54 The Mountaineer 



tain towered calm, tranquil and majestic into the deep 

 blue sky, glistening with new fallen snow, all nature 

 seemed to rejoice, and the old Indian found that he was 

 in a new world. And now he seemed to remember 

 where he was, and he made his way without diflBculty 

 to his old tent. There he found an old woman with 

 white hair, whom he did not at first recognize, but soon 

 discovered to be his own ^^klootchman." She told him 

 that he had been gone many suns and moons, and that 

 in the meantime she had been digging camas and trad- 

 ing for hiaqua, of which she had accumulated much. 

 The old man now perceived all the mistakes of his 

 former avaricious life and settled down in his own 

 home upon the banks of the Cowlitz in peace and con- 

 tentment, becoming a great tomanowas man and a coun- 

 sellor and adviser to the Indians in all times of trouble. 

 He was worshipped by them for his wisdom and benevo- 

 lence, as well as for his strange experience on the sum- 

 mit of the mountain. 



The prettiest and most poetical of all Indian legends 

 in connection with Mt. Rainier is that of Lawiswis, the 

 queen of the fairies. According to this legend, Nekahni, 

 which is another name for the great spirit, lived upon 

 the slopes of Mt. Rainier in the upper portion of what 

 we now call Paradise Valley. There he kept his flocks 

 of wild goats and from that lofty height he watched 

 and ruled the earth spread out before him. Now there 

 lived in the lower part of the valley a lovely creature 

 called Lawiswis. She was of the nature of both sea 

 shells and roses, so that when she went to the shore 

 the sea shells all worshiped her and caught the dew of 

 the morning as a nectar for her to drink. When she 

 was in Paradise the roses made her like obeisance and 

 served her with like nectar which they caught from the 

 morning dew. She was also the queen of the fairies, and 

 of everything beautiful, a sort of mountain Titania, in 

 fact. Nekahni loved this fairy queen and built her a 



