Porcupine Mask continued
The hard dirt floor of Badger House had three levels cut down into the clay earth. The guests entered the mouth door of the huge fire lit space and crossed the first level filled with storage boxes and sleeping mats reserved for slaves. The middle level was used as a gathering place for games, wrestling matches or speeches and the lowest level -- nearest the fire -- was where the families slept.
The men coming for the festivities stepped down to the second level lit by the central fire burning logs in a rock-lined pit below. Many candlefish oil lamps also burned on top of boxes that lined the steps in a giant square of lights around the licking flames of the pit. Each corner of the house was supported by a large totem pole -- carved figures of ravens atop snarling badgers -- all four facing the center of the lodge and the pillar of smoke that rose up to the smoke hole and into the black sky. The faces of the badgers and ravens glowed orange and flickered in shifting fire light.
Women had prepared the halibut on cook fires near the beach and had already set out generous portions of white flesh on the cedar dining plank about as long as three braves laying end to end. On top of the fish the women had placed boiled red crabs and black mussels for the men to enjoy. The dinner plank spread with the seafood sat atop decorated boxes on the broader second level of the lodge where the men were coming to eat.
When the men had finished eating and the slaves began to remove the dinner plank to make space for the bone games, Spe-eth made sure that some food would be sent to Hayoqwis still banished to the canoe. The chief's son Somkin, now painted and dressed in Badger regalia, took from a large storage box a carved porcupine covered with many stick quills and sat it where the food planks had been. Each man of rank present filed past the carved porcupine and took two of the game pieces -- some made of bone and others wood -- even those who would not be playing that evening. Some of the sticks were female, marked by a black band near one end. It was proper to hold the bone or stick so that the black band would be covered.
Grandfather Whirlwind stood before the seated assembly and held out his two sticks like a welcome man totem saying, "Coyote House braves are welcome to test their luck tonight. Here we devoutly honor our protector Raven and invite the help of all the spirits to determine which side goes home winners. In the first match, we wager these two slave girls."
The spokesman for Coyote House agreed to match the wager with two of their own slave girls by lifting his two sticks out before him and hitting them with a crack. Immediately Whirlwind and all those present began hitting their sticks, filling the room with a rattling roar that turned into a rhythmic beat when the Badger braves began singing the song of their house. Then eight high ranking Badger players sat down in a line facing the representatives of Coyote House and the first round of tossing sticks on the ground began.
The Kaw-Seth braves knew what to expect for the night. They had attended games like this before at potlatches of neighboring tribes. The wagering would continue for many rounds, until one side refused to accept a bid. When that happened, the Spe-eth could present his prize for wager -- Whirlwind had already said that it would be matched with the white bear hunt song and a hunting guide to go along and sing it for them.
Coyote House had a brave who was quite talented in guessing correctly who held the bone with the black band and the rival house was winning most of the tosses until the goods offered by Badger House were lost and Chief Whirlwind withdrew from the games, announcing, “Raven favors our brothers, the sons of the supernatural coyote, and poor badger is limping home wounded. Now our guests of the Owl nest from the far north will take our place in the line to see if their protector spirits will lead them to better fortune. Red Spe-eth, initiate in the way of Raven, comes with his bid.”
Spe-eth had his sons carry in from the deck outside half of the blankets and abalone shells that they had brought and set them before the porcupine figure.
“I return to Great Island and the village of Klauck to offer you these twenty-two dog hair and pounded cedar blankets and forty large abalone shells. You all see that this bid is worth more than the price of hunting a bear in your forests. Our offer is generous because we must kill a ghost bear to complete our quest here soon. We must win the right to hunt your masala.”
The bid was accepted by the rattle of bone hitting each other on the Coyote side of the house.
Tokwish joined Spe-eth and his sons and three Badger braves in the line facing the victorious Coyote gamblers while the crowd began singing the bone toss game song once again. The faces of each man glowed in the shifting firelight. The eight men on the Kaw-Seth side tossed their game pieces between the line for the opponents to gather them up. Each Coyote took a fistful of bones and, singing more intensely as a distraction, quickly selected one to hold in their right hand-- grasping the end to hide the marking or lack of it -- and looked back at the braves across the line without expression. Of the sixteen game pieces, only four were female with the black band.
One by one, in rhythm with the singing, each player on the Kaw-Seth side then guessed if the man opposite him held a banded piece or not, knowing that a wrong guess meant elimination from the next round. They hoped to win a match before their goods were used up, because the side losing a round must increase their bid. Spe-eth was not worried, however, because the game was a enjoyable formality for the night -- he suspected that Soowahlee Whirlwind world give them permission to hunt and a guide even if their luck ran out. Although that would be a dishonor for them both.
After five rounds, the Kaw-Seth side was reduced to Tokwish, Wountie and Tseycum against five of the Badger side and all of the blankets and Spe-eth had only one more bag of shells to add to the pile of wagered goods. When the turn came the Coyote guessed correctly again. In the round that followed, Tseycum was eliminated and only Wountie and Tokwish remained facing three opponents. It would be shameful for Spe-eth to withdraw, since everyone knew that the stakes were high for the quest to succeed, so he brought out the model totem that tells the Kaw-Seth creation story and how the world was plunged into spiritual twilight.
“Badger is mighty in skill with fortune. This is the last of our treasures, the Creation Model Totem of our people. It comes with a song that we will teach your storyteller privately to be sung during the winter songs as is proper if we lose. This is our final bid,” said Spe-eth.
Tokwish selected two banded game pieces when the music signaled for the players to toss their bones between the two lines. The Coyote players quickly snatched up the bones, mixing them up to fool their opponent, and held out their selection for Tokwish to make his guess.
The drum beat and singing stopped and Tokwish stared into the blank faces. The first three guesses were correct, but the fourth was wrong. The match was lost and the model totem was credited to Coyote House which had won everything that Spe-eth had wagered.
All the Kaw-Seth had left was their clothing, hunting gear and the canoe.
Spe-eth was about to concede, when Tokwish spoke in his place, “We have nothing else to wager except ourselves. We must win the Bear Hunt Song. Owl Clan bids for white bear hunting rights by offering myself in exchange as a Coyote slave for one year.”
Before Spe-eth could forbid it, the Coyote party accepted and the room filled with laughter and shouts of acclaim. “Don’t fear, uncle,” said Tokwish quietly.
“I am sure to win this round.” Silence fell across the room and Tokwish looked into the face of his final opponent holding a single game piece.
“Female.” He said at last, an instant before the opponent revealed his piece had no band.
Tokwish was now a Coyote House slave and two young braves walked across the room and pulled him by the shoulder over to their side, kicking him in the hip saying “Big slave, you will spend tomorrow gathering wood for our women. The girls say that they like you red faced boys so you will please them. Yes, you will please them.”
The room roared with laughter and the drum beat and singing began again. Spe-eth looking at the floor was about to concede when Wountie rose up from behind him saying, “In exchange for a white bear, I offer myself as a Coyote slave until next spring too.”
This round Wountie won and the game was over.
Whirlwind stood to announce, “Owl Clan wins the bear hunt song. The guide will be our village's best bear finder -- Shaman Mowa'kek. However, to make sure that our Spirit Man treats my long ago initiate and his sons well, I too will journey with the Kaw-Seth Suitor up the west coast to the Shining Heavens Inlet. They will bring back a pure masala bear, that is for sure. Come, now. Slaves -- more clam cakes. I want to eat and watch my grandsons dance the ghost bear song. Dance for our guests and the for the enjoyment of our Protector Raven. Let the Owl-Men receive their winnings.”
Next Chapter
The men coming for the festivities stepped down to the second level lit by the central fire burning logs in a rock-lined pit below. Many candlefish oil lamps also burned on top of boxes that lined the steps in a giant square of lights around the licking flames of the pit. Each corner of the house was supported by a large totem pole -- carved figures of ravens atop snarling badgers -- all four facing the center of the lodge and the pillar of smoke that rose up to the smoke hole and into the black sky. The faces of the badgers and ravens glowed orange and flickered in shifting fire light.
Women had prepared the halibut on cook fires near the beach and had already set out generous portions of white flesh on the cedar dining plank about as long as three braves laying end to end. On top of the fish the women had placed boiled red crabs and black mussels for the men to enjoy. The dinner plank spread with the seafood sat atop decorated boxes on the broader second level of the lodge where the men were coming to eat.
When the men had finished eating and the slaves began to remove the dinner plank to make space for the bone games, Spe-eth made sure that some food would be sent to Hayoqwis still banished to the canoe. The chief's son Somkin, now painted and dressed in Badger regalia, took from a large storage box a carved porcupine covered with many stick quills and sat it where the food planks had been. Each man of rank present filed past the carved porcupine and took two of the game pieces -- some made of bone and others wood -- even those who would not be playing that evening. Some of the sticks were female, marked by a black band near one end. It was proper to hold the bone or stick so that the black band would be covered.
Grandfather Whirlwind stood before the seated assembly and held out his two sticks like a welcome man totem saying, "Coyote House braves are welcome to test their luck tonight. Here we devoutly honor our protector Raven and invite the help of all the spirits to determine which side goes home winners. In the first match, we wager these two slave girls."
The spokesman for Coyote House agreed to match the wager with two of their own slave girls by lifting his two sticks out before him and hitting them with a crack. Immediately Whirlwind and all those present began hitting their sticks, filling the room with a rattling roar that turned into a rhythmic beat when the Badger braves began singing the song of their house. Then eight high ranking Badger players sat down in a line facing the representatives of Coyote House and the first round of tossing sticks on the ground began.
The Kaw-Seth braves knew what to expect for the night. They had attended games like this before at potlatches of neighboring tribes. The wagering would continue for many rounds, until one side refused to accept a bid. When that happened, the Spe-eth could present his prize for wager -- Whirlwind had already said that it would be matched with the white bear hunt song and a hunting guide to go along and sing it for them.
Coyote House had a brave who was quite talented in guessing correctly who held the bone with the black band and the rival house was winning most of the tosses until the goods offered by Badger House were lost and Chief Whirlwind withdrew from the games, announcing, “Raven favors our brothers, the sons of the supernatural coyote, and poor badger is limping home wounded. Now our guests of the Owl nest from the far north will take our place in the line to see if their protector spirits will lead them to better fortune. Red Spe-eth, initiate in the way of Raven, comes with his bid.”
Spe-eth had his sons carry in from the deck outside half of the blankets and abalone shells that they had brought and set them before the porcupine figure.
“I return to Great Island and the village of Klauck to offer you these twenty-two dog hair and pounded cedar blankets and forty large abalone shells. You all see that this bid is worth more than the price of hunting a bear in your forests. Our offer is generous because we must kill a ghost bear to complete our quest here soon. We must win the right to hunt your masala.”
The bid was accepted by the rattle of bone hitting each other on the Coyote side of the house.
Tokwish joined Spe-eth and his sons and three Badger braves in the line facing the victorious Coyote gamblers while the crowd began singing the bone toss game song once again. The faces of each man glowed in the shifting firelight. The eight men on the Kaw-Seth side tossed their game pieces between the line for the opponents to gather them up. Each Coyote took a fistful of bones and, singing more intensely as a distraction, quickly selected one to hold in their right hand-- grasping the end to hide the marking or lack of it -- and looked back at the braves across the line without expression. Of the sixteen game pieces, only four were female with the black band.
One by one, in rhythm with the singing, each player on the Kaw-Seth side then guessed if the man opposite him held a banded piece or not, knowing that a wrong guess meant elimination from the next round. They hoped to win a match before their goods were used up, because the side losing a round must increase their bid. Spe-eth was not worried, however, because the game was a enjoyable formality for the night -- he suspected that Soowahlee Whirlwind world give them permission to hunt and a guide even if their luck ran out. Although that would be a dishonor for them both.
After five rounds, the Kaw-Seth side was reduced to Tokwish, Wountie and Tseycum against five of the Badger side and all of the blankets and Spe-eth had only one more bag of shells to add to the pile of wagered goods. When the turn came the Coyote guessed correctly again. In the round that followed, Tseycum was eliminated and only Wountie and Tokwish remained facing three opponents. It would be shameful for Spe-eth to withdraw, since everyone knew that the stakes were high for the quest to succeed, so he brought out the model totem that tells the Kaw-Seth creation story and how the world was plunged into spiritual twilight.
“Badger is mighty in skill with fortune. This is the last of our treasures, the Creation Model Totem of our people. It comes with a song that we will teach your storyteller privately to be sung during the winter songs as is proper if we lose. This is our final bid,” said Spe-eth.
Tokwish selected two banded game pieces when the music signaled for the players to toss their bones between the two lines. The Coyote players quickly snatched up the bones, mixing them up to fool their opponent, and held out their selection for Tokwish to make his guess.
The drum beat and singing stopped and Tokwish stared into the blank faces. The first three guesses were correct, but the fourth was wrong. The match was lost and the model totem was credited to Coyote House which had won everything that Spe-eth had wagered.
All the Kaw-Seth had left was their clothing, hunting gear and the canoe.
Spe-eth was about to concede, when Tokwish spoke in his place, “We have nothing else to wager except ourselves. We must win the Bear Hunt Song. Owl Clan bids for white bear hunting rights by offering myself in exchange as a Coyote slave for one year.”
Before Spe-eth could forbid it, the Coyote party accepted and the room filled with laughter and shouts of acclaim. “Don’t fear, uncle,” said Tokwish quietly.
“I am sure to win this round.” Silence fell across the room and Tokwish looked into the face of his final opponent holding a single game piece.
“Female.” He said at last, an instant before the opponent revealed his piece had no band.
Tokwish was now a Coyote House slave and two young braves walked across the room and pulled him by the shoulder over to their side, kicking him in the hip saying “Big slave, you will spend tomorrow gathering wood for our women. The girls say that they like you red faced boys so you will please them. Yes, you will please them.”
The room roared with laughter and the drum beat and singing began again. Spe-eth looking at the floor was about to concede when Wountie rose up from behind him saying, “In exchange for a white bear, I offer myself as a Coyote slave until next spring too.”
This round Wountie won and the game was over.
Whirlwind stood to announce, “Owl Clan wins the bear hunt song. The guide will be our village's best bear finder -- Shaman Mowa'kek. However, to make sure that our Spirit Man treats my long ago initiate and his sons well, I too will journey with the Kaw-Seth Suitor up the west coast to the Shining Heavens Inlet. They will bring back a pure masala bear, that is for sure. Come, now. Slaves -- more clam cakes. I want to eat and watch my grandsons dance the ghost bear song. Dance for our guests and the for the enjoyment of our Protector Raven. Let the Owl-Men receive their winnings.”
Next Chapter
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