III. Abstracts and Comparative Notes
The folk tales of the Kutenai show intimate relations to the tales of the tribes of the plateaus, as well as to those of the plains east of the mountains. A considerable number of tales are common to the Kutenai and the neighboring Salish tribes, particularly the Okanagon. There are also a considerable number of identical tales found among the Kutenai and the Blackfeet.
It seems that the series of Transformer tales centering around Nałmu′qtse and Ya.ukᵘe′ᵢka·m are peculiar to the Kutenai, although the tale of the origin of arrows is also known to the Okanagon. These tales are quite distinct from the Transformer tales of the Shuswap and Thompson Indians, and also from the tales of Old One as found among the Blackfoot. In 1891 I was told that when human beings were first created, they arose before they were quite finished, and danced until they fell down dead. Then human beings were created who became the ancestors of the Indians.
So far as the incomplete material allows us to judge, one of the most characteristic traits of Kutenai folk tales is the systematic development of animal society. Frog is the old grandmother of Muskrat, the Chipmunks, and Doe. Her brother, Owl, is hostile to her grandchildren. The fish K!ι′k!o·m is the grandfather of Doe, but his relationship to Frog is not stated. The Chipmunks are the wives of Fisher. Chicken Hawk's wife is Grouse. Coyote's wife is Dog. Their children are Misqoło′wum and Q!ota′ptsek!. Coyotes' brothers are Moose and Kingfisher. The only animal that is married to various people is Doe, but it is not certain whether the same Doe is meant every time. She is the wife of White Stone. Their child is Ya.ukᵘe′ᵢka·m. Ya.ukᵘe′ᵢka·m's brother is the father of Duck. The Doe is also married to Wolf, and at another place to Lynx. Lynx and Doe have two sons, who are Sun and Moon. The other animals do not seem to be related to this group, but live in the same village, and are either friends or enemies.
It is one of the characteristic traits of Kutenai and Okanagon mythology that the tales are welded together into connected groups. This tendency is not as marked as it is among the Navaho and probably also the Ute tribes, but it sets off the Kutenai tales clearly from the disconnected tales of the Shuswap and Thompson Indians.
In our series one group of tales centers around the creation of the sun. The first part of the story relates to the origin of the brothers who finally become sun and moon. Rabbit finds his sister Doe, whom he hides in the tent of his grandmother Frog. Lynx marries the Doe, and their children are two boys. The couple are deserted;
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