FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   >>  
d in killing the bear. His exploit was considered so remarkable by the rest of the tribe that they called him Yo-sem'-i-te (meaning a full-grown grizzly bear), in honor of his achievement, and this name was transmitted to his children, and eventually to the whole tribe. LEGEND OF THE TUL-TOK'-A-NA. There were once two little boys living in the Valley of Ah-wah'-nee, who went down to the river to swim. When they had finished their bath they went on shore and lay down on a large boulder to dry themselves in the sun. While lying there they fell asleep, and slept so soundly that they never woke up again. Through many moons and many snows they slept, and while they slept the great rock [El Capitan] on which they lay was slowly rising, little by little, until it soon lifted them up out of sight, and their friends searched for them everywhere without success. Thus they were carried up into the blue sky, until they scraped their faces against the moon; and still they slept on. [Illustration: _Photograph by Fiske_. NORTH DOME (TO-KO'-YA). 3,725 Feet. This rock is believed by the Indians to represent Tis-sa'-ack's husband, turned into stone for beating his wife. The lower dome to the right is the basket which she threw at him. See "Legend of Tis-sa'-ack."] Then all the animals assembled to bring down the little boys from the top of the great rock. Each animal sprang up the face of the rock as far as he could. The mouse could only spring a hand's breadth, the rat two hands' breadths, the raccoon a little more, and so on. The grizzly bear made a great leap up the wall, but fell back like all the others, without reaching the top. Finally came the lion, who jumped up farther than any of the others, but even he fell back and could not reach the top. Then came the _tul-tok'-a-na,_ the insignificant measuring worm, who was despised by all the other creatures, and began to creep up the face of the rock. Step by step, little by little, he measured his way up until he was soon above the lion's jump, and still farther and farther, until presently he was out of sight; and still he crawled up and up, day and night, through many moons, and at length he reached the top, and took the little boys and brought them safely down to the ground. And therefore the rock was named for the measuring worm, and was called Tu-tok-a-nu'-la. LEGEND OF GROUSE LAKE. I will here relate a personal experience which occurred in September, 1
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   >>  



Top keywords:
farther
 

called

 

measuring

 

grizzly

 

LEGEND

 

raccoon

 
Finally
 

eventually

 

reaching

 
breadths

jumped

 

animal

 

sprang

 

exploit

 
animals
 

assembled

 

spring

 
breadth
 

killing

 

children


brought

 

safely

 
ground
 

GROUSE

 

experience

 

occurred

 
September
 

personal

 
relate
 
reached

length

 

creatures

 

despised

 

transmitted

 

Legend

 

insignificant

 

crawled

 

presently

 

measured

 
Capitan

slowly
 

Through

 

rising

 

Valley

 
friends
 

searched

 

remarkable

 
lifted
 

boulder

 

meaning