Kaiutois Gray Wolf
Wus Black Fox
Ten Wus brothers and ten Kaiutois brothers lived together; they were
kin. Each man had five daughters, except the youngest Wus brother; he
wasn’t married. The Wus brothers had a sister; she was nice-looking,
but she had such a long neck that she couldn’t eat meat; she ate the
neck bones of deer; ate five at a time. Everybody in the world knew
about her.
One day, when the eldest Wus brother was hunting, he took his drill out
of his quiver to start a fire. He put the drill on the ground and the
next minute it was gone; he couldn’t find it anywhere. That night he
said to his brothers: “I was alone all day, but when I put down my fire
drill it went away. I hunted everywhere, but I couldn’t find it. That
means trouble is coming to us; I don’t think we will live long.”
The next morning when some of the brothers wanted to track deer, the
eldest Wus brother said: “We must stay at home to-day. I feel scared
about my drill; something bad is going to happen.”
Old woman Kaiutois was sick in a little straw house near the big house
where her sons lived. She called to them, and said: “I hear people
around in the mountains; I think that they are coming to kill us. They
are people from the north. I don’t know what they say, but they are
coming nearer and nearer all the time.”
Just then a crowd of men with bows and arrows came down from the
mountain. They came to fight the Wus brothers. There were so many that
they filled the house, and the brothers couldn’t do anything; they were
all killed except the youngest Wus brother. He got on the top of the
house, made a long leap, then ran as fast as he could.
The strangers killed old woman Kaiutois, but they left Wus’ mother
alive. They said: “She is old, she won’t have any more children; let
her stay here.”
They cut each man open and took out his heart. They put the hearts on
the end of a long pole, burned the house, and started off, taking all
the women with them except Wus’ mother. When they were out of sight,
Wus came home. He found his mother, and asked: “Did they leave the
bodies?”
“Yes, but they cut them open and carried the hearts away.”
“Don’t feel lonesome,” said Wus. “I have two minds; I can do anything.
I will pay those people for killing my brothers.”
The old woman had covered her head with pitch and ashes. Wus told her
to go to the river and wash it off. While she was gone, he thought hard
and right away there was a new house where the old one had been. It was
large and nice, and was full of baskets and mats. He told his mother to
make him ten pairs of moccasins.
“Why do you want moccasins?” asked the old woman. “I don’t know where
to get skin to make them with.” She had a rabbit-skin dress on and he
told her to cut ten pieces out of it. Right away the ten pieces were
ten pairs of beautiful, beaded moccasins.
The old woman said: “You must be careful. Those men are strong. Maybe
they will kill you.”
“I am not afraid,” said Wus. “I have more power than they have. I am
going to find my sister. Maybe I will be gone a long time. Every day
you must put down new mats and throw away the old ones.” Then he said
to the mats: “There must be new mats here each day.”
Wus started. He traveled fast. Each pair of new moccasins lasted ten
days. When there was a hole in the heel of one moccasin, he threw the
pair away. He wore out five pairs; then he was near the house where the
strangers lived. He climbed a high mountain and stayed there all day,
watching the people in the valley. He saw his sister; she was almost
dead. Men were throwing captives back and forth across a fire; their
bodies were burned and black with smoke. At dark the men began to whoop
and scream, and to dance around the fire.
Wus thought hard, and made something long and bright. When he raised it
up, it blazed like fire. He called it golóbis. When he held it and
looked far off, he could see everything. He saw the people throwing his
sister back and forth like a ball, across the fire. The pole his
brothers’ hearts were on was stuck in the ground near the fire. He
cried when he looked at his sister and his kin. He said: “I want to
have long hair, and I want it covered with nice beads and bones, and I
want a blanket, and leggings covered with porcupine quills.” Right away
his hair touched the ground, and he had a blanket and leggings covered
with beautiful quills. At midnight he went where the people were and
stood looking at the fire.
“Who is that?” asked one of the men.
“Maybe that is Wus,” said another.
Wus took his bow and arrow and began to whip the bow string with the
arrow. It made nice music. Right away the long-necked girl knew that
the man was her brother. When he went nearer to the fire, people called
out: “Wus! Wus! That man is Wus!” and they were frightened.
“Why do you call me Wus?” asked he.
“I feel as if Wus were looking at me,” said the chief’s son. “Where did
you come from? We have never seen a man dressed as you are. Who are
you?”
“You mustn’t ask such questions,” said Wus. “Everybody has heard of me.
I live near you. My house is among the rocks. I have come to visit you.
Where did you get those hearts and those young women?”
“Off in the south, where there are two lakes together. They are the
hearts of the chiefs of that place. We killed nine of the Wus brothers,
and all of the Kaiutois brothers, and took their wives and sisters.”
“I am glad those men are dead,” said Wus. “They made me an orphan, and
they almost killed my old grandmother, who lives north of here.” Wus
began to cry.
The people didn’t quite believe him; they said: “You are Wus.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Wus. “You make me feel badly.”
“We missed the youngest Wus brother; maybe you are he.”
“I will tell you about that young man,” said Wus. “He can do anything
he wants to. He can change into different things. He can turn people
into rocks, or old stumps, or ashes. He wouldn’t come here and talk to
you; he would turn you into birds, or trees, or anything else he wanted
to. He doesn’t talk to people. I wish I could kill him, but I haven’t
power enough. I am afraid to go near him. I am glad you have killed his
brothers.”
People said: “Don’t listen to that man; he is Wus.”
Wus said: “Wait and see what will become of you when Wus comes. He will
be here soon. He will come to kill you and take his sister home. Didn’t
you take all the nice clothes those brothers had? When their youngest
brother ran away, was he dressed as I am? Can’t I stay and play with
those hearts and with the daughters of the men who killed my father and
mother? I will dance five nights over those hearts; I am glad to see
them hanging up there.”
Some of the people said: “Let him stay. We will watch him. He can stay
one day, then if he doesn’t do any harm, we will let him stay longer.
He isn’t Wus.”
Wus knew their thoughts. He began to dance and to throw the women
across the fire. He meant to make them stronger. As he threw them, he
talked to them in his heart, and they answered him in their hearts. He
said aloud: “I am glad to throw you over the fire. Your kin killed my
father and mother! I want the fire to burn you.”
He danced all night and threw the women faster than any other man; but
each time he threw them they were stronger.
In the morning he said: “You must let me sleep till the sun goes down;
then I will show you how glad I am that those brothers are dead. My
grandmother thinks that I am off hunting for deer. You must give me one
of those hearts to carry home to her; then she will be glad, too.”
After Wus had slept a while, one of the men woke him up and said: “You
are hungry; here are seeds to eat.” To one another they said: “If he is
Wus, he won’t eat our water seeds.” He knew what they said. He ate the
seeds and went to sleep again; slept till it was almost dark. Then he
helped the men build a big fire. He loosened his hair and it floated
around him, it was so long and thick. He had a woman braid it and tie
it up with strings of beads. Then he called out: “I want everybody to
come and see me dance!” The men sat around and looked at him. He danced
well and he sang his own songs. He danced for three nights; by the
middle of the third night everybody was tired. Wus said: “You should
sleep so you will be strong enough to dance to-morrow.” He was taking
their minds away from them; they thought of nothing; they liked Wus and
did as he told them.
The fourth night everybody was sleepy. Wus said: “Why don’t you sleep
now and dance in the daytime? People used to dance when the sun was
bright so everybody could see what they were doing.”
The next morning they danced till midday, then rested. Wus said: “This
is the last night I’ll dance. I am going home.”
They began early. Wus pounded the hearts on the poles. He pulled the
women around, rubbed them against the hearts, and said: “Those are the
hearts of your fathers and of your kin.” He whooped and screamed and
danced till midnight. Then all the men were falling asleep, they were
so tired.
“What makes you so sleepy?” asked Wus. “When Wus comes, you’ll not do
as you are doing now. Wus has power; when he comes, he won’t leave one
of you alive.” He kicked the men to make them get up and dance; then he
said: “You didn’t let me know you were going off to kill those men; now
you must give me this long-necked woman. Those men didn’t do you any
harm, but they killed all my people.” He began to sing, and as he sang,
every man fell sound asleep.
Wus said to the women: “When I hold up my golóbis, you must start and
run toward the east. Run as fast as you can.” He took the string of
hearts and wound it around his waist. Then he held the golóbis—a great
red ball—in his hand and went around among the sleeping men. The ball
killed them all, burned their lives up; when he turned the ball over,
it went out. The men lay there dead; Wus cut them open and took out
their hearts.
When Wus caught up with the women, he gave each woman one moccasin.
Right away each moccasin became a pair. As he traveled, he picked up
the old moccasins he had thrown away when coming. There were no holes
in them now. They were beautiful and new.
When Wus and the women were half-way home, they came to a place where
their brothers and kin used to hunt deer. The women felt lonesome and
began to cry. Wus said: “You needn’t feel lonesome; I am going to bring
all of our people to life.”
Now old woman Wus dreamed that she saw a whole string of hearts come in
at the top of the house, like snakes. When she woke up, she felt
scared; she rubbed herself in ashes and thought: “As I have dreamed, it
will be. Nobody can change a dream.”
When near home, the long-necked girl began to sing; her song was like
the song of a fly. The old woman heard it and was glad; she knew that
her daughter was coming, for nobody that lived in the world could sing
her song.
When they got to the house, the women hurried to get wood and build a
fire, so that their grandmother could boil the hearts Wus had brought.
When everything was ready, the old woman said: “You must all stay
outside while I do my work.”
Wus said: “Why do you have them stay outside? The spirits of the men
will be out there talking. If the women answer, your work will be
spoiled, and my brothers will never come to life.”
The old woman put the hearts in a basket of water and put hot stones
around the basket. Then she tied blankets around the women and made
them lie down in one corner of the house. She said: “When your brothers
begin to come back, they will talk to you; they will ask: ‘Are you glad
to see us?’ ‘Have we been gone long?’ ‘What are you lying there for?’
‘Get up and give us something to eat; we are hungry;’ but don’t answer,
don’t say a word. If you do, there won’t be anything but hearts in the
basket.”
When the water began to boil, the spirits of the men whose hearts were
in the basket began to talk in the brush outside the house; then they
went into the house and talked to the women. When the women didn’t
answer, they pushed them and scolded. But the women didn’t look up,
didn’t speak. After a while, there was a great noise, laughing and
talking, then each man took his place by the fire.
The old woman said to them: “You should keep still; you have made me
feel lonesome. You have been dead; I put ashes on my head and mourned
for you.”
The eldest Wus said: “Why did you feel lonesome? You knew our brother
had power, that nobody could kill him and that he could save us.”
They were glad when they saw their sister. She said: “Those men treated
me badly; they wouldn’t give me anything to eat, and they threw me back
and forth across the fire.”
“I am glad they didn’t make you eat our hearts,” said the eldest
brother. “Those people sometimes make their captives eat the hearts of
their own brothers and kin.”