Traditions of the Thompson River Indians (cont.)
Abstracts.
A girl has a lover whose identity she ascertains by daubing his back with red ochre. On the following day she sees a dog bearing the ochre marks on his back. She gives birth to four pups, and is deserted by her tribe. She goes spearing fish by torchlight, and on her return hears the noise of children in her house. When they hear her, they turn into dogs. Finally she prepares four kettles of medicine, returns unawares, takes the dog-skins which the children had thrown off, and throws the medicine over their bodies. The boys become great hunters. They are visited by the Magpie, who is treated hospitably, and who reports to her tribe what has happened. The rest of the tribe join them again.
The Owl, who is a great hunter, takes away a troublesome boy, rears him and makes him a powerful hunter. The Owl used to drive deer up to him towards the top of the mountain, crying, "Go towards my slave!" This enraged the young man, who is informed by the Short-tailed Mouse that the Owl is not his father. He returns to his tribe.
Marten and Fisher are brothers. Marten's wife goes to the river with her boy and asks the Spring Salmon to marry her. He takes her into the river. The Fisher discovers what has happened. The Fisher catches a fawn, and makes a bow and arrow for the boy to play with. They give him provisions, and leave him, to find the lost woman. They reach the Spring Salmon's house in the disguise of some of his female relatives. They induce the lost woman to keep her husband awake late at night, that he may sleep soundly in the morning. When he is asleep they enter the house and cut off his head. On crossing the lake, Marten drops the Salmon's head into the water. The next morning Coyote, who lives in Spring Salmon's house, says that Marten and the Fisher must have been the murderers. The animals pursue them. The Eagle informs them that the Salmon's head has been dropped into the lake. The waterfowl attempt to recover it. The Loon succeeds. The head is put on the Salmon's body. He recovers.
The Hare and his grandmother live on one side of the river; the Grizzly Bears, with their four children, on the other. The Hare steals dried fish from the Grizzly Bears. A female Grizzly Bear crosses and asks the Hare in regard to his stolen provisions. He mocks her, and on being attacked he evades her paws. His grandmother throws pitchwood in the fire. The smoke blinds the Bear, who is then killed by the Hare. In the same manner he kills the male, who discovers the death of his wife by seeing her paws in the Hare's house. He also kills three of the young Grizzly Bears. If he had killed all of them, there would he no Grizzly Bears. The Hare cohabits with his grandmother and thus kills her.
The Birds assist the Golden Eagle in obtaining the wife of the Baldheaded Eagle. They gamble with the latter in his house, making a large fire, which induces the woman to go out and cool herself. Then she is taken away by the Golden Eagle. Baldheaded Eagle puts on his armor and challenges all the birds. He kills all except one hawk, who revives all the other birds except the Baldheaded Eagle.
The Otter, after three unsuccessful attempts, revives a girl who has been killed by her lover. He tells another man that he has resuscitated her by tickling her soles. This man then attempts to resuscitate a girl, but without success. He pretends to use pieces of his wife's genitals as bait, and thus induces another person to kill his wife.
A man has two wives, -- the Grizzly Bear and the Black Bear. The former is jealous of the latter. Under the pretext of lousing her husband, she bites his neck and kills him. She cuts off part of his body and roasts it and eats it. She kills the Black Bear woman in the same manner. She instructs her children to ask the Black Bear's children to play feasting. They themselves are to eat little. Then they are to fight with the Black Bear's children, who, on account of being full, will be easily overcome. Then they are to roast their bodies. The Black Bears are suspicious and do not eat much, while the young Grizzly Bears gorge themselves. They are killed and roasted by the Black Bears, who run away to their grandfather's house. The Grizzly Bear returns in the morning and eats the body of one of her own children. She is informed by the Meadowlark, and pursues the Black Bears. When she reaches them, the young bears run up a tree. She begins to bite the tree until it begins to fall. Then they promise to drop the youngest one down, and ask her to open her mouth wide. They throw rotten wood into her mouth, thus choking and blinding her. They reach their grandfather, who carries them over the river in his canoe. When the Grizzly Bear comes, the old man makes her sit on a hole in the canoe, through which the fish bite her and kill her. The Coyote finds her body and roasts it, but falls asleep. The Fox eats all the meat and smears Coyote's mouth with grease.
Four brothers have a sister of the size of a thumb. Her dog the Louse is tied to her when she goes digging roots. Her brothers burnt the side of a mountain in order to make roots grow more plentifully. Four Grizzly Bears hear the girl, who hides in a root-hole. The dog remains outside, and thus she is found. The Grizzly Bears fill the girl's basket with roots, and accompany her home. When she eats, she passes pieces of venison out of the hut to the Grizzly Bears. The Bears have placed each one hair in a root, which the brothers are to eat whole. The girl has to say that if they break the roots her digging-stick will break. They swallow them whole, and then, one after the other, go out to fetch water. Outside they are embraced by the Grizzly Bears, whom they marry. The oldest Grizzly Bear kills and eats the three younger couples. Her husband and his sister run away. The Hunter marries his sister. One day she is singing to her child, when the Grizzly Bear finds her and kills her and her child. She puts a piece of wood in the cradle, and sits down singing. The Hunter recognizes her voice. In order to kill her, he gathers all the water of the creeks in a hole in front of his house, which he covers. He sends the Grizzly Bear to fetch water. After going from creek to creek she becomes thirsty, bends over the hole; he pushes her in, and she is drowned.
