Page:Kutenai Tales.djvu/94

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Boas]
Kutenai Tales
79

it. Then he told him to open his mouth. | Then he threw it. Nałmu′qtse knew that he was | angry with him. He nodded his head, and (the whetstone) stood there just alongside of him. || He said: "He′he he′he he′!" He said: | "My brothers are angry with me. I have escaped." | The name of that place was Little Heart.[1] Then he came down the lake and | saw a Water Bird[2] and a Water Ousel. He spoke to them and gave them | food. He said to them: "You will go along each side of the lake. You will say, || 'You are invited, you are invited, you are invited, | you are invited, you are invited.'" They were told: "If you don't come to me, your lake will be dried up." | Then those who went on each side of the lake said so. | Wherever there is a bay here, there they danced. | He said to them: "All the fish shall come ashore to the tent of || Woodpecker to eat (his food)." Then, when he came back, | all the fish came ashore, there at the tent. Woodpecker | was told: "The chief has not come back yet. He will | tell you something." They waited for him, and the fish[3] arrived. | When he arrived, he was given a pipe. Then he, || Woodpecker, and his brothers, smoked. They were all men. | Only one of them was a woman; namely, their younger sister (a bird with yellow breast and gray feathers). | Then the sister herself saw the fish smoking | and moving his eyebrows while he was smoking. | He said: "Where is our grandson?" Then || he moved his eyebrows in this direction. He moved them a little ways. | Then he told them that (the grandson) was on this lake. | He finished telling the news. Then he was told: "Now | I am glad. Now go!" Then the fish went back into the water quickly. | Then he had some food. || The fish is like that. He is red on each side; | that is the meat, the food (that he was given).

Now they made ready to kill | the Water Monster. Woodpecker said: "I'll go into the water; | I'll search for him." Now they saw one person named Long Legs. | He went into the water and said: "I am Long Legs, || I am Long Legs." He was proud of himself. He had not gone | far from the lake shore when he sank down. Next Woodpecker himself went along the lake shore | and went into the water. He searched for him. I Then he saw (the monster). He thought he would kick him dead in the water. He intended to kick him | on the head, but the blow glanced off from the head. || He missed it. Then (the monster) was chased this way along the | other big river. It came back this way by way of Windermere. | It came back to Red Water. It thought it would go along that river, | but it was stabbed by Woodpecker. The monster | escaped again. It was hit on the foot. There was some blood, || and the water turned red. Therefore it is named Red Water. | It


  1. Name of a place east of Nelson, which was given its name by Nałmu′qtse owing to this incident.
  2. A small gray bird living on the lake shore.
  3. A small fish with large head and small tail.