58. The Brothers Who Visited the Sky[1]
Three brothers went up the mountains to hunt. They lay down to sleep, and when they awoke they saw the stars above so near that they could touch them. They found that they were on a flat rock which had arisen high above the ground. They had nothing to eat and no water to drink. The eldest one spoke. “What shall we do! Let us cut ropes from the skins of large mountain goats and climb down to the ground!’ But the youngest one replied, “No, let us wait! Perhaps he who took us up while we were asleep will take us back in our sleep.’ They followed his advice and lay down to sleep. Suddenly the youngest one heard a voice, saying, ‘Take a round pebble and hold it in your mouth!’ It was the daughter of the Sun who was speaking thus. He followed her order; and when he awoke on the following morning, he saw his brothers lying there dead. In his dream he had seen that they left him and tried to climb down to the ground. Since they had not prayed, they had perished in the attempt. Then the young man prayed to the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. He put his arrow into the crack of the rock, tied a rope to it, and climbed down. He got back safe.
59. Six Hunters[1]
Six men went out hunting. They kept their provisions in a small hut made of fir twigs. In the evening, when they came back, they found that a squirrel had stolen them. They became angry, caught the squirrel, and threw it into the fire, so that its tail was burned. Then they lay down to sleep. On the following morning they found themselves, together with their six dogs, in a deep pit, and unable to climb out of it. Since they were very hungry, they killed one of their dogs and threw it into the fire to roast it. Suddenly they saw the dog alive on top of the pit. When the men saw this, five jumped into the fire. Only one, the son of a chief, waited patiently for his death.
Suddenly he saw the others standing on the rim of the pit, and he asked them to go home and to request his friends to help him out.
In the evening he lay down to sleep. Suddenly he heard a voice, and saw “a Mouse, who asked him to follow her. He arose, and the Mouse led him into a house, in which he found an old woman, the Squirrel. She said, “It is fortunate that you did not jump into the fire, else you would be dead. All your companions are dead now. When you wake up in the morning, take the narrow trail that you will see. Do not take the wide one.”
The following morning, when he awoke, he found himself in the forest, and saw the bones of his companions lying on the ground. He took the narrow path, and arrived at home. When he told his adventures, the people became angry, and resolved to kill the squirrels. They caught all of them except one female, and killed them. Then the only surviving Squirrel wept, and cried, ‘After four days your whole town shall be burned!’ and so it happened. Only the house of the young chief was spared.
60. The Land Otter[2]
When a person capsizes, the Land Otter people catch him, and he himself is transformed into a land otter.
Once upon a time there was a man who claimed that even if he should capsize, he would never yield to the Land Otters. One day when he was traveling with his sister his canoe capsized. He swam ashore, and saw a fire, which seemed to move away from him all the time. He did not follow it, but started a fire where he had gone ashore. While he was sitting there warming his back, he heard a canoe. He just turned around, and immediately looked back toward the woods. The canoe came ashore, but he did not move. The people came up to his fire. Immediately he got up, went down to the canoe, and threw all the paddles into the fire. Immediately these were trans-
formed into minks, which cried pitifully. The people disappeared, and their canoe took its true shape. It was an old log of driftwood.
After a while the Land Otters made another attempt to get hold of the man, but in vain.
One evening, while he was seated by the fire, he heard the voice of a woman, saying, “My dear, don’t be afraid! I am your friend. Here I have food for you. Trust me!’ Immediately a woman stepped up to him and gave him fish and seaweed. Although he was very hungry, he did not eat. The voice called him by name, and promised to bring him food regularly, saying, ‘Don’t look at me, just look at the dishes!” but he looked straight in her face, and shouted, ‘Eat it yourself, you Land Otter!’ The woman continued to ask him to accept the food, but he did not yield. Every evening he heard her voice, One day it seemed to him that the voice was like that of his sister who was drowned when his canoe was capsized. He questioned her, and she replied, “Yes, I [am your sister’s ghost.” Then he thought, “I ought not to be afraid of my own sister,” and accepted what she offered to him. The food did not do him any harm. Then he began to hunt seals, which he killed with his club. Nevertheless he continued to be on his guard, for he was afraid of the Land Otters; and he made up his mind that if a canoe should arrive, he would first burn the paddles and knock a hole in the body of the canoe, in order to make sure that the visitors were not Land Otters. Finally, after he had been away for a whole month, a real canoe came and took him home. Thus he was saved.