Thunderbolt, continued
When the weather grew warmer, Muxqueum Snowy Owl anticipation grew stronger. He began to prepare for his voyage back to the mainland and his confrontation with Chief Namquaw. He carefully followed the rituals expected of a warrior before a battle, bathing in the cold water, painting his face with war paint and singing the correct chants each morning and evening. He also drank thorny club tea and ate a handfull of berries and a small piece of salmon or elk steak five times a day. He devoted himself to swimming across the bay twice each day and practiced the spear dance over and over to grow strong for the great confrontation with the Tsonox.
The rains began to subside as the sun set farther north, showing warmer each day on the beach and hutch. One night at this time Snowy Owl dreamed that he heard his mother calling his name, as she did to call him in for dinner when he was a child playing outside. Then the face of Tillicum appeared before him, painted with war paint and wearing an owl headdress, saying to him, “Your enemy Namquaw is dead. You are safe to return and complete your quest. Do not be afraid. I will be with you.” Then the war paint patterned turned into the pattern of a deer hunter and the face faded from his sight.
When the new moon shown full above the mainland mountains one morning, he sang the new moon song and went about digging five holes to secure his belongings in hidden storage boxes and buried them along the beach near the hutch. These five holes became the fire pits of the five lodges when the people arrived to their new home. A few days later, he packed the sea lion skin boat with weapons, food and water for the voyage back to the mainland and set off.
The winds were good and he faced no fog or difficult currents at all. When he lost sight of land, the waves rose as tall as trees and the skin boat pushed up into the clouds, then fell down surrounded by the waters on all sides as he continued to paddle. He felt like a bit of driftwood used as a child’s plaything in the swelling ocean. He reminded himself that the sea was created to obey the commands of Wonderful Doer and that Muxqueum – unlike the mighty sea -- had been an honored guest in the Creator’s house of light in the heavens. No trickster whale or sea monster would take him to the depths before he could fulfill his vision.
In two days he saw the mainland appear and by mid day he drew near the shore and turned south. While paddling for half a day following the rocky beach, to his surprise he recognized the huge black rock marked by a thunderbird petra-glyph signaling that he was near the foothills of the Thunderbird Nest Tree – a sight sacred for both the Tsonox and the Kaw-Seth. He moved the skin boat past the marker rock and up the small river and pulled it onto a beach, hiding it behind some brush. It felt good to stretch his legs after the long sea voyage. Then he took something out of his pack and walked into the forest and up the hill. Soon he saw the ancient two-branched tree on the horizon just as he remembered when he came here with N’ha-itk five years before.
He walked respectfully as if stalking a deer and made his way to the base of the giant tree. He knelt and sang the Thunderbird song slowly with his hands raised to his sides looking up at what looked like a thorny nest high above. This is the place where the Transformer turned the storm monster into a mighty tree, he thought. Near the top, two rugged branches spread out right and left like the wings of the Thunderbird. He remembered the words he said to N’ha-itk that day, repeating the teachings of his mother. “Long ago, Wonderful Doer defeated the powers of rebellion here so that the souls of people who look to him might be transformed into spiritual hatchlings able to escape the underworld at death and fly to the hunting grounds of the Great Spirit beyond the sky world.”
He hoped that his friend would welcome him when he arrived at Raven’s Harbor. Before walking back to the beach, he placed an object at the base of the tree. It was the beaded pouch with the thunderbolt design given to him by the trickster old woman. After that day he never again feared that a sesquec in disguise would come back to demand it from him.
Two days later he arrived in Tsonox territory. The fishermen saw his skin boat and some went back to the main village and three canoes approached to greet the stranger. He wore his rain hat marked by the Tsonox killer whale design. His forehead, face and arms were painted bright red to signal his Kaw-Seth pride, which meant that he had the status of a slave to the fishermen who did not know of his reputation as an interpreter of dreams and crafty warrior. It wasn’t long until the men recognized him as the banished Muxqueum returning from his quest.
“I traveled down into the underworld and up to the sky world and now return with a gift for the chief,” said Muxqueum.
The halibut fishermen knew that the original terms of the banishment meant death by torture -- not only the Muxqueum but for the other Kaw-Seth slaves as well. But, instead of treating him as a criminal, they followed the custom of honoring him as a visiting stranger, and escorted his canoe back to the main beach of Raven’s Harbor to meet the chief. Snowy Owl knew that at any moment one of the braves could kill him with a shot of an arrow or blow with an axe. Still he held his head up formally and made wide, even stokes with his oar as if performing a canoe race ritual. People gathered on the beaches to watch him pass by and a crowd formed at the main landing.
When he stepped ashore the crowd pushed up to him and for a moment he thought that anyone of them could stab him easily. Then the people quieted as they stepped back to let the chief approach. Without taking another step, there before Snowy Owl was a figure dressed in fine chiefly blanket covered with mother of pearl ornaments and wearing the shiny bluejay feather headdress covered with black and blue feathers. His face was painted white for mourning and as he neared he realized that it was not his enemy Namquaw, but his friend N’ha-itk son of Namquaw who had now assumed the office of chief of the Tsonox villages, its shaman, braves and warriors.
Behind him stood one of the elders of the tribe also dressed in chiefly tunic and wearing the gray whale hat signally the highest status. Around his neck he wore an otter vertebra broach that had belonged to Namquaw. His hair grew to his shoulders and five otter toes hung from pierced ears and he held the raven speaking stick. It was Chah-nulth, a warrior of the shark clan who had assumed the position of head shaman of the Otter Foot secret society. Muxqueum remembered him for terrible acts of cruelty against the slaves and for his preference for killing the infants of the enemies during raids.
He was an ugly man to begin with and seemed well suited to be a lead-slave of the ice monsters. This one often wandered the forest during rainstorms chanting his Crooked Beak songs and inviting spirits to enter his body. When Chah-nulth came near a lodge filled with his ghost power, the women and children withdraw as soon as possible to avoid a possible curse or bad luck stare. Namquaw always kept his stepbrother away from the chief’s house, ordering him to use his powers to assist the warriors and whale hunters. He had great power.
Namquaw must have indeed died and now Chah-nulth controlled the young chief N’ha-itk’s every word. Taking a step forward, Chah-nulth assumed the position as spokesman for the chief and said in a laud voice, “Banished slave you were sentenced to die by torture if your shadow should fall on our beaches again. I see both your red face and black shadow on this day. Before I order my braves to cut you to pieces as promised by my father, tell us why you dare to return to walk our land,” he said in the formal ceremonial voice for all to hear.
Muxqueum could not imagine his friend saying such things. But, realized that it was the chief’s spokesman speaking the stern greeting before the people. He had after all broken the law of the tribe by returning. Snowy Owl knelt, bowed his head and held out a cedar box to the chief without saying a word. N’ha-itk said, “We may accept your gift after you tell our people why you returned against our will.”
“Oh, great chief and honored spokesman, may the Great Spirit protect you and grant you life,” said Snowy Owl. “After you banished me late last summer I drifted into unknown seas and encountered supernatural creatures living on the Lost Islands of winter stories. From there my journey took me to the sky world where I obtained a new heart form the Creator. Then I descended down into the underworld to wrestle spirits. I now return to finish my quest and offer the chief of your people a gift to comfort his grief.”
N’ha-itk’s face signaled that his friendship was not forgotten and he smiled. Then Chah-nulth bent to speak something in the young chief’s ear and his posture quickly grew stiff.
“Banished slave, how do we know that your words are true? The spirits are tricksters. When the snows melted my father and I also went on a quest to the lair of the mighty ghost of Icy Mountain. We offered Babakawquit deer meat of the first hunt in the Green Frog Bowl. The spirit ate him instead and made me chief of the Tsonox with all titles, rights, masks and magical powers of my father. I slipped out of the spirit’s grasp just in time to run home alive only so that I might serve him. Now I am N’ha-itk Raven’s Calling, chief of the Tsonox. Perhaps the spirits have tricked you to come back to your death old friend.”
“See these feathers in my hair? I am Snowy Owl of the Kaw-Seth and offer to you, oh mighty chief, this gift of supernatural fire to prove that I have indeed ascended to the sky world,” he said lifting up the painted box again.
N’ha-itk took the box and turned to walk up to the chief’s long house above the beach. Chah-nulth and other high clan leaders who happened to join the spectacle followed. Two big warriors that he knew from the war lodge escorted Snowy Owl. They carried his quiver of arrows and took Tillicum’s spear. At no time was he afraid because he knew that his childhood friend would never cause him harm, no matter how much spirit power a shaman called upon.
Just as he was bending down to enter into the raven beak doorway of the long house, he looked up to see his mother Naidah had arrived to join the crowd. Their eyes met and he gestured with a nod that a welcome-home greeting must wait until after the business with the chief.
The chief’s long house looked familiar except for funeral decorations of cedar boughs on the walls and at the base of the two massive whale totems that supported the far end of the lodge. Cedar branches also filled the mouth of a large circular effigy of Babakawquit on the wall between the whales. Some decorations were missing and he assumed that relatives took them after news of the death, as is the custom. The scent of burning sage leaves left a haze in the air, as is tradition for two moon cycles after the death of a chief. Two women with white painted faces also sat at the fire chanting or weeping day and night. While Namquaw was known for cruelty and asserting his power over all of lower status, he had brought much wealth to the tribe and the spirits mostly provided for the people. No plague or bad snowstorm occurred during his rule and every year without fail his rituals and chanting honoring the ghosts brought home at least one whale, sometimes three. And the Tsonox warriors always prevailed against their enemies.
N’ha-itk put the box down on the cedar planks of the dance platform before the fire, sat in a squatting position and lifted the lid off of the gift box. He pulled out the finely carved bear effigy in the wonderful unknown design of the sacred cave. The crowd of clan leaders and their slaves reacted with a gasp and many whispering voices. Everyone immediately saw that the bear’s face was painted white in mourning. In the bear’s mouth was fixed a large pink clamshell held in place by white teeth. It was the sacred fire start.
Before Chah-nulth could advise N’ha-itk, the young chief replied, “We are honored carver-slave to accept this magic bear figure in mourning for my father. Bear symbolizes success in the hunt and protection from evil forces and my people need such grace from the sky world. I see that the proud Snowy Owl is still the same brave who taught me to fish and hunt. Here is a puzzle. I cannot forget faithful friendship but the word of chief holds firm. Violating banishment must be punished by the jaws of Babakawquit as my father said. Not even fire from the sky can burn up a chief’s word. But, tell me my friend -- where is the magic fire that you promised?”
“Inside the clamshell is a coal from a sacred fire that burns a path to the Great Spirit Lodge. The coal never grows cool and the hearts of all who are warmed by its fire are transformed in power and love. I share it with you as proof that I return in obedience to the word that comes from the mouth of the Chief of all chiefs and spirits. His law is higher than the law of any tribe because he is maker of all the worlds. The bear effigy will decorate the lodge of your children’s children for generations to come, but I ask that the fire start be returned to the Kaw-Seth people after you have borrowed some of its flame.”
“We will test this strange fire and see how sacred flames burn differently from what we know. But, how will we return the fire to a people who are subject to us as slaves and why should we barter with a criminal who deserves death?” said N’ha-itk.
“Chief I come to you with the power of Wonderful Doer to ask that you succeed where your father failed. He passed onto the underworld with out heeding my interpretation of the dream that stands true for him and now for you. Heed the dream and your name will be honored for generations. Share the warmth of the sacred fire, then let the Kaw-Seth slaves depart with me back to the Lost Islands to dance before the Creator according to our ancient traditions. After this season of ritual and celebration, your friend and brother promises that we will return to Raven’s Harbor if that is your will.”
The lodge filled with voices as the clan leaders spoke to each other. Chah-nulth took N’ha-itk aside and talked for many breaths while Snowy Owl watched the fire and listened to the mourning women recline at the hearth. Then Chah-nulth hit the speaking stick on the cedar planks to quite the room and said,
“Banishment is banishment and death is death. This slave has failed to give us any reason to commute his sentence. He is guilty of slandering our chief even now. But, because of the generosity and mercy of the great Chief N’ha-itk Raven’s Calling, we offer our bold slave a means of escaping the wrath of the Tsonox way.”
Then the chief spoke so all could hear again in a strong formal voice. “Go to the lair of Babakawquit and return the skull of my father so that he might be buried with his ancestors and find rest in the underworld. If the jaws of Babakawquit spare you, then so will we. If you return from Icy Mountain alive then we will let your people go away to the Lost Island of winter stories to honor their spirits for a season. You will go after the spring funeral ceremony during the full moon when the spirits are quieted by ritual.”
Chah-nulth shook his raven-frog rattle and sang the song of Tsonox triumph, ending the meeting by pounding the speaking stick on the cedar planks three times. Then the chief waved for all attendants and clan leaders to depart from the lodge. Two braves took Snowy Owl to the long house where his mother lived and stood guard over him.
Snowy Owl was reunited with Naidah and he told her everything that occurred at the meeting and from the day of his banishment to the present. He told her about the killer whales that appeared to scare off the braves pursuing him, about the three days adrift in unknown waters through fog and strong currents, about the visit of the otter and the dreams of descending to the bottom of the ocean.
He described the first time he set foot on Island Home and how he explored the southern boarder until he made his way into the canal and discovered Inner Harbor with its cold, fresh water stream and abundance of herbs, roots and flowers. He told of climbing the mountain and the visitation of the Owl and finding the feathers the next morning. She listened with amazement about exploring the cave and encountering Tillicum at the sacred fire and seeing his body burn up in the flames that took him to the sky world.
She was speechless at hearing about his visions of the sky world and the words that the Creator had communicated to him. He showed her Tillicum’s spear and told her all about his struggle with the trickster sesquec on the island and in the underworld and about the sacred fire start.
She arose to examine his wounded ear, now healed and covered by his hair, as he continued, “The spirit of the Transformer is with me, mother, even now I feel him by my side.”
“My son before you were born Wonderful Doer visited my dreams with the knowledge that you were made his high slave to tear down the evil that oppresses our people since your honored father and chief were murdered by the greed of Namquaw. Now I see my dream break forth like sunrise in hearing of your adventures.”
Naidah went on to say that she kept her promise to chant and pray daily for his protection and that in the time that he was gone she and the other woman relatives had arranged for him to marry a slave daughter form the otter clan village. “Her name is Kashwik, known by her family as the little resourceful one. She is an excellent weaver and has a voice like a summer bird. After Namquaw died, her parents have agreed to the marriage. I gave them the whalebone carving that you made as a down payment for the bride price and the wedding was set for soon after your return. Now that you are sentenced to challenge the Monsters of Icy Mountain her father may reconsider. Tomorrow my chief has ordered me to bring storage boxes to the village where Kashwik lives. You can join me and perhaps see her from afar. Chief N’ha-itk is also betrothed,” she added.
They ate a meal of hearty elk meat roasted over the fire and crisp new fern shoots steamed in cedar boxes. The other residents of the long house welcomed him and spoke well of him and didn’t treat him as a slave. They were proud of his vision quest and asked him to tell stories of his journey. Tired as he was, he spoke for a while until his mother suggested that they sing some songs in honor of his return.
Three mothers led a song about a young woman out berry picking who becomes lost because she daydreamed of finding a husband. Trying to find her way home, she meets a handsome young man who is actually a magic bear in disguise. She agrees to marry him and later gives birth to two sons who become mischievous half man and half bear cubs. The cubs grow up to be mighty chiefs. The refrain is a love song about the couple meeting, but each time the women sang the refrain, the singers inserted Muxqueum’s name for the man. Everyone laughed and he felt a warm happiness from being with people who loved him once again.
The light from the home fire burned orange and red and made pleasant designs that flickering across the walls and ceiling of the long house. The night became quiet. When the children and most family members were asleep, each family stretched out behind dividing screens or boxes, he looked up to see a man entering through the crane beak doorway. It was N’ha-itk dressed as he remembered him without his chiefly clothing. In the dim light he gestured for Snowy Owl to come near and he proceeded to whisper in his cut off ear.
“I will go with you to the mountains,” he said in a low voice so no one could hear. “I know the pass up to Icy Peak and have seen the inside of the Lair of Skulls. The spring funeral service is approaching and we will placate Babakawquit and his spirit attendants with much chanting and sacrifice. Then when the weather permits we will go to his house with the sacred stone corpse mask as a gift and beg for the return of my father’s head. The snow was very thick this year, so it may take a while for the trail to clear. With your prayer power we will succeed and perhaps the Ghosts will not be angry and continue to provide for us. I will join you secretly because that old snake Chah-nulth is using his shaman powers to harm you.”
Snowy Owl said, “You may join me in my quest. But, you must know that I go not to placate, but to defeat the monster with the power of the Great Spirit and seek revenge for the death of my father and grandfather that was inspired by these evil spirits.”
Next chapter
The rains began to subside as the sun set farther north, showing warmer each day on the beach and hutch. One night at this time Snowy Owl dreamed that he heard his mother calling his name, as she did to call him in for dinner when he was a child playing outside. Then the face of Tillicum appeared before him, painted with war paint and wearing an owl headdress, saying to him, “Your enemy Namquaw is dead. You are safe to return and complete your quest. Do not be afraid. I will be with you.” Then the war paint patterned turned into the pattern of a deer hunter and the face faded from his sight.
When the new moon shown full above the mainland mountains one morning, he sang the new moon song and went about digging five holes to secure his belongings in hidden storage boxes and buried them along the beach near the hutch. These five holes became the fire pits of the five lodges when the people arrived to their new home. A few days later, he packed the sea lion skin boat with weapons, food and water for the voyage back to the mainland and set off.
The winds were good and he faced no fog or difficult currents at all. When he lost sight of land, the waves rose as tall as trees and the skin boat pushed up into the clouds, then fell down surrounded by the waters on all sides as he continued to paddle. He felt like a bit of driftwood used as a child’s plaything in the swelling ocean. He reminded himself that the sea was created to obey the commands of Wonderful Doer and that Muxqueum – unlike the mighty sea -- had been an honored guest in the Creator’s house of light in the heavens. No trickster whale or sea monster would take him to the depths before he could fulfill his vision.
In two days he saw the mainland appear and by mid day he drew near the shore and turned south. While paddling for half a day following the rocky beach, to his surprise he recognized the huge black rock marked by a thunderbird petra-glyph signaling that he was near the foothills of the Thunderbird Nest Tree – a sight sacred for both the Tsonox and the Kaw-Seth. He moved the skin boat past the marker rock and up the small river and pulled it onto a beach, hiding it behind some brush. It felt good to stretch his legs after the long sea voyage. Then he took something out of his pack and walked into the forest and up the hill. Soon he saw the ancient two-branched tree on the horizon just as he remembered when he came here with N’ha-itk five years before.
He walked respectfully as if stalking a deer and made his way to the base of the giant tree. He knelt and sang the Thunderbird song slowly with his hands raised to his sides looking up at what looked like a thorny nest high above. This is the place where the Transformer turned the storm monster into a mighty tree, he thought. Near the top, two rugged branches spread out right and left like the wings of the Thunderbird. He remembered the words he said to N’ha-itk that day, repeating the teachings of his mother. “Long ago, Wonderful Doer defeated the powers of rebellion here so that the souls of people who look to him might be transformed into spiritual hatchlings able to escape the underworld at death and fly to the hunting grounds of the Great Spirit beyond the sky world.”
He hoped that his friend would welcome him when he arrived at Raven’s Harbor. Before walking back to the beach, he placed an object at the base of the tree. It was the beaded pouch with the thunderbolt design given to him by the trickster old woman. After that day he never again feared that a sesquec in disguise would come back to demand it from him.
Two days later he arrived in Tsonox territory. The fishermen saw his skin boat and some went back to the main village and three canoes approached to greet the stranger. He wore his rain hat marked by the Tsonox killer whale design. His forehead, face and arms were painted bright red to signal his Kaw-Seth pride, which meant that he had the status of a slave to the fishermen who did not know of his reputation as an interpreter of dreams and crafty warrior. It wasn’t long until the men recognized him as the banished Muxqueum returning from his quest.
“I traveled down into the underworld and up to the sky world and now return with a gift for the chief,” said Muxqueum.
The halibut fishermen knew that the original terms of the banishment meant death by torture -- not only the Muxqueum but for the other Kaw-Seth slaves as well. But, instead of treating him as a criminal, they followed the custom of honoring him as a visiting stranger, and escorted his canoe back to the main beach of Raven’s Harbor to meet the chief. Snowy Owl knew that at any moment one of the braves could kill him with a shot of an arrow or blow with an axe. Still he held his head up formally and made wide, even stokes with his oar as if performing a canoe race ritual. People gathered on the beaches to watch him pass by and a crowd formed at the main landing.
When he stepped ashore the crowd pushed up to him and for a moment he thought that anyone of them could stab him easily. Then the people quieted as they stepped back to let the chief approach. Without taking another step, there before Snowy Owl was a figure dressed in fine chiefly blanket covered with mother of pearl ornaments and wearing the shiny bluejay feather headdress covered with black and blue feathers. His face was painted white for mourning and as he neared he realized that it was not his enemy Namquaw, but his friend N’ha-itk son of Namquaw who had now assumed the office of chief of the Tsonox villages, its shaman, braves and warriors.
Behind him stood one of the elders of the tribe also dressed in chiefly tunic and wearing the gray whale hat signally the highest status. Around his neck he wore an otter vertebra broach that had belonged to Namquaw. His hair grew to his shoulders and five otter toes hung from pierced ears and he held the raven speaking stick. It was Chah-nulth, a warrior of the shark clan who had assumed the position of head shaman of the Otter Foot secret society. Muxqueum remembered him for terrible acts of cruelty against the slaves and for his preference for killing the infants of the enemies during raids.
He was an ugly man to begin with and seemed well suited to be a lead-slave of the ice monsters. This one often wandered the forest during rainstorms chanting his Crooked Beak songs and inviting spirits to enter his body. When Chah-nulth came near a lodge filled with his ghost power, the women and children withdraw as soon as possible to avoid a possible curse or bad luck stare. Namquaw always kept his stepbrother away from the chief’s house, ordering him to use his powers to assist the warriors and whale hunters. He had great power.
Namquaw must have indeed died and now Chah-nulth controlled the young chief N’ha-itk’s every word. Taking a step forward, Chah-nulth assumed the position as spokesman for the chief and said in a laud voice, “Banished slave you were sentenced to die by torture if your shadow should fall on our beaches again. I see both your red face and black shadow on this day. Before I order my braves to cut you to pieces as promised by my father, tell us why you dare to return to walk our land,” he said in the formal ceremonial voice for all to hear.
Muxqueum could not imagine his friend saying such things. But, realized that it was the chief’s spokesman speaking the stern greeting before the people. He had after all broken the law of the tribe by returning. Snowy Owl knelt, bowed his head and held out a cedar box to the chief without saying a word. N’ha-itk said, “We may accept your gift after you tell our people why you returned against our will.”
“Oh, great chief and honored spokesman, may the Great Spirit protect you and grant you life,” said Snowy Owl. “After you banished me late last summer I drifted into unknown seas and encountered supernatural creatures living on the Lost Islands of winter stories. From there my journey took me to the sky world where I obtained a new heart form the Creator. Then I descended down into the underworld to wrestle spirits. I now return to finish my quest and offer the chief of your people a gift to comfort his grief.”
N’ha-itk’s face signaled that his friendship was not forgotten and he smiled. Then Chah-nulth bent to speak something in the young chief’s ear and his posture quickly grew stiff.
“Banished slave, how do we know that your words are true? The spirits are tricksters. When the snows melted my father and I also went on a quest to the lair of the mighty ghost of Icy Mountain. We offered Babakawquit deer meat of the first hunt in the Green Frog Bowl. The spirit ate him instead and made me chief of the Tsonox with all titles, rights, masks and magical powers of my father. I slipped out of the spirit’s grasp just in time to run home alive only so that I might serve him. Now I am N’ha-itk Raven’s Calling, chief of the Tsonox. Perhaps the spirits have tricked you to come back to your death old friend.”
“See these feathers in my hair? I am Snowy Owl of the Kaw-Seth and offer to you, oh mighty chief, this gift of supernatural fire to prove that I have indeed ascended to the sky world,” he said lifting up the painted box again.
N’ha-itk took the box and turned to walk up to the chief’s long house above the beach. Chah-nulth and other high clan leaders who happened to join the spectacle followed. Two big warriors that he knew from the war lodge escorted Snowy Owl. They carried his quiver of arrows and took Tillicum’s spear. At no time was he afraid because he knew that his childhood friend would never cause him harm, no matter how much spirit power a shaman called upon.
Just as he was bending down to enter into the raven beak doorway of the long house, he looked up to see his mother Naidah had arrived to join the crowd. Their eyes met and he gestured with a nod that a welcome-home greeting must wait until after the business with the chief.
The chief’s long house looked familiar except for funeral decorations of cedar boughs on the walls and at the base of the two massive whale totems that supported the far end of the lodge. Cedar branches also filled the mouth of a large circular effigy of Babakawquit on the wall between the whales. Some decorations were missing and he assumed that relatives took them after news of the death, as is the custom. The scent of burning sage leaves left a haze in the air, as is tradition for two moon cycles after the death of a chief. Two women with white painted faces also sat at the fire chanting or weeping day and night. While Namquaw was known for cruelty and asserting his power over all of lower status, he had brought much wealth to the tribe and the spirits mostly provided for the people. No plague or bad snowstorm occurred during his rule and every year without fail his rituals and chanting honoring the ghosts brought home at least one whale, sometimes three. And the Tsonox warriors always prevailed against their enemies.
N’ha-itk put the box down on the cedar planks of the dance platform before the fire, sat in a squatting position and lifted the lid off of the gift box. He pulled out the finely carved bear effigy in the wonderful unknown design of the sacred cave. The crowd of clan leaders and their slaves reacted with a gasp and many whispering voices. Everyone immediately saw that the bear’s face was painted white in mourning. In the bear’s mouth was fixed a large pink clamshell held in place by white teeth. It was the sacred fire start.
Before Chah-nulth could advise N’ha-itk, the young chief replied, “We are honored carver-slave to accept this magic bear figure in mourning for my father. Bear symbolizes success in the hunt and protection from evil forces and my people need such grace from the sky world. I see that the proud Snowy Owl is still the same brave who taught me to fish and hunt. Here is a puzzle. I cannot forget faithful friendship but the word of chief holds firm. Violating banishment must be punished by the jaws of Babakawquit as my father said. Not even fire from the sky can burn up a chief’s word. But, tell me my friend -- where is the magic fire that you promised?”
“Inside the clamshell is a coal from a sacred fire that burns a path to the Great Spirit Lodge. The coal never grows cool and the hearts of all who are warmed by its fire are transformed in power and love. I share it with you as proof that I return in obedience to the word that comes from the mouth of the Chief of all chiefs and spirits. His law is higher than the law of any tribe because he is maker of all the worlds. The bear effigy will decorate the lodge of your children’s children for generations to come, but I ask that the fire start be returned to the Kaw-Seth people after you have borrowed some of its flame.”
“We will test this strange fire and see how sacred flames burn differently from what we know. But, how will we return the fire to a people who are subject to us as slaves and why should we barter with a criminal who deserves death?” said N’ha-itk.
“Chief I come to you with the power of Wonderful Doer to ask that you succeed where your father failed. He passed onto the underworld with out heeding my interpretation of the dream that stands true for him and now for you. Heed the dream and your name will be honored for generations. Share the warmth of the sacred fire, then let the Kaw-Seth slaves depart with me back to the Lost Islands to dance before the Creator according to our ancient traditions. After this season of ritual and celebration, your friend and brother promises that we will return to Raven’s Harbor if that is your will.”
The lodge filled with voices as the clan leaders spoke to each other. Chah-nulth took N’ha-itk aside and talked for many breaths while Snowy Owl watched the fire and listened to the mourning women recline at the hearth. Then Chah-nulth hit the speaking stick on the cedar planks to quite the room and said,
“Banishment is banishment and death is death. This slave has failed to give us any reason to commute his sentence. He is guilty of slandering our chief even now. But, because of the generosity and mercy of the great Chief N’ha-itk Raven’s Calling, we offer our bold slave a means of escaping the wrath of the Tsonox way.”
Then the chief spoke so all could hear again in a strong formal voice. “Go to the lair of Babakawquit and return the skull of my father so that he might be buried with his ancestors and find rest in the underworld. If the jaws of Babakawquit spare you, then so will we. If you return from Icy Mountain alive then we will let your people go away to the Lost Island of winter stories to honor their spirits for a season. You will go after the spring funeral ceremony during the full moon when the spirits are quieted by ritual.”
Chah-nulth shook his raven-frog rattle and sang the song of Tsonox triumph, ending the meeting by pounding the speaking stick on the cedar planks three times. Then the chief waved for all attendants and clan leaders to depart from the lodge. Two braves took Snowy Owl to the long house where his mother lived and stood guard over him.
Snowy Owl was reunited with Naidah and he told her everything that occurred at the meeting and from the day of his banishment to the present. He told her about the killer whales that appeared to scare off the braves pursuing him, about the three days adrift in unknown waters through fog and strong currents, about the visit of the otter and the dreams of descending to the bottom of the ocean.
He described the first time he set foot on Island Home and how he explored the southern boarder until he made his way into the canal and discovered Inner Harbor with its cold, fresh water stream and abundance of herbs, roots and flowers. He told of climbing the mountain and the visitation of the Owl and finding the feathers the next morning. She listened with amazement about exploring the cave and encountering Tillicum at the sacred fire and seeing his body burn up in the flames that took him to the sky world.
She was speechless at hearing about his visions of the sky world and the words that the Creator had communicated to him. He showed her Tillicum’s spear and told her all about his struggle with the trickster sesquec on the island and in the underworld and about the sacred fire start.
She arose to examine his wounded ear, now healed and covered by his hair, as he continued, “The spirit of the Transformer is with me, mother, even now I feel him by my side.”
“My son before you were born Wonderful Doer visited my dreams with the knowledge that you were made his high slave to tear down the evil that oppresses our people since your honored father and chief were murdered by the greed of Namquaw. Now I see my dream break forth like sunrise in hearing of your adventures.”
Naidah went on to say that she kept her promise to chant and pray daily for his protection and that in the time that he was gone she and the other woman relatives had arranged for him to marry a slave daughter form the otter clan village. “Her name is Kashwik, known by her family as the little resourceful one. She is an excellent weaver and has a voice like a summer bird. After Namquaw died, her parents have agreed to the marriage. I gave them the whalebone carving that you made as a down payment for the bride price and the wedding was set for soon after your return. Now that you are sentenced to challenge the Monsters of Icy Mountain her father may reconsider. Tomorrow my chief has ordered me to bring storage boxes to the village where Kashwik lives. You can join me and perhaps see her from afar. Chief N’ha-itk is also betrothed,” she added.
They ate a meal of hearty elk meat roasted over the fire and crisp new fern shoots steamed in cedar boxes. The other residents of the long house welcomed him and spoke well of him and didn’t treat him as a slave. They were proud of his vision quest and asked him to tell stories of his journey. Tired as he was, he spoke for a while until his mother suggested that they sing some songs in honor of his return.
Three mothers led a song about a young woman out berry picking who becomes lost because she daydreamed of finding a husband. Trying to find her way home, she meets a handsome young man who is actually a magic bear in disguise. She agrees to marry him and later gives birth to two sons who become mischievous half man and half bear cubs. The cubs grow up to be mighty chiefs. The refrain is a love song about the couple meeting, but each time the women sang the refrain, the singers inserted Muxqueum’s name for the man. Everyone laughed and he felt a warm happiness from being with people who loved him once again.
The light from the home fire burned orange and red and made pleasant designs that flickering across the walls and ceiling of the long house. The night became quiet. When the children and most family members were asleep, each family stretched out behind dividing screens or boxes, he looked up to see a man entering through the crane beak doorway. It was N’ha-itk dressed as he remembered him without his chiefly clothing. In the dim light he gestured for Snowy Owl to come near and he proceeded to whisper in his cut off ear.
“I will go with you to the mountains,” he said in a low voice so no one could hear. “I know the pass up to Icy Peak and have seen the inside of the Lair of Skulls. The spring funeral service is approaching and we will placate Babakawquit and his spirit attendants with much chanting and sacrifice. Then when the weather permits we will go to his house with the sacred stone corpse mask as a gift and beg for the return of my father’s head. The snow was very thick this year, so it may take a while for the trail to clear. With your prayer power we will succeed and perhaps the Ghosts will not be angry and continue to provide for us. I will join you secretly because that old snake Chah-nulth is using his shaman powers to harm you.”
Snowy Owl said, “You may join me in my quest. But, you must know that I go not to placate, but to defeat the monster with the power of the Great Spirit and seek revenge for the death of my father and grandfather that was inspired by these evil spirits.”
Next chapter
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