It was not long after this that the old man informed the people that they must close up the smoke-holes of their lodges, for a great pestilence was coming among them. So they did this. Then the old man, after sharpening a beech rod, carried it wherever he went. He made a great noise, saying: “Blue beech is coming. Blue beech is coming.” When he arrived at his nephew’s lodge he cast the beech rod down the smoke-hole, and it entered the breast of his nephew and killed him.
The next morning, when the people heard of the death of their chief, everyone began to weep for him. By the death of the nephew [[117]]the old man became the chief. He said that some one must marry the girl wives of the dead chief; so he called all the young men together, but before they could speak their minds the wily old reprobate exclaimed, “None of you will do.” He had asked each one for an expression of opinion, but would not permit anyone to answer him. Then he closed the conference by saying, “I must marry them myself.” But the girls would not remain and quickly escaped to their own home.
The old man was an owl, but the nephew was an eagle.
17. A Great Snake Battle
In old times some Indians had a great battle with snakes, and this is how it happened.
A certain man near the village of the Indians was hunting one day. He found a rattlesnake, which he mercilessly tormented. He tied a piece of bark around its body and passed another piece of bark through the body. Then, fastening the snake to the ground and building a fire, he said, “We shall fight,” as a challenge to the snake people. Afterward he burned up the snake and tormented many other snakes in this way, always challenging them to fight.
One day a man heard a peculiar noise. As he went near the apparent source of the sound, he saw a large number of all kinds of snakes going in one direction. Listening to their words, he heard them say: “We will have a battle with them. Djisdaah[30] has challenged us.” They (the snakes) were going to hold a council. The man overheard them say, “In four days we shall have a battle.”
The man went back to the village and told the people what he had seen and heard. The chief sent a number of men to the place, and as far as they could see in all directions were snakes three or four feet deep, all moving toward their rendezvous. The men ran back and told the chief what they had seen. The chief said: “We can not avoid it; we have got to fight, and so we must get ready.” To do this they cut great piles of wood and drove stakes close together in the ground; there were two rows of stakes the whole length of the village, and they stacked up the wood in long piles. On the fourth day the chief told the men to set fire to the wood in several places.
When the snakes advanced to attack the village they came right on through the fire, and many of them were burned to death. So many rushed into the fire that they put it out. The live snakes climbed over the dead ones, and in spite of the resistance of the men, who were trying in every way to kill them, they reached the second row of stakes. Here again many were killed, but still the living climbed over the dead above the second row of stakes, and then the battle for life began in deep earnest. The first man they killed [[118]]was Djisdaah, the man who had challenged them, and then the snakes made for the village, and the men stood and fought. Finally the chief shouted that he surrendered.