Traditional NA Story, Can you identify the tribe? Options

[Hairy Man]

I have this neat Native American story, but I have been unable to identify the tribe that it comes from. The name of the giants is very similar to coastal tribes in Washington and British Columbia, but I am not sure. Does anyone recognize it? Maybe someone knows the source?

The Lytton Girls Who Were Stolen By Giants

Once some people were camped on the hills near Lytton, and among them were two girls who were fond of playing far away from the camp. Their father warned them against the giants, who infested the country. One day they rambled off, playing as usual, and two giants saw them. They put them under their arms, and ran off with them to their house on an island in a large river, a long distance way. They treated them kindly, and gave them plenty of game to eat. First they brought them grouse, rabbits, and other small game; but when they learned that the girls also ate deer, they brought to them plenty of deer, and the girls made much buckskin. The giants were much amused when they saw how the girls cut up the deer, how they cooked the meat and dressed the skins. For four days the girls were almost overcome by the smell of the giants, but gradually they became used to it.

For four years they lived with the giants, who would carry them across the river to dig roots and gather berries which did not grow on the island. One summer the giants took them a long distance away, to a place where huckleberries were very plentiful. They knew the girls liked huckleberries very much. They left them to gather berries, and said they would go hunting and come back in a few days to take them home. The elder sister recognized the place as not many days’ travel from their people’s home, and they ran away.

When the giants returned for them, they found them gone, and followed their tracks. When the girls saw that they were about to be overtaken, they climbed into the top of a large spruce-tree, where they could not be seen. They tied themselves with their tumplines. The giants, who had lost their tracks, thought they must be in the tree, and tried to discover them. They walked all around and looked up, but could not see them. They thought, “If they are there, we shall shake them out.” They shook the tree many times, and pushed and pulled against it; but the tree did not break, and the girls did not fall down. Therefore the giants left.

After they had gone, the girls came down and ran on. The giants were looking all around for their tracks, when at last they came to a place where the girls had passed. They pursued them; and when the girls saw that they would be overtaken, they crawled, one from each end, into a large hollow log on a side-hill. They closed the openings with branches which they tied together with their tump-lines. The giants lost their tracks again, and thought they might be in the log. They pulled at the branches, but they did not move. They peered in through some small cracks, but could not see anything. They tried to roll the log down the hill, to shake out whatever might be inside, but it was too heavy. After a while they left. When they were gone, the girls ran on as before, and after a time reached a hunting camp of their own people in the mountains. During their flight they had lived on berries and fool-hens. Their moccasins were worn out, and their clothes torn. They told the people how the giants lived and acted. They were asked if the giants had any names besides Tsawane’itEmux, and they said they were called Stsomu’lamux and TsekEtinu’s.

This post has been edited by Hairy Man: Sep 29 2006, 10:32 AM

[BobZenor]

Possibly the Taos tribe. The name Tsawane’itEmux was used in this article.
Enlish Translation Original Spanish

[Bitter Monk]

Sasquatch tracking people. That's a twist you don't see everyday.

By the way what the hell is a "tump line"?

[Hairy Man]

I have a LOT of stories of bigfoots tracking us down. Apparently we are pretty tasty roasted over an open fire.

I have no idea what a tump line is...

How did you like the term "infested"? "Hey honey, call the exterminator...the house is infested with bigfoots!"

[Redwolf]

Kathy,

Could it be the Lytton tribe? I found this article:
http://www.wildernesscommittee.org/campaig...No02/chronology

Ancient history to 1807 - Nl'akapmx people, ancestors of Lytton Indians, have main village, Cumshin, at the present site of Lytton. Stein Valley used for vision questing, food and cedar bark gathering, and as a trade route.

It also mentions Mt. Currie people.


The above people are from Canada, but I also found information on a Lytton tribe in California:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytton_Band_of_Pomo_Indians


RW

[Blackdog]

I don't get it...are you looking for something that isn't on the BFRO database?

http://www.bfro.net/legends/nadene.htm

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/CNTS/CO/NM/co_nm002.htm

It certainly sounds like it's a Taos story, you must have known that. From what I can tell they have a history in New Mexico.

[Navy SEAL]

"By the way what the hell is a "tump line"?"

A tump line is a strap that goes from your back pack up over your forehead and returns to the pack. It adds a bunch to what you can carry.

[Hairy Man]

I don't get it...are you looking for something that isn't on the BFRO database?

http://www.bfro.net/legends/nadene.htm

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/CNTS/CO/NM/co_nm002.htm

It certainly sounds like it's a Taos story, you must have known that. From what I can tell they have a history in New Mexico.

If I had know it was a Taos story, I wouldn't have asked...crimney! And why if I was looking for good information would I look on the BFRO website?

I got this story from a a book on NAs, but it didn't list the tribe, and I didn't know where to start looking, hence why I asked. I see the BFRO website lists "Taos Tales Elsie Clews Parsons. New York, Kraus Reprint Co. 1969" as a source, so I will check that to see if that is the original source for the story.

[Blackdog]

I Googled Tsawane’itEmux, those two articles were about the only hits. I guess I thought you were responsible for most of the NA history on the BFRO website but maybe those were posted was before your time.

I apologize.

[Hairy Man]

That's ok...

None of the NA stories on the BFRO is my work, and I don't know who did most of the work, but it's been there a while (and I don't think it's been updated in a very long time).

[TheRaven]

Hey Hairy Man, why do you knock the BFRO so much and then search their data base? Just curious.

[Hairy Man]

Um, I don't search their database...I have my own NA stories...a whole book of them in fact, due to be published this spring by Hancock House.

Why exactly are you asking the question?

[deicide]

"By the way what the hell is a "tump line"?"

A tump line is a strap that goes from your back pack up over your forehead and returns to the pack. It adds a bunch to what you can carry.

I know this is an old post but it kinda bothers me.
Tumplines should not be worn over the forehead, but rather the top of the head just back from the hairline, pulling straight down in alignment with the spine. The person then leans forward, allowing the back to help support the load.

Wearing a tumpline on your forehead is a good way to injure yourself.

-deicide