How Cultee's Grandfather Acquired a Guardian Spirit

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My great-grandfather had the guardian spirit of the warriors. My grandfather had seen the shaman's spirit, he had seen the wolf, he had seen the bitch, he had seen the morning star. Now he came to be grown up and he thought: "I will take a wife. Now I have many guardian spirits." The women went digging roots and camped [on the beach]. His friends said to him: "Let us follow the women who are going to camp out." He said: "No, else I shall be scolded." His friends asked him again. Then he thought: I must accompany them. Now he accompanied those young men. They reached those women. An old woman said to him: "Does your father know that you came here?" He said: "No, I shall tell him later on." The young men slept there and he also slept there. He lay down near the fire. At daybreak the young men returned. They arrived at home. Now he stood outside. He was afraid to enter his father's house. He opened the door. There were four fires on each side of the house. Eight fires were in the house. Now he entered his father's house. He reached the first fire. He thought: "When will he speak to me?" He arrived at the next fire and passed it. He came near the third fire, then his father said: "Stay there! Did you find all your guardian spirits and do you want to take a wife?" He threw a cape at him: "Quick, climb that mountain and [do not] come home [until] five nights [have passed]. There is the female guardian spirit of your ancestors. There is Ut!ô'naqan." His aunt said to him: "When you reach the top of that mountain, gather some grass for me." He took the cape and went. He went, he went, and went a long distance. It became dark and he slept there. He lay down and it became day again. He had heard nothing and it became daylight. Now he went and went again. He climbed that mountain. When it was nearly noon he had almost climbed it. Now he heard something. He heard her howling. At once he was chilled by fear and he went on for a little while, when he heard her again howling. Now he heard the howling a little louder. Then it became quiet again. Now leaves fell down. He thought: "O, I shall meet the monster." He thought: "They intended that she should devour me." He was on top of a tree and she howled. For a short while it became quiet, then she howled again. Now she was quite near. The howling stopped again. Leaves fell down again. Again she howled. Then he turned back to go home. He thought: "I will go home." Now Ut!ô'naqan pursued him. When he had gone some distance she came near him. She howled and immediately he became weak. He thought: "She will devour me." Then he thought of one of his guardian spirits and he left her far behind. Then he became again tired. He threw

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away his cape. She reached it and went around it often. He look at her and he ran again. He looked for a cedar which he intended to climb. Then he thought of his guardian spirit, the wolf. At once he felt fresh and left her far behind. Then he became tired again. He looked back at her. Her teats were along her belly, like those of a bitch. They reached down to the middle of her legs and struck them often. When she went down hill she went a little slower; when she went up hill she ran quickly. She approached him. Then he thought of his guardian spirit, the bitch, and left her far behind. In the afternoon he reached a small but deep creek. The water reached up to here, near his armpits. He walked down stream in the water. Then he went ashore. It is said that Ut!ô'naqan is afraid of water. Now he saw her coming down to the creek. If she was really afraid of the water, she would not step into it. Now she arrived at the creek. She made an, aⁿ, aⁿ, and blew upon the water like a deer that is about to drink. She stayed there and howled: "Ua," and he fainted and fell asleep. Now he saw that she was a human being. She spoke to him: "I am the one whom your family and whom the Indians call Ut!ô'naqan. I come from the top of that mountain. I like you. Look at me, Indian!" Her throat and her body were full of arrow-heads. "You will be just as I am [when you return to the country of] the Indians." Her body was full of [arrows which had been shot at her]. "You will be just as I am [when you return to the country of] the Indians." He slept. On the next day he awoke when the sun was high up in the sky. Now he saw nothing. He bathed in that creek and went house, and he came home quite naked. He entered the house. His aunt said to him: "Did you gather grass for me?" He said to her: "I returned before I reached there." Three days he stayed away. He did not tell his father [what he had seen.]