30. Ntcimi'ken
(Upper and Lower Uta'mqt.)
(cont.)Before long his wives each gave birth to a child ; and the children, when they were able to walk, cried to see their grandparents. He asked his wives if they had parents alive, and they answered, "Yes.' Then he said, ~ We will take our children to see them.' They went to where the old people lived, and showed themselves first to a pubescent girl who was washing herself. and told her to tell the people to clean their house for their reception. When this had been done, they all went in and lived there. -
3 1a. The Goat people.1
(Lower Uta' mqt.)All the goats were once people who lived in a high rock somewhere at the back of Spuzzum, on the northwest side of Fraser River. Below and near to the rock was a lake of yellow color, in which they used to bathe. They had an old grandmother who said to the young goats one day, " I am going to fetch fire-wood. Play until I come back!" Then the young goats took off their goat-skins and ran up and down on the rocks, amusing themselves.. The Indians learned that the goats were people by watching them x playing and bathing when their goat-skins were off. This is the reason that, when a goat is killed, the hunter always sings a song to please the Goat people. Grisly Bear and Black Bear were also at one time people, and for a like reason a hunter who kills one of them sings a song to please the Bear people, stating that he regrets the death of their friend, and hopes they will not be sorry or angry.
A man who had two wives - one with an infant in her arms, and the other one pregnant - went hunting goats. He saw two of these animals, and followed them up with the intention, it possible, of getting within arrowshot of them. The goats disappeared over the top of a cliff, but the hunter still followed them. "'hen he reached the top of the cliff, he expected to find them within range, and was surprised to see no trace of them. As he was looking around, he noticed a small lake, and two young women sitting near the edge of it. He was astonished to see strange women in such a place, so he approached them and asked them if they had seen any goats. He did not know that they were the goats he had seen. They laughed at his question, and answered, "No." They said, ,"Come with us, and you will see many goats.'
1. See Shuswap, p. 748
