Traditions of the Thompson River Indians (cont.)
The next morning she said to the Black Bear, "Lets go out and search for our husband." About sunset she called the Black Bear and said, "It is in vain to search any longer. Let us go home to our children. But we have plenty of time; let us rest before we start." She then said, "Come and lay your head on my lap. I will louse you." This the Black Bear did, and after awhile the Grizzly bit her throat, killed her, and cut off her breasts. On arriving home, she told the Black Bear's children, "It is strange your mother did not overtake me. She must have gone a long way searching for her husband." That night the Grizzly Bear baked the breasts; but one of the Black Bear's children saw her and shouted, "Oh my mother's breasts!" But the Grizzly Bear made fun of the child, and said she was baking roots. Then she told her three children222 that she had killed her husband and his wife, and that she also wanted to kill the Black Bear's three children. "When I go away to dig roots in the morning," she told them, "say to the Back Bear's children, 'Let us play at feasting!' Then set before them a basket of their choicest food,223 in order that they may eat heavily and lose their strength. You must eat very little of the food they give to you. Then say, 'Let us go and swim,' and when you get to the lake suggest, 'Let us play at fighting.' They will try full, and you can easily overcome them and drown them. Then take their bodies home, and stick the youngest one on a stick to roast, for I shall be hungry when I get home." In the morning the young Grizzly Bears did as told. The eldest Black Bear, however, became suspicious, and warned his brothers. They ate very little of the food given to them by the Grizzly Bears; but the latter could not restrain their appetites. The Grizzly Bears then said, "Let us go and swim." They all went down to the lake and swam. They then suggested, "Let us play at fighting." The Black Bears agreed, and the two youngest commenced first. The Grizzly bear being glutted was soon put under the water by the Black Bear, and drowned. They pulled his body to the bank and laid it down, saying, "We will bring him to life again by and by." The next two then had a contest, resulting in the death of the Grizzly Bear, as before; and lastly the two eldest met, with the same result. The Black Bears then took the bodies of the Grizzly Bears to the house, stuck the youngest one on a stick to roast, and laid the others in the place where the Black Bears themselves generally lay, covering them over with rotten wood and ant-hills. They then went as fast as possible along the trail to their grandfather's house.
The She-Grizzly Bear came home after dark, and being; hungry at once commenced to eat the small bear on the stick, and was thus engaged when the Meadowlark cried out, "You are eating your own child!" She then looked, and recognized it by the claws. She flew into a rage, ran to where the Black Bears slept, to kill them, but found there her own children dead. She then started on the trail of the Black Bears, and overtook them shortly before they reached the river, where their grandfather lived. The Black Bears ran up a tree. The Grizzly came to the foot of the tree, and said to them, "Your father and mother have come back, and I have come to tell you so. Come down and return with me to your parents!" But the eldest Black Bear told her she lied, and advised the others not to go down. She then grew angry, and said she would kill them, commencing at once to bite the tree at the butt, in order to make it fall. When the tree was nearly falling, the eldest Back Bear said, "We will drop the youngest one down to you. Open your mouth wide." He then threw dry rotten wood mixed with ants into the Grizzly's face, choking and blinding her. The three brothers forthwith descended and ran for the river. On arriving they saw their grandfather S'qone'qa224 patching his canoe on the other side. He came across to fetch them, and landed them safely on the other side. They told him their story and said, "The Grizzly Bear will be here in a little while." As expected, the Grizzly came and called on S'qone'qa to take her over. He took her into his canoe, and told her to sit down on an unpatched hole, so as to keep the water from coming in. They took along while to cross; and all the large fishes bit the Grizzly through this hole, pulling out her entrails. When she would jump up, the canoe would fill with water, so that she had to sit down again. The result was that, when she landed, she fell down dead.
Shortly afterwards the Coyote came along; and found the Grizzly Bear's body, and, cutting it , put the pieces on sticks to toast at the fire which he had lighted. Here he left then to cook, intending to eat them in the morning, and in the mean time retired to sleep with his two children, who accompanied him. During the night the Fox came along and ate all the fat meat which he found roasting;. When about to depart, he saw that the Coyotes still slept, and rubbed grease over the mouths of the two children and on the hands of their father. In the morning when the Coyote awoke, he missed his meat, and seeing stiffened grease around the mouths of his children, he thought they had eaten the meat. So he thrashed them severely. But they cried out, "It must have been you, who ate the meat, because your hands are all covered with grease." The Coyote then guessed what had happened, and lamented the lost meat.225
