Sacred Texts Native American California Index Previous Next
Once upon a time a mother deer took her two fawns to visit an old mother bear and her cub. While they were there the two mothers went out to pick berries and the old bear killed the mother deer. When she returned to her home the two fawns missed their mother, and asked where she was. The old bear told them that their mother was all right, that she was still picking berries, but the fawns saw the liver which the old bear had brought back with her, and knew that she had killed their mother. They wanted to revenge their mother's death, so they took the little cub out to play with them. Finding a big hole in the rocks they built a fire in front of it. After the fire was burning good, they told the little cub that they would play a game, that they would go into the hole and he could blow the smoke in on them until they told him to stop, then they would come out, he could go into the hole and they would blow smoke in on him until he told them to stop, and in this way they would find out who could withstand the most smoke. So the little fawns went into the hole and the little cub blew the smoke in on them, and after a while they told him to stop, which he did, and they came out. Then the little cub went into the hole and the little fawns blew the smoke in on him. After a while he called out that he had had enough, but the fawns kept on blowing and the cries of the little cub grew
weaker and weaker, finally ceasing altogether. When the little fawns quit blowing and looked into the hole the little cub was dead, so they dragged him out onto the ground. Then they were scared, and fearing that the mother bear would find out what they had done, they ran away. When the old mother bear came out and found her little cub dead she was very angry. She pursued the fawns and they ran away up to the top of the mountain, where they found their grandfather, who lived up there among the rocks. The fawns told him their story and asked him what they were to do. Their grandfather heated some rocks which they rolled down the mountain, and one of the rocks struck the old bear and killed her. But the fawns were still afraid that something would happen to them, and asked their grandfather to change them into something that nothing could catch or harm them. Their grandfather made several suggestions which did not meet with their approval, until he asked them if they would like to go and live in the sky, telling them that up there nothing could happen to them and they would be safe and happy. The fawns said that they would like that. Their grandfather told them that he would build a fire and send them up into the sky, and that when they were high enough they were to call to him and he would stop them. After he had built the fire, and the little fawns were dancing happily around it, they accidentally splashed some water onto the fire and caused an explosion, which blew them high into the sky, where they and their children have lived ever since.
And the lightning is the sparks that fly from their feet when they run over the rocks in the sky, while the sharp, quick thunder is the sound of the running of the smaller deer, and the heavy rolling thunder that of the older and heavier deer.