Page:Kutenai Tales.djvu/298

Rh thick head). They smoke, and the fish indicates by signs that Flicker is in the lake. The Woodpeckers try in vain to kill the water monster, which escapes along the Columbia River. At Red Water, near Windermere, it is wounded: therefore the water is red there. It escapes into a cave. Nałmu′qtse is told to stop up the outlet of the river, and he makes the portage separating Columbia Lakes from Kootenai River by molding the soil with his knees. Fox kills the monster. They cut it up, and Flicker and his wife Duck come out. The flesh of the monster is thrown about to serve as food for the people (see p. 289).

Then Nałmu′qtse arises, his head touches the sky, his hat falls down, and he himself falls over and dies.

In the Okanagon tales the making of the bow and arrow, which forms a large part of the Ya.ukᵘe′ᵢkaˑm tradition, is connected with the war on the sky. The most connected form of the tale has been recorded by Albert S. Gatschet (Globus, vol. 52, p. 137). The animals make war against the sky in order to obtain the fire. They are unable to reach the sky with their arrows. The Wren decides to make a bow and arrow. First he kills an elk (here is introduced the story of Chickadee and Elk, p. 304). The Wolf tries to steal the elk, and Wren throws red-hot stones wrapped in fat into his mouth. He uses the rib of the elk for making his bow. He obtains the feathers for his arrow by allowing the eagle to carry him into his nest. He obtains flint by causing the owners of flint to fight. Then he goes to the place where the animals shoot the arrows up to the sky. He meets Coyote. (Here is introduced a story of the small animal that is able to shoot trees. See Blackfoot, de Josselin de Jong VKAWA 14:73; Uhlenbeck VELA.WA 13:182; Pend d'Oreilles, Teit MAFLS 11:114.)

The Wren kills Coyote, and Fox resuscitates him. Coyote meets the Wren a second time. They gamble, and he wins Wren's clothing. He goes on, and meets young Grouse, whom he kills. The old Grouse then scares him so that he falls down a precipice (see p. 293). Wren recovers his arrows, makes the arrow chain, and the animals climb up. When Grizzly Bear climbs up, the chain breaks, owing to his weight. Then Eagle, Beaver, and Turtle are sent to obtain the fire. (See Lillooet, JAFL 25:299, where other references are given.)

The Turtle falls down from the sky and kills a person. Then follows the story of the Turtle who asks to be thrown into the water (see p. 305). The story closes with the return of the animals.

In the following I give brief abstracts of the tales recorded in the present volume and of those published by me in the "Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte," 1891. The page references to both series are given in the margin. Those in parentheses refer to the series of Kutenai tales