Printed at Chemawa, Oregon, and Devoted to the Interests of Indian Education
No. 35
Wednesday, May 13, 1931
Vol. XXXII
RED FEATHER’S SON, TEWHEET
By Charlotte James
Once there was a boy who was the son of Chief Red-
feather. His name was Tewheet. He always wore
the nicest moccasins, the best deerskin clothes, and the
finest headbands of any boy of the tribe. He had good
bows and arrows, and canoes, too. He always got
everything he wanted. Although his mother would
humor him, he was not selfish. One of the medicine
men gave him a string of silver wapum, or beads, which
he always wore around his neck.
One day while coming from hunting, hungry and
tired. He asked his mother for something to eat. She
told him to wait until she cooked some food. He was
too hungry to wait and kept begging. She gave him
a piece of dried salmon that had a little mold on the
edge. This made Tewheet angry and he threw it away.
He got into his canoe, took his bow and arrows, and
went down to the ocean. Here he killed a seagull.
As he was going after it a big wave came up and tipped
him over. Tewheet went down until he disappeared.
The people found his canoe and thought that he was
drowned. They hunted and hunted for his body, but
never found it. But Tewheet was not drowned. Soon
he discovered that he was at the bottom of the sea, in
the land of the kelp and sea moss. He walked around
and around under the sea, until he came to a village
of shell houses. One of these houses was much larger
than the rest and it had “King Salmon’s” name writ
ten on it.
Tewheet went in and asked the King for something
to eat. The King wouldn’t give him a single bite.
Out in front of the King’s house Tewheet saw some
salmon eggs. He stooped down to gather them. As
he did so, all the salmon folks began to make fun,
“See,” they said, “that boy will eat wiyam (gar
bage).” This made Tewheet angry and he said he
would not eat anything.
The King Salmon said to the two Blueback Salmon,
“Take Tewheet down to where the stork feeds and
make him hug the stork until it sings. After Tewheet
hears the stork sing he will be in a good humor.”
They took him and he hugged the bird twenty times.
It sang. Tewheet laughed and went back to King
Salmon’s and ate
After dinner King Salmon talked sternly to Tewheet.
He said, “The reason you were drawn under the water
is your own fault. You insulted one of my sons.
The piece of salmon your mother gave you was a piece
of my oldest son and you threw it away. The king
shook his fins and wiggled his tail. “After this” he
said, “do not throw away a single bite of food.”
Time passed and spring came. The salmon started
on their run to fresh water to lay their eggs Of course,
by this time Tewheet was no longer a boy. He was
changed into a dog salmon. They went down the river
in groups. They passed the place where some Indians
were fishing with spears. One of these old men threw
a spear into the dog salmon and gave it to a woman
standing near. The woman was Tewheet’s mother.
While she was cleaning the salmon she heard a queer
rattling sound in its stomach.
She held the fish by
the tail and shook it until at last a silver wampum
fell from the salmon’s mouth. Then the woman knew
her little boy was changed to a poor salmon.
The Indians gathered all the medicine men of the
tribe. They built a large fire and danced around it.
As they danced they beat two sticks together and sang.
After the medicine men had stopped dancing, Teweet
changed back into a boy—just the kind he was before.
As long as he lived he never again threw away a
tiny bit of food, for he had learned that when a little
boy throws away food he is punished.
THE SWASTIKA
By CECELIA STEVE
One winter I witnessed a spectacle I shall never for
get. It was at an Indian celebration on the Puget
Sound about two years ago. There were hundreds of
Indians crowded into a Potlatch House. There was
the usual crowd of different individuals singing their
songs. I took the most interest in what one aged man
did with two sticks.
Two cedar sticks were brought in and laid on the
ground, with two men holding each stick. Then this
old man, or Indian doctor, sang. He seemed to sing
only to these sticks, even though he was heard through
out the smoke-house. Soon these sticks rose slowly
and went toward the fire where they seemed to warm
themselves. Then they went around the house almost
like lightning. It was all the men could do to keep
up with them. It seemed impossible that these two
sticks could be pulling these men around, and several
unbelievers took hold of the sticks and tried to keep
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