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WINTU MYTHS BY CORA DU BOIS AND DOROTHY DEMETRACOPOULOU UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY Volume 28, No. 5, pp. 279-403 Issued December 29, 1931 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND WINTU MYTHS BY CORA DU BOIS AND DOROTHY DEMETRACOPOULOU CONTENTS PAGE Introduction..................................... 281 Long-tailed1. people.................................... 282 Arrival2. of the returning water.................................... 284 Nomlestawart3. .................................... 286 4.Earth diver.................................... 287 Loknorharas5. .................................... 288 He-who-is-above6. (Olelbes).................................... 290 Tultuheres7. and Old Man Sun.................................... 291 Thundert8. and Lightning .................................... Coyote9. and death.................................... 299 t10. Coyote and Fly (death controversy).................................... 300 11.Blue Jay's theft of dawn..................................... 300 12. Ground Squirrel and the theft of daylight . .................................. 301 Antelope13. and the Coyote boys .. ................................. 302 Covote14. and the theft of fire.................................... 304 Theft15. of obsidian................................... 305 Puimeminmak,16. the deer maker................................... 306 17. South-flat-salt-man (Nordalwelimuk) . .................................. 308 18. Huhurit................................... 311 Nordalmunoko19. ................................... 315 20. Kohorti................................... 318 21. Bullfish............. 320 t22 Topiwaik'alalte. ............. 322 23. Dentalium......... 324 21. Flv......... 325 t25. Nini (love story).............................. 326 t26. Yiyehumenes' big time (love story).............................. 329 27. Pine Squirrel and Frog woman.............................. 331 Don't28. cry, my youmger brother.............................. 333 t29. Sehinomtabat.............................. 334 Bat30.and Grey Squirrel women.............................. 336 31. Tree Squirrel and Buzzard .33...................... ., 337 32. Huik...................... 341 t33.Winiwinit and Suptit ...................... 342 34. Mice and others...................... 348 350 t35.Grosbeak and the deer................... t36. Bear and Deer................... 352 37. Talimleluheres and Loon woman................... 355 280 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. LVol. 28 PAGE t38. Talimleluheres and Rolling Head Loon woman. ................................ 360 t39.Rolling head...................................... 364 Kukup'iwitt40. Origin of .............................. ...... t41. Kukup'iwit and the old woman . ... 366 t42. Kukup'iwit and the woman.... 367 t43. Kukup'iwit and the child .... 368 Mountain44. Lion and Kukup'iwit............................... ..................... 370 45. Anamit and rock moss .... 371 t46. The woman and the Mountain Being . ... 372 47. Mountain Being .. 373 48. The Gambler ..375 49. Anecdote .376 50. Anecdote ..376 51. Anedote.377 t52. Coyote and the wolves ..377 53. Pine Squirrel .379 t54a. Humming bird ..380 b. Humming bird . .381 55. Skunk and the puberty dance .382 t56. Coyote and the stump .382 57. Coyote and Toad .383 58. Coyote and Bullfish .383 59. Coyote eats grasshoppers......................... 384 t60. Coyote and his granddaughter .385 t61. Coyote and the ducks......................... 386 62. Coyote and the girls who were in swimming .388 t63. Coyote as doctor .388 64. Coyote and Crow .389 65. Coyote and Dentalium .390 66. Lizard and the Grizzly Bear sisters .391 67. Lizard .392 68. Old Man K'am . .393 69. Boy and the abalone .394 70. Mosquito and Thnder . .395 71. Mole and Mount Shasta . .395 72. Gopher.. 395 73. The race .395 74. Woman and the lizard .396 75. Sibit'sibit .396 Notes . .397 Bibliography ..402 1931] Du Bois-Demetracopoulouq: Wintu Myths 281 INTRODUCTION The only Wintu myths hitherto accessible are the nine containe.d in Jeremiah Curtin's Creation Myths of Primitive America which first appeared in the New York Sun and were later collected into volume form in 1898. It is on the basis of these nine myths that Father Wilhelm Schmidt in Der Ursprung der Gottesidee (ed. 2, 1929) devotes thirty pages to Wintu religion in the second part of the second volume of his. work. The differences between the tales in the earlier and in the present collection are obvious. In the first place the latter are neither so long nor so elaborate as those published by Curtin. This is due possibly to his single informant, NorElputus. A. man much esteemed by his tribesmen, possessed of undoubted mental powers and philosophic inclination, he told myths that do not seem t.o represent the typical tales of the Wintu. Particularly in the Olelbes concept and in the strong individualization of his characters, discrepancies between his narratives and those secured from a cross-section of the population will be evident on comparing the two collections. In the minor matter of style the differences are once more appar- ent. Every effort has been made by the writers to adhere strictly to the Wintu manner of story telling. Individua.l variations were found between informants, but they all conformed to a style which differs from that of Curtin's versions. The favorite and most widely known tales were undoubtedly Tultuheres, Coyote and death, and those dealing with Kukup'iwit. The first myths in this collection are cosmological in nature. Stories of the first people, primeval water, flood, world fire, etc., are found but from them our informants seemed to have formulated no con- sistent cosmology. This type of speculation lay more in the.field of shamanistic prophecy and varied from one shaman to another. The entirely new body of traditions presented herewith will, we hope, considerably amplify and elucidate the insufficient data on the mythology of the Wintu, particularly since these form a significant link in the distribution of myths in California. To this end the comparative notes have been appended. 282 Un.iversity of California Pu.blications in An. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 The ma.terial for this paper was collected by the authors on a joint field trip sponsored and financed by the Department of Anthro- pology, University of California, to the northern Wintun during the summer of 1929. Twenty-four of the tales, indicated by a prefixed t in the titles and table of contents, were recorded in t.ext by Demetra- copoulou. The translations have been kept as near the Wintu idiom as possible. The remaining tales were secured by Du Bois in English. Comparative references have been compiled from Demetracopoulou's not-es on the myths of California and immediately adjacent areas. They make no pretense a.t completeness. Prefixed superior figures in the text tie up myth incidents with comparative references by Demetracopoulou, listed under Notes (p. 397). A few superior fig- ures which follow a word or incident refer to general notes. The informants and subtribes are given with each myth. It seems necessary to note here that EDC Thomas and Syke Mitchell have had wide contacts with other northern California tribes. The Wintu area here dea.lt with stretches along the northernmost part of the great Sa.cramento valley, and along the McCloud and "Upper Sacramento" valleys in the mountains, a distance north and south of some seventy miles. The subtribes studied were those of Bald Hills, Stillwater, McCloud, and Upper Sacramento. Of these the Bald Hills group was alone fouind to have marked dialectic varia- tion from the others. The Wintu of Trinity River drainage are not included. All the Wintu together constitute the "Northern Wintun" of ethnological literature and maps. The authors wish to take this opportunity of expressing apprecia- tion to Professor A. L. Kroeber for advice, and to him, Dr. A. H. Gayton, and Dr. J. H. Steward for use of manuscript material. 1. LONG-TAILED PEOPLE* The 'long-tailed people came into being at TsarauLok (Trinity Cattle Company ranch near Trinity Center). They stayed there a long time and played. They were mostly young boys.