42. The Uncle and His Nephew
An uncle and his nephew lived together in a bark lodge in the woods. They had no neighbors.
The uncle went every day to hunt and to dig wild potatoes. During the day and evening the boy sat by the fire and parched corn to eat. Though the uncle brought home plenty of good potatoes, he gave his nephew only small, poor ones to eat. [[224]]
The nephew wondered why they were always alone, so he asked his uncle whether there were other people living in that region. In reply the uncle said: “Far off in the west there are people powerful in sorcery, who took all our tribe captive except us two. This is the reason we are alone and have no neighbors.”
Then the boy wondered why his uncle gave him such small, poor potatoes to eat. He saw his uncle put large ones into the pot, but in the morning only small ones were left. So one night the nephew made a hole in the skin cover under which he slept, to watch his uncle. Toward midnight he saw his uncle get up and strike a light, and then going to an old couch in the corner of the lodge, in which no one seemingly slept, raise the top and call out a young man, who was beautiful to look upon, strong, and active. Both the uncle and the strange young man sat down by the fire. The potatoes, covered with moss, were simmering over the flames. The uncle uncovered them, picked out the best for his nephew, and brought him also meat and other food. After they had eaten heartily, the uncle sang and kept time for the young man with a turtle rattle while the latter danced. The little boy looked intently all the time at the young man, saying to himself, “I suppose that is my brother; now we will have some fun.” After the young man had finished dancing the uncle put him under the couch again and, banking the fire, lay down on his own couch.
The next morning, as soon as the uncle had gone to hunt and to dig potatoes, the little boy went to the couch, and raising the corner of the cover, said, “Come out! come out here! brother, to me.” “Oh, no!” said the young man, “I can not go out in the daytime; those women off there in the west, the Wadiʻoniondies, would hear me.” “Oh, never mind; they will not hear you,” said the boy. “Oh, yes; they will hear me, and the moment I come out they will carry me off. They do not know now that I am here, but the moment I make a noise they will hear it and will come for me.” The little follow teased and begged so hard, however, that his brother came out at last. After eating together, one danced and then the other, until at last the young man heard the women calling in the distance, “Ween, Ween.” Instantly the elder brother, jumping under the couch, covered himself.
All this time the little boy kept shaking the rattle and dancing with all his might. Soon two women appeared from the west, sailing in a canoe through the air. “Oh! where is he?” cried they. “Your brother! where is he?” said one of the women. “I have only an uncle, who is old. He is now off hunting,” said the boy. “There is somebody here with you in the lodge,” said one of the women. “Oh, no!” said the boy, “I am alone.” “Oh! you little rogue, you lie,” said the woman. “If I should lie, that is my business,” answered the [[225]]child. “Well, we will let you off this time, but you shall suffer if you lie again to us.”
In the evening when the old uncle came home, he inquired what he had been doing. “Have you found a brother?” he asked. “I have no brother, have I?” asked the little boy. “Was not there anyone here to-day?” queried the uncle. “No,” said the lad. “Well, what did those women come for? I heard them,” said the uncle. “There was no one here,” said the child. The uncle said no more.
The next morning, when going off to hunt, the uncle said, “You would better go out of doors to play, instead of turning everything upside down in the lodge; go out of doors to play.” His uncle had scarcely disappeared when the boy ran to his brother, begging him to come out, until at last he did so. Again they amused themselves; but in the midst of the dancing the elder brother heard two of the women coming. “Now,” said he, “I must go; there is no use to hide or to deny that I am here. I must go.” Presently the two women arrived in their canoe, which, grazing the top of the lodge, came to the ground. The elder brother got into the canoe, and away they went to the west.
When the uncle came home at night he was bowed down with grief, for he knew what had happened. He sat down, crying bitterly. “Oh! do not cry so, uncle,” said his little nephew; “do not cry; I will go and bring him back.” Running out quickly, he gathered a lot of red-willow twigs, from which he scraped the bark. On throwing this into the fire straightway a thick column of smoke rose and shot off toward the west. Jumping into the smoke, the boy was borne away after his brother. He overtook the canoe when it was about halfway to its destination in the west. The youth in the canoe knew that his little brother was following to rescue him. One of the women was sitting in the bow of the canoe paddling, while the other sat in the stern steering. The young man turned to look at his little brother, whereupon one of the women in the canoe struck him on the side of the head with the paddle, crying out: “Sit still! do not look around.” As she struck him he turned his head slightly, so as to look again; he saw that his brother, on noticing the blow, sprang forward and jumped into the canoe, shouting: “Do not strike my brother.” Then he cried: “Let this boat turn around and take my brother home.” Instantly the canoe, turning around in spite of all that the women could do, sailed back faster than it had come.
As they were nearing the uncle’s lodge the women begged the little boy to let his brother go with them, saying: “We will give you whatever you wish, only let him go.” He thought of what he might ask in payment for letting his brother go again. Then the [[226]]young woman inquired: “Is there anything we might give to induce you to let him go?” He said: “Yes; if each of you will give me her sexual organ for a moccasin, I will let him go.” On their consenting, he cut out with his knife what he wanted and put the moccasins on his feet; they fitted well. Immediately he was at home.
In answer to his old uncle’s inquiry he said: “I brought my brother home, but let him go again; the women gave me these beautiful moccasins to get him back. I can do everything with them.” After a few days the little boy had such power because of his moccasins that he told his uncle how the women were tormenting his brother, and that he was resolved to rescue him. Bringing a lot of red-willow twigs, he scraped off the bark, which he threw on the fire. Then jumping into the rising smoke, he shot off toward the west, where he came down at the edge of a clearing in a great wood. Just opposite, at the other end, was a Long Lodge, and at the right hand, at the edge of the wood, was a small lodge, in which a grandmother lived with three grandchildren, a boy and two girls.
After thinking a while, he said, “I will go over to the little lodge.” Going there he met a boy of his own age and size, just like himself in every way; half of his hair (the crown) was black and half (the sides) red. “Oh! how do you do?” said the strange little boy. “Who are you? You must be my brother?” The boys looked at each other, and seeing that they were just about the same size they became brothers. “Now, you will come and live here with me, little boy,” said the lad; “I have two sisters and a grandmother; my grandmother has gone out.”
When the old woman came home the little boy said, “I have a brother here; he is going to live with us.” “How could he live with us, we are so poor?” said the grandmother. “I think he can; he is poor himself and will be satisfied with what you have to give him,” replied the lad. At last she consented to let him stay. The other boy, drawing near the old woman, asked: “Are you going to the chief’s lodge? Have you heard what is going on there?” “Oh, yes!” said the old woman; “the chief’s two daughters brought a man from the east, from that great wampum people; they hung him up last night and made him cry. His tears are wampum. Tonight they will do the same thing.” “Can we not go over there?” asked the boy. “I suppose so,” said his grandmother; “I will get some wampum.”
When evening came the old woman, her grandchildren, and the little boy went to the Long Lodge. The people had already assembled, and the man was hanging from a post. The two sisters were sitting on couches, one on each side. The boy said to his friend, “Now we will get some dry rushes to light the pipes of the chiefs and of the people standing around, if they will let us in.” [[227]]
When the old woman came to the Long Lodge she asked whether she might not have a chance to get some wampum. They asked the chief, who said, “Yes; she is a good woman. Let her have a chance, too.” “My little grandson and his friend,” said the old woman, “will come in and carry lights to those who want to smoke.” “Oh, yes,” said the chief, “let the little boys come.”
As they went into the lodge the young man who was tied to the post smiled when he saw his brother. All who saw him wondered what the man was smiling at. Presently the chief gave orders to apply the firebrands. Thereupon they burned him on one side and then on the other; he cried bitterly, and as the tears fell they turned into wampum beads, falling in a shower. All the people ran to collect the wampum, and the old grandmother got some too. After the man had cried a while they rested and smoked.[84] When the order was given to begin the torture a second time, the little brother gave one moccasin to his friend and kept the other himself. As they were about to begin the burning he said to the boy, “Now stick your foot into the fire.” When he did so, one of the sisters screamed, as though in the agony of death, and never stopped until the boy took out his foot. All the people wondered what was the matter, but she would not tell.
Again, as they were going to apply the fire to the man, the little nephew put his foot into the fire and the other sister screamed in terrible pain. After they had gotten some wampum and rested, the boy said, “Let them all sleep soundly.” His grandmother and the little boy went outside with his friend, and the grandmother said, too, “Let them all sleep soundly.” When all were asleep the lad cut down his brother, whom he took outside; then, walking around the lodge, he said, “Let this lodge be turned into flint and let it become red-hot.” At once this came to pass and all within the lodge were burned up. “Now,” said the boy, “I think you would better come home with me, grandmother; you would be a good wife for my uncle.”
All went to the uncle’s lodge, where they found him crying for his lost nephew. He had been tormented by foxes, who had knocked at the door, saying, “We have come, uncle.” After the nephews and the rest of the company had come into the old uncle’s lodge, a fox who did not know of the new arrivals knocked at the door, saying, “Uncle, I have come.” “Let him in,” said the boy, while all hid themselves. On coming in the fox ran toward the fire to get ashes to throw into the old man’s face, but the boy caught him. Saying, “Oh, you rascal! I will fix you now,” he tied together the fox’s forelegs with a bark rope and hung him up; thereupon the tears came out of his eyes, his face and—[Here the story ends abruptly.] [[228]]