30. Burning Leggings and Burning Snowshoes

There was a tribe, and a great chief was married to a chieftainess. He loved her very much. After a while he was again in love with a young woman, and he expected her to be his wife. He loved her better than his first wife, and therefore his first wife was very jealous of his new love.

The young woman had four brothers who were hunters. Every year they would come down to visit their brother-in-law, and brought with them provisions to their dear sister. Therefore the chief loved them very much. Then his first wife was very jealous of the young woman, and she tried in every way to find fault with her.

Finally the young woman gave birth to a boy, and the chief loved her very much. The first: wife was still trying to find fault with the young woman. The child was growing up, and began to creep about; and the chief loved the child’s mother because she had borne a child,

One day the four brothers came down again to visit their only sister, the chief’s wife, and brought her rich food—dried meat and fat—and the chief welcomed his four brothers-in-law. After they had been there some time, the chief asked the eldest of his brothersin-law kindly to gamble with him, and they played together on the gambling-mat. The eldest brother took out. a small leather bag from his gambling-bag, containing red ocher, which they used in those days to paint their faces. He took it out of his gambling-bag and put it on his face. Now, the first wife of the chief saw this, and she called a slave-girl, and sent to the man who had the red ocher. She asked the slave-girl to tell him that she wanted some of the red ocher, and she promised to meet him behind the house. Therefore the slave-girl went to the eldest brother and told him what the chieftainess wanted; but the young man said to the slave-girl that he did not want to comply and to do a wrong to his brother-in-law, so the slave-girl went back and repeated to the chieftainess what he had said.

The chieftainess sent the slave-girl again to tell him that. she wanted some of the red ocher, and that she would meet him outside right away. The slave-girl went again and whispered to the young man, and repeated to him all the chieftainess had said. Then he said, “I will give part of the red ocher to her, but I will not meet her;” and he gave half of his red paint to her through the slave-girl.

The woman took it, went out, and put the paint on her face. Then she came again, and went to where her husband was sitting with his young wife, in the rear of the house. She said, ‘Look here! Look at my face! Your brother-in-law mocked me and just put the red paint on my face.’ Then the chief became very angry; and he said to lis attendants, ‘Shut the door, lock it, and slay the four brothers in there, and throw them behind my house, outside.’ Therefore his attendants killed them and threw their bodies behind the chief’s house, as he had ordered them to do. Then the young woman went every morning to mourn for her four dear brothers, and the chief now loved his former wife most. The chieftainess was very glad now, because the chief loved her more than his young wife. The young woman woke up very early, and carried her child along, going behind the chief’s house, where the bodies of her dead brothers were; and she mourned there until evening every day. She would never eat anything. She did so often.

After the chief had killed her brothers, he called all the young men of his tribe into his house, and they had fun in his house every evening. The young men would shout for joy in the chief’s house, while the poor sister was crying every evening over her dear brothers’ bodies. Now, the chieftainess was seated close to the chief when he was sitting in front of the large fire, while the young men were playing at the other side of the fire.

One day the chief said to the young men who were playing, “When you see that woman (meaning this younger wife) come in tonight, take a cedar-bark rope and trip her, so that she may fall.”

Late in the evening she ceased her wailing, and came in at the door with her child on her back. She came in; and when she came close to the cedar-bark rope, the young men held it tight, so that she almost fell over it. Then all the young men shouted and laughed at her, and the chief and his first wife also laughed at her. The poor mourning woman with the child on her back crept to her bed in the corner of the chief’s house.

Very early the following morning she went out again, and wailed all day as she had done before. She was almost in despair because they had mocked and laughed at her late in the evening. When she came in late at night, the young man tripped her feet again with the cedar-bark rope, and she fell; and they all laughed at her while she crept to her bed, her heart heavy with sorrow. She was weak, for she had not had anything to eat since the time when they had killed her brothers.

Early the following morning she went out again. She wished only for one thing; namely, to die. Therefore she went there often. In the evening, as soon as the sun went down, after she had been weeping bitterly all day, she opened her eyes, and there was a flash of lightning. She looked, and, behold! a handsome young man stood by her side, who said to her, “What ails you?”—°O Supernatural One! the reason why I weep is my grief for these, my four slain brothers, whom they have thrown out here. So I go every day to mourn for them; and besides this, they made fun of me, tripping my feet with their cedar-bark rope; and they all laugh at me, by order of my husband, and his chieftainess. Sometimes I am faint with sorrow.”

Then the Supernatural One said to her, “My father the Sun sent me down to find out what has happened. He was displeased to hear your voice every day. Take my leggings and my snowshoes and also my moccasins.” He made them into one bundle and tied them together. Then he ordered her to throw them down in front of the chief. He continued, “Then say to him, ‘See what happens to the leggings and snowshoes of those whom you have murdered!’ A flash of lightning will proceed from them. Then he will call all of his people into his house to let them know what has become of the leggings, snowshoes, and moccasins of the four brothers whom he had killed a few days before, and to tell them that a flash of lightning had proceeded from them. Alb his wise men will not be able to understand it; and only one very old man, who lives at the end of the village, and whose name is Disbeliever, will not come when he is called the first time. He is blind, and therefore he can not come. Then the second time the chief will send some young man. I will transform myself into the old man Disbeliever. I shall meet the young man on my way. They will take my hand; and when you see me coming into the house, you must run away, lest you be consumed with the rest.’”. Thus spoke the Supernatural One to her.

So she took the bundle made of the leggings, the snowshoes, and moccasins, and went in haste before it was dark. The chief heard that his wife had stopped wailing very early, and he wondered about it. Then he told the young men who were playing in his house not to trip her with the cedar-bark rope. When she came in, all the young men were quiet. She walked on straight to her cruel husband, who was seated in the rear of the house, with his first wife leaning against his side, glad and happy. The brave woman went to them and threw the bundle down in front of them, saying, ‘See what has happened to the leggings, snowshoes, and moccasins of those whom you have murdered!’ Then there was a flash of lightning, which frightened the chief. He trembled, and said to the young men, ‘Call all the people of the village, from the old men down to the small children, and from the old women down to the little girls. Let no one remain outside!”

Therefore they went around to every house and called all the people, in accordance with the order given by the chief. When all the guests were in, the chief told them what had happened to the leggings and snowshoes of those whom he had slain a few days previously, and he explained to his people what his wife had said when she threw the bundle down in front of him, and how a flash of lightning had proceeded from the bundle; and he said to his wise men, “Explain to me the meaning of this!” but nobody could explain it. Some of them did not believe him, and some were astonished; still there remained one very old man, Disbeliever by name, and it occurred to some of them that the old man Disbeliever still remained outside. Therefore the chief sent for him. The young men went to his house and told him what had happened to the leggings, the snowshoes, and the moccasins of those whom the chief had slain a few days before. Then the old man laughed, and said that the leggings and snowshoes of the ghosts were becoming a flash of lightning; and he continued to laugh, saying, “No, no! Never since the world began have [] I heard of such a thing as what you have told me. No, dear, no! I do not believe what you have said.” The young men displeased the old man, who said, “No, I won’t go there! Nonsense, nonsense! That is all.” They told him that the chief wanted him; but he said, ‘No, I will not go. I am not well tonight... Therefore they went back to the chief’s house, and they told him that Disbeliever had made fun of them. (The people named the old man Disbeliever because he did not believe what the people would tell him, Therefore they gave him the name Disbeliever.)

Therefore the great chief was enraged, and said, * Bring him in quickly!” The young men went a second time; and while they were on their way, they met him. They asked him, ‘Is that you, Disbeliever ”—“Yes, I was groping my way along.” They took him by the hand and led him into the house up to the chief and his wife. As soon as the old man came in, the mourning woman took her child on her back and went out unobserved. Now Disbeliever said, “Let me feel of the bundle! They took his hands and guided them to where the bundle was. Nobody had touched it before, because they were all afraid lest they should be consumed by the lightning. The chief repeated the words that his wife had said to him. When the old man felt of the bundle, he laughed again, and said, “I do not believe that the leggings and snowshoes and moccasins of the ghosts became a flash of lightning. I never heard of such a thing happening since the world began. No, no, no!’ Then he opened the bundle, took the leggings by themselves, saying, “Now, leggings, let a flash of lightning proceed from you!” At the same time he struck the ground with the leggings. He took up the pair of snowshoes and struck the ground with them, and said, “Now, snowshoes, burn!—Now, moccasins, let flashes of lightning proceed from you! Oh, what nonsense!”

The chief took a little comfort when the old man took up the leggings. Then the old man put them on. He also put on the snowshoes, and leaped first before the chief, who was sitting by his side. He struck the snowshoes one against the other, and ran around the fire that was burning in the center of the house.

All of a sudden a flash of lightning proceeded from the leggings and snowshoes and moccasins, and the house and all the people in it were consumed. Not one escaped from it.

The woman was sitting where the bodies of her brothers were; and the supernatural being came to her again, and said, “Lay out the bodies of your brothers in good order.’ She did so, and then the supernatural being jumped over the eldest one first. He did so four times, and the eldest one arose. The supernatural being stepped to the second brother and jumped over him four times, then the second brother arose: and the supernatural being did to the third one the same as he had done to the two others, and the third one arose; then he stepped to the youngest one and jumped over him four times, and the youngest one arose from where he had been lying dead. The supernatural being wore his own leggings, snowshoes, and moccasins when he jumped over the dead bodies of the four brothers, and so they arose from where they had been lying dead. Therefore the woman was much pleased to see her brothers alive again. She went. to the place where the supernatural being stood, but he disappeared from their sight.

Then the four brothers went down to the village, accompanying their sister. They saw the desolation of the village. They went to where the great chief’s house had stood, and there was only a heap of bones and of ashes on the ground where the people had been assembled in the chief’s house.

After they had been there for a while, they started for their own home in the mountains, taking their sister along, and they still live in the mountains. We call their village Ts!ᴇts!ā’ut.”