Lhi Yuz Ke (Children of a Dog) Translation given by Mrs.

Emma Baker – Stellat’en

Long time ago there was a nobleman and noblewoman. They had a daughter whom they
really protected. They really loved her and they protected her.

They had a special sleeping place for her. Way up high, they had a special bed, so there
wouldn’t be any young men to come in to bother her.

Every night when she went to bed, this great big dog used to come in to the house with
her. She didn’t know who it was. Whoever was sleeping with her, she decided to mark
him or it. She slapped him on the bum to mark him with something.

She got pregnant; she wanted to know who made her pregnant. She sat outside and she
watched the young boys playing outside in the field. She looked at all the boys to see who
had the mark on his bum and nobody did. None of them had a mark.

Then she watched all the boys to see who had a mark on him. Nobody did. All of a
sudden this great big old dog walked by and it had the mark on its’ rear end. She started
to cry and burst into tears.

Then it was time for her to give birth. Then her mom made a nice bed for her. She got
everything ready. She was giving birth, all of sudden, they heard little puppies yelping.
Anyway her mom and dad were really angry because she gave birth to puppies. And she
grabbed the blanket from underneath her. All the people packed up and the whole village
packed up and moved away from her. They disowned her.

She hunted for her little kids, little puppies. She went hunting for them. She hunted for
rabbits and whatever, you know, to feed them. They grew really fast.
Then one time, she went off hunting then she came back. By the fire, there was little kid
tracks, children tracks. She was wondering “Gees! What is going on here?”

Then she told them, she said “I’m going hunting for you again, I’m going far far away.”
“I’ll be gone all day; I’ll probably be back night time.” Then she snuck back to the house.
She peeked through the cracks in the wall. She saw the little puppies. There were three
boys and one female. As soon as she went out the door, they jumped out of their skin.
The boys piled up their skins by the door. They were playing around. They became little
boys. The little girl puppy, she had her skin tied around her waist. The mother jumped
back into the house and she grabbed the boys’ skins and threw it into the fire and it burnt
up. They became boys forever. The little puppy, she jumped back into her skin right
away, because she had it tied around her waist. She stayed a puppy. The boys became
boys forever. They didn’t turn back, neither one of them.

Now the boys, they started hunting for their mother with the help of the female dog. The
mother became very rich. They had lots of food in the smokehouse.
A crow came to see that girl and the dogs. She gave that crow some fat. That crow took it
back to her baby crow. She gave to them. The girl’s mother, the one who disowned her,
she asked the crow “Where did you get that fat from?”
The crow said, “From the one you threw away. From the one you threw away.”

So, then the whole village packed up and moved back to where that girl was, her and her
boys. They all went back there because she had lots of food.
The grandmother, she made the boys go hunting for her. She tells them to bring her fresh
blood. So they bring her fresh blood everyday after they go hunting. So she could drink
it. Everyday, she made them go and get fresh blood. Pretty soon they got sick and tired of
her. So, they put rotten wood, really powdery, they broke it up and put it in the blood.
When took a big gulp, she choked on it. She got really mad at them boys. She said “Next
time you boys go hunting (she put a curse on them), she said, “You are going to go up
into the sky.”

So the three boys and the dog went hunting. They were chasing some caribou and they
were chasing the caribou and they went right up into the sky. They turned into the Big
Dipper. The stars that you see, that’s the three boys, the dog and the caribou they were
chasing. That’s who they turned into.

Then, the mother of the children, got really angry. She got a great big poker stick. She
stuck it up her mother’s bum and threw her up into the sky. She said “You’ll come up
after your grandchildren.” “From now on, you will come up after your grandchildren.”
That’s what she did. You’ll turn into the Morning Star.

When we were kids, our grandpa was telling stories. We had to say “Hah”.

How the Big Dipper and the Morning Star was made.
Lhkwetsilhcho (Mouse Mountain)

On the north side, there used to be an Indian village. The Ponsford Farm, pithouses and a
village there.

When teenagers or girls reach puberty, they had to live away from all the villagers. Their
mothers used to come and bring them food and water. When they wanted water, they
pulled on one rope. Their mothers would bring water. When they wanted food, they
would pull on another and the mothers would bring food.

One day they pulled on the ropes and nobody came. They kept pulling on the ropes. They
were really hungry and thirsty. They kept pulling and pulling. Still nobody came. So then
they told each other “Let’s sneak into the village to see what’s the matter.” So they both,
snuck out of the shelter and they went to the village to see what was the matter. When
they got there, there was Duneyi. Duneyi is a cannibal. When they got there, Duneyi had
eaten all the people, and he had killed all the people, and he was smoking and drying
them.

(When I am telling this legend to little kids, like K-Grade 1, I don’t tell them that. Like
“Duneyi killed all the people, he was smoking and drying them.” I leave that out. I tell
that when the Duneyi got to the village all of the people fled into the bushes because
Duneyi was there. Then when I get to grade 5 or grade 6, then I tell them “Duneyi had
killed all the people and he had them drying and smoking.” The kids say “COOOL!” they
think that’s really neat.)

He had seen those two little girls and he was going to kill them. They said “Please don’t
kill us! Spare our lives; we will be your slaves. So he spared their lives. They became his
slaves. They waited on him hand and foot. They cooked his meals and whatever needed
to be done. So one day, he decided to kill them. They said “Before you kill us, let us have
a ritual dance.” “Then we can build a fire for you” because he needs a fire to cook them.
So he said okay. So they dug a great big hole in the ground. Then they put great big rocks
in it. Then they made a great big fire. Then they also made two big sticks, two big long
sticks.

He said “Let’s have a Ritual dance.” So they started singing and dancing around the fire.
Then they ran at him and shoved him into the fire. He burnt all up. He burnt to a crisp. As
he was burning up, he put a curse on them. He said “From now on my ashes will rise, and
my ashes will eat you.” So when he said that, his ashes rose out of the fire and they
turned into mosquitoes. That’s the curse he put on them, every summer the mosquitoes,
the Giant Cannibal’s ashes, still eat people. So that’s how the mosquitoes were made. His
little finger couldn’t burn, that’s where his heart was. They piled more wood on it and it
tried to burn his little finger but it wouldn’t burn. One of the little girls picked up his
finger and threw it across the lake. She said “Lhkwetsilhcho andtsi sidooni” “From now
on, you will be known as Lhkwetsilhcho” and where it landed across the lake, it turn into
a little mountain. Now, they call it “Mouse Mountain.” We still call it “Lhkwetsilhcho”.
That’s how Mouse Mountain was made and that’s how mosquitoes were made.
How ‘Ustass got Water

In the beginning of time, there were just animals living on earth. There was no water on
earth. The only one that had water was Grizzly Bear. All the different animals, they tried
to take the water away from the Grizzly Bear. They can’t. He’s so fierce. Each one, the
mouse, the deer, the deer says he runs so fast. He can grab the water and run with it. He
couldn’t.

The mouse, he said he could eat food with the water and he couldn’t do it either.
Then we have ‘Ustass, he does magical things. He told them that he would get the water.
‘Ustass is a trickster. He said he would get the water from the Grizzly Bear. The Grizzly
Bear had a beautiful daughter. She went to get a drink of water. The Grizzly Bear had the
water in a skin-bag hanging outside his door. The daughter went out to get a drink of
water. ‘Ustass turn himself into a little twig. She was going to take a drink of water and
she seen the twig and she picked it out and threw it. She flicked it out again, so she
wouldn’t swallow it, it comes right back. Anyway the girl couldn’t get rid of it. She
finally got mad and she drank it right down. When she drank down that water with a little
stick in it, she became pregnant.

She had a baby and that was ‘Ustass. The baby grew really fast. Everyday that little baby
would cry for the water. The Grizzly Bear would take it down and let the baby play with
it. He would roll it around in the yard. Then when nighttime comes, he would bring it
back and Grizzly Bear would hang it back up in the tree. The next day, the same thing,
baby would cry for the water. Grizzly Bear would let him play with it. He would roll it
out in the yard. Everyday he would go farther and farther away. In the meantime, he was
growing really fast, he’s a trickster. Then one day he went way out at the edge of the
field. Then ‘Ustass he started running with the water. He ran with all the water. Where it
trickled out of the bag, it turned into the rivers. Where it splashed out, it splashes; it
turned to lakes, and streams. He ran all around the world, leaking water all around the
world. At the end, he hit the bag on ground to make sure all of the water was out of it. He
shook it and hit the ground, that’s where the oceans were made.

Grizzly Bear had Fire

All the animals they tried to get fire away from Grizzly Bear. They took turns trying to
get the fire but they couldn’t do it, because he was so fierce. I think it was the muskrat
that got the fire away from Grizzly Bear. He grabbed the fire and he dove into the
waterways. Why it didn’t go out, I don’t know. He took it away and pretty soon you see
smoke on the other side of the lake. That’s how they got the fire away from Grizzly Bear.
Tanizul

There is a little lake south of Francois Lake; it is called Tanizul. Tanizul means Warm
Water. In this little lake there was a great big giant fish that lived in this lake. Anytime,
anybody went out on the lake, this giant fish jumped out of the water and gobbled up the
people. One day, the chief’s son went out on the lake in a canoe. The fish jumped out of
the water and swallowed him, canoe and all. Then the chief had a meeting, he said “We
have to do something about that giant fish, we have to kill it.” He said “This is what we
will do.” He told everybody to go right around the lake and to heat up some rocks. So
everybody went around the lake in different spots. They built a fire, and he started
heating up some rocks. When the rocks got hot, they threw it into the lake. They did that
all night long heating up rocks and throwing it into the lake. Pretty soon the lake got
really hot. The giant fish came struggling out of the water, all the people; they rushed at
him and hacked the fish to pieces. When he got out of the hot water coming to shore, he
threw up the canoe with the chief’s son in it.