Kai Rabbit (Jack)
Góshgoise Rabbit (Small)
Natanatas
Kai and his little brother, Góshgoise, went to Natanatas’ house. Kai
wanted to marry Natanatas’ daughter. He left Góshgoise outside. Old
woman Natanatas gave Góshgoise seeds and roots, but he wouldn’t eat
them.
“What does Góshgoise eat?” she asked.
“He likes the tips of grass and of weeds,” said Kai. She gathered some
and gave them to him; then he ate.
Old man Natanatas thought: “My sons want something to eat. I don’t like
this man Kai; I will kill him, and they can eat him.” He knew that Kai
didn’t eat fish and never went to catch them; but he said: “Sometimes I
get so many fish that I can’t make the canoe go; the net is too heavy.
I want you to come and help me.”
Kai went with his father-in-law; he didn’t like to refuse. When they
got to the lake, Natanatas said: “Get into the canoe; I fish out in the
lake.”
When they were in the middle of the lake, the old man said: “I feel
tired. We will sleep a little while; then we will feel better and can
work.”
Natanatas lay down in one end of the canoe and Kai in the other. Kai
slept a long time; when he woke up, he shook the old man, and said:
“Here, old man, wake up; the wind blows. We are going to get tipped
over and drowned.”
Natanatas pretended to be asleep, but he was making the wind blow; he
wanted to tip the canoe over and drown Kai.
Kai screamed: “Wake up! The canoe is full of water.”
Natanatas didn’t move. Kai pulled him around, shook him and pounded
him. The wind blew harder and harder. Kai was scared; he was wet and
freezing, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t waken the old man.
Just then a white eagle feather that was flying along the bank called
to Kai: “Why do you stay out there? Old Natanatas is trying to kill
you. Pull five strands of seaweed from the bottom of the canoe, tie
them together, twist them, and throw them into the water; then jump on
to them and come ashore.”
Kai did that, and got to land. He dried himself and went back to old
Natanatas’ house.
Some of Natanatas’ sons lived under the water; when their father
drowned a man, they caught and ate him.
Natanatas didn’t know which way Kai went. He said to himself: “Maybe he
fell into the lake, and my sons have eaten him.” He was glad. He made
the wind stop blowing. Then he rowed to the bank, pulled his canoe out
of the water, and went home. When he went into the house, he asked:
“Has Kai come?” Just then he saw him lying by the fire, asleep.
When Kai woke up, the old man said: “I didn’t know where to hunt for
you. The wind blew so hard I thought you were drowned. I felt badly. I
went all around the lake looking for you. I thought you were dead and I
cried.”
The next morning Natanatas went for rocks; he wanted to heat them and
sweat. When he came home, he said to Kai: “I saw a big deer right here
near the house; you could track it, but you haven’t anything to kill it
with.”
Kai’s wife cried; she said: “Father is trying to kill you. He kills
every man who comes here. He doesn’t want a son-in-law.”
Soon the old man said to Kai: “You must go to the lake and get some
reeds. I will make you arrows to shoot deer and ducks with; I am tired
of eating fish.”
Kai went to the lake, but he couldn’t see any reeds. He looked all
around; then he saw some growing on an island out in the middle of the
lake. He sat down and thought of what he was to do, thought for a long
time. Then white eagle feathers called out to him: “Why do you sit
there so long? You should think of us, then you would get the reeds.”
When he thought of the feathers, he rose up in the air and went to the
island. He got the reeds and went home.
When Kai gave the reeds to Natanatas, the old man made believe he was
glad. He said: “You thought it was far; you didn’t want to go, but you
found it was easy. Now you must bring me two round stones to straighten
the arrows. There is only one place to get them; that is down by the
river.”
Kai went to the river. It was deep and ran very fast. Under the water
he saw the stones his father-in-law wanted. He didn’t know how to get
them. He looked for others, but couldn’t find them; then he sat down
and thought about what he was to do. He felt lonesome; he knew
Natanatas was trying to kill him.
Then white eagle feathers called out: “Why do you sit there so long?
The old man is waiting. Why don’t you think of us?”
He thought of white feathers. Right away the river dried up. Kai took
the stones and went home.
Old Natanatas made believe he was glad; he said: “Those are like the
stones I used when I was a young man. Now I must have feathers to put
on the arrows. In a tree near here there is an eagle’s nest; I saw eggs
in the nest. Maybe the little eagles are big enough to have long
feathers. You must go and see.”
When Kai got to the tree, he looked up and saw an eagle in the nest. He
took off his clothes and began to climb. As he climbed, the tree grew.
Kai didn’t look back; he didn’t know that the tree was getting taller
and taller. He climbed for a long time. At last he got to the nest.
When he looked down and saw how high up he was, he was scared and began
to cry.
Soon somebody said right there near him: “Why do you sit here crying?
Pull feathers out of the young eagles; then think of us and you will go
down the way we do.”
Kai pulled the feathers, then he floated down as feathers do. When he
got home, the old man said he was glad, said: “There is where I used to
get my feathers; those eagles always have a nest in that tree.”
Natanatas had the bow and arrows ready. He gave them to Kai, and said:
“Now you must kill a deer, and we shall have sinew to tie the feathers
on with. I will show you a place where deer always come.” He went with
Kai, showed him deer tracks, and said: “Sit down here. I will go
farther and scare deer so they will run this way.”
Old Natanatas had a son under the ground, and he went to get him to
help kill Kai. When Kai was alone, he got up and went off; he didn’t
stay where the old man told him to.
The old man told his son to take the form of a deer and run at Kai and
kill him. “Put your heart in your foot,” said he. “Kai can’t shoot at
your foot.” Then he called out: “A deer is coming! A deer is coming!”
Góshgoise’s heart was with his brother and it kept calling to him:
“Pets, pets, pets! Pets, pets, pets!” (Foot, foot, foot!) It did that
to help Kai and tell him that he must shoot the deer in the foot, for
its life was there.
When the deer got near, Kai thought: “Maybe my brother is telling me to
shoot the deer in the foot.” He shot; the arrow went through the deer’s
foot and killed him.
When the old man came, he asked: “Where is the deer?”
“I fell asleep,” said Kai; “the deer passed me.”
“I told you to sit still, and watch for it.”
“I shot at it once,” said Kai. “Maybe I hit it.”
“Where is it?”
Kai told him and he went to hunt for the deer. When he found it, he
felt badly. He tried to look glad, but he didn’t say much. He only
said: “We won’t cut up this deer till we kill another one. There are
five paths here where deer run. I will show you a good place. This time
you must sit still; you mustn’t lie down and go to sleep.” When they
got to the place, Natanatas said: “Sit here and watch; I will go and
scare the deer.”
When a deer ran toward Kai, he hid. The deer looked for him, and the
old man called: “Deer is coming! Deer is coming!” Again little
Góshgoise said, “Pets, pets, pets!”
The deer couldn’t see Kai. Kai shot it in the foot and killed it.
When Natanatas came, Kai said: “A deer ran by. I shot once; maybe I
killed it. We will go and see.”
When the old man saw the dead deer, he said: “It’s almost dark; we will
leave the deer here till morning.”
When they got home, Kai’s wife scolded her father; she said: “You will
kill all my brothers trying to kill Kai, but you won’t kill him. He has
more power than you have.”
The next morning Natanatas said: “My son-in-law, you are afraid of a
deer. He has horns and you think he will hit you. He won’t hurt you.
Sit right still and shoot when you see him coming.”
Kai thought: “This time I will sit where he puts me.”
The deer saw Kai, but Kai shot it in the foot and killed it. When the
old man asked: “Where is the deer?” Kai said: “It saw me and ran off. I
shot once, but maybe I missed him.”
Natanatas thought: “I have only two sons left, but I will try once
more.” Tears were running down his face. He said to Kai: “I have been
running; I am sweating.”
Kai killed two more of the old man’s sons. Natanatas wouldn’t let Kai
touch the deer. He said: “We will come to-morrow and cut them up.” (He
was going to bring them to life.)
Little Góshgoise was getting lonesome; he thought: “If my brother is
going to stay around here, I will go home. He is away every day, and I
am alone all the time.”
The next morning old Natanatas said: “There are big fish in the lake;
we will go and spear one.” (He had turned his sons to fish, and they
were in the lake.)
This time Kai took Góshgoise with him. He knew that his brother was
lonesome.
The old man said to his sons: “As soon as you see Kai’s spear, catch
hold of it and pull him into the water. Then eat him.”
When Kai got to the lake, he was frightened, and thought: “I won’t
spear fish.” Then he thought: “I must do everything the old man tells
me to do.”
Soon he saw a big fish coming. It threw up water in great waves. It
caught Kai’s spear and pulled, pulled hard, but Góshgoise took hold of
the spear and helped Kai. They pulled the fish out on to the sand, and
Kai sent his brother to tell the old man to come and see it. When
Natanatas saw the fish, he said: “You have done enough for to-day; we
will go home and play games.”
The old man said to one of his sons: “I am going to run a race with
Kai. When we run along the bank of the river, you must make a river on
the other side of us, and as we go between the rivers, you must push
Kai into the water. Your brothers will catch him and eat him.”
When Kai and old Natanatas were between the rivers where the trail was
narrow, Natanatas’ son sprang out of the water, ran up behind Kai, and
gave him a push. Kai was falling into the water when white eagle
feathers saw his trouble, and called out: “Think of us!”
Kai did, and right away he floated off in the air. Then Kai called to
his father-in-law: “You can’t beat me!”
The next time they ran the old man said: “You must run on the left side
of the trail.”
“No, I will go on the right side,” said Kai. He went on the right side,
and when they came to a deep place and his brother-in-law ran up behind
him, he turned and pushed him into the river. The brothers, who were
waiting to eat Kai, ate their brother.
The old man said to Kai: “I will run with you again, but you must run
on the left side.”
Kai ran on the left side; his father-in-law pushed him off many times,
but he didn’t strike the water. He floated away, a feather, and when
the old man looked back, there was Kai. At last he pushed Natanatas
into the water.
Natanatas called out: “Don’t eat me! Don’t eat me!” His sons thought he
was Kai and they ate him, but his spirit escaped and he was alive
again. He scolded his sons, said: “Why don’t you kill this man? You
must run with him and kill him. We have more power than he has.”
Kai ran another race, pushed his brother-in-law into the water, and his
brothers ate him up.
Then the old man said: “We won’t run again. My sons feel badly, their
brother is dead.”
Kai’s wife scolded her father, told him he had killed his sons, that
she didn’t like him any longer, and wouldn’t stay where he stayed. Then
she and Kai and Góshgoise crossed a high mountain, and came down to a
meadow. They built a house and lived there always.