Stories of the Cahto Tribe
Making the Valleys

The grown men and women all moved to the other side of the stream to hunt deer. "You must stay here," the chief told the children. "We will only be gone one night."

When it was day they did not come back. It was evening; it was very dark; it was morning. Again it was day. " I am lonesome, "each was saying. In vain they built a fire. When it was evening they looked. During the day they watched for their fathers and mothers.

"Come, let us dance," said one of them. "Yes," said the boys and girls. "Many of you come and we will dance," he said. Sparrow-hawk sang. "Come here, my boys and girls," he said. A large number danced. "My mother, you haven't come. My father, you haven't come home. We will dance many days."

Sparrow-hawk put feathers in his hair. They danced day and night. "We will take the dance west," said the leader. They danced at Rancheria flat. They circled in the water at Mud Springs. They stamped the water out. They took the dance down the hill. They danced on the drifting sand. They circled around. They took the dance north to the mouth of Ten mile creek and then to the other side of the river. They brought the dance back from the north. They made a level place with their feet. They went south through Long valley with the dance.

The old people heard the sound of the dance. "My children have been dancing," the chief said. "You did not go home to them." They came home and found the ground was now flat and that valleys had become. They heard the noise of talking to the south. They afterwards heard it to the east. It grew faint and ceased. They heard the voices again as the children went way around to the north. The sounds they heard were faint. They heard them for some time and then they ceased again. Far north the voices came again. A long time they heard the noise coming from Round Valley. When Little Lake Valley was becoming flat and large, they danced a long time.

Far south the sound vanished. They went way to the south. They heard it faintly again coming back from the south. As they came back into the world the sound grew. When they were in the middle of the world the noise became greater. They were bringing back the dance. From the south they were taking it way around to the north. They brought it back from NeuutciiduN.

Some were becoming grown. Some became deer. Their legs became small. Others ran away into the brush and became grizzlies. They were coming near. They went in among the mountains. They were very close as they came from the north. They went into the mountains to the east. They went into the mountains to the south. South along Rock creek they went in. The noise was gone.

That is all.

(Based on Cahto oral traditions and beliefs)

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