Page:Kutenai Tales.djvu/297

282 and when the boys grow up, they come to the place where the sun is being made (see p. 285).

The second part of the story begins with the origin of Ya.ukᵘe′ᵢkaˑm, who also goes to the place where the sun is being made and tries his powers. The story of his origin is briefly as follows: Frog's granddaughter, Doe, is taken into the water by White Stone, whom she marries. Their son is Ya.ukᵘe′ᵢkaˑm, who in a number of exploits obtains for the use of mankind arrow wood, the arrow straightener, sinew, flint, and the bow stave (see p. 290). Then he goes with Coyote to the place where the sun is being made. They pass a number of dangers—the fat, the giant, and the thunderbirds (see p. 285).

When the various parties meet, one after another tries to act as the Sun, and finally the sons of the Lynx are accepted.

We have no other incidents that are clearly connected with this tale, but I suspect strongly that the tale of the deluge produced by the Chicken Hawk may connect in a similar way with the story of the Sun (see p. 304).

On account of Ya.ukᵘe′ᵢkaˑm's great powers, the people are afraid of him and drown him. The fish resuscitate him; and he follows the people, finds his brother's wife and her son, and tells them to resist those who maltreat them. He kills the chief, and the people are even more afraid of him (see p. 291). This passage recalls the story of Coyote's son (see MAFLS 11:120). Finally Ya.ukᵘe′ᵢkaˑm goes to the east end of the world (see p. 291).

The second cycle, apparently independent of the former one, is that of the war against the sky.

Nałmu′qtse crawls about in the country, and his tracks form the rivers (see p. 288). During this period Muskrat kills his sister-in-law and escapes to the sky. The animals make a chain of arrows and climb up, but Wolverene tears the chain. The animals fight with Muskrat. When they find the arrow chain broken, they kill the thunderbird, and with its feathers they fly down. The Bat and the Flying Squirrel, who receive no feathers, sail down. The Sucker jumps down and breaks its bones. The Woodpecker family are not given feathers. They climb down the sky, and reach the earth in the west, passing through the horizon (see p. 288). They meet Nałmu′qtse and try to kill him by throwing into his mouth a red-hot stone wrapped in a goat heart. Nałmu′qtse causes it to fall aside. He warns the woodpeckers not to sleep in wooded places and not to touch a charr floating in the water (see pp. 288, 289). The Woodpeckers disobey; and when they sleep in a wooded place, a toad sticks to the body of one of them. When Flicker touches a charr, he and his wife Duck are swallowed by a water monster. In order to find out where Flicker is, Woodpecker sends out birds to invite the fish to his tent. They come led by their grandfather (a fish with