67. The Three Owl Sisters.
(cont.)These men were the Sqatz, the I’kiik, and the Ra’tarat.1 The women accepted them, and forthwith the men built mat lodges to live in. When they had finished the lodges, their wives would not enter them. Poxpo'xox said. “I should die if I entered a mat lodge. I can live in earth lodges only.” Skalu'la said, “I can only live where there are trees. I should die if I entered a mat lodge or an earth lodge.” A’enk said, “I can only live where bushes are. If I entered a mat lodge, earth lodge, or skin lodge, I should at once die.” The husbands said nothing, although they were very much displeased. They set about to erect other lodges to suit their wives. One built a small underground house in a sandy place. The second built a brush lodge in the forest, and the third erected a lean-to shelter among the bushes. The men lived with their wives until each had given birth to two children; but they did not get along together very well. At one time A'enk had hurt her foot by running a stick into it, and ever afterwards cried a great deal, complaining of the pain, and pretending to be lame. She made a great ado, and tried to get her husband to do most of the work. Poxpo'xox defecated every day at the entrance to the underground house, and thus created a stench, which eventually so affected her husband that he died. Then the surviving brothers said, “If we live with these women much longer, we, also, shall die.” Thereupon they returned to their own country, taking their brothers body with them. When they reached home, Ra'tarat painted his face, and jumped over the corpse four times. Thus he resuscitated his brother. He scratched his head, and the hair fell out, for he had been dead many days. He said, “I must have been asleep a long time.” The men were afraid to return for their children.
Some time after this, Coyote, in his travels through the Okanagon country, came to where the three sisters lived. He threw A'enk into the bushes and transformed her, saying, “You will be the a'enk owl, and live among bushes. You will always cry for your sore foot, and people will think you are lame.” He threw Skalu'la among the large trees and transformed her, saying, “You will be the skalu'la owl, and will frighten children by crying, near lodges at night. “He threw Poxpo'xox on the ground and transformed her, saying, “You will be the poxpo'xox owl, and will live in the ground. Your house will always smell of excrement, which will be heaped around the entrance.”
68. Tcine'i's War for the Salmon; or, The Introduction of Salmon.2
The people were living at Klemma' on the south side of the Columbia River. Fish were very scarce, and consequently the Fish-hawk and many other birds were very thin.
1. Three varieties of hawks.
2. Compare Uta'mqt, p. 231; also p. 282 of this volume; also, Introduction of Salmon by the Coyote, Uta'mqt, p. 205; Nicola Valley, pp. 297 et seq.
