Wigwam stories told by North American Indians

by Unknown

[[196]]

The hunter stood on a great rock on the top of the mountain and looked down; at his feet was a wide hole; he could not shoot his arrow across it. The hole was white with snow, except that in the middle was a wide black lake; across the lake he saw the three great rocks he had been told to find.

The hunter walked on the crackling snow until he reached these three rocks. He knew them, for they were the ones his tamanous had told him to find.

The first rock was shaped like the head of a salmon; the second was like the good camass root, which all Siwashes eat; the third rock was the same as an elk. It was his tamanous: it would take care of him; he was safe.

The hunter dropped his pack of deerskin on the ground before the elk. He opened it and took out a great elk-horn pick, and began to dig in the sand.

He struck one blow in the sand. Four otters rose out of the black lake and came and sat at the north of him. He struck the second blow. Four more otters came and sat at the south of him. He struck the third blow. Four more great otters came and sat at the west.

The sun was bright in the east. It was watching him. No otters came and sat at the east. These were all the guards for the place where the Great Tamanous kept his hiaqua. They did not hurt the hunter, and he did not see them, for he was thinking only of hiaqua. [[197]]

When the sun was over his head he put down his pick. He ate a bit of dried elk meat and took his pick again. He struck a rock; it broke very quickly. He lifted up a piece of the rock and saw a great cave full of shell money, full of hiaqua.

The hunter put in his hand and played with the shells. He lifted up strings of it, for it was strung on elk sinews. He threw the strings around his neck. He worked fast, for the sun was moving to the west, and he knew he must go. He was strong, but he had a great load. The sun was too fast for him.

He stood up and ran, but he did not throw one string over the elk head, nor over the camass root, nor over the rock like a salmon. He turned his back on the great otters. He did not offer them one string, not one shell; he forgot his promise to the Great Tamanous. He did not obey.