24. THE DEER.
(From the Upper Thompson and Lytton)
(continued)At last he came to a trail which led to the Sun's house. Here he met a young man clad in very fine clothes, ornamented with suns and stars made of copper, who said that he was the Sun's son, and that he had been expecting him. He invited him into the house. The youth recognized him as the same man who had appeared to him in his dream. The story then continues like No. 8. After the boy had been four days in hiding, the Sun's son told his father about the visitor, and asked him not to kill him, as he desired him for a companion. He staid there for a long time, and travelled with the Sun's son in the sky country. Finally he longed to return home, and told the Sun's son, who did not wish him to leave, for he said he would be lonely. The boy promised to return and to bring women companions for him and his father, who did not know of women. The Sun's son let him go, scratched a hole through the sky, and told him to jump down. The boy hesitated, but finally obeyed. As he descended, he became a star. On reaching the ground, he became a good-looking man. he found himself on a hill above his home village. The people saw the star falling, but thought nothing of it. They simply said, "Another star has defecated.1 He opened the tiny bundle that the Sun's son had given him, and in it he found fine clothes, which assumed their natural size. (The story continues like MAFLS 6 : 5.1, No. 8.)
26. TIIE DEAD WOMAN AND HER CHILD.2
(From The Upper Thompson and Lytton)A woman who had given birth to a daughter died when the child was only a few days old. The people buried the mother, and tried to rear the child by feeding it. The baby, however, was not satisfied, and cried. One night, when it was crying after the people had gone to bed and the fire had gone out, the mother came into the house and suckled it. She remained with it until almost daylight, when she returned to her grave. She did so many nights, and the people wondered that the child was thriving so well and did not cry during the night. They also noticed in the morning that there was dried milk around the child's mouth, and other signs that it had been suckled. They thought this was strange, and asked two old women to watch. About midnight the child cried. Then her mother approached, calling "Tcuxhwi’suuu,3 tcex.uuu"." The dead woman descended the ladder, calling her child in a low voice. She lay down with it, and remained until near daybreak. The old women told the people that a woman had come in and suckled the child, and they believed that she was its mother. They made preparations to capture her when she should come back the next night. They boiled some medicine, and had a large bucketful of it ready. They tore up some dry cedar-bark, and held it in readiness to make a blaze at any moment. They covered the fire with ashes to keep it alive. They also had split pitch wood ready to start a big fire. Four shamans took their places at the north, south, east, and west, really to hold the woman. At midnight she carne to the top of the ladder, and called to her child as before, but she hesitated a long time before she came down. She seemed to know that something was wrong. However, when her baby continued to cry, she slowly climbed down the ladder. When she reached the child, the four shamans seized her, and held her fast. She (or her soul) tried to escape by going underground and in the air, but the shamans blocked her passage at every point. Others lit a bright fire, and still others threw medicine on her. At last they tamed her. Her struggles ceased, and finally she became like any other woman. She lay down quietly and suckled her child.
Some years after this, when her daughter was grown up, they went together to bring food from their cellar. The girl sat down at the entrance, while the mother opened the cellar. When she looked in, she saw that it was full of mice, which scampered about in every direction. While she was looking at the mice, she became transformed into one of them, and finally disappeared among them. The girl sat outside and cried, because her mother hall become a mouse. The people took her home.
27. THE MAN WHO BROUGHT LIFE TO HIS SWEETHEART
(From the Upper Thompson and Lytton)This story is identical with MAFL6: 68, 69. The following additional details were obtained:--
When the people saw a couple sleeping in the place where the corpse had lain, they lifted up the foot of the blanket and saw the feet of two persons. One pair of feet were quite healthy-looking; the other pair were yellow, and looked like those of a corpse . . . . When the couple sat up, the face of the woman was like that of al corpse. This appearance wore off in a few days . . . When the young man, who had asked the advice of Otter, had failed to resuscitate his sweetheart, Otter took pity on him, and later went to the grave and brought her back to life . . . . He also did the same with the girl who had been killed by the other young man.
1 This belief is common to the Thompson.
2 Also called "The Story of the Ghost who suckled her Child." - Lillooet JAFL 25 : 329.
3 Seems to be related to the ordinary words hwi's, hwi's-s, used by persons when they talk endearingly or give a blessing to others. Used mostly by women to children. The woman being a ghost or dead, it seems, could not talk in the ordinary way. The same with certain animals in stories, which have peculiarities of speech belonging to themselves or their kind.
