Tradition of the ?nê'?nêlk*!ênoxu, a clan of ?nEmgês.
(Dictated by ?nEmô'gwis, 1900.)
Ô'malalEmê? and Unattainable [Made-so-that-he-can-not-be-climbed-up-to] were men in the beginning, in the far past. They did not meet any one, and they built their house at Up-River. That is the name of the Up-River tribe. They had slaves. They were walking after elk, and went across to the other side. Then they arrived at the village of those of the other side, the Foreigners. That is the first time they were met. They did not know them. They were the Mâ'ts!adEx. After that they went there, sometimes carrying sea-otters on their backs. They were now the friends of those whom they had met when they were walking. The ones whom they had met in walking were archers. The name (of their chief) was Wâ'tsowik*a. Then the chief began to give a winter dance.
The one on whose account he was host was to be isolated. ["Don't feel badly," he was told, being struck. "Sleep on, you are good, holding your own, and taking care of yourself."] "You ought to feel bad," he was told while he was being struck. "Don't sleep all the time. You ought to hold on to the knowledge of your supernatural power." Then the child cried. For eight days he staid in the house hanging his head. Then in the night he started. They tried to search for him, and it was said that he was dead. Then his father was struck by the people, and his mother was struck. But he was not dead. Then their house was torn down, and he built a small house. Then closet-sticks were thrown on his house, and he was not invited in with others. Only dirt was thrown on his house by his tribe.
(This paragraph was also told as follows: Then the child was Struck,--the one on whose account he was to be host. The child cried. They tried to call him, that he might rise in the house, but he did not eat for ten days. He just wrapped himself up in the house. He did not sleep. Then he started and went to commit suicide. He was looked for. His mother wailed for him. He did not give a winter dance. He only pulled down his house.)
Then the child arrived on the large mountain where quartz is. Quartz flew into his body. Then the child began to fly from the rock. He began to fly with the quartz. Then the child went to what is called Feather-on-Top. Then feathers came to be on his body, and he became a bird. He came flying, soaring over his father and mother. Then the child was seen. His father was awakened. "Stop! your master has come."--"Don't talk foolishly," he said on his part, and he just covered his face with his blanket. "Go through there and die!" said the father. "Perhaps you are looking for a means of insulting me." Then the mother was nudged in the house. "Behold! really your master has come," she was told. "Put on your belt." She put on her belt. Then the child came and was surrounded. (Time) was beaten for him, and it is said he was Mâ'dEm, and this is his song:
"Haanä', haanä', anä'.
I went and stood at the foot of the land-slide named Quartz-on-Back.
Hanä', hanä', hanâ', hayê'.
I was taken along flying, and reached the Daybreak, the house of the child of Mâ'dEm on the back of the world.
Hanä', hanä', hanâ', hayê'.
I was made to soar, and they soared with me to the north end of the world.
Hanä', hanä', hanâ', hayê'.
"Behold! that is the way of the one whom we like, whom we imitate, because I am a real dancer, yêwâ, yêwâ. Because I am a real shaman,
therefore I am the only supernatural one. I was carried to the lower world because I am a real shaman, therefore I say that I am the only supernatural one. Therefore I say that I am the only great supernatural one; for I was taken along flying like Mâ'dEm by my screaming-garment, the winter-dance garment of the world, because I am a real dancer; yêwâ, yêwâ."
Then Mâ'dEm arrived in the house. He did not walk on the floor of the house. Then three persons went in a canoe on the river. They capsized and sank. Then they went to the lower world. Then he (Mâ'dEm) entered the house in the lower world. Those in the lowest world, the place where he had gone, beat time. Then he took a wife there. He looked among their children, and he married the youngest sister. Those in the lower world had a winter dance. "Let him have a wish," was said to him. Then the large red cedar-bark was brought out in the house. "He does not yet desire this cedar-bark," was said. His wishes were known by a [another] person. "He does not want this." Then water was poured into a bucket. The water was sacred: it was treated by a shaman. Then the water became bird's-down, and the house became filled with the down. "Will he not take this? Does he not desire this?" Thus was said. "He does not want it," said the one who knew his mind.
Then what is named White-Feather came up in the house. Then the feathers went about on the floor of the house, meeting and passing each other,--the magic treasure of the one who desired the magic treasure. "Go on, and take this," he was told. "He does not want this."
Then ten dancing-boards stood up on the floor in the rear of the house. "Does he not take this? Does he not desire this?"--"That is what he wants. He will take this," he said. "Does not our friend wish to go home now? Does not this Ë'x*?ik*ilag*ê? desire to go home?" was said. "He shall have for one name Ë'x*?ik*ilag*ê?.
[paragraph continues] Our friend shall be taken home," was said. "Let us ask Hê'lâla to lead him home," was said to the Mouse-Woman.
Then Ë'x*?ik*ilag*ê? was led by Hê'lâla. She really went and returned in one day. She tore up the ground with her nose going up. They came right to the place behind the village of his tribe. The beating of time came also; and also the red cedar-bark came out first; and the speaker in the house also came; and also the other one, the Listener. They came to take care of (the magic gift) here. Then they brought out the bucket. Water was poured into it. Then the water was sacred, and it became down. The house was full of down, and White-Feather was brought in. It always walked about on the ground in the house, and also the dancing-boards stood on the floor in the house,--ten of them; and then the one who had obtained supernatural treasures had the name Ë'x*?ik*ilag*ê?. There were two names, also Flying-about-in-the-World. Thus the red cedar-bark came to the Up-River tribe.
Then Ô'malalEmê? went with it across to his friends the Mâ'ts!adEx, with the quartz and with White-Feather. He wore (a dress), the magic treasure of Flying-about-in-the-World. Then the red cedar-bark was bought; the quartz was bought; the white feather was bought; it was bought for slaves and for sea-otters. Then they had him for their younger brother. He just had the Mâ'ts!adEx for his older brothers. Then the chiefs Ô'malalEmê? and Unattainable went home. He came with the sea-otters and with the slaves. Then he gave a potlatch to all the with the sea-otters and the slaves and the coppers,--the price of the red cedar-bark.
Then they poled up again to the very head of the river. There Ô'malalEmê? and Unattainable fished with a net. Then Ô'malalEmê? began to be angry with Unattainable
because he stood behind him while they were fishing. Then he made a fire on the beach. Plentiful [full] was the game of Unattainable. Nothing was the game of Ô'malalEmê?. "They shall die," said, on his part, Ô'malalEmê?. Then they slept during the night. Then Ô'malalEmê? killed them. He killed them, and they were dead. One among them only was alive, and the one who was saved left. Then their slaves and their wives and their children were taken away, and their fishing-place was also taken away, and their nets, their crests, their salmon-traps. The one, however, walked through, and came to Beaver-Cove. He was going to the Lâ'alaxsEnt!ayo to get his relatives to go to war with him to make war on Ô'malalEmê?, who had killed his fathers and his brothers. The warriors went across to Beaver-Cove.
The slave of Unattainable, however, was sitting on a rock at the salmon-weir of Unattainable. "Have you come to make war?" said the slave. "We have come to make war," they said on their part. "That is where we sleep, the roof of our house," said, on his part, the slave, "on account of our uneasiness. This ladder is the only place we where we can go up. We simply lay the ladder down on the roof as soon as we go to sleep. Then it is pulled up and laid down on top."--"Take care," he was told. "When they begin to sleep, put it down, that we may climb up." Thus said the warriors.
Two slaves watched the two sides of the ladder to put it down. Then those against whom war was made went to sleep. The ladder was let down, and the warriors went up. They clubbed and struck and speared the men. Then they were all gone. They were dead. Then the Lâ'alaxsEnt!ayo took their property, and loaded their canoe with the property of those on account of whom the child had talked about war. They triumphed. Then they
possessed their former country. They got back their wives and their children and their slaves. Then he was treated as a chief. Then L!êl?nakulag*i?laku was a chief. That is the end.