10. SKWOTILKWOLA'NA.
(From Similkameen.)
(Continued)The boy did as he had been told. Early the next morning he crossed the hill to where the horse was. Beyond, there was a plain. At the foot-hill he saw an old bay mare staked out. She had a skoltapi's colt. The mare seemed almost ready to die. Her ears hung down, and her jaw-bone was loose. The mare recognized him, however, and called him by name. She said, "So you have come. You will find my halter in the bush yonder. Lead me to water. Water me six times, at intervals of seven days. After this the colt will speak to you in my place." The colt was very small, and long haired. When he had watered the mare and restaked her, the colt said, "You will find my bridle on the bush yonder. Bridle me. Pluck four male stalks of grass. Take off your clothes except your belt and apron. Put the grass-stems in your belt. Hit me with them when I tell you to do so. After hitting me, let the grass fall from your hand, back over my tail. Mount me, and ride me in a small circle four times." He did as directed. The colt said to him, "Whip me with the grass." He did so, and the colt went faster. For each circle he used another blade of grass, and the colt went faster each time. He dismounted, and hung the bridle on a tree to keep it from all contamination. When he returned, after seven days, he found that the old mare had given birth to a large, fat bay colt, and the old colt looked thin. The latter said to him, "Kill the new colt. He kicks me, and I cannot get a suck. I am getting weak." The lad disliked to kill the colt, but obeyed. He did the same as on the first visit, -- watered the mare, and rode the colt, but each time in wider circles; and the colt went faster and faster. Each time he returned. He found a new colt born, which he killed. The fifth time, when he was about to return, the colt said to him, "Next time when you come, bring a tiny comb, a thorn from a bush, a little clay wrapped up, and a little water." The lad did not know how to get these things; so he went to the old canoe at the lake-edge, and called to his helper, "Grandfather, you promised me your help! I wish a comb, a thorn, some clay, and some water." Immediately these things appeared under the side of the canoe. The water was in a bladder the size of the point of one's finger, and the mud or clay was wrapped in a piece of skin. He wrapped up all four things, and attached them to his body. Then he went home, and said to his parents, "You have plenty to eat. Never fear that you will starve, and never fear for me if I go far away. I shall come back." He bathed in the creek four tines, and ran races four times, until he was tired. The night before he was going to leave, he could not sleep. He arose early in the morning, washed himself, and ran. He reached the horses, watered the mare, killed the new colt, let the old colt have a suck, and rode him in four wide circles. The colt said, "If I do not fall or lose my wind on the fourth run, I shall be able to travel; but if I do, we must not start." On the fourth run he sat near the colt's tail, bent forward, with his head at its withers. He held on tight by bridle and mane. The colt was going like the wind. Its mane and tail stood straight out. The noise of its running was like a gale of wind in the mountains. The colt told him to hit it with the last blade of grass; but they were going so fast, that his arm could not reach down to the colt's side, and the grass stood out straight. The colt was now a good-sized horse, very fast, and strong. He ran the whole course without getting winded, falling, or stumbling. The colt said, "Now I know I am strong. Let us start on our travels! You will find a saddle hanging on yonder tree. Saddle me, and we will leave." They travelled fast all day, and did not stop to rest until late at night. The colt said, "We have covered nearly half way. We are going a long distance to another country where a cannibal chief lives. He stays at the top of a tall tower, from which he can watch the whole country. His maiden daughter stays in the same house below him. Many have sought her, but the plain is white with their bones. The cannibal kills them with an elk-horn club, and cuts off their heads. Sometimes they escape; but he pursues them on his swift horses, and kills them. No one has ever returned. The chief has a servant who attends to his horses. One horse is bay, and the other black. The bay is a fine horse, but the black is swifter. TsoqEmu's has already warned the servant in a dream that he will die if he does not overfeed the bay horse, and starve the black one. The chief has noticed that the black horse is getting poor, and has asked the servant about it. The latter has said that the black horse must be sick, for he fed and watered him three times a day, as usual. The chief's daughter is very fond of music, and spends most of her time playing a flute."
