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As I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder

Mink and Eagle

So he carries on, he goes along. And he sees Eagle. And the Eagle’s so beautiful. Beautiful bird up there, up in the tree, and up in the nest. And qɑyχ sees this and he says, “Oh my, Eagle! You are so beautiful. Oh, I wanna be with you. Can I come up there and be with you?” And Eagle says, “I don’t think so. You live down there on the ground, and I’m up here. No, I don’t think so.” So again he persisted. “Well, you know,” Eagle says, “if you come up here and you’re livin’ up here in my nest, you have to hunt. You have to work.” And qɑyχ was pretty lazy. He was always sloughing off and avoiding work, not wanting to do anything. He just liked to lay around and take advantage of other people and other things. But he wanted so much to be an eagle. Finally she said, “Okay then.” So he scampered up there, up into the nest. And he was up there – he was so happy. He could see the water, the ocean. And he couldn’t fly, of course. So all he can do is sit in the nest and watch what Eagle was doing. And she’d fly away and go and catch a fish or some other little animal for a feed for her – food for the nest. And Eagle says to qɑyχ, “Well at least you can make noise or holler the way I do, or sing.” That beautiful sound that eagles make when they’re up in the nest. So he makes that attempt. Every time the Eagle would make that beautiful sound, can hear it for miles. And she would go, “Kaneeeeek!” And qɑyχ would go, “Kaneeeeek!” Oh! He was happy to do that. So it didn’t sound as good as the Eagle, but he was making an attempt. And every time the Eagle would make that beautiful sound, she would just lean over the nest, bent forward. And qɑyχ was doing that. He would lean over. Then he leaned over a little too far, and again he fell, fell out of that nest, ended up on the ground. Again, he’s knocked out. He’s laying there on the ground. He’s unconscious for a couple of days. Again the children come along, ’cause they’re always watchin’ for him, lookin’ for him. They find him: “Oh, look at him! He’s dead. He’s dead again.” Oh, he woke up. He got after the children and he said, “You children go away! You’re always followin’ me around. Just leave me alone. Go home!” He was very embarrassed, but he wasn’t going to tell the children what happened to him. So off the children went, and off qɑyχ went again. He’s on his way, in search of another partner. 

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