Indian Myths

When the Lower World was new, some of the birds and animals and fish had magic power. They could change their form and be like men and women when they wished to do so. They could build lodges on the bottom of the lake and no water would come into them. They had so much magic power that they could do these things.

At that time the Bears lived on the mountain which rose above the lake. The. Deer stood on this same mountain when the Rainbow made the Beautiful Bridge from the Lower World into the sky.

At the bottom of the lake the Fish had a village. It was a fine country there, and by their magic power the water was kept out of the village. When the Fish were there, they walked about in the shapes of men and women. They built fires and lived like people. But when they went around to other places in the lake they were just like fish.

Trees grew about this village at the bottom of the Jake. It was a good place for dances and feasts. The fish often invited the Bears, as well as the other animals and birds, to come to feasts and dances at the village.

Once the Turtles came a long way to hold a council with the Fish. A great feast was made. But there was just not enough food. Where could the Fish find food for the turtles?

Every day in summer the Bear children came down to the lake. They drank of its blue waters. They ran about and played on the yellow sands. They chased one another and splashed in the waves along the shallow shore.

One Fish said, “When the young Bears come down to the lake to swim, we will take them for the feast. We can eat them and no one will know where they have gone. Our friends the Bears will never know what happened to them.”

The next day the young Bears came to swim. When they were in the lake, the Fish dragged them down. They carried them to the Fish village, and they were eaten at the feast.

When the Bear children did not come home that night, their mother said, “Where are our children? They rolled and tumbled down the mountain in a fine frolic to play in the lake and to visit the Fish. Tomorrow we must ask our friends the Fish where our children are.”

When morning came, the Bears went to the lake and said the Fish, “Yesterday our children came down from the mountain to play on the sands and to swim in the blue waters. They did not come home. We ask our friends the Fish where our children are.”

The Fish answered, “The children of our friends the Bears did not come to see us yesterday. They must have gone another way. They must still be in the mountain.”

But the Bears did not believe this. They knew how to follow the trail. They said, “We see the footprints of our children on this shore. Why do our friends the Fish not tell us the truth?”                                                                 

The Bears were angry, but they did not know what to do. They did not know that their children had been m at the feast for the Turtles.

The Kingfisher stood on the branch of a tree near by. He was at war with the Fish and ate their children when he could find them. Now he said to the Bears, “I saw the Fish eat the young Bears.”

Then the Bears fell upon the Fish and there was a great battle. Many of the Fish were killed. From that day the Bears have eaten every Fish they could catch. They even taught the Otter and some of the other animals to do the same.

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