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很久很久以前，在南方人的土地上，鹈鹕姑娘就要成年了。人们按照南方民族特有的习俗，计划举行一场特别的舞会和仪式来庆祝这件大事。 村里所有人都来参加这次舞会。小猫头鹰、沙锥鸟一家、郊狼和他的孙子霍克• 契夫都来了，为鹈鹕姑娘举行了盛大庄重的仪式。 “舞会办得太棒了！"鹈鹕姑娘对沙锥鸟妲妹们说道，这时她们正伴着鼓点翩翩起舞。 舞会结束了，鼓声停止了，村子里的妇女把鹈鹕姑娘带到妇女们的房子里。她必须呆在那儿直到月亮从月牙儿再变成满月为止。 月亮循环了一周，又变成满月了。这时妇女们把鹈鹕姑娘领出房子，接受成年女子佩带的珠子。他们把珠子戴在她的脖子上、手腕上和脚踝上。 人们告诉鸦鹕姑娘，在接下来的几周内，她必须呆在村子附近，不能采摘食物，也不能弯腰捡东西。这是南方人年轻少女成年时的风俗习惯。 鹈鹕姑娘坐在家门口，看到沙锥鸟姐妹背着背篓从门前经过。 "你们要去哪儿啊？ ”鹈鹕姑娘问。 “我们要去摘浆果。和我们一起去吧，我们会告诉你人们谈论的最新消息。”沙锥鸟姐妹说。 鹈鹕姑娘请示母亲，母亲不同意，说这是禁止的。 “我要去嘛！我就要去！”鹈鹕姑娘紧紧攥着拳头、跺着脚尖叫道。 "没关系的。”沙锥鸟姐妹对鹈鹕姑娘的母亲说，“我们会替她摘浆果的。” 终于，鹈鹕姑娘的母亲同意了：“好吧，你去可以，但要记住不能摘浆果，也不能弯腰从地上捡任何东西。” 一整天，鹈鹕姑娘都照妈妈说的做。她背着背篓，但是一个浆果也没摘。 快到傍晚的时候，姑娘们开始返回村庄。鹈鹅姑娘有点累了，就在沙锥鸟姐妹后面慢慢地走着。沙锥鸟姐妹只顾着聊天根本没有注意，径直在前头走出去很远，直到消失在小路的拐弯处。 就在这时，鹈鹕姑娘看到小路中间有只大鹅，那只大鹅就像忽然从天上掉下来的一样。 ‘哇，快来看啊 ”鹈鹕姑娘喊道，她用脚轻轻碰了一下那只鹅。 "它可能得了心脏病或是别的什么原因吧？ ”她说："它的羽毛可真漂亮，叔叔 肯定能用得上。” 鹈鹕姑娘忘了她不捡东西的保证，弯腰捡起那只鹅，放进了背篓里。 沿着小路走的时候，鹈鹕姑娘暗忖：“背篓怎么越来越重了。” 最后背篓实在太重了，她只得把背篓放下。就在这时，她听到一个奇怪的声音，一个人出现在她的背篓前面。 "小姑娘，”他小声说道，“我想要你脖子上，手腕上和脚上的珠子。” 鹈鹕姑娘知道它是谁。它是守克，来自北方世界法力强大的萨满巫师，而北方世界是吞火者居住的地方。守克把自己伪装成一只鹅，这样鸦鹕姑娘就会把它捡起来。 鹈鹕姑娘打破了民族风俗，就赋予了守克力量，能够把她带到他的领地。守克正是这样做的。 鹈鹕姑娘取下珠子扔给守克后，守克跳了一支舞，把她诱拐到了北方人的土地上，藏在跳舞时用的一只大鼓下面的洞里。 沙锥鸟姐妹回到村里之后，人们询问鹈鹕姑娘怎么没回来。 沙锥鸟姐妹害怕极了。“我们不知道。”她们说。 "我们只听到她说羽毛怎么怎么样。但是当我们回去看时，已经找不到她了。” 她们哭着说。 于是英明的郊狼和一些最擅长追踪的村民们，还有鹈鹕姑娘的母亲一起去寻找鹈鹕姑娘。 郊狼很快就明白了所发生的事情。"北方世界的人拐走了她，”郊狼说，"我们必须去那儿救她。” 他们沿小路向北方世界跑去。当他们到达通往北方世界山谷的入口时，郊狼让大家停下来。 郊狼知道守克和好战的北方世界的人们会等着他们来救鹤鹕姑娘。 郊狼让小猫头鹰变成一只鸟，飞到武士上空给他们送信儿。 小猫头鹰飞到武士们藏身之处的上空，小声说：“郊狼和南方人今晚不会来的，去睡觉休息吧。” 武士们听了小猫头鹰的话，都回家睡觉去了。 郊狼把一起来的人们变成了老鼠，让他们钻到他的口袋里。然后，他背着口袋进了村子。 郊狼把变成老鼠的人们从口袋里放出来，他们围着北方人转来转去，把他们的长头发拴在一起。然后，他们咬断弓弦，又咬断箭和长矛上用来固定石头尖的牛筋。 做完这些事情之后，他们变回人形，开始寻找鹈鹕姑娘。 郊狼在跳舞用的鼓下面找到了鹈鹕姑娘。她非常虚弱，不能动弹。郊狼抱起她，悄无声息地穿过房子。但是他一不留神踩在一个熟睡着的北方人身上。 ‘‘哎呀，”郊狼说，“这下糟了。” 这名武士醒了，他的喊声惊醒了其他人。 北方人想站起来，却摔倒在地，因为他们的长头发被系在了一起。 他们的武器也不能用了。 郊狼和其他人逃走了。 北方人把鹈鹕姑娘变成了吞火人，所以很长一段时间里，小猫头鹰都要整夜地唱歌跳舞来治疗她。最终，鹈鹕姑娘的身体和精神都被净化了，她又获得了健康。 过了一段时间，鹈鹕姑娘嫁给了郊狼的孙子霍克•契夫。她也成了这样一名妇女: 教导村里的年轻女孩在她们快要成年时如何守规矩。 姑娘们吸取了鹈鹕姑娘的教训,再也没有人重蹈鹤鹕姑娘的覆辙。 A long time ago, in the land of the South People, it was time for Pelican Girl to become a woman. A special dance and ceremony was planned, to celebrate the event in the proper way of the South People. All the people of the village gathered for the dance, including Little Owl, the Snipe1 family, and Coyote and his grandson Hawke Chief. All the right ceremonies were carried out for Pelican Girl. “This party is so cool.’’said Pelican Girl to the Snipe sisters as they danced to the beat of the drum. When the dance finally finished and the drums were quiet, the women of the village took Pelican Girl to the women’s house. She had to stay there until the moon had become small and then grown full size again. When the moon had finished its cycle the women took Pelican Girl out of the house to receive her beads of womanhood. They placed the beads around her neck, wrists and ankles. Pelican Girl was told that for the next few weeks she must stay close to the village and she was not allowed to gather food or bend down to pick up anything. This was the custom of the South People when a young maiden became a woman. As Pelican Girl sat outside her home the Snipe sisters walked by with their pack baskets. “Where are you going?” asked Pelican Girl. “We’re going to pick berries. Come with us and we511 tell you all the latest gossip.” answered the Snipe sisters. Pelican Girl asked her mother if she could go, but her mother said no, because it was forbidden. “I want to go! I want to go!” screamed Pelican Girl as she clenched her hands tightly and stamped her feet. “It’s OK.” said the Snipe sisters to Pelican Girl’s mother. “We’ll pick the berries for her” Finally her mother agreed. “OK, you can go but remember you’re not allowed to pick any berries or bend over to lift anything off the ground.” All day Pelican Girl did as she was told. She carried her pack basket but did not pick any berries. Late in the afternoon, the girls headed back to the village. Pelican Girl was tired and walked slowly behind the Snipe sisters. Too busy talking to notice, the Snipe sisters got further ahead until they disappeared out of site around a bend in the trail. Just then, Pelican Girl saw in the middle of the trail, a big goose that looked like it had fallen from the sky. “Wow, look at that.” shouted Pelican Girl. She gently touched the goose with her foot. “Maybe it had a heart attack or something?” she said. “Its feathers are so beautiful. My uncles could really use them.” Forgetting her promise not to pick up anything, Pelican Girl bent over, picked up the goose and put it in her pack basket. As she walked along the trail Pelican Girl thought to herself “This basket is becoming really, really heavy.” Finally it became so heavy she had to put it down. Just then she heard a strange noise and a man appeared in front of her basket. “Little girl,” he whispered. “I want those beads around your neck and your wrists and ankles” Pelican Girl knew who it was. It was Shoko, a powerful shaman from the North World where the fire-eaters lived. He had disguised himself as the goose so Pelican Girl would pick him up. By breaking the custom of her people she had given him the power to carry her away to his land. And that is what he did. After Pelican Girl had removed her beads and thrown them to him, Shoko did a dance and spirited her off to the land of the North People where he hid her in a pit underneath a dance drum. When the Snipe sisters returned to the village the people wanted to know what had happened to Pelican Girl. The Snipe Girls were frightened. “We don’t know.” they said. “We heard her say something about feathers, but when we went back to look, we couldn’t find her.” they cried. So Coyote, the wise one, with some of the best trackers from the village and Pelican Girls mother, went to find her. Coyote soon worked out what had happened. “The people of the North World have taken her.” he said. “We must go there and rescue her.” They ran along the trail towards the North World. When they reached the entrance to the North World valley, Coyote told everyone to stop. Coyote knew that Shoko and the fighting men of the North World would be waiting for the South People to try and rescue Pelican Girl. Coyote told Little Owl to take the shape of a bird and fly over the fighting men to give them a message. Little Owl flew over where the fighting men were hiding and whispered to them “Coyote and the South People are not coming tonight. Go to sleep and rest.” All the fighting men listened to Little Owl and went back to their house to sleep. Coyote changed his people into mice and told them to get into his sack, which he then carried into the village. Coyote let the mouse people out of his sack. They went round the North People, tying their long hair together. Then they chewed through their bowstrings and the sinews that held the stone heads on their spears and arrows. When their work was done they changed back to people and looked for Pelican Girl. Coyote found her underneath the dance drum. She was very sick and could not move. Coyote picked her up and silently carried her through the house. But he accidentally stepped on one of the sleeping North People. “Ooops，” said Coyote. “This can’t be good.” The fighting man woke up and his shouts woke all the others. But when the North People tried to stand up, they fell back again because their long hair had been tied together. And they could not use their weapons either. Coyote and the others escaped. The North People had turned Pelican Girl into a fire-eater and Little Owl had to sing and dance for many days and nights to try and cure her. At last her body and spirit were cleansed and she was well again. After time had passed, Pelican Girl married Coyote’s grandson, Hawke Chief and she became one of the women who taught the young girls of the village how to behave when it came time for them to become women. Thanks to Pelican Girl’s experience, none of them ever made the mistake she did. |
