HOW OLD AGE CAME INTO THE WORLD

It would be interesting to know who the five brothers were, but the

knowledge is lost. Their first notable encounter was with Storm, a

person who could kill any one whom he could catch and draw under water.

The brothers traveled till they came to a country where they found only

one man and one woman. The man said: “You cannot destroy us. We shall

live always.” When the brothers tried to kill him, and could not, they

were frightened and ran away. Komúchass followed them to their own

country, and killed them. The Indian woman who related this myth

believed that if the brothers had let Komúchass alone, there would have

been no such thing as old age.

Myths of the Modocs · 第 135 / 159 题