Native American Legends
Yellokin the Man-Eating Giant
A Miwok Legend
There once was a giant bird. The biggest bird in the world. He
had a habit of carrying off children up to fourteen years old. He
grabbed them by the top of their heads and carried them up through
a hole in the sky which was his home. Up there he killed and ate
the children. The bird's wife was the Toad-woman, the aunt of the
Eagle. Yellokin, the giant bird, had stolen her from earth and taken
her up to his house above the sky. He did not kill her, but kept
her as his wife. He brought her people to eat, but she would not
eat them.
One day Yellokin caught Eagle by his head and carried him up through
the sky. A boy saw this happen and shouted for people to help, but
they could not kill Yellokin. When Yellokin left Eagle, Eagle looked
around and saw his aunt, Toad-woman. She told him to be careful
because when Yellokin comes back he will kill you. He will take
you to a big tank of blood and ask you if you want to drink. You
must say," Yes," and pretend to reach! down and tell him
you can't reach it, you're afraid of falling in. Ask him to show
you how to get it. "Okay," said Eagle. "I will do
that." Then his aunt gave him a big stone knife to cut off
Yellokin's head. Soon Yellokin returned and asked Eagle to drink
the blood. Eagle told him he could not reach it, he was afraid of
falling in. He then asked Yellokin to show him how. When Yellokin
leaned over and reached deep down in the tank, Eagle stabbed him
in the head with the big knife. Yellokin banged around in the tank,
flapped his big wings, made a great noise and finally fell into
the tank and died.
Coyote was down on Earth. Eagle was his uncle. Coyote asked some
people, "Where is my uncle, Eagle?" The people told him
that he had gone up to Yellokin's house. Coyote looked, but didn't
see the hole they had gone through. Coyote looked for a south hole,
but he didn't see it. He looked at the north hole in the Thunder
Mountain, but it was too cold to go that way. Coyote ran in the
village and sprang high in the air and made it in the hole in the
sky, the same hole Yellokin and Eagle were in. At the same time
as Coyote sprang up, he saw Eagle stabbing Yellokin. Coyote saw
him die. Who lost many people. Then Eagle showed Coyote the tank
of blood where Yellokin had done his killing. After awhile, Coyote
asked, "What are you going to do with Yellokin?"
Eagle said, "I am going to burn him, so he will not come to
life again."
"No uncle, you had better not burn him," said Coyote.
Then Eagle asked, "What are you going to do with him?"
Coyote answered, "I think we should cut off his wings and
take them down home and then we should plant the big feathers and
grow trees and other plants. Once we are done planting we can make
more people." When he was done speaking, Coyote went down to
earth through a hole of his own, he was a witch doctor. After Coyote
had left, Yellokin's wife Toad-woman asked Eagle how he was going
to get down." I don't know, "answered Eagle. I will take
you down, "said Toad-woman. How?" asked Eagle." You
will see ,"she replied. And she gathered the strong green grass
that grow by the river, and made a long rope out of it. With it
Toad-woman lowered Eagle down to earth. Coyote planted the feathers
from Yellokin's wings, and when they had come up, he watched them
grow into different types of plants and trees. Coyote told them
all to bear seeds every year so people would have lots to eat. He
also made rivers and rocks. Now it was time to make people so he
planted more feathers. Soon their! villages were all over the land!
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