Myths of the Modocs
MYTHS OF THE MODOCS
BY JEREMIAH CURTIN Author of “The Mongols, A History,” “The Mongols in Russia,” “Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland,” “Creation Myths of Primitive America,” etc. TRANSLATOR OF THE WORKS OF HENRY SIENKIEWICZ
London SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, Limited Overy House, 100 Southwark Street, S. E.
Copyright, 1912 , By A. M. Curtin.
All rights reserved
The majority of Americans know who the Modocs are and where they live, for on a time their bravery and so-called treachery gave them widespread notoriety; but for those who do not know, the following sketch may be helpful.
The Old Modoc Country was the valley of Lost River in Oregon, and the country adjacent to the shores of Little Klamath Lake, and Tula Lake which in main lies within the boundary of California.
The country around Tula Lake is of volcanic formation and at the southern end of the lake are the lava beds about which so much was written during the Modoc War of 1872–1873. Along the rivers and lakes the scenery is pleasing and in places, grand. Lake Klamath, nearly surrounded by mountains, is as beautiful as are the famed lakes of Italy and Switzerland. Mount Pitt, which, from a distance, seems to rise from the very shore of the lake, is snow-crowned except for a few weeks in midsummer. Mount Shasta is seen from its summit to the snow line.
For the Modocs the valley of Lost River and the lands around Klamath and Tula Lake are sacred. We, who endeavor to trace our origin back to a monkey or, still farther, to a bit of protoplasm, or who believe in and search far and wide for the Garden of Eden, cannot revere a country which is ours simply by chance of birth as the Indian reveres the country where his tribe originated. We cannot estimate the love an Indian has for his country. His holy places are not in far-off Palestine; they are before his eyes in his own birthplace, where every river, hill and mountain has a story connected with it, an account of its origin. No people could be more religious than were the Indians before the advent of the white man; they had no observance, rite, or custom which they did not believe to be God-given.
Jeremiah Curtin
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MYTHS OF THE MODOCS
INTRODUCTION
CONTENTS
MYTHS OF THE MODOCS
LÁTKAKÁWAS
CHARACTERS
THE FIVE BROTHERS OF LÁTKAKÁWAS
CHARACTERS
ISIS AND YAULILIK’S DAUGHTERS
CHARACTERS
KUMUSH AND HIS DAUGHTER
CHARACTERS
WANAGA BECOMES WUS-KUMUSH
STEALING FIRE
CHARACTERS
HOW SICKNESS CAME INTO THE WORLD
CHARACTERS
HOW OLD AGE CAME INTO THE WORLD
CHARACTERS
LEMÉIS AND NUL-WE
CHARACTERS
WIND AND THUNDER
CHARACTERS
GÁUKOS AND KÛLTA
CHARACTERS
TCOITCAK AND HIS PACK
CHARACTERS
WITSDUK
CHARACTERS
DJÁKALIPS
CHARACTER
MOASÄM BEPS, THE DAUGHTER OF SOUTH WIND
CHARACTERS
WEST WIND’S WIVES
CHARACTERS
THE STAR BROTHERS
CHARACTERS
THE RAINMAKER
CHARACTERS
OLD MAN LULUS-DEWIEAS OR EARTHQUAKE OLD MAN
CHARACTER
MÁIDIKDAK’S DAUGHTERS
CHARACTERS
WUS KUMUSH AND TSMUK
CHARACTERS
FROST AND THUNDER
CHARACTERS
YAHYÁHAÄS
CHARACTERS
YAHYÁHAÄS
CHARACTERS
YAHYÁHAÄS AND THE KÚJA SISTERS
CHARACTERS
TSMUK AND GÓSHGOISE
CHARACTERS
KAIUTOIS FOOLS WUS
CHARACTERS
BLAIWAS AND THE HEAD
CHARACTERS
WUS AND HIS TROUBLES
CHARACTERS
CEDAR BIRD’S DAUGHTERS MARRY BULL SNAKE
CHARACTERS
LOK AND HER CHILDREN
CHARACTER
GÄK AND THE KAIUTOIS BROTHERS
CHARACTERS
WAR BETWEEN BEASTS AND BIRDS
WUS WANTS TO MARRY A BUTTERFLY
CHARACTERS
LOK SNEWÉDJAS
CHARACTERS
SNAKE TRIES TO MARRY SQUIRREL’S DAUGHTERS
CHARACTERS
WŎN AND DÛNWA
CHARACTERS
WUS AND TSMUK’S DAUGHTER
CHARACTERS
FROG STEALS DEER’S BABY
CHARACTERS
HOW KALASLÁKKAS WON HIS WIFE
CHARACTERS
THE SLOÄ BROTHERS
CHARACTERS
COLTZ AND WUS
CHARACTERS
THE BAD BROTHER
CHARACTERS
KÓWAM AND GÁHGA
CHARACTERS
MINK AND WEASEL
CHARACTERS
GÄK KILLS PAKOL
CHARACTERS
THE STONE PEOPLE
CHARACTERS
PITOÍOIS
CHARACTERS
ILYÚYU AND KÛLTA’S SISTERS
CHARACTERS
CHARACTERS
THE BRINGING TO LIFE OF THE WUS BROTHERS
CHARACTERS
LOK AND KÉKINA
CHARACTERS
GRASSHOPPER IN LOVE WITH DEER
CHARACTERS
KAI AND HIS FATHER-IN-LAW, NATANATAS
CHARACTERS
THE SPIRIT OF THE TULA GRASS
CHARACTERS
A MEDICINE STORY. NUMBER I
CHARACTERS
A MEDICINE STORY. NUMBER II
A SKOKS STORY
A DOCTOR STORY
CHARACTER
NOTES
LÁTKAKÁWAS
THE FIVE BROTHERS OF LÁTKAKÁWAS
ISIS AND YAULILIK’S DAUGHTERS
KUMUSH AND HIS DAUGHTER
STEALING FIRE
HOW SICKNESS CAME INTO THE WORLD
HOW OLD AGE CAME INTO THE WORLD
LEMÉIS AND NUL-WE
WIND AND THUNDER
GÁUKOS AND KÛLTA
DJÁKALIPS—RED CLOUDS
MOASÄM BEPS, THE DAUGHTER OF SOUTH WIND
WEST WIND’S WIVES
THE STAR BROTHERS
THE RAINMAKER
WUS KUMUSH AND TSMUK
FROST AND THUNDER (YAHYÁHAÄS).
YAHYÁHAÄS
YAHYÁHAÄS AND THE KÚJA SISTERS
TSMUK AND GÓSHGOISE
WAR BETWEEN BEASTS AND BIRDS
LOK SNEWÉDJAS
HOW KALASLÁKKAS WON HIS WIFE
THE BAD BROTHER
MINK AND WEASEL
PITOÍOIS
ILYÚYU
LOK AND KÉKINA
GRASSHOPPER IN LOVE WITH DEER
KAI AND HIS FATHER-IN-LAW
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