"Rise up, my son-in-law. I have a small sweat-house out here. I go
there to sweat every morning, and then to the river to swim. I swim in
the river every morning. We will sweat, and then swim."
Sas went ahead, he was first in the sweat-house. He made a very hot
fire of the bones of people whom he had killed,--there were piles of
those bones around everywhere. Tulchuherris went out of Saskewil into
the sweat-house.
"Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, when they were at one side in the
sweat-house, "this is the place where Sas has killed many people who
escaped in the house. He will smoke you to death if he can."
The sweat-house was built of bones, and was plastered outside with
mucus from Sas's nose, so that no smoke could escape through the
cracks. After Tulchuherris went in he saw how Sas made the fire. The
old man never used wood, always bones. He piled on bones; fat and
marrow came out of them, blazed up, made a great smoke, and the smell
of the smoke was not pleasant. After sweating for a while Sas said,--
"I am old now and weak, nearly blind. I cannot stand much. My head
aches. I must go out to rest. Stay here you and take a good sweat.
When you have finished, come out."
Old Sas went out. The door was small, he could barely crawl through
it. When outside, he lay across the door and stopped the passage with
his body, so that no one could go out and no smoke could escape. After
a time Tulchuherris said,--
"My father-in-law, I should like to go out. Go from the door, let me
pass, I have sweated enough."
"Oh, I am old and weak," answered Sas. "I am lying here to rest. When
I have rested some, my son-in-law, I will rise and let you out."
Tulchuherris was silent a little while longer. Then he groaned, "Oh,
I'm nearly dead!"
"My brother," asked Winishuyat, "do you want to die? Do you want old
Sas to kill you, to smoke you to death? You have no wish to die, I do
not want to die. We are strong people, stronger than Sas. I will tell
you how to go out. Take that Chirchihas bone which you have and make a
hole in the north side of the sweat-house."
Tulchuherris made a hole in the wall of the sweat-house. He spat then
and spoke to the spittle. "Make noise for an hour," said he, "and
groan just as I do--'enh, enh, enh!' Let Sas believe that I am here,
that I am dying."
Tulchuherris slipped out through the hole, walked to the river, swam
there, washed himself clean, went back to Saskewil, and sat down with
his two wives, Sas's daughters. Sas heard the groaning of the spittle
inside and said to himself, "Tulchuherris is dying."
After a long time the noise stopped, and Sas said, "Tulchuherris is
dead." Then he went to the river, washed himself, and walked along
slowly toward the house. When he came near, he was saying,--
"Tulchuherris, you are nobody. I have finished you now. I am wiser
than you, stronger than you. You were brought up in your grandmother's
apron."
Tulchuherris heard him. When Sas was outside the door, he stood a
while and talked on,--
"You were dug out of the ground, Tulchuherris," said he. "You are
nobody. I have beaten you. You'll never trouble me again."
He started to go into the house, looked around, and saw Tulchuherris
sitting with his two daughters.
"Father-in-law, were you talking of me? What were you saying?" asked
Tulchuherris, when Sas had come in and sat down.
"Oh, my son-in-law, I cannot tell what I said, but I was thinking,
'Oh, I am so old, I know nothing. I am weak, I am blind. Sometimes I
do not know what I am doing. I think that I have done wrong to my
son-in-law, my poor son-in-law.'"
Soon after Sas went out, and at one side near the door he dug a grave
for the old woman, his wife. When he had dug it, he buried her and
with her all the bears and snakes, and said, "These are my children."
He put them in the same grave, and cried, singing as he cried,--
"Koki, koki, koki nom,
Koki, koki, koki nom."
(Creeping, creeping, creeping west,
Creeping, creeping, creeping west.)
While he was burying his wife and the bears and the snakes, he had
beaver teeth hanging on strings at the back of his head and on each
side of his face. After he had cried awhile he danced and sang, and
these teeth rattled as his head swayed from side to side. Then he went
into the house, sat down, looked at Tulchuherris, and said,--
"Tulchuherris, you are my son-in-law; your wives, those two women, are
my daughters. There are some things which they have wanted to play
with this long time, and they have begged me to go for them, but I am
old and blind; if I were to go I could not get what they ask for. My
daughters want pets. My son-in-law, on a small tree, not far from
this house, is a nest, and young woodpeckers chirp every day in it.
Your wives want these red-headed woodpeckers, but I am blind and old;
I cannot climb the tree, but you can get the woodpeckers. I will show
the nest."
"Go ahead," said Tulchuherris, "show me the nest."
The tree was a mile away. Sas went to it and stopped. Tulchuherris
stood near. Both looked up, and Sas asked, "Do you see the nest?"
The tree was very straight, and so high that they could hardly see the
top of it; the trunk was as smooth as ice.
"My father-in-law," said Tulchuherris. "I do not think that I can go
up there; I do not believe that I can climb the tree."
"You can climb it if I help you," said Sas, who took out a rope made
of single hairs tied end to end, a great many of them tied together,
hairs from the heads of his daughters. He threw the rope very high
over a limb near the nest, and said: "Now, my son-in-law, I will hold
the rope; you climb."
Tulchuherris began to climb the rope. He went up, up, up, till he
reached the limb and stood on it. Sas was on the ground, holding the
other end of the rope. When Tulchuherris let go his hold, Sas pulled
the rope down, and left Tulchuherris on the limb very high in the air.
Sas turned home. When a short distance he said,--
"Now, Tulchuherris, you are nobody. Your grandmother, Nomhawena, is
old. She dug you out of the ground with a root stick. You grew up in
her petticoat. You are not strong, you are not wise, you are only
Tulchuherris. I am Sas."
When Tulchuherris looked down he was terrified, it was so far to the
ground.
"My brother," said Winishuyat, "we shall get down. Lengthen the
pointed bone which you have, and go higher."
Tulchuherris went to the nest, looked in, and saw a great many heads
peeping out in every direction,--all heads of rattlesnakes. He looked
awhile; could not think what to do.
"Make the bone long," said Winishuyat. Tulchuherris stretched the
bone. "Stick the bone into the head of each snake and gather them all
on it."
Tulchuherris did this quickly; had them all; then he slipped them off
and let them drop to the earth. After that he sat on the limb and
thought: "What shall I do now?"
"My brother," said Winishuyat, "what are you thinking of? Why not try
to do something? Do you want to die? If you cannot think of a way to
escape, I will tell you a way."
"Tell me, my brother."
"Stretch your right hand toward the west. Something will come on it."
Tulchuherris stretched his hand toward the west, where his grandmother
was, and immediately something came with a whirr and a flutter, and
settled on his arm like a bird. It was a sky-strap, blue like the sky,
narrow, and very strong. He fastened one end of it to the limb,
knotting it in such a way that he could untie it with a jerk at the
other end. He slipped down on it, and when on the ground jerked it
loose. He strung the snakes on the long bone, they were all dead, and
carried them to Sas's house. He laid them at the door, went in, sat
down, and then said to the two women,--
"I have the woodpeckers if you wish to play with them. If you don't
want them, you can send your father to look at them."
The girls told Sas. He went to the snakes and cried out: "Oh, my
son-in-law, you are killing all my children." Sas buried them in the
old woman's grave, and cried, and sang the same song over them as over
his wife and the bears. Then he danced, wearing the beaver teeth.
Next morning old Sas rose first, and said: "My son-in-law, be up. My
daughters always want me to fish and hunt; but I cannot fish now, I
cannot hunt. I am old and weak. My feet are tender, I cannot walk; my
head is dizzy. But you are young, my son-in-law. You can do many
things. If you wish to hunt, I will show you where to find game in
plenty. When I was young, I used to go to that place and kill game of
every sort."
"I will go," said Tulchuherris.
When they were at the place, Tulchuherris saw only thick brush through
which no man could pass. There was only one narrow opening, one little
trail, and one tree at the end of it. "Stand against that tree," said
Sas. "When deer come, they always run past that tree. I will drive
deer in. You shoot."
Sas went north to drive deer in.
"Now, my brother," said Winishuyat, "be careful. You see the bones
around here. They are people's bones. When Sas could not kill people
elsewhere, he brought them to this place and killed them. He will
drive ten grizzly bears up to kill us, and eat us. Tell your panther
dog what to do."
"You, my dog," said Tulchuherris, "stand behind the tree till you see
a grizzly bear spring at me. I will dodge. He will miss and turn again
at me. Kill him when he turns."
Tulchuherris heard Sas driving bears in the distance. "Ha-ha, ho-ho!
Ha-ha, ho-ho!" shouted Sas.
"Be ready; they are coming!" said Winishuyat.
Tulchuherris heard Sas coming. Then he saw a grizzly, and another, and
another, till five were in sight. A little behind these were five
others. When the first bear came near, he bounded at Tulchuherris,
Tulchuherris dodged. The bear went past a good distance, and then
turned to spring back. That moment the panther dog seized him by the
throat and killed him. The second bear sprang at Tulchuherris. He
dodged; the bear passed, and turned to come back. The panther dog
seized and killed him right there. When he had chased the bears in,
Sas turned home, saying as he went,--
"You are in a good place to-day, Tulchuherris. I have you now where my
children will kill you. I know more than you; I am stronger than you.
I am Sas."
After ten bears were killed and no more came, Tulchuherris stood
awhile, and taking the bears in one hand by the paws, he walked home
with them; carried them as he would little birds. He put them at Sas's
door, went in, sat down, and said to his wives,--
"I have something outside. You call them deer, I give them another
name. But this is the only kind of deer that your father drove to me.
You eat this kind of deer, I suppose. Go and see them, or tell your
father to go."
Sas went out and saw the ten grizzly bears lying dead. "Oh, my
son-in-law," cried he, "you are killing all my children!" Then,
singing and crying, he buried the bears.
Next morning Sas rose early. "My son-in-law," said he, "there is
something which I would like you to do to-day. My daughters have been
asking me to do this for a long time; but I am too old. I will show
you a brush house. I made it to kill birds of every kind and all kinds
of game. It is near a spring at which birds meet to drink. Come; I
will show you the house and the spring."
"My brother, be careful to-day," said Winishuyat, at starting. "Sas is
taking us to Wintubos, where he has killed many people. There is no
water near that place; no spring; but the house is full of snakes,
poisonous things, and bears. Take both your dogs with you."
After Tulchuherris and Sas had gone a short distance, Sas stopped and
said,--
"My son-in-law, you see that little house down there? Go into it and
wait till you see some nice birds or game coming, then kill them. I
will go back. I am old and cannot stand or sit here and wait for you.
I will go home and lie down till you come."
Sas went home.
Tulchuherris went near the house, and stopped. The two dogs sprang
into the house at a leap, and killed all the snakes and the bears in
it. When the dogs had come out, Tulchuherris went in to look at the
house and the spring. He saw piles of bones everywhere. He cried when
he looked at them. There was no water in the spring. It was mud, thick
mud mixed with people's flesh. Tulchuherris looked toward the east,
and far away he saw an open plain. Soon he saw what seemed a small
speck at first. It was moving. As he watched, it came nearer, and he
saw it was a person. Now far away he saw something else. The first was
a small man; the second still smaller. Tulchuherris saw that they were
running toward him. They came near and stopped.
"Have no fear. Come up to me," said Tulchuherris.