pass so often; the next time she goes by here I will say something to
her.”
That evening when the girl passed, nobody spoke to her; some of the men
wanted to, but others wouldn’t let them.
Early the next morning the Heûwûs people heard the girl’s song and said
to one another: “She is coming!” “She doesn’t hurt us,” said one young
man. “Don’t bother her.” “Why does she come here so often?” asked
another. “Maybe she belongs to this place.” One big Heûwûs said: “I am
stronger than any of you. I will have this good-looking girl for a
wife.” “Maybe she will break you to pieces,” said one of the young men.
“I am not afraid; she can’t kill me. If she hurts my body, I will hurt
her in some way.”
The girl listened to the Heûwûs people: when she was a long way off,
she could hear them talking.
Some of the young men sent their spirits to the lake to turn to fish
and jump up in the water and paddle around where the girl was.
“Why do you come here?” asked the girl. “You can’t fool me. You may
turn to anything you like, but I will know you. I have heard you
talking about me; I don’t like you. You needn’t be jealous because I go
around here. This is my place. Maybe I shall live here as long as you
do.”
The young men were ashamed; their spirits went back to their bodies,
became Heûwûs again.
That evening, when the girl went home, there was a nice-looking bow
lying on the path she always traveled. She said: “I wonder what man is
trying to fool me now?”
When she got near the creek, she met a number of the Nkok people. They
asked: “Did you see a bow?”
“It is back there on the trail,” said the girl. “What are you doing
around here? Why do you bother me? What kind do you think I am? I
belong to this earth. I was made when this earth was made. The place
around here is mine. I know when anybody is trying to fool me. What
could I use you for? Don’t you see that I travel as wind and air
travel? I have no use for you. You will no longer be living persons;
you will be hunters of fish in lakes and creeks.” Right away the men
turned to birds and flew off over the water.
The next morning, when the Heûwûs people heard the girl’s song, the
chief said to the young men who had sent their spirits to be fish and
bother her: “You have made trouble for us all. You shouldn’t have
meddled with that girl. She is powerful; she will be mad now and will
do us harm.”
When the girl came along the trail, she saw Wûspahlákls sitting in
front of her. He looked sleepy.
She said: “Who are you? No living person looks as ugly as you do. Go
away!”
Wûspahlákls lay down on the trail; he didn’t listen to her. She went
around him on the north side.
When she came to the Heûwûs’ place, she sat down and looked at them.
She said: “Why, you nice little Heûwûs, you are as smooth as you can
be.”
She picked up one and struck the ground with him; he didn’t break. She
said: “Oh it is not easy to break you, is it?”
The Heûwûs screamed: “Oh! Oh! you hurt me! You think that I am not a
living being, but I am.”
“You are talking to me; I am glad,” said the girl. “That is what I
want. You haven’t spoken to me before, but I have heard you talk about
me. I don’t hate you. You belong here, and so do I. I thought we should
be here always and be friends, but you don’t want it that way.” She put
the Heûwûs down and went on. Soon she saw Wûspahlákls again; he sat on
the trail in front of her. She called to him: “Get out of my way!” When
he didn’t move, she took off a bone scratcher she wore around her neck,
went up to him, scratched off all of his flesh, and pounded him to
death. Then she went on.
The next morning Wûspahlákls crossed the trail in front of her and went
into the bushes. The girl stopped; she was scared. She went home,
painted her body and her hair red, and started of in another direction;
she traveled around everywhere and asked every one she met: “Who owns
you?” She asked the rocks, the trees, the leaves. At last she asked a
little hill: “Who are you?”
“I am Lŭl′uphlainik,” said the hill.
“Whose eye are you?” asked the girl.
“I am this earth’s eye.”
The girl camped by the hill, and said to it: “I want you to tell me
about yourself.”
The hill said: “All these things around here belong to the earth; they
were made at the same time. This is not a good place for you. Over on
the lake, where two little air boys live, is a nice place for you.”
The girl was short and thin, and after she was painted she was red all
over. She started for the lake. As she was passing a mountain, a voice
spoke out of it, and asked: “Where are you going?” Right away she was
gone; she sank into the earth; only one eye looked out of the ground.
“Where have you gone now?” asked the voice.
“I am looking at you,” said the girl. “You are bad. I want you to be
something else.”
She came out of the ground, rubbed black paint on her hands, and on her
face, from her chin to the top of her forehead. Then she asked: “Who
are you who talk so much and make such a noise? I want you to go far
off on the mountain, where you can’t bother people who are traveling
around. Go where you won’t be seen often.”
He couldn’t go unless he looked at her. She knew this, so she said:
“Look at me; I want to be friends with you.”
He had to look at her; he couldn’t help it.
That moment he became as red as she was. She said: “I am a spirit and
hereafter you will be a spirit. Sometimes we will help each other.” As
soon as he looked at her, he went off to the mountain. Each spirit went
its way and both will live always.