How
the Humans got the fire from the Wolf People
as told by George Clutesi (Nuu-Chah-Nulth
Elder)
Many years ago, only the Wolf people had fire. The
humans did not have any fire to cook, dry their clothes
or even warm themselves.
The wolf people were not kind, and were especially feared
by all. They did not want to share their fire, and
guarded it carefully from all those who needed it.
The humans wanted the fire for their village, as the long
and cold winter was just ahead. The great chiefs and
wise councilors met and tried to figure out how to capture
the fire from the wolf people. They decided to call
all the strong, brave and wise men of the land to come forward
and capture the fire.
The strong men were indeed brave, and they boasted that
they would bring the fire back to the village, while the
wise men reasoned that they would use their smarts to capture
the fire. One by one, the strongest, the fastest,
the bravest and the wisest all tried to bring back the fire
for the village, but all failed.
The great chief was let down by his best people. How
could they get the fire? Will they have to eat raw
meat and be cold all winter? How will they see during
the long and dark nights? They great chief cried in
despair "We need the fire for our village this winter!"
Everyone was silent. They all looked at the ground,
and were full of despair.
There was one villager, young Ah-tush-mit, Son of Deer who
believed that he could capture the fire from the greedy
wolf people. Even though he had long and spindly legs,
he could run fast, and jump high. He raced to the
great chief and stopped just before him and said in a small,
quiet voice "I'll bring you the fire."
All the strong and wise men could not believe what young
Ah-tush-mit had just said. They all broke out in loud
laughter, and mocked the young deer.
Young Ah-tush-mit repeated in a louder voice to the great
chief "I'll bring you the fire." What else could the
great chief do for his people? He was willing to let
the young deer try, even though the villagers expected failure.
The great chief replied "Young Ah-tush-mit, all my greatest,
strongest and wisest men have failed. I will let you
have a chance too."
So Ah-tush-mit called all the women together and asked them
to make a very colorful costume, so that he could dance
for the great Wolf chief.
The women were not willing to make a costume for young
Ah-tush-mit. They asked "Who wants to dance for the
miserable Wolf chief?"
The wise great chief asked his people to obey what ever
Ah-tush-mit asked of them. The chief said "Give him
a chance as I have given each of you a chance."
With that said, the women made a beautiful head-band, sash
for his belt and bands for his ankles, knees and elbows.
Young Ah-tush-mit put on all his fancy regalia. He
paid especially close attention to the bands for his knees.
He said that they had to fit just right so that he could
dance wonderfully for the great Wolf chief. No one
noticed thatAh-tush-mit tucked something into the knee bands.
He carefully positioned these bands so that nothing showed.
Young Ah-tush-mit asked for the best drummers and singers
to accompany him to the Wolf village. He instructed
that they should not enter the Wolf people's house with
him, and upon his signal, run quickly back to their village.
The party left for the Wolf village late, with just enough
time for the singers and drummers to return to their village
before nightfall. Young Ah-tush-mit hid behind the
drummers as they approached the Wolf village. Everyone
thought that he was now too scared to capture the fire.
The Wolf people heard the singers and drummers, even when
they were still far off. The huge doors of the Wolf
house slowly opened, large and scary looking guard wolves
came out to see what all the fuss was about.
Through the open doors, the human performers could see the
great fire inside the Wolf house. They were all amazed,
since they had never seen fire before. They kept singing
and drumming, as Ah-tush-mit had asked.
From behind them, the young deer jumped forward. Now
he danced and pranced and sang before the great Wolf people.
Toward the open doors he moved. All of a sudden he
gave the signal for the drummers and singers to flee back
to the village.
With no more drumming and singing, young Ah-tush-mit felt
alone, and very scarred. The great Wolf chief asked
"Who is making all that noise out there?"
One of the wolf guards answered "It is young Ah-tush-mit,
and some drummers and singers that have since fled."
The great chief said "Send him away and close the doors
so it doesn't get too cold in here!"
But the chief's wife thought that the deer was cute, and
she wanted to see him dance more. Reluctantly the
chief agreed, and the guards allowed young Ah-tush-mit to
enter their house.
Into the great house Ah-tush-mit entered. He picked
up the pace of his dance and started to sing again.
His voice was small, so he had to sing with all his might
to be heard. He needed to entertain the Wolf people
and then get close to the fire. As he got near the
fire, he noticed that there was a ring of bones, broken
and sharpened, right around the fire. It seemed like
there was no easy way to get close to the fire.
Ah-tush-mit danced around to one side of the fire where
there were less bones that were not as high. With
his dancing performance he was able to survey the bone barrier
around the fire. At the place were the bone guard
was low enough, and while still singing, he leaped right
over the roaring fire.
The Wolf people broke out in laughter. Little Ah-tush-mit
had caught on fire! Between his knees the fire smoldered.
This was his plan, and now he only had to escape while the
Wolf people were still amused. Out the open doors
he leaped, and then ran as fast as he could to his village.
With the sparks smoldering between his knees, young Ah-tush-mit
had captured the fire. His sharp pointed feet and
strong hooves allowed him to run and jump over the bone
guard that the Wolf people constructed around their fire.
His strong legs allowed him to jump high enough to catch
the small bundle of very dry small twigs from a spruce tree
that he tucked into the knee bands that the women had made
for him. Yes, young Ah-tush-mit did bring the fire
back, but he badly burned the inside of his knees. This
is why the inside of deer's legs are singed black, and this
is how the villagers first got the fire from the mighty
Wolf people.
Clutesi,
C. George 1967. Fables of the Tse-shaht People.
Son of Raven, Son of Deer. Sidney, BC Gray's
Publishing Ltd.
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How Ko-ishin-mit the Raven got his long nose
as
told by George Clutesi
(Nuu-Chah-Nulth)
There was this raven called Ko-ishin-mit who loved to copy
people. He would watch people go about their daily tasks,
and then go home and try to copy them. Ko-ishin-mit
also loved to visit his neighbors near mealtimes, and get
free food. He was very greedy and would even walk
for miles just to get a free meal.
Early one spring morning, Ko-ishin-mit was sitting near
the river and watching the swallows catch their breakfast.
He loved to watch them swoop and skim the water surface
as their chased their insect snacks. Sometimes when
the birds would fly over Ko-ishin-mit's head, he would almost
fall over backwards while trying to watch their flight path.
This amused him much. He noticed that he was feeling
quite hungry himself.
Suddenly, not to far from where Ko-ishin-mit sat, something
broke the calm surface of the river. Ko-ishin-mit
was excited! It was a large hissit, a sockeye salmon.
In an instant, he got on his feet and followed the fish
along the bank of the river. He was very surprised,
it just wasn't one fish, it was a large school! The
hissit were slowly traveling up the river to their spawning
grounds. Again, he noticed that he was feeling quite
hungry.
He knew that he couldn't catch the sockeye like his friend,
Son of Eagle. What was he to do? He followed
the school up the river bank for a while longer. Ah!
Ko-ishin-mit thought that he should pay a visit to Son of
Eagle. He is very skilled at catching salmon, and
always has fresh salmon for breakfast.
Son of Eagle lived near the mouth of the river, quite a
distance from where Ko-ishin-mit now was. This did
not bother him much. He was hungry and knew that people
would always invite him in for a free meal. Down the
river he hopped. It was quite a distance, but he only
thought of the fresh salmon breakfast. Soon he could
smell the salt water, he was very near.
Near Son of Eagle's house was a large tree. This is
were Son of Eagle would perch and watch for the hissit to
swim by. Ko-ishin-mit thought that he would pretend
to be walking by, and whistle and hum loud enough so that
the eagles would hear him. He whistled extra loud,
just to make sure that he was noticed.
Son of Eagle heard Ko-ishin-mit from a distance. He
asked "Ko-ishin-mit, where are you going so early this morning?
Do you want to come in for a fresh hissit breakfast?
Come on in and warm yourself by our fire."
The greedy raven grinned and hopped as fast as he could
into their house. He sat next to the fire and warmed
himself. Son of Eagle put on his great wings and flew
gracefully to the top of the large tree next to his house.
Ko-ishin-mit watched out of the corner of his beady little
black eyes and mumbled under his breath "I can fly like
that too!"
From the top of the large tree Son of Eagle could easily
see any hissit that swam by. Son of eagle had excellent
vision, the best in the country even. In the distance,
a sockeye finned. Son of Eagle quickly swooped down
from his perch, with his talons reaching forward.
"Seek, seek, seek" chanted Son of Eagle as he easily picked
up the silvery salmon in his powerful talons. Ko-ishin-mit
watched the whole salmon catching process, but pretended
not to be interested. He mumbled that he can soar
like Son of Eagle too.
Son of Eagle brought the salmon to Mamma Eagle who already
had hot coals on the fire ready to cook the fish.
Mamma Eagle was the best at roasting salmon, and Ko-ishin-mit's
mouth started to water. When the salmon was cooked,
Mamma Eagle placed in on a large wooden platter and brought
it to Ko-ishin-mit.
Like the greedy bird that Ko-ishin-mit is, he did not wait
for the eagles. He gobbled up the whole salmon, all
by himself. With his full stomach, he settled next
to the fire and fell asleep. The eagles were not surprised,
and politely let Ko-ishin-mit rest.
After a while, he got up and thanked the eagles for their
hospitality. He headed home to his wife, Pash-hook,
the little squirrel. Once there, he asked his little
wife to go to the eagles home and invite them to dinner,
to be their guests of honor. They were to arrive at
noon today.
Little Pash-hook knew that they did not have any food in
their house, but she obediently went to the Eagles place.
Their house was very far, but she hurried along. The
Eagles were delighted to see Pash-hook, and were pleased
to be Ko-ishin-mit's guests of honor. They invited
little Pash-hook in for a bit to eat, and then the three
of them traveled back to Ko-ishin-mit's house.
Other guests were also arriving when Pash-hook and the Eagles
got to Ko-ishin-mit's place. He was pleased to see
the Eagles, and ushered them to the end of the room, to
the honored guest's place. While the guests were still
arriving, Ko-ishin-mit excused himself and went to catch
a large sockeye salmon. After putting on his wings
he hopped out the door, and flapped up to the large tree
next to the river bank.
"I will catch a large hissit, even larger than the one that
Son of Eagle caught this morning!" said Ko-ishin-mit.
He waited high up in the tree, looking down at the river
surface. The noon sun shone bright, and the glare
on the water surface hurt Ko-ishin-mit's little beady black
eyes. Of course many sockeye salmon passed by Ko-ishin-mit,
but he was unable to see then, for he had quite poor eye
sight. He had an excellent sense of smell, and could
always smell the "free meals" around the village.
Poor Ko-ishin-mit, what would his guests do?
In the middle of the large pool in the river Ko-ishin-mit
saw something. It looked like a fin, and then large
ripples. It must be a very large hissit! Down
from the branch Ko-ishin-mit flew, not to steady in flight,
and definitely not soaring like Son of Eagle. With
his beak open he plunged into what he thought was the large
sockeye. Baam! Ko-ishin-mit only saw stars.
Some of the guests were watching from the river bank.
"Oh, someone go and save poor Ko-ishin-mit!" Said
a worried guest. "He is floating down the river!"
exclaimed another.
What Ko-ishin-mit thought to be the large hissit was actually
a large rock that the receding tide allowed to poke from
the water's surface. Poor Ko-ishin-mit and his bad
eyesight. Son of Eagle gracefully swooped up Ko-ishin-mit
in his large and powerful talons and brought him to his
wife. One by one the guests started to leave, all
without their lunch!
Pash-hook put poor Ko-ishin-mit to bed. The large
stone had caused his nose to swell and turn all black.
This is why ravens have a long and black nose, and this
is why it is not good to always copy other people.
Clutesi,
C. George 1967. Fables of the Tse-shaht People.
Son of Raven, Son of Deer. Sidney, BC Gray's
Publishing Ltd.
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