DEIFIED ANIMALS. ciu 



savage bites. Once wlien caught in the act of "steaHng" a woman, he was 

 captured by the two husbands of the same, who skinned him and hung up 

 the skin to dry, after which the woman was abducted by the five Bear 

 brothers. The female prairie-wolf also appears in folklore with her progeny, 

 e. g., in the tale of the "Creation of the Moons," page 105, which exists in 

 several variations. Such stories and others represent the coyote-wolf as a 

 being which has many points of contact with K'nuikauitch, but is distinct 

 from him. Both are regarded simultaneovisly as sky-gods and as funny 

 clowns. As traits distinguishing the one from the other, we notice that the 

 wolf's body is believed to harbor wicked spirits (Texts, page 128, 4) and 

 that his lugubrious voice is the presager of war, misfoi'tune, and death (133, 

 12). A distinction has to be made throughout between the coyote as an 

 animal and the coyote as representing powers of nature in a deified, abstract 

 form 



Of the three varieties of the hear species, the grizzly hear is the most 

 popular, but also more dreaded than the others on account of his enormous 

 physical force. What makes him popular is a peculiar bonhomie which he 

 exhibits in his behavior, and which forms a peculiar contrast to his bodily 

 strength. In the myths he, or rather the female bear, is called Li'ik, Li'ik- 

 amtch, Shashapamtch, Shashapsh, and her two young Shashapka, the 

 latter name probably referring to the fact that this beast was at one time 

 more than other quadrupeds made the subject of mythic and folk-lore tales 

 (shapk(^a, shapke-ia, shashapkalra to narrate a story, shapkaleash, distr. 

 shashapkeleash legend, tale). The tale of the "Bear and the Antelope" is 

 perhaps the most attractive of our collection of Texts. Generally the bear 

 is the aggressive party in these stories, and he also gets generall}' worsted 

 whenever a fight occurs or a stratagem is played on him. Sometimes there 

 are five bear brothers acting in unison. In the "old yarn," narrated p. 131, 

 this bear is killed by Gray Wolf near Modoc Point, and in his magic song 

 (157; 46) he is made to say that he has five springs which are all dried up. 

 He is often mentioned in the song-lines, but always under the name Luk, 

 not as Shashapamtch. 



Gray Wolf or K('-utchish, Ke-utchiamtch is another of the carnivores 

 which sometimes appear prominently in folklore stories. Gray Wolf is 



