CHARACTERS
| Kaiutois | Gray Wolf |
| Wus | Black Fox |
Ten Wus brothers and ten Kaiutois brothers lived together; they were kin. Each man had five daughters, except the youngest Wus brother; he wasn’t married. The Wus brothers had a sister; she was nice-looking, but she had such a long neck that she couldn’t eat meat; she ate the neck bones of deer; ate five at a time. Everybody in the world knew about her.
One day, when the eldest Wus brother was hunting, he took his drill out of his quiver to start a fire. He put the drill on the ground and the next minute it was gone; he couldn’t find it anywhere. That night he said to his brothers: “I was alone all day, but when I put down my fire drill it went away. I hunted everywhere, but I couldn’t find it. That means trouble is coming to us; I don’t think we will live long.”
The next morning when some of the brothers wanted to track deer, the eldest Wus brother said: “We must stay at home to-day. I feel scared about my drill; something bad is going to happen.”
Old woman Kaiutois was sick in a little straw house near the big house where her sons lived. She called to them, and said: “I hear people around in the mountains; I think that they are coming to kill us. They are people from the north. I don’t know what they say, but they are coming nearer and nearer all the time.”
Just then a crowd of men with bows and arrows came down from the mountain. They came to fight the Wus brothers. [[344]]There were so many that they filled the house, and the brothers couldn’t do anything; they were all killed except the youngest Wus brother. He got on the top of the house, made a long leap, then ran as fast as he could.
The strangers killed old woman Kaiutois, but they left Wus’ mother alive. They said: “She is old, she won’t have any more children; let her stay here.”
They cut each man open and took out his heart. They put the hearts on the end of a long pole, burned the house, and started off, taking all the women with them except Wus’ mother. When they were out of sight, Wus came home. He found his mother, and asked: “Did they leave the bodies?”
“Yes, but they cut them open and carried the hearts away.”
“Don’t feel lonesome,” said Wus. “I have two minds; I can do anything. I will pay those people for killing my brothers.”
The old woman had covered her head with pitch and ashes. Wus told her to go to the river and wash it off. While she was gone, he thought hard and right away there was a new house where the old one had been. It was large and nice, and was full of baskets and mats. He told his mother to make him ten pairs of moccasins.
“Why do you want moccasins?” asked the old woman. “I don’t know where to get skin to make them with.” She had a rabbit-skin dress on and he told her to cut ten pieces out of it. Right away the ten pieces were ten pairs of beautiful, beaded moccasins.
The old woman said: “You must be careful. Those men are strong. Maybe they will kill you.”
“I am not afraid,” said Wus. “I have more power than they have. I am going to find my sister. Maybe I will be gone a long time. Every day you must put down new mats and throw away the old ones.” Then he said to the mats: “There must be new mats here each day.”
Wus started. He traveled fast. Each pair of new moccasins lasted ten days. When there was a hole in the heel of one moccasin, he threw the pair away. He wore out five pairs; then he was near the house where the strangers lived. He [[345]]climbed a high mountain and stayed there all day, watching the people in the valley. He saw his sister; she was almost dead. Men were throwing captives back and forth across a fire; their bodies were burned and black with smoke. At dark the men began to whoop and scream, and to dance around the fire.
Wus thought hard, and made something long and bright. When he raised it up, it blazed like fire. He called it golóbis. When he held it and looked far off, he could see everything. He saw the people throwing his sister back and forth like a ball, across the fire. The pole his brothers’ hearts were on was stuck in the ground near the fire. He cried when he looked at his sister and his kin. He said: “I want to have long hair, and I want it covered with nice beads and bones, and I want a blanket, and leggings covered with porcupine quills.” Right away his hair touched the ground, and he had a blanket and leggings covered with beautiful quills. At midnight he went where the people were and stood looking at the fire.
“Who is that?” asked one of the men.
“Maybe that is Wus,” said another.
Wus took his bow and arrow and began to whip the bow string with the arrow. It made nice music. Right away the long-necked girl knew that the man was her brother. When he went nearer to the fire, people called out: “Wus! Wus! That man is Wus!” and they were frightened.
“Why do you call me Wus?” asked he.
“I feel as if Wus were looking at me,” said the chief’s son. “Where did you come from? We have never seen a man dressed as you are. Who are you?”
“You mustn’t ask such questions,” said Wus. “Everybody has heard of me. I live near you. My house is among the rocks. I have come to visit you. Where did you get those hearts and those young women?”
“Off in the south, where there are two lakes together. They are the hearts of the chiefs of that place. We killed nine of the Wus brothers, and all of the Kaiutois brothers, and took their wives and sisters.”
“I am glad those men are dead,” said Wus. “They made [[346]]me an orphan, and they almost killed my old grandmother, who lives north of here.” Wus began to cry.
The people didn’t quite believe him; they said: “You are Wus.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Wus. “You make me feel badly.”
“We missed the youngest Wus brother; maybe you are he.”
“I will tell you about that young man,” said Wus. “He can do anything he wants to. He can change into different things. He can turn people into rocks, or old stumps, or ashes. He wouldn’t come here and talk to you; he would turn you into birds, or trees, or anything else he wanted to. He doesn’t talk to people. I wish I could kill him, but I haven’t power enough. I am afraid to go near him. I am glad you have killed his brothers.”
People said: “Don’t listen to that man; he is Wus.”
Wus said: “Wait and see what will become of you when Wus comes. He will be here soon. He will come to kill you and take his sister home. Didn’t you take all the nice clothes those brothers had? When their youngest brother ran away, was he dressed as I am? Can’t I stay and play with those hearts and with the daughters of the men who killed my father and mother? I will dance five nights over those hearts; I am glad to see them hanging up there.”
Some of the people said: “Let him stay. We will watch him. He can stay one day, then if he doesn’t do any harm, we will let him stay longer. He isn’t Wus.”
Wus knew their thoughts. He began to dance and to throw the women across the fire. He meant to make them stronger. As he threw them, he talked to them in his heart, and they answered him in their hearts. He said aloud: “I am glad to throw you over the fire. Your kin killed my father and mother! I want the fire to burn you.”
He danced all night and threw the women faster than any other man; but each time he threw them they were stronger.
In the morning he said: “You must let me sleep till the sun goes down; then I will show you how glad I am that those [[347]]brothers are dead. My grandmother thinks that I am off hunting for deer. You must give me one of those hearts to carry home to her; then she will be glad, too.”
After Wus had slept a while, one of the men woke him up and said: “You are hungry; here are seeds to eat.” To one another they said: “If he is Wus, he won’t eat our water seeds.” He knew what they said. He ate the seeds and went to sleep again; slept till it was almost dark. Then he helped the men build a big fire. He loosened his hair and it floated around him, it was so long and thick. He had a woman braid it and tie it up with strings of beads. Then he called out: “I want everybody to come and see me dance!” The men sat around and looked at him. He danced well and he sang his own songs. He danced for three nights; by the middle of the third night everybody was tired. Wus said: “You should sleep so you will be strong enough to dance to-morrow.” He was taking their minds away from them; they thought of nothing; they liked Wus and did as he told them.
The fourth night everybody was sleepy. Wus said: “Why don’t you sleep now and dance in the daytime? People used to dance when the sun was bright so everybody could see what they were doing.”
The next morning they danced till midday, then rested. Wus said: “This is the last night I’ll dance. I am going home.”
They began early. Wus pounded the hearts on the poles. He pulled the women around, rubbed them against the hearts, and said: “Those are the hearts of your fathers and of your kin.” He whooped and screamed and danced till midnight. Then all the men were falling asleep, they were so tired.
“What makes you so sleepy?” asked Wus. “When Wus comes, you’ll not do as you are doing now. Wus has power; when he comes, he won’t leave one of you alive.” He kicked the men to make them get up and dance; then he said: “You didn’t let me know you were going off to kill those men; now you must give me this long-necked woman. Those men didn’t do you any harm, but they killed all my people.” He began to sing, and as he sang, every man fell sound asleep.
Wus said to the women: “When I hold up my golóbis, [[348]]you must start and run toward the east. Run as fast as you can.” He took the string of hearts and wound it around his waist. Then he held the golóbis—a great red ball—in his hand and went around among the sleeping men. The ball killed them all, burned their lives up; when he turned the ball over, it went out. The men lay there dead; Wus cut them open and took out their hearts.
When Wus caught up with the women, he gave each woman one moccasin. Right away each moccasin became a pair. As he traveled, he picked up the old moccasins he had thrown away when coming. There were no holes in them now. They were beautiful and new.
When Wus and the women were half-way home, they came to a place where their brothers and kin used to hunt deer. The women felt lonesome and began to cry. Wus said: “You needn’t feel lonesome; I am going to bring all of our people to life.”
Now old woman Wus dreamed that she saw a whole string of hearts come in at the top of the house, like snakes. When she woke up, she felt scared; she rubbed herself in ashes and thought: “As I have dreamed, it will be. Nobody can change a dream.”
When near home, the long-necked girl began to sing; her song was like the song of a fly. The old woman heard it and was glad; she knew that her daughter was coming, for nobody that lived in the world could sing her song.
When they got to the house, the women hurried to get wood and build a fire, so that their grandmother could boil the hearts Wus had brought. When everything was ready, the old woman said: “You must all stay outside while I do my work.”
Wus said: “Why do you have them stay outside? The spirits of the men will be out there talking. If the women answer, your work will be spoiled, and my brothers will never come to life.”
The old woman put the hearts in a basket of water and put hot stones around the basket. Then she tied blankets around the women and made them lie down in one corner of the house. She said: “When your brothers begin to come back, they will [[349]]talk to you; they will ask: ‘Are you glad to see us?’ ‘Have we been gone long?’ ‘What are you lying there for?’ ‘Get up and give us something to eat; we are hungry;’ but don’t answer, don’t say a word. If you do, there won’t be anything but hearts in the basket.”
When the water began to boil, the spirits of the men whose hearts were in the basket began to talk in the brush outside the house; then they went into the house and talked to the women. When the women didn’t answer, they pushed them and scolded. But the women didn’t look up, didn’t speak. After a while, there was a great noise, laughing and talking, then each man took his place by the fire.
The old woman said to them: “You should keep still; you have made me feel lonesome. You have been dead; I put ashes on my head and mourned for you.”
The eldest Wus said: “Why did you feel lonesome? You knew our brother had power, that nobody could kill him and that he could save us.”
They were glad when they saw their sister. She said: “Those men treated me badly; they wouldn’t give me anything to eat, and they threw me back and forth across the fire.”
“I am glad they didn’t make you eat our hearts,” said the eldest brother. “Those people sometimes make their captives eat the hearts of their own brothers and kin.” [[350]]