How Kalaslákkas won his Wife by Jeremiah Curtin

Name: How Kalaslákkas won his Wife
Author: Jeremiah Curtin

"How Kalaslákkas Won His Wife" is a myth collected by Jeremiah Curtin depicting the transformation of a small, orphaned boy into a powerful young man through ritual ordeal, and the consequences that follow his marriage and violation of sacred law. Kalaslákkas is a slight orphan boy living at the edge of a village with his elderly grandmother. A beautiful girl has been hidden underground in a basket by the village chief Blaiwas, who keeps her secluded. Tusasás, a boastful and mocking figure associated with Skunk, taunts the boy by suggesting he could win the girl if he tried. The grandmother's brother Ktsítco, Bat, intervenes with advice: Kalaslákkas must travel to a series of sacred mountain swimming places, each of which will grant him spiritual strength, wisdom, and physical growth. The boy sets out, rubbing himself with ashes as instructed, and visits a succession of sacred ponds and lakes. At each location he piles up stones, swims in the waters, and sleeps on the rocks to dream. Each dream brings a visitation from powerful figures — gamblers, bears, men with feathers and gambling plates — who bestow gifts of strength, skill, and spiritual connection. The ponds respond to him with joy, cracking their ice open, roaring with approval, and drawing him into underwater houses of brilliant shells. He encounters the stone remnants of two sets of brothers, the Peltoquas and the Kai, once great men and gamblers turned to rock by the figure Komúchass, Old Age, from whom he absorbs their power by swimming against their stone forms and dreaming of their human selves. After each journey Kalaslákkas returns transformed, taller, more handsome, and spiritually deepened. His grandmother guides him carefully, instructing him to fast, to avoid certain foods, to use scented leaves to block distracting smells, and to bathe and sweat between ordeals. She speaks aloud to the earth, the mountains, trees, and rocks, commending her grandson to their care and asking them to teach him. When Blaiwas and his people have been stripped of everything in gambling matches against Kletcowas and his sons, they finally send for Kalaslákkas. He resists at first, stung by Blaiwas' prior indifference, but agrees to play. He enters the gambling house not through the smoke hole but through a special opening he demands be made, and wins back everything Blaiwas' people have lost. Tusasás heckles throughout but is repeatedly driven away and silenced. Kalaslákkas sings a gambling song learned at the swimming places; no one can learn it, but all feel its power. Kletcowas then offers his daughter as a gambling stake, reasoning that if Kalaslákkas wins she becomes his wife and the family recovers its lost goods. Kalaslákkas wins ten consecutive games and takes the girl as his wife. He distributes the winnings back to the girl's family and proves himself a skilled hunter as well, calling elk to the mountain with a whistle and killing an entire line of them with a single arrow. Tusasás, whose persistent mockery has been a trial throughout, sickens from the earth's judgment on his evil words, and Blaiwas cannot save him. The story shifts register when Kalaslákkas' wife gives birth to a boy. The father, following the custom of staying awake for five days after the birth of a child, goes to the mountains alone — but his grandmother explains in anguish that the mountain vigil is proper only for a girl child, not a boy. Both father and mother fall asleep when they should not, and each dreams dangerous dreams: the mother sees men in elk-skin coats fighting and then dead; the father dreams that the bear spirit of the swimming place is furious with him and tears his grandmother to pieces. Upon waking he knows he has transgressed. Following his grandmother's instructions, Kalaslákkas builds a fire on the mountain and speaks to the earth, the fire, and the wind, begging them to burn up the dream and let him live. The drill lights slowly, which the grandmother reads as a sign the earth grants a brief delay. But the dream cannot be erased. Shortly afterward, Kalaslákkas is sent to cut a digging stick for his wife after hers breaks. Despite warnings, he goes himself instead of allowing his grandmother to go. On the mountainside he is caught by a great bear and torn apart, his bones found later by tracking crows. His bones are gathered but cannot be restored to life while his son lives. The child, when he hears talk of being killed so his father might return, laughs and declares his father will never come back, and that he himself will live always in the world and kill many people. He loses his mind and retreats to the mountains. He becomes a tiny, nearly invisible being who appears to medicine doctors, can shoot invisible arrows into human bodies that kill by striking the life within, and can transform any man he meets into a bird or creeping thing. He endures on the mountains to this day.

By Jeremiah Curtin · First published 1912 · Genre: Folklore, Fairy Tale, Native American Literature · 6,163 words

First lines

CHARACTERS / Blaiwas Eagle / Kalaslákkas / Kletcowas "He Goes Fast" / Komúchass Old Age / Kówe Frog / Ktsítco or Nän'ihlas Bat / Kumal Pelican / Leméis Thunder / Lok Bear / Ndukis Duck-hawk / Peltoquas / Súbbas Sun / Tusasás Joker (Skunk)

Kletcowas and his wife had a daughter and two sons. The mother loved her sons but didn't love her daughter; she abused the girl till at last she made up her mind to go and ask Blaiwas to take care of her. Blaiwas was chief of the village where Kletcowas lived. The girl was so beautiful that Blaiwas put her in a basket and put the basket under the ground.

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How Kalaslákkas won his Wife is listed on Textopian as a short story by Jeremiah Curtin, dated 1912 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Jeremiah Curtin
Date: 1912 CE
Language: English
Genres: Folklore, Fairy Tale, Native American Literature, Mythological Fiction, Quest Narrative
Length: 6,163 words
Structure: 1 section, 128 paragraphs
Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)

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Genres

Folklore — The narrative is a traditional Indigenous tale collected by folklorist Jeremiah Curtin, featuring mythological elements, animal characters, and cultural teachings passed through oral tradition.
Fairy Tale — The story follows classic fairy tale conventions including a humble protagonist overcoming adversity through magical trials, winning a bride, and facing tragic consequences, with supernatural elements throughout.
Native American Literature — The work presents Indigenous characters, settings, spiritual practices, and cultural values including relationships with nature, shamanic rituals, and communal traditions of the Klamath people.
Mythological Fiction — The narrative features transformation, enchantment, animal spirits, mystical swimming places that grant power, and anthropomorphic animal characters operating in a spiritual realm.