V. ‘I'lhat?aina

Yana Texts, by Edward Sapir, [1910], at sacred-texts.com

V. ‘I'LHAT?AINA. ³⁴¹

One day Flint Boil said to Djuwa'lk!aina ³⁴² "I have been dreaming, I dreamt last night. I dreamt about a woman and her father. What is his name? I want to know." Djuwa'lk!aina said, "In which direction did you dream?" Flint Boy said, "I dreamt of Yallo Bally ³⁴³ mountain." Djuwa'lk!aina said, "I know whom you dreamt of." Flint Boy asked, "What is his name?" Said Djuwa'lk!aina, "Tcuitcuiwayu. He lives there." Flint Boy said, "I want to go there, and I want to take my nephew ³⁴⁴ along." Djuwa'lk!aina said, "Yes." Flint Boy said, "I am going to marry the daughter, but I have no company on the road." Djuwa'lk!aina said, "But you are going to take your nephew." Flint Boy said, "Yes, but I want something like a bear, something that makes a noise. I don't want

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him to talk as we do. He must talk another language." Djuwa'lk!aina said, "What is he going to say?" Flint Boy said, "When he sees any one coming he will say, 'Wū, wū!' I want to make a dog." Djuwa'lk!aina said nothing. Flint Boy asked if she wanted to bear it talk now. She said, "Yes." So Flint Boy said to his nephew, "Bark, practice!" His nephew did so, said, "Wū, wū, wūūūū." It was a terrible sound, and every one heard it all over the world-north, east, south, west. Flint Boy said, "What shall I call you? You bite and bark." His nephew said, "My name is ‘I'lhat?aina. I must have a big throat to bark." Flint Boy asked him to try barking again, and he did so. All the people in the world heard him, all said, "I hear a dog. That is Flint Boy's dog." ‘I'lhat?aina, was small, but he made a great noise.

Flint Boy went away, went to the Sacramento valley, came to Sacramento river. He crossed with ‘I'lhat?aina, and went on to the west. He came to the mountain at night, went up to the sweat-house, looked in, and saw the girl of whom he had dreamt. Many other people were there also. She sat on the east side. Flint Boy came in and sat down beside her. All looked at him, her father and mother looked, and said, "Who is that?" Flint Boy had left ‘I'lhat?aina, outside, had tied him to the acorn sacks. Her father said, "Where did that man come from?" The girl said that she did not know. "It looks as if you were married," said her father, and he gave her a black-bear skin for Flint Boy to sit on.

Flint Boy had told ‘I'lhat?aina not to bark or bite any one. "I am going to marry the girl. When I have done so, I shall get up early to hunt, and I shall tell her to take care of you." Early in the morning Flint Boy got up and told his wife about the dog, told her that it was vicious and that she must not touch it or talk to it. In that case it would not bite her. She agreed to care for it. Flint Boy went away. The woman went out and saw the dog. She patted it, saying, "Nice dog." The dog shook its head and tail, and said, "Where is my master?" She answered, "He has gone away." Then the dog barked, and every one was frightened, terribly frightened. Flint Boy heard it far away; he was frightened, for he knew that some one had fooled

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with the dog. "I believe I've lost my dog." Some one had really turned it loose. ‘I'lhat?aina tracked Flint Boy, while the woman was frightened. ‘I'lhat?aina could not find his master. Flint Boy came back, brought ten deer. The woman said, "I've fed him and turned him loose." "It's a bad dog. You ought not to have touched it."

That night it grew cloudy, while before it had been pleasant. Flint Boy went out, finally found the dog. He tied him up again, and told him to bark. He did so--"Wū, wū, wūūūū!" Djuwa'lk!aina heard it and said, "I bear Flint Boy's dog in the west at Bally mountain." All the people heard it and said, "That is Flint Boy's dog. He is married here at Bally mountain." By and by Flint Boy went out to hunt again, and gave the same instructions as before. The people made him bark as before, let him loose. Flint Boy heard him. "I know what is the matter," said he,

It grew cloudy. The dog said, "It will rain." On the top of Bally mountain there was a great cloud, black and thick. The cloud came down over the dog, it swirled and rolled, and it went up in the air. The dog was in the cloud, he had called it and made it about himself. He did not want to be tied up, but to go with Flint Boy on his hunts. So he left Flint Boy and went up above. When he got part way up he barked, and the people heard it all over the world. Flint Boy heard it and was sad, for he knew the dog was lost. He never saw his dog again. ‘I'lhat?aina lives in the black clouds still. When he barks, it thunders.

Footnotes

221:341 This account of the origin of thunder is only the latter part of the myth of "The Flints and Grizzly Bears" obtained by Dr. Dixon from Sam Bat‘wī. It corresponds closely enough to my own version, but is published here because of its greater wealth of details.

221:342 Flint Boy's grandmother. The name means "rock-lying-on-ground."

221:343 The Yallo Bally mountains are west of the Sacramento at Red Bluff, a very considerable distance to the southwest of Redding. The reference is more probably to Bally mountain (6246 ft.), one of the main peaks of the Bully Choop range. It is within easy sight of and almost due west from Redding.

221:344 ‘I'lhat?aina, who had been dug up from the ground, is here termed the nephew of Flint Boy.