22. Skunk.
(Lower Uta'maqt.)
(cont.)When they had all assembled, he addressed them thus: "I think of our dead parents, who were slaughtered by our enemies, and my heart is sorrowful. I think of our parents' slaughter as yet unavenged, and my heart is sorrowful. I propose that we go to War to Sise'tama1 and that we avenge ourselves on the Sise'tama2 for the slaughterof our parents. "The animals agreed to Skunk's proposal, and forthwith they all startedon the war-path. Skunk acted as their war-chief and guide. After
travelling many days, they arrived at the edge of some steep hills looking down on a valley which was filled with smoke. Skunk said, " We are now looking down on the country of our enemies. The smoke we see is from their fires, for there are many lodges. It will not be wise for us to attack them at once. If you stay here, I will go and reconnoiter." Leaving them, he descended into the valley, and was soon lost sight of in the smoke. He repaired to
the bank of the river which flowed through the valley, and there he picked up many dead dog-salmon.3 He cut off their heads, and placed them in arrow. Then he opened their mouths and commanded them to bark like dogs.When he had gone a little distance away, they all barked like dogs Then Grizzly Bear said to the other animals, "The enemy's dogs have detected our brother," and on Skunk's arrival asked him if he had been detected. He answered, " No ! but there are many people, and it would be useless for us to attack them until daybreak."
Now, there was a large pit4 here which had been used for trapping, and Skunk proposed that all the animals should hide in it until daybreak. He said, "You may all sleep; for I shall watch and wake you before day- break." So all the animals went into the pit to sleep, - the large animals in the bottom, and the smaller ones on the top, - so the pit was quite full. Just before daylight, seeing that all the animals were asleep, Skunk excreted his obnoxious fluid over them, thus killing them for the time being. Then, leaving them for dead, he went home. When near the village, he defecated, and turned his excrement into a boy, to whom he said, " Têta'muk"5 The boy answered, "Popo'kin, tik splantkin"6 Skunk, being annoyed at this answer, said, "E'ê! tu' to tE1a', sesa'utkin tik si e'tamuxkin,"1 but the boy answered, "I am the excrement of Skunk." After drilling him for a while, Skunk managed to get the boy answer his question, saying, "I am a Sise'tamux ,slave."
1 Said to be the name of a country the location of which was unknown, but was supposed by some to be the S'a'tcinko country. (Lower Fraser River.
2 The name of their enemies, the people that inhabited the Sise'tama country. a tribal division of the Shuswap are calle Sie'tamux. Their habitat is on the west side of the Fraser River, near the mouth of the Chilcotin River.
3 Dog-salmon are confined to the lower part of the Fraser River, below Spuzzum, in the S'a'tcinko country.
4 Pits were used for trapping deer and other animals by the S'a'tcinko, Lower Lillooet, and perhaps other tribes. some, in telling this story, say that it was not a pit that the animals hid in, but simply a hollow in the ground.
5 This word is like a child's form of speech. Children, when learning to talk, generally use t for st. The proper word would be sta'uk, which means "Wart art thou?"
6 This is also a child's way of talking. It means, "I am fart, I am skunk."
