9. THE RIVAL SUITORS.
(Continued)Raven had told his wife to bring him water too. The two sisters met while the buffaloes were moving. The elder one asked, "Where are you going with that water?" -- "To my husband," was the answer. Her sister laughed, and said, "He is probably playing at home." Just then they saw a handsome young man approach. The elder girl said to her sister, "How would you like him to be your husband?" She replied, "That is my husband." Her sister sneered and jeered. When she was finally convinced, however, she said, "Let me give him my water too." The younger one allowed her to do so. She ran forward and held out her cup; but Walaetitsa struck it to one side, and would not drink. She became angry. Then his wife came, and he drank. They returned, and he killed the two fattest buffaloes right by his father-in-law's tent. He cut them up, and told his wife to take the best meat to the old man.
Raven had gone ahead and picked up the buffalo-heads. He had given these to his wife to take to her father. While Eagle was examining the heads, the younger daughter came in with the best portions of the meat. She said to her father, "Throw those heads away," and she carried them outside. As she did so, she met her sister coming with another head. When the latter saw what was being done with her contribution, she grew angry and went away.1
At that time Raven controlled the animals.2 He was very angry because his father-in-law did not accept the heads he had sent. He left the village with his wife, and took all the game-animals with him.3 A famine ensued. Walaetitsa was the only one who could get meat. At last Raven visited them to see if they were starving. They tried to catch him, but were unsuccessful because he was so white. When he rose up into the sky, they could not see which way he flew.
Finally Beaver devised a plan. He told the people to cut him open and put him on the ice where Raven could see him when he came again.4 They followed his suggestion, and laid him on his back on the ice. Raven came and alighted near Beaver. He was suspicious, and said, "You are making believe you are dead." He stayed near by for a time, but finally decided that Beaver was dead. "Well, you are dead, after all," he said, "and I will taste your fat." As he prepared to do so, Beaver seized him, and held him fast until the others came and took him prisoner. They made a big tent,5 and gathered pitch; for Coyote had said, "Let us smoke him black, then we can see which way he flies." They did so; and the next morning, when he was black as coal, they set him loose.He went up in the sky and turned westward. After a time he went north, then east. He crossed five mountains, and was then lost to sight. Soon smoke appeared. Screech-Owl was the only one that could see it. "I see smoke coming from the fifth mountain," he said. They conferred together, but did not know what to do. Finally Walaetitsa said, "I will go with Grass-Snake (k'wuimk'wuim) and Mortar (iimpça)." They started toward the smoke.6
By this time Raven and his wife had a daughter. When Raven came back from his visit to his former neighbors, he moved his camp. He told his little girl, "If ever you go to the old camping-place, and you find anything there, don't pick it up." One morning the girl went back and found a little dog. Walaetitsa had turned himself into a dog, and Grass-Snake had become a root-digger (tu'kas). The girl picked up the pup, the mortar, and the root-digger, and hid them near her tent. Her parents asked her if she had seen anything. "No," she said, and they warned her again. She, however, took some meat to feed the pup. After a day or two her parents left, and forbade the child to go away during their absence. As soon as they were gone, she took out her pup, her mortar, and her root-digger. The tent was full of deer and other animals. Walaetitsa, the pup, began to bark and growl, and the deer began to jump about. The girl set the dog on the game, and finally the deer started to go out of the tent. As they ran, Walaetitsa barked louder still, and drove them towards his home. He and his companions followed the deer to their old home.
When Raven and his wife came home and found the deer all gone and the little girl crying, they suspected what had happened. Then Raven gave up, and went back to the village to live. When he arrived there all black, they called him Raven (k'ok'ux).7
1 The chief summoned all the people to the hunt. Walaeititsa, all The Chief summoned all the people to the hunt. Walaeititsa, all dressed up in his fine clothes, started out before daylight. He travelled a long distance, and came to the place where the buffaloes were. Walaeititsa killed a number, and took the best of the meat. The chief told the women to go and meet the hunters with water. Walaeititsa told this wife to make some water white with clay for him. Raven told his wife to prepare a drink for him with fine coal. The women met the hunters on the ridge. They could see Walaeititsa a long way off, because he was dressed so well. Raven's wife, when she saw him, made fun of her sister, and said, "You are taking that water for him, I suppose. That is your husband, is it not?" The younger girl replied, "You need not make fun, that is my husband." --"Let us both have him for a husband," the older now suggested. The younger answered, "No, Raven is your husband, and you may keep him." By this time the hunters had reached them. Walaeititsa' made straight for his wife, took the water from her, and drank it. Raven's wife brought her water too, but he knocked it to one side. Raven brought with him two buffalo-heads, but Walaeititsa had the best of the meat. Raven's wife took the two heads to her father. The old man was working hard on the head, trying to get something that could be eaten, when his younger daughter took both the heads from him and threw them out of doors. She gave him instead some of the best meat that her husband had given to her.
2 BBAE 59 : 303 (note 3).
3 He crossed five mountains.
4 He lay with arms stretched out, so that he could catch Raven when he alighted.
5 They tied him to the top of the tent by his legs, and burned pitch under him. He flew low, as he was lame. Not all could follow his flight with their eyes, but one old one-eyed owl saw him go over five mountains.
6 It took them one night and two days to go there.
7 Raven's little girl came out to them, and they saw her coming. The mortar and rootdigger were lying there, and the dog was moving about. The girl picked them up and took them home. Her father was out hunting; but her mother asked her where she had found the things, and told her to throw them away. The little girl, however, would not give them up. The dog saw heads of animals lying there, and barked at them. The girl would not allow her parents to kill the dog. The woman asked her husband how the things could have come such a distance. The root-digger, mortar, and dog then informed the girl that they intended to take the game away with them in the morning. The dog began to bark at the deer; the rock flew about and hit them to make them go; and the root-digger helped to drive by hitting them on the legs. They took all the deer, leaving not a single one, and brought them back to the old country. The people now had all they could eat. Walaeititsa became a great chief. Raven came back to his old home, and staid there.
