Legend of I-Hos

K*ate'mot once went into the forest and there bathed in a river which was flowing along in a deep chasm. After he had been in the water for a long time and had become completely pure, he could hear trees being pushed over in the forest. So he knew that the Aihos was approaching. K*ate'mot took a piece of bark and flung it backwards over his shoulder. It hit the Aihos, who was crawling through the forest, and wounded him. The Aihos cried in pain and called out, "Oh, what has hurt me?" and hurried to his house. Thereupon K*ate'mot returned home and lay down in bed. When he got up again he said, "I will visit the house of Aihos." He launched his canoe and, with his brother, went out to Mitlnatc. There he said to his brother, "I will now descend into the sea. Don't weep if I stay down there for a long time." 

Then he grasped a stalk of kelp bobbing up and down in the waves and climbed down along it. It reached to the roof of Aihos' house. When he had reached the end of the kelp he jumped down onto the roof of the house and climbed down to the sea bottom. But Aihos was lying sick by the fire inside the house and heard someone on his roof. So he said, "Surely K*ate'mot is coming." K*ate'mot met the son of Aihos, who was chiseling a tree trunk in front of the house. But his chisel consisted of the end of the kelp which thus always bobbed up and down. Then K*ate'mot entered the house, sat down close to the fire and placed his hands spread out forward in front of his mouth. When the sick Aihos saw this, he cried out, "Oh, don't do that, we are afraid of you." 

K*ate'mot now saw how all the fish were gathered around the Aihos to try and heal him. But they were unsuccessful because the bark with which K*ate'mot had hit him remained invisible to them. Then Aihos asked him, "Are you a medicine man? I will pay you a lot if you heal me. Do you see this seal harpoon? You shall have it if you heal me." K*ate'mot replied, "No, I don't want it," but in his heart he wished to have it very much. Then a small seagull flew into the house and hid. Aihos offered it to him, but K*ate'mot didn't want to take it, either, although in truth he wanted to have it. Then another bird came into the house and hid. K*ate'mot didn't accept it either. Then the water rose and filled the whole house. Many rushes floated about on it. The water fell again and the rushes were left behind by the fire. K*ate'mot didn't accept the rushes, either. 

Then Aihos seized a man and cut off his head with a big knife. He carried the head into one corner of the house, put the body into the other, and then made the people sing and beat time. When they had beaten time three times, the head and body started to move. When they sang and beat time for the fourth time, the fingers started to move as well, and the head and body rushed together again. The Aihos then rubbed the neck with a magic herb and the man was whole and healthy again. Then the Aihos asked K*ate'mot, "Do you want to have this skill?" The latter was satisfied with this and now pulled the piece of bark from the Aihos' skin. At first he hid it in his palm while he sang, and then showed it to all the people. 

So the Aihos became well again. He said then to K*ate'mot, "When you return, go to the far side of Cape Mudge. There you'll find a beautiful flat country." K*ate'mot returned to his home and floated in the sea like a drowned man. His hair was full of down feathers. The brother who had waited for him in the canoe saw him and took him ashore. Then he stood up and came back to life again. K*ate'mot then said to his brother, "I will show you what I obtained down in the sea. Take this knife here and cut off my head. But don't cry. Then place my head on one side of the house and my body on the other, and then have all the people sing and beat time." 

But the brother was afraid and refused to cut off his head. So K*ate'mot, himself, took a knife and cut off his head. Then the people began to sing and beat time. When they had beaten time three times, the head and body started to move; after the fourth song they rushed together again and K*ate'mot stood up. At night he called all the people together in his house. He sang, danced and carried a rattle. After he had danced twice around the fire, the harpoon points which the Aihos had offered to him, appeared. When he continued dancing, the seagull came and hid in the house. Then the other bird came and at last the whole house filled with water on which rushes were floating. 

Only a small spot near the fire remained dry. Then the water disappeared again and the rushes stayed behind. But all the people were ashamed because K*ate'mot was so superior to them in his skills. Then he ordered his brother to cut off his head. Now the brother no longer refused because he knew K*ate'mot's skill. When the people sang this time and he got up again, they grew so afraid that they ran away.