J. Mastamho's Transformation into Bald Eagle: 82-84
82. Turns into Bald Eagle at Avi-kutaparve.—Mastamho was standing at Avi-kutaparve. Now he proceeded to leave (change) his body. That is why the little mountain there is now white in one place. Mastamho was looking to the north, standing close by the river. He wanted to have wings and flap them. He moved his arms four times to make them into wings. Then he said: "See, I shall be a bird. Not everyone will know me when I am a bird. My name will be Saksak."[123]
[123] The bald or white-headed eagle; or possibly the fish-diving osprey.
83. Floats downriver to Hokusave.—Then he turned around twice from right to left, facing south, and then north, then south and north again, and lay down on his back in the middle of the river. Four times he moved his arms in the water. Thus he reached Hokusave.[124] Then he had wings and feathers, and rose from the water. He flew low above the water so that his wings touched it.
[124] About eight miles north of Needles City, in California, not far from the Nevada line.
84. Flies south to sea, is crazy (unknowing).—He flew southward, looking for a place to sit. He settled on a sandbar. But he thought: "It is not good: I will not sit here"; and he went on again. He sat on a log, but thought again: "No, I do not like this," and went on. He sat on a bank, but thought: "No, it is not good," and went on. So he went far down to the sea where the river emptied into it. There he stayed, and lived near the river eating fish. Now he was crazy and full of lice and nits.[125] Now when he had told everything and was a bird, he forgot all that he had known. He did not even know any longer how to catch fish. Sometimes other birds kill fish and leave part of them. Then Saksak eats them, not knowing any better. He is alone, not with other birds, and sits looking down at the water: he is crazy.
[125] Hatšilye, "louse-excrement." When a bald eagle is killed it is said to be always lousy and to smell of fish. People who dream of Mastamho after he became the bald eagle know nothing and are crazy (yamomk) like him.
SUPPLEMENT: THRASHER AND MOCKINGBIRD INSTITUTE SEX LIFE
K. Courtship Instituted at Miakwa'orve: 85-92
85. Thrasher and Mockingbird face people on playground at Miakwa'orve.—Now when Mastamho had died,[126] the man and woman he had left at Miakwa'orve, Ikinye-istum-kwamitše and Hatšinye-kunuya, took his place. So wanting to make a field for play, matāre, they drew their feet in a line over the ground for the people to stand on facing north. "No, it will not do;" they said. Then they drew lines for them to stand on facing east, and south, but again they said: "No." Then they drew a line so the people could look toward the west.[127] Then they said: "Yes, that will be right." Now they marked four such lines and made the people stand along them in four rows, one behind the other, all facing west. In the middle, between the first and second lines, they set a stick of sandbar willow.