Post by Okwes on Apr 14, 2008 12:27:48 GMT -5
Girl Who Married Rattlesnake - Pomo
At a place called Cobowin there was a large rock with a hole in it, and many
rattlesnakes lived inside this hole. Nearby at Kalesima there was a village
with four large houses, and in the one with a center pole lived a girl. In
the spring when clover was just right to eat, this girl went out to gather
some. While she was working, she was watched by a rattlesnake.
The snake followed her back to the village, and close to her house he
transformed himself into a handsome young man with a net on his head and
fine beads around his neck. Then he climbed up onto the top of the house and
came down the center pole. The family was surprised to see him, but he told
the girl that he wanted to marry her. He remained with the family overnight
and the following morning went home again. He arrived and left like this for
four days; then on the fifth evening he came back, but this time he did not
change his form. He simply slithered into the house and began conversing
just as before. The girl's mother, waiting for her daughter's suitor, said
she heard someone talking in the house. She took a light and looked in the
place where she heard the sound, and there was Rattlesnake. He shook his
snake's head, and she dropped the light and ran in terror.
On the following morning Rattlesnake took the girl home with him, and there
she remained. In time she bore him four boys. Whenever these children saw
any people from the village, they would coil to strike, but heir mother
would say, No, you mustn't bite your relatives." And the children would obey
her.
As the four rattlesnake boys grew older, they also grew more curious, and
one day they came in from playing and asked their mother, "Why don't you
talk the way we do? Why are you different?" "I'm not a rattlesnake, like you
and your father," she replied. "I'm a human being." "Aren't you afraid of
our father?" asked the boys, and she shook her head.
Then the oldest said that he had heard the other rattlesnakes discussing her
differences and deciding to crawl over her body to find out what kind of
creature she was. While this might have alarmed another human, the
rattlesnake's wife was not at all afraid. When the other rattlesnakes came,
she calmly let them crawl over her.
Then she said to her oldest boy, "It's impossible for you to become a human
being, and though I'm not really human any longer, I must go back to my
parents and tell them what has happened." Ad so she returned to the house
with the center pole and said to her parents, This is the last time that I
will be able to talk to you and the last time that you will be able to talk
to me." Her father and mother were sad, but they said nothing until their
daughter started to leave. Then her mother ran and caught her by the door,
brought her back into he house, and wept over her because she was so
changed. But the girl shook her body, and suddenly she was gone. No one ever
knew how or where she went, but they think she returned to Rattlesnake's
house and has lived there ever since.
Based on a legend recorded by Samuel Barrett in 1933).
(California)
home.online.no/~arnfin/native/lore/leg239.htm
At a place called Cobowin there was a large rock with a hole in it, and many
rattlesnakes lived inside this hole. Nearby at Kalesima there was a village
with four large houses, and in the one with a center pole lived a girl. In
the spring when clover was just right to eat, this girl went out to gather
some. While she was working, she was watched by a rattlesnake.
The snake followed her back to the village, and close to her house he
transformed himself into a handsome young man with a net on his head and
fine beads around his neck. Then he climbed up onto the top of the house and
came down the center pole. The family was surprised to see him, but he told
the girl that he wanted to marry her. He remained with the family overnight
and the following morning went home again. He arrived and left like this for
four days; then on the fifth evening he came back, but this time he did not
change his form. He simply slithered into the house and began conversing
just as before. The girl's mother, waiting for her daughter's suitor, said
she heard someone talking in the house. She took a light and looked in the
place where she heard the sound, and there was Rattlesnake. He shook his
snake's head, and she dropped the light and ran in terror.
On the following morning Rattlesnake took the girl home with him, and there
she remained. In time she bore him four boys. Whenever these children saw
any people from the village, they would coil to strike, but heir mother
would say, No, you mustn't bite your relatives." And the children would obey
her.
As the four rattlesnake boys grew older, they also grew more curious, and
one day they came in from playing and asked their mother, "Why don't you
talk the way we do? Why are you different?" "I'm not a rattlesnake, like you
and your father," she replied. "I'm a human being." "Aren't you afraid of
our father?" asked the boys, and she shook her head.
Then the oldest said that he had heard the other rattlesnakes discussing her
differences and deciding to crawl over her body to find out what kind of
creature she was. While this might have alarmed another human, the
rattlesnake's wife was not at all afraid. When the other rattlesnakes came,
she calmly let them crawl over her.
Then she said to her oldest boy, "It's impossible for you to become a human
being, and though I'm not really human any longer, I must go back to my
parents and tell them what has happened." Ad so she returned to the house
with the center pole and said to her parents, This is the last time that I
will be able to talk to you and the last time that you will be able to talk
to me." Her father and mother were sad, but they said nothing until their
daughter started to leave. Then her mother ran and caught her by the door,
brought her back into he house, and wept over her because she was so
changed. But the girl shook her body, and suddenly she was gone. No one ever
knew how or where she went, but they think she returned to Rattlesnake's
house and has lived there ever since.
Based on a legend recorded by Samuel Barrett in 1933).
(California)
home.online.no/~arnfin/native/lore/leg239.htm
