20. The Men Who Went to the Sky

20. THE MEN WHO WENT TO THE SKY ¹ (23)

Two men started off to visit The-One-Sitting-Above (God). They went on. They went a long distance and came to where a Sharp-buttocks lived. He set out a chair with a hole in it and they sat down. "A battle is about to be fought here," he said. So they made arrows. After they had done this ducks came as the Sharp-buttocks had foretold, along with geese and white cranes. They fought together and hung upon and threw one another down on the ground. The two men fought and afterwards they roasted and ate the fowl. Then they started on.

While they were traveling along they came to where an old woman lived and spent the night there, and she gave them food. When she fed them she put a small piece of a small pumpkin on the table. "Only that for the two of us," they thought, but after they had eaten it another was in the plate. They kept on eating and more came to be in the plate until they had enough.

When they were going to start she said, "On the road you will come to some deep water which you can not cross." She gave them a gourd which was hanging up in the house and they set out with it. She had said to them, "You throw the water to each side," and when they got to the water they threw it to each side and it

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divided. When they started forward it came together behind them. So they got through and went on. After they had gone on for a while they saw something black coming after them and they stopped and looked at it. They became frightened. "Something wants to kill us," they said. They turned round and waited for it to come close, but when it got near it fell into a steep-sided hollow. ¹

Then they started on and presently they came to where a man lived who said, "You can not pass along this trail without assistance. There is a battle going on there." He gave them cigarettes and they proceeded. When they reached the place they smoked and blew the smoke about. When the smoke covered everything they could not be seen and passed through. Going on, they came to the home of another man. "On the trail is something very bad," he said. "Hunt bark cord (båksa) and tie it about your feet." So they hunted båksa, tied it about their feet, and went on. Soon they came to a town inhabited by snakes. When they tried to go past the snakes jumped at them and tried to bite them, but they got through, though the cord was worn out.

Then they traveled along until they came to where an old woman stayed. She said, "This road is the one to take. On it is a Dog town where dogs dance all of the time. Look at it and pass through, and when you have gone on you will come to a Girls' town. Do not look at it. They will stand in front of you to stop you, but pass through without looking at them." They started on, and passed these two places. After they had gone on for a while they came to the Old-men's town, where they were always dancing. They passed through and went on. On the way were numerous crossings where many persons had been traveling. They passed through, went on farther and came to the home of Above-sitter.

When they arrived he said, "Sit down. Are you hungry?" He got a watermelon and split it in half, and when they ate, they thought, "The seeds of this will be good to plant," but he said, "Don't take any." He put it back, with all of its seeds and the rind, and covered it up, and it was just as it had been before.

A big pot stood there, and he said, "Fill it with water and put it in the fireplace." They got it and filled it with water. "Kindle a fire under it," he said, so they put fire under it. When the water boiled he said, "Come this way and stand here." They started to obey, saying, "We think we are going to die. It was just for that that we came hither." They went to the place and stood there. He took a dipper, dipped up some water and poured it over them while it was still boiling. It appeared to be hot but it was not; it was only slightly warm. After he had poured it over them he took

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a knife and scraped their bodies and all of the dirt fell off. They kept eating. Then their bodies became light.

After they had remained there for a while he said, "The trail by which you came is too long. Come over here." They went to the place and he took out something that moved around like a telescope. After he had moved it about he said, "Look through this!" And when they looked down they saw their house with its cane platform not far off beneath them.

Then they asked him for some seed. After they had teased for a considerable time he said, "I will give it to you when you are ready to go. You shall start to-morrow." He made them lie down and after they had lain down and slept they awoke at their old home. The seeds were lying by the crowns of their heads. (These are said to have been seeds of corn, watermelons, and beans.)

The mother of my interpreter told him that men got the first seed (corn) from God in the sky. Corn said to them, "If you see me all the time you will live; if you do not see me you will die."

Footnotes

139:1 A note of another version speaks of four men instead of two and says that they traveled west.

140:1 This was probably a magic kålaha, or chunk stone, supposed to be self-operant.