80 [THE HUPA. 
LEGEND OF GARD. 
A great many snows ago, according to the traditions of the ancients, 
there lived a young Hup& whose name was Gard. Wide as the eagles fly 
was he known for his love of peace. He loved the paths of honesty and 
clean was his heart. His words were not crooked or double. He went 
everywhere teaching the people the excellent beauty of meekness. He 
said to them: ‘Love peace, and eschew war and the shedding of blood. 
Put away from you all wrath and unseemly jangling and bitterness of 
speech. Dwell together in the singleness of love. Let all your hearts be 
one heart. So shall ye prosper greatly, and the Great One Above shall 
build you up like a rock on the mountains. The forests shall yield you 
abundance of game and of rich nutty seeds and acorns. The red-fleshed 
salmon shall never fail in the river. Ye shall rest in your wigwams in great 
joy, and your children shall run in and out like the young rabbits of the 
field for number”. And the fame of Gard went out through all that land. 
Gray-headed men came many days’ journey to sit at his feet. 
Now it chanced on a time that the young man Gard was absent from 
his wigwam many days. His brother was grievously distressed on account 
of him. At first he said to himself: ‘‘ He is teaching the people, and tar- 
ries”. But when many days came and went, and still Gard was nowhere 
seen his heart died within him. He assembled together a great company 
of braves. He said to them: ‘Surely a wild beast has devoured him, for 
no man would lay violent hands on one so gentle”. They sallied forth 
into the forest, sorrowing, to search for Gard. Day after day they beat up 
and down the mountains. They struggled through the tangled chaparral. 
They shouted in the gloomy canons. Holding their hands to their ears 
they listened with bated breath. No sound came back to them but the 
lonely echo of their own voices, buffeted, faint, and broken among the 
mountains. One by one they abandoned the search. They returned to 
their homes in the valley. But still the brother wandered on, and as he 
went through the forest he exclaimed aloud: “O, Gard! O, brother! if you 
are indeed in the land of sprits, then speak to me at least one word with 
the voice of the wind that I may know it for a certainty, and therewith be 
content”. 
