25. The Qwo'qtqwal.
(cont.)Then they asked the mother how she wanted the child, and she answered, “I want it to be a baby for a day, so that I can fondle it, next day let it walk.” They said, “All right! Henceforth children shall be babies for a day, and the next day they will walk.” A day to them, however, meant a year: and therefore children nowadays cannot walk before a year. Had the women said, “Let it walk at once.” children would now move about shortly after birth, the same as horses or other animals. The brothers met Kokwelahe'it at Lytton, and they recognized one another as friends. Thence they travelled together to the ends of the earth. When they reached the edge of the earth, they said, “We will go to the chief above.” One of them said, “He won't be pleased if we go to him alive. We better stay here at the edge of the world.” Then each turned his head around to the side; and when he looked back again, a house stood there, ready for his reception. Kokwe'la did the same. Again they did this, and food appeared; again, and water appeared. One said, “We have no wives nor children.” Then the youngest brother pulled the lower rib out of his left side, and, blowing on it, it became a woman. Each of them did the same. Then the first woman said, “We will enter the houses and eat.” The youngest brother said, “We will have connection first.” Then they all had connection, each one with his wife, one couple after another. The women just had time to enter their houses, when they gave birth to children. Each one told her child, “Call your father to eat.” The fathers went, and each met his child at the door. They said, “Henceforth we will live in these houses, and will travel no more. No one shall ever be able to find us.” These five are supposed to be there yet, and no one knows the direction they live in.
26. Kokwe'la, or Kokwelahe'it.1
This story is told in the same way as in the "Traditions of the Thompson River Indians," iii., pp. 45, 46. Compare also Uta'mqt, p. 224. and Hill-Tout, pp. 63-70.
The following legend regarding Kokwe'la was told by a Nkamtci'nemux. Kokwe'la was the offspring from the union of a maiden with the hog-fennel-root. He became a man of large stature, great physical strength, and supreme magic. When a boy, he quarrelled with some of his companions, and thrashed them. Their parents were angry, and drove him off, saying, “The hog-fennel-root is your father, and yet you are not ashamed, but associate with people, and even thrash their children. A bastard ought to be ashamed to mix with other people.” He went home and asked his mother, who told him that the hog-fennel-root was indeed his father, whereupon he left the place, and commenced to train himself in the mountains.
1. The Thompson name of the hog-fennel. Kokwelahe'it (or kokwelahait) means “child of Kokwe'la.”
