77. Elk.
(Nkamtci'nEmux.)
(cont.)Meanwhile the boy had urinated down the tree, thus rendering the wood pithy; and the Lice were not able to gnaw it so fast. Just as the tree was about the fall, the tow dogs arrived, and quickly killed the four Lice women.
The woman and her child returned with the dogs and reached Covote's house without further .mishap. Her parents and the other people had thought her drowned, because they had found her clothes and buckets on the lake- They welcomed her back. The boy grew up to be a man of very large stature and a great hunter and warrior. He was known as Elk's son.
78. Turtle and Grisly Bear.
Turtle made fun of Grisly Bear, and called him names, such as Big Teeth, Hairy Leus, Fat Buttocks. Grislv Bear became angry, seized Turtle, and tried to bite him; but his teeth could not pierce Turtle's hard shell, so he threw him down again. When he was about to depart, Turtle would call him names again, and Grisly Bear, in a rage, would seize him, and try to kill him by squeezing and biting him. At last, after many vain attempts, Grisly Bear had to leave him alone.
An old woman3 lived with the people. She took a desire to eat their hearts, and picked up four pieces of gritstone on the mountain to sharpen her legs with. She always sat in a corner of the house, keeping her legs covered and out of sight while she ground them. The people noticed her always grinding under the blanket, and asked her what she was doing. She answered, "I am scratching my legs.' The children said to her, 'Grandmother, why do you always scratch your legs"' and she told them she did so because they were very itchy. They said, "We will scratch them for you, grandmother;" but she answered, 'Oh, no! you will scratch too hard.' They said, "You ought to use a wooden scratcher, grandmother : these stones are too hard." But she told them stone was best. Thus she riled her leg-bones until they had fine points like awls.1. Name of the woman, which is derived from xole'ne (Ito file") and skwaxt ("leg"). She sang, *.rot. ..rot, akwa'xa' as she filed her leg.
2. The story and woman are also so exiled because she always cried, "Aa'aux" as she went along. The word seems to have no meaning. For first part of this story, compare Uta'mqt, p. 269 of this volume: Cheyenne, xii., and story of Aaq, xxix., Traditions of the Thompson River Indians; for the latter part, compare C ta' mqt, p. 221 of this volume; Shuswap, p. Ego; and Nicola story of Rattlesnake Woman, p. 3;g of this volume; --!so known to the Lillooet.
3. Some tell the first part of the story by itself.