VI. Litcūwdiñ yadeLtse.--At Sand-place They Lived

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VI.

Litcūwdiñ yadeLtse. ¹--At Sand-place They Lived.

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Three sisters were living at Sand-place. Their father was very old. Once it turned very cold and snowed. "The old man might sleep in the wood-room near the fire," suggested one of the daughters. "No, he might be cold there," said another. "Well then," the other said, "we will keep a fire burning for him in the wood-room." To this the others agreed so they left him there and went to bed. When one of the girls went out in the morning she was surprised to see blood by the door. Running in again she called to the others, "There is nothing but blood outside." Jumping up they looked in the wood-room. He was not there. Then they began to cry. "Don't cry," said the oldest, "dress yourselves."

Telling the youngest to stay at home the two older sisters followed the tracks to the river. On the other side of the river they found tracks where someone had gone toward the east. After a time they heard someone pounding. "Come, hurry up, he is close by," said one of them. As they were going along they saw smoke down by the creek. They found a fire burning there at the butt of a spruce. It was plain

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from the marks on the snow that he had arranged his load there. Blood was scattered all about. When they had warmed themselves the oldest sister said, "Come, let us go on. He is close by." After a time they saw smoke again. "Don't be afraid" said the oldest sister. They went on cautiously until they came to the house. They heard someone talking inside. There must be two of them; don't get excited," said the oldest sister. A dog skin blanket was hanging there over the door. "I am going to look in," she said. An old man was saying, "Why do you sit there, why don't you cook a piece?" "There must be two of them," she thought. When she went through the outer door and looked in, she saw an old man sitting alone before the fire by which a human thigh was cooking. Then she ran in. The old man jumped up and tried to run out but she struck him in the throat with a knife. The other sister came in and they fought with him, and killed him. They found there the bones of their father whom he had already eaten. They took away all the red obsidians, fisher-skin quivers, otter-skins, dentalia and everything else of value they found. One of the sisters carried the remains of their father. They came back along the way they had gone, crossing the river to their home. The next morning they prepared their father's remains and buried them. The sisters continued to live there as before.

Footnotes

169:1 Told at Hupa, June 1901, by Oscar Brown.