Tongue Point near Astoria, f i f ty or so miles upriver to the Kalama’s mouth, just across from the Trojan Nuclear site, which was a graveyard o f theirs. It is their version o f this myth I have to tellyou, in their style, and approximations o f their words, through the story was probably told by many other peoples. I f ind it ironic that the version 1 have isfrom that exact people, fo r it is the Myth o f the Sun I want to relate to you, the story o f a man who wanted too much power, the power o f the sun itself! “Oh, what a fo o l I was, ” he cried at last. “The thing that I wanted was bad. ” But by then it was too late, and the inevitable outcome o f obtaining such awesome power is played out on the myth’s screen. Now, there was a chief, a wealthy nobleman; his relatives were chiefs of five nearby towns. Every morning this chief used to go outside and watch the sun come up. One morning he said to his wife, “What would you think if I went to visit the sun?” His wife said, “Do you think the sun is near, that you can go there?” On the following day he went out again; again he saw the sun rise. He said to his wife, “Make me ten pair of mocassins, make me ten pair of leggings.” His wife made them. The next morning he went. He went far. He wore out his shoes. He wore out his leggings. Then he put on another pair of shoes and leggings. He wore those out. He put on fresh. He went for five months, and he had used five pair of mocassins. He went for ten months and now he was near the place where the sun rose, and he had used all his shoes. He came to a large house. He opened the door. A girl was there. He entered. Now, on one side of that house he saw quivers full of arrows. There were hanging elkskin armor, wooden slat armor, shields, flint axes, bone war clubs and warriors’ headdresses. All of the things used by men DECEMBER CALENDAR 5 Thriftones—Thrift Party w/the Rats 6 Wallpaper 7-8 Harper Band (upstairs) Freestyle (downstairs) 9 Smegma 12 Nu Shoo’s 13 Wallpaper/Thrittones 14 Malchicks (upstairs) Freestyle (downstairs) 15 Ramblin Jack Elliott (downstairs) Freestyle (upstairs) 16 Sado Nation 19 Nu Shoo’s 20 Wallpaper 21-22 Freestyle 23 Subhumans—from Vancouver 25 Merry Christmas 26 Grown Men 27 Dance Combo 28*29Malchicks (upstairs) Roots Rock Reggae (downstairs) 31 New Year’s Spec ia l- Freestyle Every Monday - Open Mike Every Tuesday— Poetry LONG GOODBYE 3 0 0 N.W. lOth 228-1008 hung on that side of the house. Now, on the other side hung mountain goat blankets, painted elkskin blankets, buffalo robes, curried buckskin, strings of long money beads, shell beads, and short dentalia. All of the valuable things desired by women hung on that side of the house. Near the doorway, something large was hanging. He did not recognize it. He asked the girl: “Whose are those quivers, clubs, armors and shields?” “They are my grandmother’s property,” she said. “When I am grown and marry, she will give them all away.” He asked the girl, “Whose are those mountain goat blankets, elk and deer skins, buffalo robes, money beads and shell bead strings?” “Those also belong to my father’s mother. When I am grown, she will give them all away.” He asked about all those things, and he thought, “ I shall marry her.” When it was evening, the old grandmother came home. She hung up something that he liked very well on the end of the lodge. It was shining! He stayed there a long time; he took that girl for his wife. Every morning the old woman went away. At night she came back. She brought back all manner of things. Arrows, mountain goat blankets, elkskin armor she brought home. Each day she went, each evening she returned. Now, he stayed a long time and then he grew homesick. For two days he stayed in bed. He did not eat. The old woman asked her granddaughter, “Did you scold him and make him angry?” “No, I did not scold him; he is homesick.” Then the old woman asked her son-in-law, “What do you wish to take with you when you go home? Do you want those buffalo robes?” He said: “No.” “Do you want those money beads?” “No.” She showed him all the things from one side of the house, then she showed him all the things from the other side of the house. Quivers of arrows, fire- hardened elkskin shields, fine warriors’ headdresses. She showed him everything, but he wanted that great thing that was hanging there. That thing that, when it turned around, shone so brightly that one had to close one’s eyes. That was what he desired. He said to the girl, “The old woman shall give me her shining blanket.” She said to him, “She will not give it to you. The people tried to buy it, but she would not part with it.” Then he became angry; he remained in his bed, he continued his fast. After three more days the old woman asked him, “What will you carry away with you?” She showed him all those things, all the implements used by men, all the valuable things desired by women. When she came to the shining thing hanging there, she was silent. Then finally he had worn her down. He had made her heart tired. She said, “Take it, but look out if you carry it. It was you who wanted it. I tried to love you and I do love you.” She hung it upon him. She gave him a flint axe. She said, “Go home.” Then he went home. He did not see another town until he reached his uncle’s town. Then that thing he had on shook, and said, “We shall strike your town. We shall strike your town.” Then he lost his senses, and he attacked his uncle’s town, he killed the people. Then he recovered his senses. He had broken their houses. His hands were covered with blood. Then he thought. “Oh, what a fool I was! The thing I wanted was bad.” He tried to take it off, but it stuck to his flesh. He went on. He went a little way. he came to another town where his relatives lived. Again it spoke, “We shall strike your town, we shall strike your town.” He tried to quiet it. It would not be quiet. He tried to throw it off. His fingers bent. Again he lost his senses, he broke all the houses. He recovered and again the town of his uncle was destroyed, the people lay dead. Then he cried and tried to strip it off on the fork of a tree, but it did not come off. It stuck to his body. He struck it with a stone, but it did not break. He came near another town of his relatives. Then it shook. “We shall strike your town,” it said. Then his reason deserted him. Break! Break! Break! he did. He finished that town. His uncle and the people, he killed them. Then he recovered. He cried. He dove into the water, but it did not come off. He rolled in a thicket. He struck it with a stone. He cried all the time now. He went on. He came to another town, his uncle’s town. Again it shook, that thing he wore. “We shall strike your town! We shall strike your town.” Break! Break! Break! he did, the town, the people. He recovered, none lived in that town, blood covered his arms and hands. He cried. Ka! Ka! Ka! Ka!” He struck it with stones, it did not break, he tried to throw it away, his fingers bent. Then his own town was next. He tried to stop, but it pulled his feet. Then nothing became his reason and he did it to his own town. Break! Break! Break! Break! he did. He finished his town, he finished his people. When he recovered there was no town, the ground was full of corpses. He cried, “ Ka! Ka! Ka! Ka! Ka!” He tried to bathe, it did not come off, it pulled his flesh. Finally he gave up. He cried and he wept. He looked back and the old woman stood there. “ I tried to love you,” she said. “ I tried to love your relatives. Why do you weep? It was your idea to carry that thing.” Then she took it, she took it off, that thing he had on. Then she left him; she went home. He remained. He went a short distance and built a house. A little house, to live all alone in. Kani Kani (the myth) (the true nature of things) Tomorrow: Good weather. Yesterday’s Paper 324 S.W. 9th 227-6449 Custom Framing—Ready Made Parrish, Icart, Fisher, Russell, Vanity Fair, Currier & Ives, Old ads and art prints postcards, books, mag’s Vintage radios and tubes maps, stock certificates cigar and fruit labels and more Visa — Mastercharge Wed.-Sat. 11:30-5:30 43
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