ried aloud to Na-nam-a-keh (god of
thunder) to come to their assistance. And Na-nam-a-keh heard their cry
and accepted their request, and sent his subaltern, No-tah-tes-se-ah,
(god of the wind) to Pa-poan-a-tesse-ah, (god of the cold) to invite him
to come with all his dreadful host of frost, snow, hail, ice and
north-wind, to their relief. When this destroying army came from the
north, they smote the whole earth with frost, converting the waters of
every river, lake, and sea into solid masses of ice, and covering the
whole earth with an immense sheet of snow and hail. Thus perished all
the first inhabitants of the earth both men, beasts and gods, except a
few choice ones of each kind, which We-suk-kah preserved with himself
upon the earth.
"And again it came to pass in the process of a long time, that the gods
under the sea came forth again, upon the earth; and when they saw
We-suk-kah, that he was almost alone on the earth, they rejoiced in
assurance of being able to destroy him. But when they had exhausted
every scheme, attempted every plan, and executed every effort to no
effect, perceiving that all their councils and designs were well known
to We-suk-kah as soon as they were formed, they became mad with despair,
and resolved to destroy We-suk-kah, by spoiling forever the whole face
of the earth, which they so much desired to inhabit. To this end,
therefore, they retired to their former habitations under the sea and
intreated Na-nam-a-keh (the god of thunder) to drown the whole earth
with a flood.
"And Na-nam-a-keh again hearkened to their cries, and calling all the
clouds to gather themselves together, they obeyed his voice and came;
and when all the clouds were assembled, he commanded them and they
poured down water upon the earth, a tremendous torrent, until the whole
surface of the earth, even the tops of the highest mountains were
covered with water. But it came to pass, when We-suk-kah saw the water
coming upon the earth, he took some air, and made an o-pes-quie,
(vessel, boat or shell) and getting into it himself, he took with him
all sorts of living beasts, and man; and when the waters rose upon the
earth the o-pes-quie was lifted up and floated upon the surface, until
the tops of the highest mountains were covered with the flood. And when
the o-pes-quie had remained for a long time upon the surface of the
flood, We-suk-kah called one of the animals, which was with him in the
o-pes-quie, and commanded it
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