"We have," answered all.
There was as much food in the two baskets as at first, and the old man
put them outside the house. Sedit saw this, and was angry. He said
that people should leave nothing.
"Don't talk so," said Patkilis. "What is done is right."
"You are all free to stay longer," said Waida Dikit, "but I suppose
that you wish to go home, I suppose you are in a hurry."
"Why should we go so soon?" asked Sedit. "The people from the west
might tell us what they know; we ought to tell them something."
"Keep quiet, Sedit," said Patkilis. "I told you not to talk. There are
many big men here, better men than you, but they don't talk. Waida
Dikit says that we have stayed long enough; that is what he means; you
ought to know it. He spoke as he did because he wished to say
something nice to us and be friends; but you must keep still."
A man on the west side rose now and came toward the middle of the
house, near the fire, stood there, looked about, and spat on the
ground. All the people saw him spit, and in an instant they saw a
small basket rise out of the spittle. Inside the basket were acorns of
mountain live oak. This man was Patit. He went back to his place and
lay down. Waida Dikit set the basket in the middle of the sweat-house,
picked out an acorn, ate it, and said,--
"People, come and eat. My friend Patit has made this for you,--this is
his food."
They never had acorns of that kind till then. Nop came first to the
basket to eat, and to this day he is fond of acorns. Then Tsihl and
Wima and Tichelis and Tsudi and Tsaik went to the basket and ate, and
all are fond of acorns now. No matter how many they took from the
basket, the acorns were none the less.
Sedit sat back ill-natured; he wanted them to eat all the acorns.
Waida Dikit put the basket outside.
Tsihl rose now, went to the place where Patit had spat, and put an
empty basket on the ground. He untied a wide strap, or braid of grass,
which he wore around his wrist, and held down his hand. Something
flowed out of it, like water, till the basket was filled. Then he tied
up his wrist again. The basket was full of seeds of sugar pine. Waida
Dikit ate of them; then called all to eat. People came and ate all
they wanted. The basket was as full as before. Sedit was very angry.
Hau came forward and put down a stone cup. He held his ear over it,
scratched the ear, and out came a stream of manzanita berries. These
were the first manzanita. No one had ever seen those berries in the
world before. Waida Dikit ate a handful of the berries and sat
down--said nothing. All the people hurried to eat, crowded around the
cup, ate as long as they were able, but could not decrease the
berries. Presently Waida Dikit began to itch. He did not know what
troubled him. Soon spots came out all over his body--red, yellow, and
black. This was because he had eaten the berries. His spirit was
afraid of what he had eaten. His spirit did not wish that he should
eat berries, they were not his kind of food; and that was why the
spots came out on him. It was his spirit's fear that brought out the
spots, and he has been spotted ever since. He ate not because he
wished, but because he was master of the house. It was for him to
taste everything, or people would think it bad food.
Now Wima came, put down a basket, and untied a white wristband which
he wore, held his hand down, and wild plums dropped into the basket
and filled it.
This time Waida Dikit sent Tichelis to taste the plums and set out the
basket. People ate, but there were as many plums as before.
These different kinds of food were given to the world for the first
time then, and this is why we have them now.
Tsaik came to the middle of the sweat-house. He tapped the ground with
his nose, and out came a great pile of acorns.
Sedit had eaten as much as he could, and was angry because any was put
away. He kept saying to Patkilis, "I don't like that."
"Sedit," answered Patkilis, "I have warned you against talking so
much. Don't you know that after a while all the new kind of people,
the people to come, will use food in this way, eat what they want, and
put the rest away?"
"You people have talked and been friendly," said Waida Dikit. "This is
the food we need; this will be our only food hereafter."
"Well," said Kanhlalas, standing up, "I think we have almost finished.
If we stay here too long, some bad people may see us and talk about
what we are doing."
Others said: "Yes, we have given all the food we have. If this
gathering lasts longer, bad people may find us and make trouble."
"That is true," said the assembly; "let us part."
"We will part," said Waida Dikit. "I am going to my old house and will
stay there forever. If salmon come up the Wini Mem, they will come as
far as my house and go back."
Next morning all set out for their homes. Tsihl changed his mind on
the road, and went back to Tede Puyuk, where he found that all had
gone except Sedit, Patkilis, Nop, and Hau. These four were outside
the sweat-house, and Tsihl said,--
"We have come back to look at this place again; it pleases us."
They stayed awhile, travelled through the country, and when Olelbis
sent people down here, coyotes, jack rabbits, deer, red-foxes, and
black bear came to Tede Puyuk, and there were many of them ever after
around that whole country.