A SKOKS STORY
On the shore of Tula Lake many chiefs were living,—the first people. (They are now turned to fowls and animals.) With them lived an old woman and her grandson. The boy was called “Big Belly;” Tusasás rubbed dirt on him and laughed at him because he was small and fat.
A Skoks traveled every evening along the eastern side of the lake. The Skoks wore a straw blanket, and made a great noise, crying as he went along. The minute anybody saw him, he vanished. If he passed a man whose right shoulder was toward him, that man died at once, for the spirit stole his life, but if the spirit passed on the other side, the person was senseless a while and then came to life.
One evening people heard the Skoks coming. It made such a noise that they heard it when it was a long way off. They were scared; they crowded together and each person wanted to be inside. Tusasás wanted to be under all the rest; they pulled him up and threw him out, but he crawled under again. The people shivered; it was so cold they were nearly frozen. It was always cold when that Skoks screamed; he made it so. Fires went out and grass wouldn’t burn.
The old woman took the hull of seeds and made a fire for the little boy. She cried while she was making it, and said: “My grandson, all the people here are going to die.” The little boy didn’t seem to know what she meant; he got up and stood by the fire. She said: “Sit down, my grandson, you mustn’t stand up or go out; if you meet this Skoks, you are sure to die.” The old woman threw ashes toward the voice of the Skoks.
The little boy told his grandmother to tie a skin around him and roll him up so he could go and meet the Skoks.
“My grandson,” said the old woman, “what can you do? You have no power.” But she got a buckskin blanket, tied [[377]]it around him, and said: “Don’t let the Skoks pass on the right side; be sure that your left shoulder is toward him. He will try to make you go on the other side, but don’t you go.”
Every time the Skoks shouted, it was like throwing ice into the house, and Tusasás cried out: “Oh, let me go under; I am cold.”
When the boy started, his grandmother said: “You must take some ordure in your hand, and if the Skoks tries to make you go on the wrong side, throw it at him.”
Soon the boy saw the Skoks. His head reached the sky and he looked as if he were carrying a load of clouds. One side was painted white, the other black. He came very fast. The boy had hard work to get by. When he pushed into Skoks, Skoks darted forward. At last both fell, and their bodies turned to rock, but their spirits came out of the rocks. The boy was holding up the ordure, and that turned to rock, too.