Tradition of the G*ê'xsEm of the DEna'x*da?xu.
(Told by NEg*ê' and Hâ'nidzEm.)
Dzâ'wadalalîs was sent down from the sky at the time when mountains and rivers came into existence. He came
When he came to G*iô'x, the people saw him. They shouted, "Where are you going?" He replied, "I am going to marry the daughter of Dzâ'wadalalîs." The
Then he came to Q!walâ'd or T!ô'qo?yu. The people there shouted, "Where are you going?" He replied, "I am going to marry the daughter of Dzâ'wadalalîs." They replied, "You are foolish. He is very dangerous. Nobody escapes alive from his house. Look at my face! It is cut all over. I have tried to marry her, and I lost all my hair." While he was still speaking, this man suddenly became a mountain, which may be seen up to the present day. On account of its scar this mountain is called K*!ê'k*!êLEmaku. He went on and came to Ha'nwade. There he was called again; and the people asked, "Where are you going?" He replied, "I am going to marry the daughter of Dzâ'wadalalîs."--"Take care!" they answered. "He is dangerous, but we wish you success." In return he threw some boiled salmon ashore. Therefore there are many salmon in the river of Ha'nwade. Then he came to Â'snak*!a. There he saw many people on the beach who were digging cinquefoil (t!Exsô's) and clover-roots (LEx*sE'm). He went ashore at L!â'qwaxstelis. He saw smoke rising and went near. He saw that geese and ducks were in camp there, who were steaming their roots on red-hot stones. He went ashore and sat down next to them, and he noticed that they were all blind. The birds at once scented him, and one of them said, "I wonder whether our lord, G*î'î, is here! I smell Q!â'nêqê?laku." Q!â'nêqê?laku took up what they were steaming to look at it, and he asked, "What are you steaming here?" They replied, "Cinquefoil-roots." Q!â'nêqê?laku responded, "This is what ravens eat. Are you When he turned the point and reached the mouth of the river, he heard a noise. There he saw a person moving about whose head was moving from side to side; and when he came near, he saw that it was a woman building a canoe. He looked on for a time, and noticed that she was blind. Her infant child was in a cradle next to her. After a while Q!â'nêqê?laku went and pinched the toe of the child. The child began to cry. The woman said, "Don't touch my poor child!" He repeated this three times; and the woman said, "What causes my child to cry, although it never cried before? Somebody must be here. Don't do that!" Then Q!â'nêqê?laku said, "What are you doing here?" She replied, "I am making a canoe." Q!â'nêqê?laku asked, "Are you unable to see what you are working at? You have cut right through
Finally he came to a place opposite Dzâ'wadê. There he sat down, and soon the four daughters of Dzâ'wadalalîs came to bathe. When they saw him sitting there, they said, "There is a small man sitting there, probably he is a runaway slave." And the youngest daughter ran back to her father and told him, "We have found a runaway slave." The father asked her to call him into the house, and said that he was to be their messenger and their workman. The youngest daughter went back to where Q!â'nêqê?laku was sitting, and said, "What are you doing here? What do you want?" He replied, "I want to marry the daughter of Dzâ'wadalalîs." Then the girls said, "We are his daughters. Pick out the one whom you want." Then he asked for the youngest one. He went to her, put his finger into her vagina, and the teeth tried to bite him, but he broke them out. Then her sisters were ashamed of her. He lay down with her and made her his wife. When Dzâ'wadalalîs discovered that his daughter was married, he muttered angrily, "You shall not remain alive!" On the following morning he started a large fire in the house, pretending that he intended to prepare breakfast for his son-in-law. Then he called him out of the room, saying that he would treat him well. He wanted him to believe that he was going to give a feast. Q!â'nêqê?laku put on his ermine-skin, and Dzâ'wadalalîs threw him on to the mat with sharp spikes. Q!â'nêqê?laku pretended to be dead, and Dzâ'wadalalîs threw the ermine out of the house, saying, "Serves you right! Why do you come to make me ashamed?" but Q!â'nêqê?laku returned in the shape of an ermine. At night Dzâ'wadalalîs heard his daughter and her husband talking together, and he said to his wife, "With whom is our daughter whispering there?" The woman took a torch and looked into the room, and replied, "Our daughter's husband is back again." Then Dzâ'wadalalîs said, "To-morrow I will treat him as my son-in-law. I will prepare a feast for him." Then he called him. "Arise, son-in-law! I will treat you as my son-in-law." Then Q!â'nêqê?laku jumped out of the room in the shape of a large deer. Dzâ'wadalalîs took it by the legs and threw it down on the seat. The deer pretended to be dead, and Dzâ'wadalalîs threw it out of the house, saying, "Serves you right! Why do you come to make me ashamed?" Then he assumed the shape of a man, took one half of the cedar-tree on his shoulder, ran down to the beach, and called to Dzâ'wadalalîs, "Why do you leave your work?" and Dzâ'wadalalîs went back to get his son-in-law. Q!â'nêqê?laku took four pieces of rotten wood and told his father-in-law to cross just above the mouth of the river. Then he carved porpoises (hâ'tsawê) out of the rotten wood and threw them into the water. They began to jump against the canoe and frightened Dzâ'wadalalîs. Q!â'nêqê?laku blew and spat on them, and the water became quiet. Then he told Dzâ'wadalalîs to paddle on; and while they were below the mouth of the river, he threw a second piece of wood into the water. Then a large tree suddenly arose out of the water, and it looked as though it were going to fall on the canoe. Then Dzâ'wadalalîs begged him to desist. "Have pity on me!" he said. Q!â'nêqê?laku replied, "I did not begin it, I am only treating you as you have treated me." Dzâ'wadalalîs was almost dead
