Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 2, 2007 20:25:53 GMT -5
Crawfish and Grizzly Bear - Okanogan
Kee-lau-naw-Grizzly Bear -lived in a big forest. He would not let anybody
hunt there. People who went there never came back. Grizzly Bear ate them.
Because they could not get any of the game in Grizzly Bear's forest, the
people began to starve. They danced and prayed, asking their powers to help
them. One sun the prayers of Ji'-hah-Crawfish-were answered. He received
strong medicine. Then he started for Grizzly Bear's forest.
Owl, who was Grizzly Bear's lookout, saw Crawfish coming. Owl hooted to warn
Grizzly Bear, who rushed out of his lodge, roaring his war cry. Crawfish
pretended not to see him, and that hurt Grizzly Bear's pride, and he roared
louder and gnashed his teeth. But Crawfish paid no attention.
Grizzly Bear rushed back into his lodge and changed his summer teeth for his
new, sharp winter teeth. Out he came again. He thought that Crawfish surely
would be scared now, for looked back over his trail. He saw no one coming,
and he changed his mind about going further into the mountains. His temper
was sour and he whispered to himself: "Ji'-hah cannot make me do that. He
cannot keep me from my old home. I am going back where I always have lived."
He had barely finished those words when he felt the supposed tree against
which he was leaning lift him off the ground. Two big red fingers tightened
about his middle. The fingers of Crawfish held him fast. Surprised and badly
frightened. Grizzly Bear thought his enemy would show no mercy now. He
kicked and groaned, and then he pretended to be half-dead from the
squeezing, but Crawfish would not let go.
Then Grizzly Bear cried: "Do not kill me! I will never return to the forest.
I will go to the highest mountains, and stay there." This he said five
times, and Crawfish let him go.
Crawfish warned: "If you do come back, I will catch you and kill you. This
is your last chance. Do not ever come back to the lower country. From this
sun your lodge must be in the highest mountains, up where the mists are
thickest, where the snows are deepest. A New People are coming to the world.
You shall not starve them by keeping all the game to yourself. Go and do not
look back!".
Grizzly Bear was glad to get away. He ran, and he did not look back. He did
not stop running until he was in the highest range of mountains. There he
has made his home ever since.
Crawfish returned to his own country. The people there were glad. Now they
could hunt and get plenty of food and plenty of skins.
Since the time that Crawfish whipped Grizzly Bear there have been fewer
times of famine.
Taken from Coyote Tales by Humishuma, Colville-Okanogan for Mourning Dove
[Christine Quintasket], 1933
Kee-lau-naw-Grizzly Bear -lived in a big forest. He would not let anybody
hunt there. People who went there never came back. Grizzly Bear ate them.
Because they could not get any of the game in Grizzly Bear's forest, the
people began to starve. They danced and prayed, asking their powers to help
them. One sun the prayers of Ji'-hah-Crawfish-were answered. He received
strong medicine. Then he started for Grizzly Bear's forest.
Owl, who was Grizzly Bear's lookout, saw Crawfish coming. Owl hooted to warn
Grizzly Bear, who rushed out of his lodge, roaring his war cry. Crawfish
pretended not to see him, and that hurt Grizzly Bear's pride, and he roared
louder and gnashed his teeth. But Crawfish paid no attention.
Grizzly Bear rushed back into his lodge and changed his summer teeth for his
new, sharp winter teeth. Out he came again. He thought that Crawfish surely
would be scared now, for looked back over his trail. He saw no one coming,
and he changed his mind about going further into the mountains. His temper
was sour and he whispered to himself: "Ji'-hah cannot make me do that. He
cannot keep me from my old home. I am going back where I always have lived."
He had barely finished those words when he felt the supposed tree against
which he was leaning lift him off the ground. Two big red fingers tightened
about his middle. The fingers of Crawfish held him fast. Surprised and badly
frightened. Grizzly Bear thought his enemy would show no mercy now. He
kicked and groaned, and then he pretended to be half-dead from the
squeezing, but Crawfish would not let go.
Then Grizzly Bear cried: "Do not kill me! I will never return to the forest.
I will go to the highest mountains, and stay there." This he said five
times, and Crawfish let him go.
Crawfish warned: "If you do come back, I will catch you and kill you. This
is your last chance. Do not ever come back to the lower country. From this
sun your lodge must be in the highest mountains, up where the mists are
thickest, where the snows are deepest. A New People are coming to the world.
You shall not starve them by keeping all the game to yourself. Go and do not
look back!".
Grizzly Bear was glad to get away. He ran, and he did not look back. He did
not stop running until he was in the highest range of mountains. There he
has made his home ever since.
Crawfish returned to his own country. The people there were glad. Now they
could hunt and get plenty of food and plenty of skins.
Since the time that Crawfish whipped Grizzly Bear there have been fewer
times of famine.
Taken from Coyote Tales by Humishuma, Colville-Okanogan for Mourning Dove
[Christine Quintasket], 1933