Sacred Texts Native American California Index Previous Next
While they were all living at Temecula, there was a man among them who was very wise and knew more than any one living. He taught the people, watched over them, and made provision for their needs, so that he called them all his children. They were not born to him as children, but he stood to them in the relation of a father.
It was the custom for all the people to take a bath every morning. Among them was a beautiful woman whom Ouiot had especially admired. She had a beautiful face and long hair that fell to her feet, completely covering her back. She always went down to the water when no one else was there, and would bathe when no one could see her. Ouiot noticed this and made it a point to watch her one day; and when she jumped into the water, he saw that her back was hollow and flat like that of a frog, and his admiration turned to disgust.
Wa-há:-wut, the woman, observed Ouiot and read his thoughts, and she was filled with anger against him. When she told her people of his feelings towards her, they conspired together and said, "We will kill him." So the four of them, Wa-há:-wut, Ká-ro-ut, Mórta, and Yó-wish (people then, but later, the frog, the earthworm, the gopher, and a water animal resembling the gopher), combined to destroy him by witchcraft.
As soon as they had finished their work, Ouiot fell sick; and tried in vain to ease his pain, sending north, south, east, and west for remedies, but nothing could avail. He grew so much worse that he Jay there helpless, unable to rise. Wa-há:-wut and her helpers came and jeered at him, and because he lingered so long in his illness they gave him the name of Ouiot. His real name was Moyla.
Then a man, named Má:-wha-la, arose and said, "What is the matter with all of you people? You call yourselves witches, and yet you cannot cure our sick brother, or even determine the cause of his illness."
So the rattlesnake, then a man, and a great witch-doctor, who knew everything, searched north, south, east, and west, trying to find out some way to help Ouiot, or to learn what was the matter with him, but in vain.
And after him another man, the horned toad, equally great as an hechicero, went about searching for a cause or a remedy, trying his best but without success.
Next stood up the road-runner. He examined Ouiot, and searched about among the people to see if any of them had caused his illness, but he could discover nothing.
Next came Sa-ka-pé-pe, a great leader, now a tiny bird. He did the same thing. He examined Ouiot and told the people that some one had poisoned him, and that he was going to die.
Ouiot was getting worse all the time, and he called his best friend, Cha-há:t-mal (the kingbird), a great captain and a very good man, and told him that he had been poisoned, and named the four who had done it, and told him the reason for their hatred of him, and that he soon must die; and to Cha-há:-mal alone he disclosed the truth that he would soon return. "Look towards the east for my coming in the early morning," he said. So Cha-ha-mal knew the secret.
Then he summoned all the rest of the people that he might give them his last commands; and when all had gathered together, some of his children raised him in their arms so that he could sit tip and address them. The tears began to run down his cheeks. Coyote, Blue-fly, and Buzzard crowded about him, and Coyote began licking his tears as if he was thinking already of eating him. So they drove these three away.
Then Ouiot said that his death might come in the first month, Tas-mó:-y-mal a-lúc-mal, or in the second part of the first month, Tás-moy-il mo-kát; but this time passed, and he was still alive. "Perhaps I shall die in the next month, Tów-na-mal a-lúc-mal, or in the second part of it, Tá-wut mo-kát; this also passed, and in like manner he predicted his possible death with the beginning of each month, only to linger through each until the last.
The series is as follows, beginning with the third month: Tów-sun-mal a-lúc-mal, Tów-sa-nal mo-kát; Tó-vuk-mal a-lúc-mal, Tó-va-kal mo-kát; Nó-vac-ne-mal a-lúc-mal, Nó-va-nut mo-kát; Pá-ho-y-mal a-lúc-mal, Pá-ho-y-il mo-kát; Náy-mo-y-mal a-lúc-mal, Náy-mo-y-il mo-kát; Som'-o-y-mal a-lúc-mal, Som'-o-y-il mo-kát. 1
In the last month he died, and death came into the world. No one had died before, but he will take all along with him. 2
There was a man (now kangaroo-rat) who made a carrying-net in which to lift Ouiot; and they sent to all four points of the compass for wood, the sycamore, black oak, and white oak, tule, hemlock, and
cedar, to build the funeral pile. They got a hollow log and on the lower half they laid the body, and put the other half of the log above it for a lid; and after the pile was ready and the fire lighted, the men carried the body in the net that had been prepared, and, going three times about the fire, they laid the body on it.
Meantime Coyote had been sent away first in one direction and then in another, being told to bring fire to light the pile; but he ran back so quickly that they could not finish their work. "Go to the central point also," they told him, "and go all the way. Do not stop until you get there."
Coyote ran off, but looking back he saw the smoke of the burning already rising up to the sky; so he turned and came running back with all his might. They took sticks to drive him away, and they stood in a circle close together about the fire to prevent him from approaching it; but the badger was a little man, and made a break in the circle (illustrated by the two thumbs when the hands are placed together, making a circle of the fingers), and Coyote jumped directly over his head, snatched the heart, the only part of the body that was not consumed, and ran off with it and devoured it.
There was a man among them named Wískun (now a tiny squirrel), and when Ouiot was burned, he stood up and addressed the people; and he called the clouds from the mountains to come, and the clouds and fog from the sea to gather and fall in showers upon the earth to blot out all the tracks that Ouiot had made when he moved about upon the earth, so that nothing could be seen.
So the clouds came and it rained heavily.
Then it was told them that in all time to come they must have fiestas for the dead as they had done for Ouiot. And they must begin to kill and eat for food. Until this time they had never eaten flesh or grains, but had lived on clay. And they discussed the matter, and questioned as to who should first be killed. One man after another was chosen but each refused in turn.
While they were talking about this, Tish-mel (the hummingbird) said that he would like to take the eagle's place. He felt that he was a person of importance; but the people said, No. He was a little man, and not fit for that, and they would not have him.
The eagle must be killed at the time of every fiesta, and Ash-wut (the eagle) did not like this. To escape his fate, he went north, south, east, and west; but there was death for him everywhere, and he came back and gave himself up. 1
Then they talked about killing the deer. "He is a nice-looking
man, he would be good for meat." The lion was a strong, powerful man, and he said, "Why do you delay and discuss the matter? This is the way it should be done." So he fell upon the deer and killed him, and all the others that had been selected to be animals were killed at the same time. They turned into different kinds of animals and different kinds of grain, and all the things that we see now in the world.
When they killed the deer, they took the small pointed bones of the leg to use as awls for making baskets. A fine basket was made, and the ashes and bones of Ouiot were placed within it, and they buried the basket in the ground.
While they were burying it, they sang solemn words with groans (grunting expirations), and they danced in this fiesta. This was the first time there had been singing or dancing for the dead. Until this time they had known nothing of it, but after this they knew how to make the fiestas and to sing and dance. The rabbit was the man that sang first, and the crow and the wild goose danced first.
After this fiesta was over they had a big meeting at Temecula, where they were still together, for when they found out that death had come into the world, they did not know what to do, and they discussed the matter.
All those that are now the stars went up in the sky at this time, hoping in that way to escape death; and all things that live in the ground, worms and insects and burrowing animals, went under the ground to hide from death. But the others decided to stay on the earth. They concluded that it might be possible to live so many years and then go back and be young again.
Then they left Temecula and scattered all over just as it is to-day. Now that Ouiot was gone there was no use in staying in their first home. They no longer had a guide or teacher there.
No one knew that Ouiot was to come back, except Cha-há:-mal, and early in the morning he would go upon the housetop and call out, "Ouiot is coming back."
"What does he say?" the people wondered.
But they understood when, for the first time, Ouiot rose in the east. They saw the moon rise and they knew it was Ouiot. It was the first time there was any moon, but he has been coming ever since.
After Ouiot died and the people scattered from Temecula, they took the Tam'-yush (sacred stone bowls) with them. They had been people, but they turned into stone bowls when the others became animals, etc.
55:1 Pronounced wee-ote.
56:1 am indebted for the spelling of these names to Mr. P. S. Sparkman of Rincon (Cal.), whose unpublished dictionary and grammar of the Luiseño language is the only authority extant on the subject. He adds in regard to these names: "it will be seen that the first word of the name given to the first part of each period has the diminutive suffix 'mal' affixed to it, while the second word of the name means thin or lean, therefore this means something like the small, lean part of the period. Mo-kát, the second word of the name given to the second part of each period, means large, therefore the second parts are spoken of as the large parts. But it is not necessary to use the words a-lúc-mal and mo-kát. The other words may be used alone."
56:2 "Som" means all.
57:1 Comment by the narrator. The eagle never dies. The old one will be there every year. You can catch the young ones by spreading nets for them in the cañons. They are killed for the fiesta without shedding any blood.