RAVEN AND CREATION

Haida

Not long ago, there was no land to be seen.

Then there was a little thing in the ocean.

This was all open sea, and Raven sat upon this. He said, “Become dust!” It became earth. Then it increased and he divided it, and he put this earth into the water on each side of him. One earth he made small, but he made the one on the other side larger. Because he made one earth small, this island is small. So he finished this country. White men call it the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Again Raven started off. He came to where Eagle lived. And Eagle owned the fresh water. Before that there was none to be seen. Raven wanted to drink the water, but Eagle did not want to give it to him. A long time Raven wanted to drink this water. Then he drank it secretly, unseen by Eagle. Then he made off with it.

Then Raven spit it out. He spit out water upon all lands. He spit out Quilan first, therefore that is the elder brother of all the streams on Masset Inlet.When the water was almost gone from his mouth he came back to Masset. That is why the water here at Masset is red.

This is the way the story was told in the days of the grandfathers. But some of the story-tellers say that when Raven had taken all the fresh water from the Owner-of-the-Water, he carried it in his bill. He let a drop fall and it became the Chilcat River. When he spit it out, all the water flowed away and the ground became dry. Then he spit out more, and the ground also dried up after the water flowed away. Raven saw that. Then he let still more drop, and as soon as he let it drop he bent it together. He made a circle out of it; then it stopped running off. Because Raven bent the water together, all the streams keep on running, although they run every day.

Haida

Beaver lived in a beautiful house on the shore of a large lake. In the lake were salmon and on the shores were berries of all kinds.

One day Raven disguised himself as a poor, hungry person. He went to Beaver’s house. Beaver was just coming home with a fish and berries. Beaver said, “What are you doing here?”

Raven said, “My father has just died. We have the same ancestors. He told me to visit you and ask for food.”

Beaver believed Raven and pitied him. He told Raven to stay at home, promising to give him much food. There were always fish in the lake and ripe berries on the shores.

The next day Raven went to the lake. He rolled up the water like a blanket. He took it in his beak and flew away. He alighted on the top of a large cedar tree.

When Beaver went out to fish, he found his lake was gone. Then Beaver called all the Beavers to help him, all the Wolves and Bears. He called also a monster Talat-adega, which has a long body, a long tail, and many legs. He asked them to throw the tree down.

The Wolves dug up the roots of the tree, Beavers gnawed the trunk of the tree. All the animals worked until the tree fell; then Raven flew to another tree.

All the animals of the forest worked hard. They tried to throw this tree down. But when it fell down, Raven flew to another tree.

After they had felled four trees, the animals said, “Please give us our chief’s water. Don’t make us unhappy.”

But Raven only flew away. He spilled some of the water on the ground as he flew along. Thus originated all the rivers on Queen Charlotte Islands. Raven also made the Skeena and Stikine rivers.

There was a man named Kilkun at Skidegate. Kilkun said to Raven, “Give me some water!” Raven gave him only a few drops. Then Kilkun became angry and fell dead. He forms the long point of land at Skidegate.

Haida

Before the days of the grandfathers there was nothing but water. All was water, except a single reef. Here lived the supernatural beings. They were much crowded. They all lay heaped together. Then Raven flew all about trying to get a footing, but he could alight nowhere.

Then Raven looked at the sky. It was solid. It was very beautiful and Raven was fascinated by it. He said, “I’ll go up there,” so he ran his beak into the sky and climbed up.

Now in the Sky Land was a large town. The chief lived there and in the chief’s house was a baby. When night came, Raven took the baby by the heel and shook all his bones out. Then he crept into the skin and pretended to be the baby. But at night he stole out of the baby’s skin and became Raven. He flew into all the houses and made much mischief. Then at last a woman saw him and told all the people.

Then the chief called all the people together and they sang a song for Raven. It was a magic song, andin the midst of it the one holding Raven let him fall, and he dropped down out of the Sky Country until he fell upon the great waters.

Now the cradle drifted about on the water for a long time. Raven cried; then he cried himself to sleep; but as Raven slept, something said, “Your powerful grandfather invites you in.” Raven sat up quickly. He looked toward the sound, but there was nothing there. Soon the voice said the same words.

Raven looked through the hole in his marten’s-skin blanket. Presently up through the water came a grebe saying, “Your powerful grandfather invites you in.”

Then Raven stood up. His cradle was floating against a kelp with two heads. He stepped upon it, and behold! it was really a two-headed house pole made of stone. When Raven climbed down, he found he could breathe as easily as in the air above.

Beneath the house pole was a house. Someone said, “Come inside, my son, I hear that you come to borrow something from me.” Raven entered. In the back part of the house sat old Sea-Gull Man. The old man sent him for a box which hung in the corner. There were four others inside of this. Raven pulled them all apart and took out two long pieces of something. One was black and the other was covered with shining points.

Sea-Gull Man took the two pieces and showed them to Raven. He said, “Lay this speckled stone in the water first, and this black one last. Then bite off a piece of each, and spit it out and the pieces will reunite;” so he said.

When Raven went out, he put the black piece into the water first. When he had bitten off part of the rock with shining points and laid it in the water, the points rebounded. He had not done as he had been told. Now he went back to the black one, and bit off part of it, and spit it out again. Then the pieces stuck. These were going to become land. He put this into the water, and it stretched itself out and became the Haida Country. Of the other piece he made the Seaward Country—the mainland.

Paradise Valley[1]Laggan, Alberta, CanadaCourtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry.

Lakes in the CloudsLaggan, Alberta, CanadaCourtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry.

Haida

Raven became the son of Moon Woman. He cried a great deal. When he cried, he said, “Boo-hoo, moon!” Then his mother said, “He talks about a thing beyond his reach, which the supernatural beings own.” So Raven began to cry again, “Boo-hoo, moon!”

Then, when Moon Woman’s mind was tired out with his noise, she stopped up all the holes in the house. She stopped up the smoke hole, and all the small holes as well.[2]Then she untied the strings of the box. Although they were very strong, she untied them. She did this because the moon was inside the box. Then she took the moon out and let Raven play with it. She did not give it to him; she only let him play with it to quiet him.

After his mother had gone out, Raven took up the moon in his beak. He turned himself into a raven andflew about the house with it. He made himself small. Just before his mother returned, he made himself a child again. Then he again played with the moon.

Then Raven again began crying loudly, when his mother returned. He cried, “Boo-hoo, boo-hoo, smoke hole!” So he cried, “Boo-hoo, boo-hoo, smoke hole!” He cried this way for a long time. Then he tired his mother’s mind with his crying, and she opened the smoke hole a little. Raven cried, “Boo-hoo, more! Boo-hoo, more!” for a long time. Then she made the opening in the smoke hole larger, and he kept crying, “Boo-hoo, more!” until she had made it quite large.

Then again Raven played with the moon. Raven cried because he wanted the moon, and his mother did not want to give it to him. When he cried very much, she gave it to him and made that large opening in the smoke hole.

Now at that time it was always dark. Raven did not like darkness.

Now after she had made the smoke hole larger, his mother again went out, and Raven was playing with the moon. Then he put the moon in his beak and flew through the smoke hole with it. Immediately he put the moon under his wing. He perched up on top of the house with the moon under his arm and called like a raven.

Then Raven flew to the bank of the Nass River, where they were taking olachen. And it was dark. Raven called, “If you will bring me your spruce needles, I will make it light for you.” He called the olachen spruce needles. He said that same thing again.

The fishermen replied, “One who always talks is talking about something which the supernatural beings own, and which is beyond his reach.”

Thus they made him angry, and he let them see a little of the moon. It became light. Then they all went to him and gave him a great many olachen.

Raven again put the moon under his arm. Flying up with it, he sat on the top of a high mountain. He took the moon out, and threw it down so it broke. He took half of it and threw it up into the sky, and said, “You shall be the moon and shall give light in the middle of the night.” He then threw the other half upward and said, “You shall shine in the middle of the day.” Then he threw upward the small fragments, and said, “You shall be the stars; when it is clear, they shall see you all during the night.”

Wyandot

After the earth was formed on Big Turtle’s shell, there was not enough light, so the animals said. Big Turtle called a council. When the council met, Big Turtle said that because the island had been made for the woman, there should be more light. Someone said that a light hung in the sky would be well. Then Small Turtle at once answered, “If I could climb into the sky, I could gather together some of the lightning, and make a ball of it.” Big Turtle said, “Oh, yes. Try to climb up. You have great power.”

At once Small Turtle made medicine, and soon there was a great storm. A cloud full of lightning rolled down towards the council, with a great noise. There were broken rocks and trees in the cloud. It came so near that Small Turtle climbed into the cloud, and went upward with it.

When she reached the Sky Land, Small Turtle gathered much lightning together. She made a ball out of it, and hung it in the sky. After that there was light on the island because the sun shone. Small Turtle also made moon.

Thompson River

A large dead tree stood near Spence’s Bridge. It was full of magic and possessed the power of giving light. At that time the world was always dark. Now Chipmunk did not like the continual darkness, and his friends did not like it, but some of the animals did. And some of the other animals were undecided.

Chipmunk knew that if he set fire to the magic tree near Spence’s Bridge, the world would become light again, so he set fire to the roots, and kept poking the ashes away with a stick that the wind might fan the flames. When the tree fell, the earth became light.

Now Grizzly Bear and his friends wanted continual darkness. When that tree fell, Grizzly appeared in a great rage and began to put out the fire by throwing earth on the log and on Chipmunk.

Grizzly Bear cried,

Le pa, Le pa! Dimness, dimness!

Chipmunk would poke the fire and brush the earth and ashes away and sing,

Tse ka, tse ka! Light, light, light!

And immediately the fire would flame up and light would come; but when Grizzly Bear threw on more earth it became dark again.

Now both Grizzly and Chipmunk sang as loud and as hard as they could, and sometimes it was light and sometimes it was dark. After a while they both grew tired. Then they agreed that it should be dark part of the time, and light part of the time.

But Grizzly Bear was angry at Chipmunk and chased him into a hole. As Chipmunk scampered into the hole, Grizzly scratched his back. That is the reason Chipmunk has stripes on his back.

Carrier

In the days of the animal people, there was darkness everywhere except in the tepee of an old chief. He owned all the light, fire, and water; therefore men were very miserable and sighed always. Men pleaded with the old chief for light, but he would give them none. Therefore they tried to get it by craft.

Now all the animals put on their masks and their dancing aprons and went to the old chief’s lodge for a dance. He did not invite them. They went. They were going to get light by craft.

Now each one sang his own song. Fox kept singing,

Khain, khain, khain,

because he thought in that way he would gain light. Therefore the animals call him Khain, which means, “He cries for daylight.”

Now the old chief steadily refused to give them light. Yet the animal people were each singing his own song, and each singing,

Light, light, light, light!

Thus they sang. And they sang so loudly and so steadily that light began to steal up into the sky, like a faint dawn. The old chief saw it. At once he shouted,

Let there not be——!

Had he said “light” as the last word, light would have come. But at once the light disappeared below the edge of the sky.

Now young Fox kept on conjuring and crying,

Khain, khain, khain, khain!

and the animals kept on dancing and singing for light, because they wanted to tire the old chief. And again light began to steal into the sky. Then the old chief saw it and he became much excited. The noise confused him and he shouted,

Let there be—light!

And immediately the light came up into the sky. Ever since then men have had light. But the old chief did not mean to say that.

Carrier

Now after the animal people had won light by shouting “Khain,” and “light,” and had confused the old chief, they were very happy for a time. But they had no fire. The same old chief owned all the fire in the world. He kept it in his lodge, carefully guarded. Therefore the people resolved to steal it, because he would not give it to them.

Now the people laid their plans. They said Young Caribou and Muskrat must help. Then they put on their dancing aprons and their dancing masks, and went to the lodge of the old chief. Young Caribou had a fine headdress of pine shavings fastened to his horns. Young Muskrat had a dancing apron made of a marmot skin.

Now they all entered the old chief’s lodge. They began singing, and Young Caribou and Muskrat began their dancing. Each took a place at one side of the fire, where the old chief kept close watch. Muskrat sang,

Oh, shelte! Oh, shelte!

which are magic words. Therefore Indians say, “Oh, shelte,” even today, when they hunt muskrats.

Young Caribou, as he danced, jerked his head from side to side until the shavings caught fire. At once the old chief put them out with his hands. Everybody began to dance then, and Young Caribou let the shavings catch fire. And again the old chief put them out, though they were quite a blaze.

Now, while the old chief was busy watching Caribou, Muskrat had been busy. He had burrowed a tunnel through the earth. Then he quickly stole a piece of fire and slipped into his hole with it. The old chief was busy putting out the fire in the shavings on Caribou’s horns. Everybody went on dancing.

Suddenly a person said, “Oh, look!” He pointed to a great mountain far away, near the edge of the sky. A great column of smoke rose from it. Then soon flames burst from the mountain top.

At once everybody knew that Muskrat had stolen the old chief’s fire, and had given it to men and animals.

Shuswap

One day Grizzly Bear met Coyote and said to him, “I am great in magic, greater than all of the people. When I wish a thing to be so, it has to be so. Now, I do not like having it dark so short a time. I intended to make it dark all the time.”

Coyote said, “Oh, no! That would inconvenience the people too much.”

Grizzly Bear said, “I intend to have it my way.”

Coyote said, “No, you can’t!”

At once Grizzly Bear began to dance, singing,

Darkness! darkness! darkness! Let it always be dark!

That was his song.

Coyote also danced and sang,

Light! light! light! light! Let it always be light!

Thus Coyote sang.

They danced and sang a long, long time. Sometimes it was dark, when Grizzly sang loudest, and sometimesit was light when Coyote sang loudest. But neither won.

At last Grizzly Bear became tired. He said, “Let’s have it dark half the time, and light half the time.” Coyote agreed. He said, “Hereafter it shall be light from the time that the sun prepares to follow the trail through the Sky Land until he reaches the edge of the Darkening Land. The rest of the time shall be night. Thus every day shall Sun travel. When he leaves the Earth Plain, the darkness shall follow him.”

After a while, Grizzly Bear said, “I do not like the length of the year. Winter is far too short. Let winter be as many moons long as there are feathers in the tail of Blue Grouse.” So they counted and found twenty-two feathers in the tail of Blue Grouse. Grizzly Bear wanted winter to be twenty-two moons long!

Coyote said at once, “Oh, no! The people would die. Let winter be half that number.” Grizzly Bear objected. Then Coyote said, “Let there be as many moons in the year as there are feathers in Flicker’s tail.” Grizzly Bear agreed, because he thought there were many feathers in Flicker’s tail.

Shuswap BeadworkTobacco pouch designs of great beauty. From the region of the Canadian RockiesFrom “Memoirs, American Museum of Natural History”

Now, when they counted, there were only twelve feathers in Flicker’s tail. But it was too late to make any change. So Coyote said, “Hereafter in a year there shall be six months of warm weather and six months in which it may snow and be cold.”

Thus Coyote saved the people from living in darkness, and from very long, cold winters.

Lillooet

Raven and Sea Gull were friends. Their houses were close together in the Lillooet country. It was dark all over the world at this time, because Sea Gull owned the daylight, which he kept in a box. He never let any of it out except for his own use.

Raven said, “It isn’t fair that Sea Gull should have all the daylight. People should have some of it.” Therefore Raven planned to get the daylight.

One night he placed thorn branches on the trail between Sea Gull’s house and the place where his canoe was fastened. Then he ran to Sea Gull, shouting, “Your canoe has gone adrift! Your canoe has gone adrift!” Sea Gull heard Raven and rushed out of the house in haste. He did not even put on his moccasins; he ran in his bare feet and stepped on the thorns. Then Sea Gull screamed, “Ah-ah!” just as sea gulls do now. He shouted to Raven, “Get my canoe! Save my canoe!” Then he went back to his house. He was much excited.

Raven pulled up the canoe and went to the house. Gull spoke of those thorns in his feet. Raven said, “Oh, I can pull them out, if you will let a little daylight out of your box.” So Gull sat down beside the box and opened it a little with one hand. Raven began to pull out the thorns with an awl. Soon he said, “I can’t see well. Give me more light.” Gull opened the box a little more.

Raven pulled out all the thorns but one. He said, “This last one is hard to get out. I shall need more light.” When Gull opened the box a little more, Raven gave his arm a push. Thus he knocked down the box and broke it. Then all the daylight rolled out and spread all over the world. Sea Gull was unable to collect it again.

Raven took out the last thorn and went home chuckling.

Now Raven could see very well indeed, and one day he cleaned himself nicely. He combed and oiled his hair, and put on his best robe, and painted his face black. Then he sat on the top of his underground house and looked all over the world. He saw nothing. The third day he changed the paint on his face. That evening he saw signs of smoke. The fourth day Raven changed his face paint again. Now he located thesmoke. It was far away to the south, on the shore of the sea.

Raven had four servants. They all at once entered a small canoe, but it was swamped. Then he tried another. Then he said to his wife, “Go to Sea Gull’s house and tell him I need to borrow his canoe.” So he started off in Sea Gull’s canoe.

Now they paddled downstream until they were close to the house of the people who owned the fire. They planned very quietly. That night they bored a hole under where the baby board hung and stole the baby. Then they ran away.

Now early in the morning the people missed the baby. They knew what had happened. But Raven was too far ahead. They sent out men. Sturgeon, Whale, and Seal searched for Raven’s boat, but they could not find him. Other men searched, but only one small fish found Raven’s canoe. He tried to stop the runaways by sticking to the paddle, but after a while he got tired and went home. Now Raven reached his own country.

Then the Fire People visited Raven with presents. Four times they came; Raven refused all their gifts. Then they said, “What do you wish?” Raven said, “Fire.” Then they said, “Well, why didn’t you say that before?” And they were glad, because they hadplenty of fire and thought little of its value. So they brought Raven fire, and he gave them back their baby. These Fire People showed Raven how to make fire with dry cottonwood roots.

Raven said to Sea Gull, “If I had not got the light from you, I could not have seen where the fire was kept.”

Lillooet

Beaver and Eagle lived with their sister in the Lillooet country. They had no fire at all, so they ate all their food raw. The sister cried and complained constantly because she had no fire at which to roast her dried salmon skins. At last the brothers said, “Don’t cry any more. We will get fire for you. First we will need to train ourselves for a long time; but if you cry while we are training, we shall fail.”

Beaver and Eagle went into the mountains and trained for four years. Then they knew where fire was, and they returned home and told their sister that they knew how to find it.

Now they started off. They traveled five days to the house of the people who owned the fire. Eagle drew over himself an eagle’s body; and Beaver drew over himself a beaver’s body.

Beaver at once went to work. He dammed the creek nearby and that night made a hole under that house. The next morning Beaver swam around in the pond of water made by the dam. An old man saw him andshot him. He took Beaver into the house and laid him beside the fire. He told the people to skin him. While they were skinning Beaver, they found a clam shell under his arm, which he had hidden there.

Just then the people saw a large eagle perched in a tree nearby. Quickly they wished for his feathers. At once they all ran out and began to shoot at him, but no one could hit him. And while they were shooting, Beaver was left alone.

Then Beaver rose quickly and put fire in his clam shell. He dug into the hole he had made beneath the house, and raced away to the water. He swam away with the fire.

As soon as Eagle saw that Beaver was safe, he flew away. Then they returned home. They gave fire to their sister.

Haida

At that time there was no fire to be seen. They did not even know of it. Raven went northward on the surface of the sea. Far out at sea a big kelp was growing out of the water, but the kelp head was gone, and many sparks came out of it. This was the first time that Raven had ever seen fire.

Then Raven went along to it on the bottom of the sea. Then the big fishes—the Black Whales, and the Dolphins, and others—wanted to kill him as he went along. Owner-of-the-Fire was the one to whom he went.

When Raven entered his house, Owner-of-the-Fire said to him, “Come and sit here, chief.” Raven said, to him, “Will the chief give me fire?”

Owner-of-the-Fire gave fire to Raven, as he had been desired, and when he gave it to him, he put it in a stone tray. A cover was over it.

Raven went away with it. After he had gone up to the shore, Raven put a fragment of live coal into a cedar standing there. Because he put fire into the cedar, when people want to start a fire they use a drill of cedar, because fire comes from it.

Bella Coola

Mink’s father was “Walking-through-the-Heavens.” He was Sun, but no one knew it, and one day when Mink was playing with the children of his village, they laughed at him saying that he had no father. Mink began to cry and went home to his mother.

Mink’s mother said, “Why, your father is Walking-through-the-Heavens.” Then Mink demanded bows and arrows, and his mother gave them to him.

Mink went outside the lodge and began to shoot his arrows into the sky. The first arrow struck the sky and stuck there. The second arrow hit the notch of the first, and held there; and the third arrow stuck in the notch of the second. So with four arrows Mink made an arrow chain which became a rope. He called to his mother and said, “Hold the rope so it will not shake,” and she did so.

Then Mink began to climb up into the Sky Land, while his mother held the rope. After a long time he reached the door to the upper world. Then heclimbed in and looked around him. He began to walk toward a bright house in the distance. It was Sun’s house. As he came near it, a woman came out to pick up wood. When she saw Mink, she said, “Oh, little one! Where do you come from, sonny?” The woman went at once back into the house and told Sun.

Now Walking-through-the-Heavens was tired that day. He did not climb the trail through the sky, but left it covered with clouds. Therefore it was gray and cloudy in the Earth Land. When there are clouds in the sky, that is the time that Walking-through-the-Heavens rests.

Mink told his father that the boys in the village teased him. He begged to be allowed to carry Sun’s torches. Then Sun said, “Oh, you can’t do it. I carry many torches. Early in the morning and late in the afternoon I burn small torches; but at noon I burn the larger ones.”

Mink teased and teased. He said he wanted to carry the torches just once. Therefore one day Sun said, “I think I’ll rest today. You may carry the torches.”

So Walking-through-the-Heavens gave him the torches. He said, “Oh, child, take care! Walk in the morning, but don’t walk too fast. Do not sweep your aunts, the clouds, away too quickly, or it will go hard with the people in the Earth World.” Then he saidagain, as Mink started off, “Don’t be too fast when you walk or sweep.”

So Mink started off, carrying the torches. At first he lighted only small ones, and he walked slowly, and swept away the clouds not too rapidly. He did it very well indeed. But at noon Mink became tired. He swept away the clouds very rapidly, and he walked very fast. Then he also lighted many of the large torches at once.

At once it grew very hot. Great cracks came into the mountains and they began to split. All the rocks in the world were burned so that they are bare, even today. The trees began to burn and many animals jumped into the water. But the water began to boil. Mink’s mother covered all the people with her blanket, so they were saved. All the people in the world hid under her blanket. The animals tried to hide under the rocks and in caves. Ermine crept into a hole which was not quite large enough, so the end of his tail stuck out. It was burned black. That is why Ermine is white with a black tip to his tail. Mountain Goat hid in a cave, so he is perfectly white. All the animals which did not hide were scorched and therefore they have dark fur on the upper side of their bodies, but the under side is lighter.

Now when Sun saw what was happening to thepeople of the Earth World, he rushed up the trail, and said, “Why do you do so? Do you think it is good that there should be no people on the Earth World?”

Sun took the half-burned torches and put them out. Then he pushed Mink right out of the Sky Land, saying, “Go right down to the Earth World again. You shall be mink and men shall hunt you.”

Now four women had gone out digging clams. Then they saw something floating around among the drifting seaweed. They went towards it. It was Mink. When they touched him, he rubbed his eyes and said, “I have been sleeping on the water for a long time.” Then he went up the beach and went home to his mother.

Now the world was hot, and the trees were burning, so that Sun caused the waters to rise until they covered the whole country except for a few mountains on Bella Coola River which rose above the waters. The Bella Bella and the Bella Coola tribes fastened their canoes to the tops of these mountains, and for this reason they were not lost. Other tribes tied their canoes to other mountains, but some of the canoe ropes broke and the people drifted away to different countries. The flood went as far north as the Skeena River, and people drifted even from up there. One canoe drifted over in the lands of the white people. Then at last Sun made the waters to sink.

Cathedral PeakField, British ColumbiaCourtesy of Canadian Pacific Ry.

Crow was sitting on the top of a tree when Mink made the Earth World to burn. The smoke was so black that it made Crow black all over. Before that Crow had been white; so the Indians say.

Shuswap

In the days of the grandfathers men did not know anything at all about the other worlds. They knew very little even about the Earth Land.

Now in the Sky Land lived an old chief who was very wise and very kind, and with great magic. The son of the old chief died and he did not know where he had gone. Therefore Old One was very sorrowful. He wailed, “Where is my son gone? He cannot be dead. He has only gone away. But where has he gone?” In those days death did not happen often.

Therefore Old One began to travel. He went everywhere. He came down to the Earth World and went into the Shuswap country. Here he found the people very ignorant. He taught them how to fell trees and make twine, how to sew clothes and make needles and awls. He also taught them how to hunt game, how to trap, and dig roots, and gather berries so they would have food enough. So the people were much happier. There were no salmon there in those days; it was long afterward that Coyote brought the salmon up the river.

After traveling all through the Shuswap country, Old One went on. It became known afterward that he traveled through the country of six different tribes, teaching all the people how to live, and looking always for his son.

When he lived at home in the Sky Land, Old One had two servants and several companions. His two servants were Beavers, and one slept at the head of his bed and one at the door of his house. Because they were nearer to him, Old One made them the most valuable of animals. That is why beaver fur is always so much sought after.

Lillooet

When Tsuntia and the four Black Bear brothers had traveled over the earth and put things to rights, they met one another at the edge of the earth. Black Bear brothers said, “There is yet one country where the people are bad. They were too strong for us. You go to that country and stop the sun so they will all be burned up.” Thus they spoke to Tsuntia.

Tsuntia said, “If I go there and stop the sun, all the people in the world will be burned up and everything on earth besides.”

The brothers would not believe this, so Tsuntia commanded the sun to stand still. Then the earth became so hot it was scorched. The tops of the trees began to smoke. The Black Bear brothers were overcome with the heat, and they began to be afraid. They said, “We see that you know and speak the truth. Now let the sun move on.”

Tsuntia said to them, “Whistle at the sun, and he will go on.” They said, “Oh, no. You do it.” SoTsuntia whistled and pointed his finger at the sun. The sun followed his finger as he moved it toward the west. He moved his finger down over the mountains and the sun set rapidly.

Then a breeze sprang up and soon cooled the earth and the people. The bad people of that country were never punished. They are there yet, near the edge of the earth.

Cree

Once all the world was burned. Only a man and his mother and his sister were saved. Before the fire there were many people on earth. Then the young man fell out with his father, and they became enemies. The young man had heard that all the world was to be burned, but his father did not believe it.

Now the young man made a bow and arrows. He shot one arrow to the west, and one to the east, and one to the north, and one to the south. The places where the arrows fell were the four corners of a bit of ground which would not burn. The young man told everybody who wanted to be saved from the fire to come onto that square of land. Many did not believe the world would be burned, so they would not come.

After a while the fire came. They could hear it. They were encamped by the side of a big lake. By and by all the birds and animals came running to that bit of ground marked out by the arrows. The old man had quarreled with his son, so he would not come. Thefire was very hot. All the water boiled because it was so hot.

After a while the fire was put out, and the water had settled down. Everything had to be started over again.

Now there were many animals on this patch of ground, and the man named some of them and told them what to do.

He put Beaver in the water, but Rabbit wanted to live in the water. The man said, “No.” Then Rabbit jumped into the water and the man had to pull him out. He said to Rabbit, “Your legs are too long. Even if you do eat willow like Beaver, you don’t go about in the water properly.”

Squirrel wanted to be Bear. He did all he could to be Bear. He argued and chattered a great deal about it. The man said, “Oh, you’re too noisy. You wouldn’t be a good Bear.” He said also, “If you are Bear, you are so noisy that when people come again, they will kill too many of you. A bear must keep quiet. He has many enemies.” Then Squirrel began to weep. He wept until his eyes were white. Even today Squirrel has eyes bright and swollen from weeping.

The man made Bear then, because he was nice and wise and quiet.

Somebody wanted to be Caribou—nobody remembersjust who wanted that. Then Deer was made, and made so swift that he could outrun all pursuers.

After the man had finished making all the animals, he put a mark on them, so people would know what they were.

Then the man had to give all the people new names. His mother he called Robin, because she was friendly. His sister he called Golden-winged Woodpecker, because she was beautiful. He called himself Blackbird because he would only come every spring.

Bella Coola

The House of Sun stands in the center of the lower heaven. It has other names. Sometimes it is called “Where man was created,” sometimes “House from which people come down,” and sometimes “House to which people go.”

In front of the house stands a great pole, painted with birds of every kind, with the white crane sitting on top of the post. The master of the house is Sun. He is also called “Our Father,” and sometimes the “Sacred One.” The Bella Coola pray to Sun. When they go hunting they say, “Look on us, where we are going, Father.” Or they say, “Take care of us, Father.” After long rain, they pray, “Wipe your face, Father, that it may be fair weather.” The hunter who has shot deer, or the woman who has found many berries, prays, “Father, you make me happy; you give me what I desire; thus I find what I wished for!”

The Bella Coola also make offerings to the Sun. Hunters throw four small slices of seal meat, or of mountain-goat tallow, into the fire, as an offering to Sun, to obtain success in hunting.

There are other gods living in the House of the Sun. Two of them wake man after sleep; without their help nobody could awaken from sleep. One of them is the guardian of the Moon. Every month she restores the Moon to her full size; and she cleans the face of the Moon after an eclipse. Because when the Moon performs religious ceremonies, she paints her face black.

The Mother of Flowers lives also in the House of Sun. Every spring she sends all the new young flowers down to the earth.

There are four brothers who live in the House of Sun. They are always busy in carving and painting. They taught men to make boxes, to build houses, to carve wood, and to paint. They also taught him to hunt, and they made fish for him to catch.

The Daughter of Sun invented the art of working cedar bark. She has a song which she sings when the bark is brought to her and she breaks it over the edge of a stick, so that it may be woven into mats and clothing. First she sings, “Bring me the board on which to break the bark,” and then when she begins to work, she sings another song. Part of it is, “Behold me, ye who are not initiated. I am the Cedar-bark Breaker, the Daughter of Sun.”

Many other people live in the House of Sun. One of them visits houses and steals provisions.

Back to Index Next