THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
Grandfather's Stories
Last week we had a very bad storm.
It rained for an hour and the wind blew
hard. At about 3 o'clock it began to
lightning and-there was a big noise, too.
The first noise was far out on the ocean.
The lightning and the noise occured
every fifteen minutes. At half -past 3
the thunder storm and lightning came to
our village. The wind then blew as
hard as could be. The church bell was
rung by the wind. The rain went over
buzzing as it went.
At our school house a couple of pieces
of lumber were blown about 10 yards
from Where they were lying on the
ground. Other things were blown about,
here and there.
Long ago our old grandfather told us
a story about the thunder house at Hob
river mountains. The old people used
to hunt elk on the mountains. They
saw a strange thing. It was a dark hole
in the mountain Said they, "When
a strange Indian came to the mountain
the lightning made a big noise inside of
the mountain." Said they, "The ice
came out of the hole and it rolled
down the mountain side. When the ice
came down to a level rock it broke into
hundreds of pieces, rattling; as it broke. "
It was close to a waterfall where. it fell.
Over this it floated when it broke into
pieces. This ice was colored with blue,
yellow, green and red."
At Beaver Lake there are rocks just
like a whale when it is cut into chunks
of a square yard in size. Long ago
there was a thunder bird on the prairie.,
A man was hunting elk; he saw the
thunder, bird resting, sitting on two trees.
The trees are there yet: The thunder
bird was carrying a whale to his, home
on the mountains, and' he was resting
on the prairie. The Indian man went
after it the whale was on the ground.
The thunder bird offered to give the
man the first feather on his wing. But
the man did not want it he wanted
the whale. The thunder bird again of
fered to give the man the first feather
on his wing. That feather was good for
whaling medicine. But the man did
not want it. He still wanted the whale.
The man drove the bird away and
went to cutting up the whale. He cut
out a chunk a yard square on the sur
face. He then went home to the river
where he lived. When, he got home he
told his familv that he had found a
whale on the prairie. He cooked the
piece he had brought.
When cooked he gave it to an old wo
man and some dogs to eat; to see if it
was good. The old woman said, 'It's
alright." He, then went to James Island
to call the people who lived there, and
the people who lived on the river side.
He called them to come up and have a
piece of the whale which he had found.
The peop 1 e went up. W h en. they w e re
all there they went up to the prairie to
cut lip the whale. They cut it into
pieces- two pieces for each man.
Just then a blak cloud came above
the hills. It lightened and the thunder
bird made a big noise, and soon bricks
of ice came down. The ice pieces were
larger. than a sledge. When they hit a
man on the head, the head just smashed
out. Some Indians ran to the trees and
hid themselves. Soon they were all
turned to rocks. They are still lying
where the big hail, hit then. You can
see them today if you will visit Beaver
Prairie.
My grandfather used to tell me lots
of nice stories. By Wm. Penn, aged 16
years, Quileute Day School, La Push,
Wash.