| |
One day, seeing a hawk's nest in a high tree, he started to
climb to it to get the hawk-feathers.
Now, the old man was jealous of the young man, and had followed him. And
when he saw him climbing the tree, he used his magic and made the tree
grow higher and higher, and at the same time peeled off all the bark so
that the trunk was slippery; and as the young man was naked, he could not
come down, but had to remain in the top of the tree.
When the young man failed to appear that night, the old man said he wished
to move camp, and that the women were to come with him. And the next
morning they started. Now, one of the women liked the old man; but the
other one, who had a baby, disliked him, and when they camped for the
night, she would take her baby, and make a fire for herself outside the
camp and away from the old man. So they went on for several days.
All this time the young man staid up in the tree; and as it was cold and
he had no clothes, he took his hair, which was very long, and wove
feathers in it, and so made a blanket to protect himself. The little birds
who built their nests in the sticks of the hawk's nest tried their best to
carry him down to the ground, but could not lift him, and so he staid on.
Finally one day he saw coming, a long way off, an old woman bent over, and
with a stick in each hand. She came to the bottom 'of the tree where the
young man was, and began to climb, and climbed until she reached the young
man, and then she turned out to be Spider. Then Spider spun a web for him,
and of the web the young man made a rope and so reached the ground.
When he came back to his camp, he found it deserted, but discovered the
trail of the fugitives, and started to follow. He trailed them a long
time, and finally saw them in the distance. Now, the woman who did not
like the old man was following behind with her little boy; and the child,
looking back, saw his father and cried out, "Why, there is my father!" But
the mother replied, "What do you mean_ Your father has been dead a long
time." But looking back herself, she saw her husband, and waited for him
to come up, and they stopped together.
Then she told her husband all that had happened, how the old man had
wished to take both his wives, and how she would not have him, but how the
other one took him. Now, the woman was carrying a large basket, and she
put her husband into it and covered him up. When they reached the old
man's camp she put the basket down close to the fire; but the old man took
it and placed it some distance away.
The woman brought it back and as she did so the young man sprang out and
struck the old man and killed him. Then he killed his faithless wife; and
taking the other woman, who was true, and the little boy, they went back
to their old home together.
Click here to Return to the Native
American Myth and Folklore contents page
|
