CHEROKEE-L Archives

From: "Blue Panther" <>
Subject: Chipmunk and Owl-woman - Okanogan
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 11:20:14 -0600

Chipmunk and Owl-woman - Okanogan

Kots-se-we-ah - Chipmunk -was a little girl. She lived with her grandmother
in the woods. Chipmunk liked to walk through the woods and pick berries.
Some of the berries she ate, and some she put in a little basket that hung
at her side. The basket was made from a deer's hoof.

There was one berry bush that the little girl visited every day. She called
it her very own. It was a see'-ah (service berry) bush. [1] She would climb
into it and eat all the berries she could hold. And as she ate them she
would count: "One berry ripe! Two berries ripe! Three berries ripe!"

One sun, while in the bush counting and eating berries. Chipmunk heard steps
on the ground below. She looked. Standing under the bush was
Snee'-nah-Owl-woman. On Owl-woman's back was a big basket, and in the basket
were many little children that Owl-woman had stolen.

Owl-woman traveled from camp to camp, stealing children. Whenever she got
hungry she ate one or two of them.

Chipmunk was not frightened very much, for she knew that Owl-woman could not
reach her up in the see'-ah bush, and Owl-woman knew that too. But Owl-woman
was cunning. In her best voice, she said: "Kots-se-we-ah, your father wants
you."

"I have no father," Chipmunk answered. "He died long ago. "Owl-woman thought
for a moment. Then she said: "Your mother wants you. She wants you to come
home."
"My mother died many snows ago," Chipmunk replied. "Your aunt wants you to
come home." "I never had an aunt," and Chipmunk laughed. "Your uncle is
looking for you," lied Owl-woman.

"That is funny," said Chipmunk, laughing some more. "I never had an uncle."
"Well," Owl-woman sighed, "your grandfather wants you." "That is strange,
for my grandfather died before I was born."Then Owl-woman said: "Your
grandmother wants you at home right away!"

Chipmunk could believe that. She was silent for a little, and then she said:
"I will not come down unless you hide your eyes."

"All right, I will hide my eyes. See! I have them covered," and Owl-woman
pretended that she had. She placed her claw-hands over them.

"I can see your big eyes blinking behind your fingers," cried Chipmunk. "I
shall not come down until you have hidden them entirely. "Owl-woman
pretended to hide her eyes entirely, but she left a small space between her
fingers-just a little crack to look through.

Chipmunk really thought that the eyes were covered, but she wasn't taking
any chance of being fooled. Instead of dropping from branch to branch to the
ground, she jumped from the top of the bush. She jumped over Owl-woman's
head, and, as she went sailing over, Owl-woman reached for her. Owl-woman's
fingers clawed down Chipmunk's back, ripping off long strips of the soft
fur, but the little girl got away. Ever since that time the chipmunks have
carried the marks of Owl-woman's claws-the marks are the stripes you see on
the chipmunks' backs.

Chipmunk ran and ran, and Owl-woman followed as fast as she could. When
Chipmunk reached home, she was trembling and out of breath. She hardly could
speak. All she could say was: "Sing-naw! Sing-naw!" ("Owl! Owl!) The deaf
old grandmother misunderstood. "Did you step on a thorn?" she asked.

"Sing-now! Sing-naw!" Chipmonk kept repeating. She was so frightened, it was
all she could say.

Only after Chipmunk had said that many times did the grandmother understand.
Then she tried to hide the little girl in her bed, but Chipmunk would not
keep still there. She ran around under the robes. Anyone could see she was
there. So the grandmother took her out of the bed and dropped her into a
berry basket. But that wouldn't do, for Chipmunk rattled around in the
basket and made a lot of noise. Then the grandmother tried to hide her in a
basket of soup, and poor Chipmunk nearly drowned. She and her grandmother
were in despair. They did not know what to do. Then they heard a voice-it
came from a tree near the tepee. It was the voice of Wy-wetz'-kula, the
Tattler-Meadow Lark, who -was singing: "Two little oyster shells Hide her
in!"

Quickly the grandmother put Chipmunk between two little oyster shells. And,
knowing Meadow Lark was a gossip and a tattler, she took off her necklace
and threw it to the singer. She hoped that the present would please Meadow
Lark and keep her from telling where Chipmunk was hidden. Meadow Lark put on
the necklace and flew away.

Soon Owl-woman came along. "Where is the child I am hunting?" she said.

The grandmother pretended that she had not seen her grandchild, so Owl-woman
began to look around. She looked in the bed, in the berry basket and in the
soup. She looked everywhere she could think might be a hiding place. At last
she turned to leave, and just then Meadow Lark flew back to the tree near
the tepee. Meadow Lark sang: "I will tell you, if you pay me. I will fell
you, if you pay me. Where she is! Where she is!"

Owl-woman hurried outside and threw a bright yellow vest to the Tattler, who
put it on, and sang:
"Two little oyster shells,
Take her out!
Two little oyster shells,
Take her out!"

Then Meadow Lark flew away. The necklace she was given for helping Chipmunk
and the yellow vest she earned for tattling she wears to this day.

Owl-woman pushed the grandmother aside and snatched Chipmunk out of the
oyster shells. With her sharp fingers she cut Chipmunk open and took out her
heart and swallowed it.

"Eh! Yom-yom! It is good. Little girls' hearts are the best," said
Owl-woman, smacking her lips.

Owl-woman went her way, carrying her big basket of children. In a little
while the weeping grandmother heard a familiar voice. Meadow Lark was
singing again from the tree. Her song was:

"Put a berry in her heart!
Put a berry in her heart!"

Drying her tears, the grandmother put a half-ripe see'-ah berry in
Chipmunk's breast and sewed up the hole. Then she stepped over Chipmunk
three times, and Chipmunk jumped up as alive and as well as ever.

Owl-woman had not walked far when she met Coyote. He knew her-knew how
wicked she was. "Snee'-nah," he said, "I like to eat children, too. Let us
travel together and we will have better luck finding them."

Owl-woman was pleased. She thought that the two of them, traveling together
and helping each other, would be stronger than all of the monsters in the
world. She smiled. "Yes, that is good," she said. "Let us go together." So
they walked along like old friends.

Pretty soon Coyote said: "I am getting hungry. Here is a good place to make
a fire. Let us stop here and roast those children you are carrying in the
basket."

Owl-woman said she was hungry, too, and she set her big basket on the
ground. Coyote persuaded her to let all of the children out so they could do
the work of gathering wood for the fire. Coyote bossed them around, talking
in a cruel way. That was for Owl-woman's ears- that cruel talk. But to each
child he whispered: "Get the wood that has the most pitch and get plenty of
solid pitch. Do that if you wish to return to your parents."

Coyote's words made the children work hard. Soon there was a roaring fire.

"This is to be an important feast," Coyote told Owl-woman. "You should paint
your face. Paint it with charcoal and rub it with pitch. The pitch will make
the charcoal stay on. Your arms should be painted the same way. The children
and I will help you fix up."

Coyote's attention flattered Owl-woman. She let him and the children help
her to prepare for the feast. They painted her arms with charcoal, and then
smeared them with pitch, and she painted her face the same way.

"Now, let us roast the children," she said.

"No, not yet," Coyote advised. "Wait until the wood burns to red coals. That
pitch smoke would spoil the taste. But we can do something while we are
waiting. We can dance. Let us dance the Sun-dance. While we are having a
good time, the children shall gather
forked roasting sticks."

"Good, we will dance," said Owl-woman. "But why the forked roasting sticks?"
"Because forked sticks are better than straight ones for roasting children."

Coyote told the children to hurry and gather forked sticks, and he and
Owl-woman began to dance. They danced and danced. Owl-woman grew tired. She
wanted to stop.

"Do not stop so soon," Coyote urged. "You are a good dancer. I like
to see you dance."

Owl-woman believed those sly words. She danced harder and harder, until she
staggered, Then, as if in play. Coyote shoved her, and she fell. Coyote
laughed, and Owl-woman laughed; and she got up and danced again. Coyote
danced beside her. And when she got close to the fire he shoved her right
into the flames. He called to the children, and they brought the forked
sticks which they and Coyote used to hold Owl-woman in the fire. Covered as
she was with pitch. Owl-woman burned like pitchwood.

In that way perished the wicked Owl-woman. Bad persons always must pay for
the evil workings of their minds.

1. The service berry, Amelanchier ainifolia. The fruit resembles the black
currant but has a sweeter flavor. The Indians gather large quantities and
sun-dry them for winter use. The berries are used also in the making of
pemmican.

Taken from Coyote Tales by Humishuma, Colville-Okanogan for Mourning Dove
[Christine Quintasket], 1933

From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories

This thread:

• Chipmunk and Owl-woman - Okanogan by "Blue Panther" <>