Edward Winslow Gifford - Miwok Myths - Part 4 lyrics

4. THE MAKING OF ARROWS "What shall we do, brother? What shall we do? I would like to hunt. I do not know how we are to hunt. I do not know how we are to hunt. I do not know how we shall be able to hunt. I should like very much to hunt. I do not know how we can make arrows. We have nothing with which to cut. We know of nothing with which to cut. I do not know bow we can hunt. We have nothing with which to cut. We do not know how to cut. I would like very much to hunt, brother. I do not know how we are to arrange it, but we will try. We have nothing with which to cut. I should like you and me to hunt together, brother. We have nothing with which to hunt." "Let us throw our grandmother into the water. If she does not want to go, we will pull her in, We will throw the old woman, our grandmother, into the water. After you have thrown her into the water, pull her out quickly. Pull her out quickly. Do not keep her in the water long. Do not keep her in the water long." Then Dove went. Dove went. He threw his grandmother into the water, threw her into the water. After he had thrown her into the water, be pulled her out quickly. He pulled her out quickly. Then Dove went to his brother and said: "I threw her into the water. I have already thrown her into the water. Come, I have her." His brother said to him, "Pull one of her teeth. We will make a knife of it." Then he pulled one of her teeth, pulled one of her teeth. After they obtained the tooth, they commenced to cut, commenced to cut. p. 303 Then Prairie Falcon said, "Pull sinew from her arm. Pull sinew from her leg. We shall then have the cord for the bow." Thus spoke Prairie Falcon to his brother. Dove obtained the sinew, as he was bid. Then they started to work on the arrows. They did not know how to begin. They made the arrows just by thinking. They made the bow. One of them told the other, "We will try." They made a good bow. They made a good bow. Nobody knew what the bow was. No one had ever seen a bow. After they completed it, they looked at it. Prairie Falcon said to his brother, "I guess this will be satisfactory to hunt with." He told his brother to cut a piece of yellow pine. Thus spoke Prairie Falcon to his brother, after they had k**ed their grandmother. Then they cut the yellow pine with a knife made from their grandmother's tooth. Their grandmother went into the water and cried and worried about herself. She said, "I did not think my boys would treat me this way." The two brothers finished making their arrows and bows. They completed them. Prairie Falcon said, "These arrows are satisfactory. Let us try them." Thus spoke Prairie Falcon to Dove. "We will see who can shoot the farthest." They shot toward the east end of the world. The arrows struck in the same place. The arrows struck in the same place. They did not strike in different places. They hit in the same place. After they had shot their arrows, Prairie Falcon said, "Let us race. Let us race. We will run to the place where the arrows struck. We will see who shot the farthest. We will see who shot the farthest." Then they ran. Both started at the same time. Both started together. They both ran at the same speed. They ran together. One of them did not gain on the other. At last they reached the arrows. They arrived at the place where the arrows struck. Prairie Falcon said to Dove, "You are a pretty good runner. We both run about the same. Let us shoot again. Let us shoot again." Then they shot toward the west end of the world. Again they ran to the place where the arrows struck. Neither won the race, for they both ran together. Prairie Falcon said to Dove, "We run the same. We run the same. I did not think that you could run so fast. " They shot their arrows again toward the east. The arrows struck p. 304 in one place. Then they ran, When they arrived at the arrows, both stopped at the same instant. They both stopped at the same time. They shot again to the west end of the world. They shot toward the west. Then they ran to the place where the arrows struck. The arrows struck in a bush. When the brothers arrived, they saw the bush. One brother said to the other, "Let us dig this bush. It is good to eat. Let us dig it." They dug the bush from the lower side. Then they dug, dug, dug. They were nearing the end of the bush, nearing the end. They ate the bush as they dug. They ate while they dug. The root became thicker while they dug. They continued to dig, continued to dig. The younger brother said to the other, "Keep on digging. You will find the end pretty soon. Keep on digging." The older brother asked, "Do you see the end yet?" The younger one replied, "I am getting close to the end." He continued to dig. He continued to dig. Then the grandmother, who had turned into Beaver, said, "I will have revenge upon those boys." She told the water to drown Prairie Falcon. The water came, while Prairie Falcon was digging, and drowned him. Dove escaped. He cried for his brother. He rolled and rolled over the hills. He cried for his dead brother. He rolled and rolled around the great mountains. He was scratched and bruised by the rocks and the brush. He bled all over. He mourned for his brother and cried for him. He said to himself, "I do not know what k**ed my brother." Thus he spoke to himself. He travelled all over the world crying, travelled to the places which he and his brother had visited together. Dove met Spark. Spark asked him, "What are you doing? What are you crying about?" Dove replied, "Something k**ed my brother. I do not know what it was." Then Dove sent Spark to investigate. Spark alighted close to the old woman. The old woman was still crushing bones. She was still crushing bones. A small bone flew out of the mortar. Spark seized it and put it on an arrow. Then he shot the arrow with the bone point toward Dove. The arrow struck in front of Dove, while he was crying. Dove picked up the arrow and looked at the point. As he was about to remove the bone point, it spoke to him. The point turned into Prairie Falcon. After the bone arrow-point transformed itself into Prairie Falcon, Prairie Falcon cried for his brother Dove, because the latter had so many wounds and bruises. Prairie Falcon cried and cried over his brother Dove, because p. 305 the latter had bruised and hurt himself so. Brother Dove was bleeding. He had no hair. Then Prairie Falcon called the various kinds of birds together. He asked each to give him one feather. He said, "My brother has no feathers on him. Do me this favor. Give me one feather apiece." They each gave him one feather. Then he rehabilitated his brother Dove. He still cried for his brother Dove, for he felt sorry to think that Dove had cut and bruised himself so for him. Then they went all over the world, searching for Dove's blood on the rocks, where he had struck. Every time that Prairie Falcon saw a rock with his brother's blood upon it he cried, for he knew that it was his brother's blood and that those were the rocks which had cut his brother. Dove recovered from his bruises and cuts and was soon well again. Dove said to his brother, "I am well now. Worry about me no more. Worry about me no more. Do not trouble about me. I do not want to lose you. See how poor you look now." Thus spoke Dove to his brother, while he was crying. This made Prairie Falcon cry the more. Dove continued. "I thought you told me the truth, when you said that that bush was good to eat. If I had known that you were to be taken away from me so suddenly, I should not have let you dig that bush. That is why I do not want you to bother with anything after this. Our grandmother turned into a Beaver just as you fell, brother. If we had not attacked our grandmother, we should have had a grandmother still." Thus spoke Dove to his brother, Prairie Falcon. Now they had no grandmother. Prairie Falcon cried because his grandmother had turned into Beaver. They both cried and cried for their grandmother. They did not know how to get back their grandmother. They went along the river. They saw Beaver In the riffle, They said, "There is Beaver." Beaver was their grandmother. They used to take their grandmother everywhere they went, but they lost their grandmother because of the arrows. At last they abandoned the search for her and went home. Their grandmother had turned into Beaver. Everybody made arrows thereafter. Dove, cried for his grandmother. Prairie Falcon cried, but they made arrows. They lost then, grandmother because of the arrows.