Tskel and Tcûskai are great characters. In every myth in which they
appear they are brothers and Skóŭks is Tskel’s wife; Tcûskai is always
small, mischievous and inquisitive. Tskel, to punish Tcûskai for giving
his blanket to Gopher (Pshagéknik), who is North Wind, hid water.
Tcûskai found it and was drinking it up when Tskel came. Had he drunk
it all there would be no water in the world. Tskel made a cap of the
skin of Gopher’s head, and putting it on, went to Thunder’s house and
killed the five brothers.
Tcûskai, though he was so small that he could camp in a woodpecker’s
hole, pursued Wŏn, a creature that had to bend down to bite off the
tops of trees. He wrestled with Sukas, a man-eater, who drew people in
with his breath and swallowed them.—A wave.