|
more offsite...
|
Now they were close to the island of the dead. It was joined
to the land by a
rising and falling
bridge called ch'eleli. Under this bridge a river ran swiftly. The dead
passed over this. When they
were on the bridge, a bird suddenly fluttered up beside them and frightened them.
Many fell off into
the river, where they turned into fish. Now the chief of the dead said: 'Somebody
has come.' They
told him: 'There are two. One of them is alive; he stinks.' The chief said: 'Do
not let him cross.'
When the woman came on the island, he asked her: 'You have a companion?' and she
told him: 'Yes,
my husband.' He asked her: 'Is he coming here?' She said, 'I do not know. He
is alive.' They asked
the man: 'Do you want to come to this country?' He said: 'Yes,' Then they told
him: 'Wait, I will see
the chief.' They told the chief: 'He says that he wants to come to this country.
We think he does not
tell the truth.' 'Well, let him come across.' Now they intended to frighten him
off the bridge. They
said: 'Come on. The chief says you can cross.' Then the bird (kacha) flew
up and tried to scare him',
but did not make him fall off the bridge into the water. So they brought him
before the chief. The
chief said: 'This is a bad country. You should not have come. We have
only your wife's soul (itit).
She has left her bones with her body. I do not think we can give her back to
you.' In the evening
they danced. It was a round dance and they shouted. The chief said to the man:
'Look at your wife
in the middle of the crowd. Tomorrow you will see no one.' Now the man stayed
there three days.
Then the chief said to some of the people: 'Bring that woman. Her husband wants
to talk to her.'
They brought the woman to him. He asked her: 'Is this your husband?' She said.-
'Yes.' He asked her:
'Do you think you will go back to him?' She said: 'I do not think so. What do
you wish?' The chief
said: 'I think not. You must stay here. You cannot go back. You are worthless
now.' Then he said
to the man: 'Do you want to sleep with your wife?' He said: 'Yes, for a while.
I want to sleep with
her and talk to her.' Then he was allowed to sleep with her that night and they
talked together. At
daybreak the woman was vanished and he was sleeping next to a fallen oak. The
chief said to him:
'Get up. It is late.' He opened his eyes and saw an oak instead of his wife.
The chief said: 'You see
that we cannot make your wife as she was. She is no good now. It is best that
you go back. You
have a good country there.' But the man said: 'No, I will stay.' The chief told
him: 'No, do not. Come
back here whenever you like, but go back now.' Nevertheless he man stayed there
six days. Then
he said: 'I am going back.' Then in the morning he started to go home. The chief
told him: 'When
you arrive, hide yourself. Then after six days emerge and make a dance.' Now
the man returned.
He told his parents: 'Make me a small house. In six days I will come out and
dance.' Now he stayed
there five days. Then his friends began to know that he had come back. 'Our
relative has come
back,' they all said. Now the man was in too much of a hurry. After five days
he went out. In the
evening he began to dance and danced all night, telling what he saw. In the morning
when he had
stopped dancing, he went to bathe. Then a rattlesnake bit him. He died. So
be went back to island.
He is there now. It is through him that the people know it is there. Every two
days the island
becomes fall. Then the chief gathers the people. 'You must swim,' he says.
The people stop
dancing and bathe. Then the bird frightens them, and some turn to fish, and some
to ducks; only
a few come out of the water again as people. In this way room is made when the
island is too full.
The name of the chief there is Kandjidji. A.L. Kroeber, Indian Myths of South Central California, University of California Publications, American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. IV, no. 4 (1906-7), PP. 216-18 |
|
|
|
 |
|
