HOW TWO SISTERS GOT OUT OF SKY LAND
Chilcotin
Once there were two sisters who were not happy, and they ran away from home. They ran until they came to Sky Land, where they lost their way. At last they came to the house of an old woman. She asked, “Where are you going?”
“We don’t know,” said the sisters. “We are lost.” Then the old woman told them they could not get back to the earth again, so they stayed with her.
One day the old woman went out to get some berry vines. She told the sisters not to open a basket which stood just there. After she had gone, the younger sister opened the basket, and at once thousands and thousands of rabbits jumped out and ran all about the house. When the old woman came back, she was very angry, but she caught the rabbits, every one, and put them all back into the basket.
The next day the old woman went out again. She told the sisters not to touch a certain box that stood there. As soon as she was gone, the younger sister opened it and looked in. Then she was frightened, for she could see clear down to the earth below.
Salish Basketry Designs
Made by the Lower Thompson River and Lillooet tribes
From “Memoirs, American Museum of Natural History”
When the old woman came back, she made a rope of the berry vines and fastened a basket to one end. Then she said to the younger sister, “Get in, and I will let you go down to the earth. You must keep your eyes shut. If the basket stops, you must give it a little shake. Perhaps it is stuck in a cloud. But do not open your eyes.” Thus she said.
So the sister started. She shut her eyes tight, and soon she felt the basket stick in something. She shook it a little and then it went on. It had stuck in the cloud. After a while the basket stopped. She shook it once, and it did not move. Then she shook it hard. It remained still. Then the sister put out her hands and felt grass. At once she opened her eyes and stepped out of the basket.
The old woman called down to her to cut the grass and put it in the basket. So she did so. Then the old woman pulled the basket up to the Sky Land again.
Now the young woman sat down and waited many days, looking into the sky all the time. At last she saw a speck far up. Then she knew it was her sister in the basket. When it came near enough, she reached up and helped her sister out. They both went back to their mother.