96. How the KîksA'd<U>î</U> Came to Sitka

p. 295

96. HOW THE KÎKSA'DÎ CAME TO SITKA ^a

When we were first born people hated us. And after that some beings named Sky-people brought war upon us. They destroyed us completely. A woman saved herself. And right here at Q!ântû'lk!î she dug a hole under a log to conceal herself from the enemy. Various creatures came out in f rout of her. "I wonder who can tell me about things," she said. Grizzly bear came out near her. She said, "What can you do?" "Whenever I catch a man I slap my paws down upon him." The woman said, "That is nothing." Some one in the sun spoke to her. "How am I?" it said. "What can you do?" Then he said, "My father in the sun peeps out through the clouds, through the mottled clouds." That was the one that married her. Then she began to have children. There were five of them,

p. 296

including one woman. After that he lowered down a big fort on them. They grew up inside of it. And when the enemy saw that they were inside of it they started to come. One [of the brothers], named Coward, was quarrelsome. Another was named Lq!ayâ'k! and another KAck!A'Lk!, and to all of them he gave directions. "When they get stronger than you put your minds on me." So, when the enemy became too strong for them, they put their minds on their father (grandfather), the sun. He peeped out on the enemy. It was smoking hot. The sea water out here boiled. The [hostile] people ran down quickly into the water. They were all destroyed. Then it stopped [boiling] out on the water. The brothers stayed inside of their fort.

Footnotes

295:a Cf. story 31, pp. 122-126.