86. Tsowa'wus.1
Tsowa'wus2 was a small, shapeless man, all covered with running sores. His eyes and nose, also, ran matter. He lived alone, and all the people looked upon him with disgust. Among the people was a beautiful girl who had rejected all the young men of the place. Her relatives became ' angry with her, and said, 'You have refused all the best young men of the place. We know not who your husband will be. except it is Tsowa'wus.' She answered, "Yes, I will marry Tsowa'wus;" and, taking an old dingy basket with a dirty bark tump-line, she went for her husband, and carried him to the house. All the people laughed when she emptied him out of the basket and made up their nuptial bed. When night came, she was surprised to find that Tsuwa'wus had discarded his scabby skin, and now lay beside her in the form of a handsome man with hair as bright as sunshine, and skin as smooth as ice. He was so white and pure that his heart was almost visible. His body was covered with dentalia and crosses of gold. From each ear was suspended - a star of gold. The girl was so overjoyed, that she aroused her parents, and asked them to feel of their son-in-law.
On the following morning the men laughed much, and said, "Oh! let our new son-in-law come with us to hunt. He must kill game for us. Tomorrow we will hunt." The Girl answered, "Yes. Tsowa'wus will hunt with you to-morrow. I will make snow-shoes for him. He will kill game for you.' Every one laughed at the idea of Tsowa'wus hunting, and using snow-shoes. The following morning early the hunters started, the girl following close behind, carrying her husband in a basket. When they got high up in the mountains, they made -ready to hunt, and put on their snow-shoes. The girl said, "You go ahead. It will take me some time to put on my husbands snow-shoes, and I shall have to help him to walk. We shall have to go slowly, and it will only delay you." When the hunters were out of sight, Tsowa'wus came out of his cover, and, fastening on his snow-shoes, ran around to get ahead of the others. He made a dense fog, so that the hunters could not see, then, rounding up the deer from a large tract of country, he headed them for the place where he had left his wife. Running fast, he overtook one deer after another, and left dead deer along his track as far as the place where his wife was. Returning, he entered his scabby skin, and his wife placed him in the basket. The hunters, being unable to find any deer, also returned. On the way back, the fog lifted and they saw Tsowa'wusl track with the carcasses of deer strung along it. They were surprised at the great jumps, and wondered who could have killed the deer. They tried all their snow-shoes in the tracks, but none would fit, for the tracks had been made by snow-shoes of different shape and size from theirs. Coyotes snow-shoes were the nearest, and he claimed the deer. They found the tracks led to where Tsowa'wus and his wife were, and they asked the latter if she knew who made them. As she did not answer, they took Tsowa'wus' snow-shoes, and measured them in the tracks, finding they fitted exactly. This made them wonder much. That night Tsowa'wus discarded his scabby skin, and asked his wife to throw it into the river. Next morning -they slept late, and the people, gathering in the house, laughed much, saying, "Our son-in-law is such a good worker! - He must get us some firewood." The wife threw off their blanket, and arose, her husband following her. The people were surprised to see such a handsome man, and could hardly believe he was Tsowa'wus.
1 Compare Chilcotin, 1. c.. xxii., Uta'mqt , p. 265; also Cheyenne, 1. c., p. 171.
2 Scabby face, or face with sores, or sore eyes.
