Image provided by: State Library of Oregon; Salem, OR
About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1931)
The CHEM AW A A M ERICAN THE ORIGIN OF FIR E AMONG THE IN D IA N S By HAROLD MASTEN T here are many legends about the origin of fire. However, I will try and write one th at was told me b y an old Klam ath Indian. This legend also tells how the tu rtle ’s, shell became cracked. There was once a witch who lived by herself away in the depths of a great forest. She could fly as fast as the swiftest of birds and much farther. One day while a young Indian was hunting he passed near the home'of this old witch, and, to his great sur- prise,, saw h e f cooking som ething over a pile of sticks, through which leaped red flames.’ I This fire being the only one in existence; she guarded it very closely and was very careful-not to let’-iff-dfe out. As soon as the young Indian sa w th is h e . returned home and told his "chief .all about it. Immediately the chief tried to dis cover a way to ¿teal a part of the w itch’s fire. H e knew none of his braves were fast enough to escape from the witch i-f^she oncte-Tound out that one of them fiad stolen her fire,,, so he called six of his fastest birds together and placed themWhhline according to swift ness. T he swiftest b ird was to steal the -fire and re lay it to the next; bird, who ih d u rn was to relay it to the next, and so on down the line. W hen everything was ready the swiftest bird waited , un tjl th,e witch ’ s back .was. .tprned. a n d . th e n flew i n and took a flaming stick from the fire and flew out of the door with the stick in its claws. W hen the witch dis covered that a part of her fire was missing, she looked out of the dopr and saw the bird; with a flaming stick in its ip-laws flying swiftly away. She immediately hid her fire and tqok up the chase. By the time the witch had almost caught up w ith the bird it relayed the flaming stick, which was getting smaller every m inute to the n ex t'b ird who took a fresh start and relayed- it to the next, and:,go on down the line, each getting'a fresh start on the witch; and m aking it t®,the next bird a little ahead of its pursuer. By the time the fife reached the last and slowest b ird it was nothing more than a large coal. T he last bird placed th e c o a l in its claws and started on her way quite swiftly'. B u trt w asn’t long before the bird began to tire and the witch started to gain on B T he bird came to a large.,-steep and rocky bluff, on which was 'h tu rtle. T he bird put the coal inside the tu rtle ’s shell and the turtfe dtew in his head and legs and rolled down the bluff. W hen the witch reached th e bluff and saw the bird but hof the coal, she was qu itq surprised; she thought perhaps the coal went out. But it w asn’t long before she discovered that the bird gave the coal to the turtle which was now almost half way down the bluff. T h e turtle reached the bottom of the bluff where a frog was'. Page 3 waiting. T he frog put the coal in his m outh and dove down to the bottom of the lake just in time to escape the hands of the witch, i'h e witch, seeing that she couldn’t dive to the bottom of the lake w ithout drow n ing, returned hom e to see th at no-one else tried to steal her fire. T he frog then came up from the bottom of the lake and coughed up a live coal which the chief immediately took and used to start a fire. The turtle got the worst of the deal because it cracked its nice new shell when it came rolling down the bluff so rapidly. T h a t’^he",reason that the tu rtle ’s shell has a cracked look in appearance. LOCAL Sergeant Brown, after a visit- of some few days at Chemawa, took his departure last T hursday for his home in the K lam ath country. H e intends to return to Chemawa in tim e for our coming graduation exer cises. Mr. VosBurgh and his bandsmen played a concert in the auditorium last Saturday evening. I t was quite a pretentions program and among other numbers th e world-famous “ W illiam T ell” overture of Rossini was rendered. These concerts are always greatly ap preciated by all and are of greater educational and cul tural value than many people suspect. I -A cting Superintendent Ryan, Mrs. Mary McGair, j personal representative of the Commissioner, and Mr. Larsen made a trip to Siletz last Friday. They made ! just a hurry-u>;tour of inspection. Yesterday at the time of going io press the same party were due for a con ference with the Toledo Chamber of Commerce at which there probably were a number of Lincoln county offi cials. Our people tried in many ways to honor Supt. Lipps on the eve of his depaiture for his new field of labor. ,On Tuesday evening of last week he and Mrs. Lipps and family were guests of the employes at the Club building. It proved a most delightful affair in every respect. On W ednesday evening ‘ Supt. Lipps spon sored a lawn social and luncheon, honoring the students and employes generally. This, too, proved a memor able occasion. On Thursday when Supt. Lipps boarded the train to depart the student body and the m ajority of the employes were present to wish him God speed and to show their respect to him as a ges ture of appreciation of his wonderful work here in th e ir behalf. T he students sang the school song and the band was in attendance to speed him on his way w ith m artial music. Such was the departure of our good friend. Good wishes follow him and loyal hearts as well. ESCORTS Sun., May 10—McBride - - - - Miss Lundquist Mr. J. S. K unkel W inona - .- - - - Mr. Sanders Mrs. Sanders H a w l e y .......................Mrs. H auser Mr. Ross
