Traditions of the Thompson River Indians (cont.)
Abstracts.
5. The Ball.-The people at Lytton have a glittering ball, which Coyote desires to have. He and the Antelope send their sons to steal the ball. Coyote's son assumes shape of a stone on the playground, and takes the ball. He is pursued. When almost overtaken, he throws the ball to his brother, who is stationed at this point. The first boy is killed. All Coyote's children are killed in this manner. The Antelope's children succeed in reaching their home. Coyote is about to throw himself into the fire from grief, when prevented by the Antelope. He sleeps, the ball under his head, for four nights, each night under a different beam of the lodge. The fifth night he runs away with the ball, pursued by the Antelope. He makes a fog to throw the pursuer off his track. Near Lytton he breaks the ball, which he finds filled with dung. Uses fragments of the shell as an armor, which leave only his throat unprotected. Thus he attacks the people in the shape of an elk, and kills many. Finally an arrow strikes his throat. The elk falls and is found to consist of dung.
G. The Coyote's Daughters and their Dogs.-Coyote's slaughters go to marry two hunters, and take Grizzly Bear and Rattlesnake as their slogs. When approaching their intended husbands, they quiet the fierce dogs by smearing their nozzles with red ochre. They return after some years. They reach a parting of trails, one rough and narrow, covered with red ochre; the other wide and smooth, covered with birds' down. The latter leads to a mystic country. The dogs remain with the husbands to notify them of any danger threatening the women. These take the wrong track and reach a cannibal's house. They find only his wife at home, who warns them. The Cannibal throws them into a kettle, which the boy keeps from boiling. The Cannibal intends to eat them the next morning, but they escape during the night. He pursues them. They make four trees, which they climb. The Grizzly Bear and Rattlesnake arrive before the Cannibal can chop the trees down; they kill the Cannibal. Therefore they kill man up to this day.
7. Sisters who marry the Coyote and the Lynx. - A girl who is pursued by many suitors goes with her younger sister to visit her grandmother; reaches the Coyote's house, who wishes to make her his wife. He compels her to enter by making cold weather. He gives them magical food to eat. When they leave, Coyote runs ahead and makes another house. The same repeated four times. The younger sister finally marries Coyote. The elder travels on. Her grandmother sends the Hare with food to meet her. He hides under a log; struck with a stick which splits his lip. Animals run a race to meet the girl, but grandmother reaches her first. Lynx marries her secretly. Everybody must give the child his bow and arrow. He is pleased with the Lynx's bow and arrow, and thus it is ascertained that the Lynx is his father. The women, the boy, and the Lynx are deserted. On departing, all kick Lynx's face, which thus obtains its peculiar shape. The woman who married Coyote had four sons; the youngest creates fire by kicking stumps. A cannibal invites people who visit him to jump into his canoe; they miss, and are drowned in the river. Coyote's oldest sons are killed in this manner; but Coyote and his youngest son succeed in reaching the canoe. The Cannibal tries to kill them by heat in his house. They put ice on their foreheads. He tries to kill Coyote's son by brush fire; he escapes by following the advice of the Short-tailed Mouse, who tells him to step on the middle of the trail; for this reason trails often prevent the spread of fire. He tries to let a tree that is being split crush him, but he jumps out, squirting red and white paint over the tree, thus making it appear that his blood and brains come out of the crack. He tries to kill him by instructing him to harpoon a monster fish, who pulls him into the water; but the young man carries the monster home. Coyote and the Cannibal try their strength by conjuring fire, water, wind, and ice. By lying on their backs they both overcome the attacks of their rivals; but finally the Cannibal is frozen.
8. The Coyote and his Guests.-The Black Bear invites Coyote. He lets grease drip out of his fingers. The Kingfisher dives under the ice for fish. The Magpie catches deer in the net. Coyote cannot imitate them.
Qoa'qLqaL are three brothers who ascend Fraser River, transforming people into stones. The youngest transforms himself into a salmon, in which shape he, carries away a harpoon with which a cannibal is fishing. They visit his house. The Cannibal's wife gives them a small dish which they are unable to empty, while the Cannibal empties it in one spoonful. They kick a mountain-side down, intending to kill the Cannibal, who remains unharmed. The youngest brother makes a flood by taking off his beaver head-band. When he puts on his head-band, the flood subsides. They transform Coyote's house and household utensils into Stone. They throw Coyote's wife into the fire. They transform birch and alder into women, whom Coyote marries. They try to push their heads into stone, the youngest one making the deepest impression. They transform the Cannibal, Eagle, and Skunk into ordinary animals. They are transformed into stone on looking at a dancing girl.
The plant hog-fennel (peucedanum) has a son who is abused by the other children because he does not know his father's name. On being informed by his mother he retires to solitude; obtains supernatural powers. He travels down the river, transforming people. He meets the Qoa'qlqal, and proves himself stronger than the latter.
The Bush-tailed Rat lives in a house the door of which closes and opens at his command. He steals provisions from the cellars of the people, which provisions he pretends to receive from his friend the Long-tailed Mouse. A woman hidden in a cellar discovers his theft. When the people enter his house to kill him, he runs out and commands the door to close, thus killing all the people in the house. He makes a new house, the entrance to which is formed by two rocks that crush all those who enter. A transformer keeps the rocks apart by forcing his lance-head between them, and transforms the Rat into an ordinary animal.
1. The Old Man and the Coyote. -- Coyote tries his strength with the Old Man by moving rivers and mountains. He is unable to move a mountain, owing to the superior strength of the Old Man. Coyote retires to a house of ice in the extreme north. When he turns over, it is cold weather. Coyote and the Old Man expect to return and to bring back the dead Indians.
2. The Old Man and the Lad. -- A lad reaches the Old Man's house in seven steps, and prepares a meal for the Old Man, who follows him. They dive in a lake in order to test who can stay under water longest. When the Old Man dives the lake becomes agitated, and he is thrown into the upper world. He is expected to return amongst clouds of tobacco smoke.
3. The Swan (First Version). -- The Swan accompanies the Old Man to the upper world. He wishes to return to his child. The Old Man makes him white before sending him back.
(Second Version.) -- When the Old Man transformed the bad into animals, he also transformed the Swan's wife, while he did not intend to transform the Swan. When, however, the Swan asked to have his wife re-transformed, he was turned into a Swan.
