III. Xontcūwditcetc.--Rough-nose

p. 150

III.

Xontcūwditcetc. ¹--Rough-nose ²

p. 154

Rough-nose lived with his younger brother. He used to say to him, "Never put the short ribs of the deer in the fire to roast." One day when Rough-nose was away hunting the younger brother got to thinking about it. "Why does he always tell me that?" he thought. "I am going to roast them." When he had roasted them something carried him off. The older brother came home at night and looked everywhere for his brother but could not find him. "He must have roasted the short ribs," he thought and began to cry. He mourned every day for his brother. He used to sit out on the prairie with his cane sticking up beside him. A bird would come and light on the cane and say, "His brother has been carried off, his brother has been carried off." After several days Rough-nose thought to himself, "I wish I could do something to him, I wish I could catch him, I wish I could kill him." The next day when he went out to sit down he put pitch on the top of his cane. The bird came and lit on it as usual and was easily caught. "Now I will kill you," he said. "Don't kill me," said the bird, "I will tell you where they have taken him. They are roasting him in the world above. Gather the people, and have them make rope. With the help of that you can go there. I will go ahead of you."

Then Rough-nose called the people together:--Spider and Coyote to make rope, Mouse to chew off the bowstrings, Frog to put out the fires, Louse to tie together the enemy by their hair as they slept, Caterpillar to make the trail. Coyote and Spider commenced to make the rope. Coyote soon had a storage basket

p. 155

full, but Spider's rope was fine and looked like only one coil. Coyote made fun of it saying, "That looks as if it would reach a long way." "Well who will shoot?" said Rough-nose. "I," said Coyote. He tied his rope to an arrow and shot. Soon it fell back. Then Spider shot with his rope. It went up and up until it could be seen no longer. When one coil of rope was still left they heard the arrow strike the sky with a ringing noise. Then Rough-nose said, "Who will go ahead and make the trail?" "I," said Coyote. He started up but soon came tumbling back. Then Caterpillar tried it. He leaned way back and Coyote called out, "He is falling;" but he caught the rope again higher up. Soon they could see him no longer. Then they saw he had finished the trail and was coming back. "Well, go on up," said Rough-nose. Rough-nose caught a wood-rat and put it in his sack and then went with the rest.

When they reached the world above he said to the others, "You wait here, I will go along to the place where the fire is." He changed himself into an old woman and walked with a widow's cane. He came up to the place and said, "I am only asking that I may warm myself by your fire." "You might be Rough-nose," said the old woman who was tending the fire. "Oh, yes, that fellow is likely to come here," said Rough-nose. Then the old woman ran up with a spruce tree in her hand, smashed it to pieces, and threw it on the fire. She commenced poking the bag in which the boy was hanging over the fire. "Tso, tso," he cried. "You had better roast the short ribs," she said. Rough-nose waited until he heard them eating in the house, then he caught the old woman and held her in the fire until she was dead. He stripped her clothes off and dressed himself in them. He went up to the sack and felt of his brother, who said, "Is that you Rough-nose?" "Speak softly," said Rough-nose, and then he took the boy out and put the wood-rat in his place. Then someone put his head out of the door of the house and said, "Come and eat." Rough-nose putting only his head in, said, "Just throw something out here for me." When he had eaten he went to the sack and began punching it. "Tso, tso," it cried. "You better roast the short ribs," said Rough-nose.

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When the people had gone to bed, Rough-nose and his companions made an attack on them. All was confusion. It was dark. The fires had been put out. Some of them cried out, "My hair hurts." Others were saying, "A mouse has chewed up my bowstring." Others ran after the attacking party. When they jumped into their canoes to give chase they filled with water and sank. The mice had gnawed holes in them. Then Rough-nose, carrying his brother, went safely home.

Footnotes

150:1 Told at Hupa, July, 1901, by Mary Marshall, wife of James Marshall. She was born at Miskût about 1868, where she lived most of the time until her marriage. Her mother was a Yurok who was married to a Hupa.

150:2 A wood rasp is called by the Hupa tsel-tce ditc-tcetc, "iron rough."