This myth, which recalls the Helen of Troy tale, is extremely
interesting both as regards personages and structure. At present I
shall make but few remarks, and those relating only to personages.
Hluyuk Tikimit, quivering porcupine, known here as Norwan, is the
cause of the first war in the world. The porcupine in American
mythology is always connected with sunlight, so far as my researches
go, and Norwan is connected with daylight, for she dances all day,
never stops while there is light. Her title of Bastepomas,
food-giving, is also significant, and would help to show that she is
that warm, dancing air which we see close to the earth in fine
weather, and which is requisite for plant growth. We have another
"light" person in this myth, Sanihas, who is light in a generic sense,
daylight generally and everywhere. The root Sa in Sanihas is identical
with Sa in Sas, the Wintu word for "sun." Sa means "light" and Sas
"for light," _i. e._ for the purpose of giving light. Sanihas is the
light which is given.
In Bastepomas, the title given by Olelbis to Norwan, the first
syllable ba means "to eat," bas means "for to eat" or food, tep means
"to give," and tepomas "she who gives;" the whole word means "she who
gives food."
Chulup Win Herit, the great chief, the white, pointed stone who lives
on the bed of the great eastern water, the ocean, the husband of
Sanihas, has a counterpart in Tithonos, the husband of Eos or Aurora,
in classic mythology. Both had beautiful wives, and were visited by
them nightly in the bed of the ocean. Chulup's tragedy is somewhat
greater, for he is caught by Wai Karili and pounded into bits near the
present Mt. Shasta, while Tithonos is only changed into a cricket.
Eos, the Latin Aurora, was considered as the whole day by most poets,
and Sanihas in Wintu mythology is the whole day, all the light that
Sas gives.
There was a reason why Norwan preferred Tede Wiu to Norbis, but we can
only infer it at present. The present Wiu bird is brown, and has no
significance in this connection, but there was a red Wiu, the bird
into which the Tede Wiu who fought with Norbis was changed. That he
was a person who might be preferred by Norwan, herself a special form
of light, is evident when we consider the immense importance in
European tradition of the robin-redbreast and of the red-headed
woodpecker among Indians.
That Norwan, food-giving light on the earth, was worth fighting for,
is evident.