Texts of the North American Indian

Writings of E.S. Curtis
Excerpts from "The North American Indian" Set #254, Vol. 8

THE MAIDEN SACRIFICED TO WINTER

There came a winter colder and harder than any other. The snow was deep, as deep as half a man's height. The old men had counted the moons, and it was time for spring, but the snow did not melt. Ice was coming down the river in huge masses, grinding and crashing through the rapids. Every night snow fell and filled up the places that had been swept clean during the day. Snowbirds were everywhere about.

One day some people noticed a bird with something red in its bill, and they frightened it so that it dropped the red object, which was found to be a ripe strawberry. This told them that somewhere it was summer, but at Nihhl(u)idih the earth was frozen, and it was still winter. Something was wrong, and a meeting of all the people was called in the house of the chief. The old men talked long over the question of why the winter did not end, and what they could do to change this unfortunate condition. At length the oldest man present arose and said he had heard from his fathers that if a bird had been hit with a stone the snow would never stop. The order was given to call the children, that they might be questioned to learn if any were guilty,and as they spoke for themselves, one by one,every mother was in fear lest her child be the unfortunate one. All denied having struck any bird, except a small girl, who some others accused. The child's parents were bidden to ask her if were true, and she, in terror, acknowledged it.

The chief men deliberated for a very long time, and then said to the parents:"Give us your child, and instead of killing her, as we first thought of doing, we will give her to Winter. Then he will cease to be angry, and Summer will come." Many presents were collected to give to the old people in payment for their daughter, but they were sad, as this was their only child, and while the chiefs were taking her away, they cried aloud as though mourning for the dead. Men sent to the river to secure a huge block of ice on which to place the child found a large piece in an eddy and drew it close to the shore. While they were doing this, all the people were dressing in their best clothes, as though for a dance, and the little girl was dressed best of all. Then all went toward the river, the chiefs leading the child. When they came to the water's edge they spread a thick layer of straw on the ice, and a final covering of many mats. Then they carefully placed the girl on the floe, and pushed it out into the swift current. It drifted down, swirling, and lifting and settling with the rise and fall of the water, and, blending with the roar of the rapids, could be heard the crying of the child and the wild wailing of the parents. When the people could no longer see the drifting ice and its human sacrifice, they returned chanting to the village.

Very soon a warm wind was felt, and before many days the snow had disappeared, and the people knew that the words of the old men were true words of long ago. With the coming of spring the people moved to the fishing places, gathered their usual supply of salmon, and in the autumn returned to the wintering village. Winter came again. Some old men were standing on the river bank watching the ice drift by. Far down the stream, as far as the eye could see, they detected a black spot on a cake of ice, which was swirling round and round in an eddy. A young man was sent, and the report was brought that it seemed to be a human being. Long poles were procured, and the ice-floe was drawn to the shore. On it was a young girl whom some immediately recognized as the child who had been sent adrift as an offering to Winter. She was lifted ashore and carried to the house of her parents, where the warmth of the fire at once caused her to fall asleep. Always after this she was able to walk barefoot on the ice or snow. The people thought she must have mysterious power, and they called her Wak(a)(h)ni[She Drifts].

Tamk(e)sa [Never Smiles], an it(o)(h)i(u)l, lived alone in the village at this time. It was his habit, whenever he saw a young girl whom he desired, to send a messenger to the home of her parents and demand her for his wife, and because he was greatly feared, being and it(o)(h)i(u)l, he was never refused although invariably, after living with a new wife five days, he would take her to the top of a high cliff, at the foot of which were masses of sharp rocks, and cast her over the edge. The mangled body he would then carry home. After covering every aperture, and leaving only a very small crack at the smoke-hole, he would build a fire and place the body on it. Then, mounting to the roof, he would remain there inhaling the smoke. This he had been doing many years.

When Wak(a)(h)ni arrived at the marriageable age, she was taken by this it(o)(h)i(u)l to be his wife. Five days after she had been given to him he took her to the top of the bluff and pushed her over. Looking down to see her strike the rocks, he was astonished to notice that when she had fallen almost to the bottom she suddenly stopped, turned, and flew upward until she stood on the top beside him. He threw her down again, but she returned in the same way. A third time he pushed her off, and a fourth, and a fifth. But each time she turned farther from the bottom, and came back to him. "Wak(a)(h)ni," he said, "you have beaten me. You shall be my wife forever," and he embraced her.

In time a girl baby was born to Wak(a)(h)ni. When this child reached the age of nine or ten years, it was discovered that she had y(u)hlma(h), which caused her to die frequently for a short time,and blood would run from her mouth. So her father made the platform of five cedar boards, erected the cedar pole in front of it, and spread the elk-skin on the boards. At each end of the platform he placed, in a row, five small stone cups, and at the back, behind the pole, he stood two (i)kiskl(a)l (cedar boards three or four feet high, carved with the features- and generally the outline of the body- of a man). All things being now ready for the medicine-singing, Tamk(e)sa sat down at the corner of the platform, wrapped in an elk-skin and holding a flint knife in each hand, watching his daughter dance on the platform. The house was filled with people, singing to aid the girl. Three nights they danced and sang, and in the middle of the third night the girl spoke the words "black flint arrow-points" in her song. This caused Tamk(e)sa to smile.Seeing this,the people shouted: "Look at Tamk(e)sa! He is smiling!"Immediately he fell backward, and the men leaped upon him and killed him.

Now his daughter began to cry in mourning, and the thunder began to peal, lightning to flash, and rain and hail to fall, Said the girl: "There is a cave in a certain place near by"- and she described the place;-"take this platform to the cave, and we will bury my father there." So the body of Tamk(e)sa, who had given up his it(o)i(u)l y(u)lma(h) by smiling, was taken to the cave and laid on the platform. For a long time after this the people used to go to this place in their search for y(u)hlma(h). Any man who knew the location of the cave in later times was much sought by the fathers of boys to guide them to it, in order that they might seek spirit-power in a favorable place.

EDWARD S. CURTIS