Native American Legends
How the people got arrowheads
A Shasta Legend
In the days when the first people lived, they used to go hunting
with arrows that had pine-bark points. They did not know where to
get obsidian, or they would have used it, for obsidian made a sharp,
deadly point which always killed the animals that were shot.
Ground Squirrel was the only one who knew that Obsidian Old Man
lived on Medicine Lake, and one day he set out to steal some obsidian.
Taking a basket filled with roots, he went into Obsidian Old Man's
house and offered him some. Obisidian-Old-Man ate the roots and
liked them so much that he sent Ground Squirrel out to get more.
While Ground Squirrel was digging for them, Grizzly Bear came along.
"Sit down," Grizzly Bear said. "Let me sit in your
lap. Feed me those roots by the handful."
Ground Squirrel was very much afraid of huge Grizzly Bear, so he
did as he was told. Grizzly Bear gobbled the roots and got up. "Obsidian
Old Man's mother cleaned roots for someone," he said as he
went away.
Ground Squirrel returned to Obsidian Old Man, but there were only
a few roots left to give him. Ground Squirrel told him what Grizzly
Bear had done and what he had said as he departed. Obsidian Old
Man was extremely angry at the insult to his dead mother.
"Tomorrow we will both go to find roots," he said.
So early the next morning they set off. Obsidian Old Man hid near
the place where Ground Squirrel started digging. Soon Ground Squirrel's
basket was filled, and then along came Grizzly Bear.
"You dug all these for me!" he said. "Sit down!"
Ground Squirrel sat down, as he had the day before, and fed Grizzly
Bear roots by the handful. But just then Grizzly Bear saw Obsidian
Old Man draw near, and the bear got up to fight. At each blow, a
great slice of the grizzly's flesh was cut off by the sharp obsidian.
Grizzly Bear kept fighting till he was all cut to pieces, and then
he fell dead. So Ground Squirrel and Obsidian Old Man went home
and ate the roots and were happy. Early next morning, Obsidian Old
Man awakened by Ground Squirrel's groaning.
"I am sick. I am bruised because that great fellow sat upon
me. Really, I am sick," he was groaning.
Obsidian Old Man was sorry for Ground Squirrel. "I'll go and
get wood," he said to himself. "But I'll watch him, for
he may be fooling me. These people are very clever."
So he went for wood, and on the way he thought, "I had better
to back and look."
When he crept back softly and peeped in, he saw Ground Squirrel
lying there, groaning."He is really sick,! Obsidian Old Man
said to himself, and went off in earnest, this time for wood.
But Ground Squirrel was very clever; he had been fooling all the
time. As soon as Obsidian Old Man was far away, he got up. Taking
all the obsidian points and typing them up in a bundle, he ran off.
As soon as Obsidian Old Man returned, he missed Ground Squirrel.
He dropped the wood, ran after him, and almost caught him, but Ground
Squirrel ran into a hole in the ground. As he went, he kicked the
earth into the eyes of the old man, who was digging fast, trying
to catch him.
After a while Obsidian Old Man gave up and left. Ground Squirrel
came out the other end of the hole, crossed the lake, and went home.
He emptied the bundle of points on the ground and distributed them
to everyone. All day long the people worked, tying them onto arrows.
They threw away all the old bark points, and when they were hunting
they used the new arrow points and killed a great many deer.
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