Green Frog Mask
The time of mourning lasted until the moon cycle ended, then the village filled with excitement in anticipation of the wedding of N’ha-itk that summer. A brave was not fully a man until married and a chief could not rule effectively without a wife to balance the male and female powers. N’ah-itk was bequeathed to a bride from the Toxuit people of the high plateau who had formed a perpetual peace pact with the Tsonox long ago for trading purposes and because the two tribes were related. The wedding party with the bride named Kalooth Shooting Star Daughter would come as soon as the snows in the pass melted in mid summer.
Naidah also planned that Snowy Owl should marry that summer. But Snowy Owl told her, “My wedding will wait for the day that our people sleep on Island Home after we are freed by the power of Thunderbird. You will see, mother.”
One moon cycle later the first Toxuit traders of the season came from the mountain pass and bringing sweet tobacco leaves and pine needle baskets to trade for dried salmon. A brave named Kit-saph Storm Dodger of the Toxuit Yellow Cloud Clan announced that the wedding party following them would arrive in one moon. He turned out to be the older brother of the bride. The families had met over the years, but this was the first time contact was made after the death of Namquaw. Kit-saph met with N’ha-itk and received the dowry of ten ornately carved winter boxes filled with a mixture of blueberries and whale blubber along with four staff sticks each carved with one of the animal protectors of the Toxuit clans. The sticks possessed magical powers for those who held them.
“It is a great honor for my sister to marry the chief of the feared Tsonox: Whale Hunters and Vanquishers of Villages,” said Kit-saph Storm Dodger upon accepting the dowry gifts. The marriage would make his family rich and enhance his inheritance rights. But he soon realized while smoking the one-family pipe with N’ha-itk that the young chief was different from Namquaw – better natured and kinder -- and that he could be trusted to treat his sister Kalooth with respect.
Because the Toxuit and the Tsonox both revered Babakawquit as their Ghost Chief, N’ha-itk explained to Kit-saph the plan to send Snowy Owl to the mountain lair on a quest to retrieve the skull of his father. His people who lived on the other side of the mountains also greatly feared the ice spirits and he knew how dangerous it is to challenge these powerful beings. He asked to meet with Snowy Owl to give him advice on how he had lulled the spirits during his own quest as a younger man. Soon a slave brought Snowy Owl to meet Kit-Saph and the three men drew smoke from the eagle stone pipe as they talked into the night.
The next day Chah-nulth took N’ha-itk aside and instructed him that it was time for Snowy Owl to make his way to the Lair of Babakawquit and face the sentence for breaking the banishment. He gathered the people before the winter lodge to pronounce the sentence. N’ha-itk dressed in his chiefly tunic along with the elders sat on the cedar platform next to the front door over looking the beach landing. The people stood before the house and could see the snow capped mountains rise above the house and cedar forest beyond. Holding the raven stick, Chah-nulth had Snowy Owl dragged and tossed to the ground before the officials.
Shaking the stick at him he said in a loud voice, “You slave have received the greatest honor of the tribe as bone carrier of the chief. But, still you are guilty of breaking the banishment curse and must pay for your crime as we agreed when you returned. Chief Raven’s Calling makes you a sacrifice to our protector, Babakawquit the mighty icy spirit of the mountains.”
Continued
Naidah also planned that Snowy Owl should marry that summer. But Snowy Owl told her, “My wedding will wait for the day that our people sleep on Island Home after we are freed by the power of Thunderbird. You will see, mother.”
One moon cycle later the first Toxuit traders of the season came from the mountain pass and bringing sweet tobacco leaves and pine needle baskets to trade for dried salmon. A brave named Kit-saph Storm Dodger of the Toxuit Yellow Cloud Clan announced that the wedding party following them would arrive in one moon. He turned out to be the older brother of the bride. The families had met over the years, but this was the first time contact was made after the death of Namquaw. Kit-saph met with N’ha-itk and received the dowry of ten ornately carved winter boxes filled with a mixture of blueberries and whale blubber along with four staff sticks each carved with one of the animal protectors of the Toxuit clans. The sticks possessed magical powers for those who held them.
“It is a great honor for my sister to marry the chief of the feared Tsonox: Whale Hunters and Vanquishers of Villages,” said Kit-saph Storm Dodger upon accepting the dowry gifts. The marriage would make his family rich and enhance his inheritance rights. But he soon realized while smoking the one-family pipe with N’ha-itk that the young chief was different from Namquaw – better natured and kinder -- and that he could be trusted to treat his sister Kalooth with respect.
Because the Toxuit and the Tsonox both revered Babakawquit as their Ghost Chief, N’ha-itk explained to Kit-saph the plan to send Snowy Owl to the mountain lair on a quest to retrieve the skull of his father. His people who lived on the other side of the mountains also greatly feared the ice spirits and he knew how dangerous it is to challenge these powerful beings. He asked to meet with Snowy Owl to give him advice on how he had lulled the spirits during his own quest as a younger man. Soon a slave brought Snowy Owl to meet Kit-Saph and the three men drew smoke from the eagle stone pipe as they talked into the night.
The next day Chah-nulth took N’ha-itk aside and instructed him that it was time for Snowy Owl to make his way to the Lair of Babakawquit and face the sentence for breaking the banishment. He gathered the people before the winter lodge to pronounce the sentence. N’ha-itk dressed in his chiefly tunic along with the elders sat on the cedar platform next to the front door over looking the beach landing. The people stood before the house and could see the snow capped mountains rise above the house and cedar forest beyond. Holding the raven stick, Chah-nulth had Snowy Owl dragged and tossed to the ground before the officials.
Shaking the stick at him he said in a loud voice, “You slave have received the greatest honor of the tribe as bone carrier of the chief. But, still you are guilty of breaking the banishment curse and must pay for your crime as we agreed when you returned. Chief Raven’s Calling makes you a sacrifice to our protector, Babakawquit the mighty icy spirit of the mountains.”
Continued
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