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'.
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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
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- Miss Lundquist
Mr. J. S. K unkel
W inona - .- - - - Mr. Sanders
Mrs. Sanders
H a w l e y .......................Mrs. H auser
Mr. Ross