The Sun lived on the other side of the sky vault,
but her daughter lived in the middle of the sky, directly above the
earth, and every day as the Sun was climbing along the sky arch to the
west she used to stop at her daughter's house for dinner.
Now, the Sun hated the people on the earth, because
they could never look straight at her without screwing up their faces.
She said to her brother, the Moon, "My grandchildren are ugly; they
grin all over their faces when they look at me." But the Moon said, "I
like my younger brothers; I think they are very handsome "--because
they always smiled pleasantly when they saw him in the sky at night,
for his rays were milder.
The Sun was jealous and planned to kill all the
people, so every day when she got near her daughter's house she sent
down such sultry rays that there was a great fever and the people died
by hundreds, until everyone had lost some friend and there was fear
that no one would be left. They went for help to the Little Men, who
said the only way to save themselves was to kill the Sun.
The Little Men made medicine and changed two men to
snakes, the Spreading-adder and the Copperhead, and sent them to watch
near the door of the daughter of the Sun to bite the old Sun when she
came next day. They went together and bid near the house until the Sun
came, but when the Spreading-adder was about to spring, the bright
light blinded him and he could only spit out yellow slime, as he does
to this day when he tries to bite. She called him a nasty thing and
went by into the house, and the Copperhead crawled off without trying
to do anything.
So the people still died from the heat, and they
went to the Little Men a second time for help. The Little Men made
medicine again and changed one man into the great Uktena and another
into the Rattlesnake and sent them to watch near the house and kill
the old Sun when she came for dinner. They made the Uktena very large,
with horns on his head, and everyone thought he would be sure to do
the work, but the Rattlesnake was so quick and eager that he got ahead
and coiled up just outside the house, and when the Sun's daughter
opened the door to look out for her mother, he sprang up and bit her
and she fell dead in the doorway. He forgot to wait for the old Sun,
but went back to the people, and the Uktena was so very angry that he
went back, too. Since then we pray to the rattlesnake and do not kill
him, because he is kind and never tries to bite if we do not disturb
him. The Uktena grew angrier all the time and very dangerous, so that
if he even looked at a man, that man's family would die. After a long
time the people held a council and decided that he was too dangerous
to be with them, so they sent him up to Gälûñ'lätï, and he is there
now. The Spreading-adder, the Copperhead, the Rattlesnake, and the
Uktena were all men.
When the Sun found her daughter dead, she went into
the house and grieved, and the people did not die any more, but now
the world was dark all the time, because the Sun would not come out.
They went again to the Little Men, and these told them that if they
wanted the Sun to come out again they must bring back her daughter
from Tsûsginâ'ï, the Ghost country, in Us'ûñhi'yï, the Darkening land
in the west. They chose seven men to go, and gave each a sourwood rod
a hand-breadth long. The Little Men told them they must take a box
with them, and when they got to Tsûsginâ'ï they would find all the
ghosts at a dance. They must stand outside the circle, and when the
young woman passed in the dance they must strike her with the rods and
she would fall to the ground. Then they must put her into the box and
bring her back to her mother, but they must be very sure not to open
the box, even a little way, until they were home again.
They took the rods and a box and traveled seven
days to the west until they came to the Darkening land. There were a
great many people there, and they were having a dance just as if they
were at home in the settlements. The young woman was in the outside
circle, and as she swung around to where the seven men were standing,
one struck her with his rod and she turned her head and saw him. As
she came around the second time another touched her with his rod, and
then another and another, until at the seventh round she fell out of
the ring, and they put her into the box and closed the lid fast. The
other ghosts seemed never to notice what had happened.
They took up the box and started home toward the
east. In a little while the girl came to life again and begged to be
let out of the box, but they made no answer and went on. Soon she
called again and said she was hungry, but still they made no answer
and went on. After another while she spoke again and called for a
drink and pleaded so that it was very hard to listen to her, but the
men who carried the box said nothing and still went on. When at last
they were very near home, she called again and begged them to raise
the lid just a little, because she was smothering. They were afraid
she was really dying now, so they lifted the lid a little to give her
air, but as they did so there was a fluttering sound inside and
something flew past them into the thicket and they heard a redbird
cry, "kwish! kwish! kwish!" in the bushes. They shut down the
lid and went on again to the settlements, but when they got there and
opened the box it was empty.
So we know the Redbird is the daughter of the Sun,
and if the men had kept the box closed, as the Little Men told them to
do, they would have brought her home safely, and we could bring back
our other friends also from the Ghost country, but now when they die
we can never bring them back.
The Sun had been glad when they started to the
Ghost country, but when they came back without her daughter she
grieved and cried, "My daughter, my daughter," and wept until her
tears made a flood upon the earth, and the people were afraid the
world would be drowned. They held another council, and sent their
handsomest young men and women to amuse her so that she would stop
crying. They danced before the Sun and sang their best songs, but for
a long time she kept her face covered and paid no attention, until at
last the drummer suddenly changed the song, when she lifted up her
face, and was so pleased at the sight that she forgot her grief and
smiled.
