Being attacked in this unexpected manner, the Indian defended himself to the best of his ability, using for the purpose the dead limb of a tree which was near at hand, and, after a long and furious struggle, in which he was badly wounded, he at length succeeded in killing the bear.
His exploit was considered so remarkable by the rest of the tribe that they called him Yo-sem´-i-te (meaning a full-grown grizzly bear), in honor of his achievement, and this name was transmitted to his children, and eventually to the whole tribe.
LEGEND OF THE TUL-TOK´-A-NA.
There were once two little boys living in the Valley of Ah-wah´-nee, who went down to the river to swim. When they had finished their bath they went on shore and lay down on a large boulder to dry themselves in the sun. While lying there they fell asleep, and slept so soundly that they never woke up again. Through many moons and many snows they slept, and while they slept the great rock [El Capitan] on which they lay was slowly rising, little by little, until it soon lifted them up out of sight, and their friends searched for them everywhere without success. Thus they were carried up into the blue sky, until they scraped their faces against the moon; and still they slept on.
Photograph by Fiske.
NORTH DOME (TO-KO´-YA). 3,725 Feet.
This rock is believed by the Indians to represent Tis-sa´-ack's husband, turned into stone for beating his wife. The lower dome to the right is the basket which she threw at him. See "Legend of Tis-sa´-ack."
Then all the animals assembled to bring down the little boys from the top of the great rock. Each animal sprang up the face of the rock as far as he could. The mouse could only spring a hand's breadth, the rat two hands' breadths, the raccoon a little more, and so on. The grizzly bear made a great leap up the wall, but fell back like all the others, without reaching the top. Finally came the lion, who jumped up farther than any of the others, but even he fell back and could not reach the top.
Then came the tul-tok´-a-na, the insignificant measuring worm, who was despised by all the other creatures, and began to creep up the face of the rock. Step by step, little by little, he measured his way up until he was soon above the lion's jump, and still farther and farther, until presently he was out of sight; and still he crawled up and up, day and night, through many moons, and at length he reached the top, and took the little boys and brought them safely down to the ground. And therefore the rock was named for the measuring worm, and was called Tu-tok-a-nu´-la.