Creation Myths of Primitive America. Jeremiah Curtin
sturgeon; Búlibok, a small nighthawk; Chali Dokos, obsidian; Chati Wai Halina, pine-nut bug; Chir Chuma, sucker; Cho, blackbird; Chuchu, dog; Chulup Win, a pointed rock; Chutuhl, a small bird that goes in flocks; Dokos, flint; Dokos Hilit, flint fly; Hamam, the longest black feather in the tail of the black vulture; Hau, red fox; Hawt, eel; Héssiha, tomtit; Hlihli, acorn; Hluyuk Tikimit, quivering porcupine; Ho, polecat; Hokohas, mud turtle; Hus, turkey buzzard; Kahi Buli Pokaila, wind mountain old woman; Kahit, wind; Kaisus, gray squirrel; Kar, blue heron; Karili, coon; Katsi, chicken hawk; Kaukau, white heron; Kawas, basket; Keli, flint from which knives are made; Kichi Not, a kind of arrow; Kíchuna, a small bird that frequents rocks; Kilichepis——; Kiri Hubit, a kind of wasp; Kobalus, a shell; Koip, a small bird which calls “koip”; Kopus, a small night-owl; Kot, diver; Kóyumus, a flint of mixed colors; Kukupiwit, crooked breast; Nomdal Lenas, streaks in the west; Nomel Hiwili, a bird with white-tipped wings which comes down with a buzz very quickly; Nom Sowiwi——; Nom Toposloni, west fir bark; Norbis, dwelling or sitting in the south; Nórhara Chepmis, heavy south wind with rain; Norpatsas, southern fire sparks; Norwan——; Notudui Ulumus, he stoops and picks up stones; Pai Homhoma, he buzzes in the manzanita; Patkilis, jack rabbit; Puiké Tsumu, a deep red flint; Saiai Not, hollow arrow; Saias, white flint; Sánihas, daylight; Sau, acorn bread; Sawe, mixed white and blue flint; Sedit, coyote; Séhinom Chábutu, chicken hawk; Serin Dólite, small bumble-bee; Siriwit, whirlwind; Sútunut, black eagle; Tede Wiu, a small brown bird about as large as an English sparrow; Tenek Not, a kind of arrow; Tidok, ant; Tsánteris, a kind of shell; Tsotso tokos, a small very adhesive burr; Tsudi, mouse; Tsuini, a kind of small fish; Tubuk——; Tuichi kelis, feathered head net; Wai Charatawa——; Waida Werris, polar star; Wainom Yola, northwestern snow; Wai Hau, northern red fox; Wai Not, northern arrow; Wik, small night hawk; Wai Karili, northern coon; Wul Wuhl, linnet; Yípokus, black fox.
AT a place east of Pas Puisono a woman came up out of the earth. Her name was Hluyuk Tikimit. She had another name, Pom Norwanen Pitchen. We call her also Norwan.
She appeared before the present Wintu people came out of the ground, at Tsarau Heril.
“I am in this world now,” said Norwan to herself. “I will look around everywhere to see from what places people are coming.”
She lived alone in her sweat-house, which was called Norwan Buli Hlut, remained in the house and danced during daylight.
Olelbis looked down at this woman and said—
“This is my sister, who has come up before the new people on earth. I don’t know what she will do yet.”
When Olelbis was building his sweat-house in Olelpanti, he cut a piece from a white-oak tree, and this piece rolled down outside the sky to the lower world, where it became a people in Nor Puiken, in the southeast, and that people were there before the present Wintus came out of the ground at Tsarau Heril.
“My dear sister has come up before the Wintus, and will be with them hereafter,” said Olelbis. “I have not settled yet how her work is to be, have not made her ready for it.”
He put his hand toward the southeast then, and took yósoü (a plant that has a red blossom). He gave this plant to Norwan, and said—
“Take this, my sister, and when you dance use it as a staff. It will have a blossom on the top which will be blooming always.”
He reached southeast to the same place, took a small bird, plucked a feather from each wing, gave the feathers to Norwan, and said—
“My sister, thrust these through your hair, just above your forehead, one on each side. These feathers will begin to sing in the morning early; you will know by them at what time you must begin to dance.”
He stretched his hand again to the southeast, and took buri luli, which is a little red blossom that grows in spring on a plant about a foot high. He gave the blossoms to Norwan and said—
“Roll this in your hands, crush it, put the juice on your face, and make your cheeks red.”
Olelbis turned then to his grandmothers, who were standing near by, and asked if they had acorns.
“We have,” said they. “We have plenty.”
Olelbis took a handful, gave them to his sister, and said—
“When you shell these acorns, rub them between your palms and hold your hands open; blow the dust which scatters; you will see it rise high into the trees, and acorns will come on them.”
It was on the first morning after she had come to Norwan Buli that Olelbis gave Norwan the staff, feathers, blossoms, and acorns. On the second morning very early the feathers began to sing; then flocks of birds of their kind came flying toward the sweat-house, and Norwan heard a voice far up in the sky calling to her, and saying—
“My brother’s daughter, you have come upon earth before the Wintu people, and are dancing. When you dance you must not look toward the west, nor the north, nor the south, but turn your face and look toward Hlihli Pui Hlutton in the southeast, the place from which your staff and your paint came.”
While this man was talking, Norwan looked up and saw him sitting with one leg crossed upon the other. He was holding a handful of white-oak acorns in his hand, and was sitting over the door of the sweat-house in Olelpanti. It was Kar Kiemila.
“Now, my brother,” said Olelbis to Hessiha, who lived with him in Olelpanti, “I think it is best for you to go down to our sister and stay with her. Live with her always. When your feathers drop away or are pulled off hereafter, they will become like you, and there will be hessihas on the earth everywhere. Our sister will tell you what to do. You will stay with her, never leave her. The people will call our sister Bastepomas, because she is the food-giving woman. When you see anything, let her know; when you hear anything, tell her; when you want to do anything, ask leave of her.”
Hessiha went down to live with his sister. Next day he saw a woman coming from the east and going west. He told Norwan, and she said—
“Watch which way she goes, my brother. Perhaps she will come to us here.”
He watched. She came straight to Norwan Buli.
“My younger sister,” said she to Norwan, “I came out in the east, but I don’t like to live there. I have left that place, and am going far away to the west. In the evening look westward, a little after sunset, you will see a red, yellow, and white person, Nomdal Lenas Loimis. I am she. I shall look nice. That is the kind of person that I am. I shall live in the west always, and you will see me there as streaks of colored light. I will turn my face to the east every evening on pleasant days, and all the Wintu people will say when they see me, ‘Winis Nomdal Lenas Loimis’ ” (look at Nomdal Lenas Loimis).
“Very well,” said Norwan, “I am glad to hear what you say, my elder sister.”
Nomdal Lenas went off to the west. She was an immensely large woman with a big face, her hair was cut across her forehead,