Stories of the Cahto Tribe
Grizzly Woman Kills Doe
(This is a line-by-line translation (within the limits of English readability)
Old Woman Grizzly had her head near the fire 4 at the house, they say.
Bluejay sat on the roof, they say.
Old Woman Grizzly (and her younger co-wife Deer), they went to gather clover, they say.
"Well, I will hunt for lice for you," she said, they say.
"Well, I will hunt for lice for you," she said to her younger co-wife, they say.
She cracked open her head, they say.
"Well, go to sleep," she said to her younger co-wife.
"Okay, I will look"
She put in sand, they say.
She built a fire, they say.
She took out her eye, they say.
Then she took out her other eye, they say.
She put her eye in the seed basket.
Then she put her other eye in the seed basket, they say.
She put clover on top of it, they say.
She put it in the seed basket, they say.
She carried the clover into the house, they say.
She brought it into the house, they say.
She gave clover to the children, they say.
"My mother's eye, my mother's eye!" the boy said, they say.
He led her two boys, they say.
"Go into a hollow tree," she said, they say.
They went in, they say.
She pushed in grass, they say.
She fanned smoke in front of it with a fire, they say.
Their mouths stopped crying, they say.
Then she took them out, they say.
She carried them to the house, they say.
She scraped them, they say.
She washed them, they say.
Then she gave them to Old Woman Grizzly, they say.
She ate them, her own children, they say.
The children left, they say, they ran down to the creek.
Great Blue Heron had made a fishing weir, they say.
They ran down
There was the fishing weir, they say.
"Grandfather, put your neck across, Grandfather," she said, they say.
"When Old Woman Grizzly runs down and you put your neck across for her you must throw it to one side.
Let her drown," she said, they say.
They went out on the other side of the stream, they say.
"She eats her children raw!
"What are the children saying?"
"They're just saying this, they're saying, 'She eats her children raw,'" Bluejay said, they say.
Then Old Woman Grizzly ran, they say.
She ran down to the stream, they say.
"Brother-in-law, put your neck across for me.
I will cross," she said, they say.
"My children are beckoning to me with their hands."
Then he said, "Yes," they say.
Then she started across, they say.
Then, right in the middle of the water, he tipped it, they say.
She drowned, they say.
That is all.
Professor P. E. Goddard's Translation
Grizzly woman used to lie with her head close to the fire. Bluejay, her husband, used to sit on the house-top (and make flint arrowheads). Grizzly woman and the younger wife, Doe, went to gather clover.
"Let me hunt your lice," said Grizzly woman. "You go to sleep," she said, taking her head in her lap. She bit the lice and nits, sprinkling in sand (upon which she bit making the expected noise). She cracked her head. She built a fire and dug out one eye and then the other. She put them in the burden-basket and covered them with clover. She carried the clover home and took it into the house. She gave some of it to the children.
"My mother's eye, my mother's eye," said the boy. Doe's two children led Grizzly's two out to play. "You crawl into this hollow log," said one. The bear children went in. The girl, the elder of Doe's children, stopped up the opening with grass and fanned in smoke until the crying ceased. She drew them out, scraped them and washed them, and took them to the house, presenting them to their mother. Grizzly ate them (thinking them to be skunks).
The children went out and ran down to the creek where Heron had a fish weir. "Grandfather, put your neck across for us," they said. "When Grizzly old woman comes down and you put your neck across, you must pull it one side and let her drown."
They ran across and began to call out, " She eats her children raw." "What are those children saying? " the old woman asked. "They only say, 'She eats her children raw,' " Bluejay finally replied.
She ran out of the house and down to the stream. "Brotherin-law, put your neck across for me, I will cross. My children are beckoning to me with their hands," she said. "Very well," he assented. She started to cross. When she was in the middle of the stream he tipped his neck and she fell in and was drowned.
That is all.
(Based on Cahto oral traditions and beliefs)
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