The Dzunuk̕wa
(Dictated by Yaḵudłas, a ‘Na̱mgis, 1900).
A noble child was crying in the night. The child’s grandmother told her, “Go to sleep, or else the Dzunuk̕wa will pick you up in her arms”. The girl’s grandmother told this story to try and frighten her into behaving. That night, the child got up and left her house. Then the child screamed when she saw something that came near the house in the night. The child ran back into the house. The grandmother asked her, “Why are you afraid?” The girl replied, “What I saw, looks like a giant hairy person with a big hairy hand”. The grandmother said, “The people are just trying to frighten you. Go now!”
Then the child got ready and went out again. As soon as the child was outside, she screamed, and was now picked up by the Dzunuk̕wa in its arms. The Dzunuk̕wa took the girl down into the biba̱nagawe’ “underworld”. Then her grandparents and parents went out and tried to dig after their child. She cried loudly and could be heard from the underground. Sometimes her wailing would sound near, and then it would sound far away. Her family gave up digging. Then the Dzunuk̕wa brought the child back up, out of the underground. Then it took her inland towards the mountains. The child was taken to the Dzunuk̕wa’s house.
On their way, the child broke off hemlock branches and threw them down to make a trail. She did this in case she might escape, so she could find her way home. Then they arrived at the Dzunuk̕wa’s house. Immediately, the child was given tallow to eat. In the house there were many crab apples, dried berries, dried meat and numerous animal skins.
Then the Dzunuk̕wa looked at the child and said, “Oh, oh! How was your ear ornaments done? They are very nice. Please lend me your ear ornaments”. The child responded, “Do you have any holes in your ears? The Dzunuk̕wa said, “Not I, master, don’t ask me in vain. Go on, make holes in my ears”. The child replied, “But you are probably not able to bear the pain from the piercing, like it was when they put holes through my ears”. The Dzunuk̕wa asked, “What were they pierced with?” The child said, “They were done with branches from the spruce tree. My father was the one who did mine”. The Dzunuk̕wa begged the child to pierce her ears.
Finally, the child agreed and took a branch. Then she said, “Lie down on your back. Where is your hammer, so I can drive the holes in?” Then the child put a branch on top of the earlobe of the Dzunuk̕wa and drove it in. The Dzunuk̕wa screamed. The child said, “Don’t do this in vain; you don’t need to do this”. The Dzunuk̕wa begged her saying, “Go on, master”. So the child struck the branch with the hammer and it went right through the earlobe of the Dzunuk̕wa. Now she was nailed to the floor on one side. The floorboards of the house were very thick. Then the child also hammered a branch through the other earlobe. It also went through right into the floor. The child took four branches altogether and hammered all of them into her ears. Now the Dzunuk̕wa was dead. In the end, she just said “Oh!” And behold! She died. Then the child pushed her into the fire and burned her body.
The child ran out of the house and went straight to the trail. She saw the hemlock branches that she had broken and left on the ground. Then she came behind her family’s house. She heard her tribe singing their mourning songs. They were mourning for her because they thought she had died. Then the child waited, and when the whole tribe had gone into the house, she jumped in. Everyone stared at her. Her parents fainted. Then one man arose and took her into his arms and questioned her. He asked, “Tell us what has happened to you. What was it that took you?” She told him, “It really was a Dzunuk̕wa that carried me away”. He asked her, “How did you save yourself? How did you find your way home back?” The child replied, “The Dzunuk̕wa really wished to have earrings like mine. I told her that she probably couldn’t bear the pain of the piercing; like what was done to me. My ears were pierced by my father. That is what I told her and she still really wanted it done. So I punched the branches through the ears of the Dzunuk̕wa. Now she is dead”.
Then the child told the tribe about the many valuable things in the Dzunuk̕wa’s house. She asked them, “Let us go and gather the many kinds of valuable things that she had. There are cranberries, crabapples, dried berries, dried meats, mountain goat meat, and many animal skins”. In the morning when daylight came, the tribe started. When they arrived at the house, only the Dzunuk̕wa’s head was inside. The strong men carried everything home on their backs. They took everything, the cranberries, crabapples, dried berries, dried meats, mountain goat meat, and the animal skins. Then the people arrived at home, at the house of the child’s father. Her father hosted a feast to thank the tribe. Then he distributed the skins among the tribes and became a Chief. He was able to become a Chief because of the supernatural treasure that his child had obtained. What he gave away after his Potlatch were all the valuable things that she had found in the Dzunuk̕wa’s house. This is the end.
